Chapter 2

[thenine]

Who: OTA
Where: Quad
When: Week 2, Day 5 - Week 4, Day 6
Summary: Chapter 2 prompts!
Restrictions/Warnings: Violence, blood, et cetera. For anything surpassing 'R' on a rating scale, please create your own log.
Notes: Please title your subject line in the following format -- Open / Closed | Date. OOC event information can be found here.

Quick Navigation
The Nine
The Company
Westies
True Leithians
Leith
Resistance
The RAC

The Nine: Poisoned Well

With the heir delivered and Lady Derrish returning to health, balance has been maintained amongst the Nine. Swift and efficient - and, some would say, unbelievable - medical attention administered may have steadied the Lady's life, but for those in the ruling houses, the atmosphere of tenuous peace only grows thicker. Land Kendry has launched an investigation - with particular focus on Land Hyponia - into the source of the 'attack' on Lady Derrish's health. Of course, that is only the surface, and some suggest, with hushed voices, that there may be more to Land Kendry's goals than to weed out an assailant. Land Hyponia has long since been in support of maintaining the Seventh Generation Accords, which it defends staunchly against any opposition. One of the most agitated among those in disagreement with the Accords is Land Kendry. Now is the perfect opportunity for them to rearrange the pieces in their favor, and with the information they've fabricated, they'll be able to replace the head of Land Hyponia with someone who is - at least hopefully - more pliable to their agenda. The Derrish have their own suspicions, the cure surfacing all too conveniently timed to have been a coincidence. When Land Kendry's investigation procures evidence pointing to Land Hyponia as the culprits, inflaming the crime with implied - yet vague - ties to the resistance, the Derrish publically accept the accusation. Behind closed doors, the solution seemed to have come as uncannily easily as the cure, and suspicions only rise. But for now, the two houses remain allied - ready to use one another for their own interests. For those among the nobility, it's the time to reevaluate alliances, assuring the old and gathering the new. The more support you have, the safer you are - unless, of course, you chose the wrong friend. Some turn to other members of the nobility, some to the RAC for hired guards, some to the Company to mandate investigations unsuitable for Killjoys, and some may even turn to the underbelly of society to accomplish anything necessary to stay on top. Or to simply stay alive.

The Company: Cleaning House

There will be no accolades, and no rest, for the hard working Company officials following the response to the True Leithan attacks. Assignments shift from one thing to the next, moving from bureaucratic nightmare to bureaucratic nightmare. While there’s always busy work to distract from the intrigue behind the scenes, it’s not liable to be any safer. Some officials will be charged with maintaining peace and order on Leith, as the outbreak of a pandemic slowly spreads over the moon. From helping the afflicted find their way to a place of treatment, to safe and efficient body disposal—burning corpses by the hundreds—to attempting to track down the source of the virus, it's best anyone assigned here take heed ‘lest they find themselves falling ill as well. Westerley, on the other hand, is a different kind of headache. With Harvest Week in swing, most company officials will be reaching for a drink of their own at the end of their shifts. Rowdy workers celebrating their time off, spending their hard earned Joy frivolously, and citizens whisked away by the atmosphere of celebration all mingle throughout Old Town. Property damage, fighting, less than subtle illegal activity, and crowding all become more of an issue than they usually are during this time. It's the perfect setting to lay down the law, or to not be noticed by it. On top of it all, each and every member of the Company's workforce can expect to have their documents double and triple-checked. Those with any suspected ties to Leith are likely to undergo a more serious investigation. One-on-one interrogations become common practice, and whether you're trusted or suspect, you may come face to face with a companion in your duties. True Leithan sympathizers are what the Company review is after, but anything else unturned will surely not be ignored. Cover your bases.

Westies: Harvest Week

Harvest week is in full swing throughout Westerley - visa workers have been shuttled back in droves from their time on Leithian farms, many of whom were willing to take some of their observations to information brokers for a price. Most had superficial information to sell (the state of unease on the average farm due to the impending Accords, the increased suspicion that the migrant workers were forced to endure, the fear of retaliation by the rebellion for the True Leithian attacks), others with reports of increased security and weapons caches on the farms of those whose sympathies lie with the “heroes” of the attack in Old Town. Old Town, however, is even more of a chaotic mesh of humanity with the mass influx of returning bodies. Bars stay busy day and night, the hokk and ale flow almost faster than most can keep up, and many Enforcers and Killjoys alike can make a good bit of extra joy (or free drinks) by moonlighting as security at the more popular locations. Despite all of the fun to be had, there is still the undercurrent of unrest, because Company checks have increased even more and Intake has become a revolving door of petty criminals being held for the smallest infractions. Everyone is on edge as the Resistance grumbles and the Nine search the shadows for something or perhaps someone. The unrest only worsens once Leith is placed under quarantine. And through it all, criminal activity is on the rise. Somehow, despite the strict regulation and transport of migrant workers, there is an increased access to Jakk and Bliss. Norn has an ever growing market, and weapons dealers are in high demand both in Eulogy and by private buyers alike. Something is brewing beneath the revelry, and no one wants to be caught unable to defend themselves, it seems. Not that any amount of firepower can defend against disease when P43X shows up on W3D7--but it can certainly make the symptoms worse.

