Aberrant: Dead Rising - On The Safe Side

[Jasmine Gentian]

((This fic takes place in the early afternoon, the day after the raid on "Paradise" - Dr. Shattuck has informed Morgan that she insists on inspecting all the supers who were involved with the attack on the Super-Zombie, so if you're one of those people you will have received some sort of request to see Dr. Shattuck immediately. Yesterday, preferably. Also anyone else who wishes to see Dr. Shattuck for any reason can feel free to join in the fic too, even if you weren't involved in that combat. If you were involved in the fight but don't wish to participate in the fic, it's safe to assume Myf checked you out already.))

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Jasmine lay curled up in Jim's arms, teetering on the edge of sleep. The raid on Hornbeck's hell had been exhausting, both physically and emotionally. Jim's "attentions" had proven an excellent distraction for awhile, but once he had fallen asleep with his arms wrapped around her, Jasmine's mind had wandered back to all the memories of the past twenty-four hours. Finding her brother dead was a painful throb now that echoed the discovery of her father's corpse. Oddly she wasn't bothered too much by the deaths of all of Hornsbeck's thugs.. that might come later, but as angry as she had been about her brother, she still couldn't find it in herself to care that she had slaughtered some of the men who'd played a part in it. What she couldn't get out of her mind, however, was the feeling of wrongness that she'd been left with after having grappled with that undead monstrosity. It was that feeling that kept her on the edge of sleep, anxious enough not to be able to relax enough to actually drift off.

It was still early afternoon, and Jasmine could hear movement outside of the tent, in the distance. No one usually came over to this area unless they were looking for Jim, however, and so she was surprised to see the approaching shadow of someone coming down the path to where the tent was, and to hear the footsteps grow louder as they approached. She assumed people would have enough sense to leave those that had dealt with Paradise alone for the day. She tried to slip out of Jim's arms without waking or bothering him, though she knew she'd probably be unsuccessful at the former, at least. Then she grabbed a white button-down shirt that he'd left draped over one of his chairs from the day before and pulled it on, buttoning it quickly as she saw the visitor's shadow near the flap of the tent. It was large enough on Jasmine's petite frame to keep her modest, and whether she was fully dressed or wearing nothing but Jim's shirt, it was bound to get around that they were involved. News around this place spread faster than wildfire, so she wasn't going to waste a lot of effort denying it, or acting embarrassed about it - she wasn't. She pulled open the flap of the tent just as the man approaching was about to call out for Jim, catching him off-guard.

"What do you need, and can it wait?"

It wasn't said with any real rancor, just a certain weariness that made Morgan's messenger boy bite back any wisecrack he'd wanted to make about finding Jasmine here. After all, he'd worked with her on the wall and knew her well enough to get away with a little joking around, normally. But this time he shook his head apologetically.

"Afraid it can't, Jas - sorry. Captain Fox says Dr. Shattuck wants to see Jim and check him out - you too, actually, I just wasn't sure where to find you. Said somethin' about a fight you guys were involved in."

[Fox]

Jasmine considered that for a moment, then nodded. It wasn't worth giving the messenger a hard time. "We'll be there soon." The man nodded, fought the urge to smirk at the sight of Jasmine wearing Bond's shirt, and left before he lost that fight.

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before Dr Shattuck wrangled me onto the operating table." The irony in Bond's tone was matched only by wicked humour as he rose from the bed and pulled on a pale blue t-shirt with "Smooth-talking Bar Steward" written in faded white letters across the chest. A pair of khaki shorts and flip-flops completed the ensemble, the casual look somewhat off-set by the cross-draw gun harness the mercenary drew on over the t-shirt, the hilts of the Desert Eagles gleaming.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine's lips twitched slightly in amusement as she gave him a good once-over.

"So is this the 'casual' look? I don't think I've seen it before.. just 'on duty' and 'hot date'."

She glanced around for clothes, and found the boot-cut jeans and t-shirt she'd been wearing the other day to the "discussion" about the Paradise raid. It looked to be one of the few she hadn't acquired from Violet, as it fit her reasonably well for once and had a picture of an old-school Nintendo "Duck Hunt" gun on it with the words "Original Gangsta" in gang-style black lettering on it. She unbuttoned the shirt she'd pulled on so hastily, and slipped into the skimpy underclothes she'd gotten accustomed to wearing before pulling on the rest of the outfit. She grabbed her boots, and sat down in a chair to pull them on - they were the only shoes she had at the moment.

