Palace Physician Please

[Kay-Larr]

Impairing mental problems? Well there was the fact that some of her memories were ripped out of her mind. But Kay was working on getting those back. Her Force bond with [member="Veiere Arenais"] was a key part in that. She hated having those memories gone as it put her at a disadvantage among those individuals that she couldn't remember.

Then there was the ocassional flashbacks. But normally she was alone when those happened, and usually she was sleeping.

[member="Victor Tesla"] had returned from the window. Thankfully he shut off the recording before he spewed forth another series of questions. They were all things that she hadn't really focused on, mostly because she didn't have the time and didn't want to.

Kay turned around, her back towards him while she undressed, leaving a couple of clothing items on to maintain some of her modesty. Her exposed back bore some of the scars of her torture that had yet to fully heal, as did her legs. They were a good reason as to why she kept to hiding in plenty of fabric.

As instructed, she spoke while she undressed. "I try not to focus on myself. I have a whole planet to look after. Focusing on that helps." Or rather it just walls everything up and hides it. "I sleep okay for the most part, as long as my door is open. I have a ...slight problem with closed doors. During my capture, every time a door opened, I was beaten. That sort of thing kind of stays with you..."

She slowly turned around, crossing her arms over her chest to cover herself up.
"Healing takes time and focus. I have to meditate on it and repair the damage layer by layer. But I've had a lot on my mind and some of my cuts were burned with a poisoned blade. Those are the most troublesome to try to remove. I wasn't able to heal myself during my captivity. The doctors there did only just enough to keep me alive."

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Victor waited until [member="Lady Kay"] had fully undressed before approaching her. As she spoke his eyes ran over each scar that the woman's body held. He held his hand up before adjusting his glasses and speaking to the woman. "I'm going to touch you, tell me if you feel any discomfort or want me to stop." He moved around to her back, running his index finger over each scar applying rising amounts of pressure. "Are you still able to feel any pain from these scars?"

As his hand ran over her he muttered something, more to himself than to her. "Different drugs and poisons can have lasting effects on the body, I'd like to make sure you're purged of any negative substances. Many have even been developed that are disruptive to an individuals midi-chlorians." Victor's hand continued to move over the scars before digging his hand into his lab pocket. He produced a small silver back, breaking the seal on the bag before running ah and idly through his hair. "Starting tomorrow you need to come get alternating Bacta and Kolto shots for a few weeks, that should help the healing process."

Tesla produced two pair of small black gloves, slipping them over his hands before returning to Kay's bare back. He ran a hand down her spine, checking for anything out of place or possibly damaged from her torture sessions. "I'd also like you to start doing counseling sessions with me. That, however, is strictly optional. I can't force you to speak about your problems or else it will be useless. But if I were you I'd consider it."

Moving on to her legs Tesla tried not to be overly rough. He kept one hand tucked into her knee's posterior crease while tapping her knee softly, watching for a reaction. After checking her reflexes he returned to examining her scars that riddled her legs. "Same for your legs, Kolto and Bacta shots. Are you capable of inducing yourself in healing trances?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay scrunched up her nose a few times as [member="Victor Tesla"] put pressure on some of the more deeper of the scars, the ones that had more healing that needed to be done to them. "Yeah, a little bit there. It feels deep though, but still sharp." Luckily for her, she liked to sleep on her sides. Her tolerance for pain was higher than most, due to her experiences. Soldiers were probably the same way due to their injuries sustained during battles. You just had to continue on, despite the weakness.

She frowned as he mentioned that she needed to get shots. She hated needles, feared them, though maybe if she closed her eyes it might not be so bad. But who was she kidding? It would probably give her flashbacks again. "I don't handle needles very well. Is there some other way?..."

Kay grew quiet as he spoke of her needing counseling. That could go either way. Either he'd be helpful, or he'd just tell her that she was being an idiot. Ever since her return, and even before then from what she could remember, she had kept people away fr? om her, not revealing anything that could potentially be used against her, whether that be how she was really feeling, or of things that she had gone through. Feeling vulnerable was not something that she enjoyed.

