[log] What if it's not medicine at all? [open]

[fiftheclipse]

Characters: Anyone caught up in the blood testing plan
Location: In and around Building 117
Date: Days 360 to 363?
Summary: Lots of people meeting in one place? What could go wrong?
Warnings: idk guys do what you want in your subject lines


This is an open log for any characters in the area, if you want to play out how they got there, or want groups to run into each other or rearrange, or anything else. Our Search Request is up, too, so go ahead and tack things onto that as well if you come up with more ideas.

Regardless if I've actually played it out for you yet, Junpei has given the location (privately) to: Magenta, Quark, Stephen, Brian, Angel, and Flynn. They can bring along whoever they want, tell whoever they want, people can stumble in unknowingly, etc.

I'm not running things, here, so just drop new location toplevels if needed, include your dates, and do whatever!

Comments

Building 117 - It's happening here!

[fiftheclipse]

[A two-story A-frame house. The first floor has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The second floor has a master bedroom, master bathroom, and balcony, although the balcony has partially collapsed and what remains isn't safe to walk on. One couch cushion is missing. There's an office in the right bedroom downstairs. On the floor beside the desk is an odd-looking case that's bolted to the floor. Open it up and it seems like there are countless slots for small SD cards, or something. "ALPHONSE ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, GREED, EDWARD ELRIC, DAY FORTY FOUR, TRAVELLING EAST." has been carved into one of the walls. "House 94 of the map" is written on the wall in marker.]

[The microscope was stored in a kitchen cupboard. It will be out and on a counter if anyone wants to check it out or carry it somewhere else. There's lots of rooms, so characters can stick to small groups, or all meet up, no problem!]

Day 361 | OTA | cw amnesia/dementia; references to blood and needles

[thewarningafter]

Microscope

[Stephen is, indeed, checking out the microscope. He feels...weirdly responsible for it, in a way. He's gentle and careful with the equipment as he checks its lenses, plays with its focus, and examines the slides to see if they've been cleaned. There's writing on his left hand, the word 'read' messily inscribed in black marker, with an arrow pointing up his forearm to something concealed under his sleeve.

He's aware--or at least he's been aware at various points--of why he's here. Each time, he's refrained from pointing out that an ethics board would probably judge him incapable of providing informed consent right now. This has the potential to help people, and he's not going to stand in the way of that.]


Post-participation

[The writing on Stephen's arm is visible now that he's bared it for the blood draw, along with the scars that trace his muscle groups like some kind of morbid, living diagram. There's a blotch or scribble that's not really writing at all, but also 'Anterograde amnesia' and P.Q. alive dont call,' both written with enough care to be legible. He's sitting and watching the remainder of the proceedings, or perhaps just watching people go in and out, holding a cotton ball tight against the pinprick on the inside of his elbow. Every so often he'll frown and look down at his arm, starting to lift his fingers to look and see why he's doing that only to see the writing. Then his eyes will go wide and he'll look around in brief alarm, latching on to whoever's nearest.]

What am I doing here? Why have I had blood drawn?

[Maybe someone should write him a third note.]

Post-participation

[jmencalisse]

[Stephen, hey Stephen. Stephen, hey. How about you add I owe David my firstborn for this to your arm there because he has cycled through everything now. Insults Stephen forgets to keep himself entertained, stern Dad mode which is too exhausting to keep up, impatient snapping, angry yelling and now he's just... tired.

He's munching beans from a tin can and briefly rubs his forehead.]

Seigneur, donnez-moi la force, maudite crisse de tabarnak, it's an experiment. They're comparing the nanomachines to see if the red-lined ones look different from the non-red-lined ones.

[thewarningafter]

...Previously red-lined, you mean.

[Sorry, David, pedants gotta pedant. Stephen eyes him suspiciously as he considers his current position, the notes on his arm, and the gap in his recent memory that becomes rather obvious whenever he actually thinks about it. It should be a pretty familiar expression by now; at least the notes have made these moments a little less fraught with disbelief or denial.]

Do they look different? What level of magnification are they even using?

[jmencalisse]

I would punch you in the throat but you are just going to forget.

[He puts the can down, leaning back in his chair.]

I do not know. I am not a science person.

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen heaves a sigh, unimpressed with this level of information retrieval.]

Have they found anything yet? How long have I been sitting here?

[Would you really want Stephen's firstborn, David? The kid would probably be like him all over again.]

[jmencalisse]

[Point taken.]

Not that long. Look, once they tell me something I will write you a note with the results, okay?

[He pushes the can over at him.] Try and eat something.

[thewarningafter]

[The can gets an extremely dubious look.]

As much as I'd love to share in everything that's touched your hands today, I'm going to pass.

[jmencalisse]

[The dubious look is met with a glare.]

You know what? The moment this death price wears off I am kicking your ass into the snow.

[For now he'll just lick leftover sauce off his fingers instead.]

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen is so offended right now.]

You're not--we're not traveling together, are we?

[Suddenly reassessing the sigh, the bitching, the pushing of food. Is David babysitting him? How awful.]

Various Days | OTA

[fiftheclipse]

[1] - Day 360

[Arriving as early in the day as he could, Junpei's started trying to get things ready. The microscope's set up on the kitchen counter-- as close as he can keep it to where it was stored-- and he's gathered the available slides. But as for sterilizing them first, well, wasn't there someone who was going to show him how...? Supplies are an issue, as well. For those who want to do this "correctly", a lot of things may have to wait.

