Effects that didn't Subside

by **Matthew** on April 8th, 2014, 4:25 pm

"No." He spoke quietly and simply. He did pause before he spoke, actually taking the time to review what Caelum had said to see if he could apply it. He tried his best not to be the sort of person who instantly denied an offered theory if it was one that did not match his own ideals. "Instinct is an animal impulse. It is a fixed reaction to a certain stimulus, even if people wish to believe that it is much more unpredictable in that. I would argue that instinct is a form of logic that was crafted when we were but wild beasts. We have advanced beyond that, have we not? I would dare say that your own words are fallacy. We seem to be the sort that would happily go in circles explaining otherwise, though." It wasn't mocking or amused, it was once again just a simple fact. His disdain for instinct was so deeply engrained that it might very well be instinct itself, ironically enough. Caelum's words were so very cryptic, though. They weren't straightforward and simple, precise and scientific. They were hard to understand unless he twisted his mind in a way that he very rarely twisted it.

He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath, clearing his thoughts. They became cluttered within his skull every so often. He needed to let them flow out along with the air from his lungs, disperse and be forgotten.

An eyebrow arched when Caelum told Matthew that he knew a few prostitutes himself. He blinked a few times, nodding slowly, understanding and accepting these words more than he had the ones before. "Unfortunate circumstances aside, I have come to understand that in order to fully give the most complete package of sex, desire, or illusion... that one would have to fully give themselves, or as much as they could. In the end, my body is just a body. It is a package of flesh wrapped around hot blood. Though, I do want to take care of it. Perhaps I will re-examine my ideals and apply what you have said." He peered at Caelum for a tick and then glanced down over his figure, obviously already applying some of these new thoughts.

Lillis popped her head out of nowhere, a giant grin on her face. "Matthew, I have suddenly become struck with inspiration. I am going to paint something for you. Would you like that? I think you would." The student was given no chance to answer before the woman had vanished again, laughter in her wake. He stared after her a moment, glanced at Caelum, then refocused on the task at hand.

Chicken coup. "Brilliant? It is? Really?" The joke had gone completely over his head. The smile caught him off guard and he hesitantly offered one back, one of those little polite ones that he seemed to easily give.

He watched as the tools were revealed. After a moment of consideration, he slowly shook his head. "I would like to be aware of the pain. Will I need something to bite down on?" He took a breath, clearing his head. Pain was an odd thing. It wasn't an emotion that he could easily drown. He felt it just like the rest of them did. He was looking to somehow change that. Keeping a close eye on the tools and allowing Caelum his way, he would readily either bite down on whatever was offered or just clench his jaw.

Another random question was posed, a question that seemed oddly appropriate for no apparent reason. "Do you like to play chess? I designed a variant. The home ranks are randomized, forcing a player to depend on spur of the moment creativity instead of memorized openings and play patterns."

by **Caelum** on June 16th, 2014, 4:45 pm

OOC :

“We have evolved, but consider that instinct has grown with us. It is an unorganized compilation and therefore flawed, but it isn’t without purpose, Matthew. A compendium of human instincts, neatly detailed and categorized for our easy perusal, might be more helpful. But a void cannot detract from a sum. What isn’t does not take away from what is. And while our volitional capacity has certainly increased with the furtherance of society, this world is not advanced enough yet to wholly disregard instinct.” He paused and a smile hooked with faint apology. “Well. At least I don’t think it is.”

Curiosity was bright in the physician’s eyes as he began the process of scrubbing his hands. He used a harsh soap and scrubbed thoroughly while he talked, standing near the patient bed by a basin set for exactly this purpose. Not for the first time, Caelum considered his lack of Rak’keli’s favor and how it’s purifying properties would have come in handy. His eyes strayed to the window and the night’s hands pressing softly against the glass, the great burden of darkness beyond lessened by the Zeltivan community.

“Cleanliness is terribly important when it comes to health,” he offered. He perceived that Matthew was likely already aware of this somewhat mundane fact, but Caelum assumed that the young man’s hungry mind might serve his body well through this procedure if it was duly occupied. Besides, it was not that long ago that a priest had reminded Caelum of the many and varied methods of healing that existed, not the least of which the soothing patterns of his own voice back-dropped by an accent the celestial language had left behind. “The simplest procedure can result in a drawn out and agonizing death through infection and rot if proper care to sanitize your tools aren’t taken. If carbolic isn’t on hand, then I suggest using any powerfully distilled alcohol after a lye soap wash and following up with certain tonics, ointments, and – in some cases – poultices whose properties can help advert infection. Most reputable apothecaries sell such things.”

