Dr Strange is Master of Mystic and Martial Arts (icanlose) wrote in angellogs, @ 2017-07-04 17:24:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | balthier, stephen strange |
Who: Noah, Balthier, Dr. Strange
When: 7/2
Where: Strange’s in progress magical sanctuary
What: Noah and Balthier arrive, bearing gifts, to let Stephen look over Noah’s arm. It’s part of the research into the dangers of nethicite. Stephen finds the Archadian Empire to be mildly unnerving.
Rating/Warnings: Discussion of dubious medical consent, shady military weapons, chronic pain
Status: Complete
Noah’s about Balthier’s height, but he reads as taller. Probably something in the bulk of his shoulders and the square features instead of Balthier’s sharper ones. There’s something faintly Germanic in his accent. He’s squinting a bit from the sun, and Balthier’s - clearly having a good time. “We could probably stop by a museum. Or walk around at sunset. Take some pictures for Aedan.”
“Do you think he’d like it?” Balthier asks. “I just want to keep myself - you know - distracted.” Talking about the arm band is still - not easy.
Stephen’s started moving things into his new Sanctuary, as he’s started thinking of The Mountain, even though there’s not exactly any way to make it official in this world that he knows of. Then again, what exactly WOULD you do to designate one? It’s not something he came across in any of the reading before, so he’s playing that part a BIT by ear. In his own head though, he’s allowed to call the place whatever he wants, and to drag in anything they might need.
Right now, that happens to be books, and he’s got several boxes trailing along behind him, the edges of his cloak perking up a little as he strides down a hall toward what he’s turning into the library. He suspects that it was probably intended for dining at some point, or hosting large groups of people, but there are other rooms that’ll work, and nothing’s as important to the heart of this place as the storage of knowledge, and making it attractive and accessible.
So, he’s gotten some new paint on the walls, added shelves and decently comfortable, private corners of the room with comfortable places for sitting, with couches and chairs, but also floor pillows in some of the areas, and a few study desks, like you’d see in a college library, the kind that divide you from your neighbors, are grouped around an area at the far west of the room, near the large windows, just in case anyone wants to be alone in here, or feel it anyway. Now, it’s time to bring in the books though.
Balthier knocks on the edge of a door. “Strange? Mr. Stephen?”
“Doctor.” Stephen mutters to himself, remembering a few exchanges on that point during his training, though he isn’t going to be petty enough anymore to say it to somebody’s face, anymore. It really doesn’t get him anywhere in the long run. Instead he’s projecting his voice, with a wave of his hand to amplify the sound so they can hear outside.
“About...thirty seconds. Let me meet you.” And he’s appearing, perhaps a second later, outside of the entrance they’ve found, then stepping over to open the door. “Balthier? Nice to see you again.”
Balthier waves. “It’s good to talk again. I brought Noah? Like I promised. He agreed to let you do magical things at his arm. He might have to take his shirt off? I mean - so you can look at it. If that’s all right.”
Noah waves as well. “Hello. I’ve - worn a fair amount of nethicite. For extended periods. And I’ve got the mark from the junction point. So - it might be interesting. I brought some bread? I don’t know if it’s traditional to come bearing gifts, but -”
“Not really, actually, but it’s a tradition I could get to like.” Stephen laughs a bit, thinking of something. “If you’re not careful, I might end up thinking it’s some sort of tribute and set myself up in my head as some kind of god. I’m fairly sure the universe would smack me down for that, again, but , really, it’s a good thing. I’ve got tea brewing if you’re interested, Green with a little bit of honey. Unless that doesn’t work. I can do...just about anything but it SHOULD relax you if you’re nervous or anything. And I definitely want to get a physical look. I think I rely a little too much on the material world still, but...primary training. It takes its hold.”
“Tea does sound nice,” Noah offers. He’s got a very deep voice. “Well, where I was from, the physical examination was considered to be an important part of things.”
“You’d basically get used to stripping down for the medics,” Balthier says. “Tea does sound very nice. How is the honey out here?” The bread’s sort of an eggy thing with potato. It should keep fairly well.
“I mean we try being as non invasive as possible.” Stephen nods. “Though, to be fair, I usually only had a couple consults along the way and they’d send me the patients to actually operate on, so I’m used to seeing a lot more drapes, and a lot less actual patient. Still.” He nods at Noah. “Your arm’s been a problem, then.” Not really a question so much. “And the honey’s good. There are fantastic figs if you know where to look too.” He does like that there’s still a chance to get a lot of fresh things here. It’s nicer than trying to wrestle with the other versions.
