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A Good Going-Over

Started by Cobalt, May 07, 2015, 01:53:51 AM

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Cobalt

Hooray! Hideously intimate interrogation time! Of all the times of day, this was frequently the best. Maybe that was sad. Zea could consider the possibility later.

Oblirin. Zea didn't know quite what to make of that name. One of the more foreign she had heard in a fair string of minutes.

"Zea Misra. Calling me Zea is fine, though if you meet me in a temple setting just... I don't know. Do whatever everyone else is doing." This was not theology time. "And uh. This seems more rounded?" She tried to close her fingers on it, but they skidded in blood and slipped right off. "Little sonovabitch. Not you," she amended, realizing that this Oblirin probably didn't need to be cursed at in addition to rummaged about inside. "Just got to get this... thing here..."

Finally, after a couple more near misses, Zea just coagulated the blood between her fingers and the smooth surface within, forming first a tacky sludge and then a stiff scab. What she pulled out was now extremely messy but probably not physically dangerous. It was the writing on it that made her pull a scowl.

"This feels like metal too. It's got marks on it, looks like writing. I don't know if you saw anything like that before, but I'll set it aside. You can screw around with it later if you really want."

SilmeriaElemred

''Maybe I should see what they put in me. If I encounter my kin I could warn them about whatever this is. I did... '' he growled again. ''..I did clear out the nest of people who did this though'' he calmed down again. ''Zea... what you mentioned with do whatever everyone else is doing. Makes me curious what happens in there. I am not that old by my kin's standards but I have seen a lot of crazy things. What is it I can expect in there''

Cobalt

"Nothing weird or anything," said Zea Misra with her bare fingers ready to dig back into live dragonflesh.

"Just pretty standard religious order hierarchy type things. Forms of address being different depending on who you are versus who they are. All that. No dragon-eaters that I know of, but still. You have gotta stop telling people why they should try it. I can't..." Zea bit her lip and twisted her hand to get it back into the wound at the right angle. "...do this all the time, you know." A little further... "I have a job."

SilmeriaElemred

In other circumstances Oblirin could have laughed. ''I have a humanform. I do not think I am going to boast around to anybody to try dragonblood or anything else related to eating something else that could give someone magical properties.'' he grunted again. Suprised though others had not come to see where the growling and roar from earlier had come from. ''What are the detailes of your job Zea?'' he asked.

The talking at the least kept his mind occupied on something else then pain. Hence he would not mind she'd ask him anything.

Cobalt

At least she could get Oblirin to commit not to actively evangelizing about the benefits of people carving up dragons or tapping them like wine kegs. It didn't guarantee it wouldn't waste all her time and effort giving other people reasons to commit... dracocide? Zea wasn't sure. Whatever.

This tissue was pretty much just muscle. That was good. Zea had already messed around with some of Oblirin's muscle, so hopefully that would speed things up until she found some new anatomical territory to blaze with her bare hands.

"I do research, mostly. Surgery on live people isn't actually my usual. Generally it's all dissections and corpse grafting for me. There are some procedures people just aren't likely to consent to, and not everybody can hold still as well as you can. Kudos, by the way."

She gave that newly-closed puncture wound the little pat that signalled she was done with it. Onward and backward! Time to see what else had been crammed inside this dragon.

SilmeriaElemred

''Staying still has benefits for both of us. I feel less pain and you can work easier. A lot of things can be learned from looking in a body. I can imagine not everyone agrees to that since it hurts like hell.'' He paused briefly to breathe calmly. ''Do not be suprised if I pass out but do know, since I am grateful for your help you can ask me anything and research some things if you wish. I do not think I need to ask you not to kill me, you would nit want your current work to be for nothing.''

Cobalt

Damn right she wouldn't. She was doing weird fiddly possibly contaminating finger-digging dragon surgery; this was not the sort of surprise task she wanted to see wasted. She did not, after all, have a plan in the event of Oblirin's death. Plan C would be a tricky matter.

"Passing out's fine. This is a pretty terrible experience you're having so no worries." Zea had now acknowledged her patient's suffering and privately congratulated herself on her bedside manner. She could do this live people thing.

Looked like some more back things. Why the spine? Didn't they know how dangerous that was? Well, if they were milking Oblirin for dragon blood, maybe they didn't have particularly great hazard gauges.

