Juliette was talking about something or other, something about simulation and pain. Not simulated pain! But it wasn't as if she had picked up a knife and driven it into his hand, or his back. For all that he'd come out of it just fine, it might be a little too traumatic to the students for her to murder her assistant in front of them, with little to no warning.

Plus it might not send a good message. 'It's okay to for human-looking people to kill mutants! They just get back up!' or some such. Most mutants died when stabbed. Really, most mutants didn't have any abilities that made them more resistant to casual stabbing or shooting or whatever. In a way, Memo wasn't more resistant. He just totally forgot what happened and went about his business.

The renewed pain was starting to subside into a deep throb now, muffled by the grip the girl had on his hand. She was doing good at not accidentally triggering anything else too. It was good for a class to be successful that way.

...had he and Juliette done this before? He couldn't remember any traces of previous classes, and there didn't seem to be any overlap to what had happened so far. First one? Probably. Maybe. He should probably check in with Juliette afterwards. Or check his phone. But not right now. Right now -

Memo wibbled. Alcohol in cuts hurt waaaay more than the cut itself, and had a certain tendency to make him make miserable puppy eyes at whoever was mean enough to go and put booze on his skin. Wait, time to focus on the pain and not get drunk. Ahem.

"The alcohol always hurts more than remembering the injury," he said sadly, scuffing the ground a little bit with one shoe. Wait, had she grabbed stuff with her tail? That was awesome! Oh right, he was working. Ahem. Working working working, this was his working face and not his overexcited borderline squee face.

But it was super cool.

While the student went about collecting the next stage of supplies, Memo waved his injured hand around lightly, finally free to try to shake the misery out of it. And also keep the gash from winking out of memory; this way, he could see it. The rest of the class probably could too. Hopefully they learned a solid, memorable lesson out of this. That was the whole point. He'd probably had basic first aid classes in school, but he didn't remember one moment of them. This ought to be a much stronger memory.

Who knew? Maybe it would save a few lives.

He turned his hand for the girl as she finished wrapping it, trying to make it easier for her to work without making skin contact. His hand wasn't that heavily marked, but any of them would be kind of distracting. Getting sucked into the past in your head was, well, distracting.

"Looks good!" he said when she was done, looking over his bandaged hand and extending it towards Juliette for Official Inspection. "One of the best jobs I've received, as far as I remember!"

Paramedics all wore gloves, so their work tended not to be especially memorable. But this was well done!

Juliette held her breath as she watched Tarissa pour the alcohol on Memo's hand. In hindsight, it maybe wasn't the best idea to have a high schooler try to do first aid, not matter how basic the technique. It definitely got the point across, though.

She let the breath escape as she heard Memo's confirmation of a successful procedure. So the lecture wasn't a total bust. Though, she realized as she looked back at some of students, some of them might need counselling following her lecture. Good thing that wasn't her area to worry about.

"Great job!" She enthused to Tarissa, "you can go ahead and take your seat."

Maybe it was a good time to do something a little less gory, she decided. Give the kids and Memo a bit of a break. She turned back to her medical bag and rummaged around for what she needed next. Juliette pulled out four identical cylinders with writing along sides. She gave one to the left side of the room, one to the middle, and one to the right side. The last one she kept for herself.

"You guys can go ahead and start passing those around," she began. "These are EpiPens, otherwise know as epinephrine auto-injectors. They are used when someone is having an allergic reaction. Most people with serious allergies will wear a bracelet or some kind of identification to make sure people know why they could be in trouble. Most also have an EpiPen on them. If there is no identification on them, though, then the person will usually have trouble breathing, hives, swelling, and dizziness.

So, you start by making sure you have them the right way up. You don't want to inject yourself, remember. A helpful way to look at it is by looking at the colours on the top and the bottom. Blue goes to the sky, orange goes to the thigh. Take the cap off and press down against the person's thigh with a good amount of pressure for ten seconds."

Juliette took the the EpiPen she had kept at the front in her hand and demonstrated the process on her own thigh. "Like this," she instructed. "You guys can give it a try as it comes around to you since these ones are fake. Don't worry - no needles involved in the fake ones."

That was enough talking for then, she figured. More than enough. She glanced back at Memo, trying to judge how ready he was for the next thing. Burns would work well. Or maybe a broken bone. It all depended on what he was up for. "What do you feel like doing next?" She asked him in a whispered voice.

