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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 14, 2024 22:04:49 GMT -5
The absolute focus on his face as he tried to mimic the ears flapping was both adorable and infinitely amusing. C'Leena watched with great amusement as he tried and failed to control the Flap. C'Leena was almost concerned he was about to take flight if they flapped any harder.
C'Leena was about to comment on the whole 'Corn Dog' thing, right up until Marion had some kind of mental whiplash, only just picking up on C'Leena's comment about her heart. She laughs, covering her mouth. "Heart, liver and right lung." She says simply. There is a tinge of excitement of speaking about something like this in her voice, but it's clear that something is dulling it to nothing more than a hint.
"It works via Arcanatek. My prosthetics help me with siphoning ambient mana which is then made into 'fuel' for my heart and other organs, as well as my magic. It takes me a little less time to recover from.. Shit what's it called? Mana Exhaustion? Something like that, I think." As C'Leena speaks, it's clear as day that this is something she's passionate about, even through the unknown dampener. "It functions like a standard heart. Takes oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it around the body. I don't know all the intricacies of how my fake one works because.. well, it's kind of inside my chest." She chuckles. "It also ticks like clockwork, but it's not. Not sure why that happens, but Nephele likes it. And apparently you can hear like a.. Faint mechanical sound when I breathe but it's incredibly quiet. Nephele only noticed it in our room at like, two in the morning."
"As for it's material? I.. Really don't know. Again, right now the only way I could find out is via a pre-mortem autopsy and I'm not exactly keen for that. And maintenance? No, surprisingly. My other prosthetics, absolutely, but I haven't had to do anything particular for my organs which is nice."
C'Leena always enjoys questions. She's always enjoyed learning as well as teaching others, and she would without hesitation start going on a massive lesson on prosthetics, both magical and mundane.
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 14, 2024 22:21:17 GMT -5
Arcanatek- this Marion was not familiar with at all, but he does have a basis to work it off on as a spellcaster that have his own thoughts and projects going on. The elf listened, attentively, and nodded as he considered the information. Marion was not the sort of be precise- not when dealing with casting and magic, at least. It was something that is akin to controlling your pitch, or knowing about how long to simmer something for until it will become soft, or will it become unchewable.
There is more of a 'sensing', and more of a 'knowing'- hence how he had exhibited mana sickness when casting in rapid successions for a large number of spells before, simply because how he sung his spells are not the optimal way of casting in terms of instant results. But Marion is always learning, and he have a good fundamental grasp on concepts to begin with- it is all about the fine-tuning, and about working it into his trained 'sense' of magic.
"We've called it mana sickness in my family, like seasickness, but with mana. Being seasick is so much worse though... "
The last part he muttered, but shook his head again.
”Oh, It may be rude to ask but... can I try to listen to it? Your heart, I mean. It is just incredibly fascinating- I would have thought to construct a heart from your own living tissue, if I were have to go about it, but this sounds completely in another direction."
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 14, 2024 22:59:41 GMT -5
As they talked, C'Leena lead Marion through the crowd, snapping her fingers once again, this time far less subtly. A perfect duplicate of C'Leena splits off from her and starts walking in another direction, toward a few other stalls. This action isn't acknowledged by her in the slightest.
"Yeah, seasickness isn't great. Though if you want to know a trick; if you feel like throwing up, just hum. Humming suppresses your gag reflex. Shit saved me multiple times, now. My sister taught me that a long time ago, now. Music also apparently can have some effect with nausea with some people."
C'Leena brings Marion to a more quiet area, still within the festival limits but with far less people and far less noise. Even for her, the crowds were getting to be a bit much, and it's best to chat where you don't need to shout to hear one another. Marion's request, however, surprises C'Leena.
"Huh?" Her eyes are wide, not quite processing the question in it's entirety. It takes her a second, but she starts chuckling soon after. "Shit, I mean sure." C'Leena says. She's 4 inches off of being a foot taller than Marion, so she opts to sit herself down, patiently waiting for Marion to act however he sees fit to. The only reason she's humoring this is because she's used to requests like this. Even on earth, the beats of her heart were audible to those who listened, and some people found a strange comfort in a doctor with such disabilities.
When Marion goes in to listen, a few things are audible. First is the rhythmic ticking of her heart, slower than most heartbeats, ticking once every second and a half or so. It's distinct, metallic and definitely akin to clockwork. The second thing is her breathing, yet it's less heard and more felt. Every breath C'Leena takes is paired with a faint vibration, and if you really focus, a mechanical hiss akin to pneumatics, both with every inhale and exhale.
