asgardmeridiem | [Closed]

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Who: Castiel (

ofthursday), Merlin (

dragonspeak), and Nakama (

whatagoodgirl)
What: The three test out powers in the name of science!
When: Uh, let's say day 75 at some point that works.
Where: The hospital
Rating: PG-13 for blood and injury and all that.

As was the norm lately, Castiel was at the hospital.

Mostly, it was because Sam was there, and Castiel didn't want to leave him. Sam couldn't sleep, and his hallucinations were getting worse, and the least Castiel could do was stay with him and try to help. Particularly considering this was all his fault.

It was part of the reason that he wanted to learn the limits of his power's new strength; he planned to try it on Sam again once he thought he could get away with it without stressing Sam out worse if it didn't work. The other part was simple curiosity, and a desire to develop and master a power that might be of use to his other friends in the future as well. Of course, working at the hospital was also his new job, but that was easily the least of his reasons for this experimenting.

He waited near the lobby of the hospital, wearing the shirt he had when he'd arrived at Asgard a few months earlier, the white shirt spotted with bloodstains that were impossible to get out. It was already ruined, so ruining it even farther wouldn't be too much of an issue, and he probably would end up doing so. Using his power was dangerous but it held also a strange combination of accomplishment and an oddly human rush from the risk, and he was getting more and more reckless, less and less concerned about consequences, especially in a place where death seemed impermanent.

But at the same time he knew that Nakama and Merlin would balance the risk and Castiel's own disregard of it, and help make certain they actually learned what they wanted to learn from it and nothing more. So he waited, even if he paced slowly back and forth instead of standing in his usual stillness.

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Working at the hospital as he did, Merlin arrived at their agreed meeting place on time, and approached said location from the hallway rather than the entrance. When he reached the lobby, Merlin took a second to watch Castiel and marvel at the subtle changes that had taken root in the angel's behaviour.

It hadn't sunk in until Castiel had called on him for assistance with this new project; the angel really had learned to open up. He'd been too preoccupied with organising the Teacher's Council and feeling his way through his and Arthur's new friendship to notice before, but there were signs that he could see now that he looked for them. Accepting help from people other than his group from home was an obvious one. Merlin couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Castiel pacing--he'd always been cool-headed, seemingly unflappable whenever Merlin saw him.

Smiling to himself and saving those thoughts for later, Merlin lifted a hand in greeting. "Where's Nakama?"

As if called, she comes sprinting through the front doors a moment later, quite winded and blushing furiously.

"I - I'm sorry!" She bows deeply. "I got held up at work with a tough assignment and time just got away from me. I'm so sorry. I'm ready now."

Just - just let her bend over and breathe that stitch out of her side.

Edited 2012-04-29 19:55 (UTC)

Upon catching sight of Merlin Castiel stopped pacing, turning his attention toward his friend. Indeed, Castiel was beginning to open up a little more, after a few months of being here, and Merlin had done everything right to earn the angel's fragile sense of trust. Nakama, similarly, had done the so as well; he glanced toward her at her hurried entrance, no need to answer Merlin's question as to her whereabouts any longer.

"Hello." He greeted them both, watching Nakama catch her breath, in no particular rush, though he took the opportunity to explain the plan. "As my ability now seemingly allows me to take on wound of any severity, testing the limits will be best done in the emergency room. The goal will to be to test both whether it is truly any type of injury, as well as the precision allowed in draining it. Merlin, what are the limits of your healing? Nakama, how long does it take to use your power, and how many times can you do so? It would be wise to retain some for Merlin's use if necessary."

Castiel didn't always intend to end up in leader mode, it just sometimes happened.

Merlin shot Nakama a fond smile, putting a friendly hand on her shoulder briefly. "You didn't have to run all the way here, Nakama. Cas and I wouldn't have minded waiting a few minutes."

The rest of his reassurances forgotten, Merlin straightened his back in response to the change in Cas' attitude without really thinking about it. "My limits?" he repeated slowly. "I can heal deep gashes no problem, mend breaks in bones. I healed a couple Traveler's stab wounds from that Ides of March thing Sam was talking about, but those always left me really drained. I dunno about now."

