Flesh and Bone

[Gizmo]

Jill's eyebrows shot up a bit reflexively. "Oh! Uh, sure. You can call me... Jill." She gave her teacher a chagrined shrug. "Sorry. The secret identity thing is sort of a big deal for my family and all, so."

Stepping out into the larger wood, she turned slowly around, staring upward at the tops of the trees and trying to take it all in at once. "Woah. That's... a lot of plants, alright."

[Electra]

"Whatever you want to be called is fine," Stesha said easily. "And Jill is a lot easier to say than Fleur de Joie, at least. I think if I had it to do over again, I might pick something shorter and easier to spell." She laughed and led her student down the path that led between the buildings. "The first thing, I suppose, is to know when something needs to be healed, even if you can't see it. How do you know when someone or something is injured? Is it from your training, or do you have a sense of how things are supposed to be, and when it's not right?"

[Gizmo]

The coltish teenager considered the question carefully, absently brushing her dyed bangs out of her eyes. "Well, there's lots of things to look for. Discolouration, awkward angles, uh... unusual pungent discharge?" Jill shrugged, not entirely sure what Stesha expected her to say. "I mean, it's easier with people, they'll generally say something like, 'ouch, I'm vomiting blood everywhere,' which gives you a place to start looking." Brow furrowing, she paused before adding. "Once I'm actually working, though... I guess there's a sort of feel to it?"

[Electra]

"So you do a medical diagnosis, for the most part." Stesha nodded thoughtfully. "That could make it harder to heal things besides people, because you may not recognize the symptoms as well. If you do end up wanting to expand your repertoire, you'll need to do some studying, but for today we can look at proof of concept. Here we go." She touched Jill on the shoulder and after one more transit, they were somewhere new entirely. This was neither the metropolis of Freedom City, nor the green abundance of Stesha's home base. This was a blighted land, a wasteland, with the ruins of collapsed buildings sinking into sandy soil. Once this had been a city, perhaps sometime in the 1950s, from the rusted shells of a few cars laying around, but it was long empty, long gone.

"This is a place I haven't worked much on lately," Stesha told Jill. "It's much too depressing to stay here for long. But it's a good place to get some practice." She led the teen over to a stand of terrible-looking trees, leaves wilted and brown-spotted, branches falling off. "These trees have anthracnose, or brown leaf spot disease. It's common to urban areas. You can see the wide brown spots on the leaves. They'll eventually wither up and die, the tree can't fight the disease on its own. See if you can feel it."

[Gizmo]

Jill looked about the area Stesha had taken them to, reflexive taking a few staggering steps backward as she placed one hand to her mouth. "Dios... it's all just..." Trailing off, she stood silently for a long, stunned moment before the green haired heroine directed her attention to the ailing trees. "Uh, yeah, alright. I guess I'll just, erm." Raising a softly glowing hand, she placed in gingerly on the tree's trunk, and closed her eyes in concentration.

[Electra]

It took a little bit, long enough that Stesha almost stepped in to guide the process, but eventually Jill's efforts began to show. Some of the brown spots began to fade from the leaves, and the branches began to stand straighter. "That's great!" Stesha said enthusiastically. "That's a really good start. And it's just from using your powers and the strength of your own mind. No medicine, no fertilizer, nothing like that. With some practice, you should be able to start doing that for people, too. Do you get a lot of practice healing human beings?" she asked Jill.

[Gizmo]

Jill grinned as she took a step back from the tree to survey her handiwork. "Well, I get a lot of practice on a human being, anyway," she replied to Fleur, letting out a short, wry breath. "You've met my brother. Not exactly brimming with self preservation instinct." Brushing some dirt off of her hands, she pulled a face. "I swear, I think he's gotten more reckless now that I can fix him faster."

[Electra]

"That can be an unfortunate side effect, yes," Fleur said with a chuckle. "I think men, especially, can get an invulnerability complex going once they realize they're much harder to hurt, or that they can be healed instantly. But if you want more practice, you could always try volunteering at a hospital. You don't even need to tell them you have powers if you don't want to, and you can help people while you're honing your skills." She grinned, putting her own hand on the tree to finish the job Jill had started. The tree instantly straightened and greened, and so did the ones around it. "It might give you more variety than patching up your brother, at least."

