[Open]

[spaceforged]

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.

Comments

[spaceforged]

Keith hasn’t moved away and finally his own embarrassment is creeping in. He shoves it down. “My side is fine. Twinges every time I even think about moving.” He takes a swig of water and downs his dose of painkillers. He offers the bottle of water over his shoulder. “I’ll see the healers later and see what they can do to put me back on my feet.” He isn’t a fan of medical areas or being prodded by doctors. But this is the fighting ring and he knows its halls as a base.

That always makes it easier. Like being warm and comfortable makes it very easy to lay around in bed when he normally would be up by now. Moving would hurt Keith so he has even less desire to get up. For now. He passes back the pills once Keith takes the water. Despite his injuries he feels pretty good. The sleep had done him wonders. “We should get breakfast in a little bit.” He hasn’t said it out loud but the invitation to go back to sleep is there.

[lonered]

"Yeah, I bet. But hopefully we can get you mended up today." A frown, but he seems at least mildly soothed by Shiro mentioning the healers. Good. That's a start. The sooner the other man is back on his feet, the better. By far. This time Keith reaches for the pills without argument and with a quiet murmured thanks, swallowing a dose and passing both water and the closed container back to Shiro to set aside once more before flopping his head back down on the pillow.

An eyebrow lifts at the phrasing of that. A little bit, huh? If Shiro's willing to take even a little more rest, isn't that a victory? It feels like a victory, and if it happens to come with lingering here, warm and comfortable, a short while longer, then Keith finds it increasingly hard to find any argument against it.

"In a little bit."

[teratias]

"Mm, I guess organizing that would be the next step," although really, trying to organize this group seems like hearding cats. Waver pauses, then adds.

"Scouts should probably be in groups of 3. That way if someone peels off, there's still two people left to go looking for them. I ran into lots of idiots running around on their own."

Never mind that he was also an idiot running around on his own. Pot, kettle, whatever.

[spaceforged]

The bottles are returned to the table. "Get both of us mended today." He corrects him lightly. Keith always focuses on everyone else. It's better than it has been if he's willing to rest. He takes pride in that as his head returns to the pillow and he stretches back out.

It vaguely occurs to him the weight on his side is Keith's arm. He realizes he has no desire to move away. If he backed off now it would hurt his best friend and he's not willing to cause that pain. Besides...is it really so bad?

Shiro lifts his arm up close to his chest and programs in a second alarm. "We'll get up when the watch goes off again." He permits them an extra hour. "Sound good?"

[spaceforged]

"We'll organize as much as we can. We're a group, not a team." Yet. The implication hangs in the air as he shuts his eyes for a moment. "Two to three is good. Two if they know how to work together." Adding a third to teams that already can work well together wouldn't be bad but it would trip them up and they'd be forced to adjust.

He and Keith had done rather well. They have years of friendship and their time on the same time to make them so effective. "Keeping a few scouts closer to this fighting ring would be a good idea as well. They could do sweeps of the surrounding area. Anyone that preemptively prepare their power for multiple uses, should."

What else? He wracks his brain for anything else and comes up blank. "I think that's all that can be done for right now. Unless you have other suggestions?"

[lonered]

"Right. Both of us," he agrees, as sheepish as he can really manage to be. Shiro's called him out fairly gently, but that's still what it is. Shiro knows him too well, a thought that is and always has been quite comforting, even if it means he can get away with a great deal less around his friend.

Though he's getting away with lingering as close as he is -- and Keith is still stubbornly refusing to be embarrassed about it. His arm is still slung over Shiro, but he's pretty sure moving it would just draw more attention to it. Is he willful enough that he can out-stubborn himself? Probably. However that works. It likely helps that it's far more comfortable than it has any right to be.

Thinking too much about it is just going to give him a headache. He'll think later.

"Yes sir," is the genuinely sleepy little response. Hit the snooze button, Shiro. He's on board with this plan.

[teratias]

Waver's a lot more comfortable with the word group. Team is...it feels wrong. But he's a kid who doesn't play well with others, and has long been left to his own devices to work through everything independently.

"I'm pretty sure there's always gonna be some people hanging around here regardless, but I guess it doesn't hurt repeating."

But as for other suggestions, Waver shakes his head no. "The only thing I have is that maybe you should also let your brain rest for a bit. But I brought that crap up to begin with so...maybe I should let you get some sleep."

[spaceforged]

"That's just Shiro to you." He says, in jest. Partly. He meant what he said about them being equals in rank. He yawns again. Going back to sleep is a good idea he can barely keep his eyes open. He'll wonder over how comfortable sleeping beside Keith is later.

His eyes slide shut and he moves his left arm to a more comfortable position trapping Keith's arm up against his side. Better.

"Just another hour." He says and lets his mind drift. They do need the sleep.

[spaceforged]

He laughs and winces, holding up a hand to forestall any more words. "But, because you did I can rest easier." He's confident some of them will put together a similar plan. He won't stress over things or worry he hadn't done enough to make up for his slack. "Thank you for hearing me out and voicing your own opinions. I appreciate your input, Waver."


His hand falls to his thigh and he adds a tad sheepish. "I'll get that rest. I'll still try to get back on my feet as soon as I can but, resting a while can't hurt. We don't need a flying lion to terrorize the guards right now."

[lonered]

Keith cracks an eye open at that, not bothering to fight the smile that finds its way over his features. "Shiro," he mumbles sleepily in agreement before shutting his eyes again.

He's half asleep when he realizes that he likes this way too much, and that he wonders if he can come up with another excuse in the future. It's the last coherent thought he has before he drifts off again. Another hour. He'll take it.

[teratias]

"Nah, let the whole there's a flying lion thing sink in first so they can try and process what the heck they saw."

Waver's...gonna gloss over the gratitude for input. He didn't really say that much anyway, nothing of note. He gets up and heads for the door. "Have a good..." What the heck time of night is it anyway? "...sleep. And a long one."

[spaceforged]

"I'll get at least six hours." He promises with a hand lifted in farewell. He's not sure if he can actually keep that promise. He's been knocked around and he definitely doesn't have painkillers strong enough to put his lights out.

Shiro sighs, and lays down. Waver had let him scratch out his thoughts in the open air. It really had helped.