ArchivedLogs:Medical Pow-wow

Medical Pow-wow
Dramatis Personae Arturo, Iolaus, Kate, Daniel
In Absentia	2014-03-30 A meeting of medical minds
Location <NYC> The Mendel Clinic - Lower East Side
With its sharp crystalline edges and sleek lines knifing up into the sky, this building is one of the most /distinctive/ new additions to the neighborhood. An angular structure in glass and steel, the tall tower has a deceptively slender look to it that is belied by the heavy security as soon as you enter the doors. The front doors are frosted with the Clinic's logo -- a rising sun over a rod of Asclepius -- a motif echoed in many places throughout the building. Visitors to the clinic must first pass through a small mantrap, guarded by some of the Clinic's security guards; once they make it through the metal detector and airlock's double doors they emerge into the much more hospitable lobby. With dark wood floors underneath and comfortable black and red couches at its edges, the high windows give the room an airy feel. A bank of elevators to one side carry visitors to the many destination floors, while the wide welcome desk at the other side is manned by a security guard ready to help point visitors in the right direction. As the afternoon sets into evening on the Mendel Clinic, the inside is surprisingly busy for a Sunday that they are closed for business. As well as the usual contingent of security guards that man their posts rain or shine, several other staff linger around the building. Researchers in their labs, tending to their experiments, a few doctors catching up on paperwork, and a handful of administrative staff taking advantage of the quiet offices to get through some of their ever growing inboxes. Two patients are here as well, still recovering from the explosion at the Village Lofts, with one nurse to tend to them over the weekend. Perhaps it is no surprise that Iolaus is among those in the office over the weekend - or, at least, near to it. Across the street, actually, handing some money over to a hot dog vendor as a guard watches protectively a few feet away. "Thanks, Jim." Iolaus says, giving a warm smile to the sun-worn vendor. "Sometimes, cafeteria food just doesn't cut it for dinner. Especially when there's no cooks there," he says, with a flash of teeth and a wink. With that, Iolaus picks up the paper plate, curled protectively around the hot dog, and begins to walk across the street and back towards the clinic building. Arturo stands outside the building, a frown creasing his lips, hands dug deep into the pockets of his wool peacoat. He's looking at the door like he's pondering something. It's a bit like a teenager trying to get up the courage to knock on the door of his crush. Kate is just off shift, dressed still in a set of pale pink scrubs beneath her spring coat, the canvas of the coat bright blue. Her long hair is pulled back from her face in a simple pony-tail, perhaps a little more disheveled than it had been at the start of her shift. Stifling a yawn, the young nurse presses her knuckles to her mouth to cover it when she fails to stifle it entirely. Shaking her head, Kate sips from her overlarge coffee cup as she passes the clinic, raising an eyebrow curiously at Arturo's anxious mannerisms outside the clinic. "I... think they may be closed this evening," Kate offers lightly in an attempt to be helpful, confusion crinkling her features, "Do you need help, sir?" She apparently completely misses Iolaus's approach at this time. The guard steps behind Iolaus puts a heavy hand on his shoulder, stepping in front of him as the two men approach Kate and Arturo outside the clinic. Two pairs of eyes study the two in front of the doors before Iolaus shrugs the hand off of his shoulder and approaches. "Hello," Iolaus says, flicking his eyes over Kate and Arturo as he comes to face their front. "I'm sorry, but we're closed on Sunday's except for emergencies." His attention flicks between the two, smile hesitant on his face. "Was there something you needed right away?" The embarrassment is rather thick around Arturo when Kate speaks to him. He's actually blushing. "I uh, no, I..." and then Iolaus approaches too. "Sorry, no. I'm Doctor Arturo Ridley. I've had several people tell me I should come here. I suppose I didn't consider you wouldn't be open on a Sunday. Which is pretty stupid of me." Something rather curious happens. There's a moment when he laughs where pointed teeth are visible. A moment later, they no longer look pointed, and his hair seems to lie a little flatter on the sides. "Hello," Kate offers in a chipper greeting to Iolaus, curiously glancing at the guard and making sure her hands are both visible and non threatening, though she does take another much needed sip of her coffee. She registers the blush and embarrassment, shaking her head, "Didn't mean to be a bother. Just a bit of a force of habit when I see people waiting around outside a medical facility, apologies for that." Offering a nervous smile and a shrug, Kate nods, "I've been given similar advide a few times, though already found myself inside at least a handful of times recently to assist a... friend of a friend, I suppose. Been doing that a bit of late." There's a pause and she raises her coffee in a salute to the others, smiling cheerily, "Kate Floros. No doctorate, though." "Doctor Iolaus Saavedro." Iolaus replies, turning his head slightly to the guard next to him. "This is Daniel, one of the clinic security staff who has the unfortunate duty of following me around tonight," he says, flashing a wide smile at the guard. