lifeaftr | [OPEN] Press 'E' To Call For A Medic!

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[OPEN] Press 'E' To Call For A Medic!

Who: Doctor Faust (

wanderingdoctorfaust) and everybody else brave enough to come within thirty feet of him!
What: Cleaning acid burns, writing to-do lists, perhaps receiving visitors?
When: Backdated to June 26th
Where: The Ensō Clinic & Infirmary (located on square B6)
Warnings: May contain trace amounts of medical malpractice (please mark your content warnings!)

The events of the past week have proven...interesting, to put it mildly. Mind and body alike were swapped, a particularly horrifying construct menaced the local populace, and a god they didn't even know was incomplete has been restored to their former greatness. The implications given by all of these extraordinary events are beyond astounding, and as such, time should be set aside and dedicated to studying and understanding them as soon as possible!

...at least, that is what the good doctor wants to believe, but frankly? He just spent a week and a bit navigating through the isles whilst controlling a stranger's body (deprived of his long-mastered abilities, no less!), had to fight an acid-spitting eldritch horror with naught but a weird sledgehammer and heartburn-inducing flame breath, and worst of all had to witness someone else waltzing around in his body with no concern for the consequences of his face being seen. So Faust might be just the slightest bit cranky.

As such, he'll endure the multitude of aneurysms he's most likely going to suffer from trying to process everything that's happened later; right now, he has an understaffed and ill-equipped clinic that is about to experience an influx of patients. After all, it's not like people are just going to sit at home ignoring the pain instead of seeking medical help, right?

Regardless, he won't be at the reception desk when you come in - Mini-Faust is currently commandeering it instead, though he's only able to spare a distracted half-wave, too busy swinging around a small stick like a wannabe Shaolin monk. Faust himself is likely inside the supply room, judging by the concerned 'hrm's and 'argh's and muttered curses of frustration coming from within. Welcome to the clinic!

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Faust is...standing there. Motionless. His eyehole is as wide as a saucepan yet he is completely silent - not even his breathing can be heard. And then, slowly, gently, his head tilts forward to gaze upon severed limb trapped in his grasp.

"...oh. It...comes off..."

It's barely above a whisper, but the barely-restrained horror in his tone couldn't be more obvious.
And yet, perhaps, if someone were listening intently enough, they could hear the quiet snicker barely bitten back through gritted teeth. Perhaps, if someone was looking in the right places, they could see the start of a delicate caress from his thumb, just across the exposed scaphoid. Perhaps, if someone asked the good doctor who exactly these bones belonged to, he would answer with

no.

No.

No.

It's over as suddenly as it started - in one explosive flurry of motion, the offending limb hits the floor like a dropped glass, and the good doctor all but slams his back into the receptionist's desk, clutching the edges with a white-knuckled grip.
His entire body is shaking, his paper bag rapidly inflating and deflating from the hyperventilation occurring underneath the surface, cold sweat coating the material like condensation on a window. His eyehole won't leave Héctor's missing arm.

"T-that. That is not, h-how. Limbs. W-work."

"Eyes! Eyes first, I can't see a damn thing!"

Wonder of wonders, his detached arm hits the floor without cracking--not much pain at all, good deal. The dazzle is dying down in his bizarre magical glass eyes, but unfortunately he's still not sure where they went. Until they're back where they belong, he's going to stand completely still.

"...of course that's how they work, I'm a skeleton!" Zero sympathy for Faust. The world's worst doctor over there brought this upon himself, none of it is Héctor's fault. Have your stupid panic attack, he doesn't care.

"Got it-- I'm going to put them in your hand one at a time, alright?" It's not like Ginko's never popped a glass eye into someone's head before, but... well, Hector is a fully-conscious grown man and not a passed-out child, so he can probably do it himself once he's got a hold of the thing.

Unfortunately, this whole thing is complicated a little when... everyone is upset and needs some kind of help, apparently. Ginko gives Faust a worried glance over his shoulder as he scoops up Hector's eyes; he knows that getting used to how easily Hector's various pieces just come off can be pretty rough, but it seems to be hitting Faust harder than he'd expect.

"Yeah, but he's not used to that-- here's your eye." He sets one glass ball carefully in Hector's remaining hand, making sure he's got a grip on it before letting go, and holds out the other for him to take once he can see again. "He's sort of fragile, Faust. You should probably sit down."

And maybe not try to help.

It'll take several moments, but eventually Ginko's words seem to be enough to snap Faust out of whatever he's going through at the moment. The good doctor's vice grip on the desk loosens, and he manages to push himself back onto his feet with minimal difficulty. It takes far too much energy just to speak, and he almost flinches at how raw his voice sounds.

"...r-right, yes, I should...I'll...you've g-got, this one."

