Constance felt her body being tugged and braced herself for the fangs of the beast to come. She had been bitten by the wild dogs that had run the streets of her childhood burg before, but she doubted that their nips would even be comparable to the damage that beast’s jaws were capable of unleashing. However, it was Luna and not the creature that had grabbed ahold of her, and Constance allowed herself to be pulled up by the cursing nurse. The two trudged after the others as they fled, Constance being unusually quiet as Luna lugged her along. She was distracted by how she was yet again clinging to somebody else to help get her out of a crisis: twice in one day. Then again, perhaps she was trying to avoid drawing any attention to the creature that was still chasing after—

[i]It’s over.[/i] Constance had been pressed up against the wall again, Luna pushing her flat. Conway and the others had appeared and the cave lit up like her lakeside manor on the night of a party, only with gunfire instead of fireworks. She had felt her ears ring and her teeth clench, saw the beast crumple to the ground in front of the Captain, and allowed herself to be guided to the cold floor of the cave. She let go of the breath she didn’t know that she had been holding and wiped her face. [i]Thank goodness, it’s over.[/i] They had killed it. Perhaps someone could get sentimental over how they had just annihilated a completely unknown being, but Constance didn’t care. If she had been feeling better, she probably would’ve considered seeing if someone could skin it and turn it into a rug, but instead she was just happy to be alive. Hurt, but alive.

"I want you to tell me what hurts, and if anything hurts when I press on it, okay?"

“Just a few cuts and bruises,” said Constance through misty eyes, trying to appear tough now that danger was away. “Nothing I haven’t handled before.”

Luna was delicate with her examination, but no amount of practiced care could stop the flaring of red hot pain as the nurse’s hand brushed over her side where a string of three claws had shredded through her jacket. Constance face contorted horribly as all of the blood drained out of it, a screaming rushing up her throat before dying in her mouth and escaping out only as a squeak. Her fingers dug into her thighs as her body went rigid, her head jerking to the side. “I’m fine,” she said, too quickly for it to be true, and motioned Luna to continue her task of patching her up.

She wasn’t fine per se, but aside from the cuts she had only suffered minor bruising to her body and her ego. Even the cuts were fairly shallow, with the material of her jacket providing some sort of protection, although the nurse would be able to tell that they would still require stitching to help with the healing process. Constance kept quiet through the rest of the examination, wincing every now and then as Luna packed her wounds with gauze and wrapped her side tight to staunch the bleeding. 

“Thank you,” said Constance softly once Luna was finished, a genuine smile of gratitude on her face. “I owe you.”

She was stabilized, at least for the moment, but it’d be best if she was taken back to the boat, or at least removed from the damned cave so that Luna could get a better look at her wounds. The man Conway had left with them helped her up to her feet and, leaning against his shoulder, Constance began the dejected march back to the campsite. She could hear the excitement in the voices behind her that echoed throughout the cave as they searched deeper, the feeling that she was missing something absolutely fantastic causing her stomach to sink.