un: Bachelor | text

[thantagonist]

Attention Fellow People of Etraya,

I am Doctor Daniil Dankovsky, Bachelor of Medicine. As I understand it, few of you have seen a doctor lately. That simply won’t do! Please, don’t wait to get sick to establish care. I am situated in the hospital, ready to take consent forms and make updated medical histories. At least a few of you have unaddressed concerns, I just know it. The average person comes to see the doctor when it’s too late! Though we cannot die here, there is no reason to suffer unduly.

And if you are otherwise healthy, perhaps think of it as helping me out. In the event of an outbreak, it is far more helpful to have complete clinical pictures of the inhabitants. Especially, as I understand it, there are many biological differences in this population.

Please come visit me during my clinic hours, every day from 10am to 6pm.


[What Daniil really wants is to meet more of the unusual inhabitants of Etraya more quickly as well as conduct casual interviews of the sort of people who are slated to save the universe. But he can’t just say that completely outright.]

Comments

[thantagonist]

It wouldn’t surprise me. On reflection, that advice giver is completely insane. Why not tell me what would be a fair trade for you, instead of leaving me guessing?

[levelshift]

[What would be a fair trade? Accelerator doesn't think he really needs anything - he has a roof over his head, books to read, the convenience stores for food. Assuming this guy isn't from the same universe as him he can't help with that at all....

He's skeptical there's anything he'd want in return, but after thinking a bit more something comes to mind.]

Hey, do you know how death works around here?

[thantagonist]

Not yet, but I’m working on it. What do you know about it?

[levelshift]

Unless you pay beforehand to avoid it, when you die and are brought back by Echo you lose something.

[thantagonist]

Ah. That is why we were advised not to “die too often”. I’ve already died once here, I think. It was shortly after arrival, but I’m not sure what price I’ve paid.

[That’s scarier, isn’t it? If he was missing a toe or something it would at least be dealt with immediately.]

[levelshift]

You might not ever figure it out. Some other shithead around here died and she had no idea what she lost.

[.............. Wait.]

Hold on, you died already? How long have you been here?

[thantagonist]

Maybe a week? They only just let us out of that amusement park. I must have been shot and bled to death, but I have no recollection of the incident.

What I do have is evidence of an entry wound in my shoulder and an exit wound on my hip. A fatal path for a bullet, certainly. I woke up in a pool of my own blood with both wounds closed and healed, though freshly so.

[levelshift]

You must be really fucking insufferable for someone to have shot you that fast.

[But more seriously.]

I haven't heard of someone that's died retaining any wounds from what killed them, though. That's new.

[thantagonist]

[Daniil feels his blood spike with that insult.]

[Really? Jumping to such conclusions? Ad poenitendum properat. ]

I was sleepwalking. Or I must have been… Though that’s never happened with me before. The man was a vagrant with consumption. I must have scared him in his drunken haze.

[Thats not exactly how it happened, but…]

I had apparently turned into a monster, according to him. I woke up in a strange state, inside a costume. All of this apparently happened inside of fifteen minutes. Make of that what you will, but I don’t prefer to be my own first data point. It’s a terrible viewing angle.

[levelshift]

[Turned into a monster? Woke up inside a costume? That sounds completely bizarre, but he's seen some weird shit during missions. The amusement park had that nonsense going on with the hall of mirrors, so he supposes it's possible there was more strange stuff going on. Honestly, that's more believable than a drunk hallucinating.]

That all may have been part of the mission. I don't know. The reason why I'm asking is because I want to know if you're planning on looking into death losses.

[thantagonist]

Now that I understand it, of course. I thought I had to study this from the other side, as there are no cadavers to examine. I intend to add death count and loss to my medical chart intake.

What is your interest? It is important of course, but do you have personal invenstment?

[Have you died yet?]

Private;

[levelshift]

[He's switching over to private. Not because he's trying to be sneaky, but because even admitting this much sentimentality is kind of embarrassing.]

Yeah. I lost something and I want it back. The answer Aurora gave about being able to do that wasn't encouraging, but if there's a way to be able to return those losses I want to do it.

