Star Trek: Starbase 777 - ghoyiph-medbay

Having been led into the medbay with the rest of his injured crewmates, Ed stood in beside door for a moment, still and staring off into space. They did it. Holy FUCK, they did it. A whisper of a laugh escaped his lips, and he blinked, tuning back into the scene around him, the many others who had been stabbed, broken, or injured in some way. Right. Stab wound. That definitely needed to be dealt with.

Even after being transported, Dezyim still didn’t… feel anything. He wondered briefly if the procedure had severed more than just his implant and had to remind himself that no, he had had many emotions since then. He was just… out right now. He scanned the medbay and found the softest place to sit down on, and leaned all the way back. He took a drag from the cigarette he’d gotten from Snake and stared up at the ceiling blankly. It probably wasn’t very considerate to smoke in the medbay and especially not when people were actively injured, but it was a new cigarette and and he just couldn’t seem to make himself care. He’d put it out soon, he told himself.

Ellie's large scar and stitching pretty understandably had her sent to the medbay; a bit late, but atleast it happened instead of never. She jad time to think now, and how when the federation group came in she was in shock. Having gone silent as they checked her wounds. Honestly she had given up hope of leaving. Jesus, she made it through all of that. The fact that the woman did make it felt bittersweet though. She thought it would be a resounding exhilaration, but she just felt... cold? Tired? Nothing was right. It was confusing. At least she was alive? That was good...? The presence of eyes overwhelmed her again, and then sudden clarity hit her. She was in a medbay, and it reminded her of the room that gave her the scar. The reason she was here. The similar Roman architecture was overbearing for some reason. She swallowed her lips as she silenced all breathing trying to stay calm. (edited)

He sat down, allowing his stab wound to be treated, and letting himself get lost in thought. The strange thing was, he had been feeling fine in that cell. Sure, his shoulder hurt, and footsteps in the hallway made him feel like he was going to have a heart attack, but what worried him was the fact that he’d been able to laugh it off. What the hell? He’d been laughing and joking and playing a game with his co-workers like nothing had been the matter. It was far beyond him how he’d managed to stay so… happy. And as the survival instincts wore off, and all of the fear playing itself off as humour bubbled up to the surface, he let his head drop. He felt that familiar heat burn from behind his eyelids, and let the handful of tears pooling at his lashes fall, one-by-one, until he had exhausted his supply.

Utterly exhausted and with compromised implants, Elohae had materialized in the medbay. Initially resistant to more than just facing the attention of a engineer until he was assured that these people were in fact not Tal Shiar and it'd not be too much a bother, he'd allowed his very minor if that bruises to be treated. That and for his implants to be fixed. With the ability to remove them returned to him, Elohae pulled his earpieces clear as he perched not on a bed but on a chair. Considered his exhaustion and the bruises he'd been treated for. Considered that and what had been done to his Implants. Not much at all in the grand scheme of things but enough. Enough to not harm him in the usual physical sense, they could have affected his balance or done a wide number of different things then but, they'd harmed him in other deeper ways. It went without saying he reckoned he needed to chat with a counsellor when he got back. Or well part of him did, the part of him that remained grasped by the training of the job he'd departed, of the training he maintained qualifications in cause of it's use when caring for kids. The paramedic in him that remained just hard of hearing in its eyes, refused to accept the reality that he'd been medically discharged. Assessed everything it experienced in that damned compartmentalised way. The rest of him just wanted to cry, to sleep to just relax. It was the rest of him he listened to right now. Not the training that badgered him other other concerns. He was so tired and..they were finally safe. His eyes misted with tears than and he turned and finally free of the Tal Shiar and that fear, started to cry.

Eshen was in here to visit Saren - even if he wasn't awake, he could at least look at the lines and hear the beeps that told him he was alive. He hadn't had such a luxury while he was worrying away on the starbase. Not that he wasn't worrying here - not just for Saren's condition, but Allan's, too. He'd have to find him after this; he'd heard he was in better condition, so he could at least hear him talk, know he was okay. Perhaps they could visit Saren again together. He had little to say, but were he not in medbay he would be off doing a death howl for the catharsis of it, even though nobody was yet dead. Instead, he just waited for Saren to wake up, or for someone to tell him to stop hovering about looking sad. One of the two.

