Scene #8986: How to Heal Your Dragon

Owner	Pose
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is waiting at the warpgate station in what must be casualwear for the huntress - cargo pants, one half black, the other side checkered black-and-white, and a plain black tank top under her usual spiked leather jacket. Not a scrap of chainmail in sight this time. She nods to Odette in greeting as the medic arrives, and leads her guest down a hallway lined with metal lockers. Upon reaching number 108, Madeleine retrieves a key from her jacket pocket and opens the locker to reveal a full-length mirror wedged inside. She leans forward slightly and adjusts her hair from one immaculate arrangement of curls to another. Odette's perception distorts and sweeps forward, as if she were being pulled toward and into the mirror, but she does not feel her body move. The locker door slams shut 'behind' her, but instead of leaving the pair in darkness, everything goes white. There is a sensation not quite like falling - perhaps like falling if there were nowhere left to fall to, as if Odette had reached the absolute nadir of reality. As her eyes strain to adjust to seeing nothing - not even darkness - the white surrounds fade to silver-grey and she 'lands', impossibly, and a little unsteadily, on solid ground. Snow crunches underfoot. Black trees scrape the sky with empty branches. A great and dark manor stands before Odette and Madeleine. The huntress - done adjusting her hair now, in the reflection on a window - turns her attention to a cellar door set into the ground before the duo. Hauling it open with a slight creak of the hinges, Madeleine ushers Odette down a set of spiral stairs. The stairs descend past a basement and down another level into a great stone corridor. There is no light here, but somehow, due to a peculiar absence of darkness, Odette can see well enough. The path turns, then turns again, and branches, giving the sense of a great labyrinth under the earth. After a short walk into the place, perhaps just long enough for Odette to start wondering if she should really be following a relative stranger into an underground labyrinth outside the bounds of reality, Madeleine sticks two fingers into her mouth and lets out a sharp whistle. There is a great rumbling, of something large barreling its way along the maze's pathways, and Drogrung rounds a corner ahead of the two women. The lindworm's body is just about half the width of the corridor, though its tail stretches on into the twists and turns of the maze. Visible just past its left arm is a great half-healed, seeping wound. Drogrung groans in slightly exaggerated discomfort. "Is this the one who might heal me?" Madeleine looks to Odette, expecting the medic to either introduce herself or set to work.
Odette Raskins	Even though Odette's not on the clock for once, she knows more than most that medical treatment can be real messy business. That's why, when she arrives at the station Madeleine had given her directions to, she comes in her usual uniform jacket rather than the one she usually wears for more casual outing. She's still got that ribbed sweater and jeans combo underneath it, though, and she does looks relatively more excited to be here than she normally would in most any other situation Madeleine might have seen her in thus far. It's probably got a lot to do with not being under active attack here. Greeting the huntress with a quick wave from her free hand while the other messes with the strap of her Company-issued duffel bag, Odette follows her to the locker and chuckles lightly at the sight of the mirror. "Oh, that's a good use of a small space... I really gotta get one for-" The perception shift and feeling of getting pulled has her yelping in surprise and bucking herself backwards reflexively, likely falling right on her ass or hitting her head on the locker door before she starts not-falling and promptly freaking out at how odd this sensation is. What's even stranger is feeling that she's actually landed on something at all, stomping twice in rapid succession just to get her bearings while mushing her glasses into her face to keep them from falling off. Wait. Snow? "How's there... W-weren't were just insi...?" Indeed, there's far too much happening for the EMT to process properly between the locker turning into a reality-shifting drop into a snowy courtyard in front of a- "I-is that a castle? Whose place did we end up in...?" She asks in bewilderment, starting to piece things together just a bit more when Madeleine shows that she already knows where they're going. Somehow, the stranger danger alarm bells haven't gone off for her just yet. Odette just follows along obediently and sticks close to Madeleine, like she's more worried she'll get lost if she doesn't rather than being worried about the aforementioned reality danger. Drogrung's arrival, somehow, is one of the few sudden things that doesn't have her screaming. It certainly helps that she actually recognizes its voice from the last time they had met. "O-oh! Uh. Yes, hi. Er. Hello, Mister Drogrung! Yeah, I'm..." Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. Right, she's here to fix the lindworm up somehow. "I'm here to patch you up. Um. D-do you have a clean place you want to do this in, or... Er. Where's it hurt, anyway? A-and how?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"Whose place did we end up in...?" "Mine," Madeleine says with a little smirk as she helps Odette back to her feet. She's clearly amused by the medic's display of amazement. "What you've just experienced is my commute, most days." "Um. D-do you have a clean place you want to do this in, or... Er. Where's it hurt, anyway? A-and how?" "Where do you expect it might," Drogrung sneers. "Drogrung, do try to be helpful..." Madeleine chides, and with a disgruntled rumble the lindworm shifts to bring the wound around for Odette to get a closer look. And what a wound! A rough disc of flesh about as wide as Odette is tall has been carved away to what must be at least two inches in depth, and though the blood flow has stopped the clots and scabs still appear fresh and delicate. The regrowth process seems to have not begun at all, leaving the exposed flesh raw despite the considerable time passed since the incident with Durandal. "I really don't know what to do about it," Madeleine admits. "I'm not a doctor or a weaponsmith so I wouldn't know where to start with either of Drogrung's forms... We've been hoping that treating the wound on this side of things will help repair the damage to the weapon-body."
