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pearheaded[The bar door suddenly swings open. As the lightning crashes behind him, illuminating a crisp white outline around his figure, Ian walks silently in, dripping with rain water, a hoodie drawn over his unruly green hair. He glances to the left—to the right—before sitting down with a shadow crossing his features. After a beat, he looks up to the bartender, brown eyes all too serious.
And then—]
... A pitcher of water, please~!
[That was pretty much an obvious outcome, but anyway, not important!! What totally is important is that he's sitting at the bar happily drinking his pitcher of water. Granted he's inhumanly drinking the whole thing in one go, but hey, what can ya do? And then he'll go ahead and play some darts. And fail at it by not hitting the board at all. What, does he look like a good aim? Hell naw. And when that's said and done, he'll hang out with the drunks and sing songs, because that's what responsible adults do. Is he drunk? No. Can you tell? Probably not.
IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT, BABY. PARTY HARDY!!]
[Ian proceeds to wander off into the woods like he usual does, in excellent spirits. There are no robbers or thieves to worry about out here, man. That's always a great thing. But ah, he needs to prep some more medicine for the people here, so he goes to the store first and foremost. When you see him going through the woods, he'll be hefting a bag of sugar on his shoulder (and Birdy on his head, until they part ways at a local tree |D).
He ventures to his usual sleeping place outside: a shallow space roofed by a fallen tree, and proceeds to do what he's done for quite a long time. Eyesight cutting through the dark, he presses a pocket knife into his wrist and lets fall droplets of blood into a bowl—it aches, but it's only temporary he tells himself; the wound closes soon after the blade is removed, and he rolls the bowl around and around in hand, letting the red coat a fine layer.
When it dries, he scrapes it into a powdery pile, and adds the sugar.
... viola. He wipes up his arm and holds up a filled vial, content. Whether or not he's got peeping toms is up to you.]
[Voice]
Hey there new feathers! My name is Ian Kolansky, and I'm a medicine seller. If you ever find yourselves injured, whether barely or horribly, have no fear, I am here! My cure-all medicine will heal any flesh wound or broken bone in a matter of moments! Not to mention, it'll even grow back anything severed. Well, as long as it's not your head and you're, y'know, alive and all that.
And here in Luceti, the usual payments of 19.99 are cut down to...
0.00! That's right, it's free here! Everything is, I'll have you know! Just ask good ol' Ian here, and I'll get you some right away!
[Why not force some sort of payment? Well... how the hell would he even? Luceti can give just about anything. He's pledged to himself he'd always do this job, and the lack of payment certainly won't be stopping him any time soon; he views it as a... as a promise to himself. 'This is what you're doing at home, so don't forget it'.
...Though, the pay would have been great to have. ;~;]
And then—]
... A pitcher of water, please~!
[That was pretty much an obvious outcome, but anyway, not important!! What totally is important is that he's sitting at the bar happily drinking his pitcher of water. Granted he's inhumanly drinking the whole thing in one go, but hey, what can ya do? And then he'll go ahead and play some darts. And fail at it by not hitting the board at all. What, does he look like a good aim? Hell naw. And when that's said and done, he'll hang out with the drunks and sing songs, because that's what responsible adults do. Is he drunk? No. Can you tell? Probably not.
IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT, BABY. PARTY HARDY!!]
[Ian proceeds to wander off into the woods like he usual does, in excellent spirits. There are no robbers or thieves to worry about out here, man. That's always a great thing. But ah, he needs to prep some more medicine for the people here, so he goes to the store first and foremost. When you see him going through the woods, he'll be hefting a bag of sugar on his shoulder (and Birdy on his head, until they part ways at a local tree |D).
He ventures to his usual sleeping place outside: a shallow space roofed by a fallen tree, and proceeds to do what he's done for quite a long time. Eyesight cutting through the dark, he presses a pocket knife into his wrist and lets fall droplets of blood into a bowl—it aches, but it's only temporary he tells himself; the wound closes soon after the blade is removed, and he rolls the bowl around and around in hand, letting the red coat a fine layer.
When it dries, he scrapes it into a powdery pile, and adds the sugar.
... viola. He wipes up his arm and holds up a filled vial, content. Whether or not he's got peeping toms is up to you.]
