Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was too early to hope for anything. Maebe had no plans other than walking around the infirmary, because like hell was she laying down in that bed anymore. The only part of her still bandaged was her head, and it itched like hell - which a medic said was a good sign, it meant things were healing for sure. But her legs were fine, and she wasn't keen to letting them rot on that gurney, so she'd entrusted anyone who still came to visit her with the task of taking her for a walk. She'd figured out the edges of the infirmary walls were safe enough by now, and had even started to remember around when they would have to turn, by this point. Her arm was still wrapped tight around Dawson's the day they called her back to the gurney, however, and she swiveled her head uselessly before realizing she had no idea how to get back without walking the long way.

"Whoops." She shuffled behind him, wrapped her arms around his stomach, and hid there in safety. "Okay, take the short cut through the room."

"Not really, but we can walk some more when he's done with his check up." She was still under the impression they were going to do nothing but check, as they did every other hour, with dutiful and annoying punctuality. They'd left her alone more during the beginning of her stay, when it was clear she needed time. Now, they just kept poking and prodding and while she usually liked it, this was ridiculous.

"Whatever that a** kicking course is, sounds exhausting, and I will have no part in it." Dawson overestimated how much she cared about moving, if he thought for one second she was going to do a course of any kind. The most she'd ever done in her time at Deus was his artifact quest, and that was a very special case.

She climbed up on the gurney, settled in, and let out several very loud and annoying sighs as the medic checked the bandages around the edges of her face. The last time he'd done this, he sounded quite positive that things were mending well. But this time-

"Ready to get these off, Ms. Bertrand?" The overly polite medic asked, as he started to collect tools. She tensed, before sitting up straight.

"What, now?"

She promised him nothing. The distraction of the medic was a blessing in disguise because uuuughhhh courses. Uuuuuuugh.

"I know. I know! I just thought - I mean they said - " She shut herself up, and waved her hands around frantically. "Of course I'm ready to take them off. Jesus Christ, of course I'm ready. Come on!"

She heard the medic chuckling even as he grabbed the scissors, and she helplessly grasped for Dawson's hand, reaching only air unless he offered it to her. She hesitated only long enough to say, with a trembling voice;

"If I'm ugly. If something's wrong. Don't judge me. I mean, I know you won't judge me but just. I can fix anything that's wrong. I'm sure I can. So just. Know that."

The medic snipped at the hardened bandages near her ear, even as she spoke. A piece drooped, and he used it to start unraveling very slowly. There were quite a few layers to go through.

"You're not ugly." She practically growled. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you that. I hate when you joke about that. It's. It's dumb and I hate it."

The medic stopped cutting, and gave Dawson a wary look. "Should I uh.. come back and do this later?" He asked. Maebe sat up straight, and let out a huff.

"You do and I'll kick you in the balls when I figure out who you are. Cut, man, cut!"

But he was done cutting, for now. He merely unrolled the bandages, one by one. He took off an entire layer, and then another. Her skin was showing through the bandages, and it was dark in some parts, but there was no way to tell for sure what it looked like yet.

Finally, he began to unravel the last bandage. "Just remember," He murmured. "You're still going to have bruising. That goes away. So don't get all upset if you've - "

But he'd taken the last bandage roll off, and slowly peeled the layer of protection off of her face. While he was technically right, and there was still some darkness under her eyes from the bruising, Maebe's face had come away completely unscarred. The swelling was gone, and her perky little nose seemed to pop back into place now that the bandage wasn't against it. She blinked quickly, the moment she felt the pressure was gone, and opened her eyes. They were red, bloodshot, but still their vibrant crystal blue.

She felt Thaw rumbling with pride in her mind. She was his masterpiece, and his work was nothing but perfection.

She was still staring at the same unfocused point she had been when she opened her eyes.

"Of course." She muttered, with no reaction to the camera in front of her face. "Get me a mirror or something, so I can look when all of the bandages are off."

"No he didn't." She snapped out at him, lifting her hands to feel the bandages that she truly believed were there. "Something's covering my eyes."

But nothing was covering her eyes. She felt her skin, smooth and perfect, all the way up to her eyes. She even touched the corners of the eyes themselves, and felt the blink and flutter of eyelashes against her fingertips.

That was around where the screaming started.

The medic, startled by the screaming and the accusations, slammed back into his tray of supplies and knocked them to the floor. "Don't go blaming me for this, what are you talking about! I can't catch - move over, let me see her!"

He pulled a small penlight out of his pocket, and tried to pry Dawson away from her. Maebe's screaming had turned feral, and she bit down on the medic's arm when he tried to pull her away. "OW. Ms. Bertrand, I know you're upset but - OWW!" He received another bite for his efforts. The medic turned and pleaded at Dawson. "HOLD HER DOWN! I need to actually look at her eyes, for crying out loud! This could just be temporary, her eyes might not be ready to respond yet, but I'm not going to check and tell you if she BITES ME AGAIN!"

She stopped screaming the absolutely second the medic said the word temporary.

She was still sobbing, because this reaction wasn't under her control, but she calmed down enough in his arms, and the medic was able to shine the light in her eyes. At first, the tears blocked his view, and he had to wipe them away with the edge of his jacket - and a disgusted expression. Then he checked them, one by one, for any response. Maebe's eyes dilated fully each time the light was shone in them, and as far as he could tell, there was no visible damage.

His skin turned pale, and he turned off the light. He took a step back - looking relatively fearful for his life - and grabbed her clipboard from the side of the bed.

"I'll be right back with a doctor." He huffed out, in one single breath. Like hell was he sticking around for this.