17180/Paper Cuts and Glue

Paper Cuts and Glue
Date of Scene:	14 February 2024
Location:	Labs - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Caitlin tends to Clara after the Danger Room incident. Wally joins in and everyone (even Caitlin!) agree to get out of the tower and have some fun.
Cast of Characters:	Clara Jennings, Caitlin Fairchild, Wally West

---

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara has a flair for getting herself hurt. Generally it is not her fault. Honestly! This time, however, she is absolutely the cause of the issue, and she nearly got others hurt along the way.

    The wounds are not life threatening. A bit of shrapnel and some burns are the most serious. There are a myriad of little scrapes, a bruise or two, but nothing that will be a challenge to mend. There's still that earbud voice calling out her name, though it seems to be less frequent now. Clara is clearly not responding!

    The paper master is set down and not quite awake again. Honestly it will become evident that the wounds are not the big problem. At least not the physical ones. Her stress response is off the charts, though.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Fortunately for Clara, Caitlin is also the Titan's physician. She is brought down to the lab wing, which is also the medical bay, and Caitlin and Wally get her up on an examination table. Wally isn't a doctor but he's experienced enough to lend a hand with some basic emergency care, and it doesn't take long to get Clara set up with an IV drip and prepped for minor surgery.

It takes Caitlin about an hour to ensure the wounds are sanitized and to get them patched up. The injury sites are relatively minor so the work is accomplished with biogel and medical grade adhesive to give the injuries a boost in self-healing.

It's the stress reaction that has Caitlin concerned, however, and Caitlin adds anti-inflammatories and cortisol inhibitors to the IV feed while she looks Clara's lab results over. The redhead herself has a few relatively minor injuries that are already healing themselves with just a little application of antibacterial gel. By the end of the week all but the worst of the bruises will have faded away.

The sensors let Caitlin know when Clara is coming out of the induced unconsciousness, and she's at the girl's bedside when Clara opens her eyes. "Hey Clara," Caitlin says in a gentle voice. "You're in the med bay. Nothing's broken," she promises her. "How do you feel?"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara needs a moment to become aware of her surroundings. The girl feels more like a child at the moment. "Hello, Caitlin," she answers quietly. Her eyes move around to study, well, the ceiling, mostly. But also to try to determine where she is.

    "I am feeling okay," she answers hesistantly. "I am so sorry. You were hurt."

    That thought sets her pulse racing and blood pressure up. "I should have been more careful. And Wally... he is okay?" It does not occur to her that nobody else in that room was in much danger. At least not once she was out of danger.

    She momentarily considers rising, but thinks better of it. It's just a little motion, shoulders not even managing to quite lift off the bed before she lowers herself again. "I should amend that slightly. I feel a touch dizzy."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin rests her fingertips against Clara's upper sternum. She doesn't force the girl back down, but the unyielding touch makes it effectively impossible for the injured woman to do anything except relax backwards into the chair. "I'm fine. Wally's fine," she promises. "We both got a little banged up but no one's seriously hurt. Wally will probably enjoy milking the attention a bit, to be honest," she says with a small smile.

When Clara finally settles back Caitlin moves her hand away and gives the girl's wrist a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "Don't move around too fast. I did give you a decent painkiller cocktail and some anti-inflammatories to calm down your stress response. You should more or less stay in bed today and then take it easy for the next couple days, too."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "Oh. That is a relief."

    Clara does find out that Caitlin might as well have set a ten ton weight on her. That is an impressive amount of power.

    When Clara says it is a relief, she means it. To the point of tears. Her reaction is far more than is normal. She wipes at her eyes.

    "I will try to stay still. I am sorry, though. I was supposed to push myself. To see what I can do. It seems what I can do is make the danger room think I am someone else." She gives Caitlin a nervous look. She expects to be in serious trouble for that.

