Take Off The Mask

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"More tests?" Danger repeated, glancing over at Alric with a worried expression on her face.

"Well, a mild concussion isn't too bad." she tried to think positively. For all they knew, Myra could have slipped - and she almost had a few minutes earlier while she had climbed up on the boulder.

"Oh sweetheart," Danger cried out, seeing Myra stir. Upon seeing her move, Alric loosened his hold on Danger, and they both made their way over to the younglings side.

Myra slowly began to blink her eyes, spiky black lashes fluttering. When they finally fell open, those grey eyes went wide. One could tell the little girl was growing in alarm, and a small whimper came from her mouth. Anyone waking up lying on top of a medical table would!

"Hey there baby girl," Danger cooed, reaching over to brush Myra's damp hair away from her eyes.

"It's okay, you just took a small tumble." she assured her.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

The medical droid stepped away, signalling that Myra was likely okay for now, but further tests would have to come later. Alric’s lips thinned as Danger went to hold their daughter, her arms wrapping around the small girl to hold her tight and give reassuring words. He wanted to do the same, but his thoughts lingered.

Why had Myra fallen? Was something wrong? Where did the Fever come from?

They were uncomfortable questions, but ones that would have to be answered.

“Its alright, Honey.” Alric added his own voice to Danger’s reassuring one, knowing that Myra would be calmed by the presence of both her parents. They would have to end up going to a doctor, a good one. The Medical droid could run tests, but it couldn’t think creatively and it most certainly wouldn’t make Myra feel at ease. He leaned over Myra, then gently poked her side.

“I thought we told you to be careful.” The little girl let out an involuntary giggle. He found it best not to worry her, and the way to do that was to make a joke of the whole thing. “Already not listening.”

He shook his head in mock disappointment, his tone denoting the same but its undercurrent hinting of worry

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Hearing that giggle was a relief. Honestly, as long as she was okay now then that was good enough for Danger. With younglings being younglings, it was easy to believe that perhaps Myra had slipped.

"You feeling okay, sugar?" Danger would ask her, peering at the little girl like a mother hen as she went fussing over Myra. Cupping both clammy cheeks, Danger gave another inspection.

A small nod followed, along with what appeared to be a rather weary expression.

"Come on... we'll get you all cleaned up and in dry clothes." turning to Alric, she offered the Tetan a weak smile. With the rush and the adrenaline fading, she knew that he'd be hurting something fierce.

"You doing okay?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"Fine." He lied, half biting his tongue as he did so. The knee hurt, it always hurt and as of late it was only getting worse. Running, sprinting, half the damn things he did made the thing ache. There wasn't much he could do about it anymore, even a surgery would only take some of the pain away. It wasn't something that could be fixed, or rather, it wasn't something that could be fixed easily and without risk. The best option he had was cutting the damned thing off and replacing it with cybernetics.

Yet that wasn't about to happen.

Not as long as he had a choice anyway. "Just need to rest."

That was the truth at least, resting always made it better, and they would be doing plenty of that once they got underway. The trip would take quite some time, and the ship would be comfortable enough that Alric didn't foresee any troubles on that front.

"Let's get Myra cleaned up." Alric said poking the little girls nose. "Then get to the ship, should be ready by now."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger's brows shot forward, the silent inquiry of a concerned narrowing of eyes at the elder Tetan. Odds were that he didn't feel fine. In fact, Danger could see the slight tension along his jawline, the tell tale flexing of muscles there. He was in pain.

The woman gave an internal sigh. He was likely trying to not have Myra worry or think it was her fault for his knee causing him pain. The man also had a tendency to not want anyone to fuss over him too much. I'll check for myself later, her expression said while her arms gathered up the six year old.

"Come on, sweetheart." she cooed, "We'll leave him up here to check on things while we clean you up." Skinny arms went wrapping around her neck, clinging close. A hot bath, fresh clothes, and Mister Tuggles to cuddle would do just right.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He would have to make sure that they took the medical droid when they left.

