(( Continued directly from here. ))

The floo network spat them out in a fireplace the size of a shed, one in a long line of fireplaces that all fed out to the reception area of St. Mungo's. Usually bustling, the wee hours of the morning in St. Mungo's proved to be a bit quieter. Landis maneuvered Tappy over to the nearest wall, depositing him in a free armchair before the other man could realize the full toil of flooing on an already nauseous stomach and do something terrible, like vomit.

"Stay here," Landis told him, and left him in a chair to go talk to the nurse on duty. She peered over at him past Landis' shoulder with the vague interest of someone who'd had a very boring evening - Landis was evidentally convincing her Tappy's case did not need emergency assistance - then tapped her wand against a globe on her desk that sent a spark zooming off into the halls.

A few minutes later, a blonde man in a mediwizard's robes emerged from the direction the spark had gone, moving quickly until he saw Landis waiting at the desk and, apparently judging his presence as a non-emergency, slowed to an amble. The two men greeted each other briefly with a clasp of the forearm. They did not look particularly alike: the mediwizard's hair was cropped short, an entirely different shade of blonde, his skin faintly golden with sun and his blue eyes warm where Landis' seemed cold. Tappy could not see any of this, not the way Landis inclined his head in Tappy's direction, nor the brisk exchange of words, but when they both came over Landis introduced the man as Rhys Morgan.

Rhys offered a hand to shake with the calm, good-natured stoicism of someone who probably made a very good mediwizard. After a murmured, "Can't see," from Landis, he laid that hand on Tappy's shoulder instead.

"Hullo, Mr. Trishna. It's a slow night so I can least at take a look at you. Poison?" Rhys cocked an eyebrow at his cousin; Landis shrugged. "I'm not too good with poisons, but if Landis says it isn't too serious then I imagine he'd know. Still, that eyesight sounds like a bit of a problem. You ready to go to a room? Can you stand?"

He'd have never thought it, but the floo made the sensations worse. He fell into the chair gratefully and held one of the arms like it was his only anchor to the mortal world - and wished for death, or maybe just to pass out so the room would stop turning upside down and stop that blasted ringing. Sitting blind in the lobby (he assumed) of St. Mungo would have been bad enough, though thankfully it was late at night and so Simon wasn't on duty. The quiet helped; had it been crowded he might have tried to hex someone.

Speaking of - he patted himself down and realized with a lurch his wand was missing, probably left in the staff room. He groaned. He was calmer now, yes, though still upside down in all was but literally.  Actually, now he wished Simon was on duty. He'd know to keep this quiet and he wasn't an unknown.

Landis soon returned with a Rhys Morgan, Tapendra's blind blue gaze turning towards the sound of their footsteps. His own quiet reservations about being treated by one of Landis's family members aside, he offered the man what he hoped was a chipper smile, jumping slightly as a hand landed on his shoulder.

"I think so," he said, his time sitting still having helped. He lurched to his feet, unsteady, and wobbled, reaching out and grabbing what turned out to be Landis's arm and possibly his hair too. "Sorry," he muttered, finding his balance and standing.

Landis startled a little when Trishna grabbed him, allowing the invasion of his personal space with the same resigned patience he'd displayed all night. Rhys' hand on his shoulder transferred to under Tappy's arm as he rose, so that in some way or another, Tappy was supported on either side. Then the man finally got to his feet, and they both let go.

In Rhys' case, only for a moment. "I'm going to take your arm again, Mr. Trishna - just lightly, to show you where we're going. We've got some exam rooms around the corner; we'll walk slow. If you feel dizzy again, go ahead and grab on, pause for a minute, whatever makes you most comfortable. Now. Tell me what happened."

Rhy's hand on his arm was helpful, and Tapendra walked with them, slowly, down a hall - he assumed. The sound of their footsteps lost the echo-y quality suddenly, so he assumed they'd entered into a passage of some kind. He couldn't do much other than wonder, anyhow, so he followed obediently.

"I was talking with Landis in the staff room," he said, doing his best to recall events while occasionally stumbling, his weight landing on Rhy's shoulder for a moment. "Making coffee. It was about 30 seconds after I drank some of it that...this happened." He sighed as he got his balance back under control and they continued. Rhys steered him to a room. He heard a door open and shut, and the space felt smaller. "The coffee didn't taste odd or anything," Tapendra added as he was directed to a bed, which he sat on and then lay down on side ways, one hand under his head. "My sight faded very suddenly and then...well, all the rest."

