ArchivedLogs:Highschool is Hard

Highschool is Hard
Dramatis Personae Peter, Kira	2013-05-24 '
Location <XS> Medical Lab
Gleaming and sterile, the school's medical facility is all cool science in contrast to the mansion's old-world old-fashion. All stainless steel and antiseptic tinge, the room is filled with the quiet whir-click of the various implements that comprise its medical equipment -- all state-of the art. The hospital beds are curtained off for privacy when they have patients, and in one of the alcoves there is a small operating theatre visible. More heavy-duty equipment is visible in the lab in the back, where the securely locked cabinets keep sensitive equipment out of the reach of teenage fingers. LATE THURSDAY EVENING. Peter is in bed. Maybe-sleeping. Actually, maybe-not. He is /currently/ thumbing at a brand-new bright red phone, flipping through -- /numerous/ messages. Oh my God /so/ many text messages. The teenage boy is -- well, for starters, he's covered from head to toe in what looks like black /shellac/; a glossy smooth chitin with a metallic blue gleam to it. He's also wearing ridiculous hipster glasses, a loose t-shirt (with Boba Fett and Darth Vader as Vincent and Jules from Pulp Fiction), sweatpants, and -- two fingers are in a metal cast (both of them on the hand he /isn't/ thumbing through his phone with). Peter... /seems/ pretty okay, actually. On the surface, at least -- he's sitting up, clearly alert, not showing any signs of being in pain (although he's not making any quick movements and certainly shows no signs of planning to /move/ from that bed). Kira had been 'summoned'. Yes, summoned, by one of the teachers. She had been doing volunteer work down in the med lab here and there but at the news that a student was here who might need medical help she got a rude knock on her door and here she is. She looks a tad groggy and like she threw her clothes together, wearing blue Jeans, tennis shoes and a plain dark blue t-shirt. She makes her way in through the door unsure what to expect as she peers around, through sunglasses. Yes, wearing sunglasses, at night, inside, under ground. Go figure. But then compared to chitten boy perhaps it isn't so unusual. She pauses at the entrance to the med lab and looks around, letting her gaze settle on Peter then heading in his direction purposefully. Peter's still thumbing through his phone as Kira approaches -- once she gets close, though, he snaps his head up -- and blinks, bright-eyed and confused. "...oh. Um. Hi? Hi," he says, and now he's -- glancing, left and right, searching for the room for signs of anyone else. "Er... are you here to--meet me? I've had--there are a lot of people I haven't met yet," he says, grinning sheepishly -- the metallic blue tint to his skin shifts, then -- darkening to a metallic /violet/. Like a living mood-ring. "I'm Peter." Peter /looks/ okay; he's even sitting up a little -- but beneath the shirt and sweatpants is a /network/ of injuries, collected over three weeks of brutality and deeply clustered together in a tangled knot of -- still-healing, maybe-healing, finished-healing. There are vicious claw-marks across his flanks, crudely stitched -- a deep, /vicious/ bite mark on his arm, the meat hanging by a flap -- wrapped and packed away in a bandage. There are stab wounds in his hips, jagged barb-tears over his belly, claw-marks over his thighs -- and the entire surface of his skin, particularly around the shoulders, arms, and back are /covered/ with still-healing bruises that don't visually show up on account of the coloration of his chitin. On top of this, he's currently on a low-dose of codeine to help with the pain -- but there's still a /lot/ of pain. Otherwise, he's medically healthy, if not -- /normal/. His muscles are harder, /tighter/ than they should be; his skin is a lot more puncture-proof. He's also got a brain that's just /bursting/ with activity in ways most brains genuinely shouldn't be. Kira studies Peter for a bit then gives a sigh, "Boy, they weren't kidding were they? You've been rode hard and put up wet." She says with a midwestern accent. "Well, come on, let's see what we can do." She finds a chair with wheels and moves it over next to the bed, "Last time I did this I fell over afterwards, figure I