itmeanstruth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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ten_fwd2016-01-09 03:12 pm
itmeanstruth) wrote in ten_fwd2016-01-09 03:12 pm
Entry tags:
[open] For science! ... or something like that.
Between daily workouts in the holodeck, sparring sessions with Kaylin and teaching chakra classes, Minoru finally resumed his studies on everything snakelike. A handful of very patient ensigns helped him set up his own workstation in one of the astrobiology labs, taught him how to use the instruments and the computer, etc. His 'science' is crude at best, so a lab partner (especially someone who might actually know what they're doing) is always welcome!
[option A - cataloging]
Focusing a particular amount of chakra, pricking his finger and tracing a thin line of blood over the tribal tattoo on his wrist is all that Minoru has to do to summon a snake. He's going through his summons, one at a time, milking them, letting the computer analyze them and their venom. For him, it was a new way of thinking about things, but for the computer, it was one easy match after another. Until he'd summoned something the computer couldn't identify.
The snake is small and white, its scales giving off an almost crystalline appearance. He knows this snake well, remembers its fiery bite fondly and the Sage Mode transformation it produced. But no one here has ever made a record of it before.
Are you the curious sort? What could be learned from this?
[option B - new species]
For all the snakes he'd come in contact with, there were many entries listed for species he'd never worked with. Draxxan cloud vipers, arboreal needle snakes, fire snakes... the list went on and on! When you walk in, Minoru has a living specimen of some kind on the table - a dangerous one at that - and he's handling it without any kind of protection.
Do you dare approach? And if it bites, what will you do?
[Option C - crazy chemistry]
Minoru is used to testing things on himself, on mixing substance A with substance B and observing things with the naked eye. But now, the computer can break venom down to its component parts. It could even simulate what would happen if he mixed and combined those.
He wants to know if he can create a venom that heals tissue rather than destroys it, whether he can breed snakes that produce it, and whether he can use the same serum on himself to boost the healing abilities he can channel through his Sage Mode.
Can you help Minoru answer these questions? Are you there to celebrate a lucky breakthrough? Or are you simply a witness to something going horribly wrong?
[option A - cataloging]
Focusing a particular amount of chakra, pricking his finger and tracing a thin line of blood over the tribal tattoo on his wrist is all that Minoru has to do to summon a snake. He's going through his summons, one at a time, milking them, letting the computer analyze them and their venom. For him, it was a new way of thinking about things, but for the computer, it was one easy match after another. Until he'd summoned something the computer couldn't identify.
The snake is small and white, its scales giving off an almost crystalline appearance. He knows this snake well, remembers its fiery bite fondly and the Sage Mode transformation it produced. But no one here has ever made a record of it before.
Are you the curious sort? What could be learned from this?
[option B - new species]
For all the snakes he'd come in contact with, there were many entries listed for species he'd never worked with. Draxxan cloud vipers, arboreal needle snakes, fire snakes... the list went on and on! When you walk in, Minoru has a living specimen of some kind on the table - a dangerous one at that - and he's handling it without any kind of protection.
Do you dare approach? And if it bites, what will you do?
[Option C - crazy chemistry]
Minoru is used to testing things on himself, on mixing substance A with substance B and observing things with the naked eye. But now, the computer can break venom down to its component parts. It could even simulate what would happen if he mixed and combined those.
He wants to know if he can create a venom that heals tissue rather than destroys it, whether he can breed snakes that produce it, and whether he can use the same serum on himself to boost the healing abilities he can channel through his Sage Mode.
Can you help Minoru answer these questions? Are you there to celebrate a lucky breakthrough? Or are you simply a witness to something going horribly wrong?
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That was one of the darkest parts about being a Snake Sage. If not returned, that energy becomes part of one's own life, extending it. As a pacifist at heart, Minoru still struggled with the blood on his hands, blood he never wanted or intended to be there.
There were other costs too. In giving of his own energy to heal, there was always the possibility of draining himself to the point of collapse or death. His unusually large chakra pool made that extremely difficult, though not impossible. He could also die from envenomation.
"It's a hard meditation, but a Snake Sage can cross over to the World Between Worlds, where life and death intertwine. I don't know if it's the same thing as your Twisted Kingdom." he sighed, still petting the snake. "I made a promise on my mother's death bed that I would guide all of our souls together again, to be a family in our next life. Life, death and rebirth are the domains of a Snake Sage. I should be able to do this... I just don't know how..."
Sorry it is so short!
