Sins of the Father || A Cut
Jul. 15th, 2018 12:20 pmMolly has a very peculiar problem.
TW: Blood
It'd been a long time since Molly had been to the Medlab. She only went there to visit people, never really because she needed it. The doors opened with a "woosh" as she stepped in with a furrowed brow.
"Hello?" she asked curiously.
"Yo!" Clarice called over the music, currently she was listening to #1 Crush by Garbage louder than was really appropriate for a medlab, but there were no patients at the moment and no one else her music might bother. Coming out of the back with a clipboard, she went to turn the music down to a more reasonable volume, "What's up Mollykins?"
Molly squinted at the music, trying to figure out what band it was. They were very goth-y sounding. When Clarice came out, she waved.
"Hey! So...um....Can I have a band aid?" she said, sounding just as puzzled as she figured Blink was gonna be.
"Um...yeah?" Clarice paused, blinking before she went to the cabinet to pull out a box of unicorn bandaids. They kept a selection ranging from utterly boring to completely blinged for different personalities. "Why?"
Brightening at the box of bandaids, Molly shook her head. "I cut myself. It's like...really tiny, though," she said, turning around.
Her shirt was slightly poofy where she'd taken some tissue paper and taped it down on her back. Peeling off the tape and tissue was a tiny cut, razor thin, only about a half an inch wide. The tissue she'd pulled away had a tiny bit of blood that had seeped from the cut.
"See?'
She saw. The problem was, it wasn't supposed to be there. "What cut you?" she asked, boggled. "Kryptonite?"
Molly shook her head. "I don't know," she said with a frown, then added, quiet and uncertain, with a hint of dread.
"Maybe...could powers...change? Maybe I'm less unsquishable?"
"That's not how genetics and mutation work..." Clarice mostly murmured to herself as she went to get antibacterial to clean the cut as well. It wasn't large, but it was MOLLY. This was not right.
Cleaning it and bandaging it swiftly, she tried not to act worried, but something was definitely very wrong here.
Molly winced a little from the swabbing but didn't make a sound. She had to be tough. It was just a tiny cut.
"Thanks! I guess...I come back for another one once this one gets dirty?"
She hadn't gotten hurt in a long, long time so she forgot how bandaids worked.
"Sure," Clarice agreed, fishing a couple more out, "Don't change it too often. Once a day is fine unless it gets really icky, but here," she handed her a couple more, just in case.
Marveling at the variety of bandaids, Molly was half tempted to decorate with them but knew she needed them for actual injuries. That was so weird.
"Okay, thanks Blink!" she said with a smile as she hopped off the table. Giving her a wave, she headed out the door.
"Seeya."
***
Hours later, Clarice had switched the music to Dido, continuing her trend of strong women, but they were now less angry. She was also playing games on her phone instead of doing something important, "What's up, chickadee?" she asked, barely glancing up when she saw Molly return, "Need another bandaid?"
Molly sagged against the doorway, her face ashen. Her breathing was quick and labored.
"Help me...please," she said between clenched teeth.
"I don't---"
Her chest shuddered as she let out a shriek of pain and dropped to the ground onto her back. Rolling over to curl herself into a ball, she left a smear of blood on the floor.
This was definitely not a bandaid and without consciously thinking, Clarice was up and at the door, the distance small enough that her teleportation wasn't required. "Okay, Mollykins, come on," she said, carefully rolling the blonde onto her back and helping her uncurl as she took her vitals and began an assessment. Breathing was happening, but shallow, clearly she was in a lot of pain. That was....more than a little problematic, to understate things. "Can you stand?" she asked, then lifted her in a bridal carry. Her bones didn't seem hurt or broken, just pain. Not ideal, but definitely something that could be dealt with from the semi-comfort and safety of a medical bed.
When Clarice rolled Molly back over, she let out another cry of pain, shaking her head repeatedly to her questions. As Clarice carried her toward the bed she left a trail of blood droplets in their wake.
"My b-back..." Molly gasped, eyes clenched shut, her cheeks wet with tears.
"Something...cutting me....it hurts!"
Pulling Molly's shirt off carefully, Clarice laid the blonde on her stomach, undoing her bra as well, but leaving the straps loose on her shoulders. Tugging the curtain for modesty, Clarice was shocked to see thin, red cuts haphazard across the otherwise unmarred back. This wasn't supposed to be possible. Not for Molly. "Alright, let me clean this and I'll give you something to stop the pain," Clarice said, snapping on a fresh pair of gloves and getting to work. Clearing this was happening, possible or not and she had to help.
The bed was cold as Molly lay against it, the air stinging her skin. None of this felt real. In the distance, she thought she heard a faint moaning from one of the other rooms and turned her head, wiping away her tears.
