Dayshift 31: Doctor's Office 3 (Dr. Muraki)

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

There really was no rest for the wicked. Muraki had gotten up early again that morning to look over files, and after his usual late nights it was hardly something that brought him a great deal of joy. But that was work and he'd gotten used to much worse in his first few months as a doctor. In truth, he was looking forward to seeing his old patients again. The thought brought a small, sharp smile to his lips.

But that was later in the day, according to his schedule. First he found the shelf he knew would be empty and ran his fingers across the slightly dusty surface. A mouse had been in his office. How long would it be, he wondered, before it realized it had stepped into a trap? He blew the traces of dust off his fingers and got ready for work.

He had a chair brought into his office for the new patient, set in front of his desk like the last time. It wouldn't do to advance too quickly on a skittish new foal. At least this one had chosen an imaginary name that was similar to the real; there might be some helping him yet. There was nothing Muraki enjoyed more than a pliant young mind. They were especially interesting to bend.

He waited in his chair, his posture as impeccable as ever. His arms rested comfortably on the desk for once, the only testament to the weariness a cup of coffee hadn't been able to banish. A small, innocent-looking bowl of multicoloured candies sat on the corner of his desk. All he had to do now was wait.

Comments

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey was not at all clear on how there could be such a thing as a doctor of the mind--it was certainly not something that existed in Falena. And this doctor had a very different feel about him than Dr. Silva or Dr. Murad; maybe it was only that his army's doctors were living the life of battlefield medics, harried beyond measure by patient after patient, many of whom they'd never be able to save. Certainly neither of them had ever looked this... put together.

Frankly, Frey had some distrust of smooth people, probably because of Gizel Godwin and, to a lesser extent, Zweig. People who kept their emotions closer to the surface were much more pleasant to be around, even when some of those emotions were very negative--at least Frey had always known exactly what Roy was thinking.

Still, it wouldn't do to be impolite, since this doctor could just as well be as much of a pawn of Landel as any of the patients. Maybe. So Frey sat in the offered chair, wary but not aggressive.

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Muraki watched the boy move across the room to the chair, his interest not a fraction above polite. He smiled amiably and inclined his head. "Good morning, I'm Doctor Muraki."

Playing this part wasn't a terrible chore when he was in such a fine mood. It was hardly playing at all at this point: he really was feeling very cheerful about the days to come. "There's no need to look so weary, Frederick. I'm not going to eat you. I understand therapy can be intimidating to someone who doesn't know what to expect. Do you have any questions I can address?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"None that I would get satisfying answers to, Doctor Muraki." That the doctor insisted on using the false name the nurses gave Frey was proof enough that he would be no help here. "But I'm sure you're already aware that I don't answer to that name."

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Smart boy - or, at the least, not stupid. That was always a little bit more interesting. It was too bad he was so distrustful of his elders. Muraki could weave him a fine kingdom if he was so inclined.

"Some do. I had no way of knowing which you would respond to." The doctor replied with an elegant shrug of his shoulders. "We'll start very simply then. How are you feeling today, my young Prince?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey frowned, just a little, feeling somehow even less comfortable now that Muraki was calling him 'Prince'. It was what almost everyone at home had called him, so it shouldn't sound so strange after only a day or two here, and yet it did. Maybe it was because he knew the doctor didn't actually believe him--that had always been a little surreal, back in Falena, and it was no better here. Worse, maybe.

And how was he feeling? Well, last night he'd been all but cut to ribbons, and exhausted himself using the simplest of magics. "I'm tired, sore, and homesick." To put it mildly.

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Sore from what, he wondered. Frederick's records showed him to be generally good-natured, unlike the patients whose injuries he'd been able to examine first hand.

He inclined his head slightly, almost an agreement. "That seems to be the general sentiment. An alarming number of my patients have complained of injuries in the past. I would think this place should be much safer considering what it is. Have you been getting along badly with the other patients?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"And it doesn't occur to you to ask why so many patients are gravely injured?" Frey sighed, instinctively wrapping an arm around his ribs where the deepest of his cuts was still throbbing with every breath. He could feel the stitches tugging at his bruised and sensitive skin.

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Muraki regarded him levelly. "Would I get a satisfying answer to that question?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey smiled faintly and shook his head. "Probably not. The divide between the patients and the staff is too great, in this place, for any kind of honest communication."

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

"You may be right about that much but I like to think my job isn't superfluous. We all have our illusions." Muraki smiled almost carelessly, the perfectly charming doctor. He shifted a little and pressed his fingertips together, his chin resting lightly on them. His expression turned thoughtful and slightly concerned. "Are your injuries bothering you? If you aren't willing to speak about where you got them, I can still take a look and prescribe something if necessary."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"I thought you were supposed to be a doctor of the mind, not the body?" Frey gave Muraki a faintly suspicious look, not at all sure what to make of this doctor. Not knowing exactly what it was that doctors of the mind were supposed to do in the first place made it difficult to judge if this Muraki was behaving in a way that was proper for his profession.

