[The Place of Purging] [Flashback] Autopsy (Poison)

[Dhalvasha]

The thought was an attractive one, made more enticing by the sheer possibility of its success. He took the brain from her, weighting it in his hands absently. His eyes followed the rippling of the brain itself, wondering idly if their brains were different, where the personality dwelt in there, or...if it was everywhere at once. Running a claw along the surface, it came back wet, almost sticky. The fluid there was not completely water but some sort of biological substance keeping the organ moist. With care, he carved his claw along the brain, dividing it in half before pulling the pieces apart. The inside was much the same as the outside, dense tissue of riddling shapes and unknowable language...written as were most brains, with the biological language of life. The biggest difference in this organ from other samples collected from the discarded skulls of animals was size, but that was obvious.

However, for larger animals, what made their organ size still less effective than a human brain? What detnoted sentience in a creature, and how did it develop? Was it Djed?

Could animals access that sort of force as well?

It bore some interesting concepts, but ultimately there was nothing to prove it with now. Laying down the halves of the brain, Dhalvasha wrote the notes in his pocket book, speculating on the need to explore these further ruminations...but that would be for later. For now he followed Alassa's words without looking at her, almost shivering away from her touch but hold his composure. The relationship between them was charged, but nonetheless inert. They were ripe for possibility, but Dhalvasha had been distant of late...ruminating, colder.

Besides, he was otherwise committed.

"An enticing possibility," he answered her at last, glancing over the body and to her with the hint of a smile, "I will defer to your negotiation abilities, however, I have been told my bedside manner can be cold at best...abrasive at worst."

He smiled, not in mirth but more because the response seemed appropriate. Lately he'd been reacting to most things in such a way, not through emotion but casual observation. Socializing felt hollow and everything in Kalinor felt alien and hostile.

He wasn't long for here, and he felt it now more than ever.

Still, research first and his fragile emotions after...it did him no good to reflect on such eventualities when there was progress to be made.

He nodded to her, washing his hands in a basin of water absently. "Shall we depart then?"

[Poison]

Alassa watched with fascination as Dhalvasha cut the brain in half. „It’s amazing, isn’t it?“ she remarked. „I’ve always wondered where exactly a person’s personality is. Is it in the brain – and where exactly in the brain is it? Which part of the brain enables us to work magic? And why do we not gain another person’s memories if we consume their brain?“ She looked at the organ in Dhalvasha’s hands and let out a sigh. Sometimes she wished she could operate on somebody while they were still alive, but they always died so quickly if you opened their skull!

„Don’t worry“, she remarked. „You don’t need good bedside manner for this. In fact people that pamper their patients and constantly tell them that everything will be alright get on my nerves. I don’t really expect our future patient to get better.“ She went to the basin to wash her hands as well. Normally she didn’t mind being a little bloody, but if they wanted to convince the Anice Web to hand their surrogate over, she needed to make a certain impression on them. „Let’s go“, she told him.

She cast one last glance at the dead surrogate and the brain, and then she shrugged her shoulders. She’d let somebody else clean up here. „Do you know where the Anice Web lives?“ she asked him as they made their way through the Purging. „Their house is near the Weft and Warp. It shouldn’t take us too long to get there. Who of us should talk to them first, do you think?"

[Dhalvasha]

She echoed the thoughts in his mind, such a delightful girl. Truly, around Alassa Dhalvasha could almost let the tragedy of his mistake fall through his fingers. With her it was the simple pursuit of knowing. Life, in all its tired propaganda, was most commonly enjoyed when distracted. It just so happened that staring at life, studying it, classifying it...these were the true passions Dhalvasha liked to think he had. Altruism in its simplest sense, to take a problem unique to a race and identify the sum total of is parts.

To extract an answer and present it, devoid of any Blood god's help...well, truly he could dream.

Drying his hands on a towel, the Symenestra inspected his hands for bits of blood or dried brain matter. In negotiations, truly one could not hope to cast a poorer expression than one cast with gore upon ones form. Fresh from the dissection it would be a foolish mistake to request a surrogate with bloody hands.

Alassa's remarks set him at a level of ease, reminding the Widow that all things were dead in time, that not even his cold manner could refute him the assistance of such a firm friend.

He felt the course of Djed within him, that familiar nerve that flexed its will on others. It was not an emergency, but certainly he did not plan to exert himself in this venture. His eyes flashed dangerously, the glimmer of a smile returning to his face again.

"Perhaps I will speak to them," he said at last, nodding to himself quietly, "It is an opportunity to exert my salesmanship, and perhaps I will strike a chord with them...my father spoke of their web highly, no doubt they will know of him as well."

Although he was loathe to use his father's name, it was better than simply relying on chance.

He glanced back to Alassa with a grin, bobbing his head toward the door. "Why don't you lead the way?"

[Poison]

As Dhalvasha asked her to lead the way, Alassa nodded curtly, and soon they had left the Purging. „The Anice Web has three children“, she told him as they made their way towards their destination. „Selaria is their only daughter. She’s a pretty girl. There are rumours that she’ll become moth queen next year, but I doubt it. There are other girls that are far more beautiful than her. Their son Demyan guards the Woven Gate. I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s a little strange, but a good Symenestra who honors the old traditions. We are interested in the other son though – Valydor. Anyway, there it is ...“

She gestured towards the house that was in front of them. Like all houses in Kalinor the home of the Anice Web resembled a large coccoon that hung from the ceiling. The door was at the very top of the house. Alassa walked up to it. She cast one last glance at Dhalvasha, and then she raised her hand and knocked.

Soon enough Dhalvasha could hear a female voice. „I’m coming!“ „That’s the young man’s mother, I assume“, Alassa remarked. „She’s already a little older, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to get her out of the way so that we can do what we’ve come for. I’ll leave our introduction up to you if you don’t mind.“

With that she stepped aside, and then the door was already being opened, and Dhalvasha found himself face to face with a woman in her fifties. She had long jet black hair and golden eyes. Her pale skin was laced with grey veins. She was dressed in a rather plain black silk robe. As she saw Alassa and Dhalvasha, she narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. She just stared at them as if she were waiting for them to explain themselves. For some reason she seemed to be in a rather bad mood.