[IMPIRUIL BAILE] Injured Kitty

[Brody]

At this late hour, the center of town is all but deserted. Oh, there are the usual stragglers coming home from the bar, a few romantics enjoying the starlight, and curiously an artist with an easel. Tourist, probably. Not a tourist is the Kethren who’s leaning back in one of the benches with a calico kitten-ferret on his head. They’re both enjoying the view of the lamp flowers. The macrame owl wearing guard in the back may be enjoying it, but it doesn’t show. He always looks cranky. The white tiger sitting by the bench doesn’t look cranky. No more than usual, anyway.

Grumbling, the tall green goat lady comes wandering into the are, head shaking as she peers at her tablet. Coming along behind her is the almost ever present orangutan, huffing and grunting as he looks around. It appears she’s either ditched her guard, or gotten rid of him only to be replaced by the big orange guy.

And cranky does not begin to describe the Demarian that comes from the nearest edge of town, his coat is torn at the left sleeve, dried blood and matted fur sticking out from beneath. His left arm hangs somewhat limply at his side. He has a large pack and a bunch of equipment and heavy weapons slung over his right shoulder, and its weight seems to be telling on the immense felinoid after what has most likely been an extremely long walk. His ears lay flat on his head with the effort of the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.

Kethren doesn’t notice Aina coming in yet, but he does notice the beat up demarian, and discretely pushes a thing on his pda to summon up some hospital staff. More obvious is the friendly wave given the large passer by. “Evenin there… er, need some help?”

Aina shakes her head again, then blinks and looks up as something flashes on the screen of her tablet, “Oh dear…” The tablet is put away as she heads toward the injured Demarian, “What happened? Have a seat and I can try to take care of some of that, if you like. The big guy here and take your stuff.” She’s digging around in pockets now, searching for medical items, which, yes, she has crammed in a few

The Cliffwalker doesn’t seem in any condition to put up a fight. He allows the straps over his shoulder to just drop with a clatter. He himself sinks to Kethren’s bench with a grimace. “I know you ….” he says to Kethren, wincing slightly, “Not entirrrely ssurrrre what it ….” He falls silent, nodding gratefully to the Hekayti.

Kethren looks over at the apparently wounded visitor as he scratches the tiger at his other side “…You do seem a bit familiar. Not sure from where, though. Anyrate, I’m Kethren… among other duties that have fallen on my shoulders, I designed this city.” Aina gets a pleased nod for the medical doings.

Aina flashes Kethren a quick smile, then she motions to the big guy, “Grab his stuff, and be careful.” With a huff the orangutan steps up, scoops up the dropped items, then moves away. Aina moves to crouch infront of the injured male, head tilting slightly as she looks at his left arm, hands gingerly reaching out to examine it a bit closer, “I’m Aina. What happened?” She glances at Kethren, “You sent for help, yes? I don’t have much with me…”

“Sship crrrasshed in the mountains,” Razorback says, straining somewhat as he shrugs out of the ruined coat. His left sleeve is almost torn off and the slash on his shoulder is almost eight inches long. A closer inspection would reveal a glint of metal sticking out of the clotted blood and matted black fur.

Kethren winces “Ohhh, terrible place to crash. There are worse, but I daresay you’ve got a good handle on why we tell people to not wander around past the city. But no, not blaming you for a crash… glad you made it here in one piece.” Aina gets a nod “Unless you cancelled the call, they should be here pretty quickly.” And on cue, here come a couple of medics with the usual accoutrements.

Aina frowns as she listens, and once the jacket is removed she leans closer, then without asking she tears the shirt away as carefully as she can, “Good grief…” She turns back to the big guy, motions him closer, then has him turn, so she can open a compartment in his back. After searching for a moment she pulls out what look like a pair of jewelry glasses. Turning back to Razorback she puts said glasses on and leans closer, one hand adjusting the lenses while she digs in a pocket with the other hand, “Ok…It looks like there’s something in your arm. Can you hold still while I try to get it? And please, don’t pass out…I’d hate to shove it further in rather than get it out.”

“I think … I can manage that,” the massive Demarian says. He puts his right paw on the back of the bench and holds on. “I thought about rrremoving it mysself,” he says, “But it sseems to have helped sstop the bleeding.”

Kethren nods “Makes sense.”

Aina pulls out a pair of rather large tweezers and leans in just a bit closer before she goes about trying to remove the shiny thing, “I promise I won’t let you bleed to death before the medics get here.” She flashes a brief smile, then digs in another pocket with the hand that’s not digging in his arm, “Kethren, we should probably have a team go out and retrieve his ship. We don’t want it sitting out there too long.”

“Not much left of it,” Razorback says. He winces a bit as Aina makes contact with the shrapnel, but he keeps silent, his ears flattening even more tightly against his skull.

Kethren nods as he opens up a comms line again “Alright guys, I know Xan’s more the boss of engineering than me, but I need a team of volunteers to go into the mountains and retrieve a crashed ship… Yes you can have guards! We pay those guys a retainer for good reason you know. If it’s repairable, fly it back. If not collect whatever’s salvageable. Yes, yes, the planet will take care of minor scraps, no need to bring dust busters along.” It must have been a draining call, the architect has started to rub the bridge of his nose. The ser on his shoulder has resumed her old act of mimicking him.

Aina shakes her head slightly, “Just make sure they pick up as many pieces as possible.” She manages to get ahold of the shrapnel, and begins to carefully extract it, “Sorry if it hurts…I don’t have any pain medication on me. The medical team should be here soon.” There’s a bit of squeaking and chittering atop her head, and suddenly there’s a ball of fur zipping toward Kethren, “Careful, you two…Ghost doesn’t like the blood, Kethren. Watch them for a bit?”

Claws slip out of their sheathes on the paw that is on the back of the bench next to Kethren, and they dig right into the material of the seat. A hint of a growl rumbles from the Cliffwalker’s throat, but he makes eye contact with Aina long enough to give her a reassuring nod.

Those medics have snuck up behind Aina. They’re just waiting for room to do whatever it is that medics do. Keth meanwhile reaches up to gently scratch the new arrivals on his head. “Alright, calm down you guys. Aina just needs to take care of our crashed visitor first. Things’ll be fine… fine, we’ll get some french fries later. What is it with you guys and those things?”

Aina smiles briefly at the nod, then plucks the shard from his arm in one quick, smooth motion. Thanks to the grunting of the orangutan, Aina is made aware of the medics, and as soon as she has the piece freed, she’s up and moving aside, “Alright, take it easy with him. Get his arm bandaged up. I’ll be by later to check on him.” She flashes Razor another smile, “They’ll take care of you, but I’ll be by later to check up on you, alright? I promise they’ll take the best care of you, and when we get your ship back, I’ll look at it, and then put it somewhere safe untill you can check it for yourself. And your items the big guy has, I’ll keep them on my ship, and when you want them back, you let me know.” With that, the medics move in to start their work.

Razorback’s not in any shape to argue with any of that. “My thankss,” he says, dipping his head slightly towards Aina as the medics go about their business. His sleeve is torn off, revealing several white markings in his fur. Scar tissue most likely. His forearm has a collection that resembles a bite mark.

Kethren scratches that tiger at his side a bit “Do yell if you need something.”

Aina removes the glasses and watches the medics as they work, then sighs as she glances at Kethren, “Well, haven’t had something that exciting happen for a while. Suppose I should go clean up and store his stuff…” The medics go about getting Razor onto a stretcher, whether he likes it or not, to take him to the hospital.

[Author]

Posts