    "I will take it easy as I can. I think this whole... experience will have satisfied my director enough. He is after metrics related to my ability to use my powers and handle challenging situations." Like almost getting others and herself badly hurt.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin does have a pretty good bedside manner, but even her patience is tested a little when Clara admits what she did. "You ...took an un-needed risk," Caitlin concedes. "I'm not thrilled that you bypassed the simulator safety checks. Or how you hacked my profile," she adds, with a subtle frown. "But I'm really just upset you didn't ask for help before hand."

"The Danger Room is designed to test your limits and abilities in a controlled, laboratory environment," she clarifies. "Which means that you need to approach it like a science experiment. That requires controls, variables, proper testing protocols and safety observers to double-check your work."

Caitlin's frown softens with a bemused smile. "If it makes you feel any better, Wally is one of the reasons we /have/ lockouts enabled, so it's not like you're the first Titan to go in there and turn everything up to '10'."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara does something she should do more often. She listens. There is no reaction other than nods of understanding and frequent "yes ma'am"s along the way. She knows she was wrong. Honestly in hindsight she cannot tell why she did it or what her escape plan was to be. This actually concerns her.

    "I feel a bit alarmed at what I did, Caitlin. You are right. All I had to do was talk it over. Or approach it more logically and go slow. Or, you know, not betray someone's trust by breaking their safety systems."

    She is very stressed. Failing to understand her own motivation only makes it worse. "I think perhaps I do need to speak with Dr. Quinzel. I hope I can understand why I did this. If you and Wally were not there, I do not see how I could have survived."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"This is true," Caitlin allows. "But, that is also why we have an alert go out anytime someone disengages the safety protocols. Because, again, you're not the first person to over-estimate their ability to handle the Danger Room," she says, with a dry amusement.

"Listen, Clara, I get where you're coming from," she reassures the other woman. "We all do. Being a Titan is really stressful. We all feel like we've got something to prove, and lives on the line. And that's not even getting into Donna's hyper-competitiveness or when someone has a bad day and wants to do Something Dumb just because they can."

"I am a little concerned about this The Director person you keep mentioning," Caitlin frowns. "Telling you to seek out near-fatal encounters to gauge your stress reaction is not good. I mean for one it's not healthy or safe, but for two, it's just bad science," she says, and that seems to peeve her off as much as anything else that's happened. "I don't know what the end goal there is, but I worry it doesn't have your best wishes at the forefront."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara is careful to listen. It takes more focus and energy than normal. She is concerned, disturbed by what just happened to her. "I normally do not try to prove anything, honestly. I just want to do my job well and not hurt others. Nothing is worse than causing harm to innocent people, or really to anyone."

    She has to think for a few seconds. How to make sense of it all. "The director is my boss, really. Well, he's the governess' boss. She is kind of my boss." Something occurs to her. "Do you work for anyone, Caitlin? Or are you at the top, so to speak?" Her focus narrows to that point.

    "You think he did something bad, when he asked me to test myself? To push my limits? He always seems pleased when I perform well. Though lately there are some confusing things happening."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin hesitates, then shakes her head. "I know you've got a complicated relationship with your... Governess. And the Director," she says, carefully. "I don't know enough about it to say whether or not he did something bad. I will say that I don't agree with his methods, though, and I am concerned about your personal well-being outside of how you use your powers."

"But this is something you should talk to Harley about," she reassures Clara. "She really is a good therapist and she'll help you talk through this. Maybe you just need some better tools in your pocket for communicating your needs to the Director. Meanwhile, if you do want to use the Danger Room, I think you should make sure to bring help along from now on," she suggests. "It helps to have someone else telling you how to improve, rather than just throwing yourself at the same mistakes over and over."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "Thank you. I just feel like I need to what Captain Rogers told me." Clara manages a small smile. "I need to learn to stand. But I will try to get some time with Dr. Quinzel. Maybe she can help me. Everything has been very chaotic. We had a change in leadership and then things became much more intense."

    Her eyes study Caitlin's face. "I do not know if I will use the Danger Room anytime soon. At least not for danger. I do not trust myself at the moment. At least that much I can be sure about." There is confusion in her voice.

