[FIN] Sometimes I Wish [Callypso]

[Lucca]

Several months ago, anyone out late enough would have been treated to the very strange sight of a pure white Goat walking calmly and stoically down the street, despite the fact that blood was flowing freely from a cut in his upper chest. This night, there was a sight that was so like, and yet unlike, the other time that it may give anyone catching a glance of it a strange, sickly sort of deja vu. Or just make them feel strange in general. But none would have felt stranger than the Goat did at this moment. In fact, Aberforth felt stranger than he ever had in his entire life.

This would be clear from the fact that he was stumbling along the street like a newborn kid, pink eyes horribly unfocused and breathing labored. Instead of his normal, painfully emotionless expression, he had a strange look on his long face that resembled nothing so much as surprise, and a sort of underlying worry.

He was clumsy, and nearly tripped over his own hooves several times until he finally saw the familiar doorway that he'd been looking for ever since realizing that he'd been heavily drugged, and that such a state was far out of his skill to treat or even to assess. His vision was swimming most alarmingly, and Aberforth bumped into the door frame and stumbled on the stairs until he finally managed to get close enough to knock. The loud, clear thuds of his horns against the door managed to calm him, just slightly, and he took a deep breath...and nearly gagged at the smells of the city rushing in. His stomach was already feeling most unhappy, what with the way everything insisted on wiggling and blurring and shifting and spinning instead of staying in their normal, proper shapes.

[Callypso]

(( Long post is long- sorry to keep you waiting! <3))



Restless Leg Syndrome, Narcolepsy, Insomnia, Sleep Apnea… She listed off the various sleep disorders as she lay awake staring at the ceiling listening to the relentless tick-tock tick-tock of the clock mounted on the far side of the wall. Each click of the second hand reminding her of each moment that slipped by without rest.

Symptoms: mild daytime fatigue, inability to sleep at night, waking too early or reawakening after a short span of time...

There had been no gasping or snoring, as far as she knew, and she was of proper weight and activity for someone her size. Well, as active as a researcher could be, but she was neither overweight nor significantly unhealthy. Sleep Apnea was crossed off the list.

Limbs were not agitated or uncomfortable, only moving when failure to achieve sleep. Restlessness was present, but not to the extent of Restless Leg Syndrome.

Narcolepsy? Despite lack of proper REM sleep there had been no excessive daytime drowsiness. She didn’t nap – mild hallucinations, but usually occurring when thinking about aggravation from the past, not as she was drifting into sleep. Neither was she prone to drifting off nor lack of muscle control. No.

Insomnia. Insomnia. Insomnia. Insomnia. It was the only one that fit.

There was a danger, to be sure, of self-diagnosis, but Iso rarely trusted any physicians other than herself. It they were Corvies, all the better to avoid them – you could never really tell with her Realm. Most were pleasant enough until you found yourself strapped to a metal table with glittering implements nearby. Best not to chance an… indelicate… situation.

Still – how to treat her diagnosis and discover the root of her ailment. Stress? Certainly. The lab was as yet unfinished, she was still adjusting to the city. Diet? It was decent, though she often forgot to dine. Must make a reminder to the housekeeper – right, she still required one. Ugh. Exercise – it could only help if she left the laboratory more often, though she was loathe to do so. Anxiety – there were those horrible visions she kept having over her deceased relations. Most unpleasant. It was most likely the link to her other complications, however, Iso was not the superstitious sort and refused to believe a few nightmares was the crux of all her ills.

Medication. She had to sleep. Her paw fumbled with the top drawer of the bedside table and shuffled around. Finally, she found her prize. Desperation had seized her as she pulled the stopper free with her teeth and shook the remnants into her mouth. It was the highest dosage she’d ever consumed, though a quick calculation assured her that it wouldn’t cause permanent damage (or death). The paw that had found the bottle roughly shoved it back in its drawer while the other wiped away the frustrated tears that had sprung to her eyes.

