Lost in the Crowd [Esfiel/Lucca]

[Harpsdesire]

Dania suppressed a giggle at Eldy's deadpan comment. Amia certainly did seem sort of mad... but not in the terrible, dangerous way that some Corvies were. The rat relaxed a bit as it became clear that Amia didn't intend to ask her or Eldy to be research subjects. Whew.

She patted Eldy's back gingerly as the feline choked slightly, entirely unaware that her comment had been the cause of the commotion. After all, in Dania's mind, the question (although not entirely serious) made at least some sort of sense, since both Amia and the average plant extracted nutrients from sunlight. ...And she wouldn't put it past the martin to somehow fuse her DNA with that of a daffodil, or something else equally bizarre.

Yet?!? Perhaps Dania understood Corvies better than she thought she did.

Dania wrinkled her nose as she considered Amia's words. "But... plants have sap. Isn't that sort of like... I dunno... plant blood?" When she thought of it like that, the sweet maple syrup her family made each spring was really.... ew, ew ew. Dania's whiskers twitched at the unpleasant thought.

((Sorry you guys. I can not brain, I has the dumb.))

[Lucca]

Eldy looked to Dania gratefully as she was patted on the back, the friendly motion grounding her a little. Really, this shouldn't surprise her...stranger things had happened in the course of her life, after all. Heck, she'd seen some pretty whacked out stuff in her travels and back home at the Palace. But she still stared at the Pine Martin in utter disbelief as she continued to talk joyfully about getting rid of her blood and replacing it with...something plantish. Yep. Definitely crazy.

"But if you had something that wasn't blood...but was like blood...what would be the difference? Say you had sap, or some sort of solution of that green stuff plants use to make energy...uh, chlorophyll. How is that different from having blood? Other than being weird." Eldryia could just not understand for the life of her what this Martin's obsession with removing blood was all about. At least with most Corvies, she could sort of see what was useful or interesting about their research (to them anyway...being cooped up in a lab staring at a microscope sounded dead boring to her, but she, very obviously, was not a Corvie). She could understand why someone might want to study mechanical objects that imitated life, or poisons, or, heck, even the nature of good and evil and how chemicals affected that...but this...this made no sense to her. And in typical blunt Eldy fashion, she had no qualms saying so.

[Esfiel]

"Plants don't actually have blood. They don't need it. They just take in carbon dioxide from the air to make sugar and then use it to give themselves life while producing oxygen for everything else." It was wickedly amusing to consider that if she did end up using chlorophyll that she may end up producing both oxygen and carbon dioxide at some point. She could lock herself in an small sealed room or box to test how well it worked. If she was on the verge of passing out or dying then she'd know it wasn't working.

She listened to Eldy's question, preparing her own answer as she would try to explain the difference. "But you see, if I got rid of all my blood for chlorophyll I'd be less likely, perhaps impossible, to contract many diseases. I would no longer bruise or be at risk of internal bleeding should I have some sort of accident." She really was prone to accidents, too, not that she'd admit that most of them were either her own or of her own doing. "Not to mention if the chlorophyll started to integrate themselves into my body, along with all the solar power, I would no longer need to eat or sleep. Can you image how much time that would save? And I'd still be a healthy as can be while not relying on an abudance of outside sources."

[Harpsdesire]

Dania was both slightly shocked and mildly amused by Eldy's blunt statement. She would never be so bold, and couldn't help feeling some admiration for the forthright feline.

As her two companions continued to discuss Amia's research, Dania listened politely, although not without some horror. Internal bleeding really wasn't something she considered a daily concern, and bruises were at most an inconvience... She looked down at her own bruised paw ruefully. The swelling had diminished considerably, and with it the worst of the pain had faded. Yes, she would be quite happy to keep her blood, 'risks' and all.

If Amia was as determined as she seemed to live bloodlessly, well, that was her choice.... Dania just hoped her Corvie friend didn't end up accidentally killing herself in the process.

"That would... save time..." Dania reluctantly agreed, "But I rather like eating and sleeping." Mmm, especially eating. Her mother's tasty and ample meals were certainly something she missed while staying in the capital. On the other hand, the solar powered method would save a lot of money when traveling. No hotel rooms, no restaurant bills-- There were benefits, sure, but none of them outweighed the obvious perks of having one's blood safely on the inside.

[Lucca]

Eldryia's ears went back and she blinked at Aima as she launched into yet another explanation. Her mind started to wander half way through it, like it was one of her Mother's lectures that she'd heard way too many times before. (Honestly, she knew all about not making mistakes and being caught...and hearing the same words over and over didn't help it happen less!) "Yeah, but..." she tried, and then just shook her head and gave the Pine Martin up as a rather lost cause.

"Well, hey, more power to you, if you'd rather not need to eat or sleep," she said, shrugging. Personally, she thought that seemed like a rather strange life (and odd logic, too...though she wasn't the scientist here, she supposed) but whatever floated Aima's Corvie boat. "Whatever makes you happy." There, now they'd all accepted each other's differences and moved on with life. And hopefully moved on to a new topic, as this one was starting to feel like a science lesson from Weird World.

[Esfiel]

"Well, thanks," she said with an awkward smile. They didn't seem to get her reasons for doing so, even after she'd explain it. More so, the conversation seemed to die with their last remarks on her work. Well, that was okay. She'd gotten her own join from having explained it all, even if apparently she'd gotten more out of it than they did. It didn't matter to her that she already knew everything she'd told him. She always enjoyed telling other people about her work even when they thought her completely crazy.

