fandom_clinic | FTEC, Thursday (3/31)

Raven was still tired from what had happened in Rinoa's world, and her stomach was still giving her trouble to boot, but she came down to the clinic as promised anyway. "Hello, Dana," she said as she came into the clinic. "Is Triela here yet?"

"No, she isn't here yet," Scully said, getting out the brain scans from the previous week. "Which is just as well. I need to explain a few things." She opened the file, and said carefully, "I don't think any healing to Triela's brain is possible at this time. Partly because I think it could leave you incapable of healing yourself."

"Please do not underestimate my gifts," Raven said, though her tone was not indignant. Pride compelled her to speak up, however.

"But what do you mean?" she had to ask.

Scully spread out the brain scans, the lighted PET images, and pointed to the darker areas, biting her lip. "These areas in the center of the brain-- they've started to shut down for Triela. They control memory, and some higher brain functions. Your ability depends on taking on the exact injury of the person you heal, is that right?"

Raven studied the scans, though she really had no idea what the colors meant other than what Scully told her. "Yes," she said, nodding. "When I heal, a person's pain and injuries become mine until I dispel them."

Scully looked grim and a little sad. "I don't know exactly how magic ties into your mind, or your memory. Or how much longer it would take you to heal from it, if the injury was to your brain, and possibly some part that controlled your healing. You might end up permanently injured, Raven."

"My gifts are part of who I am," Raven insisted. "I do not think my brain has anything to do with it."

Definitely not at this moment.

"..." Scully paused, and then noncommittally managed, "Well, it's probably better we start with the muscle and nerve damage first, anyway. Just to get an idea of how long it takes to work for Triela, and how long it takes for you to recover. Today, anyway."

"If you wish," Raven said with another nod. "You know her better, so I will follow your instructions."

She winced a little as her stomach did another flip-flop; for all her talk of dispelling pain and illness, she hadn't been able to shake that.

"Is there anything I should know about you before we start this?" Scully asked, concerned, watching her. "Anything I should look for?"

Raven shook her head dismissively. "I am fine," she said. "My stomach has been upset since yesterday, which is unusual, since I do not get sick. It is better than it was, however, and it has not affected my ability to heal. I had no difficulty healing Sookie's arms when they were burned."

Raven's arms certainly didn't look burned. Scully was still slightly worried. "You can stop this at any time," she reiterated. "And if anything unusual happens while you're healing Triela, I want to know. Even if you think it's nothing. She has so many different drugs in her system, you might not recognize the effects of something until you're experiencing it."

"You may monitor me, as I said, in whatever way you wish," Raven said. "I will attempt to tell you what I am feeling, but when I am caught up in healing, it is not always easy for me to speak."

Scully was inviting her to monologue while healing. She had no idea what she could be unleashing.

"If you're still feeling ill in a few days, you should come back in," Scully added, now worried for Raven as well. "Just to make sure it isn't something serious." She sighed. "Have you ever had serious side effects from healing before?"

"I do not get sick," Raven said, almost pouting about it. "This is very unusual. I do not sense illness within my body, nor any sort of accidental poisoning, such as something I ate. But I am certain it will fade soon."

In answer to Scully's question, she shook her head again. "There was a time when I could not purge the pains within me, but that was my father's influence," she said. "I do not have that problem now."

"Okay," Scully said, mostly reassured. She smiled a little at Raven's pouting. "Upset emotions, maybe? Or lack of sleep?"

Raven chewed at her lower lip. "I began feeling this way after I was very angry and afraid," she admitted. "And then my boyfriend said he loved me for the first time. Perhaps it was...emotional whiplash?"

"That would make sense. Up and down emotions and stress, working things out in your mind..." She wasn't going to mention anything about adolescent hormones. Ever. Not when she had to put up with them herself. "If it doesn't settle down in a week, come back in and see someone. Just to be sure."

"Very well," Raven said reluctantly. She didn't exactly disdain non-magical healing; she just didn't think it could do her any good. "But I am certain I will feel better soon."

Triela showed up later than the appointed time.

She'd forgotten about the appointment.

"Sorry I'm late." She didn't explain. Maybe they wouldn't ask.

"That's okay, Triela." Scully certainly wasn't going to try to make her feel worse about it. "You know Raven. After we get the brain images for this week, I want to hook you both up to the EEGs while she works on healing some of your physical damage."

"Hello, Triela," Raven greeted her. "Do not worry, Dana and I have been talking, and I barely noticed the passage of time. How are you today?"

"I'm fine." Well... relatively speaking, anyway.

"And that sounds acceptable."