Odette Raskins	"What you've just experienced is my commute, most days." "You take this kind of path every day? I don't kn ow if my heart could take that..." Odette admits with a light chuckle, apparently forgetting that she takes some kind of space-buses and the like and a fairly regular basis for her own work. At least she understands those. The locker to the snowfield, not so much. "Where do you expect it might," "Drogrung, do try to be helpful..." "Eh? O-oh, no, that's actually d... Decently helpful?" Clearly, Odette's trying to help the lindworm save face instead of admitting that she'd largely be guessing without further directions. Thankfully, it does reveal the wound to her easily enough, and she brings out something else to help her determine the deeper extent of the wounds: Her handy dandy wound analyzer! It's portable, it's handheld, and it has all sorts of helpful readouts that feed right into the medical scanner she puts on her face! Knowing where the wounds are helps her focus, too, as she opens up her bag and gets to work cleaning and preparing the entire area around the wound. "It's a lot to fix, but... I-it's fixable. With the right chemical mixes and surgical.. Um. Mending, we should be able to get all this sorted out before the night's over!" She affirms with a confident nod, smiling only somewhat uneasily afterwards. After working on Dysnomia, assorted animals, and even more confusing and angular beings (in simulators), Odette really is feeling rather confident about her ability to get this done. "D-don't worry, Miss Madeleine. I've got plenty of practice with different sorts of patients, so it's just a matter of time. While we're here, though..." Once the cleaning is done, Odette's already getting started with careful application of various chemicals to the open wounds, using a combination of her analyzer and just regular eyesight to figure out which ones might actually help with all of this: Which ones seem to soothe the lindworm, which ones can get the regrowth process moving along efficiently enough, and especially noting which ones work better for making sure it all clots properly. After all, regrowing things without making sure Drogrung doesn't bleed out won't help matters much! "I-if Drogrung can transform... We'll want things that won't stop the transformation from working right, too. And..." She pauses in mid-treatment, grabbing a syringe and wiggling it briefly while looking between both Madeleine and Drogrung. "D-do you mind if I take a sample of the.. Um. Poison? Blood? If I can figure out what's in it, I might be able to make a substitute for the next time this kind of injury happens. L-like a saline drip or blood replacement, you know?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"With the right chemical mixes and surgical.. Um. Mending, we should be able to get all this sorted out before the night's over!" Drogrung seems to genuinely perk up at this, a little glint of energy returning to its tired eyes. Madeleine raises an eyebrow at the analyzer tool, visibly impressed by the technology. "D-do you mind if I take a sample of the.. Um. Poison? Blood?" "Both, technically," Madeleine remarks. Drogrung shifts a little, uneasily, but ultimately acquiesces and holds still. As Odette finishes taking the sample, the huntress steps forward again. "So, if you don't mind chatting while you work. What's this 'Desire Grand Prix' I've been hearing about? I know Kamen Rider Geats is involved, but rumor has it you are as well?"
