elnysa | video | un: Mercy

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video | un: Mercy

Hello there! ( the image that appears is of a smiling blonde woman, healthy and bright looking, dressed now in pristine weight to present herself, projecting poise and elegance and friendly invitation to hear her out. her German Swiss accent is quite strong, though, so hopefully no-one is overly attached to their w's. ) I hope everyone is doing well this evening. I am coming onto the network to reach out to anyone I might not have been able to yet. My name is Angela Ziegler, and I am a doctor from Earth. Human, as you can see. ( a light, pleasant laugh and an even more pleasant smile ) You may also know me as Mercy. It's my agent name from when I was in service to a global peacekeeping organisation known as Overwatch.

I'm from the 21st century, so the treatment that I can offer you is science based ( a slight pause here as if she's considering one last time how to phrase this ) rather than magic based, but I have a good deal of practical experience with general medicine so there's almost nothing I haven't seen or dealt with. My expertise is in applied biotics, and I also have experience with gene therapy, prosthetics, and cybernetics, if there is anyone here who may need more specialised care. My qualifications also include emergency and trauma response so, if you ever find yourself wounded and in need of immediate attention, please do not hesitate to contact me. Think of me as personal 999 for refugees!

If you do come to me for any kind of care, I promise to do the best I can help you, while upholding all the oaths I've taken as a doctor to do no harm and to protect my patients. I'm not charging anything at this time.

And, if you'd like to humour me and help me to understand our group a bit better, I have a set of questions: do you believe you have a soul? What makes you think you do or don't have one? And is such a belief common where you're from? ( she doesn't mention religion, because it isn't strictly speaking a religious idea. she's known plenty of atheists and nay-theists who thought there was something beyond intelligence that made people paramount to other species. whether they called this unique internal animating light a soul or not, it didn't really matter. )

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[He uses the word compatriots to judge her reaction to it. Her response has him thinking that it is indeed a bit more complicated than that.]

The words are mine, but it doesn't make them any less true. We are all wayward souls now, looking for meaning in a world that isn't ours.

[He considers her admission.] Was their a misunderstanding between all of you?

No. We just made different decisions about how to handle something inevitable.

( she can't know for sure if that's really how he sees all of this, or himself--as a lost soul now, adrift, searching for renewed purpose--but it's a sentiment she actually wholeheartedly agrees with. besides just wanting to help people now, she has it as something like a goal to make this a good world to live in, for the people who wake up after them, and the natives too. beyond some of her friends she doesn't really have many awakenings to look forward to personally, so any good she does do, really is more or less because it's the right thing to do.

this her purpose, found. )

Would you humour me and tell me, what meaning are you looking for, Ardyn? What would make you fulfilled?

[That is a question in which Ardyn is not sure he wants to answer in all of his honesty. For that delves deep into motivations that he doesn’t wish to share with just anyone — even if the answer writhes within him, loud and clawing at his insides.

Fulfillment on Eos had meant a giant middle finger to the gods, a world decaying and cracking at the edges after being blanketed in darkness and daemons. Fulfillment meant the end of his family line, including himself. Fulfillment meant finally a chance to rest, and for the cycle of the Starscourge — one way or another — to have finally ended. To be crushed under destiny's heel, as prophesied.

But here, now none of that applies. How does he even begin to answer that question?]

Nothing, I think.

[With the truth, of a sort.]

Are you unable to die, too?

( a simple question, and her tone is filled with an oddly wistful sympathy. she's meet another immortal here, and it's hard to believe that immortality actually exists, but she'd what she'd seen, thanks to a privileged glimpse into his past allowed by his magic. for as incomprehensible as immortality is, the unfathomable loss of the ability to remember what it felt like to be happy--that was even harder to get her mind around.

she'd ask if it's peace he wants, but it seems like that's beyond the reach of such men. )

[A simple question that carries So Much baggage for a man like Ardyn. The way she makes the connection so quickly has his smile faltering for a fraction of a second, something stilling in his features, before it resumes as normal.]