He turned back to his patient and it was with yet another deadpan look. “You know, the sort that don’t trade in unnecessary and amoral potions to ill prepared and reckless clients. Ahem.” He cleared his throat meaningfully in case Matthew managed to miss his subtle-as-a-rock reminder.

It was becoming increasingly more clear that Matthew was never going to live this down. Not, at least, insolong as Caelum was around to remind him of the consequences of poorly plotted experiments. There was no memory quite like an ethaefal’s, so very ephemeral and pockmarked that the determined learned to navigate the most treacherous histories. The results varied, but some such as Caelum at least became excellent grudge holders. Wisdom was not something this particular ethaefal would yet claim.

Caelum glanced interestedly at Lillis when she popped her head in, and his wife won the quick flash of a smile before she disappeared in a flurry of laughter. Love left its mark, like a hearthfire glow, and he went about pointing out the different tools to Matthew in a leavened tone. Lifting a disconcertingly long needle from the leather kit, he palmed a glass vial and screwed it into place at the end with a flick of his thumb at the plunger.

“This is the syringe. You can see the needle is hollow –“ And he angled it out for Matthew to observe. “It can be used to inject medicines directly into the muscle or bloodstream, but in this scenario I’m going to use it to extract fluid. Hopefully, your clot. Most likely, I’ll dislodge a large enough piece of it that the rest will disintegrate in the vein and the swelling should go down rapidly after that.” He considered Matthew. “Very rapidly. You’re sure you don’t want a sedative? This really is going to hurt.”

He offered his patient the requested strip of leather, kept on hand for just these purposes.

“Lillis is blessed by Avalis,” he explained. “You never know what you’re going to get when she paints for you. As for chess?” He flattened his mouth thoughtfully, then inclined his head. “That sounds interesting. I’d like to play it sometime, I think.”

by **Matthew** on June 19th, 2014, 7:14 pm

The young student slowly nodded, sky-blue eyes flickering thoughtfully as he processed and absorbed Caelum's words. "Perhaps it would be best said that instinct is acceptable while instinctual impulse is not? No, perhaps that isn't the best way to put it. I can understand where instinct would come in handy, as there are certain instincts that are useful and make complete sense. Our natural fear of the dark, for instance. Though, I would also argue that there are just as many that are completely useless. Perhaps further evolution will hone instinct down to where we consist of only the parts of instinct that are helpful to our continued survival and evolution." He spoke a lot about evolution, he realized. It was an interesting concept to him, though. How far had they fallen ever since the world was broken so many years ago? Had it been a step back in their evolutionary process or was it simply a complex way of making the next step forward?

Lhex and Tanroa were probably the only ones who really knew. He bit his lower lip, eyes narrowing for a brief tick before being distracted by Caelum's offered tidbit of wisdom. Matthew nodded, soft words automatically recalling lessons that he had learned very early in his studies. "We are taught in University to make sure that one's self is extremely clean, that the tools are extremely clean, and that even the most minor of wounds are kept clean of dirt and grime. Even the slightest speck of sand has the potential to turn a simple scratch into something much more, as rare as that may be." Caelum was right on the mark with how to soothe and relax his patient, a testiment to his skill as a doctor. Matthew's own thought process had already begun to puzzle out how best he should distract himself from the pain that was soon to come. Some of the facts that Caelum spoke were slightly new though, or perhaps ones that just had needed refreshing in his mind. Carbolic, distilled alcohol, lye soap wash. He mentally scrawled down each of the words and their intended purpose when it came to this particular topic, further thickening his tome of internal medical knowledge.

Sadly, even the pointed stare and the clearing of his throat didn't help Caelum get his next point across. Matthew was simply completely and utterly clueless. "I would hope that such apothecaries don't exist. It is sad that they most likely do. What a waste of perfectly good knowledge."

There was once again a polite question about a sedative, to which Matthew merely shook his head again. "Pain is pain. Best face it. I likely need the experience." Blessed by Avalis, was she? He had experienced people with that gift in the past. They un-nerved him in a way. He liked to think that he was free to carve his own path, his own destiny, and that he was not limited and shackled by something that had been laid out for him way in advance. It was an impossible ideal, as much as he hated to admit it to himself.

