*Trigger warning: Needles*

I pulled my long lab coat out of my metal locker. Throwing it on, I walked back into the lab. I passed by impeccably clean marble counter tops laden with all sorts of chemical instruments, tools, and biohazardous bodily samples. The day shift of chemists, druids, and medics were already shuffling around.
I tip toed up to grab my medical box from a shelf at the front of the lab. I turned to set it down. Everything was fully stocked; from my sterilized snake toothed needles, to my glass stopper vials and jar of antiseptic.
A hand placed a piece of paper next to my box as I latched it shut. I looked up. An older elf with his pastel pink hair pulled up into a ponytail was grimly smiling at me.
"Rounds for the day, Chellé." He sighed.
I gave him a look.
"Well, don't you sound excited, Syldral." I snorted.
He raised a eyebrow at me. I playfully rolled my eyes and glanced over sheet. It seemed to be the usual. Just newborns and the critical elderly. Something caught my eye, I did a double take.
A poison victim, huh?
I checked down the list again. That room appeared three times.
Well, that's gonna be interesting. Someone jumped down the wrong rabbit hole.
Giving him a wink, I shoved the parchment into my coat pocket and walked out.
The critical ward wasn't as intense as the one in Rivenguard. The infirmary in the human city I came from on the main continent had been far more challenging. Most of the patients here where elves. They were exceptionally compliant, and that made my draws simple. Even the infants had a sense of zen about them. Every once in a while there would be a human. They always want to talk. It seemed that a familiar race gave them some sort of permission to try to strike up a conversation. Sometimes I'd indulge them, but it just depended on the patient.
Slowly I opened the door at the very end of the hall. The lamps on the walls were turned down to their lowest setting. It took a moment for my eyes adjust to the dim light. After blinking a couple times, I made my way to the bed. What began materializing had my mind instantly disturbed.
A male elf had blankets piled up over his legs. They weren't helping his erratic shivering. A damp, thick cloth mask covered up his nose and mouth. I assumed the stinging smell that was suddenly burning my nostrils was coming from whatever it was doused in. I could hear his rattling breaths sucking through the fabric. His lower left abdomen had a dingy cotton pad held to him with leather straps. I assumed it was full of the same toxic liquid that was now making my eyes water. His eyelids were half hooded, their unpredictable blinking was dis-coordinated. I could see his glowing eyes flashing and flickering like sparks.
But that wasn't what made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
It was his skin.
Insidious black tendrils where creeping under it's porcelain surface. It was almost like there was smoke leaching across his body. The sickening effect covered every inch of him. He looked like a cracked dish oozing tar. What should have been pale skin to complement his short white hair, was instead a lifeless void of dark canvas.
Well, you are all sorts of messed up, aren't you?
Trying to get the seeping vibe of despair out of my bones, I pulled up a stool next to his bed and set my box beside his leg. Gently I took his wrist, making sure that the name hennaed on his skin matched the one on my rounds.
Kagorn Ravenspyre, huh? Well, you sure do look like a Raven right about now.
I looked over the details under his profile. It was a simple collection. Tubes for testing and a bit of therapeutic draining to ease the poison out of his system. I prepped his arm and took my time trying to find a vein that seemed viable. When I finally got him punctured, nothing happened.
You have got to be joking.
Just as I was questioning if I had missed, a black drop of blood started to slowly collect at the hub. I quickly held my tube to it. Relief hit me.
"There ya go, Raven. Give me a little somethin'…" I mumbled to myself.
It was slow going. His vein gave out three tubes in. I struggled to find another spot. An elven medic came in briefly to change out his mask. We exchanged a 'poor thing' look before she left. It was then it hit me that I'd have to draw him two more times later that day. I started making notes of other locations that seemed decent as his blood slowly dribbled.
I am going to be so behind.
I quickly arrived back at the lab to drop off morning samples. Syldral's eyes widened when I transferred his tubes to the rack.
"Is that Ravenspyre?" He asked as he stared at the nearly black vials.
I nodded, "Yeah, he is royally messed up. He was bleeding so slow I had to tap him twice."
Syldral's shoulders sunk as he sighed.
"Haelorn, the apprentices, and I were up all night trying to get him stable."
"Well that explains your bright and cheery mood this morning." I snorted.
He gave me an un-amused glare. I grinned big at him. He sighed again as he leaned against the counter top. We both looked back at the tubes.
"I hope the results show that our treatment is working. I would rather not have to stay up another night."
"Yeah, you don't look so hot." I muttered.
He huffed and walked off. I laughed to myself as I stepped back into the ward. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon I was playing catch up. His second draw put me even further behind. I left his third draw to the end of the evening so I wouldn't get home any later than necessary.
Whatever treatment Syldral and Haelorn were using seemed be working. Over the course of several weeks he started to bleed better. The streaking under his skin was slowly fading. There was a bit of a pinkish hue coming back to his complexion. He was still unresponsive, but he was far more stable than what he'd been before.
I settled into the stool and prepped him as usual.
"Alright Raven, let's make this quick. You're the last one and I'm ready to go home." I said to myself.
As I collected the first tube, my mind started wandering to my dinner plans.
I think I want noodles. No, I know I want noodles…
He groaned.
It took all my mental power not to jerk in surprise. His head started rotating on the pillow towards me. At the same time, I saw his arm flexing out of the corner of my eye.
No, no, no, not right now, I'm almost done!
I snatched his wrist to keep it from bending further. I tried to keep my tube at the hub of the needle that was in the crease of his elbow. He was resisting me.
"Hey, Raven! My name's Chellé! I'm trying to help you. I need you to stop fighting me right now, cause if you don't, this is gonna turn out bad for the both of us." I begged of him.
It was becoming more difficult to hold his wrist down. He was straining. I kept glancing between him and the tube. His eyelids slowly opened while his eyes lazily flicked around. The traveling of his irises began to hone in on my face before they gradually settled. I gave him a desperate smile.
The gaze suddenly sharpened.