"So, whaddya think she wants? I mean, we weren't hurt or anything, I wonder why the checkup."

[SalmonMax]

The infirmary was a flurry of activity...much more than usual. Dr Singh and several of the nurses that he and Myfwany had drafted, including Violet, paraded the rows of women rescuees, collectively finishing up their examinations. Myfwany herself had helped the evening and night after the prison raid, but now was planning to focus on something only she could do; the 'super' physicals. Not full physicals, really...but the existence of a super-zombie had scared her badly when they'd told her of it. Not just because the zombies shouldn't HAVE any ability to change or mutate, but because if they did, it could also mean that the supers' immunity was a thing of the past.

She'd already sent word to Jasmine, but when Hana had come in, quiet and shy, and avoiding the prison refugees, she'd relented and agreed to give Hana her entry physical herself. Myf couldn't blame Hana...the refugees could be a bit creepy, some of them. All of them were terribly traumatized, and some showed it more than others. Being in her office, out of sight of them, was a constant gentle relief that she felt vaguely guilty about feeling. She tried to banish it with a vow to take over for Singh once she'd checked out the supers who'd come into contact with the mega-zombie, but it persisted...small and quiet, like Hana herself.

"Just have a seat here," Myfwany invited Hana, indicating her desk chair. "Before I start, is there anything you want to ask me about? Any aches or pains...trouble sleeping? Have you felt sick recently?"

[Atomicweasel]

"No." Hana answered flatly as she dropped into the desk chair.

Clean-scrubbed, Hana barely looked a day over twelve. The dirty urchin Myfwany had met during the prison raid was hard to see in the little girl that sat before the doctor now. Her hair was washed and brushed and hung loose and dark. She was wearing a white tee two sizes too big for her, with 'FNAC' written in crisp bold letters across the chest. The shirt collar had chosen to sag to the left, baring Hana's breastbone and almost slanting right off her slender tanned shoulder. The tee fell amply past Hana's girlish hips to her coltish thighs, almost covering the little black athletic shorts with yellow racing stripes on the sides. Even the well worn Adidas and the friendship bracelet on Hana's wrist looked a little less filthy.

But for all that, there was still something wild about Hana. Though she sat there meekly, arms crossed over her chest and knees tipped together, Myfwany couldn't help but notice something as Hana glanced up at her. A strange shadow across the child's deep blue eyes.

"I'm fine." Hana added, swallowing. And then the shadow behind Hana's eyes was gone, and there was just a nervous little girl sitting there waiting for her exam.

[Fox]

Originally Posted By: Jasmine Gentian

"So, whaddya think she wants? I mean, we weren't hurt or anything, I wonder why the checkup."

"No idea. But seeing as she asked nicely, I feel like obliging. Besides, a free check up probably isn't a bad idea. I haven't seen a doctor since before Z-Day."

The two of them walked across the Refuge to the infirmary, enjoying the sunshine. Though not exactly Eden, the Refuge seemed like a slice of the Garden after the spiritual filth of Hornsbeck's version of Paradise. They passed through the outer ward of the infirmary, Bond nodding a greeting to Dr Singh before he stepped up to the office door, rat-a-tat-ing politely on the wooden panel.

[SalmonMax]

Myf nodded and started by reaching down to take Hana's pulse; a routine so automatic that even when she noticed that little flicker behind the girl's eyes she didn't stop the count in the back of her head. With a frown she reached over to pick up a little penlight and shone it into Hana's eyes briefly.

"Hana...this will sound odd, but have you noticed anything..."

She broke off at the knock at her door. It had a brisk sort of demanding air to it that she didn't associate with Jasmine. No, this was more like...

"Bond," she murmured with a sigh. "Hana, just a second, let me get that really fast."

Myfwany went to her office door and pulled it open. On seeing Bond and Jasmine there she lifted an eyebrow.

"That was faster than I expected...but I'm glad you came. Just give me fifteen minutes to finish up here and I'll be right with you." She smiled, then eased the door shut again and looked over at Hana.