    "Can I ask you some more questions? Not about work, though. Just about... other things. I understand if you have to go. It can wait."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Steve happens to be an old friend of Caitlin's, and she smiles approvingly when Clara mentions his name. It's not like someone can ever go wrong name-dropping Captain America himself.

At Clara's request for more questions, Caitlin's brows rise, but after a small hesitation she nods. "Yeah, that's OK I guess," she says, with a subtle half-shrug. "I don't have to leave right away. I can do some lab work on your blood while we talk. Your stress reactor indicators are unusually high and I want to see if I can figure out what the source of it is," she explains. The redhead sits down at the desk with a laptop pulled over to it and perches on the sturdy rolling lab stool so she can make a few notations in Clara's chart.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "Thank you. And I imagine it has to do with my childhood. I understand I had a problem when I was five years old," says Clara. "My governess told me it is at that point when my powers showed up, but also my nightmares. And, umm, well. My problems with communication, I suppose."

    Just talking about it somehow recalls to mind her biggest issue. Her hands. She looks down at them to find them wringing together. "It is why people do not.. well, like being around me."

    She laughs nervously, but quickly pushes it away. "What are your hobbies? And what is your family life like?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The questions startle Caitlin and she gives Clara a quick, uneasy look, fingers pausing on the keyboard. "Uh... well... I don't, uh, have any living family," she explains after an awkward beat. "The Titans and the Amazons are my adoptive family, though. So you know most of them already, and someday you might get to meet the rest of my sisters, too," she explains. "Though-- wait, I'm sorry, you know Irie. Irie's my only living family," she clarifies. "But that's, um, complicated."

"Listen, I'd rather hear more about your history, to be honest," she sayhs, turning a glance from the monitor to Clara. "I don't really know much about you except what you said when you signed up. Is your governess-- is that like a hired position, or was it someone your family brought on board to take care of you when you were young?" she queries.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara nods sadly at Caitlin's reply. "I see. I am sorry to call to mind something sad. Oh, and I have met Irie. She is very nice." Clara remembers the party and the good pizza. "Irie protected me once. It occurs to me that this is not the first time I have been rushed to medical care by someone of incredible speed."

    But she does not dwell on that. Caitlin asked her a question. "My governess is paid by the Conservatory to look after me. We have been together as long as I can recall, though I am told I was alone at first. My parents passed away after I was born. There was a fire and I am told I was still in the hospital. It was something about me not putting on weight, or I would have been with them."

    It is too long ago for her to cry over. She says it like it happened to someone else, really. "But my governess is so wonderful to me. She cares about me. I know she has to train me hard so I am safe, but she is also the one who can drive away the night terrors." A pause and Clara quickly says, "Not like, magically. I mean she just takes care of me when I have them."

Wally West has posed:
Walking back into the lab, Wally seems to have an ice pack on the back of his head, his messy red hair clashing with the blue bag filled with ice atop his crown. He wears simple clothes, mostly a yellow T-shirt and blue jeans. A white lab coat is worn, his shoes well-worn and friction-resistant (thanks Vic!).

"Hey Cait-"

Wally approaches, his feet carrying him softly. "How's the lady of the hour?" He turns to look at Clara directly. "Oh good, you're awake. How you feeling? Doing alright?" He turns to Caitlin. "How's her vitals? Stress levels? Nothing off?"

He turns his attention to Clara then, a kind little smile on his face. "I missed something and I'm totally interrupting, arn't I?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"She's fine," Caitlin assures Wally with a smile. "Some bumps and bruises, a bit of a burn, but nothing the liberal application of medi-gel can't correct. I have some concerns about her stress levels, but that's not urgent right this minute," she says, gently weighting those words to allay Wally's concerns without encouraging him to dig deeper. "If Clara's OK with it, you can see her readouts," she adds, and throws the implied question to Clara with a glance.