He held the leather in one hand and blinked at the needle, his other hand tightening. Shifting a bit, opening his legs for easier access, Matthew closed his eyes and focused inwards. He knew little about meditation, but what he did know would perhaps be the slightest bit of help here. First, he had to center himself. He had to be the center and there would be nothing else. Pain would invade, but he would keep it from the inner world that his meditation would painstakingly craft. What to focus on though? "We can do the standard rule-set now, if you like. A mental exercise. White pawn to E4." He formed a board in his little mental sphere of focus, an imaginary hand reaching out to move the piece. He did not even question if Caelum was capable of following along, a subtle show that Matthew had already labeled Caelum as his mental equal or superior.

Whatever the case, he hoped the game would be accepted. It would be something to focus on, which he was fairly certain he would soon need.

by **Caelum** on June 20th, 2014, 12:47 am

Matthew's utter lack of reply to Caelum's continued admonishment stopped the physician's line of thought. It brought his eyes up from their study of his patient's throat and the metronome of pulse visible beneath the skin. He had been monitoring it at the same time he doused a cotton pad with carbolic and rubbed it thoroughly down the length of the syringe needle. For a moment, he was still, not just in body but in his head; and in that calm a suspicion began to bubble up like ocean water in the maw of a storm.

There was something wrong with his patient that had nothing to do with the current state of his penis.

Exhibit A: Matthew was paying attention to him. He was displaying many of the signs of an active listener. The evidence flipped backwards through Caelum's mind like the pages of a picture book, the sort that they used to occupy the children who came into the shop with their parents. It was a series of bare sketches, minimal lines and color that nevertheless added up to a fully detailed memory for him. Matthew gave him steady eye contact and consistently presented with an in depth engagement in the conversation. Matthew's focus shivered outward whenever Lillis drifted in and out of their circle of company and he there had not been so much as a polite smile in reply to Caelum's earlier pun involving chicken farming and political coups.

(It was funny, damnit.)

Exhibit B: Matthew was highly intelligent. Theresa Parker was the head of medicine at the university and matters of intellect could be like any other trait, thick in bloodlines. Matthew was also a student himself at a relatively young age to be duly dedicated to the cause of learning, especially a student with so broad a range of interests as to strike Caelum as remarkably inclusive. Most people tended to be exclusive in their chosen subjects at this age, having been hooked to a single aspect or proponent of the greater matter and dedicated to the hunt of it and it alone. They made the mistake of thinking that stepping off the path meant delaying the reward when in truth the path was a labyrinth they simply could not yet see. Matthew, if Caelum was right, was mapping the maze.

This congregation of details hit the bottom of Caelum's thought process and scattered like cats eye marbles into the cluttering shadows. He smiled, a sardonic twist of his mouth, and began to wonder what it was that had so shaped his patient's unique psyche.

Of course, Caelum had no idea that this was but the beginning of long and ultimately dangerous investigation that would ripple through the lesser threads of his dreamwalker's chavi with the impact of a spider navigating its web.

"Black pawn to c5," he countered, game to cater to his patient's request. "You have a headache, don't you?" One eye narrowed in a squint. The evidence of it was there for the discerning physician to find. "The sort that curls against the back of your skull. Not sharp or heavy enough to pay it attention right now considering the circumstances, but present, yes, and pulsing." He paused. "There was yarrow in the potion that fucking charlatan gave you."

Angry now, Caelum's smile faded into a blacker expression. It was not the sort a patient might find comfortable on the face of a man about to plunge a giant needle in his penis, but nevertheless there were still others who might think it reassuring. After all, Caelum was mad on Matthew's behalf. Yarrow in a potion could be deadly if used incorrectly, including thickening up the blood enough that if not for the other ingredients in the potion directing the focus at Matthew's penis the clot might have lodged itself somewhere else. Like his lungs. Or his heart.

Or that precious, precious brain.

"Hold still." Balancing the syringe expertly with his fingers, Caelum wasted no further time. A firm hand settled around the base of his patient's penis with the sort of clinical detachment a sociopath might envy and the long needle was inserted into the penile artery with deft care to avoid nicking the fragile urethra. The plunger was pulled slowly back, paused, and then the final half an inch. Blood and fluid pulsed into the glass vial attached to the syringe and Caelum extracted the needle in a swift, smooth motion.