True Leithians: Second Stage

Wounded and pressed to a corner, the beast rears its head and bares a maw of teeth and ruthless pursuit. The True Leithian organization does not take pause to mend wounds left in the wake of last week’s retaliation, no. They do not seek the comfort of safe haven and recovery. Instead they turn their anger and fear inward, sacrificing their own for what they believe to be the greater good. On Week 2, Day 6, three individuals slip into the crowds of Leith, mingling with the revelers and the families celebrating Harvest Week. They share smiles and laughter, they share conversation and drinks, but most importantly, they share infection. Each of the three is responsible for disseminating P43X, a viral bioweapon designed by Zan Nikora on behalf of the military in years past. During its conception, the aim of P43X was simple: to create a weapon which could demoralize and destabilize an entire population within a matter of days. To create madness that builds in the blood and eats into the brain, spreading through every tier of society. And though its use has long been out of commission, its engineer has lingered. Zan Nikora, kidnapped and held under threat of death not to himself but to those he holds dearest, is made to choose between the lives of his family on Westerley or the strangers on Leith. His choice is obvious, though far from easy. Reassembling the buried curse takes time, supplies, and testing. He is provided amply with the last two but scarcely with the first. But still he complies. When his madness maker is complete and his existence becomes a potential loose end, it’s not freedom that Zan Nikora tastes, but the poison of his own medicine. Only once the voices in his head have risen above whispers and turned to screams, when his mind can no longer hold secrets worth sharing, does he see his family again. It takes six days*. Six days and Zan Nikora stumbles through Old Town, eyes unseeing, mind riddled with disease—infection spreading. Mod Note: *W3D6. Cure and vaccines will be developed and disseminated beginning on W4D3, but will not be fully administered to all locations until W4D5.

Leith: Pocket Posies

Harvest Week in Leith marks a period of joy and relief. Bazaars are open longer, the ordinary bustle of the business day replaced with celebration and festivities throughout the evening hours. Vendors offer games for adults and children alike, the sky is a constant wash of soft pinks, purples, and greens from holographic firework shows, and music fills the air from different stages. All walks of life are welcome to join in the merriment, just so long as they have the right to be there. Anyone suspected of an invalid visa or citizenship papers are dealt with harshly, but quietly. Tucked away into the darkness of a holding cell like all of Leith’s more problematic elements. It is a time of peace and relief, this week, and they will not abide disruption. But within the hallowed days of celebration, a sickness grows, incubating. Spreading. First, it begins with an ache deep within the muscles. The body tires too quickly, the flesh burns with a blanket of rising fever. Whispers skirt at the edge of hearing, unintelligible but audible, filling the audio cortex with illusions and lies. Food loses its appeal, though the body yearns dearly for energy it cannot hold, and breathing becomes tighter, harder. Next the tide of high fevers, of lethargy. The brain devolves into paranoia and mania, the mind races with delusions and hallucinations. Pain follows, a pain that seems to emanate from every nerve without relief or pause, seeping through the muscles and aching within the very bones of a person. Some may wish for death, and for many, that wish will be granted in an unending sleep when the fatigue pulls darkness across the mind, plunges the last thoughts of a person into static slumber. But not all will succumb so readily, and therein is the weakness that ultimately shelved P43X during its initial creation. Its impacts are not uniform—while much of the population suffers dearly, most are sustained with timely medical interventions, and many others recover with the prowess of their own immune system. For Leith, bountiful in money and supplies, most of P43X’s more fatal properties are circumvented or delayed. But even in this lush world of affluence and peace, there are the poor, the underprivileged, and the weak. They are not afforded the same haste of care, the same salvation. Instead, they’re given graves of sanitizing fires, and their bodies turn to ash.

