Hizashi's all bundled up in his bondmate's scarf, where he can feel the double badum badum of Shouta's hearts against his head.
Deep breaths warm the top of his head, tickling the nape of his neck. He's acutely aware of his lack of feathers when Shouta starts running his scarf on his naked back, and the vainest part of him screams to hide away and only come out when he'll have all of his plumage back. He has to beat the urge away with the reminder that Shouta has and will never care about appearances.
He curls further in Shouta's front limbs, his mate answering his silent request to be held by squeezing him, positioning himself until he's draped over Hizashi, hiding him away from the world. It's warm and soft, sweat with a hint of blood underlined with Shouta permeating the space between them. For the first time since he's been taken, he's safe. Covered in a way the hoodie could not achieve.
Here, protected, Hizashi can't quite hold himself back, doesn't want to keep all the anger and hopelessness and terror and guilt. It spills over, a rush that can't be contained and barely controlled, and Hizashi might have been afraid the intensity of his emotions would break pieces off him to carry away, but how can he when Shouta's keeping him together?
When he feels like he won't blow apart like a dropped fistful of sand, he parts away as little as possible, just enough to be able to speak, keeping their limbs entangled. "I was worried you wouldn't—" He interrupts himself. It won't do him any good to dwell on what-if's. "I'm glad you found me."
Shouta's scarf strokes his spine, warming his scales. By the softer feel, he knows it's the scarf's inner length, where it's more sensitive and isn't used enough to develop hard calluses. It follows the line of his back until the end of his tail, making him croon.
"Of course." Shouta signs it in the same way he did revolutions ago, when they declared themselves a bonded pair; certain, with no hint of uncertainty. As if there was simply no other way it could have ended.
Hizashi's talons run through the knots in Shouta's fur. He focuses his efforts on the top of his head and behind his mate's twitching ears, where he knows they bother Shouta the most. Something's pinned there, and with a bit of fiddling, he unhooks it from where it was pinched too tight.
Shouta stiffens when he sees the earpiece, letting out a curse. As soon as he unmutes it, the vibrations coming from the tiny speaker are loud enough that Hizashi can feel them even without touching it. "Tell Nemuri and Tensei I say hi."
"Hizashi's safe," he says instead, immediately grimacing and pulling the earpiece away from him, his ears flicking back. His middle limbs move in tandem as he speaks in Standard, translating in See'krtsh'ish. "There must have been interference."
Hizashi thrills in amusement. The earpiece had been clearly toggled on the off position. Shouta closes his eyes in resignation when the lie doesn't pass and their friends start lecturing him, leaning his forehead on Hizashi's shoulder and keeping it pressed there. Hizashi watches Shouta's limbs, lazily following the mostly one sided conversation while he's rocked by the low rumble when Shouta speaks on his uninjured side. It takes a while before his bondmate can wedge a word in. "The Human is—" his mate's head twists around to check if Shinsou is still in the resting quarters—"I think Hizashi tamed a Deathworlder."
Hizashi's tail pulls at the pair of limbs framing him. He didn't tame Shinsou. A loop of his mate's scarf tangles around his tail as Shouta ignores his protests. "He named him Purple. "
He shouldn't have given Shouta so much grief about the horrible name choice for his pets. Speaking of which…
"How's Engine and Lamp?" he asks with his free wing when his bondmate finally gets out from the call by promising Nemuri and Tensei that they're okay, that they won't get in trouble in the time it takes them to find their escape pod.
Shouta looks away, a heavy pause. "We're going to have to go fetch them from Toshinori. I didn't pick them up after you were… taken." His scarf tightens almost imperceptibly around Hizashi. "He's watching our ship too."
The Oen•foaal doesn't take as many missions as he used to before they found out about the extent of his injury. They haven't quite been able to convince him that he doesn't have to be useful to stay in their ragtag group, he has already helped enough, he deserves to rest, but they did succeed in turning his efforts to a less physically taxing task. Now, he mostly gathers information and finds them ships to board, criminals to loot, safe planets where they can restock without the danger of being apprehended by the local authorities. It also makes him the perfect candidate for babysitting duty when they can't bring their pets on a mission.
"I video called them a few cycles ago. Little bastards, like always. They missed you." Shouta whispers the last part, limbs barely moving. It looks a lot like 'I missed you', and Shouta's scarf pulls him closer, accidentally pushing his face in the unkempt fur, making him sputter through his mate's heartfelt vulnerability. Hizashi squirms until he's not inhaling the long strands, discreetly wiping his tongue with his wing. At least he isn't the only one who hasn't cleaned up in forever.
"Hizashi. Here."
The fur shifts, and something is pressed in his free wing.
"My bonding bracelet!" He hugs it tight, pressing it against his chest until a circle indent shapes itself on his skin. There's a deep scratch he can ask to be filled the next time he passes near his home planet. "Where did you find it?"