The ferret had just sunk beneath the covers and had closed her eyes when a thump! thump! thump! resounded throughout the house.

Iso threw back the blankets and stomped to the front door seething with the beginnings of rage. She had been so close and the pills hadn’t even kicked in yet. The deadbolt was roughly twisted and she threw open the door.

What the suits do you- Aberforth? The doctor’s anger subsided immediately as unfocused eyes met her bloodshot ones. She blinked a few times, unsure if she was dreaming, then shook her head as Aberforth’s labored breathing assaulted her senses. The doctor had not expected to see him again (she never forgot the few patients she had) and wondered if something had gone awry with his treatment. A quick scan found no evidence of injury (and the aforementioned wound nowhere to be found, his fur having grown back) though there was something clearly wrong with the Tulgey. He could barely stand.

I’m going to help you in and down the stairs, she mumbled and awkwardly heaved a shoulder underneath the goat’s to shuffle him down toward her laboratory. Silently cursing to herself as they fumbled their way toward the lower level she decided that, when this was all over, she was finally going to Corvistowne to complete the necessary renovations.

[Lucca]

The Ferret's first clue that there was something desperately wrong with the Goat would be his heavy, labored breathing and unfocused gaze. The second, and possibly more alarming one, would be that as soon as she opened the door (and the Goat stumbled a bit and had to fight to keep from pitching forward on top of her) and his gaze fell on her...he began speaking.

"Miss Price! Thank the Suits I found you! Something, I fear, is dreadfully wrong with me." He frowned, about to try and walk himself...but the way the world spun as soon as his hooves were on differently elevated surfaces had him leaning heavily on the doctor. Even as they walked, the words poured out of him in a rush, hurried, deep, and heavily accented. "I didn't know where else to go...I should have known he'd be there, should have KNOWN! It was supposed to be an open a shut case. A simple confiscation of illegal material. It was all set, but then...he came up behind me! BEHIND ME! How did I ever let him GET behind me I'll never know, I thought I checked every last darkened corner of the place! And he injected me with something...I...I feel so...strange..."

He took a moment to breathe, having to stop his walk...Iso would find Aberforth's skin warm to the touch, almost feverish. He gulped, hard, to try and keep from throwing up...his knees shook, and he just seemed all together...not himself. The fact that he'd just said more words to Iso in the first ten seconds of seeing her than he had on his last two visits put together was just one more symptom. He hoped she knew what was wrong with him...what sort of drug or Corvie concoction he'd been forced to take.

[Callypso]

Iso’s eyes bugged slightly, both from the weight of her patient upon her shoulder as well as the flood of language that poured nonstop from the goat’s mouth. Something was very wrong. Her last two encounters with Aberforth had been primarily silent, which suited her just fine, being averse to unnecessary communication herself. Then, he had seemed hesitant to explain his injury. The doctor had understood the need for privacy and only questioned him when absolutely necessary – seeking his name for her register as well as permission to perform specific tasks. Now, however, he seemed unable to keep himself from rambling on. Interesting.

The anger she had felt earlier at being disturbed was now nothing more than a shadow of the emotion, her entire focus being drawn on whatever seemed to be ailing the disoriented man. She could feel the heavy heat emanating from his body and noted some moisture and took note of his deep intakes of breath and consistent swallowing. Excess saliva? Nausea? Both?

The Corvie managed to maneuver both herself and her patient down the stairs without tripping, then pushed the Tulgey onto a bench. She stuck a thermometer in his mouth with a decisive plunk! and bustled around for appropriate instruments while trying to make sense of his rabble. Confiscation? Illegal material? What had he been into? The thoughts were shoved aside to her subconscious as extraneous information and focused on the relevant details.

Injection... Poison? Truth draught?

