Private Just Stay Off It For A Week- Wait Do I Know You?

[Iris Arani]

This was tiring.

After everything on Tython, Iris wasn't sure when the last time she slept was. Had it even been a day yet? The medical shuttle she'd been helping out on was just packed to the brim with injured individuals. She wasn't even sure where they might've been from. Not that it mattered. NIO, Alliance, Mandalorian, whatever else, she'd help them all as much as she could. To the point of exhaustion. She wandered into the next make shift room, glancing from the clipboard with patient information.

Just the nature of the wound, really.

"Okay broken leg, right?" She didn't even look up from the sheet, instead plopping down on a wheeled stool to scoot over to a hastily packed medical cabinet. Taking out a splint, bacta, the like. She could accelerate the healing, but her plan was only to do enough for it to be bearable to walk on. If she could. Man Iris was tired. Her bright eyes turned over to the boy, blinking for a moment. Then motioned to his legs without a hint of familiarity.

"Can you lay it out?"

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Thanks to shock, adrenaline, and the Force, the pain of Kai's broken leg didn't really hit him until later. By the time he was placed before Iris, the kid had exhausted himself howling, and just lay there with his face twisted up in a grimace. Painkillers had silenced him, but the memory of agony still haunted him.

"Okay broken leg, right?"

That voice sounded familiar. Kai peeked open one eye, then the other. Was he hallucinating? Was this just the medication making him see things?

<Iris?>

He managed to lay his leg out, still stupefied by the image of his friend. What was she doing here? Oh, helping. Duh. Yeah, that sounded like Iris.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Huh?

Iris paused with what she was doing, staring blankly at the unfamiliar face. The unfamiliar colors from them. Yet she recognized the voice in her head. The colors that brought it. Any other way, and she would've chalked it up to her missing her friend. Kai was nearly immortal in her eyes. His body, while dark, could heal from practically anything. Change to whatever he wanted. Let him soar through the skies and battle without fear.

A broken legged teenager that was still in pain and near in tears from it didn't fit that Kai.

She said nothing. Reached out instead towards the broken leg. Visibly nothing happened, but bit by bit she pulled the pain away. Healed what was broken through the Force. The voice in her head was undoubtedly Kai. The person in front of her was undoubtedly not Kai. Yet, that's where the colors came from?

Iris refused conversation until she was finished. Until she was applying a bacta patch. And even then,

"Don't try to run or go back to the fight. I haven't been able to fully heal it, just make it so it doesn't hurt as much. Give it a couple days. A day at least." It hadn't even crossed her mind. Kai hated his Sithspawn body, but did that mean he'd change his own? Was that possible? Well, the body wasn't his original anyway so probably? That's not what bothered her. All throughout the fight she'd been worried about every one.

Except for him. Because he would be fine. He was always fine. If this was actually Kai, then she was wrong.

 

[Arlo Renard]

She didn't really react. Did she not recognize him?

Of course she didn't. He had changed, not just physically but in the Force as well. He no longer had to wear his charm to hide his aura. What she was sensing through the Force was the "real" Kai, but she had never met the real Kai.

<Iris, it's me,> he began, only to hiss and grit his teeth as she began to work on his leg. Drugs and the Force were working in tandem to minimize his pain, but it still felt incredibly weird. Like his bones were being rearranged and his torn muscle and ligaments were knitting together rapidly. It didn't feel like healing did back when he was a Doppelganger. That had been relatively painless, and his whole form was so malleable and elastic...

"A whole day?" he blurted, out loud to avoid disrupting her concentration. The boy's voice didn't match what he had sounded like on the rare occasions he'd spoken aloud as a Doppelganger, but there was something of the same inflections and accent even in the unfamiliar tones. "Two days?! Tython will be gone by then!"

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"What happens to Tython will happen regardless if you or I are there. If anything, you injured will make it worse for the people still fighting." She spat out those words with more venom than she expected. Why though? Was she upset he didn't tell her? Kai didn't have to. She knew that much. But to think he'd be here, injured. And she'd have to fix him up only to hear him complain and want to go back out?

Did he not understand what he chose?

"I guess you're human now. So you're going to have to deal with the limitations that has." She kept her back to him. Had to, to at least seem professional despite her words. She stood up then, wanting nothing more than to run out and move on to the next patient. People still needed help. The floor had other ideas as it suddenly rushed to meet her. Ah, she'd been going at this too hard then? Or was it knowing this was Kai that had her expend more energy than she thought?

Didn't matter. She collapsed with a dull thud.

"Ah.. Ouch.."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai's eyebrows rose, stunned by her venomous tone. She had a point, granted, but did she have to sound so cynical and bitter about it?