It's becoming clear that C'Leena may just be more arcane than flesh. As far as Marion knows, her hands, eyes and some organs are replaced with arcane equivalents. But with C'Leena's knowledge on just how extensive it is? Suffice to say she's had times where she struggles with believing herself to be human.
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 14, 2024 23:43:10 GMT -5
The two moved through the fairgrounds- Marion himself did not mind a crowd a whole lot, most of his grievances coming from not being able to see over other people's heads- but otherwise the noise and the squeeze is not something that grates on his nerves. None the less, to be able to hear someone's heart- it is only logical to move to somewhere quieter.
The other sat down, and Marion leant in, and pressed an ear against the flat of her chest, listening. Elven ears are generally good at collecting sound, and he focused and picked up the rhythm, shutting out the dim of everything else.
It was- not like a usual heartbeat, at all. Nothing of the fleshy, dulled ba-dump- it really was like clockwork. Slower, and it ticks instead. And the breathing is somewhat odd as well- that would probably be the lung she had previously mentioned.
You watched the elf move his ear around on you like a doctor would use a stethoscope, getting sounds from different places listening for different things- and he moved to the back after being done with the spots on the front, before deciding he was done and circling back to her front again.
"You sound more like machine than flesh. It is extraordinary... no, nothing like reanimation, truly, and how these embedded mechanical parts doesn't seem to present any issues in inflammary responses or irritation- "
He mused, clearly entranced.
"I'm not familiar with practices usually used outside of King's Valley- is this commonplace for the capitol to offer?"
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 15, 2024 0:01:05 GMT -5
C'Leena was happy to wait for Marion to conduct his 'investigation', looking relaxed as it went on. Yet with his first observation being one remarking that she sounds more machine than flesh, C'Leena gives a sad smile, the depth of it reflected in her otherwise featureless eyes. "You don't gotta tell me twice. Thinking of myself as something other than an amalgamation has been an ongoing struggle." She waves off the thought. "Ah, you're not here to listen to sad shit."
"An inflammatory response is caused by your immune system fighting against a foreign object - be that a literal object or a sickness. I spent years figuring out how to bypass that, and I found a way to 'trick' your brain into believing that an artificial limb," She raises her hand, and without warning, the illusory skin fades away, rippling from fingertip to shoulder, revealing engraved metal softly glowing with an aquamarine light. "Is in fact the limb you were born with. Thus making your body think it belongs, resulting in no immuno-response. That doesn't go for irritation, though."
"People who've lost limbs - like myself - often experience something called 'Phantom Limb', where we can still 'feel' a missing limb. Itchiness, aches, pains, that sort of thing. You know how you innately know where a limb is?" She takes a hold of her bicep, and with a small flash of her eyes, the limb comes off her body with a pneumatic hiss. She sets it on her lap and her shoulder raises, as if she's holding a hand above her head. "My brain is telling me my hand is above my head, waving around. My brain is sending signals to a limb that no longer exists, and it's basically making it's own return signals."
Almost to prove the point, she instinctively places a hand in her lap as if she's about to interlace her fingers. She glances down and chuckles. It still gets her, sometimes.
"As for it's make, this is what I was brought here with. I had my own mundane versions, but they got.. Transmuted? Changed into these ones, and I've done some work on them. I haven't seen anything like these around, though. Granted, I haven't gone looking but still."
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 15, 2024 0:21:17 GMT -5
Marion looked on as she explained, with a whole other level of newfound respect for the other- "You... solved it."
He breathed out.
Marion knew of these more medicinal facts from his father- who himself had a glass eye. Not that he could see out of it, but it was inserted in the empty socket to keep it from collapsing- and he listened to the scattered lectures around the table lit with a lamp till late into the night, as his father wrote out his spells like songs, singing and re-doing them. In cases of lost limbs and organs, he can prompt them to regrow- it was a slow and excruciating process, and every song had to be tailored to the person- there is a myriad of preparational work on the part of the patient, such as monitoring weight, muscle mass and body fat- because this growth, despite what could be done to supplement the energy taken, still comes mostly from your own body. You cannot be put under sedatives, since making sure the nerves grew and connected correctly is critical- and many times when everything was prepared and the song starts- the patients could not bear the pain. And thus, the alternative of prosthetics occurred much more often, alongside it's own set of problems.