Rhys listened silently, drawing his wand once Tappy had finished speaking and scribbling some indecipherable squiggles in the air with a glowing wandtip. The individual symbols turned colors as he tapped them, his eyes flicking rapidly between Tappy and his work. He frowned faintly as he drew, tongue between his teeth like he was going down a mental checklist. More symbols in the air, and then one of them gave off a sudden, discordant note.

Rhy' eyebrows rose in astonishment. Landis cleared his throat. "Yes. And there's that."

Rhys hesitated, and then moved closer. In the air above Tappy's bed he scrawled a series of blurringly fast symbols, each fading quickly after being drawn. They must have told him something good because within a minute he grinned and said, "Mr. Trishna, you're not pregnant. Your body chemistry's just been messed up a bit. Something you drank. Hang on." He stepped out into the hallway to flag down a passing nurse, then ambled back in. "All right, I've got some potions coming that should alleviate the symptoms, if not cure them all together. We can treat you even if we don't know what's causing said symptoms, the only real trouble being if they continue. In the meantime..." He raised his eyes to Landis'. "Improperly brewed Polyjuice potion?"

The question was implicit. What sort of substance could alter one's natural chemistry? Not a simple poison. Not with these reactions.

"Not in the kettle," Landis said dismissively.

"Bad batch of Hawkeye serum, maybe - "

"Wouldn't account for the pregnancy scare. Perhaps something not meant to be ingested - "

"Kettle, remember."

"Then it has to be some sex-specific potion in order to have done this, the side effects possibly a bad reaction due to the fact that he's male. One of your female coworkers on the third floor might be better suited to - "

"Expelling draught?"

There was a pause. Both of them turned to look at Tappy. Rhys' gaze was only curiosity, but Landis' was heavily expectant.

"Well, that would do it," Rhys concluded. "Sounds like a prank. Can't imagine one of Hogwart's professors needing that." The nurse was back, with a little cart full of bottles; Rhys pushed a small eyedropper into Landis' hand and rummaged through the rest. He poured one brilliant green potion into a small cup, and the strong sharp smell of mint immediately filled the room. "Mr. Trishna, drink this. It'll settle your stomach, make the aches and pains go away. Landis, you've got nice steady hands. Three drops in each eye. I see Milly didn't believe my last request, so I'll need to run upstairs and grab something."

Rhy's mutters and the odd magical sounds were not, on the whole, reassuring. But the Healer's assurance he wasn't up the duff was quite reassuring. Tapendra let his breath out, rolling onto his back. His posture on the bed was unintentionally sprawled, hands flopped on either side of his head.

"Good," he grunted, eyes gently closed. "Not going to have to throw up or anything, am I?" But the Healer was talking to Landis, and their debate over the potion certainly raised his eyebrows. Polyjuice...hah. They hadn't had that when he was at school since his 6th year.

"Why would a student - oh, uh, right..." A strong smell filled the room and he sat up, taking the cup that was offered. The smell was overpowering close up, but at least it didn't taste like grape, right...? He drank whatever it was anyway, the taste making him cough. He'd be tasting that for weeks.

"That," he said as he felt the cup being taken away, "Was like drinking toothpaste."

Still, it seemed to be working. He lay down again, wincing as his still turbulent stomach protested, and resumed his flopped posture with a sigh.

The door closed, so evidently the healer had left. He jolted as a hand grabbed his chin suddenly - not the gentlest of grips. Landis. His head was turned slightly, apparently to face the blonde.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Landis' grip may not have been gentle - it wasn't like he was handling delicate Potions vials here - but his aim and the control inherent in each measured drop were impeccable.

It was remarkable, how quickly the drops took effect. Landis watched as both pupils shuddered, seeming to dance madly about within the restraints of Trishna's irises. Trishna's right pupil, which had blown to some size nearly three times the normal, its edges jagged instead of neatly spherical, slowly shrank and smoothed again. The left, having made a spirited bid to disappear completely into the blue, grew again in start-stop motion until it had reached the usual size.

Trishna seemed to be trying to focus.

"Well?" Landis asked, but instead of the answer he was expecting there came instead a sharp pop. From the direction of the door came an accompanying flash so bright that any success in restoring Tappy's sight was promptly rendered moot. Someone had a camera.

