6/30 Instance: Lending a Hand

[Starfish]

Timeline: Right after the instance "Well, That Escalated Quickly".


Melati: It hadn't been easy to shake Jonas. Not that Melati could blame the kid. Even without having been thrown into a time he didn't know or understand, this all had to appear extremely messed up to him. He wouldn't even be wrong with thinking that.

Melati: Once she had convinced him that she'd find her own way to the medlab, Melati immediately had taken a different turn and headed upstairs for the classrooms instead. She had stopped by her locker to grab her jacket, walking with both hands stuffed inside its pockets.

Melati: She cursed herself for not having memorized the class schedule, peeking into several rooms before she finally found the one with her person she was looking for. "Anybody home?" she asked

Anna: "Yep!" Anna's voice came from her supply closet and sounded somewhat strained, "Just a minute!" There was a thud and a torrent of paper spilled out from the open door, Anna following it moments later with a box of hallowe'en decorations. "What I wouldn't give to be just a little bit taller..." She smiled at the sudent, putting her box down on her desk while using her teke to catch the paper that continued its attempts to escape.

Melati: "Hey, Miss O'Keefe." Melati stepped into the room and used her tail to close the door behind her. "You got a moment?" The reptilian mutant eyed the box of papers. "I'd over to lend a hand, but... yeah, there's actually where my problem lies."

Anna: Anna blinked at her, "I have many moments... what's this about hands?"

Melati: "I guess it's best if I just show you," Melati said, sheepishly cocking her head, before she carefully pulled both hands out of her pockets - except that she held her left hand in the right one, while the arm it used to be attached to ended in a bandaged stump.

Anna: Anna stared long and hard for a moment, "... What the fuck is with people in this place and losing their hands?!"

Melati: "...you get this often?" Melati asked, looking a little lost as she stood there with her severed limb in her hand. It was slowly bleeding on the floor. "Do you mind if I sit down? I'm starting to feel a little woozy here."

Anna: "More often than is normal...." She pulled a chair over with her teke and stopped it behind Mel, "By all means..." She sighed and went to get her medical bag. "Two things... how did this happen and why isn't your mutation fixing it?"

Melati: Melati sat down and took a deep breath, cradling both her injured wrist and the severed hand in her lap as she leaned back. "That's kinda complicated, on both accounts," she said, cringing a little as she shifted on the chair. "I recently managed to get myself shot up with enough power suppressant to make Miss Kincaid start rusting."

Melati: "Didn't actually plan things to go that way, but what can you do?" She shrugged painfully. "Anyway, it's been a while, but I've still got enough of the stuff in my system to put my healing on slow burn." The lizard girl held up her injured arm. "As for this, let's say... it was a training accident."

Anna: "If you're having accidents like this, I think you need to look at your training techniques..." She pulled her chair over and sat down, opening up her medical bag to put on some gloves so she could remove the bandage. "How long has the suppressant been in your system? I might be able to clean it out... theoretically."

Melati: "For a little over two weeks now, more or less," Melati replied, wincing when Anna started to work on the bandage. "At some point, I lost track of time a little." She couldn't look away from what the teacher was doing. "I guess I've just become a little too careless. Always relying on your powers to fix up any mistake you make tends to do that."

Melati: "Though, if you say you could fix that, I'd say that's worth a shot. You're the doc with the healing hands here, after all."

Anna: "I am... and yet people still insist on going down to the basement to recover like normal people. Honestly, if you've got the facilities to recover like mutants why not use them?" Anna shook her head, giving Melati a small grin, "Also this doctor prescribes booze... but shh, don't tell Scott."

Melati: Melati managed to return the woman's smile, even though her version looked slightly pained. "Hey, why do you think I came here?" she asked with a dry chuckle. "Screw the hand, I was hoping for free booze." The girl hissed when the bandage was pulled off. "Actually, I was counting on you not making a big fuss about this."

Melati: "I know Scott or Hank would just be asking a lot of questions, and once my hand is fixed, I'd like to consider this affair dealt with."

Anna: "Well... really I don't care how it happened but I'd like assurances it won't happen again and that it wasn't because there's a mad axe murderer in the school hacking bits off students to pass the time. Can you give me those assurances?" Anna paused to fix Melati with as close to a serious look as she could manage. By God, that was hard work.

Melati: Melati returned her look, taking another breath before nodding. "Yeah, you don't have to worry about it," she promised. "It was partly my own mistake, and I'll make sure it won't happen again." Her remaining hand closed to form a fist as she said that.

Anna: Anna frowned a little, "Okay... if this is a disagreement thing... I'll just say that... maybe words are better than... whatever the hell did this." She held her hand out of Melati's severed hand, "I could grow you a new one - I know this now - but I'd prefer to reattach because... I have no idea how to dispose of a severed hand."

Melati: "That's why I brought the old one along," Melati replied, handing over her severed limb. "I figured that might be the easiest way for you. Just hold it to my arm or something and give my healing powers a little push with your own. Besides, it's really annoying to get used to a new hand."

Melati: A frown appeared on her face as she looked down on the bloody end of her arm. "I think this has to be... my third left hand now. I actually lost count..."

Anna: Anna took Mel's hand and made sure it was the right way around. "That... has got to be a bad sign. You need to be more careful." She gently positioned it in the right place then removed the glove from one of her hands with her teke. "Make it a resolution or something. No more losing limbs unless it's absolutely necessary."