Allan should have been in here to get healed himself. In his brain, though, that could wait. The dizziness in his head as he walked a little bit too fast to the medbay was ignored until he had stopped walking, just a dozen or so feet off from where Saren was. However far he needed to be to see that the vitals on that screen were, in fact, positive. And then he stood still, caught his breath, blinked a few times to let the wetness in his eyes calm down a bit, and felt the blood rushing down his - wait, what? "Fuck," he muttered the curse under his breath as he then sighed, putting his sleeve to his nose again. Was it the stress? Must've been the stress. He was going to consider you know, actually going to a biobed and getting himself healed up because of that, but that was when he saw Eshen. There was a little bit of hesitation in his brain about approaching him - what the fuck would he even say? Was he going to admit to him that he was the cause of this? But despite anything the voices in his head were saying, his steps had taken him to the command officer anyways. "H-hey, um.. Eshen?" he asked, as if to confirm that he was there. This whole thing felt like a dream.

"Allan!" The reaction was immediate - he was up close, hands on allan's shoulders, kissing him on his bloody mouth if he let him, leaving Eshen with a bold red lip. "I was so worried - are you okay? You haven't gotten healed up yet, darling?" He held his hands loosely, not wanting to let go, to end the contact that proved Allan was real and alive and here.

Allan was very surprised, to say the least, by that reaction. Not because it wasn't like Eshen, but because he just... well, he had not really had that much physical contact in weeks. He'd gotten that hug from Victoria... and that'd been it, really. But he let it happen, even if it caught him so off guard, even if he seemed a little stiff, as if he wasn't used to it. "I.. um," he did hold on to Eshen's hands tightly, just like he'd done to Vara'l's moments earlier - it was a steadying thing, because between the concussion and the panic, he felt so dizzy. He looked at Eshen's face, now with his own red blood on it. That same blood dripped down onto his own uniform now as he talked, since both his hands were now being held. "No, no, I.. no." That was the answer to all those questions, wasn't it?

Elohae slipped into a brief nap after his cry. A brief nap as he snapped awake again. Though it happened to be longer than the ones he'd managed in the cell. He'd then looked around a bit then. Looked around and smiled as he noted all that was going on. Noted that then moved to slip out. He'd been treated medically and the engineer's had seen to what they could. While he reckoned he'd need to sit down with a engineer a bit longer once they were safe to just roust out anything that remained, do that and make himself feel actually like this part of his body happened to be his again. He reckoned he'd been seen to as much as was possible here and that well, now what was needed was a counsellor when they got back to make the hurricane of emotion that whirled within him right. A hand rubbing at his eyes as he cleared his vision of another brief misting. Elements, he'd wanted to put all in his past behind him. Had mourned the end of his duty, ended up a babysitter and the like after that, thanks to Vara'l in part but, he'd mourned it. He'd put it to bed, he'd lived with his mistakes with the litany of mistakes that had marked a life at some times in his eyes poorly lived. Damn the Tal Shiar for having unearthed those regrets. For having subverted such a part of him as his implants, for everything. Part of him wished he had a cigarette or something. He needed to relax and they seemed potentially effective. But no. He just turned and headed for the lounge. Counselling when they got home. He needed counselling. Proper counselling. That sounded good. That to make sure well... Telim was still alive. He needed to find Vara'l. Had they come?

Before he managed to slip out, a tall xB slipped into Elohae's view. Storm grey hued eyes ones that briefly lacked emotion for a few moments before they coloured with it. Before the mask lowered and Vara'ls face for this brief time coloured with more emotion than he regularly showed to more than just Telim. Hands moving as he formed RSL signs with a sooth familiarity Elohae had in part helped him with. "Hello my friend." Formed those signs before he then as he looked at that pained exhausted face, he guessed something and signed something else. "Telim is alive, deeply worried about you but he's alive and not physically harmed."

He let go of one of Allan's hands only so he could rummage around in his pocket or bag or whatever he'd brought to clean off Allan's face. As he did, he kissed Allan on the cheek, leaving a bloody kissmark. Only then did he notice the stiffness. "Sorry, I - am I touching you too much?" He was accustomed to being very touchy-feely with Allan, since they were both simply people who liked physical contact, but Allan could have gone through all manner of tortures that made him averse to touch. How insensitive of him!

He stayed silent while he felt Eshen clean off his face. He didn't understand the effort; the blood was going to continue running down his face anyways for the next few minutes. He needed to just go and get himself healed, but the biobed readings he'd been staring at for the past few minutes had prevented him from that. It was only when Eshen asked another question that he spoke again. "No," he answered, rather flatly, but then he shook his head, slowly, to confirm the answer again. "No, it's.. okay, I'm just, um.. out of it, I guess. I-" He glanced back at where Saren was, then back to Eshen. "Do you know if he's going to be, um.." Okay, was probably what he wanted to say there, but he couldn't seem to complete the sentence.

