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It was as beautiful a day as it comes in Griffin Rock. Birds singing, sun shining, and only a few spare clouds drifting through a bright blue sky. A small, but appreciated barrier against the heat of that weekend morning. Much to everyone's luck, however, there was no mugginess in particular to speak of.
On a beautiful day like this, it seemed like almost everyone in Griffin Rock was having some sort of outing. Walks, picnics, shopping, nobody was wasting out on a day like this. And with everyone distracted with their....otherwise quite calm activities, it was a rare day where very little accidents were happening. Other than a very small speeding incident with a particular somebody in an orange car. All the same, with a warm evening ahead and a lack of emergencies to tend to, the youngest of the Burns family joined everyone else in doing fun activities outside.
Namely, biking.
Cody was no stranger to tricks on that little bike of his. In fact, for a boy so young he was quite good at it. Perhaps it was all the biking through dangerous scenarios, or maybe his tendency towards practicing on ramps and the such (All home made, of course). Regardless of reason, however, Cody Burns was certainly more than capable on his own with the thing. Popping wheelies and taking jumps like a natural, it was one of the little things the family no longer worried about nowadays. Other than the occasional reminder about helmet safety, of course. Which Cody followed. .......Most of the time, anyway. With his skill, there was nary a second glance when Cody went pushing out some of the smaller ramps onto their tilted driveway and went at the usual practice. No human payed any mind to the squeaking and soft thump of tires on the concrete, and the bots currently assisting with cleaning the garage only gave a few glances out the windows at the now just vaguely new sight of the small boy hopping small wooden jumps.
They did, however pay attention when there was a ring of clanging, crashing metal, the screeching of a bike skidding over the ground, and the most alarming sound of a young boy's pained cry.
"Cody?!"
"What happened?
"What's wrong??"
"Cody! Are you ok?"
It has, and always will be, a boon to have massive rescue robots with limbs long enough to cross multiple street blocks in seconds. The only unfortunate thing about it being the occasional tripping over the said limbs of one another. From inside the garage where the bots had been cleaning, a far louder banging echoes as buckets drop to the floor, tools are dropped or knocked over, and massive feet clang against the ground as they rush for the door. Even more thudding, scratching, and a couple strangled noises as something bangs against another something and falls to the floor. A small pause, and then finally, a whir as the double doors into the firehouse garage slide slowly open. Far too slowly for a quad of concerned robots pushing to go outside. There was another small clamor as shoulder plates banged into each other on the way out, but lucky for all of them, Cody wasn't far off.
There on the ground of the driveway, face pinched and leaning onto one arm with his other drawn up to his chest along with his knees, was the young Burns. Cody's bike was strewn out next to him, one of the pedals sitting quite obviously some distance away, next to a ramp that had been slightly displaced. His face was screwed up, and a low hiss came out between his teeth with every deep breath he took. He was quick to look up as the doors swung open, however. Brows still pinched with pain, he still flashes a small smile at his rescue bot friends. In place of a usual friendly wave, however, he kept the arm he wasn't leaning on close to his chest, and the one he wasn't, braced firmly under himself.
"Oh, hey guys. It's ok! I'm fine." He greets back, shuffling himself slightly with a wince, and leaning further towards his own knees with a soft huff. "I just fell. Sorry to worry you."
"Oh- Cody! Did your bike break???" Came Blades' concerned yip as he managed to slide by the other bots, the ground rumbling softly as he trots over to the boy with the others close at his heel. There's an almost palpable relief in the air, that it wasn't some sort of experiment gone wrong again. Or that Cody wasn't being chased by some rogue robot. Or that he wasn't about to get crushed by some falling piece of tree or random debris. (A few suspicious optics still glance upward even still.) For a moment, other than the slightly broken bike, it seems as if nothing is wrong, really. No emergency to tend to, no reason to bring out the tools, just a fallen boy and his bike.
Heatwave, as he often is, is the first to notice the red.
Cody shuffles slightly, legs slowly folding slightly outward a bit. And again he hisses with a pinched face. His lip wobbles, but only for a bare second. The small change in position is enough for Heatwave to scan his body and notice. Cody isn't wearing elbow or knee pads. He's also not wearing his usual jacket, or even long pants. It's a hot day outside, even if it's a nice one, and Cody is currently donning a simple short sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts with many pockets. All of *that* to say, it makes it easy for him to notice when Cody shifts his knee, it's covered in something.....red. And wet. As is the boy's elbow, of the arm he currently cradles to his chest. And the robot can't help but start, his optics following the motion of a small rivulet of the stuff, dribbling down the curve of his knee and dripping to the ground. A shift too close, and the stuff leaves a small mark on his sky blue shirt.