"This is... this will make so many people's lives so much better. And it's not just prosthetics, also for auto-immune system overreactions like asthma and intense allergies-"
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 15, 2024 0:48:51 GMT -5
C'Leena quirks an eyebrow. "Solved what, exactly? I mean, what I 'discovered' was just the natural next step. I'm still trying to figure out how to actually make these myself and I feel like I won't figure it out for a while yet." She shrugs, reattaching her arm, giving it a quick flex and allowing the illusory skin to reform.
She's never thought of herself as anyone of particular note. She worked in a hospital, researched what she could, helped those that came to her and lived her life. For all intents and purposes, she was just another doctor. Dr. C'Leena Thomas, Prosthetist. And she was happy with that. Being someone of note was frankly horrifying for her.
"My knowledge lies with the nervous system and how it interacts with artificial organs and limbs, as well as the immune system and how to ensure it doesn't try to attack the prosthetic. I wouldn't even know where to begin when it comes to things like asthma. Truth be told, your father would be far more capable of dealing with that sort of thing than I would be." She insists, leaning her elbows on her thighs, a dulled metallic takking sound as she does so. "Anything medical for me is restricted to - like I said; Nervous and Immune systems, Prosthetics and like, the bare minimum of intensive surgery. And even with the surgery, that would need an entire team of people."
C'Leena looks off into the distance, her eyes glazing over for a moment. "I've always wanted to help people. Since the day my sister buggered up her knee when I was ten to today, that hasn't ever changed." She ruminates, hands wringing together idly. "I had this patient years ago. 12 year old girl who was in a nasty crash. Lost her leg in the crash and was really struggling with coming to terms with it."
She takes a breath. "Just so happens this was somewhat recent after my own accident so I had my own prosthetics. Me and that kid spent quite a while just talking. She'd ask me questions just like you have been: 'what do I do now' and 'how do you deal with it'. Time and again she'd turn up in my office, we'd go through some physical therapy exercises and she'd be as inquisitive as ever. Soon enough she came in for her final appointment and she looked happy."
C'Leena smiles. "I live for things like that, and I'd never been happier to never see a patient again."
Then suddenly, from behind them.. C'Leena's voice rings out?
"Hey, got the fucken' uhh, Corndogs or wha-oh shit, bad time?" She - it? - says. Nevertheless it leans forward and presents Marion with the corndog. "Sorry for the wait, the line was long as fuck. Oh and C'Lee.. Wait.. Me? You? God I'm not ready for a crisis - open the damn pocket thingy."
C'Leena - the real one - chuckles and waves a hand, opening a small rift in the air. Within the rift, hundreds of stars twinkle behind stunning nebulae of various colors and shapes. The second corndog is unceremoniously hucked into the tear in reality. It promptly closes, and the duplicate gives a friendly wave before vanishing.
"If I had a dollar every time my replicant had an existential crisis, I'd have two dollars. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.."
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 15, 2024 1:03:44 GMT -5
Those words got Marion thinking again. It was becoming somewhat apparent that what- to be more specific, how the woman operates and studies is unlike what Marion had known. From what he could tell, the song of Aurea- and whatever way the other had figured out- are quite very largely different, and could not be thought about in the same way. While a song is a structure- when you have figured out how to access certain elements and prompts, the way ahead becomes much clearer and easier to walk down, like how healing spells of different strength are essentially extensions of itself- and how resurrection is made out of two distinct interwoven parts of spirit anchoring and body-repairing, with optional preludes for emergency treating of the spirit dissipating.
He went quiet in thought for a while, with a lot crossing over his mind in the instant- and as he opened his mouth to speak, the young elf was quite literally spooked by...
"Uh... ?That was... "
Downright confounded, Marion numbly accepted the corndog and watched the banter and the copy go into some sort of... space spell. The only space spell he knew was bought at the bazaar, and those don't teach you alot about what exactly they are anyway.
"- What is a replicant?"
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 15, 2024 1:16:42 GMT -5
C'Leena watched.
C'Leena observed. More specifically, she observed Marion. The silence and the visible cogs turning in the elf's head. Processing the differences between C'Leena's understanding of magic and reality versus his understanding. It's all different, be that due to simple lack of research or an inherent difference in practice. Whereas Marion casts with song, C'Leena casts with willpower.
All of this comes to a grinding halt when her replicant turns up, stuns the elf into a confused silence, hucks a second corndog in a literal rip in the world itself and simply dissipated in motes of light. And to even suggest that all of this wasn't extremely funny would be a massive lie. C'Leena really does try to keep her laughter contained - god she tries. But her war with herself ends with a complete defeat, and she begins cackling.
"Holy shit your face," She barely gets out before falling into another bout of laughter, folding in on herself. It takes a solid minute for her to regain her composure, and even then she's still chuckling every few breaths.
