rocks rocks rocks

[theguideless]

Date & Time: 4/24, late afternoon/early evening? whenever this joint closes mang
Location: Outside the clinic
Characters: John Watson + Martin Darkov
Summary: Marvel at how one boy can make asking a favor tooth-pullingly awkward
Warnings: 800 apologies for no reason



Martin woke up early enough to be late for the day, as his sleep pattern encouraged and practically needed on the sunniest of days. If ever he needed reminders he was nowhere near Olvoski, he had to just take a glance outside and see how close the sun was in Exsilium. Summer was never so warm where he was from, though it was still a kind of spring there. He had hardly thought of it being any hotter until that excursion in time.

And that was why he'd stopped moving altogether, only to be so repulsed by his inaction that he moved doubly so. Practice. Fight. Make himself better, stronger. Faster. Not for the sake of the Initiative's missions, but for his own. They'd told the other Martin – the better Martin – time stood still at home. There was a chance, then. If he could make himself better here, he could survive back home. Just enough to save her, and that'd be perfect.

He hit a speedbump very early, however. It was hardly so simple as taking the weapon and practicing as others would; waste had to be managed, and it wasn't something he could do without a little help. His supply had been running long before arriving at the Initiative; how would he have known to stock up?

That not knowing was what brought him to the clinic near its close. Not that he knew that; there was still a little light out, wasn't there? That meant people were still awake.

Comments

[doctorly]

At that moment the door is being pushed open, the doctor standing there with his hand holding out some type of medicine enclosed in a bottle to be given to the patient standing with him. "Just take it before you go to sleep, every night." He gives a small smile once they give their thanks and leave, and for a brief moment having him consider whether he should close up for the night.

His attention is caught by the sight of Martin however, whom he doesn't really see come by the clinic often. Sure those few times before but the first had the young boy running out.

If he was here now though, then maybe he needed something. Whether a chat, questions, or clinic-related. "Darkov? Hello, you alright?" John's brows furrowed a bit while he gave him a look over, from what he can see there was no visible injuries. And he won't know until he moves if there is a limp or some kind of movement to show he's hiding it.

[theguideless]

Hanging back, still hesitant to see through what needed seeing through, Martin froze and watched very intently at the brief scene played out at the door. He remained so even when spotted, though he couldn't remain so for very long. With swallow, he pushed himself forward, giving a lingering glance in the direction the stranger had left.

"Hello," he uttered distractedly before glancing back up at John. "Uhm. Are you...I'm sorry. Is it busy?"

[doctorly]

At least John was very patient, so he simply stood where he was to allow Martin the time to approach and reply. There was no rush so he didn't see any reason to push. But once he did reply he starts to shake his head, "Not at all, that was actually the last person."

He was about to add that he was considering closing up for the day, however he thought against it. "You need something?"

[theguideless]

"Yes, sir," Martin said quickly, bowing his head. "If...that's alright, if...there's something you can do. I'm not really sure. I don't...really know how human remedies work. Sorry."

[doctorly]

Oh Martin, by now John has sort've given up trying to get him call him by name rather than 'sir.' The doctor gestures with his hand to follow, holding open the door, "Course it's alright, it's what I'm here for. Just tell me what's wrong and I'll see what I can do."

[theguideless]

His head bobbed in a couple quick nods, uttering his words to their shoes. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

He stepped inside, breath held until he'd taken a few paces away from the door. With the door closed, blocking out the rest of the world, was a weird kind of relief. Weird, especially since he had little fondness for the clinic; it was full of strange substances. Forbidden things.

And I'm asking for some... He winced a little before turning around to address John.

"I've..." His mouth tugged on one side, still wrestling with the notion of sharing. Swallowing, he straightened up, tugging on the cuff of one of his sleeves. "I'm running out of something I need. It's not...something I can make more of, but I need it. Or...something like it, I think. Maybe. If there's something you have like it?"

The wince was back in his eyes, voice rising a little just out of sheer timidity.

"Is there...do you have things that make you..." His hand gestured a little. "Wretch?"