"Cody. You're....dripping. Did you....land in paint....?" Heatwave says, sliding past his bots to kneel next to the boy and examine him with a closer eye. That's all it takes for said other bots to notice the wet stains on the boy's limbs, and almost at once become more tense, joints stiffening minutely as they all try to get a better look at this....stuff.
And Cody...blinks. His face screws up with something in between pain, sympathy, and something that looks like he's trying very hard not to laugh. Which is a funny look on the young human, round little nose scrunching up and cheeks pinching just a bit.
"No, Heatwave. I just....um....scraped myself a little." Cody says, giving a small gesture with his arm and immediately wincing, going back to cradling it once more. "It's blood. I'm bleeding. Nothing big!! Just...well it does kinda hurt a bit."
Bleeding.
Injury registers in all the bots at the same time, and there's a thrum of the feeling of stupidity for not realizing that fact sooner. Blood was a thing only just barely introduced, but the analog to energon was perfectly easy to make. Silent and very internal curses are made at having not yet read far into the details of human first aid. The learning of that had been, unfortunately, deemed secondary due to them being far too large to feasibly take care of an injured human beyond basic safety. All of them were trained in at the extreme least basic first aid for cybertronians, but the skills did not translate well into human care. It wasn't like any of them were going to break out a blow torch and weld the poor boy's wounds closed, after all. Not to mention they were still only just getting used to the odd idiosyncrasies that human biology already possessed.
"Oh no!" Boulder was the first to jolt out of his own realization, a soft whuff of air coming from his vents as he kneels completely, reaching down and hovering his hand around the boy. The green mech's voice is an audible fight between heavy concern and trained protocol of keep victim calm. Though despite Cody being....obviously *displeased* with his situation, isn't wailing with agony nor sobbing with panic. He cradles his injured arm and leg close to himself with naught but a pinched expression as he looks up at them. "Do you want me to pick you up? I can take you inside, you probably shouldn't be walking on that leg! Your first aid kit is on the wall, right?" Boulder continues, flattening his hand on the ground just behind Cody, offering it for him to climb upon. And Cody, for all the unpleasantness of the situation, smiles back.
"Yeah, Boulder. Thank you." Cody replies. The boy shifts and shuffles backward against the concrete, keeping weight completely off his injured leg and arm as he awkwardly hauls himself up into the bot's hand. A little helping finger and a tilt of the hand, and Cody slides right into Boulders palm, who stands quickly with his other hand slightly cupped around his first to make a small railing, and a small barrier around the boy. Chase's concerned face presses close, optics flickering over Cody's form.
"It is against the law to walk away from the scene of a crash. I imagine it would be doubly important if you are injured." The white and blue bot states, smooth voice offset with his own tension.
"It's not a crash. I just fell!" Cody laughs back, and the lightness of the sound is a balm on their fears, at least somewhat as they make their way back towards the firehouse entrance. If he's laughing, that means he isn't horrifically mangled. Not that he should be but- It's not like they know how most humans compare to cybertronians in their reaction to pain!
"You're not gonna die from bleeding out, right???" Blades asks. There's a thread of genuine fear just in those words, and perhaps a bit of squeamishness. Blades had been trained in emergency aid, same as any of them, but he didn't have to like seeing the stuff. And now that the dots had connected, he squirmed just looking at it with hands flicking slightly from anxiety.
And this was a scrape. Cybertronians didn't bleed when they got scraped. Scrapes were....a mild inconvenience to be buffed out. Bleeding constituted their plating being compromised. Torn, cut, broken. Something. Cybertronians were a tough species, and any bleeding from simple accidents was a nearly nil possibility. A scrape was....it was such a small thing to cause bleeding. And it looked like so much of it from here. Bright, shiny red like the paint on Heatwave's plating. Thicker than energon too, one can't help but note as it drips very sluggishly down Cody's soft flesh. Boulder fights off a look as Cody moves his knee and ends up smearing some of it against the bot's palm. All the same, Cody just laughs.
"Haha, no, Blades. I'm not gonna bleed out. Scrapes always look worse than they are, at least my dad says so." He says, bobbing his shoulders and bracing a bit lower against Boulder's palm as they arrive to the garage doors. "They scab over pretty quick too, I just need a little gauze." He explains, gesturing a bit with his hand.
"Well it looks like it's really bad." Blades mumbles, the rest of the bots responding with quiet agreement. Compared to them, it did look bad. That much blood or- well. Energon from a cybertronian would near always indicate some kind of far more terrible injury.
