Movie velociraptors would've fucking sucked, [ he agrees. and then he breathes out, admits, ] I hadn't realized red lyrium zombies was a Thedas possibility.
I'd read about Darkspawn, which kind of have a zombie feel, but this particular flavor was new and unexpected. You'd think living on an island fortress would have been a good zombie strategy, all things considered.
Maybe we should take it up with the original architects.
[ doesn't say: apparently it was a good zombie strategy. could've been worse may be a poor metric, but imagine if they didn't have all these stone walls and heavy doors and towers — ]
Every time I think I finally understand what to expect here, Thedas throws some other weird shit at us.
[When he does, she has indeed grabbed fully two bottles of wine, plus a basket of lemon pastries which she's currently arranging on a plate. Her bedroom is a bit messy, but more in the sense of clothes draped on chairs and papers left on top of a dresser than in the sense of not being clean.]
Hey, you made it. I thought some snacks might be nice, while I was all the way downstairs.
[ he picks up one of the wine bottles, goes to get it open and pour out glasses for the both of them. he's dressed against the weather, to an extent; though the scarf and heavy coat were left in his room en route to here. the gloves stay, though they don't pose any difficulty as he handles the wine. ]
[She doesn't comment on the gloves; she still wears her own fingerless pair in town more often than not, even on warm days, though she bothers less in the Gallows. Instead, she fetches her glass and then moves to drape herself sideways over a chair.]
So. What can I tell you about Thedas's most dramatically named disease, the blood plague?
[The air quote around "blood plague" are probably unnecessary, but she's still a little salty that her proposed lyriophage got dumped in favor of blood shark.]
[ he takes his glass and a pastry, goes to get himself seated in turn. her tone earns an amused sound as he takes a bite and washes it down, but he shakes his head. ]
Actually, talking about it reminded me of something else I've been thinking about asking you. You're a biologist, right?
[ she's surely mentioned details before, but his grasp on the minutiae of the branches of biology are pretty fuzzy. ]
Yeah, that's right. I was working on a PhD back home. Evo-devo - uh. Evolutionary developmental biology. In simple terms, I was studying the way different environmental factors could affect the development of identical cells. I was thinking of slightly shifting my area of focus but ... that is maybe not what you were even about to ask, sorry.
[She doesn't get to talk about what she did at home much, and she misses it sometimes. With most people in Thedas, she has to start with what is a cell and very few people are interested to go much beyond that except as it has practical applications.]
[ god, but does he ever get it. he listens attentively, and when she cuts herself off, says, ]
No, that helps.
[ he's reminded, not for the first time, of dr. okoye. she'd like cosima, and he can imagine they'd have a lot of interesting conversations. ]
"Ask" might've the wrong way to put it. [ he takes another swallow of wine before going on, ] I have a medical implant. It normally needs meds, batteries, maintenance; but as long as I've been here, it's run on its own, glowing blue like lyrium. [ becoming clearer, maybe, why the blood plague reminded him of this. the implications of what it could've done to him, besides everything else, is an existential crisis of its own. ] I have no idea how the hell it works. I know you aren't a medical doctor, but you're more likely to understand it than about anyone else around here.
[ a pause, then: ]
But it's worked long enough that I doubt anything would happen, if it hasn't already.
[ so, you know. if she isn't interested in being aware of this, he's more than likely fine. ]
[She shifts forward a little, though she doesn't move to properly sit up per se.]
Well. You're right that I'm not a medical doctor, and technology in your time may be so advanced that I wouldn't be much help anyway. But ... if nothing else, I can sympathize a bit with finding yourself not dying in Thedas for reasons you can't explain. The first time I was here I was dealing with a serious genetic illness. They could keep me healthy with periodic spirit healing, which uh. Whole second can of worms, but I haven't had to do it this time. I found a cure at home, and it seems like it carried over but does that even make sense, because we're traveling through the Fade, and I don't think the evidence supports that being a physical trip.
