There's more to go, but until the first round is finished and he knows how it went, peeling the next wasn't going to work .. they'd just get browned. "Habit," the SOLDIER rumbles. "Been kept busy since I was a kid, hard to stop." Not that he wanted to. Being active was being productive, and it felt nice to be able to do something more meaningful with his time than just sort magazines or something.
Deals would mean graduation and being a Warden and graduating his inmate - that's a long, long way away, assuming the Admiral even offered him the position. Counting on it was a bad idea, and so after a moment of consideration, it's put away. He's content with Zack's four - that's a grand track record. "If the Admiral for some reason lifts constraints, then 'contained' is the best possible option, not a babysitter. The true prisons down below cancel anything supernatural, don't they? If something happens, putting me there is for the best."
He probably won't even put up a fight! "Giving me a superpowered babysitter just risks having a superpowered second Angeal running around. Not really worth it, even if the Admiral can reverse the process."
"I didn't say 'someone immune' just to say it," Shaw says. She pulls down two glasses, setting them next to the whiskey bottle, but doesn't pour just yet. "I don't just mean the Admiral undoing it or bringing people back to life - I'm talking people for whom the laws of physics on your world won't apply. I bet I could find at least three wardens who could do it."
In truth, she can only think of one off the top of her head - but the Admiral nets enough powerful, invulnerable wardens that she's banking on there being a lot more.
Angeal rakes a hand through his hair, leaving bits of cheese behind. He's going to need a shower later. "Unless they also have the power to blanket nullify everyone in their vicinity, you're not ... treating this the way you need to be." There's frustration creeping into his tone, but he's not sure he's going to adequately explain this to someone else in a way that's going to get through.
"You're HOPING they might be immune, you don't actually know, and I'm unwilling to find out the hard way if you're wrong. And even if they're immune, what about everyone else? You need to stop thinking about this as ... something contained to just me, something that can be mitigated with handcuffs or a single magical individual with take-down skills and a sleep spell. Unconstrained by the Admiral, I.. it's an infectious pathogen that has nothing to do with physics to begin with. Stop thinking 'person' and start thinking 'plague'."
Admittedly, blood borne and thus harder to pass on than a common cold; if Hollander could have found a way to turn him or Genesis into an airborne contagion surely he would have just to see what would happen. "Though frankly it's medical I should be discussing that with."
"Good news," she says, lifting a hand and wiggling her fingers at him. "I'm medical. Now, how about you don't assume I'm gonna go about this in the dumbest way possible. We won't assume they're good for this and then spring it on them in the moment, we'll talk to them about it - here and now, before any emergencies happen. If I'm wrong, and if John Doe the all-powerful shapeshifter who doesn't even have to have a body if he doesn't want to says that he'd somehow be susceptible to an infection, then we'll regroup and try something else."
A pause.
"You're not a pathogen. You're infected by a pathogen. And to get you to Zero - which is a good idea - we're going to need that immune person with takedown skills."
"Don't know if the file left it out but it's wired into my DNA, so it's me, not something I'm infected with. Pretending otherwise doesn't help." Part of not being human, he can be part disease AND human shaped! "For someone in medical your ideas of containment and control leave a lot to be worried about, Shaw."
The ovens door is opened slightly to check for color and signs of crispness. "If things progress at the same rate as before I should be reasonably clearheaded for at least a couple of weeks before the impulse gets too strong. I shouldn't need to be forced, just .. kept contained until restrictions resume. Treat me like a plague carrier until then. Those white head to toe suits, all of it."
"It's wired to your DNA, but you're still more than just the pathogen; my point still stands. And maybe at home it would give you that much time, but..."
She shakes her head.
"Floods do all kinds of crazy things. There's no way we can mitigate every single bad thing this place could throw at us, but we can still try, and lining up some people willing and able to non-lethally get control of you is a part of that. I want you to be part of that conversation. And if you wanna do another meeting with medical, that sounds like a solid plan, too."
There's a noncommital grunt. "And I already explained this isn't something you can willpower your way out of, so being a person is in this specific context, kind of meaningless." He'll add the context part this time, just in case.
He's seen a total of one flood directly, with the fog and rust and blood, and it had been .. singularly unpleasant, but Angeal had suffered no direct effects from it. The people around him though.. Cloud, and his pathetic, desperately needy copy.. the things in the dark.. "..If I do talk to someone in medical, and I don't mean you, I want it clean slate. Don't talk to them ahead of time. Preconceived notions can influence diagnostics; if you're told you're looking for a chicken you're not going to be keeping an eye out for chocobos."
"Diagnostics?" Shaw echoes, her brow furrowing. "The hell are you thinking about diagnostics for? You don't need to be diagnosed; you already know what the pathogen is. Shouldn't you be giving them as much intel as you can, up front, without making them try to puzzle it out?"
"Because frankly, Shaw, you don't know as much about what this is as I do and if you talk to someone about it you could send them off on a wild goose chase pursuing the wrong damn thing." Another peek into the oven, it's a good reason to keep his attention on something not his Warden, though his tone's back to tinged with irritation. "I didn't say I wouldn't, just that I don't want YOU to. If you roll in and tell someone all about how I have space flu, and it's actually space cancer, you've just wasted all of our time."
"Got it," she says, giving him a quick nod. "For the record, I don't think it's a flu you can just walk off, I think we should be looking into chemo instead of assisted suicide. But I won't approach them ahead of time, and I'll let you do the talking. I do want to be there, though."