With nothing else of value to contribute, it's all Faust can do to awkwardly shimmy over to the opposite side of the desk and deposit himself upon the chair like a floppy, deflated balloon. He'll remain silent for the rest of the procedure, outside of the occasional crinkle of paper as he buries his bag in his hand, eyehole and body language alike shifting between disappointment and frustration.

Funny. He vaguely recalls that a famous philosopher once claimed one's demons become stronger in the dreamscape, rather than weaker. It is unfortunate he cannot remember their name right now - he clearly owes them a drink. And a solid smack upside the head.

No hesitation, in goes one eyeball and then in goes the other once he can see well enough to take it, picking his detached arm off the floor too. He is now free to resuming glaring at the real troublemaker in the room, snapping his arm into place and... not leaving.

"You've got some serious issues, bolsito." Understatement of the century. You put on a wig if you're ashamed of being bald, not a paper bag. "Hands off me from now on, okay?"

Ginko steps back while Hector finishes putting himself together, and just... sighs. "Yeah, I think he's about got the idea. How are you both doing?"

Given the Hector just kind of fell apart for a while there, and Faust looks like he's trying to melt into the floor, he gets the impression that they could both afford to be checked on. He just hopes that they can maintain the maturity to each let him check on the other without making it an issue.

"...fine. I'll...give me a few minutes, it'll pass. I'm sorry."

Faust is going to make an executive decision and choose to not think about the fact that it has been aeons since he last had an attack like this. Definitely not going to even remotely consider it. Nope. Especially not in the presence of the as of yet still unidentified undead anomaly...and double especially not in the presence of young Ginko.
Damn it, he needs to pull it together - he's the deputy medical director!

"Don't worry about me, young Ginko. If our guest has no remaining injuries, would you please escort them from the premises? I...I need to get back to taking inventory. Work out what we're going to need from our benign overlord in the near future, that sort of thing."

He tries to sound reassuring. He really, really tries.

"Escort--the door is right there, how dumb do you think I am?"

Nope. Faust is getting no leeway from the 'skeletal anomaly', not now, not ever. Other than the fact that he is leaving, bones creaking against each other as he limps to the door. He's had enough, goodbye forever, may he never set foot in the clinic again.

"Don't answer that. I'm going, I'm going."

Ginko glances worriedly over at Faust, but it looks like he... should be okay, at least for a couple minutes. He'll check back after Hector is well on his way.

In the meantime, he hurries to follow Hector out, since he's not sure... doing anything resembling leading him there would go over well. He waits until they're outside to speak. "Are you alright? How's your arm?"

He stops in his tracks, having meant to go and keep on going, all the way back to a nice soft kitty he can flop on. Change of plans, he didn't expect Ginko to follow and there's a bridge between them and the kittycat.

"Huh? Oh." Arms popping off is so routine he's already forgotten. He flexes those fingers and shrugs. "It's fine, no cracks. I keep telling you, it's normal for me to lose parts." He's a tired old skeleton, held together by the faintest memories and sheer willpower. It's whatever.

"I know, I know-- it still seemed worth checking on. Sorry, I... don't mean to patronize you."

With that said, Ginko hesitates for a moment. He would very, very much like to say something else, but the problem is figuring out... what. Because all he knows for sure is that he really dislikes whatever the hell just happened back there.

So, he guesses he'll start with that.

"...What happened between you and Faust before this?"

Jumping right back into it, aren't they. He grins with no humor in it whatsoever. He's trying to stay calm, he really is. It's only Ginko, Faust has not followed them.

"Have you seen that guy? I saw him crawling around on all fours like an animal. Popping out of nowhere to call me accursed... or an abomination, you heard that. I don't know what he is, but he's not right. He's always carrying something sharp and he has that stupid bag on his head. For no reason! He looks like a perfectly normal guy! Who goes bald and decides to wear a bag the rest of their life?! Why not a mask or a wig?!"

'Try' being the key word. Hard not to shout. Ol' Bagface is creepy, end of story.

Back on the bag issue, Ginko sees. Which... he cannot say he gets that at all. There are much stranger things to see here than a guy making some weird fashion choices.

But, that part can wait. More importantly: "He started right in on bothering you about... being a skeleton, then? He doesn't seem to have quite gotten a handle on that." He lets out a sharp breath and glances back toward the clinic. "If you want, I could try and explain where you come from to him. Might get through to him."

"Knock yourself out, I don't care. Least I know where he is now so I can stay as far away as possible."

Like a minimum of five hundred feet!! Never fear, Faust, because he is going far far away and not coming back for anything. He drags a hand through the air and sighs. "I'm just going to go back to my spot. I'll see you later, Ginko."

"...Alright." Ginko... does not like how that went at all, and it probably shows - just a little bit, in a slight downturn of his ears. But he won't object; as much as is may suck not to be able to do anything about Hector and Faust's distaste for one another, Hector is under no obligation to hang around... or to care what Faust thinks of him.

