sirenspull_logs | Is this just a rash?

Who: Steve Burnside and Kenzo Tenma
When: October 26th, afternoon
Where: The streets of Siren's Port.
Summary: Steve has been putting off going to a doctor about as long as he possibly can... so the doctor comes to him instead.
Warnings: Fireblood.

["You killed my brother, you loathsome little maggot... and ever was he silly, but ever was he my beloved Alfred. I should kill you for this. However..."

Yeah... I remember that part...

Steve has been doing pretty well so far, if he did say so himself. Nearly two weeks in the city and he was shacked up in a nice, if temporary apartment. He had enough of the money they gave him to buy some food and settle in a bit, though he still hadn't found a job and had no idea where to start looking.

He was a little preoccupied in the meantime. His memories of Antarctica were still hazy, still more static than anything, but slowly, bits and pieces were coming back to him. And he was trying very hard to remember what had happened there in the laboratory.

"Instead of killing you... I will give your life new purpose. You shall become the first to receive my magnificent gift, Mister 267. You shall become the first with the privilege of serving me, your Queen."

Because the sooner Steve could confirm what happened to him in the laboratory, the sooner he could confirm to himself that this... sickness was nothing more than a cold. Allergies. The Core. Anything but-

"Can you feel her, Mister 267? She is taking root within you, making you something more amazing than has ever been on this earth... Can you hear her singing to you?

Veronica..."

No. It couldn't have been the virus.

Once he remembers, he can stop worrying about the pinprick mark on his arm, just below the barcode tattoo. The greenish tinge his skin had taken around it, the heat pulsing in his veins like liquid fire coursing through them. The fevers. Just ordinary fevers, nothing... nothing serious.

Even if they make him stumble while he walks, rushing on his way back to his apartment. He's had these episodes a few times since arriving, dizzy spells where his whole body hurts. He's even blacked out once or twice, so he definitely doesn't want to be in public when this one happens.

Pushing past people on the street, Steve clutches at his arm as he starts to sweat. It's just an ordinary sickness, he tells himself. He's fine. He's fine. All he has to do is take a few deep breaths.

He ducks into an alley briefly to take a rest, gasping to catch his breath. His heart is pounding somewhere near his ears as he kneels down, facing the brick side of the building. Forcing back a moan of pain behind gritted teeth, he bangs his fist against the brick to give himself a different pain to focus on.

He feels the scrape of his knuckles getting skinned. The slow drip of blood. And then a burst of heat, and out of the corner of his blurry vision he sees fire flickering in a trickle down the back of his hand. His blood is alight.

Okay. Maybe he is going to pass out...]

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[This was his usual route, going from the hospital to one of the quick lunch stops on this street, just so he could quickly get something to eat and go back to work. Preferably eating something that didn't come from one of the food trucks, no matter how delicious it sometimes smelled. And the food in the cafeteria also got a little dull.

He had an hour to get food, get back to the hospital, wash up, and then check on his patients. As he passed the alley on the way there, though, what he hadn't planned on was seeing someone... on fire? In pain? What the hell was going on!?

Forgetting all about the food, he rushed in; maybe he should have given it pause and stopped to think about it for a second. They could be getting ready to rob the building, or someone shooting up, or... no. He rushed in.]

Sir? Sir!? What's going on, are you okay!?

[Oh great. The last thing he wants is someone up in his business while this is happening, and Steve hurriedly throws his shoulder to shove him away.]

Get away! Leave me the hell alone!

[He wobbles and stumbles, falling backwards and accidentally giving the good doctor a good look at his arm while he scrambles back. The skin of his left arm is an ugly greenish tinge near his elbow, and blood is dripping from his hand... and igniting as it hits the air.]

[He goes with it, getting shoved back, but that doesn't deter him from thinking he can help in some way.]

You need-- oh my god! [What the hell!? What was wrong with his arm, he'd never seen anything like it before! And the blood, the fire blood... what was going on!?]

You need to get some help! Please, let me help!

[Steve's too scared to even argue, aside from the awkward way he shuffles on the ground to crawl away. He turns and defensively tries to hide his arm.]

I said, leave me alone!

[But there's not as much bite in him as there is bark, and he doesn't fight if the doctor comes closer to grab him.]

I can't do that, I'm afraid. [He may be a derpy doctor most of the time, but he is serious. He is going to help, and this was going to be one of those under fire tests. Like when he was learning how to shoot, how to track. How to kill a man.

