Eventually, my consciousness returned slowly, accompanied by a persistent throbbing in my temples that felt like someone had been using my skull as a percussion instrument. My eyes opened to the familiar ceiling of Alexis's medical office, though even that simple observation triggered an automatic analysis of the lighting conditions, air circulation patterns, and probable time of day based on the ambient sound levels from outside.
The involuntary processing was still happening, but it felt... muted. Like someone had installed a volume control on my detective abilities and turned it down from maximum to merely overwhelming. I could still feel my mind cataloging details about my surroundings, but the information wasn't crashing over me in the same tsunami-like waves as before.
