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You say "Clara?" A clearing of the throat. "Ah. Better. Before you ask, I'm
fine. This a good time?" into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "Hmmm? *yawn* Sure, Niko? What's up?
And yeah, I would have asked." in Clara's voice.
You say "I was just wondering how Riley's doing. That's the one thing that's a little frustrating about being up here." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "He's still sleeping," she offers,
albeit with more than a bit of relief. "But it's just normal sleep now.
That's the only bad thing about being up there? Good. Then I've left you in
good hands." in Clara's voice.
You say "You really have." He still sounds decidedly tired, but content as
well. "Ela's taking really good care of me. She just had to go to some
meeting--unavoidable, she said. They really make her do far too much." into
the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and announces "*chuckle* Just so long as the two
of you have appropriate sleeping arrangements worked out. And if I remember
right, you say the same thing about Riley. If I know anything about how she
feels, you can be sure she'll be back to take care of you as soon as
possible." in Clara's voice.
You say "*pragmatically* Well, Riley -does- do too much. You're going to have
to tie him to something to keep him off-duty long enough to recover from all
this." There's a brief pause. "And she said she'd be back as soon as she
could, yeah." He does not, it may be noted, mention sleeping arrangements."
into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "He's going to be in here in Medbay for a while longer, I can promise that. After that, I'm definitely keeping him up in his room. I don't know how much he'd go for being tied down, but I'll keep him on an IV. Problem is, Kramer's got my off duty time tied to his." And she sounds a little annoyed at this." in Clara's voice.
You say "What?" There's a near-explosive laugh, quickly cut off by a hiss of pain. "Kramer's brilliant. Deserves a medal." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and says "*raspberry sound* The only person other than Riley in the whole Complex who can toss me on med leave, and he does. I may demote him." She does sound slightly amused though. "You realize you're off duty for a while too, right?" in Clara's voice.
You say "Yeah, of course. I'm definitely not ready to go back for another
couple days. Got to get my wrist taken care of before then, too." There's a
muffled sigh, barely enough to be caught by the comm. "I've really -got- to
learn how to fall." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "*gently* Hey, it isn't like your mind wasn't elsewhere. Your performance was exemplary, Niko. Impressive, even. Can you...can you tell me how Riley got shot?" in Clara's voice.
You say "Yeah." There's a long pause before he actually speaks. When he does,
there's a decided note of pain to his voice. "We got down to the Vault. He
went to confront Guido, and I went along the wall--wanted to get a clear shot
at Guido. I didn't hear what they said, but Riley and Guido exchanged words.
Someone passed in front of me on the way out, and when I got a clear shot
again, it'd happened." He doesn't feel guilty at all, no. He's Galahad, he's
supposed to -protect-, and look what happened. "If I'd been just a little
faster..." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "You'd have still been two dozen
paces away," she corrects quickly, although with a slightly shaken tone.
"Niko, this is -not- your fault. The only person at fault here is Guido, and
may God have mercy on his soul when he's caught...and he will be." Quiet for
a long moment, a muffled sob can be heard, only vague as if she had her hand
over her comm. "You both did what you could. Point blank. The bastard." in
Clara's voice.
You say "One thing that Riley's taught me is that it's never the fault of just one person. But Guido... he will get what he deserves. There are enough people who will make sure of that." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "All I know is if he tries to get in here, I will shoot him, oath or no." in Clara's voice.
You say "Good. But don't kill him, if you can help it. Please?" into the
communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "*mirthless laugh* I have his sidearm set to tangle, don't worry. I can't kill anyone anyway." in Clara's voice.
You say "*long pause* You've still got his tangler?" There's another pause, then, apparently, Niko dismisses that. "I get the idea that that won't be an issue, though. I doubt he's anywhere near the Complex." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "I do, but I'll return it when he's
more alert. No, it's not an issue, you're right. He's long gone, is my guess.
I don't really care, though. So long as Riley and you both recover, then I'm
happy." in Clara's voice.
You say "Well, that's going to happen." He's confident. There's no doubt about it. "So there's nothing to worry about." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and says "Hmmm. Nothing to worry about, of
course." in Clara's voice.
You say "Exactly. Now I just have to figure out some suitable thanks for
Kramer." into the communit.
