[closed]

[penny_dancer]

Characters: Penelo and Katsushiro
Content: Katsu got hurt during the battle (surprise surprise), Penelo's going to take care of him (surprise surprise), and they realize no one's seen Beat since the battle (surprise!)
Setting: Penelo's cabin. She keeps extra supplies in there.
Time: Right before the sharks, and then during.
Warnings: Teenage

Comments

[imadoushin]

Katsushiro had, in fact, come out of the battle relatively unscathed, as these things went. That could mostly be attributed to Kensei, though, which left Katsushiro's pride a little bruised, too.

Suspecting there were likely to be plenty of people hurt worse than he was, he headed back to his cabin to clean himself up rather than going straight down to the infirmary. He'd not received much more than a few shallow cuts, and those he could, and did, do a reasonable job of patching up himself.

By the time he made his way down to Penelo's cabin, he was wearing a clean shirt, and doing his best to look as if he hadn't just been fighting. If he knew Penelo, she'd probably already worried herself sick over the whole crew; there was no need to add to that.
He'd glanced into the infirmary long enough to see she wasn't there, before coming over to her cabin.

He knocked on the door, waiting a moment before gently pushing it open. "Penelo?"

[penny_dancer]

"Katsushiro!" Penelo looked up, smiling. "Come in. Are you okay? How badly did you get hurt?"

She wasn't stupid. They'd just been in a battle. If Katsushiro wasn't hurt, then he hadn't gotten into a fight, and if he hadn't gotten into a fight, something must have happened. Not that Katsushiro was always fighting; he was just honorable and would defend whoever needed it unless something happened. Wasn't that what samurai did, anyway?

[imadoushin]

"I'm fine."

Katsushiro came in, pushing the door shut behind him. "Not badly." His tone carried something that might have been embarrassment - while getting hurt was indubitably part of being a fighter, it still represented a failure of defence. Making a big deal out of it was awkward.

"Are you alright? You look tired."

[penny_dancer]

"Liar. I want to see your injuries," Penelo said, patting the spot next to her on the bed. "And I'm okay. Out of magic for a while, but okay." Katsushiro didn't need know that 'out of magic' pretty much meant 'exhausted'.

Penelo leaned over, pulling a white box from under her bed. "Come on, Katsushiro."

[imadoushin]

Katsushiro could take a pretty good guess that that was what it meant. Out of magic clearly meant she'd been using a lot of it, and if she'd been working that hard, 'exhausted' was probably going to be an appropriate term.

So he wasn't going to argue with her. The quicker he let her get done, the quicker she'd get to stop worrying and have a rest.

With a slight sigh, he sat down on the bed, unbuttoning his shirt and rolling up the sleeves, wincing slightly as the fabric brushed over the narrow burn mark Soubi's lightning had scored in his forearm. Apart from that, there wasn't much for her to see - he'd bandaged the shallow cut in his side, as well as the few scratches on his arms and body that were deep enough to need it.

"I'm not a liar. I am fine." Or at least, he would be.

[penny_dancer]

Penelo just looked pointedly at the burn before opening the box and pulling out a bottle of green gel. "This should make it a little less painful," she said, putting some in her hand and smoothing it gently over the burn. "It's aloe. And did you clean those cuts I see? I don't want you getting infected, Katsushiro."

Just then, her journal beeped. Smoothing the last of the gel over Katsushiro's arm, Penelo glanced at her open journal. She sighed.

"Sky sharks. There are sky sharks outside, heading straight for us. Peachy."

[imadoushin]

"Thankyou. And yes, I did." He knew what he was doing, honestly.

"It's just our kind of luck, I suppose." That was one thing you could say for life on the 4423, it was rarely boring.

[penny_dancer]

Penelo sighed again, wrapping the burn with a thin cloth bandage to keep it clean while it healed. "Hopefully Reno and Kensei can handle it for now, or the sharks go away. The last thing we need are crazy sharks."

She looked Katsushiro over, probably looking at his chest longer than strictly necessary (she was his girlfriend, so she was allowed to, right? Right!), before putting away her things. "So, what all happened?"

sorry this is so late, I wanted to get the fight thread more finished before discussing it XD

[imadoushin]

"What all happened?" Katsushiro echoed, sighing. "Not much that amounts to anything, on my part anyway. I couldn't speak for anyone else."

He flopped backwards down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "And I'd pretty much guarantee Kensei will be able to handle the sharks..."

is kewl! ^_^

[penny_dancer]

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

Penelo packed away her first aid supplies before flopping down next to Katsushiro. She wrapped an arm around him, moving closer.

Re: is kewl! ^_^

[imadoushin]

"About the sharks, or the other part? Not that they're unconnected."

Katsushiro tensed slightly as Penelo slid her arm around him, before making a conscious effort to relax, and returning the gesture a little stiffly.

[penny_dancer]

"Both."

Why was Katsushiro so nervous? Was it something she did? Or was the whole 'physical contact' part of their...relationship still new to him?

[imadoushin]

Katsushiro exhaled sharply, turning over on his side to face Penelo, and propping himself up on one elbow.

Rather than actually getting on and answering her original question, he sighed, as if not quite sure what to say, before flinging a - apparently unconnected - question of his own at her. "Is there anything a really good mage can't do?"

[penny_dancer]

Penelo shook her head. "As long as it's within the range of his or her powers, a good mage can do just about anything. I mean, I can't reincarnate the dead, but a skilled necromancer can bring bones of animals dead for years back to life. Why?"

[imadoushin]

"Because...because it makes everything else so pointless. If you can't use magic, however hard you try, it doesn't make any difference once you're dealing with someone who can."
The frustration in his voice wasn't directed at her, per se, but she certainly did come into the class of magic-users...as Katsushiro realized, a little belatedly, at the same time as he realized just how grumpy he sounded.

He softened his voice. "Sorry. I just...tch."

[penny_dancer]

"It's okay." Penelo shrugged. She took Katsushiro's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I get it all the time. And actually, a good swordsman or a good marksman can do serious damage to mages," she said. "Sometimes spells don't work, or the incantations are impossibly long, or there's a long waiting period in between spells. Not to mention most mages aren't the strongest people alive."

What brought this on?