"But I think I'll take you up on that research and questions angle. I've never worked with dragon anatomy before. You all aren't exactly bequeathing your corpses left and right and apparently there's a black market organ value thing, which I am sure contributes."

SilmeriaElemred

Oblirin nodded. That indeed worked. He would stay awake for as long as he could. Perhaps he could even see through the whole procedure conscious. Although he had his doubts about that. His vision was blurry. ''Ask ahead. Talking seems to keep me awake''

Cobalt

Zea was so generous, she would ask a dragon intrusive questions because it was just a vital part of a decent bedside manner. She was compassionate and giving, and somebody somewhere would surely have been willing to say so. She hasn't ever met such a person, but it was a big weird world out there and anything was possible.

She began to worm her fingers into another puncture in the dragon's back.

"So how much truth is there to the whole fire breathing dragon thing? Your report on the matter holds way more authority than common wisdom filtered through... whatever, through the recollections of jumpy peasants."

SilmeriaElemred

''Some dragons breathe fire. I certainly don't. My kin...'' he grunted a little due some discomfort. ''..My kin can summon rain, manipulate clouds to let it rain and we can manipulate nature. Males can also create lightning. So to answer your question. Yes. They can breathe fire but there are a lot of different kinds of dragons out there who can't and have something else. Some also are violent. Like what you said, scaring peasants? My kin of dragons only eat meat if there is absolutely nothing else. ''

Cobalt

The fire thing was real! The weather control thing sounded a lot more lucrative, though, at least outside of Thanatos. Assuming Oblirin could avoid having his blood distilled down to potions, it seemed like a pretty comfortable living to just find some farmland and settle in for a portion of the crops. Then again, that sounded hideously boring to Zea. Maybe Oblirin would agree.

"All right, then. In that case it's probably worth telling you that you're in Thanatos and unbalancing the weather won't make you a lot of friends here. Smashing and bleeding on coca leaves is one thing, but you could make things tricky for yourself if you start having a larger impact on the local environment."

What Zea felt inside this particular puncture was way smaller than the previous one. She had to pinch it between her fingernails before she could begin pulling it out, but like the other it also had what she could only assume was some sort of writing on it. Hopefully Oblirin recognized the language, because it might come in handy depending on what other enchantments it could hold.

SilmeriaElemred

''Bleeding over them wont do the job but I get your point. As long as there is fruit or nectar I'm good. Also I consume a lot less in my human form so I should just stick to that. Thanathos though... wildlife being scarce here should not prove a problem for my kins diet.'' he took a deep calm breath.

''How does the Thanatos society view the kind of extration I undertook anyway. Is it legal?''

Cobalt

"Well. That's an interesting question."

Bleeding all over the coca leaves might not be the worst thing for them. Zea did not have time right this particular moment to study the impact on alchemical formulae of a little bit of dragon blood, but it seemed like there was at least a slight chance that it would be good for the efficacy of the resultant compound. Despite her current convenient access to dragon ichor, further study would have to wait.

She flicked the latest little arcane doodad over with the others.

"There might be some people who consider your wellbeing less important because you aren't Thanati yourself. But we don't do slavery here and most of us don't even really eat monkeys or birds, let alone a fully conscious person. I doubt their exception for you would go far enough for that even if you are a little... excessively exotic."

Zea began to pinch and twist to stop the bleeding at this surgical site like she had for the others.

"You still shouldn't encourage anyone to eat you. Just in general."

SilmeriaElemred

''Oh I will not encourage people to eat me. Was just wondering. If people here are not interested in dragon blood or spinal fluid or bonemarrow it most likely got exported. I flew here in a half unconscious state but know I did not get far or crossed any large body of water. If it is black market then perhaps whoever I left alive should be put to justice instead. I got out but if I missed anyone and they capture another of my kin or anything else it would not be good would it.'' he said with a weak growl. Thus far his head had always been raised but he started to slowly move it closer to the ground.

Cobalt

Zea grunted noncommittally at this revelation. Oblirin might have been being kept here, then. While this was ethically unacceptable, on a professional level it bothered Zea even more. If this sort of nonsense got out, it would attract scrutiny to just the sorts of markets she occasionally made use of herself. What a disaster.