Your communit crackles to life and announces "Just tell him, Niko. Or buy him a
case of Grape Nehi." in Clara's voice.
You say "Okay. Those're both feasible. Can do. Thanks for the tip." into the
communit.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "No problem...ah, he's awake." in
Clara's voice.
You say "He's... is he okay?" Oh, boy, is Niko regretting the decision to leave
medbay. He doesn't ask if he can come back, though. "Will you tell him hello
for me? I'll shut up so you can talk to him, but.. please? Let him know I'm
thinking of him?" into the communit.
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Your communit crackles to life and blares "Roger. I can do all that, Niko. He
seems to be fine so far." in Clara's voice.
You say "Wonderful. Great." He sounds decidedly relieved. "Thanks a million.
Casymed out." into the communit.
The door hisses open quietly, and Elasia edges her way in quietly, so as not to disturb you should you be sleeping. She's in 'delegate gear' and moves to drop her bag of paperwork and all on the coffee table lightly.
Niko is not, in fact, asleep, though he's burrowed enough under the covers that
it could seem that he is. Hearing the hiss of the door, however, he shifts
upright somewhat. "Ela? That you?" Well, he -sounds- reasonably alert, at
least. Matter of fact, he sounds kind of twitchy. If not for the fact that
Clara's player threatened to stick him in long-term care under sedation, he'd
likely be up and about.
Elasia chuckles softly, kicking off her dress shoes and reveling for a moment at the feel of bare feet on carpet as she pads into the sleeping area. "Nope, I'm here selling Girl Guide cookies, can I put you down for a box?" Her voice softens as she comes to sit on the edge of the bed, "How're you feeling?"
Niko reaches for your hand, with a smile that is fairly cheerful, despite the
fact that it holds tiredness and pain. "Not bad. Laughing more than a little
is something I should try to avoid, I've learned." He pauses a moment, then a
slow smile crosses his face, almost erasing that antsiness. "Riley's awake
again, Clara said."
Elasia interlaces her fingers through yours, gently squeezing your hand. She seems to straighten up a hair, a measure of tiredness broguth on by evil meetings banished by your presence. "Not being able to laugh, whew, you need to get better soon then." She offers a grin, "That's good, hopefully he'll be well enough soon he can get out of there too. It's a little chaotic."
Niko shakes his head fractionally. "Clara's going to keep him in there for a while. Good thing, too. It takes a lot to make him rest, see." He adds, with a note of wry humor, "He's not sensible about recovery, like I am." Thus speaks the guy who wanted to rollerskate on crutches.
Elasia's brows lift in amusement, and she shifts in onto the bed to lie on it
across from you so she can still look up at you. "Sensible, uh-huh... That
would have been the word -I- would have picked," her tone is teasing, "Roller
skating wonder and all."
Niko points out innocently, "I never -used- the roller skates. Couldn't find
any. Maybe... no. A broken leg's one thing, but this is quite another." He
shakes his head, then. "But anyway. How was -your- day, that bit of it that
wasn't spent dealing with me?"
Elasia hmpsh softly, shaking her head, "Niko Casymed, if you so much as even
-think- too hard about roller skates, I'll... I'll... I'll tell Anya that's
what I'll do." Content with that threat she shakes her head slightly, "Crazy,
folks talking in circles. I couldn't make half heads or tails of the better
part of it, just made my head hurt. Not one of my better meetings. Still, you
were here to come back to, that helped."
Niko winces just a bit at the mention of the dreaded Anya. "When she speaks,"
he murmurs, "I listen." (Couldn't resist.) At your latter statements,
however, he smiles, giving your hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm glad I'm here,
then. Anything I can do..."
Elasia carefully edges her way in closer, curling up to you almost hesitantly
as if afraid to offend you. "Anya's a really friendly person. You'd be amazed
at some of the messages I get from her." She pauses, "She's really worried
about you."
Niko is just as careful as he curls his right arm around you, clearly wanting to avoid bapping you with the cast. But, as he's still not wanting to do too much involving that injured shoulder, this is what it's going to have to be. "Anya's great," he agrees, keeping the conversation casual, "For all that I fuss about her." Then he pauses a beat. "Wait. Messages? And I'm awake more often, if she wants to comm or something." He bites back a yawn, then adds, apparently serious, "Or I could go down to Security to visit, I guess."
