October 10
10:00 PM


Life had been going pretty well, and Flynn had recently acquired some new, fresh ingredients for potions, and was quite excited to put them to use. Although he was half veela, he had not inherited his mother’s veela charm. Growing up, one would hardly believe that his mother was a veela, since the poor guy’s ‘awkward’ stage was the majority of his childhood. Occasionally, he got the urge to try to discover a way to activate the veela side of him, permanently. None of the attempts had been successful, and many of them actually caused more grief than a successful result may be worth.

Usually, his potions tended to burn through the caldron, explode, or have poisonous fumes. This time, his potion had not caused any damage, and he felt like it might be safe to drink some. Within minutes, he had started feeling waves of dizziness, nausea without vomiting. His pupils had dilated, and his skin felt a strange, prickling burning sensation. By the time he had managed to admit himself into St. Mungos, a hive-like rash had started to develop all over his body.

It would not have been Flynn’s first time on the third floor as a patient, and he was not looking forward to any sort of lecture from his coworkers for experimenting on himself. If the schedule he had seen was correct, Joy was going to be taking care of him tonight.

It had been a long day. Joy had spent it going through paperwork, helping healers tend to patients, and brewing more Antidote to Common Poisons after taking inventory of antidotes and realizing there was little left. Reguardless, the witch still loved every part of her day at work. Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten a single patient of her own, her favorite part, for the whole day.

She was starting to get everything straightened in her office so she'd be prepared to work the next day, when she was informed that a patient was coming up to her. Joy straightened her lime green uniform and left her office immediatly. Only serious cases were brought to her, so whatever had happened was either from a fatal or near fatal poison or an unknown or new poison.

Opening the door to her room, Joy said in a calm and almost friendly voice, "Hello." It was how she always greeted her patients before even seeing them. As she could see into the room more, the witch saw and knew exactly who was in front of her. A sympathetic smile came across her face. "Oh dear Flynn. Have you poisoned yourself again from making one of your potions?" This was in a softer tone, though loud enough to be heard. If Flynn didn't want to be scowled at or lectured Joy was the healer to see.

Coming through the door, she motioned for him to sit on the bed. Joy could see the rash on his skin and, as she got closer, noticed his pupils were dialated. Those could be caused by many things. "Would you mind telling me what was in the potion and how you got posioned?" With all of her patients Joy used the same tone. Soft, comforting, calm, almost motherly. She wanted to try and relax patients as most of her's were in bad condition.

Flynn let out a pathetic moan and sat down on the bed once he had been invited to. One of the downsides of leading such a (generally) healthy, happy, and carefree life was not knowing how to react when you get hurt. Although Flynn had been poisoned many times, each time felt different, and it hurt in different ways. Each time he poisoned himself, he was a complete and total wimp when it came to dealing with it. He enjoyed being coddled and babied, and had a tendency to whine even more if lecture. “Joy, it hurts everywhere!” He exclaimed, before pulling a scrap piece of parchment out of his pocket.

“This was the recipe.” He had learned to bring the recipe paper with him each time, he had a tendency to put so many different ingredients in his potions, that it was easier to have it written down than to verbalize it to everybody who wanted to know.  “I drank it. It didn’t explode, it didn’t burn through anything, and it didn’t smell too bad.” Flynn went from a sitting position on the bed to lying down. He could feel where the rash was on his body; the areas afflicted had the same painful prickling sensation that one gets when a limb falls asleep. “Puh-leeeease fix it. Pleeeease.”  Flynn begged, making some more whining noises. The noises vaguely resembled those of a wounded puppy.

"Don't worry, I can heal any poisoning," Joy said as she took the paper from him with the ingredients. As she read it, the first thing the witch saw was four poisoness plants. The next thing she noticed is that full ingredients for a love potion were put down as well. Other seemingly random ingredients were there, including somethings that conteracted others. What in the world was Flynn thinking?! Joy's expression changed only to concentration, not to plain confusion.

