A half-assed apology

"I'm sorry about earlier," Demetra sighs, clearly not committed to it.

"Say it like you mean it!" Roberta chastises her.

"I do mean it!"

You sigh heavily. "This is a waste of time," you announce. Nightwing casts a surprised glance at you - she clearly didn't think you'd be the one to interrupt this. "Demetra clearly isn't sorry, and I'm not going to wait around for her to give some doe-eyed bullshit apology. Now, let's get a move on - we've wasted enough time as it is."

The four of you silently climb into the back of the cart. There's an awkward tension among you as you settle your belongings into the scant space available, as most of the cart is occupied by research equipment, books, and stray documents.

Once you're all settled, and yourself and Nightwing have found a spot to sit, Roberta climbs out and sets about getting the horse - if you can call it that - prepared for the trip. After a short while, the cart lurches into motion, and your journey begins, with Roberta in the driver's seat, steering the horses.

Of course, this leaves yourself, Nightwing, and Demetra alone in the back of the cart. You sit with Nightwing on your left, and the front of the cart to your right. Demetra sits across from both of you. The uncomfortable silence permeates through the entirety of the cart.

Demetra has rather quickly occupied herself with some notes, scribbling something down on some paper. She grunts in irritation with each bump.

You've occupied yourself with watching Nightwing's breasts shake with each shuddering lurch of the cart. You feel yourself growing hard in your trousers, and to avoid an even more uncomfortable silence, you decide to shift your attention to Nightwing's face.

Your eyes widen as you do, and you immediately reach out and place a hand on the dragoness's shoulder. Her eyes are screwed shut, and her lips are pursed. A glance down shows that her knuckles are turning white from her grip on the bench.

"Nightwing, are you okay?"

"Mm-hmm..." The response is strained. Your concern grows greater as her shoulders start to shake.

Demetra looks up from her papers. "Oh, wow," she mutters, helpfully. She immediately sets to looking through her myriad of books, for some unknown reason. You roll your eyes - she's not going to be any help, it would seem.

"Hey, Roberta? Nightwing's not doing too well." The young woman pokes her head into the cart. Upon seeing Nightwing's state, she immediately brings the horse to a stop, and clamors into the cart with you.

"Are you okay?" Roberta asks, a gentle hand on the dragon's shoulder.

"Yes! I'm-" Nightwing is cut short by her own jaw clamping shut, shuddering as her apparent nausea only barely begins to subside. "I'm fine..."

"No, you're not - you look like you're about to puke," you inform the stubborn dragon. "Come on - let's get some fresh air, okay?"

"I swear, I'm fine!" She growls, clearly not willing to admit that she's been incapacitated by a simple cart ride.

"Move." You suddenly find yourself being pushed aside by Demetra. You're surprised by her strength - she's pushing you with her left, normal arm. You can only imagine how strong her metallic arm actually is...

"Swallow this." Demetra presses something into Nightwing's hand.

"Don't - don't tell me what to do," Nightwing manages to hiss through clenched teeth.

"I won't have you vomiting whatever it is you have for bile onto my instruments. Swallow. It." Demetra's mechanical fingers click menacingly, and you can't help but wonder if the prosthetic would be strong enough to **** something down the dragon's throat.

Nightwing is about to protest more, but her nausea seems to have taken the fight out of her, as she simply sighs and swallows whatever it is that Demetra gave her. She surely had the same thought as yourself, as she casts a wary glance at the elf's right arm.

Within moments, Nightwing's countenance returns to normal. She can't help but release a sigh as the nausea is relieved.

"Better?" Demetra asks, already returning to her notes.

"...yes," the dragon grumbles, unwillingly.

"Good."

Roberta looks between Demetra and Nightwing, before apparently deciding that she'd rather not be present for this exchange, and announcing that you're going to continue moving. She climbs back into the driver's seat, and with yet another unpleasant lurch, your journey begins anew.

You sidle closer to Nightwing, rubbing her arm reassuringly as the cart begins to shake again. "All good?"

Once she's sure that the nausea isn't returning, she gives you a small nod, closing her eyes as she leans against one of the supporting beams of the cart's exterior.

Deciding to let her recover from the new and unpleasant sensation she just experienced, you turn your attention to the elf.

"What'd you give her?"

"An antihistamine for the nausea, and a stimulant for the drowsiness the antihistamine causes."

You scratch your head, somewhat confused. "Aren't antihistamines used to treat allergies?"

Demetra looks up from her notes in surprise. "You know what antihistamines are?"

You roll your eyes in irritation. "Yes, I know what antihistamines are - like I said, I respect the sciences." Your pride wounded, you begin to explain yourself. "Before I left to take care of my mother, I was preparing for entrance exams into Fauci University."

She finally tears her eyes away from her notes to glare at you. "Bullshit. There's no way a human would have been allowed to apply to Fauci, let alone take an entrance exam."

"Why's that?" You smirk, fully expecting her to flounder for an excuse.

"Because humans aren't smart enough."

Well, that's on you - you forgot that you're talking to the Queen of Social Ineptitude.

"Look, I may not know as much as an Elf, but I know a decent amount," you defend yourself. "Plus, you can't blame me for not knowing as much about medicine as you do. I could only ever study what you guys made available to me."

"What has been made available to you is exactly what you can handle."

"It's not your place to decide what we can handle."

She ignores that entirely. "So, what was your plan? Get into Fauci and only be able to study what is available to you, then fail every exam?"

"My plan was to prove myself, and get access to what I know I can handle."

"Then prove it." Demetra actually closes her notebook, and sets it aside.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to quiz you on stuff that I know is available to humans. And if you get enough of it right, I'll tell you some stuff that you've likely never even heard of before."

You nod, leaning in with a grin. "Alright. Bring it."

Next to you, Nightwing groans. You and Demetra look to her in surprise. While you're initially concerned that her nausea is back, her bored expression assures you that it's not.

"All your incessant comparisons of humans and elves is meaningless. Both of you could barely hold a candle to the knowledge of the dragons."

"Of that I have no doubt, but I just want to show Peter exactly how wrong he is."

Nightwing narrows her eyes at Demetra, before leaning down to whisper in your ear.

"If you don't bring her down a notch, I may actually kill her."

You nod, and get yourself in the right mindset for trivia.