Bianca smiled at him, and he felt better for it, though he was not entirely certain as to why. He had done nothing to deserve it. The answer to the lycanthrope contagion still eluded him. It was only because of Ryver that he was now fully aware of the interactions of the virus with certain pairings of the different amino acids in a human DNA strand. He was still mystified by the process that changed the human DNA to that of select animals, especially where the human either had gained or had lost mass [a miracle not exclusive to biology, physicists were sure to be mystified as well.]

He returned his attention back to Bianca, realizing he had once again wandered in his thoughts. She was still sitting at his lab table, smiling. She was so beautiful when she smiled, and her scent was an intoxication of heady emotion to him.

"Why are you smiling, love?"

"Why Malcolm, dahling," she was teasing him again. She was always teasing him. "It's time for you to go. I've finally done all I can and now you are released." She stood then, swaying her hips as she approached him. He nervously licked at his lips as it was always dangerous when she neared him. A bemused expression crossed over his features, curious as to why he had to leave so soon.

"I only just arrived."

"Not true. You've been here for quite some time, and so have I, only you still think I'm a figment of your imagination." Before he could inquire further, she leaned over to give him a kiss, and he was no longer there.

                                                         ~~~~~

Those viridian hues revealed themselves once, twice, on the third time they remained open. It was very bright. The light hurt his eyes, and he was not certain as to why. Smells flooded his olfactory faculties, and he took in the scents. He was not in his room at the pack house, but in a hospital. In quarantine, so noted by the familiar plastic sheeting surrounding his bed, though this was the first time he was within the confines of the structure, and not looking in from without. Accordingly, his heart rate increased significantly as panic began to set in. What bloody hospital was he in, and why? And what the bloody hell had happened to him? And where the bloody hell was he?

He tried to sit up, collapsing back to the bed from weakness. His tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth, and his wolf began to panic then, began to claw it's way to the surface. They were both very groggy, and he was only just aware of the alarms that began to resound in the room.

"-will be here in a moment."

Malcolm focused on the sound of the woman who was speaking, understanding meaning only in the latter half of her words through the panic. Trying to take deep breaths. Malcolm struggled fiercely against the urge to shift, trying to soothe his beast who was just as bewildered as he. She was speaking English, not Italian, with a hint of an accent. Before he could process the information further, he felt a great and soothing power wash over him and his beast.

"Easy sir. Relax, deep breaths alright?"  Virid hues turned to focus on the beautiful woman who had entered, a woman infected with a feline lycanthrope strain. She was powerful, and gave him just enough to help him with his own beast within. "You've been asleep quite a while."

He focused on her, taking in the shapely curve of her jaw and the dark shade of her hair. She turned from him then, telling the other woman with the hint of an accent to bring food. Just then his stomach roiled in protest, making him accutely aware of just how hungry he was, but he focused on her last words to him instead.

"Quite a while?" That clipped British accent came forth in a voice that nearly cracked, more from disuse than from nerves. He was too confused to be nervous at the moment. "How long is quite a while? Where is Ryver?" He paused a moment, and took another deep breath. "I apologize. My name is Dr. Malcolm Book, I should have introduced myself earlier. Perhaps you could inform me as to where I am Dr...?" Manners were especially important in times of duress. It showed that he was a gentleman even in his bewilderment.

The sensation of his tongue having been glued to the roof of his mouth only seemed to worsen when he had spoken. He made a slight face, and then looked at the woman in wonder as she introduced herself. Jessica McFarland. He knew of her very well, having read quite a few papers she'd written on procedures to be used with infected patients. He had no idea that such intellect could be paired with such beauty, and here she was offering her comfort to him. It was enough to send a blush creeping up his neck.

He gladly accepted her offer of the ice chips, letting them rest atop his tongue to saturate the 'mouth gunk' as Ryver had called it once, when they were children, that coated one's mouth when one slept breathing through their mouth. As he suckled the chips, his mind racing at the implications of everything that she was and was not saying. Quite a while was more than a couple of weeks, maybe even months. That would explain why he was in the capable hands of Dr. McFarland, as she was one of the foremost experts on lycan physiology in the world. He would have presented an unusual case to the Roman medical field, and they most as like would not have even wanted to deal with him. After having been in a coma for a week, if he had been the physician in charge, he would have shipped himself to her as well. Of course, Malcolm had no idea this had happened years ago, and he had first been shipped to Oxford, then New York, and finally to New Orleans.

The glued sensation lessened considerably after a few moments, and he gladly took in a few more chips. When she mentioned food, he nodded enthusiastically, and his beast within gave a wag of it's tail. From the way she was speaking, he knew he must have been in a coma for a few months. Bloody hell, that was time he would never retrieve. Little did he know, it was much longer than that...