"They said he's stable. He looks... Well, he looks alive. He spoke to me very briefly when I found him. Said 'Esh'n'. Knew who I was, at least. So yes, I think he'll be fine." He was assuring himself just as much as Allan was. He put the tissue in one of Allan's hands and tugged Allan by the other. "Come, love, let's pop off and heal your nose so you don't bleed all over Saren's sheets."

Allan took a deep breath, cringing slightly at the taste of blood. "Okay," he said, and now he noticed the warm fall of tears on his face as if in cue. "Okay, yeah, he'll be.. do you know what happened, or.." he barely got those words out, holding up the tissue to his nose when Eshen gave it to him and letting the man lead him to wherever. "I- Eshen, I, um.." How the fuck did he even say it? 'Oh, by the way, whatever happened to him, was because of me, I did this'? It wasn't direct, but... God. How could he even..

He led him to some miscellaneous medical NPC and got Allan an osteoregenerator for his nose and some hypos. What they did, he was not aware. "I don't know exactly what happened, but he was stabbed. I have my theories, but I'd like to hear it from his own mouth when he wakes up, if he wants to tell us." He wiped away Allan's tears with his thumb. (edited)

Elohae stepped back initially as that figure slipped into his view. Looked up at them as they looked down slightly at him. Beheld those eyes then stepped back slightly as he beheld those words. Read as they signed to him. As they signed like he hadn't failed Telim utterly. As if he might not have- And then Vara'l told him and Elohae staggered as if hit as Relief slammed into him and through him like a wave now. As a breathy sob snatched itself from the throat of one who'd not talked since he was injured in combat so long ago. A sob of relief as he looked up at them. Looked to Vara'l and signed in RSL. "Oh my friend I'm so so-"

And then Vara'l wrapped him in a hug. Always careful to ensure he never pinned his friends arms, he knew how he sometimes disliked that himself. Hugged them and moved a hand, brought it up as he signed in their eye line in SSL. "No." Stepped back and then signed more as he brought briefly from the hug, utilized both his hands. "You stood between my son and a Tal-Shiar team, I don't think there's anything for you to say sorry about, when it comes to that." Stepped forward and hugged them again then broke from that hug and smiled at him once more. "We can talk more later, saw you wanted out of here." He signed then in SSL once more. "Came in to check on you and another friend, I'll find you later?" Paused before he added. "If I'm not needed for duty, I can interpret for you for a bit if you'd like."

And just in a few minutes like that, his nose was fixed, his concussion cleared, and his bruises gone. Modern medicine was truly amazing. The world should've felt a lot less painful to the engineer - and it did, somewhat. It felt a lot less dizzy, a lot less painful, but it was still a little bit difficult to breathe - not because of any injury, though. And medicine, of course, wouldn't prevent him from crying, much as he sometimes wished. After thanking the medical officer, he'd gotten back up, letting Eshen wipe his tears. It took him a moment. Did he already assume that Saren had been stabbed from the information he was given earlier? Yes, but a confirmation of it... "I- I don't... I mean, yes, I - I guess I don't, um, know, for - like, one hundred.. p-percent, but I... fuck," he moved a little closer to Eshen, as if somehow that would hide him from everyone in this ship, "Eshen, please.. please don't be mad at me, but I... um, I.." He couldn't get the words out.

"After everything you've been through, we've been through, how could you ever think I'd be mad at you? I love you." He held Allan in a gentle hug. "Whatever happened to you in there, whatever you did, consider it extenuating circumstances; I do not blame you." Allan hadn't told him anything and he was already absolved. True loyalty, if a little blind.

'Whatever anyone sees in you, I pray they see sense soon.' The words Irok had said from earlier were running free in his mind, and Allan wasn't sure what Eshen saw in him. As such, was silent for maybe a minute after that. Maybe just under a minute. He wasn't counting, he was just... speechless, for a while. As much as he appreciated the kind words, he didn't think that he should so easily be forgiven. But it was whatever, wasn't it? He had to say it eventually. And whatever happened from there would happen, no matter when he said it, so.. "I.. Irok," he finally whispered, in the quietest whisper he could manage that truly only Eshen could hear, before he spoke again, less quiet after he'd said that name. "He, um.. I.. fuck, please, just-" he took a shaky breath in, letting it out at his next word, "told.. me, had me, um - it was a, he tried to get me to give, um, some intel, and I.. he said that if I didn't, he'd end up, um," he wasn't going to repeat the words, even if they were stuck in his mind. Especially the parts after. 'Do you want to have been the cause of that?' The answer was, he was realizing, no. "Hurting him. K-killing him, even, and that I'd... be the cause of it." He wasn't sure how he'd managed to get all those words out, but there they were.