Do you know where your skin was punctured? If she could study the injection site she might have a better inclination as to what was now coursing through his veins. Iso placed a tray of various tools on a table next to Aberforth’s bench and removed the thermometer. Just as she’d feared – he had a very high temperature. She watched him swallow again. She was slightly anxious, not yet knowing his malady, but she had to address each symptom as she discovered them.

Aberforth? Are you nauseous? Is your stomach upset?

[Lucca]

The nausea as well as the fever kept him from speaking on the rest of their walk down the stairs, in fact he wasn't aware of much else until he was suddenly set on a cool metal table, and he practically collapsed upon it in an awkward position that was sure to make his limbs hurt later. But at the moment all he cared about was that it made the world spin a little less.

Due to the obvious lack of coherent thought, and his lack of social skills in general, Aberforth failed to realize that because he'd unintentionally withheld pertinent information from the doctor (namely, that he was an officer with the Capital City Police) that his story wouldn't make a lot of sense. But even if he had noticed...that wasn't really the important part of the story anyway, was it?

He nodded jerkily as she asked if he knew where the needle had got him...though he got an odd, twisted expression on his face. It was what passed for embarrassment from the emotionally-challenged Goat, it would turn out, as... "The...the puncture was right near my tail...next to my left hip." His tail wiggled in agitation and his ears pressed back against his head. This was all just...so odd for him, and he couldn't really put a hoof on WHY, his thoughts spinning so fast he couldn't even really think any of them properly.

He blinked for a minute at the next question, and then nodded...which motion made his head pitch forward and he...threw up. Which only made the world spin -more-! How was that fair? And he thought life hated him before!

[Callypso]

Iso had gently discarded the thermometer into a nearby tub of disinfectant solution and began rummaging through her tray of utensils. Soon a pair of forceps, Pasteur pipette, slide and a tiny stoppered flask made their appearance on the table.

Left hip… the doctor muttered more to herself than to her patient. She looked up to glance toward her patient's flank and noticed a peculiar expression on the goat's face, which was dismissed as a reflection of his current discomfort, then proceeded to consider his condition. Perhaps if Aberforth’s attacker had performed clumsily enough, the tip of the needle might still be lodged in his hide and – if she was lucky – some solution still residing within. Not that it was her desire for her patient to be stumbling about with hazardous materials sticking out of him, but it would prove rather convenient…

Too much silence had passed since she had inquired as to her patient’s possible gastrointestinal irritation and she looked up just as Aberforth vomited all over her laboratory. The corners of her lips twitched as she suppressed dry medical humor. That answered that, she supposed. The ferret removed a small tin from a shelf across the room and covered the mess with a sprinkling of white powder. It would soak up most of the juices before she attempted clean up as well as mask the smell, hopefully preventing her patient from emptying his stomach again.

A quick glance toward her patient assured her that he wasn’t trying to get up or go anywhere and she busied herself with mixing a concoction. She brought a tapered flask (containing the finished mixture) to Aberforth’s lips and instructed him to drink.

It’s bismuth subsalicylate with an infusion of chamomile. It will settle your stomach. And calm him, though she was as yet unsure how to handle his disorientation. The bismuth and chamomile solution was mild (though unpleasantly chalky to taste) and would be unlikely to complicate whatever substance was swimming around her patient’s body. She gently held the flask for the goat to drink from and patiently waited until he had downed the liquid then paused to wipe his face with a clean towel. She kept herself eye-level and spoke slowly.

I need to check the injection site, Aberforth. There may be some mild pain if there are needle remnants. She looked to his unfocused eyes for confirmation.

[Lucca]

The world seemed very hazy right now, and Aberforth watched Iso go about her doctorly things without really comprehending anything of what was going on. He may have been spacing out at some point (something he made sure to never do, as it meant someone could take advantage of his distraction to do any number of unsavory things to him), since without warning, it seemed, the Ferret was suddenly right THERE, in front of him, and something was being pressed to his mouth with alarming urgency.

