Who: Mavis & Magius What: Check-up When: last week, after Mavis gains her batty skills Where: Sunburst Clinic Warnings: clinical discussion of vampirism, sexuality, & general medical issues
Mavis had been hesitant to see any doctors since she had started changing, for fear of...who knows what. Her imagination had produced dozens of scenarios, and speculative horror stories to prevent her from going. But thanks to the Valarnet, she had discovered some doctors who also dreamed, which eased some of her nerves.
She wanted to learn more about her body, and what was happening to it...and maybe, while she was there, she would ask for an exam and a prescription for birth control. Just in case.
Magius came into the examination room with a gentle smile on his face. A new patient! “Hello, Miss Dracula. Welcome to Sunburst. I’m Doctor Magius and I’ll be seeing you today. Please relax and tell me how you’re doing today.” He was an older man, and tall, in his mid-60’s, but muscular and healthy, with laugh lines around his eyes and mouth.
“Hello, Dr. Magius,” she said, careful to annunciate around her fangs--she still lisped sometimes if she got too lazy--but not too worried about whether the pronounced canines were showing. Magius was going to be her doctor, it was relevant that he know about them. Relaxing was still sometimes easier said than done, but she let out a slow breath and did her best to comply.
“I feel...okay, I guess,” she said, “I’ve been through some pretty dramatic changes lately; change of diet, change of address, and some physical changes that have come along with Dreaming. I’m just trying to stay afloat.”
Magius listened and watched her, and he understood her words as he noted the fangs, and the way she had to push herself to relax. “Well, then know that you are not going to be judged here, and no one will be hunting you with a stake, or they’ll have to be dealing with my sword.” He sent her a smile, warm and honest, and then he sat on a stool in front of her. “I’ll conduct a standard check up then, and you add anything new, as we go, okay?”
He wanted to make sure he helped her, and he would be damned if he would not do his best by her.
“First off, please open your mouth and say ahhhh.”
He waggled a tongue depressor at her.
“Thank you,” Mavis said, laughing a little at his words. Something about his manner just put her at ease, and she had a feeling she was going to enjoy working with him. Perhaps he could help her answer some of her own questions.
Magius gently checked her mouth and tonsil area, and then turned his attention to her teeth. “Hmm, cute fangs, very deadly looking, very respectable. Most closely resemble some of a beautiful snake I once saw. Used them to pump enough venom into a man to send him into a coma, and to make him sterile.” He pulled back and hesitated to touch them, for they were her private body, as he examined them, showing no fear, because he felt none.
“How do you feel when they are touched?”
Cute and deadly. Mavis smirked a little at the description. She ran her tongue carefully over her teeth, just lightly. How did she feel? “Nervous,” she said, “And maybe a little...excited? Not necessarily in a sexual way, but it does kind of make my mouth water. Which isn’t exactly unpleasant.”
Magius smiled at her and then pulled back, nodding. “May I touch them?” he showed her his gloved hands, and nodded to her teeth. “I want to see how closely they feel like other fangs I’ve seen to better understand them.” He wanted to to the best job for her he could.
Mavis nodded, swallowed, and opened her mouth again. From what she’d seen of Dracula in her dreams, his fangs appeared to extend if he became angry, or was trying to be intimidating, and she assumed that hers might do the same. But she did not feel threatened, so she was not particularly worried. She supposed this was as good a chance to find out how her body worked as any.
He gently stroked her fangs and nodded, then pulled back. “They seem very strong, very well placed. How do they feel when I touch them?” He stroked them again.
He wanted to see if he could find out how her body worked as well.
“Ticklish.” It was the first adjective that came to mind, even if it seemed wrong for a tooth to be described in that way. “It’s...almost sensual.” Like running a silk scarf across the back of her neck, just for the feel of it. “And it kind of makes me want to bite down.”
