deercountry | Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck

[Keith hadn't been home when Shiro initially went out, but noting that his brother was missing got a small nudge in the back of his mind from the Black Lion about the hoverbikes. Ah... so that's where he was.

Keith went to go look, and noticed that Shiro's was already gone, so he started his up and headed towards the beach. It was the one place in Trench where a person could really open up the throttle and get some speed.

Except, when Keith got there, he spotted the bike, riderless, but running, hovering an inch or two off the black sand, and two people laying on the ground several yards away. Well, not laying... not both of them. THAT WAS CONCERNING. He recognized them after a moment and banked his bike in their direction, bringing it in close, fast, but without incident. He almost didn't wait for it to land before he was jumping off to see what had happened.]

What the quiznak happened?! [Yeah, okay, so he wasn't very good at hiding his panic sometimes...]

[No, this is a pristine opportunity to panic. Min is panicking. Anyone would be panicking.

But small mercies when he calls for help and someone appears not long after. On a hover bike, no less. Turns out it's probably the best person to have shown up, too.

Min looks pale and wired when Keith arrives, eyes flashing neon purple (but that's crazy, right, must be the moonlight).]

Keith! Thank god, we were on the bike and then we were off the bike and Shiro hit his head.

[Which is putting it all very mildly but this isn't about him and what he did wrong, right now. This is about Shiro being hurt.]

Do we call an ambulance? Are there ambulances here?!

No! There are no ambulances here!

[Keith yanked off his own goggles, tossing them aside for the moment as he crouched down to do a quick assessment of any other injuries Shiro might have in order to determine if it would be safe to move him. The 'unconscious' thing was kind of obvious.]

Are you hurt? [This was directed at Min-Gi, even if Keith wasn't looking at him.] What happened that you fell off?

[This was Shiro, after all. There was no way he'd just fall off his hoverbike.]

I don't think so,

[Murmured as he scuttles back to get out of Keith's way but stay close enough to help if he can. Last time Min got hit in the head he got a concussion and force quit back into squid form, but he seems to have all his arms and legs right now so... so far so good.

The second question gives him more pause.]

We were doing tricks and whatever.. got weighted on one side and lost control.

[Keith didn't immediately look up, figuring that if Min-Gi was at least awake and talking, that was a good sign. He also seemed to be able to move, so Keith would look him over later once they were sure Shiro was okay. It could just be a bad knock to the head. Keith had been through that himself... twice... recently... so he definitely could understand that. Satisfied that there didn't seem to be any major injuries elsewhere, Keith gently checked Shiro's eyes for signs of an actual concussion and to see if there were any signs that they might have to get him to the Luminary or something. (Though, really... that place was terrible...)]

You were doing tricks and lost control... [Keith's tone was flat as he finally did look at Min-Gi.] Shiro... lost control... of his hoverbike?

[Yeah, Keith's not so sure about that one.]

He.. maybe.. wasn't the one driving.

[Nailed it.]

WHAT?!

[Oh, Keith heard him, alright. It was really just a general exclamation because Keith was pretty sure he heard wrong. He clenched his jaw for a second.]

[His voice was low as he fought to contain his temper.]

Then who... was driving...?

Edited 2022-05-02 03:26 (UTC)

...

[Min-Gi furrows his brow, opens his mouth, closes it again, thinks about it.

Who- who else do you think would have been driving, Keith.]

Me?

[He quickly holds his hands up in defense, dripping with guilt.]

Listen, it was an accident and you can be pissed off at me all you want later, what's important right now is making sure Shiro is going to be okay. One of us needs to go get help.

[Keith just stared at him.

Honestly, in the back of his still somewhat panicked emergency-mode brain, he had figured it might have been Min-Gi, but...]

WHY WERE YOU DRIVING?

[Keith cut himself off and closed his eyes for a second to take a breath. His hands, hovering above Shiro's prone form, momentarily clenched into tight fists for a moment until he let the breath out.]

Yes. Someone needs to get help.

[Keith reached down, and tapped into his omen, and the, for the moment, dolphin-sized space whale faded into existence. There was a moment as Keith looked at it, and then it floated off surprisingly fast.]

I sent my omen to retrieve Kosmo. Kosmo can teleport Shiro to the Luminarium. We can get help there.

[Woah.. space whale.]

Oh.. yeah, okay. Good.

[Way to have, like, a plan. And then carry out that plan. And it be effective. Wow Keith is so cool and he is so fucking stupid for letting this happen.

