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I looked upon the scene before me - upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak walls upon the vacant eye-like windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression of the soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation… - Edgar Allan Poe * There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy - William Shakespeare * No Man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. - Mary Wollstonecraft * Tell me the news, again, whatever it is... sorrow and I are hardly strangers. I can bear the worst. ― Sophocles






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An Ordinary Case of Blood Loss
Topic Started: Nov 10 2015, 12:50 AM (384 Views)
Jessica
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When she walked past the entrance of the E.R., carrying an unconscious girl in her arms*, Jessica had a distinct feeling she was deep in the shit. She had fucked up once more; she should have tossed the body in the river - at least, that's what her Sire would have said. But she hadn't, because she was Jess and she thought she was better than anyone and she took no shit from no one and she tossed no people down no river - and thus, of course, she fucked things up.

Maybe, just maybe, she could have, dunno, pretended the girl was a bit harder to lift? Because, she was standing there with a person in her arms and showing no sign of fatigue, and okay, the fainted girl wasn't big, but anyway... Pretending she was in fact struggling to bear her weight, Jessica looked around seeking for help.

She had no clue how she was going to explain those signs on the neck, no clue at all. Which meant, she was in the shit. She could feel the Masquerade cracking and crashing over her head. But still. Fuck. That was the right thing to do. Or not? Kind of. Maybe? Maybe she wasn't going to be hunted down and killed. Maybe.

______
* Potence 1
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Dr. Jason Singh Barar
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Jason flattened himself to the wall as the gurney rolled past. Doctor Recine dashed by, already shouting orders to the pack of orderlies and nurses who surrounded the patient. Maria Vittoria's resident trauma surgeon ran a tight ship, but tonight a double stabbing had her in a frenzy. Jason, who tonight had only had to supervise the pumping of some poor girl's stomach, was just glad that he didn't have to assist in the surgery. Better to stay away from all that blood. No, tonight was a slow night for him, at least.

Returning to his office, Jason picked up the sheet of notes he'd taken and went over them again. Despite hours of lab work and thaumaturgical study, he'd been frustrated in his efforts to find what he'd been looking for.

"Doctor?"

Jason jumped, spinning around to look at the nurse who'd stuck her head in the room. Trying to regain some composure, Jason asked "What is it, Regina?"

"There's a young woman outside, Doctor, who seems ill." Nurse Regina Tirabassi didn't seem to notice Jason's startlement, or at least not react to it. The woman was supremely professional.

"What are the symptoms?" Jason asked, getting up from the desk. As he did, he dropped his notes into a desk drawer which locked as he closed it. There was nothing incriminating in them- and certainly no Thaumaturgical formulae- but they contained more information than any ordinary person should have.

Regina fell into step beside Jason as they exited the office at a brisk walk. "Weakness. Paleness. She seems to have some sort of marks on her neck as well." Jason missed a step. Regina continued, unperturbed. "Normally, I imagine this might go to Doctor Recine but..." Regina trailed off. Whatever this woman was suffering from, Jason doubted it was as serious as three knife thrusts to the torso. "The friend who brought her in is with her, you can ask her what happened. Doctor."

They'd arrived at the small room where two young women waited. One was lying on the table, unconscious and pale. The other sat nervously, fidgeting and unsure of herself. Jason stepped into the room, Regina a step behind him. He immediately went to the unconscious woman's side to take a pulse and check her breathing. As he did, he addressed the other woman, with his best professional Italian.

"Hello. My name is Doctor Jason Barar. What's your name?". Jason gave her a chance to answer before continuing. "Could you please tell me what happened?"
Edited by Dr. Jason Singh Barar, Nov 10 2015, 03:52 AM.

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Jessica
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Jessica got up as soon as the doctor entered the room and muttered a 'hi', balancing antsy from feet to feet. She was wearing a T-shirt of the Modena City Ramblers and had her dreadlocks down on her shoulders.