Now it seemed that they needed another topic, though, and she was officially out of ideas. She could ask them about their families, but that would bring back up the depressing topic of Torquehelm. She wasn't sure how willing either of them would be talking of their families, especially after they'd already mentioned Eldy's free sister.

Something needed to be done, though, least things stay awkward. So after popping some food into her mouth as though thinking, she swallowed and asked, "So what's next for you two? What're you plans while you're in the city?"

[Harpsdesire]

It came as a bit of a relief to Dania when the subject finally changed. Eldy appeared to be getting exasperated with their quirky companion, and she was beginning to fear another awkward pause was inevitable. Luckily, and rather to Dania's surprise, Amia managed to bring up a very normal, polite topic.

"I'm going to be visiting a few more publishers, then delivering some letters and picking up book-repair supplies for my dad." Her whiskers drooped a bit as little stab of pain from her paw reminded her of potential disruption to her plans, "Assuming my paw feels better by tomorrow."

It had better feel better! She thought. Letting down her father by failing to complete her tasks was not an option. This was her first, and quite possibly her last, chance to prove that she was capable of taking on greater responsibility in the family business. To limp home with her jobs unfinished would, in her mind, be the ultimate failure, and she was sure she would be further humiliated by he fathers reaction-- He would accept her failings graciously and without surprise, as if he knew all along this would happen.

The insecure mind is a funny thing, and Dania was convinced that her father took satisfaction in her every mistake, pleased to justified in his low opinion of his daughter's abilities.

[Lucca]

Eldy relaxed a bit at the change of topic, this one being far more up her ally. Though she had to laugh inwardly at the irony, as she still didn't know the answer to that question herself. What next, indeed? In some ways, the answer was simple, but in others, well...she had no idea. But she knew that slipping back easily into her old life at the Court of Hearts wouldn't really be possible. Her tail twitched as she listened to Dania's answer, letting her go first. She made a small sound of sympathy for the Rat, having almost forgotten about her paw (which was the whole reason they were here in the first place, duh!) in all the weird topics of conversation.

"If it doesn't, then I'd be happy to help you with your errands," the Feline offered, unsure why she felt compelled to do so. She supposed...it was because Dania was her friend. One of the few. And she could relate a lot to the Rat, despite their lives being very different.

She turned toward Aima. "Well, I'm probably going to go home soon," she admitted, shrugging. "Haven't seen my family in...months." Suits...had it really been that long? She felt a bit bad, suddenly, but then, she was coming back a better Card. Or at least...a slightly different and more socially mature one, with some definite life experience under her belt. Part of her felt awkward about going back, after so long (and besides, HE was going to be there, and she didn't want to ever see HIM again), but she'd promised her mother she'd help babysit her kids with Seth. And she didn't want to break that promise.

[Esfiel]

Aima listened patiently, quietly, and respectfully. This topic wasn't quite as interesting or strange as the others had been. She would even consider it quite normal. Well, she supposed people liked that sort of things. After growing used to life in the capital she learned that people liked to navigate towards what was normal to them, being more comfortable with it. Aima like strange things. Oddities fascinated her. There was just so much you could learn when getting outside your comfort zone or diving into the weirdness that existed.

"I can check on it tomorrow if you'd like," Aima offered helpfully, having no idea that the Rat might be having a change in feeling about her doctoring due to all both her new friends must have learned about her work and research. It was another one of those, people want what's normal to them, things. The only difference is that this time Aima wasn't catching it at all.

When Eldy answered she turned her attention towards the feline. Going home, huh? Homes seemed to be very important to most people, but Aima wasn't exactly sure if she had one. The best she could think of was her labs, but the locations of those were never set. She certainly spent very little time in her actual apartments that she slept in. The only real home she'd ever had had exploded with the accident. Hardly anyone bothered to repair buildings in Corvistowne unless the location was ideal for an experiment, so most of her family had packed up and moved to the Capital, where she tried to avoid them anyway.

"Back home were? To Torquehelm?" the martin asked, not feel a bit depressed about the momentary thoughts of her unfortunate past.

[Harpsdesire]

"Aw, thanks!" Dania replied to Eldy's offer with a rare, genuine smile. "I think I'll be okay, but that's really... sweet." To her own surprise, the rat suddenly found herself almost hoping her paw wouldn't entirely recover overnight. An excuse to spend more time with Eldy. With her Friend.

Slightly embarrassed by her own excessively affectionate thoughts, Dania forced her mind back to the topic at hand. So Eldy was finally going back to the court? Interesting... This conversation was not enough to entirely distract her from pleasantly fanciful thoughts of spending the day with Eldy in the city: browsing in shops, strolling the scenic lanes, gossiping over tea, and doing the other lovely, frivolous things that (in least in Dania's overactive imagination) best friends did.

Amia's offer, however, managed to quite effectively jar Dania back into reality. Actually, having her paw heal would be better, all things considered. "Ah, thank you, but I think I'll be alright." The blood-removal thing was certainly rather off-putting, but fortunately the rat's insistence was equally based in truth-- the paw was already feeling better, the swelling somewhat reduced by ice and rest. "I'm very grateful for your help, but I wouldn't want to be any more trouble than I've already been."