Since he's standing there, while he's talking to Clara, Caitlin examines the abrasion on Wally's head with narrowed eyes. Fingers grip his forehead and temple and she turns it so she can see the injury under better light. Once Caitlin realizes she's making it kind of hard for Wally to talk to Clara, she releases him abruptly with a chagrined, silent 'sorry', and goes to get another ampule of the all-purpose salve so she can fuss over Wally's relatively minor injury.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara looks from Caitlin to Wally. She studies them for a moment, as if trying to make sense of a puzzle. "Oh, he can see them all. I do not even know everyone who is reviewing my medical records in the Conservatory. I imagine hundreds of people know all about my pulse, blood pressure, and all the rest. My governess frets quite a bit when I stress myself excessively, and I fear it was over this that she got in her row with the last director. Not that she will admit to it."

    She pauses to look more closely at the more experienced Titans. "How does it work?" she asks quietly. "I mean, how did you become good friends?" The young woman shuts her eyes for a moment. There's a deep breath and a soft sigh. She can feel her anxiety rising. It makes her fidget, and then fidgeting makes her realize she is acting strange. Which makes her more anxious. Which makes her fidget... and on it goes.

Wally West has posed:
"Oh good. Honestly, with how intense that session was, I was worried she'd have some broken bones or something. Was kinda worried, buuuut-" He starts to shrug. "I'll admit she's in good hands." He looks at Cait then a moment. "I mean, it might be-" He seems to catch on then. "Right. Not urgent." He remarks softly. He looks at Clara. "No pressure. You know, HIPPA and all that." Wally had a good understanding of the medical processes. It was encouraged for members of the Titans to at least learn basic first aid, but Wally's always been fascinated with medicine.

Maybe he could be a doctor one day?

Wally smiles at Clara as she gives her permission. "...you're governess? Director?" Wally looks between the women. Though before he can say more, Caitlin seems to be examining the wound on his head, her fingers gripping his firehead and temple as she turns his head to allow her to see the injury. "Uhm...Cait?" Wally's cheeks flush with a terrible blush, nearly turning the same shade of his hair. Though suddenly, he's released and not knowing what to say, Wally clears his throat, trying not to make things weird, but she's going to get a salve, which allows Wally to look at Clara.

"How did we become friends? Well, that's a long story. One that's still developing the longer I manage to survive." Wally chuckles. "But honestly, she's tolerated me for this long and...complications on the most recent adventure and somehow, well..she still keeps me around. So, I'm pretty aprpeciative. Don't tell anybody, but I think she secretly likes my jokes." He teases Clara, but he seems to notice she's acting stranging.

"Hey, you okay?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin is at least cogent enough to give Wally the salve instead of applying it onto him. She seems to have realized she's put him in an awkward situation and spares him from any more attention.

This also leaves her in a position to distract herself with Clara's lab results and she frowns at the monitor as the girl's cortisol levels start to go up. A number of stress and inflammatory markers all increase as well and she spots the results in Clara's respiration and heartbeat right when Wally does with his own eyes.

He beats her to the question by a half a second so she bites back the words and instead gives Clara a worried look. "Clara, if you have a little meditative breathing exercise you do, why don't you give it a try," she suggests. "Focus on being calm and not worrying. There's nothing in this lab that's going to do you any harm or get you in trouble. I promise," she smiles.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara forces her eyes to open. Her glance strays down. It's always her hands that trouble her so much. Get her in trouble. A telepath would probably get a migraine around her.

    "Sorry, I started midway. I work for the Conservatory, but the leader of my office is the director, and the woman who takes care of me is my governess." She pauses to realize that was actually quite simple to explain. Granted it was not a terribly adequate answer if details are sought.

    But she seems more interested in watching Wally and Caitlin. The interaction makes her smile, though she is not sure why. Wally's answer, though, gets her to laugh. "But how did you find someone who does that? I mean, tolerates you." And yes, she is quite serious. If she were the kind to need them, she would be taking copious notes.

    "Oh, I am... um." Clara's hands knot up into something like a collision. Literally the right and left hand do not know what the other is doing. "You do not have to worry. This happens. I just often do not know what to do with my hands. Or what to say. That kind of thing." Others aspire to be as awkward as Clara is. Few achieve it.