Anna: She released a heal to seal up all the severed blood vessels and mend the damaged tissue then decided to try and nudge out the power suppressant, her form losing some tangibility in the process.

Melati: "Wow, that feels weird," Melati commented, shifting on her chair despite trying her best to remain as still as possible. "Not bad, though. I think I can feel my hand tangling." She looked up from the mending wound at the slightly translucent teacher. "It's not like I actively try to get myself messed up."

Melati: "I have to admit, though, ever since finding out I can heal any kind of injury, I haven't actually been looking out for my own health anymore," she added. "I guess stuff like that makes you a little reckless."

Anna: "That has been my experience...." Anna nodded, "I was worried about coming back here... I thought if people knew that there was a teacher around that could heal anything that they'd just not look after each other anymore. But I'm glad that hasn't been the case, even if it's frustrating to know they'd rather go and get stitches and suffer than just come here even when it isn't a result of their own stupidity."

Melati: "I think they don't want to wear you out," Melati said, the tingling in her hand becoming almost unbearable, like a really bad case of having slept on it all night. "This is taking a lot out of you, isn't it?" She carefully tried to move her fingers, being rewarded with a slight twitch.

Anna: "It's not as bad as regrowing a hand... I needed a lie down after that and I drank all of Sebastian's scotch." She gave Melati a small grin, "It depends on the injury... the difficult part here is trying to purge your system of foreign substances... someone went on a bender last night. It's making it tricky."

Melati: After a moment of contemplating, Melati spoke up again. "You know what, leave it the way it is for now," she told Anna. "Who knows, maybe this is a good reminder that I'm not invulnerable. If it forces me to be more careful until my powers are back to normal, perhaps I learn to be less reckless."

Anna: "But your liver is crying..." Anna pouted, "I think I got most of it..." her form solidified again, "You know... I'm not just here to heal people... if you want to talk I can do that too... and also I run a fabulous mutant citizenship class that everyone should take and most people don't." She frowned, "Maybe I should do some free booze PR..." she paused, "Don't tell Scott."

Melati: Melati chuckled, lifting her reattached hand to give it a little rub with her healthy one. "I won't tell a word if you don't," she assured the teacher. "Besides, with my metabolism not running at full throttle, I found out I can get drunk much easier than before. So I'll totally take you up on that offer."

Melati: She looked down at her hands, then back up at Anna. "Thanks."

Anna: "You're welcome," Anna gave her a smile, tossing her used gloves into the bin. "Is there anything else I can do for you? You should definitely eat, by the way. And drink something... not booze, like actual water to replace the fluid lost. I know, it's a sadness, but sometimes I have to be responsible. I hate it too." She nodded wearily.

Melati: "We all have our burden to bear, eh?" Melati gave the woman a wry smile, before taking a look around the classroom. "Hey, unless you got any important work to do here, why don't you come along and we can grab a bite together. You know, just so can make sure I'm a good patient and all."

Anna: "I was just going to decorate the classroom for hallowe'en but I can definitely do that later. I should also eat something." She nodded, getting to her feet and offering Melati a hand, "I might have slept in instead of having breakfast. It's more fun to grade papers when you're drunk." She nodded sagely, "Time flies like no one's business."

Melati: "You're such a bad role model." Melati said as she took the offered hand. "Must be why you're one of my favourite teachers at this place." She smiled at Anna as she got back to her feet. "Tell you what, I'm going to give that old grabber of mine here some practice and cook us something authentically Malaysian, and you join me in the kitchen once you're done here."

Anna: "Pfft there's far too many good role models, gotta have some bad ones to balance it out otherwise this place would be an utter snorefest." She shoved the chairs back to their original spaces, "And that sounds like a wonderful adventure for my tastebuds!"

Anna: She smiled, "I'll dig out the rest of my decorations and then meet you in the kitchen. I need to be less sober for hanging them. Doesn't hurt as much when I fall off the chair that way."

Melati: "It's a date then." Melati grinned and performed a casual salute. "Just remember you don't finish all the booze by yourself before you come down to see me, okay?"

Anna: "I will bring the booze with me and you can help... but only a little bit because I don't want your hand to fall off again, don't think you want to cook it by accident." She paused, "Is lizard a delicacy in any country? Because now I need to make sure I avoid that."

Melati: "I'm pretty sure I have seen lizard-on-a-stick on some streetside booths back at home," Melati commented with a chuckle. "And don't give me any ideas. I might decide it's worth the trouble of going to regrow a finger just to feed you a bite of me. Just remember, once you've had a piece of Mel, you might never want anything else."

Anna: Anna wrinkled her nose, "... Ew. No lizard! I will draw the line. Bugs maybe but no lizard!" She shook her head, pulling a series of entertaining faces. "Ew... right. Now I need booze."

Melati: Melati laughed and made her way to the door. "I'll leave you to your drink and horrific mental images then." She raised her newly restored hand to wave. "See you later, and thanks again. For everything."

Anna: "I would say 'any time' but I'm trying not to encourage people to sever limbs... so I'll just say 'you're welcome'!" She gave Melati a grin and returned the wave before diving back into her supply closet.

[steyn]

Anna: "But your liver is crying..." Anna pouted,

That cracked me up. Also, I totally forgot we had a healer teacher.