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xp_logsKyle comes in for a quick checkup to make sure his healing factor is working correctly. Laurie is a professional. Which goes well.
Normally Laurie would be holding a patient chart when she walked into an exam room, but lately, the artificial arm she’d been given was so uncomfortable she just forwent it entirely. It did mean using more of her memory these days and writing notes later, and relying more on bedside manner to give her what she needed to complete treatment.
It was one of the more frustrating changes to her routine.
“Kyle, did you want the full workup or just a general check-up to make sure everything is coming back okay?”
Given Kyle’s healing factor, these checkups were always slightly different. Less emphasis on injury and more emphasis on how he was healing and making sure things were set properly, and coming back in the correct fashion. It was one of the more relaxing if sometimes disgusting duties in the Medlab.
"Ima need the hearing test." Kyle was doing his best not to stick his finger in his still healing ear, but just talking about it made it itch more. "It's still ringing, which is just pissing me off mostly." Oddly for Kyle, he hadn't yet stripped off his shirt for the exam - he was sitting on the table crossed-legged, hands on his knees, visibly twitching with the effort to stay still.
“Alright, we’ll start with whatever you’re most comfortable with.”
Laurie had read the after incident report, and while she might be accused of being emotionless, with good reason, she still had it within her to be kind where and when she could be. She reached for the Otoscope and clicked on the little light.
“I’m going to need to be close for this. Is that okay?”
"No, but don't know that I have another option," Kyle said. "Let's get it done?" He turned so his ear was facing Laurie, and took a very long, very slow breath. "Nothing personal, I know you're like, not gonna, but, can you just like. Promise me you're not gonna go powers on?"
Laurie had anticipated it, but it still stung, even when she knew why he needed to ask, and why it would feel like a violation. It was always the story, she paid for every other thing that had ever had powers like hers and what they chose to do with them. That she never would never mattered, and as far as she knew, never would.
“Of course, I promise.”
Laurie leaned forward, placing the Otoscope in his ear as she tried to keep her breathing to a minimum, not wanting the feel of her closeness to be any more discomforting than it already was.
“It seems to be healing okay, although we might need to keep an eye on it as it advances. There’s a lot of delicate nerves in there that we don’t want healing out of place. If you find your hearing is bad after the initial healing, we may need to go in and correct it surgically so it heals better.”
"Aw, man, ear, don't be stupid." Kyle shook off the weird feeling of having the scope in his ear. He screwed up his face and pulled his shirt off over his head. "Skin's pretty okay, little tight, yeah I'm doing my PT." He flexed his healing shoulder and rolled it once. "No popping, no muscle pain, range of motion isn't great, but..." He shrugged. "I know the lecture. Kyle, you're still healing, Kyle don't use the salmon ladder. Kyle go swimming."
Laurie smiled at the stream of commentary and took a visual survey of the new skin, it was still growing in, but she could no longer see the muscle which meant less chance of bacterial infection, always a concern with full-thickness burns even if you had a healing factor.
“How are the nerves growing back in? Any difficulties there?”
Kyle rolled his arm and looked as though he was considering the ceiling tiles. "Pins and needles sometimes. Mostly it itches like a motherfucker, which I already expected, burns always do. Had the last of the burned skin slough off in the shower, which was super gross." He ran his hand over his still too-short hair. "Ima put the shirt back on now unless you need to catalog like, I dunno, whatever medicine stuff you guys do whenever you get your hands on me and my regrowing parts."
“That’s fine, your skin appears to be coming in nicely and as long as the feeling is coming back then your nerves aren’t doing anything odd.”
Laurie reached down and rubbed the pinned cloth over the stump of her arm, as she watched him dress. It ached sometimes and itched where it shouldn't because nothing was there.
“How are you sleeping?”
"Well, that's a stupid fuckin' question," Kyle said, through the material of his shirt. "Jesus, Laurie. Kane died, I got stuck in a magic demon orgy, I'm not sleeping." He pulled his shirt down roughly and hopped off the exam bench. "I don't go asking you questions about how you're playing patty cake, don't ask me stupid questions about my sleep after a compete shitshow, okay?"
“It’s a standard question, Kyle. And my patty cake skills have been slightly lacking of late, thank you.”
Laurie moved to open the curtain so Kyle could leave. There was nothing else she needed to examine and she wasn’t the one he wanted to talk to right now. Previously, she might have offered her own solution to his not sleeping but the one thing she could do for him would not be welcome.
