[Steampunk] - The Doctor and the Madame

[salutethered]

WHO: Veronika and Hak Soo
WHEN: Monday (20th), 11PM
WHERE: Veronika's abode (wherever that is)
WHAT: Taking certain precautions should an assassination attempt occur.

Comments

[pravdadomina]

Veronika knew that running the military was a job that required a certain degree of risk. A degree of risk that came from various sources, were one to consider such an idea. Whether it be on the battlefield, diplomatic missions gone wrong, or assassination attempts, danger always lingered. Of course, even with such levels of danger, Veronika found that her situation was quite exhilarating.

While she may have worked hard to achieve her dream, that did not mean that she did not find herself bored quite often. So the fact that someone, someone, among her own ranks (and perhaps a few from the nobility), kept attempting to kill her almost regularly- Well. It made her job all the more fun. Of course, even with her amusement, Veronika knew that letting her guard down for the sake of this game (as it's always a game in her mind) would be a rather moronic thing to do.

Thus, she needed to build resistance. Combat she could do. Pinpoint bombs? She could always send someone in before her. But poison and diseases were trickier. The human body was strong but not always resilient.

Her lips curled as the older woman pushed away from the plush chair she had been lounging on, making sure to brush off imaginary pieces of dust as she smiled at the man in front of her. "Good evening, doctor. I hope my men didn't give you too much trouble today?" She cooed, smile still in place.

[salutethered]

It was no secret that the Madam unnerved-well, everyone, really, and Hak Soo wasn't by any means immune to said intimidation. He was, however, smart enough to know better than to show any signs of said intimidation. He gave a quick smile and answered, "Of course not. There's never any trouble."

He stood for a moment before putting the bag onto the table. "I trust that you have kept up with the administration of the poison on schedule?" he asked, pulling out another set of vials and syringes. It wasn't exactly small talk, but when one's business was to offer their patient arsenic, there wasn't a wide variety of topics to choose from.

Hak Soo didn't know the details on the situation at hand, but he knew that one did not attempt building a resistance against at least seven different kinds of poisonous substances unless someone was after their life. Sighing, he held out his hand, an implicit request that the Madame pull up her sleeve so that he could draw blood for analysis.

[pravdadomina]

"But of course," she responded lightly. "But it seems as though my dosage has gotten quite low. Hence why I was so hasty in calling you back here, miláčku." Carefully shrugging off the military jacket she often donned, Veronika slowly rolled up her sleeve soon after before extending her arm toward Hak Soo upon sitting back down.

Not even flinching at what was obviously a rather painful prick of the needle against her skin, she only continued to smile. "I did have something else I wanted to ask though, doctor. Tell me, is there anything else out there? I am not quite sure what types of poisons are available lately and I would rather not take any risks, as you know."

[salutethered]

He had trouble suppressing the smirk that came to his face at the very request. Coughing, Hak Soo capped the vial with the Madame's blood; it was no laughing matter, and frankly, it was a bit gauche to express amusement in such a conversation.

"I thought you might say that," he said, "so I brought a new brand of rodenticide that's quite popular on the market." Hak Soo pulled out a bottle labelled Rat-no-moar. Sure, the name was questionable, as was the intelligence of the people who produced it, but the poison was effective.

He twisted the lid and took out a pink pill and a blue pill. "You should take the pink pill three times a week and the blue pill four. I'll visit again on the sixth to see if it's appropriate to raise the dosage then," he said, scrawling the instructions onto a piece of paper. He then made direct eye contact with Veronika. "These are virtually tasteless and odorless, and should you leave these laying around for someone to eat, well, let's say that the unfortunate person will be dead within the half hour."

[pravdadomina]

Her free hand absently came up to brush the skin surrounding the small hurt on her arm as she grinned, leaning back against her chair. Some would consider Veronika to be mad for entrusting her life to this doctor - of course, many already thought her to be mentally unstable so the older woman could care less about such assumptions. And it wasn't as though she fully trusted the man, in all honesty.

And Hak Soon knew this as well.

But he was more than competent enough for Veronika to trust to a certain extent. Of course, regardless of the trust that existed on her behalf, it was not enough to stop her from informing one of her more trusted women in uniform about what Veronika did when she slipped off into the basement of her estate. At least Hak Soo was told of this. Lest he feel his own sense of betrayal and anger were he to ever find his own life threatened as an act of pre-planned vengeance.

Rolling her sleeve back down, Veronika took the bottle of pills from his hand. Her eyebrow rose as she shook the bottle experimentally before grinning. "Is that so, doctor? I'll have to make sure to not accidentally leave these laying around, lest I unintentially harm someone." Her lips curled dangerously for a moment before her expression reverted back to something not quite neutral but playful and amicable instead. "This first dosage is small, yes? What effects should I expect? Nausea? Fever? Fits of delusions? A seizure or two?"

[salutethered]

He tested a drop of the blood on some litmus paper and put another drop inside another vial with clear liquid; it turns a ghastly shade of mustard yellow. Hak Soo looked up at the Madame and couldn't help but laugh. He had never seen anyone talk about the process of mithridatization with such an icy calm demeanor as this woman. She was no doubt a formidable opponent in not only the politics that made up the military hierarchy, but also in combat and warfare.

"Judging from the content of your blood, I'd say you'll only suffer mild nausea this time around," he said. "If you feel dizzy or like vomiting, I'd recommend apple juice." He held up the mustard vial to the light and shook it lightly. The precipitate settled to the bottom and as far as he could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary with Veronika's blood other than the fact that she had enough arsenic flowing through it to kill a small baby elephant.

"It's impressive that you haven't fallen seriously ill or died yet," he said idly, writing down more notes in his notepad. If he were an entirely different type of doctor, he would have no qualms about running a few other choice "tests" on this woman, but as it stood, Hak Soo valued his life too much to run that risk.