"My name's Jessica", she said - and immediately she cursed herself for revealing her identity. But but, what else to do? Even if she had lied, discovering her would have been all too easy. Which is like saying I am fucked anyway.

"I, uh, just found her on the ground at the Murazzi. I work there, you see. She'd fainted or something. But she's still alive, right? Not really sure what happened to her...", she said. Oh, yes I know what happened to her, but how could I tell you? Damn, I -hope- you won't suspect anything anyway. If only those wounds didn't look so weird....

"There was a lot of mess tonight. Well, like usual, but maybe more? I asked a bit, nobody saw when she fell. So, uh, I thought it was better to take her here?"

Well, surely better for the girl. Whether it was better for Jessica, it wasn't that obvious; one could have said yes or no, depending on their preferred perspective; but Jessica wasn't really the type to indulge in such meditations, and that night even less so.
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Dr. Jason Singh Barar
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The unconsious woman had a pulse, albeit a faint one. Glancing at her neck, Jason saw the marks there- two, spaced about right for a pair of canines. Jason suspected he knew what was wrong with her already. But with Regina and Jessica in the room, he'd better confirm it. Taking the blood pressure cuff off of the wall, he strapped it across the patient's arm, and activated the device. As he watched the numbers on the display climb, he turned to Jessica. He tried to reassure the young woman with a smile. "You did the right thing bringing her here, Jessica. You might have saved her life."

The monitor on the BP cuff beeped as it finished its reading. As Jason suspected, her blood pressure was low. Entirely consistent with blood loss. "Nurse," said Jason, turning, "I don't suppose we have a blood type for the young woman?". Regina shook her head. Jason continued, Please get me an IV and two pints of O-." Regina quickly stepped to it, efficient as ever. With her gone, Jason turned back to Jessica. He had a few minutes.

"And how are you holding up?" The young woman seemed incredibly antsy, barely able to sit still. It was clear that she was scared of something. Which made what Jason was about to do all the more difficult.

"Jessica, I don't want to alarm you, but I think your friend here might have been attacked. See these marks?" Jason said, indicating the two small marks on the unconscious woman's neck. "It looks like someone stabbed her in the neck with something sharp." Jason paused. He had no desire to try and intimidate or frighten Jessica, but if a vampire with so little regard as to nearly exsanguinate its victims was stalking Jessica's place of work, it might be better to put everyone there on guard. "If I'm right, the police will eventually want a statement from you." That was a lie. Jason had no intention of taking this to the police, if he could help it. "In the meantime, please tell me anything you can remember. Anything you can come up with might help save someone's life".

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Jessica
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It was irrational. Or maybe it was rational. Who knows - not Jessica, for sure. But the idea that she could have saved a life almost moved her to tears. I don't save lives, I take them. I don't deserve prise, was the flash that crossed her mind like a stab; a sharp stab in the middle of her brain.

She took a black tattered handkerchief and pressed it against her eyes, as to remove something itchy; a minuscule dark red smear on one side of her nose could have been mistaken for melted make up, unless one knew what to look for.

Jessica wasn't sure how to reply to his questions. The police? Hell, the police! Fuck! The fright that word evoked, for an instant, was almost comforting - a memory of old, familiar, reassuring fears; a dirty conscience made of shop-lifting and pot-smoking and house-squatting; a time when she was afraid of the police, but not of herself. But now, the police was an entirely different kind of danger. I can even survive, if I can manage to give that damn statement at night and then it's over for good. But what if it's not? My Sire had a point, I should have dumped her in the - . And there her thoughts had a halt. Was she really considering dropping a living person in the Po as a reasonable option?!

