Ryuuko hopped back an inch when Mako hurried towards her, startled. The brunette was confused as to why, to which I told her that, due to brain tumor, the former had lost quite much of her sight, along with explaining as to why her eyes looked cloudy. While Mako knew a many things about medical finds and such, I would tell her that no one could really say whether or not the rest of her vision would return, as the tumor was the size of her fist and the damage caused was what one would call massive.
In short, I explained my sister's difficulties and that she was startled by the sound of rushing footsteps. It was a lot for her to take in but, nevertheless, she understood. Blindness and limited mobility be damned, Ryuuko quite welcomed her friend's presence, after a rather forced, long, yet quite abrupt absence. Their interactions were zany, however, innocent, as Mako was quite curious about Ryuuko's blindness and the latter had answered factually to any questions in which she may have asked, especially as to what she saw, in which case, Mako received an answer of, "Mostly just shadows, some colors, and I can tell more of whether or not it's dark or if its light, so I can't see-see but I can see some things."
Mako listened intently before asking if her blindness would go away, to which my sister told her that no one could be sure but, nevertheless, stated she could see a little but most of what she tends to have is light, dark, and color perception, as some things haven't returned. Humorously, she would state about something being "too bright", said something being a nightlight, to which I told her the reason it looked the way it did was because of the fact that she'd sleep with her face towards it. Regardless, she made note of what color it was, saying that it was red.
They talked of other things that she'd like to do or had done since the removal of her tumor. She mentioned that she liked to go the beach and, sometimes, she'd go wherever I did if she could. She mentioned that sometimes she walked around but she never went far, however, she was starting to go further and further with each few blocks and told a little story about her smelling some flowers, which ended with her needing me to pulling a bee out of her nose with a pair of tweezers. "The bee and me were okay though." she finished.
She then told about a few of our outings and her time in the hospital before her tumor was removed, along with the fact that, at times, she's spend about an hour or two in a weighted blanket on the sofa, to, at times, feel safe, as being without sight and having limited mobility, along with dealing with sudden noises, can be sometimes disorienting. Of course, Mako was still curious about the enigmatic tumor and asked if it was scary. Ryuuko replied that it was a "monster", one that she, for a good chunk of the time didn't know about and that she feared it's return, saying, "It's gone now and, according to the doctors, it won't come back but, deep down, I'm still scared that it will." She and Mako talked a great deal of monsters, coming to the conclusion that not all monsters have to be what most would think of as monsters, in which, case her tumor was a monster. They talked about the "monster", saying how happy they were it was gone.
Later that day, she showed her around our home, along with some other things she liked to do during her days. Mako listened and paid close attention, taking mental notes of almost everything she was shown and had heard. Once Ryuuko had told her everything, she let Mako push her around in a wheelchair, while the latter sang a song about whatever sort of nonsense she could sing with the former clapping along. They were at this for some time, as I could hear them, until I heard the former screaming for a brief moment before saying "Douchebag."
Uzu had startled her and she was not amused, fathomably so. Gently but firmly, Mako explained that Ryuuko was mostly blind, that her sight hadn't completely returned, thus sudden sounds frighten her. I would find myself trying to stifle a laugh when I saw her get out of that wheelchair and cuff him in the eye before sitting back down, saying, "Don't do that again!" Blindness be damned, she really still had it. I was chuckling at hearing him yelp about his eye and wondering if Ryuuko blacked it.
I decided to humor myself by going to check on them. Like Mako, he had a slew of questions, asking why she was in a wheelchair if she could walk somewhat and what her favorite things were. She kept whatever answers she had simple and to the point, along with telling him, again, not to startle her any more than that. She told him that she's letting Mako push her around and that some of her favorite things, to list, were watching television, spending time with me, making noise, taking walks, and painting with watercolors, also taking catnaps, various little things.
He was confused as to how she could enjoy her television programs or watercolor painting if she couldn't see all that well, to which she said, "I can see colors, as long as they're bright, but I can see them, so I paint with colors, even if I don't know exactly what it is that I paint and I don't have to see the TV to know it's there and what's on it."
I recall that, actually, her paintings are easy to make out, considering that she paints the image she might be seeing in her mind, in which case, she painted flowers but, once, she painted me from memory and said painting was accurate, barring a flower in my hair. Regardless, I would color myself astonished at her memory and artistic ability. In terms of her watching television, well, that was obvious, as I had taken a few smacks to the forehead for changing her channel when I assumed she wasn't paying attention or was asleep (she has her eyes closed mostly).
She told him plenty of other things, including that one time with the bee in her nose and how I had to pull it out with tweezers, along with how it got there and that it was still alive. "In short, I enjoy the world just like you do, smartass." she said, crossing her arms and rolling her cloudy eyes, before yawning. It was nearing 3:00, her naptime, thus Mako brought her in the house. With Mako by her side, patiently waiting for her to wake up, she slept, under that weighted blanket, listening to her friend hum lullabies.
When she awoke, they went right back to their old tricks and many more. It was almost as if little has changed, frankly, I would find myself admiring their ability to bounce back after all things said and done. I suppose, for myself, the idea would take a bit longer to come back from something like hers. Sure, I would have been quick to admit that something of that nature was wrong the moment I would have noticed but my adjustment to such a thing, it seems, would have taken longer.
I guess I would have taken a more pragmatic route, whatever that sort of thing would be. I would probably be living a slow life based around accommodation and such but, Ryuuko, no, she's different. It started out slow but then she brought it back to normal, adding more to it. It's utterly fascinating as to how much more vibrant she's made her life despite her impairment, to think that she probably would have been closer to death due to a brain tumor and its complications.
Sometimes, I tend to forget that she's even had the brain tumor or that she can't see, as she seems pretty much the same, just that there's more to her. Amiably, Mako knows but, as noted before, she sees Ryuuko is still the same, damaged vision be damned, seeing the world through cloudy eyes.