And eye for an eye, a hand for a hand

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Torch. Right. That. She wasn't likely to forget that any time soon. Still hurt. Like hell. Slowly, but surely, however, she was starting to get used to it. A bit like labor pain. It didn't stop hurting, but you started to develop a... relationship with the pain. Started to get to know it. It was pain that served as a reminder. She hadn't died yet.

"Ah, Corny," she sighed, staring at the ceiling, "Blubbrin' coward. I'll beat 'im once I'm good ta go."

What time was it, anyway? Where was she? It was still fuzzy. She saw sparks on the corners of her vision, just floating there, waiting.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane snorted at the thought of the scared little man he'd seen getting straightened out by this woman who was lying on a bed and seeing sparkly ghosts or something.​

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"You might have to wait on that, though. If I have my way, you're staying here for a week with your arm in bacta. And then we'll see about replacing that hand of yours. I can't even give you painkillers until the spice is out of your system."​

​

The Chiss doctor moved his chair to a desk next to the bed and continued putting together the half of a cybernetic hand he'd been building before. It wasn't exactly a masterpiece, but it was practice, and practice makes near-perfect.​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

She couldn't really complain. She did do this to herself, after all. Loseing her hand, trying to make it easier with stardust, letting Corny choose a doctor for her. She didn't blame this one at all for her present condition. How could she? She might be a pirate, but she wasn't unreasonable.

"I'm jus' gunna... pass out, or somethin' then. Try n' sleep this off."

The drugs, not the pain. That was just not gunna happen.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"Go ahead, Zandra. Sleep. I'm probably gonna collapse at this desk here, if you need anything."​

​

Lorane smiled slightly as he went back to drinking his acidic Gargle Blaster and putting this cybernetic hand together. As much work as it was, it was fun. It was like building his guns and jet boots all over again, except that this one would be for somebody else. He didn't think it was likely that he'd be losing a hand anytime soon. Maybe a whole limb, but most likely not just a hand.​

​

He felt himself drifting off into a drunken sleep, and gave into it, still holding the half-finished hand as he laid his head down on the desk.​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Sleep didn't come easy to Zandra. The good doctor was fast asleep long before Zandra was, and when she dreamed. she dreamed of hands falling off at random, fingers, toes, whole limbs hitting the floor with no explanation. And then she saw her husbands body laying in a grassy patch, grey and decaying, worms oozing out of his mouth.

Her eyes snapped open and a horrid pain engulfed her completely.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane's sleep was short-lived. His dream had something to do with a hand choking him. It felt cold and metallic and... solid. The fingers were slowly closing around his throat, and his air was getting cut off...​

​

The Chiss woke with a yelp and jumped out of his chair, dropping the prosthetic hand on the desk. Looking over to the bed, he saw Zandra's eyes open and looking at him. He smiled a bit sheepishly at her as he sat back down in his chair and got back to working on the hand. What a weird dream.​

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"Bad dream there, too, Zandra?"​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

she'd been awake just long enough to watch him flail. everyone talked in their sleep. the good doctor here was no exception. What was he so worried about? What was he seeing?

"I always have bad dreams, Doc," she replied quietly, "Always."

Sweet angry stars in the sky, this still hurt.

"When can ya drug me again?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane looked at Zandra, leaning on one elbow. She seemed to have come down from the spice, for at least the most part, but he still wasn't comfortable giving her painkillers.​

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"In the morning should be good enough. You seem pretty flushed out right now."​

​

He felt horrible for this pirate woman. Amputating limbs was horrible when the patient was ready and under anesthesia. As it was, it sounded like somebody had cut it off during a fight. That sounded like something nobody should get forced upon them, but it happened all the time.​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Zandra moaned and rolled over, careful not to touch her bandaged stump.

"how long 'til mornin' doc?" she pleaded, "Ya gatta give me somethin'."