There was a pause before Merlin continued, cautiously. "And, well, I could work with new scars, too. The serious ones takes a few tries to heal completely, though."

Edited 2012-04-30 05:27 (UTC)

"I can use my power repeatedly, but I can't go full strength if I do. It only takes a couple of seconds for my power to get to whoever I'm helping, and it lasts until I withdraw it or..." Pass out, if she overworks herself. She's sure they'll both know what she means, since she can imagine Merlin working himself that hard as well during the bigger emergencies.

"If there are levels of some kind, though, I'm only at the second one. So you're ahead of me, Castiel, we still have to be careful. We can't let you take on anything that can't be healed immediately." (Or Sam will kill her.)

Castiel listened to them both carefully, nodding; this was all about what he expected, so that's good. He could practice a bit, try to gain some better control, and as a secondary goal he could try experimenting with just how much he could draw off in total before he ran out of energy or became too badly injured to continue. He wasn't going to bother mentioning that second goal.

"Alright. Are you both ready?" He was already beginning to lead the way to the emergency room, though, without waiting for a response. If not, one of them will stop him, and he was oddly impatient for a reason he's not sure of.

"Yeah, we're ready," Merlin replied, rolling up his sleeves as they walked. A part of him was relieved that Cas had immediately taken charge and directed their attention to the action; he didn't think either of them would appreciate knowing he had passed out after healing Vriska's more serious injury like Nakama was implying.

When they reached the emergency room, Merlin stopped, looking at Cas carefully. "You're sure you're all right? Nakama and I will be with you, but you're the one actually getting hurt."

"We won't let him take on anything we can't handle. Right, Merlin?" It's false bravado, because Castiel's determination is making her nervous - she's starting to wonder if he'll be talked out of taking on a sucking chest wound or a terminal illness. What if he just acts, and they can't stop him?

Not only would it be difficult to talk Castiel out of doing such a thing, but he was going to look for the worst injuries possible to test with.

"I'll be fine. Injury does not bother me." It would still hurt, but he could ignore pain easily enough, and it was more than worth testing his power.

He stepped into the emergency room, easily navigating his way through the bustle of doctors and nurses and healers and patients, looking for whatever seemed the worst injury at the time. Lots of simple emergencies--minor broken bones, accidental cuts--but not a lot of severe wounds. It took a minute or so to find something worth testing on; it seemed one of the formerly grey people had either fallen or something had fallen on him, resulting in a row of broken ribs and a punctured lung. Perfect; he could test going individually rib by rib, as well as the more serious damage to the lung.

Experiment time. He looked to Merlin for a moment to be certain he was ready and then glanced over at Nakama, waiting for her to activate her power.

Merlin wasn't feeling too confident about Cas' eagerness, either. While he was glad the angel felt he could rely on him and Nakama to look out for him, that only made Merlin more nervous about making a mistake somewhere.

The sight of the patient was enough to make him wince--not because he was repulsed by the injuries, but because those were the injuries Cas would take into his own body. Why he'd thought Cas might start with an easier injury, Merlin didn't know.

Merlin shuffled closer, giving Cas and Nakama a nod. "Okay...here goes nothing."

"Are you -" One look at Castiel's face tells her the answer - he's certain, and he's going to do it whether they help or not. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she zeroes in on Castiel's power and imagines her own winding around it, making it swell, almost double. She's not there yet, but the surge in power will be tangible.

She's holding back a little bit, though. She doesn't want to be drained of power when it comes time to heal him.

Castiel tried to see if he could feel Nakama's power working, but he wasn't sure he could, though there was a distinct feeling of energy that had to be the result of it. So Castiel turned his focus toward the patient, stepping up beside one of the doctors, reaching a hand out to set on the patient and pulling.

He aimed for one injury first, one of the ribs, trying to draw it off and only it. He clenched his jaw as the rib--along with two others, he wasn't as precise as he'd intended--broke while at the same time healing on the subject, but overall he was faintly pleased. That was a lot better than last time, when he'd absorbed the whole thing on accident, and he ignored the pain and moved to try again.

