Blaze rolled her eyes a little.

Kale sighed a little, "We should go out again soon." he decided, "I'll try to finish my rounds a day early again."

"... Then shouldn't we head back to James' early?" Blaze asked, simply curious about what he thought.

Kale shrugged, "If I finish the rounds early, James still has to preform that last night so we can't leave anyway. Might as well make use of the night." he explained.

Blaze shrugged. "Don't work yourself too hard."

Kale chuckled a bit, "You're worried? I'm touched." he teased.

"... Aren't I supposed to worry?" Blaze asked, confused.

Kale raised an eyebrow, "I don't know. Are you? If I told you to slow down, how would you react?"

"What do you mean by 'slow down'?" she inquired.

Kale paused, "If you were running off into a dangerous situation, and I told you to slow down or be careful... would you think I implied that you weren't capable or that you would make mistakes?" he rephrased.

Blaze thought about it a moment. "It depends," she decided. "If you knew more about the 'situation' than I then I would be more cautious. But if you said it too many times, I would get annoyed... Are you upset that I told you not to work too hard?"

Kale shrugged, "I don't think so." he replied honestly, "Though it implies you don't care if we have another free night together." he said seriously though there was an amused twinkle in his eyes.

Blaze frowned, thinking that through for a moment. Her head seemed to hurt a little. Clearly she was still struggling with phrases that could hold multiple meanings depending on the perspective. "... I do care," she said as she tried to think of another way to phrase her previous statement.

Kale caved and started laughing, "You're very cute." he nodded, amused as he reached over and patted her head, "Don't short-circuit your brain." he cautioned with a crooked grin.

Blaze was embarrassed for a moment. And then became confused. And then was both embarrassed and confused.

Kale continued to laugh, "Your reactions are the best." he told her with a nod as he stood, "The best."

"... Until you try to scare me," Blaze noted, trying to regain her balance.

Kale snickered, "That... I would never do." he agreed, "I think I'd die." he mused, amused.

"Potentially," Blaze replied as she stood.

Kale continued to smile, he didn't seem worried about it. "No shame in admitting it." he shrugged, "You're much stronger than me."

Blaze shrugged, not really caring who was stronger.

Kale clearly didn't either, "Well I'm off. See you tomorrow than." he said before pausing mid-turn to leave. He quickly turned back, grabbed Blaze's hand and in a quick motion, brought it to his lips and kissed her fingers. Then he was gone out the door.

Blaze blinked, caught off guard again. She stood around for a few moments before continuing her nightly routine.

As sun started to come through the front window of the Juttle, Laurel suddenly became to scream.

--

Bee who was slowly getting up and about, went to find Cong.

Raven and Dan both jolted awake; Raven with some cussing as he found his entire body to be sore.

--

Cong had somehow made himself scarce. Then again the reason he was in this boat was for his reputation of disappearing without a trace. But some of his stuff was in his room and still lying around in the juttle, so he was likely somewhere on the premise.

The screams were quickly followed by dry sobs, she had no more tears. One look at her face was enough to know she hadn't slept at all.

Bee glanced around before sighing and laying down on Cong's bed. She figured he'd return eventually.

Raven did his best to comfort Laurel without cussing. Dan quickly got some pain medication for him. It wasn't completely effective, but it was enough to help him walk. Even though he probably shouldn't. And so Dan went to find some people to help move them.

Laurel had yet to let go of his shirt, though by this point she probably wouldn't have been able to even if she wanted to. Amidst the soft sobs her voice came through brokenly, "hurts... It h... urts." she whispered to Raven.

"What hurts?" Raven asked her gently.

"heart..." Laurel barely whispered. She seemed to be gaining some control over her sobs once more, or simply wearing out again. Suddenly she took in a sharp breath, "ripping apart."

Raven took in a deep breath, stopping part of the way and coughing. He sighed and messed with some of the fluff on Laurel's head. "I know," he told her.

Laurel starting shaking again at Raven's words and slowly turned, hiding her face in his chest. "Raven..." she sobbed, "Rav... en" and continued to repeat his name over and over again.

Raven let her cling to him. What else was he supposed to do?

When Dan found enough people she suggested that they take Raven and Laurel to the little medical clinic. Raven glanced at Laurel to see if she had anything to say about it.

Laurel said nothing, she seemed to have calmed down a little. After a moment she slowly stood, almost faltering on her cramped legs but she managed to stand. But... when she tried to pull away from Raven, she couldn't. Her hands might as well have been frozen to his shirt.

Raven looked like he was gonna try to take off his shirt, but thought better of it. So he slowly stood and with everyone's help they made their way to the clinic.

When the got to the clinic, Laurel sat beside Raven as best she could. The remaining nurse (the doctor had gone on tour with James) came over and slowly was able to get Laurel's hands free of Raven. They still remained in fists. The nurse then turned to attention to Raven, asking him to remove his shirt as she looked over the injuries.

"Eh, I'm just gonna sleep for a little longer if that's alright," Raven told the nurse, beginning to lay down without waiting for permission. "Take care of her hands first."

The nurse shrugged and then worked on Laurel's hands. A little while later, something warm curled up next to Raven.

Raven almost woke up, but proceeded to fall back asleep just as quickly.

When the nurse returned she had to chuckle. Kama the wild dog has plopped down right next to Raven and Amela was currently residing on his head. Laurel sat on the floor next to the bed he slept on, slowly petting Rosemary who was in her lap. The nurse tried to get her to sleep but Laurel wouldn't move.