There would be a pause, and then everything would happen exactly as Caelum had predicted: rapidly.

by **Matthew** on June 20th, 2014, 6:39 pm

The young student met the thoughtful gaze of his doctor, blue stare almost completely blank. He wasn't at all uncomfortable with the sudden switch in attention, with the way that the angle of Caelum's observation changed from throat to face. He was a bit curious about it. It hadn't been a subtle change,instead it was more sudden and inspired, as if a thought had struck him in the spur of the moment. What thought was that, then? It seemed important. Perhaps he had merely clicked two pieces of some mental puzzle together. Matthew would often find the solution for one problem when he was working on another one entirely. Caelum smiled, an expression that Matthew usually assumed was associated with pleasure, and then went back to work as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. For being such an odd moment, Matthew felt that he understood it better than any of the more common facial expressions that people displayed.

"Knight to f3." Matthew sounded almost absentminded, quickly distracted by Caelum's next question. A headache? His brow furrowed, the thoughtful young man actually having to pause a moment and mentally check himself. Indeed he did have a bit of pain. "Yarrow?" A piece of extremely random knowledge swirled from the depths of his mental library, displaying itself in front of Matthew in the form of an imaginary image. He swirled it around with a twist of his mind, staring at the plant for a moment before discarding the image. He couldn't remember where he had learned that from. "The flowering plant?" Herbalism was so very interesting. There was a wide variety of applications for it. It was amazing what simple plants and flowers could be used for, what they could be turned into.

Matthew tilted his head to watch as Caelum took ahold of his shaft, perfectly detached from it as well. There was no reason to feel uncomfortable about it. It was merely a piece of meat. It was silly to consider a hunk of flesh and blood to be any different from the many other hunks of flesh and blood that his body was constructed of. The needle came forth and plunged in, Matthew clinging to his meditative sphere of focus as he awaited the oncoming storm.

Pain. It was an odd thing. Usually not lethal, merely a form of warning that the body used when it considered itself to be in danger. That was perhaps an oversimplification, but it would work for now. Matthew watched from the inside of his sphere, forcing himself to focus, to maintain a clear mind that consisted of nothing but himself and empty black expanse. It was something like a shield. It kept him distant from the pain, able to observe as bright red streaks of it lanced around the outside of his sphere. With the correct amount of focus and concentration, he could keep the pain completely controlled. It was there, but it was not influencial. It took quite a bit of intense willpower to maintain, though. How long had he lasted already? Was the needle already out? The red bolts of color didn't seem to be fading. Matthew allowed a sense of time into his sphere of focus for just a brief tick, not knowing how much longer he could maintain such a state.

It was with some surprise that Matthew realized that he had only managed to hold off the pain for about two ticks.

The leather was lifted in a blur as a sharp dagger of agony cut through him, radiating through his shaft and spreading to the inside of his thighs. He bit down on it just in time to muffle a growling groan, stare fixing upon something in the distance. The needle was the worst of it, though the sudden shrinking and sensation of blood flow was not at all comfortable. His brow furrowed all the deeper and he made another multitude of noises around the piece of leather, chewing it like some might chew a piece of meat. Pain. Such an odd thing.

Eventually it passed. Matthew gave himself a few moments to make sure that he was actually no longer in severe pain before softly speaking. "Thank you. That was very helpful. Do you accept coin? Or knowledge of some sort?"

by **Caelum** on June 21st, 2014, 5:15 pm

While pain swamped his patient, Caelum talked. HIs voice was a lifeline, steady and low. Polished clean by a long tumble through the djed currents out of the Ukalas, his accent did not hint at sun warmed grasslands or even Zeltivan tides. It was more personal than that. He watched, too, keeping himself on hand and monitoring Matthew's reaction to assure that it was nothing extraordinary to give further cause for concern. Lye soap was scrubbed to suds again, syringe hitting the metal tray with a clink, and blood billowing back through the glass vial before beginning to still.

"Yarrow, yes. The flowering plant. You can usually identify it by it's fern like leaves three to four inches long and broad, flat topped flower cluster heads. They're like minute daisies and usually come in whites, yellows, and pale lavenders. Their stalks are rough and angular and, I'm telling you, they'll grow anywhere and in nearly any type of soil. People have lots of different names for it, too. Milfoil is a common one, and Nose Bleed. Nettlewort is another. That's my personal favorite."

