ORIGIN - Typical Med Student

In the wide open fields of Pegasus, just kind of sitting in the middle of the meadows, was Druid. An obvious sight, a white pillar of feathers and spikes, casually seated on the soft ground like a person, its tail curled around its front.

Immersed in its work, it held something in its hands, which it hunched over to look at carefully. The tip of its fluffy tail twitched with mild excitement as it observed its prize - the corpse of a field mouse that it was currently dissecting. Spindly fingers carefully maneuvered their way through the Lesser's body, shifting around the stuff inside and carefully lifting its each and every organ close to one of its eyes to look at it more carefully. Some it lifted up to the light, to look through, but each and every one was eventually tossed away as it moved onto the next.

It was careful and calculated in every movement, so it didn't ruin anything or puncture any further skin. Meticulous and slow-working, it was like in its own world, without a care for any passerby that may be horrified by its gruesome task.

@Doctor

The large vulture hobbling in Druid's general direction did not see him, at first. His vision, after The Incident with another questionable physician, had limited him to heat vision... and Druid didn't ping this almost at all. The false sun's warmth no doubt lingered on even cold-blooded beasts but it was not as strong to his eyes, so that he was almost upon Druid when he paused, one taloned foot in the air, and swivelled to look at him in surprise. Goggles gleamed, opaque and battered, in place of visible eyes.

"Oh!" Doctor said. He then paused, head snapping down in birdlike fashion to regard the thing-he-couldn't-quite-see in Druid's claws. -Prey? He wasn't sure. The medical component of his vision, a sort of X-ray sight, didn't really work unless the person in question was very, very still. He paused, curious now. "...Am I interrupting?" He hoped this stranger wasn't hostile, at least.

Or someone he knew and couldn't recognize; how embarrassing that would be.

He wasn't sure which might be worse.

@Druid

Druid didn't hear the bird approaching - he was way too involved in his task. But as soon as the voice spoke up, his head snapped around, turning an almost full 180 degrees to regard the Doctor. How...odd. Eyes obscured, looking quite weathered but simple...it grinned, head snaking forward a bit as its nose got to work. He smelled like...dust. But also very clean. Also faintly like mildew.

It held the field mouse limp in its claws, almost forgotten about for a moment as it stared at the glasses. It couldn't see any eyes past the cover, and wondered if there were any eyes at all. Or was this some odd mutation, a shell or a carapace? Still thinking, a claw reached forward. "Weiiird..." Gently, curiously, it went to tap on the Doctor's goggles, as if to ensure they were real. "Can you even see out of that? What are you wearing them for?" It certainly wouldn't want to wear things in front of its eyes! It would miss out on so much fun stuff!

@Doctor

Doctor flinched back very slightly as the comparatively massive claw tapped the glass. Well. At least is is not eating me, yet. That was something. "They help me to see." He reached up his own taloned foot, lowering them just a smidge for a moment so that Druid could see the stone button "eyes" that lay beneath. Then he tipped the goggles back on, keeping a slight amount of distance, trying and likely failing to appear that he wasn't incredibly possessive of them.

In fairness, he was pretty blind without them.

"I see, but differently from most. You; I can see you are large. Long-bodied." His 'blind' gaze travelled over Druid as he spoke. "Four--no, six?--limbs, hmm, wings? Non-functional? Doctor, by the way. My name is Doctor. And you are?" It was politely asked, conversational and almost cheerful, though there was a clinical edge as the vulture's attention shifted mid-sentence back to the dead Lesser with organs pried apart. He couldn't tell what he was looking at, and introduction before asking seemed polite. So he he didn't mention it yet... but he looked. He looked with broken eyes, and magic lenses, and a flare of magic that detected residual microbial life--some dying off, now, and some flourishing with the death--in the tiny corpse.

Not in judgement, though. He was curious, that was all.

@Druid

Druid almost grabbed for Doctor when his stone button eyes were revealed. In fact, its claws shot out to grab at his head, dropping the mouse which had utterly been forgotten. But just before it made contact, it stopped itself - it was, unfortunately, quite a bit larger then him. Ahh, Druid, have some self-restraint! It didn't want to hurt or KILL this new thing that had come across its path!

Druid's eyes were wide, blinking slowly, amazed that this blind bird could see all that without seeing anything. "Wow," it softly breathed, grinning. "That is a very neat trick. Can you see what I'm doing right now?" It began to move its body from side-to-side, snakelike, graceful, wings opening a bit but not flapping. It tried to be quiet, too, and not disturb too much of the air to make it harder to figure out without seeing.

"Mmmm, Doctor? Like healing people? I'd like to be a doctor. I think it would be fun! I am Druid." It stopped moving and laid its body down flat, almost dog-like if not for the incredibly long body it had. "What's the sickest thing you've seen, mr. Doctor?"

@Doctor

"I think it is an important field of work," Doctor agreed. "We know so little, even now, about illness and how it spreads... how to heal wounds... Yes, I can see," he confirmed, his goggled gaze clearly tracking Druid's movements.

"A pleasure to meet you, Druid!" he exclaimed, and it had warm, bright enthusiasm in it, maybe even a bit overmuch. He didn't get to talk to many friendly strangers, after all. The caves were full of Chaos and children. And Chaos-children.

"Sickest... an excellent question. Yes? Hmm. Do you mean illness? I have seen things die of it, of course," he mused, but did that really count-? "In terms of sheer damage to a body, outside of mechanical injury-" (and now he sounded far too enthusiastic again--as if really in his element! this was Doctor Stuff!) "-I have seen a Gembound melted alive into Oil--did you know what's what we are, when we perish?--melted, alive, by a Valkhand. Terrible stuff," he added, and shivered, though he didn't seem particularly bothered, really. "Imagine the immense power one must have to be capable of such a thing," and this sounded more... admiring.

He paused for a moment, staring off at nothing (probably because he was blind) before rousing himself and looking back at Druid. "So tell me, if you wish to be a doctor--what sort of doctor would you be?"

@Druid