[Voice]
Hey there new feathers! My name is Ian Kolansky, and I'm a medicine seller. If you ever find yourselves injured, whether barely or horribly, have no fear, I am here! My cure-all medicine will heal any flesh wound or broken bone in a matter of moments! Not to mention, it'll even grow back anything severed. Well, as long as it's not your head and you're, y'know, alive and all that.
And here in Luceti, the usual payments of 19.99 are cut down to...
0.00! That's right, it's free here! Everything is, I'll have you know! Just ask good ol' Ian here, and I'll get you some right away!
[Why not force some sort of payment? Well... how the hell would he even? Luceti can give just about anything. He's pledged to himself he'd always do this job, and the lack of payment certainly won't be stopping him any time soon; he views it as a... as a promise to himself. 'This is what you're doing at home, so don't forget it'.
...Though, the pay would have been great to have. ;~;]
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 08:57 am (UTC)N-no, I'm not really much of a doctor... I just sell the medicine, really.
[How do I explain that being sold widely is difficult? I mean, 'you'd have to squeeze me dry of blood on a regular basis' is a really hideous way to explain it...]
I know it's kinda crazy, but what reason would I have to lie about something I'm giving away for free, in a place where I can't run away or anything?
[Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 09:02 am (UTC)... Thought that does give you less of a reason to lie, the claims themselves are quite... incredible. And extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. Hence why I would be fascinated to see this medicine in action.
After all, if such a medicine as this exists, it likely deserves intense study into its properties. You say you are not a doctor, yet you are able to make a medicine that would be considered revolutionary even by my own world's standards - this is something that deserves some exploration.
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 09:06 am (UTC)Like, familiar as in 'hey tree guy can we cut you apart and see how you work?'.
He swallows nervously. Don't panic, Ian. Just, uh, don't think about that.]
Well, it's not much for exploring; my world doesn't have a whole lot of people for dis-trib-uting, and it's a little tough for people to take it with 'em when they leave Luceti...
Y'know. Since they forget being here.
[Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 09:12 am (UTC)... Duly acknowledged. However, it would be something I would be more than willing to undertake the study of myself, simply for the knowledge of it. While I am here I may as well spend the time diversifying my intellectual background... being trained in astrobiology ordinarily does not lend itself to the medical sciences, but Luceti has been something of an incentive to look outside of my field.
I presume that this is your typical occupation, then? [Otherwise Ian wouldn't have mentioned the usual price, Robert supposes.]
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 09:16 am (UTC)[God, he really should think up follow-ups to things, before he blabbers all over the journal. Ian's Ian, I guess. V_V]
Yeah, it's my usual occupation. Back home there's a really vicious war going on, so I do what I can for whoever falls into my path.
[Voice]
Date: 2011-03-12 09:21 am (UTC)And ugh, another violence-filled world. Robert is... beginning to start to not find that surprising, now. Instead he just finds it slightly depressing.]
Surely an understanding of the properties of your medicine would be a benefit for both yourself and others who sell it, correct? It might even allow you to increase its potency further, or expand its abilities to cure. I cannot see this as being anything but a benefit to anybody, and such information ought to be available to all.
And... I am sorry to hear that your world is a violent one. Though... that does seem to be the norm, as much as that pains me to say. At the least you are trying to do something constructive instead of barbaric.
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-13 03:40 am (UTC)[And your scienciness is only making him more sure of this decision. |D;;]
[Voice]
Date: 2011-03-13 03:51 am (UTC)And it's not like he knows what the medicine is... his opinion would probably change a lot if he did.It takes him a moment to reply, and when he does his tone is a little colder than it had been.]
I would think more people would benefit from sharing the knowledge than from it being withheld.
But... [He sighs, slightly.] That is your choice, however illogical I think it is. But a world where information is dangerous is a very pitiable one, and one that could probably stand to benefit the most from education.
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-13 03:56 am (UTC)[Voice] 1/herp
Date: 2011-03-13 03:59 am (UTC)[Wait. Wait. Somehow this suddenly seems familiar.]
[Voice] 2/derp
Date: 2011-03-13 03:59 am (UTC)There was a possibility.
If the source was organic...]
[Voice] 3/3
Date: 2011-03-13 04:00 am (UTC)Is the medicine sourced from sapients? [Now there is just a tinge of horror in Robert's tone.]
