So help me, please doctor, I'm damaged

[beastlybeauty]

Who: Justine and YOU
What: It's time for everyone to get their physical! Let the doctor games begin.
Where: In Justine's office
When: Spanning all last, this, and next week. Or whenever your character is eventually dragged to their physical.

[Threading out your character's physical is not a requirement! However, if you think that your character may be affected seriously or you just feel like threading it out, this log is for you. Even if we thread here, please make sure you have filled an OOC form here.]

The office is completely sterile, but it has ivy patterns in tasteful greens, golds, and silvers climbing up the walls. There is a small desk in the corner, stacked with thin files full of notes. If one slid over to check the papers spread over the files, they'd only find messy but impossibly complex models of hybrid DNA strands, drawn idly as she was thinking of something else--the blueprints of new muttations, but no one would be able to figure that out without a brilliant Capitol-level understanding of DNA and how the chemical bonds translate to physical traits.

Justine sits at the desk, waiting for you to arrive.

Comments

[beastlybeauty]

"Oh, not at all, not at all. You're right on time."

Immediately, Justine perks, picking up one of the files from her desk and laying it on her lap before rolling her seat around her desk so they can be sitting without anything between them. She doesn't acknowledge the loose diagrams and blueprints. She doesn't really expect many people to either look at or understand them.

"It's good to meet you in person, Dr. Klim. Do you mind if I call you Sigma?"

Without waiting for an answer, she flips open her file, plucking a pen from the desk behind her. "Now, this shouldn't take too much of your time. Is there anything you think I should know before we start trying to establish your history? Anything you want me to note, or something in particular you would like me to check on?"

[futilecycle]

Sigma nods. "That is fine. A pleasure to meet you as well, Doctor." It is interesting how many people were willing to address him by his first name, here; the instant his companions at home had discovered he was a Gamemaker, they refused to use his first name, as if he had lost the privilege of owning one for doing his job. As if being a doctor in his field dehumanized him.

He doesn't know what she might already have in that file of hers or how much attention she pays to each Tribute in the Arena, but Sigma decides to start with the most obvious. "I suppose I should say that my age is beginning to catch up with me. As time goes on, I find it more difficult to support the weight of my cybernetic arms. They were never intended to be used on Earth's gravity, you see..." He shrugs as if it is an obvious thing to note. "My shoulders and back hurt almost constantly. If you could prescribe me something to take the edge off, I would very much appreciate that."

[beastlybeauty]

"So, back pain, shoulder strain, difficulties with prosthetics..." She glances down at the file, writing down his complaints in neat, elegant print. The kind of handwriting that comes with a certain amount of practice perfecting penmanship.

"Well, it's likely that a lot of those problems would go away if we replaced your arms with ones more suited to our current planet. A typical human body isn't built to drag around that much metal. You, of course, could have a say in any adjustments we made." She absently taps her pen against the file, looking up to smile at him. "I would recommend it over painkillers, since regular usage carries significant risk of addiction, but you don't have to make any decisions right now if you would like to think on it or ask me questions about the process."

She keeps smiling; it's a sort of easy smile that makes it seem like she's genuinely interested in everything he might have to say. "I'll be sure to pay close attention to your backs and shoulders during the examination, though, just in case it's not the weight. Is there anything else you'd like me to know before we get started?"

[futilecycle]

The suggestion makes the Doctor feel ill; Sigma takes a deep breath to calm himself. Allowing the Capitol to modify his body would certainly look good, but he isn't certain he could handle it, mentally or physically. Surgery terrified him. The idea of any sort of knife touching his skin terrified him. At the very least, it would mean another week at least of helplessness while he recovered... he could feel revulsion in his bones.

"...That might be a better plan. I will think on it," he lies.

It may have been wise to voice his concerns or to bring up the terror another touching his cybernetics gave him, but foolishly, Sigma stays quiet. He is supposed to maintain the illusion of strength, even in private. "I believe that's everything," he decides.

[beastlybeauty]

"Take your time. It would be a completely voluntary procedure, but if you choose to do it, I would suggest doing it sooner rather than later." The Capitol wouldn't excuse him from games just because he was recovering from surgery, after all.

She flips to a sheet of questions. "Now, I'll just need you to answer some questions, and then we'll get to the actual examination. Would you please confirm your full name, your age, and your date of birth?"

[futilecycle]

Assured that he was not being forced into anything, Sigma began to relax again. "Very well," Sigma begins, sitting up straight. "My name is Sigma Klim, or Zero, as some Tributes call me." That probably didn't matter, and he mentions it with a dismissive wave of the hand. He had already told the Doctor that 'Sigma' was fine. "I am 69 years old, and I was born on July 18th, 2006." He wonders if that would mean anything to her, or if it would be a date from the distant past.

[beastlybeauty]

"July... 2006..."

She murmured softly to herself as she wrote down the information, then looked up to give him yet another smile.

"Would you say you're sexually active?"

She could just be getting the uncomfortable questions out of the way. In reality, she just enjoyed seeing people react to that one and liked getting right to it.

[futilecycle]

He should have expected the question, but having forgotten the structure of a typical check-up, it completely blindsides him. In spite of his near 70 years of wisdom, the cyborg begins to blush and fidget awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable. Were he 45 years younger, it would be an easy question. He clears his throat.

"Ah... That is a vague question, isn't it? I mean, if one's partner has been gone for some time, one wouldn't be sexually active, in a manner of speaking..." He's being evasive, not wanting to admit he had been with a woman barely older than his son. All of Panem had seen them together, and it was no secret they were dating, but... Sigma hated being able to travel through time more than he could put to words. He wished they could be an ordinary couple with matching ages and a future ahead of them.

[beastlybeauty]

"Oh, don't be so embarrassed. I'm a professional. I've seen it all before."

She gives him a wink before settling in her chair, resting her pen on the edge of the page. "Just tell me how many sexual partners you've had in the past year. I'm afraid this is the kind of thing I have to know, since it will affect your health."

[futilecycle]

Sigma isn't entirely convinced, and the wink does not help matters. He fidgets in his seat for a little while like a worm on a hook before answering her.

"...One."

Next question, please.

[beastlybeauty]

"One. Very well." She writes down his answer. "And do you take any medications? Any major diseases, injuries, or operations in the past?"

He's embarrassed by his sexual history. Some people are, but him in particular. Usually, people are ready to tell her most of what she wants without much trouble in a medical setting.

That could potentially be useful. She'd need to go over footage of the Games again and see who he sleeps with.

[futilecycle]

As thankful as he was to have moved on, Sigma wasn't entirely certain where to start. "Ah... No medications presently, but before I arrived here, I was recovering from a viral infection. I had taken an antitoxin. It seems I made a full recovery and it has not bothered me since." It would have been immediately obvious, both to himself and others, if he was still infected. He knows she is bound to ask, but he does not disclose the virus' name. "It was a virus unique to my world. Allow me to leave it at that." It had also caused a mass extinction, and Sigma was reluctant to bring it up in the presence of a Capitol citizen.

He catches himself rubbing his wrist. "As for my arms and eye, I lost them when I was a young man. You could say it was the result of a 'Game' not unlike our own. They were replaced with cybernetics soon after."

He thinks for a moment before shrugging. "...Right. I was treated for a stab wound a couple of months ago. I also caught a case of influenza about a year ago, and when I took it into the Arena, I died." Let's forget both of those at once.