Still, he's settled in here, has claimed the upstairs bedroom to store his own belongings, and can be found pretty easily at any point.

If others arrive as early as him, it shouldn't hurt to just.. hang out to pass the time...]



[2] - Day 361

[Despite being the one to arrange all of this, there's one problem with the whole idea that Junpei hasn't been all that shy about letting on: he hates needles.

Of course, he's still chosen to participate, and has already done so-- the only difference being how, with his makeshift bandages now covering nothing worse than a papercut on one of his fingers. But his interest has moved on to the results, documenting what he can of the slides and trying to figure out what else there is to solve.

He's open to any suggestions that don't involve jabbing anything into him.]



[3] - Day 362

[This project needs to get finished. He'll be waiting around until it's done, no exceptions, even if he may be doing so rather lazily at this point.

Possibly feeling some sense of entitlement after being in this building so long, he seems to have expanded his territory to include the couch in the living room, lying there and playing rather absent-mindedly with a rubik's cube.

Those who've already made some contribution don't seem to catch his interest.

Those who haven't...]

You just gonna stand around all day? We could use more ideas.

day 360!

[phaseshifter]

[ After dumping her things in a corner and getting through the obligatory pleasantries - "hello"s and "how are you doing"s and "I brought an extra friend who I assume has never brutally murdered you or anything"s - Angel finally approaches for a proper chat with Junpei. She has already decided that this is going to be a normal conversation for once. The kind that average non-fucked-up people have. The sort of chat that doesn't involve Angel saying anything that makes her sound like a psycho, a weirdo, or both.

It shouldn't be too hard. She manages it all the time, honest. ]

Hey! Soooo.

 

So, uhm. You collect blood samples often?

[ NAILED IT ]

[fiftheclipse]

[Right. Yeah. Normal. That's what this is going to be. Totally.]

Depends on what you'd call collecting. Usually when I take other people's blood home it's involuntary.

[He's not.. lying, exactly...]

[phaseshifter]

[ Welp. Normalcy has already been balled up, thrown out of a window, and eaten by wolves. OK THEN. ]

You... take other people's blood involuntarily? Are we talking via blood splatter on your clothes, or...?

[fiftheclipse]

Yeah. I mean, if there's some other way to get stuck with it, I don't wanna know how.

[phaseshifter]

...Maybe if you're a really reluctant vampire.

[ Junpei doesn't want to know? TOO LATE.

Most of the blood-collecting shenanigans she can think of are completely voluntary, thank goodness. Though she can't exactly talk about this stuff without thinking of the fucking pitcher of mystery blood Squalo's been carrying around, and she glances involuntarily in his direction.

She's. Still not 100% on board with the gross chunky blood pitcher. Shockingly. It's super gross. ]

[fiftheclipse]

Well, then you make the bastard who turned you go and collect it instead, right? They gotta take some responsibility, there.

[phaseshifter]

You don't make vampires do anything, dude. They'll bite your effing face off.

[ Her tone is fond as fuck, because of course it is. BECKETT IS THE BEST OK. ]

[fiftheclipse]

You sure about that?

I thought they're supposed to bite humans, not each other.

branch off? idek

[sharktrash]

[ okay so he really just sort of quirks an eyebrow here but the mental finger-guns can really be extrapolated from it. ]

[ he's got this ]

How do you intend to get the samples?

[ he's not seeing a lot of equipment here... bro ]

[fiftheclipse]

[Look, it's not his fault some people showed up a little too early.]

Sounded like Strange has some sterile way to do it all. I thought we'd go with that, but...

[Yeah, that guy's not here yet.]

Well, I mean, I was just gonna bleed on one of the slides. Same thing, right?

[sharktrash]

[ SO VERY UNIMPRESSED. ]

Sure. You go and do that.

[ He's not going to, though. Because somehow getting sliced with an unsterile needle is worse than an actual sword stab wound? ]

ALSO 360

[headjacked]

[ Rhys feels superfluous more often than not, and lately, he's felt the need to challenge that at every corner. Usually just by making his presence known, at the very least. Sometimes pretending he knows more than he does.

Step one: lean against the doorframe and stare at Junpei; guy he's kinda-sorta seen around but never spoken to. Step two: catch self, because he's slid to far to the right and nearly fell over.

Step three is pretending that never happened and clearing his throat. ]

Soooo how well do you know what you're doing, on a standard 1-10 scale?

[fiftheclipse]

[If that was some attempt to look cool, Junpei's seeing through it. And judging. And maybe that's a good thing. Because Rhys sure doesn't look like a threat, so there shouldn't be much harm in an honest answer.]

That depends what you're comparing it to. A high school science lab? 9 outta 10. I know as much as we need to to see if there's any differences. Some sorta test they'd run at a hospital? Well.. maybe a 3?

If there's something else going on that we can't pick up with a microscope, then this isn't the way we're gonna find it.

Day 361 | OTA

[jmencalisse]

[With more and more people around David takes an in his eyes much-deserved break from babysitting, making sure there's someone else to look after Stephen for a while.

Rolling his shoulders he exhales, wandering the house and enjoying the relief of being able to let his guard down for a while. He's past the physical withdrawal but honestly, he never wanted a cigarette more in his life.

It's not his usual style but after several days of repeating the same things over and over again he is starved for a different type of conversation, so he just chats up whoever happens to cross his path.]

So you here for the blood thingy, huh? [And, after a beat,] Do you have a cigarette?