After sending off his thanks and acceptance to Dr. Witaker’s correspondence … Aslan spent even more time at the morgue than usual.

He kind of wished he had the luxury of working on dead skin before fucking with living, breathing, struggling human beings. He was also looking forward to less dead things, though. If he could be a part of the solution rather than another cog in the problem wheel?

It was more than he dared hope for. He had little to lose.

The Diamond Pony … was higher class than anywhere he’d ever questioned at. He dressed his best, brought extra handkerchiefs, and a pair of black gloves lest … well, you know.

To the doorman he explained his seeking of the Doctor Witaker, and quietly prayed his hands could stay as steady as he’d advertised.

Dr. Witaker was in the drawing room, which the man was guided to. He stood when his prospect was shown in and he said, "You must be Mister Koch. I am Doctor Witaker." He reached out with a hand for a shake and gave a kind smile, one that warmed his whole face up despite his grief at the moment. "Please, sit." He gestured toward a chair.

Aslan was a small man; serious of expression and resolute in step, but ultimately easy to overlook in most situations. His handshake was briefly almost crushing, but settled into a firm grip.

Immediately, Dr. Witaker struck him as someone who was … haunted, but handling it well. While Aslan was not possessing of the same easy warmth, he did give a grateful nod and sit as directed.

“Thank you for having me, Dr. Witaker. What can I do for you today?”

"I want to see how you do with some of my patients firsthand. Your reception of them is very important." He said easily. "But before we get into that, I want to know what experience you have thus far in the medical field." The maid poured tea for the two of them and prepared it the way each person liked, stopping long enough to inquire to Mr. Koch whether he wanted sugar or cream without the use of words.

Donald kept his eyes on the girl, fascination written across his face.

“Certainly,” he agreed readily.

Had Dr. Witaker asked around about an Aslan Koch (particularly around lower-class brothels), he might find him to be a somewhat known entity in those circles. ‘Pays the price for more than he takes’ seemed to be a common theme, with a girl here or there outright theorizing that he might be a man’s man … and a man’s man theorizing his dick is broken since no one’s seen it yet.

“Most of my experience has been in basics – things you can do with supplies from a general store or an ice house. Cleaning scrapes and open wounds, wrapping sprains, herbal teas for settling the stomach and calming pain. Laudanum and other opiates for things that will pass with time. I have some experience with tourniquets and stitches, which seemed to take without complication.”

He looked up to the young woman with tea, studying her face just a second longer than necessary. Did he know her? Did she match any missing reports?

“Thank you,” he said with a polite nod to her.

Whether or not he liked it was irrelevant to him.

“What type of work do you see most regularly in this setting?”

Evelyn arrived into the room. She seemed nervous around the place but gave a quiet and sincere thank you to being let into the room.

She was dressed in her usual garments, she had nothing classier for such an establishment nor an idea she'd need one. "Sorry, am I...late?" She asked looking from one man to the other. "I'm Miss Griffin for the nursing job with Doctor Whitaker?"

He was about to reply to the man's question when the young miss showed up and thought she was late. She was not.
"Oh, no, you're on time, perhaps even a little early. As I was stating to Mr. Koch just moments before you arrived, I want to see you both with my patients and how you do with them. I was about to answer a question as well. Most of the time it is to make sure they are disease free. So far, I have only had to deal with one pregnant lady of the night, but she will not be your concern as I have contacted another doctor for help with her as she is a special case." He gestured to the mute girl for more tea and offered, "Tea?"

He allowed himself a brief, cordial glance to Miss Griffin before nodding in greeting. She was beautiful, if under-dressed in comparison to the other ladies of the establishment (including the quiet one with the tea).

Then she announced herself, too, to be interviewing.

“Aslan Koch, interviewing for the apprentice,” he introduced. “A pleasure.”

Then, he turned his attention back to Dr. Witaker.

“I have viewed some post-mortems which--” he paused, glancing to Miss Griffin, “ah, apologies, I will try to keep this vague. Post-mortems in which the … causes, have been related to some of the diseases you have experience treating. While I have never been asked to treat it … I have some confidence I will be able to identify the more urgent ones readily.”

Relief washed over Evelyn when she was told she wasn't late. She gave a little polite bow and moved into the room. She nodded to the young well dressed man that she was told was trying to get the apprentice position. "A pleasure." She repeated him and then looked to the doctor.

"Thank you." She said to the tea and watched the mute woman intently, studying her when she poured the tea. A small contained smile appeared when the woman made the tea and she then had her attention taken by Aslan.

"Why? " She said after he was done speaking. "Please, do not feel any need to worry over me. It is important you are able to speak as you feel necessary and perhaps immediately whether I am there or not. A patient's life could be on the line. It is my job to be alright with any medical issue that could arise."

He listened to the two and said and the mute girl would come back and present the tea. Dr. Witaker had a thoughtful expression on his bewhiskered face, his bushy brows lifting as he regarded Miss Griffin in particular with a onceover, then corrected his behavior by forcing his gaze upon Mister Koch. "Alright then, I shall take you both to my first patient of the day after a few more questions and our fortification, you will understand why the tea and not something stronger." He sipped at his tea plain as day, then folded his hands around the cup.

"I can tell you, Mister Koch, are fine with blood if you are talking post mortem." He turned his gaze back to the woman and said, "How are you with blood? Does the sight of it make you faint?"