Resistance: Sleeping Dogs

The chaos of the festivities that go along with Harvest Week provides the perfect cover for the Resistance to begin moving once again. New cells need to be formed in the wake of so many executions and new members need to be recruited. Info brokers with Resistance-leaning sympathies have an opportunity to make a little extra joy by putting the disconnected sympathizers in contact with one another, aiding the vetting of Company insiders that need new handlers within the organization. For Resistance members already embedded within, they need to work now to find new locations to store what supplies remain and to begin rebuilding the stockpiles of weapons and supplies re-confiscated by the Company. Some may have heard of abandoned mines or facilities that can be retrofitted out in the Badlands while others are needed to track down rumors of Company made fallout shelters located within the under-city tunnels. For this, Company moles are essential - the only hope of accessing these shelters is with long forgotten Company passcodes. And the Scarbacks, well. Everyone’s heard rumors that there are many within their ranks willing to help with recruitment and contraband transportation, though there’s little the Company can do to restrict their movements at this time. Because of this, Scarbacks may also be the only ones that have a chance of getting into Leith once the quarantines go into effect. Those already aligned with the rebellion will be tasked with coordinating supply movements, making a deal or three with the devil on behalf of those unwilling to back down from the promises of the Accords. Caution and purpose should drive their movements because if the True Leithian attack is any indication… those nationalists are not going to let go of their precious land and status without a long, bloody fight.

The RAC: Holding Pattern

Warrants still flow in with a regular consistency - enough to keep the average team or agent quite busy. Every harvest season there are visa jumpers that need to be caught and low-level warrants claiming petty theft from farms by Westie migrants. The increasing number of disturbances and crimes in Old Town guarantee a plethora of local warrants to capture criminals across the moon or those that managed to escape an Enforcer’s arrest. Some, however, have either been requested by Seyah Kendry herself or volentold by their seniors within the RAC to conduct investigations into the attack on the Nine. And not all of these investigations are on the Lady’s behest. Some of the Nine aren’t quite willing to take Land Kendry’s word as law and have quietly requested their own investigations into the attack in Old Town and the Land Derrish misfortunes. (MOD NOTE: There will be a comment thread for teams to sign up for the specialized plot related warrants on the monthly warrant post, located HERE. Once teams have posted for a plot warrant, the mods will give them a location and focused assignment.)

Comments

OTA & Closed prompts ❃ Dates vary

[lotusmesenpai]

❃ Old Town | The Royale or Favorite Bar/place for moonlighting |Anytime between W2D6 - W3D2

[Truth be told, Kanda both looks forward to and dreads Harvest Week, every time. It's a good stress relief, spending their downtime in Old Town during the festivities - free hokk, and a steady flow of new scuffles with the locals that get too drunk and forget that a pretty face and a short temper happen to be an exceptionally volatile combination.

And this year is no different.

Reaching the door, Kanda shoves the drunken idiot towards the door and then delivers a hard kick to the man's chest, sends the bastard tumbling out into the street. Once there, the so-called patron is no longer his problem, and so he turns and threads his way right back to the bar, slides into the seat there.

He frowns when the bartender sets the shot glass down before him with a flirt (ignored) and a smile (also ignored).]

It's always worse on nights you give sexter discounts.

[That earns him a laugh and an offer of an extra half off if Kanda wanted to partake in their ample services, before the man drifts off to help an actual, paying customer. Shaking his head, Kanda's gaze cuts to the person beside him, the scowl settling back in place.]

...the fuck you want?


❃ Leith Bazaar | Afternoon W3D3 - W3D5

[What should have been a simple transport warrant turned out to be anything but. It had been... disorienting, to say the least, had given Kanda the brief fear that he'd succumbed to whatever has been sweeping its way through Leith. Reality had, for once, been stranger than his usual hallucinations and so (for now) he dismisses the worry. Instead, he makes his way through the bazaar - less crowded now, with the fear of falling ill, but still some brave souls wandering about.

One stop at their warrant broker and another at a small cafe and store. Here, he sits at the open veranda, eating a fresh order of soba while he waits for the clerk to gather the list of items he'd requested.

It's time, they think, to retreated from the cities and find a good patch of forest to hunker down in, until the worst of this subsides.

For now, though, he waits. Care to join him?]

❃ Kara Z.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Necessity means Kanda and Lavi both have gotten pretty efficient at emergency patching of things on Noah - at least until they can dock at intake and get Kara in to actually fix whatever went bad. But in this case... well, it's not so much that something has broken.

More like, something has been battered until it was incapable of working any more.