"Hey. Relax for a minute. I know you've got a lot of feelings right now but if you work yourself up and rip open your liver you're not going to be any good to anybody. If it's any encouragement..."

She trailed a hand down until she found the stickiest and freshest blood next in her path. This wound was lower. Could be Oblirin was right that they wanted more than blood. Certainly if Zea didn't have more important work to do, she'd be curious about Oblirin's other humors as well.

"...I might be able to make some inquiries. I don't think all of my usual contacts would be too shocked by me expressing interest, so I might be able to work my way toward whatever supplier is moving your... uh. Various fluids. I make a credible potential buyer at least."

SilmeriaElemred

''Truth be told... if they wanted my blood they just could have asked. My main problem was that they kept me there in the dark for years hooked up on whatever they had. But true. A ruptured liver does not sound so good. Or anything ruptured actually...''

His jaws made a weird smile before his head gently touched the ground. He did not fully pass out though. His eyes were half open and he still growled or snarled softly at feelings of discomfort. The bloodloss just had made him really tired. But he knew too if he would fall asleep now he could be done for and Zea's hard work would be for nothing.

''Would you go to such lengths by the way... do be careful. The harvesters once killed one of their own because he almost spilled the words when he was drunk. ''

Cobalt

Oblirin just gave blood away. Just... oh you want my precious life fluids sure open that vein up in the actual real world? What an opportunity for research that could have been! And now Oblirin was going to be all fucked up about it. Fantastic. Way to go, kidnapping dragon-drainers. Just perfect.

She had to pause what she was doing when the dragon expressed concern for her wellbeing, because she was laughing hard enough that she couldn't keep her hands steady.

"Oh... oh wow. I mean..." She rubbed her cheek against her bare shoulder to see if her eyes were watering because it felt like they were. "...Of course they'd try. But there's got to be a line drawn somewhere, or they're going to shut down the entire arcane research community in this area by being unbelievably and apparently unnecessarily unprofessional."

SilmeriaElemred

Oblirin could not help but chuckle. ''A life for a life you know. You save mine, I will protect yours. That's how I work.'' the chuckling hurt though.

''But if they wanted my blood for research I could not care less and would have given it without a struggle. But they... without asking, just bound me in chains and took everything they could tap off me without killing me. Rendered me incapable of using most of my magic and sold what they took. They only wanted to see gold. They are not researchers. If they are they are, like you said unnecessarily unprofessional. I hope you do not mind I add selfish in front of it and assholes behind it.'' he chuckled again resulting him into coughing briefly. But after that he just laid still once more so Zea could continue.

Cobalt

A dragon evidently owed her some kind of life debt.

Now there was a handy thing.

Of course a dragon would understand the notion of proper exchanges, even one as apparently generous as Oblirin. It was generally best not to rely on other people's sense of indebtedness, but Zea absolutely wouldn't forget once they acknowledged it first. After all... denying that Oblirin owed her a favor would be like saying that the dragon's life was worthless. That would be mean. She'd hate to be mean so she'd find an angle, even if it was just some kind of vague interest on Oblirin's part in her continued survival.

"No, those words seem accurate. Plenty of selfish assholes can manage to be professional, though. That's what really pushes this over the line for me, though in your position I would also have that whole vengeance motivation. They took out pieces of your hide. I'd say you're owed a few pieces of theirs. How's your magic feeling, by the way? Any impact from me taking out what I have?"

SilmeriaElemred

''I do feel warmer.'' Oblirin admitted. ''Some places where there had been internal damage are itching which means they are mending. I do need to make sure things do not close up until it is sure there are no things in there you pulled out of the others.''

he looked to a patch of trampled grass. Inhaled and then slowly breathed out on it. As he did so, a few patches of white strawberries started to form and grow to the point where the fruit was ripe to be eaten. ''I think that answers your question too. When the rest is out I am sure I could make something a little more impressive.''

He closed his eyes and focussed a bit. ''there is another object in the middle of my tail... and one against the spine not far from the previous one. Those two seem to still hold my magic back. And there are still some needles in the wounds I will not attempt to close myself. As for the hides. If I have the time I surely would not mind to actually let any potentional surviving ones undergo the same treatment. Another dragon certainly would have eaten them alive but I do not eat people.''

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