"How sweet." It was a low, satisfied purr. Even before the spots had faded from his vision Landis had straightened with a scowl at the sound of that voice. And by the time those spots cleared, both Tappy and Landis would still find themselves in need of sunglasses. The man standing in the doorway, clutching a camera and grinning fit to shame the devil, was a riot of red curls and shiny shoes and a blazer of a gold to rival the sun.

Landis's face wasn't exactly what Tappy wanted to see when his sight came back; a leggy (not-Landis) blonde, Ignan's familiar and oddly reassuring scowl, or Cyhirae's concerned face would have all been considerably better. But the scowl on the man's face and artful precision with the eyedropper were welcome all the same. He started to smile gratefully - and then his vision vanished again as a bright light flashed.

Tapendra made an oddly choking sound, rubbing his eyes as if that'd help. "What?" he asked the universe in general, blinking in Landis's direction.

Of course the re-return of his vision did nothing to answer any questions. He looked at the man in the door and his frankly awful outfit, his mouth partially open. "Who're you?" he asked, since Landis didn't seem in a hurry to say anything.

His gaze drifted to the camera, though, and gears started to turn...

"What're you doing here?" Landis asked, an odd tone in his voice. Well, irritation and despair were hard to balance at once. His matched Trishna's question unerringly well, but Darian only smiled and stepped farther into the room. As he did so he took the photo from the camera, holding it up for his own inspection and flashing them both, briefly, a glimpse of their tiny photos selves. In it, Landis held Tappy's chin in long fingers and Tappy smiled up at him, their faces inches apart - the flash of the light, and photo Landis leapt guiltily away (just blinded, not that anyone who wasn't there would know that) while photo Tappy simply looked stunned. Then the photo disappeared into Darian's blazer pocket, out of sight but definitely not out of mind.

"Rhys forgot his lunch."

It was phrased sweetly, not an answer. Darian turned to Trishna next, skipping around the opposite side of the bed to avoid Landis (who was focused on the camera with frightening intentness) and offering a beringed hand. "Pardon me, it was a bit of a rude entrance. Darian Morgan, not necessarily at your service but open to negotiation. No, Landis, I will not give you the photo, stop eyeing me like that. And who are you? I try but it is so difficult to keep up with his redheads these days. What in the world were you two up to that led you here so late at night?"

The man had a presence that did not aid the already intensely confused Tapendra in any way. The photo, however, was currently foremost in his mind. He regarded the man with a cautious silence and sat up in the bed, his stomach protesting. It was settling, the ringing subsiding. He rubbed his forehead anyway, brushing his long hair out of the way.

"His redhead?" He asked with an innocent moment is confusion before his eyes narrowed as his mind put 2 and 2 together. "The only his I share with Landis is a job, Miser Morgan," he said, as seriously as he could with a red flush finding its way onto his features. That was not what was going on. Especially not with Landis - the man was a decade younger or something.

Not that Landis's age was the only factor stopping him from - no. Moving on.

"Trishna," he said simply, but took the extended hand in a warm shake, his grip firm. He flashed Darian a hesitant smile. "I teach Astronomy." He looked at Landis, his expression saying everything. "A relation?" he asked, and lay back down halfway, resting on his elbows.

"My mistake," he said, not sounding very sorry at all. Unlike anyone who might view the photo he'd just taken, Darian had not interpreted the situation in his implied fashion. He knew well that Landis' preference did not run to men, and besides, he'd seen the eyedropper. He'd just waited until Landis laid it down to ready the camera. It had been worth the pretense to see the faint red snake its way onto the other man's cheeks, to know how he would take such a suggestion. Something to be filed away for later, just in case.  But Darian was not the only rude one here. Apparently he did not even warrant the knowledge of Trishna's first name. A brush-off, if a subtle one, but nothing in Darian's demeanor acknowledged the insult to his person. Probably Trishna had not intended it as a slight. He seemed the sort to underestimate himself. Or perhaps it was just wariness.

He thought he about had the measure of Tapendra now. A little shy, he thought, but a nice chap. Despite his somewhat foppish appearance, Darian's grip was strong and did not linger. There was a time for that, and now was not it.

"Astronomy?" And his tone showed a faint tinge of astonishment he absolutely did not feel. "Oh, I've heard of you, from all number of places. The muggle scientist, no? It sounds fascinating." He was, to all purposes, completely genuine.