So here he is, ducking through the entrance to her shop, his hand holding one very scorched and abused targeting orb in his hand.

He doesn't see her at first, and so he stops mid-way into the place, glances around as he calls out.]

Oy, Lin! Where you at?

[Hopefully she won't get too mad about the damage - he hadn't meant to set the stun settings so high the last time he'd trained with it, but it had definitely been high enough to fry the little machine...]

[crisised]

[ she'd been in the back portion of the shop, the part she lived in, eating. when she comes out into the front of the shop, she's carrying her bowl of mac 'n cheese with her. ]

Right here, what's wro--oh my god. [ the bowl gets put down on the countertop without a second thought, and linda reaches out for the orb. ] What did you do to it?

[lotusmesenpai]

[Where most people get a hard scowl and irritation, Linda gets a faintly sheepish look and a halfhearted shrug as he reaches up to push his bangs out of his face.]

...A training accident?

[As in, he'd nearly blown it to pieces. After hours of similar training, daily, for several weeks now.

Glancing from her to the bowl, he arches a brow and nods to her food.]

You can fix it, right - after you eat? [Because that yellow stuff looks like it'd taste like crap cold.]

[crisised]

[ linda dismissively waves a hand in the general direction of her dinner, mind completely focused on the potential project in front of her. ]

It's fine, that'll keep. Let me take a closer look at this.

[ she turns the orb over and over again in her hands, inspecting it. after a moment, her eyes seem to unfocus a little and the blue of her iris almost seems to glow as she uses her powers to take a closer look at the inner workings of the thing. ]

You gave it a hell of a beating, but I should be able to fix it. Dealing with the casing-- [ she taps at a scorch mar. ] Isn't necessary right this minute to get this thing functioning again, but that should probably be taken care of at some point too.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Standing there, he wants to point out that particular shade of yellow-orangeish is not a color for anything that tries to classify itself as food, but it's not really his business if she wants to eat food that looks like it belongs in a biohazard containment canister.

He watches her, some part of him curious at just what her 'enhancements' were that allowed her to see inside of the little piece of tech - but as always, he doesn't ask.

He knows all too well that sometimes, these little gifts were neither little nor things people wanted to talk about. Instead, he just shrugs and waves a hand at the orb.]

If you've got what you need to fix the casing, go ahead. I'd rather take care of it all at once, instead of bits and pieces here and there. How long will it take?

[crisised]

[ she makes a thoughtful noise and chews on her bottom lip. what does she have in the back...? enough for the casing and definitely enough to replace that fried bit. probably enough for that one, too. and... ]

A couple hours, give or take, since I've got nothing else waiting for me tonight.

[ you know. except for plans to go out. but money and keeping repeat customers happy > partying. ]

You wanna stick around or go see the sights while I fix this for you?

[lotusmesenpai]

I'll wait.

[What would Kanda know about partying - even when he does go to bars, it's usually to work. A drink here and there in between throwing too drunk idiots out the doors. Which is also why he shrugs and moves to sit on a counter nearby, all set to settle in.

Legs and arms crossed, he cants his head to the side as he watches her.]

What's to see? It's the same shit moon today as it was yesterday.

[crisised]

It's Harvest Week. Kind of a big deal here. Lots of celebrating going on outside.

[ she gestures to the outside world as she speaks, but she's distracted, already taking apart the orb with her other hand. talking and working is a thing she can manage. but don't expect her to look up any time soon. ]

Then again, you don't really strike me as the partying type.

❃ Itsuki

[lotusmesenpai]

[Personal deals aside, being drunk and annoying in a bar where Kanda's having to play bouncer? Not the best combination - especially when it happens to be a man that Kanda's already all too used to punching out.

Which is why, late into his shift, he walks over to a certain annoying info broker and clamps a firm hand over the man's shoulder, glares down at him while the lady he'd been talking to used the moment to slip away.

(Kanda's reputation here tends to precede him. Most are smart enough to get out of the line of fire when he's sporting this particular glare.)

Now, however, he arches a brow down at the man... and tightens his grip slightly.]

...Isn't it about time you left, brat? If you can even fucking walk.

❃ Kara | W3D6

[lotusmesenpai]

[With Lavi sleeping more than usual and switchboard starting to fry, he decides to take the time needed for Noah to be refueled to meet with Kara in the tunnels not too far from Intake - not the ones the Company monitors due to proximity, but the ones further down, where few besides the Company dogs don't bother to tread.

