Latest revision as of 19:33, 30 August 2015

Iris Shelby has posed:
One of the nice things about operating a 'black market' clinic (nobody in their right mind in Japan's or Tokyo's government is going to accept the idea of a 17 year old doctor, nevermind one operating a solo-practice) is that you can show up at odd times and still get service. After all, Iris cannot be too picky about who she sees... patients are going to be few and far between, she suspects, and bills and grocery costs are going to be frequent.

So when the Sailor Senshi brought Tuxedo Kamen to her apartment at night, she was awake and quite willing to bring him in! She responded with proper care, concern, and sympathy, offering reassurances throughout. The apartment's front areas are pretty normal, though the second bedroom has been converted to a 'mini-hospital.' It is clean, but not perfectly sterile; she simply doesn't have the resources to run a proper medical operation. Nonetheless, he was brought to a long reclining couch and his friends shown outside to the living room; they were invited to watch TV or enjoy some candy from the bowl if so desired... this room doubled as her lobby.

Back in the 'operating room', Iris' winged hairclip came off, expanding a little so its gem serves as a 'display'. Valkyrie Wing is more than just a combat device, it turns out.

It talked! In an echoing, mechanically female voice. One that was very to the point and serious as it provided information whenever Iris ran it in the air a few inches above various parts of the injured man lying before her. <First degree burns. First degree burns. Second degree burns. Superficial piercing injury. Second degree burns. Unknown trauma akin to multiple blunt impacts. Piercing injury, non-life threatening. Unknown trauma akin to multiple blunt impacts.>

The list went on for a little while, as Iris took mental note. Finally, Valkyrie Wing read off a few numbers and reached the same conclusion the combat-medic did. They spoke in unison: "<Vital signs diminished but within stable parameters. Patient will survive with even adequate triage.>" And so Iris nodded... then walked outside the room for a moment to go see Tuxedo Kamen's friends.

Iris Shelby has posed:
Iris smiled to them, speaking up: "I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is he is out of warranty. The good news is I have some parts in back that /should/ fit a 2015 model cape-wearing friend, and I'll get right on that!" She giggles at her own joke and concludes, "He's going to be fine. You can stay here if you want, or leave, and I'll get in touch either way. It's going to be a while though." Whether they do so by one of the disposable phones she offers - Iris is well aware some of her customers might be justifiably paranoid about 'real' ways to contact them and has set that up in advance as a convenience for them - or by more permanent methods is up to the Sailor Senshi. Now that she's sure Tuxedo Kamen will be okay, she is all jokes and quips.

And then she is back in the operating room. Waving Valkyrie Wing over some areas causes it to radiate a white light, a basic healing magic. Of course, such things are not cure-alls. This is merely the first pass, to clean up obvious problems, to get bits of magical 'pine tar' off him, to get needles out, to smooth out a few bruises and the lightest of burns. The rest required conventional work; salves and bandages, and other such things. Yet Iris does know her work, and while she is by no means a master surgeon or other accomplished specialist... she is good enough to pass for emergency work and basic care. Once done, she stepped out to watch TV for a little while.

Several hours later, it is now well into the late night and early morning hours when nearly any reasonable person is asleep. Iris is hardly reasonable. The circumstances that brought Tuxedo Kamen here are hardly reasonable. And so she remains awake, walking back into the darkened room where her patient lies. She's quiet, tiptoe-ing in as she looks to check up on him.

Notably, throughout this entire effort... Iris has made no effort to unmask him. If it was upon him when he arrived, it could easily remain so when the 'doctor' comes in to check on him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Valkyrie Wing will also have taken note of the fact that the boy's linker core is very strong, and, throughout the treatment, was working very hard to help in the healing process -- to the point at which during some parts, a faint gold glow accompanied the white light.

It may be the reason that instead of being out for hours upon hours after the emergency treatment was completed, there is a quiet voice in the darkness when Iris tiptoes into the room.

"Is Sailor Moon okay?"

He's not stirring much; he got over his initial panic at waking up in a strange place with no memory of how he got there when he reached up and his mask was still on his face, and he was able to recall the situation surrounding his injuries.

Now there are bandages and stillness and chagrin in equal measure.

Iris Shelby has posed:
Iris is startled when he speaks. "Wow, you're already awake? You're pretty tough! No... Sailor Moon is not 'okay.'" She willfully misinterprets the wording used, quickly adding, "Sailor Moon is incredible. She and the others brought you here. If it tells you much, they all walked out on their own two legs. The only one you need to worry about right now is yourself, and you're in no danger. After all... I understand."

She walks over to lean down beside Tuxedo Kamen. "I understand the source of your powers. I ran some scans over it, but never removed it. They brought you to me for help, not to ruin you. So while you should never trust strangers, especially because I'm stranger than most... I assure you I have not, and will not, touch your mask."

She smiles, waving her wing-hairclip over him again. Right now it's just making blips and bleeps rather than vocal comments. Iris is still talking, though. "Because if I did that, I know you'd lose your powers as a mysterious friend and become just a regular friend, and /everyone/ needs a mystery friend! So it's alright if you remain 'Mr. Mask' right now. I'm Dr. Iris Shelby, by the way. Welcome to the most illegal hospital in Tokyo!" She says this with bright cheer, as if it was an accomplishment rather than a bad thing.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
While Iris is speaking, and for a long moment afterwards, Tuxedo Kamen just listens, staring, growing increasingly more flummoxed. It's pretty clear he has absolutely no idea how to take this girl, has no idea how serious or literal she actually is, and he's completely stymied.