This time he got just a single break, as he was aiming for, and immediately tried for the next. This one, though, was the break that had damaged the patient's lung, and he had pulled both wounds before he could figure out the delicacy of separating them. Immediately he let go of the patient and staggered backward a few steps into a wall, hand pressed against his side, trying not to wheeze up any blood before Merlin could heal him. He had a feeling it would upset Nakama.

He was far more annoyed about messing up the draining than he was about being seriously injured now, though.

In a flash, Merlin rushed to him, grim-faced and healing magic at the ready. Even if Castiel hadn't coughed up blood, he'd forgotten that healers could sense the injuries to some extent. Even while his hand hovered over Castiel's chest, already mending the puncture and the bone-breaks, he chose to watch Castiel reproachfully instead of keeping his eyes on the spot of healing.

"Looks like that didn't go so well," he remarked carefully once the healing was done. "What happened just now?"

She can see that he's bad, and her first reaction is alarm, but she draws up her preternatural calm that's saved for the really serious situations and approaches Castiel slowly. Standing close to Merlin, lending just a whisper of her power since he seems to have it under control, she eyeballs Castiel as well.

"I know practice is important, but maybe we should've started smaller."

He was silent while Merlin healed him, feeling the injuries fade as quickly as he'd taken them on, leaving him with no pain but an incredible sense of frustration. He'd mastered his ability before this increase in power, and even combined with Nakama's it was now wild again.

"I did it incorrectly." Castiel finally managed a response to Merlin's question, casting a quick glance toward Nakama at her statement. "There's no point in starting smaller. I just need to make another attempt." Though not with the current patient obviously, who was apparently quite pleased at now being devoid of injury and was trying to leave the room to go home.

"Er," said Merlin, when he saw their patient slinking off. The man looked all right, but he hadn't realised Castiel had absorbed all of his injuries. "Why don't you wait for just a moment. Please. I'll need to look you over again in case we missed something."

He tried not to feel too bad when the patient deflated, but returned to his cot obediently. Merlin turned back to Castiel. "Too much power at once?" That wasn't uncommon after a significant increase in power like theirs. While Merlin's similar mistakes were harmless--the patient just got a bit more healing energy than necessary--a slip with Cas' power could potentially kill him.

"If it's possible for you to make a mistake, then there's every reason to start small. Better you break a leg than have your heart give out. This is no time for pride."

She's puffed up, her chest out and her chin up, hands on her hips. She's promised she'll protect him, and she's taking that seriously.

Castiel hadn't, really, just the major ones; the rest of the injuries to the patient were regular bruises and cuts and other small wounds the angel hadn't been focusing on. He watched Merlin stop the man before looking at the wizard at his comment. "It took time before to learn how to draw only the portion of the injury that I wanted. It seems the increase in power requires relearning."

Which was incredibly frustrating. At Nakama's words and reaction he frowned at her, mostly because she mentioned pride; that was exactly the reason he listened, as well, because he knew that was his fatal flaw. It had caused him so many problems before.

But at the moment, he didn't particularly care. "I started small when my power was weak. It's not any longer, and the entire point of it is to use it at it's full capability." Which meant working with the worst injuries he could find, especially while Nakama was lending him power. It was a waste to focus on minor things.

Uh-oh. It looked like tensions were already starting to run high. He looked between them, then took a step forward, holding up his hands in a placating gesture.

"C'mon, we're supposed to be working together. It was a bit of a slip up--we just have to be more careful."

Merlin looked at Nakama. "He's trying. I mean, he never would have asked for our help before," he said before looking over at Castiel. "We're just worried. Maybe you could start with something smaller so you know how much power you have now? Then we can move onto something else."

"That's all I mean. I don't mean you can't save someone's life - just get used to the extra power first, so that you don't accidentally die."

It's blunt, but dancing around the subject isn't working. She won't stand here and watch him die, and that is a simple fact. She's seen the way new power can explode and get out of control, but luckily for her, it was just a flower box. Not a human body.