So it was Irok. Saren plus stabbing equals Irok. He was angry, but not surprised. He sighed deeply through his nose. "Allan, this is a man who stabbed a child. You were not any barrier to him doing it again if he felt the whim to. Getting intel was an incidental motivation. He's a petty, small little man, and you are better than him." Not small enough to squash like a bug, unfortunately, no matter how much a vengeful part of his heart wanted to.

Allan wanted to believe Eshen, he did. It made sense. Irok probably just said it to make him feel like shit, or something like that. He was going to hurt Saren anyways, probably. But God, did he say a lot of fucking words that still ran around his mind. Ones that made him scared to even ask Eshen what 'incidental' meant, because he was fucking stupid, was what he was convinced of now. Despite all that, though, he forced the forefront of his mind, the part having this conversation, to temporarily accept what Eshen was saying for just a moment. "Even then," he sighed, "what if he told him that, too? That I... I mean, fuck, I don't want to.."

Elohae had been surprised by the hugs, surprised even as he felt his heart skip a beat. Part of his mind idly observing the fact Vara'l was uh. Wow. Though he rapidly pushed past that, guy's straight, mind! No chance there and seriously, now?! No, he just focused on what they said and signed then. "I-" He signed initially as he watched the other. "I still-" Felt those arms as they hugged him again, felt relief that Vara'l seemed to not hate him at all for he failed. Or well.. had he failed? The Tal Shiar had lied, Telim was fine. But he'd still failed to keep them those scars from being opened again. Oh how he wished he could have shielded the lad, taken all that pain onto himself. "Okay." He signed then as he smiled back at them, pained still but well...somewhat comforted by his friend. "I did.." He'd admitted in sign then before he raised his eyebrows at what they offered. How would that look, the CTO interpreting for a deaf civilian? "Aye.. see you later." He signed then before he quickly added. "You know Vara'l, you don't have to do that..interpet I mean." As he walked out.

Vara'l nodded at the earlier bit and then later, when the other stated what they did about the interpreting, chuckled and signed in SSL. "I'm your friend, Elohae." Paused then added. "It's the least I can do." Then watched him leave a moment later, after the duo briefly hugged once more, the hug this time initiated by Elohae which surprised him. Vara'l then turned to Allan and Eshen. He wanted to talk to Allan but it seemed like the two were involved in a conversation, so he just located a chair and settled into it. Waited his turn to chat with Allan.

He couldn’t help but smile a bit at the sight. He hadn’t considered how stressed everyone back home would be, whether home meant 777 or earth. Seeing the reunions seemed to untangle some of the knots in his chest, knowing that everyone got home safe. Once his shoulder was dealt with, and no longer posed any threat, he hopped up, making his way out of the medbay as quickly as he could. Despite the heartwarming sight, he wanted to be anywhere that didn’t remind him of the damage that still hadn’t been undone.

"Told him what? Whatever Irok said was all provocation and no substance, and it will fall apart with time." He neatened Allan up as he talked, like a bird preening its mate - carding his fingers through his hair, fixing his clothes, wiping off dried blood, etcetera. Perhaps they should have a bath together later.

"I mean.. if he told him it was my fault, that I was the reason he was..." It didn't make sense, actually, but he wasn't putting that together. If Irok had intended to hurt Saren the whole time, why would he bother saying that it was Allan's fault to Saren, if it wasn't, because it clearly wasn't, and he was just saying that to mess with Allan specifically... but his brain wasn't really letting him put together those puzzle pieces quite yet. But it was trying, at least. It had the pieces, it was just trying every combination to fit them together. He let Eshen fix him up - he instinctually leaned his head into his hand when Eshen carded his fingers through his hair. "Thanks," he whispered, no smile on his face but just the slightest bits of one in his teary eyes.

Seeing the way Allan responded to it, he kept stroking allan's hair. He wondered if Allan had been touched much in prison. Maybe he'd been in solidarity confinement... The idea of that happening to Allan, someone so social, made him sick. It was like keeping a lovebird in a cage on its own. "If he told him that, then that was just yet another way to inflict a wound. But his hand was on the knife, not yours." He kissed the corners of Allan's mouth, like that would make them rise.