"Sorry about that. As I was saying...have you noticed anything new about yourself recently?" As she asked, Myfwany concentrated, until the world in her eyes seemed to melt into overlapping colors and light; matter was revealed as the thin sham it was, and all was just overlapping, interacting fields of energy.

(Turning on Quantum Attunement vision and Lifesense to assess our young Hana!)

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded to Myf as she closed the door, and then glanced at Jim and shrugged a little. A brief glance around the area showed it to be well-occupied with little in the way of free seating, so Jasmine leaned against the wall patiently, her eyes moving around the room lazily as she took in Singh's treatments. She nodded politely at Violet when the buxom super glanced her way, and offered her a smile. It was good to see that Violet had found something truly productive to do around the Refuge, maybe it would help her reputation a little.

[Courier]

Early afternoon found James working on the wall and be pestered by the men there about the raid and women they'd 'acquired'. James welcomed the opportunity to escape. If only it hadn't been to see Myf. It wasn't that Violet would be there, or that he didn't need to see her, it was just... Myf was the person more likely than any of them to be the barer of bad news, and there wasn't an upper limit on what 'bad' could mean.

James walked in and nodded hello to Violet then looked away. Some wounds healed faster than others. Turning away, James said, "Jas. James. Any idea what this is about?"

[Atomicweasel]

"You mean...like my period?" Hana asked guardedly, but Myfwany wasn't really listening. She was looking straight into the young girl.

Myfwany could see everything. The pulsing lines of life, the shades of Hana's spirit, as crisp and clear and naked as a cold bright Autumn day. And beneath it all, like a deep and buried current in the stone of Hana's being...something more.

"Hmmm..." Myfwany sat back, gazed at Hana pensively.

"What?" Hana asked anxiously, uncrossing her arms to grip the sides of the chair. She looked ready to bolt.

"Nothing." Myfwany shook her head. "Go ahead and get undressed, Hana. I need to check you for bites. I know it's a little embarrassing, but we need to keep everyone in the refuge safe." The doctor smiled gently. "Okay?"

Hana looked warily at Myfwany for a moment before slipping out of the chair and back onto her feet. She pushed down on the heel of one Adidas with the toe of the other, stepping out of one sneaker and then the other. Wordlessly she pulled the tee shirt up and over her head, getting it briefly tangled in the long unruly mane of her hair. Hana's budding little breasts sprang free, perfectly perky, as she finally wrestled free of the shirt and dumped it on Myfwany's desk. With a wriggle of her hips she doffed her shorts, hurriedly yanking her panties down with them until she stood naked before Myfwany, blushing with self-consciousness.

"See?" Hana finally broke her silence, defiantly thrusting out her arms to show Myfwany the smooth tanned skin. Bite free.

"Good, Hana. Now turn around."

The girl turned, letting Myfwany inspect her small svelte body until the doctor said, "Alright. That's fine, Hana. You can get dressed. You seem very healthy."

Hana dressed as hurriedly as she had stripped, hiking her shorts up, jamming the tee shirt back over her head and stomping into her sneakers.

Myfwany completed her exam by having Hana do a few simple stretches. "That's very good, Hana. Thank you," she pronounced as Hana unfurled from touching her toes.

"I'm done?" Hana asked.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded a greeting to James as he approached, and shrugged a little at the question he directed towards them.

"Nothing for sure - the guy who got us said it was about the fight, I assume she just wants to make sure we're okay."

A brief scowl flickered across her face as she contemplated the effect she had noticed on James immediately after the fight, the angry streaks of black that had wrapped across his chest. She almost asked him about it, but in front of all these people she didn't want to freak anyone out, or get them too anxious. But she wondered if he was feeling the same kind of "wrongness" she'd been experiencing since the battle with the super-zombie. Now she wished she'd told Jim about it, but the only time she'd really had the chance, they'd been a little preoccupied with taking their minds off the horror they'd experienced. She'd expected the feeling to go away, or at least lesson.. she assumed that it had just been disgust with the whole experience. But now that she remembered what she had seen manifest on James, she wasn't so sure, and it made her nervous.