[pravdadomina]

"So no glass of wine before bed I take it?" There was a teasing lilt to her tone as her eyes lowered to stare at the scrap of litmus paper. Briefly, Veronika could not help but wonder how long she would be able to keep this up. How long she could continue before something went horribly wrong and she'd be force to pay the price - pay the price for trying to keep herself alive.

She knew better than to consider the irony of the situation.

"But it's only a matter of time, no?" She asked, pocketing the bottle of pills Hak Soo had given her. "Before I do in fact fall seriously ill." Or die. Of course, she had fallen ill before. Though this had been quite some time ago, back when Veronika had first started this process of mithridatization. She couldn't remember exactly how long she had been ill, save for the fact that the day her first dosage had been raised, she may have been at death's door. Not that she really bothered to remember that far back, of course.

"And does this mean no fits of delusions this time around? A pity, those are always fun." Her hand brushed his arm briefly as her brow raised. "Are there any other tests I need to know about, doctor?"

[salutethered]

The pragmatic nature of the Madame never failed to take him aback. "It is," he conceded. "But I wouldn't worry about that just yet. You are progressing just as you need to."

He somehow doubted that this woman even had the ability to die at all in the first place. Rumours surrounded her like a pack of vultures on a dead carcass in the summer heat, and who knew how many of those rumours were true? Veronika did, however, have his implicit respect as a professional. In whatever capacity "professional" could be interpreted here.

It didn't mean he didn't feel an unpleasant shiver run down his spine at her touch. "Tests?" he asked, raising a brow. During moments like this, he wondered if she was a mind-reader as well. "Of course not."

Hak Soo pulled out another bottle, unmarked, and set it on the table. "If you don't mind me saying," he leaned in a little, as if sharing a secret. "It seems that your rat infestation has gotten progressively worse since we last spoke."

[pravdadomina]

"Then I suppose I can make do with just a few sips of wine before bed. I am a creature of habit, what can I say?"

Casually perching herself on top of the plain wooden table situated in the middle of the room, all the while noticing how much of an interrogation room her basement seemed. How funny.

Legs and arms now crossed, Veronika regarded the doctor with another unnerving smile. "Rat infestation?" She echoed, fingers splayed out in front of her as she lowered her eyes to idly study her nails. "You could say that, yes. But I have to admit, I've grown fond of the little buggers-" Here, she paused to pick up the newest bottle to be procured with a mild look of intrigue. "They are pests and often annoyances, but hunting them down is quite fun, in all honesty. Though, tell me, what is this we have here, doctor?"

OMG WHAT AM I DOING.

[salutethered]

"A little present to keep the pests at bay," he said, not missing a beat. He held up the bottle and gave it a little shake. "This is a new strain that's more effective than what you have there. It's exclusive to those in-the-know, so you needn't worry about it being commonplace by any means."

Hak Soo opened the bottle and took out two nondescript, white pills; he held one up for show. "It hardly takes two minutes, depending on the size of the creature," he explained.

If you give a mouse a white pill...

He knelt down and did just that, feeding a rather large, cat-like rat that was passing by. Patiently, he waited as it nibbled down on one pill, then the second. Hak Soo stood up and packed his bag, before putting his hat back on. He looked down to see that the rat lay down at his feet, lying dead without a sound.

It will most certainly eat itself to death.

"I trust that was a good enough hands-on example for your tastes?" he asked, smiling.

YOU'RE SCARING ME BRO.

[pravdadomina]

"Am I going to have to crack down on this underground poison business? It sounds like something I should do, considering my position and all. But I have to admit, the influx of all these, ah, toxins is astonishing," Her smile was widening again, a dangerous flashing of teeth of slid off her perch to stand once again.

Arms crossed over her chest, she moved her gaze down to the dead rodent lying by their feet. She stared at it for another moment, calculated stare on her face before she inched her foot forward. "Poor thing," she murmured, smile gone as her leather boot pressed firmly into the rodent's belly, the pressure threatening to give way into what could result in a rather messy outcome. "Searching for a morsel or means to continue living only to die so quickly. Though I suppose it should consider itself lucky to have such a quick death," her eyes flickered upward to stare back at the doctor, the sudden silence almost palpable before Veronika smiled once more.

"But this was good, yes," she responded, lifting her foot from the dead rat before nudging its carcass aside without so much as a second glance. "Will I be submitting myself to small doses of this poison or-" A pause. "Shall I keep this for safe keeping? Lest my pest problem grow worse, of course."

I'M SCARING ME TOO, BRO.

[salutethered]

"You should refrain from treating yourself with this particular toxin," he warned with an answering smile. He was sure that this entire affair was overstepping all bounds of illegal, but when the brass of the military herself was asking, how could he refuse to answer?

"A single pill should be sufficient to deal with your particular pest problem," Hak Soo said. "Is there anything else that you require this evening, Madame?"

WELL. AT LEAST WE'RE DONE (?).

[pravdadomina]

"Duly noted," Veronika responded with a slight quirk of her lips as she pocketed the new bottle alongside the one already in her pocket. "I have nothing else to pester you with for tonight, doctor." Dusting off imaginary bits of dust from her clothing as Hak Soo tidied up, the older woman pressed her hand lightly against the man's back in a silent request that they both exit.

"You shall receive your full payment in a day's time, as per usual." She glanced over her shoulder to stare blankly at the dead rodent for a brief moment before inwardly shrugging. She would have to remember to get someone to clean up the small mess sometime in the morning. "But if you would be so kind as to follow me upstairs, I believe I have a small bonus for you, darling. And I think it would be best if I see you to the door, lest my guards manhandle you further," she said with a small laugh, the door soon closing behind them.