It's closer for him than her, if she's coming from Eulogy, and so he arrives a good bit before her, so he slips into a vaulted chamber, empty and dank, and moves to sit on a fallen colonnade to wait.

Places like this under the city... it makes him wonder what Westerley had been like, before Company mining had stripped most of the land, turned it into a toxic waste, because while the architecture is simple, there's an elegance to the former water reservoir that belies it's underground function. If anything, it reminds him of--

(of a chamber that leads down, further and further, dark and foreboding, to guard something precious. He can see the rails surrounding the octagonal room, can see a shadowed form, a serpentine shape that whispers of the familiar, warning.

Warning.)

Pushing to his feet again, Kanda half turns, blue eyes wide as he stares.

(Behind him, he can see an older man, his glasses askew, indigo hair a mess. He can see two others, watches as their flesh darkens, watches as their bodies crack and turn to ash. He can smell the death, the cloying fear in the older man.)

"Komui? And Yu! Thank god you're alive!"

Lavi's voice, calling him, the concern and relieve a bright echo. There's a sword in his hand, now, and a flag pole in Lavi's. Back to back, Kanda reminds Lavi that he doesn't have to do this and Lavi's words, his 'once again' is echoed by that winged thing.

Weapons raised, they stand their ground.

And here, alone, Kanda lifts his hands, a long knife held in a sure grip, a substitute for a sword seen only by his feavered mind as he prepares to fight.]

It's here, Lavi.

[This is what greets Kara, upon her arrival. The killjoy fading into the Exorcist, so lost in delusion that he cannot see her. Only the nightmare finally breaking through. ]

[valr]

[It's been a long month, and Kara is feeling on edge enough between the shit with the Leithians and now this spreading sickness that she's been keeping her sword around her waist, just in case. She doubts she'll need it for a simple meeting with Kanda to swap some information, but the tunnels are never completely safe.

She makes the trip as quick as possible, thugh she isn't surprised to see Kanda already waiting when she arrives, knowing the distance she had to cover was greater.

What she is surprised to see is a knife in Kanda's hand and his body tensed to fight.]

The fuck is this?

[He's not the type to lure her into a trap, or at least she hopes not.]

[lotusmesenpai]

[Face flushed and sweat trickling down his back, the seal on his chest burning tendrils of fire through his body as it continues to repair the damage from the last attack, he can hear Lenalee and that man up in the parapet, hear him pressuring her to reclaim her Innocence, even as the level four steps further into the room. He takes a step back as it (Kara) advances and Lavi, always good at reading his moves, goes with him.

Careful to keep his gaze on the akuma as it laughs and taunts them, he half turns to shout back at Komui in annoyance.]

Do you hear that, you damned sister complex?! Why did you come here? The Pope's dog is up there, alone with your sister. Are you gonna stand there and let her face him alone, or you gonna get the fuck up there?

["He's going to force her to resonate with her Innocence again, Komui. And she'll do it, to protect you." Lavi's voice is terse, holds nothing back as they stand their ground.

"I don't think I have the right--" Komui tries to protest, his hesitation quickly cut off by Kanda's annoyance.]

I'm sick of all of you talking. Get off your ass and do something. That's why you're fucking here, isn't it?!

[At least, that's the world Kanda's immersed in.

Beyond his fevered mind, however... he's carrying on quite the shouted argument, with himself.]

[valr]

[The rambling is what clues her in to the situation; she's been paying attention to the news and whispers about the illness that's spreading through Old Town, along with the madness that comes with it.

Kara takes a half step back, shifting her weight so she's ready to move depending on how Kanda reacts.]

Kanda, it's Kara, you're hallucinating. Pull it together.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Calm words and a calming visage - and yet, all Kanda sees is a manic laugh and the flutter of wings, the flash of an impending attack. He spares Komui one last glare, snarls out:] Just go!

[Before he and Lavi both leap forward to meet the attack head one.

It's automatic, the way he sidesteps in front of the other Exorcist, to take the brunt of that blast and protect a friend from the fatal infection of the akuma's virus, before leaping up to lash out with a hard kick towards the monster's knee, follows it with a sweeping sword strike.

He just has to hold out long enough for reinforcements to make their way down here, for other exorcists - ones with access to their innocence, unlike he and Lavi. For now, all he can do is all he's ever done.

Fight.]

[valr]

[Getting into a fight with a hallucinating Kanda isn't exactly on top of the list of Kara's plans, but she can't just leave him, not if the infection is going to get worse.

So she doesn't have a whole lot of options but to hop back when Kanda leaps forward, drawing her sword to meet the knife he's wielding. She shoves her weight forward, hoping to knock him off balance.]

