Nat woke up on the floor, again. Blind and deaf, again. At least he assumed he was on the floor. Proprioception — his sense of self position — always came back first after he'd had an episode, and it was telling him some weird things. He was absolutely not sitting down or laying in bed.

  Oh, come ON! Nat felt this day was needlessly repetitive.

  Yep. There was sound coming back. La la la. Vision would be soon. Oh hey, there's the nausea, right on time.

  The tinny voice from before was saying something, but he couldn't quite make it out — hey, wait, he remembered just before this episode? That's new.

  “Blerg,” Nat hadn't even tried for an actual word, he felt this day didn't deserve one.

  “Oh hey, see? I told you he'd be right back, and absolutely zero people are on fire or exploding!” — went the tinny voice.

  “Excessively cheerful. Possibly insane? Is that Moira? Why do you sound like you're locked in a very small metal box?”

  “Got it in one! See, Lyn? No significant mental impairment, your patient is perfectly fine. Nobody's on fire, right? I can only hear at the moment.” Moira, the tinny voice in question, responded.

  “I'll be the judge of that. I need both of my hands, you'll have to sit out for a few minutes, Moira.” Nat could identify Lyn's voice — the silverpaw's long, open-sided mouth made for a very identifiable shape to their sounds.

  “Hold on a moment, please Lyn. Nat — make sure your talent doesn't activate, okay? Do not think about it. Don't try to use it. Got me? If it does start, turn it off like you just did, immediately.”

  “Yeah, sure. My vision is mostly back now, do you mind if I sit up?” Nat decided he'd had quite enough of laying on the ground today.

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  “Wait a few minutes, please,” Moira interjected before Lyn could answer, then continued, “Lyn, just as a precaution — if, and I just mean this hypothetically, if Nat's talent were to activate — if he has one of his episodes, I need you to stop whatever you're doing and disable his talent immediately — full suppression, maximum power.”

  “I will not do anything to harm someone under my care.”

  “What-” Nat started, but Moira overran him and kept going.

  “Normally I'm super thrilled that you take such a hard line stance on patient health and safety, but just hear me out. I am asking you to do this to ensure the health and safety of everyone potentially within kilometers of us.” Nat tried to turn his head to see where Moira's voice was coming from, so close to his head, but couldn't find her. Lyn gripped his head more firmly and gave him a meaningful glance. He stopped moving.

  A significant pause. “You sound serious. You're being serious right now?”

  “Deadly serious.”

  “You're sure?”

  “Of a specific outcome? No, but the system was emitting warnings. Any external theron field activity would be highly inadvisable — he's got a theronic attunement, almost surely Talent related.”

  Lyn paused briefly — considering, “What about electrical? Any secondary attunement?”

  “No, electrical should be fine. No interactions.”

  “Got it. Nat? I'd like you to listen to me here for a moment. I need you to take Moira's request very seriously. Do not activate your Talent.”

  Nat raised a finger to indicate a point, “I would like to note that this has historically been out of my control, if my episodes are, in fact, related to my Talent.”

  “That's less than optimal. I need a second to think.”

  Moira jumped in to the brief pause, “Nat, assuming my fixes to your system are stable, that may be different now. If your system notifies you of any changes, or reboots or otherwise resets, say something to Lyn, immediately.”

  “Okay. I would like to note that I have no idea what's going on, and I am now getting more than mildly concerned, but yes, I'll absolutely say something, assuming I can.”

  “That's all I ask.”

  Lyn had apparently come to a conclusion, “Moira, I will need my other hand for this, I'll re-establish the voice arc for you as soon as I'm done.”

  “Got-”

  The slightly sparking hiss that had been constantly present since he awoke, which he now realized seemed to accompany Moira's voice had ceased as her response cut out mid-word.

  “Ok Nat. You shouldn't feel anything, this is a completely non-invasive activity,” Lyn lied.

  “Alright, I-” Nat managed to say before the darkness descended and Nat's coherent thought vanished yet again.