Her spine needed a bit of an alignment, but that was a simple fix. Kay's reflexes were pretty normal. She sighed a little at the mention of even more shots that were required. ​"Yes, I can go into a healing trance when I can focus on it. But I've had a lot on my mind. I...suppose your counselling sessions would help."

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Tesla made more mental notes of the scars that would be in need of special attention. He felt like [member="Lady Kay"] may have had sedatives used on her before her torture to make her body more susceptible to longer lasting pain, though that was merely a hypothesis When she spoke of her hatred of needles the Doctor could not help but exhale. "Fine. I can have some medications prepared in tablets for now. But It will take a bit longer for it to show results. I know phobia's are not easy to get over but you need to work on it. The longer you hide and run the longer it has a hold on you."

After finding her reflexes to be satisfactory he bit the inside of his cheek, standing to his full height as he looked to her. "Many of your scars are looking like they hold lasting damage. Most, if not all, I can take care of but you'll be on a very strict schedule and the less strain you put on yourself now the better. I'll gather all of the medicine you will need today and prepare your schedule so you will know when to take your pills."

The Doctor began to idly pull on his glove's fabric before eyeing the back of her neck, parting her hair to take a closer look at it. "As far as your trances I want you to attempt one trance every night before sleep and after you take your medicine. Studies show that the drugs will respond best to the trances at that time because it often send your metabolism into an overhaul. It will take a few weeks of study before we know how that will affect your body though. It may make you weaker upon waking up or just more hungry. So keep an eye out for these things as you go." He returned her hair to it's normal state before turning away from her with a soft exhale.

Tesla made his way back to his seat as he removed the gloves from his hands. "Put your clothes back on." There was a moment of pause as the Doctor stared into the ceiling before him, considering his initial diagnosis. "Well we'll start with your physical condition. I don't think your mind can hold up with too much more physical abuse so, like I said, try to take it easy for a while. Your body NEEDS time to heal and catch up. Once we have your physical state stabilized we can worry about the deeper parts of your mental state." His hands went to his cigarra holder, popping the clasp on the container before producing one of the small white cylinders. "I want you in my office for a medical exam every five days. Those shouldn't take much time, maybe thirty minutes. As far as your mental counseling we'll start with once a week. So at least one of those days you'll be here for a few hours."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was relieved that there were tablets to take instead. But having to work on her phobia of needles, that was something that she wasn't looking forward to. Yet [member="Victor Tesla"] was right, running and hiding from everything that made her uncomfortable wasn't going to be helpful to her at all. He hadn't been the only one to point that out recently.

He stood up again. It was odd to see someone else chewing the inside of her cheek like she did. But it did help in showing her a bit more of his personality."When you say to not strain myself, do you mean physically? Or mentally?" She was a Queen ruling a planet. Of course there was going to be a lot of things taking up her time. But she was no warrior. Yet that didn't mean that she didn't practice her Force skills almost daily to keep her in as close to top form as she could.

As Victor moved to inspect her neck, he would find it covered in make up. Lying underneath would be a large amount of puncture wounds, clearly made by needles, and all of them looking to be at the same depth. Those were caused by a collar that she wore that induced her with some liquid that prevented her from having access to the Force. It was only removed shortly before her release.

Kay listened to the instructions, making sure to remember it. The side effects didn't sound too bad. Perhaps her morning tea would help her with the drowziness.

She put on her clothes after the examination was finished, ever grateful to be doing so. The physical examinations were going to be more frequent than she would have liked. Best to not do much travelling for a while. But at the mention of the length of time needed for the counselling sessions, her jaw dropped slightly. "A few hours? I don't think that I have that much to talk about..." Denial of course, but opening up and making herself vulnerable to people wasn't exactly her idea of a well spent afternoon.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Tesla listened to her words as his mind went over the needle markings that laced the woman's neck. A brace or collar most likely...giving neck injections is one of the least successful, even for drugs and poisons. What the hell did they do to her? Eventually Tesla pulled himself from his own mind, raising a brow at the woman's question.

