"Mom!" as soon as Sonny and Joel entered the lab, Owsla came running over to them, flinging all four arms around her mother. "...Dad." she said with a slight glare as she looked at Joel, standing right next to them.
"Owsla." he replied, just as cold. He wasn't going to be intimidated by a little kid.
Sonny not-so-secretly elbowed Joel for his tone, smiling brightly at Owsla as the Mau5 doubled over beside him. "Hi sweetheart!"
"Ah, the Skrill X and the dead mouse," a lanky dork in a lab coat spoke up from across the room where he sat at a lab table. "Nice to meet you."
"Er..." Joel was immediately off put by the way Theodore said his name. It sounded so... awkward... and just plain... wrong. When he had run into the young scientist earlier, he had assumed the guy recognized him because he simply told him 'You can all come see Owsla now.' and walked off. The short lived encounter hadn't left room for introductions. Now hearing his name coming from Theodore for the first time, it unnerved him. Was it just him or was Sonny unnerved too? He glanced at his best friend beside him.
"Sonny and Joel is fine," the raven hair said, giving Joel a look. So it wasn't just him. "We're trying to keep a low profile..." Sonny said, always the nice guy, trying to come up with some viable excuse. "Thank you... for doing this." he added while shifting awkwardly, he had never met Theodore before either.
Immediately, Theodore had stars in his eyes. "Oh you don't have to thank me, it was my pleasure!" he sighed dreamily. "I got to run lots of tests and I can't wait for the results and all that glorious scientific data~!"
Sonny looked at the young scientist suspiciously before holding Owsla at arms length to look at her very seriously. "Did he do anything weird to you? Make you feel uncomfortable at all?"
Owsla looked at her mom, mortified. "Of course not!" Owsla suddenly looked uncertain. "I mean... all of it was pretty weird... but- but nothing like THAT!" she flatly refused.
"AH!" both mother and child jumped as Joel screamed beside them. There was a cotton swab sticking out of his mouth which Theodore had just stuck down his throat without warning. Joel tried to shove him off but Theodore had already walked off. "What the hell man!"
"I needed a DNA sample and you were just starring off into space so..." Theodore shrugged, carefully placing the sample aide for analysis later.
"Why the hell would you need that, I thought you were supposed to be analyzing the kid!"
"I am. I wish to compare Owsla's DNA to a human."
"Don't you have samples 'n' shit in the lab already for that!"
"Well we have samples to run in the lab but if I used one, I'd have to keep record of it," Theodore's glasses glinted, almost threateningly, as he turned to face them. "Which is a huge no-no."
Joel glared at the young scientist for a few seconds before turning away with an irritated grunt, for lack of a better come back.
"Well there are many test results and scientific findings to go over so if you two will take a seat we can get started." Theodore gestured to the lab stools around him and the three hesitantly took their seats, already unnerved by the dude.
"Why do I have to be here for this?" Joel grumbled half-heartedly. He was only here for Sonny's sake. He felt uncomfortable being involved in Owsla's medical results, it wasn't his business, he wasn't involved, and he wanted it to stay that way.
"Because you're her father!"
"I told you, she's not-"
"Joel." Sonny gave him a glare in warning. It was clear he didn't want to argue about this- not in front of Owsla.
As Owsla looked between her parents in unease, Theodore just smiled, clearly not reading the room well. "The insecurity of inadequacy is only to be expected in new parents."
Sonny reached out a hand to stop Joel before he could even get started but the Mau5 stood up anyway, against the appendage in his way. "What did you-?"
"Ow!" Sonny cried out from the pressure of Joel's body weight against his arm... his injured arm. He had been stupid enough to try and stop Joel with his injured arm.
"Sonny, wha-?" Realizing the problem immediately, Joel cursed. "Fuck Sonny, what the hell do you think you're doing, dip shit?"
"Joel, what the fuck? Could you at least try not to cuss in front of your kid?"
"Shut up! I need to do some proper first aid on your arm!" Joel tugged insistently on Sonny's good arm, trying to get the goblin to follow him to an empty lab table.
Sonny narrowed his eyes at him. "We're in the middle of Owsla's test results, wait a fucking minute!"
Joel slammed a clenched fist on a lab table. "Stupid numbers are not more important than your immediate health!"
Sonny gritted his teeth. "Joel-" but stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down to see a blue hand gripping the fabric.
"Mom, you should listen to Dad. You need to take your health more seriously." Worry was evident in her tone, but Owsla's face said it all. She stared at her mother's injury in obvious fear.