It had been taken from him when he had first been captured, alongside all of his jewelry. He had fully expected never to see it again, had made his peace with it, and having it back is overwhelming.
Instead of answering, Shouta bumps the side of their faces together, his fur tickling him, signs, "Let me."
His bondmate opens the clasp and slips it over Hizashi's hind ankle. He waits until Hizashi gives him the okay before closing it. The metal is warm from his bondmate's body heat, and it's as if Shouta had wrapped his scarf around his ankle. The weight is familiar, comforting. He hadn't noticed how off balanced he felt without it.
He's pulled back into Shouta's embrace, the skin of his bondmate's scarf coiled around him, a slow lift until he isn't touching the ground.
Hizashi's enjoying the hold, and it's only when Shouta's stomach growls loudly that he realizes he's been dozing off to the slow swaying. "Let's go eat something." He pushes himself away lightly with his wing. "And don't think we aren't going to talk about the trick you pulled on Nemuri and Tensei. They told me you left without telling them."
Shouta reluctantly lets him down with a grumble, although he doesn't untangle his scarf from Hizashi even when they walk back to the sleeping quarters. Unlike the hoodie, the skin contact isn't irritating his skin. Despite not feeling like he needs it anymore, Hizashi makes sure to tie it around himself anyways. It wouldn't do to accidentally offend Shinsou by implying he doesn't like his human packbonding offer.
Said Human is hunched over himself, the modeling compound untouched. He must hear them coming because he lifts his head as soon as they exit the pilot area, waving lightly at their return. His cheeks have red imprints from where they were pressed in his hands.
"You hungry, listener?"
Shinsou agreement-shake his head, but only stands up to move when Hizashi starts inputting his meal code in the replicator. Shinsou goes to pick up a meal bag he had set aside in advance—a type of aquatic animal soup with vegetables—and goes to rehydrate it.
"Shouta, what do you want? And don't say a jelly pack! There's only standard meal packs programmed in here."
His scarf flutters on Hizashi's back. "Not hungry."
Hizashi turns around to face his bondmate, almost overbalancing when his makeshift cast prevents him from shifting his weight, but Shouta rights him up before he can fall over.
(Hizashi can admit he's being a little careless when he moves. He has no excuse other than he missed Shouta's touch.)
Hizashi inspects him, takes in his worn down appearance. Shouta's fur is sparser, his front limbs thinner where Hizashi is touching. He's lost weight. "When's the last time you've eaten?"
The subtil twitch in Shouta's lips gives him the answer before his bondmate can come up with a lie—or a 'logical ruse' as he likes to call it. Shouta sits down with a resigned huff, close enough to be able to intertwine their tails. "R'bt ribs."
Hizashi queues up the second meal with a smug look that Shouta tries to wipe off by tugging his tail lightly.
They just have to wait for it to be done. Shinsou hasn't come to find them yet, even though he should have already been done by now. When Hizashi looks over to the rehydrator, he finds Shinsou fiddling with his food bag, staring at the machine with a lost look.
"Shouta, do you mind helping Shinsou out?" The bewildered look he's sent almost makes him laugh. "Please?"
Shouta grumbles, touching their brows together for a quick moment before walking toward the Human. It's the perfect occasion for them to interact and overwrite their first—and second—meeting. Shinsou will realize his bondmate is willing to help him, and Shouta will see that Shinsou isn't going to snap and kill them for no reason.
It might take a bit more than this though. Shinsou startles when Shouta comes up from behind him. He's making a clear effort to look away, but he can't help glancing at Shouta's face and neck, a light wrinkle on the bridge of his nose.
It's making Shouta twitchy. Without a word, he plucks the bag out of Shinsou's hands to show him where he should put the rehydrator nozzle and which side to place it so it'll scan the food bag. Shinsou squints his eyes in concentration the whole time, as if it's the most interesting thing in the world.
When the rehydrator is all set up and going, Shinsou signs a quick 'Thank you', eyes downcast. His mate barely flicks one ear in acknowledgement before taking back his place next to Hizashi.
Their meals are ready almost at the same time. Shinsou hesitates, scuffing his feet while he fiddles with his bag. It's only when Hizashi calls for him that Shinsou steps closer, although he still keeps a good distance between himself and Shouta.
Hizashi forces himself to eat slowly, counting to fifteen clicks before letting himself swallow his bites. Shinsou tries to pace himself too, but he isn't as successful, occasionally shoving down chunks of meat and handfuls of vegetables in his mouth before remembering himself.
When he's finished, Hizashi can't help eyeing the replicator. He's more than full, having had to choke down the last bites before Shouta stopped him. A plate of fresh drupe shouldn't sound so appealing, not when his stomach is so bloated.
A water-filled plate is waved in front of his face. Shouta must have poured it while he was distracted. "Drink."
