DNA

[Delaney Wilder]

BASTION​

[member="Irajah Ven"]​

Before his return to the Court of his father Jahangir had grown used to certain realities.

Like being attended to by the doctors his mother set upon him. It made sense. While not a sickly child, he always had.... troubles. Migraines for one. They had never made that seem as much of a problem. To them it had been just one of the many signs that he was special. Visions that were freely given to him by Vahl. Either way, that stage of his life was over. He had officially rejoined the Imperial Court. Life in public now that mother believed he was ready.

Was Jahangir ready?

Only time would tell.

With assuming his role as a prince of the Empire there came responsibilities. But they also came with its own troubles. For one... he was constantly being trailed by the Blackblades. About six of them following him day and night.

In the background, yes, unobtrusive besides their deadly menace.

But there.

And.... apparently House Zambrano had its own official physician. One Doctor Vain Der.... Jar... mar? Jahan didn't quite remember, if he was being honest. His knuckles rapped firmly against the door of Vain's office in the Imperial Palace. Apparently the Doctor had been requested to travel to Bastion post haste for an evaluation of him. She had been on the other side of the Galaxy.

Already Jahan was mentally preparing himself.

Apparently Vain had a temper and as his father's favorite doctor? Even he would presumably not be spared.

"This is Jahangir," The Zambrano scion said belatedly, hoping to clarify.

 

[Kuzo]

In truth, Irajah's plans kept her moving, and it was challenging to juggle the needs of Vain, her own agenda and the needs of her family. She had known that before she had started, and planned accordingly.

Fortunately, Vain's known penchant for using caf to fuel sometimes days long lab sessions had come from somewhere. That was something she didn't have to fake.

Good thing she didn't have a weak heart though.

From Munto Cordu, she had returned to Bastion at the behest of [member="Darth Carnifex"]. As the Zambrano family physician, of course Vain would take over the long term health care needs of his son, so recently returned to the fold. She had received his files on the way and had gone over them in depth.

Bad genetic lottery, she decided absently as she scrolled through the data. So many of the Zambranos were perfect (or near) physical specimens, but it was inevitable that certain crosses would prove to be defective. In Jarangir's case it was nothing serious. Simply requiring long term care and attention.

How odd was it, she mulled to herself, finger flicking to the next page, that for now as part of her longer plan, she would be indeed helping those who Carnifex cared for.... all in order to hurt him more later. Irajah sighed, setting the pad down against her knee for a moment. They were, for the time at least, her patients. Not only for her own sake, for the sake of longer plans, would she do everything in her power to help them.... but on that as well.

For now.

At least until it was of greater use to her to not.

A sliver of her soul, splintered and still out traipsing about the galaxy, would have been horrified. The part of her that would never consider harming a patient- that once that bond had been made it must be sacrosanct on that alone. Irajah snorted under her breath.

There were parts of her that she was well and truly better off without.

*****

"Enter," came the sharp reply.

Vain's office was half that and half lab. Perhaps it had originally been meant as a place to simply conduct business, but the clone had added things to make it a 'lab away from lab' apparently and it benefited her now to meet him here rather than in the clinic.

The beaked mask did not appear to look up at him, focused instead on a hologram of..... something. For someone in the know it was clear that it was genetic alleles, codes scrolling across as a gloved finger picked and chose this one or that, pulling them through the air to some other set of scrolling code.

In truth, Irajah studied him from behind the mask. Good lords why did they all have to be so tall?

"Sit," the voice rasped, short and bordering on rude.

She kept working on the code, flinging bits and pieces of the hologram through the air. Mostly, she wanted to see what he would do when someone made him wait.

[member="Jahangir Zambrano"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

All things considered it could have been much worse, no?

No shouting, no yelling or screeching, no jumping up and down on his head. Though... noting her height, Jahan suddenly realized that part had been metaphorical. Which was a huge load-off his shoulders. He hadn't really been looking forward to that part of the appointment. "Of course, Doctor." He settled down exactly where she indicated. Then. Waited. Patiently. He was looking curiously at the hologram though. Mostly because there didn't seem anything else to do here right now.

He wasn't really sure what the hologram was about.

It just seemed like a bunch of doodles to him.

Pretty ones, of course, very interesting (probably). But. Doodles. He knew that they were somehow important. Vain wasn't someone who wasted her time with anything else, if the stories were to be believed. The silence stretched out for a few minutes, before his brows furrowed.

"I was led to believe we had an appointment, Doctor Vain, if you are busy with your work I can return a different time."

Perfectly polite.