"Ok..." Sonny conceded gently, calmly removing his child's grip on his tee so he could walk over to where Joel was standing. Joel gave him a scowl as he put down his vending machine snack and began taking out the contents of the CVS bag he had brought along. While Sonny had been passed out with his injuries in the car, Joel had stopped to get medical supplies. He pulled out a bottle of water, antiseptic, bandages... and a sowing kit.
Sonny's eyes went a little wide at the sight of it as he sat down, placing his arm on the table. "What's the sowing kit for?"
Joel didn't bat an eye as he began to unravel the goblin's arm. "For stitches, dumb ass."
Sonny tried to pull his arm away at the news but Joel wouldn't let him. The Mau5 held his wrist firmly as he placed the bloody rags of what used to be his t-shirt aside. "The wounds need them." and it was true. Now that he had a clearer head, Joel remembered exactly what to do (he really wished he could forget how helpless he had been earlier today when he was begging Road hog for help). There were three cuts in total, one on his upper arm close to the elbow and two on his fore arm. The bleeding had stopped but the cuts were still wide enough to need stitches, it wasn't going to heal well without them. Seeing the wounds for himself, Sonny didn't protest but his eyes didn't relax either. The first thing Joel did was pour water on them, knowing the sprite he had used earlier wasn't going to do the trick. Sonny seethed, drawing in a long breath between his teeth. The water stung quite a bit but he didn't want his daughter across the room to worry. Next, Joel opened a packet of disinfectant and began unfolding the small soaked cloth.
Seeing it, Sonny shifted in his seat uncomfortably, knowing it would hurt like hell. "Hey, you already washed it with water, that's redundant!"
"Shut up and let me see your arm."
"No way!" The sound of crying distracted him however, and he looked over to see Owsla in tears. "No no no, Owsla, don't cry. I'll let your Dad take care of me, I promise- GAH!" he let out a yelp of pained surprise as Joel began to disinfect the wounds without warning. After wiping the area clean, Joel grabbed the old bloody bandages, giving Sonny a break as he threw them away.
It was then that Natasha and Jamie entered the lab... and then froze as they tried to take in the scene before them. They had walked into what appeared to be complete chaos. Owsla was crying, so Sonny was crying and Joel was throwing away bloody fabric. Theodore was effectively ignoring them all as he poured over his notes.
"Sonny, what the crap happened to you?" Jamie asked.
And for the first time, the girls noticed Sonny had been wounded. Natasha had not seen them since they got back and although Jamie had, she had been too caught up in her fight with the emotional mess to notice.
Sonny wiped at his eyes with his good arm. "I kinda, well... I... I got injured." he answered lamely.
"Hmph." Joel snorted at the statement as he threw away the 'bandages' before returning to Sonny's side.
Bucky walked over to watch as Joel began measuring out threat to stitch up the injuries. "Don't forget to sterilize the needle." She commented.
"I was getting to that," Joel mumbled sourly. "Could you hand me the disinfectant?" Bucky easily handed him the cloth which he had left a ways down the table. Finishing the knot on the end of the string, the Mau5 wiped the needle in the folds of the disinfecting cloth before inserting it into Sonny's skin.
Sonny whined as it was pulled through. It hurt less than he thought it would but it freaked him out a bit. He cringed as he watched the thread slide through layers of skin. On the other side of the room, Owsla was cringing too. Pinching her nose, she was covering it with all four hands. Bucky tensed as she watched her girlfriend go over to check on her.
"Owsla? Are you alright?" Natasha asked, a hand on her shoulder as she helped the little blue being sit on a lab stool.
The alien shook her head. "It smells."
Nat looked at her confused. "What smells? The blood?"
Owsla nodded. "And the disinfectant."
Natasha narrowed her eyes. How could Owsla smell all that from across the room? As if hearing her unasked question, her brother spoke up.
"Owsla seems to have more heightened senses than we do, sense of smell, sense of hearing, yet-"
"GAH!" Sonny shrieked across the lab. "I thought you were going to warn me!" he barked at Joel, who had started stitching the second wound, apparently without warning the goblin.
"It hurts more if you're expecting it." the Mau5 explained.
Theodore looked up with a bemused expression. "I could've gotten you some anesthetic you know."
Sonny just glared at the young scientist. "Well thanks man, you're a great help." but the stern expression failed to have impact as he winced when Joel inserted the needle into his skin again.
Owsla, battling her super senses, held her nose as she ran over to him. "Mom?" she started crying again, this time, not from the smell. "Mom, are you going to be okay?"
Sonny smiled at her, wiping a tear off her face with his thumb. "Don't cry Owsla, or you're gonna make me cry."
Owsla sniffed, trying to make the tears disappear. "Okay."
"There." Joel cut the end of the thread. "Two out of three done." disinfecting the needle again, he began to re-thread it.
"You broke your glasses." Bucky realized, noticing cracks in the glass as she looked at her brother.
