screwloose | [RL with Mikaela]

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[RL with Mikaela]

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."

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"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!"

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."

"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..."

"If that's the case, I can see why you decided to talk to a doctor, rather than the source," Stein said, finishing the examination and tugging the hem of her robe down again lightly as he took his hand off of her.

"The fact is," he said with a sigh, rotating the bolt again and glancing away suddenly to follow the path of something wriggling in the corner, which only he could see. "I have some experience with magic, but mostly it's with killing people who can do it - not actually performing magic myself. If the healing was done badly, all I can really do is cut you open again and try to fix the problem. I don't think that's really necessary."

Then he gave her a wicked grin. "But I'd love to do it, if you have time...?"

Mikaela sat up on the table, pulling the robe down a little more. She nodded as she listened; she'd been afraid the verdict would be something like this, which was why she'd waited until she was sure it was definitely happening and not just some coincidence to try and talk to somebody about it.

She probably would have been horrified by the offer if she hadn't seen the grin he gave her as he made it. "Well, tempting as that is," she said with a grin of her own, "I'm pretty sure Apollo fixed me up right, what with being the god of healing and all.

"So I guess I'll just wait and hope my legs don't pop off randomly~"

A flicker of disappointment was visible in his eyes before he gave her a warmer and far less creepy smile. "I don't think your legs are going to pop off, but if it gets worse then definitely come back and I'll do some more tests. In the meantime, eat some protein and do lots of exercise. You need to show your muscles that they're fine."

He patted her on the shoulder and then took a step back, turning away towards the door. "I'll just let you get dressed. Do you want a cup of coffee or anything before we head back?"

That little flash of disappointment was far creepier to her than his grin had been, but she put it from her mind. "Okay," she said brightly, "I think I can manage that. Go for a walk or a bike ride instead of taking my motorcycle, or something..." The exercise was definitely going to be harder than getting some protein in her diet, that was for sure.

She swung her legs over the edge of the table, feet swinging again. "Yeah, I think I'd like some coffee, thanks!"

"Good, you should stay fit, anyway," Stein said. "It'd be a shame if you lost that figure of yours. I'll be in the living room, making the coffee, back the way we came. Take your time."

And he slipped out of the room, closing it behind him.

"That's as important as making my legs stop hurting~" she said with a laugh, though some color came into her cheeks as she said it. "I'll be out in a minute!"

She waited until the door had closed and pulled off the gown. Unsure of where it she should put it, she just folded it and left it on the examination table. She pulled on her clothes and took a minute to settle them, redid her ponytail, and then picked up her helmet and went looking for the living room.

The living room wasn't hard to find, and when Mikaela emerged Stein was in the midst of making coffee in a large beaker with the use of medical filters, a distillation apparatus, and a bunsen burner.

"Please, make yourself at home," he said cheerfully, tending the bubbling mixture. "Do you like cream and sugar?"

Mikaela couldn't help a double-take when she saw what it was he was using to make coffee. So much for a coffee machine or a carafe, huh?

"Yeah," she said with a nod, setting her helmet down in the nearest couch and walking over to join him. "More sugar than cream, please. Hell of a set-up you've got here!"

"Thank you," Stein said cheerfully, pouring some sugar and cream in measured amounts into one beaker, and just sugar into the other. He added the coffee and stirred with a glass rod, then offered the whiter one to her. "I know it's unusual, but it works just as well as a regular coffee maker," he added with a grin.

"So tell me Mikaela, what were you doing running through a battlefield filled with robots?" he asked, gesturing for them to sit down on one of the couches.

"It's really cool," she said with a laugh, accepting hers with a sunny smile. She sipped it, then nodded happily as she found it to her taste. "'S good coffee, too!"

Her smile faltered a little as she sat herself down on the indicated couch, crossing her legs daintily as she settled. "Mostly just trying to get to Bumblebee before the 'Cons blew up the hospital."

"Bumblebee?" Stein prompted, taking a sip of his own coffee. "I'm guessing you're from the same world that they're from? Or did you get involved with the robots through the community?"

"An Autobot. One of my best friends, too," she clarified quickly. "He gave me a ride to the hospital 'cause he wouldn't let me go on my own while Blackout was there. When Bonecrusher and the Megatron from Sari's world showed up..." She shrugged. "Made sense to try and get back to him."

She took a sip of the coffee. "'M from their world, yeah. Sam--that's my boyfriend--Sam and I kind of...discovered them together? We got all mixed up with 'em and haven't been able to get away since." She didn't really sound like she regretted that.

Stein was becoming curious despite himself. "What's the difference between a Decepticon and an Autobot?" he asked. "Are they the same race, but different factions, or actually a different kind of robot? And where do the humans fit in where you come from?"

"No, they're all Cybertronians," she said. "One race. Although Ratchet's told me that some of the Decepticons have, like, different or modified programming from Autobots, so they're...kind of different. Ish."

She pursed her lips. "They came to our planet looking for something," she said. "This big cube, the Allspark. And since both Autobots and 'Cons showed up, they started fighting over it, so we kinda got caught in the middle."

Stein settled back on the couch, sipping his coffee as he listened to her explanation. "Wow, so your planet was invaded by warring robot aliens. That's too bad. I guess it's good that they're not all bad."

"Yeah, 's definitely good. I think of Megatron hadn't gotten all stuck in ice when he first showed up, I probably wouldn't be here right now." She shivered a little, wrapping her fingers and taking a long sip of the coffee, as if it had been only cold that made her shiver.

Stein patted her lightly on the shoulder. "A lot of things happen," he said philosophically. "There's no point in trying to make sense of it. Just best to take the world the way it is, and try to deal the problems that really do exist."

She smiled wanly over at him, giving herself another shake to chase away the melancholy that threatened her if she dwelled too long on that reflection. "That's some pretty good advice, doctor."

"Well, I am supposed to be an educator of children," he said, his eyes dancing behind the lenses of his glasses. "So I had to come up with a list of useful platitudes."

She couldn't help a laugh. "Got a whole list, huh?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice. "What're some of the other ones?"

"Oh, you know, 'believe in yourself', and 'eat your green vegetables', that kind of thing," Stein said with a laugh.

"Sounds like every year of elementary school," she said, grinning wryly. They'd gotten pumped full of that stuff all the time. "'Everyone's special.' 'Share and share alike.' 'Don't do to other what you don't want them to do to you.' 'Always brush your teeth.'"

[RL with Mikaela]

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