"Yes." He muttered in response before tapping his hand on the desk in front of him. "I know as Queen you have a lot of big important duties but try to do as little as possible. I'm sure you have governor's or something right? Let them get in some overtime." There was the usual hint of annoyance in his voice whenever he felt the need to go deeper into topics.

Her reaction to the mental examinations were understandable, not that it meant any difference to Tesla of course. The Doctor rested his cheek in his hand as he gestured to the woman. "You have way more than that to talk about, you just don't want to. In time one of two things will happen. Either you'll open up and start to talk my ears off or you will try your hardest to repress the memories and you'll drive yourself nuts."

"Either way progress will be made." Insincere and casual, his words could be seen as very harsh but they were not untrue. "Listen. We all have our problems. Most of them will never just get better, but we can at least make sure they don't get worse. You hired me to head the palace's hospital and work as your personal physician. I take my job seriously so just listen to me and you'll be fine."

Tesla took the cigarra he produced from his container and immediately lit it, setting it between his lips. "Anyway if you feel my methods don't work after about a month you can decide if you'd like to continue or not. But you should try it."

The doctor took a long drag from his cigarra before exhaling. "Now, I don't have much else for you but there is an exercise we can do." He exhaled a small cloud of smoke before tossing the cigarra container back on the desk. The container remained open and a small black wedding band slipped out onto the desk.

Tesla glanced down at the item before taking it into his hands and stuffing it in his coat's pocket. "The exercise is to help you get used to opening up to me. Stupidly enough it involves me to open up to you...basically it's this really annoying game that I don't care for so why don't you just ask any questions you have about me? And yes, most of the personal information in my file that you received was edited."

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

[member="Victor Tesla"] didn't quit answer her question. Instead he just gave her a blanket answer of 'Yes'. So that just gave her the opinion that he had meant both. He put up the option for her to give her Ministers more work. She was still trying to work on having reliable Ministers to work with. Most of them left after her return.

She sat down on the chair, thinking of the two options that he gave her in regards to her opening up. Neither of which appealed to her. But she supposed that opening up was better than going crazy. Losing her mind wasn't the best option for Commenor, and she had to think of her planet before herself.

Kay leaned back in her chair, nodding silently while she folded her arms across her chest in a bid to get herself more comfortable. "Yes, I did hire you to look after me and the others. So I'll try not to be so stubborn."

Another brow was raised as he spoke of an exercise. She watched as the wedding band rolled out of his case. No sooner did he see it, than he pocketed it. But her eyes returned to Tesla's. Kay wasn't the type to want to pry. And yet, he gave her the option to do just that. Should she take it? No. She decided against it. "Well....umm....I'm not really sure. What made you decide to get into this line of work?" He didn't seem much of a 'people person'.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Tesla took a drag from his cigarra before coughing a bit on the smoke that had flown into his lungs. He glanced over to the woman, offering an amused chuckle at her first question. "That's usually where they start...let's see here. When I was a kid all I wanted to do was be a Doctor. I was surrounded by all types of people. Spacers, politicians, military officers, scientists, all kinds."

He leaned back to ash out of the window once more. "Nothing took my attention more than Doctors. Just how much they knew and how they seemed to always have an answer for everything. As you can tell I'm the type who likes knowing more than others." For the first time Tesla offered a decent smile to the woman, but it soon faded back to his normal expression.

"I finished my schooling early and decided to join the GA, become a hero." He waved his hands in mock enthusiasm. "They commissioned me as an MD and I've been doing it almost....twenty years. Well fifteen, I took five years to study bio mechanics." Tesla took another shallow drag from his cigarra before blowing the smoke up into the air.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded as she listened to [member="Victor Tesla"] speak of his childhood. From the sounds of it, he had a great upbringing and got to do what he wanted. That in itself was great to hear. He had less limitations put on himself, which was more than some could say. It left him adaptable. That was important.