Tar didn't like being fake. Still, she appreciated the compliment and so forced a small smile. When Juliette told her she could go sit down, she inwardly sighed with relief, her body sagged slightly and her smile dropped.

Good.

She went and sat back down in her chair and put her head in her hands. She was suddenly very tired. She was expecting some mistreatment, not a sudden dose of trauma. She rubbed her face and tried to force herself to pay attention. She knew all about epi-pens. Her older brother had had peanut allergies. When it came to her, she received the pen with a folded piece of paper. Her brow furrowed, she passed the pen along and opened the piece of paper. She was greeted with a cartoonish drawing of herself with jagged teeth, a sadistic smile, and every one of her limbs (and some extra) holding every type of blade and anesthetic imaginable by a highschool student. What she guessed to be Memo lay on the ground in a pool of black ink, his eyes turned to "x"s. Tar heard some giggling, saw who it was, rolled her eyes, crumpled up the paper and...

Dag! What am I supposed to do with this?

No trash can in arm-length of her seat. Reluctantly, she shoved it in her bag. She had a bad feeling she was going to regret doing that later. The nurse was whispering something to Memo. They were beyond her range to hear.

Fine with me. I've done my part.

She decided that as long as nothing more traumatic happened, she was just going to sit quietly and non-volunterringly in her seat until the end of class. She rested her elbow on her desk, her chin in her hand, and waited.

When the student headed back to her desk, Memo found himself smiling at how her tail curved so naturally as she moved, and then ambled behind Juliette to fish the teacher's chair away from the desk with his foot. He deftly repositioned it near the wall, out of the way and behind Juliette while she worked, but where he could see the class and be ready for the next step.

In the meantime, he prodded at the bandaging with his gloved hand. Had it gone away yet? Not with him waiting and watching it, it wouldn't. Worse than waiting for water to boil. But both of them went and got going as soon as he stopped paying attention! Oh hey, blood had run down his arm. Up his arm? Towards his elbow. At least he was wearing short sleeves. No blood on his clothing for once - nope, he'd managed to rest his elbow against his hip. That was where the blood had gone.

Oh, Juliette was done with her next minilesson. What did he feel like...?

Oh right first aid demos. "Nothing lethal, right? I don't think they should be seeing that. Errrrr...." Nothing was springing to mind, no matter how he scrunched up his face. So be it. He held up a single finger to Juliette to wait a moment, and then tapped a fingertip from his bandaged hand on his forehead. Each of his markings flickered white in turn before fading to matte black while his eyebrows wrinkled in concentration and the occasional rapid flash of emotion.

He snapped his fingers, the bare skin briefly desensitized to memory-triggers. "Heat stroke and dehydration?" he offered cheerfully. "Actually got me into a hospital once so that occasion is here." He gestured to a small swirl on the inside curve of his left elbow.

"That works," Juliette nodded quickly. It wasn't quite as gory as the first example, but it was still something that was useful for the students to know. Especially with the summer so quickly approaching.

She turned around to face the students and let her eyes scan the class. "Can anyone tell me what heat stroke is?" She asked.

A boy raised his hand. "That's like an aneurysm or something, right?" Wrong, though she could see where he may have gotten confused. 

Juliette shook her head, "no, an aneurysm can lead to a stroke, which is when your brain doesn't get enough oxygen. That's a bit more of a serious topic, and we may discuss it later on if we have time. Does anyone else have any idea?"

Tar kept her hands solidly where they were. No way she was answering that one. She didn't really know the answer anyway. Through her awareness, she saw a girl two seats away to her right raise her hand and speak the answer without waiting for a go-ahead from the nurse.

"Cardinia Ferris. Heat stroke is a condition marked by fever and often by unconsciousness, caused by failure of the body's temperature-regulating mechanism when exposed to excessively high temperatures."

Tar turned her head to look at the girl. She could see her through her awareness, but she was at the edge and bordering on vagueness. There was an empty seat between them and Tar had clear view with her eyes. The girl was small and mousy. Thick glasses that looked too big for her small frame rested on her face. Her long, dirty-blonde hair was set into two high, un-braided pigtails. She wore a white button-up shirt and plaid skirt. Tar furrowed her brow and wondered why she had not noticed her before. She also thought her response was rather textbook.

Maybe a bookworm? Yeah, she looks the part.

One of the students made a squeeking sound and murmer of giggles reverberated through the class.

What a bunch of jerks!