“All perfectly natural.” He listened to her breathing and her heart, checked her ears, then asked her to stare ahead while he peered into her eyes. Then he sat down, picking up a pen and paper. “You sound and look fairly normal, other than the obvious. Tell me as much as you can, no hurry and no pressure, about what you know of your current condition.”
“I have no reflection,” she began, “I am extremely photosensitive, burn almost instantly in direct sunlight, and garlic makes my throat swell. I haven’t had anybody come at me with a cross, or any other holy object, so the jury’s out on that one. I get lightheaded and irritable if I try to eat strictly vegan, and I get...well, what I would describe as a kind of ‘high’ when I taste blood. Which kind of makes me nauseous, but that’s mostly psychosomatic.”
She paused, making sure that the doctor was following, and had a chance to jot down notes, or ask questions. “I used to be lactose intolerant, but that’s gone now, and I have heightened senses and reflexes. And I can also levitate, and transform into a bat. Oh, and I still get my period, though I think my cycle might have gotten a little off, with all the stress, and moving in with another woman. Pheromones are weird.” So yeah.
Magius nodded, jotting down all of that. “Then I would say we need a blood draw, and a specific allergen test. And I have an idea for a couple of pills, if you want to try them which might help with the sun. However, if you are turning into a form of vampire, they won’t work.”
He listened to her and then nodded. “This question catches some people by surprise, but... are you a virgin?”
Mavis started pushing up her sleeve in preparation for the blood work, sighing softly at the mention of the word vampire. “In my dreams, my father is the Dracula,” she said, “A friend of mine suggested trying prescription sunblock, maybe?”
The next question didn’t startle her all that much, really. She’d been prepared to talk about it anyway, and she nodded. “I’ve explored some of the bases, a little, but no intercourse.”
He nodded, listening, and getting the equipment together. “”Maybe. We can try that, as well as a supplement for your melatonin.” Magius nodded, taking notes. “Do you want me to make you a prescription for birth control?” It was her choice, though if she was going to be exploring more he would advise it. He started drawing her blood, carefully.
“Do you have cravings now? Stronger than you did before?”
“Yes, please,” Mavis replied without much hesitation when asked about contraception. She still wasn’t sure if she was actually ready to let herself go there, but she’d rather be safe than sorry. She definitely wasn’t ready for a vampire baby--not when she was practically a baby vampire herself. It was just too...Twilight zone.
“Now that you’ve taken my blood?” She wasn’t sure if she could actually feel the blood being drawn, or if that was just her overactive imagination. “It’s not as strong as when I got my period, a couple weeks ago. I think Aunt Lulu could tell--she made me drink a little of her blood from a teacup.” She’d also let Mavis bite her wrist, but it was kind of embarrassing to talk about.
“I just meant since you started changing.” He smiled and listened to her. “And other cravings? Does this make your other desires or wants or needs more intense, or less, or just the same?” He put the blood away and gently patted her arm as he talked to her, keeping up the human contact as much as he could. She felt and looked like someone who could use it.
“I’m a little obsessed with ice cream,” she said, “now that I can have it; the richer, the better. And...well, yes, I notice more fluctuating hormones more now that I did before, but I can’t say for certain whether that’s because I finally met someone--or a few someones--who caught my interest, or if I’m just hyper-aware of...everything.” She sighed. “I think it’s a bit of both.”
Magius nodded, gently patting her shoulder. “It’s to be expected, both because of your condition and because of your age. And you are pretty. I’ll advise cautious exploration, for my opinion, if you do decide to dally, one way or another.”
Then he paused. “Do you want me to be your OB-Gyn? There are several women who work here who could do it if having me do it would make you uncomfortable.”
Finally, someone who advised caution. Mavis sighed. “Seeing as I’ve been hit on by as many women as men since I woke up all, ‘I am the night, bleh-bleh-bleh...’” She shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t really matter to me, one way or another. At least not in a professional context. Should it?”
