#Hospital – May 6, 2017

Renala arrives at the hospital room where Steve has been stuck since the Rakhana job. It's around lunchtime, when it's not unusual for her to leave the office for an hour or two to deal with errands outside of extraordinary workloads – or a particularly tenacious error line in the logs. The asari is dressed in her simple red winter coat.

Steve is seated at the edge of his bed. Beside the bed is his provided wheelchair. He's dressed in a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of dirty, beat up, old work boots. Clothing from home dropped off prior by Renala. He only has one arm looped through his heavy winter jacket, the other still in a cast and sling. He has one boot propped up on the arm of his wheelchair as he makes a poor attempt at tying the laces with one

Renala shrugs. "I can't really do more than wait about that security breach," she says, "and hope that Fergus can record useful data the next time it happens." She sits down beside him on the bed, not bothering with taking off her winter jacket, and gestures to his untied shoe. "Want some help with that?"

Steve tilts his head to the side, offering an unamused glare at the offer. "I can tie my shoe, Ren." he says. He continues to pick at the laces for a moment, mostly just knotting them a few times. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done. "See?" he says, "Now let's get the hell out of here before the mad doctor makes her rounds. Last thing I need is another earful 'bout how to take care of myself." With a pained grunt, he stands from

Renala supresses a chuckle. "The results speak for themselves," she says before standing up as well. "So, how are you holding up? Would the doc say yes if I asked her if you could walk?" Renala stays close to him, watching him carefully in case she needs to react quickly.

Steve leads the way through the door, leaving the wheelchair behind. "The doc would say a whole lotta things, darlin'. I wouldn't pay too much mind to any of 'em." he says, sidestepping the question entirely. "And I'm doin' fine, Ren. Really." he insists. It's clear he's favoring his side as, despite there having been no injury to his legs, he's walking with a pretty noticeable limp.

Renala sighs, realizing there's no talking him out of it. Though, that doesn't mean she's going to give up. "I'd call any of my colleagues out on it too if they were making my job difficult," she says. "Besides, isn't a wounded pride a fair price for cutting a day or two off your recovery time?"

Steve sucks in a deep breath as he continues down the corridor. "I ain't makin' nobody's job difficult, Ren. Ain't nothin' wrong with my legs and I've been cooped up on that bed for two weeks now. A little exercise ain't gonna kill me." he insists. "I ain't turnin' down any help. Doc is havin' all sorts of gizmos delivered to the apartment. I'm gonna get all the rest I can stomach. Promise. Just let me feel like I ain't ten years old

Renala relaxes her shoulders and gives him a bit more space as she continues walking beside him. "Fine," she says. "We're walking all the way home, then? Or should I call a shuttle?"

Steve gives a sloppy shrug, causing his jacket to slide down over the shoulder with his sling. He reaches across with his good hand and tugs the jacket back into place. "Your call, Ren. Hell, I'm just happy to finally be outta that bed. Like I said, I'm feelin' pretty damn good, right now, all things considered. Pretty sure I could run a marathon right now if I had to." he teases, offering a wink Renala's way. A few more steps and he

Renala frowns as he grabs his side, but for the time being the asari is keeping her promise and refraining from asking. She knew very well that she wouldn't act any different were she in his situation. She did show up for work severely sleep deprived the day after Rakhana, after all. "I'm in no hurry to be anywhere, like I said, things aren't too hectic at work," she says. "We could walk for a while and order a taxi

Steve gives a nod. "Sounds like a plan." he says, hand still resting against his side. He continues towards the main lobby in silence for a short while before glancing Renala's way. "So... How are the others?" he asks. The discomfort associated with the whole Rakhana ordeal obvious in his voice. "Everyone holdin' up...?"

Renala ponders it for a moment. The question really reminds her just how little she actually socializes nowadays, especially with her coworkers; and the systems run smoothly enough to not warrant many knocks on her door. "Looks like it," she says. "I spend most of my time at work in my office, so I haven't had a chance to talk with most of them."

Steve nods a few times to himself. "Good to hear." he says plainly. He sucks in a deep breath and gives a shake of his head, "That whole job went sideways. Shit just... got outta control out there, ya know? Hell, most of it is just a blur at this point..."

Renala sighs. With the security breach occupying her mind, Rakhana has really fallen by the wayside for her, especially as she sought nobody to talk about it with. And there weren't really any lingering fears in the aftermath this time either. "I've been reading the reports to piece it together myself," she says. "It's probably best if you don't know just how fucking lucky we were to get that antenna up and running

Steve shakes his head. "I remember enough of it to know we damn near died on that shithole..." he sighs. "To be honest, after Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum left me to rot back in that drell compound, only thing I was thinkin' 'bout was twistin' that drell's head off like a bottlecap. Smug fucker." His hand slides back and forth gently across his side. "He did a real number on me. Just glad I got to return the favor." He furrows his brow

Renala frowns again as he mentions the two mercenaries, but keeps listening without interruption. She tries to think back to whether she saw anything of Kell, that search returns null. She was much too focused on getting Steve to safety at the time to worry about their drell arversary. "Can't remember," she says, "but I doubt anyone that didn't leave with our shuttle survived that night. Those bugs were relentless."

Steve turns towards the exit as they reach the lobby. Escape is within reach! "Good." he grunts, making no attempt at hiding his contempt for Kell and his people, "Fuck 'em." He fiddles with the zipper of his jacket for a moment, pulling it part way up to keep it closed without fully trapping his damaged hand inside. "Had a lot of time to browse the extranet while I was in here. Was able to replace my gear, but it wasn't cheap. Not

Renala raises an eyebrow at first, then shakes her head. Goddess knows how long it'll be until he should go anywhere near combat gear. "Nothing that I've seen," she says. "You didn't order from off-world, did you?"

Steve gives a shrug. "Not everything. But there were a few things I couldn't get my hands on reliably out here. Figure it might take a while for that stuff to show up. Ain't too bad, though. Was able to call in a few favors and-..." he digs into his pocket with his right hand, leaning to the side a bit with another slightly pained groan from the strain it puts on his side. He pulls his hand free and holds up a new amp between his

Renala tilts her head as she looks for what he digs out of the pocket, then nods when she sees it. She looked briefly concerned about 'favors', but she doesn't mention anything abotu it as this isn't the place. "I don't leave home without it either," she says, even if she'd be able to use her biotics to some effect without it. "That's just giving bad luck an opening."