“It actually doesn’t hurt at all. But - people’ve reacted to it saying it’s a burn. And Balthier suspects you’ll see something in it. Figs sound good. There was a winter solstice cake with figs and walnuts.” Noah’s following along. “Sort of - you’d cut everything up and press it together. With cocoa sometimes.”
“Meringue pieces, in Rozarria. I was fond of it.” Balthier looks like he’s feeling better, at least.
“They made that kind of thing, sort of, a really long time ago during the first world war. Well, English thing.” Stephen adds, since he personally hasn’t tried that or anything. “There was an article that came out about it a few years ago, commemorating an anniversary. It had uh, the fruit and cocoa and some spices. Not enough cocoa it tastes like it, just another layer. Meringues. My sister liked those.” He smiles a little, for half a second, though that’s fading fairly quickly back to normal.
“Let’s see, I’ve got the library under construction so that’s probably not the BEST place to do this, but there’s a sort of...I guess living room set up through this way. I figured it was the best way to handle smaller groups if people want to start meeting here. I do have a spot for exams but it’s SORT of rude to ask you to show me your burns without SOME social graces.”
Noah laughs. “You haven’t seen military medics. Which were mostly mages, so - it’s one and the same in a way. Tea, then, and I’ll take my shirt off dutifully. How was your conclusions so far about the nethicite? I get the feeling that Balthier is afraid we were lied to about how dangerous it was.”
“Really now?” Stephen looks interested. “There’s definitely a connection with medicine and magic in a lot of circles, come to think of it. It’s not the sort of thing you’d learn in any kind of medical training, at least anywhere Westernized, uh American centric models mostly, though there’s Western Europe too. We’re all a little too obsessed with science, with proving things in only the most rational of ways. I was the same way. I think we close ourselves off and we do everybody a disservice. I mean, obviously, there are principles that are the same, but the practice...things get taken out that we probably should think about.”
Using the force, he thinks, but doesn’t say it, instead crossing over to a spot that’s serving as a space to plug in an electric kettle, which is currently actually filled with tea already. He got lazy and decided not to worry about the RIGHT way to do it, teamaking, so he’s grabbing that, and some mugs.
“It’s a little bit of a disaster, so ignore the fact I’m not doing this the way people say you should?” He asks. “I swear it’s all still pretty normal.”
“I’m sure it’ll taste fine. Is there anything I can help with?” Balthier offers.
Noah says, “It’s - interesting. Where I was from, there was electricity, but generating it was much harder than generating magic. So magic was your omnipresent thing, and electricity was more specialized long term applications. But people were trying to create scientific magic applications. Like Balthier’s engineering was specifically low powered magic - something like -” He frowns. “Those lead bulbs? The ones that use very little power?”
“LED?” Balthier guesses.
Okay, sure. Stephen’s nodding at that when Balthier guesses. “That makes sense. I do see where...I’ve technically used it for medical procedures, a few times, mine. Not many, but...I can encourage the body and mind a little, toward healing, point people in the right directions to save themselves sometimes. I can see where it’d work, especially in medicine along with engineering.”
“Do you run into - too much magic? That’d happen with magic at home. Too much Mist in the body from casting.” Balthier gestures. “You’d get nethicite gear to try to drain the mist and still hold someone stable, but there’d be side effects.”
Noah helps with getting the tea set up. “This is a - sort of an enriched bread. And this one is a breakfast one. Dried fruit and some spices.” No nuts, since they were afraid of allergies, and it was simpler to not have to ask. “I was more a soldier. So it was a lot of - orders to sit and keep my mouth shut kind of thing. I was a pain for the medics.”
Noah is pretty relaxed once they’ve had some tea, and he’s tried to gently pry information about good fig sources out of Medic Stephen. He still feels a bit silly stripping out of his shirt, but - well - it’s for diagnosing what nethicite can do. The mark on his bicep is a sort of shiny pale mark - like a burn scar, and looks like it’s from the places where the metal of the arm band would have contact. It’s also - a dead spot magically. Not that Noah has much magic to him. If Balthier’s a quiet level, Noah’s got a bit more potential, but just about zero training or capacity for it. He’d probably be able to support a spell, and not know the beginnings of how to cast one.