She felt like she was dying. Better than feeling like she was already dead, yeah, but it was still horrible.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane thought about it for a moment. He had an alternative...​

​

"I could give you a bucket of ice? Don't think you could sleep like that, though. Sure as hell I couldn't."​

​

He got up to get to the freezer outside, smiling as it occurred to him that he'd given much the same treatment to some of his drinks earlier that week. He walked back in and pushed the stump of Zandra's arm into the bucket.​

​

"Numbness is better than pain, right?"​

​

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Ice? Was that really gunna do anything? Zandra was no doctor, but it didn't seem like it'd help at this point. Ice was good when you bumped our head on the door way- not when you've had your hand sliced clean off.

"Fine, whatever ya say, Doc," she groaned, "At this point, I'll take anything."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"I know. And I'm giving you the only thing I could think of off the top of my head."​

​

Lorane looked to make sure that Zandra's arm was relatively comfortably settled in the bucket before he sat back down with the cybernetic hand he was building. He managed to attach another finger before sitting back and rolling the chair away from the desk. That had been a weird dream.​

​

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

She gingerly stuck her stump into the ice. Not much of an improvement at first, but she knew that in a little while, hopefully it would help to ease a little of the pain.

"So, do ya do this all the time, Doc?" she asked, "Help poor, unfortunate criminals on the street? Or 'm I special?"

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane shrugged at Zandra's question. Sure, he didn't have to deal with amputees often, but he'd patched up all sorts of wounds before. He wasn't usually working on cybernetics, though. That was new.​

​

"I get plenty of patients, but not that many off-worlders come to my door with hands missing."​

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He wiggled the fingers of his little project at the blonde woman.​

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"I'm also not usually working on stuff like this. I build a lot of guns and little gadgets. Cybernetics are a whole 'nother pot of sabbacc."​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Oh good. So this wasn;t exactly his cup of tea, then? She was going to just have to suck it up and deal with it though. Not like she had a choice. It was all she could afford, and well, she wasn;t exactly right down the street from another doctor that would happily keep her identity secret.

"Ah... Should I be scared?" she asked, laughing shakily, "you ain't gunna accidentally kill me, are ya?"


[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane might've joked about it before, but Zandra seemed pretty scared that attaching the hand was going to harm her somehow. He was trying to figure out how he was supposed to reassure her. That wasn't really his job, usually. Most of the time, attempting to talk to his patients ended in him getting shot at. He sighed heavily before smiling a little bit sarcastically.​

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"No, I don't think grafting a cybernetic adapter onto your arm is going to kill you. At most, there'll be pain, and for that I've got painkillers."​

​

Of course, he was going to do it when he was both rested and not waiting to give Zandra painkillers.​

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

"Painkillers," she sighed, moving her stump slightly in the ice, "Can ya get me some soon? Kinda gettin' chilly."

Ice really could only do so much, after all. She was a tough woman, but even she needed help now.

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

Lorane shrugged as he began looking through a medical closet for painkillers. Zandra was clearly at least mostly flushed out of the spice, and he didn't really like seeing people struggle in front of him like that. He found some medicine and loaded it into a syringe.​

​

"Yeah, I think so. Pull your arm outta the bucket and let me give you a shot. Might numb just that spot, but that'll be enough."​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Oh thank the stars above! Zandra groaned as she pulled her arm out. It felt heavy. She hadn't lost a lot of blood, really. The lightsaber had stopped most of it. Very ineffective weapon for a Sith, actually. If the goal had been to kill her, he had failed rather miserably. And now, she was going to get a new hand and go back to get his. It was the very least she could do.

The pinch of the needle was almost nothing to her now, but the relief that flooded in, the sweet, sweet numbness? It was everything now.

She sighed and let her head hit the pillow.

"Thanks Doc."

[member="Doctor Azure"]

 

[Doctor Azure]

"Not a problem, hopefully."​

​

Lorane went back to putting the cybernetic hand together, smiling as Zandra rested her head back down on the pillow. The hand was coming together nicely, and maybe he'd even be able to fit the pirate lady with it in a few days.​

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[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]​