[Gizmo]

"Well, it's not like he didn't do his best to get himself shot before I got all glowy-handed," Jill noted, shrugging with her palms turned upward. "I've actually been volunteering at Trinity for a while now. There's not a whole lot they'll let a high school kid do, but I impressed a couple of the doctors, I guess, 'cause they throw some pre-pre-med tips by way when they can." She walked slowly around the rejuvenated trees, admiring Stesha's handiwork. "I want to get good at this, but I'm not going to stop studying the old fashioned way. Easy come, easy go, y'know?"

[Electra]

"Sure, an education will absolutely serve you well," Stesha agreed. She took a handful of seeds and sprinkled them around the trees, where they sprouted into unseasonable daffodils and tulips, an island of beauty in the blasted landscape. "I got my degree in botany before I got my powers, but I use it all the time still. The more you know about your field, the better you can be at it. Knowing what parts work together and how they break will certainly make you a more efficient healer, if nothing else." She smiled, sitting down in the grass that suddenly covered the ground. "I know my own human healing is pretty woeful, because most of what I know I picked up from my mom. She's a great midwife, but I haven't had much call for that in my line of work."

[Gizmo]

Jill pulled a bit of a face. "Ick, babies." Catching herself before she stuck out her tongue, and coughed lightly into the back of her hand to cover it. "So, uh, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you about, too, actually." Self-consciously running a hand through her dyed hair, the teen hesitated before continuing. "Jack mentioned that when you were fighting those alien space plant things, you kinda... made them explode. A bit. And I basically want to not explode anybody with the ol' Left Hand of Doom, so..."

[Electra]

"Well, you might feel differently when you're older," Stesha said, smothering a grin."You've got a long time before you have to think about anything like that. But I imagine it's something you'll study, too."

She was quiet for a moment when Jill mentioned her tactics against the plant monsters. "I'm not sure how much I can help you with that," she admitted. "It's a power I haven't explored nearly as much as some of my other abilities, and I'm almost sure I can only use it on plants, anyway. It's not even making them sick so much as..." She reached out a hand, waved it over a tulip. The healthy flower withered instantly, turned brown, and seemed to melt away, as though biodegrading in fast forward. "As taking away the molecular bonds that hold it together. It's sort of unpleasant, but it has its uses." Stesha snapped her finger over the empty space, and suddenly the flower was back, shooting out of the ground like a spring-loaded toy to wave once again beside its fellows. "Not something to use lightly on anything that might be sentient."

[Gizmo]

The coltish teen grimaced glumly, slouching slightly as she hooked her thumbs in the slim pockets of her costume's pants. "Yeah, no kidding. I'm... pretty sure I've got it set to 'stun', but it's not something I really want to whip out except for emergencies." She was grateful on some level to have a more offensive application fro her abilities, but on the other hand, pun intended, it was disturbing to know what she was potentially capable of doing to someone.

[Electra]

"I really don't know how to test something like that," Stesha admitted. "You might be better off asking about it at school. I know they have teenagers there with all sorts of powers, some of them very dangerous. My fiance taught there last year," she explained, "so I've heard a few things. But I think it's a good first step that you're so concerned about doing damage. It'll keep you from hurting people from carelessness, and that's very important. Have you had to use it in a fight yet?"

[Gizmo]

"Oh, right the bookish guy. Figures he's a teacher," Jill nodded, recalling Stesha's fiance from Lynn's birthday party. "Yeah, one time," she answered the question, absently kicking at a bit of loose stone. "The night I got my powers. Well, activated them, anyway. It's kind of a whole thing. Point is, it got pretty bad there for a bit and I had to defend myself. Didn't really mean to do it, but."

[Electra]

"It's no sin to act to protect yourself," Stesha maintained staunchly. "Especially if you were forced to use powers you hadn't even had a chance to practice with yet. It's a lucky thing you had them and didn't get hurt!" She nodded to reinforce her words. "I imagine you have some idea of how they work, then, at least enough for you and a trainer to work with. In the meantime, your healing skills are pretty impressive, if you've kept that brother of yours in one piece. Even if you only use those, you'll be pretty heroic."

[Gizmo]

"I'm definitely not looking to 'throw down'," Jill agreed, placing her hands behind her head and looking out over the urban ruins overrun with plant growth and decay. "During the Grue invasion, I was working in an ER. Someone needs to be focusing specifically on protecting people caught in the crossfire, minimizing collateral damage." There was a flint hard edge running just under the surface of the girl's tone.

