researching corpses [open]

[king]

luke looked over to lance, stroking his feathers while holding the virus ball in one hand. "i don't really know what to do with it." he lamented, tossing the ball in one hand.

<find a researcher. it will be of use to them.> ryn glided over, using another heal pulse on the braviary. lance ruffled his feathers, letting the pink glow soothe some more wounds.

@open to researchers who want a scourge zangoose entry. multiple researchers welcome

[vertigo]

ignatius was in the area, due to some unknown force driving his path back through nerio, bacchus and onto the areas beyond. for some reason, he spent extra time in nerio -- he debated going to the department store to stock up on extra items, as he had heard that the routes ahead were going to be rather barren and devoid of people.

scourge made things difficult sometimes. he had half a mind to have zalitz fly him back to sol, but that would bring him back to a place he didn't wish to return to.

he paused mid-step in the middle of a busy street upon spotting a familiar face. it was the trainer whom he had met by the amber glade.

"good-day to you, luke."

king
(( hi scourge zangoose ))

[king]

the voice sounded vaguely familiar. "ignatius!" luke looked ecstatic to find a familiar face. nerio was not what he remembered, so finding a new yet familiar face was nice. "you're even a researcher. i have something that may be of use to you."

he pulled out a virus ball, holding it out. "you study scourge corpses right? i have a zangoose in here. i'm... not sure what to expect when i open this. so you can do the honours..."

lance playfully pecked luke's head. ryn sighed.

vertigo

[vertigo]

ignatius's smile came easy to luke. his efforts at greeting a familiar face had been rewarded with a scourge zangoose. he had studied the species before, but it was only a brief moment before he had to move on to a different type of pokémon. it wasn't his, after all.

he took the virus ball from luke, and weighed it in his hands. the scourge zangoose sample seemed relatively intact, judging from weight alone. had it started disintegrating, it would feel heavier in his hand.

"are you new to the city?" asked ignatius, glancing up at the buildings that surrounded them. studying a scourge zangoose out in the open was a bad idea. "you shouldn't be walking around with a scourge sample at random -- best to stay in the labs because that's where the researchers are."

king

[king]

luke shook his head. "i'm actually from nerio city originally. but with the scourge, everything has changed since i've been here last. it feels like a new city." he hiked his bag further up on his shoulder. "let's go somewhere more... lab-like then?"

vertigo

[vertigo]

"hm. i'm from sol," said ignatius, if only to provide an equal trade of information between the two of them. "there were two sieges here, but alas, i do not know all the details."

it took him a brief moment to orient himself, turn towards the right path, and start walking. "follow me," said the researcher.

he brought them to an university-affliated lab, where a few supernerds and scientists sat, poring over specimens. not necessarily scourge ones, mind. they had their own specialities and all -- he made his way to the department of dreams.

a pink tint hung in the room like some sort of mist. "department of dreams," ignatius introduced, "welcome to the labs." he scanned his card to allow the two of them entry into a room with various machines in it -- one of them dispensed the pink mist from before.

he hooked the virus ball up to the device and allowed it to scan the scourge zangoose within.

"sorry, i'm a rather bad host, am i not? would you mind if i talk while i work?"

king

[king]

it was a wonder to luke, he didn't know what all of this was. he raised his hand and glided it through the pink mist, eyes huge with curiousity. "no, go right on ahead. i don't mind." ryn glided through the air, twirling about and swatting the mist.

"what is all this pink stuff?"

vertigo

[vertigo]

ignatius retrieved the virus ball from the stand, and hooked it up to some wires -- the sphere let off a soft glow, before the zangoose was released from it with a sudden force. anaesthetized, the scourge sample didn't put up much of a fight. it also had the fortunate property of preserving it in its current state.

he let it lie on the operating table while the temperature of the room dropped more than just a few degrees. he skimmed his pokédex, looking for the entry on zangoose. "this is called dream mist, or dream smoke, in different parts of the world," explained the researcher, and turned his attention back to the infected zangoose now that he had located the entry on the common species. "it is used to artificially induce a dreamlike state -- so you could enter the dream world at will."

ignatius twirled a scalpel between his fingers and worked on slicing off the melted parts of its fur. off went an ear, deformed beyond recognition. he suspected it was caused by an attack, but he didn't question what didn't interfere in his study.

"it also sedates the scourge to some extent," he continued. "they'd have to be mostly knocked out and confined within a virus ball for a while, but as you can see, it works well for us researchers who wish to get a closer look at it while it's still alive. the department of dreams is always coated in dream mist, just to be on the safer side.

"you know, we've had cases where people have grown immune to the dream mist. it wasn't a beautiful sight."

he flipped the zangoose over with remarkable strength and grace unbefitting a researcher. he selected a different sort of knife, and proceeded to continue his study of the zangoose's claws.

king

[king]

tl;dr
luke paid oh so attention to the words his friend spouted, realizing just how glad he was he didn't accidentally fill out the researcher form. "right, that's. pretty cool." he wandered around the lab while letting ignatius do his stuff.

vertigo

[vertigo]

ignatius was left to his own devices. as the mist filtered in through the vents, adding on a darker layer of pink to the room, he continued to work. the zangoose remained sedated. he picked it apart, bit by bit. the silence suited him as well as talking had.

he made mental notes about the state of the zangoose's fur -- it was darkened, yes, but it still had an obviously white base to it. it was as if the goo that trickled off its claws was a naturally-occurring phenomenon, like condensation on plants in the morning. it would also explain the state of the ceres plants around the amberwell, actually.

were the red bark trees a sort of parallel to them, except that the red came from the amberwell's healing properties? it was possible. perhaps that was why vaccinated pokémon appeared to be of a different hue than their unvaccinated counterparts. it was an interesting tidbit to ruminate about.

after a while, he finally decided to slice the zangoose open from the arm down to its claws. ignatius wasn't keen on knowing more about its internal organs, but was instead interested in how its arms served it. it turned out that goo had replaced blood -- he took three vials of it, and placed it into a centrifuge. the machine hummed lowly after he tapped a button.

he glanced over the veins and arteries in the arm, and then studied the musculature. they seemed to have gone through atrophy, despite the scourge pokémon having attacked luke (or so he presumed). ignatius made no other comment as he sewed the arm up, leaving the zangoose relatively intact for a second researcher to study.

"it has been an interesting study," he told luke, recalling the zangoose back into its virus ball. he plucked the vials and the results off the centrifuge, and placed them into a clear folder. "a minute or so later, the virus ball will stabilize again, and someone else may study the zangoose. it's still alive. thank you, luke."

king

[king]

"yeah. no problem." ryn gestured to him. "listen, i gotta bail. if someone comes by and wants to study it, then they're free to. you can keep it if you want. but i gotta go."

ryn teleported him out of there and left.

@open again to anyone who wants to drop by within a week??

vertigo