Trouble with Muscles [Closed]

[seraaches]

The sparrow stared down in disgust at his test subject. The Ace whimpered at the Diamond's metal feet and Richard Owen resettled his wings along his back in obvious irritation. If the bloody beastie had an ounce of sense, it would have already told the Corvie its problem rather than continuing to whine and grovel.

"Just answer me clearly," the sparrow snapped again, but, of course, the Ace just kept making noises of distress. Owen gave an annoyed 'chirrup' in the back of his throat and tried once more to discover the problem. All he could tell was that when he got to the muscles that joined onto the metal hindleg he'd attached to the chipmunk, the Ace went into screaming throes of agony.

Owen was certain it was some sort of act, but he thought the muscle might feel inflamed. Blast it, he needed to consult with somebody about it.

Grinding his beak, he grabbed the Ace's leash and headed for the door. He was fairly certain there was someone in his neighbourhood with that type of specialty. So he forced the little ferret thing to follow him as he strode confidently down a few doors and banged on one imperiously. The man had better be home.

[Travesty]

“Now, where the hell did you go running off to, my dear?” Ambrose muttered under his breath as he rummaged around the endless mouth of papers and vials that was his desk. He was so disorganized, and it was always at its peak when he needed to find something right that second. As in, if he didn’t find a very particular syringe very, very soon – well, let’s just say the little ferret would be in quite a bad place mentally.

“Ah, there you are,” he exclaimed with a rattling sigh of relief, balancing his beloved injection in his paws. It was full of a clear liquid, a mixture of saline and morphine. Not exactly as powerful as the true thing but hey, he didn’t do the hard stuff…except when he could procure it.

An expectant smile on his face, the male flicked the canister and with a practiced air injected the substance into the artery in his neck. It was one of three needles now hanging off his body, the other two holding either a muscle relaxer or steroid. He was testing to see the effect this would have on his body in terms of movement. Already his left forepaw was dragging, while his spinal cord was experiencing small muscle spasms. He’d have to try both of them in his Achilles tendon…when he could track down the specific steroid he had used.

A knock at the door altered him belatedly that someone was waiting for him upstairs, so with an obvious slouch in his step he slowly maneuvered up the stairs from his laboratory, passed stacks of books and piles of surgical tools, and opened the door to reveal a bird swathed with steel and a whimpering Ace. Just another day, another muscle to probe.

“How can I be of service?” He asked genially, blinking his glazed eyes.

ooc: That took me so long, sorry! ^^;; I'm still getting in the swing of things I guess, don't hesitate to tell me if there's anything I need to work on.

[seraaches]

Owen waited impatiently at the door until it finally opened to reveal a mustelid with needles hanging off of him. Whether or not this was what he expected to see or even the Card he expected to answer the door, the sparrow gave no sign and simply began to enter the house with the aura of one who has every right to just barge in on someone else with or without explanation.

But as soon as the ferret asked how he could help, Owen was already launching into an explanation. "The bloody creature won't tell me what's wrong," he complained as he basically forced his way inside--unless, of course, the other Corvie put up some real resistance. "But I'm fairly certain the muscled is inflamed right about the new implant and stars above know how I'm supposed to fix the bloody thing if the swelling won't go down."

His feathers were evidently still ruffled and they bristled a bit upwards as he dumped the complication on the Spade.

(( lol No worries! Don't worry about taking some time to reply if you need to; you'll notice that many of us are that way. ^^;;; And longer. lol ))

[Travesty]

Oh yes, please. Come in, Ambrose thought, chuckling to himself. Truth be told he wasn’t too bothered; maybe it was because he had needles hanging off his skin, but company – except for his test subjects – was hard to come by. No, it was definitely because of the needles. People thought he was insane.

“Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place,” he said cheerily, letting the bird and his experiment into his apartment. The Ace was obviously reacting to the new implant, though he’d have to take a closer look to figure out the extent of the damage. But first…

“Excuse me a moment,” he murmured and carefully flicked the morphine-saline hybrid canister from his neck. He was finding it hard to put weight on his left paw, but he wasn't really able to feel anything besides numbness and a strange, almost pulsating feeling in his back. Strange.

Oh yes, he had company. "Now, if you could just follow me downstairs, I’ll have a look at him and see what the problem is,” he said, leaving the needle precariously balanced on a stack of papers before padding back through the hallway toward the basement. He hoped the injuries would be major, so he could have a little fun.

[seraaches]

Owen's golden eyes skimmed the room without really seeing it; his mind-- brilliant as he thought it was-- was wrapped up in his problem. He only half-heard the ferret's words just as he only absently noted the needle placed atop the precarious stack of papers, his mind noting in some distant part that the other Corvie really shouldn't leave it there. It wasn't his needle, his house, or his problem, however, so he simply ignored it completely.

When the man lead the way, the sparrow tugged sharply on the Ace's leash and the little canine made noises of pain on each step it took as they headed down the stairs. Things went fairly well until the Ace slipped or tripped and fell directly into Owen.

