Summary:Spring and Varanim give the Doctor a call and propose a meeting.
XP:S1, V1
Tags:< A Wrench in Fate For Love | Sol Invictus Logs | Looking In The Mirror >
Spring ::Varanim? I would like to speak with you as soon as it is convenient.::
Varanim ::Hmm,:: she replies, sounding distracted, then more briskly adds, ::What is it?::
Spring ::I need to speak with an Abyssal you know.::
Varanim ::Are you trying to find out if Abyssals are jerks? Because I can ruin the surprise on that one for you.::
Spring ::I have a plan.::
Spring :Do you want me to explain it via the rings? I can do so, but I prefer the personal touch.::
Varanim ::You just don't like how the rings mess up all your meaningful pauses. All right, come by the pit.::
Spring ::All right.::
Spring goes to the pit, though not without a certain distaste.
Varanim is slouched against the wall by the entrance, smoking an aromatic cigar--possibly to counter the air of decay that leaks from inside. "I avoid ringing up Abyssals from the palace, since I promised not to track too much mud in. What's all this about?"
Spring "The First and Forsaken Lion."
Spring "I seem to recall you having a certain distaste for him."
Varanim "I think it would be nice if he stopped destroying the world, since I keep all my stuff here," she agrees.
Spring "Then let us begin the process of eliminating the danger he poses."
Spring "The first step is reconnaissance. I am reliably informed that he possesses several Abyssals, one of him styles himself a Doctor."
Spring "Can you help me speak with him?"
Varanim "Sure, we keep in touch." She waves him inside, where the smell is thicker and the air is indefinably more oppressive.
Varanim Inside, she retrieves a carefully wrapped package, which she unfolds to reveal a rather cheap and dented mirror which has been meticulously engraved around the edge with tiny and disturbingly squiggly characters. Humming faintly, she slashes her palm and smears blood across the surface of the mirror, rubbing her hand in a polishing motion until the whole thing is filmed over red.
Varanim "Who's my favorite Doctor?" she says in a sugary voice, as her soulsteel joints settle and creak and the spell takes hold, reaching across the miles to the other mirror.
Spring absently touches her hand and heals the wound as he watches the mirror intently.
The film is foggy at first, but after a long moment, it begins to resolve: Varanim can make out the flaming torches somewhere in the background, the profile view of the Doctor in his familiar black surgical scrubs, his hands moving below the edge of the frame at some manner of squishy business, and an upbeat, pleasant whistled tune floating out from behind his mask.
After a few moments, he seems to notice the mirror, and turns to face it. "Varanim?" he says.
Varanim "You kept my present," she beams. "Spring, this is the guy we called to fix Imrama instead of you. Peerless etc., this is Spring. Doctor business, he says it's important."
Spring "Good evening, Doctor."
Spring "I am Long-Awaited Spring."
The man in the mirror nods slightly, as Spring can hear him placing what sounds like a reasonably large number of medical instruments onto a tray with tiny little plink sounds.
Spring "I have asked to speak with you because I understand you are a physician of some skill, with a deep interest in rare Essential diseases."
Spring "I happen to have a patient with a rather unusual one now. Perhaps you have encountered Him before."
"It is an area I have done some amount of study in, yes," he says, absentmindedly cleaning a bloody scalpel with a cloth at a height that just barely pokes up into the mirror's frame.
Spring "I speak, of course, of the Unconquered Sun."
Doctor nods. "So you've decided to take that housecall. A rather sizeable undertaking."
Spring "Someone has to."
Spring "From what I can tell, it bears some resemblance to the Creeping Black Sun Sickness."
Spring "Of course, without an known example of this disease in situ, I cannot be as thorough with my investigation as I would like.'
Varanim ::If you get my case file from him, I'll give you a big ol' necromantic kiss.::
Doctor nods again, then brings one hand up to stroke his still-masked chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm. That's interesting. I wouldn't have expected a spiritual pathology on that scale to operate with an MO comparable to an Essence disease of mortals."
Spring "If someone were to have such a sample, though..." Spring holds up his black and ominous little finger. "A direct comparison would be quite straightforward."
Doctor "Ah," he says, dropping his hand, eyes looking over the finger with a curious glance. "So that's why you've called: you're looking to exchange cultures."
Spring "And, perhaps, expertise."
Spring "Obviously I am rather attached to my particular sample," Spring half smirks at making this oldest of all bad puns, "but I am sure we could come to some arrangement wherein you might be able to example it directly."
Spring *examine it
Spring ::It is possible that will not be necessary, depending on the details.::
Varanim ::...Fine.::
Doctor "That is an intriguing proposition," he says, thinking for a moment, "but I'm not sure I can fit a field trip into my schedule right now." He adjusts his mask slightly.
Varanim "I'm pretty sure you could, but you don't want to. Are you saying the last time wasn't worth the hike?"
Doctor "No, no," he says. "But that was business. And when business is booming, pleasure must sometimes wait." He stops as if to think for a moment, though, weighing his visible interest in the matter.
Doctor "I'll be doing a field study soon not too far from your neighborhood. There's a remarkably well-preserved castle dating to the Eijo period in Netheos, a short travel from the Sunlands' borders." He shifts his medical tray over to the opposite side of where he's standing with a faint metallic clink. "Perhaps we could arrange to meet there, in the spirit of professional exchange of knowledge."
Varanim "Professional exchange of knowledge comes armed to the teeth like last time, I suppose?"
Spring "In Netheos, hm?"
Doctor smiles visibly under his mask. "It is the utmost in professional courtesy to assume that you and your companions are powerful and dangerous individuals. I would certainly hope you would extend me the same benefit."
Varanim "And your mothers dress you funny too, yes. Don't forget to bring the other sample, by which I mean my arm. How is it, by the way?"
Doctor "Well preserved and of great interest," he says. "You should be proud of your contribution to science."
Spring "Medicine," Spring corrects.
Varanim "Being able to rot, much being able to give birth, is way too common to bother being proud of."
Spring "I feel it only necessary to warn you in advance that we may have a few retainers along with us. I suspect this may be a useful on-the-job experience for some of them."
Spring "Please do not be alarmed."
Doctor "I would not expect it to be a problem," he says.
Spring "I am sure you would not." Spring smiles. "I mention it merely for the sake of completeness."
Spring "There is no reason we cannot get along as individuals, except perhaps for our conflicting desires regarding the eventual fate of the universe."
Varanim "There's also that thing where I don't want to be an Abyssal, but I don't take it personal-like. All right, is everyone done being polite? I have a horrible necrotic flower to get back to."
Doctor raises an eyebrow at that last part. "Yes," he says. "I have business I mustn't neglect as well." He turns to look at Spring, on the other half of the mirror. "We'll be speaking again soon, then."
Spring "Count on it."
Varanim slaps her soulsteel hand against the mirror, and with an unsettling ringing sound the link is broken.
< A Wrench in Fate For Love | Sol Invictus Logs | Looking In The Mirror >