Tar ooked at the class, then back at the girl. The girl's face had reddened and her head had lowered. Then, strangely, she turned her head slightly and sheepishly looked in Tar's direction. Tar didn't know what she could do to encourage the girl. She gave her a smile and a thumbs up. Then she waved her finger at the class, made a goofy face, and slapped her hand limply against her chest. She then waved the class off and rolled her eyes. The girl gave a small smile and looked back up front.

Wait, what's happening? URG! Pay attention, Tar!

Tar looked back to the front of the class, attempting to get her mind off the girl and onto what was going on around her.

Okay, they were doing heat stroke. He just had to remember which marking that was until it reset and he could just poke it instead of trying to remember the details of it on his own. Heat stroke. Heat stroke. Heat stro-

his phone was buzzing, but he was in class and there was no answering phones in class. He waited, and it eventually fell still again in his back pocket. Probably nothing anyway. Now, where were they-

He wasn't a student, right. He was guest teacher assistanting. And was going to be demonstrating.... um.

Maybe he should listen to the class for a bit. That would probably help.

....something about heat, but what was going on, exactly? Er. Um. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheatstroke that was what he was doing. Yes. He would leave the rest of what was going on to someone else, because he did not get it one bit, and just trigger some more torture he'd forget soon enough anyway.

In the corner, Memo casually poked the inside of his elbow, doing his best to keep a straight face.

Right up until his pigmented skin darkened considerably, sweat pricked against his skin as his body tried to ramp down his skyrocketing internal temperature, and it started to become rather difficult to see straight or sit upright. Maybe both. It was hard to tell.

Perhaps he should have waited until Juliette explained how to treat heat stroke.

...

What was the worst that could happen anyway? Death? Hardly permanent.

"That's exactly right," Juliette gave the girl that answered a small nod. Most kids didn't speak like that, but she was impressed by her knowledge of the subject. Even if it was a little textbook.

The class had erupted into giggles following her answer. Juliette tried her best to shush them but they were too loud. She spotted Tarissa giving her encouraging hand signals to make her feel better. It was nice of her, especially since the kids had only just moved on from targeting her.

While she had been distracted, Juliette hadn't realized that Memo had already started the demonstration. That... Wasn't supposed to be how it went. She had forgotten to tell him not to do that. She wasn't nearly ready for him.

"Uh-" Juliette stuttered and walked over to Memo. The demonstration was about to get strange very quickly. There was a fan in the back of the classroom that would work to help out. "Can someone bring that over, please?" She gestured to the class.

She was going to have to talk through treatment as she did it. Otherwise, the heat stroke could cause brain and organ damage. Juliette doubted that it would be permanent for Memo, but that didn't mean she wanted it to happen.

"And can someone fill up that cup on the table with water from the fountain, please?" She asked the class again. If she had been given time, she would have prepared a little better for the demonstration.

"With heat stroke, you want to focus on bringing the body temperature down. You can do that by drinking fluids, ice baths, and removing excess clothing. Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to pack ice, and I couldn't bring a cooling blanket, so we'll have to stick to the other methods." She told the class.

Tar glanced around as Juliette flustered and asked them to bring something over. She didn't know what she was referring to. She looked to the bookworm with a questioning look. The girl pointed to a fan sitting on a table on her opposite side. Tar looked to the front of the class and noticed Memo looking darker. His clothes were getting soaked with sweat. Heat stroke. Now he was experiencing exactly what the nurse had been talking about. So whoever this guy was, he could summon up injuries at will. Tar couldn't imagine why anyone would want to do that, and she remembered the wound disappearing earlier. So, maybe it was a two-sided coin? He could summon and dismiss at will. That put him into only one category that Tar could think of: mutant.

Okay, so he was a mutant and maybe not the brightest one since he seemed determined on putting himself through unnecessary torture, and Tar had resolved not to volunteer anymore. But she still didn't like to see people suffer, even if it was caused by their own stupidity. Nobody else seemed to have gotten that the nurse wanted the fan or at least no one else was moving. Tar got Bookworm's attention and pointed at the fan.

"You get it," she mouthed the words as she stood and headed for the door, grabbing the cup as she walked by the desk. She could tell the girl was shy, but she hoped she would have enough bravery to do help out despite the attention it would bring her.

The drinking fountain was fortunately right outside the door. As Tar filled the cup, she pointed her tail towards the door. She could see Memo clearly in the corner, slumping in his chair, sweat pouring off his body.