should be sitting down considering the amount of damage you've got." She shakes her head, apparently forgetting formal introductions. She removes her sunglasses, and a pair of rather interesting faintly glowing eyes come into view. They are glowing a rather light shade of blue at the moment as she frowns. After studying Peter for a bit, and looking like she's looking /through/ him, she shakes her head, "I'll do what I can. Might be able to fix the whole lot but if I pass out, don't freak out on me, okay?" She says. Then as an after thought she adds, "Name's Kira. Sorry. I'm the new resident healer. My power? I heal. That's it... well, mostly. I can see what's wrong /and/ heal it, mostly. You're basically the most messed up person I've tried to heal so far so not sure what's going to happen here.... I mean, I know I can get the worst of it but not sure if I'll fall over or what." She explains. Kira rolls up her sleeves as she tilts her head looking Peter over again, "Were you alwayas covered in this... um, stuff?" She asks as she reaches out to touch the chitin. "What we can--huh?" Peter asks, watching Kira with--a mixture of concern and confusion as she wheels up close to him. The shade of violet flustering remains; the phone is now being set down--/very/ carefully--on a nearby dresser. "Fell over--afterwards? Wait /what/ are you d--oh hey your eyes are glowing," Peter says, head quirking to the side. "...wait you can h--oh. Oh that's pretty, um--that's pretty /useful/," Peter says, but now his eyebrows are grinding, clutching together. "But -- it makes you -- pass out? I mean -- it's not like I'm /dying/ or anything, it hurts like crazy but -- I mean," and now Peter looks down at his hand, with the broken fingers -- then back down at his torso. "...it would be totally cool /not/ to feel like I'm basically just being held together by /stitches/, but. You don't have to, I mean -- it's okay if --" He flickers his eyes back up to Kira. "Oh the chitin? Naw that was just -- just happened recently. Like, maybe two months ago, it started. Finished a few weeks a--WHOA wait you can't reverse /that/, can you?" Peter asks, eyes suddenly /big/ and wide. Kira sighs at the flood of questions, then shakes her head, starting sort of in reverse and working her way back, "No, I don't think I can reverse that. I can't undo mutations as far as I can tell. It's part of you. You'll have to figure out that one on your own. As for healing you, look. I have no flashy powers. I heal people. That's it. I guess I'd be handy if you were looking for a mutant in a crowd too, but that's about it. I can look across a room and let you know if a guy has an ulcer or a brain tumor. Not a lot of fun, not flashy, but it's what I do." She tries to explain. "As for passing out, that's a slight exaggeration, I just sort of fell over from healing Professor Summer's gun shot wound but most of that was I think I had to replace a lot of blood he had lost and I wasn't really braced for what I was doing. Stupid to stand there while doing it." She gives a little grin, "Of course maybe it was just the shock of seeing him shirtless?" She half teases and half brags. "Wait, you're Peter right?" She ventures, "Tell you what, I'll do my best at healing you and then... you can do me a favor back, if you're willing?" She ventures as she takes a deep breat and reaches out to try to put her hands on Peter's arm and looks up into his eyes, "This normally does not hurt. In fact I've been told it feels pretty good.... but let me know if anything goes wrong? Or hurts? And let me know when you're ready for me to start." She adds, not quite starting yet. "I... um, oh, that's -- it's okay," Peter quickly says, regarding his chitin, the violet coloration of his face darkening. "I mean -- I don't know if I /want/ to get rid of it, yet. I mean, maybe I do, I don't know, it's -- I, I'd really want to /think/ about it," he adds, as if this is, in fact, the first time he's given any thought to getting rid of the chitin now that it's covered him from head to toe. When Kira touches his arm, Peter's dark violet coloration deepens to /indigo/; he blinks. "A favor? I -- guess. I mean -- oh I've still got /stitches/ in me," Peter says, looking down at himself, now. "Like, do you need those -- you