Also at https://archiveofourown.org/works/47065192/chapters/118661119
Angela simply waved Mei into the examination room once the week was over. The two hadn’t really talked over the week – but, that was normal. Angela started conversations, or joined them. People didn’t want to just strike up casual conversation with their doctor. The was even back when the old Overwatch packed the place.
She collected her papers – It was a rather interesting tactile experience, the last week – and took them with her to the examination room.
Mei, unbidden, was in her birthday suit, nervously tapping her fingers on the inside of her thighs.
“Before I start the exam, I’m going to explicitly say this,” Angela put the stack of paper on the counter, “You should not. And will not. Stretch in in the nude. Even if it were somehow to let you stretch further, of better – which it would not – some infinitesimal improvement is not the goal. The goal is safe and measurable progress. Got it?”
Mei nodded.
“You will not take a hot bath, or a shower, or use a sauna, instead of a warm-up. You will not take a hot bath, or a shower, or use a sauna instead of a cool down. If you need to relax, that is a entirely separate thing. If you push yourself, you do a proper warm up, just like any other athletic activity. Got it?”
“Yes sir!”
“If I ever hear you’ve taken up this practice, you’re done. You are out. Your study has failed.”
“Yes sir!” Mei was sitting at attention now.
“Ok, then let’s get those electrodes off of you”
Mei flinched as every one of the dozen adhesive patches came off – they would have been fine for the rest of a month, but there really wasn’t enough reason to keep them on any longer. The skin underneath was never prettier then when they went on – but bruising was minimal. Even if there would be a bit of an outline for a while due to caught hair.
The evaluation was nominal. Mei’s hips might be a tiny bit more stiff – but that was within the margin of error.
“Ok, clothes on. It looks like you came ready for exercise. Are those…”
“Dive goggles. Prescription dive goggles. I thought they might be a good idea. Or… at least they’ve been sitting there.”
“Well, put them on if you want, but I want you to read though stage one,” Angela put the stack beside the examination table, “We may revise, but along with your stretches, we’re going to try and get you properly soldier fitness qualified. This is a much to get you fitter, as to make sure you can handle yourself regardless of how flexible you manage to get during this process.”
“Define… ‘fitter’.”
“Oh, I definitely don’t mean any of that fatphobic scheiss. If your waist ends up twice as big, but you can do 15 pullups, it’s an unqualified success. And,” She leaned in closer, “You might find stage three has you doing it with your feet behind your head. But that’s in the future.”
“That’s possible?”
“Stage four is when we get into the questionably possible moves. Everything before then has precedent. In that particular case…”
“Another story?”
“One I really shouldn’t…” Angela pulled back, “Well, some would be ok. Have you heard of Ana Amari?”
“Is she another field medic?”
“Ah, officially no, she was a sniper. But she was an unofficial adviser, field testing of some of the nanite concepts. Frequently enough that she’d gotten herself into most of the same kind of situations the Field Medics had, if you get my drift. Shortly after the war, she got married in… Sack… Sactoon? Canada. She was getting remarried to her husband… or was it just Pharah’s father? Honestly don’t remember. But I was invited to both the wedding and the bachelorette party. And my god. Some point that night she was determined to show some poor pole dancer what was actually possible – and yeah, you probably will be able to do more than knotted pull-ups by the time we’re done.”
Mei considered this for a moment, “Is she still around? I mean, I probably would have seen her if she was on the base.”
“Oh, she got caught in a sniper duel a few years back, last I heard. Lost an eye. I didn’t hear about her dying, though, so… but honestly I’m glad that she’s not creeping around here. She wasn’t a young women then.”
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