Safe Haven

"No... don't apologize. It's fine." Ezra scooted further away from her, glancing in the other direction.

"I don't know?" Kaira shrugged. "In theory... yeah? I guess. Don't know how easy it'll be, though." She looked Akane up and down. "Not our decision, though. If she wants to try it, I'm not gonna stop her." She knelt down, holding one of the first aid kits out towards her.
 
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Akane took the offered kit and walked a little away, facing away from everyone as she took off her shirt and sports bra, occasionally letting out a pained gasp as she first sprayed the disinfectant, then tried unsuccessfully to apply gauze and wrap a bandage, she was clearly not going to manage on her own, and judging from the blood on her hands wasn't going to stop bleeding anytime soon.
 
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Ezra turned away, staring off in the other direction in an attempt to give Akane some privacy.

Kaira crossed her arms. "That ain't look like it's working out so well!" She spoke loudly, tapping her foot against the ground as she did. "You starting to rethink that whole 'doing it yourself' thing yet? Want a little assistance?"
 
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Akane took a minute more before she huffed and turned her head to the others.
"I uhh... Can't do it... Can you please help me?..."
She asked, as if it was difficult.
"Just... Don't laugh..."
Upon closet inspection she was flat as a board, nothing on her chest, her shoulders were also a little large, most shocking of all though... She had a small six pack! That explained how she knocked that mechanic out earlier...
The cut went from about halfway up her chest to right down the bottom, getting deeper as it went lower.
 
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"Yeah, yeah, don't worry." Kaira shook her head. "I got this."

She walked over to help Akane out, not seeming particularly surprised by her physical state of being. She heard plenty of rumors when haggling with others. She got to work trying to clean the wound out better, using a clean cloth to wipe the blood away and then applying more antiseptic for good measure. She furrowed her brow as she did. "This don't look great. You ain't think it need stitches, do you?"

"I'll give you one thing," She added, with a small laugh. "You made it out to be less worse than it is. You're tough."
 
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Akane seemed embarrassed at having someone so close while she was half naked, enough to ignore the pain inherent in being cleaned and disinfected.
"I dunno... Do you know how to stitch wounds?".
Akane most certainly did not, even the idea of sewing up a wound made her shiver, and she would usually avoid it if at all possible.
"Heh... Thanks?... I kinda had to learn to be tough..."
She mumbled.

"Hey, you... Uhh, Ezra? I've seen you around I think?"
Royce tried to make small talk, to be honest she didn't do it often.
 
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"I've seen it done before." Kaira mumbled, leaning in to examine the wound closer. "I've never actually done it myself, though. But... how hard could it be, right? I mean, I know how to patch a shirt pretty good. Skin can't be that different, can it...?" She didn't sound particularly convincing. "We can bandage it up now and see if the bleeding stops, if you want. We'll just have to keep a close eye on it. I don't wanna sew you up if I ain't gotta. That would hurt. A lot."

"Huh?" Ezra mumbled, casting a quick glance at Royce. He seemed to be doing his best to avoid listening to the medical talk going on a few feet away. "I don't know. Maybe. Sometimes I help people fix up their shelters and other dumb stuff like that."
 
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Judging from the comically audible gulping sound Akane had made her choice, no need for unnecessary stitches from someone who didn't know what they were doing after all! That could be dangerous, not to mention painful.
"Uhh... Just bandage it up I guess..."
She mumbled, a little tires from the blood loss, it hadn't been so bad at first, but all the running worsened things.

Honestly Royce was ignoring the medical stuff now as well...
"So you're a jack of all trades huh? Do you know how to use that?"
She pointed at the gun he was carrying.
 
"Alright, alright." Kaira nodded. "Probably a good choice on your part." She went about bandaging up Akane's wound, taking her time to wrap it tight enough without being so forceful as to cause her unnecessary pain.

"Yeah!" Ezra exclaimed quickly. A bit too quickly, a defensive tone having edged its way into his voice. "I mean... mostly. Sort of. A little. Maybe. More of less. How hard can it be?" He frowned down at the gun. "But it's mine either way."
 
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Once she was bandaged up Akane returned to her feet, a little shaky but unwilling to rest, they still needed to find shelter after all, a night in the dirt certainly wouldn't be good for any of them.
"Thanks... If I lose too much more blood it might be bad..."
She did look more pale than usual, even under the coating of dust.

"Well I'm not going to take it from you but... I might show you how to aim, I'm not sure you would have hit even if you fired at me earlier".
Royce declared.
 
"Think you already lost most of the blood in your body." Kaira shook her head.

Ezra glanced away, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. He didn't want to make eye contact, seeming embarrassed by mention of the events of earlier today. "Yeah, I guess that might be good...."
 
