TLDR; Vel learns to drive from their brother, and talks about the other things Vel has been trying to learn and improve at.

Blake: "okay, so the top is park, then reverse, neutral..."
Vel: "I'm a new driver not an idiot."
Blake: "Okay, then let's try backing up"
Vel tries to move the gear shift, to no avail. They try shifting it left and right, before giving out a frustrated huff.
Blake reaches over Vel, and turns the key in the ignition, starting his car

The siblings share a look that conveyed a thousand previous arguments.

With a huff Vel put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

Blake: "I don't get why you think you need to learn to drive now. You take the bus everywhere, and Chicago has pretty good transit. You don't even own a car"
Vel: "It's just in case. Maybe for emergencies."

Blake gave a non-committal grunt.

Blake: "Thats a stop sign."

The car comes to a sudden halt, flinging Vel's necklace forward. It's a silver Caduseus. 

Blake: "That's new, finally want to start accessorizing? I thought you weren't into Jewelry. What was it you called it? A 'Shallow attempt to prove to others that you can also waste money' ?"

Vel: " Eyes on the road please".

Blake: "I'm serious. You've been dead set on who you are, and who you're going to be since you were 14. Now all of a sudden, you're changing. The driving, the new books, the practice conversations. I've only seen you focus this hard when you are talking med school things"

Blake: "Slow down here, sometimes people cross".

Vel: "I think I just... I became aware that there are some area's I'm weak in. I'm trying to expand."

Blake: "Yeah... I think it's good. I'm proud of you"

Vel punches Blakes shoulder with all their force. As usual, he barely notices.

It took 4 years to get to this point. Lots of late nights, and extra work. I'll finally be able to cross the stage. Get a well-paying residency at a good hospital. The cumulation of a particular path.

It feels hollow.

I experimented with the Caduceus, and the differences with it on and off. I'm pretty sure with it, anyone trained in first aid can do as well as I can after 4 years of med school. As well as I could in a surgical suite, when they just have a first aid kid.  I could make a lot more artifacts with the Caduceus effect. They don't seem to wear out. I make 1 of these and give it to a hospital, and they'll save more in a year than I could working for them. If I sold it, I'm pretty sure I could get more than I could in a year too. I learned to make it in a month and could make several a month if that is what I decided to devote all my resources to.

So much of what I was before matters less now. And I fucking love it. I'm going to be able to do so much more than I thought.

Blake is taking me to the gun range later. If I'm in this life, I got to be in it. Scruples about guns aren't worth the chance of failure it brings.

Was concerned after a few emails didn't get a response for a bit. Turns out she died mysteriously. On a contract almost certainly.

Fuck I did what I could. That necklace should have ensured that any doctor would be able to put her back together. Now it's who knows where.

That's gonna be me one day. Gone mysteriously, hopefully leaving behind a lot of tools. Tools that will save lives, and make the world better. Way better than I can.

I've done the math. Under reasonable assumptions, it makes sense to focus on making sure I can survive. And to be fair, Diana wasn't the most focused.

No, that's the bad way to think about it. It's a matter of odds. If you win 80% of the time, there is a 30% chance you won't fail once if you try 5 times. That's what contracts are, a gamble. And every time the gamble will make sense for the world. I can make the odds better, and that is my focus for the next few missions. If it increases my chance of surviving, it increases the expected good I can do.

I should do more. I'm gonna die too. I need to delay that as much as possible.

I'm gonna get Blake to give me some combat training.

And get some emergency first responder training.

I have a unique opportunity, I need to get every skill I can if it will keep me alive.

I need to talk to people a lot on contracts. I haven't really needed to much before this point in my life. But now, it's not just useful, it can literally be a matter of life or death. So I've taken up some improv.

Xem has been doing it for years, so I join her meetings (when I have time). I've also been reading books, and attending hospital trainings. Also attending some toast masters/ other miscellaneous. I've really been going all out, and I think it's been working. Turns out most of what you need to do in order to navigate the social world is to be nice, and pretend that things are fine. If I need to do this, I can learn it.

I need to learn it. But yeah, I've been doing some improv. Might join a Table top game that Xem is in. It feels silly, but I need to practice somehow, and this feels like it's working.

It's also a bit of a chance to relax. Pretend the world isn't relying on me.

I can type normally again finally. Dr. Laz built a tool for fixing missing body parts , scars etc. He gave me a copy after I sent him some of the armor I’ve been working on. Now I’m good as new!

There is some real synergy here. I’ve met some really powerful people, each with skills beyond almost anyone else. 

I need to think of ways to leverage that.

All the extra copies of my armor that I made turned out to be more useful than I thought!

Dr. Laz built me a disguise tool which he added on to my bracer, and Iktan (the person who saved my life in Indiana after a contract) built me a necklace that can summon a skeleton warrior. 

I think I'm beginning to have a team that I can count on. Don't know if their ultimate goals will conflict with mine, but for now, helping each other has made us all much better off.

Gotta think about what to make next with that in mind. I'm part of a small community now, and what I do is going to be a big part of if that community moves up the way I'd like it too. 

I've made it. The thing I've prepared for my entire time as a contractor. A cure for cancer, any disease. Probably dementia and a few others, although I haven't tested everything yet. The testing will come soon.

Give me a few contracts and I could probably make 10 more of them. Spread out through the world, have a team of 20 some people, maybe more rotating through, and every day that's 200 people per day saved from terminal illness. Get something like 200 people per device, and it's 2000. Have the individual themself or a family member, and the only limitation is how quickly people can move through a center holding them. A reasonably efficient center could get through 100 per hour each, operating 24 hours a day, saving 2400 lives per rod. With the 3 that I have, focusing on just cancer would end cancer. If we were paid $100 to $1000 per, we'd get multiple millions of dollars per day.

But people will disrupt the center. And steal the rod, hoarding it. Too many people.

I need to get secure enough that people won't be able to do that.

I've spent some time talking with other contractors I know. Making some deals, trades, and making plans.

I've been able to project myself more. I think accomplishing what I have has helped me relax some. All the sacrifices I've made are worth it.