They were having so much fun, why did it go sideways? How did he manage to ruin a perfectly fine, super fucking cool ride on a super fucking cool hover bike with a super fucking cool guy who has been nothing but kind to him. Who might be super hurt or dying!

It feels like the world collapsing inwards. Min-Gi pulls his knees up against his chest and wraps his arms around them, watching Shiro with extreme focus through stinging eyes. Keith sent for help. There's nothing he can do right now but wait and try not to make anything worse. He has no idea where his own omen is in all this. Yeong's been totally ignoring him lately.

A shaky breath, hold, exhale. He's so sorry, he's so so sorry. Please be okay.]

[Keith was used to this. He spent two years basically playing Survivor with his mom on the back of one of those space whales. He'd spent at least year or more on either side of that time being a rebel soldier, both as part of a giant mech team and a team of ninja space cats. This sort of thing was automatic for him.

Even being somewhat falling down the corruption hole himself, he still had this injury management part of himself on autopilot.

He lightly tapped at the side of Shiro's face... enough to hopefully generate a response, but not enough to shake him.]

Hey... Shiro. Come on... you hear me?

[Waiting for the whale to get to Mouse House and bring Kosmo back (they couldn't talk to one another, so the whale couldn't exactly tell Kosmo "go to the beach") was going to feel like ages, though, and Keith finally looked back at Min-Gi.]

So... [Okay... Keith might feel a little bad for yelling at him.] Was he teaching you or something?

[Nah, he's super out cold. Still breathing, though! With a nasty bump on the head. He uh. Probably needs that shoulder looked at too.]

[Something white does appear - his Omen. The big lioness appearing purely to meander over to Min-Gi and sit beside him. And groom his hair. But still. She's entirely unconcerned for her human, which is probably a good sign, all things considered. She'd be much more worried if he were dying.]

[But nope, she's going to attempt to reassure Min, instead.]

[Min is trying to form an answer when Shiro's lion appears. She doesn't seem to be worried, which is good, but it doesn't really help that much. Neither does the hair licking- eugh why!

Man, where is Yeong? Is he such a shitty person that she's totally ditched him forever now? Guess he can't blame her.

Sorry Keith, your answer is delayed as Min-Gi attempts to negotiate less licking but also maybe petting? He's very spoiled in that Ryan's omen Tomo usually appears when he's feeling upset and the cuddles are hugely beneficial.]

Um, I mean. Kind of? Ah, lion, c'mon- I was just gonna go up front and I put my hand on the throttle and it went, and then he grabbed the bike and we started flinging around but he wouldn't let go. It just got really out of control really fast, I don't really know how. I never wanted him to get hurt.

[At first, seeing the lion was a bit alarming, but then she wandered over and start grooming Min-Gi, so... Keith frowned a bit, but, okay. So, that meant Shiro was relatively alright? He took a breath and then shifted spots to see about that shoulder, listening as Min-Gi tried to explain between complaints about having lion spit in his hair.

There was a beat before he responded after the explanation was done.]

I doubt he would have just grabbed it like that. Shiro knows better than that. Likely, he was still holding on as you guys switched places, and never let go in the first place. [He considered it further for a moment.] So, as you were switching places, you grabbed the throttle. [There was another beat.]

Why would you grab the throttle?!

[Because I'm an asshole, I guess, he nearly says but bits his tongue.

Keith, you're a man of logic. Min-Gi appreciates this wholeheartedly. He does, honest. He, too, is a man of logic. But damn does he not like being on the other end of the logicing.

He grimaces as the lioness liiiiicks the side of his face. A victim of lion slime. Fine, fine he deserves it. He deserves this, it's FINE.]

It's on the.. thing. The handle. I've never ridden a hover bike before, they don't even exist where I'm from!

Fine. Fine. [Keith took another breath, closing his eyes again for a second. He had to remind himself that not everyone in this place had the same level of technology back home. Holy Quiznak. Get it together, Keith.]

Well, now you know.

[Yes, he was snappish, and he'd probably regret it later, but he was just barely keeping himself from exploding, almost literally. If anything, they were lucky Keith hadn't spontaneously combusted the boardwalk by now with his Coldblood powers. The fire came from his temper.]

We'll just... we'll figure this out. [He frowned again, and then shrugged off his jacket, using it in the moment to get Shiro's arm immobilized in a make-shift sling until they could get him somewhere for healing.]

[Bites* love that typo for me. Forever immortalized.

The sling is a good idea. The jacket is a good idea. And here Min-Gi is just sitting there like a guilty dick. This is awful.

