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

[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.]

[levelshift]

[He hobbles after Daniil into the room, barely glancing around as he enters the exam room. It's an environment he's seen a thousand times before, so he's depressingly familiar with the stark white walls and clean smell.]

Pen's fine. [It doesn't matter, really. He'll take it and move over to drop it onto the examination table, then reach up with his newly free hand to hit the switch on the small black device around his neck. The light on it changes from green to red, and once it does all he needs to do is tap the pen lightly with his index finger.

The pen immediately stands upright and then shoots upwards, embedding itself in the ceiling.]

There you go. Psychic powers. [Accelerator reaches up and hits the switch on his choker again, the light changing back to green.]

[thantagonist]

[It is indeed a fascinating thing! But-]

What does that device around your neck do?

[Now he thinks he’s been bamboozled with magnets or something.]

… Are you really going to leave my pen there?

[levelshift]

[Good question! He isn't inclined to fully explain the calculation assistance device, so Daniil gets a cagey answer.]

... It's a medical device.

[Accelerator turns his eyes upwards to the pen, which is still firmly lodged in the ceiling.]

It's just a pen. You're not attached to that thing, are you?

[thantagonist]

If it was the scalpel, would you have done the same?

[He sighs.]

It’s a fairly nice pen!

[But he couldn’t ask this kid with a crutch to get it. He calls out into the hallway for a bot to come assist.]

[levelshift]

[He gives a little shrug. Yep, he would have done the same thing.

And he doesn't really want to bother one of the bots with this, so he clicks his tongue and reaches up to switch modes again.]

I got it, I got it. [A split second of mental calculation to alter some gravitational forces and then he's doing a little jump. It's enough to send himself upwards, though without the same momentum as the pen so as to not smash any part of the ceiling. While midair, he flips himself upside down so that his feet can land lightly next to the pen.

Then he bends down and yanks it out like it's no big deal.]

Catch. [He tosses the pen down to Daniil.]

[thantagonist]

[He fumbles it like a nerd before it clatters to the ground. He snatches it up.]

[he was almost certain it was a parlor trick before. But now—]

What does that medical device do? Is it shutting off your power somehow? Does your power tax you?

[levelshift]

[He drops down from the ceiling, doing that midair flip again so that he lands on his feet. Once he has his crutch situated he changes modes again and leans on it.]

I've got a traumatic brain injury. It helps with that. [Vague? Hell yes. His calculation assistance device lets him function like a normal person, of course he's going to be vague about it.]

[thantagonist]

[He watches him as closely as he can, his movement, his footing. It’s an astonishing thing.]

[Vague, but with a big enough piece of Accelerator’s medical chart that he lets it slide. Daniil knew he’d have to chip at this one.]

Is that why you need the cane?

[levelshift]

[He's definitely favouring his right side with the crutch, with the calculation assistance device on the left side of his neck so it's within easy reach of his left hand. Whoever came up with his whole setup put some thought into it.]

Yeah. I got shot in the head, and it fucked me up really bad. [That part he doesn't mind discussing publicly. It is what it is, he considers it his own fault, and he doesn't see any good reason to hide it.]

[thantagonist]

A small wonder you’re alive-

[He stops himself.]

Or…?

[levelshift]

[He lets out a big sigh.]

I lived, which was a goddamn miracle. [He had an amazing doctor who saved him!] I've only died here.

[thantagonist]

[Then the injury was from his home.]

Indeed. Were you even aware when it happened? Where was the entry point?

[Daniil kinda wants to see the scar.]

[levelshift]

[It might be crass answering the way he does, but he jabs his thumb at the dead center of his forehead without hesitation.]

It was point blank.

[So yeah, he was very aware of it.]

[thantagonist]

[Crass perhaps, but Daniil loved when someone spoke plainly.]

[Keeps his hair long to cover it the scar, then?]

The surgeon must have been truly incredible. [Way lucky to be alive. And a miracle he didn’t require more mobility aides.]

How old were you when this happened?

[levelshift]

[Accelerator drops his hand. His answers are probably going to sound nuts, but that's how it is when you're from an insane place like Academy City.]

The city I run is about thirty years ahead of the rest of my world, so they had the benefit of some really fucking advanced medical equipment and surgical techniques.

[He probably would have died otherwise.]

I was still fifteen. It was about four months between the time I got shot and when I was first dragged here.

[thantagonist]

Sorry, the city you run, ran at fifteen- Still run? You’re in charge of the city you were shot in. Is this running like how a gang runs a city, or how a governor runs a city?

[He doesn’t sound judgmental, exactly, but his tone indicates that he assumes it’s the former.]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator notes the tone, and honestly? Fair. Who the hell puts a fifteen year old in charge of an entire city? A crazy person, that's who.]

Fuck, it feels like the former sometimes, but officially it's the latter. I'm the board chairman, the previous board chairman and founder of the city handed control over to me right before dying.

[.... He knows how that sounds.]

I didn't kill that piece of shit, to be clear. Someone had already beaten me to the punch, so by the time I got there he was already dying.