As Flynn explained what he had done Joy looked up from the paper to him. Of course he had to drink it. A worried look came across her face, but another sympathetic one replaced it. "I'm sorry Flynn, I know you will not like what I'm going to have to do. Since you drank it, I'm going to have you vomit out as much as we can get out of your system." Her wand was already drawn and a bucket from a cabinet was summoned.

The healer went over to her childish patient and ran her fingers through his hair in the way a mother may do to her son. "Sit up please. It will be a lot easier if you do."  She placed the bucket on his lap, carefully picking up the pillow under him with levitation and moving it so he was almost forced to sit up in the bed if he didn't want to be uncomfortable, which she knew he didn't. Joy knew if she didn't force this out of him he'd whine and most likely refuse.

"This is the easiest way to be treated the fastest. Just vomit straight into the bucket. Once you begin to dry heave or only stomach acid is coming up I'll take it off." Joy pointed her wand at Flynn. "I'm going to use the spell soon. Get ready." She wanted to give him a warning. The witch smoothed back some stray hairs with one hand. "Here it comes Flynn. Vomito Adduco." The actual spell was said louder than anything Joy had said to Flynn, in a normal, firm, clear voice.

If there was one thing in the world that Flynn hated more than his friends flirting with his mother or being poisoned, it would be vomiting. He was able to handle it when other people puked—but he hated the sensation, he hated the burning feeling in his throat, and he hated the smell. Flynn hated everything about vomiting, and as soon as she mentioned that it was what he was going to have to do, his eyes widened and he attempted to lay down on his back as stubbornly  as he could—to no avail. He was sitting up whether he wanted to or not.

“Bu-but—“ He blubbered, but no words came out. Flynn felt a familiar contraction in his torso, and he could feel his stomach lurching as if it wanted to escape through his mouth. In no time at all, Flynn was retching into the bucket and crying, partially because of the burn, and partially because he so hated this process. “Can you---“ He gagged, “Can you make it stop?!” It took about a minute more of absolute torture before his stomach was completely empty.

A ping went through Joy's heart as she watched Flynn cry and cry. It was needed, but the sight of his misery was s0 pathetic the witch felt bad. The whole time her right hand held her want still pointed and her left hand was being used to wipe tears from his eyes and rub his back lightly. Over and over she told him in almost a whisper, "It'll be alright Flynn, it'll be alright." When he asked whether she could make it stop Joy only answered, "It will be over soon Flynn."

Once nothing started coming up Joy acted as quickly as she could. "Finite Incantatem!" The spell stopped working and Joy jumped into action to comfort him. The bucket was levitated to the opposite side of the room, a towel was summon and Joy wiped Flynn's mouth with it. "That's it Flynn, it's all over now. You did great. Everything is fine." The towel was put by the bucket and the witch drew out her own handkerchief and used it to wipe Flynn's eyes and nose before giving it to him to use as he wanted.

She put her wand back into its pocket and rubbed Flynn's back lightly again. She didn't want to bother the rash too much. "Would you like some time to calm yourself?" Joy always gave this option when the patient was under a lot of stress and would turn into her animagus form to try and help calm down the patient.

He shook his head. The irrational part of him resented Joy for making him puke, but the healer part of him knew that was the first thing that she needed to do in this situation. Next, he expected, she would give him some antidotes for uncommon poisons. Flynn supposed that he really should make some antidotes when he got home, though eh supposed that every time he got poisoned. He always got too distracted to do so, and by the time he got poisoned again, he really didn’t feel like making antidotes. It was a vicious cycle, and it really needed to be broken at some point. But, living by himself in a flat with his cat and his dog, it wasn’t like there would be anyone around to tell him that drinking a potion that he hadn’t tested, with four different poisons that he KNEW were poisons in it, was a bad idea.

