IC inbox and overflow threads

[petridish]

I do a lot of tagging by e-mail, and e-mail commenting doesn't work once Captcha's on. So! Personal overflow post.

Comments

[imaginary_wife]

Hey legs. I need to know how that scar is doing.

text

[petridish]

It moves around sometimes. But it's not hurting or visibly deteriorating.

Why do you ask?‎

Re: text

[imaginary_wife]

[Because it's made of a specific type of cellular damage and it shouldn't be doing that.]

It seems unusual.

I'd like you to come in so I could compare it to images of the older one. I want to keep an eye on it.

[petridish]

Like anything about this has been 'usual' from the start.

[imaginary_wife]

I have a flair for understatement.

Can you come in and let me have a look?

[petridish]

As long as I don't end up in cryo for a month again.

[Cheap shot? Either way, she still turns up in the medbay soon after she sends the text.]

[imaginary_wife]

[Well, it was that or be as sick as Solid and Liquid, and that she might not have wanted.]

[When Shepard arrives, Doc Yewll already has her scanner ready, waiting by one of the Med Bay beds for her to sit on.]

Alright, have a seat and lets get a look at that.

[petridish]

[Hopping up on the bed, she pushes her sleeve up to uncover the offending scar on her forearm, which looks no different than usual.]

It's fine now - it moves back.

[imaginary_wife]

[She runs a scan over her arm. The cellular damage is about the same; which is good, it also means Shepard's own is holding.]

How often does it move?

[petridish]

I'm not exactly counting. [Especially as it's usually covered up.] But it's always after I space out for a while.

[imaginary_wife]

I'm definitely going to need you to count.

[She says firmly. Then checks whatever readings she has again.]

I'm going to arrange for a more thorough scan. If this thing is getting into anyone's heads, I want it out. I'm guessing you would, too.

[petridish]

[Sarcastic:] Well, damn, I guess I should cut the sleeves off all my shirts. [Yes, yes, she's aware of the concept of pushing them up.

[She's quiet for a moment after Meh decides on another scan.]

I'm sick of it. [A rare moment of emotional honesty instead of just not falsifying her symptoms.]

[imaginary_wife]

Yeah... I would be too. [It can only be using her. Whether it's for base reasons or some grander design, whether it's for something nefarious or some greater good, she is getting used.]

When was the last time it happened?

[petridish]

This morning. [A pause, to assess.] It wasn't as bad as some times.

[imaginary_wife]

Hell. [Just this morning. They've become that frequent, huh?] What's been the worst?

[petridish]

[It's weird, talking about this. She hasn't mentioned it to anyone else, waving it off when other people notice. But once she gets started, it floods out of her.]

Sometimes I lose time. I come to and I'm not where I was before - I can't remember how I got there.

One time I ended up in front of its room.

[imaginary_wife]

I'm going to ask the captains if I can get a surveillance record, too.

I want to know if you looked like you might have wanted to get in there to him. If you ore Tali get touched again, you're dead.

[And she says it with a darker tone than usual, one where, despite her usual mouth, she wants Shepard to know how very seriously she's taking all of this.]

[petridish]

You could ask Nihlus too. He found me.

But... [This, she struggles to articulate.] Even if I did get touched again. I'd still come back.

[Coming back to life onto a ship where people don't seem to stay dead, without two years of reconstructive surgery and a handy supply of spare parts, has not done her sense of mortality any favors.]

[imaginary_wife]

And the mark might come back, too.

...It didn't disappear off of all the deceased. It's possible, but no guarantee. You could die and still encounter symptoms.

You've got a hell of a lot of trouble on you there, toots.

[petridish]

[With a disgruntled sigh, she curls her hands into fists.]

I don't care if it kills me. But I don't want to be the reason it hurts anyone else.

[imaginary_wife]

Like I mentioned, dying might not even stop it.

So... put noble deaths on the back burner for now. [She insists.]

[petridish]

[She blinks, staring at her.]

You think I'm being noble...?

[imaginary_wife]

By some standards. I can appreciate that you wouldn't want it to have control over you.

The people that created my people... [she paused, not sure she should even tell this story] they had control stems to make us obedient.]

[petridish]

[Even before Yewll pauses, she suddenly gets why the doctor's been helping the clones aboard the Moira. People want to help their own, that's why she was raised to save humans, but Yewll's definition is a bit looser than just her species.]

They've got control chips on my world too.

[imaginary_wife]

[She would have helped them anyway, but the fact they're manufactured makes it mean more to her. She's putting in some more information on the latest plant, not looking up, but you can tell the information bothers her.]

Do they...

Did you have one?