network; video

[kyley_b]

((Post event. CW: discussions of violence, body horror, injury and loss of limb in comments.))


[The feed shows a skinny redhead who is somehow even paler than usual - his skin is parchment white, with deep dark pouches under his eyes. His curls are matted.

Yeah, he looks like shit.]

Uhm. Hi. Hi, uh. It's Kyle. Uhm.

I. Uh. Is. Is everybody okay? I hope you're all okay. Uhm. I'm...

[His face crumples.] I'm not. I'm not okay, I'm SO not okay.

Comments

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

Things could be better. More importantly, Kyle- where are you? What happened?

[Video]

[kyley_b]

I'm in my house. I think I found my way back somehow, before, maybe. I don't know.

I. Uhm. I got messed up. Were you here? Did you see any of it?

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

That's across the lake. I can come over pretty quick- need me to bring anything?

[He winces, figuring what 'here' and 'it' might have been.]

...yeah. Yeah, I was here.

[Video]

[kyley_b]

I. Yeah. Maybe. Uhm.

Did you turn into something? I did. I tried to do something awful to Kaz.

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

....

[The silence is telling in itself.]

Don't wanna talk about it right now, kid.

I'll be right over though.

Re: [Video]

[kyley_b]

Okay.

Just let yourself in.

[Video/Action]

[deal_me_in]

[With a nod the feed cuts.

He's not sure what all Kyle might need but the kid hadn't looked very good, so Cayde makes do with whatever supplies he finds in Ikora's part of the clocktower. He's just across the flood plains, making haste as only a Guardian can. While he's not sure which place exactly is Kyle's, his Ghost can at least narrow that down for him when she picks him up on her radar.]

Kid?

[Cayde slips inside, be it open window or door, whichever presents the easier access. He's got a blanket bundling whatever he's grabbed, tossed over a shoulder.]

[audio]

[doubled_speed]

Where are you?

[He doesn't have time to fiddle the video on. No, the sound and the look of Kyle has him panicking. He's back and he wants to check on his people. And this? This is freaking him out.]

Re: [audio]

[kyley_b]

Tommy! Tommy are you okay? Tell me you weren't here.

[doubled_speed]

I wasn't here. I was still in Sh'Ka doing plant shit. I'm fucking fine. YOU are not fine. WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?

[kyley_b]

Oh, thank god. Thank god.

Please don't yell at me right now, Tommy. Cayde is coming to help me, please just... give me a little while. Please. I don't know how to tell you what happened yet.

[doubled_speed]

[Cayde is coming to help him? Which means things are REALLY bad right now. Fucking Hell Kyle, he can't accept this.]

Where. Are. You? Because you really need to let me be there, Kyle.

[kyley_b]

I will! But right now I can't, I just can't, I just needed to know that you're okay. I love you dude.

[That's when he cuts the feed.

It's not too much later when he turns it back on, though - just enough time for Cayde to have shown up and helped him out.]

Tommy?

video;

[demjiin]

[ Well this is awkward. Kaz doesn't really do guilt though so you're going to get a somewhat uncomfortable Kaz. ]

I don't think a 'sorry' will help you any, so I won't bother.

[kyley_b]

It'd still be fucking nice to hear, Kaz!

[demjiin]

[ That look of being uncomfortable intensifies. ]

I don't see what a word will help but if you honestly want to hear it...sorry.

[ Kyle you may not realize it, but the simple fact you got a 'sorry' from Kaz is a really big deal. People that have known him for years have never heard him say that single word. ]

[kyley_b]

Thank you.

I know you didn't really have a choice. I'm not mad at you. Well, not much.

Are YOU okay?

[demjiin]

That's just it, I think it was still me. Maybe if I stopped caring about consequences or what I would be doing to people. You...well, you weren't the only person that I hurt.

[ Though what Kaz did to Kyle was the worst. ]

[kyley_b]

Oh. Well. ...okay, I'm still not mad, I attacked you.

You didn't kill anyone, did you?

All right to back tag?

[dr_riley]

[[ I don't have a computer atm, so everything tends to wait until I can use someone else's, and direct inbox replies tend to get top priority. But Drake knows what an ignored plea for help feels like and if he saw this, he would check in. ]]


[Drake's camera clicks on to show him just leaning back from it, concern and understanding settling across his face.]

I'm here, mate.

What d'you need?

Oh, always!

[kyley_b]

[Why of all people it should be cranky Dr. Riley that manages to cut through Kyle's attempt at composure he couldn't really say. Maybe because he's never seen Drake actually look worried about anyone before.

Kyle starts crying. Not loudly, but in a silent, helpless sort of way.]

I lost a hand.

<3

[dr_riley]

[Oh, but Drake is an expert worrier. It's why he's so cranky. He pales a little when Kyle makes that revelation.]

"Christ. What, just - just now?"

"Careless." [The voice of his friend came unbidden in his head.]

[a laugh]

"Oy, shut up, you feckless wanker. 'Least I've got both my balls."

"And yet I've still got more'n you."

"Says the man who shot my arm off. You're right, that is some bollocks."

[Of course, this exchange had happened long after the fact, when they both could laugh at each other over the bits and pieces they'd lost, lacerated, and impaled. But at the moment, Drake was frowning in a wide eyed way as he remembered what it felt like to have a hand crushed and shredded before Gene saved the rest of him by shooting it off at the elbow.]

I - [He swallowed a sudden font of hot saliva, a precursor to the retch that was twisting his stomach.]

Okay. Listen to me. I know you're not alright, but you will be. I promise. I have some field dressing training and a medkit. It's a bit substandard, but it'll do in a pinch. I can come to you.

[kyley_b]

No, no. It's. Uhm. [He takes a deep, watery breath.]

It's already done. It's been cauterized, I'm not in immediate danger. I just.

[He sniffles.] I just don't know how to... like. What am I gonna do? I don't know how to deal with this.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this is a lot.

[dr_riley]

[Drake's shoulders fall and his head dips down briefly as he lets out a breath. And then, of all the things that cranky Dr. Riley might have been expected to do upon looking up again, like yell or fret or interrogate, one might be forgiven for not expecting a look of profoundly intimate understanding]

You're going to get through it. You're going to grieve and get frustrated. You're going to adjust to new limitations. And you're not going to apologize for it.

[kyley_b]

[And that look gets Kyle crying again.]

Yeah? You know that?