No--no, I don't need medical assistance. I think--I think Professor Stein is about to do something very dangerous. With Dr. Watson's help--
[Kid heaves a deep breath, shaking his head. For a long and visible moment he tries to calm himself.] I need help convincing him not to. He can't. I don't--I don't think he--if he really understood--
[He runs his hand over his face and it's shaking; beneath it he's pale and frowning.] I need help. He'll listen to you.
[The bottom drops from his stomach when he hears Sherlock's reply; similarly the color drains from his face. He stares at the camera for a moment, and then:]He's going to have Dr. Watson remove the implant. It--I can hardly imagine how terrible the metal must be, in the cold--but it's a medical device.
[Kid closes his remaining eye, picturing the image of the uncensored paper the scientist had written.] A magic tool embedded in the frontal lobe. Impulse control and empathy were never Professor Stein's strongest skills, but with the implant in place... [He swallows. Kid had read the medical file he should never have seen. The time in the dispensary, the recovery--] --he had self control that was never there before. Restraint that he'd never had. Impulse control.
Professor Stein is dan--he's [Kid stops, hands shaking as he meticulously taps his fingers together. He's incredibly anxious on a good day; today does not qualify.] He's dangerous! Franken Stein is the strongest and most brilliant Meister to graduate from the Academy. He's also, without that implant in his skull, the most dangerous.
He can't--he can't take it out! Dr. Watson--he...he'll listen to you. He listens to you. Mr. Holmes, please! If--if not you, then what do I do?
[He feels for this boy, the fear itching along his spine and making him want to help. When did he get like this? He never used to care. Strange things happen when you get friends, when the walls come down.]
Why have you not contacted John directly to tell him this?
[Any other time, perhaps John would listen to him. Not now, perhaps not ever again. Not after what he did to Mary.]
He's a good doctor and a moral man, I doubt he will conduct a surgery with these negative consequences if they're explained to him.
[Kid stiffens on the other side of the camera, shaking his head slowly. Why hasn't he called the doctor himself? Because this entire incident has been his fault. Every bit of it, he's sure--from the moment when Stein had removed Watson's eye to the moment when Stein felt he could still ask the doctor he'd enucleated to remove a metal implant from his skull.]
I can't imagine what Professor Stein said to convince him to do it at all. Whatever I say, it won't be enough. He's not going to listen to me--if he were listening to reason he wouldn't be doing the procedure at all. If he hears at least from a friend, I thought maybe... [He coughs, running his fingers nervously through his hair.
Kid folds his hands in front of him till his knuckles turn white; in his nerves he's bitten his nails down to the fingertip and picked at his cuticles till they bled. Panicked, he continues, resting against his head against his hands and showing the camera a half-ring of white over the crown of his head: one of his detested stripes.] I am supposed to know what to do, Mr. Holmes. I am supposed to know how to manage Professor Stein, and I don't. He might hurt or be hurt because I don't know what to do, and that is unacceptable.
[An unfortunate bit of truth, but truth nonetheless.]
He is far more likely to listen to a frightened child than he is to me, your concerns need to be expressed to him directly. If he will not listen, then any action taken by either man is not your responsibility. You will have discharged that by making sure John knows the full weight of his actions.
[His voice is muffled as he speaks, fingers twined in his hair. The anxious, rambling tone hasn't left, leaving every sentence a run on even when short. Kid takes a shuddering breath, shaking.]
If you can't help me then--thank you for your time, Mr. Holmes. I--I'll need to go.
[Kid reaches for the tablet and hangs up in panic a moment later.]
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no subject
No--no, I don't need medical assistance. I think--I think Professor Stein is about to do something very dangerous. With Dr. Watson's help--
[Kid heaves a deep breath, shaking his head. For a long and visible moment he tries to calm himself.] I need help convincing him not to. He can't. I don't--I don't think he--if he really understood--
[He runs his hand over his face and it's shaking; beneath it he's pale and frowning.] I need help. He'll listen to you.
no subject
Neither Dr. Stein nor Dr. Watson will listen to me, you've miscalculated in your plea for help.
no subject
[Kid closes his remaining eye, picturing the image of the uncensored paper the scientist had written.] A magic tool embedded in the frontal lobe. Impulse control and empathy were never Professor Stein's strongest skills, but with the implant in place... [He swallows. Kid had read the medical file he should never have seen. The time in the dispensary, the recovery--] --he had self control that was never there before. Restraint that he'd never had. Impulse control.
Professor Stein is dan--he's [Kid stops, hands shaking as he meticulously taps his fingers together. He's incredibly anxious on a good day; today does not qualify.] He's dangerous! Franken Stein is the strongest and most brilliant Meister to graduate from the Academy. He's also, without that implant in his skull, the most dangerous.
He can't--he can't take it out! Dr. Watson--he...he'll listen to you. He listens to you. Mr. Holmes, please! If--if not you, then what do I do?
no subject
Why have you not contacted John directly to tell him this?
[Any other time, perhaps John would listen to him. Not now, perhaps not ever again. Not after what he did to Mary.]
He's a good doctor and a moral man, I doubt he will conduct a surgery with these negative consequences if they're explained to him.
no subject
I can't imagine what Professor Stein said to convince him to do it at all. Whatever I say, it won't be enough. He's not going to listen to me--if he were listening to reason he wouldn't be doing the procedure at all. If he hears at least from a friend, I thought maybe... [He coughs, running his fingers nervously through his hair.
Kid folds his hands in front of him till his knuckles turn white; in his nerves he's bitten his nails down to the fingertip and picked at his cuticles till they bled. Panicked, he continues, resting against his head against his hands and showing the camera a half-ring of white over the crown of his head: one of his detested stripes.] I am supposed to know what to do, Mr. Holmes. I am supposed to know how to manage Professor Stein, and I don't. He might hurt or be hurt because I don't know what to do, and that is unacceptable.
no subject
[An unfortunate bit of truth, but truth nonetheless.]
He is far more likely to listen to a frightened child than he is to me, your concerns need to be expressed to him directly. If he will not listen, then any action taken by either man is not your responsibility. You will have discharged that by making sure John knows the full weight of his actions.
no subject
[His voice is muffled as he speaks, fingers twined in his hair. The anxious, rambling tone hasn't left, leaving every sentence a run on even when short. Kid takes a shuddering breath, shaking.]
If you can't help me then--thank you for your time, Mr. Holmes. I--I'll need to go.
[Kid reaches for the tablet and hangs up in panic a moment later.]