a fanatical thing

[longaevus]

Who: Helen Magnus & Daedalus Yumeno
When: November 17, before noon
Where: Helen's lab
Summary: Helen has abnormal blood, Daedalus has experience with a different kind of abnormal cells
Warnings: Medical stuff

Comments

[gaveherwings]

Dr. Yumeno was anxious. It wasn't every day, after all- in fact, he'd never disclosed the full details of his research to anyone in his field before.

It was personal, his onus, his assignment, his Proxy research project. He feared that Helen Magus would not, could not possibily understand the deed gravity of the work he was entrusting to her.

And yet, for the sake of securing Re-l's future, it had to be done. In case, just in case of an unfortunate act of cruelty from the Core, if he should be torn from this place, and from her...

Someone else needed to know

[longaevus]

"I am, thank you." Helen didn't jump at his presence, having heard the door and footsteps on his approach - she'd left a message letting him know that the door would be open for him.

She held the vial of her blood up for a brief moment, studying it as if it was that she could see something different or abnormal in it (which she couldn't), before lowing her hand, turning to Daedalus. She gave a brief smile and a curt nod ad his question. No messing around - she liked it.

"You have your sample for comparison with you?" She didn't know if he had an actual sample of the cells or simply visual documentation of it but either would be able to provide materials for comparison - she'd be able to get the image of her blood onto the computer if need be.

[gaveherwings]

"I have it with me here." He holds up his folded NV, sensitive data to be carried around on a communication device he always kept on his person, but Re-l and the Proxy's files were locked and encrypted.

It had been a year and a half, and Romdeau Holobooks were somewhat delicate instruments, six months disposable and replaceable by the next model, typically. Never intended to hold up to as much use as he's squeezed out of it.

Still, he's not ready to throw his Romdeau possessions away. Not so much out of sentiment, but because the technology here isn't quite as nice- people's keyboards are arranged differently than the way he's used to, and he's not looking forward to the eventual adjustment

[longaevus]

Helen gave a nod, making a slide from her blood for the comparison. Had she had more materials (or rather her research, the Source blood or the sample of her blood from when she'd been ill) they'd have had more to compare but even the two samples that they had may give them more than what a first appearance would seem.

"That part I'd gathered." The non-human qualities of the cells, at least, given that that was where she specialised. "Did they rule it also?" After the Vampires had built up their cities - at least the ones which they inhabited, rather than their slaves - they'd ruled with it, although much of it had fallen after the uprising and their sub-sequential deaths. And the same had happened again with Praxis. She'd heard much of Romdeau but she hoped that the same hadn't occurred there.

[gaveherwings]

"Our regent was instated to govern the city, and keep order among the citizens." Daedalus shrugged, shaking his head, although he seemed a little smug with knowing, to even credit such a thing to Donov. Scoffing, he paged through hundreds of numbered files, ones he hadn't looked through in awhile, for the particular one he wished to use for a demonstration. "But really, is that mortal control akin to dominion?"

There was a keen sense of intimacy now, so suddenly and all at once, the sort of self-indulgently demonstrative practice that comes with turning out a treasure box for company. And the doctor was quick to move from cells and science into metaphysics and societal implications, this time, because it was critical for Helen to understand everything, if she was to become his back up, his own failsafe, for Re-l

[longaevus]

Helen gave a nod, letting it sink in without trying to think of it too much. She could think on it later, try and understand it then. Even with all that she'd heard, that he'd explained there was much that was still a mystery - and possibly always would be

[gaveherwings]

"The specimen I was able to observe-" Daedalus frowned, stepping back to allow her a look at the slides. "For the majority of that time, I was under strict orders to keep it comatose. So I didn't have the opportunity to see the full range of a Proxy's abilities."

"They possess an incredible strength and mobility. A rapid regenerative capacity. The ability to change shape between a monstrous form, and something more humanoid. I have reason to believe they possess some sort of telepathic capacity as well? They can spread the Cogito Virus upon contact with autoreivs. Their cellular composition, if undisturbed by full spectrum sunlight or contact with another Proxy, is immortal. They can even split themselves into more than one entity."