Trying her best to keep her composure, she thought to something to tell to the doctor: "Hm, I told you, I am not sure... I was working, you see? I've been inside the club all the time... Well, almost. At some point, I went out to greet some friend or something, and there were these guys around this girl on the ground. They thought she was sleeping, they said, so they hadn't turned her or anything. But she hadn't moved for long so they thought it was weird. So we checked and... Uh, of course, right? But, is she going to be all right? I mean, stabbed? That sounds pretty bad, I mean...".
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Dr. Jason Singh Barar
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The woman was really trying to help. Clearly, she'd be unsettled by what had happened tonight, and who could blame her?

"Thank you Jessica, that's very helpful. The police might want to talk to those men, but don't worry about yourself or them. People don't tend to be punished for doing the right thing." That seemed to be what the girl needed to hear. To reassure Jessica, Jason began explaining what was about to happen. ""She's going to be all right. When Nurse Tirabassi gets back, we're going to give her a blood transfusion to make up for her blood loss. We'll also be taking a sample of her blood, to make sure she doesn't have any infections from her injury. After that, all she needs is rest and she will make a full recovery."

Jason checked over his shoulder. Regina should be back soon with the blood and equipment. "If you like, you can wait in the lobby for this next part. Feel free to grab yourself a coffee, and we can talk about this afterwards, alright?"

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Jessica
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A glimpse of outrage flashed in Jessica's eyes when the doctor tried to reassure her on the Police's intentions. They don't harm you if you're innocent, uh? Tell it to Carlo Giuliani, tell it to that Cucchi guy. Tell it to the victims of Fascism, for fuck's sake!. But then, it was really not the place and time to rant against the Man. Because, for all the bravery that she claimed to have, she was really really scared to be arrested. And then, she liked that the doctor was a foreigner. Probably he had to measure his words, too, with all the assholes there were around.

So she just nodded and said: "Hm, ok, I'll wait here a bit. To see how it goes and all". She went to the lobby and, indeed, bought a coffee from the vending machine. She was going to vomit it later, of course, but at least she could still feel its taste. She had a flashback of another day, another coffee and another hospital. Back in Lecce, when she was visiting her grandmother. Oh how much she had thought to be bored and to hate everyone! If only younger Jessica would have known...
Edited by Jessica, Nov 12 2015, 02:04 PM.
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Dr. Jason Singh Barar
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The procedure went off without a hitch. The IV was set up, and the blood transfusion begun. After taking a blood sample, Jason instructed Regina to monitor the patient, and went off to the lab to prepare several cultures. He dearly hoped that the patient wouldn't test positive for yellow fever. Even catching it early, her weakened immune system would make her chances dicey.

Having set the cultures, Jason checked on his patient one more time before heading out to the lobby. Jessica was sitting there, sipping some of the hospital's coffee. Jason was surprised to see her there- he'd half expected her to run. Even more surprising, she seemed to be enjoying the coffee. He'd never tried it himself, for obvious reasons, but he'd heard many complaints, from staff and patients alike.

Jason moved near Jessica, and sat down one seat away from her. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking. "Your friend is going to be fine. Routine procedure, no complications. She'll need to be monitored for a few days, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her out and about within the week." That is, if she doesn't catch yellow fever or anything. "Anyways, I wanted to ask how you were holding up. You seemed uncomfortable back there. It was a brave thing, you know, coming here by yourself. And strong too, from what I hear. Regina- Nurse Tirabassi- mentioned that you carried her in by yourself? You're like some kind of super hero!" Jason added, jokingly. He hoped to at least get a smile out of the young woman.
Edited by Dr. Jason Singh Barar, Nov 12 2015, 08:59 PM.

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Jessica
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Jessica wasn't sure why she was still there. Maybe she was afraid they would have looked for her more intently if she had run, maybe it was some sort of self-disruptive tendency - like a criminal goes back to the scene of the crime, even though everyone knows it's a terrible idea, so Jessica lurked around dangerous situations, to check how dangerous they were, then to check again, until she was definitely screwed.