There wasn't even a smidgen of annoyance about having to wait on her. Even then, he had other duties to attend to, so if this was how it would go he'd rather not waste his time.

 

[Kuzo]

Straight forward and polite. Not what she expected from a Zambrano.

Of course, part of that could be the persona of Dr. Vain. She knew the delicate balance between that woman and the Zambrano family. They gave her an awful lot of leeway and she..... wasn't actively rude to them on purpose. Truth was that the shortness and disinterest in anything but her work was something that had come with the clone. If Carnifex had been annoyed by that, it would have been his own fault.

"Yes but I am accustomed to your family being late."

Another pair of alleles was flicked to the side and she gestured down, gloved hand sending the projection back into the top of the desk.

"I have read your files. Tell me, in your own words, your symptoms. I don't trust the prattlings of zealots who claim they are doctors."

The beaked mask tilted up.

[member="Jahangir Zambrano"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"You will find that I value punctuality, doctor, I will do my best to show this more moving forward."

It was not a secret to him that the rest of the Zambrano family were... complicated individuals.

But this was not really surprising.

Not when your patriarch was the Black Iron Tyrant himself. Complicated. That truly was an understatement, no? But Jahan had his own complicated thoughts when it came to his family. The way they acted. The way they treated everyone else, including themselves. They had been given the right to rule. Jahan accepted this as fact. But they had not been treating their right with respect. It was something he was endeavoring to change for the future.

One measured step at a time.

"I suppose those same zealots suggested my lack of fortitude had to do with non-believers not saying enough prayers in my glory." Jahan dryly asked. For most of his life he had been with the Vahla, rather than his father's court and the Empire.

They had brought him up. Taught him.

Surprisingly enough Jahan hadn't bought into the whole thing.

"I get migraines. Heavy ones. Needles sticking into the area above my left eye. Light sensitivity. Noises. Nausea. The whole thing." A shrug. In truth it didn't bother him much. It at least kept proving to him that he was mortal and just a man. It was a reminder some of his siblings and other members of his family could use. "Broke my left elbow when I was a kid during training. Didn't heal well. It hasn't bend correctly ever since." That last one was because of the mixture.

Vahla and Epicanthix.

He was taller than most, far taller, but his bones were brittle compared to the Epicanthix stock.

"What do you think, doc, can you heal me of all my ailments?" A wry smirk there. "Hopefully not with bacta, unless you want to see me flopping around and choking."

 

[Kuzo]

"There was some reference to that yes. I was liberal in my use of black marker when it came to your file."

Raj didn't have to pretend to the disgust or the snort that came with it.

"Superstition has no place in medicine, and certainly not in my office," the masked figure continued, pulling out the file in question from a drawer. In this case it was indeed a physical file, hand written on flimsy.

Ridiculous.

"Cure you? Good heavens no."

Flipping to a particular page, a gloved hand pushed it across to him.

"Much of what ails you is purely the combination of your genetics," came the blunt addition. "Some of your siblings won the lottery of that particular hybridization. You did not. Simple. That said however, I believe there are things that can be done to mitigate your symptoms. None of which have to do with bacta," the last part dismissive.

Honestly, she was interested in trying. Pain management was a particular pet project of hers after Gideon.

"I need an accurate baseline however. So I need to run several tests, and I will need you to inform me of the frequency of the migraines for the next month or so. Can you do this?" Raj had no doubt, but in her persona of Vain, the way the much shorted being still managed to look down their beaked nose at Jahan said otherwise.

[member="Jahangir Zambrano"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

"I presume you won't try to smear honeybee wax mixed with the tears of virgins on my elbow then."

A brief pause.

"We should celebrate the smaller joys." The Vahla priests had gone rather far with their treatments. Mother had encouraged it even. Say what you want, she was an intelligent woman, but also steeped into the lore and beliefs of the Vahla. Jahan didn't really blame her. It couldn't be easy for her, no? Out of nowhere she had given birth to the Chosen One that she had wanted for so long. Then that same Chosen One turned out to be rather... unfortunate when it came to the gene pool.

Joyce didn't have these problems. Evaelyn neither.

It was just him.

That must have been troubling to them all. The one kissed by fire was dealing with it. Maybe it was Vahl's private joke.

"Oh, but they do not have half the charm that I do, Doctor, so who truly won the lottery, eh?" Another grin there. Easy and relaxed. He knew that Vain wouldn't go for it. The rumors about her where... troubling. Why Father kept her around was anyone's guess. She made people cry for- Well, maybe that was why, he realized. The Black Iron Tyrant would not abide by niceties in his court. "Presumably. Do I have to do more than come to your office frequently, bathe you with my charm?"