Check Up Over

Giacinto sat on a bed, cross legged, rubbing her arm with a little pout on her lips.

Lyssum had called her here for a check up and bloods to see how bad her poisoning was getting.

Bloods. She didn't like needles. After four and a half thousand years, countless battles and bruises and conquering fears of all kinds, the Elder didn't like needles.

She'd just sit here and pout a little before she slumped off somewhere else to carry on her Elder duties.

Artemis had been spending most of his time in the graveyard, it preferred it over living within the mansion walls, his room mate did not seem to agree with his presence so most nights he slept in the infirmary.

He made his way back inside, stretching his limbs with a yawn before noticing a woman sprawled out on one of the beds.

"Evening Miss."
He said with a smile as he sat on a bed opposite her
"I do hope I am not interrupting your pouting."

She looked up.

"No, its fine."

She ran her hand through her curly hair, pushing it back out of her face with a little grin. "Pouting over."

"I'm Giacinto, by the way."

"My name is Artemis, a pleasure to meet you Giacinto."
He replied, offering forward his hand in greeting.

"Is there a reason you are in the infirmary or do you simply enjoy the scenery?"

He replied with a warm chuckle

She slid off her bed, padding over to his and perching on the edge, taking his hand and shaking it with a grin.

"And you, Artemis."

She gave a half shrug. "Even Elder's get sick, unfortunately."

He didn't let go of her hand after he shook it, instead he took her hand and examined it closely, inspecting it.

"I can see that Miss, your veins..."
He said, gazing at her wrist.

"Your veins are miss coloured, I am led to suspect blood poisoning, not an unheard of disease in vampires, not common either though.
May I ask how long you have been like this?"

He asked, still clutching onto her hand, as far as common courtesy went, Artemis was someone who often forgot that other people had boundaries.

She stared down at his hand holding hers.

"The disease was more common back when Lycan and Vampires weren't feuding."

She felt old admitting that she had been around before Vampires and Lycan began warring with each other.

How long had she been like it...? How long had she known Aleksandr? Three thousand years. How long had she been his lover...? A thousand...?

"Two and a half thousand years...? Possibly a few hundred years longer."

"That's a long time to suffer blood poisoning, almost too long."
He said, still examining her arm.
"Forgive me...."

He said with a warm smile before she had the chance to ask him what he was apologizing for he pricked her with a needle as softly as he could, running the sample over to a microscope and placing it under a lens to examine it properly.

"Almost too long, but I still think I may be able to assist you miss."
He said, turning around to smile at her softly

"It doesn't hurt quite as much as it used to." But that didn't mean to say that it didn't hurt at all.

She had had this poisoning for over half her lifetime. She had gotten used to it adn the pain it caused her.

The woman hissed half-heartedly and gave another pout. "I'm beginning to think I'm not a vampire any more. I'm giving blood more than I'm taking it tonight."

She perked up though as he spoke from his seat. "How would you be able to help me?"

"Through my time as a practitioner I discovered a way of transferring illness from one patient to other, this was extremely handy.
I suspect, if you can find a suitable...heh... donor,
I can give your blood poisoning to another.
I human should suffice."

He answered, bringing his finger to his lips as he thought, it would hurt and the human would most likely die but ethics had never really bothered him when it came to medicine.

Her eyes brightened dramatically.

He could get rid of her poisoning?!

Her tongue darted over her lower lip as she thought. It'd be easy enough to pick up someone to give the poisoning to.

But what would the procedure entail? She had done more than enough jumping into things without all the details in the past.

"What would happen exactly?"

A smile spread across his face as he sat back beside her.
Finally and interesting case for him to work from.

"This ability of mine in not part of my medical background, it's a power I developed from my delving in alchemy, essentially I would pull the poisoning from your body into myself for a brief moment and place it in its new host.
I can not promise that it will not be painful, but if it works, you would be completely cured."

She cocked her head to the side. "You're an Alchemist?"

As far as she knew, there hadn't been any Alchemists in the mansion. "What sort of Alchemy do you practise?" She practised a very low-grade form of Alchemy; just small transmutations. She hadn't practised enough to be very good at it.

Pulling herself away from her excitement over another Alchemist, she focussed on what he was explaining.

"How would taking the illness into your body affect you?"

"I was a plague doctor back in the day, I was trying to find a cure for the black death.
My alchemy however produced longevity, immorality."
He explained, looking over his body.

"My alchemy is all based upon reaching immortality and immunity."

He thought for a moment over her last question.
"I will not be too negatively effected, merely exhaustion and I may be a
little unwell for a few days, nothing major in comparison to the
benefits."

"Immortality?" she scoffed. Giacinto had very sceptical views on immortality. Death was everywhere. There was no escaping it. Ever.

One way of putting it was that she thought immortality was utter bullshit.

"You'll feel no effects of the poisoning?" She wouldn't wish what she had suffered because of the poisoning on her worst enemy.

"Maybe not immortality but longevity is a better word.
Look at me as an example, I am nothing but a human.
Yet I have lived a far longer then I was meant to."

He said with a warm smile, fiddling with the scarf that was draped around his neck

"I shouldn't have any permanent effects no, mild illness for a few hours but that's about it.
I would only be effected if I was exposed to it for a long period of time, but that is for our host to deal with."
He said with a chuckle.

She bobbed her head.

Longevity she could deal with. People lived longer than they should all the time. Supernatural creatures especially.

Everything had been against her living for four and a half thousand years, but she still managed it.

Mild illness? That didn't sound bad. She has caused worse than that in people before. Hell, she had slit her ex-mates throat and left him to bleed out before. A little more severe than a few hours of sickness.

"When would you be able to do it?"

"As soon as you have a suitable host for your blood poisoning I would be ready to begin.
It is not an overly difficult thing to do, it just takes time and a lot of energy."

He said with an affirming nod as he gave her hand a pat and rose to fetch himself a drink of water from a nearby tap.

"Then we can start on the hour."

One of her Nameless Faces would appear to check everything was clean and well on the hour. They always did.

She'd have whoever it was take the illness.

Nameless Faces were disposable.

Artemis nodded toward the woman.

"Then I will begin preparing at once,
I would advise that you take this time to get a little rest my dear.
I fear this transfusion will knock the stuffing right out of you."

He added as he began gathering all manners of herbs and oils off of the shelf where he kept his many ingredient jars.

"I've spent my days and nights resting for the past few months."

But she made herself comfortable leaning back against the headboard of the bed, watching him gather together different ingredients.

"Thank you for this, Artemis," she murmured quietly.

"Then you are well practiced in the art of rest so it should not be a problem doing it for the next hour."

He replied cheekily and grabbed his mortar and pestle,
placing each herb into the mortar, measuring each herb meticulously and grounding them together.

"Ha! You try sitting around doing nothing for an hour when you find out you're going to lose the sickness you've had for over half of your painfully long life."

She fidgeted on the bed, staring at his back.

"I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve," she chuckle softly.

Artemis chuckled and nodded,
"I understand but try to at least clear your mind a bit,
well my preparations are completed, now all we need is your blood poison host."

He replied, placing a freshly sharpened blade out next to the mixture he had just created.

She pouted, sticking her tongue out at his back, but tried to settle down.

Her eyes flickered to the clock.

Only half past.

She groaned loudly, head dropping back to stare up at the ceiling. She'd have to wait another half hour.