xp_logs | Topaz and Maya (Backdated)

Maya wakes up in the med lab and is unimpressed to no longer be in Askew World. Topaz tries to handle it. Emphasis on "tries." Backdated to February 14.

Maya cursed softly at an almost inaudible volume and opened eyes that appeared blood-shot, irises a lot larger than they should be but not quite as blown wide as they had been. She winced away from the light in the med-lab, and then focussed blearily at the room around her. She needed to go now, before she couldn’t get back home – she wasn’t sure where home was, but she needed to get back.

Sitting at her bedside, doing a brilliant job of looking like it was an absolute coincidence that she was in the same room as Maya, was Topaz. She looked up from the book her eyes were skimming, watching Maya closely. She could feel faint confusion in the girl's mind, which was reassuring. It was better than the sharp nothing she'd been projecting when they'd first dragged her out of that world.

"Maya?" She questioned quietly, leaning forward but not daring to touch the teen. She had a feeling that wouldn't end well for her.

Maya looked at Topaz without recognition for a moment before it slowed dawned that this was Topaz. She could see her mouth moving but they must have taken off the outer parts of her implants to treat her, as she couldn’t make out any sound at all. Her eyes hurt so much, she couldn’t focus enough to make out the words.

“Can’t hear,” she mumbled, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Why didn’t you leave me? I was home.”

Topaz frowned for a moment before setting her book aside and slowly (clumsily) signing, "That wasn't home, Maya." She spelled out Maya's name. "That world was messing with your head."

“Felt like home,” Maya mumble, tears still dropping silently. “Why can’t I go home?”

"That place is dangerous," Topaz explained, hesitating as she finger-spelled 'dangerous.' She wasn't really equipped to be having a conversation but she didn't have a choice. "It was hurting you."

“How?” Maya demanded, a small spark of her usual anger showing through before it was buried by despair again. “You don’t know – just let me go.”

She moved to get out of the bed, falling as she moved too fast for a body still only half conscious. She grabbed for something to stabilise her but found nothing as she landed with a thump on the floor.

Topaz was a little too slow to grab her before she went down, and quickly knelt down to help her sit up again. "Easy," she signed. "You've got a concussion."

“It hurts,” Maya responded, still unable to string more than a few words together in her confusion and pain. Even communicating felt difficult, the eyes she needed to see Topaz’s words stinging as the light sent arrows of pain into her head. “Why does it hurt so much?”

"I don't know," Topaz admitted. She was fairly certain it was just the concussion, but she made a note to talk to the doctors about it. Just in case. "Can I help you back into bed?"

“Can I just go back to my room instead?” Maya asked, a crafty look completely evident as she appeared unable to hide any emotion currently. “I hate hospitals.”

Topaz raised an eyebrow, not impressed. "Even if I had the authority to say you could go back to your room, I don't think I would trust you not to try and run away."

Maya’s response was violent, but uncoordinated, and any strength she may have had previously seemed entirely unreachable right now. She flailed against Topaz’s grip and tried to get past her toward the door.

Topaz didn't try to fight back. Hand-to-hand had never been her area of expertise, and even if it was she wasn't going to hurt Maya. Instead she backed up, gathering the magic to put a shield between her and Maya, effectively trapping her. The only place for her to go was back to bed.

Maya didn’t go back to bed, not at first. Instead she flailed against the shield, venting her fury at being kept from home before collapsing into a faint, unconscious again.

The shield was strong, but pliable, letting Maya punch it without actually hurting herself until she finally passed out once more. Topaz sighed as she dropped the shield and shifted closer to Maya, checking her over.

"Sorry kiddo," she murmured finally, pushing a strand of hair back from Maya's face before hitting the call button for a doctor come to help her get Maya back into bed.