Or maybe she was just tasting that slice of normalcy, in the same way she tasted the coffee... The doctor's comment on her strenght, however, made her doubt that her ability at upholding the masquerade. "Uh? Oh! Oh well. I am used to pick up... big stuff. I mean, I am trained, kind of. And the girl isn't very big, right? It's not like it's impossible for a girl to pick her up", she said, realizing as she spoke that she was justifying herself much more than reasonable.

She didn't entirely like Jason's attitude, what with the superhero and all that patronizing shit. But it wasn't really about that. Brave? Why brave? It was dangerous only because she was a vampire. What was he insinuating? What was she screwing up this time? But, whatever, for the way things were going she didn't even care that much. "And, I am doing okay, I guess. I, uh, I don't think it was brave or something", she said, now speaking her mind more recklessly; it might have been the nostalgia, it might have been her suckiness as a liar, but now she just wanted to confess... something... not everything... but something. "It's just... sometimes you try to do something right, you know? Instead of doing everything wrong. And it's like, it's not that you can really fix what you did wrong, but still...". She frowned, losing track of her own considerations, not being used to ponder so much over deep stuff. "It's just... I didn't want to-" and here she bit her lip, before saying she didn't want to drop her in the Po. "I didn't want to leave her lying there all night", she said, correcting herself in time.
Edited by Jessica, Nov 12 2015, 09:38 PM.
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Dr. Jason Singh Barar
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Jessica, it seemed, had some emotional problems she needed to work through. Her uncertainty about herself and her actions was obvious- always trying to play down what she had done, as much as saying she'd failed at everything she tried. Jason was no therapist. He hadn't been trained to work through other people's problems and help them work through them. And even if he had, there was no time for to make any real lasting difference for Jessica- that kind of work took months or years to make any sort of meaningful change. None of that changed the fact that Jessica had wandered in here needing help- even if that help was a few encouraging words.

Jason thought hard before he began. "Jessica, I don't know anything about you or your life. I don't know if and how you've been 'doing everything wrong'. But understand one thing. What you did tonight- that was right." Granted, it might have been better to call an ambulance, the crew of which were trained and equipped to transport patients safely, but Jason left that out. "Most people, they just want to go about their lives with no complications. Even the best people may balk at going out of their way to help someone else. I mean, when you saw that woman lying there, you could have just walked away and hoped that someone else would take care of the problem. Instead, you took it upon yourself to save that woman's life. You made the choice to do the right thing.". Jason paused hoping his words were sinking in. Jessica still seemed dubious. "You seem pretty hard on yourself. It sounds like you might be second guessing your actions tonight, doubting your motives. But you chose to help this woman and did so. Don't let anyone take that away from you. And 'anyone' includes you," he added with a wry grin.

After that speech, Jason didn't really have much more to say. He would need to check on his patients again before his shift ended, and make sure Jessica made it home safely. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back to work soon. Feel free to stay here as long as you need to. You can check the cafeteria if you need something to eat, though I doubt there'll be much there at this hour. When you're ready to leave, I'll get you a ride home, alright? And if there's anything else you need, let me know."

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Jessica
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Jessica wasn't sure how to feel about Jason's words. He was well-meaning, she could tell that. But he also irked her at some level. He spoke like some kind of, uh, teacher, or school counselor, or whatever. Well, maybe what bugged her was really the fact he was kind and encouraging and everything, but only because he knew jack shit of what was going on, what she was, what she had done. Maybe what bugged her was that she was begging for some compassion, and for a compassion she didn't deserve.

She let him speak, nodding and humming as if she had cared; as she had done so many times, indeed, with teachers and school counselors, when she was tired of teasing and arguing at least. She waited until it was over; she remained there, looking at him as he went back to his work; letting him believe she was going to wait for a ride, if that was what he'd have assumed. Then, when nobody was paying attention to her, she walked out and went back to her car.

It was only once far from the hospital that she remembered the police stuff. Shit. She drove fast to her haven, hoping nobody had noted down her plate number.
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