She didn't say anything, but her posture became a little more on edge, a little less relaxed than a moment before.

[SalmonMax]

"For now," Myfwany agreed. "You'll need a more complete screening later, but this is just to make sure you're safe to let run around inside the refuge."

She paused and regarded Hana for a moment. She could have been mistaken about what she thought she'd seen in Hana's eyes...but she didn't think it likely. Her senses, even her mundane ones, were uncannily sharp these days. But there was no trace of the 'magic energy' that the supers' powers seemed to be based on in her.

Not NOW at least.

"Even so, I am a bit shorthanded," Myf commented. "If you wouldn't mind sticking around and helping me out for a little while, I'll make you a nice dinner myself. How does that sound?"

[Atomicweasel]

Hana looked uncertainly up at Myfwany. She glanced towards the door leading out of the doctor's office and back into the infirmary. She imagined the rows of refugees, groaning and moaning and flopping around like stupid fish. Their desperate neediness. Their stink.

With a sharp tug, Hana righted the tee shirt's collar, only to have it slip the other way and cruelly expose her right shoulder. She gave her arm an irritated shrug and pursed her lips thoughtfully. She looked at Myfwany again, wanting to ask What are you making for dinner?

What she said instead, timidly dropping her eyes to the ground, was "Okay. What do you need me to do?"

[SalmonMax]

"Just stay here for now. Sometimes I'll ask you to hand me things, or get things from the other room, or...whatever." Myf smiled encouragingly. "It's really an easy job."

She went over and opened the door again, motioning to Jasmine and Bond.

"You can come in now, this probably won't take long."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan walked into the office right in time to hear that. "Good morning." He thumped Bond on the back. "Thanks for lending a hand yesterday." Smiling around and greeting everyone else he waited his turn and explained when asked, that he was just setting a good example that everyone ought to get checked up after an adventure like the one the day before.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded a greeting at Morgan, then glanced at Bond since Myf had gestured to them both, and shrugged a little, smiling.

"Guess it's our turn."

She made her way into Myf's private exam room, assuming Jim would follow in a moment. She noticed the new, young addition to the refuge in the exam room and smiled warmly at her as Myf glanced over a couple things while waiting for Bond.

"Hey.. Hana, right? How are you doing - okay, I hope?"

[Atomicweasel]

Jasmine got a timid smile back.

Hana pushed her hands through the sleek tumble of her hair and then, seeming at a loss for what else to do with them, hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her little shorts and took a deep breath before finally answering.

"Yeah, I'm okay." she hesitated, then added in a rush, "Violet made me pancakes this morning and then I got a shower and then I went and saw this lady, Lorraine, and she got me some clothes and they're okay but the shirt is kind of big I guess and now I'm going to work for Dr. um, Myfwany, I guess."

And then Hana blushed, looking a bit embarassed with her own enthusiasm. She forced a nervous grin, then looked away awkwardly and chewed her lower lip.

[Fox]

"All part of the service." Bond replied to Fox with an affable grin before stepping into Myf's office and closing the door behind him. He took in Hana's new clothing and her account of the day so far with a smile.

"Glad they're taking care of you, Hana. Violet's a sweet girl, once you get past the obvious." He glanced at Myfwany, the smile transmuting subtly into a devilish, albeit charming, grin. "So, do you want to pop your clothes on the chair over there? Oh damn!" He clapped a hand to his head theatrically. "That's ME that does that, isn't it?" He gave Hana and Jasmine a conspiratorial wink and dropped his voice to a stage-whisper.

"I'm getting the cold end of the thermometer for that one..."

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine smiled at Hana's recount of the day, and at Bond's comment she made an amused noise, and smirked at him.

"You asked for it."

She turned to Myf, and tilted her head at her expectantly, her expression becoming a bit more serious.

"What do you need us to do, Dr. Shattuck? Just a normal exam, or what?"

She seemed confident as she spoke to Myf, none of the nervousness that a lot of people carried about doctors.. then again she'd been around an awful lot of them in her short lifetime. But there was an edge to her voice that indicated that she was concerned about something, even though she hadn't mentioned it yet.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany hesitated, considering her words carefully.