“Not really too much for...any normal purposes. Too much to handle because of my own limits.” Stephen admits, frowning a little. “My hands don’t like it if I cast too much, or do a lot of heavy lifting. Not literally, usually. I don’t need to do it anymore, thankfully, but they’ll hurt, or they’ll seize up for a while. “ And he snorts at Noah. “So patients like you are the reason I prefer you passed out on my table than having actual conversations.” And he pauses. “Actually surgery’s more like a challenge, a puzzle you have to get right. “ Patients are puzzles. That used to be all they were to him too. He’d say that now.
Still, Noah’s fairly good natured about the whole thing now, and Stephen’s taking advantge to check out that scar, and frowning. “So you had a band like Balthier’s but it functioned the right way?”
“Exactly. I usually had a defensive one, or an anti-magic one. I was a bodyguard. Well - that’s the simplest way of describing it.” Noah looks over at the scar. “We were always told that it was just the mark from the junction point.” Not a scar.
“You never liked using one in the practice yard,” Balthier says. “I can’t blame you. The - dehydration and headaches seemed miserable, whenever I had to try one.”
“Mind you, I was wearing one for days at a time. And usually you’d get nethicite in between healings for severe injuries. So I’m - uh - what’s the term. Extreme scenario? Stress test?” Noah looks at Balthier. Would that be the term? He’s comfortable enough with getting looked at.
“That sounds miserable as a deliberate side effect for..” Stephen frowns. “Was the trade off actually something anyone had judged worth it? It increases your abilities, I’m told,” He nods at Balthier. “Or healing or...whatever the properties are, but…Do you mind if I feel for magical influence that’ll linger. If you had it for that long, for that much of a period of time of wearing it, there might be traces.”
“Feel free? I’ll let you know if I notice. I do know that some people say you get a sort of itch when magic is cast on you, but I think that’s - you know - sensing the Mist or just reflexes.” Noah offers his arm. He’s got a faint scar on his right hip that’s visible despite the undershirt he’s wearing. “The defensive ones would prevent bruises and concussions or the like. The antimagic ones were more for actual work. Preventing attacks.”
“Your Mist sounds...It’s almost too bad I don’t think I could access your realm..” Stephen says. “I’d love to get a sample, see what it does under some controlled conditions.” Okay you probably, technically, can’t control conditions when you’re dealing with a total unknown that CAN be dangerous, but…
Anyway, Stephen’s moving to place a finger on the burn itself, then goes a little still, channeling his breathing. “Don’t be alarmed if I seem unresponsive for a minute or two. I’ll be deep within you...your tissues.”
Noah nods. “Any way I can tell if something’s wrong?” The blankness does seem to trace up the nerves up his arm, like the pattern when Balthier put on the armband. There’s kind of a flow to things, like the blood’s moving normally, but at the same time, there’s a kind of draining aspect to that spot.
“Logically, if this was the sort of thing involving standard medicine, you’d want to have somebody do a nerve conduction study. They hook up some wires to a machine and study how the nerves react when stimulated. But I can do something similar. Do you ever NOTICE anything weird about it?”
“Not - really. Your cloak kind of tingles when it gets near it, and I can feel your arm? “ Noah tilts his head. “There was usually - only high ranking judges who wore enough nethicite to get a mark like mine. Nethicite was pretty expensive, especially the amount I had. Some people wore a lot more. Supposedly Bergan died because he had nethicite touching blood, and it connected too strongly and exploded in a high Mist location.”
“That was a time loop thing,” Balthier points out. “Everyone remembers him, and the fact he’d go out in just his gambeson at night or with his leggings showing way too much. And they remember he died.”
“Judge Magister names are fake names, but - I guess you saw his - earlier death,” Noah says quietly. “That must’ve been - all the jokes about him must’ve been grim for you to hear, even with him being a terrible man.” Bergan was - violent and a might makes right type. He also would shave his legs if he was dating, and he could be - sort of a grumpy stern cuss but almost pleasant at times. And then you’d remember why you didn’t like him. Particularly when it was far too late, and he didn’t care that you knew exactly how he looked because everyone was exhausted.
“It’s magical in and of itself.” Stephen says of the cloak, nodding. “Aware enough that it decided I should be the wearer, and its done a few things along the way. I’m not surprised you can feel that a little. And touching blood. But you’d have to wear it down to the point…” that’s terrifying honestly. He’s seriously starting to wonder about Archades.