But he doesn't know what to do in a situation like this, he's just a normal guy. No training, no nothing. He doesn't even know how to fight. He barely knows first aid. He deserves to be snapped at.

Carefully, he takes his jacket off as well and folds it into a square to offer as a pillow. Still unsure about the whole move/touch head situation, he doesn't do it, but he puts it just next to Shiro for Keith to make the call.]

I'm sorry... Is there anything I can do?

[Typos are subjective.

Keith rubbed his face for a moment, considering the other jacket for a moment, wondering if he could use it to brace Shiro's neck for now.]

Do you know anyone with healing powers?

[He was reluctant to actually take Shiro the Lumenarium if he didn't have to. Keith didn't like going to that area of Trench, and he'd only been there once before. The smell of blood and flowers bothered him.

He took the other jacket, debated mentally for a second, and then changed how it was folded so he could gingerly wrap it around Shiro's neck to keep it still.]

[That.. yeah. Okay. That works too. Keith is clearly the one who knows what to do, here.

Min-Gi thinks about the question while he watches the other guy wrap his jacket around Shiro's neck.]

No.. Not that I'm aware of.

[Shit, that's really bad, isn't it. Not only can he not fight but he doesn't know any healers, either. He is literally the worst at living here. What if one day he gets hurt and he's alone. Does he just lay there until he dies? What the fuck, why is he so unprepared?

He isn't expecting a response, but he still looks up at Shiro's omen.]

Can you heal him?

[What does she look like, a doctor?]

[The omen gives Min-Gi's hair one last lick, before picking herself up and sauntering over to Keith and her human. She looks him up and down, before hooking a claw around the neck-jacket, tugging gently as a big cat can.]

[It's not hurt]

[Hopefully that impression comes across - the feeling in the air, sharp like a scent of ozone. Some peoples' omens speak. Shiro's apparently, does not. But the feeling is unmistakable. It's okay.]

[... for a minute, anyway.]

[Then she sits back down, looking towards town, ears perked intently. Big golden eyes turn to both Keith and Min-Gi. You're in trouble - comes the feeling now. Someone is very angry.]

[The information comes as both a warning and a threat, rumbling in the far distance like thunder.

And where there's thunder, there's lightening.

Min-Gi is not prepared to weather a storm. Not on top of the one he's already created.

He looks panicked, from the lion to Keith, to Shiro, and then to the far end of the beach. Suddenly, he doesn't feel very well. Worse than he did if that's possible. Cold and trembly and sick to his stomach. For a moment it feels like he might be sick, with a full body shiver that rocks up his spine. Yep, this is it. He's going to be sick. Someone is gonna come and murder him, Shiro is hurt, it's all his fault- no. No, no no he can't deal with this, he can't-

-hrrk

In a blink, and crumbling of glittering darkblood, Min-Gi is gone. Squirming into the sand where he was sitting only a moment ago is a very small, very distressed bobtail squid, who flails before making a break towards the ocean.]

[Keith watched Shiro's omen for a moment, kind of used to how she communicated by now, and then frowned a bit. He wasn't looking at Ryan, so he had no idea he was talking to Shiro's omen and not him.]

No, I can't. I don't have that blood type.

[He considered for a second, but-... and there was that feeling again from the lion, and Keith looked at her for a moment, then towards the boardwalk. Who was-?

Min-Gi suddenly disappeared. What? Keith stared at the empty space for a second before he realized what had happened. That was shockingly fast. He had a feeling Vira-Lorr would be jealous considering all the effort it had taken her to turn into a squid that time for her experiment. But, after that thought cleared, once Keith realized that the tiny squid was headed for the waves, he shouted.]

Hey! Oh, no way! [He was fast for a squid, but Keith managed to grab him... and almost lose him again a few times because squids are slimy, squirmy little things, but he finally caught him.] You're not leaving me alone to explain this! Turn back!

[His own omen was there now, Kosmo spotting him and skipping the rest of the jog to teleport over.

Keith looked back at Shiro's lion.]

Who's coming?

Edited 2022-05-04 13:35 (UTC)

[Imagine you've caught a sardine in your hands and it's fwapping around so fast that it's almost vibrating. That's what's happening in Keith's grip right now. He is absolutely not turning back. Nope, nope nope nope let go let go let go!

It is suddenly also wet in Keith's hands, black ink leaking out between his fingers.

Gross, dude.

LET GO LET GO LET GO]

Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck

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/sneaks in real fast

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cw squiddening

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