could just heal me a little? Maybe? I mean, if you want. I don't want you to -- /man/ the way people get hurt around here you'd probably be in /crazy/ demand," Peter says. "That actually uh. Would probably get old pretty quick for you. Oh, jeez, did they wake you /up/ for this?" he asks, frowning, as if only now noticing her grogginess. "Man they shouldn't have done that." With a sigh, Kira shakes her head, "Look, if they needed you to... I don't know, do whatever it is you do. Would you say 'no'? I can't go stop crime. I can't go stop a bullet. I can put people back together. Its what I do and I'd be pretty annoyed if you don't let me do it. Okay? As for stitches... well..." She frowns and looks, "You didn't do too good a job on those. But if past case is any thing to go by, when I'm done they'll be sort of laying on the skin, your body will heal and sort of push them out. Okay?" She ventures. Then she closes her eyes. At first very little happens, then a sort of warmth spreads through Peter's body and Kira's hands glow a light golden color for a moment. Then little things fix. Torn muscles start to knit back together. Old scars start to fade. Claw marks fade, as flesh knits back together, then turns... well, whatever color is normal for Peter now. Kira seems to be lost in thought as her energy flows through Peter's body, seeking out each injury and healing it one by one. Shoulders? Arms? Back? Bruises? Cuts? Broken bones? Yeah, each in their turn get worked on. Even wounds that wouldn't show up to the naked eye get worked on, as Kira sees all of them, almost feels all of them as she works. Sprains? Not a problem. Even wounds, scars, left from older, well, Kira can't really tell much difference between those and the oldest, so she works on those too. The feeling should be all warmth and rather nice. The stitches and any other 'stuff' that some how got left in the wounds is ejected by the healing flesh, left outside of Peter's body. Finally, with a bit of a gasp from the effort, Kira lets go of Peter's arm, the last thing she got rid of was the effects of the Codine, leaving Peter's mind clear. Then Kira kind of half slumps forward, "Oh boy...." Is all she manages as she topples in slow motion. Still, she doesn't pass out, just... looks really really tired. Good thing she was seated. "You had a lot wrong, you know that?" "I would -- um. Maybe. I guess it depends on what they needed me to /do/," Peter says, a little reluctantly. "But I'm not gonna /die/ it's fi--" And then there's light, and Peter's eyes are wide -- both with confusion and surprise. There are little noises he makes -- something like a squeak -- as he feels the injuries shifting, unknotting. There's /more/ than what he's just gotten from the Fight Club; he's been breaking through walls and scooping people out of fires for /months/. There's smoke inhalation; not /gobs/ of it, but little sprinklings of tar in his chest. There's scars -- so many /scars/, some of them /ancient/ in comparison to the ones he got in the past three weeks. There's a nasty puncture mark on his back from a mutant quill; there's a jagged slice-mark on his ribs from a teleporting mutant crime-boss armed with a straight-razor. There's old claw-marks on his shoulder from a mutant in the sewers, 8 feet tall and razor-fanged, trying to eat his /brains/. When Kisha's finished, Peter's making little panty noises, bright eyed and baffled. When he wiggles his fingers -- he wrinkles his nose, frowning a little, and /slaps/ his chest. Then, gently, slaps his sides. Slap, slap. Then, he reaches back - and starts feeling around on his shoulder. His eyes widen. "...oh you even got rid of--my badass /scars/." Peter almost sounds... a little disappointed. Kira struggles to sit back up, then eyes Peter with those glowing eyes of hers, the color of them shifting towards reddish hue, "You're... upset I got rid of some... scars? Do you have any idea how messed up you were? You really need to take better care of yourself. You may feel indestructible but these things add up, you know." She scolds, and takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself, "I'm not very good at isolating one wound over another yet. I'm sorry. It's kind of an all or nothing right now. So no, sorry I couldn't save your