Allan was losing more words, it seemed like, the more he calmed down. It was always soothing when Eshen held him like this, and now wasn't an exception. He was looking straight down at the ground, at his boots, his stupid thigh high boots he'd had to wear in that cold ass prison, while he was kissed. "Yeah," was all he said, but the tears had slowed, a little. It seemed... reasonable, what Eshen was saying. He glanced back at the biobed where Saren was. Stared at it for a while, then looked back at the ground and sighed. "Yeah." And then he hugged the man in front of him, not knowing what else to do.

He held Allan close, cradling allan's head in the crook of his neck and crying a little himself. "I missed you so much," he said, kissing the top of his head. "Saren, too. I worried maybe I'd get here and you'd both be..." He didn't finish. It wasn't an unfounded fear. It had almost happened to Saren, after all. He glanced at him, seeing if he was still asleep.

Allan kept holding onto him. It was comfortable, and God, was it warm. He craved both the touch and warmth so badly right now, so he planned to stay like this as long as he could get away with. "I missed you, too," he said in return, "both of you, I.. we were in separate cells, so I.. it was just as much of a... mystery, for the rest of us," the rest of us being the ones not with Saren, he meant, his gaze also following Eshen's.

For a moment, when Aria arrived in the medbay, she was ready to get to work. She wanted to make sure all of her fellow officers were safe and healthy, and then she was shuffled off to a charging port and a repair bay. Ah, the reality of the situation…she did her best to sit still and not fidget around restlessly, wanting to lend a helping hand despite being unable to do so. A few replacement servos here and there, and her left hand clicked back online. She wiggled her fingers and twisted her wrist, a little smile managing to come across her face. The weight of what she had just gone through had yet to fully push her shoulders down. It was likely because she was still in shock. Medically she understood that, but she also understood she had never experienced shock before. She laid there examining herself as one of the repair techs cleaned up the coolant stains on her face, and a memory in her whirled to the forefront of her mind. “I have a request,” She said to the tech as they began to prep replacement casing for her, “Could you please make the adhesive gold?”

He... did not understand where he was, to be frank. The world was lighter, and softer, the sound both muted and... not. His body was wrapped in a sensation Saren would soon recognize as a lull of heavy painkillers, but for now he just softly sighed. Someone was in his proximity. He could hear talking, two voices at the very least. They... hmm. The Romulan furrowed his eyebrows, head turning to the side away from the voices, something confused-sounding making it out past his lips.

He looked to the noise, unsure of it was just a murmur let slip in Saren's sleep or a sign he'd awoken. He stopped holding most of Allan except his hand, and got a little closer to the bed where Saren lay. "Saren? You're in medbay now." He almost said 'you're safe', but it occurred to him maybe he shouldn't make any promises until they were at 777.

Eshen may have noticed that Allan's hand was shaking a little as they got closer to the bed, but aside from that, his nerves felt pretty calm. There was no reason for him to be scared, he had to tell himself. He nodded at what Eshen said, then realized Saren wasn't looking at them and therefore could not see that, and so he added onto what the other said. "Yeah, medbay on a - a getaway vessel," he was just saying the word he'd remembered from that guy with the cigarette earlier, "I mean, a ship." That's the word.

He opened his eyes to look at the wall in front of him. Romulan aesthetic, but... different. Cleaner. Lighter. The voices filtered through, too, and he recognized them. He turned his head towards them now, squinting against the lights, and-- there they were. Was all of this... real? "What th' fuck," is what came out of his mouth instead, voice hoarse and quiet but not wrong and horrid anymore.

He laughed. "What the fuck indeed. We stole one of their ships and we're on our way back to 777. How're you doing, Sar'n?" He kneeled down a bit so Saren would have an easier time seeing him.

How was he doing? That was... a good question. "Floaty," that was the first thing that came to mind. Saren slid one of his arms towards his torso, intending for a light touch of his bandaged area, only to regret it immediately. "I'm... it's... foggy, and distant, and I don't want to-- think about it t' hard. It will come back, ah... later." His speech was slow, in an effort not to slur it together too much. "Irok was... there. Has... anyone else been hurt like me?.."

"None as badly." Though some bore psychological wounds incurable, he would presume. "None hurt by him, either, as far as I know. He will be arrested along with everyone else in the base." By whom, he did not know. He was oblivious to the small battle Jin was having, like most of them. "Allan was hurt by... Who hurt you, Allan?" Who else did he need to have beef with? Surely it couldn't be Irok again.