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Ridley, Ms. Floros." Iolaus gives the other doctor a closer look, a brief frown flitting over his face. "Forgive me, Doctor, but have we met? Your name rings a bell, though I can't place why. Perhaps I've read one of your papers?" He glances around him and gestures towards the door. "Would you like to come in? It's a bit warmer in the lobby, and it seems you were thinking of coming in anyway," he says, voice lightly teasing. Arturo gives a nod towards the security guard and pulls his hands out of his pockets. Hands that usually have long black nails look completely normal. In fact, he looks completely normal. "Uh, possible," he says to Iolaus. "My work has been primarily in diagnosing and treating mutant ailments. I've uh, also given my card out to a few people who said they had contacts that it might be good for me to connect with." He nods to Kate. "Sorry to worry you. You're right. Hanging outside a clinic does raise eyebrows." Kate blinks a few times at the introduction of the body guard, offering a slightly nervous smile. "Oh!" Kate brightens a bit when Iolaus introduces himself, "It's lovely to meet you, Doctor Saavedro. I have read a lot of your work." The nurse might be fangirling, just a little bit, but she hides the broad grin behind yet another drink of her coffee. She curiously to Arturo's description of his own work, an eyebrow arching curiously, looking closer at Arturo for the first time, "Really? I'll need to see if I have any publications with your articles." She shakes her head at the apology, "No need to apologize. ER Nurse - I'm used to finding people wandering who can't quite find where they want to go. Just wanted to be sure everything was okay." Considering the offer to come inside, Kate fidgets with her coffee cup again, perhaps feeling a bit out of her depth with the two doctors, but she does follow inside if the invitation was extended to her as well. Iolaus opens the door and steps into the small anteroom, beckoning the other two in after him. He steps through the metal detector and gets a wave from the guard sitting behind the scanner even as it beeps its complaint at him. Daniel, too, ignores the whining from the metal detector, but Iolaus stops to wait for the other two as the guard disappears - literally vanishing with a soft clap of air collapsing in on nothingness. Doors are for suckers. Iolaus and the other guard don't even blink. "Ah, then I'm sure I've heard your name. It's not as if there are a lot of doctors around who are willing to treat mutants, nevertheless spend their careers doing it." Iolaus' smile is wry as he winks at the pair of newcomers. "And I suspect I employ a good percentage of them too." Kate gets a pleased, wide smile. "Really? Even I try not to read a lot of what I write in the journals. Genetics is certainly a passion of /mine/, as is immunology, but the articles that I write for journals hardly tend to be the most /thrilling/ of bedside reading. Unless you have a strong need for a cure for insomnia." "I haven't been published a lot. Not uh, not in any really high-profile journals. It's hard for work on mutants to get proper, scholarly attention." Arturo steps through the metal detector. It whines at him, but it's clear after a wave of the wand that it's only his belt buckle. "I uh, well, full disclosure," he says as they move further in. "I burned a few bridges by breaking contracts when I didn't trust the intentions of my employers. That uh, that might be why my name is...familiar." Throat-clear. Kate follows through, the metal detector pinging at her - though the wand reveals it to be the little metal clip keeping her Bellevue badge still clipped to the pocket of her scrubs, and a small bundle of brightly colored keys in her modest purse. A second pass, once the offending items are removed from her person and set aside, clears her of metal. She nods emphatically, picking up her purse again and nodding, "Really really. I try and keep up with as much of the medical literature on treating mutants as I can." Her next statement is a touch exasperated, tucking her work badge back into her scrub pocket, "I try to leave the more useful articles around the ER doctors' lounge, in case they can absorb the knowledge by proximity." She blushes slightly, shaking her head, "I actually find it rather interesting, really. So I read what I can get my hands on." Kate narrows her eyes in confusion at Arturo's explanation, perhaps start to say something, but thinking better of it. Iolaus studies Arturo for several moments before a smile cracks across his face. "Ah, yes. I think I am beginning to recall some of the details of where I saw your name before." The doctor opens the first of two doors, holding it open for the others to step into. It's only once the three are crowded into the small security mantrap and the door shut behind them that the door into the clinic lobby opens with a loud buzzing sound. "Here's hoping that they do sooner than later, Ms. Floros. The closest thing this clinic has to an ER professional is one of the accountants who used to be a volunteer firefighter, and yet, every few days I get a flashback to my residency as we have a new trauma patient that the ER's refuse, in their /infinite/ wisdom, to take." Iolaus' lips purse into a line as annoyance works its way into his voice. "So, we have had to make do as surgeons and medics as best we can. Not the best situation for anyone, I admit, without shame." Iolaus steps over to sink into one of the couches that line the lobby. There's that colour in Arturo's cheeks again. He follows behind the other two. "It's difficult to trust the intentions of people these days. Even the well-meaning can end up doing more harm to mutants than good." There's a slight look of strain on his face as fewer people are in the room. "It should be illegal to refuse anyone care. In fact, I thought it was. But the rules don't apply when mutants are involved." There's a note of bitterness in his voice. Kate shakes her head, crowding into the mantrap with the two doctors. "I refuse to turn away a patient in need, regardless of status, but I cannot force the doctors to treat them," she grouses, following Iolaus into the lobby, "But there is only so much I can do in my position." Sighing heavily, she wearily sinks in to one of the chairs in the lobby once Iolaus does, pinching the bridge of her nose in a tired expression. "It is illegal. But I have heard some spectacularly ridiculous excuses for /why/ they don't need to treat mutants," Kate says, bitterness in her own voice. She snorts softly at Iolaus's comment about not having ER Professionals, "Figures. The one time I don't have my resume on hand. Likely going to be out a job once I'm up for review. Or as soon as my card comes in." The nurse grimaces at that, checking her phone for the date with a sigh, "Not that you should have to treat emergency cases. The darn ER should take all." "Indeed. 'It's too dangerous', or 'it would be disruptive to the other patients'. I've even had administrators tell me to my face that it was a disease risk - as if I knew less about virology than they did." Iolaus snorts and shakes his head. "And as my security chief delights in telling me when I get too optimistic, the rules matter only as much as those enforcing them want them to." He tosses his hands up for a moment, chuckling. "Well, many of our brothers and sisters may have forgotten their obligations, but I'm glad that we have not. As for your resume, we're hardly an ER, even though sometimes we have to pretend to be. But we always are accepting applicants to the medical staff, and unlike many places, we don't require our staff to hide who they are." His smile is wry and he lets out a little chuckle. "Though people tend not to listen to me when I promise them that I am not a mutant, card or no." "I am...looking for work," says Arturo. "And I want to continue my research into diagnostic techniques. But I recognize I am...a risk. It's why I haven't been able to find steady work." Arturo grips his hands together. When he flexes and releases them, the black claws on his hands appear. If either are looking closely, the sides of his hair around his ears suddenly puff up a little. He nods towards Kate. "I uh, I always admire ER nurses. I learned a hell of a lot from the head nurse during my residency. Doctors should listen to the nursing staff more, in my opinion." Rubbing at her temples, Kate smirks at Iolaus, "I think the most offensive one I heard was 'I'm a doctor, not a vet.' Yeah, /that/ particular resident somehow managed to be overlooked or missed for almost every case in their area of interest that week. Not sure just how that happened." She finishes off her coffee, shrugging innocently. "Oh, I realize this place isn't set up for an ER, but, you seem to have done a rather impressive job in some rather difficult circumstances," Kate says with a nod and a shrug, "Perhaps another time. For now, I will continue to howl against the wind in an attempt to make change at my hospital." An eyebrow is raised at Arturo's display, smiling slightly, "I tend to take people's word for their status, really. Mine is, ah, not easy to demonstrate on healthy individuals - and I don't mean that in a creepy way. I'm a healer." She smiles warmly, chuckling a bit as a blush rises easily to her round cheeks, "That's always a pleasant thing to hear. The listening and learning goes both ways, most often. Just different ways of looking at it." "Somewhat ironically, we actually do have a few veterinarians who consult with us on certain physical mutant cases," Iolaus says, with a trace of amusement in his voice. "We tend to just introduce them as 'Doctor', though." A pause, and he nods along with Arturo. "Nurses are invaluable, most certainly. They are a core of the medical team here, and our head nurse is extremely competent." Iolaus glances between both of the others and he gives them a wide smile. "How about you send your resume's over, and I can make sure that they get to the people who need to see them?" he asks, brightly. "The head of nursing, and... either the head of clinical medicine or the head researcher, depending on your interests. Just let me know on the cover letter. How does that sound?" Iolaus asks, lacing his fingers in his lap. "Thank you. That's very kind of you, Doctor Saavedro," says Arturo. He stands, takes a deep breath, and offers his hand to shake. "I'll send my resume, along with some good references. I do still have a few." He smiles a tight-lipped smile and nods. He looks to Kate and offers a handshake as well. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Floros."