Humanity (Old Version!)

Chapter 5

Sev was getting antsy. That vet had been looking at her for a while, and alright, the stroking felt... pretty nice, and those biscuit things? Well, compared to what she'd been eating, they were not bad in the slightest.

At that moment, those had been the only things keeping her still as the vet put that thing on her chest. Then the people in the room had sort of frozen for some reason. Without any food or attention, she scooted away from the newcomer in the white coat again. No purpose sticking around him if he had nothing to offer; he made her nervous. Reminded her a little too much of some other white coats...

Sev shook herself off. She was tolerating him because of the food, and the brothers seemed to trust him. She trusted the brothers.

The people in the room seemed to come back to their senses as she scratched herself behind an ear. They talked for a bit when-

"Sev? Sev, can you understand me? Sev?"

The chimera tilted her head and blinked. That was... oh! She shook her head a little and blinked again. Sev was her! She was Sev!
She looked at the speaker and made a soft hurring noise to show she was listening. Listening was so exhausting... still. She was human, yes? Humans could sit and listen. She made herself focus again.

"-ie down?"

Oh no, she hadn't listened well enough. She tilted her head in confusion.

Al had smiled patiently and repeated himself, much to her relief, "Could you please lie down?"

"On her side," the white coat man had added, not seeming to realize she could understand him herself.

She gave the vet as much of a Look as she could muster, but with a little more coaxing from Al, she complied. Gingerly, she lowered herself down and flopped to one side. Sev flinched as the vet took each leg and moved it around, but held still at the request of Ed and Al... and a couple more biscuits.

White-coat-man grabbed her hind leg and she growled slightly before she could think not to. Her thoughts became more muddled as the movement jostled an older injury. He was more gentle after that.

He did a couple more things that she wasn't particularly bothered by and then spoke to the brothers and Mustang.

The long-haired one- Ed, she reminded herself- seemed to get upset by something the vet said, but Al and Mustang calmed him back down. She yawned, not paying close enough attention to understand the words spoken.

"Sev?"

She opened her eyes slowly. When had she dozed off? Sev sat up and stretched a little; it didn't matter, Ed was talking and she had to focus again.

"Ok Sev, there's a couple things we need to do, alright?"

She blinked before nodding tiredly; a noncommittal grunt showing that she was at least somewhat listening.

Ed looked at her for a moment before continuing, "First, we need to get you cleaned up, though... actually that might wait until we get you to the Armstrong estate."

Another nod.

"And..." he paused as if looking for the right words, "you've gotta get vaccinated."

Sev blinked and tilted her head. The word sounded familiar, but... her ears twitched hesitantly; she didn't like how Ed had said it. Still, she trusted him. He'd promised she was safe now, right?

She glanced over at white-coat-man. He was taking a small box and what looked like a few small bottles from his bag. Sev looked back at Ed and tilted her head again in question.