Though he hoped that Myra would be fine, there was no telling yet what had caused her fall and Alric wasn't one to take chances. The Tetan wouldn't order the tests just yet, if only to preserve a little bit of Myra's own anxiety. Instead they would find an organic doctor to do all that, perhaps ask one of Vanir's. It would go much more smoothly. Though Myra didn't dislike droids, he was weary of letting a machine inspect her due to the way she tended to react to stressful situations.

Nothing more stressful than a droid interrogating you. "Go on, Honey. I'm going to make sure the ship is ready."

He offered his daughter a smile.

In truth, he was planning on sitting down for just a few moments as soon as Danger and Myra were out of eyesight. He could barely stand on his knee with how much the pain seemed to be pressing on it, droves of aching agony shooting up his leg and through his spine.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger decided to take the lift instead of the stairs. With all the running Alric and she did, she was in no position to take the sprawling staircase up to Myra's room. The click, click, click of Mister Tuggle's nails went clacking against the floor as he followed the woman carrying his little Miss, his tail hanging low between his legs as if he felt he was to blame.

Danger kept stroking the youngling's hair, holding her close. Murmuring soft words of encouragement, they left Alric to his privacy while the trio made their way out of the bay and towards the lift. While it took a few more minutes, at the very least Danger's legs weren't protesting as much. Goodness knows that Alric's own knees must be screaming in pain.

Tucking the thought of personally checking Alric aside, the lift came to a slow halt. The doors slid open, and Danger strode forward.

"We'll give you a bath," she said, "warm you up." the woman felt the tiny cold nose pressing against the curve of her neck.

"Then we can all go to the ship and tuck you into bed."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

With a hush groan Alric slowly lowered himself down beside the med-table. He struggled for a moment, his knee shooting pain up his leg and spine as he slowly came to a sitting position. The Tetan winced one final time as the pressure was finally relieved from his joint, the odd tendon displacement in his thigh only adding to the pain that he felt.

In all honesty, the pain wasn’t all that bad.

Compared to what he had undergone on Tatooine or even in the fighting pits the little ache wasn’t all that bad. What made it bad was the fact that it was constant. At almost all points in time his knee ached in one way or another, and that chronic pain was what was getting to him, only forgotten in times to crisis.

It was annoying.

Yet not annoying enough to get his leg replaced.

He supposed that eventually me hay have to draw the line, but for now he could still manage the pain well enough. Especially when he got small windows like this just to sit and do absolutely nothing. That helped most of all.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Taking off Myra's damp clothes and filling the tub with hot water took the better part of about five minutes. The other twenty were spent with the auburn maned woman leaning over the side of the deep sink bath and gently washing the little girl from head to foot. Mister Tuggles had followed them all the way into the refresher, curling up to tuck himself into a white ball on top of one of the bathroom rugs.

"How you feelin' there?" Danger inquired, looking at the youngling who was all arms, legs and skin and bone. While her appetite had grown, she still hadn't quite put on some weight. Both she and Alric didn't want to press her, but she'd been eating better than before. Certainly far more nutritious than whatever she'd been fed on Dromund Kaas.

Myra gave a slight shake of her hand to indicate she feel okay. However, without the clothing Danger was able to see the bruising that had developed at her ankle seemed to have spread. Actually, there were a bit more bruises scattered over her skin. Did she get them from falling?

A deep frown settled upon the woman's brow. Something she'll need to discuss with Alric later.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

A part of him wished for youth. He supposed that every old man did so when they got up there, but for him...for him it was different. Alric didn’t want to be young to live adventures and flaunt himself, he didn’t want youth to waste it.

He wanted it so his damn knee would stop hurting.

That might have been a bit selfish at first glance, but in truth he wanted it for Myra. When the Twins had been kids he’d been able to run around, play games, do hundreds of things that he could no longer do because of the pain in his leg. It irked him, and made him feel guilty.