It... does still suck, though.

"Yeah. See you." That's that, he guesses. So Ginko pushes a hand through his hair and turns to head back into the clinic. He still needs to talk to Faust, anyway.

The good doctor is still at the receptionists desk by the time Ginko returns, albeit now with his bag laid flat against the surface and his shoulders slumped. Mini-Faust is currently sat beside their master, awkwardly patting the paper veil in a poor attempt at providing comfort. The little familiar looks up at Ginko as he enters, and shoots him their best approximation of a pleading look.

"...I'm so sorry you had to be witness to that."

His voice is partially muffled by desk, but it's not entirely inaudible. Nor is the full-body sigh he makes, dripping with raw exasperation and frustration. It doesn't help that he's not making it clear whether he refers to his behaviour towards the skeleton, his anxiety attack, or both.

"Mm." Ginko can't exactly say it's okay, because, uh... if Faust is referring to, for example, the fact that he and Hector got into a full-blown argument in the middle of the clinic while Ginko fumbled to get them to calm the hell down, that was actually pretty frustrating.

But, the anxiety attack is another story, and still needs addressing. "How're you feeling? Do you need water or anything?"

"Terrible. It's...me, and cadavers, we have a...few mutual disagreements."

He barely avoids saying 'lengthy history together'. Either answer is hardly a single ice molecule from the tip of the iceberg, but at least they're both completely truthful. Never mind his prickly and borderline hostile towards the skeleton - he can't even begin to fix his attitude towards the Strawman if he can't even contain his own gut reaction to detached limbs, misplaced organs, and-

Faust sits up, immediately aborting that train of thought because he absolutely is not in any state to even begin properly dealing with that at the moment. He can - he knows he can - put this aside for now and return to it at another as-of-yet undetermined point in time. Right now, he is the Deputy Medical Director at The Ensō Clinic & Infirmary and he has a job to do. People are counting on him, and he's counting on them too.

"Thank you for your concern, young Ginko. Let me assure you that I'll be dealing with this - both my extremely unpleasant attitude towards our mutual friend, and my own personal issues - as soon as humanly possible. I have no intention of making a habit out of any of this."

Well, that explains a little of what just happened - though the suggestion that Faust's panic toward Hector isn't just a result of his being undead, but because of some prior issues related to dead bodies, is... concerning. Maybe it's not too surprising that a doctor would have a history with corpses, though.

Ginko nods, still watching Faust carefully. "Sounds like a good plan. But do make sure to look out for yourself, alright? If you've got to take a break or something, you can."

As much as Faust appreciates Ginko's concern - which he does, because how long has it been since someone else took a sincere interest in his emotional state? - he'd much rather not dwell on this. He knows his own mind better than anyone, and the best medicine right now would be some menial distractions and basic self-care until he's ready to have a proper crack at this entire fiasco.
...though he's still going to silently fume over the fact that of all the strange things to walk in the door after Ginko, it had to be one of exceptionally few things that could break through his own mental fortress. And now his fellow employee is aware of this being an issue, and...argh! Damn that Strawman!

"Thank you, I will. I'll...go for a walk. Maybe get some tea from the Denny. I wonder if Miss Muffet is baking something right now...?"

At the mention of a possible acquisition of edibles, Mini shoots up and starts punching the air, as if the mere potential of taking a break is a monumentous occasion. Perhaps from a certain point of view, it is.

"If she isn't now, she probably has been recently." Just, statistically, it seems like a safe bet.

He considers, idly, whether Hector will have had time to move far enough away that they won't run into each other outside, but it should have been long enough by now. So: "That sounds like a good idea. I can look after the clinic for a while, and call you if I need help here, alright?"

Faust's eyehole squints in deep thought for a moment, but it's mostly just for show at this point. One does have to wonder if he's agreeing to this out of the necessity to take care of his mental health, or just because he's getting free baked goods out of this, though.
Regardless, the good doctor will nod in approval of the idea, before standing back up and gradually making his way back around the desk...right before he begins the inevitable dramatics anew.

"...yes, I...yes. Yes. Very well! I shall entrust the care of this facility to you, young Ginko, as my prodigal physician! Do the esteemed people of Clinicvania proud as the deputy-deputy medical director this sovereign country needs! FOR GLORY AND HEALTHCARE!"

Amidst all the ham and cheese lies some actual sincerity and heartfelt gratitude - granted, it might be a little difficult to decipher it from all the ballet stances and giant cow milking going on. Nevertheless, by the time his little performance is complete, Faust has already tap-danced his way around Ginko and shuffled his way out the front door, Mini nowhere to be found and presumably accompanying their master on his grand quest for baked goods...
...though he does poke his bag through the doorway once more before departing for good:

"-thank you!!!"

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[OPEN] Press 'E' To Call For A Medic!

CW: PTSD

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intermission? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

here we gooo

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wrapped?