"I want to say before we start that this is preventative. I know of no reason to worry, but I want to make damn sure before I relax. I got to thinking about that...large zombie-like creature they had. It occurred to me that we may be looking at a sort of arms race. It happens all the time on a microbiological level. We're exposed to a pathogen, it gives us a bad time until we can adapt to it, and then it fades away...only to return later in a new form that we have to adapt to all over again. The most common is the flu."

She reached up unconsciously to rub her nose...the sort of rub that would push glasses up it, had she been wearing any. "Now we have zombies, which supers are immune to. I'm concerned this new type of zombie might be a counter-evolved stage...something that can infect supers. Don't panic...I've no evidence for that. What I'm hoping to find is evidence that it's not true, so can all sleep in peace a little easier."

Myf gave Bond a wry smile. "And you don't even have to undress. Such a deal, hmm?"

[Atomicweasel]

Hana grinned dutifully at Bond's joke and then padded over to the other side of the room, her back to the others. She ran the tap and washed her hands, then pulled herself up to sit on the counter next to the sink.

At her side Hana found what looked like a tissue box, but was instead filled with thin rubber gloves. She drew one out and carefully fit it over her small hand while Myfwany spoke to Jasmine and Bond, wiggling her fingers into the glove and snapping it against her wrist.

Then she glanced up guiltily, and dropped her hands into her lap, folding the gloved hand under the other.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine listened quietly to Myf, and her tension only seemed to escalate a touch. She noticed Hana's fidgeting but didn't say anything and glanced away, hoping not to make the young girl nervous. After a moment she cleared her throat slightly to get Myf's attention.

"Probably not a bad idea. I have to admit.. I've been feeling a little.. off. Since the fight. I thought that it was just.. I don't know, shock or something. You don't get sucked into zombie-blobs every day, right? But.. it's not really going away. I just feel kind of.. wrong. Maybe I'm just imagining it."

She swallowed slightly, and her tongue flicked nervously over her dry lips to moisten them, waiting for what Myf had to say in response.

I've spent my whole life being sick. It wouldn't be fair to be some kind of invincible, strong fighter to then get some kind of zombie-mutation sickness. Please.. I don't want to be sick again. I'm sick of being sick.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany nodded and said, "Hana, would you hand me the little flashlight on the edge of the desk?"

She focused on Jasmine then.

"Alright, well, if it was z-plague you'd be feeling a lot more than a 'little off,' so don't be looking so glum," the doctor said with a smile. "Lets start with that feeling though. Describe it. Is it like any kind of illness you had before you changed? Is there any pain?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

She shook her head, concentrating for a moment as she tried to find the words to describe it.

"No.. no pain. I don't feel sick. I'm used to feeling sick, I felt sick all the time when I had leukemia. It's different. I'm not tired, I'm not nauseous.. I just feel.. dirty, maybe? Like how you feel when you know you've done something really terrible. But.. it's not a moral thing, I don't feel guilty. Or maybe like when you walk into your house, and you can tell that someone's been there, even though you can't put your finger on what's different? I just feel like there's something.. wrong."

She shook her head, looking frustrated.

"I don't know how else to describe it."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana dropped down off the edge of the counter and padded over to the desk. The little girl moved quietly, hardly making a sound as she searched the desktop, found the flash-light and brought it obediently over to Myfwany.

She held the flashlight in her surgical gloved hand, turned up in offering to the doctor. Hana took a shy glance at Jasmine as she delivered the flashlight, then broke her silence to ask "You had leukemia?" Her aunt Hama, after whom Hana suspected she had been named, had died of leukemia three years before Z Day. She remembered the funeral. The somber faces, her mother's tear heavy eyes. Now, when people died they were just tossed aside like rotten meat, or burned, or covered in that white powdery stuff.

Lime. Hana remembered, without knowing how she knew it.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Her eyes flicked to Hana and she nodded slightly without smiling at the young girl, though she didn't look upset at being asked like Hana was afraid she might for a second. Her voice was soft when she spoke, and if they had been outside with the small mob instead of in the private of the doctor's office, she probably wouldn't have been able to hear the young woman's response.

"Yeah.. yeah, I did. Since I was about your age. It went away when.. everything changed. At least, I guess it did. I haven't felt sick."

