As Ryan slowly came back to consciousness, he noticed two things: the first was that he was standing in a clearing, beside some big patch of woods that he didn't recognize at all, and the second was that he felt like he could eat a horse. Literally—bones and all. He'd probably have room for a side of beef after he was done.
Using the Guyver had never made him this hungry before; in fact, it had never made him hungry at all. Sho and Agito had never told him about any problems like this. Of course, ol' Makashima never told him about any problems that he had period, but he'd have thought Sho would have told him about something like this. It definitely qualified as important, after all.
The fact that he was on the verge of passing out from hunger, and the fact that that really wasn't an option right now, since the Guyver would go completely ballistic on the nearest moving thing if he wasn't awake to control it, was something that Ryan was aware enough to know. So, definitely no passing out before he had removed the Guyver and sent it back to wherever the hell it went to when he wasn't wearing it. Focusing the way Sho had taught him to, Ryan willed the Guyver to come off.
Once the alien armor suit had come off entirely, then Ryan passed out with some sense of relief. He'd gotten a telepathic message from Sho, indicating that he was coming. He'd also seen Sho and another Guyver, who could only be Agito, approaching with the hyper-sensors. After that everything went kind of black, and it stayed that way for a while.
When Ryan woke up again, he found himself in one of Agito's safehouses in a bed with blankets covering him from neck to feet. There was also a glass of water sitting on a table near his head, which he drank with relish. Up till that point he hadn't really noticed how parched he'd been, but now that he was aware of the fact, a single glass of water wasn't going to be nearly enough. He wasn't really sure how much it would take to get rid of the feeling that he'd just had a shovel of sand stuffed down his throat, but once he'd gotten out of the room he was going to find out.
Sitting up, Ryan felt such a strong wave of weakness and tiredness wash over him that he had to lie right back down again. Trying to sit up again just produced the same result, so Ryan slumped back into the bed and just lay there for a while. The sound of the door opening and someone coming into the room startled Ryan momentarily, but he soon realized that someone inside the room meant someone he could talk to. And talking to someone meant that he would be able to ask them to get him some food.
Sure, it'd probably be rice or something like that, but it would still be food. And Ryan would have eaten raw horse without complaining, given how hungry he was at the moment. Still, he was getting a little stir-crazy from lying in bed listening to his stomach making its usual array of hungry-noises. So when the person in his room, who turned out to be Shizu, came into his line-of-sight, Ryan smiled brilliantly.
"Oh, you're awake now," Shizu said, smiling kindly at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Extremely hungry," Ryan said truthfully. "You wouldn't happen to have anything for me to eat, would you?"
"I'll get you some vegetable stew," Shizu said, smiling as she turned.
When she'd left the room, closing the door behind her, Ryan lay back on the bed and pulled the covers back up to his neck with a deep sigh. He was going to have to sit up, which meant actually moving, and with how wrung-out he felt at the moment, moving was pretty much the last thing he wanted to try to do right now. On the other hand, Ryan didn't want to imagine how messy it was going to be if he tried eating while he was still lying down.
So, sitting up it is, then.
Getting his arms under him was the easy part as far as Ryan was concerned, but trying to push himself into a sitting position was completely out of the question—something he learned very quickly once he tried for the first time. The only time, in fact, since he didn't have much energy left for a second attempt.
When Shizu came back into the room, carrying a very appealing looking – and smelling – bowl of stew, Ryan figured he'd just ask for help. There was no harm in it, and every muscle he had felt like overcooked noodles.
"What's wrong, Ryan? I thought you wanted to eat?"
"I do. It's just the sitting up part I'm having trouble with; I feel like tenderized steak. Over-tenderized, even."
"Let me help you, then," Shizu said, setting the tray with the bowl down on the nightstand.
When Shizu, after wrapping her arms around his middle, started to help him sit up, Ryan tried to do what he could to make her task easier. That turned out to be not much, since at this point Ryan was having trouble keeping his head up under his own power.
"You seem a bit lighter than usual," Shizu commented.
"You make it a point to go around lifting people who're friends with your boyfriend?"
