conductor of the struggle bus [open]

[exuviiated]

[So, after he gets gracelessly dunked and... purified, he supposes, he runs.

Back to his little place in the slums, and there he hides out until he feels ready to face the world again. That comes with time and hunger, and finds him at the mall with what currency he's managed to get from pawning off things he doesn't need.]

Hey, is there any map of the mall? I'm-- I'm lost.

[Very lost.]

Comments

[exuviiated]

[There's absolutely no way for this to end well if she wants to get revenge. Aaron's healing magic can't do much against her, and he really isn't much of a fighter.

Here's to hoping she wasn't looking for revenge for his bad advice.]

Yeah. Me.
--hi.

[diediediediediedie]

[Revenge isn't first on her mind. It's not...not there, but it seems sort of irrelevant at this point.

...What does seem relevant is that there seem to be no shadows on him anymore. Had he or had he not been the one recruiting for them?]

You've lost your shadows, I see.

[It's halfway between a question and an interrogation. What's your game, Aaron?]

[exuviiated]

Yeah, I got...

[Dunked in a magic fountain by people who were my enemies at that point, but aren't now, I guess? seems a little off the mark and ramble-y.]

They're gone now. It wasn't a good investment.

[He looks her over. Does she have any shadows on her?]

[diediediediediedie]

[Well, she's cranky but that's not exactly shadow influence as much as it is standard operating procedure.]

Was your body destroyed as well?

[Apparently that was important now.]

[exuviiated]

N-- no?

[He's incredibly lucky. Also, his hands are clenched tightly and tucked in his pants pockets. Stress.]

I just got dunked into the fountain.

[diediediediediedie]

The fountain...oh, yes, the one on top of the spire.

[Which heals shadows. Good to know. File that away for later. That means he has his...

Suddenly, she sees an opportunity.]

I assume you have your healing magic back?

[exuviiated]

I do.

[That, he's happy about, and he doesn't know why he was ever happy to lose it.]

[It's hard to hurt someone with healing magic.]

Do you need anything?

[diediediediediedie]

[How do you ask a human for help? Why, you sidestep it entirely!]

Well, I thought since we have a power in common, we might be able to...collaborate. In some way.

[Hopefully the fact that she can barely heal papercuts isn't a problem.]

[exuviiated]

That sounds like a good idea. I was healing-- splinters, and stuff, I hurt my finger putting down the bed but it healed pretty quickly after, so I guess fractured or broken bones too.

[He shrugs, smiles, and looks away.]

I'm sure we can work together to find out how this stuff works.

[diediediediediedie]

Right...If this is the only skill these clods have seen fit to give us, we might as well try to figure out something useful to do with it.

[She's a Peridot, not a Quartz. She doesn't handle the healing thing. She means she has literally no idea what to do with it.]

[exuviiated]

Healing's actually really great. I'm.. well, I don't like fighting, I'm not strong or good enough at it, and sticking back and healing people's more my speed. Plus, it actually'll give you a lot of sway. People are a lot more polite when they're hurt and you're the only one that can heal them.

[He speaks from experience.]

[diediediediediedie]

Uh-huh...

[It's not skeptical as much as it is bemused. Bewildered.]

Look, Peridots don't do this sort of thing. We're technicians, not healers. Or fighters. I understand what you're saying about persuasive power but I...I don't know how to do this!

aaron: bad idea central

[exuviiated]

And is that a bad thing?

[Must put positive spin, must put positive spin.]

The body is like a machine. Technicians fix glitches and damage to machines, right?

[He pulls his sleeve up, shows her the pale blue veins running down his wrist.]

Like-- whatever goes in machines. If it's cut, the machine dies. To fix it, you gotta put it back together properly. I can--

[Will he regret this?]

You can practice on me, if you want. I can heal stuff you can't.

Being a constant font of bad ideas isn't uncommon around here at least!

[diediediediediedie]

Are you-

[She was bemused before. She is completely and utterly stunned now.]

Are you actually offering to let me dissect you?!

Re: Being a constant font of bad ideas isn't uncommon around here at least!

[exuviiated]

Well, no, not really, more like cuts and scrapes? Any actual dissecting I'm going to do myself. Plus, the hospital probably has a cadaver if you want to do that.

[Her mind immediately jumps to dissection. Great job in cohorts, Aaron.]

[diediediediediedie]

Oh yes, I forgot that humans are far less durable than Gems- Wait, you...perform dissections on yourself?

[She can't be understanding that right.]

What's a cadaver?

[exuviiated]

So, an animal corpse is a carcass, but a human corpse is a cadaver, so, basically, a dead body.

[That could have been phrased better.]

And I don't, no, but I-- well, I, after I got dunked in the fountain I spent a lot of time practicing my magic.

[diediediediediedie]

You have a word for that?

[Well, she supposes it makes sense.]

Gems don't leave bodies behind when we're damaged. I've...only ever encountered a dead human once, and I didn't get to spend much time around it.

[Let's just...dispense with the why and how of that incident.]

It would be better to practice on a live human anyway. Death just revives creatures around here, so it's a waste of energy to heal a dead body.

[exuviiated]

Yeah.

[And then he's quiet to allow her to talk. And since the dead human is only mentioned in passing, he decides to let sleeping dogs lie and move on.]

You don't leave behind bodies? Why?

[diediediediediedie]

Well, strictly speaking we don't actually have bodies. Our bodies are hard-light holograms that we project outwardly from our gems.

[She gestures towards the one on her forehead. See? Gem.]

When our bodies are too damaged to function we simply retreat into our gems to regenerate. So much cleaner than...Well, you know.

[exuviiated]

Oh. That's cool.

[He doesn't fully understand it, but that might come with time.]

Do you think your healing magic works on projections? Or gems?

[diediediediediedie]

Yes, I...had an opportunity to test it some time ago. It definitely works on our bodies. I'm not sure about our gems, but I admittedly can't think of a reason it wouldn't work on gems.

Not that I understands how it works at all...

[She's getting crabby again...]

[exuviiated]

Hey, hey, I don't know how it works either, only that it does.

[He holds his hands up in a hopefully placating gesture.]

Anyways, I gotta go eat something. Do you want to come with me? I mean, it's fine if you don't want to.

[diediediediediedie]

...Eat?

Oh, right. Gems don't need to do... [visible shudder] ...body function things, like you humans do.

[exuviiated]

Hah, yeah, if I don't eat I'll die. You guys are lucky.

[Is that a social faux-pas to gems? Mentioning body function things? He certainly hopes not.]