Chapter Text
Chapter 2: Exam
Jonathan Sims had worked at the Magnus Marine Life Research Center and Aquarium in his hometown of Bournemouth for five years. If asked to describe the man, his coworkers would peg him as a try-too-hard academic covering up any lack of knowledge with sneering declarations of being ‘too busy’ to answer any especially difficult questions.
That wasn’t to say Jon was unqualified for the job he had been given. In fact, his Masters in paranormal sciences and marine biology and his internship in the Center had seen him offered the position by Elias Bouchard, Head and Owner of the facility itself. But seeing as Jon was one of only five people in Britain with this particular set of accreditations and three of the other four worked in the same institution, he believed he couldn’t afford to seem uninformed about, well, anything.
This was quite silly, seeing as one of the major aspects of the Center was the study of hitherto unknown sea creatures and phenomena. But that wouldn’t stop Jon from clinging to the few esoteric things that had already been identified in his schooling as possibilities for any new creature that arrived in the Magnus Center’s rehabilitation clinic.
That morning Jon stood in the Sublevel Research Lab in the midst of the specimen containment unit. The room’s walls were painted a muted blue and tinted for the comfort of the many creatures that were used to the low light of water far deeper than the myriad of tanks lining the walls and set on pedestals around the floor space gave them.
Despite being far below ground level where tourists trod their feet around the more mundane exhibits, this area was also designed to have the visual appeal of an aquarium. Though Bouchard’s esteemed patrons enjoyed taking private tours through the space, Jon found the fancy, rounded tanks to be a waste. It’s not as though technicolor shrimp would know the difference.
Speaking of a waste, Jon had not been in his lab coat for ten minutes before he was once again drawn into what he had once sourly described as the grossly idiotic ‘lesbian crab’ debate.
“As I’ve said before, the subject is clearly responding aggressively to pheromones. It’s like that cluster of water beetles that instantly multiply and swarm anyone who experiences arousal within scenting distance,” Jon said dismissively as fellow researcher Agnes Montague scowled and tapped her foot next to the tank holding a single, bright red Christmas Island crab. The water in the tank bubbled and steamed, but the crab seemed entirely unbothered by this. Instead it stared at Jon, and if he were to allow himself a flight of fancy he might consider that it was glaring.
Jon, of course, was entirely against allowing himself any such flights of fancy.
“And I’m telling you that it sure as hell isn’t pheromones because Jude was already friendly with me before I started hormone therapy.”
Jon felt his cheeks flush. “Well alright, even if this crab has some… some telepathic ability to detect gender of all ridiculous things, that wouldn’t mean it burns men because it’s a lesbian!”
Now Agnes smirked. “But we can’t rule it out!”
Jon scoffed in a manner his coworkers had described as reminiscent of an elderly woman told the price of a cup of tea had risen by a dime. “That doesn’t mean we need to take it seriously as a theory when it’s obviously complete speculation!”
“Sasha agrees with me.”
“Sasha isn’t assigned to your-”
“Heeeey Johnny! We’ve got one for you upstairs!” Jon’s fingers twitched as Tim’s voice boomed across the lab. Waving a hand to dismiss Agnes, he turned to the man striding in to tower over him with his usual annoying grin plastered on his face.
“Yes Tim, I actually read my tablet notifications,” Jon said, ready to fervently deny this was pointed at Tim for failing to read the notifications Jon had sent him the week before when one of the so-called ‘Michaels’ in section B had given him vertigo so intense he couldn’t get off the containment room floor for an hour. “An injured male harbour seal, correct? I’ll be up in a minute, I assume you’ve finished the preliminary exam?”
“Oh yeah, he’s a sweetie. Cutest pudgy boy ever, you’ll like him. Nasty wounds though. Sasha said I shouldn’t jump to conclusions but I’m pretty sure I saw something wiggling in one.”
Jon grimaced. “Urgh, more Carnivorous Sand Eels?”
“I mean, they’re more like worms- alright, Carnivorous Sand Eels, like I have time for that mouthful.” Tim rolled his eyes as Jon opened his mouth to argue. “Anyway, he’s all prepped for you. Hey Agnes! How’s our resident lesbian firecracker today?”
“Just fine, Tim!” Jon glanced over his shoulder and scowled to see Agnes was elbow deep in Jude’s tank, the water still as her fingers stroked the bright red shell.
“And Joe Spooky? What’s she up to?”
Agnes snorted. “Still won’t stop singing Kesha songs. I think she’s lured Elias into her tank room three times now. He’s getting annoyed.”
“That’s my girl!”
“Alright, if you insist on wasting my time,” Jon groused, beginning to walk past Tim towards the elevators. “Might as well get this over with. There are at least three slicked seabirds and an injured otter I need to see to this afternoon before Elias’s cash cow, ahem, I mean esteemed patron comes to tour the lower levels.”
