Though she thins her mouth at his bruising, she didn't ask where this came from and she doesn't ask about those either, cleaning away dried blood and other remnants before she sets to the familiar tug and pull of removing the sutures themselves. It's fiddly work but nothing she isn't well used to doing and while it mightn't be an entirely pleasant experience, she avoids making it painful.

The adhesive strips she applies when she's done aren't the sort she's used to working with - a Baedal medical brand using quite different products to achieve more or less the same thing - but close enough that she's comfortable and standard issue at the Glory Shada. "All right," she says, as she's doing it, "you're going to leave these on for five days, then soak them off in warm water. Don't peel them, don't pick at them, keep the area clean and dry-- you need to be careful with it for the next month, while you're still healing. A vitamin E cream isn't a bad idea once the wound is totally closed."

She thinks about recommending a sunblock, considers Lucius, and is forced to bite the inside of her cheek against the mental image of him wandering anywhere in jeans and a tank top.

"If it feels like it's getting infected - redness, swelling, if you get a fever, if the pain is getting worse - or if it reopens, call me. You have my number."