ArchivedLogs:Chinese Food and Medicine

Chinese Food and Medicine
Dramatis Personae Alec, Ash, Iolaus	2013-09-10 '
Location <NYC> Baohaus - Chinatown
Despite its unlikely name, this restaurant dishes up some of the best hot pot in Chinatown. A great place to go with friends, come pick a broth, pick ingredients, and enjoy the Chinese version of fondue, cooking meals yourself in the steaming soup. And, of course, don't miss the signature buns the place is named for! Ash didn't really expect to get a meeting with the good Doctor Iolaus Saavedro so quickly after his mildly panicked phone call. He expected to either be sent to an emergency room for consultation and surgery, or told that he would be squeezed in the next day in the clinic at some odd hour. Instead, Ash is told to meet the good doctor at what may possibly be his favorite Chinese restaurant. He enters quietly and looks a little fidgety, having gone home to put his construction equipment away and change into a slightly less messy outfit. Given the medical nature of the appointment, he's also chosen to leave his normal dirt covering at home as well. He stands in the entry way, up near the hostess, eying the time on his phone. He's wearing loose khaki colored cargo pants, littered with pockets, and a dark green tank top, the heat of the evening keeping his sleeves away. He waits and looks around. As if popping into existence, a booth on one side of the room slides smoothly into existence. Or, rather, what was previously there but so completely inconsequential to not even acknowledge comes into normal view. Iolaus is sitting there, menu open in front of him, and a tall man is next to him, eyes looking carefully at Ash. The doctor raises one hand into the air, waving it once in the direction of the younger man. "Over here." There is a moment's pause as a waiter gives the booth a glance and heads over, but Iolaus shakes his head once and the waiter steps back away to head into the back rooms. Ash sees Iolaus's movement and is able to recognize him so that the slight miscommunication with the waiter doesn't seem to phase him at all. He approaches the booth and looks Io and his body guard over for a moment before sliding onto the bench opposite him and resting his arms on the table top, his gaze focused a little lower than the doctor's face. He's a little more quiet than his normal exuberance, but pleasant. "Thank you for seeing me on short notice," he greets him, timidly. "It's my pleasure. I'm glad I could find a time to fit you into my schedule." Iolaus says, laying the menu down onto the tabletop and glancing around the room once. The bodyguard turns back down to his menu, and the table becomes uninteresting once more for the outsiders standing and sitting outside of the little invisible bubble surrounding them. "You understand that there's... some limits to what I can offer you, right now. The clinic is not open, yet, so my medical advice is limited," he says, softly. "As you can see, this isn't exactly an exam room." His smile is warm, a little flash of amusement twinkling in his eyes. "Ah. yes. I see. I ... I don't know what I was expecting, but Yeah. Um. Sorry." Ash looks flustered as he sits there, utterly oblivious to the work the bodyguard is doing. He instead gnaws on his lip and takes a deep breath. "So. Um. I may be seeing talking animals and I'm worried it means I've got some sort of blood clot or blood leak in my brain, you know, after the surgery and all. I don't know how we can diagnose that other than.. well, scheduling an appointment for a real exam, if you think that's warranted." Iolaus' eyes widen and he looks at Ash with some surprise. "Slow down, slow down. Talking animals?" A brief pause. "What makes you think that you might have a brain clot or aneurysm?" The doctor says, reaching into his pocket for a notepad and a small pen which he begins scribbling with in. "When did this all start? And what doctors have you spoken to?" His eyes flick over Ash for a moment, and the doctor runs a hand through his hair. "I don't know, man. I've just been really lucky, right?" Ash gives a little smile, his brows wrinkling up again. "I haven't had any side effects from the issues after my stay in that place. It can't be that easy, you know? They were constantly messing around with stuff and pumping me full of drugs. Anyway, late last week, I could have sworn I had a conversation with a bird in the park outside of the Lofts in the East Village. Then today, some guy was looking at a cat, when the cat called out to me, claimed to be that bird and that he was a mutant and all." He sighs and gives a little shrug. "Then the guy who was talking to the cat looked at me and said it was word. He told me that I couldn't be sure that it wasn't a shared hallucination and I could still have problems, so... I had to call." "Oh." Iolaus looks at the other man and his pen slowly stops running over the surface of the page. "Hm." He taps the cap of the pen against his nose for a moment, considering. "Well, they don't sound particularly like a brain aneurysm to me. Or a brain clot or anything. Not if it's been going on for over a week." he places the pen down on the edge of the notebook and looks over at Ash. "It sounds like drug hallucinations. Have you been taking any drugs, or eaten any food from an unusual source?" he asks, carefully. There isn't judgement in his voice, per se, but there is a note of caution behind his words. "Ah... I, no." Ash is a little taken back, sitting up a little straighter and frowning a little at Iolaus. "I haven't been taking anything and my food has been coming from the usual restaurants and grocery stores. I did start going to Happy Cakes Bakery in TriBeCa, but they're a pretty good place and I don't think that those two lovely ladies would drug anyone." He gnaws on his lip and looks concerned. "I mean, could someone be slipping something into my food? I ... I don't know why anyone would. You think the lab would? Should I be worried that they're coming for me?" Iolaus' lips quirk up a little bit at the edges. "I think if the lab was going to come and get you, they wouldn't bother putting hallucinogens in your food first - they'd simply take you. Subtle doesn't particularly seem to be their MO, from what I've heard." The