[ He doesn't seem phased by the sudden harshness. Actually he sounds a little tired and... well, something's just off. His words form slowly and there's none of his usual spark behind them. ]
CALLING: KHEZEK, JASPER
It's alright, I think I'm fine now but my hands were all black. They gave me a buncha nanite shots and something to kill the pain and now I can't feel my face.
Cats--? Nevermind. I'll be there in five. I'm hanging up on you now.
[And she does - ends the call with a cheerful little chime from the blackglass. True to her word, five minutes later she's muscling her way into medical no matter who might not approve of the idea.]
[ If she muscles her way into the room far enough she will find a very confused elf lying on his side in one of the beds, poking at a Blackglass with his arm. He would use his hands, but they are currently wrapped in bandages layered on so thick he's prevented from moving any of his fingers. When he sees her coming he stops poking at the screen with his elbow and squints. ]
I was so close to callin' you back-
[ He looks as tired as he sounds, and seems even more out of sorts in person. ]
[He looks like a wreck is what he looks like. Shepard shrugs off any potential last of the objectors to her presence by steadfastly ignoring absolutely everyone as she closes in to side of the bed. She sets her hand against the very edge of the bunk when she gets there, the crisp bleached sterile cloth faintly rough and stiff against the back of her knuckles.
She's never liked medical in any universe for a lot of good reasons.]
You look like shit, Khezek.
[Should sound like a joke, but isn't - her expression severely drawn.]
[ He takes it like a challenge. For a moment he looks himself over, but in his dazed head all he sees is white, white, and more white. From the sheets, the bandages, and... well, him. And something else when he glares blearily back up at Shepard. ]
Yeah well, you got four eyes.
[ Next he's reaching for her face with one of his wrapped hands to find out if they're real. ]
[She doesn't slap his hand away because it's currently fat with bandages, but she days sway back far enough that she's out of his arm's reach. Sorry kid, no up close and personal eye inspection for you.]
What happened and who were you with?
[Hard questions for someone who she currently assumes is high as a comm buoy on pain meds, but necessary ones.]
[ His arm flops back against the bed and he lets out an exasperated sigh. He's already explained to others in Medical, but for his PKN7 leader he'll try again, no matter how medicated he is. ]
Cor... Cortana and the lady with the purple face mask. They set up a hell of a trap, but when it got set off it sprayed everyone with paint and glitter. The cat too, but it didn't get caught.
[ Ah, that explains the rosy tint in his hair. And the sparkle. ]
Akame and I chased it but it was dark. I hit it with Faerie Fire to make it visible but that's all I could do. When I tried throwin' fireballs at it, that little shit was fast! It was battin' them like toys!
[ Just remembering is enough to ignite his temper again. He sits all the way up, waving mittened hands in frustration as he acts out the motions of his last failed spell. ]
It made me so mad I tried castin' a fire spell with way too much juice behind it to make it more powerful, and it backfired in right my hands! Made them all black and red and it hurt like hell. Akame went after the cat then but she got scratched up. I held Faerie Fire long as I could but I dunno what happened to... to Lan-Levi and Fan? Or Levi-Fan and Lan...
[ When he looks back at Shepard, it's a look that expects her to have understood all that. But then his whole figure droops, even his ears, and he sways lightly where he sits. ]
[It's a guess, but even then it's a small kindness on her part. There's something sharp and low digging from up and under her ribs as she watches him, the lines of her face severe and set as if she doesn't feel it. His apology, when it comes, is met with a long beat of silence-- and then she shifts even further from the edge of the bed, pacing out the six strides to where she finds the first available stool in medical. She hefts it up without pretense, not bothering to roll it over, and sets it back down with a crisp metallic thud of the wheels on the deck flooring. She sits down directly bedside.]
Let me get this straight-- you're apologizing to me because you went out to track down the things killing people on the ship. Against my advice.
[There's no give in her expression, her gaze on him steady.]
