Video

[dredefulchilde]

[Several hours after his apparently miraculous resurrection, Joscelin Fitzthomas opens the video link. He looks shellshocked and confused. But he also looks different. Even as washed out as he is by the video feed, his face is not quite as pale as before, and there is actual color in his cheeks that make his freckles (which also suddenly seem more numerous than there had been) stand out even more.

When he speaks, his voice is quiet and subdued, with none of his usual sarcastic swagger.]

It would appear that I troubled many of you during the mission. For that, I am sorry.

Romeo and I caught a saboteur in the act, and that person reacted by shooting at us. I took the bullet—or bolt, I suppose; how does one classify science fiction weapons?—for Romeo. At any rate, I was under the impression that I had been wounded, but I have since been disabused of that notion and it now appears that I spent the last several days dead, somehow. Tony Stark had my ashes and personal effects in his room. I...

[He seems to realize he’s rambling and cuts himself off.]

Since then, Romeo has vanished.

[His voice breaks.]

I came to bundled away in a suitcase earlier today, so please—help me by checking the baggage car regularly. Maybe Romeo needs help extricating himself from a piece of luggage. Romeo is the very best of us and I beg you all to help me find him and keep him safe. Please.

Comments

[dredefulchilde]

Something happened to me, when I came back. Something has changed and I’m not sure what it is.

[usernamesarecool]

Well, in that case let's have a look. Would you prefer I come to you or meet me in the medical car?

[dredefulchilde]

Medical car is fine.

Action?

[usernamesarecool]

See you in mo'.

[ He clicks the feed off and immediately there after strolls back to the medic car. He doesn't say or show if he's worried other than perhaps a weary sigh and quick rub of his forehead. He is worried though-of course he is-he's always worried about something or other but now he's concerned about this change Joss mentioned and he's also worried about Romeo. The boy just adored everyone and it was refreshing to see it. ]

[ He forces all his weary time soldier thoughts and feelings away as he hears someone approaching and turns to off a very Doctor-like smile. ]

Ah yes, Joss. Hop up here and we'll take a look.

[ He gestures to the counter. ]

[dredefulchilde]

[With the exception of that strange Void flu from a couple months back, vampires do not get sick. They simply don’t. The last time Joscelin truly needed the services of a doctor was in 1349, and that doctor probably hastened his death from bubonic plague by bleeding him constantly. So he has very little experience for how this whole thing ought to go. Most of what he knows about modern medicine he got from films and television.

The boy clambers up to the counter, still wondering why it makes him feel so out of breath. Vampires don’t get breathless from such little things.]

D’you want me to take my shirt off or something?

[usernamesarecool]

[ He pulls the screwdriver out of his top pocket. ]

Nope, not necessary right now. Unless you need bandages or something. [ he says casually, panning the screwdriver over Joss like he had that during the void flu. ]

So Joss, what's different?

[ ... ]

Oh, Hello.

[ He says as he looks up at the doorway at the sound of someone else coming in. ]

[radishlobbyist]

[ After that whole nerve-wracking mess the mission had been, right down to a mysterious death and people going missing, Wen Qing is quite happy to be back on the train and returning to her routines. In fact, routines are exactly what she needs right now.

She's planning on some quiet hours of studying in the medical car, though her eyebrows arch up when she sees the carriage she has come to think of as her own already in use. ]

What's the matter here? [ And then she takes a real proper look at the boy being examined and... She blinks slowly. Her brows furrow as she looks from one to the other in angry suspicion that is really just born out of feeling completely out of her depth yet again. ]

I saw your corpse.

[dredefulchilde]

[Joscelin is about to answer when an unfamiliar woman comes into the medical carriage and completely derails his train of thought. She looks shocked (and angry?) to see him sitting there.

He’s pretty shocked himself, and shrinks back against the wall.]

S-surprise? I can’t explain it either; that’s why I’ve asked the Doctor to take a look. Who are you?

[usernamesarecool]

[ The Doctor is about to respond in the friendly manner he usually does but at her tone he moves to stand a little more protectively in front of Joss. ]

A little bedside decorum, please? [ He asks, hand up like he might have been planning to cover Joss's delicate ears. He might not exactly be a kid but well-the Doctor can't help the reaction. ]

Joss mentioned something was different-I'm here to give him a quick check up. I'm The Doctor.

[radishlobbyist]

[ She keeps her eyes narrowed at the boy, before taking note of the protective manner of the Doctor. She only knows them both in passing like you know someone who you have been stuck with for weeks in a confined space. They may be close, or maybe he is simply more prone to coddling than she is. ]

He died. Bedside decorum isn't going to change the fact. [ Nor has it ever been her strength. You don't get cocky Wen cultivators to keep to bedrest by asking nicely. ] There's no point in sugarcoating it.

[ But still, this is not her patient and she doesn't actually own the medical carriage, though she's been acting like it since she arrived, so she pointedly steps aside. ] I'm Wen Qing, I'm a physician. [ She gives a curt nod. ] Continue. I'm here for my own studies.

[dredefulchilde]

Do you honestly think I don’t know that I died? Of course I bloody well know. For the last day I’ve had people telling me how they found my body or solved my murder or collected my fucking ashes and put them in jar.

[Now that the shock has worn off a little, Joss is starting to return to his usual, charming self. So much for the Doctor trying to protect the little boy’s delicate ears.]

I’m here to try to figure out why. So if you’re going to stay—fine. Don’t get in the way. Otherwise—

[He breaks off into a harsh cough, feeling dizzy. It seems that coming back from the dead used quite a lot of his strength and some children need their bedtime soon.]