“So..titles you’d pass on or would every new one take a new name?” Stephen blinks a little, pulled fully back. “So that was interesting.”
“I think the man before me was Gabranth as well. And I used that title. You’d often get a similar model of armor, if you didn’t fit the old one.” Noah looks at him. “It was? And a sentient cape sounds interesting. I could see that helping track if you were using too much magic. I feel like we should’ve brought more, since this is a drain on you.”
“It doesn’t seem to quite -” Balthier looks thoughtful. “At home, usually you’d either make a warding to be in a higher Mist environment, or take potions to make up for using magic. It doesn’t seem to be the emptying vessel analogies here. Which is fascinating. And you know - I might be able to get you a Mist sample. I can cast a tiny bit of magic.”
“That really was.” Stephen frowns thoughtfully. “I could see the magic sort of...draining from right around there.” he lightly taps the burn spot. “Nothing sticks. And I mean…” he nods toward his cape hem. “We don’t have conversations or anything. That’d be completely weird. And less a drain more a...I get a bit sucked in.” It’s the easiest way to put it. “Sometimes, longer term I need more of a meditative state. The draining for this is more, my hands are screwed up, physically. Some of the repetitive motion is...weird to figure out until you’re settled enough in something you can use the mind instead.” Weird and painful.
And the warding seems reasonable, considering it sounds unpredictable at times, from what they’re saying. Stephen’s less familiar with the potions. He knows that it’s a thing the mages from Thedas do, though.
“Hold that thought.” He nods at Balthier, approving. “I’d want to make sure we had enough of a way to keep it long enough if anyone knows how...you can dispell air into bottles, breath...there’s a museum in Detroit that has one of Edison’s...major inventor here about a hundred some years ago...dying breaths. I BET you could do a more sophisticated version of it...I’d probably need more of a lab sciences researcher….”
“It doesn’t help either if it is a dimensional - uh - think of it like importing some vacuum from space? I’m not sure how here it is. Mist was visible at home, if you had enough of it. But if it’s the equivalent of importing an odd fog from another world, could you bottle it?” Balthier looks at Noah’s arm. “You know, I never realized how bad the mark looked. I mean, here, it looks worse than I remember.”
“I was using a lot of nethicite near the end there,” Noah points out. “I was healing slower as well. I think the medic that Hanzo found said I was slightly - depressed immune system? I’m not sure the exact formal terms.” He looks thoughtful. “It’s interesting that it’s still present magically. We were told that it was just a mark.”
“So, a vape sort of situation might make it work…” Stephen nods. “Bottling’s probably the most efficient way if it could be fast enough. ...Does it?” He’s staring at the mark a second, then Noah.
“Does...has there been anyone who had that kind of a thing get bigger? You mentioned the guy who had it get down to the blood level. I’d maybe think that got progressively bigger before it hit that stage, but I’m assuming that took years. Has it gotten bigger for YOU in terms of worse? Or just the color and shape changing? I’m not getting the idea anything’s good but if it’s progressing, even right now...that’s probably a bad thing.”
“I was wearing nethicite full time for about - ten years? And extensively for about two to three years.” Noah reaches for his shirt. “If you’ll pardon me, Medic.” It’s something to do with his hands. “The issue with the blood is that - the way it was explained to me was either the idea that it touched your body’s ley lines, or the blood conducted the nethicite better. Upon absorbing too much magic, nethicite either explosively releases it, or breaks. Depending on the storage, or the amount of Mist released, you can have damage from concentrated Mist.”
“And Bergan was wearing far too much, the time he died. He was practically fuming with Mist, and attacking us. Controlled by Venat as well, through the nethicite.” Balthier sips his tea and slides Noah’s mug closer to him. “But other than the burn’s bigger than I remember it being about - four years ago, it doesn’t look any different to me?”
“And I haven’t noticed bruises being as slow to heal here. Of course, I’m sleeping more sensible hours and eating more regularly,” Noah says. “But if part of the issue was the gear, I have not been wearing that.”
“Well, at least it doesn’t sound like it’s actively anything to worry about here.” Stephen nods. “It makes me want to keep an eye on it, just in case. And for that many years…” He shakes his head. “Four years it’d definitely have some effect from what you’re saying. I’m not SURPRISED. Just out of curiosity, really morbid medical curiosity, did they do anything to offset the side effects?” Because he’s not sure he approves of the idea of letting it go without any kind of intervention.
