Chapter Four[IV]: What's the Plan? (II)

Xenos Waters watches as Felix somewhat clumsily stands up, leaning heavily on the wall. Xenos uses the side of his pinky to sweep off the powder, half-expecting to get cut in the process. But, lo-and-behold, his hand is fi-- not injured more. "Felix," Xenos says, snapping Felix out of his daze, "could you. . ?" Xenos gestures toward his shoulder.

"Uh, no yeah, of course," Felix stumbles over his words for a bit before hesitantly and carefully touching the scales. He flinches and immediately brings his hand back, staring at the small paper-cut like wound on his index finger. "Christ, those are sharp."

Xenos nods, shocked once more. "I guess they are."

Felix frowns. "What the hell did that thing do to you?"

"I've been asking the same thing for hours," Xenos says, shrugging and acting unbothered although he's discreetly panicking on the inside. "We should worry about that after I fix us up."

"The first aid kit is behind the mirror along with the towels," Felix responds, shutting off the warm water and opening the shower door. Xenos walks out and goes over to the sink, grabbing the right side of the mirror before pulling it open to reveal a cabinet with three shelves. On the bottom were the towels, in the middle the first aid kit, and on the smallest top one is medicine.

He tosses two towels at Felix, who was now sitting on the closed toilet, and grabs the first aid kit, placing it on the small counter next to the sink. Xenos pauses briefly before looking up at the medications. He got onto his tippy-toes to look at the labels, glad to see that there is some Advil. He grabs that as well, placing it on the counter next to the first aid kit.

Xenos wiggles his fingers, which are soft and an angry red from the frostbite. He then looks at his toes, which are a bit better than his fingers. He opens the first aid kit, glancing briefly over the supplies which look to be brand new. That's good, at least something is going their way today. Turning his left palm to the air, Xenos looks at the puncture wounds from the glass, seeing tiny pieces still stuck inside of some places.

He grabs the tweezers from the kit and gets to work, deciding that he should take care of his hand first so he can bandage Felix's ankle properly. He winces a little as he takes out a shard. "Did you get any medium or major cases of frostbite?" Xenos asks, trying to distract himself a little as he pulls out another piece.

"Thankfully, no. Just really minor on my fingers, they should be fine as long as they aren't exposed to any more cold air," Felix answers

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about then." Xenos finches, tossing the piece of glass he pulled out into the sink.

"Definitely, and my ankle is just sprained I think."

"Can't say the same for my ribs." He can't tell if they're just bruised or broken, but that doesn't really matter. The healing process is the same, so all he has to do is reduce the swelling and make sure to clear his lungs. He throws the last piece of glass he can find into the sink along with the tweezers, not in the mood to care about small things like cleaning up after himself.

Xenos reaches his hand back and he soon feels the soft texture of the towel in it. He pauses briefly, glancing back at Felix. Felix just waves his hand. "You can get blood on it, towels aren't that expensive."

"Thanks," Xenos says, gently patting his open palm to get rid of the water and excess blood. Some of his small cuts have already stopped bleeding, but the larger ones are still open and sore. At least the wounds aren't deep or large enough to require stitches, Xenos really doesn't feel like stitching his palm up.

Now that his hands are dry, Xenos reaches into the first aid kit and pulls out some sterile gauze pads and gauze bandages, along with alcohol-free cleaning wipes. He sterilizes his cuts before getting to work at placing the bandages and wrapping his hand, wiggling his frostbitten fingers a bit after it's done. He rummages around the first aid kit to find the elastic bandages, grabbing them immediately before turning to face Felix.

He slowly sits down on the ground in front of Felix, his ribs protesting slightly but otherwise remaining quiet. Xenos crosses his legs and tenderly takes Felix's left foot into his hand, scouting forwards a little so he can place Felix's foot onto his lap. He examines the slight bruising and swelling for a moment before opening the elastic bandages, proceeding to tightly wrap Felix's ankle so that it won't be able to swell too much anymore.

After he finishes, he looks up at Felix and asks, "Do you have a crutch or something in the house to help you walk around?"

Felix thinks for a moment before nodding. "Yes, there should be a wooden crutch in the closet that's right next to the bathroom, probably in the back." Xenos bobs his head, carefully standing up before pausing, suddenly realizing something.

"Um, I don't have any spare clothes," Xenos said awkwardly, scratching the side of his face.

"Oh, right, just take one of my pants," he pauses briefly, "preferably ones with strings if you don't want it to fall off."

Xenos hums. "Alright, I'll go get the crutch first."

He walks out of the bathroom, and heads towards the closet, rummaging through the extra clothing and items strewn about inside before coming in contact with something wooden and long. Xenos grabs the crutch and pulls it out, walking back into the bathroom to hand Felix the cruth. Felix thanks him and stands up, leading Xenos over to the stairs to the second-floor and telling Xenos where his room is located.

Xenos goes up the stairs and enters the room at the end of the hall left of the stairs, spotting the black wooden wardrobe Felix mentioned and making a b-line for it. He opens it up, slightly taken aback by the number of clothes inside before getting ahold of himself and getting out two pants, along with a shirt for Felix since Xenos couldn't exactly wear one because of the scales.

Deciding there's no time like the present, Xenos strips off his boxers and slips into the too-large dark grey sweatpants, tying the strings tight enough that it wouldn't fall off of him. He grabs his wet boxers with his good hand and the dry clothes with the other, trying not to wet the bandages more than necessary.

He trots back down the stairs, handing the clothes to Felix who goes into the bathroom to change. Xenos feels his shoulder pulse suddenly and winces, now fully aware of what the pulse was as he stares at the scales which slowly spread down his arm and up to his neck like an infection. It feels like the scales are eating him, a thought that makes Xenos shiver in both fear and disgust.

Letting out a tired breath, Xenos tosses his wet boxers onto the pile of discarded clothes by the back door and leans against the back of the couch in the living room, exhausted once more. Felix soon comes out of the bathroom in black sweatpants and a light grey tank top, the bottle of Advil in his right hand.

He throws that bottle toward Xenos, Xenos catching it, albeit a little clumsily. He takes the lid off and shakes one pinkish-orange pill into the palm of his hand, popping it into his mouth and swallowing without water. Xenos screws the lid back on and tosses it onto the loveseat to the right of the couch.

"We should probably get some ice, right?" Felix asks, gesturing towards his ankle and Xenos' ribs.

Xenos nods. "Yeah, swelling is the most pressing issue right now."

Felix holds onto his crutch a little tighter and walks into the kitchen directly behind the living room, the open space design quite beneficial for Felix since there's lots of space to move around. Xenos follows behind Felix and grabs the two ziplock bags Felix hands him, holding one of them open under the ice cube chute in the refrigerator.

Once both bags are filled, Felix wraps the both of them in a towel and hands one to Xenos, who carefully grabs the bag, mindful of his frostbitten fingers. They head over to the living room and sit down on the couch, placing the ice packs on their respective swollen areas. It's quiet for a moment before Felix asks, "So, what's the plan?"

Xenos looks at Felix before truthfully saying, "I have no goddamn idea."

Felix laughs sardonically.