Xaviers!

Katarina was still a little warm, but well easy enough for Jez to hold.

"I...do not know. She was able to turn back to her normal self immediately after we finished on her leg, but she wasn't in some sort of magical slumber when we did it; that was a mere patch job and not an entire reshaping," Jacques said, worried.

Jez considered her options. "It'd be too on the nose for a kiss from her prince, er, princess charming to wake her up, right?"

"I wouldn't even begin to know how this works," Jacques said, with a fairly clearly put-upon bluster.

"She is alive, right?" Leo asked, starting to panic a little. He just knew he must have messed something up with his big, clumsy hands.

Jez gave Katarina's hand a firm squeeze, but Leo's question definitely shook her. When she was like this she didn't need to breathe, and as far as she know Katarina didn't have a heart beat either. So how could they even tell?

"... fuck it." It was stupid, and silly, and wishful thinking, but she only had two witnesses to her attempt anyway and she was willing to try anything. So she leaned over the princess and kissed the motionless lips.

Leo Eskandari wrote:"She is alive, right?" Leo asked, starting to panic a little. He just knew he must have messed something up with his big, clumsy hands.

"I do not know," Jacques frowned. "That is, in fact, the problem."

Jezabelle Sherlock wrote:Jez gave Katarina's hand a firm squeeze, but Leo's question definitely shook her. When she was like this she didn't need to breathe, and as far as she know Katarina didn't have a heart beat either. So how could they even tell?

"... fuck it." It was stupid, and silly, and wishful thinking, but she only had two witnesses to her attempt anyway and she was willing to try anything. So she leaned over the princess and kissed the motionless lips.

For a moment, it was, in fact, as stupid and silly and awkward as Jez had been fearing; can't take the girl to a museum or else she'll start making out with all the exhibits and whatnot.

And then eyes focused and blinked, a gasp of an (unnecessary) breath filled lungs, and a shudder went through the body.

"W...who...which..." Katarina muttered, as she slowly regained consciousness. "Which one..."

Leo felt an incalculable wave of relief as Katarina woke up.

"Oh thank God, she's alive," he said with a release of breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Jez almost broke out into tears when she heard Katarina's voice, the girl squeezing her hand tightly as she stroked that golden mass that was her hair.

<"Welcome back sunshine. You gave us a real scare there. How are you feeling?"> She dismissed the half-question Katarina was asking her as a sort of half-dream brain fog. She HAD been out for, what, a week?

<"Exhausted,"> Katarina said, trying to draw herself to her elbows, at least, and failing. <"Disoriented. Jittery.">

She looked straight at Jez and shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs out. "<Am I...>" she began, before trailing off again.

"<That is totally understanding. You have been through one hell of a week.>" Jez's Symkarian could still use some work, but given how brief her crash course was, she could be forgiven for her... misuse of the language.

"<I... really cannot say. To me you look...>" She paused, searching for the right words. "<Absolute radiant. But maybe you want to have a look for yourself? And after that, when you are ready, we can try... the other look.>"

She didn't intend to leave poor Leo out of the loop, she just thought that her native tongue would be more comforting for the princess.

<"Yes, my lady,"> Katarina said, leaning on Jez some as she tried to pull herself something upright. "A mirror, if you would, someone? Not that I don't trust your handiwork, Jacques, but a girl must see for herself. Call it vanity, if you must," she said, with a weak, practiced smile.

Jez stood up and took Katarina's hands, a flurry of handmaidens attending to her now, one on each hand and two more pushing her up by the shoulders, before they left to go grab one of the larger mirrors nearby. Between the two of them they were able to hold it quite steady at the end of the "bed" the princess was laying on.

Katarina subconsciously adjusted herself in her 'seat', sitting up while trying to not make it look like she was relying on the Jezii to keep her up. Maybe not entirely successfully, but there were reputations to be upheld...right?


"Oh, goodness," she said, turning her head to see herself in the mirror. "You flatter me, Jacques. You were repairing a face, not auditioning for the Royal Museum. You have outdone yourself, I am certain."

"That he definitely has, though isn't there some sculptor saying about blocks of marble and freeing the piece that lies hidden within, or something?"

