[closed] don't call him dr. L

[torpour]

Who: Nehan and his students.
What: It's about time to start being a teacher, which means meeting up with them one by one and conducting their first lessons-- sparring for some, medic training for others. May not be completely nice and productive, due to blood type shenanigans. Thanks, December.
When: Early to mid-December.
Where: Nehan's house for medical studies, and some fields away from people for combat training.

Content Warnings: Physical violence, little bit of beasthood, potential potty mouths, potential squicky conversations, Nehan's personal issues with his disabilities. More TBA when they come up.

[[ starters in the comments below. if you'd like to get in on this but we haven't plotted it out, feel free to shoot me a pp at wildtrapinch and we can talk! ]]

Comments

[thinkfirst]

...ah. Of course.

[ It's not exactly Flynn is afraid of that responsibility. He has shouldered heavier, and with less support. He's made himself into someone to be counted on, someone who will show up to help. This is just an extension of that, isn't it? Another way, perhaps a more needed way in this city bent on injuring them, to live those values.

Still. There's weight in those words, and Flynn can't help feel it settle over him. He's taking on a new responsibility, and he wants to honor that. He watches Nehan's fingers as he picks apart the knot. ]

So then, say someone was on the battlefield, rapidly losing blood from a wound. What would be my first move, were I trained? Before the tourniquet?

[torpour]

Elevate the wounded part of the body with some wadded cloth or even your lap, cover it up with gauze and wrap it tightly, before moving the patient to a clean place, and monitor them.

[then nehan raises a finger. he has to make this important point, and waits for silence just in case flynn wants to ask something.]

But make sure you keep the pressure for at least fifteen minutes, and resist the urge to pick at the gauze to look underneath. If blood soaks through the gauze, add another layer and restart your count.

This will take you out of the fighting for a while-- this is why medics aren't often warriors as well. [except for nehan. nehan knows how to be an exception.]

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn does wait in patient silence, watching Nehan until he makes that very important point, at which point his brows furrow.

Take him out of the fighting... Of course that makes sense, but Flynn hadn't thought about it in those terms. The fighting part is what he has dedicated his life to up until this point. He doesn't intend to stop, either, but it is a very needed reminder that if he's truly going to dedicate himself to this, it might very well take precedence over his swordwork. ]

I... suppose they really are at odds, aren't they? Fighting and healing. My entire life I have worked to become the best knight I could possibly be. Do you know anyone? Who managed to do both?

[torpour]

I do, but combat healers in my world don't use mundane methods.

My personal healer, because her vast reserves of magical energy allows her to heal and attack at the same time. She is a prodigy. [high praise, despite his tone being so bland. but nehan has nothing but high praise for someone who managed to bring him back from the brink of the dead.]

I used to do both, as well.

[then he reaches towards the holster at his hip, taking two vials filled with different liquids. one is a pale lavender, and the other a sky blue.]

I brew my own stimulants and potions, and one day, when you've learned enough of the basics, I will make you do the same.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn has so many questions. To cast a spell and attack at the same time must take a great deal of concentration, or else enough magical skill that one wouldn't need to properly cast—unless, he reminds himself, magic works very differently where Nehan is from. Perhaps that is worth investigating along with you have a personal healer? and can I learn?

But for now he focuses on the two vials and their odd liquids, the promise of learning more about them. ]

I would be honored to learn from someone who has been doing it for so long. My own home is... well, I was considered strange for being a knight who used healing magic at all. Most knights focus their energy on combat artes and if they must learn healing artes, stop at a simple attack-based like Healer.

Which is to say, I would be very interested in learning how to do both, though I understand the basics come first. What do each of those liquids do?

[torpour]

[nehan nods gravely, knowing how difficult healing magic is. but that's something he'll add to flynn's curriculum, since one never knows when that sort of thing can come in handy.]

This one is a stimulant. [he rolls the vial full of lavender towards flynn, unconcerned. after all, it's been sealed meticulously by nehan himself, and he doesn't skimp on the quality of his work. his pride would never allow him to do anything less.] More caffeine than tea and coffee, it will let you fight better than your usual. But at the cost of your defense and ability to resist spells and abilities that target your wellbeing.

[but the best defense is a powerful offense, right?]

The other is a healing potion. Ingest it to deal with your ailments all at once at the cost of potency, or pour it directly over a dangerous wound to take advantage of its strength, at the cost of needing more for other injuries.