    She listens to Caitlin's suggestion, but it seems that she just isn't successful at it. When her eyes close, it gets worse. It is as if everything she shuts out only allows more focus for the source of her stress.

    "It.. it will pass. Eventually. It always does. I just have to wait it out. It is not you, I promise. I am.. that is.. I trust you."

Wally West has posed:
Wally seems to accept that Caitlin is cogent enough not to try and apply it herself, at least not right now. The salve is given and Wally accepts it, applying it to his head and making sure it was nice and rubbed in as he backed up for a moment so he wasn't in the way. "Hnnh." it stings. But, Wally takes that deep breath and he just keeps trying to work at it. It's a good bit of swelling, but the salve should help that go away in a jiffy.

More like a few days, but SHUSH!

Wally gently glances over to the console that Caitlin is working on, before his attention is back on CLara as she asks her question. "Well, that has to go back to the snowy slopes of years ago. We totally broke her out of a lab." He looks at Caitlin, smiling at her, then back at Clara. "Took a lot of time. Takes time to build that kind of trust. Once you have trust? You can go through hell and back for someone else and it's wild how deep that kind of affection can be."

Though he tilts his head. "Oh...this happens? Often?" Wally asks her, but he seems to look worried about CLara.

She trusts them.

Wally looks at Caitlin in that moment, then looks at Clara, then back to Caitlin. "In fact, some of the lab equipment here is kinda fun. Liiiike..."

He's straight up looking for the most dangerous thing in this lab.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Wally, NO." The response is immediate and instinctive, before Caitlin even tears her eyes away from the monitor.

Then she realizes Wally hasn't done anything yet, and he is actually trained enough to use the lab safely and effectively. "Erm, I mean, just... don't change any of my settings," she tells him, a little lamely.

Caitlin clears her throat and gets up to walk over to the secure room where the pharmacy is located. She busies herself in there for a few moments and goes back to Clara's table with one pill in her palm and a small pharmaceutical bottle in the other. "Here, take this. It's a small dose of lorazepam," she says, and offers it to Clara with some water. "You can take this up to twice a day for anxiety. I can't prescribe it long-term, though, but Dr. Quinzel should be able to offer you something to help with the anxiety. I'll send her some notes and she and I can discuss treatment routines," she offers.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara has taken many pills before. Just not one for anxiety. She shows no reaction or protest. Not even a question. She does as she is told and takes the pill, and drinks the water. In the course or reaching for the water her hands-both of them-are calm. Once the drinking is done, they are back to their impression of butterflies fluttering about.

    "It happens all the time," Clara admits. "Except when I lecture or dance. When I am dancing I always know where my hands go," she explains. As if that made all the sense in the world.

    "Do you think I can get better?"

    The question is more curious than hopeful. She cannot imagine a world without this situation. "Only fairly recently did my governess let me know that asking people how they know what to do with their hands will make them uncomfortable. Not to be mean, you understand. But, well, it is a weird thing to ask people."

    She keeps her eye on Wally, watching his... actions. "Is this that sense of humor you were referring to?" she asks.

Wally West has posed:
"WALLY YES!"

Then the speedster seems to clear his throat. That was...a very instinctual response. "I mean..I didn't do anything yet! Cone on, if I run in this lab, it'll break everything. Unless you made everything friction-proof when I wasn't looking." He crosses his arms over his chest...but he's given the decree of not changing anything. "Done."

He raises a brow. "I should be really concerned you talk to Harley." She rolled with JOKER. "But eh." Wally shrugs. "But hey, maybe that means fancy or lecture more often, so everything can make a little bit of sense. I feel afraid a ton of times, but everything feels like it'll be okay when I run."

He seems to smile as anxiety meds are prescribed. "I mean, practice makes perfect." About hands. "I think so." He remarks about humor. "But don't tell Cait, she'll look over my shoulder or something."

He snickers.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Hey, Harleen is one of my best friends," Caitlin says stubbornly. "And she has completely reformed. I've seen her Certificate of Sanity from Arkham. Plus, any other personality traits aside, she's a naturally gifted therapist," she points out. "I did a rotation in Behavioral Health and it was the worst month of my med school life. People and their weird, weird, /gross/, weird problems," she says, and shudders eloquently.

