week 6, friday w/ cardia

[alchemenace]

[ here we are, mourning our skeleton father in front of his glass case. which is to say once cardia decides to leave the foyer, varian's actually waiting for her. or maybe he's just angsting near the doorway, it's hard to tell with his hands full of raccoon. though he does speak to her when he sees her-- ]

Hey. Cardia. ... Are you okay?

[ he doesn't know her well, but he knows she was close with fane, too. ]

Comments

[alchemenace]

He didn't really hide it when he liked or disliked someone, right? So you shouldn't doubt it.

[ it's something varian tells himself, at least. anyway: ]

... Sorry we haven't really talked more before this, by the way.

[discardia]

[ He's not wrong. ]

Ah-- no, it's all right, I should have spoken with you sooner too. I still wasn't sure if people would be uncomfortable around me-- but there's really no excuse.

[alchemenace]

... Why would people be uncomfortable around you?

[ is varian not nosy enough about cardia or is it that he genuinely doesn't understand: a mystery ]

[discardia]

Normally, I'm poisonous to the touch. People... naturally, were afraid of that, and a lot of them thought I was to blame for plague and drought...

That may not be the case here, but I can't guarantee the poison won't come back, either.

[alchemenace]

[ honestly, his first reflex is to think of that as fascinating, but he's not about to say it ]

Heh, I'm not too worried about touching if that happens? [ he raises his gloved hands, but also-- ] Is that naturally occurring with your body?

[discardia]

Unless it's treated with a certain substance, any object, fabric included, isn't safe either.

... But it's a product of the gem in my chest-- which is also keeping me alive.

[alchemenace]

... I see.

[ hmmmm... ]

So technically, all you'd need to do is find a way to modify the gem to nullify the poison production while it keeps the properties that are keeping you alive. It's not poisoning you, right?

[ he says it like it's simple. ]

[discardia]

No, I'm immune to it.

[ ... he says it like it's simple??? ]

[alchemenace]

Oh, good. Then obviously there's something inside of you that counteracts the poison already, so it's just a matter of figuring out what and applying it to the outside, too.

[ im sorry varian is like this and is now reacting to cardia's life problems like they're easily solvable with his stupid magic science ]

[discardia]

... Rapunzel did say you'd probably know something about this.

[alchemenace]

[ he falters a bit at the mention of rapunzel but. shrugs ] Ha, yeah, it's, uh, kind of why we met. Though her situation was a lot less-- drastic? than poison.

[discardia]

I'm glad for that. This isn't really something I'd wish on anyone.

[ sorry for mentioning your dead friend!! ]

[alchemenace]

[ yes. friend. that's. why he's faltering... anyway -- ]

Yeah, it doesn't ... sound great. Especially if everyone's calling you a monster because of it? [ which doesn't surprise him, people are... people, but it's still. terrible. ] But I don't think it's reason to be scared of you. Logically speaking, the obvious solution is to make it so you're not poisonous instead? It's not like you want to be.

[discardia]

I don't, but...

[ she gestures, a little ruefully. ]

When you can make things rot just by touching them, it... well, no one really wants to ask questions. They just want to protect themselves.

[alchemenace]

... Yeah. They just wrote you off as something dangerous, right? Ha. People are awful everywhere.

[ he clears his throat a bit, shaking his head ]

But I'm, I'm serious. I don't think your situation's impossible to work out.

[discardia]

... Thank you. If you have any insight on this later, please let me know.

[alchemenace]

Of course, it's-- it's not a problem.

[ and then he didn't because he died ]