She deflates a little, though, slightly mollified by Merlin's words. It is true that Castiel was smart to involve them, and that it's a sign of him warming to others. She shouldn't badger him.

"I already know I can manage minor injuries." Castiel began to protest again, but then he stopped. Okay, maybe they were right, and it wasn't like there had been any other major injuries they'd found before test with. Maybe some more minor things, practicing precision again, and then try something more difficult once more.

"Fine. I suppose there isn't much choice as of the moment, regardless." Unless some townsperson or traveler ended up very unlucky in the same of time they were here to do this. He began to lead the way through the ER again, looking for something more minor, and this time came across something much easier; one of the grey people had apparently been cutting toward themselves with a knife, and ended up gashing their other arm. Easy enough, not life threatening, and Castiel could try absorbing only part of it and see what happened.

Appeased that Cas was willing to listen this time, Merlin trailed after him, checking on a few Travelers they passed along the way. While it wouldn't be wise to heal them now, Merlin quietly took note of the more serious cases he could handle after they finished testing Cas' limits for the day.

When Cas stopped, Merlin examined the gashes with a critical eye. It was deep, but nothing life threatening--a good place to start. He gave Nakama and Cas the nod again. "Ready when you are."

Nakama relaxes visibly as well when the arguments cease. She doesn't bother examining their next choice - even after all this time working in the hospital, she prefers not to get too close to injuries, and she trusts Merlin. So she just lends her power to Castiel again, waiting a little bit less anxiously to see the result.

Once Castiel could feel Nakama's power working again--he was starting to figure out how to recognize it, he set a hand on the grey person's shoulder, focusing carefully. This was more like the type of wound he'd had so much practice with, and this time, it was easy to do what he intended; he drew only part of it, the cut becoming more shallow on the grey person while it appeared on Castiel's arm, the damage split in half. Much better, and he went ahead and drew the rest of the damage to finish the healing of the grey person instead of leaving them with part of an injury still to deal with.

Before the native's wound had even finished closing up, Merlin was already directing a small trickle of healing energy into his friend.

It wasn't until the gash, too, was gone that Merlin rocked back, satisfied.

"Much better this time." Even Merlin was beaming at the success. "How'd that feel for you two?"

"I'm not used to backing up Damage Drain. Castiel'll have to say how that is, because I'm just trying what I do with everyone else. I hope it's okay."

She isn't quite beaming, but she looks much more relaxed.

Castiel wasn't relaxed or had even dropped much of any tension, but he didn't seem as frustrated anymore either. "Working with Nakama's power makes focusing mine less strenuous." It took less effort and strain to concentrate and focus so carefully, which made it easier to do, at least on the ones he was practiced with. The larger wound from before he was beginning to think was simply an issue of skill in not knowing how much power to use in the first place.

There was a big difference between their first and second attempts. While part of it could have been attributed to the severity of the wounds they'd tried to heal, Merlin was also convinced that the mistake from before had simply been due to the change in power. A little adjustment from Cas, and he was in fine shape, from the looks of it.

"You gave me a little something, too, didn't you?" Merlin tilted his head in Nakama's direction. "It felt different."

She nods, looks unsure. "I just wanted to make sure it was completely healed. I hope you don't mind."

"How are you on strength, Nakama?" Castiel asked, upon hearing she'd loaned it to Merlin as well. He knew she wasn't as powerful as he and Merlin were at the moment, and he didn't want to run down her energy to what might be dangerous for her unintentionally.

"Of course I don't," Merlin quickly reassured her. "You're brilliant--and it's a relief knowing you've got my back."

He took a step back, frowning as he tried to assess his own reserves. "I've still got a lot more power left, I think. Nakama's boost really helped--how are you on strength? Both of you."

"I don't feel weak yet." It's not a total lie - she can feel her power waning slightly, but the weakness hasn't gotten into her body. "I just might not be able to give as much, but I can keep working."

"I'm fine." Castiel answered the question, though like Nakama he was tiring a bit. Part of it was simply from a general lack of sleep, though, rather than his power. "We can still do a few more tests." If they could find a worthwhile patient, anyway. Castiel wanted to test on a more serious one again, but there wasn't likely to be another soon.

