[Flashback][Place of Purging]Ambition and Stitches(Veldrys)

[Dhalvasha]

"You'd be surprised sometimes..." Dhalvasha murmured, sliding beside Vasho to help set the leg straight, "Apprehension robs beginning apprentices of their wit sometimes. The ability to make decisive actions is essential in a doctor. Mistake or success, we cannot do it half guessing ourselves." Holding the leg straight as both of them strained to set it correctly, Dhalvasha looked at the young Veldrys with the hint of ulterior interest. Extending that immunity...perhaps his interest in surrogates was akin to Dhalvasha's own, the means to save their race from the rapid decay of self destruction. Perhaps it would be prudent to enlist such a mind for assistance...but Kalinor was becoming stifling and the doctor was not long for the caves.

After the leg was properly held in place, a process Dhalvasha let Veldrys spearhead, he pulled another jar from his own robes and set it beside the others. It was empty, with an animal skin covering the top. Collecting venom from Symenestra was similar to collecting venom from a snake...milking is what they called it, a process he had observed briefly before. Already a collection of his own venom, and the venom of nearly every unconscious Symenestra that had come under his hands took up a dusty collection in his office.

"My father told many stories," the Widow answered with a shrug, "Whether they were true or not is for him to know."

Smiling, Dhalvasha began putting away the supplies from the medical visit, a tidy workspace for the next doctor to pass through. It was common courtesy in the Place of Purging to leave little of ones progress behind. The chart would be left by the door, an examining physician would look over the work and check the clumsy Vasho out. Hopefully in a month or two he'd be back to climbing with minimal damage...more careful now than he had been.

"There is no known neutralizer to Symenestra venom," Dhalvasha answered Veldrys gravely, "As far as medical knowledge has progressed here, the death of the surrogate is almost always assured...removing the child before birth is only marginally successful and far more risky for the baby." He turned away, his own failure written on his face, "Not many put stock by the method any longer."

Picking up the jar, Dhalvasha turned to Veldrys and offered it, proffered in his grasp. "Bite into the jar as though into your prey, instincts and fangs should do the rest...have you eaten recently?"

It was important to know how well fed his donor was. Particularly deadly venom from a malnourished Symenestra had to be labeled as such, and was looked upon exceedingly poorly by the community. Not many understood Dhal's experiments and the Widow preferred it that way. If something came of them, he would be a revolutionary figure in medicine...otherwise regarded as an eccentric doctor with particularly morbid habits.

"A conscious surrogate?" Dhalvasha thought, knowing most of the ones actually in the place of Purging were usually sedated on principle. "I shall arrange a visit for you to the Nest," he said at last, nodding. "In a weeks time we will visit the place together and you can speak to the Surrogates, if you want."

[Veldrys]

„Have you ever been unable to make a decision?“ Veldrys asked as he heard Dhalvasha’s words. As he waited for the older man’s answer, he touched Vasho’s leg with both hands to find out where exactly it was broken. Setting their patient’s leg straight was hard work, and Veldrys looked at Dhalvasha a couple of times to find out whether he approved of what he was doing or not. Once he was done with that, he put something that would prevent infection on Vasho’s leg. „I think I’m finished“, he finally informed Dhalvasha. „WIll you inform me of Vasho’s progress? I’d like to know if he’ll be able to use the leg again.“

As Dhalvasha produced the jar, Veldrys arched an eyebrow and looked at him questioningly, wondering what it contained. Was there more medicine for their patient in it? Why was there animal skin covering the top? He came a bit closer and inspected it. As far as he could see it was empty, so what was it good for? While he helped Dhalvasha tidy up the room a bit, he frequently cast a glance at the mysterious jar, hoping that Dhalvasha would reveal its purpose soon.

As he heard that there was no known neutralizer to Symenestra venom, he sighed although he had expected the answer. „Maybe it just hasn’t been found yet“, he murmurred. „Maybe there is some kind of substance up there ...“ He gestured towards the ceiling, but he actually meant the surface. „... that could help us safe our people. If removing the baby before birth is so risky, maybe we need to use a different method ...“

His voice trailed off. He wasn’t sure if he should continue. This was a difficult topic, and he was nowhere near experienced as Dhalvasha. He wasn’t a surgeon. He had never cut a pregnant woman open and tried to remove the baby, so he wasn’t sure how complicated it really was. He didn’t really feel competent enough to talk about such things, so he focused his attention on the mysterious jar again instead.