“Which antidotes are you going to try out now?” He asked weakly, grabbing the pillow and hugging it to his chest. He wished that Henry, his dog, was here to comfort him. He wished his cat, Mildred, was here to pass judgment and glare at her with unforgiving eyes. Alas, they were not here, and he would have to wait to see them.  “Because I’d rather go home tonight if I can.” He didn’t know what symptoms he was going to experience next—his head was starting to pound, and the healer felt vaguely hungover. Flynn let out another whimper. “I want Henry. Why is the world so cruel and unforgiving?”

Joy gave Flynn a sort of a apolojizing look when he shook is head, then went to get an antidote. She wanted to give him a bezoar first, but didn't want to upset him again. Instead, she decided to try a potion antidote first. If it didn't relieve him of all the poisoning she'd try a bezoar.

"I'll give you an Antidote for Uncommon Poisons first. If it doesn't work, I'll give you a bezoar. And if that doesn't work, I'll have to mix you up a custom antidote." What the healer didn't say is that the last option would mean he'd have to stay the night, or longer. She just took a bottle of Antidote for Uncommon Poisons, pre-portioned for adults, and put it next to Flynn on the bed. He'd take it when he was ready. "The whole bottle please. It is a full portion."

After Flynn's comment about wanting Henry, who she didn't know was but guessed it was probably an animal as she knew Flynn lived alone, the witch backed away a few steps. She processed to tranform into a white deer before Flynn's eyes. The deer walked forward to Flynn and nuzzled him, then licked away a tear stain on his cheek. Patients usually enjoyed being touched by or touching her in her animal form, so the Joy hoped Flynn would as well.

“Neeeeeeeh. Blargh.” Flynn did not like the idea of a bezoar. He had swallowed many a bezoar in the past, and it was not comfortable, nor was it pleasant. However, he would do it if it meant that he could go home tonight. He accepted the antidote, and drank it all in one gulp so that he wouldn’t have to taste it for too long. He wondered if he needed to take more than one dose, or if this would do it. He knew of some serious poisoning cases where it took a series of antidotes for the effects to go away. He had been so focused on thinking about different cures, that he hadn’t even noticed Joy transforming.

Flynn stared at the deer in disbelief. He pet the top of it’s head awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. “Uh. Hello there. How are you doing…. Deer.” He grinned at his own pun,  “I bet everybody just fawns over you.” He started laughing rather loudly at the horrible jokes, before the laughter quickly turned into coughing. Oh fun, a new symptom. Still, it would take time for the antidote to work, so the healer wasn’t too concerned about it yet.

The doe seemed to... laugh almost at Flynn's joke. Joy was happy to see the patient's mood improve. It always made her happy to see others happy. The white deer put her front legs on the bed so she was raised up higher. It was fun to play around with patients while she was an animal.

Once Flynn started coughing the doe's ear drooped. Joy turned back into a human, still fully clothed, and got out a piece of parchment and a white quill, beginning to write down all of the symptoms he had. Dilated eyes, full body rash, coughing... "Flynn, would you mind listing every symptom you have had since taking the potion?" If Joy could connect what was coming from which plants and what was coming from something unknown, the witch would be able to know what treatment would be needed.

“My muscles hurt.” He coughed again, covering his mouth out of politeness. He wondered if he perhaps was sick, if the poisoning had weakened his immune system in some way. He had never been one to get sick-- and his lungs were normally very healthy. “My rash-- it feels like my body is falling asleep where the rash is. It’s prickly and it hurts.” Flynn shook his head. A lowered immune system was very likely-- that meant that he was very susceptible to infection or any other sort of illness. Some magical illnesses had a way of impacting people immediately. It was a possibility that could not be ruled out. “I think... I think my immune system is compromised.” The idea of that was frightening, but maybe she could give him some sort of potion to strengthen him, if it didn’t conflict with the antidotes.

The healer recorded down what he said. However, she stopped when he said that his immune system was compromised. "I would doubt that Flynn. Everything I can pinpoint a poisonous plant used as the cause. The rash is most likely itself from the belladonna
used. The prickling is more likely to be caused by the Venomous Tentacula root, which cause burning feelings, acting with the belladonna. I can see that your eyes are dilated, which is another symptom of belladonna poisoning." Joy looked at the list of symptoms and ingredients as she spoke, addressing each as she went.

