got you covered

Who: Dorian and Kayos
Where: MGH
When: morning

Everything had been a little bit of a blur since they’d arrived at the hospital. The doctors or nurses were people without faces that had taken his brother from his arms, laying him on a stretcher and wheeling him away. There was someone with a hand against his chest, telling him to stay where he was, an arm pulling him back gently. Someone else had noticed that the blood on him wasn’t all Caleb’s and that the cut on his arm was bleeding well enough to need stitches. He’d been ushered to another place, away from the door they’d taken his brother through and sat him down. It wasn’t until the nurse actually start stitching him up that he winced and focus came back.

His t-shirt was still bloodstained, as was his jacket that was sitting aside. Somewhere along the lines someone had cleaned off his arms and hands, so for the most part he wasn’t bloody besides the lingering residue in his fingernails. The nurse was talking, something he supposed was supposed to be soothing, but he tuned her out, just nodding and trying hard to remember if he’d forgotten something, if there was something he should be doing. Once she was done stitching him back together she bandaged the wound and patted his good arm gently, telling him to rest for a moment. Once she left he was already up on his feet, a little wobbly from the adrenaline wearing off, his own bit of blood loss and his fears trying to take over the calm he’d had before.

After she'd taken Jen to the Lockwood residence, Kayos had gone back to find Dorian. She'd brought him a clean shirt, something she had folded over her arm as she fell into step with him. "Where we going?" she asked lightly. Almost playfully. In reality she was very concerned, but generally freaking out on people didn't help matters. So, she was Kayos at him. And Kayos was a sort who liked to make people smile a whole lot. Or at the very least she liked to help people take the edge off.

Dorian’s pace shifted when she was there suddenly, even if she hadn’t actually appeared suddenly it felt that way to him. He slowed his steps, making it easier to for her to keep up without thinking about it. At her question he seemed to take in his surroundings, slowing finally to a stop. “I...I don’t know.” He glanced back at her. “That’s my shirt,” he added pointing to the shirt in her hands.

"It totally is." Kayos confirmed for him. "I thought maybe you should wear it. I always liked this one, and it's got the nifty additional perk of not having blood on it." she told him with a firm nod. She held it out. "So, I said to myself: hey, what the hell. Dorian doesn't rock the bloody look so much, I'll just help him out in that." She gave him a light smile. "So, c'mon, Stretch. Let's get you at least a little more presentable."

There was a long pause where Dorian just stared at Kayos, not sure what to make of her and what she was saying. In the back of his mind he registered that he might be in shock, but it wasn’t floating to the surface properly like it normally would have. Frowning as he muddled through it, he eventually nodded taking the shirt and starting back towards the room he’d come out of. “You like this shirt?” he asked as he crossed the threshold, turning so he faced her as he pulled off the bloody t-shirt and left it aside. Most might have turned their backs to not look at the other person while they changed, but Dorian was very aware of the demon tell on his back, and out of habit he hid it from her. What didn’t quite register was the star on his chest, the newest marking that reflected his new station.

Giving him the few moments to catch up with her rambling at him, she didn't rush him. She knew a person who was still sort of in shock when she saw one, and he qualified. "I like that shirt." she confirmed for him. "Goes nicely with your eyes and skin tone. It's an aesthetics thing." she assured. She was going to say something else when she stopped, blinking. Stepping forward, she peered at the star on his chest, leaning closer to stare at it from level height. "That right there I don't remember being on you before." she noted. "I am pretty sure that I would have noticed. I'm observant like that."

Dorian was nodding, taking the literal explanation of why she liked his shirt in stride. Aesthetically pleasing made sense to him and he made a note of which shirt it was for future reference. Her staring at his chest had him almost leaning back, looking down at her curiously. “I’m not usually half naked around you much,” he pointed out, sounding slightly more lucid than before. Touching the star for a moment he traced the outline, and shrugged. “I’m Marked. It’s Star’s. Says I’m hers.”

"No, but you have been." she said. "Like when we brought Hunt to the island to kinda..." she made a vague gesture. When he'd been freaking out, he'd needed to get away and they'd done that, and there'd been swimming and sitting around bonfires pumping themselves full of alcohol and sugar. "That's...interesting." she said, reaching out. And she didn't ask, but she traced her fingers around the edges of it as well. "Very interesting."

“Bad interesting?” Dorian asked trying not to react physically to her touch. It reminded him of Star, how she’d traced the symbol on his chest the same way, but at the same time it was Kayos and the torch he held for her burned a little brighter. “I can mark others, as mine,” he added, realizing he might not have mentioned that part before. Probably because he hadn’t thought much on it. Who would he mark anyway? Who would serve Famine?

"No, not bad interesting. Just normal, 'hey that's intriguing' interesting." Kayos assured him, not really wanting him to think it was bad. She was still wary of the entire business, but she knew enough to keep that to herself. And she did now, just like she did with Doc. "And mark people as yours? Like...branding cattle?" she asked, quirking an amused smile at that.

“Don’t think it would hurt that much,” Dorian said, looking down at Kayos with a smirk of his own. “Didn’t hurt that much to get this one at least. I think there’s more to it though.You’d work for me or something. I didn’t ask details as I couldn’t imagine binding anyone to me.”

"Not me, mister." Kayos said, laughing. "But it'd be interesting to see what it looked like or how it worked." she added. "You'll have to let me know if you ever do. I'd really love to know what it all entails." she said honestly. It was fascinating on a lot of levels. Just also something she knew she wasn't going to be part of. It felt a little too 'minion' to her.

“Wide scoping you,” Dorian clarified. If there was anyone he would bind to himself it would be Kayos but he also knew that wouldn’t be her cup of tea. “I’ll let you know. Just...don’t see it happening any time soon.” He watched for a moment, part of him acutely aware that he was still shirtless, but it didn’t quite bother him. “Thanks, for this. For being here. I don’t think I said that.” He didn’t remember much of what he said at all, but it was something he didn’t want to forget.

She smiled warmly at him, then stood on her tiptoes to muss his hair. "No problem, sweetie. It's what I'm here for. Emergency situation girl, at your service." she promised. "I'll be here til you decide to tell me to leave, how's that?" she asked. "It's boring waiting around in hospitals anyways. So you'll need someone to sit around and prattle on at you about nothing. I'm good at that, too."

Dorian reached out for her, pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s more than just being the emergency situation girl,” he said, but let the rest of it drop. “I’d like it if you stayed though.” Left alone he was sure he’d be an absolute wreck later when Caleb was out of surgery.

Kayos gave him a tight hug back, drawing it out for a few long moments. "I'll stay then. Got you covered." she said with a nod. "Now c'mon. Let's get you more clothed, and we'll find a vending machine and live dangerously by mixing corn chips and...m&ms." she said, pulling that from nowhere.

When she pulled away Dorian pulled his shirt on, shaking out his hair once it was over his head. “You know how much I fear mixing snack foods,” he quipped, feeling grounded and able to joke with her. Things weren’t okay yet, but he was functioning again, the haze of shock lifting. Last time he’d had to be here for Caleb he didn’t have someone like Kayos to ground him and he’d messed things up terribly. This time he wouldn’t make the same mistakes.