Noah blinks at him. “We’d . . . have spotters? There wasn’t that many people who were using nethicite full time, but if you had - say, the defensive gear on for the practice yard, you’d have someone there to make sure you weren’t too dizzy when you took it off. And there was some internal - everyone knew how to get the gear off. Or ways to make it not have a good junction. Since you didn’t question a medic, but you still might not want to deal with migraines.”
“I haven’t told him all the tricks. But if we give mine to Ellie to help control her magic in an emergency, I’d want to spread out who knows what,” Balthier says. “For safety reasons.”
“Definitely a good idea.” Stephen nods. “You don’t want to have anyone with the control of…” He frowns. “Aedan, for instance. That’d be a disaster if he knew anything about it. He’s terrified of magic, I mean, there’re good reasons, I only got the surface when I was around to see what was going on, but there’d always be that chance he panicked and then everyone would be upset later. And that’s...horrifying, honestly. From a medical ethics standpoint. I spent half my life dealing more with the medical board than patients. They’d get all kinds of cases of malpractice that don’t even sound as...screwed...as that.”
“Some of the medics would worry about what we wanted? But some were overworked and tired. And - didn’t care.” Noah shrugs. “But I had too much too do and too little time to do it, so I wasn’t the easiest. It’s better here? People keep explaining what they’re doing.”
“Honestly, and this is going to sound messed up, and kind of contradict things, but it’s less what you want and more...what’s going to benefit you.” Stephen pauses. “I mean you’d be free in that model to refuse treatment if you had some objections. Consent’s important, but the goal’s more about...not putting you in any risk. This situation sounds..really dubious, the way it’s set up. Though I get being overworked and tired and not caring. I’ve been there. “
He’s been there a fair bit actually. “Over half my career, I’ve been the brilliant asshole doctor. It works, but then you get...yeah, things like this.” Stephen shakes his head. “It’s kind of messed up, to make a COMPLETELY culturally biased judgement.”
“We were always told it’d be faster. Just not waiting for you to consent beyond not wanting to be bleeding on something.” Noah makes a face. “It’s just as fast here, so I think - as you say. It may’ve been how things worked, but that does not mean it was right. It also means we don’t -” He waves a hand at where the burn’s now hidden by his shirt. “I can see how the armband might help Ellie on the basis that in an emergency, she has an option? But I cannot promise it’s safe for her, or for other people. And I think it’s a good idea to get a feel for what other cultures think of it.”
“I guess if there’s active blood GUSHING, it’s a little different.” Stephen will allow the point. “But generally, it’s a good idea if you’re not actively dying. And yeah, I’d think that’s probably wise, running the idea by them. She’s also not of age by their standards so that might get interesting. I’m not sure how Sebastian would feel, I only met him briefly. It SOUNDS reasonable, and he worked for the people who used to oppress mages, so he might be fine with it on the level of..let’s call it an inherited fear of magic, but…it does get different when its your own I think.”
There were a lot of things Stephen would have done when April was sick, a lot of doctors they’d trusted, but when it came down to it and he’d taken the ultimate risk because he’d known he could do the job and it’d failed...he’d sort of learned that some risks probably have to be weighed a lot more than you would usually.
“She knows I’m asking around about it, but I haven’t talked about it with Sebastian. I don’t see any point in trying to bring it up until I have an idea what’s at stake.” Balthier turns his empty mug in his hands.
“You’re looking tired, Balthier,” Noah says. “Are we done here? Or is there something else you’d like us to do?” Noah’s trying to hold back on calling him Medic Stephen, since - well - the guy’s not purely one, is he?
Not anymore anyway. He’s fine with GOING with being Doctor Strange, still, since that’s always going to be a part of him, and there’s ,okay, a bit of Stephen that’s strangely satisfied that they can’t take away the fact he’s a doctor, no matter what happens. Christine had been right when she told him that and he wasn’t in the mindframe to listen, and she’d been right about the fact that he still could do a lot of things like THIS.
“If you’re tired, definitely don’t let me keep you.” Stephen’s straightening now. “For now, with this, though, I can send you a couple ideas for what might help with nerve function?”
“There’s . . . damage?” Noah looks confused as he looks at his arm, and then he shrugs. “Sure? I can try it, at least.”