(Under Control) Birds of a Feather

[West]

Emergency Room.

The words evoke images inspired by Hollywood and syndicated television: drama, excitement, obscure and fantastic bits of trauma. Dr. Blyes has long been disabused of of those glamorous notions. Like anything viewed through a camera lens and portrayed by actors, it's a far cry from reality.

Well, for various values of reality. Dr. Blyes has also been disabused of the generally held notion of reality.

There's a surprising number of animal bites, self inflicted punctures, and electrocutions. The ER has truly been humanity's answer to Darwinism.

Today's menu has something exotic. A stabbing. From what he's seen and heard, not an ordinary stabbing, either.

Deep. Longer and thinner than a knife.

The salt and pepper haired victim is a DOA, and piercing eyes stare lifelessly at the ceiling. There's an odd argument, about recalibrating the ambulance's equipment. The EMT swears they got an occasional sign of life, but the man is clearly dead.

[Miach]

OOC

Just to be on the same page as far as XP buys go, I've just asked for a third dot in Resolve and Occult. Should I consider them OK for this arc, or not, please ?

And on a Scene related note, where has the victim been stabbed, please ? The heart ? the liver ? The belly ? the head ? from the front, the face, or the back ? is there one wound, or several ?
Thank you.

Cast beforehand at home (Hallow):

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-04 11:27:08		Miach rolls 5 to Gno 2 + Life 3 to Spont. Organic Resilience (10 Again)		2, 2, 10, 5, 7, 5		1 success

Despite his relatively young age, Dr Blyes was one of the most experienced member of the staff in attendance when the victim arrived, and the puzzled medics turned to him for this new case.

A stabbing was not unheard of, of course. It was the wound's shape that made it interesting. It made him think of a stilleto of sorts, perhaps. But the wound, coupled with the ambulance's equipment behaviour made it odd. It was a nice change of pace, at least, and Jonathan couldn't help but further inquire. All the more if it helped him focus his mind on something else than his... cravings.

"Hiya guys. I'm Dr Blyes, nice meeting you." perhaps they had heard of him. Perhaps not. Regardless, the tall Acanthus had learned that you got more with honey than vinegar.

"I heard you talking about your equipment. What exactly happened that make you think he might still be alive ? Heartbeat ? Any rhythm to it ? Anything I should be especially careful of ?" he asked them, valuing the insight from experienced EMT. Maybe something like a yoga-induced trance, he thought... He had one sure way to know, of course, if push came to shove, but he would rather not overdo it from the get-go.

[West]

From what he gathers, it's a single puncture straight through the heart, missing the ribs and scapula. He'd have to take a look himself to verify what he's heard.

One of the EMTs has found a coffee; a latte, to be exact. What is it with lattes?

He gives Miach a polite nod -- the good doctor has made a small name for himself in their small community, and the EMT straightens up a little. He might even be checking Miach out. Just a little.

"Hey, Doc. Not sure, really. Guy was obviously DOA, but we went through the basics, you know. The Wylch squawked a couple of times, but maybe we hit a pothole," he explains.

There's an undercurrent of bored annoyance, but it's focus is the truck, rather than Miach.

[Miach]

"I see..." Miach said, giving a look at the truck. It didn't seem overly old or undercared for, and so was no less likely to work than you'd expect. Hiccups, eh ?

"Right. Please bring him to the table, and let's check it out with another machine. Be quick about it, too, just in case." Could he truely still be alive somehow ? Miach wouldn't forgive himself if he were to let someone die when there was even the slimmest glimmer of hope. It was worth double and triple-checking before letting go of the case.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-04 14:28:19		Miach rolls 10 to Int 3 + Medicine 4 + Specialty 1 + Equipment 2 (?) (10 Again)		5, 4, 7, 2, 5, 2, 7, 6, 8, 9		2 successes

[West]

The body is moved from the folding ambulance's gurney to a bed. There's surprisingly little blood, and the man's piercing eyes are still wide open, staring lifelessly.

It doesn't take long to affirm that he is very, very dead.

[Miach]

Now that he had ascertained the man's death by all mundane means available to him, Dr Blyes turned back to the EMT, and shook his head in sad denegation. "Nope..." he said weakly.

As he walked them out, he tried to sound reasonable, advising them to get the Wylch checked for safety, and offered them the name of Oliver Peag, a man he knew who could perhaps give them a hand.

As soon as they had left though, he walked back to the DOA's bed, and looked at him, engraving his features, and his wound's characteristics in his memory.

He could resume his daily chores, of course. Or he could try and exert a little more his Willworking... Dr Blyes went to the main desk, and asked "I would like this body into an isolated room until someone comes and claims it. I don't want the other patients to see it, you understand ?"

Provided his request has been granted, he will follow the body, and double-check he's alone with it, before casting a spell he hopes would shed some light on the present situation.

  3 successes, -1 Mana

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-05 16:32:42		Miach rolls 4 to Gno 2 + Death 2 to Spontaneous Forensic Gaze (10 Again)		5, 7, 8, 10, 9		3 successes

[West]

Eventually, Miach is able to get the corpse in a room alone. Granted, it's the room where they store the corpses that need to be transported to the morgue, but...

Gazing at the corpse, he confirms that a deep puncture that pierced the heart is how this man died.

A large glass pane lines the wall of the room he's in. Looking up, he sees a woman outside of the room looking in through the glass at him and the corpse. She's an elfin asian, and cute, but dressed severely in a no-nonsense leather jacket. Her expression is inscrutable, but she doesn't appear to be overly curious or bothered by what Miach is doing; rather, content to wait until he's done.

[Miach]

  1 success to Recall roll if he had already seen the woman in Sutter's

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-05-05 17:14:18		Miach rolls 6 to Int 3 + Composure 3 (10 Again)		7, 2, 8, 1, 6, 4		1 success

Crap... has she seen me ? Miach wondered what the other woman might make of his presence, and if she had seen anything to make her suspicious. It didn't seem so, though, and he breathed a metaporical sigh of relief. No point staying here now, though he made a mental note to check what the autopsy's results would yield, if possible. The lack of blood was surprising.

He tensed a bit as he got ready to leave, and kept the woman in a corner of his eyes as he walked out, leaving her the field and returning to his daily job.