Who was he kidding? He'd watched the planet tear itself apart. Tython probably was doomed, and there was nothing he could do about it. His hands tightened into fists at his side.

"All right, fine," he snapped back. "I shouldn't have even bothered trying to save the planet where the Jedi first began. All I did was hurt myself."

Then she turned her back on him, continuing to speak. Bringing up the fact that he was human now, with limitations.

"Yeah, I noticed. I'm just bummed out that I won't be able to go back there and break my other leg." It was meant as a joke, something to lighten the mood, but it just came out sounding mad. Kai's anger certainly hadn't abated. If anything, it was far more intense now than he expected it to be.

It all drained away abruptly, however, when Iris suddenly collapsed. "Oh crap," he yelped, leaning toward her as much as he could from the hospital bed. "Iris, are you okay? What's wrong?"

With the Force, he tried to lift her up and into a nearby chair, so she at least wouldn't be on the floor. Then he aggressively mashed the 'summon help' button on the side of his bed, swiftly gaining the attention of a medical droid. "She fell over, help her," he ordered it, pointing to Iris.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I'm fine." Ah, still venom. She bit that back as much as she could, lowering her gaze. Well, until she was floating. She blinked as she was lifted into a chair, but didn't fight it. A chair was better than the floor. "Just tired. There's a lot of people hurt." And her voice betrayed just how tired she was. The padawan rubbed at her face, closed her eyes. She was beyond exhausted. Even helping people to the bare minimum so they weren't in pain was draining for her.

The droid hovered around her, though she quickly waved it away. She was fine. She just needed something to eat, probably.

"I'm fine." Droid didn't exactly believe that though, and was already scanning her. Then hovered over to the make shift medical cabinet to take out some energy rations.

"You need a break. Sit, eat."

 

[Arlo Renard]

Kai let the droid take over her care for the moment. He wasn't in a good position to be talking.

Not with this rage seething away inside him. Defiance. He couldn't refuse to accept that they had likely been defeated, but he could deny that his efforts had been all for naught. He had gone and done something, tried to make a difference. That was better than sitting at home doing nothing just because he was only human now.

His anger was probably detectable, especially given how close he was to Iris. How close they had once been.

"What's happening to us, Iris?" he asked. "I thought we had patched things up back on Chaldea. Now it seems like we can barely even be nice to each other."

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"I haven't seen you since Chaldea. Now you're human. And hurt. Look at you! You broke a leg! I bet you probably jumped somewhere thinking you'd be fine, right?" Iris frowned, still turning her gaze from Kai. Just for a moment longer at least. Her eyes softened as she looked back to him, just looking him over. "Why didn't you tell me..? That you were doing this? Why aren't you more careful?"

 

[Arlo Renard]

"I haven't seen you since Chaldea. Now you're human. And hurt. Look at you! You broke a leg! I bet you probably jumped somewhere thinking you'd be fine, right?"

"No actually, I got blasted by a flaming moon chunk after the Sith decided to blow up Ashla," Kai replied honestly. "The impact, I mean. It knocked me off my feet."

"Why didn't you tell me..? That you were doing this?"

"Because things have been happening really fast, and I didn't have the chance to?"

"Why aren't you more careful?"

"Iris, the entire planet was collapsing around us!" The raising of the volume of his voice brought about a slight cringe from Kai, little more than a twitch of his eyelids as he forced himself to calm down. "Just... relax, please? We haven't seen each other in a while, but here we are now. I'm happy to see you, Iris, and I will tell you everything you want to know... as soon as I've slept off all these pain meds and had a chance to heal a little." He gave her an unfamiliar, but endearing smile. "Okay good, okay fine?"

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Ah. He was right. Iris fell into a stubborn silence regardless, turning her gaze away from Kai. A lot could have happened between then and now. More importantly, yeah. Tython was on fire. The moon itself turned to a weapon. Iris didn't know what was going on any more herself. After everything with Thalia she'd just been focused on trying to help the injured. But.. Yeah. He should rest. She agreed with that. After a moment she stood up, much to the droids protest as it hovered around her.

So she just used it as a crutch, if it was going to bother her.

"Okay."

Then left to let him sleep. Her own taking it easy went by far shorter than his, if only because she didn't need the Force to keep helping people. Medic training, simple as it was, had her going through to stitch up minor cuts and tend bruises. Nothing glamorous, but it was still something she could do. Even by the time Kai would wake she'd be out helping anyone she could.

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

A few hours later, another medical droid was summoned by Kai's hand.

"I'm hungry," Kai told it.

The droid left and returned with some hospital food, which Kai ate with gusto. One of the more amusing aspects of becoming human was how little he ate now compared to when he was a Doppelganger. To a certain extent, even his tastes had changed. He couldn't eat anything that wasn't food anymore, for one.

