Invisible Scars
If you've been following me for a long time you've probably seen me injure Talon a fair amount of times, missing limbs, impalement, gun shots, gut wounds, not all of which I'm that good at rendering but the intent is there. None of these injuries are technically AUs or non-canon, she's had everything I've ever depicted happen to her at one point or another, in some form or another, and she's lived through all of it.
"But if she's lived through all that, how come she doesn't have any scars? She's got one on her eye so she's capable of scarring." (is a question no one has ever actually asked me but I'm answering it anyway)
Yes you are correct! She is indeed capable of scarring! She heals faster than others but it's not magic, she develops scar tissue just like anyone else. The real thing that prevents her from developing scar tissue is medical intervention. A combination of near cellular-level suturing and experimental stem-cell bio-paste, along with grafts when needed, keeps the body healing more accurately by keeping the structure as close together as possible and the paste to generate the exact cells needed to fill the remaining gaps to prevent the development of excess tissue and thus preventing the build-up of scar tissue. It's a resource heavy, time consuming procedure used on Talon and the other Teotkoa, to prevent scar tissue and repeated injuries from impacting their overall performance.
And a bit of a side-note, because of the faster healing sometimes Teotka can come back with partially healed injuries from the field that will heal improperly due to being in a fight and it not being patched up in the process. When this happens they have to cut away the fused tissue, re-break bones, all sorts of things to create break/cut to stitch back together and permit it to heal properly. This means even things long-scarred can be repaired by cutting it back up and putting it back together with the proper assistance. Which brings me to the reasons and explanations behind Talon's facial scar.
The reason she has the scar on her face is because her injury had healed over by the time authorities had been alerted and entered the home. It is, of course, possible for her to repair the scarred tissue on her face from the injury she sustained as a teen, but she chooses not to do that. Why? Well there's a simple answer: Survivor's Guilt. She keeps the visible scar as a deliberate choice. Even if she covers it up from time to time to hide the fact that her eye is blind, that's a tactical decision, not one of shame or vanity. As for the eye itself, while they should be able to re-attach the ocular nerve, they are not capable of employing the same techniques to align the eyeball itself again. There is some theory she could potentially pluck out the eyeball and it might grow back (as her limbs do) but that's never been confirmed and she'd rather live with a dead eye than a socket. She says she's used to it so there's no point, but circling back to the Survivor's Guilt thing, it's not like she's inclined to try.
Though, going back to the whole 'sustaining substantial injuries with no scarring' thing, on the other end of this out side of all the technical reasons, there's a symbolic reason for it. Scars tell a story, they show clearly and directly, something has happened to a person, some of them more blatant and easy to read than others. Talon only has one obvious mark, the only part of her story that's public, that everyone already knows. No one has to remind her of it because they can see her face and see she remembers it every day. But the rest of her body? That's a blank slate to deceive you. She will never wear her hardship on her sleeve, both in the way she acts and in her very physical appearance. She'd rather you assume her experiences were effortless, things that left no mark on her physically or psychologically, than have you condole her pain. Every experience fade into the background, one into the other, and endless sea of exhaustion, agony, and perseverance, all the same, no clear indication where it stops or starts.
Related to this, I have to link to one of my favorite posts about Magical Healing on tumblr.
In 2012 I made this post with this quip, which is oddly apt for this post:
“Pay it no mind, It’ll heal in time, This is what I was made for.
It’ll be just like it never happened.”
"But if she's lived through all that, how come she doesn't have any scars? She's got one on her eye so she's capable of scarring." (is a question no one has ever actually asked me but I'm answering it anyway)
Yes you are correct! She is indeed capable of scarring! She heals faster than others but it's not magic, she develops scar tissue just like anyone else. The real thing that prevents her from developing scar tissue is medical intervention. A combination of near cellular-level suturing and experimental stem-cell bio-paste, along with grafts when needed, keeps the body healing more accurately by keeping the structure as close together as possible and the paste to generate the exact cells needed to fill the remaining gaps to prevent the development of excess tissue and thus preventing the build-up of scar tissue. It's a resource heavy, time consuming procedure used on Talon and the other Teotkoa, to prevent scar tissue and repeated injuries from impacting their overall performance.
And a bit of a side-note, because of the faster healing sometimes Teotka can come back with partially healed injuries from the field that will heal improperly due to being in a fight and it not being patched up in the process. When this happens they have to cut away the fused tissue, re-break bones, all sorts of things to create break/cut to stitch back together and permit it to heal properly. This means even things long-scarred can be repaired by cutting it back up and putting it back together with the proper assistance. Which brings me to the reasons and explanations behind Talon's facial scar.
The reason she has the scar on her face is because her injury had healed over by the time authorities had been alerted and entered the home. It is, of course, possible for her to repair the scarred tissue on her face from the injury she sustained as a teen, but she chooses not to do that. Why? Well there's a simple answer: Survivor's Guilt. She keeps the visible scar as a deliberate choice. Even if she covers it up from time to time to hide the fact that her eye is blind, that's a tactical decision, not one of shame or vanity. As for the eye itself, while they should be able to re-attach the ocular nerve, they are not capable of employing the same techniques to align the eyeball itself again. There is some theory she could potentially pluck out the eyeball and it might grow back (as her limbs do) but that's never been confirmed and she'd rather live with a dead eye than a socket. She says she's used to it so there's no point, but circling back to the Survivor's Guilt thing, it's not like she's inclined to try.
Though, going back to the whole 'sustaining substantial injuries with no scarring' thing, on the other end of this out side of all the technical reasons, there's a symbolic reason for it. Scars tell a story, they show clearly and directly, something has happened to a person, some of them more blatant and easy to read than others. Talon only has one obvious mark, the only part of her story that's public, that everyone already knows. No one has to remind her of it because they can see her face and see she remembers it every day. But the rest of her body? That's a blank slate to deceive you. She will never wear her hardship on her sleeve, both in the way she acts and in her very physical appearance. She'd rather you assume her experiences were effortless, things that left no mark on her physically or psychologically, than have you condole her pain. Every experience fade into the background, one into the other, and endless sea of exhaustion, agony, and perseverance, all the same, no clear indication where it stops or starts.
Related to this, I have to link to one of my favorite posts about Magical Healing on tumblr.
In 2012 I made this post with this quip, which is oddly apt for this post:
“Pay it no mind, It’ll heal in time, This is what I was made for.
It’ll be just like it never happened.”