“Heh, right behind you, boss!”
*
It was completely and utterly above Jon’s dignity to say it in front of him, but Tim was right. The seal was absolutely adorable and Jon had to fight to keep a smile from creeping onto his face as soon as he saw the poor thing strapped into the little tub they were examining him in.
The seal was definitely a male, and on the larger end of the spectrum as harbour seals go. According to the chart Sasha had prepared he was 127kg, and he was covered in lovely silvery grey fur with a fetching pattern of black spots common to the species. He was also pleasantly rounded with blubber and when his wide, black eyes turned on Jon he felt his heart break just a bit at how very mournful he looked.
The effect was doubled when the creature let out a high, pained whine. He could hardly blame it. A quick glance told him the left hind flipper was broken with how swollen and bent it looked. There were also a number of deep gouges along its back and shoulders. They seem to have clotted already, but would probably break open again if the poor thing was allowed to move.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure this is all quite a lot. Tim, Sasha, leave us alone for a minute. I know it’s not quite protocol, but this will be harder with distractions.”
Sasha frowned. “What if you need more hands?”
“Then wait just outside, I’ll yell if I need you. Expect some noise from him though, of course.”
“If you’re sure,” Tim shrugged.
The door to the examination room closed behind them with a gentle click. Jon sighed, shoulders dropping instinctively now that there were less eyes on him, the self serious stress lines melting off his face. He grabbed his instruments before settling himself on the floor beside the seal.
“Alright, easy now. You’ve had a rough go of it, haven’t you?” Jon said in a soft, even tone that none of his fellow researchers would have recognized as he ran a hand around the edge of the largest wound. He needed to get through this exam quickly so they could stitch these, but he had to ensure they wouldn’t be trapping anything nasty inside them first. He took up one long, plastic glove and pulled it up past his right elbow. Then he grabbed his tissue sample extractor.
“This is going to hurt, and I won’t be upset if you move, but I promise I’m trying to help,” Jon said. It was a habit of his, to speak aloud to his subjects– more to settle his own nerves than his patient’s. “Now then, if you’ll excuse me.”
Jon moved his hand to the wound, took a deep breath, and plunged in for his sample. The seal’s scream was so deafening he doubts Tim and Sasha would have heard him even if he had yelled for them over it.
That, however, was expected. He pulled back and examined the tiny cylinder with a section of flesh encased within it and…
“Ah, yes. Rotten luck, but it looks like you do have a case of Carnivorous Sand Eels.” Jon stood to begin packaging up the sample. In the tub, the seal panted and cried. Jon winced. “Hey now, it’s alright. You were very brave, and the worst part’s over! The good news is at least we can handle a few mind controlling worms. We can deal with them by the end of the day and get those wounds stitched up.”
He bit his lip. The wounds weren’t in the right pattern to have been bite wounds, or even something akin to getting hit by a propeller or dashed on rocks or debris. Plus his file said they found him pretty far up the beach with broken beer bottles nearby.
“Looks like you ran across some rather awful people, didn’t you?” Jon said carefully as he knelt beside the seal again. He ran a gentle hand around one of the smaller wounds before looking at the hind flipper. Sasha will have had that x-rayed, he’ll need to review it.
“Well, you won’t run into any more unsavory characters here. We’ll get you healed up and back in the sea before you know it. Just try not to get too comfortable, wouldn’t do for you to go looking to humans for treats,” he lectured, as serious as any teacher who had ever told a student to not talk to strangers. “Approach the wrong ones and you might not be as lucky as to wind up back here.”
He moved quickly after that, pulling up the x-rays Sasha messaged him on his tablet and noting the fractures. He checked the seal’s eyes- a bit uncannily attentive but not any more so than a dog’s in Jon’s professional opinion. Reflexes seemed normal.
He called Tim and Sasha back in.
“Neither of you observed anything odd during your examinations?”
“No sir, aside from the wiggly bits I warned you of,” said Tim.
“Hm, yes, it does seem you were right about that.” Jon tapped his stylus to his tablet screen to bring up the x-rays again and the photo he took of his sample. He enlarged the latter. “See there, the tendrils and the colouring- definitely what we’ve seen before.”
“So we’re extinguishing the bastards?” Time grinned.
“Yes, a course of Co2 over the next couple of hours and then another sample to ensure it worked before you stitch him up.” Jon put his tablet on sleep mode and tucked it neatly under his arm. “A support for the hind flipper as well, I think. There are several fractures. The wounds ought to close up in a few weeks, the fractures I’m assuming six to twelve months. We’ll have to check it regularly.”
“Six to twelve? I’ll see if we’ve got a suitable long-term room available,” Sasha clicked her tongue as she pulled out her own tablet.
