[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]

"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."

[teratias]

"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."

[spaceforged]

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?"

[teratias]

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?"

[spaceforged]

"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."

[teratias]

"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?!"

[spaceforged]

"I used one on accident then tried it again. Using the lasers still takes a lot more time than the original Black Lion's firing rate. I miscalculated. They evaluated me as a threat too big to ignore and took their shot." It had been a very nasty lesson. Next time he won't let something being familiar make him think he has the upper hand.

"And I'm only saying I can still fight if it comes to it. That's a hypothetical. It's far more likely I won't have to." He meets Waver's eyes calmly and without any reaction to the flat tone. "The question for all of us is what happens next. Even with scouting checkings that takes time. In short, we have a small measure of breathing room." However long it lasts is the mystery.

[teratias]

"....Shiro," Waver moans, smacking a hand to his own forehead. That was some Rider level dumb shit, and it absolutely deserved the kind of reaction Rider would be rewarded with if he was around.

At least talking about what's next is easier. (Sort of.) "I'm expecting the what next to happen soon. Like, by sunset tomorrow soon, you know? This kind of energy isn't really something that gets tamed or remains unused."

[spaceforged]

“I wouldn’t call breathing room as tamed. We did cause them quite a bit of damage at the heart of their seat of power. They have to regroup. An offensive on their part would be a huge mistake when they know we have only fielded a small force to do that damage.” Shiro points out as he finishes the water.

“And I know. I made a pretty damning mistake. I won’t do it again. Either way they were sick of me and intending to take me down. I have been harassing their snipers for weeks.”

[teratias]

"...Yeah, harassing snipers will do that."

Waver just...tries to take that one in stride. Because really, what else can you say to someone who's going out and fighting snipers to begin with? Nothing, at least as far as he can tell. Slowly, Waver rubs the bridge of his nose, taking in the rest of what Shiro has said.

"Okay, but how stupid are they to do the opposite of what you just said because of pride?"

[spaceforged]

He crosses his arms over his chest and thinks that one over. “Really stupid. Pride can blind you but this general whoever they are has been smart enough until now to keep to the back. They have only fielded new recruits for the city slaughter. Then we made his best look ridiculous.

He has no idea what powers we have and we have the king who has great power of his own. That would mean dealing with us and the king they restricted and cut off...at the same time.” He wouldn’t do it. No way in hell. That is too much risk. “We should have watch shifts and scouts just in case. If they’re dumb enough to make that mistake. We’ll deal with it.”

[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]

"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?"

[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]

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."

[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.