As Clarice started to clean the wounds, Molly flinched at the dabbing, but kept her mouth shut, teeth clenched tightly. She could handle this. She could handle this. She was strong, inside and out. Totally unsquishable, in her mind too.
"I don't understand...why it...w--what's going on?"
"Don't know, kiddo," Clarice murmured as she worked. The blood wasn't coagulating. That was a problem. "Gonna take a blood sample and try to figure it out. Might be something with your hemoglobin," or not, but it was as a good a place to start as any and with the lack of clotting, it seemed reasonable. "You're gonna be okay. This is Xavier's. We do weird for breakfast."
Molly smiled softly, even though she could feel herself trembling.
"Totally," she said. What she said about taking blood got her thinking, though.
She frowned deeply. "I guess I'm squishable now?" she said quietly. It was the only reason she could think of why there were cuts.
"Maybe," Clarice replied, she didn't lie to patients. "But maybe not. Something has happened, but let's not just to conclusions, huh? That only works in Office Space."
Molly made a face. "Okay...I guess...since we're not in an office?" she said, figuring was what she meant.
"Offices are not totally not my thin--AHHH!" she let out a shriek of pain that she muffled into her pillow as another set of cuts slowly appeared on her back and she started to roll over the side of the bed.
Bracing Molly as gently as she could so she didn't fall off the bed, Clarice watched the cuts appear. Okay then. That's different. Bringing the sides of the bed up so Molly wasn't at risk of falling out again, Clarice went to get her magnifiers to investigate these cuts as she took care of them. They were shallow and clearly painful, but ultimately not worrisome, which was good, but didn't change that they shouldn't be possible. "Shh, shhhh," she tried to comfort, cleaning them. The edges were clean, like there was some sort of invisible knife and whomever was wielding it was very, very skilled. Surgeon skilled. That just opened things up to more questions.
Within a few moments the cutting stopped for the moment and Molly lifted her head, still breathing heavily. She looked a little pale as she wiped her reddened eyes, her cheeks and pillow wet. The white bed sheets around her began to look like something from a horror scene, stained red with blood that welled up from the other, older cuts that Clarice hadn't gotten back to cleaning yet and kept bleeding.
"There's a way to--to stop it, right?" Molly said on the tail end of a hiccup, desperate hope in her eyes.
"There's gotta be."
TW: Blood
It'd been a long time since Molly had been to the Medlab. She only went there to visit people, never really because she needed it. The doors opened with a "woosh" as she stepped in with a furrowed brow.
"Hello?" she asked curiously.
"Yo!" Clarice called over the music, currently she was listening to #1 Crush by Garbage louder than was really appropriate for a medlab, but there were no patients at the moment and no one else her music might bother. Coming out of the back with a clipboard, she went to turn the music down to a more reasonable volume, "What's up Mollykins?"
Molly squinted at the music, trying to figure out what band it was. They were very goth-y sounding. When Clarice came out, she waved.
"Hey! So...um....Can I have a band aid?" she said, sounding just as puzzled as she figured Blink was gonna be.
"Um...yeah?" Clarice paused, blinking before she went to the cabinet to pull out a box of unicorn bandaids. They kept a selection ranging from utterly boring to completely blinged for different personalities. "Why?"
Brightening at the box of bandaids, Molly shook her head. "I cut myself. It's like...really tiny, though," she said, turning around.
Her shirt was slightly poofy where she'd taken some tissue paper and taped it down on her back. Peeling off the tape and tissue was a tiny cut, razor thin, only about a half an inch wide. The tissue she'd pulled away had a tiny bit of blood that had seeped from the cut.
"See?'
She saw. The problem was, it wasn't supposed to be there. "What cut you?" she asked, boggled. "Kryptonite?"
Molly shook her head. "I don't know," she said with a frown, then added, quiet and uncertain, with a hint of dread.
"Maybe...could powers...change? Maybe I'm less unsquishable?"
"That's not how genetics and mutation work..." Clarice mostly murmured to herself as she went to get antibacterial to clean the cut as well. It wasn't large, but it was MOLLY. This was not right.
Cleaning it and bandaging it swiftly, she tried not to act worried, but something was definitely very wrong here.
Molly winced a little from the swabbing but didn't make a sound. She had to be tough. It was just a tiny cut.
"Thanks! I guess...I come back for another one once this one gets dirty?"
She hadn't gotten hurt in a long, long time so she forgot how bandaids worked.
"Sure," Clarice agreed, fishing a couple more out, "Don't change it too often. Once a day is fine unless it gets really icky, but here," she handed her a couple more, just in case.