"Hey guys, what are you doing out here? If somebody sees you-"
The new voice, calm and curious though it may be, causes the bots to jump in their armor. Just a bit, as all optics swivel downward to blink at none other than Dani Burns standing below them with her hip cocked and one auburn brow lifted high. Her face only vaguely scolding for just a moment till Cody pops his head over the edge of Boulder's servo and waves quickly to draw her attention. The quick shift and position and movement makes him wince, but otherwise he seems fine.
"Hi Dani! Um, can you get the first aid kit? I fell off my bike and got scraped up. Nothing bad! Just some scrapes." He calls down, his voice tending more towards sheepish as his sister's eyes widen, then narrow with concern. There's a moment where her eyes flicker around, falling upon the bike, the ramps, and the broken off pedal. An assessment that lasts maybe a second at most before she focuses again on the boy and rocks back on her heels to take a quick look between the far more concerned bots.
"Oh, Cody....of course. Boulder, can you follow me inside and sit Cody down somewhere?" Dani sighs, twisting on her heel and gesturing inside shortly, trotting back in. There's some relief in the young woman's appearance of course, as a very trusted authority figure. They trust Cody of course, but Cody is.....well. Cody. Young and odd and far too smart for his own good, but with a view of things that could occasionally be.....unreliable, perhaps. ....Besides, they had no idea how different human young and human adults differed in this sort of thing. So hearing Dani's sigh that spoke of concern but mild inconvenience at worst, was comforting. A confirmation that there really was no danger. Just a little scrape. A little.....bloody scrape.
"You know we're going to have to disinfect that, Cody. Don't complain, you know how dirt gets into wounds." Dani continues as the procession of bots follows her trot, the smack of her flight boots on the hard ground ringing in the large garage. A small grinding sound, and the doors they had exited through shut behind them once more. Safe.
"Noooooooo........"
Cody proceeds to, immediately, complain. The moment Dani mentions disinfection, the boy's expression pinches into something far more displeased. Squirming unpleasantly against Boulder's palm as the bot leans down to coax him into one of the seats inside the garage. Cody shuffles obediently off his friend, but all at once he looks far more reluctant to do so as Dani pulls a first aid kit off the wall. One of many, one has to note. The rescue bots shuffle back to allow her space to work, but all the same hover over the two with concern as Dani comes over and kneels down in front of her baby brother, reaching out to gently roll up the slightly bloody ends of his shorts. She winces at the sight and hisses quietly through her teeth with sympathy.
"Do we have to? Can't we just wipe it off around the edges and bandage it? I'm not really gonna get an infection." Cody huffs, going to cross his arms, but stopping himself with a quick glance to his injured arm. He lets both of them fall back to his sides with a sigh. "I have a good immune system!"
"We're not going to risk that. You don't not wear a seat belt just because you think your car can handle a ding, or that you won't really get into an accident. The chance will always be there, so it will always be best to be safe." Dani replies patiently, with good humor as she pops open the first aid kit and pulls out a few things. Disinfectant wipes, antibiotic cream, and large bandage pads. She smiles a bit as she opens up the wipe packets with Cody frowning deeply back. "And after all. People seem to get into a whole lot of accidents here anyway. So let's try to be safe as we can, ok?"
Cody couldn't help but give a small giggle at that, despite himself. Though the bots still couldn't help but exchange a look between themselves with pinched brow ridges and twitching fingers.
"Ah....." Chase rumbled out slowly to start his own question, though he paused as Dani cupped under the back of Cody's knee with one hand, and began delicately swiping at the wound with a disinfectant wipe. For all the gentleness in the world, Cody's shoulders still hitched to his ears, his face scrunched, and he bit his lip to keep himself from making anything more than a pained hiss. And, for a moment, all optics were trained on the motion as the wipe slid across injured skin, staining with red and bits of brown dirt as the wipe was dragged across. It wasn't any different than taking a wipe to an energon leak, but Cody was such a small boy and it looked like so much for a moment. Chase still manages to unstick his voice box and continue. "Is infection a....frequent problem among humans? It must be quite severe to be compared to such blatant road safety violations." He says.
Dani pauses, both herself and Cody looking up at Chase with a start, humor filtering into their expressions.
"Cybertronians don't exactly get infections. Sure there are some sicknesses floating around, but they're not normal or easy to get." Heatwave clarifies, the other bots bobbing their heads slightly in agreement. "When somebody gets an infection, it's pretty....severe. Hard to get, hard to treat. Depending, of course."
There's another shared look, then. Between the humans. A brief understanding as Dani pauses her work. She seems to cover a faltering by dropping her wipe to the side and examining the wound, already just beginning to seep again, albeit slower than it was. She chews at her own cheek as she goes about applying the cream, and the bandage after that. And while the bots themselves are far too large to properly treat much, they still watch with great sharpness upon her actions.
