Cloning/Medical Facilities

It was dark when she woke up. Adelle lifted her head off the arm of the couch and wiped the drool from her mouth hurriedly. Force, how long had she been asleep? Her limbs and joints felt stiff with sleep, warm and heavy and thick. She stood slowly, vainly trying to avoid the rush of blood from her head. Her balance wavered for a moment before the stars cleared from her vision and she could see, relatively. Light crept in around the joints of the blastdoor leading to the office and she could feel Morgan with someone. Oh, Na'an. There was something she needed to do with Na'an. Adelle stared at the floor, trying to figure out what exactly had caught her attention about Na'an. She folded her arms over her chest, the tattered fabric shifting. It smelled like smoke and holes spread easily in the thread-bare tank top.

"Chuba," she breathed. That was the third shirt in a month. Maybe she should stop buying second-hand and actually use the robes provided by the Praxeum. Or maybe stop taking so many risks when out on missions. Adelle stripped off the shirt, balled it up, and tossed it to the side with a huff. A touch of her finger opened a drawer of her desk and she rummaged around until she found the spare she usually kept in here. The smooth black fabric followed a similar pattern to the tabard most Jedi wore but had enough fabric to be modest. It was definitely a less utilitarian take on her usual wear. She slipped it on and grabbed her green sash from the couch, carefully tying it around her waist again. Raking her fingers through her hair, she tamed the long mane into her usual braid then tapped the control panel to the blastdoor. And got a face full of bright fluorescent light. Adelle shut her eyes tight and brought a hand up to shield them from the harsh glare as a flood of incoherent swears spilled from her mouth. Oh wait, Morgan was here. The swearing died to a soft hiss. Adelle rubbed her eyes and tried opening them again, squinting. Na'an sat back in a chair, reclining with her feet on the coffee table, while Morgan stood in front of her, hand on a whip at her waist and head turned back over her shoulder. Shit, she'd interrupted something. By the looks of it, Morgan befriending Na'an.

"Morgan, Na'an," she said. She leaned against a wall, still trying to wake up. Na'an seemed relaxed for the most part, but there was a tension in the way she sat that belied the open posture, even if only by a little. Morgan, likewise, was both at once uncomfortable and open, a slight downward quirk in her smile, a crease in her forehead. Since Morgan didn't know strangers and Na'an wouldn't open up to just anyone, Adelle figured they must've been having a difficult talk. "I'm sorry if I interrupted something."

One of the straps on Morgan's dress sat askew, showing a small portion of the odd circular scar there. Gently, Adelle reached down and straightened the strap to rest properly on her shoulder. Scars. They'd been talking about scars. Suddenly the tension made sense and in some odd way it was heartwarming. A friend and her daughter opening up to each other, encouraging each other, and helping the other heal. Adelle couldn't help but smile to herself as she sat down. Suddenly she remembered why Na'an was in her office in the first place. She leaned forward towards Na'an, watching her face closely.

"Na'an, has your eye been bothering you?"

This time it was Na'an's turn to jump a little. When Morgan had said sedated, it clearly didn't mean sedated enough to sleep for hours. She sat up straighter, smoothed her shirt down over her hip and stomach again, then looked to Adelle with an expression that was deliberately too composed to not have mischief in it. 

"That's right," she said brightly, "but your daughter here kept me company while you finished your nap. What's this about my eye?"

At the mention of rubbing her eye, Na'an stopped and blinked, looking a little abashed.  "It's nothing," she said quickly. "The alignment's still good, and it's working just fine...It just itches sometimes, that's all. It'll go away, it always does." 


Her hand had crept halfway up to her face as she spoke; noticing, she swiftly tucked it under her hip and sat on her fingers. 

Itching, she said. Adelle leaned back, holding a fist to her mouth, brow furrowed in concentration. Itching could mean many things. An irritant, a contaminant, the socket too dry. Na'an said the alignment was fine, but even a hair's breadth off it could irritate. Rub against the inner wall a little too hard with a seam, maybe, though she rather doubted that. Leigh had been too thorough, too precise in her craftsmanship to allow for that. "It'll go away, it always does," she said. It was a chronic irritation then. Too much use? Babylon had been intended for use in extreme conditions. Using it in normal circumstances shouldn't provide so much trouble.

"I'll need to take a closer look, Na'an," Adelle said, standing up. "The problem is it shouldn't be itching. At all. If you'll step into the back, please." She turned and looked at Morgan. "You can stay if you want. It's just going to be boring doctor stuff."

Adelle preceded her into the examination room, tapping a few buttons on a small terminal in the wall. A panel in the ceiling slid back as a machine lowered. A halo of scanners held by white arms lowered towards the table and stopped. "This scanner will take images at multiple levels. Skeletal, muscular, neurological, and dermatological," she said. "It'll help me see what's going on with your eye and highlight potential problem areas. I'll need you to stand, just there, beside the table for this. Look straight at the wall and hold very still."

