Welcome to Gaia! ::

The injury count in the Civisect Science Dome was high. Between the paparazzi attack, the packing bot malfunctioning and the chemical leak, it wasn't surprising that children, lusii, teens, and adults alike got hurt. And more after...

The explosive aftermath blew up everything.

Inside the semi destroyed dome, the medical attention blocks were jam packed, it was only a matter of time for the scientists to move the patients outside, to get them patched up before they are sent back to their hives. Polair was one of them, as she refused to occupy an unnecessary space in the medical attention block. She wasn't that injured, she said to her higher ups and she preferred a quick check up to later go back to her hive to rest. That's if the tower's debris didn't destroy it too. So much for a great night.

The child laid down as the doctors bandaged one of her burnt arms. Her eyes had been cleansed and bandaged as well, yet her other injuries were clearly visible. Claud was resting as he was being patched up, the doctors said he'd be fine, yet she couldn't imagine the kind of injuries he got. It was weird, not being able to see. All the did was wander about as if she didn't have a sense of direction. She did have one, Claud was a natural navigator and she'd be one too... if she could still see. Another sigh escaped her lips, hopefully Chittentown didn't suffer an explosion like them. She couldn't bear to think that her friends got hurt like she did, or worst.

What if they didn't make it out alive? No, she had to believe they had survived their odyssey, they were strong... They were ok.

As the doctor finished up wrapping her arm, they told her they'd leave for a second to look for more bandages and other medical supplies. The child tried her best to sit down and nodded, hearing them step out of the medical tent. Hopefully Civisect's news hadn't worried anyone she knew. Polair was determined to somehow send letters to the trolls she knew once she was back at her safe adobe.

What was taking them so long? Polair was tired of waiting, not that she was impatient nor in pain but… Claud wan’t feeling right. What did they gave him? She wondered as she planned her next move. She couldn’t wait for them if they didn’t know the seabear was in pain nor leave him alone. The child stumbled out of the gurney, not minding the fall at all and wandered outside. Of course, it took a matter of seconds to draw some medical assistant’s attention. Is it even surprising to see a seadweller injured? She thought as she tried to get in. In all the commotion, the child lost her way to her medical tent. Great, just what I needed. Polair rubbed her temples and tried to think of a way to go back.

“Maybe retracing my steps?” Yeah, that seemed simple enough. “Now… which way is south?” Polair said to herself as she turned around and trekked forward. She walked slowly first, taking baby steps was the best option she had. She wouldn’t want to bump or crash on someone now would she? Once she thought she got the hang of it...

Just walk nice and steady--

She bumped on someone, a friend. Though now she couldn't identify a friend or a foe, so it was better to stay on everyone's good side from now on.

“Sorry.” Polair reverenced awaiting for the stranger's answer. It was foolish to think she’d ever get accustomed. She was a fool for believing she could adapt quickly. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too rude like that one troll who worked at the Rehab Center. “I should’ve looked where I was going.” Said the troll with bandages on her eyes. Well, it was stupid for her to take them off as her eyes were now completely useless.

That voice… She has definitely heard that voice before. She tried to connect the voice with the troll in her mind and once her neurons did the connection--

“Buffel?” She felt a wave of relief, he sounded fine and coming all the way from Chittentown to Civisect proved her theory. Polair was surprised by the hug, she truly didn't expect that. She couldn't say she tried hugging back, since the precise moment she was going to try to hug him back, Buffel let go. Was hugging a popular form of affections between friends when things happening around them were seemingly bad? No, Punkie hugged her during bloodfest and it wasn't a bad time.

Though as glad as she was knowing he was seemingly alright, Polair felt a bit uneasy by his presence. Not because she couldn't trust him, no-- Obviously he came all this way towards this ruble to find her. She made him lose time and worry about her when he shouldn't. The child was guilty for his actions. And judging by his tone of voice, she'd only worry him more if she told him the truth.

She took a deep breath. "I..." Was she even capable of keeping up that charade with him as well? She wasn't the type to lie, Polair tried to be an open book. But could she bear the guilt of knowing she caused someone to worry because of her foolishness? She couldn't. She would be too angry at herself if he did. She had to learn, she had to get over this and move on by herself-- carry the burden by herself.

"I'm fine." She said a little too quickly. "Just got some dust in my eyes while working. The doctors said I can take them off once I go back to my hive. Certainly nothing to worry about." She brushed it off.

"Are you alright though?" She said, in hopes to deviate his focus on her. "The trip here must've been tiring. Are you accompanied by your lusus? It's too dangerous to be out here on your own."