[thinkfirst]

[ It's sealed, but Flynn picks it up very carefully just in case, cradling the lavender stuff between his fingers. A stimulant like coffee? Like a boosting arte, like the stuff Estelle might cast, but with more side-effects, it sounds like. ]

There are drawbacks to each, then. If you had a choice, would you use these rather than magic? What would be your preferred way to deal with a wound? Or, say, a long-lasting illness? I know that corruption is a concern here, and I have read that if unchecked, one can become so corrupt as to become a monster. The Hunters think there is no recourse once that happens.

[torpour]

[nehan taps the little blue healing potion.]

This is faster than my magic and my ability to wield magic can ever dream of being. Its ingredients themselves are magical, and the process is something you'll learn eventually, but it has a magical component, as well.

As for an illness... I prefer to work with my patient over time, for instance. Get to know their illness and tailor my potions to their needs.

[then he leans forward, rapping the table with his nail again. he feels he has an important point to make.]

Medicine may be an exact science, but healing is not. A good deal of what healers and doctors have to do is based on what happens in the moment. You can be prepared for anything, but the unpredictable will always happen-- what you do in that moment will determine if you're a good healer, or a bad one.

[thinkfirst]

[ Preparing for the unpredictable is certainly something Flynn has had to get good at, and the slight bit of challenge in those words makes him straighten up. ]

You must solve problems as they happen, as a healer.

[ Carefully, Flynn reaches out to hand the little lavender vial back. ]

Honestly, that's why I was so interested in doing this. Solving the problems of the world is the duty of a knight, and the problems of this world on the surface seem simple: monsters, and keeping people safe from them. The more I learn, however, the more it seems that the real problems are deeper, and lie in healing. Helping people once they become monsters, or stopping them from becoming that way in the first place. Helping those who find themselves in danger.

[torpour]

You need to be a warmblood to be able to make a difference in someone who is becoming a beast. Or have a warmblood willing to donate on a regular basis for your research.

But I still have to emphasize that you're new to this. You may keep those goals in mind, but don't neglect your first steps into medicine. [skies save him from overzealous knights. nehan feels like he'll have to repeat points just to make them understand.

then he points at the vials on the table, not bothering to take them back.]

I will teach you to brew these one day and I will not forget that, but you need to learn the basics first. How bodies work, how to draw blood, how to transfer blood, terminology, and more.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn's sudden burst of excitement is a visible thing; he perks up like a dog offered a walk, his eyes widening, entirely pushing past Nehan's words about learning step-by-step. ]

I believe I am a warmblood. That is the blood type with red, otherwise unremarkable blood, yes? I can make a difference with my blood alone? Could we not start there? With drawing and transfering and then using it? That is such a pressing problem, and certainly I spill enough blood in training.

[torpour]

[nehan sighs. save him from knights-- they're all the same, like racehorses with blinders.]

Ah, yes, because beasthood is the only thing that ails this world. [his tone is not quite a knife's edge, but still sharp enough to cut with one wrong movement. like paper, which can sometimes be worse than a knife, with little fibers here and there to make it sting for a while after.]

And not the fact that blood is the first and only treatment that majority of local healers consider, thus speeding up the spread of beasthood in a patient's body.

Not the fact that other methods of healing are cleaner, and can prevent beasthood in its entirety.

[thinkfirst]

[ The sharpness is enough, at least, to cut through Flynn's excitement, to deflate him a little—which is good, of course. He's a determined student but perhaps an overzealous one, eager to please and more eager still to help.

He sinks back down in his chair with a slightly-sheepish smile, nodding his head. ]

Of course. Forgive me, I find myself at odds when I'm so powerless to help, after...

[ After making it his entire mission in life. After being elevated to heights he never dreamed of, after being tasked with fixing the world from something they didn't know had to be broken. Flynn is used to stress and urgency and pressure, and has forgotten how to slow down. He makes himself take in a breath, his fingers flexing on his own knees, and looks back up. ]

I will learn in whatever order you deem best, sir. I swear.

[torpour]

A healer must be meticulous, no matter what methods they use. Skipping steps only leads to the death of a patient, or worse. [then he points at flynn, eye narrowed.] If you diagnose a patient, exhaust all avenues available to you first, then find a second opinion if you're still not sure. Don't just proclaim something immediately or trust a catch-all solution unless you made it yourself and have tested it extensively. I can do so because I have been developing medicines for my whole life.

[and he does have to drive this home, even if it means metaphorically kicking a puppy down.]

You're too new to anything to even be thinking about Blood Ministry.

[now he takes a book from the table, and slides it forward. an old anatomy and physiology textbook.]

This is where you start.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn's face falls even a little further as the book and the admonishment hit at once. Nehan's words are sound, of course: medicine, like fighting, is a discipline with many arms and dire consequences if performed wrong.

More than that, Flynn is not the best reader despite his years-long efforts. Large words require sounding out silently, looking things up. This will surely have many of those, but hasn't Flynn faced longer odds and harder tasks?

