[CLOSED]

[gobybessie]

Who: John Smith and Julien Sakazaki
What: Medical check-up
When: Backdated to November 17 /cough
Where: Neuschwanstein, Hotel Lilie

It wasn't all that difficult to find Hotel Lilie. John didn't know a word of German, but luckily their English seemed to generally not be too shabby. It was certainly strange, to travel across the globe in an instant and to go from one time of the day to another, but at least in this case he wouldn't have to deal with the jetlag.

He took his sweet time getting there nonetheless, because this city was new to him and he always did like new places. Considering Julien had all day and John didn't give an exact time, he figured it wasn't too bad if he took a while.

Once there, he aqcuired Julien's room number, made his way over there and knocked swiftly on the door.

Comments

[espigeonage]

Julien had taken one of the comfort rooms. With his size he needed it; involuntarily he occupied quite a bit of the space in any given room, especially if his wings weren't closed, and he was even more uncomfortable on a single bed than a larger one. It was nice to not have to pay for any of that.

After yesterday he was just as glad to stay in all day, alternating mulling over things and trying not to think about them. And drinking copious amounts of water, and being dismayed. He hadn't needed more changes.

Opening the door with a vaguely handlike foot, Julien put on a smile as he looked down at John. "Galu! I was wondering when you'd get here. Enjoying the sights?"

[gobybessie]

Considering how tall John was very well aware he was now, Julien's height tended to be a bit of a shock even if he knew of it. It was just ... a lot.

The wings undoubtedly made him look even bigger.

"It's the first time I've been here, so I thought I'd have a look around. Sorry for the wait." He stepped inside, looking up at Julien with a raised eyebrow. " 'Galu'?"

[espigeonage]

"I'd do the same, no worries. It's an attractive place! Nice people." He backed out of John's way. Although he'd made a little effort to personalize the hotel room, putting pictures on the dresser and some poems on walls, it still looked like a hotel room. The air held his scent, vaguely like baking bread.

Julien had to shrug. "It's Elvish. I learned it from a friend, and then I got a pulse that makes me want to greet people in foreign languages."

[gobybessie]

A blink.

"That's a fascinating pulse. Something your other self tended to do, then?"

Probably.

[espigeonage]

Julien shrugged a feathered shoulder again. "I think so. I don't have a lot of his memories, so... It's not the worst pulse, I can keep myself from doing it, but it doesn't hurt anything."

Argh sorry for the delay burnout hit me hard

[gobybessie]

"No, there are certainly worse ones." He put his bag down on a chair and shrugged his coat off his shoulders. "I brought what I could. I figured we'd start with a regular check-up, and see what we can find."

It's okay!

[espigeonage]

"All right, then." Resigning himself, Julien sat on the bed, his tail lying across it, his long red feet out before. Sitting he always looks more normal, like a young man in a massive cloak.

[gobybessie]

While he was sure that Julien was quite annoyed with the concept of checking the temperature, he very much wanted to see for himself what it was that another doctor got so hung up on. So he handed him a thermometer, first of all.

"Let's see what the fuss was about."

[espigeonage]

Julien reached for it with the clawed remnants of his hand. His temperature was at its most obvious radiating from the bare skin he had left, but some could be felt from his scales. "You feel it now?"

Popping the thing into his mouth, he resettled it. Julien lacked teeth now, having a beak in the same place and roughly the same shape, and his tongue was narrow and odd, plus the entire inner structure of his mouth... but, oral thermometers still worked on him.

It was worth some fuss. His resting temperature was around 106. Pigeons just ran much hotter than humans.

[gobybessie]

"Mm, yes."

Which made things a little clearer. If the temperature was alarmingly high, it would make sense for a regular doctor to be concerned. But someone who was Numbered too? Surely they understood that things with them didn't always work as normal.

Or perhaps that doctor hadn't really gotten to experience physical change himself, like John had.

While Julien had the thermometer in his mouth, John grabbed a sphygmomanometer from the bag. Honestly, he still thought a veterinarian wasn't a terribly bad idea, but he'd done what research he could on birds. It was something.

[espigeonage]

Doctor Percell had been quite new to the network and treating abnormal patients. At the time Julien had still looked basically human, but was physiologically very odd.

"You won't be able to get that around my arm," he said, only slightly muffled by having his mouth shut. An old pulse left him speaking through the syrinx down in his chest, independent of whether or not he moved his lips and tongue. "Leg, you think?"

[gobybessie]

It surprised him, a little, to hear Julien talked, and he glanced back with raised eyebrows. Ah. Must be yet another Echo thing? Probably.

He looked Julien over, and gave a thoughtful hum.

"The leg will probably work fine." The thermometer beeped and he stepped over to grab it and take a look.

[espigeonage]

"Mmkay." He leaned closer to let John grab it, then started to unbutton a pant leg, the movement of his prehensile feathers ponderous and delicate. His leg hair was white and thick, with pillow-style feathers scattered in it.

These days he always wore pants that zipped or buttoned up the outer sides of his legs. Those meant he could get his feet through without wearing something incredibly baggy.

[gobybessie]

When he looked at the thermometer, he couldn't help but give a low whistle. Well.

"Ah, I can see why someone would insist on you lowering your temperature. If you were human, this would be very bad." He waved it a little, and put it on the table. "But for a bird, it's just about right, if the internet is anything to go by."

[espigeonage]

"Lethal, probably. It's pretty ridiculous." Though he doesn't react as badly to being called a bird as he used to, he can't help making a face. "Yeah. Higher metabolism and all."