"You didn't get h-hurt did you--" The child clutched her side and grunted, the hot grill did some good damage on her and Claud. I should go back and resume getting patched up.

"Umm... Mind doing me a favour?" She extended her free hand for him to grab it, now she only hoped she was facing him. "Think you can take me back to the medical unit? It's somewhere around here and I think the tent number is registered on my patient wristband. I understand if you can't and I certainly wouldn't want to bother you, so if you can't just... point out more or less where it is so I can--" Polair stopped midway and sighed. She couldn't even see for goodness sake.

"Sorry... Forget what I said. I can, I can do it myself if I try hard enough." Polair crossed her arms slowly. "What was I even thinking?" She muttered to herself.

"I'm- I'm fine, really Buffel, I am." She tried to straighten up once more yet winced back in pain. "You should stop worrying about me and focus more on your injuries." So he did get hurt back in Chittentown. Polair couldn't help but feel a bit worried. How could he possibly tried to take care of her when he had to take care of himself?

The child slightly puffed her cheeks as he insisted to help. Her guilt grew stronger, as he told her he came all the way just to see her. At least behind the bandages hide her errant expression, not to mention her bewildered expression as well. Nudging her hand didn't help at all, as the feeling of... whatever it was, really Polair didn't even know, seemed to mess with her senses a bit. She sighed defeatedly and took his hand.

"Thank you. Really... I appreciate your visit and your good intentions. don't think I don't okay?" Polair gave his hand a little squeeze as she nearly dragged him along, forgetting it was he who should lead the way. "Sorry again. Please, lead the way."

"Though promise me you'll get some kind of medical assistance, alright? Couldn't bear to see you hurt... How bad is it?" Almost unconsciously, she reached out to pap his face in search for said scar. From what she felt, it was very bad. "Maybe you can get patched up here as well. How about it?"

She couldn't help but chuckle softly at his comment. Polair pressed her lips together as she tried to contain any more chuckles or giggles. They did die down once she looked down for a second as she felt her arm being patted. Now, she couldn't determine whether it was out of friendliness or simply he felt sorry for her. The child really hoped it weren't the second one because if it was, then he wouldn't let her do as she wished without supervision.

Polair had to admit though, she felt grateful. "I haven't expected you to leave, not for now at least. Thank you for keeping me company. That's very thoughtful of you." She said with a small smile and entered the tent again, trusting that the yellowblooded boy had taken her to the correct one. Claud growled as she walked in. Of course he was mad about her wandering off on her own.

"I'm fine Claud." She simply said before he started rambling about the dangers of being alone to which she just reverenced and uttered an apology. She wasn't going to confront him again. Later when they were better, Polair would slowly start using her logic subtly to convince him little by little until he accepted. She was a bit mad when they automatically tried to help her get on. Surely with enough effort, she could've done it on her own.

Though with the idea of becoming independent in mind, the child couldn't help but think about what he said before. What did Buffel meant by "checking if she was still in one piece?" Was he expecting her to be all broken up? Or was he simply worried and she was looking for a deeper meaning as always? There was one way to know for sure. So she asked as she sat on the bed. "Mind answering a question? I can assure you it's nothing but hypothetical." Was her opening phrase and once the doctor got their supplies ready to patch her up, they started to clean of her wounds in her arms before bandaging them. She winced as she could only feel the stings and later released her pain with a sigh.

"What would've happened, if for some reason, you found out that I wasn't in 'one piece' at all?" The child felt curious and this invasive question might as well make her hypothesise how well he'll tolerate the truth once she told him. Though she didn't had to worry about telling him, not now at least. "You said that you had to make sure I was still in one piece so... I am very curious, as to what emotional response that would've triggered."

“It’s strange… Not knowing at least, I mean it could’ve happened. With the explosion and all, the possibilities of me “not being in one piece” was pretty high. I asked because I always think about the possible outcomes, so I'm not unprepared when an outcome such as this doesn't catch me off guard. This explosion though...” She sighed and looked to the side. She had expected to do more, to defuse it or at least help someone defuse it. Polair slightly stretched as she processed each of his words and tried finding each of their meaning. Of course she was surprised when Buffel’s final answer turned out to be ‘I don’t know’. The highblood couldn’t say she was disappointed because she wasn’t-- it only fed her curiosity more. Why couldn’t he answer her question with a concrete reply? It made her think if mental processes like these truly had an answer just like any science experiment.

