[Thread] Experiment?

[umemorizethis]

Who Vexen and Axel
What Some nobodies got hearts over wishing event. Vexen investigates. Axel volunteers.
When After this
Where Vexen's tent

Comments

[glacialscience]

Vexen stiffened at the voice coming from behind him. Even now the sound of Axel's voice, even spoken in such an insignificant manner, provoked a chill through him. Not that he would ever admit to such a thing, supposed heart or no. It gave the other man too much power.

The scientist turned around and waved the other Nobody (person? Vexen wasn't quite sure what it made them, now) in. "Axel. I would prefer you remain silent and still, and we will get through this as quickly as possible," he said in a clipped tone. "The coat needs to come off," he said absently, rifling through what supplies he had managed to salvage from his lab.

[umemorizethis]

Axel laughed a little. "Hey, was just letting you know I was coming in... I coulda just sneaked in, but I figured you'd like that less." The redhead gave Vexen a grin before he shrugged, unzipping his coat.

"You know if you work too fast you might not find anything." He suggested, setting his coat off to the side. He rose an eyebrow at Vexen, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're not going to cut me open are ya?"

[glacialscience]

"Do not tempt me," the other Nobody replied coolly, before he took the other man's wrist to take a measure of his pulse. A physical thing, true...but the physical effects of this new occurrence were just as important as the emotional ones. It was important to know if they were more vulnerable to death, after all.

"How have you been feeling, VIII?" Vexen asked carefully as he finished his read on the other man's pulse and jotted a few notes down. It was a loaded question for a Nobody. Axel's answer could offer quite a bit of information, if the man took it seriously for once.

[umemorizethis]

And of course, whether he had a heart or not, his nature to mess with Vexen pulled up to the surface. "Oh, you know. The usual. The unexplainable urge to start fires and eat ice cream...sometimes both at the same time." Axel grinned. "How 'bout you tell me how you've been feeling, IV? Not so easy to describe now is it?" the redhead laughed. How could Vexen ask a Nobody how they feel when all they knew was everything they ever 'felt' was a memory of how they used to feel? He shrugged. "Whatever it is that I feel, I'm having a hard time controlling it."

[glacialscience]

Vexen scowled and the temperature of his hands seemed to drop three degrees. "How amusing. I would suggest keeping one away from the other," Vexen said dryly, stepping back to do a visual examination. That was the most he was willing to do with the irritating red-head.

His second question almost made Vexen summon ice crystals. Almost. "I don't feel much of anything, VIII," he replied coolly. "I have been a Nobody a lot longer than you. A heart...is something incredibly unfamiliar to me. And you have never had much luck in controlling anything, heart or no."

[umemorizethis]

Axel jumped a bit as he felt Vexen drop in temperature. "Ah! Hey! Watch it, Ice man!" He grunted, glad that his fellow Nobody stepped back. He really didnt want icicles touching him. He rubbed his wrist, shrugging his shoulders. "You have some awful bedside manner, you know that?" The flurry couldnt help but chuckle. He had to hand it to the scientist; he was right about him lacking control regardless.

"So... you got me taking off my jacket just to feel my wrist? If you wanted to see me shirtless, all you had to do was ask you dirty old man."

[glacialscience]

"Will you be quiet for one second, Neophyte?!" Vexen snapped, picking up a flashlight and shining it into Axel's eyes. It was to check involuntary reaction time...but he would have been lying if he wasn't trying to be petty. Just a little.

"I wanted to see if there was any discoloration. Bruising, marks on the chest, that sort of thing," the Scientist muttered, trying to stay as clinical and detached as he could manage. Which wasn't staying much. "Have you had any injury at all since this...feeling developed?"

[umemorizethis]

"He-Hey!" Axel winced immediately as he got a flashlight to the eyes, eyebrows furrowing and nose scrunching a bit before he got back to relaxed. "A warning would've been nice." He grumbled, letting Vexen make his observations and do his work. A part of Axel did worry that this was temporary.... and if it was, if Vexen could get all the information he could, maybe there was a way to get it back if it disappeared.

"I dont think someone came to me overnight and did open-heart surgery to get one in there." Axel rolled his eyes. "I've been just fine and dandy since it happened. I felt my chest hurt when it happened, but I think that was my body getting used to it. Then I felt really happy and I adjusted." He'd leave out the part when he was leaking through the eyes. Vexen didnt really need to know that did he?

[glacialscience]

"You don't deserve one," Vexen replied simply before making another few notes. How unfortunate that the man seemed to be physically unaffected. "Besides, it would ruin the whole point of doing it. Did it hurt so badly?"

The Academic turned to look through the already written notes, before calmly plucking a few red hairs and putting them in a vial for closer examination. "I see," Vexen replied. "And did anything significant happen afterward?"

[umemorizethis]

"Ow! Son of a-" Before he knew it, Vexen had plucked hair from his head. Axel immediately hit Vexen's hand. "Dude, seriously. NO bedside manner. Maybe something significant happened... maybe not. If you're going to keep being violent, I'm not going to tell you anything."

[glacialscience]

Vexen's eyes widened slightly and he couldn't help but jerk back at Axel's sudden movement, an icicle piercing through the ground right next to the other Nobody but not quite sticking in him. "Do not...do not touch me, VIII!" he snarled, perhaps a little more upset than necessary. Even if just he scent of the other man brought up memories that he would rather forget. Memories tainted with newly recovered emotion.

"If you took this seriously for one moment, I would have no need to treat you so. Be silent unless you are asking a question," he huffed.

[umemorizethis]

Axel blinked at him.... pausing a mment, despite IV's sudden attack. He had never really seen Vexen react that way before. Okay, he probably saw him go over the top, but he actually seemed scared or upset this time. He grinned slightly. "Fine." He sat himself down, looking up at the scientist. He was quiet.... for about a second.

"What was that all about, IV? Want to talk about it?"

[glacialscience]

Vexen, who had progressed in his investigation to the point of scraping off a few skin cells from the man's arm, grimaced. It suddenly became a lot harder to keep his hand still. Though...cutting the other Nobody might have been satisfying indeed.

"Didn't I tell you to be silent?" Vexen hissed. "You will not touch me. That is all."

[umemorizethis]

"You said be silent unless I had a question. Didn't I ask you a question?" For someone who talked a lot, Axel liked to think he was a good listener... at least to the things he wanted to hear. "...what's DNA sampling going to do?" he found himself to be curious and then it hit him. "...Vexen, what if we're not Nobodies anymore? Is that even possible?"

[glacialscience]

"Not a valid one. Better yet, do not speak unless spoken to," Vexen huffed, "And it's not DNA sampling. It's only a cell sample to make sure the basic structure hasn't been altered. I do not know the variant of magic available on this Island...it's best to be thorough."

The second question stopped the Academic in his tracks. "I don't know," he answered finally. "Even if we have..regained our hearts as such, I do not know what the effect of the Island might be on that. Not to mention our memories do not change. We are not the same as our Others, anymore."

[umemorizethis]

"Obviously." Axel responded, figuring under Vexen's newly established 'rules' it was appropriate to respond. "...So.... if we have our hearts, why are we still like this in these bodies, and not back to our Others?" Not that Axel wanted to be remembered as anyone else other than himself. Lea was an ok guy... but he liked who he was.