I hope you got the fan, bookworm.

Juliette was tending to Memo and explaining the condition and treatments to the class. Tar considered in her mind her dad's words that morning about prejudice in this area and Memo's and Juliette's (for she clearly knew about it) unabashedness about his abilities as she hurried back into the class.

DEFINITELY some questions for these two after class...

Tar held the cup up to Memo and stopped, her brow furrowed. She could see everything around her within a five foot radius. She could see inside the bodies of the nurse, Memo, and a couple of the student in the first row. She could see Memo's organs and tissue looking different than the rest. But all this she expected. What was throwing her was what she could see inside the wall, behind Memo. It was small, maybe the size of a softball, uneven, and asymmetrical in shape. It looked like a polished rock of obsidian. Stranger still was that Tar could hear it pulsing...a pulsing that was increasing.

Tar pointed her tail at the corner to get a clearer look...

It was good he was sitting down. Memo liked sitting down much more than falling down. When he made this memory, this so incredibly over warm, not nice warm, this not-nice-kind-of-hot memory, he had fallen over a bunch. Scrapes and bruises all over. On his hands and knees and the sides of his ankles. He'd tripped over so many things before that ambulance had showed up, it was really kind of funny.

He was really thirsty. It would be nice to forget about that, but Juliette was talking and he had promised to do things a certain way for her. Hadn't he? Yes. It was a nice memory. But he couldn't think about it too much or he'd forget about how warm it was, how hot he was, how he swirled around inside his own head and watched little flecks dance outside his eyes. He wasn't supposed to forget that until the demonstration was done.

Was this going to be over soon? That would be good. He suspected he wouldn't be able to stand up if he tried. That would not be good.

Juliette took the glass of water quickly from a student. She didn't look to see who it was as she pressed the cup to Memo's lips in a slightly panicked hurry. She had not been ready for him to do that. Usually, when she was at the hospital she had access to everything that she would need on hand. She was far from used to having to search for things or ask people who might not know what she meant.

The woman began to pour the water into his mouth, half of it dribbling down his chin while the rest of it managed to land in his mouth. Hopefully, Memo would be able to swallow the liquid.

Another student had grabbed the fan she had asked for and set it up next to the pair. She could feel the cool air blast in her face, and she sighed and sat back. It should be enough with the fan and the water for the time being. Otherwise she would send someone for an ice pack. She really didn't want to make Memo strip in front of the class.

Juliette stood up and looked at the students in front of her, trying to regain her composure. The blue girl had gotten out of her seat and was standing at the front of the classroom. She must have been the one that had grabbed the cup of water. The girl's tail was pointed to the wall, and she seemed almost transfixed. It definitely didn't look like she was just zoned out or deep in thought. No, she was staring at something. 

"Everything alright?" Juliette asked the girl. She wouldn't be surprised if there was something going on at that point, or if she had more abilities than just a tail.

Tar could see inside the thing that was inside the wall. Transistors, gears, and electronics quietly whirred and buzzed, presumably creating the pulsing. small vials of liquid sat motionless within. She could see inside the thing to its very core, but that didn't mean she knew what it was doing.

How did it get there?

Tar looked and noted the vent cover was hanging slightly out from the wall. It definitely didn't belong there, whatever it was.

"Everything alright?" the nurse asked her.

Tar thought for a moment about dismissing the idea.

It wouldn't be anything crazy like bomb...would it?

Deciding to go with the off-chance that it was something dangerous, Tar pointed to the exact spot where she saw the object.

"There's...something in the wall," she said, befuddlement in her voice. "I can't tell what it is, but it's pulsing and i-"

Tar's words faltered as the thing suddenly ceased all activity and began beeping. The liquids crossed containers and mixed. Then the beeping stopped, a chain reaction began, and Tar's mind and body reacted. In the fraction of a second it took for the beeping to stop and the reaction to reach critical mass, Tar's mind raced through what she needed to do. and her body obeyed. Part was instinct. But part was knowledge working with her mutation allowing her mind to react and assess almost instantaneously. Memo could heal from wounds at will and the device was directly behind him. The nurse could treat and revive people. Bookworm was close enough to grab. For the rest, she could only hope they survived.

Immediately, Tar turned, and tackled the nurse towards the desk, her free hand grabbing Bookworm by the sleeve and pulling her down as an explosion ripped through the classroom.