"What...You...I don't need..." The sputter of words cut off and the Goat winced a bit as his stomach gave another warning heave. Okay, he'd take it, even though part of his brain was screaming at him that it could be poison, that he shouldn't trust this Ferret, that she was a Corvie like the one that had injected him...obligingly, the Goat drank the flask down, barely tasting it at all. He swallowed heavily, thickly, but froze as he felt the Ferret TOUCHING HIM AND AHHHH. He tried to force himself to calm down more, after all, the Ferret had touched him before, when she was stitching up his cut. It was why he'd sought her out. She was one of the few he...not trusted, precisely, but also didn't think she was likely to promise him medicine and give him poison. But his thoughts are just all over the place, and his paranoia is even worse than normal, even as a lot of his normal filters and tight controls just...aren't really there right now.

"Thank you, Miss Price...sorry," he says as he finds his voice again. There's that odd, twisted look again, but he starts to nod...then thinks better of that, and just replied verbally. "Ah, yes, of course, I assumed you would. Please go ahead, and realize I can deal with pain just fine. It's all this spinning and muddling that I can barely stand." Frowns, closing his eyes and trying to get this figured out...though as she'd come close, he would subconsciously shy away...NO! Stop that! Berates himself quite firmly, though it's hard to even tell which part of his mind is doing the berating and which part is responsible for the errant misplaced paranoia.

Suits, that made him sound completely mental. Maybe there were no drugs at all, and this was all in his head, and he's just finally gone crazy from the pointless cruel cycle of life!

...I just need to trust the doctor. She's real. She's here. She's going to help me. The Goat kept repeating it to himself, like a mantra, over and over, and finally he would just be limp against the metal table as Iso inspected his rump.

((XD SORRY IT'S SO RAMBLY! Abby's not thinking straight right now, obviously, and so the post kind of reflects that. XD))

[Callypso]

The constant convulsions, shallow breathing and nervous behaviors were worrisome. She had ignored his protestations against medication, though her movements had slowed considerably when the goat had seemed about to froth at the mouth at her gentle wiping of his mandible. His rolling eyes had finally found her concerned expression and had calmed enough to utter another verbal onslaught.

Iso would have been relieved had he been any other subject, taking the endless oration as a sign of awareness or comfort. Aberforth, however, wasn’t any other patient, and his wordiness was exceptionally alarming. Her brows furrowed as she slowly made her way to the other end of the bench to properly examine the goat’s hindquarters. She had considered giving him a mild sedative, but without further knowledge of the toxic substance it seemed impossible. She was loathe to worsen his condition, despite the promise of temporary relief.

Forceps in hand, the ferret began to gently prod the area Aberforth had specified. Peering closely as his haunches for signs of swelling or redness, the Corvie internally cursed the poor lighting. Then she rolled her eyes at her own forgetfulness.

Aberforth, it’s going to get much brighter in here. I need to be able to see the puncture site.

Iso rarely relied on magic and often neglected to exercise the few abilities she had. She preferred hard work and innate skill to accomplish most tasks, though this time the extra help could come in handy. Closing her eyes, she focused deep within to the long forgotten power within. The energy felt… rusty, disused, but eventually warmth spilled over her body and the light changed despite her closed eyelids. She opened her eyes and was delighted to find her tail alight.

I'm going to search for the puncture wound now.

She set back to searching Aberforth’s backside and, thanks to her florescent tail, quickly found what she had been looking for. As she was about to reach forward with the forceps to extract a tiny piece of metal when her vision suddenly swam before her eyes. She clutched at the nearby table for support and took in a deep breath.

Suits, not now. Not now. The pills effects were beginning to show themselves. She bit her tongue as hard as she could, and returned the forceps, nimbly removing the needle tip lodged in the Tulgey’s flank. Upon removal, a drop of shiny pink liquid trickled from the perforation, and Iso quickly collected it with the pipette. Another deep breath later and she deposited the bit of metal into the tiny flask, stoppered it, then deposited the pinkish liquid on the slide and covered it with another slim sheet of glass.

