[ video ]

[tempredmental]

[There was an inherent risk with doing repairs to things while on a ladder. The house Keith and Lance had finally decided to claim hadn't exactly been in perfect condition to begin with, but they'd been fixing it up before the eruption. Some of their fixes were "unfixed", so now he was fixing again.

He'd been getting annoyed at the comm being in his pocket while trying to maneuver, and took a few moments to take it out of his pocket and place it on the top of the ladder.

The ladder, though, wasn't the most sturdy thing around. It was, after all, something that had been thrown together in a hurry in the first place. So, naturally, it was bound to give out at some point due to being used more than it could withstand.

The video came on just as Keith shouted in alarm. He'd made to grab on to something for support when the ladder suddenly hitched unexpectedly, and his movement triggered the video button at the same time that it knocked the comm off its resting place.

Everything on the screen tumbled. It was hard to tell what was falling and what wasn't. But it all came to a sudden stop with a loud crash, resulting in a nice view of the ceiling above and some of the repair work Keith had been doing.]

Ooww... shit.

[Keith was probably not okay...]

Comments

[video]

[the_tailor]

[At Reeve's request, Lance had been spending some time surveying buildings for proper shelter. He was in the midst of making some notes on a potential candidate when he notices a video message coming from his husband, immediately eagerly checks it, and...

Well, the smile definitely falls from his face.]

Keith, you idiot-- Where are you-- Are you still home?

[Just to be certain before he goes on a mad dash, since a ceiling isn't much to go by.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith grunted, a very pained sound.]

Lance? Uh, yeah... I'm home- wait, what? [Did he call him an idiot?] Wow. Thanks for being concerned.

[Well, he sounded like he was in pain, but he wasn't bad enough that he couldn't make a sarcastic quip about being called an idiot by his husband after falling off a ladder.]

[the_tailor]

Yeah. Obviously I'm not concerned about my husband having hurt himself in some unknown way I can't even see right now. Totally. Obviously not. You dumbass.

[It's visible from the shaking on the screen that Lance is running right now.]

How hurt are you?!

[tempredmental]

[Not that Keith could see the screen from where he was. But Snow was sticking her face into Keith's camera, blocking the view of the ceiling, and fogging it up with her breathing.]

I don't know... [Keith sounded a bit out of breath.] Calling me names isn't helping your case. [Snow rubbed her face on the comm, muffling a few things with a shushing type noise.]

Nng... [He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth.]

I don't know. I can't-... I can't move my arm.

[the_tailor]

Snow, I love you, but c'mon, let me see him--

[Damnit. This doesn't sound good. Thankfully, he's not terribly far off, but not as close as he wishes he would.]

Stay still. Does it look like anything else is going to fall? Is there structural damage?

[tempredmental]

[The feline made a soft noise in response, like she understood, and then pawed at the comm. Paff paff paff paff... It was lying flat on the floor, though, and there was nothing to prop it up against.]

N-no... I didn't knock into anything else... just... the ladder gave out.

[Plus, he had moved most of the furniture away from where he'd been working... just in case.]

K-Kosmo... he went out... he might be looking for you.

[the_tailor]

Gonna give me a heart attack one of these days, samurai... And right, I'll keep an eye out for him.

[It's a little over halfway back home that he spots the wolf in question. Lance doesn't have a chance to even call out to him before Kosmo dashes his way, jumping at him and teleporting the moment they touch.

Lance drops the communicator once he's back, groaning with the sudden dizziness.] God, Kosmo, give a guy a warning...

[tempredmental]

Sorry... [Keith's response was a little breathy sounding as he tried not to move. But the pain was enough that he kept shifting his legs, as if that would make his arm more comfortable. It was weird paradox, but something he couldn't help. That said, though, he stayed put for the most part, lying on the floor where he'd landed, the pain in his arm preventing him from being able to sit up.

Kosmo's ears had perked up on noticing Lance and he ran over to him. The accompanying flash of the teleport was enough to snap Keith out of whatever state he'd been disassociating himself into, and he was suddenly relieved. The wolf grumbled slightly at Lance's complaining, as if in response.]

[the_tailor]

[Right. Keith. Lance takes a deep breath and gets his head straight before kneeling down next to him, frowning as he looks him over.

Lance does not enjoy seeing the love of his life in a state like this. He'll fight the damn ladder for daring to hurt him.]

How bad is it? Where does it hurt?

[tempredmental]

[Don't fight the ladder, Lance. With how things went around this place sometimes, it would give you a splinter that got infected.