Instead of putting the plate on the ground, Shouta holds it up to his beak, the softer end of his scarf slithering around his waist and torso. Hizashi's heart does a small somersault at the show of affection. His bondmate usually keeps his scarf to himself when they're in front of others, preferring to keep tender touches for when they're alone. Hizashi's disappearance must still be plaguing him.
Shinsou is nursing his own water bottle, his more malleable mouth able to drink directly from the small opening. He's carefully avoiding looking at them, his brows lowered. It must be weird for him to witness this. Hizashi can't imagine Humans walking around and wearing their emotions for everyone to see. Before Shinsou, he couldn't imagine Humans being able to interact with each other for any other reason than fighting or mating.
"So!" Shinsou jolts at the suddenness, and even Shouta doesn't expect it, his scarf stilling for a click. "My friends are gonna pick us. Please don't freak out again."
The Human agreement-shakes seriously, signing, "I do not attack Hizashi's friends."
It's not like Hizashi thinks Shinsou's lying, but he really doesn't want another stressful meeting. "One of them is a quadruped, kinda looks like Shouta here, but without fur." Hizashi waves his wing at his bondmate. "He runs real fast. And the other is a biped, like you! She has sacs that contain a neurodepressor, makes you fall unconscious. You haven't met anyone like that before, right?"
E'nGnum and SoM-NamsM aren't usually sought after for fight rings. They're more often poached for parts, their real values lying in E'nGnum exoskeletons and SoM-NamsM neurodepressor. It doesn't hurt to be careful though; if Shinsou has had to fight people who look like Hizashi's friends, he wants to know now so he can reduce the risk of casualty to zero.
"Not going to attack," Shinsou repeats.
Hizashi doesn't push even if he isn't completely satisfied with the answer. He tries to bring his mate and his friend to talk to each other, but Shinsou's too wary of his bondmate, interrupting himself to glance at Shouta, and Shouta's only contributions are small grunts and high pitched sounds. The conversation trails off and he eventually gives up, too tired to continue on. The evershifting whirlwind of emotions he's had to live through in the last cycle has drained him. Shouta's comfortable to lean on, even if his fur is greasy.
Hizashi realizes he accidentally dozed off when he's woken up by gentle rumbling, the vibration tickling his teeth. He's warm, warmer than he has been in a while. When he shifts, familiar skin rights him up, holding him so he doesn't accidentally put his weight on his broken wing.
"Nemuri and Tensei called. They're here."
That chases away all remnants of sleep. He shoots up, hobbling toward the back porthole to peer outside. If he squints, he can barely make out a clipper heading straight for them, growing bigger every time he blinks.
Shouta joins his side, preparing the pod to be docked. He informs their friends that they're ready for boarding before unclipping the earpiece with a grimace, his ear flicking around to work out the strain.
"Shinsou, you ready listener?"
The Human's in the middle of a stretch, one of his upper limbs—the uninjured one—held over his head with his fingers all extended. "Yes."
"They're not going to hurt you or me," he reminds Shinsou.
Shinsou's gaze flick toward Shouta, a yawn stretching his jaw wide open. "Okay."
He seems more apprehensive than when they were waiting for Shouta. Hizashi hesitates, turns the words in his head, before signing, "Listener, can you wait in the pilot area? My friends might get scared if they see you without an explanation."
Shinsou stays silent for so long, Hizashi thinks he's going to refuse. He's about to tell him to forget about it when Shinsou's eyes flit between the porthole, Shouta, and him, his lips thinning as he presses them together. "Okay."
He walks stiffly to the front of the pod, turning around to look at him.
"Just wait for me to call for you before coming out, alright? They'll like you!" Hizashi reassures.
Shinsou agreement-shakes, a bit stilted, before disappearing behind the sustenance cabinet, right as the ship starts shaking lightly, sending him stumbling back until Shouta catches him. The shaking stops suddenly when the latches finally clamp down and the stabilizers start working in tandem. His wings itch to flutter in anticipation.
Shouta and he wait for the chamber to pressurize, and then the hatch opens to let Nemuri and Tensei step in.
They look a little worse for wear than the last time he's seen them. Tensei's exoskeleton needs a good buffing session and Nemuri's decorative cloth has tears running down the side.
"You dumbass! We were worried about you!" Nemuri strides toward him, bumping their forehead together. "And you!" She turns to Shouta, the glands lining her sternum and neck turning warning-red in her anger. "You can't just leave without warning like that!"
Tensei makes his way to them at a slower pace. He tries to hook his limbs with Hizashi's, but the cast and Shouta's scarf make the hug awkward. "We're glad you're both okay."
Shouta pushes past Nemuri, ignoring her scolding. He nudges Hizashi forward, toward the clipper. "Let's go. Hizashi needs medical assistance."
"Wait, what about the Deathworlder?" Nemuri looks around nervously. "If you guys were playing one of your 'logical ruses', I swear—"
Hizashi's about to call for Shinsou when his bondmate grabs Nemuri, pulling her along. His ears are turned toward the pilot area. "If we go now, he won't notice. Just don't make too much noise."