[ He remains sitting up and his ears twitch at the metallic thud. When he lifts his head to look at her again, he sees she's made herself more comfortable. That, or in his hazy head, suddenly gotten shorter. He raises one thin, slightly singed brow in confusion. ]
No, that's not what you told me. You told me to get music from Garrus or earplugs from Medical so I could sleep. But I didn't, and went huntin' instead, and it was a huge mess. That's why I'm sorry.
[ So yes, the unconfused answer for her clarification is yes. ]
[Right. It takes her less than a beat to sort through the particulars of that answer, to sweep them to the side for the time being.]
Was this a directive you volunteered for or something you came up with on your own?
[It seems like a valid question, the most obvious one to ask - she's gotten in trouble for assuming orders exist when they don't, that they're not in place when they are. Might as well clarify that much right off the bat.]
Then it's Kaburagi's problem. He should've told you no.
[Firm, absolute. They're short handed, don't have much intel, but that's no excuse to throw someone raw at the problem and hope for the best - not when they have plenty of recruits who are more well versed in combat and not when it's been proven that whatever was on the ship (cats?) was more than happy to gut someone.
It's irresponsible, stupid on a basic level. She should be more surprised than she is, but it's been a long couple of days and hearing about adults issuing orders with their hands over their eyes is starting to seem like CDC standard issue.]
[ He shakes his head. He may be sleepy and sick, but he's not as green as Shepard might think. In military terms he is, but exterminating dangerous creatures is an area of expertise... or it should be. ]
Nah it's not. I didn't tell him I wasn't sleepin', didn't want him to know. I wanted to go after it. I know how to hunt, I've taken hundreds of monsters down, I can do it in my sleep. It shoulda been cake.
[ Oops. He winces at his own mention of cake. Angels, he's so out of it he's breaking his own rule about never mentioning cake again. He flops back against the pillow, defeated. ]
[Whatever he says, however experienced he might be - it doesn't really do much to change her mind. Kaburagi is a commanding officer, or as close to one as they're likely to get in the CDC. He's supposed to be looking out for his people where the Instructors either can't or, more likely in her mind, don't care to.
It's Kotetsu's job to keep tabs on his people, to know things like who hasn't been sleeping, to know them well enough to tell that kind of thing from just looking at them. It's not a big unit. To her mind - unfair as it is - it shouldn't be that hard.
Maybe some of that strict expectation shows in her face, but it isn't really meant for him. After a moment, Shepard sits back, scuffs the heel of her hand absently across the underside of her jaw.]
Probably a good plan. Next time I tell you to talk to someone, maybe think about doing it?
[ His ears droop more at the suggestion, the guilt for his own predicament weighing heavily on him. But a moment later they twitch and perk again as he remembers something. ]
Shepard? The reason I called you... you said to call if I'm in trouble, right?
[ He's repeating the question to be sure, because he can't remember if he asked it just a few minutes ago, (and he did, when he elbow-dialed her). He got side-tracked into explaining why he was in medical, but he actually didn't call her for that reason...
[She narrows her eyes faintly and rocks forward where she sits. Okay, consider her interest redirected from plotting how to best beat responsibility into Kaburagi back to Jasper.]
I did. What's the matter?
[She's not going to say the Neheda's on board medical tech is so expansive that it could fix everything under the sun (though something the CDC has is - a thought she dismisses forcefully; better not to think about Blue's mission regardless of how many bodies they have piling up now; whatever had been used to bring those recruits back wasn't accessible to them now, so might as well forget about it) - but Jasper's hands at least looked like they were pretty well taken care of.
[ Jasper looks worried as he glances from the commander to his wrapped hands, then to the small table beside his bed. There's a juicebox sitting there, knocked over but unopened. ]
[There is a long, pregnant pause of silence - filled by the low beeps and whirr of medical's machinery, a cough from someone in another bed - as Shepard follows his eyes to the juicebox. She fixes it with a flat stare and then her hand moves out, takes it off the small table.
