Yatagarasu

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

*Waits a few minutes between the listen receipt and the response*
I'll do it. If I'm going to meet guests, just give me a few minutes to change clothes.

@Meta

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

Can you explain that part to me, pretty please?

@Memory

*Smiles and records another*

Thanks, Dawn. I appreciate it. We're in Lab K. I'll cover things before you get here.

*Sends the message*

Dawn'll be here in a little bit. Let's get the patient covered up.

*Looks to Envy*

Take her dad to another area for a bit, okay?

*Envy nods and picks his corpse up, walking through a door in the back as I start draping sheets over Artemis*

Oh, right.

*Places the growing spinal cord in a box*

Well, Stella, in most human-esque species, the soul is interlinked with part of the consciousness. The more you feel something extreme, especially things like hatred, the more the soul reacts. If she was trying to harm herself, for example, that would link to a dimming of her soul.

*Pauses*

But mind-altering substances can also give a temporary dimming, due to the disruption of the consciousness.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

*Makes a face when I draw a blood sample into a syringe*
Blood's polluted. Neurotoxins. Stimulants. It's like she was trying to die.

<Snipped quote by Meta>

Aaaand here we go.

@Memory

That would explain the soul's dimmed state, too.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

*Replies*
My eyes are the only way to help them?

@Meta

*Records another audio message*

I mean, I suppose I could ask Nox, but... I don't see that working out for anyone. For context, we're trying to see if our guests' friend, who got pretty severely hurt, is actually the one they're friends with. We've found that she's a clone, but we can't figure out if they knew the clone or the one who was cloned.

*Pauses*

It would give them peace of mind, at the very least.

*Sends the message*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

That aside, 's everything stable?

@Memory

*Looks back at the metal square with a distant look in my eyes*

So far so good. We'll need to put a little extra oomph in her soul to get it regenerating, but -

*Gestures lightly with the now foot-long bit of spinal cord, which now has a slight bulb at the top end*

- the nervous system is coming along. The extra material should be get to a decent size soon, which will speed things up.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

If only it worked well enough that you'd take it seriously too. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who does.
*Extracts an intact spinal disc with several nerves still attached*

@Memory

*Smiles*

Well, if we don't get a response soon, you can go ask her in person.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

Well, I do know better than she does so let me know when she turns you down.
*Picks up a strand of a digestive track and places it back before fishing for another piece*

@Memory

The perks of being a sibling is that you get to have that mentality.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

Is it really that much better to hurt her in the long run? Or let her hurt herself in the short term?

@Memory

That's why it's worth asking, but deciding that I know better than she does for how she should live is harmful regardless of the outcome.

*Turns my attention to the bit in my gloved hand, which is now the length of an earthworm. It shudders a little before I look back to Stella*

Parenting is a catch twenty two, unfortunately.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

C'mooooon, parent authority? At this point not getting better is her own fault.

@Memory

I don't want to be the reason any of you get hurt. And forcing the issue would be doing just that.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

I mean, if you know some sort of event in your shared history that would have left a mark on her body and survived that explosion. Or—

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

Can you force Dawn to use her eyes and see if this is the same one? It would be good for her.

@Memory

I can ask.

*Carefully takes off one glove to pull out a phone and record a message on it*

Would you be up for checking something? Long story short, we have tolerable guests who could use confirmation of something, and your eyes would be able to solve it if you're willing.

*Sends the file to Dawn's phone*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Yatagarasu>

I wouldn't trust any of them anymore.
*Pulls the glass down and stares the body up and down directly, my eyes shimmering*
Unless we run into some kind of complication, there's no point in salvaging anymore. This body is ruined.

@Memory

Then a full body restoration it is.

*Looks over at the metal square as the bit I cut out grows slightly before splitting into two*

Seems the soul-trap is working, that's good. We can strengthen it in a bit.

*Walks off to place one of the two pieces of Artemis into a machine that seems to be filled with water, then comes back*

If there's nothing we can salvage to speed things up, then it's just a waiting game.

*The piece I still have in my hand begins to visibly grow*