[usernamesarecool]

[ The Doctor just lets out a sigh at the sudden raised voices and winces slightly at the incredibly vulgar language. ]

Yeah-and there's no need to rub in his face-and you. There's no need for that sort of language. [ He tells Joss, no real heat in his words. ]

Still, A physician-that's good. glad to have you.

[ time to pan over Joss with the screwdriver again. ]

Anyways, you were saying, Joss? What's changed?

[radishlobbyist]

[ She snorts at the argument and the foul mouth of the indignant little brat but seems happy enough to stay out of it for now. ]

I won't be getting in the way.

In fact, she goes over to a counter where she had left some notes and checks them over, though she will keep an eye on the exam. [ This is her first case of seeing someone brought back to life on the train, after all, and she is itching to study it for it is obviously very different from the revival methods she knows. ]

[dredefulchilde]

[Joscelin chooses to ignore the woman and focus on the Doctor. He shows the Doctor his left hand, which is immaculate and unmarked. Previously, there had been a large, angry red slash down the middle of his palm.

He then lifts his sweatshirt, showing off pale belly with no marks.]<\small>

Vampires do not typically scar or mark, but before I came to the train I had been marked magically. Now the marks are gone. But it’s not just that—I feel strangely weakened. My vision and hearing are lessened. Everything is strange. I feel breathless.

[usernamesarecool]

[ The Doctor is grateful for the moment of silence and listens to Joss carefully as he reads over what the sonic has picked up. He frowns a little because that's nothing he would expected. Of course, he's not frequently a vampire Doctor and right now it doesn't look like that's what Joss is. ]

[ He takes the boy's hand a moment, checking it over carefully, frowning at the word choice. Marked by magic. ]

Are you squeamish at all, Joss?

[ He asks, opening a drawer and grabbing a pin. ]

[radishlobbyist]

[ Vampire? Markings gone? She may be keeping her eyes mostly on her notes but that does intrigue her, even as she is inwardly groaning in dismay. More patients which are well outside her expertise. Now if only someone needed a magical core transferred, or maybe a decent possession by an angry spirit...

The tool the Doctor has been waving is strange as well. Some magical device, or technology even more advanced than the one they have on the train? Wei Wuxian would be able to tell but the creation of magical devices is not her field. Either way, it's frustrating to watch when there is nothing to watch at all.

Why, the examination may be just as strange as the patient. ]

[dredefulchilde]

[Joscelin is also rather confused about the wand the Doctor keeps waving at him. During the Void Flu epidemic, Joss had thought it was a kind of thermometer, since the Doctor had mentioned something about taking his temperature. Now he’s not so sure.]

Not squeamish at all; I’m quite used to the sight of blood. Speaking of which, I seem to be experiencing some sort of stomach upset. I tried drinking some blood two or three hours ago and immediately vomited it back up.

[He continues in this vein for a moment, giving the Doctor ample amounts of time to stick him with that needle.]

[usernamesarecool]

Mm...

[ He says conversationally before poking Joss's finger with the pin he'd pulled from the drawer while holding Joss's hand steady. ]

Well, that's probably because, as a rule.. humans don't tend to digest blood very well-or not straight anyways.

[dredefulchilde]

Ow!

[Joss tries to jerk his hand away from the Doctor but is unable to. Why is he so weak?]

I’m not a human, idiot. I haven’t been a human in 670 years. Are you quite certain you’re a doctor?

[usernamesarecool]

Positive.

[ He states, watching the little red dot surface from Joss's finger. That's a healthy blood flow if he's seen one. He quickly grabs a cotton swab and presses it against Joss's finger. ]

Didn't you notice your hands are warm? Your temperature is a healthy thirty-seven. You might not not have been a human in six hundred seventy years-but you haven't been a vampire in... well, my best guess is several hours now.

You said that you were marked, magically and you no longer have those marks. My Diagnosis? Welcome back to the human race.

[dredefulchilde]

[Joss doesn’t believe what he’s hearing. He glares at the Doctor and pulls his hand away, sucking on his finger. Once again, the coppery taste of blood fills his mouth and he finds himself gagging.]

You’re wrong! I can’t be human—that’s impossible. Vampires don’t change back. I died in 1349 and then I became a vampire and there’s no way to fix that.

[He’s shaking and hyperventilating now. Even if the conscious part of him refuses to believe what the Doctor is saying, the rest of him knows it to be true and the clashing emotions are throwing him into a panic attack. He starts wheezing.]

[usernamesarecool]

[ The Doctor just lets him take in the news but when he starts wheezing he quickly locates one of the inhalers in and offers it to him. ]

Use this, you'll feel better.

[dredefulchilde]

[Joscelin doesn’t know what the inhaler is or does, so he just holds it, confused, and continues to choke.]

Why should I believe you, anyway? You’re not human either. You have two hearts.

[usernamesarecool]

[ The Doctor figures out the issue quickly and grabs his hand to direct him how to hold it. ]

Well, no. But just because I'm not human doesn't mean I don't know about human medicine. That's like saying humans can't be doctors for cats or dogs because they're not cats or dogs.

[ He directs the inhaler to Joss's mouth. ]

Now, I'm going to press down at the top, you'll feel a small puff, suck it in and hold it for about a five seconds.

[dredefulchilde]

[Still mystified (and unable to argue with the inhaler in his mouth), Joss does as directed and is surprised when the tightness in his lungs begins to dissipate. He's less dizzy now that he's getting enough oxygen again.]

...What is this thing? And what are you? I've never heard of any creatures with two hearts.