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

"I'm a qualified physician but I needed a slight change of pace after so many years. This isn't radically different from what I used to do for those who hired me privately. The mind and body share an intimate link."

The ways he'd discovered that over and over still amused him at times. He closed his eyes, almost remembering. "Looking after my patients' physical well-being has become something of a hard habit to break." He regarded Frederick, schooling his features into a serious expression once more. "And aside from that, it gives me something reassuring to tell your parents."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey couldn't quite hide his flinch, when the doctor mentioned his parents. He knew that everything the staff here said was a lie, but he'd never imagined that they would lie to quite that extent. His parents were dead, and though he missed them more than anything, Frey was not about to listen to any of these people's lies just because they happened to be lies he wished were true.

But all he said was, "There's nothing reassuring about the condition that I'm in today."

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

"Tired, sore, and homesick? There are worse things." The doctor replied coolly, as if he hadn't noticed the patient's subtle maneuvering in the slightest. He sighed, apparently with defeat.

"I could tell you about how your family is doing if you'd rather not talk about what goes on here. You have a sister as well. Do you remember much about her?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"I remember everything about my family, but you're only going to tell me that it's all made up, so I don't see any point in talking about it." This place... it roused anger in Frey in ways that even the Godwins seldom had. It was strange--the things the Godwins had done were really much more horrible, and yet they at least had a kind of sick logic to them. This place was just confusing and frustrating.

Standing suddenly, feeling remarkably confrontational, Frey pulled up his shirt to display the cuts all over his torso. Most were fairly shallow, but the one along his side was both long, and very deep. It was stitched closed now, but it had sliced him right to the bone, the blade scraping along his ribs in a sickening kind of grinding pain he would never forget. "And what will you tell them, then? 'Your son was only partly shredded'? Very reassuring." It was quite a rush, being this bold! Aggressive. Sarcastic, even. Was this how Roy felt all the time?

And there was no one here who knew him, who might see the Prince behaving so disgracefully!

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Muraki's gaze shifted from the boy's livid features to his torso, his expression not changing in the slightest despite the extent of the injuries. This creature presenting itself to him now was certainly a little different from the boy he'd expected to meet.

His gaze was casual, medical. Yet he leaned across the desk, the tips of his fingers brushing the longest cut just barely before he settled back in his chair. He said nothing for a long moment.

"I was hoping to tell them their son isn't as crazy as they first assumed." Muraki looked up again, but the light reflected off his glasses in a way that made them entirely opaque. "Did that happen during the night?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

The burst of angry energy left Frey as quickly as it had come, and he sat back down in the chair heavily, letting his shirt fall to cover his torso again. "Yes, it happened last night."

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

Muraki rested his chin on his fingertips again. If he was disappointed by the sudden disappearance of the display, it didn't show in his features. "How? I'm not foolish enough to think that you fell on your butter knife."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"A man attacked me with a blade. I don't know where he got it." Well, that was true enough. Granted, it was actually a lot of blades, but Frey really had no idea where the swordsman had gotten them from. That strange doorway into nothing was not something Frey was familiar with.

At least "a man attacked me" sounded saner than "there are monsters in the halls at night." This doctor had probably heard that 'delusion' before.

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

"Your roommate?" He asked, following the logical route. "I can have him moved if he's become violently unstable."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Sorry for this thread dragging out foreeeever. It's just the first time I've had a therapy session with my character go anywhere at all, so I'm happy.]

"Oh, no. Takaya was quite... non-violent." Frey couldn't reasonably call Takaya 'nice', and such a lie would be incredibly obvious to anyone who'd ever met Takaya, but the other boy certainly hadn't made any attempts to hurt Frey. "The locks on the patient room doors don't seem to be very good. People wander around a lot at night."

[damned-doctors.livejournal.com]

[ooc: Sorry for the slowness! Frey is so cute...though cute isn't the right word... <3!]

"I was told by a few other patients that they've been injured by something less than human. A delusion, perhaps? Though I have to wonder. Considering the weariness many of you exhibit towards me and the other staff..." He didn't say it outright, but the implication was there. Was it the staff that had injured him? Why was Frey so reluctant? Those seemed to be the proper conclusions to draw with what information the boy had given him.

"Ah, I've gone far off track. I apologize. That wound is extremely troubling."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

The lessons Frey had learned dealing with Salum Barows served him well in this situation: take nothing said as the straight truth, and don't agree to or with anything unless you're sure it isn't a trap. Muraki's supposition about the staff--though correct--had the feel of a trap to it, so Frey left that topic alone and let the conversation be brought back to the specifics of his wound.

"It's been stitched up, obviously, and doesn't seem infected." But it did hurt, and Frey was not so accustomed to physical pain that he could entirely keep it from showing on his face.