vor | Sixth Cream Cake: [Written/Action]

[Filtered to Ivan Vorpatril, 65% unhackable because it's early and he's sick.]

Ivan,

Would you please look in on the horse for me? The Imperial Ass seems to be having trouble getting out of bed today, as the Imperial Sniffles have turned into the Imperial Plague. We apologize for Our impending death and your impending resulting frustrations.

Regretfully,

Gregor

P.S. If this letter caused you alarm, please give yourself a refresher course in detecting the Imperial Sarcasm.

[/Filtered]

[Gregor is sick as a dog. Apartments adjacent to his have probably heard violent, deep, chesty coughing for about two weeks now. Ordinarily, he'd have on-site approved physicians checking him out and prescribing whatever antibiotic was necessary, but here, he has to actually go seek out help. So. To the Battle Dome clinic he goes, looking specifically to see Adele LeBlanc when she's in. He will wait for her, if necessary.

Afterwards, he's going to the library, then the bakery for coffee and something sweet. Anyone stopping in can see him sitting inside, devouring a psychology textbook and sipping coffee, the cream cakes reduced to crumbs. They are the only thing he has eaten all day. He is not looking great, occasionally falling into bad coughing fits, for which he ducks outside, but recovering fairly quickly. When he heads home, he goes straight to bed despite his plans to work out. And the fact that it's the middle of the day.]

[Filtered to Phoenix Ikki 79%]

PI--

I suppose we're supposed to be pen pals, whatever that entails. I hope you're adjusting to the village well.

--GB

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You place the mouthpiece in your mouth, depress the canister on top, and inhale simultaneously. It may feel odd if you are unaccustomed to this form of medication, but it will help when you are least able to breathe."

The inhaler ought to last as long as the remainder of his illness runs, Adele doesn't think it's quite so bad that he'll need a refill.

He nods, looking closely at the inhaler. A little too focused on it, maybe. Eventually, he clears his throat.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What else can I do for you Gregor?"

At this she sets the clipboard aside, watches his face. His hands. Hopes it's something she can actually assist with since she's had such a lovely run of helplessness regarding those close to her as of late.

He pauses to consider his words carefully.

"I'd...like to talk to you about anti-depressants."

"..."

That wasn't something she's qualified to discuss. At all. She doesn't even know what sort of medication they have in the clinic that would suit Gregor- anti-depressants were variable and finicky enough when one knew all the important factors.

"I'm not...this isn't my area Greg."

"Of course not," he says flatly. "Whose is it?"

"We don't have anyone qualified to prescribe those in the clinics. We've physicians and surgeons but...that's all." She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. "I'll do what research I can for you, find what we have available."

Gregor sighs. "I realize this isn't what you do. Even in my time, these meds can be hit-or-miss."

Hazel eyes look straight at Adele, solemn, but gleaming with a tense vulnerability. "I have a duty to someone here. A very real, very legal duty. If he needs to be protected, he has the right to come to me for help. And I have to give it to him. I'm as sworn to him as he is to me, and I have to be alive for that. Mentally alive."

Edited Date: 2012-08-21 01:51 am (UTC)

To that. Well. She can't let her own unease with having this responsibility thrust upon her prevent her from helping Gregor. It's not her area, it's not something she's well versed in- but she'll learn what she needs and look over what is available to find something suitable.

Her voice is soft, but sincere. "...I will find something for you. It'll take time, but I will find something with which to start. They've always been hit or miss and the first one you try may not work well, or at all, or the side effects may not be worth what peace they bring you."

He nods. "I'm aware. It doesn't change my mind." He sighs and leans back in the chair, then coughs lightly. "Will you contact me, or vice versa?"

"I will contact you as soon as I find something I feel might be a good place to start. And Greg- it doesn't always work immediately. Sometimes it takes days, or weeks for them to properly filter into your system and act as they should."

"Can I start them sooner than now?"

An ironic question, of course.

"I will prescribe you something to have been begun three weeks ago." She snorts and scribbles out a note, waits a moment."There. Now tell me if you feel any improvements."

"You get my point."

"As soon as I have something for you, I will contact you and provide you with the medication and what changes you will have to make to accomidate it. Beyond the very basic requests that you take the recommended dosage, don't mix it with anything else, and do not imbibe alcohol while on it there's not much that will be changed. It should not be a bother."

"...No alcohol?"

"It varies depending upon the medication, the individual, and the dosage. To be safe I would recommend none whatsoever until we see if what I find works for you or not. Then...it depends on the medication."

He looks neutral. The nuances would add up to "annoyed" and "disappointed" when viewed by skilled eyes. A pity Ivan's not here. "Very well. Thank you, Dr. LeBlanc. Is there anything else?"

"...if it is truly that vital to you Gregor I'll see if I cannot find something that can be taken with alcohol- in moderation. Getting drunk is stupid enough when you aren't on medication."

She would know, really. He wouldn't have asked if he didn't want to have at least a glass of wine, and he has shown an appreciation for them in the past.

"Unless you've anything else you wish to discuss. General health, odd itching, your sex life, etc."

"Don't worry about the alcohol, as long as you find something that works." A sigh, and he rubs his temple with one finger. "No, nothing else. Thank you for your time."

"You know you may call me whenever you have need of me. Be it for medical advice and treatment or simply to converse."

He was standing up, but slowed when she said that last. Now he smiles and gives her a polite nod.

"Thank you," he says gently, genuinely touched. "You really mean that."

"I do. It's...difficult enough, here with the environment as it is. Worse still when one is on their own, or feels isolated."

She manages a very small smile for Greg. "You aren't. I'm not one of your Vor or a Barrayan, but. I'm here whenever you need me."

Most of the Vor or any other Barrayarans aren't there for him, either. The only person on the planet who doesn't see him in a class by himself is Cordelia, and that's because she's Betan and all their castes are optical illusions to her. Maybe that's what's so comforting about Adele. She, like Cordelia, would look at a child emperor and see the child rather than the emperor.

"I'm always isolated." He tries for a fleeting smile and fails. "Now there's a Barrayaran here, and I have to be his emperor when the situation calls for it. When..." He swallows. "When I talked to King Arthur--I can't believe I said that--he seemed to think being here made him...not-king. But our oaths don't really work that way. If all three planets of the empire blew up in some freak cosmic mishap, all the survivors would still be the Imperium, and I'd still be Emperor. Even if it was just me and one other. I ran into another dimension and I can't even run from that. Demonstrably. Don't mistake me, I couldn't be happier he's here. But here, I don't even know if I can uphold his rights the way I'm sworn to. I don't have limitless power over anyone here but him, and if I'm forsworn..."

No one will know back home. But he'll know, here.

It's not something she can empathize with, not really. Politics and obligations- familial obligations and professional obligations, that she understands and deals with day in, day out. Words made and debts to pay. It's rougher and simpler than what it is that Gregor seems bound to. And there's terribly little she can think to say or do for him in this. What she can do for the moment is reach out, rest her hand against his shoulder and give it a squeeze. A physical validation that for the moment, at least, he is not isolated. She's not much and knows it. But she's here.

"I don't think anyone would one to impose upon his rights, here. At least not intentionally, and not in a way that cannot be prevented. You're his emperor and while things are markedly different here and I'm but a surgeon, I know enough of those hat wouldn't want anyone's rights imposed upon here to perhaps lend a bit of weight to whatever it is you would need say, or have done, to protect his rights and your own. It's. Most likely not how things are done in your world. But it is what I can offer."