[RL with Mikaela]

[screwloose]

Dr. Stein waited just outside the compound for Mikaela to arrive, his stitched and patched labcoat blowing a bit in the hot Africa wind. He smiled as the young woman rolled up in her very fine motorcycle, his glasses glinting in the sun as he looked her over. No immediate signs of injury.

Though she was only a few years older than his students, and definitely too young for him, he couldn't help but enjoy the ride back to his own world.

They arrived just outside his own laboratory, which was a tall concrete building, which also looked to have been stitched together, much like his own body and clothing. Scraggly trees with no leaves adorned the grounds, which were surrounded by a high wrought iron fence.

The sun stared down upon them, far cooler than the place where they had just left. The sun had a face, and it was laughing good-naturedly at them, its voice deep and echoing.

"You can leave the bike inside the grounds, it'll be safe there," Stein said cheerfully as he got down and opened the front gate. "Welcome to my home, Mikaela."

Comments

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela was certainly glad to move from the heat of...well, wherever they'd been, it was hot, hotter than Tranquility (which could get pretty hot in the summer). She couldn't help staring around her as she coasted the bike up to the gate, taking in the patchwork look of the building and grounds around it and--

...Was the sun laughing? What the heck was that about?

She didn't ask, though, just nodded and wheeled the bike through, shutting it down and popping the kickstand. She took off her helmet and tucked it under one arm, taking another look around. "Interesting place," she said with a soft laugh.

[screwloose]

Stein certainly didn't think anything of the state of the sun, though it had taken some time for him to get used to the sky in Kijuju and it still creeped him out. Especially at night.

"Thanks," he said cheerfully. "It took me a while to get it just the way I wanted it."

He led the way up to the front door, which was a heavy steel door with a complex lock. It opened without the need of a key, however, and he flicked on the light. The bare bulb flickered and turned on, revealing a hallway.

"Come inside, and let me take a look at you," he said.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, did you do this all yourself?" she asked, eyes wide. She was a city girl, born a bred--fat guys in hard hats worked on buildings, that was about the extent of people qualified to do any kind of construction in her mind.

She followed him inside, trying not to wonder at that bare bulb. What, no light fixtures? This didn't look much like any doctor's office she'd ever been to (though he wasn't much like any doctor she'd ever been to, which was the point).

[screwloose]

"Well, I'm not much of a handyman," Stein admitted, chuckling faintly. "But you'd be surprised what eccentricities people will indulge in this town. If you think this is weird, you should see Blair-chan's house. Try living in a giant pumpkin."

He led her down the hall to a living room with two couches and a computer set up, then turned right and opened another heavy steel door. "My examination room's this way," he said, stepping through it and then opening the first door he came to.

Inside was a fairly standard looking examination room, with a stainless steel table and some examination equipment hung on the walls.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"...A giant pumpkin," she repeated, her voice deadpan. A moment later she laughed. "That sounds like something out of a fairytale! Is it, like, actually a pumpkin, or just built to look like one?"

Okay, this looked more like a proper doctor's office, she mused as she followed him through the living room and into the exam room. She took a look around from the doorway, then stepped inside, hanging her helmet on a spare hook by the door and walking over to the examination table.

"You want me to sit?" she asked, patting it.

[screwloose]

Stein was bemused by her reaction, and smiled. "It's just built to look like one, I think. Though who knows? She has some pretty powerful magic, and she could have made it out of a real pumpkin."

He nodded. "Hop on up, please. And tell me what's brought you here today."

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"That is so cool," Mikaela said with a giggle, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a giant pumpkin--or even a house shaped like one.

She put the thoughts aside for later, though, planting both hands on the table and boosting herself up. She swung her legs idly, the motion almost childlike, before hooking her ankles together to stop it.

"My legs hurt," she said, frowning at them. "Not all the time, though, only sometimes. Like, when I wake up in the mornings, sometimes." With a fingertip, she drew a line across one thigh about halfway down, and then another across the other, much closer tot he hip. "Here, and here."

[screwloose]

Stein smiled, thinking that Mikaela and Blair might possibly get along well. Mikaela did seem to have more between her ears, as far as brains, than the cat did, but they were of a similar body type and age.

He stepped closer and frowned faintly, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting up. "When did this start?"

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to remember. "I'm...not sure," she said eventually. "I started noticing it a couple weeks ago, I guess? Like, it happened enough for me to realize it wasn't just random, or whatever. But I think it happened before that and I just didn't worry about it much."

[screwloose]

"Did anything happen before it started?" Stein asked. "Did you get hurt or anything like that? Even if it were something minor. You mentioned something about weird medicine, and I'm not seeing the connection..." he said in a wry, but kindly manner.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Well. Uh. Yeah." She laughed, a little self-consciously. "They had to be, um, amputated. From here, and here." She indicated the same places on her thighs as a moment before. "And then Apollo grew them back for me when he got his powers back..."

[screwloose]

Stein's eyes widened at her explanation. Okay, that made a lot more sense.

Something hungry and eager flickered in his eyes now. It definitely seemed that Mikaela had caught his attention. "So you're experiencing phantom pain from an amputation, are you...? And you've had the limbs regrown through magic."

He turned and picked up a hospital gown from a hook, then held it out to her. "I'd like you to take off your clothes and put this on. I'll need to examine your legs.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"That could be it, I guess..." she said, if anything relieved by his interest in the problem. That meant he'd care enough to actually figure it out, which would be nice. "I just worry that... I dunno, like, they're gonna come off again, or something. That something's happening inside to make 'em hurt, you know?"

She slid off the table and took the gown from him. "Okay," she said, nonplussed by the request, and very clearly waiting for him to leave--or at least run his back--before she started stripping.