Marveling at the variety of bandaids, Molly was half tempted to decorate with them but knew she needed them for actual injuries. That was so weird.
"Okay, thanks Blink!" she said with a smile as she hopped off the table. Giving her a wave, she headed out the door.
"Seeya."
***
Hours later, Clarice had switched the music to Dido, continuing her trend of strong women, but they were now less angry. She was also playing games on her phone instead of doing something important, "What's up, chickadee?" she asked, barely glancing up when she saw Molly return, "Need another bandaid?"
Molly sagged against the doorway, her face ashen. Her breathing was quick and labored.
"Help me...please," she said between clenched teeth.
"I don't---"
Her chest shuddered as she let out a shriek of pain and dropped to the ground onto her back. Rolling over to curl herself into a ball, she left a smear of blood on the floor.
This was definitely not a bandaid and without consciously thinking, Clarice was up and at the door, the distance small enough that her teleportation wasn't required. "Okay, Mollykins, come on," she said, carefully rolling the blonde onto her back and helping her uncurl as she took her vitals and began an assessment. Breathing was happening, but shallow, clearly she was in a lot of pain. That was....more than a little problematic, to understate things. "Can you stand?" she asked, then lifted her in a bridal carry. Her bones didn't seem hurt or broken, just pain. Not ideal, but definitely something that could be dealt with from the semi-comfort and safety of a medical bed.
When Clarice rolled Molly back over, she let out another cry of pain, shaking her head repeatedly to her questions. As Clarice carried her toward the bed she left a trail of blood droplets in their wake.
"My b-back..." Molly gasped, eyes clenched shut, her cheeks wet with tears.
"Something...cutting me....it hurts!"
Pulling Molly's shirt off carefully, Clarice laid the blonde on her stomach, undoing her bra as well, but leaving the straps loose on her shoulders. Tugging the curtain for modesty, Clarice was shocked to see thin, red cuts haphazard across the otherwise unmarred back. This wasn't supposed to be possible. Not for Molly. "Alright, let me clean this and I'll give you something to stop the pain," Clarice said, snapping on a fresh pair of gloves and getting to work. Clearing this was happening, possible or not and she had to help.
The bed was cold as Molly lay against it, the air stinging her skin. None of this felt real. In the distance, she thought she heard a faint moaning from one of the other rooms and turned her head, wiping away her tears.
As Clarice started to clean the wounds, Molly flinched at the dabbing, but kept her mouth shut, teeth clenched tightly. She could handle this. She could handle this. She was strong, inside and out. Totally unsquishable, in her mind too.
"I don't understand...why it...w--what's going on?"
"Don't know, kiddo," Clarice murmured as she worked. The blood wasn't coagulating. That was a problem. "Gonna take a blood sample and try to figure it out. Might be something with your hemoglobin," or not, but it was as a good a place to start as any and with the lack of clotting, it seemed reasonable. "You're gonna be okay. This is Xavier's. We do weird for breakfast."
Molly smiled softly, even though she could feel herself trembling.
"Totally," she said. What she said about taking blood got her thinking, though.
She frowned deeply. "I guess I'm squishable now?" she said quietly. It was the only reason she could think of why there were cuts.
"Maybe," Clarice replied, she didn't lie to patients. "But maybe not. Something has happened, but let's not just to conclusions, huh? That only works in Office Space."
Molly made a face. "Okay...I guess...since we're not in an office?" she said, figuring was what she meant.
"Offices are not totally not my thin--AHHH!" she let out a shriek of pain that she muffled into her pillow as another set of cuts slowly appeared on her back and she started to roll over the side of the bed.
Bracing Molly as gently as she could so she didn't fall off the bed, Clarice watched the cuts appear. Okay then. That's different. Bringing the sides of the bed up so Molly wasn't at risk of falling out again, Clarice went to get her magnifiers to investigate these cuts as she took care of them. They were shallow and clearly painful, but ultimately not worrisome, which was good, but didn't change that they shouldn't be possible. "Shh, shhhh," she tried to comfort, cleaning them. The edges were clean, like there was some sort of invisible knife and whomever was wielding it was very, very skilled. Surgeon skilled. That just opened things up to more questions.
Within a few moments the cutting stopped for the moment and Molly lifted her head, still breathing heavily. She looked a little pale as she wiped her reddened eyes, her cheeks and pillow wet. The white bed sheets around her began to look like something from a horror scene, stained red with blood that welled up from the other, older cuts that Clarice hadn't gotten back to cleaning yet and kept bleeding.
"There's a way to--to stop it, right?" Molly said on the tail end of a hiccup, desperate hope in her eyes.
"There's gotta be."