"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Ow. - I think it's helping. It just hurts. Ow."

"Is the helping better than the hurt is bad? Would it help if I--beamed you positive memories?"

"Depends how much better I can get, I guess. I don't know if that would help."

Kareen sends her the memory of biting into a crisp apple on a cool fall afternoon. The memory isn't terribly contentful, but for its duration it is very easy to not pay attention to anything else.

"Oh that was so - having teeth properly -"

"In a good way?" She's accidentally done enough unexpected unpleasantnesses to her test subjects that she reeeeeeaally doesn't want to assume. 

"Yes."

More memories, then. Running down a sidewalk because she's excited to get to class. Curled up on a squashy armchair in a room that smells like old books. Testing if Lightfoot lets her balance on the actual tips of her toes and finding out that yes. Curling up in bed with soft pillows and cozy blankets. Experimenting with marijuana with a friend group in college. She can keep this up at least as long as the stirring-spell is running. 

Eventually they think they have some bone fragments and some skin patches and some bits of muscle that might be correctly assembled and would like a break.

Sure thing. She feels bad about also stopping the memory pushing but she does in fact have a study group to get to.

The study group is happy to see her!

She is happy to see them too! She is very good at compartmentalizing and can pretend to other peoples' faces that nobody is in a maw-mouth and Kareen isn't engaging more deeply with the entire concept of maw-mouths than is healthy. It's fine, she'll fix them and then she will not have to talk to maw-mouth victims anymore. And even if it's objectively not fine, well, she was planning to become a Beholding Avatar and she tries not to be a hypocrite, which she would be if she cried foul about this level of not-fineness. 

Talking to people who aren't in maw-mouths is still a breath of fresh air. 

She's not going to push her test subject about trying the stirring thing some more but if the test subject doesn't say anything about a timetable for break being over in the next twenty-four hours she's going to try to find an additional test subject. 

The study group wants to know if they can have computers.

The study group can absolutely have computers! ...Does the study group mind future computers, probably she handled a contemporary computer when she was a small child but she doesn't specifically remember which one to try for it. 

They would love to try future computers.

Future computers! Future computers still come in recognizable smartphone and laptop varietals, although Kareen can’t actually remember exactly which features were standard at this point in the timeline. Features future computers have include: touchscreens, screens that flip around so you can use it as a tablet, no built-in optical drive but Kareen can additionally provide external CD readers, the ability to wirelessly charge the phones.

The kids have been exposed to computers but were mostly not trained on them extensively enough to know if any of that is revolutionary.

Her test subject says they can start again if she's got a memory of going swimming to share.

Kareen has memories of swimming! More outdoor pool than anything else, but there’s a healthy sprinkling of beach in there too.

"I miss swimming," comments the test subject wistfully while being stirred.

“Even if the best I can manage is to kill you—individually or the maw-mouth as a whole—I have a power called the Rescuer,” and she recites its description, “someday you will get to go swimming again.”

"Swimming in the sea... I think most of my sinuses are together now."

"That's progress!" 

"Yes. It hurts differently."

"Differently how?"