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Post by Nathalia on Feb 19, 2008 19:19:19 GMT -5
"Pleasant? I can't quite imagine...no. It looks like it neutralized but I'm not sure..." He moved away from his books and grabbed up the beaker, dropping a bit of saline solution into the vial in an attempt to see if it would react. It simply turned blue.
"Neutralized, you're right on. Huh, I'd been wondering. I'll have to send this information to Queen Iria..."
He quickly stoppered the vial and stuck it back on the rack, hastily scribbling the name Iria on a piece of tape with a pen and sticking it to the side.
He caught her looking at him and was about to inquire what he had done to warrant her little smirk when her next question got him back into the flow of questions. It didn't help that his fingers had moved over to the test tube containing a solution made from the distilled blood of another Jack who had poison immunity.
"The Highlanders have had a pretty big run on this Court for the last four generations...prior to that we had a Yarrow Queen, I believe, though I've only been present for three Queens in reign."
He siphoned some of the bog air into the tube of blood as he spoke, his gold eyes fixated on the vial.
"Most Courts do show a tendency to land Queens with a background in the home region, I suppose it's because the parents of that region feel they have a lot to live up to...mine certainly did. It's been most diverse lately in the Court of Clubs...I believe their new Queen is a Morganberry...a Mouse. Can't remember his name though...huh. Look, the air seems to react with the blood...technically they should be immune to the toxins in the Bog air if they're immune to poisons...let me see..."
He flipped through a few more pages of his book, then added a few drops of chloric acid.
"No pardon necessary, ask anything you want. I've always been fond of people willing to learn anything...it's hard to get even my nephew to spend more than five minutes in here with me...I bore him too fast."
He flashed her a quick smile over his shoulder.
"I'm ashamed to say that I appreciate the company, though you shouldn't feel obligated to stay."
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Post by Satra on Feb 19, 2008 19:47:57 GMT -5
She watched the reaction to the blood with little surprise.
"True be told, we're not completely immune to the poisons in the Bog, either. We're immune to the air, but ever since people started living in my home region, we've detoxified the water and food before consumption. The process doesn't get all of it, since we're mostly immune, we don't need to bother, but it keeps us sane. We could if we wanted to. I've been told they're perfecting the technique to make it safer for Outsiders to visit, though I can't imagine it being enjoyable for anyone who wasn't born there. You should see the wild animals of the land. They have no way of detoxifying what they eat and drink and... well..." a light smirk crossed her face, "not all of the dead bodies we find were caused by suffocation." Heilyn vaguely wondered if her blood was poisonous to some extent.
"Also, open wounds are potentially fatal in the Bog, if gone untreated, and Bog toxin-related infections are spectacularly nasty things." She looked at the paper cut he gave himself. "Just a few months ago, if you had done that in front of me, I would've forced you to stop working and clean and bind it immediately. Everything is laced with the poisons to some extent... the trees the paper is made from, fabric, ink, everything. The instinct stayed with me for some time." She laughed lightly at herself, the adjustment had been difficult, but she'd done it for the most part.
She smirked at him. "I know I don't look like it, but I actually find this stuff fascinating. I'm not much good at it, but it's incredible the things that others can do with it. I wouldn't be surprised if I learned things I didn't know about my own region." Her smirk became a little wider, her comfort with the man growing.
"So, I was curious, where'd a skinny little book worm like yourself get a battle scar? Get too close to a pissed-off experiment?" The question was two fold. On the surface, the obvious: where'd you get the scar? However, she was hoping to know if he ever experimented like the horror stories she'd heard of the Corvies. Painful experiments on unwilling live subjects. She was far too interesting a subject to be alone in the lab of a man higher in rank than her...
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 20, 2008 0:00:53 GMT -5
Bernard listened with rapt attention, turning to face her as he moved to the bookshelf and began thumbing through that too.
"That's fascinating! So a blood transfusion from a Bog dweller would need to be...I should inform Temmin."
He jotted down some notes in the margin of the book and then left it open on the table as he picked up another vial and began siphoning some Bog air into it.
"I can see how an open wound would be a problem, I'm glad the day we met I just had burns...Temmin would have had a feild day if I'd been infected... The adjustment must have been difficult, I really must commend you again for the work you're doing, you're going through a lot more than most others here, and it shows. You put in more effort than over half of the Jacks here, miss Heilyn, and trust me...I don't just say that."
He smiled as he watched the vial containing a normal Cards' blood bubble slightly and marked down the anticipated results..never hurt to double check.
"It's good to know you enjoy it, you don't have to be the best at something to really gain from it. I'm terrible at dancing, but I do like to watch... You may very well learn things about your region you didn't know, the hills know I have. Did you know that Highlanders are all allergic to sunflower oil? Took awhile to prove that one, and some are more extreme cases than others...but without a doubt."