[ he'd been about to mention, too, that tony knows about this -- but that's pretty distracting news, actually. there's a slight, sympathetic wince at the idea of relying on spirit healing. ]
[She pauses, not because she's worried about telling him, but there is so much context involved in answering the question, she's not even sure where to begin.]
Um. Okay. The short answer was an experimental stem cell therapy. I'm not sure how long of a long answer you'd like.
I don't have anywhere to be, [ said with faint humor. he adds more seriously, ] Whatever you're open to talking about. The point of this wasn't to make you tell me anything.
No, I know. I only don't want to take you trusting me to know about your implant and then talk about myself forever. I don't mind talking about it, but you were concerned about your own health.
It's more that I've started to think, [ wryly, ] that it might be a good idea for more than two people to know.
[ and derrica's a healer, but she's likely never heard of radiation poisoning in her life. and tony's from a more modern world, but he isn't a biologist or doctor.
suggested: ] You can tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine.
[She considers where to start, and decides to just go for it:]
So, the genetic condition I have. Had. It wasn't just bad luck, or not the way most people who get genetic disorders have bad luck. It was the side effect of a sequence put in my DNA to ensure infertility. I'm a clone, and uh, the cloning wasn't exactly sanctioned. So the people running the experiment didn't want to just unleash our genetic material into the population.
Yeah, that was, uh. Kind of my reaction. When I found out. You know, it's kind of wild, I've like ... told some people here. But they don't really have the context for it, you know? I can explain it, but it doesn't hit the same way.
But yeah. Unsanctioned human cloning in the 1980s. Most of us were either given to couples who thought they were just undergoing standard IVF, like my parents, or they were carried by surrogates and then adopted. These bastards had a whole thing about, like, shaping human evolution. And money, of course, can't forget the money.
[She laces her fingers behind her neck, almost absent.] We beat them. Some of my sisters and I. But not before a lot of clones died.
[ in thedas, so much about their realities seem fantastical. it's hard to explain the parts that mean more, when even the basics of their lives are far beyond the experiences of people here. ]
What the fuck is it, [ he asks, indignant on her behalf, clearly drawing on his own experience too, ] with the mad scientists and the wanting to shape evolution? Never mind who they kill along the way.
[ and, she's right, can't forget the money. but even as he shakes his head, he adds, ]
I'm glad you did. I know it doesn't make up for what you've lost, but at least you stopped them.
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[ doesn't say: apparently it was a good zombie strategy. could've been worse may be a poor metric, but imagine if they didn't have all these stone walls and heavy doors and towers — ]
Every time I think I finally understand what to expect here, Thedas throws some other weird shit at us.
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...ok and if not and I'm going to, we definitely need to have a drink.
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[ he's had that particular existential crisis, at least, courtesy of gwenaëlle. ]
Before you answer that, I won't say no to that drink.
[ the way this conversation is going, anyway, and after recent events. — they could use it. ]
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[At least they're neighbors, so no one is climbing any extra stairs.]
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[ and, true to his word, about a half hour later, he'll be knocking at her door. ]
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[When he does, she has indeed grabbed fully two bottles of wine, plus a basket of lemon pastries which she's currently arranging on a plate. Her bedroom is a bit messy, but more in the sense of clothes draped on chairs and papers left on top of a dresser than in the sense of not being clean.]
Hey, you made it. I thought some snacks might be nice, while I was all the way downstairs.
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[ he picks up one of the wine bottles, goes to get it open and pour out glasses for the both of them. he's dressed against the weather, to an extent; though the scarf and heavy coat were left in his room en route to here. the gloves stay, though they don't pose any difficulty as he handles the wine. ]
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So. What can I tell you about Thedas's most dramatically named disease, the blood plague?
[The air quote around "blood plague" are probably unnecessary, but she's still a little salty that her proposed lyriophage got dumped in favor of blood shark.]
