Work Text:
Black bile spilled from a lined maw as careful eyes stared themselves in the mirror.
Quickly, a sample was collected and the rest was rinsed down the sink. The owner of the mouth rose, stashing the test tube in her labcoat. After leaving the bathroom, however, she felt a small tug. A pawing at her legwarmers.
"Auntie Milk?" A yawn, "are you sick?" Large green eyes stared up into her own.
"No, no- sweetheart... I'm sorry to worry you. I'm not feeling great, but I'm not sick." The cat was lifted up into the air, easily held in the her arms. "Auntie will be fine. What are you doing up, anyways? It's much too late for you to be awake." Milk spun around slightly, walking to Moonseed's room, away from the corner bookshelf she was previously approaching.
The cat sniffed. "I heard a noise... under..." Milk quickly shushed her.
"There's nothing under the house, Moonseed. Houses make settling noises and ice cracks and shifts with changes in pressure and weather. It's a little scary in the night, but the noises just come with living on a frozen lake I fear." Milk tucked Moonseed back into bed, leaving no room for protest as her paw smoothed down the cat's headfur. "I can stay until you fall asleep, if you'd like. Do you want me to read you something?"
Moonseed yawned, mouth stretching wide. "Uh... Wha' ev'r one from las' night..." She blinked blearily, already settling into the cozy bed. Milk walked outside before returning with a textbook of particle physics in hand.
"Chapter 4; Bohr-" A quick pause to clear her throat, "-as opposed to the Rutherfordian theory of atoms in which electrons simply orbit the... ah." A smile gently arose on the lips of the scientist as faint sounds of snoozing could be heard throughout the room. "Sleep well, Moonie." A giggle followed. "Maybe one day I'll get to chapter 5."
Milk stayed for a second, patiently making sure Moonseed wouldn't awake with her departure. She slunk back towards the corner bookshelf, moving the books around ever so slightly as the wall pulled away. She hummed to herself. Maybe oneday, she'll fix the wiring on that thing. For now she closed it behind her, and hoped the noises wouldn't alert Moonseed.
The lab proper was glistening today, Milk decided. Sealed away from the wretched MACHINE that haunted her dreams. She set the test tube in a rack, carefully labeling the date and time before sliding it back into place. She frowned at the open page of her most recent notes on SF-D-17 and closed them gingerly, lifting up her notes on TM-D-1 in their place. She jotted down "emetogenic" under TRIAL 21 SIDE EFFECTS and placed the notes back in the shelf.
She spun her chair over to the other side of the room, preparing to examine a different substance. A slide of twinkling material was slipped into her microscope as she idley recorded simple notations under SK-D-33. Her pen slipped from her grip as the nerves spasmed. Shit. Not good. Nerves involving themselves was expected, but unwelcome news. Once her hand steadied, she reccorded the spasms into her own medical file, and frowned as she tallied the symptoms.
They pointed towards an attack on her central nervous system which... was not ideal. A neurosurgeon she was not, especially with spells like this. She could develop medicine for the symptoms, even if experimental, but the root cause would be a much more difficult fix.
She swore as she checked the clock and realized it was time to- wait. Time to check on SF-D-17? Why was she reaching a paw into her ender chest? Thats not- Ah. she shuddered and dropped the key she was gripping like a vice, letting it clatter to the bottom of the chest. She noted the time loss. Two hours. Did SF-D-17 see her like this as she walked by from her file storage? Hopefully not. The less someone saw her in that state the better.
She preppared SD-F-17's food and water for the morning, hoping to deliver it while it was asleep but subject seemed to have other plans. What was that expression. Worry? Pity? Concern?
Milk delivered the sustinance wordlessly. To acknowlege the silence would only speak what might've happened during the missing time into reality, so she didn't bother. She left soon after, marking the time under the respective notes, frowning at how her hands seemed ever so slightly less steady than she's used to..
She really needed to develop something to steady herself, even if it was a band-aid over the solution. Phantom membrane for steadyness? Could help... Ghast tears for a mending of any internal structures... Wart for stability of the solution... Yes. It could help. She'd need to detox on TRIAL 21 beforehand so cross-interaction of the drugs didnt effect each other. Three days of unsteadyness was... unapealing. Detoxing would cause a lot of issues that TRIAL 21 was intended to fix... is it worth it?
Yes. Overruled and overridden. A surgeons precision is neccessary for her work, far more so than the migranes detriment.
She has to be careful though. Normally this wouldn't bother her, but she doesn't want to worry Moonseed any. Moonseed has already been trough enough with Milk having to leave during the nights so she doesn't open the lab while sleepwalking.
For now, Milk sighed and dutifully recorded her observations in her medical file and TM-D-1's journal. She weighed the pros and cons once more. Then again. And one more time for good measure. She blinked and was in the observation room with SF-D-17 staring at her again. Did the subject have to do that? She rubbed her eyes, trying to soothe the strain that had suddenly befallen them. The usual fuzz sharpened slightly as she went back to squinting , a poor habit- she knew- but monitoring her changes in vision was more important. If she really needs to see something, she will. She cleared her throat and checked her watch. 10 minutes lost. Not good, but not the worst.
"Sf-D-17, the original tests I had scheduled for today have been... moved back. " She infomed the subject, eyeing it as it twitched at the mention of its testing. "I will come back to deliver lunch in a while. That is all." While she was walking away, her ankle went sharp with pins and needles, sweeping her off her own feet and sending her down until she caught herslef on the wall. She could hear SF-D-17's breath hitch as she stumbled.
She sped off down the hall, trying to avoid looking him in the eye.
The tests really did need moved, she told herself. She couldn't handle if a test went horriby and her steady hand was needed. No. It was safer to put off the tests until she could be reliable in keeping the subjects vessel in prime condition for further testing.
Her neck ached... she must've slept on it wrong, although not like she does much sleeping at all these days.
She emerged from her lab, calmly making her way to the greenhouse. She needed some relaxation... something familliar that she knows.
SUBJECT-4A and SUBJECT-4B nuzzled her as she entered. She smiled and pet their beaks, picking up any seeds they'd uncovered and storing them to send down to the Botany Bodega for Azazel.
She picked up the watering can and started gardening, plucking at weeds and pruning, taking cuttings to examen later. The greenhouse was always her safe haven, the sun streaming down alighting everything in its warm basking light.
She hummed to herself, she ought to make a stool for Moonseed too, so the kit can learn to take care of the garden too. Maybe, though, she should start out in the porch garden. It's more her size anyways. It was so easy to get lost in her thoughts... here... she yawned, the lack of sleep tearing at her. SUBJECT-4B nuzzled her side and flopped on the ground, and Milk slumped with the sniffer. Mumbling to herself, she tilted her head back. Just a nap is okay, right?
With the warm sun streaming through the greenhouse, Milk drifted off into sleep and opened her eyes.