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"Nahh... Half at most".
She joked half heartedly, too tired to joke around properly.
"Anyway... We should get going... There has to be some buildings we can take cover in somewhere out here right?"

"Cool... But right now it looks like the others are done and i don't think we are far enough away from town yet".
 
Kaira sighed and gathered her things back into her backpack, hoisting it up onto her back. "I haven't been outside town much. I have other people do that for me." She shrugged. "But we're not completely in the middle of nowhere, so there's bound to be buildings."

Ezra nodded and got to his feet, picking his things up. "We should hurry." He said, glancing at Akane. "You need to rest."
 
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Akane carefully moved around to test how much she could easily do with her wounds, walking was doable but she wasn't going to be doing much else for a while, certainly not knocking people out with engine parts!
"Yeah, I think I saw an old house still standing about a half hour that way".
She pointed approximately north of their position, almost directly away from the town, which seemed be burning in the distance.
"I know... I'll rest when there's a roof over my head".
Akane promised.

Royce stayed mostly quiet, gun out and eyes roaming, she was on alert just in case someone jumped them, but would talk if approached.
 
"Alright, it's a plan then. Let's go." Not waiting for a response, Kaira strode on ahead of the others, heading in the direction Akane had pointed.

"Just let me know if you need anything..." Ezra watched Akane for a few moments, his voice trailing off, before following after Kaira. He kept an eye on Akane out of the corner of his eye.
 
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Akane definitely struggled but didn't stop or complain, she had travelled with injuries before, just not this bad... And she couldn't let herself slow people down... Or else they might leave her...

Fortunate the house soon came into sight and they were able to enter, Royce kicking the lock so the door simply swung open, remarkably some of the windows were intact too! The inside was dusty though, no one had been here in a while.
 
Finally, after what felt like forever to Kaira, the house came into sight. She let out a sigh, reaching up to lightly brush her hand over her hair. While there was no way in hell she'd ever admit it, she was relieved. In general, she put on a show of being level-headed and unfazed; And, while that was true in many ways, it was also true that being outside of town had her feeling off-kilter and, to put it lightly, 'freaked out'. As the niece of the trading post owner, she'd never had much reason to stray beyond the safety of Junkroad's walls.

"About time." She said, with a small chuckle, pushing past Royce to head inside. "Feels good to see four walls and a ceiling again."

She crossed her arms, giving the room a quick once-over. "Well... it's no five-star hotel, that's for sure. You'd gotta be touched in the head to think that. But... it'll do for now, ain't you think?" She cast a glance over her shoulder at the others, lips curling upwards into a grin.

Ezra stepped inside after her, immediately dropping his backpack and then himself down onto the floor. He forced a laugh, trying to mirror the older girl's seeming confidence. But even he could tell it fell flat. "Yeah... it's still in one piece, at least. More or less."
 
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Royce was last inside, closing the door behind her and holstering her weapon, it was hard to tell outside among all the dust but her hands had a clear shake to them, despite her confidence in town, she had never reacted well to change... Still though, she couldn't let it get her down and started looking around the house, looking for supplies or at least something comfortable to lay on.

Akane really wanted to lay down but instead went upstairs, she was looking for a bathroom that would hopefully have a medicine cabinet or something... Of course she did find one, though it lacked what she was looking for, or much of anything really.
"Damnit... Stupid looters grabbing everything they find..."
 
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Kaira glanced over her shoulder at Ezra, shaking her head slightly at the younger boy's attempt at... what? Seeming cool? Feigning nonchalance in the face of their lives falling apart? She guessed she couldn't fault him for it - she was more or less doing the same thing. And yet, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance. Maybe it was his absolute failure at pulling it off that rubbed her the wrong way; After all, so far he hadn't done much more than whine incessantly and point a gun he didn't seem to know how to use in their faces.

"...Right, kid."

She turned her attention elsewhere, walking to the edge of the room. "You guys finding anything good?!" She said, loud enough to be heard in the rest of the house.

Ezra fidgeted nervously, rearranging himself into a more comfortable sitting position, his legs sprawled out to the side. He got the sense Kaira didn't like him much.
 
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Royce finally stopped to think about her new companions, Kaira was the one she knew best, she trusted her to a point and would even like to consider her a friend, Ezra... She couldn't really get a read on, he seemed kinda whiny and had no idea how that gun of his worked, but he had the balls to keep going despite that, maybe he could be whipped into shape?
As for Akane... She had seen her a few times around town, and between the girl's strength and ability to power through wounds so had her respect to a point, of course like most she was aware of her other issues and hoped they wouldn't cause trouble...

The answer to that question was Akane smashing the mirror cabinet she had been searching, she didn't like mirrors at the best of times and this one had the extra sin of having disappointed her!
Of course this led to her coming downstairs with a bleeding hand... She needed to work on impulse control.
 
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