first experiment; 9:53 PM

[originallutece]

For our more vampiric population, I come to you with a solution for your dietary problems.

I've invented artificial blood. A substance you can consume without harming others, but that will sustain you much as food and water. I owe a debt to Elena for helping me test them.

Unfortunately, it cannot yet be used in a medical sense-- for blood transplants, which are, by the by, a very important part of medical knowledge, which makes up the second part of this announcement.

If you do not know your blood type, come see me, and I can at least determine it. Blood types are a vital bit of information in a place where one routinely gets cut to bits. Transfusing blood-- that is, the act of giving one's blood to another-- can save a life in many cases. However, if the wrong sorts of blood interact, the result can be deadly.

Many of you do not know your blood type. This will, inevitably, come back to bite you.

So. I suggest you come by my lab within the next few days and find out, before you nearly die of an injury, manage to make it back to town, and then die of your original blood sensing the invader and killing off the cells that came to theoretically heal you. What a horrible, ironic death that would be.

Comments

[originallutece]

Yes.

Do yours?

[evulsed]

I don't have friends, so it isn't something I need to worry about.

You're the one more concerned with everyone else. Are you even a real doctor?

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[equinoctials]

So rescuing Bruce was a fluke? Come on, Vanitas.

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[evulsed]

What's your point?

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[equinoctials]

You really don't see it?
You can do better than that. You're sharp, think about what made you do it.
It's not the same if you don't come to the conclusion yourself.

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[evulsed]

That doesn't make us friends.

You're not my friend either, so don't get any ideas.

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[equinoctials]

You heal all your... not-friends, too?

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[evulsed]

It was just annoying trying to talk to you.

You're lucky it worked at all.

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[equinoctials]

That makes two of us.
I am. Thanks.
If you're that curious about what she's doing, come with me. I was gonna visit her on the way back.

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[evulsed]

Whatever.

I know what she's doing. She already did it to me.

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[equinoctials]

She's tough, but I think she cares more than she likes to let on.

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[evulsed]

You know she left me to be killed by a spirit? Is that what you think "tough" is?

[ He isn't seeking pity, he's fishing for Riku's response ]

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[equinoctials]

She's not a fighter, she knows how to survive though. Her strength is in her mind.

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[evulsed]

That's an interesting excuse. Does it make you feel better, telling yourself that and knowing how selfish she is?

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[equinoctials]

If anything, it makes her more human.
I'm selfish too, Vanitas. It's not wrong to look out for your own interests.

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[evulsed]

Even at the expense of others?

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[equinoctials]

Sometimes. I try not to. We have to decide for ourselves the way that brings the most benefit at the least harm, how we measure that is based on what's in our hearts.

[originallutece]

Are you truly trying to brag about that?

I'm a doctor in the sense that I graduated from university, top in my class, for physics. But I'm not a medical doctor, no. But neither is anyone else here.

[evulsed]

If someone's going to die from blood loss or whatever and you're there for it, they'll just come back.

You're wasting your time.

If you don't just accidentally kill them anyway.

[originallutece]

So I ought to have left you to die?

What an interesting perspective. Are you always so eager to die, Vanitas, or is it just that you're so repulsed by me?

[evulsed]

You would have done the same thing to anyone else. You said so yourself. I'm not a special case.

What's there to be repulsed by?

I haven't met many people that would leave someone to die and then try to save them afterwards.

Unless you were feeling guilty about it.

[originallutece]

No.

I'm asking: if it was another person-- if a doctor had come up to you and told you that they could either save your life or let you die-- which would you choose?

[evulsed]

That's irrelevant.

I'm more interested in why you changed your tune.

[originallutece]

You don't get answers unless you give them, Vanitas.

[evulsed]

You just don't like to answer them.

[ He was raised by an expert in deflection and deceit, the way she does it isn't difficult for him to follow. ]