Re: [Voice]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:07 am (UTC)Sapients?
[Voice]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:10 am (UTC)Life forms that are capable of metacognition. Self-awareness. Communication, sometimes tool-making depending on the particular species.
I would assume you are a sapient being yourself, otherwise it is unlikely we would be communicating right now. [And this person just might be a sapient being that uses sapient beings as medicine - ... yet, zie seemed to be bothered by the prospect.
Huh.]
[Voice // Filtered 60%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:16 am (UTC)[Edged with a hint of fear, of course. People knowing he's a tree-man is starting to slowly not bother him, but people knowing about the contents of the medicine horrifies him beyond belief—mainly because back home, a few years prior, he'd been celled up for it.]
[Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:19 am (UTC)Perhaps zie'll be more willing to elaborate if Robert goes along with this. Because however horrifying the idea of making medicine from sapients is... well, Robert's curious.]
... It seems like a reasonable explanation as to why people would be suffering from the production of the medicine. [Because Robert wouldn't think of economic reasons to suffer - his world doesn't even know poverty anymore. Thank the social safety net.
It comes with its own problems.] If it were to be derived from sapients, that would cause suffering if the sapients were damaged in some way to produce it.But that does not explain your reaction, if you are willing to make medicine from sapients, yet repulsed by it...
Re: [Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:22 am (UTC)It's made from just me, actually.
[Please don't be the same sort of person, whoever you are. Trusting people isn't wrong. It isn't. Carolina's wrong. There's no reason to be afraid. You're not them. You're not. . .]
[Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:24 am (UTC)From yourself?
...
[Well.]
That would... certainly explain the short supply then, if it is only you. [It... really does.]
... I would presume you are a non-human sapient then, unless your world's humans are the sort that can source that kind of material from themselves. [And Robert's voice is filled with... tangible wonder. Not a predatory wonder, but the kind of quiet awe he has whenever he gets to speak to a non-human sapient.] ... Not as if that is impossible anymore... So many things here are strange.
Re: [Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:29 am (UTC)[Excruciating memories, thinking about those six years. Suffering, and then watching Carolina and Rupert get the same treatment.]
[Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:35 am (UTC)... "Tree-men"? So you are a sort of plant sapient? I have... admittedly seen very few of those. But that is incredibly fascinating.
And that treatment is absolutely appalling. Even if your species is capable of yielding medicines like this, that in no way excuses your treatment by others. Frankly, those imbeciles should be honoured to have your species in their presence at all. [Robert snorts derisively.] It is just as I would have suspected from pre-Terran humans, though... always being abominations of some kind or another.
It seems to me it would be far more wise to cooperate with your species instead of attack them, but when were pre-Terran humans ever wise?
Re: [Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:41 am (UTC)Oi, I won't have you talking ill of my world's humans as a whole. My parents were very good, wise people, and Henrietta is a compassionate, sweet soul, and all the people in the villages I've helped were always hard-working and kind, my own village included.
I'll look at the person, not the race they're from, for my judgments.
[Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:45 am (UTC)But the fact you could even be treated that way... [Robert shakes his head and sighs heavily, bringing a hand to rest against his chin.] I just find it sickening that such a thing could even be concieved of.
Re: [Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:48 am (UTC)Their city was a group of scared people in the middle of a war, led by an awful person. I've long since forgiven. Besides, some of my best friends were the ones trying to use me.
So... I'll just keep making the medicine for the people here, just like I do back home, and hope it helps where it can.
[Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 04:51 am (UTC)If you would not object to me seeing a sample of your medicine sometime - assuming it does not injure you or strain you too greatly to do so - then I would be most enthusiastic. I am composing a report on various' worlds manifestations of magic and how that relates to physics... But I am also an astrobiologist, and I greatly appreciate any chance I have to communicate with non-human sapients. It is always a deep honour to see the many spectra of sapience in the multiverse.
Re: [Voice // Filtered 95%]
Date: 2011-03-13 07:48 am (UTC)But I don't want everyone to know about this just yet. I'm still trying to rewrite the way I've been working for over a hundred years, so... uh, it's a little weird for me, yanno?
Though, I don't know how much you'd really get to find out with just some blood...
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