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[lightconductor]

If you have a message for me, Dr. John Watson, please leave it here. I shall certainly get back to you as soon as I can.
- JW

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[freedomsuitsme]

Maxwell is visibly self-conscious when he wanders in.

"Dr. Watson. Thank you for agreeing to meet me here."

[lightconductor]

"Oh, it's no trouble at all."

Watson waves to the other chair. "Sit, be comfortable. Can I get you a drink of water? I'm afraid I haven't had the luck to have a kettle down here. Unless you'd prefer to get right to it?"

There's no sense in rushing.

[freedomsuitsme]

"I wouldn't mind some water, thank you." He sits down, fidgeting with his sleeve.

[lightconductor]

He gets some water from the sink, as cold as he can get from the tap, and brings it over.

"Here."

He doesn't push. Watson sits down again, and he waits for Maxwell to be ready in his own time.

[freedomsuitsme]

He takes a few sips, then sets it down.

"Alright. How are we starting this?"

[lightconductor]

"However you like. We can start with symptoms, or you can start with the history."

He suspects there's some of both.

[freedomsuitsme]

"General symptoms, or recent symptoms?"

[lightconductor]

"We can start with the general before the more recent developments," Watson says with a small wave of his hand. "There's a logic to that." Vaguely, he thinks about Holmes, impatient with a client who can't seem to begin his story, or who tells it wrong way around.

Watson is far more patient.

[freedomsuitsme]

And Maxwell does his best. He talks about his childhood, about his poor eyesight and the bouts of breathing trouble that would leave him pulled out of school and bedridden. He talks about his adulthood, his struggling heart and his injuries in the aftermath of the train crash. He talks about the Constant, about his immeasurable time bound to the Nightmare Throne, unable to eat or drink or sleep, wracked with seizures and fits anytime he channeled significant quantities of magic. And... he talks about the unconventional medicine of the Survivors: magical medicinal honey wraps, amulets that knit wounds shut, hearts made of spider guts and blood and grass that raise the dead, injections delivered through the stingers of hamster-sized bees.

[lightconductor]

Watson listens, seriously. He doesn't have much of a poker face -- never has, never will -- but his expression remains even, sympathetic, even when surprised. Some is familiar, of course, some is not, and some, well -- he might not understand all the principles of Constant medicine, but he knows well that in tight circumstances, you work with what you have.

"You've been through a good deal," he remarks.

cw: addiction mention

[freedomsuitsme]

"I'll admit, I... could be taking better care of myself. I recognize that my past has led to the formation of certain habits and addictions. I don't eat when I should; I sleep fitfully, if at all; I cast magic frivolously and almost compulsively, because I feel wrong when I'm not using it."

[lightconductor]

He recognises that, for what it is. How could he fail to recognise it? Between Holmes and the cocaine, his brother and the drink, his own weakness for the thrill of the horse track, and any number of patients -- well, he knows.

"In what way do you mean, 'wrong'?" Watson tilts his head to one side; from his perspective, it's a valid question. "Is there a reason you shouldn't be so frivolous with it?"

[freedomsuitsme]

"Among things, shadow magic is not kind to the body. You may not believe it looking at me, but I'm in my thirties."

[lightconductor]

"Ah," Watson says, with a knowing nod. "Then yes, I see your point. Is this something you wish help refraining from, or did you have other concerns?"

Quite frankly, he's not sure how to go about weaning someone off of magic.

[freedomsuitsme]

"It's not something I can really stop using at this point. More a medicine to be aware of than a habit to break. Though I would appreciate a little social pressure in eating more regularly. That I'm confident I can improve."

[lightconductor]

"Ah," Watson says, with the smallest laugh, "that is something I have experience with. You haven't any notion of the pain you have inflicted upon yourself."

He must laugh at himself, sometimes.

[freedomsuitsme]

"Is that from personal experience, or something you have to keep up with one of your husbands? Or something with someone beyond the ship. Forgive me if I'm prying."

[lightconductor]

"Oh, both." Watson laughs. "I have the poor fortune to be eternally fond of men who need reminding to eat, it seems."

[freedomsuitsme]

He laughs in return.

"Perhaps you simply have a talent for dealing with such men that cannot be overstated."