"Okay, Okay, we're good. We're - heh - good. A Replicant is a duplicate of the caster that is able to interact with the physical world, but cannot actually harm or damage anything and is extremely fragile. They're carbon copies of you, but entirely made out of magic. Space Domain, same as that weird rift I opened up."
She takes one final breath before leaning her head back and shaking off the giggles. "Sorry, you looked like you were about to say something before it turned up. What were you going to say?"
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 15, 2024 2:17:55 GMT -5
Marion's already rosy cheeks somehow blushed harder, and he rubbed his palms against them out of habit, but that never helped the redness go down.
"Ah, I- see. It sounds quite convenient. You can get work done twice as fast- or maybe not. I would probably argue with myself alot, much more if that I'd be able to see... myself."
Being reminded of the corndog he had in his hand on a skewer, Marion looked at it this way and that, and promptly took a bite. It was nice- not bad per say but also not very incredibly good, but he was still peckish even with the popcorn. The corndog got practically inhaled by him- and by the way he was nibbling the skewer clean of any crumbs, he seemed to be ready for more. Just how much could this little elf eat? One may begin to wonder.
"Oh, I was just thinking- how fortunate the world is to have people like you." He smiled, tilting his head abit.
"You are extraordinary by all ways, you know- from how you are alive to how you are living. I will be a field medic, I think, more out of necessity of travelling- but you and dada seems like similar sorts of people. Even if he is bad at communicating, he cares very very much about... people."
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 15, 2024 15:32:40 GMT -5
"I actually don't really like using it for work. Feels less rewarding I guess. Nah, I do most things myself or I ask Nephele to help me out with stuff if I need it." C'Leena shrugs. "Pretty good for combat, though. It can block attacks, just can't take them."
Watching Marion absolutely demolish any food item put in front of him was amusing, and C'Leena reached back into her Space Pocket and removed the corndog that was hucked inside and offers it to the elf. It's in pristine condition and still hot. C'Leena scoffs dismissively following Marion's comment.
"I'm nobody special. I've done a lot more bad than good. I took an oath to Do No Harm, but that kind of went out the window. I still try to follow it but.." Her words trail off, but finishing the sentence isn't required. She's done a lot of things that Past-C'Leena would've found reprehensible. Killing people and just being sadistic at times. Even being with Nephele would've horrified a past version of herself. But now?
She can't bring herself to care about it. She loves Nephele and she's accepted the fact that she's killed and will most likely kill again. Granted, she'd rather not kill anybody, but if she's given a good enough reason to do so, she just might.
C'Leena smiles. "You don't need to be good with people to care about them. I had a co-worker who was autistic and wasn't good with talking with others. But he still cared deeply for those under his care, even if he needed help with talking sometimes."
"I'm sure you know more than I do on the magical side of things, but I'd be more than happy to teach you the more mundane kinds of treatment if we ever cross paths again. It's come in handy on more than a few occasions."
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 15, 2024 21:06:52 GMT -5
Marion dose not consider himself to be very people oriented, to say the least. He loves being around them and talking and having a good time together, but Marion does not like the times when there is conflict and people start to get mad over each other over disagreements or whatever- nor when they start to talk money, or politics, things like that. He really could not understand why such things seem so important when they are entirely made up by people- the world existed fine without people, sometimes he would think. And maybe it will be better off without them too.
But father would take his hand and say to him, solemnly- that you are people too, and other people are just like you. And Marion eventually realized that everyone is simply striving for their own happiness, in one way or another.
It is quite mind-boggling how most things can be boiled down to just the simple, quite innocent wish of being able to feel happy. It is the actions and choices and everything after that made all the differences.
"Mn, that would be nice... dada prefer to use herbs- not exactly alchemical potions, much less magical- something similar to tea blends, and salves. It takes much longer than magic, given, but it is good for the patient themselves to combat the diseases on their own- with a little help on the side, and they'd be better armed against sickness in the future. But when travelling it is hard to prescribe medicine like this- we do need to check on them and adjust the blend and dosage instructions depending on situation, and the usual wounds and injuries on the road require a much more instant result than that would be able to give."
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 16, 2024 2:34:24 GMT -5
C'Leena has always been a social butterfly - with a few caveats. Being in social situations is her domain, and she will walk it proudly and with grace. However, her patience is.. Lacking. A fragile temper is something she inherited from her own father, and just like how he would crack the shits with a pesky engine, C'Leena would do the exact same, be that car engine or delicate prosthetic mechanisms.
