"Sometimes it was. Other times it was tedious, or cold, or wet. I'm going to help your eye stay open, keep breathing." Nina spread her fingers gently against his cheek; she found the muscles that controlled Tony's ability to blink and froze them. She also made a little gesture to help calm his racing heart, his twitching fingers. She didn't want him to have a panic attack, or to move suddenly, while she was so close to him.

All it took was a drop or two; the liquid likely felt cold, and a little strange, but nothing painful or stinging. Then she immediately released her hold on the muscles. She focused instead on the iris itself, encouraging it to take the color in.

"There," she said as she stood up straight. "We'll see how that takes and if I need to go darker, I will." She put the dropper back in the dye bottle to cap it for the time being.

"And thank you, they're gang tattoos. Well, the crow and cup is. The roses told people where I worked."