Twas the night after Christmas -

[bloodyashes]

Characters: Asch and open; later, he goes to see Jade about things [closed]
Setting: A nicely hidden corner of the upper lounge and/or media floor; hassling Jade in the library
Format: What have you, bro
Summary: Feelings about regains, headaches about replicas, yelling at Jade
Warnings: Fon Fabre temper tantrums incoming.

[There's a redhead in a beanbag chair in the corner, heels tucked in, with an old framed photo in his lap. Asch's attention is pretty much entirely on the picture, which is tilted up so that it can't be seen from any other angle. Want to see? Better come lean around his shoulder and be obnoxious.]

[He puts a hand to his forehead very suddenly, as though taken by an unexpected headache. Uh-oh, isn't the flu epidemic over? Maybe you'd better go see what's wrong with him.]

Library -

[It's as good a place to start looking as any. Asch is very pointedly not hurrying through the shelves, because it's not like it really matters anyway. If Jade can't fix this, then no one can, and at least death in the Tower isn't going to stick.

Luckily, it seems that right there is the teal uniform he's looking for.]

Jade.

[All the greeting you get. No beating around the bush today.]

Is there any way to halt fonon separation once it's begun? Failing that, is there a way to slow it?

Comments

[bloodyashes]

[Jade he hates you so thoroughly right now.]

What. Tests.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Get angry with the only person who has an iota of a clue of how to help you. See how far that gets you.]

Blood fonon tests, a physical, a scan of your fonon frequency and comparitive data from Luke.

[bloodyashes]

[And all of that is fine up till - ]

There's no need to get him involved.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

To see how far through the fonon separation you are, I need to see your normal levels, and since I can't, Luke will do, being that he is the same as you biologically.

[bloodyashes]

I can tell you that it's not very far; the symptoms regressed when I arrived here.

[He'd thought they were gone, that he'd be able to at least live here without the constant fatigue and random pains - ]

I've only been experiencing anything at all for the last twenty four hours.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. Telling Asch why that wasn't a valid measurement of his condition would be a waste of an explanation.]

I can run some tests on you and go from the results.

[bloodyashes]

Let's do that, then.

[He's nearly died from this once through already, Jade, he knows what the progression feels like at this point.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade doesn't. And telling him that "You feel better" is like breaking your leg and getting to the hospital and telling them "it feels better now". Where's the break? How bad is it? Does it need a splint or full cast? by feeling better is it beginning to heal wrong?]

Is there a level where I can work?

[Busting in here, demanding his help. Rude boy.]

[bloodyashes]

[Well then ask more detailed questions, you bastard.]

There's a laboratory a few floors up. If that doesn't have what you need, I doubt it's in the Tower.

[And where else is he supposed to go exactly :la None of the other science-types are from Auldrant and also he doesn't trust them with so much as a strand of his hair.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[That would be too easy.]

I'll meet you there in an hour or so.

[He looks like he's about to go back to his books now.]

[bloodyashes]

[Of course it would.]

I'll be waiting.

[He really will, too. Asch takes his leave in a flutter of loose fabric and heads for the stairs.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade goes back to reading. Asch could barge in and demand his help, but it would certainly be on Jade's time. He wasn't out to make things worse for the boy, but he wasn't about to cut out his research mid-book.

However, as promised, Jade was entering the lab in exactly one hour, hands in his pockets and looking for the redhead.]

[bloodyashes]

[And as promised, Asch is waiting, sitting up on the edge of an examination table with an anatomy book spread across his lap. He closes the book with a whumph when Jade arrives.]

Find anything useful?

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

Not enough to have anything solid.

[Jade went to grab the supplies and remove his teal outer uniform, leaving the gloves and tunic by the door before rolling up his black undersleeves. He returned to Asch with a butterfly needle, a tourniquet, some tubes, and alcohol swabs.]

Take off your gloves and roll up your sleeves.

[bloodyashes]

[He does as instructed with a bit of a grimace, folding his gloves on top of the book he'd been reading. Pushing up his own black sleeves reveals forearms coated in criss-crossing scars that lessen only slightly at the elbows and disappear up under Asch's shirt.]

Let's get this over with.

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade says nothing further and wraps the blue band, tying it tightly around Asch's bicep, just above the elbow. He presses cold fingers against Asch's skin, looking for a vein he could access before he finds one and swabs it with the alcohol. He connects the needle to the tube and swiftly presses the sharp point against and into Asch's arm. When blood begins to dribble through, Jade unties the tourniquet and sets it aside. From there, the tube quickly begins to fill with blood. When it's full, Jade fills another before he pulls the needle from Asch's arm and sets the tubes aside, pressing a small swab of dry gauze to the puncture.]

This won't be done for a while, so you can go frolic about or do what you young kids do in your spare time while I work on processing this.

[bloodyashes]

[Asch barely flinches as the needle enters his skin, and watches Jade work with disinterest; it's hardly the first time he's seen his own blood, and you don't exactly get the title "the Bloody" by being afraid of the stuff.

He takes over the handling of the small injury from Jade; really, this one won't even scar.]

I have nothing better to do. Anywhere I should wait?

[As soon as he's sure the needle prick won't bleed any further, he starts putting his uniform back in order.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

Not specifically. If you'd like, you can go wait in a corner quietly.

[Jade himself is taking the vials to be processed in a small machine. If tuned correctly, Jade could easily tell its scan the blood. Whether or not it would actually read out the blood fonon levels, Jade would be able to infer what thy were from the data he'd receive. When the machine was quietly purring with scientific activity, Jade was headed back to his coal, pulling the sleeve back down.]

I'll conduct your physical in two hours. It's best if you eat something after any amount of blood is taken. When you return, the results will here ere and we can get the next out of the way.

1/2

[bloodyashes]

I'll eat and be back, then.

[And with his book tucked under his arm, the redhead is off. Luckily, the variety of food seems to have exploded in the last day or so for some unknowable reason, and he'll probably be able to find something that's actually worth eating.]

[bloodyashes]

[And a little under two hours later, he's back, with the addition of a novel to his anatomy book.

Asch just resumes the seat he'd occupied before on the table, sticking his nose in the anatomy book and trying to not look impatient.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade looked to be in the middle of using a microscope, glasses perched neatly on his head. He had a hand extended over a vial to his right, a glyph glowing softly below his palm. His hand shifted occasionally, turning over as the blood seemed to respond by lighting up when his hand hit a certain angle. He ignored Asch until he got that response, turning off the light to the scope when he got the glow to easier examine it.]

Your blood fonons are not as low as I expected, but they are separating at an alarming rate. I've pinpointed how far in the process you are, though the solutions are far from desirable.

[bloodyashes]

If there is a solution, that's more than I would have been able to find on my own.

[There, thanks allotted, now get on with it.]

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

[Jade finally looked up from the scope, to Asch and back at the vial. How indeed was the question. There was Luke, of course. The best solution included Asch opening his fon slots to the boy and the two of them sharing. After all, they'd fill in the gaps for each other and Having the link open from both sides would teach them both lessons. However, Asch was certain to have kittens if he heard that.

The other option was to give him something that could produce fonons for him. Something like that wouldn't last long, but it would be enough to give them more time.]

I could create something to replace the lost fonons, but that is temporary at best.

[bloodyashes]

Temporary, huh...

[That is not a happy expression. He's sick of dying without quite making it to dead.]

Nothing more permanent?

[bootsweremadeforcasting]

The other solution is to open your fon slots to Luke.