This lasts almost long enough to be awkward, or to indicate there might be some kind of undetectable head injury, and then -- possibly worryingly, he starts shaking.

In short order it's clear that the shaking is in fact laughter, and he brings a hand up to press it against his mouth, stifling anything that might try to escape; after a couple of seconds he gets himself under control and relaxes against the bed, catching his breath.

"I don't-- /have/ any power, not like /them/, but I appreciate you leaving my mask on, Dr Shelby. And everything else you've done," he says seriously, finally, his voice warm. He has no problem calling a peer 'Doctor', it seems. "And thank you for the welcome. And for being illegal. This doesn't feel like a hospital, which is... I expect I'll be a repeat customer. I'm not sure what the Senshi told you, but I can pay."

Iris Shelby has posed:
<Patient is exhibiting signs of rehabilitation to their humor core,> the wing-hairclip provides its 'diagnosis', perhaps being sarcastic or silly in its own dry-toned way. Iris takes this as good news. "It sounds like you're going to be fine. You can stay overnight if you like, Mr. Mask. If you're worried about being pursued, don't. I promise to protect you from any monsters under the bed," or reclining couch in this case, "and the rest of the monsters around Tokyo know I maintain a strict 'stay away from my patients or I will hit you with magic powers' policy. They're not uminaginable powers, but they do good enough for around here!"

Then she returns to another point he brings up. Power and friends. "I'm sure you have some kind of power, if close to a half-dozen people haul you in here close to midnight and fall to their knees sobbing. You should have heard them!" Her voice takes on a very absurd imitation of various Sailor Senshi as she says things they probably didn't actually tell her. Things like: "'My life is meaningless without Mr. Mask', 'Tokyo will be much, much darker for his passing! Doctor, you /must/ save him!', and even 'You better make sure he pulls through, he still owes me a thousand yen!'

"You mean an awful lot to them. Especially that last one. So you settle /that/ debt first, then we'll talk about your bill here, okay? I might even be able to set up a repeat visit discount, if you really think you'll be coming here that much..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There on that reclining couch, Tuxedo Mask pauses again, eyeing Iris uncertainly. It's another moment, a moment full of side-eye, before he says slowly, "They did not." The corner of his mouth is twitching. He's ninety-nine percent certain he's being teased, but it's that remaining one percent...

"They all came in?" he asks, sounding like he wishes it were true but can't quite believe it. "Nevermind, though, I don't owe any of them any yen, but-- do you think I'll be able to go to school tomorrow? This might actually even work out because everyone already knows I was in the hospital earlier this week..."

Is he even serio-- of course he's serious, he's Tuxedo Mask. "I'm sorry, I think I'm still a bit dazed. I don't need a discount, but I might set up a separate account..." he trails off. "I'm sorry. I am really tired."

Iris Shelby has posed:
"I /think/ it was all of them," Iris comments. "Thirty /is/ all of them, right? Because there were a lot of them swarming my lobby, all there because they were worried about you. And I think about five or six stayed a while just to be sure you were okay, then left because it was getting late." So she sprinkles in some truth amongst obvious exaggerations.

Then she lifts a finger to her lips. "Shh. Shh. A doctor doesn't demand to know how their patient is going to pay while they're still recuperating. We'll figure out the money part later. As for whether you can be discharged tomorrow? Tell me, Mr. Mask... you seem like a very devoted man, the sort who... gets... set on fire, hit by a bunch of thin sharp things, and had something else sticking to them plus got a bunch of other bumps I'm not entirely sure what they were from. That's the sort of person you are. If I were to tell you 'no', what are the odds you would just sneak off in the middle of the night anyway because there are things you must do regardless of what some idiot doctor says?" A giggle follows that.

"I'll still give you my opinion. My cautious opinion says you should stay here two days, but you seem to be healing even faster than I expected. My realistic opinion says you should stay here one day, or at /least/ overnight, and then you'd probably be okay if you don't strain yourself for a few more days. Then there's part of me that knows the more medical jargon I sling at you, the less you're likely to care says you can do whatever you want and I probably can't stop you short of trying to beat you up to make sure you stay, and that really goes against the whole point of them bringing you here to begin with!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She may be giggling at him, but Tuxedo Kamen can only sit/lay there and look sheepish (after laying there and looking Highly Dubious, thirty senshi, lol wat); she has him pegged pretty well, all things considered.

He listens quietly, and then shifts around; it seems that he's settled on a method of dealing with input from Iris that works for him, and that is to gloss over the joking and respond to what he thinks are the serious parts! His humor core may be damaged beyond repair.

"I'll stay overnight, then," he says reasonably, "and if I'm not feeling up to leaving then I'll stay longer. And I wouldn't mind the medical jargon later, I can always google the parts I don't understand... and I'll try not to strain myself for a few more days. That's all I can promise. But it's a promise."

Having made that decision, the masked boy relaxes even further, resigned to being on the injured list a little longer. It's not, he thinks, so bad when it's not actually a hospital. "You do good work, Dr Shelby," he says sleepily. "Thank you again."