“I’ll ask Clarice to check on you in a few days to make sure your ears won’t require any reconstruction. I’m sure you know your way out.”
Normally Laurie would be holding a patient chart when she walked into an exam room, but lately, the artificial arm she’d been given was so uncomfortable she just forwent it entirely. It did mean using more of her memory these days and writing notes later, and relying more on bedside manner to give her what she needed to complete treatment.
It was one of the more frustrating changes to her routine.
“Kyle, did you want the full workup or just a general check-up to make sure everything is coming back okay?”
Given Kyle’s healing factor, these checkups were always slightly different. Less emphasis on injury and more emphasis on how he was healing and making sure things were set properly, and coming back in the correct fashion. It was one of the more relaxing if sometimes disgusting duties in the Medlab.
"Ima need the hearing test." Kyle was doing his best not to stick his finger in his still healing ear, but just talking about it made it itch more. "It's still ringing, which is just pissing me off mostly." Oddly for Kyle, he hadn't yet stripped off his shirt for the exam - he was sitting on the table crossed-legged, hands on his knees, visibly twitching with the effort to stay still.
“Alright, we’ll start with whatever you’re most comfortable with.”
Laurie had read the after incident report, and while she might be accused of being emotionless, with good reason, she still had it within her to be kind where and when she could be. She reached for the Otoscope and clicked on the little light.
“I’m going to need to be close for this. Is that okay?”
"No, but don't know that I have another option," Kyle said. "Let's get it done?" He turned so his ear was facing Laurie, and took a very long, very slow breath. "Nothing personal, I know you're like, not gonna, but, can you just like. Promise me you're not gonna go powers on?"
Laurie had anticipated it, but it still stung, even when she knew why he needed to ask, and why it would feel like a violation. It was always the story, she paid for every other thing that had ever had powers like hers and what they chose to do with them. That she never would never mattered, and as far as she knew, never would.
“Of course, I promise.”
Laurie leaned forward, placing the Otoscope in his ear as she tried to keep her breathing to a minimum, not wanting the feel of her closeness to be any more discomforting than it already was.
“It seems to be healing okay, although we might need to keep an eye on it as it advances. There’s a lot of delicate nerves in there that we don’t want healing out of place. If you find your hearing is bad after the initial healing, we may need to go in and correct it surgically so it heals better.”
"Aw, man, ear, don't be stupid." Kyle shook off the weird feeling of having the scope in his ear. He screwed up his face and pulled his shirt off over his head. "Skin's pretty okay, little tight, yeah I'm doing my PT." He flexed his healing shoulder and rolled it once. "No popping, no muscle pain, range of motion isn't great, but..." He shrugged. "I know the lecture. Kyle, you're still healing, Kyle don't use the salmon ladder. Kyle go swimming."
Laurie smiled at the stream of commentary and took a visual survey of the new skin, it was still growing in, but she could no longer see the muscle which meant less chance of bacterial infection, always a concern with full-thickness burns even if you had a healing factor.
“How are the nerves growing back in? Any difficulties there?”
Kyle rolled his arm and looked as though he was considering the ceiling tiles. "Pins and needles sometimes. Mostly it itches like a motherfucker, which I already expected, burns always do. Had the last of the burned skin slough off in the shower, which was super gross." He ran his hand over his still too-short hair. "Ima put the shirt back on now unless you need to catalog like, I dunno, whatever medicine stuff you guys do whenever you get your hands on me and my regrowing parts."
“That’s fine, your skin appears to be coming in nicely and as long as the feeling is coming back then your nerves aren’t doing anything odd.”
Laurie reached down and rubbed the pinned cloth over the stump of her arm, as she watched him dress. It ached sometimes and itched where it shouldn't because nothing was there.
“How are you sleeping?”
"Well, that's a stupid fuckin' question," Kyle said, through the material of his shirt. "Jesus, Laurie. Kane died, I got stuck in a magic demon orgy, I'm not sleeping." He pulled his shirt down roughly and hopped off the exam bench. "I don't go asking you questions about how you're playing patty cake, don't ask me stupid questions about my sleep after a compete shitshow, okay?"
“It’s a standard question, Kyle. And my patty cake skills have been slightly lacking of late, thank you.”
Laurie moved to open the curtain so Kyle could leave. There was nothing else she needed to examine and she wasn’t the one he wanted to talk to right now. Previously, she might have offered her own solution to his not sleeping but the one thing she could do for him would not be welcome.
“I’ll ask Clarice to check on you in a few days to make sure your ears won’t require any reconstruction. I’m sure you know your way out.”
