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]

[Daniil turns to Aerith with a funny sort of grin.]

Usually women bring big, scary men to their visits when they’re uneasy. I’ve never seen it the other way around unless he needed to be convinced to come at all. Very well. What is your relation to the patient?

[For all that Daniil calls Concent big and scary, he hardly sounds serious. Daniil is a tall, slip of a man, significantly broadened by the cut of his coat.]

[Daniil opens his case book to where he had begun to take notes, but was forced to stop just because Vincent was so cagey!]

Well, feel free to take your seats. What is your name and age, sir?

[inemeraldfaith]

[Aerith looks between Vincent and Daniil, tilting her head, and a little amused for much the same reason. As tempted as she is to leave a reassuring hand on Vincent, for the sake of his own comfort, she slips her hands behind her back, a gentle sway between her feet. She can touch him anytime he feels like he might need her to.]

Rest assured, I might look small, but I can definitely be scary!

[Which is true. Aerith is unsuspecting at a first impression, and even after a second or a third, she seems about as much a flower as the ones she likes so much. As multifaceted as everyone else is, she's no difference. She doesn't see any reason why she might need to get scary here, however.

Either way, she doesn't need much encouragement to sit, pressing her weight into her hands and leaning forward a bit as she eyes Vincent patiently.

It'll be okay.]

[loveandsin]

[ Vincent smiles briefly under his cowl and there's a soft blink of his eyes in Aerith's direction. ]

She is a friend. And I would not cross her.

[ With Aerith here, perhaps Vincent will be less cagey than he was during their texted conversation. There's no getting out of this now. What happened last year with the xenomorph has prompted him to seek answers, if they exist. He owes it to the people he put in danger here. A danger that could happen again if circumstances repeat themselves.

A nod follows the look from Aerith, and Vincent takes a seat beside her. ]

Vincent Valentine. Age 57.

[thantagonist]

[Daniil takes it down, brows raised.] Is that your real name? Or your true age, for that matter. You look… dozens of years younger.

[Daniil was keenly aware that he looked more aged at 28 than this porcelain faced man. Old man, at that. ]

[loveandsin]

[ There's a slight lift of his brow over his eye. ]

Would I subject myself to this only to lie?

[ That would not make a lot of sense. ]

I ceased aging after a series of experiments were performed on me.

[thantagonist]

Apologies. I didn’t mean to imply lying, so much as a stage name, perhaps. It’s very colorful.

[Daniil gives him a look of pity, empathy maybe as he makes note.]

Do you know why experiments were conducted on you? Was there something unusual?

[Danill frowns, the amnesis morbi would need an attached page, for sure.]

[loveandsin]

A stage name.

[ Vincent tilts his head slightly, eyes sliding in Aerith's direction. He can only imagine what she thinks of that idea. ]

The experiments were the product of a madman. He harbored animosity toward me for objecting to his work.

[ Hojo never was the type to let anything go to waste. There is a lot Vincent leaves out, of course, but he answers with what he believes should suffice. ]

[thantagonist]

Of course. Rogue experiments make sense, in lieu of firing… [His voice falls into a sardonic mutter.]

Sorry, that’s not very funny. As much as I want to ask why, it sounds like there isn’t a satisfying answer to that. What was the goal and consequence of these experiments, then?

You said something about monsters.

[loveandsin]

[ It might not have been the best joke, but it's not wrong, in Vincent's case. ]

I don't know all the details. I believe the Professor was attempting to expand human endurance by infusing his subjects with monster DNA. The result is my capacity to transform into several monsters from my world.

[thantagonist]

That’s horrible. [Daniil couldn’t imagine Platon or Serafima doing this to him, so he briefly imagines someone from one of the other labs doing this to him.]

I imagine there are drawbacks. How has this impacted your health?

You said subjects, in plural? Do you know of the others?

[inemeraldfaith]

[Aerith has been politely quiet during this exchange, mostly keen on not intruding where she doesn't need to. But it's been informative. Maybe more than Aerith has been inclined to pry from Vincent. Or maybe it's a plethora of knowledge that she knows more about than she rightfully should.

