witchesreign | The door is blocked! [Closed/slightly forward dated >.> ]

[Ed starts - and almost immediately winces. The medics have done their best, but the point of this working break was apparently to overwhelm them... and, honestly, Ed isn't the most pleasant patient to work with. The only reprieve anyone in there has had from his vocal, impatient disdain so far was the other day, when he took a blow to the ribs.

He's alive, though. Alive, upright, wearing his coolest coat (even if it might be a little shorter than the last time Rainbow saw it), meaning business. This pain's nothing. And at least it's not going to waste, not while he has the opportunity to channel all of it into one concentrated glare.]

Out. You coming?

No. I'm not.

Because no. You're not.

[She meets his glare and fires her own right back, full of anger that's born of concern and a lot more caring than she'd ever admit.]

Suit yourself.

[She might expect him to try and push through the door regardless, but what he actually does is turn away, clap his hands and transmute a second door in the wall next to it. One small advantage of being worn out before a fight: what difference does it make if he exacerbates it just a bit?

Still, he does need to catch his breath for a second before moving to open the door.]

[This is exactly why Rainbow hadn't bothered to block his door. She has two things to rely on -- her speed, and raw stubbornness. She's well aware the second can't normally match Ed's, but she's counting on his injuries to make it a lot harder for him to express his own. As for the first, she simply kicks his door shut and moves to the side to block the new one, forelegs still crossed, still glaring.]

[On opening the door, he looks more frustrated than surprised; moving at that speed, she's not exactly stealthy.]

What? Is there something on my face?

Yeah. Exhaustion.

[Get the hint? No, Ed doesn't get the hint, she knows better than to think this will be anything but a knock-down drag out verbal fight. Verbal if she's LUCKY.]

[Oh, he gets the hint, or thinks he does. He just doesn't care. They can talk about him kicking the self-sacrificing habit when he doesn't have other cadets to look after.

He tries to motion her aside with one hand.] Mind saving this for later? I'm in a hurry here.

[Rainbow just looks at him.]

Ed, if that actually worked and I moved aside, you'd spend the entire day being secretly disappointed and you know it even if you won't admit it.

[He looks disappointed enough right now.] Whether that's true or not, I'm not looking for a fight. [He attempts to wave her aside again.] Come on.

[Ed would be disappointed that he has a friend who cares!]

No. I'm not letting you go out there, Ed. Not today.

[Predictable, really. He leans against the side of the metal doorframe in a huff - purely in a huff, and not for any other reason.] And what makes today so different than any other day? [It's not quite his birthday... and even if it were, how would she know?]

Today's when I became absolutely sure you were just gonna keep going out there and getting yourself hurt again and again without taking any time to heal or rest, like the safety of everypony in all Garden depended on you showing up to save them.

I mean I knew that you were gonna do that but I wanted to give you a chance to not do it before I got involved.

Hey, you don't have to make it sound so dramatic. [Even his hair looks a little tired.] I'm not the one deluded into thinking I'm some kind of superhero.

You're acting like it. [Except she knows that's not really what he's doing or why he's doing it, but she doesn't want to get into that...] Well, now it's MY turn to help someone who needs it, no matter how much they don't want it.

[He looks away grumpily, to the extent that he can while pretty much stuck in the doorway.] Well, sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I don't really want to do this either.

Hayfeathers. If you didn't want to do it, you wouldn't. Sure, the SMART part of your brain is telling you it's dumb to go out and get the oats whipped out of you again, but the STUBBORN part is all, "I must use my strength to protect others!"

[The anger she holds melts away at least a little, replaced with concern and even a little gentleness.]

Which isn't a -- a bad thing, but this isn't the right time or the right way.

[He deflates a little, hanging his head.] I... don't know. A situation like this, it's not as simple as that.

[Then he presses his hand to the transmutation circle he was scratching onto the wall beside the doorframe, behind his back.

Two sets of metal bars shoot out of it, fast enough that they almost seem to flow. One set crisscrosses the doorway itself, blocking her escape; the others ram straight into the opposite wall across the corridor, forming a rectangular cage with just enough space between its top and the ceiling for a smaller-than-average person to squeeze past. (He wasn't going to lock himself in here, was he?)]

[~~or he could just use the original door~~]

[Rainbow, who had been expecting him to clap, surges forward the second she realizes she's been outmaneuvered, but bounces right off the bars and flip backwards in midair from the force of the rebound.]

Hey! You -- you wouldn't just leave me in here ALL DAY so you can go get yourself hurt!?

Ten minutes. Twenty at most. It's not a stable reaction. The damage to the wall can wait until I get back. [Now he definitely isn't looking at her.] I said I was sorry.

[Quite calmly by all outward appearances, he opens the first door, grabs a bar and starts to climb the cage, since the way out is on the other side of it.]

Yeah, well... I'm not.

[And quickly, before he can get his feet off the ground, Rainbow digs into her paramagic stock and casts Sleep.]

[All the effort he's putting into avoiding eye contact means he doesn't see it coming in the slightest. With one foot up on the lowest bar of the cage, he topples backwards and crumples on the floor.]

[She may not be sorry, but she sure feels guilty. Head down, she drops to the floor, plants her forelegs, and starts kicking at the bars, urgent to get out before he wakes up.]

[It might be an unstable reaction in the long term, but those bars are pretty damn solid for now. It's not like he hasn't seen her fight! Although that doesn't help him much while he's still out cold.]

[And Sleep doesn't last forever.]

[Which puts them in the delightful position of staring at each other while the bars finally begin to crumble and the alchemist finally begins to lurch upright.]

[Ed groans, tugging his left glove off as he gets to his feet so he can rub his eyes.] What did you...?

[That's when he happens to spot the disintegrating remains of the cage - and, knowing what he already knew about the material he used, instantly connects the dots.

It's a testament to his determination right now that he doesn't even start to yell at her for attacking him. All he does is grit his teeth in concentration, clap again and drop into a crouch.]

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