She balances it on her knee with one hand, peels the straw out of its wrapper with the other, and pierces the foil seal with a no-nonsense flick of the wrist before holding it out to Jasper so he can (hopefully) clumsily clutch it between his football shaped bandaged hands.
[ The long silence that follows is just enough to make him think... maybe juicebox emergencies aren't the kind of thing he should be calling Shepard in for. Maybe somebody already in medical could've taken care of that. But it made sense in his head at the time; in trouble, call Shepard. Everything he told her about the spacecat hunt, the burns, and his sleep deprivation... it had all been nothing but him being side-tracked from accomplishing this goal. ]
Thanks.
[ He sits up again and takes it, clumsily indeed, balancing it more between his wrists than his hands. Finally, apple juice. He woke up so thirsty. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Whoa... this is really neat.
...
Oh, right. You said to contact you or the unit leads if I get in any kind of trouble.
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CALLING: SHEPARD, LYDIA
What the hell are you talking about?
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CALLING: KHEZEK, JASPER
It's alright, I think I'm fine now but my hands were all black. They gave me a buncha nanite shots and something to kill the pain and now I can't feel my face.
no subject
Were you in the corridors during the lock down? [A beat. Sharp.] Are you still in medical?
[Guess who's already heading in that direction...]
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I was huntin'. It didn't go so well. Those cats are-... Yeah I just woke up. They won't let me out till I sleep more, but I ain't tired.
[ He sounds so tired. ]
no subject
Cats--? Nevermind. I'll be there in five. I'm hanging up on you now.
[And she does - ends the call with a cheerful little chime from the blackglass. True to her word, five minutes later she's muscling her way into medical no matter who might not approve of the idea.]
no subject
I was so close to callin' you back-
[ He looks as tired as he sounds, and seems even more out of sorts in person. ]
no subject
She's never liked medical in any universe for a lot of good reasons.]
You look like shit, Khezek.
[Should sound like a joke, but isn't - her expression severely drawn.]
no subject
[ He takes it like a challenge. For a moment he looks himself over, but in his dazed head all he sees is white, white, and more white. From the sheets, the bandages, and... well, him. And something else when he glares blearily back up at Shepard. ]
Yeah well, you got four eyes.
[ Next he's reaching for her face with one of his wrapped hands to find out if they're real. ]
no subject
What happened and who were you with?
[Hard questions for someone who she currently assumes is high as a comm buoy on pain meds, but necessary ones.]
no subject
Cor... Cortana and the lady with the purple face mask. They set up a hell of a trap, but when it got set off it sprayed everyone with paint and glitter. The cat too, but it didn't get caught.
[ Ah, that explains the rosy tint in his hair. And the sparkle. ]
Akame and I chased it but it was dark. I hit it with Faerie Fire to make it visible but that's all I could do. When I tried throwin' fireballs at it, that little shit was fast! It was battin' them like toys!
[ Just remembering is enough to ignite his temper again. He sits all the way up, waving mittened hands in frustration as he acts out the motions of his last failed spell. ]
It made me so mad I tried castin' a fire spell with way too much juice behind it to make it more powerful, and it backfired in right my hands! Made them all black and red and it hurt like hell. Akame went after the cat then but she got scratched up. I held Faerie Fire long as I could but I dunno what happened to... to Lan-Levi and Fan? Or Levi-Fan and Lan...
[ When he looks back at Shepard, it's a look that expects her to have understood all that. But then his whole figure droops, even his ears, and he sways lightly where he sits. ]
I'm sorry, I shoulda listened to you.
no subject
[It's a guess, but even then it's a small kindness on her part. There's something sharp and low digging from up and under her ribs as she watches him, the lines of her face severe and set as if she doesn't feel it. His apology, when it comes, is met with a long beat of silence-- and then she shifts even further from the edge of the bed, pacing out the six strides to where she finds the first available stool in medical. She hefts it up without pretense, not bothering to roll it over, and sets it back down with a crisp metallic thud of the wheels on the deck flooring. She sits down directly bedside.]