[Electra]

"I was doing much the same thing," Stesha agreed. "Just trying to get people out of the line of fire, healed up, anything to try and save lives and stabilize the situation. I'm not much of a fighter," she admitted with a shrug, "but the city needs people to hold it together until the fighting is over, too. Oh!" She brightened considerably, standing up again. "I have an idea! Would you mind taking a look at my holding area, and seeing what I might need to put in there in terms of medical supplies? I've got a couple of first aid kits, but hearing from someone with actual training would be great."

[Gizmo]

"Yeah, sure, of course," Jill mumbled, shaking off her introspective distraction. "I'd be happy to." It meant a lot to the teenager to talk with someone who shared her priorities and was still so well respected in the superhero community. Some competitive part of her wanted people to know that she was more than capable of holding her own in a fight, but when it came down to it, her moral convictions took precedence. "Lead on, Professor."

[Electra]

Another quick teleport took them back into the heart of Fleur's green oasis, this time into a broad open field, about the size of a football field, that was open to the air in the middle and shaded by bowers of vines and trees on the ends. Signs in several languages welcomed people to Sanctuary, giving them a little information about where they were, and assuring them that they were safe.

"The food supplies were easy enough," Stesha told Jill, pointing out a number of durable sealed plastic containers under one arbor. "Just prepackaged meals, open and eat, I found them on the internet. I'm laying in sleeping bags as money permits, even though I've never had to keep anyone overnight so far. But all I've got is a couple of those big Red Cross first aid kits, and I don't know what else I should put in." She led Jill across the field to one bower, where the bright red boxes with the crosses were still sealed in plastic wrap. "Every situation is so different, you understand?"

[Gizmo]

Jill ran a hand along the back of her neck thoughtfully. "Well, really, it strikes me that the issue is less supplies than staff. There's a load of medicines I'd suggest for any ER, for example, but without someone who knows the right dosages, you'd be better off with bandages and chicken soup." Frowning, the girl paced about the room, idly examining the various signs. "A live-in medtech probably isn't happening here, though."

[Electra]

"That would be something of a logistical nightmare," Stesha agreed with a laugh. "There's really nothing here besides what I pack in, and no other ways in or out. It'd be a lonely life, and it's not like I'm sending groups here every day." She looked again at the kits. "Really, my hope is that if someone can be stabilized long enough, I can heal them myself when the danger is past, or at least get them to a hospital. I'm just afraid somebody might bleed to death here while I'm trying to do mass evacuations." She shrugged one shoulder wryly. "Again, nothing like that has ever happened before. But after the invasions this city has seen, it seems smart to be as prepared as possible. Maybe I'll lay in some chicken soup."

[Gizmo]

"Soup tends to cure a multitude of ills, yeah," Jill agreed, waving her hand in a small arc. A shimmering blue light surrounded the extended limb, and a small, boxy forcefield formed under one of the large first aid kits, raising it to a more convenient height for inspection. "This is pretty good stuff, actually," she noted judiciously as she sifted through the kit's contents. "The whole set up is really ambitious, I gotta say."

[Electra]

"There aren't a lot of heroes in Freedom City who are set up to deal with mass evacuations or endangered civilians," Stesha pointed out. "And we've had a lot of fights, especially this past year or so, where regular people have been caught in the crossfire. The fighting heroes have done a great job trying to end the threat and minimize the damage, but there's only so much they can do. The battle has to be fought," she said with a little shrug.

"I had just been keeping them in the pocket dimension I can access through the plants, but it tended to make scared people panic, and even regular people uncomfortable. Now I've got all this space, so I figured why not make a place to put people that makes a little more sense, and has more resources. Though I am worried that someone's bound to climb over the hedge and wander off," she admitted with a frown. "There's nothing really dangerous around here, but I'd hate to lose someone and not notice it."

She walked over to the nearby hedge, perking it up a little with a wave of her hand. "I've been wondering, do they teach you rescues and first aid and things like that at Claremont as part of the curriculum?"

[Gizmo]

Repacking the kit, Jill nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't think I'd want to just hang out in all that... green for too long. Kinda freaky." The coltish teen took another look around the room. "This could be a total game changer, though. Being able to get people out of the way like this? It's like Doc Metro big." Considering Stesha's question, Jill shrugged broadly. "Well, I haven't gotten to do too much. A lot of it's just normal school stuff, and the meta stuff is mostly learning control. The more advanced students have, like, squads, I guess, who get more extreme training. Or so I hear."