"The muscle pains are likely to be from a combination of the poisonous ingredients. Some cause things like headaches or burning feelings on the inside, so a mixture could cause muscle pains. The coughing would be most likely from the hellebore, which can cause the feeling of suffocation and the swelling of your throat. The plant's poisoning effects on your throat could very well affect your respiratory system or may, with another ingredient in the potion, affect your respiratory system." She finished the list, checked over it again silently. "It would also be likely for you to have experienced dizziness or nausea, as several of the poisonous plants cause them."

Joy put the parchment and quill she had used to write the list of symptoms away, then looked back up at Flynn. "However, if you would still like me to take you to the second floor so they can check to see if you have gotten a magical illness, I can do that and get you to a healer."

“No, no. This feels different. It’s off.” He paused, “It’s…. Not the same. I’ve had similar combinations before, and nothing has felt exactly like this.” Flynn shook his head. “We need to treat the poison first, so we can separate symptoms.” It was often difficult to be a healer for another healer, because many of them want to help with the whole diagnosing and healing part, despite being patients. Flynn was one of those types of patients who felt like he needed to give the healers his input. “It’s strange that the prickling is ONLY over the rash, it’s unusual that the feeling is in my lungs, not my throat—“ He coughed again.

He respected Joy, and he was glad that she knew her stuff. His problem was that he put too many different poisons in, and sometimes poisonous plants were okay to use-- if they were in small doses. Flynn felt like his dosages may have been a bit too much, but they didn't warrant this feeling of weakness.

But then again, maybe the poison was affecting the way he was thinking-- and that could have been another symptom. Though, if Joy told Flynn that, he would probably deny it.

Joy listened as Flynn spoke what he thought, but kept in mind that she knew more about poisoning than he did. She didn't get angry he was trying to command her around, or even calling her wrong. "I understand Flynn," she said after he was finished. "But it is important to remember one thing. Potion ingredients, when added and mixed certain ways, will interact with each other to change and modify to do one or two specific tasks. All good potions are made this way. It wouldn't be strange for something that causes a rash and something that causes a prickling or burning feeling to become changed in an almost alchemically way and inflict a prickling rash on the drinker. The same goes for the feeling in your lungs."

The healer went over to a cabinet and pulled out a jar of bezoars. She opened it. "I would also like to point out that both the rash and your lung problems could be caused by an allergic reaction, though I am assuming that you wouldn't put anything you were allergic to in the potion." Flynn couldn't possibly be that idiotic.

A bezoar was removed from the jar. "Though some of your strange feelings could be from the belladonna's other properties. Some pain that you could be feeling might be from hallucinations, or you might think that you recall making a potion similar to this but never have due to it causing confusion." Joy walked back to Flynn, holding the bezoar. "You are right that we'll have to treat the poisons to see what is from what. Every poisonous plant you added can be cured by a bezoar, so I'd like for you to swallow one." The healer handed it to her patient.

Allergies were also likely. “I don’t have any allergies… That I know of. I’ve never been tested.” Flynn acknowledged. He liked the idea of allergies more than the idea of being sick, and clung to it. He eyed the bezoar and groaned. He wasn’t looking forward to eating it—which was part of why he didn’t keep any in his flat. That, and they were rare and hard to acquire unless you went to St. Mungos. He grabbed the bezoar and put it in his mouth, swallowing it. The texture was scratchy and hairy, and it left an unpleasant aftertaste in his mouth. Flynn made a couple gagging noises, and his face scrunched up in disgust.

“Ugh. While we wait for it to… Work. Why don’t you tell me about yourself. You have a family, right?” Flynn just wanted to get his mind off of this undesirable situation, and he wanted to stop thinking about how horrible it was to swallow a bezoar.