"Oh fuck, I did?" Sonny circled his eyes , trying to see the glass before them. Sure enough, there was a crack on the left lens but he had been so distracted by recent events he hadn't noticed. He sighed. "I might as well go to the eye doctor, I think I need a new prescription."
"Eyes getting old there, Sonny?" Natasha quipped, unable to resist the opportunity to tease.
"Shut up."
Turning around in his lab stool, Theodore spoke up. "You should take Owsla with you. As I was saying earlier, she has heightened senses but I'm afraid her eyesight is lacking."
"Isn't that strange though? Considering her other senses are so good?" Natasha asked.
Theodore nodded in agreement. "Yes..." he began mumbling, mulling over possible explanations. "My best guess is it could be a side effect from this regrowth process. It's so complex compared to known boundaries in science today, it wouldn't surprise me if there were side effects."
"Side effects?" Sonny glanced at Theodore worriedly as he bundled Owsla close to him, tucking her under his good arm as if he could protect her from everything there.
"Yes, although I wouldn't worry about it, he eyesight deficiency seems to be completely within the normal range of any human that would need visual aid. Her other senses are remarkable though, check this out..." Theodore stood up and walked to the far side of the room. Facing them, the gang watched as he mouthed something they couldn't even begin to hear. When he walked back over, he had a goofy grin ear to ear. "What did I say Owsla?"
Owsla on the other hand did not look so joyful. In fact, she looked kinda mad. "You said Nattie is stupid! That's mean!"
"Hey!" Natasha protested.
"That's amazing Owsla!" Sonny praised his daughter. "You heard a whisper clearly from over 20 ft. away!"
The little alien tried to hide her face as a fierce blush rose to her cheeks. "It's not that amazing..."
"Likewise, her nose is as good as your average house cat."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Sonny exclaimed, looking at his daughter with a whole new sense of wonder. Owsla meanwhile buried her face in his arm, trying to disappear.
"Now then, shall we move on to what I discovered about that pod goop sample you gave me?" Although the pod goop was gone, Natasha had managed to get a small sample from the thermos Owsla had used last night. She had given it to Theodore to analyze in hope to recreate it. With a chorus of nods as his encouragement, he began to spit out his analysis.
"It's very fascinating! I've never seen anything like it! You could almost say it's alive all on it's own... almost. It doesn't actually fit all the requirements. It's kinda like a virus that way. They aren't considered living things either, you know. It's because they can't reproduce on their own and-" Theodore continued to ramble scientific nonsense which the rest of them tuned out.
Theodore's scientific rambling finally got on Nat's nerves. "That's great!" she snapped. "But can you recreate it?"
Her brother shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, I would need way more time just to analyze it before I could even attempt it. However, I have discovered some interesting things that might help you." Heads turned to focus on the young scientist again. "We know that you guys lost some of the pod goop and from Natasha and Jamie's eye witness accounts, I can estimate the amount lost was probably about one serving. With that in mind, I must remind you of the definition of the regrowth process, Owsla?"
Owsla jolted out of the comfort of her mother's arm, not expecting to be called on. "It's the redevelopment of subject by the use of rejuvenating fluids to expedient their growth back to the original state of creation."
"Exactly. In other words, every time Owsla consumes the pod goop, aka, the rejuvenating fluid, she will grow at a rapid rate, closer to who she was originally."
People around the room slowly nodded, understanding the definition now. It made sense. Every time Owsla had eaten the goop, she had grown.
"But here's the kicker," Theodore's smile set everyone on edge, but unknown to him, he continued. "If there was one more dosage left, aka, the goop you guys lost, Owsla's growth has been stunted. She should have completed one more stage of growth by consuming that pod goop. Meaning, he 'original state of creation' was an adult.
Sonny swallowed nervously, 'stunted' didn't sound good in his book. "Is that... is that bad?"
"I wouldn't worry about it. It just means she'll age normally from now on... well whatever is normal for her species anyways. However this leads me to an interesting theory."
"A theory?" Natasha asked, concerned.
"Yes, but before I delve further, let me ask you a question Owsla. What is the name of your home planet?"
"What!" Sonny shouted. "She was raised here! She wouldn't know-"
"Gilgamesh."
The room froze. All eyes were on Owsla, who had covered her mouth with two hands, looking just as shocked as the rest of them.
Bucky narrowed her eyes viciously. "What did you just say?"
Owsla blinked. "Gilgamesh. That's the name of my home planet."
"How do you know that?" she pressed.
The alien frowned. "I- I don't know... I just do."
"How!" Jamie barked.
"I don't know!"
"I said how!" Jamie slammed her hand on a lab table as Owsla burst into tears.