[doctorly]

Once he was inside did he close the door, and as he had stated before that the strange before had been the last patient, which left the building in a calming silence that was different compared to the noisy business days and even weeks before. He didn't move where he stood, he would have to wait till Martin worded out what it was he needed.

Only then would he decide whether it was something worth looking into in one of the rooms, or something he could pick from the medicine cabinet in another room.

John showed a small smile, encouraging the boy to go on with the patience many doctors have with their patients. He nods slowly when he starts to explain, but again no words and questions until he was done. And when he was did a brief look of concern show, "Make you wretch? Well that depends, why do you need it?"

Sorry Martin, he can't just so prescribing anything without understanding. And he's clearly waiting for a reason more than a simple 'to wretch.'

[theguideless]

"For practice," Martin said quickly, his sleeve pulled as far as he could make it. "For...practice. How I practice, I need to be able to..."

He grimaced. Was it strange? It was probably strange. Humans...didn't fight a lot, did they? Not like Darkovs.

"Sss...sorry," he winced.

[doctorly]

A hand drops to Martin's shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. "It's fine Darkov, I'm just trying to understand. How come you need to wrench for practice?"

John continues to show a light smile, to further encourage the boy to go on. He knows not everyone has the nerves to do things. But he wouldn't exactly want the boy to get himself sick with medication like that.

[theguideless]

The generous kindness seemed to only make Martin shier and self-conscious initially, finding himself bracing against the hand. Flickering a glance up, seeing no disdain, made his shoulders relax a little, though the response wound up directed downward once more.

"To get stuff out," he said, more a mumble than anything. He fixes that as he goes on. "It's like poison if it stays in. The excess, I mean." His hands made vague, slow gestures, curling and uncurling his fingers. "When the weapon goes away, all the things that went out...come back in. And. You gotta make it go out again.

"I have these..." He paused, rummaging through his pocket. When his hand finally freed itself, he held in his palm a small, grainy-looking pebble, a little yellowed on one side and seemingly peppered with...something. "They do it for me, but I'm running out. So I need...something to replace them."

[doctorly]

As he begins to explain John nods along, he knows plenty of people pick weapons that they are familiar with using. Some typical weapons and others he's never seen or heard of before. This is probably the latter. Hearing 'poison' already is a good enough reason for needing to wrench everything out.

He peers a little closer at the pebble-like items before he straightens, "I see, in that case I can prescribe you with something. It may be a little different than those but it'll do the job all the same." He pauses for a moment, pondering on what he wants to add before he continues in that doctor manner.

"The bottle will state how much you can take at a time so be sure to follow them, alright? Can't have you getting too sick." Now, he's already moving to where all the medication is kept. "Also if you have any severe side effects, you have to tell me as soon as you can."

[theguideless]

Martin blinked, watching John move about. Huh-?

"Wuh–" He shifted his weight to a side, leaning to peer past the doctor and see as much as he could without having to move. "Bottle? It's...you drink it?"

[doctorly]

This gets him to stop short, "Well, there is a liquid. Unless you prefer taking pills." The liquid was usually for kids since it's easier to take. But if he's able to swallow pills, and those that he had seemed like the case, John's sure the Initiative would have some in stock.

There was plenty of medication that once a time weren't entirely good for what they were made, and yet seemed to be better made in this time. The doctor hovers by the cabinet once he's inside the room to await Martin's reply.

[theguideless]

Impulsively, Martin scratched at his cheek, looking confused. He'd never heard of whatever a pills was, so having to take one or many was hard to envision. Was that going to be better or worse than drinking something he truly ought not be even asking for? Either way, he figured, it was going to be something he'd be in big trouble for back home.

"Uhh, I...I suppose it'd be..." He squinted a little, seeking some inaudible clue from John as to which he ought to pick. In the end, he shrugged helplessly, letting his hand fall to his side. His mouth tugged a worried, sheepish kind of half-smile. "Whichever one you want. I mean, whichever's better...I don't think I mind. So."

[doctorly]

John nods, before he shows a smile and goes back towards the medicine cabinet. "I'll show you, you can decide for yourself then which will be easier for you." He shifts through the collection before he finds the bottle of the liquid version along with the pill case. Slowly, he turns over and holds them out.