"Remember these seven words, for the end of today's appointment," Dana said. "Salt, blood, glass, tea, lace, pearls, snow." She studied Triela as she lead them into the brain imaging room. "Have you experienced any more memory loss, or intensification of your other systems?" She turned on the machine. "This won't take long, Raven. And you'll be able to see Triela's brain in real-time."

~~Brain and brain, what is brain?~~

Raven merely nodded. She didn't quite trust a machine to show her was was wrong, but Dana believed in its power, so she accepted its use.

"Rate of memory loss incidents seems to be accelerating," Triela answered, matter-of-factly.

She was back to being completely deadpan, and Scully wasn't thrilled about it, but it did make the rest of the examination easier, at least. "Okay."

She carefully ran the imaging session, pointed out the dark spots to Raven... which, according to the computer, had become 5-10% larger in comparison to last week. That finding was in front of Raven's eyes too. Damnit.

Then she hooked them both up to the EEG, and switched on the devices. "Ready when you are, Raven. As soon as you feel ready."

Raven could see the colors had changed on the brain pictures, and she took Scully's word for what it meant. She nodded and settled next to Triela, giving her a friendly smile. "Dana wishes me to heal the nerve and muscle damage first," she said. "Are you comfortable with that?"

Triela eyed Raven for a moment. "If you think you can do it, feel free."

Why not, after all?

Scully settled in, keeping a careful eye on both of them and on the monitors, and tamped down any urge for hope. Much too soon for that.

Raven touched one hand to Triela's shoulder, the other to her leg, closing her eyes as she concentrated. She could feel the damage to Triela's body, and she reached out to that now, drawing it into her own. Her body stiffened as she gasped in sudden pain.

Triela... didn't really feel different. The drugs in her system suppress pain, so she hadn't been aware of how much the damage should have hurt her.

"What's wrong?" she asked Raven with a slight frown of consternation.

"Raven?" Scully watched Triela's brain stay steady and even, while Raven's showed much more activity, comparable to someone in great pain. "You can stop at any time. You don't have to do this all at once, or at all."

Raven shook her head. "I am all right," she said, though the soft noises of pain she made didn't make her words sound all that convincing. "The pain will pass."

She just wasn't sure how Triela hadn't felt all this. The drugs Scully had mentioned were powerful indeed.

She glanced over at Dana. "How much do you wish me to do?" she asked. She wanted to try to take all Triela's pain into herself, but she'd promised to do what Scully said.

"Her joints in her shoulders and arms," Scully said in a very quiet voice. "But I reserve the possibility of stopping if this causes you too much distress."

Raven nodded. "I am fine," she repeated, focusing her power on Triela's arms. The prosthetics felt strange to her, but where there were still actual nerves and tissue, she could use her gifts, repairing the damage and restoring them to health.

She could also sense the drugs in Triela's system, and she was tempted to try to take those as well, but she managed to restrain herself. It was difficult enough healing the physical damage, and her own body ached with the effort.

"She looks like she's in pain," Triela observed to Scully with a slight frown.

That didn't strike her as a good thing.

"Your pain becomes mine," Raven said. "I take it into myself and feel it as if it is my own. But it will pass...it will pass."

Just in the meantime it hurt like hell.

"But I don't feel pain like that," Triela objected, still frowning.

"The drugs block it for you," Scully pointed out quietly. "Your body experiences it, but the signals don't reach your brain. Raven's experiencing it without the drugs. And she can quit at any time," she reminded Raven, a little more worriedly.

"I do not need to stop," Raven insisted, drawing at more of the pain. Her breathing was ragged, though, and her body was quivering in pain. Oh, Azar, it hurt.

"Yes you do." Triela shifted slightly, pulling herself just a bit away from Raven.

"A break," Scully said, jumping in as soon as Triela started to move. "At least for you to heal up yourself."

Raven reluctantly drew back, breaking the link between herself and Triela. "There is still much healing to be done," she said. "I am certain I can do it. My pain is not important."

Triela looked doubtful. "And why not?"

"Because, as I said, it will pass through me," Raven said, wincing as she flexed her shoulder as the pain worked its way out of her. "And I am a healer. I accept my own discomfort in the name of helping others."

"Discomfort is one thing; accumulated possible damage is another. When your brainwaves are normal again, then you can start up again," Scully said firmly. She looked at Triela, and added, "If Triela's okay with it."

"Have you ever dealt with damage like this?" Triela asked thoughtfully.

After all, while she may have been resigned to dying herself, she didn't want to inflict what she was going through on anyone else.

FTEC, Thursday (3/31)

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