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He regarded Cesc while looking over Xiu's part of the medical files.

"Never said you were soft, Cesc." He looked up and lofted a brow at the Stag, a funny little smile on his face on saying the words. "And "softness" has nothing to do with it. If you end up taking a turn for the worst even while taking the precautions I'm going to set for you, I'll need to know about it as soon as possible. If no one is keeping an eye on you, or at the very least checking in, and something happens? I think you can catch my drift there.

"I'm not saying I don't trust you, kiddo, I just want to make sure you're as safe as can be. Plus offering to make things a bit easier in that vein, if need be." He winked and went back to the file, at least until Cesc spoke up again and displayed that little power of his that Xiu seemed to have temporarily inherited.

"Well now!" He laughed as the Stag sent the sparkles wafting toward himself and Xiu, reaching out to try and take one or two in his hand to inspect. Even something so small eminated a certain something that was both calming and invigorating at the same time, remarkable.

"Hmm..." Releasing the glittering bits of dawn the vet took both Sigel's words to heart, especially Xiu's when the Pi Yao mentioned his lapse of powers took place after the fact. "I think Cesc is on to something there. Since you got blood from him and Laz it's reasonable to say that their powers are strong arming yours, especially since you lost so much blood after that fight. Once your body makes enough to replace what was lost and as their blood cells die off, I'm sure you'll see a reappearance of your abilities. If not, we'll have to explore other avenues but that's something we can worry about if and when we get there."

He gave Xiu a reassuring smile which turned into another laugh as the White Sigel commented about the other's powers.

"I agree! They're very charming; you could totally put them into nice jars and make a mint!" He waved his hand through the ones that lingered around him just to see them move and glitter a bit more. "Heck you'd make a mint plus one around Christmas with electricity-free lights!"

Zeke’s explanation on the (hopefully temporary) loss of his powers made sense. From what Lazarus had told him, he had indeed loss quite a lot of blood last night. Enough that he had needed the blood of two raevans to save him. Xiu felt a stab of guilt. He would really have to think of a way to make it up to them in the future.

But the comfortable and cheerful atmosphere the infirmary had currently taken on made worrying an effort. He would have plenty of time to do that when Cesc and Zeke left.

At least, that was what the Sigel had thought before Cesc brought up the issue of medical bills. “M-Medical bills?” stammered Xiu, sitting up in his bed a little straighter than was necessary. “Oh dear, it had not occurred..,”

Medical bills were expensive right? Joshua had fractured his wrist once and the cost of setting his bones had not been cheap. Thankfully though, the health insurance had been willing to cover part of the cost. Hazeline probably had one too so her stay in the hospital would be somewhat bearable; from a financial point of view at least.

But the Sigel was pretty sure that he had no insurance to his name. There was the option of manipulating his chances at the lottery but even that would have to wait until he had gotten his powers back. And even so, the Sigel was worried about the huge odds.

“Would the lab allow me to work off my medical debt? Once I am allowed to leave the infirmary?” asked Xiu worriedly.

As foggy and distant as Cesc felt, Xiu's concern and Zeke's immediate reaction to it completely tickled the stag's funny bone. He started laughing with his hand curled over his mouth, trying not to be rude, his shoulders shaking and his eyes starting to water by the time that Zeke finished. His head protested and his stomach flip-flopped warily, warning him to stop, but knowing that he should stop only made the situation funnier to him.

With a slow and shaking breath, Cesc wiped the corner of his eye."I don't think that's something we need to worry too much about, Xiu. Hazeline, maybe, but I think we're good. I'm sure she's good too."

He rubbed his temples and took another breath, closing his eyes.

"I think this might be it for me," he told Zeke, pushing the arms of the chair to press himself up, back to his normal floating height. "I'm going to do the unthinkable and go home and take a nap. Unless there's anything else I need to do here?"

"See? Nothing to worry about!" His face was aching with laughter as he joined in with the pair

Zeke held up a finger to stop Cesc before he did what he called the 'unthinkable'.

"You sure you good to get home? I can call you a cab or have someone pick you up if you need it." He eyed the Sigel up and down for a moment before standing and crossing the room to get a spare sheet of paper. Upon his return he took a seat in one of the chairs positioned around a small table in the room, writing out the steps he wanted the Stag to take. At the bottom he wrote his phone number - even though he knew Cesc and co had it - and beneath it wrote 'CALL IMMEDIATELY IF SYMPTOMS REAPPEAR!!!'

"Okay, here's everything I want you to do to help yourself out. Again, no tv, no internet, don't even read anything. Easy on the daylight and...oh. Let me get you that medicine." He handed the list to Cesc and went to fiddle in the cabinets, bringing out some low dose and average dose pills.

"Green cap is low dose, blue cap is normal strength. Since you're still a Sigel I think the normal should be strong enough if the low dose isn't. I don't wanna give out anything stronger unless these aren't working. If they aren't doing anything for you, have Vivi or Shep give me a call and we'll go from there, okay?"