However, just like Marion, C'Leena completely lacks patience for any political talk. She knows just enough to make educated decisions, but she vehemently despises political debates and discussions.
The doctor listens, an interested look on her face. "Plants are pretty good for medicines as long as they're treated and cleaned. Teas, salves, all that have proven time and again that they work well as remedies. But my old home had moved beyond that. We had little.. pills, usually about this big that you'd take one or two of, and depending on what type of pill it was and what you were trying to treat, it would start working it's magic. Not actual magic, mind, but it worked well in treating things."
"Of course, we don't have a pill that can cure everything. Most of the time they're supplementary to other treatments; like radiation therapy for Cancer or Immuno-suppressants for people who've been given somebody else's organ."
C'Leena stretches her arms above her head, fingers interlaced. "But, you're absolutely correct in that it's better to give somebody the ability to fight off their own sicknesses. The immune system is so unbelievably complex and incredible. Give it the right tools and it can fight off most things." But that is purposefully ignoring immuno-diseases, like Autoimmune disease.
"It sounds like you and your dad have a pretty damn good handle on the mundane side of things. Do you work with him at all?"
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Post by Marion Aurea on Jun 16, 2024 2:57:10 GMT -5
It was... novel to say the least, the idea of a little pill or two that would work just as well- and in a world without magic at all. No magical herbs and all that- and Marion wondered how they even managed to do that. To be quite honest a world without magic, to the elf, was something that is sound and all in logic, but he have no real starting point to imagine how a life in that would be like.
"He teaches me about things that he could answer, and he took me alongside to help sometimes... but I've liked mother's work more."
He admitted, not quite abashedly as he took a bite out of the second corndog that was offered to him.
"We would go out and get mud all over ourselves catching tiny little frogs in the streams- and she'd tell me how they are different from other frogs and teach me how to handle them right. It was more interesting than sitting with diagrams and having to memorize where every bone goes in humanoid bodies- and there is a different count for each race!"
Marion stuck his tongue out abet playfully at that, and continued.
"- but it is valuable things to know, I mean, I came to understand him better as I grew up, but... I guess I don't really want to look inside. I want to look outside, and at all the different and wonderful things that makes up most of this world, and- oh, I hope you understand. We would hike up the valley and turn the earth and sow them with the seeds of spring yet to come, learning how to tell and taste the deficiencies and surpluses in the soil, and we would work on it to restore it. There is alot of singing involved, because what we do is essentially speeding up a natural process- it would happen, but if it wasn't given enough time to recover on it's own and the herds come back, we may lose it to the desert or the sea."
He sighed, but didn't seem too dejected. "Mama didn't like people a whole lot, probably because of this, and we had to fix more and more ground that was ruined by, well, fighting, and she didn't want me to see the bodies. But she did tell me all about the cool fungi and all that helps clean up carcasses so that they don't breed pathogens and start a plague!"
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Post by C'Leena Thomas on Jun 16, 2024 16:54:34 GMT -5
The stories that Marion tells about his trips with his mother are fascinating and makes C'Leena wonder just how much she missed out on as a kid. Would she of had memories like this if her upbringing was a little different? She has plenty of memories - most of them being ones she looks warmly on, but they were nothing like Marion's.
C'Leena laughs at Marions playful frustration. "Honestly? Fair enough, that was awful for me, too. But wait, there's multiple types of frog? I thought a frog was just.. A frog." She questions, fascinated by the prospect. C'Leena wasn't exaggerating when she said her old home was practically dead. Her knowledge on nature back then was limited to what would grow on nature strips outside of peoples homes, and whatever animals were kept as pets. Outside of that, she knew very little.
C'Leena continued listening, absolutely fascinated by everything he was saying. Taste deficiencies? She knew soil had like, nutrients in it for plants to grow but taste it? As he continued, C'Leena's interest only grew and grew, and it was taking a lot of effort to not start throwing question after question at him.
"You sing to plants?" She asks, her words falling out before her mind can realize that it kind of sounded rude. "Why?"
It's when Marion mentions fungus preventing disease that C'Leena can't hold back the questions she has locked and loaded. "Wait, mushrooms do that!? All the bodies I've dealt with have only been decontaminated by stuffing them into a really cold room to stop decay! Fungus does that?!?"
To say that she is flabbergasted is only beginning to describe the depth of her shock. Yet the more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense. How in gods green earth did she NOT FIGURE THIS OUT SOONER??
Her disappointment is immeasurable. Her day is not ruined, but damn.
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