Comprehension dawns on her, and Nemuri pouts, signing a huge 'Disappointed!'. She follows Shouta to the transition chamber, her steps now silent.
Hizashi stops in his tracks, nipping a coil of scarf until Shouta slows down, indignation lighting his limbs when he's shushed for the betrayed squawk he lets out. "Hey! What are you doing? We can't just leave Shinsou here."
"Isn't that why you sent him away?" He tries to tug at Hizashi, but his unwillingness to hurt him makes it easy for Hizashi to resist and stand his ground. "Hizashi, don't get second thoughts now."
"I—No! That's not why I—! Shouta, he's going to die here. He barely knew how to use the rehydrator, how do you think he's going to pilot the pod?"
Tensei and Nemuri stand frozen in the threshold of the hatch, their heads bobbing back and forth to follow the conversation.
Shouta has the audacity to huff, his ears flattening for a click. "We're not just going to leave him. We'll ping the Commission, they'll pick him up."
Hizashi lets out a disbelieving noise. While they trusted the Commission to deal with most criminals, Shinsou's a rare Deathworlder. Not only that, but Humans aren't on an officially registered sentient list. The Commission's more likely to keep him hidden away in a lab than to help him integrate one of the pre-contact colonies.
Shouta realizes his misstep and starts backtracking. "We'll call someone that's more capable than us to help him out. We know nothing about Humans. For all we know, they don't live in the same atmospheric conditions as us. We could be killing him right now. What are we even going to do with him?"
Shouta's scarf is doing that rippling effect. Hizashi knows him well enough to know that he's using 'rational' arguments to hide a completely emotional reason for his disapproval.
"Shouta. Listen." His bondmate reluctantly drops his front limbs. Hizashi runs his free wing on the side of his face, caressing his cheek. "Shinsou saved me. He shared his food and water, he gave me his clothes. He packbonded with me . I owe him at least two life debts. I can't just—get rid of him! He's my friend."
"He's dangerous." Shouta's scarf writhes around Hizashi, adds more quietly, "He hurt you."
Hizashi winces at the reminder of how Shinsou had grabbed him. Even though he'd been unconscious during most of the escape, he could still feel how tight the hoodie had been tied around him. He's lucky his ribs didn't crack under the pressure. Hizashi is absolutely not sharing that tidbit to his bondmate. "He didn't mean to, you know? He just got startled, that's all. We'll remind him to be more careful."
The tension between them grows, holds their breath in a tight grip, only breaking when Shouta lets his head fall to rest on Hizashi's brow. "You can't say anything about me bringing in strays anymore."
Relief courses through him, makes him bury his face in Shouta's neck, running his beak over the naked skin before walking to where Shinsou's waiting, his bondmate falling right behind. He wouldn't have left Shinsou all alone like that, especially by tricking him, but having to fight Shouta for it would have been more stress than he thinks he could handle right now.
Shinsou in that same position as before; tucked in a corner with his hind limbs bent to his chest, hands covering his eyes. His shoulders rise in time with his breaths.
"Shinsou?" Did he fall asleep? Hizashi whistles an attention-grabbing tune when Shinsou doesn't move, jolting back when his friend snaps his head up at the sound, eyebrows lifted high and lips slightly apart. Hizashi thrills worryingly. Shinsou's pupil diameters are about the same as before, flitting around Hizashi quick and fast. The edges of his eyes are slightly red, gleaming in the light. "You feel okay, listener?"
Shinsou stares at him without answering. Hizashi's about to drag him to the clipper, where the medical supplies are better and therefore have a higher chance to detect whatever's wrong with Shinsou when he agreement-shakes his head. "Meet your friends?"
"Yeah! Let's go!" Patting Shinsou with his wing is awkward when Shouta hasn't stopped touching him, a coil of his scarf always around his shoulder, his waist, sometimes petting the back of his head. His bondmate adds more length onto him when Shinsou stands up, but he doesn't show any other sign of his discomfort.
Shinsou straightens up when he sees Tensei and Nemuri, but Hizashi isn't fazed by his attempts to appear bigger; Shinsou is still trailing behind him, each of his steps having to dodge Hizashi's tail from how close he is.
The Human falters, face suddenly turning bright pink, and he seems to find the floor absolutely fascinating to look at. It doesn't matter too much, Hizashi's friends are too stunned speechless to notice Shinsou's odd behavior. He can't begrudge them; the closest any of them have ever come close to seeing a Human is through blurry holovids or barely-holding-together remains sold by poachers.
While live Humans are a lucrative business, they're extremely rare to encounter; they're expensive to procure, expensive to contain, and extremely dangerous. Few wanted to deal with the headache of keeping a Human alive when there's plenty of sentients that are less likely to destroy an entire ship but would still bring profit when thrown into a fighting arena.
