Aftermath [Open to FITE NITE attendees, mostly for Bones]

[smartass_captain]

He remembers being caged.

Chained up, drugged. Bound to the other captain who couldn't have been more wrong about who he was. He was still funny from his capture, and hungry. Poor circumstances that lead to Jim's survival instincts going into overdrive. Whatever it took to not remember Tarsus IV.

Jim doesn't even remember losing. Just his pulse thundering in his ears and the rattle of the chain. Just getting swept away in a haze of violence and panic that left him mentally shut down. What he had wasn't a fight. Jim Kirk actually enjoys a good fight now and again. This had been something else entirely.

He hadn't been on control. Hadn't even been altogether present.

And now....

Everything hurts, but especially his head. His ears are ringing and it's difficult to keep anything in focus. There are voices, faint and vaguely familiar but Jim can't concentrate on them just yet. All he can manage is to groan and curl up on himself. He's on one of the many Nexus couches in the Plaza, where many of the captured and injured were taken for treatment after people had stormed the Arena to rescue those who had been taken against their will and put a stop to all of this.

Comments

[conjuredskies]

"Very often," Felix agrees innocently. There are aspects of magic that are indeed very convenient, and easy... provided you have the right talent and training and connections. But Felix isn't rubbing the perks in, at least not intentionally. As far as he's concerned they make him handy for other people to keep around, and he'll happily ensure his friends also get to enjoy the benefits.

He's quietly pleased by the warm reception his familiar gets, too. It doesn't work on everyone, but having a furry companion of sorts breaks down a lot of walls.

Plus, he trusts its judgment of people much as Bones might trust Jim's. And the wolf seems quite relaxed as it sniffs at the doctor's hand, tail wagging and ears lowering for a minute. There's a brief impression of strange smells clinging to the other man, a little sharp and a little bitter, but whatever those are the wolf is clear that this man isn't a threat. It's happy to run ahead into the dark.

Felix follows along with Bones, keeping his hands free as they head through the atrium. The excited mob seems to have torn most of the doors from their hinges, even broken some of the walls and door frames. Discarded fliers litter the floor beneath them, rustling underfoot. The wolf seems interested in heading to the arena itself, so that's where they'll be going. Into the smashed up spectator area.

"I was watching from the seats, yes." He's not sure if that's a loaded question, so he hastens to add, "I'd just learned where he was when they brought him out to fight."

[shetooktheplanet]

As Bone's takes in the look of the area, the place sort of puzzles him. It looks like it was built with the same care that most of the rest of the architecture he's observed in the Nexus was. As if the place was designed to house entertainment of sorts. The building was being maintained until some kind of mob came through and busted the place up ... and boy is it busted.

Doors taken down. Walls damaged. Tech that the Doc both does and doesn't recognize torn out of place and strewn about the concourse. Discarded weapons. It looks like a war party rolled through here.

Was this place dedicated to housing these fights? All the victims seemed to have been surprised to have been kidnapped, which makes Bones thinks that it wasn't.

"It seems like you weren't the only one surprised by the event." Leonard points out. "Lots of people I've talked to so far seem to imply the event was well organized, if a bit surprising."

[conjuredskies]

That's one thing Felix is going to take away from this: when you piss off the Nexus mob, they don't pull their punches. Now the chaos has passed and he's not fixated on getting Jim out, he can appreciate the damage left in their wake.

"They were smart enough to make all their arrangements quietly before they advertised anything," Felix agrees. "And to take care where they advertised. If my furry friend and I hadn't been tracking Jim I'm not sure I would have caught wind of the fights." Okay, he probably would. But not through the same avenues.

He can't help but make a disdainful noise as he looks around the cheap seats, the torn barriers around the ring. There's nothing shoddy about the architecture, per se, but it's not what he thinks of as an arena. "They obviously weren't thinking beyond the first profit, though. Small loss, anyway. It's not much of an arena."

The familiar pauses, nose pointed down toward the combat sands as it sniffs the air and growls a little. Then it barks sharply, startling a couple of figures on the opposite side from where they're scavenging in the debris. They decide to make a quick exit through the other doors, their backpacks already bulging with the loot they have.

