Visual

[hattrickery]

Oh, look, it's Hayate. The view from the scroll really only shows her face, almost as if she's deliberately hiding the rest of her body.

"So, uh....hi! Hello, Ponyville, it's great to be seeing you all again, after Tirek and all the...unpleasantness that followed after his defeat and all...You'll note that I didn't get power drained! Couldn't...he couldn't manage that, heh."

An awkward pause, strangely not accompanied by the sound of rustling feathers.

"No, uh, he...he kind of broke both my wings, instead. It'll...it'll be a while before I can fly again."

Hayate moves her scroll out enough to reveal that both her wings are indeed broken.

"...And then, you know, I got turned into something I'm not, not anymore, and...I dunno! I didn't really like being human, because I'm a pony! I'm supposed to be a pony, right?"

Hayate sags a little, even her ears drooping.

"And it's like...all this has been really hard on me, and...I dunno. Anybody feel like having a chat?"

Comments

[visual]

[tinkertytonk]

"Your wings?" Bertie's eyes are wide as he comes onto the scroll. Wide and not a little horrified. He knows what that's like. Perhaps not living with the after math thanks to his rainbowed restoration, but he remembers what having them broken had felt like, and it was agony. "Your magic can't fix them?

"Should I come over? I can bring tea! And you can be whatever you want to be, old girl." Although, he'd really much preferred being a human, personally.

[hattrickery]

"Oh, hey Bertie."

Hayate smiles wanly.

"I...don't actually know if it can, since I've never had broken bones before. And I really don't want to be the first test subject."

A sigh.

"I think...I'd like some tea, yeah."

>[action]

[tinkertytonk]

Bertie thinks there might be others here who could offer some healing, but as he isn't one of them, he'll have to wait for one to chime in. In the meanwhile, there's tea. "I'll be over in two ticks and a tock, then!"

He rolls up his scroll and sets off to the nearest teashop in town, intent on getting the very best he can find for her. When he arrives at Hayate's door, it's with a holder for about a dozen different cups of tea in hoof. There are packets of sugar and cups of cream balanced atop the cups. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got everything," he offers by way of explanation.

[hattrickery]

There's a small twinge when Hayate starts to reflexively spread her wings in greeting, but whichever doctor splinted them in place knew what they were doing.

"...you got any chamomile?"

Her voice is far more subdued than usual.

[tinkertytonk]

He has to set everything down, then peers at the lids where the pony at the teashop has written down what everything is. Bertie tries to move quickly. He saw that twinge and just seeing her wings as they are, up close, makes his own ache in sympathetic pain. Seeing them also makes him pull his own a little tighter to his body.

"Green, Earl Hay, blackberry, chamomile! Here we are." Bertie picks one of the cups up and holds it out to her. "Sorry, I really should have asked. I suppose I can, er... share the rest of these out in a bit.

"How have you been holding up, though? Did the doctors say how long they'd be in splints?" And if she'd ever fly again?

[hattrickery]

"Ah, thanks."

Reaching out, she accepts the cup of chamomile in one hoof and sits down, inhaling the aroma before taking a slow sip. At Bertie's question, she tenses a little before deliberately forcing herself to relax.

"I'm...coping, I guess? And the splints...they're coming off in a month."

There's a note in her voice that suggests she heard the unvoiced question at the end.

[tinkertytonk]

Bertie picks out the Earl Hay and frets quietly as he sits back on his own haunches. He'd hug her if he were the hugging sort. He's also not sure if that might tip her over some edge into tears if he brought his wings into the picture.

"A month? Well, we've spent years here, what? Hardly the blink of an eye!" It's an eternity. He knows that it will be an eternity for someone who's spent over a year hopping into the air whenever she'd like. Still, the stallion smiles at her, trying find the right words. They aren't coming to him easily.

"And you can always hop up on my back if you're needing a lift," he offers. "Have you been up in the clouds since you got those on?"

[hattrickery]

Hayate takes another long sip of tea, deliberately delaying her answer.

"I...thank you for the offer, but...I can probably cope."

The slight hitch in her voice at 'probably' hints that she's not sure of that herself.

[visual]

[strengthinkindness]

"Y-Your wings...? Oh goodness...have you gone to the hospital yet?"

[hattrickery]

Nod nod.

"Yeah. It got...complicated."

[strengthinkindness]

"Complicated...?"

[hattrickery]

"Well, I didn't...have wings while...all that was going on, and then I turned back into me and they were broken, so I kind of had to...walk to the hospital?"

Complicated.

[strengthinkindness]

"...O-Oh...So...you're wings were broken when you turned back to normal..."

That did make things a bit complicated.

"S-So...Were they not able to fix them?"

[hattrickery]

"Doctor's orders - no magical healing, just the normal stuff."

Hayate would shrug here, but she does that with her wings.

[strengthinkindness]

"Mm...that might be a good idea..."

Even if it does take longer to heal that way.

"Do you...Do you need anything?"

[hattrickery]

"I'm mostly set..."

Pause.

"Keep talking to me for a while?"

[muffin_lover]

"Broke your wings?! Oh, that big meanie! If he didn't hit me so early...!"

[hattrickery]

"It's all right. I'm sorry I couldn't keep him from draining you."

[millionbitpipes]

Oh my god. Are you -

[She must not be able to heal herself, or she'd have done it. Harvey's never tried to do anything that big himself, no broken bones, and he's not sure that's the best thing to experiment with.]

Sure, I can talk.

[hattrickery]

That reasoning is exactly why she hasn't tried to use magic to cure herself - if it were something less vital, like a leg, she'd already be trying, but her wings? There's no way she's going to risk doing something that might make her wings fall off.

"Ah, thanks."

There's a long pause as Hayate puts her thoughts in order before continuing.

"...am I the only one that wants to stay a pony, do you think?"

[millionbitpipes]

Nah, I don't think so.

You feel like you're supposed to be one, though? [That's a little different from wanting to stay.]

[hattrickery]

"It's...kind of a jumble in my head, I guess? I guess...in kind of a weird way, being a pony makes me feel more like a Celestrian than being a human."

[millionbitpipes]

[...okay, Harvey's not sure he actually knows what's up here.]

You turned into a human instead of what you were before?

[hattrickery]

"I...well. In my old world, I lost my wings and most of my powers as a Celestrian. All I had left was the ability to see ghosts and spirits. And the physical incapability of disobeying my superiors, but that's not really a power."

She glances aside for a moment.

"So...yeah. Being a pony...a pegasus? Loads better than being a double amputee."

[millionbitpipes]

[Yeah, he'd have to say that isn't a power. That's a liability.]

Yeah. I can get that.

Maybe you'll be able to stay when this is all over. [IF this is all over. He's quietly doubtful that they'll ever get home, but he doesn't want to say so; this isn't about his own worries.]