[screwloose]

He chuckled. "I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen," he assured her, then handed her the gown and slipped out of the room.

When she had dressed in the gown, he opened the door and entered the room again, then finished off his cigarette and placed an unlit one between his lips. "All right," he said, patting the table. "Up you get and lie down. I'm just going to examine the area and see what I can see before we get more creative."

"Is it a dull pain or sharp?" he added as he waited for her to comply. "Do you have any difficulty using your legs?"

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela changed into the gown quickly, folding up her clothes neatly as she stripped out of them. She was smoothing down the front of the gown, making sure it covered her properly, when he walked back in.

With a nod, she hopped back up onto the examination table. "Ooh, it's cold!" she exclaimed with a real shiver and an exaggerated pout. She lay back regardless, stretching her legs out, another shiver raising momentary goosebumps on her bare arms and legs.

"Sharp, I guess?" she said as she smoothed the gown out again. "Like someone put a string or something around and is pulling really tight."

[screwloose]

"Sorry," Stein said apologetically as she complained about the cold. "My patients aren't usually in a state to be complaining about the chill."

His words, though a little ominous, were delivered with a smile. He stepped closer and ran a hand up her leg clinically, moving the gown aside so he could see and bending to examine her. His free hand rose to turn the bolt in his skull, which turned with a quiet clicking.

"How did you get injured?" he asked, noting that she didn't even have a scar.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

If it hadn't been for that smile, she probably would have been worried. As it was, she just giggled and said, "I'm almost afraid to ask what you mean."

She lay still while he started examining her, though as his hand moved higher it started to tickle, and it was an effort not to kick or squirm away. She tried to ignore the tickling, looking around the room again and turning her eyes to his head, and that weird bolt there, when he started turning it. She couldn't quite help staring.

"Uh. I got, um. Stepped on, actually. By a Decepticon..."

[screwloose]

He only laughed along with her giggling and didn't elaborate. Noting her discomfort, he deepened the touch, pressing his fingers firmly into the skin to feel for any abnormalities in the muscle.

"Tell me if anything I do hurts," he said. The bolt clicked into place and he lowered his hand from it.

"A Decepticon - ah yes... I believe I've spoken with one. They're quite large, I imagine?"

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"Okay," she said with a nod. So far it wasn't painful, just making her feel kinda ticklish, though it wasn't as bad now with the increased pressure. "'S not painful at all, now..."

She nodded again, more enthusiastically this time. "Most of 'em are, anyway. It seems like they're either all giganto, or little buggers. ...Except for Barricade, I guess, he's kind of in the middle.

"But it was a big one, yeah. Bonecrusher..."

[screwloose]

"Nicely appropriate name," Stein commented wryly.

He felt around a little bit longer. "Show me exactly where you feel the pain," he instructed, withdrawing his hand for the moment. "I think what you're experiencing is psychological, honestly, but I do want to be sure your magical healer didn't miss something."

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"I know, right?" she returned, just as wryly. "God, it almost seems funny, now. I mean, he didn't even do it on purpose..." She gave her head a shake, as if denying that she'd just admitted that. "Whatever."

She pushed herself up on the table, looking down at her legs for a minute before using a fingertip to indicate where it occasionally hurt. "Here--" A line about halfway down thigh. "--and here." Another, this one higher, nearly at the place where her leg joined her hip. There was a flash of bright pink underwear peeking out from where she'd pushed her gown up to show him.

"Psychological?" she repeated. "Am I going nuts...?"

[screwloose]

"Funny, hmm?" Stein murmured, smiling. "I suppose big robots need to be careful around the squishier of us, lest they do something they regret."

Stein watched what she was doing, trying not to think too much about that flash of underwear. He was a professional, and had examined girls many times before - perhaps not young girls that were quite as developed and beautiful as Mikaela, granted.

He curled his hand over her thigh at the lower place she indicated, pressing his fingers deep into the place. If there were some kind of residual physical damage one would think pressure would cause pain.

"Going nuts..." he murmured, then chuckled darkly. "Anything's possible, but I doubt it. I think what you're experiencing is a lot like phantom limb syndrome. Your body is so sure you should be feeling pain that it's manufacturing pain even though there's no damage left."

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"To be fair, I don't think the 'Cons care all that much about little squishies like us," she said with a rueful laugh. "If anything, us squishies should try to not do stupid shit like running through the middle of a giant robot fight."

It had taken her a long time to come to terms with the fact that what had happened had been as much her fault as Boncecrusher's, if not more. After all, she could expect an Autobot to keep an eye on his feet and try to avoid casual destruction of bystanders, but a Decepticon? That was just foolish.

She'd probably never be able to assume responsibility entirely for the accident, though.

The pressure was a little uncomfortable, only because he was probing so hard with his fingers, but there was definitely no pain.

"...Huh," she said. "That...that makes sense, I guess!"

[screwloose]

Stein laughed softly. "I suppose we can't expect others to protect us," he said. "We have to take responsibility for ourselves. Especially when it comes to running through pitched battle between giant human-hating robots."

Even as he spoke, he moved his hand to the other leg, sliding it up gently to the spot he'd indicated and repeating the test there.

"I think it does make sense," he said. "Your body isn't used to magical healing, right? So it's just a bit confused. It'll probably work itself out over time, but if it gets worse you might want to talk to the one who healed you and see if he can figure out what he did wrong."

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she said with a sigh and a twist of her lips. "I guess so."

But that didn't mean she had to like the idea, and definitely didn't mean it had been easy for her to do so far as she already had. It was hard to admit that the giant evil robot who'd maimed her probably hadn't done it on purpose.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've had my body healed magically," she said with a chuckle. Then she sighed again, squirming a little before she realized he was trying to examine her still and making herself sit still.

"I dunno where he is. He hasn't been online in a while..."