The Silence After the Storm

[vrdr_mods]

The Ken Amada who made certain threats, whom Igor didn't bring to the Velvet Room and didn't welcome, has been permanently contained within his other-world self. Many of the Velvet Room residents mobilized in the effort to neutralize the threat he posed, and now, in the moments after the devastating battle that sealed Ken away, perhaps you have business to conclude.

Maybe you're a fighter, left in the rubble the battle made of its surroundings—or maybe you were a noncombatant this time, left behind to wonder what's happening or prepare for the aftermath. Maybe you linger around the battle site, or maybe you have other things to do.

Or maybe you didn't survive. Maybe you're one of the glowing forms slowly coalescing in front of Igor's desk in the Velvet Room over the course of the subsequent half hour. Igor presides over them gravely, with no sign of his usual smile. Near his desk sits a box of snacks, familiar to anyone who's used the operation's training room.

[[ooc: This post is a general catch-all for the aftermath of the battle! It's backdated to February 26, the day Ken got got.]]

Comments

[willowandoak]

Ren is already halfway to the training room door. He ducks inside and grabs one of the lawn chairs he put there when it first appeared, thankful for the second time today that he left all that stuff near the entrance. He only gets a good look at Joker's leg when he emerges again and hurries over.

"Shit, that looks nasty. Here." He unfolds the lawn chair behind Joker. "Do you need help sitting down? How the hell did all the healers miss you, man?"

[unfoggedlotus]

"They...didn't miss. I don't think." Ren's resolve lasts for a moment before he sits down, flopping backwards, putting all his weight on his hips. "I have...no ideas."

Moving his leg is pain. Not moving his leg is pain. His leg is just pain.

Tentatively, he grabs his leg and hefts it up to the chair.

[willowandoak]

"Oh, so it's like the thing with Dove." He frowns. Something obviously happened to heal Dove, but he doesn't actually know what it was.

He can probably find out. In the meantime: "You can't just drag it around behind you like that forever, you'll just fuck it up worse. How do you splint a broken leg, anyway..."

[unfoggedlotus]

"What I wouldn't give to know..." he lets out a shudder. "It hurts more. Now that I'm not moving." He screws his eyes up. "Fucking. Fuck."

[willowandoak]

This is a consequence of Ren's operation, so it's still his responsibility. "Okay. Just... sit tight. Don't stress about it. I'll figure something out. Maybe the hospital cognitions can handle a broken bone, or we can splint it ourselves. You want some painkillers in the meantime?"

[fogbornphantom]

Before long, Crow texts both Ren and Drake.

We're going to get a wheelchair, painkillers and materials for a splint. Hang in there.

Thank you for helping him, Drake.

[willowandoak]

Ren replies in the newly established group chat.

np
we already have the baby painkillers get the good shit

[unfoggedlotus]

"The kids...they can't see me like this..." a wave of guilt washes over him and he almost tries to stand up.

[willowandoak]

"Sit down," he says flatly. "Making it worse won't comfort the kids. We'll get you sorted out before you go home."

No one has ever accused him of having a good bedside manner.

[unfoggedlotus]

"Shitty bones." It's possible that this is the most Ren's sworn in front of non-boyfriend people and in non-intimate situations. "Skeletons are sketchy bastards."

[willowandoak]

"True." Half his attention is on his phone, where he's reading about how to splint a broken leg. "You wanna hear something cursed?" Too bad, because Ren is going to say it anyway. "Your bones are wet."

He looks up from his phone, eyeing Joker's injured leg.

[unfoggedlotus]

"They better fuckin' be, whatwith all the milk I've done dranken fer 'em."

[willowandoak]

He pauses for a second to consider that, and also to take in the change in Joker's accent. "Good point, actually... Give me one sec and then we can start looking at your leg." He opens the group chat again.

bring ice packs + cloth to wrap them in
or frozen peas or w/e

[fogbornphantom]

We already have the wraps. I'll make sure we get ice before we return.

Hang in there, darling. We're almost ready.

[unfoggedlotus]

Ren huffs and closes his eyes. "Hurts worse than a pig's eye...fuck."

[willowandoak]

"How bad does a pig's eye hurt? Actually, never mind."

He drops into a crouch in front of Joker. "So. To get at the break, we're gonna have to cut off your pant leg. It'll probably hurt, but all the other options are a lot worse. We don't have to get rid of the whole thing, just up to the knee or so. Are you good for me to do that now, or do you wanna wait for Crow or Hiro to do it?"

[unfoggedlotus]

"I ain't a Catholic...whore. Y'don'tgotta pay me." Ren nudges his leg towards Ren. "Rip it up, man. My leg isn't...fucken. Marriage-only material."

[willowandoak]

Normally, all of that would make Ren crack up. He's not exactly in the right mood right now, but he does breathe out a short, voiceless laugh as he pulls out his switchknife. "Okay, then."

He studies Joker's leg for a moment, then brings his knife to the hem and starts cutting. The knife is sharp, at least, and he's doing his best not to jostle Joker's leg. But it's impossible to keep it entirely still; he winces every time it shifts a little, even though it's not even his damn leg. Before long, though, he reaches Joker's thigh, just above the knee. He cuts a clean circle into the pant leg and lets the resulting rectangle of cloth fall open, revealing Joker's lower leg and its injury.

It sure does look like a broken leg. Damn. "And that's it, until Crow and Hiro get here."

[unfoggedlotus]

"Oh, god." Ren has to look away. "It looks like a broken leg. Jeee-ay-sus."

[fogbornphantom]

Before long, the Inaba door flies open, and out comes Hiro, wheeling along a wheelchair with wide, worried eyes. "Ren! We're here!"

Behind him, Crow wheels along a cart with proper wrappings, painkillers, alcohol and peroxide in case anything needs to be sanitized, an ice pack, and copious bottles of water.

"Thank you for helping him, Drake."

[willowandoak]

Ren stands up and takes a few steps back, giving way to Joker's boyfriends.

"No problem. I've been looking up how to deal with a broken leg." He shows Crow a glimpse of his phone. "Essentially, ice it for a while, then splint it, which... we'll unpack that one when we get there. Definitely don't try to set it ourselves, or he could end up with new, way worse problems.

"I was wondering if we could splint it and take him to a hospital. Like, I know cognitions are dumb as hell, but they're still cognitions. Setting a broken leg and putting it in a cast seems like something people would expect from hospital doctors."

[unfoggedlotus]

He reaches out to boyfriends. Fiancès. "I don't care. As long as I don't gotta move nowhere."

[fogbornphantom]

Goro moves swiftly, bringing the ice to Ren's leg and kneeling beside him. "It's all right. The wheelchair should make it easier to move around until you've healed."

Hiro, drooped over like a wilting flower, watches with a deep frown. "Should we ask Ken if he can help? His abilities are similar..."

[willowandoak]

"He seemed kinda..." He was still crying when Ren left, is what Ren is trying to say here. But he doesn't want to actually call Amada out on it after how much he sacrificed for the mission. "I dunno. I can text him, if you want? This is an emergency, he'll get it."

[unfoggedlotus]

"Muhhhhh." He grits his teeth against the pain. "Painkillers first."