Training took in, and he came closer, grabbing him by the arm and putting it behind his back.]

Stop. I'm a doctor, and I'm here to help. We need to get that cleaned up and looked at. You need to stop struggling.

[Steve does stop struggling, if only because his arm is seared with agonizing pain every time anything so much as brushes against it. He whimpers slightly, clenching his eyes shut and allowing Tenma to move it.]

What's- happening to me?

I don't know. [Says honestly.] But we'll figure it out. I need to get you to a hospital. This isn't right, this could possibly kill you.

[He tries to get him to look at him, but with his eyes closed, he can't see Tenma take off his coat and try to figure out if he should wrap it around the arm or would that do more harm then good?]

No!

[His alarm at the very idea of going to the hospital should strike Tenma as suspicious. But the terror is apparent, and the kid looks like he's trying to decide if he should rip his arm away and scramble off or not.]

No, no, not the hospital. I... [He shudders suddenly, groaning in pain and reflexively curling up into a ball.] Ah, shit!

What's wrong with the hosp-- What's wrong!? [He almost stumbles back in shock, when he suddenly begins to go into a curl. He won't let him rip the arm off. This has to be something medical related, and he will take care of him!]

What is it, talk to me!

[Steve doesn't answer now. It hurts too much, and gripping his arm tightly in the other hand is the only thing that mitigates it even a little bit.

He realizes after a moment that he's holding his breath, so he takes in a weary gasp and starts panting heavily.]

It's- it hurts...

[At last he lifts his hand away, giving Tenma a good look at the greenish, pulsing flesh of his left forearm for the first time. Blood hisses and bursts into flame as it leaks from his bleeding knuckles.

What the fuck, generally.]

[Holy. Shit. He is out of his depth, here, but he's going to try. Will it burn him if he touches it? Pulling out a pair of gloves from his jacket pocket (you never leave without them), he carefully reached out to check the hand.]

I know it hurts, but we need to make sure you can move to get some help. You're not going to die out in this alley.

Who's gonna help?

[Because really, he's on fire here-- and he has a sinking, awful feeling that he knows why.

But he doesn't pull away, just breathing hard and looking away. He can't bear to watch it anymore.]

I am. I'm going to help you, and we'll get the other doctors at the hospital... we know what to do.

[Stay calm. The first thing they taught you in medical school, was to always be calm. If you're calm, then the patient is calm, and then you feel like you're actually in control. Even if something crazy was happening,. like this thing right now. Tenma had never seen anything like this.

But then, Siren's Port was always a big shock to the system. Gloves on, and he was making sure not to be burned as well. That wouldn't work out too well.]

I'm going to try to see if we can get the flames down. Maybe smothering them will help. [His coat would have to be sacrificed, but he could get another. Placing it down over his arm, he hoped he could at least get them to die down... something. Anything. Otherwise his coat might catch on fire and then they'd be down one idea.]

[Steve clenches his eyes shut as he lets Tenma mess with him, wincing as the coat is wrapped around his arm. With enough pressure, the bleeding seems to subside and he feels the flames dying down.

In the meantime he takes a few deep breaths, trying to settle himself otherwise.

A thought crosses his mind after a moment of silence.]

Do you think it... it could be like-

[God, this sounds so fucking stupid.]

Like, a virus or something?

[Thank god for that. At least something was going right, for now, and no one needed to worry about having their eyebrows burnt off. He'll have to take a peek at it later; for now, pressure seemed to be the answer.]

I... [It certainly didn't seem like a virus, but then, Tenma couldn't have imagined a disease based on guilt, either.]

I'm afraid I don't... know. I guess it could be? But I don't know your history, or anything, so any guess I had would be... just a guess.

[Steve's eyes are still closed and he forces himself to take a few more deep breaths. Well, that's a good sign, he guesses, if the doctor didn't immediately panic at the very idea of it being a virus.

Which Steve was starting to figure out it just might be.]

Can you fix it? I mean- there's... there's good medicine here, right?

I believe so! [At least he can force some cheer with that.] I have a lot of faith in medicine, they've made more advances here then back home.

[He peeked under the bandages.] Very good medicine. It's helped everything I've seen. Are you in pain, now? If you are, I can help numb it, until we get to the hospital.

Is this just a rash?

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