A DOCTOR'S VISIT

ZAUN PROMENADE LEVEL

POST DEMACIAN/NOXIAN SKIRMISH

1950 HOURS

A woman was reading by a desk. It was about plant life and alchemical formulas to any novice it would seem like gibberish, but to the expert it contained the information to either save or condemn a person's life. The dim lamp was the only source of light in the room, it was night but even if it was day the sunlight didn't come down to the under belly of Zaun through most of the smoke anyways. The woman's most distinctive feature would probably be her long flowing blue hair, probably dyed, but in Zaun who really knows, and the next would be her bright magenta eyes. She was attractive, but had an unsettling look to her that seemed devoid of much emotion… though others would say it would be a pretty good trait to have in Zaun. She wore a white lab coat and a pair of round glasses with a bit of a tint covering her bright eyes. Next to her desk was a bed with a heavily bandaged man in it. The man stirred before opening his eyes staring at the ceiling which caught the attention of the woman reading. She put her book down and peered over to the dazed and confused man curiously.

"Hmm so you're finally awake." she spoke

The man looked around in his surroundings, he certainly wasn't in a field hospital, He wasn't chained, so it didn't seem like he was captured but he wasn't in home territory either. Last thing he remembered was facing down that red furred psycho-.

The woman waved her hand with two fingers at Sthal, "How many fingers am I holding?" She spoke, interrupting his thoughts. Sthal looked to the woman hovering above him with a blank stare realizing those were one of the voices he heard while unconscious. The voice was calm and spoken in a calculated and methodical manner. She sounded cold. Sthal thought it was best to just answer her question.

"Two" he muttered.

The woman took a seat by the bed and started writing something down on a notebook, "Subject slow to respond, but seems to retain ocular and mental faculties, additional testing required." she quietly muttered.

"H-hey I can hear you, ya know" Sthal protested

"Subject's auditory seems to be well functioning, and seems to have enough mental capacity to understand uncommon vernacular...as well as complain. Noted for possible disruptive subject and need to escalate to more stringent security." She muttered quietly again.

"Ha..." Sthal laughed or at least as much as he could in the pain he was in. "Not very good with bedside manners are you?" He joked to diffuse the situation.

The woman looked up from her notebook and stared into Sthal's eyes for a moment before returning to jotting something down. "Subject seems to be able to convey sarcasm..." She looked up again before saying, "albeit poorly, can rule out frontal lobe damage, and would recommend the subject to not quit his current profession." she said while scribbling in her notes.

"Very funny…" Sthal said with a bit of a frown. He looked around the room again to get a better bearing of his surroundings, but couldn't recognize much. "But miss where am I?" he asked.

The woman closed her notebook with one hand before answering, "You're in Zaun currently at a research facility."

Sthal raised his eyebrow perplexed before asking, "And...If I may ask, why not a hospital?"

The woman scoffed a bit "Oh no, you don't want to go to one of those... at least to get better."

If Sthal wasn't uneasy before this, he sure was now after hearing those words. By the light what kind of crazy city was this he thought.

"Just to clarify, your name is Sthal, Konigs rank of Captain in the Demacian military correct?" the woman asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Sthal thought a bit before answering but even if he was being held prisoner, standard protocol dictated that it was okay to give out their name and rank. "Yes you are correct." Sthal replied.

He was wondering how the woman knew his name, before instinctively reaching for his tags but noticed they were missing. The woman opened a drawer and took out a few tags and showed them to Sthal. "Sorry but this is all we could recover from the time there… The place we found you, well there wasn't much left" she said in an attempt to be empathetic.

Sthal looked at the tags and started to remember. In the end of that skirmish he knew they weren't going to win, so he decided to retreat and save his men. Knowing that the battle was partly his own failure, he opted to stay behind as the rearguard with a small contingent of volunteers. He lived while the reaguard with him died or were missing, and he didn't even know what happened to the others. "Shit…" he muttered. "I should have died there, it's what I deserved."

The woman looked at the patient in a curious inquisitive manner, before cupping her hands together. "Survivor's guilt" she nonchalantly said

"Huh?" Sthal looked up, interrupted from his brooding.

"Survivor's Guilt" she repeated. "It's a mental condition, where the subject feels guilt for living through a traumatic event while the ones around him died."

"But… It was my fault they were there in the first place…" Sthal replied

"Hmm perhaps" she pondered while tilting her head.

Sthal looked at her dumbfounded. "Hahaha" he laughed in a bit of a hysteric manner. "You really are terrible at this aren't you?"

The woman gave a smirk, "Well...I'm not that kind of doctor...usually." she stated. "Anyways, if you don't mind please sign this form." she asked quickly, changing the subject.

Sthal took the form and tried to make sense of the legal jargon written on the forms. "It's mostly a formality at this point since we already did surgery on you, it didn't seem like you were in much of a state to refuse since you were unconscious and about to... expire." the woman explained.

Sthal just nodded to the explanation and signed his name on the dotted line but noticed another signature besides his. He read it out to be something Cortese? He pointed at the signature and curiously asked, "Is that your name, Doctor Cortese?"

The woman seemed a bit surprised at that question. She never really interacted with her subjects on a name to name basis, usually just subject number and Doctor. In fact she was taught by her mentor that it was best to be indifferent about these things as bias could interfere with the results. And honestly she never really cared to know anything about her subjects unless it was relevant. Yet she interacted more with this person than any other for some reason she couldn't yet quantify, he definitely piqued her interest... She put her fist up to her mouth and cleared her throat to properly introduce herself. "Yes, I'm Dr. Marie Cortese, the one who operated on you and will be documenting your recovery...nice to formally meet you."

Sthal raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a formal introduction, "Pleased to meet you doctor," He said while raising his arm for a handshake. Cortese slowly but reluctantly grabbed his hand and shook it slowly. "And… Thank you for saving my life." He said sincerely while giving her a very warm smile.

Cortese blinked a bit taken aback, but eventually found herself smiling as well, "You're welcome Captain Sthal." she answered back in an equally sincere tone. "Well Captain, that's all I needed. I'll leave you to rest, I'll check up on you tomorrow." She expected a response, but Sthal already seemed to be fast asleep. She waved her hand in front of him, no response. Next she took his wrist and checked his pulse. Stable nothing unusual, probably just nodded off. She held his wrist for a bit longer than necessary feeling the thumping of blood pumping in his arteries. Cortese started to breathe a bit heavier before she realized what she was doing and placed his wrist back on the bed.

She opened her notebook again and recollected her notes on the subject Sthal. "Subject was found in critical condition and left for at least a day. Multiple lacerations, broken ribs, internal bleeding, a miracle that he's even still alive. Good chance to test experimental surgery #L1154 to put him back into stable condition, but chances that subject would survive shock of surgery very low. However since the subject would expire without any intervention I was given the go ahead by the department" She read her notes and smiled. "Very interesting man indeed." she whispered to herself. She wondered to herself how he'd possibly survived. Magic? a special ability? Perhaps he was just exceptionally lucky… or in his circumstances unlucky, maybe something else entirely. Her mind was racing with possibilities, and wanted to know more. Cortese started to chuckle, palming her face to cover her own laughter as heat rose to her face. She was getting excited, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long while. She couldn't wait to see what else she could learn from this man.

Sthal started to stir in his sleep, perhaps from a dream or the noise. Cortese froze a bit, and looked at Sthal who still seemed to be fast asleep. She snapped back and took a deep breath, adjusting her glasses and regaining her composure. Getting up from her seat she gently placed it back under the desk and made her way to the door. She took one last look at Sthal and gave a wicked smile. Cortese had some high hopes for her subject… very high hopes.