Tensei is the first to shake himself out of his surprise, stepping forward and performing a formal E'nGnum greeting.
Shinsou stiltedly waves his forelimb, sharing his own name before he tries to repeat Tensei's, mimicking his voice. Shouta and Tensei look unsettled at Tensei's warbly voice coming out of Shinsou's mouth, but Nemuri's shining with curiosity. She leans closer when she tries to say his human name, but her lips won't shape around the sounds well enough.
It snaps Shinsou out of his odd avoidance, although he still casts his gaze away from Nemuri, and his face hasn't lost all of its pinkness. While the two are going back and forth, Shinsou trying to coach her by exaggerating his mouth movements, Hizashi turns to his bondmate to sign, "Well, that went better than I thought it would!"
The glare he's subjected to doesn't even faze Hizashi, hasn't had any effect on him for a long time. "Don't tempt luck."
"Since when have you believed in luck? Besides, I told you. Shinsou's nice!"
Shouta grumbles something under his breath, his scarf coiling back around Hizashi. The soft skin rubs against his hind limbs and back almost aggressively, but his bondmate keeps the most callous parts over his scales. Flakes of dead scales litter the floor around him. "What are we going to do with him?"
Hizashi pats Shouta's scarf. "I thought we could teach him how to pilot a simple clipper, and if he wanted, he could integrate UA." He looks at his bondmate, an amused lilting hum. "He's not going to live with us forever, you know?"
The way Shouta lets out a relieved breath shouldn't amuse him so much, but he can't help the few whistled laughs from escaping him. The fond vibrations coming from his bondmate pulls out a few more whistles. He feels light, lighter than he had for a while now.
Shouta's nuzzling his shoulder when he startles, unintentionally hitting Hizashi's head when he pulls back. Coils and hands suddenly surround him, pushing him behind his bondmate. His heart lurches in his throat while he takes a defensive stance. He—he didn't feel anything, the console isn't flashing in warning, they aren't getting boarded, but Shouta must have heard something, and his back is to Hizashi so he can't ask what's going on, all he can do is hope it isn't the Feczoits coming back to get them, with bigger numbers and bigger weapons, because while they might have cut their losses and let Hizashi escape, they've invested too much into Shinsou to lose him.
Hizashi follows Shouta's gaze, readying himself to see ugly armour embossed with the Feczoit insignia, only to find Shinsou, lips parted to show his teeth, expression frozen in confusion.
"What happened?" Shouta signs, hackles raised, his scarf subtly untangling itself from Hizashi, ready to be sent out.
Nemuri signs frantically, "Whatever I did, I didn't mean any offense! Hizashi, tell him!"
His brain's frozen, still trying to comprehend what's happening. Hizashi forces himself to shake away the panic, makes eye contact with Shinsou. The Human immediately latches on, fumbles through an explanation, pointing at his face. "I scare your friends. Accident. I forget."
It takes Hizashi a moment to understand what Shinsou means, and when he does, he almost falls over in relief, the vice around his chest easing up and leaving him feeling like he just flew through a sandstorm. "Oh," he signs, trembling from the surge of adrenaline, "if he shows his teeth with the corner of his mouth pulled up, it's either an appeasement gesture or an indication of joy."
His heart hasn't calmed down yet and the few feathers he has refuse to flatten to a neutral position, making his uncovered skin have an odd bumpy texture, but it doesn't deter him from being entertained by everyone's reaction to Shinsou's innocent teeth baring.
"Ah," Tensei manages to sign weakly. "Sorry Shinsou, we didn't mean to react like this. Hizashi, is there something else we should be aware of?"
Hizashi thinks for a click, adds, "It's human custom to stare, so don't mind that. It's really off putting at first, but you get used to it."
Nemuri immediately stops pulsing warning-red, tries to rekindle the conversation she'd been having with Shinsou before the teeth-baring, but a hint of wariness now colours Tensei's gestures.
Shouta takes longer to relax, and even when he does, he doesn't scarf Hizashi, opting to keep it ready and free. He does rest a hand on Hizashi's back, sneaking it under the hoodie, but it's not the same, doesn't quite ward away the restlessness threatening to burst through. Hizashi doesn't voice his disappointment.
"Let's go back to the clipper." Shouta lets the others go through the hatch first, keeping Hizashi behind with him. The transition chamber is cramped, not made to hold five people. Fortunately, the squeeze doesn't last too long. As soon as the hatch opens, they all stumble out, Shouta even going so far as to shake away the feeling of bodies pressed against him. While Tensei goes to the pilot console, Hizashi's bondmate herds him toward the med bay.
He's helped up the cot, and while Shouta tries to inconspicuously edge away from Shinsou's curious stare while he calibrates the scanner, Nemuri waves her upper limb to get his attention, gesturing toward Shinsou. "Hizashi, are you sure that's a Human and not a new sentient that looks similar? Convergent evolution and all that."
