First Reply Of Poison & Practice

[Oleander]

//: New Vertica, Nar Shaddaa //:
//: Attire //:

Nar Shaddaa wasn't always this quiet, but tonight it was… for now. Along one of the alleys, a bag tumbled in the gentle breeze of the city, rolling over itself at a steady pace.

It stopped at the feet of a woman, who looked down, kneeling. She grabbed the bag, flattened it, and tossed it into the bin in front of a storage-like facility. Her red hair swayed in the same breeze, but before it got too tangled, she quickly brushed it down… almost in frustration.

"Annoying." She murmured as the jingle of keys echoed in the silence of the alleyway. The lock was always a struggle, but after a few choice words and a grunt, the door finally unlocked. Swinging open, the woman tossed a bag with an attempt at a prepared lunch onto the small desk and grabbed a white coat from the coat hanger.

Fingers worked quickly through the mess of copper hair as she held her elastic hair tie in her mouth. Muffled words escaped her lips as she read through the notes she had left herself the night before. There weren't many cases for her to deal with today, the thought delighted her as she figured her focus could be on her research for once.

Though she couldn't complain. The frequent revolving door of criminals that found themselves on the wrong side of a situation kept her boss and her landlord happy. Her license paid the bills, not her research.

With her hair in braids and her white coat on, Oleander took a seat against her desk as she watched the door. Hopefully, today would be quiet, but that would only be a blessing the Force could grant.

Reaching back, she grabbed a pretzel stick and chewed on it to avoid chewing on her thumb out of anxiety.

 

[Yuri Maji]

Thankfully for the mutt, Nar Shaddaa was still one of the few planets in Hutt space that didn't immediately draw a number of guns on him, given his more recent antics in Black Sun territory. But that didn't mean it was a harmless territory, especially for him. And the last job revealed something that had Yuri extremely on edge.

Walking through the streets, he searched anxiously for a street doctor that apparently did damn good work. His particular situation had him feeling that he couldn't just go to any other doctor, especially with the financial pinch he found himself in. Fuel and ammunition was expensive in general, let alone someone that had been traipsing around between the Core and the Outer Rim in the last few months. Thankfully the building wasn't too hard to get to. Yuri tapped the buzzer before entering the building with a rather awkward face, looking around to get a layout of the establishment.

The lady behind her desk meeting his gaze didn't help his disposition.

"Um... hey, Doc. I, uh... I'm hopin' you can help me." The Shistavanen spoke up as he stepped into her establishment and came to a halt by her desk. His armour was scorched, one or two parts still smoking slightly from blaster fire, but at least he had his helmet off to give her the most genuine smile the Shistavanen could muster. "All my people are on the other side of the galaxy, and I think this is serious. Do you, uh... do cybernetics at all?" He asked her as he raised his left hand. The motions were rough and jagged compared to the usual fluidity one would expect.

"I was on a job and my arm just... seized up. Ain't workin' like it's supposed to." He explained to her with concern. "My shoulder's been aching like crazy as well." He continued, staring down at the arm before looking back to her with hopeful eyes. "Heard from some guys that you're damn good." He doubted that sweet-talking would get him far, but visits like these were somewhat embarrassing.

Oleander

 

[Oleander]

//: Yuri Maji //:

The chime on the door echoed, pulling Oleander from her daydreams. Her eyes fluttered from the obscure bouquet of flowers that resided on the corner of her desk towards the Mutt that had wandered in. He rambled, but they always did. Never truly introducing themselves, only demanding her services. At times, she wondered if this was how the women of the night felt. Someone walks in, requires the services they provided, and then leaves them with credits, assuming it was enough.

She let his words hang, letting silence fill the room before she moved. I'm not a vet… she thought quietly. Though a sentient species was a sentient species. Sighing softly, Oleander stood from her chair and opened a drawer with her glasses.

"Mmm, I can do cybernetics," she mused, "Not my favorite thing, but it is what it is." Her glasses found their place against her face, resting on the bridge of her nose. They slipped slightly, but her hand quickly caught them and slipped them back upwards.

"Didn't realize mercenaries talked as much as they do — you're not the first to bring up hearing about me from someone else." The copper-haired woman chuckled softly under her breath as she opened the door behind her desk. "Exam room is this way," she waved the Shistavanen to follow her.

The doorway led down a small hallway, the office being bigger than it looked on the outside. Lucky for Oleander, her employer through Black Sun was generous. The woman had plucked the poor Hapan from Hapes after a Sith raid on the planet and housed her along with a job.

Moving down the hallway, Oleander paused for a moment, her eyes checking the rotating vials of liquid. Her only other patient for the day would arrive a few hours later for these eye drops. Something the doctor, unknowingly, looked forward to. A few button presses, and the vials began to spin and rotate one over the other again.

"Here," Oleander pointed towards the empty exam room. She handed the man a medical gown and turned her back to him. "Just take off your shirt and anything else that would get in the way." Her voice was clinical as she instructed him.

Oleander busied herself with gathering tools and the like to work on the cybernetics; her hunch was that his shoulder pain would alleviate the moment the strain of the cybernetics released.

"It's not often I'm asked to work on cybernetics," she continued, her hands moving over a datapad, checking for the calibration of her tools.

"Could you tell me what you were doing?" She paused, remembering the line of work of the people who often visited her clinic. Turning, she nodded, almost ready for the man to quickly turn down her inquiry.

"I don't need details about the job… or your work… just what you were doing and what potential issues you had come across." She shrugged and once more pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Helps me pinpoint what needs to be done; no one really likes to spend more time than necessary at the doctor's."