doctor's eyes flick up and down Ash for a moment, considering. "Is there any possibility that you simply... met a couple of mutants this last week or so? They've been much more out and about lately, with everything going on in Harlem. And the Happy Cakes Bakery is certainly an epi-center of them." The doctor picks up the pen and taps it thoughtfully against the notebook a few times. "I suppose we could draw a panel of drug levels, but, so far, this doesn't exactly sound medical." "Yeah... I guess it is possible. I just." Ash looks highly embarrassed now. "It's just... Yeah. Okay." He nods in agreement to the drug panel. "Just to be sure, you know." He fidgets. "I'm really sorry for interrupting your day with my paranoia. I just - you know, sometimes you have to talk to someone you know is sane to be /sure/ sure that you're not ... ignoring something real." “Well, I can certainly get you an appointment to get the lab work done at the Common Ground clinic with one of the physicians there,” Iolaus says, slowly. “And, if it’s something you’re worried about… perhaps you should see about booking an appointment with one of their mental health clinicians as well.” The doctor’s language is slow, and there is still a small smile on his face, exuding calm. “Always good to check in with them, especially when you are worried about hallucinations.” Iolaus looks down to his pad, flipping a page over and scribbling a note over the surface of it that he signs with a flourish. He tears the paper away and passes it over the table towards Ash. “Take that to the front desk at Common Ground, and they’ll have someone get you all set with a blood draw.” The note is very simple, written in the chicken scratch of an M.D. ‘cc hallucinations with unknown etiology. Perf 10-panel screen and refer for next available with mental health clinician’. "Oh, man, mental health? I thought I was a comfortable level of crazy, given what has happened." Ash lets out a disappointed sigh and slumps in his seat, looking up to study Iolaus a moment later. He reaches out for the paper and reads it over. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with going to a mental health person and there's nothing wrong with needing to do it, but I guess there's just this feeling that I'm failing in some way that I can't just keep it all together." He folds the paper in half and shifts his weight so he can fetch his wallet from his back pocket, slipping the note into the billfold. "It's kind of silly to think that I should feel like that - as what happened is real and huge, but … well. yeah. Sorry. Now I'm babbling at you. Can I buy you dinner at least?" “Considering what you went through, I’d be shocked if you didn’t need therapy at this point.” Iolaus gives the boy sitting across from him a warm smile and shakes his head. “And it’s just standard practice whenever you are dealing with hallucinations. Mental health isn’t my specialty, but this doesn’t sound like that to me. Don’t worry.” The doctor’s smile warms and spreads wider. “No, but you can have dinner with Alec and I.” He turns the menu around in his hand and slides it over to the other man. "Oh, hey, thanks." Ash brightens up a little as he takes the menu and begins to read over the options - but only peripherally. His attention is still very distracted. "Yeah, I know. I probably need therapy, but there's just something about being asked to talk about how I feel about stuff that seems really off putting right now. Ohh… what's good here? I kind of like spicy foods like you wouldn't believe, but I'm not going for something that'll blister my tongue. I'm still working on my tolerance, you know, after what happened. It's in rehab, poor tongue. Gotta work up to ghost peppers slowly, but I could deal with some kung pao." He looks up, his expression lighter, but the look not quite matching the set of his eyes. "And buns! That's what Bao means, right? Though, pairing it with the German haus, it's a bit confusing." “Buns, yeah. Mostly there are pots of soup that come and you cook things inside it.” Iolaus says, shrugging his shoulders. “But if you’ve never been here before, I recommend getting a few different kinds of small buns. One each. It’s an experience to try new things, and you find some rather delicious things that you wouldn’t have thought you’d like.” The doctor says, turning to grin at Alec. “Alec, on the other hand - he knows what he likes, and it’s very specific.” "Oh, okay! That sounds like a good idea." Ash lays down the menu and looks over at Alec and then back to Iolaus and finally to Alec once more. "So, what do you get? Is it really tasty, or do you feel it is the only palatable thing here?" He gives him a shy little smile before pulling his hands into his lap to fidget again, not good with quietly sitting right now. "What are you getting, Dr. Saavedro?" “I’ve tried a lot of different things,” Iolaus says, with a little shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve not really had anything here /bad/, so I keep trying new things.” He turns and glances at Alec, and the guard gives Ash a considering look for a moment. “I have the pork baozi.” Alec says, voice soft. “It’s very… familiar to me, and I enjoy it because of it. I don’t share the doctor’s desire for constant exploration.” "I can understand familiar," Ash accepts with a warm smile, loosening up a little bit for Alec. "It's important to be able to have a thing that you know is going to be… oh, wow, look at me, I managed to cut myself before I started extrapolating some silly nostalgic notion from your short statement. I think I'm getting better at not being a blatant rambler." He closes his lips and smiles again, finding his pair of chopsticks and picking them up to look at the intricate yet industrially stamped design on the top ends. "I am going to definitely try the pork one, with the other types, to see if I can find something I like. Kind of have to be an explorer at this point. I don't really know what I will like here." Iolaus grins at Alec, turning his head to look at the other man. “While I agree - sometimes the familiar can be a comfort - sometimes… you have to take the leap into the unknown and /try/.” With that, the doctor turns back to his menu, and to the food and conversation to come.