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Who: Shiro and you.
Where: Shelter, medical area
When: Hours after rescuing the King.
Rating Pg
What: Shiro comes back battered and wounded from the rescue mission. Keith swears a lot.

He runs his hands over the bandages around his ribs with a wince. He’d gotten so used to being able to shake off bullets and arrows. He has been mostly indestructible. He should have known better. Shiro slips from the small area laid out to treat his injuries as gingerly as he can manage. Cracked ribs are no joke.

He hisses through his teeth as the pain radiates out from his chest and side. He regrets a lot of things. He had charged at a pack of guards confident he would perfectly fine. “Crack goes the Lion.” He mutters as he pulls his duffel bag closer with a foot and fights not to breathe in.

Every breath hurts. They have a surplus of healers this time. The distraction team will all get back on their feet in less time than they would have otherwise. But until then he can just deal with it.

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"At least we'll be much more prepared for the next world." Shiro agrees. He takes a swig of water uses it to swallow down the pills. The aftertaste is always awful. But that's a hell of a lot better than his arm being stuck by a damn alien injector. His hand twitches. He ignores it and takes a sip of water.

He misses the Sig Saucer P226s, he'd have loaded both of them and set them where he could reach them. Instead, he has his arm and a sword. Or if it came to it, metal teeth and claws.

Maybe Shehui made him too paranoid. "Don't think him a pushover." Ah right, he needs to say something about that. "I sparred with him. I threw my best at him and he kept up with me. ...Keith, he wasn't even actively trying. If he had, I would have lost very quickly."

"Oh, that makes sense." And...might be an easy thing to transfer, come to think of it. Waver tilts his head. "Is it easy to write down to indicate the sequence, or far harder? I'd be curious as to the logic of it."

But that kind of stuff might not be the best to sit and scrawl out for hours and hours. As Shirou pokes at the bandages, Waver respectfully looks away, in case there was any want for privacy.

"What happened anyway? I didn't even realize there was something happening until you got back. I've been running around everywhere else."

"Sort of trial by fire here, but we're learning who we all are and where we fit, I guess. Whether we were ready for it or not." They'd have to refine it. This had been... messy. At best .The situation itself, but also the lot of them, a bunch of mostly strangers trying to act in some semblance of coherence. They can be better than that. They have to be.

Shiro is, however, forgetting one Blade in his arsenal -- one who will be doing what he can to help keep this shelter safe, stop the chaos from picking back up again in the streets, but who will also be making sure that Shiro stays safe and sound while he recovers. Over Keith's dead body is Shiro getting more hurt than he currently is.

He watches the other man swallow the painkillers, nodding to himself before, well, his eyebrows shoot straight up at that information. "Are you-- you're serious."

Well. That's saying something. Shiro didn't survive the Galra arena by being an okay fighter. And Keith is still desperately chasing the older man's shadow when it comes to combat. Shiro is strong and skilled. So to hear that he'd been matched without someone's full effort even coming into play. "Huh."

Riza Hawkeye. An impressive name, she thinks. With that Elizabeth gives a slight nod, looking thoughtful.

"Perhaps I shall have a chat with Miss Hawkeye then, in the future." At present there are always more pressing matters.

With that said, Elizabeth firmly pushes the issue into the back of her mind, labeled neatly as 'think on later' and filed right next to thoughts about letters and men and what her sisters must think and all that. Elizabeth is more apt to ponder in solitude.

And so she turns humorous again, never one to be dour for too long. "Let us hope though that after this excursion, we might avoid the topic of combat for some small amount of time at least."

"Jalin explained to us the king's plight. He was trapped in a magic canceling room by his own guards. So we put together a pair of teams to get him out. Like with the breakout I picked distraction." He had envisioned the same kind of harassment he'd put forth last time. Mess with the guards and take to the sky. Except the guards are better trained than the rookies they'd put in the city.

Numerous and ultimately, true soldiers. "I made a few miscalculations and they took a shot at me when I couldn't dodge." His side had crunched in and he'd felt the world proverbially shatter as pain tore through his thoughts. He taps his fingers against the bed and takes another sip of water.

"The guard have shifted their orders and priority. They're looking for the king and ceasing their attacks on the citizenry."

He watches the realization sink in. That's right, neither of them could take him. Possibly together but all fights in the arena are one on one. Shiro sips the water and nods. "I'm not sure if he has magic or not. If he does its passive and always on." He doesn't want to find out if that's true or not.

"It might be he's that naturally gifted in combat ability. Hard to say." Messing with him would be a massive mistake. "If you get to watch him fight...do it. You and I can learn a lot from him." They need to learn a lot of things. Starting with how to pull their group into one team. He has ideas he'll sit on for now. They need to focus on recovery and defense.

"...he's a good guy. You should tell him some stories about space sometime. He really enjoys hearing about anything outside this city." He quite likes Jalin. But... Shiro reaches out and sets his hand on Keith's shoulder. "...all that aside. Keith, I'll be alright. Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll keep an eye out. That's something I think I'd want to see."