"I'm sorry sir, without some form of identification, that information can't be released to you." the nurse at her station slowly ate at his composure with her nasally tone.

Clucking his tongue as fingers drum across the counter he finally released a tired sigh. This had been a long shot, but it seems he'd have to actually ask for the damn help he'd tried to avoid. Yes, she was his Nimir-Ra, but that didn't mean he wanted to fucking bother her at every turn. Woman had her own shit to deal with, he'd take care of his own. Least that was the hope filled plan. As it stood, the loner'd have to ask for a hand out. "Fine....could you page doctor Jessica McFarland? She was my attending physician that night."

"One second sir." Reaching over for the phone, she punched in the extension. Her nasally tone magnified through the hospital.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Artemus fought off the onset of a migraine.

Unfortunately that touch did little to help his migrain which was more from the nurse's voice than anything. Again she got the barest response to the touch before her arm linked with his. "Just trying to get copies of the medical stuff from my impromptu visit the other night." Still acclimating to being around others, it would be some time before he got completely comfortable again. On that other plane his beast roamed in an aggitated state with troubled thoughts akin to its human counterpart. Once again a glimpse at just how synergized both were. Artemus was in complete harmony with his inner animal.

However, he wasn't in the best of sorts this night and it showed as his shields lay in tatters. His own calming presence spreading out from him through the hospital. The pressure inconsistant like the flow of high tide. "Seems I have to get new identification cards, that'll be a hoot and half. Still figuring out how I got on Dakota's doorstep."

"Considering I went from Istanbul to being here in Nola? Doubt the locals'd be much help." He just shook his head as the beast conitnued to pace back and forth, only stopping when the other pretty much started saying 'sit still damnit'.

"I just wanted to see if anything unusual was found. Lot happened that night I need to figure out. As to staying...reall don't know. My daughter i-" He cut off abruptly with a shake of his head. "Doesn't matter. People get hurt if I leave, they get hurt if I stay. What I want doesn't matter. Though she motioned him to sit, Artemus kept a slow pace back and forth in his tattered shorts and shirt, evidence he'd shifted recently.

That she was plugging up the cracks in his levy didn't even register until he felt pieces of the tide coming back at him from that foreign barrier. Blinking he looked at her and actually smiled for the first time since waking up to find her there beside him with Kota. Then his mind knee jerked back to where his daughter yet remained on the other side of the world.

With it came another pulse of anger, cloth stretching as white fur grew, nose flattened into muzzle and nails sharpened and flexed. In the exhale of breath he was back to regular human looking Artemus. Turning to look at the good doctor, he tilted his head to the side. "I got a world of problems, Jessica."

"Show me." The two words somewhere between a request and a demand as his head snapped up and looked at her from the thoughtful pacing. Eyes blinking at the sudden snaring of power as he looked around.

"I just shifted didn't I?" He'd been completely oblivious to the hulk-mode shift. Mentally he berrated himself as that made twice in one night. "Sorry..." whether to his tone or the uncontrolled changing wasn't clear.

"Lady, I didn't even know I was doing it. This comes like breathing to me right now." eyes follow the knock then the exchange as he focused onthat little bottle. As she offered it out, he snatched the contaner and twisted the cap to roll the stone in his hand. Not even reacting to the silver lines.

"Bastards..." All he said before holding it up to the light and ignoring the slight burn. "Well that explains getting cut off from my beast." Growling low he put the stone back in the bottle and handed it to her.

"Obsidian can sever mystical connections. Like the ultimate shield lock. Depends on which source you want to believe. Jury's still out on jade." He kept going just answering the questions before they were asked to save time. "And Jessica, I've been a therianthrope for ten years, if I can't control the other half of me by now, it'll never happen.

-- Edited by ARTEMUS KURGEN on Friday 29th of July 2011 04:24:02 PM

"We don't have enough muscle for that." His tone flat, honest, but laced with fear at going up against what had put the silver to him. Artemus met her eyes and bore into them with a defensive pride.

Exhaling heavily he finally took that offered seat on the couch and looked at the palms of his hands where they rested atop his knees. He wasn't a person used to following orders or hell following in general. Was always either alone or leading the charge. "Seems there's some adjusting on both ends of this field. But I'm not up for discussing what did this. If they wanted me dead, I'd be dead." Every word was filled with truth as he continued to watch his hands.

"I know you don't give two squirts, but you said to protect those weaker, and listen to you. Well then, I'd be doin just that if I left and went right back to the hole they kept me in for the past year. They all ready drank most of my power, might as well let them finish the job." The last completely muttered with bitter hate. Snapping out of that path he started to get up. "Sorry to bring shit you don't need to your door step. I'll be gone in a few days."