“If there’s nothing available immediately-”
“Move him to short term care until one frees up, I know how this works Jon,” Sasha sent him a wry smirk and Jon swallowed. Despite his own position with the new arrivals, Sasha had been there longer than him and he knew he really needed to stop automatically telling her how to do basic procedures.
“Right well, thank you Sasha. Tim, I trust you to get started with the Co2. I’ll check in with you and our new arrival again at the end of the day to ensure the treatment went well.”
“Sure thing, uh, so I’m hearing worms spooky, seal normal?”
Jon rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Tim, for the last time, nothing here is spooky. Animals that display hitherto unrecorded phenomena-“
“Blah blah, magic is just science we don’t understand, we get it,” Tim snorted. “But so we’re clear. Seal normal, we’re letting him go?”
“In six to twelve months, presuming we avoid further complications, yes.”
They were interrupted by a gasp and all three of them looked down at the seal that was staring at them with mouth agape.
“Do you have something to add?” Jon asked dryly.
The seal’s mouth snapped shut and he scrunched his neck down so he resembled more of a ball than before. If Jon didn’t know better, he’d say he looked embarrassed. The seal made a noise best transliterated as “phlllbt” before rocking against the restraints and wincing when blood leaked from his wounds again.
He still looked awfully sad. The seal’s eyes met Jon’s and he felt a swell of pity.
“Ah… Sasha you’d best go check on that room. And Tim, get the supplies. I’ll er, wait here until you’re back.”
“Not sure he needs a babysitter, but who am I to argue?” Tim flashed a grin as he and Sasha left. Once done, Jon took a look at the seal’s sorrowful expression before fleeing into the hall and straight to the storeroom where they kept the seafood for their larger residents. He knew this wasn’t exactly the most professional course of action, and certainly he would divert his course if someone else appeared in the corridor. But even so, Jon couldn’t quite bear the thought of leaving one of his patient’s with an entirely negative opinion of him.
He grabbed a mackerel from their sea lion bucket and ran back down the hall with the fish in hand.
He returned to the examination room to find the injured seal much where he left it, though he was no longer scrunched in on himself and instead had his chin on the edge of the tub, eyes shut tight.
“I’ll have Tim give you some more pain killer as well,” Jon assured as he knelt beside the animal and held the mackerel out to him. The seal lifted his head almost instantly, sniffing the fish before looking up at Jon as though seeking permission.
“Yes, that’s for you, don’t be sh- woah!” Jon pulled his hand back lest it be gobbled as well, the seal made such fast work of the thing. It then leaned its head further in, clearly snuffling the air for more.
“Sorry, just the one. Honestly you’ll likely regret that one once the Co2 starts up. But let’s not tell Tim about this, alright?” Jon winked. The seal blinked back at him, prompting Jon to smile. “Yes, don’t worry, I’ve been told most find me confusing to talk to. You’re hardly alone there.”
The seal continued to stare at Jon as he pulled back. Had Jon had been asked–and had he not been against all flights of fancy - he would have described that gaze as anxiously curious. Jon broke the creature’s gaze, and instead noted the dried blood clotting down the seal’s skin and took up a nearby rag to blot some of it off.
“Don’t worry, we’ll sort those Eels out. You don’t want to know the awful things they would’ve done to you. I told Tim off, but honestly ‘spooky’ doesn’t quite cover those things. They’re only good dead as far as I’m concerned, though of course Jane has her ugly little hoard of specimens downstairs.”
The seal tensed and Jon eased up on the pressure of his blotting. “Not to worry of course, you won’t ever have to see the lower levels. Nothing spooky about you, is there? Just an ordinary fellow having a rough time of it.”
At the sound of the door handle turning, Jon quickly got to his feet and tossed the rag aside.
“I’ve got a room set up, is Tim back yet?”
“Not yet, wait for him would you? And get the poor thing some more pain killers,” Jon said briskly as he made for the door.
“Poor thing?” Jon winced at Sasha’s amused tone.
Jon stiffened, shoulders inching up towards his ears. “I said nothing.”
“Sure Jon,” Sasha’s lips twitched. “Far be it for anyone to think you have a weakness for cute animals.”
“I do not.”
“Mmhm.”
“In fact I hate cute animals,” Jon insisted with all of his carefully maintained academic dignity.
“Sure.”
“They draw people’s attention away from serious conservational efforts that are better spent on, ah, plankton microorganisms that are more essential to the ecosystem!”
Sasha’s eyebrows lifted. “Of course.”
After this exchange Jon hurried into the hall. He prayed he wouldn’t run into anyone important before he fought down his embarrassed blush, lest he break the tenuous thread of respect he was certain was the only thing preventing his colleagues from eating him alive.
‘ If only people were as forgiving as animals, ’ Jon thought with melancholy as he schooled his face and adopted a brisk, professional stride.