Caitlin gives Wally a Knowing Look and them shifts her focus back to Clara. "But yes, I'm sure she can help," Caitlin says. "A long-term treatment plan will help you with tools to deal with anxiety or whatever else you've got going on. The medicine is just a little emergency stopgap. Mental health is like physical therapy, you need a little medicine to deal with the immediate issue and a little help to learn how to heal properly. I'm sure she can do both for you," Caitlin says, and flashes a warmly reassuring smile.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara is not one to doubt people who want to help her, but it is hard for her to imagine a world not dominated by this nervousness. "I do not know if I can dance all day," Clara says quietly. "But it would be fun. Dancing means there is just motion, just, well. Hrm. Things make sense. And when I lecture, too, it all just makes sense."

    She turns her attention to Caitlin and nods. "I will. I am sure she will help me." Utter confidence! She has never met Harley, of course. "Oh, questions..."

    She now has them both here. But she feels herself getting just a bit drowsy. "Before I sleep. I just wondered if maybe we could do something fun sometime. Not.. work." There is a notable nervousness in the question. Despite everything, Clara's tone makes it seem she expects to be rejected.

Wally West has posed:
"...Ah huh. And she's just doing purely therapy now?" Wally asks Caitlin before he just lifts his hands. "Right, right, one of those situations." What one of 'those' situations is, only Caitlin would know, but Wally seems to just drop it. Harley isn't anywhere near his cup of tea but he's not going to judge her for it.

He meets Caitlin's knowing gaze with one of his own. He keeps that gaze for a moment, before he turns to look at Clara with a little smile. "Course we can! We're pals. Can hangout whenever you want. 'Sides, work is boring. But fun? Well, that'll help make the day go quick in a way that involves plenty of laughs."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"I don't have a lot of free time," Caitlin cautions Clara apologetically. "So I'll need to do something planned and not open-ended. I'm in the last few months of my residency and I really want to get out from under my work schedule as soon as possible. These thirty-hour days in the hospital are really grinding me down," she confesses.

"So for noew, let's get you rested," she tells Clara. "And on the mend. And then yes, one of these days, we can all get together and do something fun," she promises. Caitlin flashes the smile at Wally, too. "It probably wouldn't kill me to get out of the Tower for reasons other than work or studying," she concedes.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Wally's answer satisfies Clara. They will have fun and they are pals. It occurs to her that her foolish behavior may have actually done something all her more careful and thoughtful behavior has failed to do: get her some friends. Life is odd.

    "I would like that. Maybe I can teach you a dance or two. But you will have to move quick." She smiles. "Not fast, though." Her eyes drift over to Caitlin. She is clearly getting quite sleepy. "But.. days are only 24 hours.. I will schedule something." Her brain is a bit disjointed.

    Her eyes shut, but then open for something. Something important. "Thank you. I mean it. Thank you so much for saving me. And for caring."

    A pause follows that. She does not know what to say again. "I umm.. it will be fun to do something that isn't so dangerous."

    She lets her eyes shut then, and sleep comes. With it her anxiety melts away and her body can truly relax.

Wally West has posed:
"You? Want to get out and do something fun?" Wally lifts his hand, trying to check Caitlin's forehead. "Huh, no fever. I'll be darned." Wally laughs. "Alright then. I'll get you out of the Tower." His gaze lingers on Cait for a moment, before he settles green eyes on Clara. "You too." He smiles at her.

"Uh oh, I'm a terrible dancer. I'd love to learn though, I'm just scared of stepping on toes." he snickers. "But hey..you'd do the same for us. Plus you're cool."

Somethung beeps on Wally. "Times up. I gotta scram." He turns to Clara, seemingly happy she fell asleep and is actually resting. He looks at Cait.

"Out of the Tower." He promises, winking at her, before he suddenly....starts walking. "Sleep well Cara.@ He whisper shouts, giving folds a little wave as he walks away!