"I'm not going to a doctor appointment with someone who isn't family," Angeal rumbles, though something shifts from irritation to amusement. "I can ask for a recording, or keep one if the communicators let me record, but a lot of medical exams require stripping and we're not that good of friends yet."
Public showers are fine, but physicals are apparently where he draws the line. "I'm sure afterward whoever I speak to will want to go over it all with you anyway."
"I'm not asking to peek in on an actual exam, dude; come on," she says, rolling her eyes. "I'm still thinking intervention and prevention here. Giving the medical staff an overview of signs and symptoms to look out for, and working out steps to take if this thing breaks loose on the Barge - that's what I want to be there for. If you want check-ups, that's a good idea too, but that's your business."
It takes him a moment to hunt down a pair of potholders and fish out this particular attempt at hashbrowns with cheese. It smells.. like hashbrowns and cheese, but might not have the crispiness he's after. One way to find out! "I admit I don't know how these kinds of things go on other planets, or even other companies, but at Shinra, you go in for anything, and you're expected to do the entire workup. Blood draws, physical exams, whole nine yards. Even if you're there for a sniffle. Always seemed reasonable to me, but I guess that's not standard?"
"Sure it is," she says, shrugging. "But considering everything we'd been talking about up to this point, I just figured we were talking disaster preparedness debriefings, not doctor's appointments. So why don't we do both - I'm there for the first, and you do the second solo. Deal?"
"...There isn't a difference, you know. It's a doctor appointment to prepare for disaster." It seems like he's willing to relent on it, it wouldn't be the first time he's capitulated.
On the surface. He had zero intention of speaking to an actual doctor with an audience, at least not for the first discussion on it, but he could see the usefulness of it. Tendi's skills were ... thorough, but asking a friend for assistance would bring ethics into it wouldn't it? Doctors were supposed to avoid making patients of their friends and family.. "I'll send Tendi a message. We're.. on agreeable terms, but I'm not sure what her own ethics are about treating friends."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2025-01-17 09:28 pm (UTC)Deals would mean graduation and being a Warden and graduating his inmate - that's a long, long way away, assuming the Admiral even offered him the position. Counting on it was a bad idea, and so after a moment of consideration, it's put away. He's content with Zack's four - that's a grand track record. "If the Admiral for some reason lifts constraints, then 'contained' is the best possible option, not a babysitter. The true prisons down below cancel anything supernatural, don't they? If something happens, putting me there is for the best."
He probably won't even put up a fight! "Giving me a superpowered babysitter just risks having a superpowered second Angeal running around. Not really worth it, even if the Admiral can reverse the process."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-20 09:20 pm (UTC)In truth, she can only think of one off the top of her head - but the Admiral nets enough powerful, invulnerable wardens that she's banking on there being a lot more.
no subject
Date: 2025-01-21 01:35 am (UTC)"You're HOPING they might be immune, you don't actually know, and I'm unwilling to find out the hard way if you're wrong. And even if they're immune, what about everyone else? You need to stop thinking about this as ... something contained to just me, something that can be mitigated with handcuffs or a single magical individual with take-down skills and a sleep spell. Unconstrained by the Admiral, I.. it's an infectious pathogen that has nothing to do with physics to begin with. Stop thinking 'person' and start thinking 'plague'."
Admittedly, blood borne and thus harder to pass on than a common cold; if Hollander could have found a way to turn him or Genesis into an airborne contagion surely he would have just to see what would happen. "Though frankly it's medical I should be discussing that with."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-21 01:51 am (UTC)A pause.
"You're not a pathogen. You're infected by a pathogen. And to get you to Zero - which is a good idea - we're going to need that immune person with takedown skills."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-21 02:07 am (UTC)The ovens door is opened slightly to check for color and signs of crispness. "If things progress at the same rate as before I should be reasonably clearheaded for at least a couple of weeks before the impulse gets too strong. I shouldn't need to be forced, just .. kept contained until restrictions resume. Treat me like a plague carrier until then. Those white head to toe suits, all of it."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-21 02:16 am (UTC)She shakes her head.
"Floods do all kinds of crazy things. There's no way we can mitigate every single bad thing this place could throw at us, but we can still try, and lining up some people willing and able to non-lethally get control of you is a part of that. I want you to be part of that conversation. And if you wanna do another meeting with medical, that sounds like a solid plan, too."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-21 02:22 am (UTC)He's seen a total of one flood directly, with the fog and rust and blood, and it had been .. singularly unpleasant, but Angeal had suffered no direct effects from it. The people around him though.. Cloud, and his pathetic, desperately needy copy.. the things in the dark.. "..If I do talk to someone in medical, and I don't mean you, I want it clean slate. Don't talk to them ahead of time. Preconceived notions can influence diagnostics; if you're told you're looking for a chicken you're not going to be keeping an eye out for chocobos."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 06:20 pm (UTC)Public showers are fine, but physicals are apparently where he draws the line. "I'm sure afterward whoever I speak to will want to go over it all with you anyway."
no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-22 10:51 pm (UTC)On the surface. He had zero intention of speaking to an actual doctor with an audience, at least not for the first discussion on it, but he could see the usefulness of it. Tendi's skills were ... thorough, but asking a friend for assistance would bring ethics into it wouldn't it? Doctors were supposed to avoid making patients of their friends and family.. "I'll send Tendi a message. We're.. on agreeable terms, but I'm not sure what her own ethics are about treating friends."