Is it over? ((Invite?)) • 5 days after the battle

Jason scowled. He was nobodys kiddo. He would turn back, obviously the guy worked at a lightspeed pace....still, he too was no coward, and anything he said behind the guys back he'd say to his face.

"No, you can stay, but I want to make sure we're clear on your role. I'm not comfortable watching someone I don't know taking care of my sister so. Being the over-protective brother I am, I assume she's messing with me, as last time we spoke about relationships she said she wasn't in one."

He turned his eyes back on Tere in question.

Joke or no, it still was rubbing her self esteem raw that people kept questioning her skill. However, her mind was dawn away from the annoyance by another. Her eyes lifted to Jason as he asked who Ashton was, calling him a kid. She almost laughed at that since both she and Ashton were older than he was. She was going to answer, tell him that she didn't know because they hadn't yet had that conversation, but Ashton chose that moment to walk back in with a smoothie.

Smiling a bit to him, she finally found her voice again. "Do you want to be, Ashton?" She knew it was wrong to put him on the spot, but she figured if she was in the spot first, dragging him into the light as well wouldn't be so bad. She smiled to him but then her smile faultered and she looked to Jason.

"The Last time we talked Jason, I wasn't in one." She said, hell, he had been to busy to spend time with her, so of course he wouldn't know of Ashton. She went to push herself upright and let out a loud whimper, clearly trying not to scream at the pain she was feeling. "What happened?" She asked through gritted teeth, trying to hide the pain, not noticing that one of her wounds had begun to bleed again.

Before he could jump in to answer her question, the wound on her side ripped open and the blood started trickling down to her sheets. The small whimper that escaped her lips broke his heart more than watching her struggle in the days before. Ignoring her question, Ashton grabbed a clean towel from the table beside her bed and placed it against the open wound as softly as he could. "Tere, you need to lay down. Despite your qualifying capabilities, you are in fact heavily injured and still need to rest." As for what happened, he didn't know. He had taken her to shelter and missed the rest of the battle in the effort to keep her stabilized until help had finally arrived.

Jason would turn as Tere ripped her stitches, taking a step forward before the other male brushed by him. He felt his heckles raising on the one hand, but on the other, he appreciated the protection the fellow felt for her. That he would take to her side and help nurse her to health. That was...what he wanted and did with Accalia, right? He gave a little smile before clearing his throat, deciding to answer her question and confirm Ashton's statement.

"He's right, Tere. You need rest. The island is secure, for the post part now. A few enemies are unaccounted for but the main force was repulsed. I...joined the Garrison, and was given the rank of Sergeant. I'm setting my sights higher but we'll see what comes from the new chancellor, when she takes office. Em dropped out of the race because of the twins."

He knew this was a lot of information but...figured she wanted to know.

Tere wasn't pleased about having to lay down again when she had clearly been doing it for so long, still, the fact that Ashton was coming to her aid, that he was there trying to once more mend to wound, or at least slow the bleeding again. She lowered herself back down on the bed, resting her hand on his, his touch was both gentle and strong and that was a pleasing thought.

Jason took job of brushing her up on what happened after the battle but that still didn't answer the how of it. However, she was not in a position to argue, so she just looked up between the two men in her life. One her brother, now rising up the ranks quickly, the other her... She didn't know what to call him... He hadn't answered her question and she had had enough heart ache in the past to know better than to assume he was her boyfriend just because she wanted it that way.

Still, he was caring for her, that had to say something. She just wish she knew what exactly.

Smiling at Tere, Ashton looked back and forth between the two siblings before finally speaking. "I think it's time we called in that healer again. The stitches need seen to." He observed, not wanting to make a decision for her now that she was awake. Had she pulled them in her sleep, he would have wasted no time in calling one over. However, it was her decision now. Ashton was simply her...well, now that she had asked... "and by the way, the answer is yes." Well, that wasn't how he wanted things to go down, but life was unpredictable like that. At least she knew now.