Elasia can't quite help but snuggle in a hair closer, relaxing quite a bit at
the comforting closeness. "Yeah, she's been sending back and forth with me
ever since I sent that first message down to Security." She hmphs with
indignation, "You're not going anywhere, Niko. You're not even remotely in
the shape to go traipsing around. You're going to stay here and be spoiled
and get well."
Niko shifts to peer at you at that, looking for a moment like he's going to
argue the point, then shakes his head, apparently deciding against that. "Aye
aye, Ela," he murmurs, a hint of humor coloring his tone. Then, with another
muffled yawn, he asks, "What, you let her know you were keeping an eye on me
and all? Makes sense."
There's a pause, and it's a mildly embarrassed pause, "Not -exactly-," Ela
allows at last, turning quite red. "I uh, left Addison a message about
throwing butterscotch at you more often. She ended up getting it, and was
confused."
Niko blinks several times at that, then makes a muffled sound that is clearly
an attempt not to laugh. "Oh, no," he says finally. "I'll just bet she was.
Poor Anya."
Elasia just turns redder, she's quite good at it once she gets going. "She
promised to see what she could do in the future. I think she
was...entertained."
Niko sounds a bit worried by that, though he doesn't move at all. "Entertained. Oh... no. Oh no. Somehow, I think I'm going to hear an awful lot about this from her." Though he sounds worried, he also sounds amused. "Doing something in the future... I think I'm in trouble. Anya can be very inventive."
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
"I'm sure she'll wait til you're well enough." Elasia offers quietly, using her unclaimed hand to straighten quilts over you. "Anya doesn't seem the type to inflict evil on the invalid." She edges up briefly to plant a gentle kiss on the edge of your chin, "You probably ought to sleep."
Niko gets kissed, then told to -sleep-? Hardly. (Despite the fact that it's one
o'clock. Dave's asleep, he'll never know.) "Anya'll be nice to me til I'm
better," he agrees, attempting to keep that yawn behind his teeth. Of course,
he's got this silly goofy grin on his face.
Elasia curls down into her former position, dragging another quilt over both
her and you. "This is really nice, too bad you had to get shot for me to find
that -out-, but hey. I still like having you here, and warm, and close and
all." She nods slightly, "But then you're doomed."
Niko gets smacked in the back of the head with another yawn. "This is nice," he
agrees. "But maybe we could figure out the rest on our own, instead of me
getting shot again?" He doesn't mention his impending doom, but privately
resolves to take his time about getting better.
Elasia murmurs quiet assent, trying to keep her tone soothing and unlikely to interfere with impending sleepiness. She quietly orders the lights off. "I think skipping you getting shot would be good. And you need some sleep, love."
Niko attempts to curl closer to you without dislodging various monitoring
devices or youching various ouchnesses. It's an adventure. "You said the
l-word," he murmurs, sounding decidedly pleased.
Elasia obliges by making herself something of a better curling target, although
in fear of youching an ouchness she lets you do the bulk of the shifting as
you both find comfortable positions. "Yeah, I did," she replies quietly,
"cause I love you. Very much."
Niko gently kisses your temple, murmuring drowsily, "And I love you. More than anything. 'cause you're Ela." He's most definitely getting near sleep, yup.
There's a quiet, and rather sappy, sigh at that. Elasia is having an 'awwww' moment. "Sweet dreams, Niko. I'll be here in the morning. Sleep now."
Niko mumbles drowsily, "Right now? Okay, love. If you want. Long's you'll be
here. Love you."
"Wouldn't go anywhere," Elasia makes a mental note to tell folks involved with
morning meetings sometrhing or another, so that she will be here. "Sleep's
good for you."
Niko mumbles something that is likely an agreement, but his diction is shot, mainly because he's half asleep as it is. Shifting a little closer, assuming that's possible without causing horrible damage to the aforementioned monitoring devices, he sighs softly, then apparently drops off to sleep.
Elasia sighs quietly, a sound of contentment even as it is laced with worry.
Careful of the monitors she adjusts the quilts before curling up and settling
in to sleep. It doesn't take her long.
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