unbr8kable | IC Inbox

I just have to heal it, now, and attach the leg.

[Which she proceeds to do!]

[Watches to make sure it isn't backwards or something,]

[It seems... okay?]

[He can't feel her fiddling with it, but a beat or two after she stops moving it around, he figures she's probably done and risks cracking open first one eye and then the other.]

[Gingerly, he flexes the leg - and it responds the way it should, lifting a little, the ankle tipping his toes up toward his face.]

...think we're in business.

[She heaves a sigh of relief.]

Looks like.

Cool... Uh, good work.

[pause]

There anything else, uh, missing? Or just the eye and we're good?

Just the eye.

[He's got some damage to his wrists and some bruising and scrapes on his face, but nothing's missing there, at least.]

Okay. Do you want to do it now, or wait a bit? It's okay to not want to do this right now.

[Looks to him, uneasy]

[He hesitates for a long couple of seconds - long enough that it seems like he's probably going to tap out. But eventually, very quiet:]

I just wanna get it over with.

All right. If you are certain.

[She changes gloves yet again. Gotta stay sanitary.]

[Squeezes his shoulders again, but looks between them both]

Anything you want me to do? Holding stuff steady, generally staying out of the way, whatever...?

U-uh. I dunno. Whatever - whatever she needs to get it done, I guess?

I don't really need anything.

[And it's time for an uncomfortable moment for both of them, as she reaches to touch his fake eye, trying to realign it and gently prodding to see if she can slot it back in.]

...

[He flinches back hard before he can stop himself - has to take a couple of steadying breaths, until he can make himself stay still for her. He hand scrabbles up toward Nemesis', there on his shoulder - closes over her fingers like he needs something to ground him.]

[It's hard to tell if the eye's in the right position. She can get it in straight, at least, but there's really no way to see whether it's lined up with the nerve.

[She pulls her own hand back. No, this isn't working like this, and it's heartbreaking to have to have to do this when he's obviously terrified.]

...Are you sure that you don't want to wait?

[She clutches back at his hand, fingers clammy, but her voice stays steady and not too far from reassuring]

Already got a half-pirate going on, could just get an eyepatch for a while, 'til we can...I dunno, knock you out or something. That wouldn't be that big of a deal...right?

I don't wanna wait.

I don't wanna be, like - thinking about it all the time, till it gets done. I just - I want it over with.

[His voice wavers a little; he pauses a beat, to pull himself together. Then:]

Please?

...Okay.

[She reaches in, with a wince, gradually prying his eye loose from the socket, making comforting "shh shh" sounds all the while, as much for herself as him.]

[For her part Nemesis stays mostly silent, keeping her grip on his shoulders (and/or his hands, whatever), stroking a calming(?) little rhythm with her thumbs]

...Shouldn't take much longer.

[She has absolutely no idea about that, but seems better than the alternative]

[His breathing is definitely not okay; it's too fast, and too shallow, and he's shaking so hard he looks like he might fall apart.]

[But he clenches his jaw and he stays still as best he's able - tries not to flinch back too badly when she reaches toward his face and doesn't entirely succeed.]

[Inside the socket, the eye has definitely been disconnected. From the looks of it, there was some exploratory surgery done here, too.]

[Working quickly, but carefully, she manages to get everything back together in fairly short order, her hands steady despite her own anxiety over this.

She continues to hang over him, not daring to breathe.]

Is it...?

[Nemesis has kept as still as she could during all this, holding tight to Hurricane and gritting her jaw at his reactions--at the new discoveries of what was done.

What else is she supposed to do?

At the pause, she forces herself to speak, gruff]

...Any luck?

[It takes him a second to parse that - a second longer before he blinks and focuses.]

...up and running.

[She falls back, tension visibly draining from her body in a massive sigh.]

Haha, w-wow, okay.

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]

Re: [Day 183, probably not too much after midnight]