Odette Raskins	"Both, huh? THa's.. Hmm. Thatmakes things easier, then." Odette replies with a lighthearted, if still somewhat uneasy chuckle. She's not about to test how much of that blood could affect someone through skin contact alone, and she also takes a moment to get a surgical mask on before continuing. Only then does she take a sample of that blood with her syringe, injecting it into a corked bottle before settingt he syringe itself aside and continuing the treatment. "The Desire..? Oh! Th-that... Um. That thing those Kamne Riders are involvd in..." She chuckles awkwardly, scratching her cheek for a moment as several thoughts run through her head at once (again). How much can she reveal? How much does Madeleine already know? Is it safe for her to even say anything? Odette curses her own forgetfulness and not taking notes for once, but... Well, she's in MAdeleine's and Drogrung's home already. If there was anything to be worried about, she'd probably have thought about it by now. "It's a.. Um. Heroism kind of contest, basically! Getting points for.. Y-you know, hero stuff. Saving people, protecting people, beating the monsters that show up. The winner gets a real big.. Er... Wish granted, but anyone that loses..." THat has Odette hesitating again, moreso out of discomfort rather than an unwillingness to speak. Her hand tighten around the scalpel she's using to take off the real dead-looking bits, then loosens again before she gets back to work applying The Good Chemicals. "... A lotta people died in this thing already. More might, too, if it keeps happening. I-if this.. Um. Game keeps happening."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"Yeah, the Kamen Rider stuff. Wait, if you're in the DGP, are you a Kamen Rider? What's your mask like?" "The winner gets a real big.. Er... Wish granted, but anyone that loses..." "A wish, huh?" Madeleine folds her arms and leans forward a little, relishing the four inches of height she has over Odette. "Geats wished to be a star, right? When he won the last round. And they sure made him famous. I wonder where the limits of their ability are. Are there wishes they can't - or won't - grant to a winner?" She taps her chin in thought. "What would someone like you want with a wish like that? That you'd run around beating up monsters to get it. That you'd risk whatever-it-is they do to the losers." A pause. "They don't kill them, do they? I thought there was something about all the deaths being fake, that girl Petra was talking about it a while back."
Odette Raskins	"Wait, if you're in the DGP, are you a Kamen Rider? What's your mask like?" Was Odette supposed to keep that secret? Oh, it's probably too late to put that cat bag in the bag if that's the case. Besides, it's not like it'd hurt to mention it to one person, right? Right! "Mine? It's some kind of... Mole or something? It's got this long... Thing on the top." She explains without really explaining anything, though not for a lack of trying to pantomime the shape of the elongated face with her hands. "And it's got these flaps up top, too, like they're eyelids or something..." She adds, with more gesturing that suggests the shape of ears. A mouse's ears, to be more precise even if Odette can't make it out herself. Noticing that height different and Madeleine leaning closer, Odette actually seems to shrink back a little bit in turn. It's really not that hard to intimidate theEMT even passively, and even while her focus is still mostly on working rather than looking too cloosely at the huntress. "I dunno about any limits, at least! S-so you could really wish for anything, if you really wanted to risk it all in this thing." When asked about her own wish and the cost of losing, Odette slumps in place a bit more. "About that... Um. People can die, yeah, and the only ones that don't stay dad are the regular. A-at least, if one of the Kamne Riders win this whole thing. If not..." She takes a shaky breath, rubbing her arm for a moment. "... A-and if you lose without dying, then you still forget everything. About the DGP, the wish you wanted." Instead of actually answering the question about her wish directly, however, Odette keeps on working. "M-Miss Madeleine? Have you ever felt too... Er. Slow to do anything? Weak? L-like you were missing something you'd need to do way better at everything?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine nods along with Odette's description of her Rider mask, as if she were following along properly. In truth she hasn't the slightest idea what Odette is trying to describe. Big floppy eyelids? Some kind of cryptid, surely... "... A-and if you lose without dying, then you still forget everything. About the DGP, the wish you wanted." "You forget the wish? ...Hm. What if you wish for something you need in your own life? Would you start wanting it again on your own? I mean, I wouldn't want to risk experimenting with it myself, so it's probably hard to figure that stuff out... "M-Miss Madeleine? Have you ever felt too... Er. Slow to do anything? Weak? L-like you were missing something you'd need to do way better at everything?" This, finally, gives Madeleine pause. She narrows her eyes a little at Odette. "I've... felt like I was missing something, yeah. It's not really about... competence, for me. But I think I know what you're getting at." A pause. "I don't know what I'd wish for to change that, though."