Jez was still very nervous, but it seemed like Katarina was back to her old self, so some of her nerves subsided. Though she still dreaded the real test.

It might not be noticeable to Leo or Jacques, but Katarina's fingers were drumming a little bit on the table beside her. Just nervous about shifting back to flesh-and-blood, or something else there? She had called Jez 'my lady', after all...

"There are, though I can't imagine they apply to already-formed statues. You run into matryoshka problems; I would be six inches tall by the end of things," she said, with a smile -- and then a brief frown.

"New teeth are strange, but I shall get used to them. Thank you, Jacques."


"Not much experience with dental work, I'm afraid," Jacques said, a bit abashed.

"If a schlub like me can get used to having a lion's mouth, you are certainly up to the challenge," Leo said. Humility or self-loathing? You decide.

"A pretty smile, all the same."

"You're saying that because it's 24 carat," Katarina demurred. "But I suppose there is one final test to see if it will hold up."

Taking a deep breath she technically did not need, and shutting her eyes, Katarina concentrated. From her fingertips on back, gold slowly turned to flesh -- much slower than she normally did, as if she was taking extra-special precautions to make sure everything was OK. A pulse started and breathes began as the statue became a girl once more.

As the gold receded up her torso, the line of difference in luster became a line of difference in skin tone. Katarina had always been moderately pale, but this was like a tan-line of epic proportions, as if she had never been out in the sun before. And, I suppose, in a way, she hadn't. That would probably be fine with time. There was also a clear delineation in smoothness, much like the patch on the back of her leg. I suppose even the best sculptors don't do some of the fine detail work for the hairs or pores on the human body -- perhaps that would repair itself in time as well?

And the gold continued to shrink, over her shoulders, up the back of her neck. Golden masses became scarlet tresses of hair, loosening and shaking out as they transformed. She may need a trim, as bits of hair stuck together unnaturally, but that, too, was an issue that could easily be solved; a crisis for a hairdresser and not for a medic.

And her face...

Centered around points of the initial damage; the sledgehammer to the face from Prince Alex's rough guards, ran rivulets of gold. Some of the damage, the scars, the imperfections, spirally radially out from Katarina's eye socket, remained metallic and shining, not reverting to flesh and blood. The Golden Girl remained, in parts, golden.

To say that Jez was nervous was... an understatement. She was almost sick to her stomach with worry, her imagination running wild and picturing Katarina's head reforming into a corned-beef-like mixture of flesh and bone fragments just shaped into her features like hamburger pressed into a mold. The ones holding the mirror began to look vacant-eyed as she did her best to channel as little thought to them as possible, lest their reactions betray her inner emotions. She had to be strong and confident for the princess right now.

And thinks seemed to be going well, even if she was seeing some "imperfections". She was seeing skin, those pretty eyes, it was all going so well. But... some of the gold didn't go away. Of course, she saw it as soon as the princess did, and found herself at a loss for words. Did she play it off like it was no big thing? Did she express condolences? Neither option seemed appropriate, or at least less likely to cause the princess some pain.

"Kintsugi."

One of the Jez holding the mirror had said it. The word had popped into her head and, in her effort to squash it down, had inadvertently sent it elsewhere.

Katarina stared forward blankly at the mirror, her fingers running over some of the golden lines around her face.

"Yes, well," she started, before grinding to a halt again. "That is to say...

No harm in showing some of what's inside, yes?" she tried, applying the practiced fake smile. "It is not like people do not know I am the golden girl, and they are...striking. It is enough that I am whole once more."

"It will take some getting used to..." one of the Jez started, before the thought was picked up by the one holding her hand. "... but I think I like it. But you're right, the most important thing is that you're here with us again."

"Perhaps it shall become a fashion statement of sorts. People wearing gold lattice on their face will sweep the nation."

She quivered a little bit. Shock? Yeah, probably shock. Or some of the other stresses and problems caused by everything -- the attack, the quasi-coma, the shock of her face -- all adding up.

"It would not be the first time that royalty has set a fashion trend." Jez pointed out as she gently stroked the back of Katarina's head.

"I know that you've just gotten up, but... maybe we should get you back to your room so that you can get some rest? You've had a pretty rough day. And week. And summer."