It wasn’t his fault of course, but still he felt bad.

There was nothing to be done about it, but it was an ache in his heart that he couldn’t quite fix or heal.

Alric frowned slightly as he sat there, shifting his weight and briefly wondering just how pathetic he looked in that moment. It was a sad day when a father could barely even carry his daughter back towards her own home. He frowned slightly, looking towards his knee. A deep breath pulled through his teeth and into his lungs, fingers clenching into a fist.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Bath done and fresh clothes now on a freshly bathed Myra, Danger gave a quick brush of the little girl's hair. It had some length to it, nearly reached the small of Myra's back. Rather thick and a nice light brown hue. Danger had an itch to at least trim it, but with the youngling having lost so much, she left it be. If Myra wanted to cut her hair it will be on her own volition.

"There we go." she told the six year old, finishing the thick braid that now hung down the middle of her back. Securing it at the tips with a band, Danger gave a smile. Looking at their reflection, the older woman bent down to press a small kiss on top of Myra's head.

"Come on. We'll find Alric and move on to the ship." Taking her hand, her smile grew broader. The tiny cool hand went slipping into her own larger one. Now it was time to find Alric. Hopefully he took the time to sit with the medic droid to help with his pain. Once they were on the ship, Danger would check on him herself.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

He’d eventually stopped wallowing in his own self pity and had move down from the medical center. There were dozens of rooms within The Farm that were equipped with any number of different holo-terminals. Alric had chosen one of the larger ones, calling on the one that held the hangar equipment shed.

It was answered by a droid, giving quick and terse answers to the Tetan’s questions.

He found that the ship had indeed been made ready, something that he was thankful for. While sitting on the med-bay floor was comfortable, a soft acceleration couch on their shuttle would be far more so. Briefly he wondered whether or not Danger would bring any sort of snacks, but he decided to dismiss the thought.

There were snacks on the ship.

At least he hoped there were.

Alric quickly made his way from the call room towards the front of the farm, the great stone bridge was cloaked in an odd sort of fog that rose from the river below, temperature differences in the water and air causing the billowy white. He found Danger and Myra standing just in front of the mist, his daughter playfully giggling it as she tried to catch wisps of white.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Hearing those giggles were a relief to both parents. A soft, silent smile went passing between the old Tetan and the Queen of Trade, one that said that they would talk once they were comfortable and perhaps Myra was asleep.

There was a concern in Danger's eyes, glinting within the depths of green orbs as she let them sweep over the broad shoulders of the man and down towards his knee. There was a more pronounced limp to his step. The run had aggravated his condition.

"All clean and warm now," Danger said, holding Myra's shoulders. Mister Tuggles was along for the ride, and he was standing nearby for them to make headway.

"How about we all go to the lounge and relax for a bit in the ship?"

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

Rest and relaxation sounded alike just about the best thing that he could do now. He could feel the pain in his knee get a little bit worse every single time he moved it, and in all honesty he was just about ready to collapse and fall asleep for the entire foreseeable future. A small yawn pulled from his lips and slowly he stretched, whether he was playing it up slightly or was actually tired was hard to tell though.

“Yes.” He said with a smile. “I think relaxation would be good.”

Myra was of course the first of them to head down the cobblestone path. The little girl went rushing up and into the mist with Mr. Tuggles clickity clacking along. The two of them rushed quickly towards the cresting hill, Alric and Danger following as quickly as they could with the Old Man’s injury still slowing him down.

“We’ll need to get a bigger ship, the shuttle won’t be all that comfortable.” Not for a journey as long as this would be. Getting a bigger ship wouldn’t be a huge issue, there were half a dozen of them sitting in some warehouse nearby. They just had to stop and grab one.

It paid to own a shipyard.

Or seven.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"I'll pull up the design schematics we were working on before Dromund Kaas," Danger told Alric, coming on beside him to loop her arm around his. That way if he wanted to brace a bit of his weight on her he would be able to.