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"How... Where... I don't know. But there has to be a way."
The Great Snake Lord Elders gave guidance to their pupil, but for the most part, even they were at a loss with how Minoru did anything. Without that seal, he didn't have the stillness of mind to harness natural energy at all. The first time he sent his soul into the World Between Worlds, it was by accident. He became a Sage through willpower and determination to never give up. He learned his trade by trial, error and literally being open to whatever mysteries his dimensional travels revealed to him.
Perhaps the Great Snake Lord Elders liked being surprised.
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"Can you start at the beginning?"
He'd never encountered anything but energy in the World Between Worlds, and the feeling that his mother's energy was out there, somewhere beyond his reach. But this sounded like something you'd find in the Underdark, which was a thought Minoru certainly didn't want to revisit if he didn't absolutely have to.
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"Every perspective helps." He turned his attention to Theiorn.
No, self, deciding what icon to use does not mean you actually set it....
"As far as I know, Kindred do not become Demon dead," Ailyshia added, "Their spirits rejoin the land, strengthening it. You could feel it, in the Kindred Territories."
"Those few of us allowed to enter them," he murmured, shaking his head. "There are ways to prevent someone from making the transition, you make sure when you kill them to finish the kill, a burst of power to shatter their Jewels in the moment of death when their defenses are the weakest is usually sufficient. Of course if your strength is too much weaker, you may well still fail."
He paused there, in case there were any questions.
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He was able to pull it back to its original body once, albeit at a great cost. But his mother didn't want that, and Minoru wouldn't dare do it again either. He certainly wouldn't kill someone to tether them to this world.
"Mama's already made the transition. His energy is somewhere in the stars, waiting to be born again." (Aiylisha probably wasn't going to like that part. That both of Minoru's parents were actually male.)
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"If they have returned to the darkness," Theiorn said gently, "then they cannot become Demon Dead, I am sorry."
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The thought of his mother as an undead creature, whether that was the actual meaning or not, didn't sit well with Minoru. His mother had lived through more than enough tragedy, a child assassin manipulated by his village government, forced to kill his entire family and flee in disgrace... Before crossing over to another dimension, before finding someone to live for instead of someone to die for...
"Just reborn where we can all be together again. Papa is still alive, though, and I know Isamu will live a long life."
He wasn't entirely sure how he knew that last part. It was more of a strong premonition that his brother would live well into his eighties and that he would outlive everyone.
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He fingered his necklace, remembering his mother's face so clearly. They had always been close. When Minoru decided to take up the path of the Snake Sage, it was his mother who supported his decision. Wherever he traveled, his mother could feel where he was. When he learned hard lessons in the hardest ways, his mother shared his guilt.
"If I want something bad enough, I will find a way to make it happen..." He whispered, more to himself and that necklace than the two others with him.
Had he stayed in the Underdark, trained as an Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries, he'd have succeeded in this goal already. He probably would have saved his mother from death in the first place. But it wasn't right. It wasn't the right way because it wasn't his way. It was the right way for someone else, but not for him. The demon dead may be the right way for someone else, but not for him.
"Your perspective, and with it, your wisdom is appreciated. But I seek a true rebirth. Actual life..."
Through their demonstration, he'd already seen yet another piece of the puzzle. A confirmation that everything has its cost. To cultivate life, one must spill blood. And Minoru was afraid that to do what he must, he might have to once again do what he mustn't.
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In the world Minoru came from, reincarnation was regarded as fact. They honored their ancestors and wished them a safe journey to their next life. Minoru had felt the transfer of energy from chakra to the universe and back again.
"But whether the fates bring us together or apart, I don't know. Each world is just one of infinite possibilities. My parents were from two different dimensions. Being together again, even if we don't understand why..."
His voice trailed off. It was a promise he made on a death bed, and one he hoped to learn enough to one day keep. In the end, who knows? Maybe will alone would be sufficient.
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Unfortunately, Theiorn had no more idea what to say to that than Ailyshia did, and he lacked the generic hatred of males to excuse his rudeness. "Well," he said lamely, finally, "They say a wish made in blood is a prayer to the darkness..." A child's story, to be sure.
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"Then I will wish and pray." he nodded optimistically. "You've given me a lot to think about today. And I'm grateful to you both for the time we've spent."
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"Good luck with that," Theiorn said, and he meant it.
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He stood, letting the snake coil around his arm, and then bowed to them both. He looked forward to talking with them both again in the future, if they would be so kind.
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