She glanced at Myfwany and shrugged. She'd certainly had no symptoms of her old illness in the last six months, so she had every reason to assume that it was gone - and good riddance. The only thing that terrified her now was the possibility of being faced with some new, tougher, zombie-related disease. At least the doctors of her childhood had known what to do about the cancer.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany nodded and said, "Okay, just relax and stare straight ahead."

She did the pupil response then had Jasmine track the flashlight. It all seemed fine.

"Hana, over in that cabinet I have some digital thermometers. Would you grab one for me and give it to Jasmine?"

To Jasmine she said, "I'm going to use some of my abilities now, while we're waiting on the thermometer. I won't be doing anything -to- you with them...just checking for anything unusual that I can see."

With that she rubbed her eyes and started just sort of...staring intently at Jasmine, slowly roving from her face down towards her feet.

(OOC - Lifesense and Quantum Attunement on)

[Atomicweasel]

While Myfwany tended to Jasmine, Hana dutifully trotted over to the cabinets. She pulled them open and lifted up onto her tiptoes, looking over the high shelves before she noticed the thermometer right under her nose, next to a tight roll of gauze.

She fetched the thermometer, resisting the childish urge to take her own temperature with it, and brought it to Jasmine. Myfwany was still looking Jasmine up and down, from head to toe, and Hana very much wanted to ask 'what are you doing'? Instead, she simply handed Jasmine the thermometer with a faint "Here," and stood to the side, watching quietly.

[Dawn OOC]

Myf reached for her powers and ignited them, letting their colors fill her vision. First, she saw the golden light of the supers. It filled Jasmine - not as brightly as some, but enough. Myf had learned when someone had super-human alterations, it was sometimes clear in their power aura. What she saw in Jasmine's wasn't like that; it was paler, less substantial but still there.

Concerned but uncertain what to do about that, Myf released that and focused on the life. Jasmine was bursting with it, all of it bright and glowing, like someone had turned on a green supernova inside of her. It was heaviest in her lower torso, almost a knot of life below her waist. Myf hadn't seen anything like that before.

[SalmonMax]

"That's...interesting..." Myfwany mused as she looked downwards at Jasmine's belly. She slowly squatted down so as to be at eye level with it, and stared intently at what was for most eyes, merely Jasmine's shirt.

Then she blinked and stood up, and rubbed her eyes for a second.

"Bond, could I have you step outside for a second?" The request was polite, but not really a request.

Once Bond had done so, Myfwany looked at Jasmine and said without preamble, "You're pregnant." She smiled.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine blinked quietly for a moment, looking faintly startled. Finally she cleared her throat, her gaze flickering for a moment to the door Jim had just disappeared through as her light brown skin flushed faintly. Then she glanced back at Myf, still looking a little shell-shocked.

"You're.. you're sure? I mean.. that would be, um.."

Her gaze flicked to Hana briefly, and she turned just a bit deeper of a dusky pink.

"...really recent."

[Atomicweasel]

Hana met Jasmine's gaze with her deep blue eyes, then her unblemished brow worked itself into a little frown as she turned towards the door Bond had just exited. One could almost see her putting two and two together...and the resulting click inside her once she did.

She spun back around and looked at Jasmine again, her eyes wide. "You had sex with Daniel Craig!?" she squeaked, her voice pitched high with girlish excitability.

[Fox]

The door opened and Bond stepped back into the room, a Cheshire Cat grin on his handsome face as he closed the door quietly behind him.

"I hope not, or I'll have to find Mr Craig and kneecap him." the merc said to Hana with a sly smile, then gave Myfwany an innocent look that fooled nobody. "You said 'step out for a second'. Nothing in there about being a sneaky eavesdropper." Finally his china-blue eyes moved to Jasmine's blush-darkened face. Bond's head tilted to one side almost playfully, a sparkle entering his gaze as a smile quirked the corners of his mouth.

"Well, that's another fine mess I've gotten you into." he said lightly, but the look in his eyes was warm and even slightly joyful, rather than his usual devil-may-care sparkle as they looked directly into hers. "I stand by my word, though. We're partners you and I, thick and thin." He stepped over to the girl and bent, giving her a kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"Just in case you had doubts, that is." he finished with a sly grin.

