Fiore wakes up to see everything is tinged a reddish color, from her hands to…to the dark-brown-with-a-tinge-of-red scales she's facing. She fell asleep next to Jack, she realizes, for the second time in a row.

And had absolutely zero problems getting to sleep, despite being right next to him; every time Antonino insisted on 'snuggling together' - i.e. him wrapping around her like a damn octopus and nearly strangling her in the process sometimes - she'd be awake for hours with the distinctly horrible feeling he was just waiting for her to fall asleep before waking her up in whichever way he pleased. Be that devouring her mouth or devouring some of her blood - or deciding to screw waiting for her eighteenth birthday and trying to Bond with her right then and there.

Yet twice now she's managed to fall asleep in Jack's arms - or wings, as it were - within two minutes. Extenuating circumstances aside, she should've at least woken up at all once like she always does back in Vegas. Yet now…all she wants to do is close her eyes and enjoy feeling safe for the first time in years - she'd say she's going soft, except it hasn't been long enough for that…right?

Whatever the case, she's warm, relaxed, and doesn't feel like puking like yesterday - and she wants to enjoy it for however long her little cocoon lasts. And then her little cocoon shifts, a familiar voice sounds a little bit above her head as Jack stirs.

And, there goes the chance to sleep in, I suppose…

Jack opens his eyes after a moment, and blinks a few times before they adjust to the lighting. When he realizes Fiore's awake, he brushes some hair out of her face and asks "You alright?"

Fiore nods, then says "Better than yesterday."

Jack sighs in relief, and tries to sit up…and then hisses in pain almost immediately, as his back decides now's the time to make its current state known. By suddenly near-throbbing, torn muscles and raw skin making their condition known as soon as those same muscles attempt to work like they're supposed to.

Fiore's eyes widen at once, and she says "Alright, hold still. I'll slide out under your wing and take a look."

Jack nods, then says "Wish I could lift it, but…" But he's got no idea how to use these things! He can't even sit up, it felt like they're stuck somehow!

Fiore starts sliding down the bed, and eventually manages to get out from under his wing…and then Jack knows his back looks bad when she sucks in a sharp breath and asks "What the hell happened?!"

She could swear

Jack tries to shrug, but immediately regrets it as it pulls on his back and wings, and Fiore says "No, Jack, don't move. Dammit, you're an absolute mess…how'd this even happen?!"

Jack winces, then says "Told you…my wings popped out when I heard you'd disappeared…" And, now, he's not sure just how he was running through hallways, picked Fiore up, all of it without feeling so much as a twinge from his back.

"Alright…let's get you cleaned up, first. Maybe it won't look as bad without all the dried blood." It looks pretty bad, blood or no blood, in Fiore's opinion - his wings have barely any scales, she can see veins running through the leather-like part of the wing, and the part of his back she can see between the two wings is torn and raw-looking and the parts the wings are covering is probably just as bad.

Fiore bites her lip for a moment, then gets a nearby bowl next to a small fountain and fills it up before finding a stack of rags and bandages nearby. Jack twitches at the very first touch of the wet rag to a wing, and Fiore winces and says "They're really caked up…not very dry, though." Though, given the detail of how strong Jack is, and how upset he must have gotten over her disappearance for his wings to make such a premature appearance, she's not surprised nobody mentioned their current state to him.

They were almost certainly more focused on finding her before something much more dramatic happened.

----------------------------------------

Rania and Aeson exchange glances when they get to the door to the Healing Room, and Aeson asks "Do you think they're awake yet?"

Rania rolls her eyes at her brother, and deadpans "I don't know which would be worse, waking the two of them up or walking in on them already awake."

"JEEZ, THAT'S COLD! What kind of Icy-Hot do they have in the water?!"

"Jack, that was just regular water. My guess, they get it from the mountains nearby. And, since your scales are missing, you can feel it…worse than you would have if there were no scales at all, possibly. Less of a contrast."

Rania mutters "Well, looks like they're awake."

Aeson nods, then knocks on the door loudly so he doesn't just come in and surprise them.

Fiore immediately yelps, there's a clattering sound, and then Jack gasps and lets out a yells at the top of his lungs "MOTHER OF MERCY, THAT'S FREEZING!"

When the two siblings open the door, they see a wooden bowl on the floor, Fiore standing next to the bed Jack's laying on…and Jack's soaked through from the waist up. Fiore puts one hand to her mouth in a fist, biting the top of it as she stares at him, and eventually says "At least we got most of the blood off you…" Thanks to the humidity, due to being in a thriving forest with a city inside it, the blood was still rather fresh on him…and it just got washed off.

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Rania slaps a hand over her mouth, mainly to cover up her highly-amused grin, and Aeson coughs before saying "Well, you're wide awake…"

Jack deadpans "I didn't need any help with that before, thank you very much. My back took care of that just fine."

Aeson promptly slaps a hand over his own mouth, exchanging a glance with Rania, and tells himself it's not funny that Jack just got doused with water because of them.

After a moment of silence, Jack grumbles "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…"

Aeson says "I'm not laughing."

Rania adds "I wouldn't dare."

