[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]

[ 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?

[torpour]

Only if they're allowed to be tiring. [because they are, but nehan refuses to dwell on so much while feeling something. his emotions are locked away, and that helps.]

But you have to work much harder, given I have an advantage that you don't.

[thinkfirst]

[ Ah, yes, a sentiment with which Flynn is very familiar. He laughs quietly in a tired kind of recognition. ]

Yes, that's how I got through council meetings. One can't be tired if one simply decides not to be, correct? I will work as hard as I need to, and perhaps it will be easier because I won't have twenty councillors breathing down my neck for answers.

[ Just one teacher! That... has to be better. ]

[torpour]

[nehan then looks down at the book.]

No, you have me breathing down your neck. And you'll find I'm a taskmaster worse than twenty men.

Get to work reading.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn wonders if he will be a worst task master than Commandant Alexei, than all their captains during training. They were strict and fierce and angry that Flynn and Yuri had made it in to begin with, but Nehan is strict as well, and strikes Flynn as fierce and dedicated.

He will do his best not to give Nehan reason to snap at him, he decides, and bows his head. ]

Yes, sir. Right away.