"The liquid is simple, it says how much to take. Not the whole bottle. And the pills.." He opens the case, just to drop one into the palm of his hand to show. "Are these. Bit different from what you had, you only have to take one. Once you run out you can come back to me and I'll refill it."

[theguideless]

By then, curiosity and necessity moved Martin closer, hovering just near arm's reach. Whereas he'd regarded the bottle with unease, he appeared to perk up when he'd been shown the little pills. They were much closer in appearance to the stones he knew, which all but absolved them of the sin of being foreign.

"Just eat one?" he asked, looking up at John. "And it works the same?"

[doctorly]

John gives a light shake of the head, rolling the pill in between his fingers, "Not eat. You have to swallow them whole. They're really easy to take though, just drink a glass of water when you take it."

He slips the pill back in its case to hold it out for Martin to take. "Or without, doesn't matter how you swallow it. Just try not to chew or bite it."

[theguideless]

For how the doctor emphasized it, Martin started to worry again. He took the case, turning it gingerly in his hands as though it were porcelain.

"What would happen if I did?" he asked, flickering glances between the case and John. "On accident, I mean. Would something bad happen?"

[doctorly]

Oh right, should have cleared that up instead of leaving it off like that. John quickly waves a hand as though to push any bad thoughts away. "No no, nothing bad. It just won't have the same effect. Plus it doesn't have a very good taste so you wouldn't want to bite or chew it."

[theguideless]

"Oh."

Well, that wasn't nearly as bad as Martin had thought! Bad tastes? He could handle that in a pinch, certainly. He already did enough of that.

"That's fine," he mumbled, settling the case into one hand while the other patted down and pulled open a pocket on his vest. "I'll remember."

He stopped, halfway pocketing the thing before he remembered the manners he had forgotten in that moment. Face pinking, he looked back up.

"And...I mean, thank you. Sir. This helps a lot. A lot. Thank you." He briefly pressed his lips together into a thin line, trying to think fast.

"Uhm...How do I...I mean, is there something I have to trade for it?"

[doctorly]

"Of course Darkov, anything to help. It's my job. I'm just glad we had something in stock that could help." It's the truth, plus he doesn't mind helping out the boy, he knows how skittish he can be. So coming to him at least shows he has an idea now who he can rely on if he needs help.

..Trade? Ah. "Oh no, don't worry about it. You need it so keep it. You don't need to give me anything for it." Truthfully people would pay for medication, but the Initiative are already paying the clinic for doing this. He feels he doesn't need to charge everyone or for everything that happens here. Sometimes, it feels better just to help out like this than be a doctor who does the job and charge then carry on daily like that.

[theguideless]

Nothing?

Martin's face, all red, pulled a worried, embarrassed expression, as though he'd definitely expected to be a bother, to somehow make up for it if he could. It wasn't normal, taking things from people. Non-Darkovs.

The case went quickly into his pocket, then. He looked up, shoulders lifting with a deep breath, and he nodded.

"Thank you, sir. Doctor, I mean." His head dipped down. "You're...very generous. Thank you."

[doctorly]

His gaze never removes from the boy, keeping that small smile as he gestures with his hand that it was fine. "We're all in this together, I'm just trying to do my part to help out in any way I can. But you're welcome. If you don't get good results or get sick, return back to me."

His gaze is more steady now as he tries to hold Martin's gaze. "All right?"

[theguideless]

"All right," Martin repeated, nodding quickly. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." He grimaced. "Doctor, I mean. Sorry."

He started backing away, head dipping down in a little bow. "I...I should go. But thank you."

[doctorly]

John simply nods, quirking a smile. "It's fine. You're welcome, I'll see you around."

And adding a bit quickly, "Watch out for the door." Cause you know, you're backing up into it.

[theguideless]

"Oh-!"

Good advice. Martin started to turn and startled at the sight of the door, shuffling back a little to open that up before going any further. Embarrassed, he slipped out with only a few muttered sounds following him out.