scars while I re-put you back together." She says, grumpily. "I can probably add a few back if you want?" She says as she glances around looking for something sharp, although her tone seems to hint at not being that serious. "Anyway, how do you feel? You look good from the inside out, but let me know if it feels okay?" She asks, "Didn't hurt when I did it, did it? Can I have some feed back more than disappointment in the fact you're not a scar covered beast anymore?" "My scars were /wicked/," Peter counters, frowning a little. "/So/ wicked. I think I'm kinda," here his frown intensifies, as he looks over his arm - reaching to peel the bandage off, exposing - undone stitches, sliding off his dark, chitinous skin - no sign of Shane's savage bite left there. "Kinda going to miss them. I guess. I mean. I dunno. I guess that sounds, weird. But I -- they were kind of like -- memories, I guess? Of all the stuff I've gotten through. They hurt a lot, though," Peter agrees, before adding -- with a slight grin. "I'll probably get more /myself/. Um. It didn't hurt, no. It felt really /weird/, I guess kind of good? Like a bunch of muscles were untensing and stuff. One after the other. It's hard to say because -- there was a /lot/ of pain, and it's just. All gone now." He stretches his fingers in the cast, peering at them. Kira nods, "I wiped out the codine effect, or whatever it was they put in you for the pain. Think it was codine. So you're pain killer free, so whatever you feel now is you." She says with a shrug and tries to compose herself. "A lot of stuff there, couldn't have felt good. Seriously, I mean... even if they looked cool some of them were pretty deep and had to have hurt from time to time." She points out. "Anyway, now... about that favor?" She says, sort of trailing off and looking at Peter questioningly. "I mean, now that I healed you and all?" Peter /eyes/ Kira at the mention of how they /couldn't/ have felt good. "Man, even pain feels good, sometimes," he says. "I really would have liked to have kept--mmf." He reaches up, scratching at his head with the hand that doesn't still have finger casts, eyes closing. "Okay. What?" Peter pops his eyes open again. After taking a breath, she looks at Peter then says, "Ask Kris to the dance. If you haven't asked anyone else yet that is... I mean... she really likes you I think and...." She trails off and shrugs, quidckly putting her glasses back on, hiding her eyes from view, "And you can't tell her I suggested it, just... I mean, if you really don't want to you don't have to but..." She shrugs, "It'd be nice if you could is all." She says then shrugs and tries to stand, promptly sitting back down, "Ah, I think maybe I'll just rest here for a moment and catch my breath I guess." "Ask -- Kris? Wait. Dance? Wait what -- I --" Peter turns /back/ to a darker shade of violet-indigo again. And then: "I -- thought /Sophie/ -- I mean, Kris was telling her to ask me even though Sophie was saying she wasn't and oh, /man/," he finally concludes, head sinking into his hands, "high-school is /hard/ oh my /God/. Um. I'll have to, uh. Maybe think about -- I don't even know -- oh man look this is a /really/ weird time for me, okay? I'll -- um. I'll. Think about it." Peter peeks out from between his fingers at Kira. "I'm going on a vacation first, so." Kira nods then shrugs, "Well, whatever you have to do." She says then manages to stand up, "Don't go leaving the medlab tonight though, just in case. Plus you'll need one of the /actual/ medical staff to take off any casts or stuff, cause I don't have a clue about that kind of stuff." She points out. "And yeah, High school is hard. Very much so. I hardly get it, and... around here it seems worse, but at least it wasn't me asking you to the dance, right?" She points out, trying to make light of it in some ways. "Anyway, just... do what you can. You know? And try not to get so beat up before I see you again." She scolds as she then turns to sort of half walk half stagger back towards the exit of the med lab. "Oh be careful," Peter tells her as she staggers out. "I mean don't fall--yeah, okay," he adds, still indigo-violet, now sitting up a bit higher, a bit less cringed and pained. "Th-thanks. I'll--bye. See you at the dance! I, um, think? I think."