"A relation?"

"Cousin," Landis said, and something in his expression and the tone of his voice reminded Darian a bit of a kitten at the bottom of a deep deep well. Sort of sad, and desolate, and doomed.

Not that Darian could blame him. He was after all in possession of a deliciously misleading photograph. He took the time to smile at Tappy before his gaze snapped up to Landis, who was calmly and purposefully drawing his wand. Perhaps not so desolate, then. Fortunately Rhys came in at this moment before Darian had to make an undignified leap beneath the bed to protect himself.

"Darian," Rhys acknowledged, and gently pushed him aside so that he could reach Trishna. "Here you are. Another one, drink up. This may feel strange, but it'll tweak your body chemistry back to normal."

Darian edged farther back when Rhys accio'd a basin. These shoes were imported.

"Yes," he said, surprised at the tone of genuine interest in Darian's tone. Of course, the cynical bit of him told him it was faked (of course it was, Morgan was likely pureblooded) but he couldn't help the smile that resulted. "Yes, it is fascinating," he said, beaming despite himself. "Even if most people don't understand it, it's-"

Landis drawing his wand brought him down to earth, though, and he shrank away up the bed subtly, far too keenly aware he lacked his own. And the photo, of course. He fell silent.

Rhy's arrival, even if he handed him a cup of a potion that smelled like sick, was therefore welcome. He drank the concoction without taking his eyes off the two Morgans, though his eyes filled with water as he struggled to choke down the potion.

"Blergharakkk," he said, intelligently. His mouth felt like he'd just filled it with cotton. That had been dipped in some sort of powder.

For a moment, all eyes in the room were on Tappy. Then Landis remembered his mission to recover the photo, as well as at least another 17 reasons he was supposed to be angry at Darian. He raised his wand again; Darian pressed one hand flat against his blazer pocket and waggled the index finger of his other at him in warning. Rhys ignored them both, bending solicitously over Tappy.

Wordlessly, he handed Tappy a cup of water.

Behind him, Landis spoke. "Darian," he said pleasantly (and Darian paused in his waggling, sensing danger), "I know you talked to Juliette."

"Talked to Juliette?" Darian's eyes slid from Landis' face to Tappy's, and Landis could see the intent there, faux-innocent and purposeful and sly. "You mean, about - " "Darian. "- right, right, yes. Perhaps. And now I suppose you want me to hand over this photo before -

"Before I remove you from the gene pool, yes."

"The horror."

"But what a favor to the line."

"Oh, cut the pureblood crap, no one wants to hear that. I don't talk about you as breeding stock, now do I?" Darian lowered his voice and leaned towards Tappy, which since Rhys was in the way involved some creative twining to get around his brother's sturdy form. One hand splayed against his brightly-clad stomach in demonstration and, it became clear as he spoke, a substitution for other, lower body parts. "He wouldn't really," Darian confided, eyes fluttering shut behind tinted glasses and lips curved in feline satisfaction. "I'm too valuable to castrate." He winked.   

The water helped, though the taste lingered. He did his best to focus on that and not the...conversation going on between Darian and Landis. That seemed the best idea, and the same one Rhys had had. He had to widen his eyes as the Healer inspected his pupils and stick his tongue out at the two cousins argued.

He leaned back as Darian leaned towards him suddenly and quipped at Landis about breeding stock. This just made his elbows slide out from under him and he thudded backwards onto the bed. A least the cup was empty, as he promptly dropped it.

"I'll, uh, take your word for it," he told Darian, hesitantly. He smiled hopefully, because this usually helped, and might in this case stop the man telling him about the state of his...breeding...tool thing. He couldn't help the question that came to mind, though. "Has Landis got that same honor?"

Breeding stock. Trishna's elbows were apparently no longer able to support his weight. Darian looked briefly astonished and delighted at this unexpectedly innocent reaction. Rhys bent to retrieve the cup with the good-natured stoicism of one used to cleaning up his elder brother's messes and put it on the bedside table.

"You're distressing my patient," he told Darian patiently, and pushed the man away.

"Has Landis got that same honor?"

Darian and Landis both gave Tappy a sharp look, Landis' undercut with irritation, Darian's more lingering.

"And here I thought you weren't interested in Landis' valuables," Darian said, sounding deeply and richly amused. What an adorable man - no wonder Dolly was sweet on him.