Sonny's grip tightened on Owsla protectively. "Bucky!" he shouted, a glare in his eyes. He was appalled at the absolute aggression she showed towards his daughter. "That's enough! She says she doesn't know."
"Ah- if I may interrupt?" Theodore intervened. "I have a theory that explains this. Owsla said 'original state of creation'. Since I've already concluded she was originally an adult, I had to ask, 'Could Owsla have truly just been born into existence as an adult?'. The answer is no. Although that would explain her development physically, I'm afraid it wouldn't explain her mental capabilities. For example, her understanding of the English language, you can't just create learning. Where this true, her understanding of the world would be infantile, since her experiences on earth have been so minimal. So then if she wasn't created as an adult, we must assume she grew up somewhat normally and everything she knows was taught to her while she grew up on her home planet."
"Just as I thought. That's why she was able to recognize Sonny and Joel immediately." Natasha nodded along with her brother's theory.
"So just what does that mean?" Sonny asked the scientist still very confused. "Owsla has never mentioned her home planet or anything about it before."
"It means Owsla has a whole life of memories on her home planet she can't remember, most of which are probably essential to her survival here. If the aliens planned to send her here, she must have had some sort of training which would be in the memories she's lost." he explained.
"But if they're so essential to her survival here why can't she remember?" Joel asked, tying the last knot on Sonny's stitches (he kept getting distracted by everyone around him so it had taken a while)
"Because until she is physically capable of carrying out her purpose here, the mental knowledge that goes with it is unnecessary. In other words, I doubt her memories will be restored until she's an adult. I'm afraid however that because the rest of the pod goop was lost, we'll never be able to regain these memories."
"Never?"
"Well..." Theodore paused. "I guess it's possible. I theorize that all this information is in Owsla's brain but this fluid is the key to unlocking it. Eventually the memories could be retrieved I suppose, but without the 'key' it will be very difficult."
Bucky sat down, folding her arms. "So you're telling me she knows the name of her home planet because any normal teen would know that?"
"Exactly." Theodore smiled. "Now you're getting it. She knows only what she needs to know as a teenager until she develops into the next stage, adult hood. But, that won't be happening of course so her knowledge is currently equivalent to that of a teenager."
Joel frowned. After finishing the stitches on Sonny's third gash and bandaging the entire arm, he had sat with the others, listening to all this scientific mumbo jumbo. But now a question tugged at his mind... what about their original question? "So why wouldn't she know if she can digest human food or not? Normal teenagers know what they can and can not eat."
"Ah, good question," Theodore pushed his glasses back onto his nose, excited that the others were getting into the scientific swing of things. "That information would have been unimportant until the pod goop, her food source, ran out. That was supposed to happen after she completed the adult stage of growth so I'm afraid that information is irretrievable- locked away with her other memories
"Noooo!" Sonny was the first person to express the crushing disappointment hitting them all by letting out an anguished cry. Was he really doomed to watch his daughter starve to death? Did this really mean she was going to die? Had it all been for nothing? He barely registered Joel squeezing his hand, awkwardly trying to comfort his best friend (emotional support was not one of his strong points).
"However!" Theodore raised his voice over the commotion before they all lost it. "The tests I've done lead me to believe there's a good chance she can digest human food."
"Really!" Nat jumped up excitedly, expressing the new surge of hope spreading trough the gang.
Theodore nodded, smiling along with his sister's enthusiasm. "It's strange, I wouldn't think it possible but the MRI's and x-rays show an anatomy almost identical to the human female."
"So which is it?" Joel asked, getting annoyed. "Can she or can she not digest human food?"
Theodore shrugged. "There's only one way to test that."
A tense silence settled upon them all... until a loud snacking filled the air instead. Inevitably, all eyes turned towards a certain Mau5 and a bag of vending machine Cheez-its.
Bucky broke the silence first. "Joel! How could you eat Markiplier's children at a time like this?"
Joel didn't bother swallowing before trying to speak. "I wuz hungre," he swallowed. "Here, you want some Owsla?" he held out the bag to the little alien in an attempt to rectify his mistake.
Owsla was tentatively reaching into the bag when Sonny karate chopped it out of Joel's hand. "WWWWAAAAH!" (he provided the sound effect)
"Shit! Man, what the fuck!" Joel screamed, jumping away in surprise as pain exploded in his fingers.
"Mom, what?"
"No! I will not have my child's first meal be some lame vending machine Cheez-its! Wae shall go to On The Border! Tonight, WE FEAST!"
There was a moment of silence as the gang processed Sonny's proclamation. Natasha spoke first. "...Sonny get down from the lab table. Standing on it does not create dramatic effect, it just makes you look like an idiot."