[Jasmine Gentian]

The corners of her lips twitched a little in amusement as he spoke, and he could tell that she hadn't been the slightest bit surprised that he'd been listening in on the other side.

"If I had any, I hadn't gotten to them yet.. I think I was still at 'stunned'."

She gazed up at him, and for a moment both Myf and Hana could tell she had forgotten about anyone else in the room. She turned her head a little more, and her lips brushed across his lightly in return. Then she pulled back a little, and her eyes glittered with excited nervousness as she smiled at him.

"Not that it's not nice to hear. I'm looking forward to that whole partners thing, after all."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany cleared her throat, blushing a little from embarrassment. Not so much at the display of affection, but that she had to break it.

"There is...a little more," she said. "I can see your...powers, sort of. To my eye, people who have abilities have a very particular glow. You have that glow, Jasmine, but it's...weaker, and I'm not sure why. It may be related to whatever it is you said you were feeling."

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine turned to Myfwany and listened quietly.. She moved almost instinctively closer to Jim and bit her lower lip nervously as the doctor spoke, a slight scowl flickering across her features.

"Well, do you think it has to do with what happened? Or.. because of the pregnancy? I mean, I didn't feel it until after that.. thing took hold of me. Have you ever seen anyone else look like that? Any other super?"

She could see the concern in Jasmine's eyes, not only now of her own health but for the well-being of the life she was carrying. It was a look she'd seen on pregnant women's faces before who'd been diagnosed with a disease or suffered some sort of injury. Though Jasmine appeared healthy to Myf, knowledge gleaned from patient psychology classes she'd taken a long time ago told her that the young woman - as someone who'd spent a good chunk of her lifetime ill, from the sounds of it - would probably be hyper-cautious in regards to the feeling of wrongness she'd described, especially in light of this new revelation.

[Atomicweasel]

Hana made a point of drifting back to the edge of the sink counter when Bond and Jasmine kissed but, with downcast eyes and surreptitious glances made from the cover of her thick lashes and dark hair, she'd watched the exchange with an avid interest.

She was leaning back now against the counter, one ankle crossed in front of the other, her dimpled knee rocking lightly back and forth to mark some secret tempo as she feigned disinterest. She played idly with the braided friendship bracelet around her left wrist, tugging one frayed end with delicate care to make it rotate over and over again.

And she wondered, as she took another sidelong glance at the big blond actor, what had happened to Daniel Craig to make him crazy. Maybe something fell on his head when he was fighting zombies. Hana surmised.

[SalmonMax]

"As far as I can tell, it's affecting your powers only...and I'm not even completely sure -how- it's related to your powers. These senses of mine are things I'm still working out the details of. Hopefully as I check some of the other 'supers' out, I'll get a better baseline for comparison."

Myfwany smiled. "I can say however that as far as your health goes, you and the baby are doing beautifully. I wish you could see yourself the way I saw you a second ago. You're like a...furnace of life right now."

Reassuring wouldn't be enough though, Myf knew. People needed something to do, to feel they were empowered against whatever was ailing them, even if it was only in their heads.

"What I'd like you to do is keep a record, or a journal, of any symptoms you're feeling. Keep a little notepad with you and whenever there's a change, or whenever you eat, jot down how you're feeling. We'll do a follow-up in a week, or if there's any pain, all right?"

[Fox]

Experienced Bond-watchers might have deduced his concern by the intent way he was watching and listening to the exchange, but that was the only visible clue. He otherwise seemed his usual, inscrutably cheerful self as he slid a reassuring arm around Jasmine's waist, listening to Myf speak with her doctor hat on. He smiled a little at the 'furnace of life' comment, giving Jasmine's waist a slight squeeze. As Myf wound up her advice, he cleared his throat softly.

"If you want a comparison to check out compared to Jasmine, by all means start with me. I'm not as physically oriented as her, ability-wise." he offered to Myfwany with a smile.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan finally got cleaned up after a morning in the shop, and made his way to Where Myfwany had set up shop for her office. He got there and found the place teeming with other supers. He signed in and waited for his turn, though he could hear Bond and Jasmine in the office with Myfwany. He hoped everything was alright.