Private;

[thantagonist]

What was it you lost? I’ll do everything within my power to restore it, if I can.

[Daniil is hardly one to shrink or balk at a seemingly impossible task. After all, this place truly changed his entire worldview of what was possible.]

Private;

[levelshift]

A memory.

[That's as specific as he's getting.]

Not the easiest damn thing to recover, I know.

[thantagonist]

[Sorry Accelerator, if Daniil’s got a lead, he’s gonna dig.]

That’s true. I have quack colleagues who may claim to be able to recover memories, but their research papers I always find less than rigorous.

Still. Can you describe the nature of this loss? Is this a single day or moment? What is missing: the people, the circumstance? Can you articulate how you know the memory is missing?

[levelshift]

[Those are a lot of questions he does not want to answer.]

How about you start looking into this in exchange for a demonstration of my esper ability, and if you actually make some fucking progress I'll answer some of those questions.

[thantagonist]

Sure. I’ll see what I can do.

By the way, it’s very difficult to ascertain how irritated you are based on your level of cursing. You may find it more useful to save it for situations where someone isn’t trying to ally himself to you.

[levelshift]

[Accelerator is doing the most teenager eyeroll when he reads this.]

If you've got a fucking problem with my cursing that's a you problem, not a me problem. I could give less of a shit whether you find it offensive or whatever.

When do you want to meet up for the ability demonstration?

[thantagonist]

[It was worth a shot. Or it wasn’t. Daniil doesn’t weigh the pros and cons before talking all the time.]

You’re asking me to make promises about progress that I don’t have any control over.

But my clinic is empty right now.

[levelshift]

Take it or leave it.

Fine. I'll be over soon.

[Thankfully, the walk from the library to the hospital isn't far, so he'll be over fairly quickly. There is one very frail-looking albino kid entering the lobby, relying on a fancy metal forearm crutch and appearing tired. He isn't thrilled to be using his ability for something like this, but if it means he can at least get more information on death losses he's willing to tolerate it. It's worth it to get his full memories of Yomikawa and Yoshikawa back.]

[thantagonist]

[Daniil approaches, broad across the shoulders and average height for a man, but perhaps more slender too. Lanky, even. But he did not look sick, merely tired. He is dressed in fine clothing beneath his doctor’s coat. Apparently no one has told him about scrubs yet.]

[He doesn’t look like he needs nothing, on Daniil’s professional opinion, as he sees the crutch.]

Accelerator, is it?

[levelshift]

[This guy doesn't look like much, though Accelerator has had years of experience dealing with doctors who don't look like much, so he knows it isn't necessarily an indicator of anything. He does note his clothes, which seem pretty formal but not in a traditionally modern medical kind of way. Even Yoshikawa would wear a lab coat over jeans and a t-shirt, so that sticks out to him.

His own clothing is casual, a hoodie and jeans. Despite the deal he hasn't seen any point in leaning into his position as board chairman, which means no business suits.

After looking him up and down he answers.]

Yeah. You're Dankovsky?

[thantagonist]

Doctor Dankovsky, but that’s better than “doc” or, ugh. “Sawbones”.

[Dankovsky is what I call myself. It’s a little familiar without the title, from a kid no less.]

So, would you like a room? Somewhere to sit? Do you require any special materials?

[levelshift]

['Sawbones'?? Oh, he definitely needs to inquire about that at some point. People don't gain nickname like Sawbones without doing something either really impressive, or really insane.

At the questions he takes a moment to think. This is Aurora's turf so he doesn't want to do anything too destructive, and doing something like manipulating the air isn't all that easy to see, so he needs a way of showing his ability that's both simple and straightforward.]

A room, yeah. [In case he freaks out. That's easier to contain in an exam room rather than out here in the main lobby where anyone coming in or wandering by outside can see.] And if you got a pen or a scalpel, that'd work.

[thantagonist]

Right this way.

[Daniil leads him back and pops into the first exam room. Maybe he could even get an exam going.]

A pen or a scalpel? I have both, but I tend not to lend out my scalpel.

[He fishes it out of his breast pocket. It’s a pretty nice pen.]