As Dhalvasha asked him to bite into it, he furrowed his brow and looked at him as if he didn’t trust him. „Bite ... into ... it?“ he repeated. as if he weren’t sure if he had understood correctly. Veldrys had a rather vivid imagination, but he wasn’t sure if he could pretend that this simple jar was his prey. It didn’t look anything like it.

„I’ve eaten this morning, before I came to the Purging“, he replied, and then he accepted the jar. He took a deep breath, and then he closed his eyes – because pretending that the jar was some kind of animal was easier when he had his eyes closed – and bit into it. It didn’t taste particularly good, but still, Dhalvasha would find a few drops of venom in it afterwards. Shuddering a little, Veldrys handed the jar back to Dhalvasha and remarked, „I prefer living beings to jars. What do you plan on doing with my venom?“

As he heard that Dhalvasha would arrange a visit to the Nest, his eyes lit up. He instantly forgot the slightly unpleasant and weird incident with the jar. „I’m looking forward to it“, he replied. „I thank you, doctor.“

[Dhalvasha]

Taking the jar, Dhalvasha twisted it to observe the clear venom at the bottom. It glittered there, collected into some eternal tear drop. For a moment all the importance of Veldrys' questions were lost. Hysal dragged a claw across the glass before putting the jar under his arm and turning back to the boy. Certainly it was strange, as a practitioner of the process himself, Dhalvasha shared Veldrys' concerns. It simply did feel the same as any other bite. Shaking his head, as though dislodging the answer from his brain, Dhalvasha held up the jar to Veldrys, letting him see the shifting path his venom made around the bottom.

"By analyzing the venom in different family lines of Symenestra, I may be able to isolate a common compound and therefore a chemical to base an antivenom on." He withdrew the jar with a frown, as if saying it aloud would curse the idea, "Admittedly it is in an experimental state, but we do what we must in the name of progress."

Offering a compasisonate hand to the youth's shoulder, Dhalvasha gripped it before withdrawing again. "You're young," he started, stating the obvious before continuing, "There is much for you to learn here, much to see and do...never lose that optimism." In Veldrys, Dhalvasha saw a shadow of who he used to be, who he wanted to be again.

There was hope there, faith...belief.

If only he had not lost those along the way.

"You're a rare one," he continued, turning to the door with the jar under his arm, "Not many of our kind are content enough to do what is necessary in order to advance us, cure us. Never let anything stand in the way of your progress and you may live to see us freed of the Harvest entirely."

Lofty words, but he hoped he placed the seeds of inspiration in the right soil. As he passed out of the room he took the chart from the door and handed it back to Veldrys, "If you are interested in Vasho's progress, visit him whenever you like." As if in afterthought, Dhalvasha pulled the chart back to him and made a slight addendum on the chart, near the bottom. Smiling, he nodded to Veldrys and paced down the hall opposite him, ready to return home...or return somewhere at least.

Somewhere that didn't smell of sterilization and slow death.

The chart stared back at Veldrys, Dhalvasha's edit on the bottom all the young doctor needed of his approval in the older physician's eyes.

Attending Doctors: Dhalvasha Hysal

Veldrys Vervaine.

[Macabre]

Thread Complete!
“Well done. Here are the test results: You are a horrible person. I'm serious, that's what it says: A horrible person. We weren't even testing for that.”

Dhalvasha
XP +2 hypnotism, +3 medicine, +3 teaching, +2 philosophy
Lore: The Vervain Merchants, Anatomy [Moderate]

Veldrys
XP +2 interrogation, +3 medicine, +3 observation
Lore: Venom Milking, Examining Humans [Moderate], Humility in Service

Moderator note: I double-checked with a couple of founders and the use of a syringe and needle in this thread to inject sedatives goes beyond the technology available in Mizahar. Please do not use this item in the future. Speaking in terms of chemical compounds is also beyond the realm of available technology. With a skill of 25 in medicine, you are still a novice, and you wrote well beyond the means of a novice medical practitioner (speaking of amputation, synthesizing antidotes, internal bodily functions), so I docked you a bit for that. This has been changed.
Symenestra are not immune to their venom, but they do have a very high tolerance for the venom they themselves produce. Every Symenestra produces their own venom, and like a fingerprint, all are slightly different.

Technology levels aside, this was a very good thread. I liked the atmosphere you gave the Place of Purging, as well as the struggle of those that think there is a better way to continue the race than Harvesting surrogates. I cannot wait to see any future encounters. If you want to make an outing to the Nest together, please let me know and we can cook up something interesting!

If you have any concerns feel free to PM me.