trans_9 | Holes and Patches [OPEN FREE FOR ALL]

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Holes and Patches [OPEN FREE FOR ALL]

After the battle, the warriors' task was over. Their job, for now, was to rest and recover for the time being.

The healers' job, on the other hand, was far from over. Some exhausted from the battle, others rotating in, they took to their bay and continued the process of treating the wounded. Some patients were free to leave in a few minutes, while others would have some time (or quite some time) on the cots. Their mission: relax. Stay as still as possible.

Unfortunately, the temptation of so many familiar faces alive and about would ultimately prove to be too great. Keeping track of this group was going to be a third task all its own.

[this is a free for all for all your injured! Have them socialize, be thorns in the medics' side, try to escape, or bring the medics together for some action. Just note in your post if you'd like a medic to visit your character---if not, it's time for a chat!]

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Dr. McNinja hadn't been able to find anything on Kali. There were simply too many people in the med bay, and too much going on; all Kang could do was hope that she was alright, and wait for her to come to him, or for things to die down enough for news to reach him about her condition.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long.

[For Kali!]

It had taken her some time, after the battle was over, to find her way down to the medical bay where she was certain her father must have been taken. Her own minor injuries had been tended to, and while she might be a little unsteady on her feet, she could at least make it to the medbay to assure her father of her condition.

Muscles she had not been aware of ached and burned with overuse from the wild ride dragon back, her shoulders throbbed dully from the unfamiliar weight of the rifle, and one of her wings had been wrenched unpleasantly during flight. It would take a few days before it recovered enough for her to risk using it again. Her head throbbed, exhaustion making her vision dance and her hands were nearly numb from the constant motions of firing the rifle. She felt like she could easily hibernate for a few weeks. Though overall, she felt satisfied. Exhausted, but satisfied, like she had just seen a battle through to its end.

It was likely a bad sign that she hoped he was still asleep, to give her more time to discover an explanation for Crucible. How could she explain something she did not understand? How could she explain the raw terror and excitement of the offer. The chance to do what none of her race had ever thought to attempt before? How could she put into words the power of the moment she had accepted, or each rushed, chaotic moment of the battle from dragonback?

She blew out a breath, feeling slightly ill, though she was not certain if that was nerves or the aftereffects of the battle, and stepped around the divider, peering at her father cautiously, barely making a sound.

"Papa?"

She was alive. She was alive, and she looked like she hadn't been hurt too badly.

Kang breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pull Kali into a tight hug, half out of the physical comfort and half out of the need for something to stabilize himself with the dizzy spell movement had caused. "You're okay. I saw you - you got picked up - you're okay."

She returned the hug, nuzzling into his arms and remaining silent against him for a little while, gathering her thoughts.

"I am well, Lord Crucible did nothing to harm me. We finished the battle together."

Kang went completely still, not even breathing for several seconds as he tried to process what she'd just said.

"...what?"

She twisted awkwardly to look at him face, watching him for a long moment before she spoke again. "We finished the battle together, Lord Crucible did me the honor of allowing me to fight from his shoulders."

It took a moment for Kang to remember to breathe, and he slowly sat back against the bed, in shock. He'd let Kali fight alongside him? On his back? Why?

Was it because - no. He didn't even want to think about that possibility. But why? Why hadn't he killed her?

He patted the tiny bit of space next to him in a clear invitation for her to join him on the bed.

She settled onto the bed, curling against his side. Her body was exhausted, it had been a very long battle, one she had little time to prepare for. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to ask her more questions.

"It was...nice. We fought well."

"...tell me what happened. All of it," Kang put an arm around Kali, pulling her in close and resting his chin on the top of her head.

She sighed, arranging her wings comfortably as she settled, buying herself time. "I was cornered on the roof, I was close to running out of ammo. He made one pass to destroy the Ohm chasing me and then gave the appearance at deciding that this would not work for long and picked me up." She paused. "I felt very much like a mouse, but he was careful not to smash me or drop me. We landed and spoke. He asked if I was willing to continue the battle, and I said that I was not yet ready to leave, and he offered me a place on his back to continue the the fight. And so we did. It all becomes a blur after that, he would call targets and I would shoot them. It felt like no time at all, and at the same time, like my entire life passed me by during the battle."

She sighed softly. "When I first arrived, or awoke, Lord Bight promised that I would have nothing to fear from Crucible, and when I invoked that promise, he agreed it was valid."

Kang stayed silent, listening. It felt like everything he'd evern known had been flipped, like up had become down and black had become white. Crucible had saved her? He'd heard the stories, and he'd seen them kill draconians before, some of them his own men. He'd seen the looks on their faces, the revulsion, and the satisfaction at ridding the world of those 'abominations'.

Had any metallic dragon ever, on Krynn, done such a thing as Crucible had done with his daughter?

Speaking of his daughter, she seemed nervous, like she was afraid of what he was going to say. He sighed, and let a comforting rumble start up in his chest, "...I'm proud of you. You were very brave out there."

"I tried, Papa. I tried to be brave. I was very frightened, but I knew I could not stop or more might die. I only did my best." She was a child, at the end of all things, a brave, resourceful and intelligent child, but a child who had just had her world upended on her, no less.

She sighed, curling into his chest, voice softened by exhaustion. "I flew, Papa. Just for a little while. But I flew. It was perfect."

"Bravery isn't the absence of fear, Kali. It's being afraid, but going forward anyways, despite the fear, because you know you have to do it. Yes, you were brave."

Kang shifted, getting more comfortable, and wrapped his wing around her, hiding most of her from view. "And you need to rest. Go to sleep, I won't let them move you."

She sighed, relaxing some within the protective circle of his arms. She knew she had not been as brave as Yana or Brevo would have been, but she had done her best, and her father approved. That was all that mattered. She had done what she could and her father approved.

"Yes, Papa." The lights were comfortably warm, and his wing tucked around her was soothing, the right sort, the sort that said it was over and she had done all she could.

Kali slept, exhausted and worn after the day.

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Holes and Patches [OPEN FREE FOR ALL]

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