lostcarnival | doctor, doctor

Entry tags:

doctor, doctor

Who: Joker and Yukio Okumura
What: Joker drops by to see Yukio with cake and curry, and a health checkup.
When: Right after Steven's surprise party
Where: The medical tent
Warnings: Joker's "not having an arm" deal

If nothing else, Joker likes to try and pay back his dues. It was a little thing, passing the word along about the party for Steven, but it was still nice especially considering Yukio isn't the top dog in the medical tent. He didn't have to do it, which is what makes it all the more special. Combined with Joker's request for arranging a checkup, well... He feels he owes it to the kid.

So, as the party is entering its quiet phase and most of the mess is cleaned up (Joker isn't going to torment the kitchen staff like that), he makes a small call to Yukio before finishing some of the dishes he'd been doing. It should be plenty of time for him to do that, and for Yukio to be aware that he's dropping by.

And when he does? It's with a plate balanced on top of a bowl full of curry. Good thing that the cake and kabobs on top are managing alright... Or maybe that's just Joker being used to small tricks like this.

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Yukio doesn't launch straight into eating the curry, because it really wouldn't be professional.

"I ate lunch," he says. He's probably hitting a growth spurt, because he's not eating any less than usual and he's been hungrier between meals. "I just haven't had time to eat dinner yet."

TIME TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT because this isn't some kind of 'a stranger comes to check up on Yukio' moment.

"I'll eat after we're finished here."

"Aaaah, but so late?" What do you mean it's not some sort of 'a stranger comes to check up on Yukio' moment? Joker would disagree. Then again, it's kind of hard not to when he'd heard a growl that intense.

Chuckling, Joker flicks his fingers a few time in a lazy gesture. "Listen, ya can't be at yer best if ya don't take care of yerself. Ya can eat at the same time, I won't judge. It's better for yer work, right?"

Yukio pauses, and... caves to Joker's pestering. He picks up a kabob in his clawed fingers and carefully pulls a piece of meat off with fanged teeth (he's still trying to figure out how to deal with all the newly-sharp parts of his anatomy, especially when he's tired and trying not to cut himself on fangs or claws in front of a patient).

"If you insist." Yukio says, finishing off that kabob and starting on the other one. He's not going to rush so much that it's obvious that he's hungry, but he's not going for a leisurely meal. He isn't going to eat the curry or cake yet, but this should be enough to quiet his stomach and keep Joker from insisting he eat.

"Is there something physical bothering you?"

Insistent mother-henning wins again. Joker does his best not to seem too smug, however, and just nods quietly to himself. Good. If there's one thing he knows that this carnival has far too much of, it's people who overwork themselves past the point of sleep or eat. He knows this, admittedly, because he's one himself. Still, so long as he can help at least a little bit in keeping this place running and people from keeling over...

But this is work, of course, even for all his fussing, and Joker clicks his tongue. "Ah, right.... Yeah." There's a pause before he reaches up with his hand to touch at the empty spot on his right side. "Pains on this side again." It's something he admitted to Yukio on their first little doctor's visit, and probably something that he would have gotten a look at if he'd insisted. Joker's missing limb isn't exactly a pretty sight, although it's long since been healed up. Anything inside the socket itself is missing, leaving only an ugly and scarred hollow where a very primitive prosthetic once lay. It's really no wonder that he'd mentioned the occasional pain; Victorian England isn't known for its stellar health care. Joker's adjusted to it in time, of course, more from stubbornness than lack of choice...

So it really has to be notable, if he's actually complaining about it. "It's like that, ah.... Ghost arm, that's what you call it, right? I told ya I get pangs of that, sometimes, but it's been.... different, lately."

Yukio's seen the limb, or lack thereof, and he's been doing some reading on phantom limbs. A mirror box would be the easiest solution, but it works best in cases where the limb was paralyzed before the amputation. It's unusual for it to still be painful this long after the removal, but it's not entirely unheard of. Joker just has bad luck.

"Phantom limb." He corrects, and goes to wash his hands. "How is it different than usual?"