But it still is something to wrap his mind around. Magic or not, it does sound impressive. Keith will try to see some of it if he has the time, if things settle down enough that he isn't on permanent edge about the other shoe dropping with the tensions and violence in the city.

His hand lifts automatically to reach over and set atop the one of Shiro's at his shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze that he hopes is reassuring. "Of course. I always am." If nothing else, Keith is a survivor. But there's tension in the smile he offers Shiro, admittedly most of it worry for the broken Black Paladin. A great deal of his well being is dependent on Shiro's -- more than Keith likely realizes consciously, though it became clearer and clearer each time he's lost him.

"Jeez," Waver says as Shirou explains it all, nodding along, cringing at the explanation of where the injury came from. It could have been worse, clearly, but this is still hardly ideal when there's more work to be done.

"If they can't locate their leader though, I'd assume there's a chance that they might take it out on everyone else again."

He watches him and shifts, moving to pull Keith into a very careful hug. "Keith. It will be alright. The Circle is a large group. We have all sorts of powers among us. We can do this! I'll be fine back here. I doubt I'll need to fight for a while. I know you and the others can handle it."

Shiro cautiously tightens his hold on him, smoothing his hands down his back in a soothing gesture. "I don't like being benched but I can't argue that right now I need to be." The painkillers are finally taking the edge off. He slowly let's go and lays down.

He should try to sleep soon. What is his life that he has to calculate the averages of medication effects as he used to chart readings while he flew? Yet he still reaches out to touch Keith's arm and keep physical contact. "...be careful out there. I expect you to end up here because you're crashing for the night. Not because you got hurt from doing something risky."

Keith moves to hug back like he normally would, remembers immediately that Shiro is injured and instead sets a hand oh so very carefully against his uninjured side, leaning into him as cautiously as possible. He nods.

"I know. You're right."

And he is. Every point Shiro makes is correct, and Keith can't and won't argue with them. He'll do what he has to anyway, while there's still some battle to be fought to try to do some good in this place.

He makes sure Shiro is settling in and nods. He sets his hand on top of Shiro's at his arm, holding his gaze. He summons up a shade of a smile. "I'm always careful, Shiro." He lies, a lie so blatant that it's followed by a laugh at himself for even trying. "I'll be smart. No unnecessary risks." Just the necessary ones. Where that lines get drawn is the real question. "You should get some rest. Let the meds do their job."

He grimaces. Waver is voicing the thought churning in his head. He should be sleeping. Yet he can't. The pain is too much and his thoughts are too damn loud. "It's...possible," Shiro says at last. More than possible. But the King needed to get out to give this city even the shred of a chance. He shuts his eyes and rubs his temples.

"We'll need scouts to get an idea of the overall status of the city. People that can get in and out without any trouble." All things he's sure are being handled. They have a few military-minded people who will see to things while he's down and out. He sets the glass on the small table that had been dragged in.

"The healers are doing all they can to get the more severe injuries handled. ...right now I can shift but not for very long." That reminds him. "...remember when we first explored the fighting arena at Astoria's temple?"

"I mean it, Keith. No risky behavior. You're one of our few fliers. You're needed more than ever." He moves his pillow with only a wince at the pain. Keith had flat out lied in a way he's pretty sure was meant to make him feel better.

It doesn't. He gives him his flat stare to back up his statement and finally shuts his eyes. "I'll be back up on my feet as soon as the healers get my ribs fixed." He murmurs. He feels so drained. The demand of shifting isn't usually this bad. It has to be using the lasers and getting hurt.

Doesn't mean he has to like it.

Keith almost says Isn't there a dragon out there somewhere? But he's grown a little, in his time with the Blade, so he manages to keep that to himself. He knows Shiro worries, and he wants to shrug it off -- even after all this time, he's not really used to anyone worrying. Shiro's been the only one who has, since he was really young anyway.

And Keith gets it, in a way. He worries a lot about Shiro, after Keberos especially.

"I'll be as careful as I can, Shiro. I promise." And he does mean that.

He also means what he says next, "So... worry less about me and more about taking it easy until you're patched up."

"Yeah, some more downtime between this and whatever we're doing next would be really nice." He doesn't like the idea of laying down for long periods of time. Yet he knows he's going to have to. Ugh.

"What's the first thing you want to do when we get back to the temple?" It's a fair question. There's a lot left to explore that they didn't get the chance to before.

He sighs. "Alright. Be careful out there." He's worried about Keith since he first met him. It's difficult to even consider shutting that off. So he doesn't. Shiro shuts his eyes.

"Make sure to keep an eye on the king's tent." He adds, "Can't miss it, it's isolated from the rest." Hopefully, Keith heeds his advice and doesn't get shot or stabbed.

"Got it. Now get some rest." Keith offers a smile, and with that he heads off to see what's going on beyond this room, and to let Shiro hopefully drift off to sleep.

...

Eventually, however, he makes his way back. It's been... a long day. To say the least. He makes his way into the room as quietly as possible, hoping not to wake Shiro if he happens to actually be resting.