Looks like all that etiquette training they went through does have some use - like not bursting into laughter right now, or showing any of their amusement in their voices.

Fiore pinches the underside of her arm in an obvious effort to keep a straight face as she says "Alright, grumpy-man, let's get you dried off…"

Jack deadpans "If I could sit up, that'd be the first thing I'd be doing right now."

Aeson asks "What do you mean you can't sit up?"

"I mean these giant wings are hooked under the bed somehow…and I don't know how to move them…" Aeson, Rania, and Fiore all trade glances, and Jack adds "It's not that funny…"

Aeson nods, saying "Of course it isn't." Yes it is, just a little bit.

In Jack's defense, though, he's never had wings longer than his arms to contend with before.

Rania says "Well, I was going to see if you would like me to clean your back and apply a healing salve to it…but half of that is already done, so…"

Jack immediately nods, then says "Please. Now that I'm really noticing it, my back's on fire."

Rania goes to a nearby chest of drawers and pulls out a small container, saying "This is a salve that will repair the skin on your back. It may smell, but it does work." Jack mutters "As long as it isn't cold…I thought dragons couldn't get cold?"

Aeson says "You're fire hasn't developed yet, if I had to guess. Have you coughed up any smoke? Sneezed any embers?"

"No?"

Rania says "Then, it's not there yet. Once your scales come in completely - and the ones on your back are repaired - you won't feel any external cold unless you choose to hide them as they act as a layer of insulation. And your inner fire will keep you warm from within."

Jack nods, then asks "I don't suppose fixing my back will miraculously teach me how to use these wings, will it?"

Rania says "That takes practice, I'm afraid. Though, I'd recommend waiting to start on that until after your back is healed."

Fiore asks "How long is that going to be?"

"About an hour or two. The salve works well."

Jack breathes out "Oh, thank gods…"

Aeson drops to the floor while Rania starts applying the salve, and sees…the wings aren't hooked on the floor…they're impaled on the floor. The talons at the end of the wing bones, similar to the thumbs on a person's hands, are somehow strong enough to pierce solid wood like it's nothing despite the detail that Jack's wings should've still been forming.

Rania starts spreading the salve around the bases of Jack's wings, Fiore helping after a moment's hesitation, and Jack sighs in relief as his back goes blissfully numb - and Aeson sees his chance.

Aeson stumbles backwards as he frees one of Jack's wings, and asks "How in the world did the talons go straight through the floor?" He gets that they're sharp, they're weapons after all, but he's more confused as to how they're strong enough to go straight through solid wood only a few hours free and supposed to be still developing.

Jack just shrugs with that shoulder, saying "Not a clue, sorry 'bout that."

And then Aeson has to dive for the floor to avoid getting impaled on that same talon, as that shrug made Jack's free wing move around haphazardly. Jack winces, then says "Sorry? Again?"

Fiore says "Hold still, I'll get this one. Do we have anything we can use to…I don't know, hold those up or something?" Maybe we should wait on him learning to use those until we meet his dad...

Rania nods, saying "I can make a harness to hold his wings upright, it should help develop the necessary muscles anyway."

Fiore effortlessly pulls Jack's other talon out of the floor, and Aeson half-jokingly says "Show-off." He'd be more jealous if she could actually use that strength of hers on a regular basis - Alfric took six hours to wake back up, was incredibly horny even then but back to his senses, and needed a two-hour freezing-cold soak to get back in his uniform comfortably. If that is what happens every single time she touches someone who isn't immune to magic or mind-altering effects, then he can't imagine how she found that out. No real wonder why she was sticking to Jack's side.

Once Jack's sitting up, Rania creates a leather harness out of the blue light between her hands before saying "Someone hold his wings up, I'll get this under them." Fiore holds Jack's wings up carefully, and watches as Rania uses her magic to slip the harness around the bases and over Jack's shoulders without going near the red-head herself.

After that's done, Jack says "That's the hard part, right? All we have to do is get the wings in it now?"

Rania nods, then says "Easier said than done, though. Your wings need to fold up, and you've currently got no control over them." And, if they try to bend the wings wrong, or force them into the harness incorrectly, they'd possibly break one of the bones in his wings or deform them by accident.

It takes a solid ten minutes and a lot of trial and error, with everyone including Jack getting poked more than once, but they eventually manage to get Jack's wings folded properly and secured in the harness. He's a little off-balance at first when he stands up, but back on his feet after adjusting to the new center of gravity.

Fiore asks "How's it feel?"

Jack rolls one shoulder, saying "Weird, but that's not very surprising. Kinda like wearing a backpack again. I'll get used to it."

Rania holds out the white shirt she modified while the two of them were out cold, and says "The new muscles in your back have to develop for you to have conscious control over your wings, holding them upright should help speed that along. This should last longer than the shift you were wearing yesterday."

Jack takes the shirt, asking "What now? Did you father have anything to say after we found Fiore?"

Aeson nods, saying "He did. Once we've eaten, we're packing some food and getting a coat for Fiore."

Jack raises an eyebrow, asking "A coat?"

"Indeed. Father has given us leave to take you to the Dragon on the Mountain. After that, it is his decision to hear you out or not."