Let me get this straight-- you're apologizing to me because you went out to track down the things killing people on the ship. Against my advice.
[There's no give in her expression, her gaze on him steady.]
no subject
No, that's not what you told me. You told me to get music from Garrus or earplugs from Medical so I could sleep. But I didn't, and went huntin' instead, and it was a huge mess. That's why I'm sorry.
[ So yes, the unconfused answer for her clarification is yes. ]
no subject
Was this a directive you volunteered for or something you came up with on your own?
[It seems like a valid question, the most obvious one to ask - she's gotten in trouble for assuming orders exist when they don't, that they're not in place when they are. Might as well clarify that much right off the bat.]
no subject
Volunteered. Red team organized it... I asked Kotetsu if I could join and he said yeah.
[ He had been clever enough to ask Hulldown Mom, because Hulldown Dad was more likely to say no. ]
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Then it's Kaburagi's problem. He should've told you no.
[Firm, absolute. They're short handed, don't have much intel, but that's no excuse to throw someone raw at the problem and hope for the best - not when they have plenty of recruits who are more well versed in combat and not when it's been proven that whatever was on the ship (cats?) was more than happy to gut someone.
It's irresponsible, stupid on a basic level. She should be more surprised than she is, but it's been a long couple of days and hearing about adults issuing orders with their hands over their eyes is starting to seem like CDC standard issue.]
no subject
Nah it's not. I didn't tell him I wasn't sleepin', didn't want him to know. I wanted to go after it. I know how to hunt, I've taken hundreds of monsters down, I can do it in my sleep. It shoulda been cake.
[ Oops. He winces at his own mention of cake. Angels, he's so out of it he's breaking his own rule about never mentioning cake again. He flops back against the pillow, defeated. ]
I'm never not sleepin' that long again.
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It's Kotetsu's job to keep tabs on his people, to know things like who hasn't been sleeping, to know them well enough to tell that kind of thing from just looking at them. It's not a big unit. To her mind - unfair as it is - it shouldn't be that hard.
Maybe some of that strict expectation shows in her face, but it isn't really meant for him. After a moment, Shepard sits back, scuffs the heel of her hand absently across the underside of her jaw.]
Probably a good plan. Next time I tell you to talk to someone, maybe think about doing it?
no subject
[ His ears droop more at the suggestion, the guilt for his own predicament weighing heavily on him. But a moment later they twitch and perk again as he remembers something. ]
Shepard? The reason I called you... you said to call if I'm in trouble, right?
[ He's repeating the question to be sure, because he can't remember if he asked it just a few minutes ago, (and he did, when he elbow-dialed her). He got side-tracked into explaining why he was in medical, but he actually didn't call her for that reason...
Apparently he's still in trouble. ]
wow thanks notif satan
I did. What's the matter?
[She's not going to say the Neheda's on board medical tech is so expansive that it could fix everything under the sun (though something the CDC has is - a thought she dismisses forcefully; better not to think about Blue's mission regardless of how many bodies they have piling up now; whatever had been used to bring those recruits back wasn't accessible to them now, so might as well forget about it) - but Jasper's hands at least looked like they were pretty well taken care of.
So then what was the issue?]
no subject
I can't get the straw in.
no subject
She balances it on her knee with one hand, peels the straw out of its wrapper with the other, and pierces the foil seal with a no-nonsense flick of the wrist before holding it out to Jasper so he can (hopefully) clumsily clutch it between his football shaped bandaged hands.
Okay. Sure.]
no subject
Thanks.
[ He sits up again and takes it, clumsily indeed, balancing it more between his wrists than his hands. Finally, apple juice. He woke up so thirsty. ]