Her breath came slowly and deliberately, willing herself not to lose control of her own body. There were a few things she could do yet before she was too far gone, but she had a feeling she would need to call in a favor.

Suits suits suits.

ETA: Small Ability: She is capable of causing the end of her tail to light up like a bulb once per day for up to ten minutes. The glow is bright enough to throw an area of ten feet or less into work-ready light.

[Lucca]

Aberforth was still as Iso prodded at him, though inwardly he just kept repeating that mantra. The doctor is here to help. She's not going to poison you. You've already been poisoned! Not by her. He closed his eyes, and just as he did Iso said...something. Something about light? Her voice seemed to be coming to him through a thick veil. Half of him wondered if he should attempt to just fall asleep...but the other half was very uncomfortable with the idea of letting someone poke and prod at him while he wasn't even aware of what they might be doing.

Not that he was that aware right now, to be perfectly honest. He wasn't even really watching her right now. He opened his eyes...and flinched them closed again as his head protested with loud pain against the sudden brightness of the room. Gah. He didn't know where the light was coming from, nor did he much care.

But then...Aberforth heard her take a deep breath and felt her weight on the edge of the table. Ignoring the pain that flared up, he whipped his head around and looked at her. "What? Miss Price? Is something wrong?" Normally, he wouldn't care, but she was working on him, and her gasp couldn't possibly mean anything good. Was the drug getting to her too? Had she discovered some sort of horrible medical problem he had been unaware of? Did the puncture wound look worse than she'd thought it would? His mind swam with the possibilities which his overactive mind (under the influence of these drugs) continued to invent with increasing levels of impossibility.

[Callypso]

Focus. Focus. She probably had another 15 to 20 minutes before she was consumed by the drugs. The beginning feelings of laziness were already manifesting and her prior fatigue only added to the impending heaviness. Iso steadied herself and steeled her nerves as best she could before addressing her patient. The last thing she needed was for the goat to panic – increasing his blood pressure sending the poison further into his bloodstream.

I’m all right, Aberforth. I just require assistance to identify the substance. It was a half-truth, but it wouldn’t help the situation for him to know she had earlier downed painkillers of her own choosing. How was she to know an unexpected visitor would hammer on her doorstep moments afterward?

A toxins expert lives nearby. I’m going to send him an urgent message asking him for classification and possible antidotes. And he owed her a favor. Iso had worked, pro bono, with toxins expert Dr. Leonardo Aster to determine the rate of dispersion of certain poisons when applied directly to the heart. She hated to call upon another physician for help, but Dr. Aster lived but a few blocks away and she needed answers.

Normally, she would have perused one of her various texts and performed various tests to determine the substance’s compounds, but she was clearly in no position to be handling sensitive materials. Aster would know the toxin right away, and she had already done some prep work for him. She placed the slide, stoppered flask and a detailed note listing the description of the wound site as well as the readily identifiable symptoms in a small crate.

Do not move, Aberforth. I’m going to call a messenger and will return shortly, and with that she bolted upstairs as quickly as she dared, burst through the front door and hollered for a messenger. Luckily, there tended to be a messenger or two skulking around in this shady neighborhood. The vultures were always prepared to accept coin to deliver the (usually) sordid details of someone else’s ill fate. A shifty cat with a missing ear and beady eyes stepped out of the darkness to take her package. Iso instructed him on his task and gave a few choice words for what the feline could tell Aster if he refused to help her.

Don’t leave his place until he helps you, then return as quickly as possible. She jingled her coin purse at him and sent him on his way.

The ferret returned downstairs to her laboratory and checked on her patient. He was still loopy and disoriented, but his status hadn't changed too significantly in the few minutes that had passed.

All we can do now is wait for the messenger returns, but until then, I’ll need to make sure your wound is clean. She breathed in slowly to calm herself and to retain her attention. That fool Aster had better be quick.