"Yeah," Tensei signs from the front of the clipper, fingers flying through commands while he takes advantage of Shinsou's distracted state to inspect him, careful to avoid eye contact. "I thought Shouta was trying to reassure us, but he really is short."
Hizashi perks up, happy to share the hypotheses he's been coming up during his emprisonnement, absently taking the quick-acting-short-lasting painkiller Shouta hands him and laying down so his bondmate can have better access to his wing, his tail swinging lightly over the edge of the cot. It isn't that he doesn't enjoy speaking with Shinsou, but he's been itching to talk to someone who has a better grasp on See'krtsh'ish. "He really is a Human. I thought it was strange at first, but I think it might be sexual dimorphism, or a rare phenotype? His purple fur's real eyecatching!."
"I've never heard of a Human that came in that colour," Tensei muses. He types in coordinates, hand hovering over the last button. "You guys need anything from the pod? Last chance, I'm ditching it."
He waits ten clicks for an answer, before he presses the button, the barely noticeable tilt the only indication that they aren't attached to the pod anymore. Tensei could drive through an asteroid belt without waking up most people.
Hizashi undoes the hoodie around him to make it easier for Shouta, using it to cushion his head. Despite Shouta doing his best to be gentle while he undoes the ez-quick bandages, having wet them so they could soften, his broken bones seem to shift, grating together and echoing through the rest of his body. Hizashi doesn't dare look at the throbbing pain, not when Shouta lets out a hiss when his wing is completely uncovered, Shinsou blanching at the sight. Shouta doesn't let it faze him for long, already moving to his neck. It's somehow worse than getting his wing touched. There's no pain or odd pulling pressure, but every contact against his skin there makes him tense up in anticipation for… something. Which doesn't even make sense, because his bondmate would never hurt him, not intentionally. Hizashi still has to resist the urge to snap at Shouta when he feels fingers touch him, dread pooling low in the back of his head.
"They really did a number on you."
Nemuri's trying to distract him. Hizashi sends her a grateful look, humming to ignore the fingers touching him while Shouta tries to unwrap his neck. He puffs his chest out, head turned to the side in fake preening. "Yeah, well, you should have seen the other guy!"
Her head twitches almost imperceptibly, a flicker of something passing through before she takes on a mock pitying look, blowing on her talons. "What, did you bore them to death?"
Before he can defend himself, Shouta tsks at him to stay still, squinting at the scanner's readings until he looks satisfied before passing the machine over the rest of his body, starting by his head. Nemuri starts explaining what Hizashi's bondmate is doing to Shinsou, and although Hizashi can't follow the entire conversation with the way Shouta stands in front of him while he has to keep his head immobile, Shinsou seems to be understanding the gist of it. It's a pleasant surprise. Hizashi hadn't thought Shinsou would catch on to the different sign variations so fast.
"Healer, tell me, what's the damage?"
His bondmate swats Hizashi's tail with a huff. "I'm not done yet. For now, your broken humerus is the worst injury." He hesitates, gentle his gestures. "There's two metal disks leftover from the—the collar. It's right under your skin."
Hizashi swallows at the reminder, the scraps of metal gaining weight. Shouta senses the shift, pauses his scanning to brush their faces together and let Hizashi feel the comforting rumbling against his jaw. While it doesn't wipe away all of the discomfort, he does feel more relaxed, and he signals his bondmate to continue on. Hizashi doesn't join the conversation even if he can, satisfied to let Nemuri take care of it. She's now going on about a new medrepair model that was technologically advanced but not user friendly at all to an ever growing confused Shinsou. The burst of energy he regained from seeing his friends has fizzled away, and Shouta's skin against his, alongside the occasional rumble he gives when he warns Hizashi he's going to scan another area makes his eyelids heavy.
The way Shouta's ears flick around while he thinks makes him smile, makes him relax into the cot. A stray part of his scarf comes down to rest over his uninjured wing. "I think I can collapse the disks. I'll have to touch your neck a lot though," Shouta signs apologetically.
His bondmate waits for his acquiescence before he brings out a small toolbox and begins sanitizing the screwdriver. Every swipe adds another layer of unease to Hizashi's trembling, his mouth dry when he tries to swallow.
"Hizashi, you want to see the pictures Toshinori sent?" Nemuri holds her padd up to show a picture of Engine lazing over Lamp, who looks resigned to being stuck under her. She swipes to another picture, this time of Toshinori laying in an uncomfortable position, unwilling to move and wake Lamp up from where she's sprawled over his chest. Engine is sitting in the palm of his hands, grooming herself.
Shouta picks up the screwdriver, the cold disinfectant wipe against his neck making Hizashi startle.
When Shinsou shuffles closer, silently asking permission to see, Nemuri tilts her padd to allow him to look..
He can feel his skin being stretched, the disk shifting despite Shouta holding it down.
Shinsou slowly turns to look at Shouta, and then back to the picture. His hand lifts up and down, words aborted midway. Finally, he asks, unsure, "They are… littles… of your bondmate?"