Where didn't it hurt? Keith had a feeling he was going to have a good number of bruises from this one. He gestured with his left hand to his right arm, which he seemed to be holding at an odd angle.]

It's my elbow... the right one.

[the_tailor]

[Probably. But he's still gonna kick it later. Maybe.]

Ah, hell...that could definitely look better. But it could definitely look worse. I'm going to check it out, and it's probably going to hurt. By probably I mean definitely. But this ain't our first rodeo, so... Okay, how 'bout this, I'm going to pick you up carefully and bring you to bed and we'll get this sorted, alright?

[tempredmental]

Yeah, yeah. Okay. [Just anything to move this on to the next stage. Keith definitely knew that this was going to get worse before it got better, and he really just wanted to get that part over with.]

[the_tailor]

[Lance moves closer, doing his best to pick Keith up without jostling his arm. Not the first time and probably not the last he's had to carry an injured teammate or friend. Before long, he has him laid down on the bed, and sits down next to him as he examines his arm.]

The good news is that it doesn't look broken. Bad news, looks like it's dislocated.

Video

[crystalmaster]

[Oh gosh.]

Are you okay?!

[Radley highly doubts it and is already planning to hurry over, once he knows where to go.]

[tempredmental]

Nnnn... not really...

[crystalmaster]

I'm coming over. Where are you?

[tempredmental]

I'm home - [But they hadn't told all that many people where they'd picked a spot, yet.] Lance is on his way. [Keith grunted.] Shit. [The video of the ceiling was suddenly replaced by a closeup of what looked like a snow leopard kitten. Keith's next words were garbled a bit as the sound of the creature sniffing and rubbing on the device drowned him out a bit.] The hou-sssshhhhhshshhhshshs-near the-shshsshshhshhshsssshh-ooded lake-shshhshshshhs-out for the-shehshshhsshehehshshsshh-lake.

Video to Action

[crystalmaster]

[Radley's initial reaction is Awww, quickly followed by Is that kitty dangerous?! And then exasperation when he can't quite hear. But oh yes, typical kitty behavior. He would be amused if he wasn't worried.]

... I think I got it.

[He heads for the lake and looks around for the probable house.]

[tempredmental]

[Meanwhile, Kosmo, the large blue wolf, was out and about looking for help as well. Unlike the snow leopard, aptly named "Snow", Kosmo was a bit more in tune with what was going on, and definitely more worried.

The slight glow to the canine's fur would be hard to miss if Radley had gone to the right lake. There was the one large one to the southwest towards the Power Plant, but also a bunch of small ones near residential areas to the southeast...]

[crystalmaster]

[Radley wasn't sure where to go, but he did remember about the residential area and decided to try it first. Seeing the glow, he follows it.]

Hello?

[tempredmental]

[Kosmo's ears perked at the sound of someone nearby and then barked. There was a flash of light and a 'shiiing' kind of sound, followed by a moment of silence before there was a repeat of the flash and noise. Kosmo now stood there in front of Radley, studying him closely with intense yellow eyes inside black sclera. He was a large wolf, almost the size of a Great Dane, and that was definitely fur in varying shades of blue. The wolf gave a slight wag of his tail.]

[crystalmaster]

[Radley shielded himself from the flash and then jumped a mile to see such a large wolf.]

What the ... ?!

[The tail wag eased him somewhat and he took a cautious step towards him.]

Hey there....

[He debated if he dared put out his hand to sniff. He wasn't sure if he was that brave yet.]

I'm looking for someone who got hurt. Do you know where he might be?

[Radley found it perfectly natural to talk to an animal, although he knew of those back home who would scoff. Malcolm certainly would have.]

[tempredmental]

[Kosmo's ears twitched slightly, and he looked intently at Radley, like he was listening. It was almost like he understood. Maybe he did. The wolf definitely seemed to be debating something at this point, like he was thinking about a decision. He walked closer to Radley, tail still swishing slightly. His nostrils flared slightly as he sniffed, head bobbing up and down with the movement.

Then, he pressed against Radley's side.]

[crystalmaster]

[Radley was surprised, but held still.]

Are you trying to tell me something, boy?

[tempredmental]

[Kosmo gave a swish of his tail again and then pressed against Radley so that they were definitely touching. It wasn't like he could actually say the words, "Hang on." And then FLASH!

A few seconds of disorientation, and they were inside Keith and Lance's house. Congrats, Radley. You survived teleport by cosmic wolf.

Kosmo whimpered a bit and then moved towards the bedroom. The broken ladder was visible where Keith had fallen, but Keith wasn't in the room anymore. There were voices in the bedroom, though.

Kosmo looked back over his shoulder.]