Shizu blushed. "You are about Master Agito's height, and the two of you are also the same size. But now…" Shizu reached out to touch Ryan's cheek, looking at him with clear worry and speculation. "You also look a little thinner than you did the last time I saw you."
"Well, that might have something to do with how hungry I am right about now."
"Yes, I think you might be right," Shizu said, looking contemplatively at the bowl of stew still sitting on the nightstand. "Well, you should eat that for now, and I'll go make you something more filling."
"That's going to be kind of a problem," Ryan said, flexing his shoulders. "I kinda can't move my arms. I've been trying, but this is all I've been able to do," Ryan said, gesturing with his head at his fitfully moving left shoulder.
"You can't move?" Shizu asked, stepping closer and picking up Ryan's limp left arm. "Can you hold your arm up, at least?"
"I don't know," Ryan admitted. "Let it go and let's find out."
Shizu did just that, and Ryan's unsupported arm fell back to the bed with a muffled thump.
"I guess not," Ryan concluded, smiling weakly.
"You poor thing," Shizu gasped, leaning over to hug his neck. "I'll give you the soup myself, then. And then I'll make something else for you to eat."
Once those words were out of Shizu's mouth, she picked the bowl of stew back up and spooned up a nice-sized portion. As Shizu stood there, spooning up the stew and helping him to eat, Ryan wondered idly when someone else would come in and see him like this. It seemed an unspoken law of the universe that whenever he was doing something that could be taken as embarrassing, someone else would always come in and make snide comments about it.
That, of course, was when Mr. Agito Makashima strolled into the room, looking as arrogant as usual. Can I call 'em or what? Ryan mused sardonically, resisting the urge to chuckle even as he swallowed another spoonful of the stew Shizu was feeding him. It was really tasty, even though vegetable stew wasn't really his favorite kind. Ryan would have really preferred beef stew.
"Crouger, what are you doing?" Agito asked, looking like he'd just seen Ryan dancing naked in front of the whole house.
"What's it look like I'm doing?" Ryan asked after he'd finished swallowing another spoonful. "You ever hear it's not polite to stare when people are eating?" he added, hoping that Agito would get the hint and go the hell away.
As usual, he didn't. +It looks like you're making a complete fool out of yourself. I knew you didn't have any pride, but this is a new low even for you.+
+Agito, buddy of mine,+ Ryan said, trying to make the fuck-off-a-little-more vibes as strong as they could be, +listen and listen well; the fact that I'm probably going to be repeating this once a month is no reason for you to go and ignore it: Shut. The fuck. Up.+
+I wouldn't have thought even you would be low enough to let yourself be hand-fed like this, but then you never did have any pride.+
+Why don't you go piss on a hydrant somewhere, dog-boy?+ Ryan shot back. +There happen to be several very good reasons why I'm in this bed, not that I'm going to share them with you and your swelled head, King Bastard.+
Settling back as Shizu put her hand on his shoulder, Ryan relaxed and let her feed him the rest of the vegetable stew. The fact that he could move even that far meant that he was recovering at least some of his strength, and that meant more to him than all the taunting King Bastard and his swelled head could ever think up or dish out. Now, if King Bastard would just oblige him and go the hell away, everything would be just perfect.
"Shizu, what are you doing?" Agito asked, not going away.
"Agito," Shizu greeted, sounding happier to see the King of Bastards than Ryan himself would have ever been. "Ryan… something happened to him, and now he can't move."
+Oh? Is that the excuse you're using now, Crouger?+
+Fuck you, King Bastard.+
+I didn't know that even you would have been willing to sink this low. Still, you have proved yourself willing to use many kinds of deception. I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised.+
+Again: fuck you.+
It was only mildly annoying to note that Agito wasn't taking his giant ego and taking a hike, but then again, the jumped-up little shithead never did quite know how to take a hint—at least, not one that hadn't been applied with an industrial-strength sledgehammer. So, Ryan decided to ignore him in the faint hope that His Royal Assness, the king of all jerks, would get the hint and go the hell away.