Avon | 29 | Teacher | 'Collector' "Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis" - Virgil Persevere and preserve yourself for better times (RP blog for Touch of Strange)
[pm] I’m not sure what a soul does, but there has to be a good reason for having one. If it was so useless, then why would it hurt to take it out?
Is everything ok? Is that too personal to ask? Can I help with anything? No apology necessary, either. It’s been a strange week for everyone. Lots going on.
[pm] Perhaps as a test, to see if you’re strong enough to be rid of a fundamental human weakness.
It’s possible. Harper, where were you and what were you doing on the 12th of September?
[pm] There’s really no other way to prove it. The fact that it’s removable should be enough. I mean, I’ve heard that’s super difficult though. Like, trying to rip off your own arm. Possible, but good god, why?
[pm] In no way is it comparable to ripping off an arm, a soul is far less useful as far as I can tell.
I believe I owe you an apology, though. I’ve not been entirely myself recently, I may have overreacted.
[pm] Because I don’t know. Why would I lie about something like that? I mean, you can’t prove it, but it’s there. It must be quantifiable somehow, but no one knows. But it’s there.
[pm] So I would find you more valuable. You crave validation. Fine, I’ll take your word for it that you believe it. I, however, am undecided on whether I’m willing to take that much on ‘faith’.
[pm] Well, I don’t have to try very hard to do that. And what are you doing about it? Don’t be so pushy if you’re just going to sit around and wait for other people to do something. We’re working on it!
[pm] You won’t tell me where or I would-- Just do attempt to hurry.
[pm] They are though, you could totally count them out if they were in front of you. I know this because I’m a medium exorcist. I can see them all the time, no exceptions. That I know of.
Souls are real, because I know for a fact that it’s possible to lose one. You can’t lose something you never had, right?!
[pm] How do I know I can truly trust you on that? And how can you prove the absence of something that wasn’t proven to be present in the first place?
Subject 10.1AC “Vespasian”
Classification: Mara
12/9/2015 - 3:41 PM
The subject was cool, before it had any right to be, before radiant metabolic heat could have possibly had time to disperse into cool sterility of the lab. Temperature readings pinpointed body temperature at 96.4ºF, well below average human ranges, almost bordering on hypothermic. Perhaps there was some truth to the old saying that the mean-spirited were cold-blooded.
Curious, Avon slid a needle into the limp flesh of the specimen’s inner elbow, to obtain a fresher sample than the one she’d collected so many weeks ago. The one that had confirmed her theory concerning its species. Deep blue sluggishly trickled into the vial, alien and mesmerising. A later analysis would reveal it contained copper where one would expect to find iron.
Now it was time for the subject to open up to her, just as she’d promised it would. The professor sighed contentedly; no more cliched adolescent snark layered over amusingly transparent fear. A scalpel could cut to the heart of the matter, and revealed hidden secrets faster than the most effective verbal probes. Too long she’d dirtied her hands with the drawn out, messy interrogation of the living. This was her element; the complex yet highly organised contents of the chest and abdominal cavities.
To most it was no more than stomach-churning, bloodied chaos, but she could see past those initial repulsion reflexes, and understand how organ systems were the height of logic and efficiency. Each piece connected, each with a specific role and advantage. And each with a weak spot as far as fragile human anatomy was concerned, but to her delight Subject Vespasian was very much inhuman.
The entire digestive system seemed shrunken, although there was no sign of tissue damage or distress. The by-product of subsisting off a mostly intangible diet, perhaps? A plausible theory, Avon noted it down eagerly with gloved, blue-stained fingers.
Reaching the cranial end of the subject after a thorough inspection of rest of its body, it didn’t take long to identify the potential mechanism behind the specimen’s distinctive glowing red eyes; A tapetum lucidum that ran alongside the optic nerve to the amygdala, the fear center of the brain. That structure itself was noticeably swollen, neural plasticity dedicating more white and grey to the creation of terror responses.
It was considerably long and tedious work to remove the entire optical and neural structure from the skull intact. The adipose tissue around the eyes sockets was particularly finicky. But, after several hours of laser-tight focus, she finally had it; A nightmare in the form nerve tissue, white, and grey matter. An utter triumph of technical skill.
Exposed, blank brown eyes stared back at her from the preparation table, but the professor took pleasure in the fact that they had known the fate that awaited them. As she had said ad nauseum; Co-operation was inevitable, and now collection complete.
[pm] I’m not telling you Don’t worry about it, by this time tomorrow, it’ll have been taken care of.
They want what ever malevolent spirit wants– to wreak havoc! And probably take over the town. Or world. We haven’t figured that part out yet.
[pm] I would prefer to know it was correctly taken care of.
The most important question is whether you think they’re actually capable of achieving that goal.
empathy-notsympathy replied to your post:[pm] For fear of sounding redundant, I'm going to...
[pm] That…wasn’t even close to what I asked you. Yes, I’m aware of how unreliable they are, I’ve been here three years, remember? Have you, by any chance, eaten some fish? Or maybe something else weird?
[pm] I wasn’t aware you dealt often with exorcists. No fish, and there’s nothing weird about them anyway, they are a high source of omega 3. What do you have against fish?
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