But Keith's steps are a little heavier than usual, a little uneven. It may have something to do with the bandage currently wrapped around his torso -- which is entirely visible given that his shirt is currently in his hand.

Shiro. He ruined his new clothes. Also he got stabbed. A little.

So much for don't get shot, don't get stabbed. They've been overachievers this time.

Elizabeth has a ready answer. "I should like to practice cooking more, if I may. I fear though Millis gave me as much thorough instruction on the art as she might, my skills are quite more and demand further refinement. And unlike piano practice, it is not something I can simply avoid."

If El Minha was any lesson, it was one in how vital it was that Elizabeth learn what she had always deemed as "servant's work" in her mind.

Waver can see that grimace, and he's...now not sure he should've said anything. Clearly he was voicing the obvious, and not to Shiro's benefits. He sighs, slightly mortified, but listens intently.

"I'm pretty sure that someone else can organize that stuff, and you know...move around without having pre-existing injuries."

Shiro's question does catch Waver off guard, because he blinks and tilts his head before responding. "Yeah. What about it?"

He wakes up because the footsteps don't sound right. They're heavier, one side being favored more than the other. Then he smells the coppery tang that could only be one thing. Blood. He shoots up in bed so fast his side is awash with pain. He clamps his hand over it and breathes through it as he scans the area for the problem.

His eyes settle on Keith in the gloom. "Keith? What happened?" He lays back down, snatching up his lighter and uses it with a flick to light the lantern by his bedside. Shiro lets his eyes get accustomed to the lantern light and goes cold inside.

"Come closer." He'd jinxed it before. Damn it.

Keith freezes at the first sound of Shiro moving, staring through the dim light and wincing when he hears that breath. Damn it. He's already moving towards the bed, to make sure Shiro didn't go and injure himself further with that. "Sorry... I was trying not to wake you up..." he murmurs even as he watches the light flare to life.

Keith is far more concerned about Shiro at the moment than himself -- which is so true to usual that it barely bears being mentioned. "Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself moving?"

Stopping just beside the bed, he takes a moment to look at him, turned a bit so that his own injury isn't immediately visible. ...but the bandages are wrapped full around him so he's hiding nothing and knows it. "I'm fine, Shiro. Just made a stupid mistake. Forgot to watch my six."

"I'm going to help set up an area for people with the gift of flight to practice. ...maybe we could set up a firepit outside? It's another form of cooking but, easy for anyone to learn." He does plan to give Keith a crash course in it.

He could teach anyone who is curious enough to see what grilling and open fire cooking is all about. "It could prove useful depending on what our next mission is." He doesn't make anything fancy. It's not in him. But they'd stay fed.

He ignores the questions. They're not important. He wants to growl. What had he said about being careful?? If his temper wasn't set on low burn, he'd have said it. Shiro sits back up and gestures for Keith to turn. "How deep is it?" He'd smelled blood. Has to be some kind of wound instead of cracked bone or a break like his own issue.

"You're bleeding." He reminds him as he grabs the bottle of pills and the water bottle. "You take anything for the pain yet?" Hopefully he has but he has bets on that not being the case. Probably let himself get patched then came straight here to check on him.

It's touching but he worries for him.

"You're right, it's just we're having the same thoughts on this. They could turn on the city or some other party. If push comes to shove, I can fight. Just...not the way I was before." He gets that out first. It's a stall. He knows it is.

Firing those lasers still feels weird. It sounds crazy to even voice. "Anyway, do you remember that light that built in the mouth of the Lion? I figured out what that's about. Like the true Black Lion I can gather energy and focus it, firing it at a target. A laser, basically."

"I was bleeding. I got myself stitched up." It's still bleeding, but between the stitches and the bandages, it's slowed to nearly nothing. He'll be fine, he's certain of that. It's not even worth having a healer look at it when their abilities are needed far more by people hurt far worse than him. He frowns a little at Shiro, like he's ready to argue about Shiro even wanting to look at it when Shiro should be lying down.

But instead he turns, lifting the arm on that side with a wince. "Not that deep. It didn't hit anything important."

The wound is on his left side, closer around to his back. It missed his kidney by a few inches, apparently. But hey he has two of those so that can't be a big deal either. He hesitates at the question. Way to call him out on exactly what he did, Shiro. Patched up and straight here. So a shake of his head and he answers in a non-answer, "It doesn't really hurt. You should save those." Bad enough he took them for a hangover really, especially now that he's had a very clear reminder of how much he hates seeing Shiro in pain.

"Yeah, no," Waver says flatly. "Unless you're giving tactic advice from bed. I'm pretty sure that other people'll yell at you for trying to do too much too fast anyway and..."

Waver stopped. Lasers? Robo lions with goddamn lasers? What the actual hell? The reaction is clear across Waver's face, mostly because he's never been skilled at hiding his reactions.

"Well that's...a thing," he manages. "Why're you bringing it up? Wait, is that how you ended up like this?!"

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