Silence, and then Nemuri wheezes, unable to hold herself up as she shakes her limbs in laughter. The loud whistle he lets out takes him by surprise, and even the feeling of the disk suddenly snapping close and being pulled out, rivulets of blood tickling him before Shouta can wipe them away, isn't enough to stop his laughter. The only resemblance between his bondmate and their pets is their darker fur and their ears. Did Humans have bad vision? If he squinted and closed his third eyelids, Lamp could maybe look like a smaller, scarfless version of Eer'ahseers. She would need another pair of limbs, longer fingers, a longer snout, and Hizashi could kind of see it.
"It's—no—I—" Nemuri tries to say, "they're his—" She gives up, hands laughing too much to talk.
Tensei waves to catch their attention, swiveling in his chair. "See, Shouta? The Human hasn't even met your mèos, and yet he already thinks you act like them."
He loses his composure again at Shouta's affronted glare, letting him turn his head to the side to get the other disk while he tries to breathe through the long whistles.
"Sorry Shinsou, we aren't laughing at you. It's Engine and Lamp, I told you about them, remember?" Shouta's a lot faster with the second disk.
Shinsou flushes red, signing an embarrassed 'sorry' at Shouta, who walks past him to get to a machine partially slotted into a recess in the wall. "We can use the medrepair. There's no fragments." Shouta brings up the barriers and lowers the medrepair's arm until it barely misses touching his wing. "Nemuri."
She waves at Shinsou, who looks conflicted between awed and alarmed at the machinery. While she scans his break again, Hizashi gestures at Shinsou to come closer. The Human's nervous, fingers tucked in his palms as if he's scared he'll break something if he touches it. Which, considering his strength, wasn't unlikely. "It's going to send targeted rays that'll stimulate cell regeneration. It's safer than it sounds," he tacks on when Shinsou seems more worried.
"Okay, let's turn that baby right up!" Nemuri makes sure everyone's clear, nudging Shinsou away before she activates the medrepair beam. It has numerous failsafes, but it doesn't prevent Shouta and Nemuri from monitoring him closely, ready to intervene at the slightest sign of trouble.
Even if he expects it, the sudden tingling sensation takes him by surprise. It grows in intensity, making him grit his teeth through the insects crawling through his wing and the ebb and pull of his spasming muscles. He must have metabolized the painkiller already.
"Aaannd… it's done!," signs Nemuri. "We only let it heal so you won't need a cast, but it's still going to be weaker than usual. Don't get too wild with Shouta~"
As soon as the medrepair powers down, Hizashi lets his good wing fall over his face with a groan to block away Nemuri's cackling. Shouta doesn't let him rest there, pulls him up and immediately moves to massage the cramps away and encourage blood circulation. A new patch of feathers are revealed where the medrepair accidentally sped up their growth. Hizashi rattles his beak at Nemuri when she covers her eyes with a scandalized gasp, sending her a rude gesture when she peeks through her fingers.
Once Shouta has made sure the tingling has faded, he helps Hizashi down the cot. Hizashi slowly flexes his wing, holding his breath until he's sure there won't be any flare of pain. He doesn't think there's any numbness, and flaring the feathers there is as easy as usual. He's rewarded with a brow-bump from his bondmate when Hizashi assures him there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage, although Shouta still passes the scanner over his wing to be sure.
Hizashi encircles his mate's front limb, unable to stop himself from teasing him when he notices that his bondmate's scarf has come up to hide the bottom of his face while he tries to pretend he's immune to Nemuri's antics. His amusement sours when he catches the way Shouta's placing himself between him and Shinsou, shifting in time with Shinsou's attempts to approach him. He takes the scanner from Shouta's hand, having to curl his short talons tight around the handle to compensate for his weaker wing. It doesn't help that it's a bulkier model than he's used to.
"Shinsou," he calls out, "your turn!"
Shinsou takes a step back, eyes wide. Ignoring Shouta's glare, Hizashi tries to reassure his friend. "It only hurts a little. I know there's something wrong with your shoulder, come here."
Shouta's ears are pulled back in barely concealed agravement when Shinsou obeys him, skittishly sitting on the edge of the cot, ready to bolt at any moment. Shouta goes to take the scanner, but Hizashi dodges his scarf. He's already asking a lot from Shinsou by making him show his injuries in front of the others when they weren't pack yet. Having someone familiar doing this should put Shinosu a bit more at ease, especially since he already doesn't look comfortable doing this.
"Okay, so I'm going to scan you. This shouldn't hurt at all." Shinsou doesn't move a hair, eyes following the scanner nervously. Hizashi starts with his hind limbs first, standing on the side in case Shinsou reflexively kicks out. He doesn't think Shinsou's injured there, but it'll help get him get used to the scanner without having him feel too threatened by it. Hopefully, he'll let Hizashi scan the rest of him without making a fuss. "Can you move the cloth?"