"Y-yes, I think that would be a good idea. Thank you, my lady," she says again, sliding off of the bench and onto her feet (and quite a bit onto one of the Jezii as well, trying to stay upright.)

The Jez swarmed around Katarina to help support her, trying to be subtle about it. One that wasn't occupied looked to Leo and Jacques.

"I think you two have earned your rest as well. Especially you." She said to the sculptor with a hint of chastising, but playfully so. "I... really don't have the words to properly thank you two right now, I'm still at a loss. But for now... thank you."

Jacques nodded. "I shall take my rest. I leave the Princess' body in your capable hands."

When Katarina felt she and the Jezii had gotten far enough across the room, she whispered in a low voice.

"My head is still spinning.

Which one are you? And which am I? And where are we going?"

The number of Jez had reduced to just 3, the one walking in front of Katarina turning to look at her.

"Well, I'm me. The other two are my copies. You..." She didn't totally understand the question. "You've been through a lot, especially your head. I guess shouldn't be surprised that things might be a little muddled for you. I'm taking you back to your dorm room, and I'm going to look after you." Jez of course had no idea just how mixed up Katarina was.

"No, no, no, you don't..." Katarina said, shutting her eyes as she walked along with the Jezii.

"I believe it was Samantha, who came to me, in my head. And I asked for quiet and peace, and instead she gave me..."

"Are you the Princess? The Dictator? The Lover? The Victorious? The Grateful? The Defeated? You, me and Victor have been swirling through these spots in my head, flowing in and out of one another, twisting and turning and corrupting on top of one another. I'm...having trouble remembering which is real..."

Jez stopped Katarina in the hallway and moved to stand in front of her, placing her hands on the girl's cheeks. She'd shied away from touching the mask side of her face before, and now things were different, but she felt the need to touch her as she would have before her injury - like it would make her feel more at peace.

"You are the princess, the heroine to her people, sweet and kind. I am your girlfriend, your friend, your handmaiden, and protector." And she was also someone who was going to have to have a word with Sam about fixing this if a little R&R didn't work.

"Do you trust me, Katarina?"

Katarina closed her eyes, and nodded, the gold on her face cool underneath Jez's fingertips.

"I...yes. Yes, alright.


Everything just got so...mixed up. The same scenes, over and over for...a week, you said? A week. And sometimes I was kind, and sometimes I was cruel. And sometimes you protected me, and other times you lorded over me. Sometimes you defeated Victor; sometimes he destroyed us; sometimes he and you together saved the day from my clutches. You draped over my shoulders. Victor grinding his heel into my face. You yanking Victor around by a chain. Over and over and over, every iteration, ever-changing, building upon itself, changing itself.

And then at the end, it all started...sliding together, getting even more confused and...kořeněný. I was drowning; we were falling over one another, shifting and changing from heartbeat to heartbeat.

I always have bad dreams, at least when I am alone. But this was...never for so long, and for so real."

Jez was tempted to trace those lines, but... it was too soon for that. There was probably a lot of crying to go through first - after all, the princess had been through a lot, and needed the stress release. She breathed a sigh through her nose.

"I will have to have a word with Sam about maybe stopping by on occasion swapping out the VHS, though I hope there's never a situation where you have to go through something like that again.

"Maybe looking at some pictures on my tablet will help get things sorted out, help to push those thoughts away so they can turn into vapor and disappear. We could order pizza again...."

"Yes," Katarina said, almost too quickly. "Pizza would be wonderful. And just being with you here, for real, without..." she trailed off again, struggling for words.

"Just with you would be good, I think. Just to wash the bad memories away, and remind me what is real, no?"

Leo finished buttoning his shirt and looked to Jacque. "It looks like we got a happy ending. I'm glad I could help."

"I am not so sure," Jacques said, with a small frown. "You saw how disoriented she was, no? She tried to hide it..."

"That could just be from the psychically induced coma. I'm tryin' not to eavesdrop, but these ears don't miss much and that's what it sounds like she's talkin' about."

"Yes, well, let us hope that is the case. She puts on a brave face..."

"I doubt she knows any other way. I don't think I could pull that off. I'm told I have no poker face."

"I am honestly not sure how anyone could tell. Not much to compare it against."