"Mhm," Allan nodded when Eshen said 'none as badly', "I, um - I know about the others in my cell the most, they're all... thankfully, in pretty good condition, especially.. especially now." He gave his best little smile, but when Eshen asked that question, his smile faded real fast, and he looked at the other before looking at the ground in between them and Saren. "I think, um... it was probably, from - from my knowledge, which is... y'know, limited, um.. Tarsek and I were the only others to talk to Irok, and Tarsek, um, seemed pretty alright, though, so that's.. good," he said, then smiled again, "but you know, I'm - I'm also totally fine now that, you know - everything's all... osteoregenerators are some of the coolest tech out there, honestly." Physically. He was totally fine physically, that is.

"Bullshit," he breathed out, half-lidded eyes landing on Allan. Some of the old focus and attention returned to it, thankfully, though it was clear that the man was currently on some very cushy clouds. A good change from the pained haze, though... "'Bout the totally fine part."

Vara'l sidled slightly closer then and looked from Eshen to Allan then. "While I'd not use the same language, as well.. I am who I am." He awkwardly coughed then. "I do feel I should say, it's fine to not be fine and that not all injuries are physical." Paused then, toyed about admitting something or at least allowing it to be utilized to guide what he stated then. Decided against it.

He didn't say anything for a moment. "...So Irok did this to you? Both of you?" His hands curled into fists, he glared coldly at the wall, and after a moment, let out long sigh of frustration. If only he could confront that man himself. He wasn't sure what he'd even do, but to even be able to put a face to the name of the man who'd hurt his beloveds in such a way... Would that satisfy him? Probably not. But to arrest him, to serve him some comeuppance, would be cathartic... But there was no point thinking about what he could do elsewhere when he had support he needed to give here. "I'd love to say something healthy like hey, you can both get your vengeance by living well and putting him out of your mind, since I have a feeling he's the kind of man who loves to get into your head, but now that I know he's hurt both of you, he's living in there rent free. On a target board. Getting darts thrown at him." (edited)

Allan opened his mouth to say something when Saren said it was bullshit that he was totally fine. Because, yeah, okay, a very reasonable response. He had no words to say in response to much of what.. anyone said, really, especially when he heard Vara'l, who he genuinely had not realized was even still in the room. Right now, his world was much smaller. And Eshen's words took time to process in his mind, and at first all he did was nod, really. When he did speak, though, he looked at Saren again, eyes having abandoned their far less interesting perspective of Floor. "Yeah, it's - fine, physically, is... what I meant, yeah." He wanted to add something else, but he genuinely was lost on it. "And there's no, um - you know, medicine machinery for that, but.. it's..." Yeah, he was losing a grip on words now, and he sighed as he realized that, giving a little smile again, genuine, really, "but, you know - we're alive. And that's a lot, right now."

"There isn't," he weakly agreed, the brief spout of energy all but used up instantly for that most recent curse. Irritation at his body's weakness made a nest somewhere in the back of his mind, and constricted his throat just like his own flesh and blood did not too l-- Stop. Stop. "Talk t' someone about it," he settled on instead. "Not me, though. Prone to bad s'ggestions when loopy." (edited)

Allan nodded in agreement, giving a little smile when Saren said he was prone to bad suggestions when loopy. "Yeah, I will... and... yeah, it's hard to talk when you're loopy. But, y'know, easier than that.." he looked down and reached out his hand, palm up, to Saren. "Could I hold your hand..?" Because that, really, was so much easier than talking, to him at least.

Something akin to a laugh came out of Saren's mouth, though it was more of a wispy breath: "Sure. Just... can't lift it, really. Go for it." He remembered being so afraid of touch before, way back when the colony was destroyed. Surely now... he will be better about it. He was in that exact moment. Might as well use it. Just... just in case.

"Yeah, I gotchu," Allan said with a soft smile. He then carefully took Saren's hand, careful not to lift it much as he held it in his own, his thumb brushing lightly over the back of it. He was now noticing that Saren's hands were just actually soft, and that he didn't have some secret special lotion he used. "I think.. I think I forgot how nice this is." Because God, it was true. It was true the moment Eshen had come up to him earlier and hugged him, and it was true now, too. He was putting a lot of focus into it, but it was... nice, to be putting focus into something like this and not, well. Anything that had happened over the past few weeks. His job right now was Holding Saren's Hand, and that was a job he'd gladly do forever. "Just... being here, with you guys, I guess."