A pale pink powder was tapped out of a thick glass jar and into a cup. He squinted, eyeballing the measurement, then added a little more before filling the glass up with cool water from the pitcher on the counter. As Matthew surfaced from the pain, he would find his physician standing there with a glass in one hand a damp, soft cloth in the other.

"Drink this," he said, offering out first the glass. Velvet eyes met Matthew's, exploring the remnants of pain left behind. A lesser soul would have winced and flustered, not knowing how best to handle the agony of another as they bore through it. Caelum, however, was a born healer. Healers were fixers, doers, and decidedly strong souls who had a habit of taking charge of situations. It took a great deal to shake the calm of an experienced physician. You could almost always be certain that they had seen worse than this.

"And use this to clean yourself up," he added, nodding to the cloth he held. "It was successful and after a day or two you will be wholly recovered physically. Don't go and decide to launch your career as a prostitute, though, for at least another week. I take coin or, if you like, you can come back after you have discovered a few interesting secrets at the ports or the university."

His smile never wavered. His tone didn't even change. Calm, warm, and matter of fact. Just business, if you please.

"And we will see if they are worth anything to me. Oh, and pawn to e6."

by **Matthew** on July 3rd, 2014, 12:23 am

Matthew didn't hesitate to play the part of a mental scribe once more, soaking in the little facts that Caelum educated him with when it came to Yarrow. Yet another little tidbit of knowledge was added to his mental library, though Matthew didn't make a whole new book for this one. No, he had a book on Herbalism that he could fit another little section into. Or perhaps he should narrow it down and file it away with a book on Herbs? That was probably best. Herbalism was a broad subject, and if he included every little herb in the book then he would soon have an oversized tome in his head. He only had so much more room. He had to use it wisely. Organization was key.

His attention was drawn to the bright pink, a sharp and sudden burst of color that didn't match the rest of the surroundings. He noticed that Caelum was estimating the amount by eye and wasn't sure if that should concern him or not. The man appeared confident and had already shown that he knew what he was doing. There was likely no reason to worry. And really, what would the point of worrying be? If Caelum told him to drink the concoction, Matthew would drink it without a moment of hesitation. Caelum was the more educated among the two of them, obviously.

As if someone up above (or wherever they were) had decided to make an on-the-spot ironic joke, the liquid was offered to Matthew. He didn't hesitate, taking it and downing it with controlled patient gulps, finishing it all off in one fell swoop. It didn't really taste bad, but Matthew was also not very good when it came to enjoying or disliking food. Food was a substance to keep his body running, that was all. Medicine fell into the same category. The young student grabbed the cloth as well, using it to clean himself as instructed. He listened closely to the following words, nodding and committing them to memory. He was abut to respond when Caelum's lady friend swept out of her back room, holding a canvas wrapped in paper. It was shoved into Matthew's hands, the now-messy and paint-smudged woman grinning from ear-to-ear. "Here." Matthew blinked repeatedly, caught off guard. Had she painted it that quickly? "This is for you. And your friend." Matthew's expression was apparently puzzled, for the woman felt that it was neccesary to expand upon her point. Either that, or she knew Matthew had no friends. "You like riddles and puzzles, right?" She winked, infuriatingly well-informed on Matthew's psyche even though they had barely interacted. "It is for the man known by the red of his passionate facade, for the woman marked by the blue of the sea. It for the man known by the blue of his ice in his soul, and for the woman who is marked by the red of the fire in her heart. It is for the one who is haunted by the marks he is without, and for the woman marked by the heat of an iron that changed her forever."

Her grin was massive now, and her chuckle sounded absolutely delighted at some joke only she knew. She waved, tossed Caelum a very different sort of wink, then swept back to her private lair. "I have more to paint, see you later."

The student was left staring after her, the chess game forgotten. It would be resumed on further visits, with one or two moves here and there, patiently advancing the game at a pace that allowed them both time to ponder their moves if needed. After a few more ticks of consideration, Matthew turned to Caelum, rising with a slight wince and nodding. He clothed himself and reached out a hand, giving a firm shake if the gesture was returned. "Thank you. I'll return with a secret. I have a feeling those are worth more to you. I aim to please." With those last soft apathetic words, the young student was gone, having lost a bulge and having gained quite the elegant limp and a rather cryptic painting.

by **Perplexity** on September 7th, 2014, 12:12 pm

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Matthew :

Caelum :

Comments :

Flashback Effects that didn't Subside