As written by @Dashmiel & @Machina Somnium
Raul took the time during Kirch’s check up of Bunny’s system to go gather his own implements. The cigarette hanging off his lips moved from corner to corner as he rummaged through his packs. Underneath most of the cheap vinyl bagged objects were two hard cases. Faded biotechnica logos and impressive locks laded with black ice highlighted the importance of the items within the extra security to Raul.
One was far longer than it was wide, about the size of an ironing board. Or a very-large rifle case. It held the surgical suite attachment for a Medtech station, an—expensive executive-care class—instrument consisting of gimbal-mounted robotic arms tipped with every combination of tools that could conceivably be of use to his profession. All on a sleek and portable package that most street Ripperdocs could only dream of getting their hands on.
It represented a solid 45% of the principal balance on his original loan from Biotechnica. He wouldn’t need this one today.
The other was about the size of a hatbox, but no less treasured. Raul pressed his thumb against it, bracing for its sting as the microneedle—one of the multiple authentication factors holding it closed—pierced his skin to sample his blood. He sent his cryptographic key to the lock, while his agent sent another—generated on the spot from Raul’s hashed vitals data—releasing the case’s lock with an audible mechanical whir.
Tendrils of sublimated refrigerant wisped past Raul’s hands as the case’s atmosphere controls went on standby upon the removal of the object within. Gingerly, Raul lifted an object resembling a giant hockey puck—a handspan tall and half of one in thickness—with a glass top from the case before carefully setting it on the small table by his bed. “Hola mamacita,” Raul purred as he gently stroked the glass surface whilst sending the activation signal wirelessly.
Subtly twinkling lights came to life beneath the glass as the computer core came to life. System logs and reports filled the upper right segment of his vision, as the bootloader on his custom medtech soft loaded. The cartoon image of a voluptuous and scantily dressed red-head filled his view as the operating system proper came to life. A speech bubble captioned “Rosita” accompanied the image, which soon gave way to a serious work screen in his hud.
The box was his once and forever mistress. Rosita, an agent with zero personality and as close to the AI line as you could own before NetWatch put you on a list. The love of his life lived within the densely packed silicon wafers within, etched in rainbows and coursing with electric power.
It served as the control unit for his Medsuite, whatever wonky ass shape the situation demanded it be in. It was the best assistant he could ask for; capable of aiding with diagnoses, dispensing medicine, performing observation rotations, and more. All without arguments or back-talk, for the low price of zilch. Her only limit was how much dough Raul had to spend on peripherals to give his sweetie hands to touch the world. It represented the lion’s share of his principal loan balance, at 53% of a multi-million eds sized hole.
“Alright,” Raul said as he leaned down from above, in front of Bunny’s position on the couch. “I’m going to need you to be a brave boy, you’ll feel a little sting,” Raul took hold of one of Bunny’s hands and pointed an index finger at his forearm. The hollow-tipped ripper underneath extended outwards half an inch and grew red hot before a delicate clock-work arm rose from the skin beneath the glove, applying a puff of refrigerant to cool the now sterile needle. “You lost some time, and I need to make sure no one dosed you with anything nasty,” Raul said in a calm and steady voice that hadn’t been heard in this apartment yet. The doctor was in.
"If you call me boy again I'm going to start calling you daddy, Superstar." Said Bunny in return, squirming a bit in the presence of the other man's professional persona.
“Whatever helps you stay still, I’ll even—”
The blonde raised an eyebrow.-
Raul’s sandevistan pulsed—giving him a 2 second bubble of enhanced perception in which to catch Bunny mid-blink—before he smoothly collected the small blood sample. His subjective reality jerked back to real-time as two more delicate arms extended from his glove to apply a local anesthetic and spray on a patch of temporary synth-skin on the injection site.
“—stock up on lollipops. There, all done,” Raul said with a smooth smile.
-And he grinned, considering whether to actually start calling Raul daddy.
Rosita was already hard at work back in the room, running the screening. “I’ll have the results in a minute, but you don’t have to worry about your neck,” Raul said as he straightened up and gave Bunny a reassuring smile. His kiroshis flashed, illuminating his eyes with a momentary orange glow. “I diagnosed those while you were daydreaming about cyberninja’s lips,” Raul said, his tone amused. “Contusions and abrasions no more than 3mm of depth, consistent with choking by either a larger woman or a slighter man than average. Prognosis; Partner with people better at consent, and drink some tea or buy some lozenges for the accompanying throat irritation.”
"I wasn't- Seriously I wasn't out there having a breath-play session. Fucking hell…" Said Bunny rolling his eyes at the mention of him being out fucking again. He wasn't even into that, not with strangers anyway. But it was good to know his neck was fine. The bruises were a bit scary.
"No, of course, not that you know of," Kirch quipped from the side with a sardonic chuckle.
“I’ve heard that air deprivation can lead to memory loss,” Tachi chipped in, smirking. “Maybe this is all way more simple than we thought?”
"Why, has it happened to any of your partners?" Grumbled Bunny in response, half heartedly glaring at Tachi. But his gaze also flickered to Kirch for a sec. Maybe if he looked hard enough he could make her stay quiet about the topic.
Kirchhoff only smiled back, though she still didn't make it clear what she thought she knew to Bunny or the others, at least for his sake. "Hey, when I choke my partners, I like to make sure they remember it. Suppose not everyone's the same, though."
The white haired Merc filed the choking topic away for later, he knew some people who might be interested if Kirch was actually into that. He wasn't one of them, but maybe she'd like one of his chooms back.
Raul went through the results of Rositas testing, an eyebrow raising as he put together the errant data points into a coherent narrative. Very interesting, Raul thought once he went through the results. Some questions were answered, while others arose. Still, it didn’t seem relevant to their security, and Raul took his doctor-patient very seriously. No one paid a repeat visit to a doc who would blab about your weaknesses, after all.
“Sangre limpia,” he informed Bunny. “Well, of anything I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put in there yourself, that is.”
"O-kie dokie, thank you Raul, really." Said the blonde, smiling at the doctor once he was done with his check. That was one weight off of his chest tonight.
Raul removed the glove, tossing it over onto the other side of the sectional couch before dropping down himself. “So this job…you cleared it with the nomads claiming it’s their turf that the wraith’s are squatting in? Headache if not…”