[shetooktheplanet]

Well, anyone willing to try to make use out of the junk around here is welcome to in Bone's opinion. At least something good might come of this in that way. All he cares about is making sure that everyone got out of here.

"Well, it says something about the people who arranged this." That they're not worrying about the moral implications of what they were doing and that they're willing to sacrifice an entire building to it. That's concerning on some level ... those types are always likely to do something like this again until someone stops them for good.

Still, that's not the concern of right now.

"Your friend has a good nose."

[conjuredskies]

"I suspect there were a few demons involved- silly term, I know, but there really is a type of being that goes by that name here. It does make me wonder what kind of profit they really hoped to gain..." But that's not really speculation to start on with someone disinterested in these matters, so he focuses on distinguishing between debris and possible bodies in the gently flickering light.

"It's saved my hide more than once, believe me..." And said nose is earning its keep again tonight. The familiar runs off among the seating, toward a slumped figure in the shadow of the back wall. Felix picks up the pace as he follows, remarking to the doctor, "Ah, here's a live one!"

Judging by the alcoholic stink his familiar's senses relay, most likely a tipsy spectator who got knocked out of the stampede for the exits. At least there isn't a strong impression of blood, and the wolf nose always takes note of that.

[shetooktheplanet]

"Demons?" For a moment, he figures that Felix might be from a little backwater world that doesn't have space travel and that he's mistaken an alien species for a creature of myth. That seems far more reasonable to a man of science. Then, he remembers that this guy pals around with Jim. Not to mention he's been up on the Enterprise - seen some of the non-humans on board.

"You're saying the people behind this are actual demons from hell?" He says around sigh. "Isn't that great ..."

Leonard makes his way through the debris and over to the unconscious man. There's no mistaking that smell. "This guy is drunker than Cooter Brown." He mutters and he can't help but scrunch his nose as he approaches.

Still, Bones is going to do his diligence and scan over the man with the tricoder. He's picking up normal vitals on him and no significant injuries. They just need to carry him out of here which will be plenty fun with how bad he stinks.

[conjuredskies]

"Possibly," Felix answers, aware that's really not reassuring. "Depending on what your people mean by the words. But I happen to specialize in handling 'demons', so I think we'll be all right. I don't get the sense of anything big lurking around."

Some of the biggest daedra are very good at concealing themselves, of course. And it's questionable how much these demons really have in common with the daedra Felix studies. These are mere inconvenient facts and he'll just leave them out for now.

Felix pulls aside some debris, letting a bit more light onto the drunk while Bones... waves gadgets over him. The wolf settles on its haunches, ears pricked at the darkness. "He doesn't look too bad," the conjurer observes, basing that judgment partly on the fact that the doctor's expression is more disgusted than concerned. "Maybe we should just leave him by the door and check for anyone more seriously hurt. We can always get... someone else to haul the drunks away later."

'Someone' may or may not be a great big frost elemental. Felix is a believer in summoning others to do the grunt work.

[shetooktheplanet]

Don't besmirch the doctor's good work, Felix. These are very important gadgets he's waving over this wino. They're monitoring his vital signs, okay?! He's not judging the way you do your magic stuff ... okay, yes, he has been judging you and your magic stuff. It's what he does, though. He judges people. And doctors them.

And once in a while, for varieties sake, he doctors them first and then judges them.

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

Bone's seems to have taken it upon himself to begin turning his new friend over onto his side. Right now, he's toying with the idea of inducing vomiting in the guy because he's worried that he might get nauseous when they try to help him up.

[conjuredskies]

Look, they're nice gizmos. He never said they weren't. Terribly shiny. He likes the little noises. It looks good and mysterious, and that's like half of a healer's job. Right?

"Need a hand?" he offers, blissfully unaware of the doctor's plans. He really won't approve if Bones makes the man start throwing up before they're supposed to carry him to the door. On the other hand it would be a potent and terrifying demonstration of the doctor's own powers, so... pros and cons. There's no harm in Jim's new friend learning to properly respect the ship's doctor.