She crossed her feet at her ankles while she straightened out her legs and let herself slouch a little. How long she was going to be in here, she wasn't sure. But next time she'll bring some tea. Victor had his own vice. She had hers.

"Nearly twenty years ago, I was a healer too. My late husband fought and then I'd fix him uo, as well as some others. He tried to keep me away from the battlefield as much as possible, and turned me towards the political end more. It didn't work out in the end though. Life has a funny way of turning upside down in an instant." And in her case that had happened more than once. "But rather than sit and dwell on it, we just have to ignore it and move on." Or bury it deep. No point in giving others information or a neans to blackmail you.

"What made you decide to leave the GA? I can't say that I've come across any of their people yet, so I don't really know what they are like. But if they start to spread their territory out this way, I might have to meet some of them."

 

[ToKola Bakari]

As Victor spoke he could see the struggles that must be buried within the Queen. The way she would respond and move hinted that she was a trusting person who naturally was easy to open up to. However, he guessed her torture had led her to become more seclusive. Dramatic events that directly changed someone's personality were some of the most dangerous. It could literally end in the individual becoming an entirely different person all together.

His drifting thoughts were settled as he heard her next question, causing a slight shrug to emerge from him. "I joined the Alliance to get experience, especially with war wounds. I got my experience so there isn't any reason for me to remain there." He said, his hand running over the pocket where his wedding ring had been placed.

While his words held truth to them they were mostly a lie. Victor had never actually found an interest in working with the GA or for any military. It was the connection that his late wife had with the Alliance that caused him to stay. After her death there was nothing else to tether him to the organization. "They're pretty damn annoying, that's for sure. Especially the other medical officers. They get so used to doing things by a book or with a droid they forget who the Doctor really is." He remarked with a slight sigh.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded. That's what a lot of people do. They move on and leave. She was used to that, most especially now. She didn't trust anyone to stay for long, so there was no reason for her to invest much of herself in them. They were all kept at arm's length for that reason.

[member="Victor Tesla"] 's comments on the other doctors being so 'by the book' took her out of her thoughts. " I take it that they couldn't adapt or think on their feet when a situation changes? Were they even not capable of thinking outside the box?"

She noticed Tesla toying with his pocket. No doubt it had something to do with their conversation. Normally she hated to pry, but this time she decided to just pry anyways. "So what about outside of work? Any family? Any friends that will be popping by for visits?"

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Victor took in Kay's words and realized her assumption was mostly correct. "Basically. I'm not speaking about them in a whole, but just most of them were pretty stupid...for smart people." He muttered with a rather condemning tone. Tesla pinched the bridge of his nose before gesturing to himself. "The Alliance wasn't fully incompetent but it was more than I cared to deal with."

Tesla figured questions of family were to come and he was already prepared to answer them. The Doctor produced the small wedding band from his pocket, rotating it between his fingers as he spoke. "My Wife was a medical officer with the GA. Her life expired about six years ago. As far as the rest of my family they are either dead or locked in a mental institute."

Tesla slipped the wedding band over his finger, having already brought the truth of his wife's fate to the service he knew he could wear the ring without question now. "Also...Do I seem the type to have friends?" He snorted towards [member="Lady Kay"] with a smirk coming over his face.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay nodded, smirking at his remark on the doctors being stupid as far as smart people go. It wasn't as though she was trying to cut them down. Hard to do that when you don't know them. But she was just curious.

Her expression softened when she heard that [member="Victor Tesla"] was a widower. Kay knew very well what that was like. But she had put that past her, for the most part. Not in the way that she was sleeping around with anyone, or even daring to date. No. She wasn't ready for that yet. One of her Ministers had stolen a kiss recently, but she did not return the gesture. She was just in too much shock. It didn't feel right. The last kiss that she could remember was from her late husband almost 15 years ago. And now with everything going on, with people coming and going so quickly, she had no time for such trivial things. It wasn't vital. "My condolences..."