The Ace slammed into the metal legs and Owen gave a very undignified squawk, wings trying to flap in the close space to keep from falling. Sadly,the pair of them tumbled down the rest of the stairs, instead.

[Travesty]

“It’s probably nothing too severe, the metal might’ve just rubbed against its skin the wrong way, which would then inflame muscle. Then again…” He turned over the possible scenarios in his head, each one more serious than the one before it. “There could be a – woah!” He cried out as he felt the weight of the mechanical bird and the Ace slam into him, throwing all three of them down the stairs and onto the concrete floor of his laboratory. Luckily the stairs were short and, more importantly, Ambrose was too numb to feel a thing, as he was the one who took the brunt of the damage.

Feeling slightly dazed, the ferret rose to his feet and noticed regretfully his two injections had been dislodged from his body and lay broken on the floor. “Ah well, the results weren’t too unusual.” Plus, the doses weren’t even high enough for a real, concise conclusion. “Oh, but I completely forgot, are you okay?” He asked, trying to keep the glee from his voice. Maybe the stumble had produced another patient for him to examine! Bird wings broke easily, didn't they?

[seraaches]

Owen was banged up and one of his wings did indeed hurt from the awkward angle they had landed in, but-- fortunately for him, if not the ferret's desire to experiment-- it was not broken, simply strained.

"Get off of me, you lummox!" he snarled at the Ace, pushing it off as he shook himself all over to try and re-arrange his now skewed feathers. He hissed in pain as his wing moved and the first flare of sensation shot through it. He was going to kill the bloody thing. Beak gaping he hissed at the Ace again and the thing stumbled all over itself whining and now nearly howling in pain and fear.

Stupid thing, Owen thought in disgust as he carefully and gingerly tucked his wing next to his body again. Bloody hell. He stalked over to it and quickly looked it over. It had a few more lumps now and the shoulder connecting to the metal leg was noticeably worse. "I think it strained it further," he announced to the ferret in disapproval, not noticing either the ferret's wellness or the question to their health.

[Travesty]

It seemed the bird was up and moving, just a little stiff. Ambrose couldn’t help but feel a stab of disappointment; it was a rare occurrence when he was able to study the way muscles interacted with wing bones, and he had never had the pleasure when his subject was part metal. It would’ve been a unique event.

But wait…the both of them certainly weren’t looking too good, the Ace especially. Even if it had been nothing but inflamed before, it was definitely more serious now. Ambrose could feel a large, decidedly-Cheshire Cat grin spreading across his face. “I’m sure it’s worse now,” he exclaimed happily. “If you could just bring him over here,” he said, motioning to the low surgical table nearby. “I could have a look at your wing afterwards, if you’d like,” the ferret added. “Or I could give you something to dull the pain.” Oh yes, he could easily do that.

He maneuvered over piles of equipment, anatomy books, and discarded and broken needles until he reached the tiny, rusted sink, where he washed his hands. The water, after running through the ancient pipes, was tinted brown to the slightest degree, but at least he tried. “I’m Ambrose, by the way.” He said brightly over the sound of running water. The Ace and the sparrow would probably be here for a while, he had to introduce himself.

[seraaches]

The ferret's glee went unnoticed-- they were both Corvies, after all-- though Owen had to give one more nod in agreement with the announcement that the muscles were likely worse. He used his good wing to shoo the Ace to the appropriate area. It cowered on the floor whimpering-- likely because its last interval spent on a surgical table had shown the loss of a foreleg and a great deal of pain and misery since then. Owen was not a big believer in painkillers. He hadn't used many when he did his experimentation on himself-- one had to keep a clear head in order to do such delicate surgery-- and, therefore, the Ace hadn't been given a great deal to help it through its own pain.

"Richard Owen," the sparrow answered absently. "Charmed, I'm sure. No, I certainly don't need any medication, and I hesitate to allow any put into the Ace. How will we know wot's hurt if it can't feel it?" This was pointed out in an entirely logical tone of voice with no regard to cruelty or kindness.

[Travesty]

Well, this Richard Owen wasn’t exactly the most…gregarious fellow, but Ambrose wasn’t about to complain. Unlike most Corvies he felt the need for companionship now and again, especially when the uncommon occasions could coincide with his work. Using himself as a test subject gave him first-hand experience with his experiments, but it also meant he worked alone. Sometimes his lab seemed very cold and dark.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Ambrose chuckled as he hurried back over. “I’ve been doing this so long, I’ll be able to feel any inflammation or tears,” this was said with the smallest hint of pride. “Plus, I won’t be able to examine him if he decides to thrash around while he’s on the table.” The Ace might be calm now, but the ferret didn’t have any surgical tools in his paws yet. Theoretically he could strap him in, but that seemed unnecessarily stressful and probably wouldn’t help the Ace’s condition and, of course, Ambrose thought was obviously a strong believer in painkillers and their many uses.