She cocks an eyebrow at Vincent for a moment before she eyes Daniil.]

I think Hojo has been conducting his experiments for a long time. Definitely for the last eight years. And longer than that, I'm sure.

[She nods to Vincent. Especially if he really is as old as he says he is. It's an answer without being an upfront answer. They definitely know of others.]

[thantagonist]

In my time, we called it nuclein. I’ve only beheld the double helix recently. [He cannot suppress the sense of wonder when he says this. Truly, this recent Wikipedia and modern medical textbook fueled education has been magnificent and enlightening.]

Did he write papers or conduct this in secret? Did he have a any sort of patron?

[Becuase if he wrote papers, I can gain much more insight. This seems to have traumatized the man. I wonder how useful his insight will be-]

[That’s right, he was a colleague.]

Do you have a degree title, Mr. Valentine? [Daniil cares very much about titles.]

[loveandsin]

[ His past is not something Vincent likes to speak about, but in an attempt to ensure he doesn't hurt anyone again, informing Daniil may be useful in the future.

Perhaps it is because of his reluctance to speak openly about his past that he invited Aerith, so she might learn some of the truths about him without Vincent drumming up the will to talk about it. That and Vincent’s understandable distrust of doctors. He already suspected they have something in common, which is confirmed when Aerith says the name Vincent has avoided speaking. ]

There have been many subjects and many deaths over the years due to these experiments.

[ Like Aerith, Vincent keeps any names to himself. ]

I almost died of it, as well, but a final infusion from another doctor is responsible for my life and longevity.

[ As for records, Vincent shakes his head. ]

Hojo's patron is the Shinra corporation, who I also worked for. He kept notes and personal records. They did not want their atrocities made public, so it was all kept secret. I only have a basic understanding of what was done to me. I am no doctor. My role at that time was security.

[thantagonist]

Oh- [As his picture of this situation shifts.]

[Just a security guard. What was he doing in the lab?]

So, you were poking around a lab under some held suspicions? Did you find some damning evidence? [Daniil raises a brow.]

…I presume the other subjects weren’t also body guards?

Forgive me, I’m trying to understand. Clearly some wrong was committed by this Hojo. Do you know where the other subjects came from? Was he just trying to make monsters? “Push human limits” is rather vague. What was the purpose?

[He looks between them. The purpose here was very important!] I want to make sure I’m not overlooking something crucial as I form this medical history. Please think, it could really help you.

[inemeraldfaith]

[Aerith wears... a subdued frown. She doesn't like this line of inquiry, but she also tends to avoid discussing Shinra, even with Rufus. It feels like this subject she tiptoes around. On the other hand, she does that with a lot of subjects.]

I think he was... probably obsessed with what he felt were advancements in empowered individuals. He was experimenting with the idea of cross-breeding people with monsters.

[She eyes Vincent sympathetically. He isn't a monster and she doesn't mean it like that when she says it.]

So a scientist who never felt like he had it good enough. he must've had good funding from Shinra to continue doing it.

[loveandsin]

[ The line of questioning gets a narrow look from Vincent. ]

Is the reason for my objection to the experiments a problem, doctor?

[ Vincent sees no need to inform Daniil of who the others were. He's not going to speak of the one who finally prompted him to confront Hojo, either.

Aerith answers better than Vincent might in his current state, which is a bit prickly now. Although his cape hides it well, he's become tense at this line of questioning. ]

Shinra will always invest in its military might. Creating stronger soldiers that obey them is reason enough. As for Hojo, he took a perverse delight in using people to advance his knowledge.

[thantagonist]

[The mention of a military turns his expression to disgust.]

No, no. These experiments sound disgusting. Avoiding harm and obtaining consent are paramount to any scientific rigors. …I just. [If there are two things I hate, it’s whistleblowers and- ] Creating stronger soldiers? Is that what this is about?

[Now Danill looks truly scandalized!]