Her jaw clenched a little at the mention of a mental institute. Thraxis had put her in one that he created himself. It was all a ploy to get her to break, to make her think that she had done horrible things and was put in there for her own good. She hoped that nothing like that happened again. But if she didn't follow her doctor's advice, then she very well could end up in a place like that.

Kay was brought out of her thoughts as he snorted. She smirked right back at him. "One never knows...." It was just a guess of course. She didn't have any friends either. She used to, before her time in captivity. But they abandoned her, just as they had also failed to find her. Friends were....over-rated.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Tesla glanced over to the woman when she offered her condolences. What most did not understand about Tesla was that the death of his wife was a thing that no longer truly effected him. At least not on the outside, though deep down he had pushed the pain away, burying himself in his work to sate the pain. Perhaps in an odd way he had always been in a sense of depression, the young man had a good life leading up to his wife's death but he had never been the most happy person in the galaxy. "People die. It's a part of life."

His mind drifted to his late wife for the most shallow of moments before he turned to face [member="Lady Kay"] with an arched brow. "I don't really do friends. There are just the people around me that I have to deal with."

Tesla stood up, planting the tip of his cigarra on the sill of the window before looking back to Kay. "Ok, tired of looking at you for the day. Why don't you go play Queen and I'll get your medicine together?" He adjusted his glasses with a rather amused expression on his face.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked as [member="Victor Tesla"] shrugged off the death of his wife as though it was trivial. She hadn't been able to do that yet. Though she tried to shrug away her experiences in captivity. Much to the dismay of Tesla and others.

Another smirk as he implied about not having any friends. She didn't either. Those that were her friends had all left, moved on after her return. She felt no grief for that as she couldn't remember them anyways. And now? She had to worry about who wanted to be near her just because of her position.

Then it was over. Tesla wanted her to go. She got to her feet, sort of glad to go, yet not at the same time. "Alright. When did you want me back?"

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Already resigning himself to a rather relaxing position in his chair Tesla produced a small pad from his lab coat, pulling the pen that had rested in it's binding before glancing over to [member="Lady Kay"]. "Let's have you come back tomorrow evening. We can start your counseling and that gives me time to take a look at the Palace's medical wing and see how bad it is."

Jotting down a few things in the pad he quickly returned it to his coat before bringing his hands up behind his head, his eyes nearly closing as he did. "Oh, and no more Sapir tea for a few days." He figured that would not go over well with the woman but until he had taken a good look at the tea and how it reacted with the drugs he would be giving her there was no way he could allow the stuff to stay in her system. "It shouldn't be a problem but wait until I look into it."

Tesla gestured for her to leave as he closed his eyes, seeming to be planning a rather enjoyable nap. "Goodbye highness."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smirked at [member="Victor Tesla"] already looking for trouble within the wing. Well, everyone had their own way of doing things, their own way to organize. She had already done her own redecorating and repurposing of the Palace since she got into power. Both times.

However when he told her to stop drinking her tea, she gave him a double-take. "No Sapir tea? But...but...That's almost like telling me not to breathe or eat..." Kay was worried that she'd get a headache due to withdrawal. A lack of caffeine can do that to a person. She huffed a little. "Fine. I'll...find something else to drink instead..."

He then gave her the cue to leave. Victor was lucky. His position gave him the power to do that. Others wouldn't have been able to get away with it so much. But he was there to help her, not to bother her. She had to keep reminding herself that.

((Shall we time-skip to the next visit?))

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Victor expected the response he got from the Queen but had little tolerance for it regardless. His glasses dropped to the base of his nose, allowing him to peer at her over their rim. "I promise it won't kill you. I have some caffeine tablets if you'd like, that will take the bite off." The Doctor pressed his hands against his lab coat, searching for the tablets.

After a quick search he produced the small package from one of his breast pockets, tossing it on the table in front of her. The only reason Victor even had the tablets was because he himself was trying to stop drinking so much coffee.