"Myra don't run off too far please," she was still concerned for the little girl. The last thing they needed was for the youngling to trip and fall again. Myra came to a slow stop and kept a close distance. Mister Tuggles didn't mind, he remained close to the little girl.

"Lean on me if you need to. We'll get one of the med droids to look at your knee. "

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

“No, Honey.” Alric said with a smile. “I mean for this trip we’ll need something bigger.”

He poked her side teasingly, then quickly slipping his arm around her, maneuvering it beneath the arm she had slipped around him. “There’s no way I’m spending days on end with that thing.”

He pointed to Myra.

“In the same room.” Alric shot her a look. “I’ll go nuts.”

The shuttle wasn’t very large, at least not by their standards. They could probably travel with it just fine, but if he was going to be stuck on an extended journey with his daughter there...yeah he wanted his own room so that he could get some peace and quiet now and then. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem. “And the droid won’t help. It’s just the same problem.”

He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. Alric knew that Danger just wanted to help, but there was nothing to help this.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

"Then maybe we should stop by Etti V." Danger replied in a quiet tone so that Myra wouldn't catch what she had said. She knew that Alric worried that the little girl might blame herself for his knee, but they really couldn't simply ignore it. If anything, it would make her feel a bit more secure knowing that they could take care of that the earlier the better.

"Not to mention we could have them look over Myra just to make sure." While they could get a larger ship and it would make the trip more comfortable, it wouldn't be too much of an out of the way path for them to head to Etti V.

The shuttle wouldn't be far, and soon they caught sight of the small private landing pad. It had been constructed just for their personal use and was ample enough for a larger ship should they wish it. For now, they could take the shuttle towards the one they had waiting out in orbit.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

“We’ve been over this, Honey.” Alric said as they crested the small hill in front of the landing pad, the cobblestone path turning into something a little bit more inline with modern construction. Myra already ran up ahead towards the shuttle, allowing Alric to speak a little louder. “There is nothing to look at. They can’t fix it without a surgery that can put my life, or my leg at risk. It’s not worth it.”

It wasn’t after all, a simple knee replacement. The tendon deep within his leg had been damaged. The muscle that actually allowed him to move his leg and twist it about. Replacing it was not easy, even with modern medicine. They would have to dig around veins, nerve clusters, and muscles to find it.

If something went wrong they could permanently do damage to his leg, or worse kill him by nicking the wrong thing. Even medical droids weren’t perfect and bacta only did so much. “I’d rather live with a little pain than no leg.”

He’d decided that a long time ago.

“We should still go for Myra though.” The old Tetan said. “Figure out what happened.”

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Danger didn't like that answer. There had to be something that they could do. Maybe a second opinion? Although if she pushed it, Alric would likely become upset. For now, the Queen of Trade remained quiet on the subject. Yet for Myra...

"Alright," stepping into the shuttle took a little bit of work. Myra and Mister Tuggles were already slipping inside, but Danger wanted to make sure that Alric would be able to walk in without harming himself too much.

"Alright, just lean on me if you need to." came her soft murmur, her hand coming round to his side so that she'd be able to provide him better leverage.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"It'll be fine." He insisted.

A part of him really believed it too.

There was a part of him that just wanted to be done with it, get a nice cybernetic with synth skin and just not have to deal with the pain in his leg. Yet in the end that option simply wasn't open to him. Oh Danger would never stop him, and she would never say anything about it, in fact he was pretty sure that she would encourage it, but there was just a small part of him that couldn't bear the thought of...not being whole. That was what cybernetics were to him, at least when they weren't needed.

If his leg had been truly lost it would have been okay, but this...this was something else, just a little pain.

"I just need to sit down." The words came as they made their way onto the ship. The shuttle was a luxury craft of course, small, but about as nice as space ships came really. Acceleration couches, full bar, everything that one would need for trips to different worlds. "Then I'll be alright."

It was what he always claimed, but the pain never truly went away.