Merlin sighed and leaned against an empty cot, rubbing absently at his neck as he surveyed the room. There actually weren't that many patients left--most had been seen to earlier and left already--but it was worth a look anyway.

One caught his eye, and he eyed the native thoughtfully. "What about that one?" Merlin pointed him out to the other two. The native in question had a fairly nasty-looking gash on his head, but head wounds tended to bleed a lot. It probably looked a lot worse than it actually was.

"I can handle that." She glances over at Castiel. "How about you?"

"Yes." That looked simple enough, even allowing for the possibility of a concussion; if there was one, it would give Castiel more practice trying to draw the external injury and the internal one at different times and in different parts.

He stepped over to the patient, waiting for Nakama to activate her power once again before touching the native gently on the shoulder and activating his own. There was indeed a minor concussion involved, and Castiel successfully drew off only the gash itself first, the wound splitting open on his head as it closed on the patient's. Castiel didn't seem bothered by it, pausing for a moment to check and make sure he'd truly only gotten what he'd intended to, and he had. Good.

Once Castiel finished siphoning off the native's injuries, Merlin stepped closer and touched his shoulder, healing the head-wound carefully. When he found the traces of concussion, Merlin paused, a little puzzled by the sensation. It didn't feel like a normal flesh wound would. He took extra care with that, slowly sponging the damage away with his healing magic until the odd sensation could no longer be felt.

Finally, he scans Castiel's body with the magic, and then the native's before pulling away. "All right there?" Merlin looked at Castiel curiously. "There was something new there, but I think I got all of it."

She definitely feels the wear of both that draining and healing process, and finds a nearby chair to sit down and rest for a moment. Silent for now, she just waits to hear the explanation.

"I'm fine. It was a concussion." Castiel said, tone slightly dazed; it had been a weird feeling to draw off, and different from other more normal injuries. But he was fine now, and he glanced toward Nakama at her sitting down. "Are you alright, Nakama?"

"Oh, yeah. From hitting his head, right?"

Surprisingly, Merlin had heard of the term before, most likely from Gaius. Familiarity, of course, did not come with instructions on how to treat it normally, and Merlin could not be more thankful for his healing ability.

Merlin looked between Cas and Nakama, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him. He was definitely feeling the strain now.

"All right, this might be a good place to stop for now. I think we're all getting a bit tired. We did just heal three people in a row."

"I'm..." She's about to say fine, but when she sees the state the other two are in, she feels safe in telling the truth. "... I'm a bit tired. I'm usually only on one side of this, not both, and Damage Drain is hard to support when you're being so specific. It obviously takes a lot of energy from you. "

Castiel wasn't registering his own exhaustion, mostly because it was difficult to separate it from how tired he already was from having not slept in two days, and also because he simply willed himself through anything of the sort. But he didn't want to push the other two if they were wearing out, so he nodded slightly. "I believe the experiment itself was a success, so there is no need to risk any of us any farther." He nodded again at them both, this time in thanks for their help.

Merlin waved as the native they'd healed slipped quietly out of the room, then took a seat on one of the empty cots.

"I think I'll be good as new if I take a short break. If our power's increased, it might mean we our recovery rate's been affected, too. When I tried healing a serious wound a month ago, I was completely wiped out for the rest of the day."

He toyed with the edge of the cot's blanket, expression thoughtful. "Anyway, it looks like our three powers work together pretty well. If we work with it a few more times, I think we could try to introduce this at the next Teacher's Council meeting, too. We did say we'd try to help everyone work together."

"I have no problem demonstrating it again." Her head is held high. "Or even just talking about it. If you want me to write up a report of my experiences today, I can."

Castiel nods. "I would be willing to demonstrate again as well, in the future. Learning to combine abilities is worthwhile for everyone here."

"I think a report would be great, actually. Or...a log for people recording their joint ability experiences. Something people can keep contributing to," Merlin said, quickly warming up to the idea.

"That way, even if a Traveler doesn't attend the meetings, they can still read and learn on their own. Or at least have an idea what they could do with their abilities."

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