She chuckled at her own joke and expense.

 

[Yuri Maji]

Compared to some other doctors he had visited in the past, she wasn't too bad in terms of behaviour. With a professional kindness one would expect, she invited him into an examination room, even making some small talk and jokes as she talked him through it. Usually they walked on egg shells, or scolded him for his bad life decisions. It was nice to have a normal doctor for a change. "You should take it as a compliment. Mercs and gangsters only talk about people they trust." He remarked as he followed after her.

A chuckle escaped him as she asked about what happened. "I don't mind sharin' with you." He remarked as he proceeded to strip down his armour. One after the other, a panel or plate of some kind was dropped in a corner, followed by his helmet and kit. Eventually his upper body was stripped and he could tie his body glove around his hips. "Patient confidentiality and all that, right?" He joked as he worked through it all. "I was doin' a delivery of some questionable cargo and I had some interference from some other gang. I had to defend myself and my arm just..." He tried lifting it, but it didn't move past his chest before limply dropping back down. "...Did that." He shrugged, finally detaching the arm to set it down beside him.

He stared at the medical gown, then as his detached arm, before simply hooking it around his shoulders. "Before that, my shoulder's been achin' around the socket for the arm. Figured it was some kinda infection, so I've been adding Bacta and tryin' to disinfect it. It's only gotten worse." He scratched the back of his mane as embarrassment crossed his features. "Also... just in case it's relevant... yesterday I did consume an unhealthy amount of alcohol and a bit of... illicit substances." He flashed a strained smile as he looked at her.

"You're a nice change of pace, ya know that? Usually I'd expect a veterinarian joke by now." He quipped, trying to evade the inevitable disapproval of his bad habit.

Oleander

 

[Oleander]

//: Yuri Maji //:

"A compliment?" She mused over the mercenary's words. He wasn't wrong. The clientele she often worked with was the most untrustworthy bunch, yet they were willing to place their trust in her. Oleander usually just figured they were in so much pain that anyone would do — but, listening, she realized it took a lot for them to enter her door.

Her lips pursed together at this thought as her brow furrowed as she focused on the story of what had happened. A few vials found their way onto the counter as she continued to listen and let him do what he needed to do. As his story came to the point of him showing what his arm was doing, she paused her work and let her eyes flicker to him. The arm was dead weight, for lack of a better word, and Oleander could understand the frustration.

"Mm." She nodded as she turned back to her concoctions. "Sounds like a mix of both, I'm assuming infected fluids might have gotten into the machinery from the attached tissue, which caused the malfunction of the limb." Tilting her head, she smiled.

"Easy fix and…" she offered him a tablet. "Chew on this, it should purge anything from the bloodstream… meaning if you bleed, you won't bleed out from your blood being too thin." Oleander's eyes narrowed slightly, but her tone was playful enough to give Yuri a hint that she was teasing him.

"Next time, come straight here… and avoid the illicit substances mkay?"

Another nod, and Oleander waited till he took the pill. Once more, she paused, then finally, when she knew the medication had taken effect, she would move closer to him, slender fingers rolling the cloth up the shoulder stump to get a better look.

"I won't lie, I did make a small joke in my head, but I figured it's something that you've heard a thousand times — and when you're in pain, sometimes terrible jokes are the last thing you want." She nodded, gloved hands moving to inject antiseptic.

"You'll feel a couple of pokes, but I'm going to numb it… Looks like you have some necrotic skin, going to clean it up and see what's causing it." She paused, then looked at him, trying to better understand him. He was different from the others, and she appreciated it.

Huffing, she shook her head with a small laugh. "I'm Hapan, so most of the time about now is when one of your fellows gets brave enough to try and convince me to go out with them…" She injected the last shot and began to work on cleaning up the wounds.

"So I appreciate the respect." Oleander paused, letting her gaze flicker momentarily to his. "Respect begets respect, something most mercenaries seem to not know."

 

[Yuri Maji]

The doctor's words had Yuri temporarily concerned that he was going to have to lose even more of his shoulder, but her calm and pleasant demeanor helped to brush it aside for the moment. He even got a pill to purge all of the previous evening's shenanigans from his system, something he didn't even know existed. "Remind me to get a pack of these once we're done." He joked, chewing the tablet and swallowing quickly to not keep the doctor waiting.

A laugh quickly followed her confession that a mutt joke was primed and ready. "I'm used to it, I got thick skin." He quipped, golden eyes following her as she worked on cleaning the infected flesh. A hiss and a wince escaped him the moment she came into contact with his shoulder, a feeling he wasn't used to. It didn't help the phantom pain brewing either, but he suppressed that as best he could to not bother her operation. She went on to admit that he at least made a decent impression on her as well.

"Well-" Another wince. "... I mean, you're a decent lookin' woman, I'll admit. Just... I don't wanna be rude," He gestured to his face as a smile took hold. "But I prefer someone more... course." He admitted with a shrug, immediately regretting the action.

Another huff escaped his maw as the needle shifted in his shoulder. He took a moment to compose himself as he stared ahead.

He hated doctor's visits.

"Besides... I got my eye on someone already." He confessed, simply trying to make small talk as she worked. "Just a bit complicated right now... hey, how long is that painkiller supposed to take?" His composure shifted as the pain simply kept getting worse. "I've been gettin' phantom pains over the years, but holy kriff this hurts." He warned, his face contorting into a grimace. A few breaths later, he tried to push the pain down as he hoped for the anaesthetic to do its job.

Oleander