Even washing his hands after a meal and before he possibly goes poking around Joker's empty socket. Truly a lad meant for the medical field. Joker keeps any teasing to himself, however. For one, reminding himself of that sort of thing will make him all the more uncomfortable in the medical tent. For another, well, there are more pressing things.

"Well," he says thoughtfully, resting his hand against what remains of his shoulder. "Normally, it's just aches. Like, if I've stubbed a toe, that kind of throbbing feelin'. But this time, it's more... burnin'. And it almost really feels solid, more than usual, if that makes any sense?"

"Solid?" Yukio asks, because that's... not something he was expecting to hear. "I don't understand what you mean."

Now he has to see it, just as soon as Joker uncovers the shoulder.

Vaguely, Joker waves his hand through the air. "I mean, most of the time, it's like I think I feel where my prosthetic used ta be, right? That kind of jostling feeling when I'd bump it against something. But this feels..." He waggles his hand from side to side. "Different."

More spread out, he wants to say, but he can't quite find the words. Still... His hand goes back to rest against his shirt shoulder.

"Ha... I didn't want ta bother ya with a physical this late, but would that be better, do ya think?"

"I don't mind," he says, polite and doing his job. He'd rather deal with this now than have Joker put it off for later.

"Did you injure your shoulder in any way recently?"

Carefully reaching his arm back to undo the buttons at the back- made so that he can still wear shirts over his wings- Joker thinks carefully. "I mean, I think I strained myself more than a little in Wismuth, since I was tryin' ta keep Steven from fallin' outta the sky, but... I would've thought that would be my good shoulder, not this one."

Aaaaand.... there. That should be enough for him to take the front of his shirt and tug it off to hang limply around his waist. What Yukio will get to see that's been a lot harder for Joker to will be an almost glow, dotting the skin in the mangled and scarred skin of his socket. It's not any one color, instead shifting through various colors almost more belonging to the aurora, just... very pastel.

Yukio's eyes go wide, because he's not entirely skilled at keeping his expression bland when encountering something weird like this.

"Have you been exposed to more magic than usual recently?" He asks, reaching out to examine the skin a little more carefully. "It looks like there's some sort of change happening. The skin is... it looks a bit like Nagisa-san, from the Wardrobe department."

See, when he makes a face like that, it just worries him more... But he tries to keep that under wraps, although there's no helping the slight jolt when Yukio reaches over to touch him. It's not a spot that really gets touched a lot, even by himself.

Then again, he does have a wooden hand, and those wouldn't be able to feel the oddly comforting warmth of the glowing patches as they're touched directly. The way they sort of 'stick' to Yukio's finges, being drawn a bit more outwards until it's just an awkward shimmering glow in the air, is a bit more noticeable.

"I mean..." Carefully, he tries to think. "There was Wismuth? That place was full of magic."

"I don't know enough about magic to help with this," Yukio admits, watching the way the glow clings to his fingers as he pulls his hand back. It's warm, in a nostalgic way, and he wasn't expecting that with Joker's description of the pain.

"Did it start in Wismuth, or later?"

The glow is sure just... hanging there now. In the air. Joker tries to crane his head to get a better look at it himself, now that it's not so... tucked away.

"Ah... Now that ya mention it... It wasn't too soon afterwards, but I just thought it was the usual."

Yukio wants to keep messing with it. But he won't, pulling his hand away (and hopefully, it doesn't just keep clinging to his claws, he doesn't want to be stuck to Joker).

"Do you have a history of frequent changes?" Yukio doesn't really know enough about changes to know if some people are more likely to transform than others, but his changes have been more rapid than Shura's, so others might be experiencing similar patterns.

Fortunately, the stick doesn't seem to be of the permanent glue type. It clings for a little while, maybe a foot or so away from the original point of contact, before letting go and staying there. With the length, it also seems to become a little more translucent, as if it's been drawn too thin. Despite this, the color still shifts lazily.

Joker watches the process, transfixed, before remembering the question. "Oh, well... In the past year, it's actually been pretty slow. The only thing that changed was, ah.... I got this stone, in the wooden parts of me, and one of my wings went ta white instead of black. But that's it. Changes tend ta come slower after you've been in the carnival for a while, unless ya really mess about with stuff."