As she turned out the door to leave Victor once again closed his eyes. In appearance he seemed to be napping but he was actually reflecting over all of the things that he had learned over the past hour.

((We Shall!))

~~~~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~~~

Unusually Victor had not spent the better part of his day cooped in his office. Instead his time was spent in a pleasant mixture of yelling at nurses and criticizing the Medical wing's staff. The older man held a datapad, reviewing the medical wings logistical records as he took an inventory of all the sensitive items they had. One hand had strayed into his pocket and a cigarra stick hung loosely from his mouth, though it was yet to be lit the Doctor's tensed appearance showed that it was very much needed.

"Why the hell do we have so many bioscanners?!" He muttered to himself, though his question was answered when one of the Palace medical droids, a 2-1B unit, stalked towards him carrying a rather large crate. "Most of the surgeons prefer to have them handy si-" 2-1B was cut off by Tesla's free hand flying out of his pocket and covering the Droid's mouth piece. "Shut it tin can, my point is that we have four Bioscanners and six Diagnoster's. If we have one we don't need the other. Granted a Bioscanner is better but it's a waste of space, get them out now!"

Rather than argue the Droid nodded militantly, turning away from the Doctor with an emotionless demeanor.

Tesla always enjoyed working with droids. Whether it was for their efficiency or the fact they handled his abuse well...was yet to be seen. He watched as the medical staff buzzed to put things in what Tesla regarded as order, as he made his way over to the main entrance his voice boomed over the medical area. "No one goes home until this medical wing actually resembles something that might save someone's life! You're all too damn reliant on droid's and scanners, while I'm here you'll earn your damn pay. Now hurry up and get this wing situated."

Tesla finally found his cigarra container which doubled as a lighter, he pressed the hot plate to the end of the cigarra before making his way out of the emergency area and towards his office. His eyes remain peeled on the datapad as he muttered a few incoherent phrases.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay had herself a rough day. No tea. Instead she just had water and caffeine tablets. And she tried to not do so much, tried to delegate her duties, but she wasn't very confident in her staff. Not yet. People come and go so quickly. It's hard to know who to trust. And there were meetings to go to, people to see. Staying cooped up in her office or chambers would drive her nuts. And that's what they were all trying to prevent, wasn't it?

After dinner, she took to settling down a bit by reading one of her mystery holo-novels. She loved the action and suspense. Her life was full of that, but at least in the holo-novels, it wasn't real. It was an escape. There were no consequences to it.

Finally it was about time for her appointment with [member="Victor Tesla"] . She wasn't sure how to prepare for it. This was going to be a counselling session and she was kind of dreading it. But maybe it won't be so bad.

Kay approached Tesla's office and knocked a little before she opened the door and stepped in. Odds are that he was either napping or smoking. Hopefully not both.

"I'm here for my appointment..."

 

[ToKola Bakari]

Tesla had obviously begun to settle into his position as the Palace's head Doctor. His desk was practically overflowing with papers and datapads. A lit cigarra hung from his lips as he continued to look over the Palace's medical requisition forms. In only the past few hours he had ordered an array of drugs and medicinal herbs to be transferred from nearby hospital's to the palace. After stocking the palace with the proper medical supplies Tesla could finally move on to the staff and see where they were strong and lacking.

He stood up, pulling off his lab coat and tossing it on the back of his chair. Immediately after he heard a knock erupt from his door. The man sighed before calling out to the door. "If this is about the Bioscanners I don't want to he-"

His words trailed off when he saw that it was [member="Lady Kay"] who had knocked on his door. "Oh, It's you." His eyes fell to the clock which was on it's side near the edge of his desk. He took the device into his hands, sighing at the time. "Yea, It's about that time."

Tesla tossed the clock back onto a stack of papers before taking a shallow drag from his cigarra. "Take a seat, sweetheart."

He ran a hand through his hair before slumping down into his seat, leaning back to flick his ashes out of the window as usual. "How are you doing today?" He questioned, though the sense of sympathy was slightly lost because of the tone the Doctor would take.