Well-rested and fed, he was left with little to do other than wait impatiently for his broken leg to heal. Iris was presumably busy, and he didn't want to prevent her from doing her duties. He figured she'd return when she was ready to talk.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

She'd come back, not really on her own though. The droid from before practically dragged her into the room. Places to rest were few and in between with all the injured. And it figured the two had to at least be friends by how they spoke to each other. So naturally this would be a place she could rest, and possibly have Kai be a deterrent for her to keep pushing herself into exhaustion.

Iris said nothing, plopping down instead in the chair. Crossing her arms with a childish pout. Clearly the droid had already lectured her on a number of things.

"I know you're injured, patient #345,679,251, but do keep her from leaving for the rest of the day. She's already fallen asleep midstitch." The Padawan flinched slightly, slouching more in her chair as she half muttered something about it being no big deal. The droid glanced to her with what could be a frown before looking back to Kai. "Is that fine?"

 

[Arlo Renard]

Man, that was a lot of patients. He reminded himself the galaxy was a huge place.

"Okay, fine," Kai said, giving the droid a thumbs up. As it hovered out of the room, he turned to Iris. "You wanna sleep in here, I'll be quiet. I've just been watching cartoons." He held up the holopad he was using, the screen showing a scene from an episode of The Totally Real Adventures of Auteme.

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

The droid returned the thumbs up before drifting away. Iris stayed how she was, pouting in annoyance. For all her earlier annoyance with Kai not knowing his limits, it was clear she was just as stubborn. Which only had her deflate once the thought crossed her mind. She nodded slowly, the pout dissipating to a truly exhausted expression. Cartoons? She peered at the television. Squinted, more like.

".. Is that Auteme the senator Auteme?"

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

"Yeah. The show's gotten kind of boring ever since she gave up being a Jedi in order to become a Senator, though. I was thinking about switching it to Bright Knight instead. Even though I've seen every episode a hundred times."

It was Kai's favorite, after all.

"You wanna watch it with me?" he asked. "You can even lay on the bed, as long as you don't jostle me too much."

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

"They.. Wait there's.. I don't.." She seemed more confused that there was an actual show about this all. But, well. Iris didn't think about it too much longer. Instead she slipped from the chair and just got in the bed beside Kai like it was a normal thing. Bright Knight sounded better.

".. You don't have to talk aloud, if you don't want to. I know it used to hurt."

Arlo Renard

 

[Arlo Renard]

Like anyone who manages to actually convince a friend to sit down and watch their favorite show with them, Kai was elated. He couldn't seem to get out of TRAA and into Bright Knight fast enough.

While the first episode loaded, Iris told him he didn't have to talk. Kai glanced at her (he had to angle his head differently now that she was so close) and smiled. His new body had a nice smile.

<It doesn't hurt. Not like breaking my leg hurts, anyway. It's weird - I think more about other people now that I'm not trapped in my own personal hell.> Obviously he was referring to his old Sithspawn body. <I can make myself talk when necessary, and I'm not paralyzed by a sense of being... a victim, I guess.>

The show was starting. Kai eagerly held the holoscreen out so that she would have a better view.

<How have you been, by the way? I see you learned how to heal people.>

Iris Arani​

 

[Iris Arani]

Yeah, Iris wasn't paying attention to the show. Or Kai's smile, for that matter. If anything she was more focused on the colors from him. She'd ignored it before. How different his colors were. She'd seen them without his ring once before, when he was still Sithspawn. What he said was reflected in the shades around him. There was the worry about Tython, there was the pain of his leg and likely fear of that pain, but.. He really did seem more.. Brighter?

Well, he certainly was without the ring, anyway.

Her gaze lingered on the strands of reds and blues before she turned her gaze finally towards the show.

<I started school. Not just the Jedi Temple, but like.. College? Preparing for college. Just healing people through the Force isn't enough. I'm going to be a doctor so I can treat anyone, with or without it.>

 

[Arlo Renard]

<College already?>

She quickly amended that by saying she was preparing for college. Or medical school, he wasn't sure how it worked for prospective doctors.

<That's really cool. I'm proud of you.> Not enough Jedi branched out beyond the barriers of the Temple, it seemed. Dag worked as a detective, Auteme had given up the Jedi to become a Senator, and so on, but they were the exceptions that proved the rule. <So do you want to be an army medic? Or some other type of doctor?>

On the holoscreen, the first few minutes of the pilot episode showed Bright Knight's origins. Condal Dunstrum, a Jedi Padawan during the Clone Wars, survived the massacre because his wealthy parents were able to bribe and smuggle their son out of harm's way. He was forced to give up being a Jedi forever, or face certain death at the hands of the Galactic Empire...

Iris Arani​