Shinsou agreement-shakes, pulling the clothing up so his hind limbs are bare until the top of his knees. Aside from the dark purple and fading yellow bruises mottling his hind limbs, his skin is as pale as his face, no patterns or scales or anything. Humans really are just… fleshy.
There's nothing too serious that he can spot—excluding the bruises and the weirdly shaped feet—and the scanner isn't calibrated for Humans, so Hizashi has no idea what Shinsou's base state should look like. All he can really do is compare both sides of Shinsou's body and hope the scanner works.
Nemuri looks over his shoulder, bumping into Shouta from how close he's sticking to Hizashi. The three of them are invading Shinsou's space, making him lean so far out, Hizashi's worried he'll tip over and fall. "Do you even know what you should be looking for?"
He shoos her away, already aware Shouta won't budge from his place no matter how much he insists. "Well, it should be able to pick up on anything life threatening at the very least."
His upper limbs are next. Shinsou doesn't want to take off his cloth this time, be it from the pain it would cause by moving or from modesty. Hizashi doesn't begrudge him; he can't even imagine how awful it must be to run around without anything covering his skin. At least, for him, his nakedness is temporary, and even with pin feathers already covering his entire body, he's still self-conscious about it.
Everything looks relatively healthy until he passes over Shinsou's left shoulder. There's a long hairline fracture running through the head of his humerus, and a huge collection of blood has been gathering in the articulation.
"How did you even move around with this?" Hizashi doesn't know how Shinsou acted so casually all this time without any painkillers and when his shoulder wasn't immobilized.
"It is fine, no need," Shinsou signs, already pushing himself off the cot. Hizashi doesn't let him, holding his hind limbs in place with the weight of his body and ignoring Shouta's alarmed orders to stop. Shinsou quickly stops trying to escape, which Hizashi would have been proud of if he didn't suspect Shinsou was mostly settling down to prevent accidentally hurting him.
"What is it with me being surrounded by people who refuse medical care," he signs dramatically.
"Didn't you try to downplay your ankle injury to Shouta several revolutions ago, when you—"
Hizashi flutter his wings—plural!—to cut Nemuri off, hoping Shouta didn't see what she said. From the displeased way his tail has puffed up, he knows he'll get questioned about this later. "You promised you wouldn't say anything about the Incident ."
Nemuri motions at him to continue scanning Shinsou, a smirk lining her fingers. He swishes his tail in her direction, turning his back on her. At least she isn't spilling what happened, judging by Shouta's pout.
Surprisingly, Shinsou puts up less of a fight when Hizashi moves to scan his abdomen and chest, even if it's a pretty vulnerable place. He… doesn't think there's anything worrying? Shinsou's doesn't show any indication he's in pain when Hizashi pokes him, so he's pretty sure his friend's okay.
Hizashi pats Shinsou's lower limb when he bends his head to ease his job. The scanner doesn't pick up on anything important; a bruise under his fur, the long scratch over the bridge of his nose, the wound on the back of his neck, and—
"Oh, I'm so sorry Shinsou, I really didn't mean it!" He frets, wings hovering over Shinsou's ears. He barely remembers screaming, and somehow, that makes the guilt hit harder. "Burst eardrums usually heal fast, you'll get your hearing back in no time."
"It is fine," Shinsou signs, but some tension leaves his shoulders. "I know it is accident."
It doesn't alleviate Hizashi' guilt. He reaches up to pat his head fur as another form of apology, almost crooning at the way Shinsou lightly leans into the touch.
"Okay, Shinsou, lay down, try not to move. We'll only fix your upper limb, is that alright?"
Shinsou lays down, rubbing the edge of his clothes between his fingers and looking wide eyed at the medrepair. Barring the small jolt when the medrepair starts up, Shinsou doesn't show any indication of pain, impassive while his articulation gets drained and the bone knits back together. The layer of fabric lengthens the time it should typically take, but Shinsou doesn't seem fazed by the particular tingling that always comes with cell regen, so Hizashi won't insist on him taking it off. They'll just have to follow the progression more closely to prevent Shinsou's skin from accidentally fusing with his garment.
It looks to have gone well; Hizashi and the scanner can't detect any inflammation or blood in his articulation, and the hairline fracture has disappeared. Shinsou's even moving his upper limb semi-normally, brows lowered while he inspects it.
"How long 'til we reach destination?"
Tensei brings up a screen over the fuel indicator. "About half a cycle."
"Enough time to plan how we're going to sneak Shinsou past Toshinori then."
The E'nGnum clicks his plates in disapproval. "You're not going to tell him?"
Hizashi takes a page out of Shinsou's book and fixes him with a flat look. "He can't keep a secret even when he tries his best. Do you want the whole quadrant to know we're harboring a Human?"
Tensei moves to respond, pauses. Finally, he signs, "What's the plan then?"