"And this is only a fraction of the the power they must hold." Daedalus, eyes rounded and almost fanatical in his passion for the subject, tries to show some sense of scale with his hands. Just how little he knows. "Even I don't understand the full implications of their power. It really is a god-like

[longaevus]

"The autoreiv's- like Pino?" Daedalus had mentioned that term with regards to her once before. The fact that she could have a virus? Computers could get viruses but Pino sounded far more than that, far more than simply a programme in a body and to have a virus sounded more human

[gaveherwings]

"Yes, Pino was a child companion model, most served a variety of functions." Daedalus nodded, distantly missing Deleuze and Guatarri, even now- not so much for company as much as something to handle all the mundane work, without the guilt of burdening another human in some menial service job.

"We observed properties at the cellular and genetic level." But that wasn't the whole of it. " Also, it did eventually wake up. I think this response had something to do with the proximity of another Proxy, entering central district."

"I'm not certain. They were capable of sustaining a city's life systems, we never quite figured out by what means, or how to harness that potential for something of our own design."

Aside from Real, who was his short-lived masterwork. His expression seems somber now, reflecting

[longaevus]

Helen nodded. Companion types; a variant. She could understand.

"I've known species of abnormal capable of the same." Some only had enhanced senses (smell, hearing) whereas others simply knewTo that Helen gave a simple nod, knowing that there was little more information that she could get on that, but that part wasn't as relevant - unlike what she had to give him

[gaveherwings]

Daedalus nodded, listening- pleased to set her work beside Dr. Xavier's work with mutants and his own with Proxies- although that didn't mean they always lined up well, it gave so much new element to his work worth looking into.

Intellectual partners were one of his favorite things about living here.

"So you're saying it triggers some kind of mutation which increases the length of telomeres?" He questioned keenly, peering down into the microscope. "Does their blood carry a virus, that does this? Or does that happen in some other way?"

[longaevus]

"Abnormalities are not a curse, no matter what some may think of it." Herself included in it, how many times could you bury those you cared about with no end to your life in sight and not view it as a curse?

"There are human abnormalities, or mutations in some cases. Diseases are a part of this, but other genetics make us different from others also, make us abnormal; hair or eye colour, for example. But you were right in the first case." Helen paused, elaborating with an example.

"If you were to inject my blood it would lengthen your lifespan, not permanently as with my longevity but temporarily so." It's why she wouldn't donate blood, that and complications that had arisen in the past she was worried may occur again.

[gaveherwings]

"I deeply appreciate that assertion!" Daedalus laughs, sitting back with his arms moving into a comfortable fold across his stomach. "Trying to get a scientific explanation for vampirism from Dr. Seward is like pulling teeth! I tire of all that talk of damned bloodsucking fiends!"

"Through transfusion, wouldn't the immune system reject it?" He considers keenly, cocking his head with a riddle of a smile. "You can't just apply a foreign cell bodies to anything and hope that pans out."

Project ADW had been a miserable failure in that way, after all. Trying to introduce and Amrita Cell infusion to anyone but Re-l Mayer proved too much for a normal human to handle.

[longaevus]

"For Dr. Seward it is possible that what he says is true Given the differences that I've found in the vampires here compared to those of my world things in general may be entirely different, as tiresome as it is." Helen could understand why it would be, to hear of one opinion with a lack of a scientific basis (and when you're a man of science? It wasn't what you wished to hear).

"It wasn't a transfusion. I centrifuged my blood, purifying it from abnormalities barring the longevity. Injecting that granted temporary longevity." And if she looks a little uncomfortable with that? It's the memories that go along with it more so than the act itself (although she isn't planning on ever doing it again).

[gaveherwings]

"Temporary longevity?" Daedalus squints, sitting back in the chair and watching her unease with curiosity. Did she hold some of Re-l's reservations about the potential for existing beyond the lifespan of most contemporaries? Perhaps. Really, that only made her all the more ideal candidate, to know where those feelings stemmed from.

"So...definitely not the same thing as immortality." He clarifies, giving her full attention. "...And it was a medical procedure, not an infectious bite?"

[longaevus]

"Temporary, yes." Given that a century later John had come to her again, asking for more of her blood? He'd been dying - not of his age but from his original ailment, the very thing that her longevity had helped put at bay (although had the longevity worn off? They wouldn't know for decades more, although the blood she'd given him the second time... it pushed that further back