He reaches for the book, looking at its old cover. ]

Understood. I... to be very honest, though I know resources are short, I would not want to be operating alone unless I had to while still learning. Would you consider yourself to be still learning?

[torpour]

I'm always learning. As you said, resources are far too scarce, and the materials I'm used to in my world are not available here. [nehan sighs, and rests his chin on his hand.] I've had to pick up new skills, and adjust my brewing to make up for this.

These vials you see before you? These potions were made here, using ingredients grown in Lumenwood. And I have patients who are not of any race I'm used to, so I cant use any potions on them, and must rely on magic-- magic I only just developed.

A healer who doesn't know how to learn is useless.

[thinkfirst]

Agreed.

[ It makes Flynn feel a little better, at least, that his own teacher is someone clearly so thoughtful. He doesn't have the same arrogance of Alexei, sure that he already knows everything there is to know.

Perhaps that is why Flynn hesitates as he thumbs open the book in front of him. ]

I... should tell you that while I have done my best to patch up the cracks in my knowledge, I have very little traditional schooling, and reading large blocks of text is, well. I can do it! Of course. Only, it takes some time, and...

[torpour]

... I see. You should have said so before. [yet another rebuke, but much softer this time around.

then he reaches his hand out again, and beckons with his fingers, silently asking for it back.]

I will give you what I know verbally, then. I would have lent you my own notes, but I write in my personal shorthand-- you wont be able to read it.

[thinkfirst]

[ It's Flynn's first instinct to clutch at the thing, to insist that he can do it, that he just needs to power through, but he is better than that. If he's being offered verbal instruction, which is something he's much better at anyway, he should take it and not let his ego get in the way. That's not the sort of person he'd like to be, or the sort of choice he'd like to make.

After a moment, he lets it go, releasing his grip, and presses it back into Nehan's hands with a quiet sigh. ]

That would be... very appreciated. I have a hard enough time deciphering the Imperial Mages' notes. They tend to forget not everyone is as well-versed in formulae, and, well, it makes for nearly tougher reading than some of the Council proposals I've had to pick through.

[ Which is neither here nor there, and not exactly relevant, so Flynn coughs after he finishes and looks up again, his shoulders hunched. He feels a little small and a lot foolish, and that isn't such an easy feeling to ignore, no matter what he tells himself. ]

If the book has useful diagrams, I suppose I can copy those. And I can certainly work on... all of those skills, concurrently, if it will help my studies with you.

[torpour]

Diagrams, hm? [nehan opens the book and counts the number of pages before finding the one he wants, turning it around for flynn to see.]

Here, sketches of the human body. [multiple of them, in fact. multiple outlines depicting different things, one with muscles, one with bones, one with pathways and a heart, one with internal organs, and so on.]

The basics for any healer is an in-depth knowledge of the body.

cw: descriptions of injuries

[thinkfirst]

Oh—

[ These are like nothing Flynn has ever seen, and he leans closer with lips parted silently, tracing the many minute pathways. Flynn is aware of the contents of bodies. He has butchered animals in his time, healed field wounds with magic and tourniquets alike, but to see it all mapped out like this in two dimensions, neatly labeled... ]

This is only the basic level of knowledge? This must take quite a bit of time to memorize. Must you know the names of everything, or simply its function and what it is connected to?

[torpour]

The body is vast and complicated-- the human body, that is. But for people in general, much goes into their bodies and keeping them alive and healthy. [then he taps the pages again.] I'm going to insist on you knowing the names and functions of each organ, muscle and bone, and more.

Some patients prefer to listen to you speak as you work, for instance, to soothe their worries. But for our purposes, it's because I refuse to let you not know.

[thinkfirst]

[ Held to a high standard, then. Flynn traces the line of a vein from heart to head, murmuring its name quietly to himself as he does, and then nods, looking up sharply. There's a spark of challenge in his eyes, the kind that spurs him during battle, too: an obstacle to overcome. Flynn thrives like that. He loves it. ]

If you insist, then I will memorize them. I want to know what I'm doing, and I wouldn't want to disappoint you. How long did it take you to recall all the names?

[torpour]

I'm a special case, and you shouldn't hold yourself to the standards of my education.

[he sits back and allows flynn to do what he wants with the book, lacing his fingers together on his belly.]

I was trained with my trade since I was a child, and the one remarkable thing about me is that I forget nothing. I read my books from cover to cover and back again, and remember everything.

[thinkfirst]

Truly?

[ Flynn looks up from the diagram laying out nerves like rivers. ]

That... must be quite a gift. Doesn't it get tiring? Remembering so much?