When Na'an had taken her position, Adelle gently tilted her chin up ever so slightly so the scanner could get a clearer image of the eye, the socket, and the cornea. She'd never noticed the silver slivers mixed with the stormy grey of the iris before. Turning on her heel, she pressed a few more buttons and the machine hummed to life. Slowly, the scanner slid down around Na'an's head until it halted just above her shoulders. The wall just next to the scanner's terminal flickered to life, a three-dimensional image of Na'an's brain popping up on the screen. Adelle retracted the machine and set to examining the images. Babylon's connections functioned perfectly, lighting up the proper areas of the brain. The alignment was still spot on, set by a precision that Adelle was hard-pressed to acknowledge as hers. She zoomed out to the skeletal layer then the muscular when she found no flaws. She nibbled on the tip of her thumb thoughtfully as she brought up the dermatological layer. Scar tissue had made a mess of the soft skin around the eye. Adelle knit her brows together then zoomed in on the tear duct. Scarring covered it as well and while Babylon didn't need lubricant, the eye socket certainly did. Surgically, she might be able to open the tear duct back up. Might being the keyword. Adelle grunted and tapped twice on the screen, making it disappear before she pulled a cabinet out of the wall. After a moment of searching, she selected a small bottle of synthetic human tears.

"This should help with the itching and keeping your eye socket clean," she said, offering the bottle. She locked eyes with Na'an. "I'm serious. Tell me if this doesn't work."

Na'an took the datapad and squinted over it, kneading her left thumb idly--the thin band of scarring across the pad sometimes made bio-signatures difficult unless she softened it up first. On a whim, she swiped it across the corner of her eye, rubbing the miraculous liquid that had pooled there into the rough tissue. Doc had marked the spaces where the signature was needed, and she pressed the digit into each spot in turn. Whatever was in those tears seemed to do a lot of good there, too.
"Five years," she muttered. "That's a damn shame. For a minute there I thought you'd..."

She trailed off, biting her lip a little, then decided not to continue. "But hey, it's not my business," she finished, shrugging it off.

*An energetic tune gently rang out through the waiting area as Morgan found herself at odd with a particularly large and nasty monster, one that was preparing a big attack that could wipe out her entire party. She just had to get it to topple, which would break the attack and save her party. And possibly the entire fight. But the beast was being stubborn, despite her efforts, and it seemed the fight would not end well for her...

When success! The beast fell, and just in time! Morgan shot up a little straighter in her seat with an excited gasp before pressing the attack, lest the beast return to its feat and carry out its dark designs. But her attack that inflicted increased damage on a fallen enemy didn't quite do the job. She bit her lip, then gasped softly when the monster got back to its feet. Oh no, it was going to finish them off! But it only had a sliver of health left...

That attack. It was the only one that wasn't cooling down, but it was only useful in certain circumstances. But she'd lose if she didn't do something! Against the odds, she selected the attack, connecting... And the beast still had a small sliver of health left! She was doomed!

That was, until one of her party members triggered a skill that had just cooled down, finishing off the beast!* "YES!" *Morgan exclaimed with a pump of her fist, startling the tailring on her shoulder, who spread his wings and attempted to regain his balance. Proudly, she beamed, looting the beast's equipment before looking up curiously.

She'd sensed something... a familiar and beloved presence she hadn't seen for quite some time. First Mama, then Keith, now him? Was it her birthday? Beaming, she hopped up, stopping briefly to save her game; she did not want to have to repeat that fight. Stuffing the datapad away, she ran out of the waiting room, excitement and concern on her expression; it was great that he was here, but he was also here, in the medical facilities, so he could be injured or possibly just going through a checkup.

Either way, she made haste and located him quickly, sitting by himself and hooked up to a dialysis machine. So just a checkup then, though he did look more than a little dirty. Grinning, she called out,* "Zemear!" *before running up to meet him. She hopped up onto the examination table where he sat, on the other side of the IV in his arm, so that she could gently wrap herself around him in a hug.* "I missed you, big brother!"

*Morgan grinned, feeling comfortable in his limited embrace. She was probably getting herself a little dirty, but that was okay, she still had to shower from her own jungle journey the day before. She'd at least managed to change back into normal clothing and brush her hair. "Normal." She supposed that dress made for her by a Felucian woman was anything but normal, but Morgan certainly liked wearing it more than "normal" clothing. It was unique and interesting; "normal" clothes were boring.

Zemear didn't verbally reply, which didn't disappoint Morgan; speech wasn't exactly easy for him, after all. Instead, he showed her his datapad and various images he'd taken on his journey through the wilderness.* "Wow," *she breathed, looking over them. She'd never truthfully gone very deep into the wilderness, though she'd managed to discover a handful of amazing things herself, such as that underground lake and cavern with Terra and Jake.

Then she came upon images of what appeared to be a beach! Here, on Felucia?* "You found this?!" *she exclaimed excitedly as she looked up at Zemear, then back down at the image. She'd wanted to go to a beach, but never had been able to. The fact that one existed here on Felucia was more than exciting; the lakes and ponds she'd found were nice, but there was still that curiosity about how beaches compared.* "I wanna go..."

*Normally she might've gotten a little upset at someone who'd ruffled her just-brushed hair, but since it was Zemear, she only giggled as she reached up with a hand to straighten it out again. Her arm brushed by Lokay, who'd remained silently perched on her shoulder, though had sniffed at Zemear affectionately.

Morgan was then shocked to see a Felucian with a much lighter skin tone than she was used to. What other secrets lay hidden on her home?! Zemear then changed the view to a map, showing that the tribe this one belonged to was near that beach... and also an incredible distance away from the base. A distance that would be quite impressive on Rush alone, but Zemear had taken the really long way: On foot. That was impressive, and just another testament to the strength of her brother.*

"I wish I could've gone with you," *she said, snuggling against him, then smiling at him.* "But I'm glad you're back," *she added, kissing him on the cheek.*