“It’s about evenly split between women who prefer men, who prefer other women, and who don’t care, so I don’t think so. It mainly matters as to whether it matters to you what sort of equipment is on the doctor who touches yours, regularly.”
“Why would that matter?” Mavis asked, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s not like he or she is going to be touching me with their own...personal equipment. Except hands, which, as long as they know what they’re doing, won’t really make much difference, right?”
“People are odd, and sometimes stupid, Mavis. And entitled to their opinions. “ He smiled at her. “If you want, I will be your OBGyn as well. I have the training, and that way I could help regulate your health in that way, too.”
“I guess I’d just as soon have you do it,” she said, “Just in case there’s anything weird going on with that, besides all this other stuff I have to deal with. I hope not, but...” She bit her lip, deliberately piercing it with her canines enough to draw blood, then wiped her mouth so Magius could see the punctures heal over.
“Considering how fast I recover from everything but sunburn? I’m a little bit scared that when I do finally start having sex...every time will be like the first time. I mean, unless it already broke when I was taking riding lessons, or something. I don’t even know. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”
Magius nodded, hmming. “I can see what you mean. Let me ask you a question. Have you drunk alcohol since then? That would be a good test. We build up tolerance,every time we drink. If every time you drink it is as if you never drank before, then that is a sign we’ll need to come up with some options.”
“Am I going to get in trouble if I say yes to that?” Mavis asked, arching her brows. “Anyway, I’ve only had a little--not even a whole glass at a time. I think a sip of blood gets me more drunk than a glass of wine, though.”
“Hardly. I’m a doctor and you are my patient and we are talking about clinical experimentation, not you going to a bar and intaking alcohol, illegally .” He nodded to her.
And he nodded again. “Hmm, makes sense; Are you willing to try controlled doses of clean blood?”
Mavis nodded. She had been to a bar, where they had neglected to card her, but not since her fangs had come in, so she just wouldn't mention that. "I've started coming to terms with the fact that veganism just isn't the most healthy lifestyle for me anymore, so I've been adding red meat and other animal protein back into my diet. I've only tried straight blood a couple of times, but I think I'd be okay to keep trying, especially if I have a way to regulate it."
“We could try several ways. You could come here for an inpatient treatment, and get it here, once daily, or so, or I could bring it to you. Sunburst is run by someone who is a Dreamer, so I have more latitude.” Magius nodded. “If we can establish a normal feeding pattern for you, it should be easier for you to resist both the drunkenness effect, and any urges or extreme hungers you might otherwise grow to feel.”
“Would I need time off work for the inpatient treatment?” she asked, “I just started a new job, and an internship. Audrey is a Dreamer too, and she knows a little about my condition, so I’m sure she’d understand, but I might need a note to hand in at Frost Industries. Just to cover all the bases.” And the sooner they could schedule it, the better. Definitely before school started. Hopefully before the cruise.
“Only for the first day, to test your baseline reactions without it interfering with work. Or we could do that on a day off. Only if there were complications would we have to work more time in on days when you might work.” He nodded. “I can definitely arrange for medical paperwork to be delivered.”
“That’s fine, then,” Mavis said, nodding. “I can come here. Is there anything that I should do to prepare for it?”
“Fast after eight p.m., the day before, and rest well. We want your body ready for a little bit of stress. And try not to intake any blood at all that day before, if you can help it.” Magius nodded. “That way we have a control.” He gently took one of her hands and squeezed it. “I will find a way to help you, Mavis, to increase your control and to know your abilities.” He nodded, determination in his eyes.
“Simple enough,” Mavis said. She didn’t really like the taste of blood, she just liked the way it made her feel when she tasted it--which was reason enough to avoid it, if you asked her. “I’ll make it a vegan day.” She glanced down at the strong, steady hand that held hers, and felt herself smile softly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I think that’s everything for a start. You should go ahead and talk to the receptionist to make an appointment for that and for your first obstetrics exam with me.” Mavis nodded, and hopped lightly down from the exam table. “I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”