He grinned as she visibly relaxed, smiling and leaning on the wall. He picked up another test tube, this one containing a tiny bit of snake venom, provided by one of the cooking staff. Adding a bit of the Bog air, he turned to Heilyn, about to defend himself against the "bookworm" comment with a joke...when the actuality of her question hit him...she wouldn't know, would she? She was new to this area...
"Ah...those..."
He said, shrugging as though they didn't matter much...though the though cut him to the quick.
"I ah...are you aware of how the last Queen lost the throne?"
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Post by Satra on Feb 20, 2008 10:14:42 GMT -5
Her ears lowered a touch in offense, but she reminded herself: He didn't know... she kept a small smile up. However, her hard work did not go unnoticed, which also helped to keep her in from getting offended.
"Actually, I had been living in the capitol for a few months before then, so any residual poisons on me would've been gone. Us Bog Dwellers keep ourselves and our surroundings meticulously clean, for the obvious reasons. There's a word in the Bog tongue derived from "dirty" that has come to mean a variation of the word "insane". Typically, only the severely mentally unwell of the Bog don't keep themselves clean. The only threat I could see of you touching me with an open wound would be the oil," she looked down at her arm and oils that coated her fur, making it shiner than most of the other Cards she'd ever met. The fur was actually quite thick, but the oils weighed it down and made it cling to her skin, "Even then, I wouldn't know. I've had nothing to compare it to... I've never heard of a Bog Dweller's wound getting infected from their own fur or feathers. I can't say if it's because it's an immunity or if there's no poison in the oil..." Maybe she should have stuck around to see if that Solandrian had any more problems than it just tasting bad.... speaking of which, I should mention that
"I do know that, as well as smelling awful and being unable to get rid of it, it tastes bad, as well, if that's at all informative. I know the smell is...obvious... but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be into tasting me for the sake of curiosity." Although you never know...
She looked at him and shook her head.
"I'm afraid I'm not. I was very busy working in my time in the Capitol," so the wound was caused by some political affair, then? Sounds... very personal...
"How did the last Queen lose the throne?"
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Post by Kiki on Feb 20, 2008 22:02:45 GMT -5
Nat and Satra receive 2 tokens each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe.
This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe.
Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 20, 2008 22:58:44 GMT -5
Bernard couldn't stop himself from making a note in the margins of his book to look further into the transcendence between the words "dirty" and "insane", as far as the Bog went.
"Had you? Where? If I may ask, it's hard to find anyplace to live in the Capital...not too many people willing to lend a room."
He laughed at her blunt statement that the oil tasted bad, unable to stop himself, the expression on her face had been priceless.
"Well, at least that's one mystery solved. I don't think I have to taste you miss Heilyn, no. I'll take your word for it."
His face fell though at the mention of his scars, becoming vaguely blank...trying to think as little about it as possible as he explained. He didn't want to be unhappy right now, dammit.
"Well, the previous Queen...was She was a Morganberry feline named Zulaya. Talyn, Serafino's sister, was a Jack at the time, and working under both her and her father, Blaine, but still half the brains behind the operation.. She got her place by assisting her father...may brother, in murdering my Queen...Serafino's mother, Lin."
He clenched his hand around the edge of the table for a few seconds, then released it, trying to busy his hands with more work.
"While my brother was on his way out he caught me in the back and...a few other places. I managed a spell in his face but he managed to get his talons in mine so... It just didn't go so well. Politics...they're never fun."
His shoulders hunched slightly and he turned back to a few more test tubes, siphoning in air to distract himself.
"Serafino and I were thrown out for about two years while I re-learned a few offensive spells...and Serafino perfected some of his more battle worthy abilities. We had most of the servants on our side too, as well as some of the Jacks. We managed to make their stay in the Court unpleasant...and then when Serafino challenged her, she fled...my brother with her. They split up and she was eventually found in the Lowlands, and executed. My brother...no one knows where he is. Hopefully dead, but if I know Blaine...he'll just hide somewhere for a long time, maybe forever."
Bernard shrugged, watching some of the reactions and noting the results.
"Sorry to be so cold about it, it's just not...a pleasant memory for me."
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Post by Satra on Feb 20, 2008 23:24:51 GMT -5
....wow.... well... uh...
"There is no need for apology. I thank you. Had I known it was so personal, I would've found out from somewhere else."
That was quite a story. She paused, unsure of what to say at first. There were few people that she cared if she'd offended or upset them. This man... well, he was beginning to grow on her, and she had very clearly knocked this man of his high of excitement.
"Please, just call me Heilyn." She was beginning to find that changing the subject was a yet another talent she held. That, and she had quite enough of that "Miss" business back at... "I stayed in an extra room in the basement of a tea accessory shop while I established trade in the Capital. Very kind, though thoroughly strange woman, woman who ran the shop let me stay for only a portion of my sales and a few extra services around the store." And by that, I mean I forced her to accept my presence under the threat of fang, she thought. However, to her credit, she did uphold every part of her side of the deal, if not more.
