OOM/IM: The Ankle

[iprotectyou]

Baze knows--he just knows--that Chirrut broke his ankle stepping into that rabbit hole during the sparring match with Ganymede. The larger man sucks in a breath as he holds his smaller friend in a bridal carry, carting him from the sparring grounds to the infirmary. Baze's concern screams in the Force, try as he might to remain nonchalant.

After they reach the infirmary, Baze gently sets Chirrut down on the exam table, crinkling the paper under him. The larger man locates the scanner, and starts booting it up. He growls as he carefully removes Chirrut's boot, revealing both swelling and bruising.

Then he passes the scanner over the bone, and frowns at the results.

"Well, you broke it," he snarls, worry scraping his temper raw. "We'll get some bacta, and after that, I'm taking you straight to bed."

Comments

[last_kallig]

"Thank you, Chirrut," she says, squeezing his shoulder gently. For facing his fear, for trusting her, for reassuring Baze.

Her gaze goes distant as she sinks into the Force and her hand moves from Chirrut's shoulder to his foot.

"The bone is mended, but you've got tendons damaged still," she says aloud, her voice distant as most of her concentration is elsewhere.

Gently, so gently, she eases a thread of the Force into Chirrut, encouraging tissues to heal, tendons to knit, swelling and pain to subside. She could do this much more quickly, WOULD do this much more quickly, if it were anyone but Chirrut.

But, thanks to his Force sensitivity and his past experiences, Chirrut requires a lighter touch. The Force is warmth and life and peace, seeping into Chirrut's body, making what has been damaged whole.

[iprotectyou]

Chirrut's rebuke doesn't make Baze feel any better. It should. It really should. But Baze is still twisted with guilt. "I apologize, my friend," he says, which releases some of the tension in his shoulders. "I shouldn't have drugged you."

What will Ibani think of him, now that he's said it out loud? Baze doesn't want to know.

He's relieved--so relieved!--that Chirrut chose to let Ibani work on his foot. Baze was not looking forward to two more days of holding Chirrut down when all he wanted to do was climb the walls. Baze lays a hand on his friend's shoulder, offering reassurance that the larger man is still there for him, and always will be.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut hasn't wanted to fight, to flee, in his life or afterlife. When Ibani healed his headache, he'd been in enough pain for it to be distracting. He reaches back to wrap his hands around Baze's wrist, anchoring, trying to breathe.

It doesn't hurt. Actually, the feeling is pleasant, peaceful.

He wants to scream.

"I am one with the Force the Force is with me I am one with the Force the Force is with me I am one with the Force..."

[last_kallig]

Ibani doesn't feel Chirrut wanting to scream until she finishes the healing, the work demanding all of her attention.

She draws a sharp inward breath at the feeling and the Force is filled with contrition and sorrow. She hastily withdraws from Chirrut, pulls her power back tight around her body.

"A thousand pardons," she says quietly.

That feeling, the wanting to scream, is one she associates with interrogations past, with nightmares of torments she's inflicted on others. It stirs up things she would rather keep forever buried.

[iprotectyou]

Baze chants the mantra right along with Chirrut, the larger man's powerful baritone folding over the smaller man's tenor and enveloping him. Baze slows down the litany, however, and adds the last part: "... And I fear nothing, for all is as the Force wills it."

He hopes Chirrut will follow and calm down, but he still seems gripped by terror. Then Baze sees the stricken look on Ibani's face, and his heart goes out to her.

He takes the pillows out from under Chirrut's foot, and tosses them to the floor. Then Baze starts dislodging Chirrut from the blankets. It's time to make a nest for cuddling.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut rises, but isn't on his feet for long. The room isn't large, but it's large enough for this.

He goes down to his knees, the gesture graceful once again. From there he goes down entirely, prostrating himself flat on the ground, his face pressed against the rough tile of the floor.

"I have repaid kindness with pain, and have thus shamed myself and my brethern."

[last_kallig]

Ibani's face is confused and the Force echoes with it when Chirrut goes down to his knees, then prostrates himself. This is not a gesture she knows, its meaning is a mystery.

Then he speaks and she understands. "Oh, Chirrut, no. No, you have not shamed anyone." She kneels down to wrap an arm around him. "Given your past, it is perfectly understandable that you would feel like that when you were being affected by a Force user's power, however you feel about me as a person."

[iprotectyou]

Baze has seen this gesture. He has seen it a lot, most notably after that horrible, nasty fight between him and Chirrut and Eiko, where the smaller man went berserk. The larger man tries not to think about that fight.

Baze joins in the snuggle pile, dragging Chirrut to his feet. The older Guardian notices that his younger friend's head is still bowed, that he's still subdued, and Baze wishes he could just clap his hands and fix this.

"Chirrut, Ibani, how about a sparring match? You probably need to move after being cooped up for two days."

[idontneedluck]

"Far, far away from any rodent holes." Chirrut suggests, because if he ever has to do that again it will be too soon.

[last_kallig]

Ibani hugs Chirrut and Baze. "That sounds like an excellent idea," she replies.

The sorrow in the Force transmutes into mischief and joy. "Might even try a few new tricks I've been thinking up."

It won't take long for Baze and Chirrut to grab their staves so the three of them can head outside to spar....AGAIN.