"Well....." Dani struggles and clicks her tongue as she searches for an easy explanation to this. "It can be, I guess. Usually they're pretty easy to treat as long as you have medication, rest, and whatever else, but they can get really bad if it happens in any more severe wound. It doesn't even need to happen in a wound. People get ear infections, tooth infections, blood infections, all sorts of things. They're normal, but you need to watch out for them." She explains, making sure the bandage she applied is thoroughly stuck before she pulls out another wipe and takes Cody's arm. The boy, distracted by the conversation, doesn't protest much. Just to show, Dani makes a gesture at the wound on Cody's arm.
"See this? A little scrape like this isn't prone to infection as long as it's taken care of. It'll scab quick, and heal quick too. Cody's still young, so he's bouncy. He-"
"Bouncy??? Like those rubber balls you throw around???" Blades interjects into his partner's explanation, gaining a droll look in response.
"I have not thus far seen Cody bounce on anything other than a trampoline. Is this a phenomena that we should be aware of?" Chase adds, the question almost painfully genuine as Dani raises a hand to stop them, and any other questions.
"No. It means he heals quickly. His body is still....moving fast, I guess. So healing is fast too, and it kinda just springs back into place! Not as fast as you guys probably do, but fast enough." She continues, putting down her hand to keep wiping her brother's injury. "But like I was saying. A little scrape like this isn't prone to infection when taken care of. If you clean it well and make sure there's no dirt in it, then you'll be just fine. No foreign bacteria in there. But if it's left alone, then it could get infected. Probably not a bad one, but they still aren't fun. Ask Kade about that scar on his elbow, he'll tell you. He actually caught that in a situation not unlike this one, actually." She chuckles as she tosses aside the used wipe, and again repeats the process of applying cream and the bandage.
"So....." Boulder says softly, orange optics gazing at the newly applied pads. "He's going to be ok?" He asks tentatively.
"I'm gonna be ok, Boulder." Cody replies immediately, smiling wide up at the bots at the bots as he shifts to stand, but winces as he presses his weight on the bad leg. Four hands twitch to reach for him, but Dani is at his side in a blink, arm around his side with a sympathetic smile. "Just a little painful. I'll be fine by tomorrow, maybe a couple hours even! So don't worry about it! It happens sometimes."
The bandages are odd things. The bots aren't strangers to patches, but these things look more like stickers than any medical device. And even if the wounds weren't bad, it was still startling that it had happened so.....easily. Cody had only fallen. Off his bike no less, not even from a building or anything in particular like that. Not cut, not stabbed, not bludgeoned. He had just....fallen. Not even a foot, no less. It was a very sudden thought to the mind how his skin- How the skin of all humans- was like paper to them. A single wrong move and he had simply....torn. Like nothing.
It was a disturbing little thing to them, when they had been doing so many rescues. Sure, they had seen some scrapes and bruises thus far, but nothing like this. Nothing that had brought the startling clarity to them that these humans were fragile little things, weren't they? It should come as no surprise, but for all the emergencies thus far their people had seemed to escape many situations largely and fascinatingly unharmed. So this was......new. It took nothing to think of how little and weak any of their bones were against metal servos. How incapable they were of surpassing the strength of even the weakest of them. Fragile things weren't new to them, but the realization to how much they were.......
The silence hangs, the two oblivious humans watching their partners stare off into space for seconds.
"You know, maybe you should ask dad about looking at some medical texts or something. You can't really help us with much first aid, but maybe it'll help you guys learn about some things. So you don't get scared if someone ends up sick or something." Dani says, breaking that thin barrier between them all and causing all optics to snap back down to her. She shrugs slightly, Cody bobbing at her side. "He knows a lot about that stuff. He was always pretty adamant we got our training on medical procedure, considering we are on a small island and the major hospital is back on the mainland. So feel free to ask." She says.
"Uh, yeah....thanks. We'll do that." Heatwave nods slowly as the two flash smiles up at him, before Dani turns and starts guiding Cody to the elevator.
"C'mon, Cody. You wanna steal some of Kade's ice cream? .....And a change of clothes? We can ask Graham to fix your bike after."
"Yeah!"
And off they disappear once more. And the bots are left standing in the stillness afterwards, with a garage they still need to clean. Boulder looks at his hands and starts as he sees the blood smeared on him on accident again. Drying into an ugly brown and crusting against the seams of his hand. He lets out a short vent, twisting towards the water pipes.
"I'm....gonna go wash my hand." He says, the other bots simply nodding quietly after him. None of them particularly wanted to see the stuff again soon. Hopefully next time they did.....they were better prepared.