"She was quite reluctant at first -- to be quite blunt, you Highlanders are the hardest to endear oneself to -- but I was able to convince her with the wares and services I had to offer. And-- just a touch of arm-twisting. I wasn't well received in the Capital and sleeping outside and having to hunt for food -- while sometimes pleasant -- made me a touch desperate." She liked Bernard. She greatly disliked being dishonest to people she liked. However, she had a feeling she would have to introduce her cruel side... delicately...
That, and it's not like anything she had said so far was untrue.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 21, 2008 13:50:35 GMT -5
He sighed slightly and tried to shake the funk. He didn't need to be such an idiot, especially to this enterprising Jack...if he went off on a tangent, she would probably lose interest in him. And so few bothered to be interested...
"I beg to differ, sorry to get so defensive, I should be used to it. It was quite awhile ago and quite the Court blow up."
He smirked and looked over his shoulder at her, his posture relaxing a bit again.
"Allright, Heilyn it is then. I suppose I should be glad that you don't insist on calling me "your highness" all the time...it gets to be rather annoying, no matter how hard you worked for the title."
He listened to her description of the shoppe she had stayed in, grin sliding back into place in full as the memories started to recede, he was good at burying them.
"Never heard of her, but at least you were able to bully her. Ever heard of a business man by the name of Cauter? Yeah...guess where Serafino and I had to stay for awhile... He's a nice man but good god above...Corvies sometimes. I should know, I lived in Corvistowne for four years before I ever came to the palace."
He added a little more of the bog air to one of the test tubes without looking at it, enjoying their chat far more now. She seemed to trust him...and he was finding that he genuinely liked the Coyote. He had been right about her attitude as a Jack...she really was quite an interesting person.
"Ah, yes...the Capital can make people...a little desperate now and again, I remember. Did you know that I'm banned from the Outer Bazaar?"
He asked, flipping his eyebrows in an attempt to make her smile again...it had always worked on Lin. Be an idiot, it's more fun that way...relating this story might make her feel better about whatever she had had to endure.
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Post by Satra on Feb 21, 2008 17:08:03 GMT -5
"I know some find it rude that I don't punctuate every sentence with their title, but I feel it's... a little condescending. I mean, does one, especially one who's supposed to be better than the average person, really need the validation of a constant reminder?" she shook her head, "but I'm glad it is a relief to you." More than you know, actually, she thought. She would've been greatly disappointed if he was that kind of person. She shuddered visibly at the mention of living Corvistowne. She couldn't imagine doing anything so awful.
"I... can't say I much care for the Corvies, to be honest. I have heard of the shoppe, but never been in it.... but, you? Banned from the Outer Bazaar?" she had to laugh, that was just too funny. She found a seat and set herself down, "And what, may I ask, did you do to bring that about?" She was a little surprised at the goofy eyebrow flip he did, but laughed very openly. Who knew the old King had a silly side?
She was rather impressed that he could siphon off the air into the tube like that without looking. Then again, he probably spent a lot of time in this room. Still, he couldn't help but watch his hands with a little touch of nervousness.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 24, 2008 0:05:36 GMT -5
"Don't care much for Corvies? Well, some people don't...they can get a bit strange and I will admit that there is some margin of truth to the whole kidnapping and experimentation theory...but they're mostly good people."
He could tell by her tone that she wanted to change the subject, shrugging he pressed on with his other story.
"Oh god, that. I kind of...blew up a building..."
He admitted sheepishly, flipping through a few more pages and adding some more Bog air to the current vial...nothing seemed to be happening to it...
"I had been working on a building moving spell...and I thought I had it but...apparently not...I moved the bottom half...a little. The top fell off completely and crushed the store next to it...I'm just glad no one was in there. The lower half moved...then crumbled. The owner was um...more than a bit angry with me so I ran and hid in a Jack-and-Jill store across the way. Found a couple of extremely creepy people inside and had to book it from there too. Lin gave me hell when I got back, I cost the palace more than I made in a year."
He smiled as he spoke, remembering his blunder fondly, even if he was blushing to his roots.
"Lin forbade from ever touching that spell again, so I let it die, I can't help but wonder though... Ah, well. Destructive bookworms, what can you do?"
After a few moments spent reminiscing and dealing with what ever that topic had gotten him, he laughed and leaned against the table.
And his face fell immediately.
There was an odd hissing noise coming from the tank, his eyes drew to it without his head moving, widening as his mouth fell open.
"Oh..."
There was a sudden flash as a spark appeared in the clear tube, heading back down into the tank.
"Shit! Heilyn! Get behind the table! Duck!"
He grabbed her arm and shoved the tank, causing it to roll toward the window, pulling the Coyote after him as they dived behind his lab table.
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