That's actually a reassuring answer. Yukio was sort of concerned that with the rate of his changes, he might wind up looking like Gongenzaka before his year was up.

"Can you feel that?" Yukio gestures at the light, curious. This... might be exactly like Carly's body.

"Feel it, huh..." Frowning a little in concentration, he looks down at his arm and tries to.... do anything with it. There's no reaction yet, however. Just....

"I feel a sort of... tug so far, I guess." A pause before something occurs to him. "And it's more warm in that shoulder now, huh."

If it hurt, he's sure Joker would tell him, but he asks just in case.

"Is it painful?"

But Yukio doesn't know if he should stop there, or if it really is some kind of limb that needs to be somehow coaxed out.

"Has it reacted like this before, when you've touched this shoulder?"

"Ha, well..." Now this is a little embarrassing, and he rubs the back of his neck. "I've actually... been tryin' not ta mess with it at all...."

"That's understandable," he says, with a reassuring smile. "Why don't you see if it reacts to you, or only to other people."

He's honestly glad that he doesn't have to explain himself. It would be more than a little awkward, and, frankly, he's still more than a little awkward just having his right side exposed like this. Touching it himself with the doctor's go-ahead? Well, that's fine.

Carefully, he reaches over to touch it near the base, pulling his hand again. This time, the follow up of the faint glow is a lot shorter, only a couple of inches, before it stops. In fact, it starts to drift back to the main mass. "Huh, will ya look at that."

"Do you mind if I..." Yukio asks, gesturing towards the glow. He's curious, more just interested in whatever's happening than trying to figure out some kind of medical fix for a painful arm.

"As long as I don't get too poke and prodded." Needles, mostly. Because fuck needles. He needs to be worked up to needles.

No needles, yet. Yukio just reaches out to see if the light reacts differently to his touch than to Joker's.

So far, nothing that different. Just the same cling for an inch or two before it lets go, slowly drifting back. Apparently how it is at the moment seems to be enough... That, or it's just stuck now.

"I have no idea what's happening here," Yukio admits, "but for now, I recommend consulting with someone who knows more about magic than I do, and monitoring it for any changes."

"Ha..." Taking that as a cue to start tugging his shirt up again, Joker reaches down for it. "The funny thing is, that was our previous Doctor, before Herbert and all of ya showed up."

It's not a comment about him or his experience, and Yukio knows that he should know it. But it still feels like one, like a jab against a bruise. He knows he can't react to it, so he smiles like a bit of an apology and laughs slightly, in a way that's supposed to make it seem like his next words are mostly a joke.

"I haven't had time to learn magic yet, but maybe I should focus on that instead of medical knowledge. It might be more useful here."

"Well, it's been a while since we've had someone who used regular medical knowledge instead of potions!" Joker laughs a little as well, struggling a bit with his shirt. Congrats, Yukio, you get to see all the weird ways his body twists and bends in this. Bodies shouldn't have this kind of flexibility, but here they are.

"She was a talkin' zebra, so I don't think she knew any other way."

Oh that's... weird. Yukio's been training as an exorcist for most of his life, and even before that he was an extremely anxious and alert child, so he's more conscious of strangeness than most people. He knows how people move, and how they don't move, and Joker doesn't move like a human should. Yukio doesn't let himself react outwardly, but his smile is a little bit more strained.

And then it drops because he's... absolutely confused.

"A... talking zebra?" Look he's seen some weird things here but that's extremely weird.

He better not move like a normal human, he's part bird and wood.

Still, that kind of confusion is only expect, and Joker huffs out a laugh. Not too much, because he's kind of bending his spine back horribly so that his arm can reach back to fiddle the buttons back into place. "Yep! Her name was Zecora. She was around just about as long as I was! So you'll understand if this is all new for us, ha ha."

"That... does explain some of the reactions people have had to the idea of medical checkups." A magical zebra is entirely different from West's approach to medicine, or Yukio's.

"Yep!" Joker laughs, finally getting the buttons down right and pulling his arm back to swing rather normally at his side. No more weird twisting. In fact, there's just normal stretching. "We expect potions and magic, not normal doctor things, ha ha! At least, for those of us who've been around a while."

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