“...I know I could've done more if I pushed myself harder.” Strangely, as much as she wanted to know, a part of her wished to leave it just like that, so her desire to understand, her desire to uncover the unknown wouldn’t shatter the beauty of their little “unknown”. The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing, after all. “In all fairness, if the circumstances were reversed…” She would know what to do, but could she let him know just how worried she would’ve been? “I’d be convincing myself about your wellbeing as well. I was actually.”

She shook her head. “No need to apologize I was being…” The young seadweller stopped as she felt her hand being held and, again, that weird feeling made itself present. Its was as if the doctor had injected her weird doses of chemicals or as if the leak itself was starting to mess with her. Even weirder, it didn’t hurt, it didn’t bring her pain but perhaps anxiety? Her aquatic bloodpusher seem to race a bit. Was he, frustrated because of her? He sounded like so once he tried explaining his thoughts. Tightening his grip on her palm didn’t ease the feeling of “anxiety” as she labeled it and his request… Polair breathed in and pressed her lips together. She tried hard to keep her usual expression. Did he noticed, that she was getting annoyed by Claud’s overprotectiveness? Even worst, she got him even more worried than she had anticipated. Polair thought for a second that she had a fever, she could feel the blood rushing to her face. Must be that, no doubt about it. She thought. Claud meanwhile was starting to droze. This whole competition had drained him.

It was true, she wanted to get up and be useful, her wounds were just getting in the way from productivity. She opened her mouth to speak, not really knowing what to say. “Buffel… I… Listen, I’ve never, I’ve never been on “this” side before and when I say “this side,” I mean being the one sitting on a medical bench being diagnosed. I’m more used to being the one observing a patient not… Not being one.” She breathed in. “I’m scared. I don’t want to stop being productive, being competent… and I know that if I can somehow quicken my healing processes I can still be useful. If and only if I overcome simple problems like these…”

She caressed her thumb lightly against his palm and gave him a small shrug. She should apologize, she really didn’t want him to feel bad. “Oh glub, I’m causing you stress, I’m sorry really… I…”

She, quite couldn’t understand his last statement. Leave him? She wouldn’t, she couldn’t imagine herself doing so. And what context was he talking about? Once again she was lost for words and that was a first.

“I won’t, as long as you don’t leave me.” She firmly said. If she could, she'd say it staring directly into his eyes. “I wasn’t planning to anytime soon.”

But I can't. I can't ignore the fact I'm bringing you so much stress. Polair was quiet as she felt it'd be rude to keep on talk about her hypotheses. It brought him stress and, even after Buffel told her not to pay attention to that, it was very hard for her to ignore that feeling. She did her best though and kept on comforting her friend while he surprisingly did so as well. Everyone seemed to be sleeping, she wasn't though. It was hard to, with so many things running on her mind and the fact that every time she closed her eyes, she'd hear the screams, the wails... the explosion.

Polair had stopped comforting Buffel as she mull about her failure. It was funny really, trying so hard to get over it, trying so hard to think something positive or not think of the negatives. She knew she needed to relax but the environment she was in, the beeping-- it didn't let her. She listened to the doctor, she knew his facial wound was bad-- but the doctor's tone made it sound worst. Didn't Buffel know how to take care of his wounds properly or did he simply didn't have the time to take care for himself?

He'd given her hand a small squeeze before letting go. The warm feeling on her hand faded away when Buffel did so. She scooted her hands close to her chest as she tried to pick up anything else-- just in case he left out any details of his wounds in general. What other wounds did he have? The child stayed still, wishing she could see again, wishing she could help her friend out. It pissed her out, knowing she couldn't do anything but lay there. The faint smell of blood lingered inside, she couldn't tell if it was anyone in specific, but she did hope it wasn't his. Polair was feeling the pressure of the world outside and she wanted to stop the feeling. She wanted to feel better, mentally and physically. She wanted to see, to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that everything would be ok.

"Buffel." She said, sitting on the side of the bed and did her best to hop down.

She had promised she wouldn't leave him and even if it killed her to say, at least she'd get out of this medical hell with him. The pain? She didn't care for it, she'd get over it. There was no way he'd be diagnosed without someone by his side. He was kind enough to keep her company, it was only fair to do the same. She walked slowly but surely, using the objects around her to get closer to them. She reached out for Buffel and made sure to feel his scar once more to be sure it was him then proceeded to take a hold of his arm.

"Never worry alone. I'm here for you, alright?" The seadweller smiled sympathetically-- much more than sympathetically. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It wasn't a "normal" broaden smile but a small sincere one. She tightened her grip, just to let him now she wasn't leaving his side until he was all patched up. If she had to go back and get a chair then she would. Polair wasn't taking a no for an answer.