Odette Raskins	"Would you start wanting it again on your own?" "Good question... Um. I-I'm not really sure. Definitely not something I'd wanna test, yeah." Odette replies with a light, if somewhat somber chuckle. "I can't imagine doing this more than once or maybe twice before everything really starts falling apart. Or... Y-yeah, you stop being yourself. Like..." "It's not really about... competence, for me. But I think I know what you're getting at." Odette's hands are a little shaky by the time she gets more of The Good Poison back into Drogrung, and the bandaging continues, albeit far more slowly to compensate for the physical fatigue starting to set in. "I need to be faster. E-everyone's already real strong and amazing at fighting, but saving people... I can't do that no matter how hard I can hit someone, or shoot something. But if I'm faster... I-I can reach more people, you know?" She looks over at the furthest wall, points at it, then down one of those many turns. "If someone was lost somewhere in here, for example... I don't know if I'd ever be able to find them before they bleed out or something. If I was faster than anyone else, though, I could find them, fix them up, maybe even pull them out before... Whatever got them hurt got them again, you know? Or..." She pauses to tap her chin, then snaps her fingers. "Or if something was chasing us! I could get us out before it even knows we were gone. G-getting chased is pretty rough, you know?" A pause, and then she quickly stumbles over herself upon remembering what Madeleine specializes in. "Ah.. N-not that it's bad to be able to chase stuff down! I-it's just.. Um... R-really different on the other side!"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"You... really do care about saving people, huh. Is that why you became a medic?" Madeleine scratches the back of her head uneasily, like there's something she's trying to put together in her thoughts. "Odette, I... I get wanting to help people. But, I think it's important to remember..." She pauses. Takes a breath. "The world is wrong, Odette. It rejected me, like an allergic reaction. And I'm not the only one who that happened to, there's plenty of people here in the Multiverse who've been rejected by the world in their own ways. Sometimes 'the world' is just like, the world as constructed by other people. Sometimes it's more literal. But at its heart the system is flawed. There's... there's no fixing it, Odette. No fixing it and no tearing it down." "Sometimes you're in the right place and time to do some good, for your sake or someone else's. But you gotta know when to say, 'enough'. When to take things a little slow, make sure you're living not righteously, but living well. Slow down, enjoy a sunrise, let a few people die. What's it matter, anyway? World's still broke, and there's no fixing it." Madeleine chuckles, nervously. "I appreciate you, Odette. The enthusiasm you have for safeguarding life, it's really charming. And I want you to make it out the Grand Prix okay. But... I hope you don't get that wish. Don't take that the wrong way, I mean it for your sake. Say they make you fast, real fast. There's always faster, always more to do. You'll feel it even worse, because you'll blame yourself for all the little failures. Right now, if you can't help someone? Couldn't be helped. And that's okay, Odette." Plink, plink. Tears striking stone. "It really is okay. I promise." She's saying it as much for herself as for Odette.
Odette Raskins	"Is that why you became a medic?" "K.. Kind of, yeah. I mean, seeing people getting hurt just sucks, right? E-especially if it's people you know, or people you really care about. A-and not just them, either, but co-workers. Just random folks, or..." It's Odette's turn to feel uneasy about her own answer, hesitating about even vocalizing her own thoughts further than she already has. She's already come this far, though, so... "The world ... rejected me ... plenty of people here ... rejected by the world in their own ways." No sense not just laying it all out there, for once. Odette winces slightly, perhaps/probably not understanding what Madeleine means completely, but still grasping enough that she doesn't reject that notion outright and even nods slowly after a moment. "... Yeah. When it happens because of people doing careless things. O-or even doing it on purpose, to get a little more from the world for themselves, even when it hurts plenty other people. I-it's real wrong, and..." "No fixing it and no tearing it down." "I... I hate that, yeah. There's so much.... Stuff that fighting's important for out here, and I can't do anything about it. E-even with that DGP belt, I..." Odette inhales lightly, then puts the finishing touches on Drogrung's bandages. "Um. I can't fight anywhere near as good as you, Miss Blemishine, Commander Rook, the Redshifts, Mister Geats, or even those folks in the City and Miss Angela's company. But that's... Not what I want to do, you know?" "If I can become faster, the kind of crazy fast that even the strongest people around can't keep up with... Th-then more things can get changed, even if I'm not doing it myself. Those real fighters... Th-they've got plenty of problems to tear down and things to fix, right? So if I'm fast enough to keep up with them... I-I can help the regular people that get caught up in the middle of all that. Letting them die wouldn't sit right with me, even for the people that end up really sucking later." "I hope you don't ... for your sake" That actually gets a light snicker from the EMT, and she rubs the back of her neck with her own bit of awkwardness. "Aw... Th-thanks, Miss Madeleine. I'm real glad to hear that, even if... I-I mean, forgetting all sorts of stuff all at once could make me real bad at doing what I do, right? But I can't give up on that, even if it really would be way more work. Don't worry, though, because I've got plenty of energy to spare." She boasts while still looking and sounding a little worn down just after that extended Drogrung treatment, surrounded by so many assorted bottles of chemicals spread out all over her opened up bag with half-filled bottles and corks that are practically falling apart from how often they've been stabbed with syringes. "... if you can't help someone? Couldn't be helped." "It really is okay. I promise." That, meanwhile, draws an anxious noise out of Odette. "Th... That's exactly what I can't settle for, though. If there's someone I could reach and help when no one else does, then.. I-I dunno if I'd be able to forgive myself if I didn't try to do something, you know?" That anxiety even comes through the little chuckle that follows, and Odette steps over to Madeleine when she hears those tears. She reaches up at first, stops when she's hit with deeply ingrained questions of what's socially acceptable for consoling someone crying, then settles for gently nudging Madeleine's shoulder towards herself. "... But I get what you mean. About slowing down. Don't worry, I'll have time once I finish all this other stuff!"