Damnit, Kanda, don't you have nanites for this shit?

[lotusmesenpai]

[The nanites are the main reason the worst of the physical symptoms - the fever, the chills, the lethargy, etc - aren't hitting him as bad as most people infected.

The psychological effects, though?

He's already sporting a cracked mind, one already all too used to hallucination. It's only now that hallucination slips into delusion, because until now he's always known that the things he's started to see aren't real.

There are no pale pink flowers falling from the sky or blanketing the ground around him.

There is no woman's laughter, light and melodic, or a boy's indignant squacking there to twist his heart.

But here and now?

Now there is a level four akuma before him, threatening to tear them all apart and Kanda... this is what he does.

He fights and he fights, and he never stops.

So when the blow throws Lavi back, hard enough to slam nearly through a wall, leaves the other Exorcist in a crumpled heap, Kanda's expression sets even as he presses forward again, sword flicking in sure, firm strokes.

It might not be his Innocence, but it's still a weapon. He can still use it until he, or it, breaks.

Even if, beyond his fevered mind, he's the one that brought a knife to a sword fight, doesn't see the almost-friend he's attacking with relentless determination.]

[valr]

[Killing him is off the cards; he's not quite a friend, but he certainly isn't an enemy and he's not seeing reality right now, which means she's left with "disarm" as her main option. She's not entirely above hurting him, though she'd rather avoid it if she can.

So she blocks his strikes without delivering her own, wondering whether or not she'd be able to wait him out, because she knows her own stamina but not Kanda's. There's also the minor problem of whether or not the infection might get worse. She might need to get him to a doctor.

After a few minutes of nothing but blocking, Kara realizes the quickest solution to this problem.

Kanda lunges forward and rather than knocking his knife aside, Kara lets him land the blow, wincing as the knife pierces her shoulder. With her free hand, she grabs his wrist, then slams the pommel of her sword against his head, hoping to knock him out cold.]

@ some bar somewhere

[eleutheron]

[ Fenris drinks Gorudo, and he's mid-swig when Kanda turns to him and snaps. He raises a dark eyebrow, then glances back towards the recently used entrance. ]

Are you looking for another fight?

[ Because if not, you'd better calm down, mister. ]

[lotusmesenpai]

Huh?

[Blinking, he realizes belatedly that 1) it's Fenris beside him and 2) he can see both of the other man's hands.

Which means he doesn't own the one trailing fingers along his lower back. Glancing to the other side, he practically growls at the drunk there. ]

I will break them off and shove 'em up your ass. Sideways.

[The hand disappears and the idiot scrambles away before he turns back to Fenris with an exasperated sigh.]

Fuckers. This is why I hate harvest week.

[eleutheron]

[ Fenris's left arm is bound up with bandages (tinged rust-red and probably in need of changing soon); these become visible as he shifts in his stool, such that he's facing Kanda directly. He nods wearily. ]

All decency crumbles in the face of free time and cheap drinks.

[lotusmesenpai]

[He snorts in agreement, and then frowns as the unmistakable scent of blood, that familiar rusty metallic tinge in the air greets him.

Glancing down, he nods to the other's arm, then turns a critical gaze on the other for the first time, really taking in the weary cast to his expression there to highlight the injury.]

...You look like shit. What the hells happened to you?

[eleutheron]

Bar brawl.

[ Speaking of decency.

He touches the bandages gingerly, his care belying the otherwise stoic expression on his face. ]

Not the first time this week, either.

[lotusmesenpai]

[draining his glass, he considers the man beside him from the corner of his eye.

Because while he had no trust in the Company and even less to those that blindly claim loyalty to the Nine... this man had helped protect someone that had almost been a friend, once.

It's enough, at least to have him turning to cut Fenris a sidelong glance, his gaze dropping down to assess those bandages once more before he nods decisively.]

C'mon. We're not far from Intake's docking bay. My ship's there and I can damn sure guarantee that my med-bay is better stocked than anyplace you'll find on this shit moon.

[He's never liked having debts, and so far as he's concerned... this is a good way to start clearing one with this man.]

[eleutheron]

[ If Fenris had the wherewithal, he could have dragged himself to a Company facility. But he's aching, half-drunk, and not about to turn down a more convenient helping hand.

So--wincing--he shoves off from the bar. ]

Lead the way.

[ Blood oozes beneath the bandages as he moves, and a few drops spill onto the dirty bar floor. Fenris mutters. ]

Quickly.