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Actually, talking about it reminded me of something else I've been thinking about asking you. You're a biologist, right?
[ she's surely mentioned details before, but his grasp on the minutiae of the branches of biology are pretty fuzzy. ]
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[She doesn't get to talk about what she did at home much, and she misses it sometimes. With most people in Thedas, she has to start with what is a cell and very few people are interested to go much beyond that except as it has practical applications.]
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No, that helps.
[ he's reminded, not for the first time, of dr. okoye. she'd like cosima, and he can imagine they'd have a lot of interesting conversations. ]
"Ask" might've the wrong way to put it. [ he takes another swallow of wine before going on, ] I have a medical implant. It normally needs meds, batteries, maintenance; but as long as I've been here, it's run on its own, glowing blue like lyrium. [ becoming clearer, maybe, why the blood plague reminded him of this. the implications of what it could've done to him, besides everything else, is an existential crisis of its own. ] I have no idea how the hell it works. I know you aren't a medical doctor, but you're more likely to understand it than about anyone else around here.
[ a pause, then: ]
But it's worked long enough that I doubt anything would happen, if it hasn't already.
[ so, you know. if she isn't interested in being aware of this, he's more than likely fine. ]
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[She shifts forward a little, though she doesn't move to properly sit up per se.]
Well. You're right that I'm not a medical doctor, and technology in your time may be so advanced that I wouldn't be much help anyway. But ... if nothing else, I can sympathize a bit with finding yourself not dying in Thedas for reasons you can't explain. The first time I was here I was dealing with a serious genetic illness. They could keep me healthy with periodic spirit healing, which uh. Whole second can of worms, but I haven't had to do it this time. I found a cure at home, and it seems like it carried over but does that even make sense, because we're traveling through the Fade, and I don't think the evidence supports that being a physical trip.
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[ he'd been about to mention, too, that tony knows about this -- but that's pretty distracting news, actually. there's a slight, sympathetic wince at the idea of relying on spirit healing. ]
How'd you find a cure for a genetic condition?
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Um. Okay. The short answer was an experimental stem cell therapy. I'm not sure how long of a long answer you'd like.
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[ it was a reflexive question, really. ]
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It's more that I've started to think, [ wryly, ] that it might be a good idea for more than two people to know.
[ and derrica's a healer, but she's likely never heard of radiation poisoning in her life. and tony's from a more modern world, but he isn't a biologist or doctor.
suggested: ] You can tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine.
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[She considers where to start, and decides to just go for it:]
So, the genetic condition I have. Had. It wasn't just bad luck, or not the way most people who get genetic disorders have bad luck. It was the side effect of a sequence put in my DNA to ensure infertility. I'm a clone, and uh, the cloning wasn't exactly sanctioned. So the people running the experiment didn't want to just unleash our genetic material into the population.
[...so there's that.]
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a minute to deal with this. ]
You're a clone? [ what the fuck, man. ] Seriously?
[ he doesn't sound disbelieving, just. ]
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But yeah. Unsanctioned human cloning in the 1980s. Most of us were either given to couples who thought they were just undergoing standard IVF, like my parents, or they were carried by surrogates and then adopted. These bastards had a whole thing about, like, shaping human evolution. And money, of course, can't forget the money.
[She laces her fingers behind her neck, almost absent.] We beat them. Some of my sisters and I. But not before a lot of clones died.
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[ in thedas, so much about their realities seem fantastical. it's hard to explain the parts that mean more, when even the basics of their lives are far beyond the experiences of people here. ]
What the fuck is it, [ he asks, indignant on her behalf, clearly drawing on his own experience too, ] with the mad scientists and the wanting to shape evolution? Never mind who they kill along the way.
[ and, she's right, can't forget the money. but even as he shakes his head, he adds, ]
I'm glad you did. I know it doesn't make up for what you've lost, but at least you stopped them.
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Thank you for your wild amounts of patience
<333
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sticks a bow on this, y/n?