He pressed both small bottles into the Stag's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Other than that - and if you're positive you can get home okay - I'll release you. Don't worry about signing anything, I'll take care of all of that." He gave the pink Sigel a smile and went to hold the door for him. "You take care, okay Cesc? And if you need anything from me at all, don't hesitate to call. I'll be at Vermilion in a jiffy if you need it!"

After Cesc departed Zeke waited a couple minutes at the exam room door as if he were expecting to hear a sudden 'thud' in the hall. When non sign of the Stag passing out came, he pulled out his phone and fired off a text to Vivi:

Cesc has a concussion, sending him home to you with a list of steps to take in order to help him through it and some aspirin. Please keep an eye on him; if he starts experiencing symptoms again or more than before PLEASE call me. Hope you're well!

"Okay, now back to you my friend." He pocketed his phone and rubbed his hands together. "I'm still hesitant to undo fresh dressings; I wish you guys had waited on that one." He clucked his tongue with a shake of his head, but ultimately shrugged his shoulders. Couldn't be helped. "Luckily for me, we have plenty of photos and x-rays to look at."

He pulled the latter from the file and stuck them up on the view lamp on the wall. Flicking the switch, Xiu's cracked and broken ribs became quite apparent.

"Broken ribs are no joke and if you look here, here, and here these ones are the broken ones. You can also see cracking in these few here." He tapped each one in turn before looking back at Xiu with a sympathetic smile. "Unfortunately I can't magically heal these for you. No talent for it. But, luckily, they will heal on their own in time. We just don't want to have you cracking them further or keeping them from healing, got it?"

He left the x-ray viewer on and went back to Xiu and his file. "I'm not too worried about those. They were set pretty darn well all things considered and so it's just on you not to do anything extreme." He brought his gaze up to the White Sigel and the corners of his eyes crinkled. "Although I don't think I have to worry about that with you, provided you don't go picking anymore fights with god only knows what."

Zeke pulled out photos of the rough cauterizing job and made a little hissing sound as he laid them out for their bearer to look at as well.

"As for these...I can only assume Laz had a hand in this and that he was panicked when he did them. I'm not gonna lie to you, Xiu, they're pretty rough." He looked at the bandages that covered the Sigel's wounds and sucked on his lip ring. "Do you know if you have any healing abilities for yourself? We have Raevans who can heal others but are you able to get over being sick faster than most or are you able to heal a cut or scrape in a matter of minutes or hours or what have you?"

As the laughter died down and Cesc prepared to leave after obtaining the prescribed medication, Xiu gave his friend a grateful smile. “Thank you and yeah, see you soon Cesc,”

That was when things started getting gruesome. Watching as Zeke laid out several x-rays showing fractured ribs, the Sigel could only watch with a sense of detached horror. Surely those images were not his. Admittedly he had taken quite the beating from the fight and it hurts to breathe sometimes but still…

He did not think that he would be that broken on the inside. From where he sat, the mounted x-ray images showed bones resembling cracked china.

Blue eyes then shifted to cauterized wounds on his back and Xiu felt sick. Where the x-rays were mostly blueish-grey bones with a ghostly hint of flesh upon a black background, the image of his cauterized back spared no grisly detail; in full colour.

Turning away from the horrific images, Xiu then focused his attention to Zeke’s enquiries. “I have the ability to stop bleeding, yes. But…that ability seems to be disabled for now,” said Xiu nervously. “Perhaps it is as you have mentioned. I lost too much of my own blood…,”

“Err… Lazarus mentioned that you are able to prescribe painkillers,”said Xiu. “That would really help if so,”

Xiu tried his best to listen to Zeke’s animated chatter but after several minutes, it was clear that the Sigel was finding it hard to stay focused due to the pain and exhaustion of yesterday’s trial. However, Zeke’s advice seemed pretty straightforward and easy enough to carry out even if he did not take in its full narration. Clean wounds, proper rest, no stress…

Seemed pretty achievable so far.

At the mention of painkillers though, Xiu could not hide a trace of disappointment from his features when Zeke prescribed over the counter meds. His back felt as though someone had yanked several important vertebrae out, turned them on their heads and shoved them right back in, all haphazard and clumsy. Not to mention the horrible and sticky wet feeling of his bandages even after they had only been recently changed.

Surely that entailed the dispensation of something a little stronger than regular old paracetamol?

But… interjected the reasonable part of his brain. Zeke is a trained professional and knows what he is doing. Give the prescribed meds a chance and see how it works out then.

“Alright, okay,” said Xiu, more to himself than to the human before him as he took the sheets of written instructions. That was good though, the instructions. He could read through them when the achy feeling that was beginning to creep up his spine had been dealt with.

Leaning back against the soft support of the pillows, Xiu shook his head. “None at the moment doctor. You have been quite thorough. I…will give updates and call if anything pops up; like you advised,”

Giving the vet a grateful smile, Xiu then added “Thank you very much for your help, Zeke,”

Xiu nodded. "Don't worry Zeke, I will," promised the Sigel as he settled down to rest.

As he watched the vet leave the infirmary, Xiu gave the prescriptions a glance. Yes, he would pass this along to Lazarus when the other came in later on. For now though, sleep awaited him.