That would be correct. How insightful you are.

[There's little point in hiding it, at any rate.]

( based on that reaction alone, though it's not much more than a glimmer, the most minuscule of possible loosenings, she thinks she can infer this: he's another immortal for whom his state is a curse. )

Hmm. I'd think it's fair to say, you are probably more so. ( a small huff of a sigh. ) What a life you must have had.

Were there many like you?

[Oh, he actually laughs at that. At the idea of there being more than one as cursed as he. What a terrible fate for Eos that would've been.]

I assure you, doctor, that I am one-of-a-kind.

Well, would you let this doctor examine you? Even if you already know what makes you one-of-a-kind, I have to admit I am curious.

( no laugh in response from her, this time. it did not seem like he was inviting her to join him. )

Are you?

[He quite wonders exactly what it is she thinks she'll find. He knows, for a fact, that it won't be pleasant one way or another.

Something about that makes him sound patronizing, yet willing all the same.]

For the sake of your medical curiosity, then yes. If you like. Though I do not see the point, for it is certainly not something in which you can aid me in.

( a curious response, if she's being honest. since he's humouring her request, she'll be happy to provide a few more details so he knows what he's getting himself into. )

Well, you can still get sick, surely? Common cold, influenza, things like that.

As for aiding you, I do not know the particulars of your case, so I do not yet know if there's anything to cure. ( a still silence for moment, followed by a sigh ) Unless you are obliquely referencing euthanasia?

No, I cannot.

[Get sick that is. He already is, in a way, filled to the brim with a certain sort of disease -- there wasn't enough room for anything else.]

What I carry I'm certain that you can't cure. That isn't to imply a disservice to your skills, by any means.

[There purposefully no response to anything regarding euthanasia.]

( which is just as well for her because, while at home she would have no qualms with it, things have changed, here. when they've been given second chances. it doesn't necessarily mean anything--grandiose like fate, or destiny--but it adds an extra consideration she wouldn't have had at home. )

Hmm, you've written me off already? ( the way she intones it, it's clear she's mostly kidding with him. already she's out of her depth with him--why's it an extra stretch to believe there's something she can't cure? )

Is your ailment of a magical nature? Because, yes, that is beyond my current expertise.

Edited 2017-08-18 12:12 (UTC)

Don't be so cruel; I would never "write you off" in such a dismissive way.

[Humor threads back into his tone, but it doesn't aid the fact that they have officially reached the point where Ardyn is unwilling to talk about himself in this capacity, at least over a public feed.]

I can show you, if you like.

How kind of you to say so.

( there's a tinge of self-deprecating humour there, almost a sigh as she finishes the statement, too, and really, what is she to do in the face of all these unexpected things? leave them unexplained? such will not do, if she is really serious about continuing her work here. in a crucial way, this curiosity is preventitive--of things mades worse by not knowing what might happen. back home, where she understood the rules, she could analyse a situation and deftly determine what would be a good and practical outcome.

here, where she really knows less than a child, she lacks this incisive insight, and it bothers her, it's like being stifled and gagged by indecision.

so, there she is. taking him up on his offer whatever his intentions are. )

Would you be willing to meet me here? Or would you prefer Thesa?

Where you are now would be most convenient.

[The intention, perhaps, is to show her the futility of it all. That not everyone and everything can be helped or healed, and he should be slotted very neatly into that category. Mostly.

(There is the smallest curiosity, of course. Of what her perspective would be, from a world strictly of science and not magic. It isn't quite hope, but it is an openness that did not exist within him before being brought here. The promise of the Natha, to cure him of the Starscourge, echoes in his mind. Even if he remains relatively cynical, despite everything.)]

Where might I find you?

( well, if he's trying to teach her so, and get something out of it for himself, then he might end up disappointed. this is a lesson she's already learnt; she never thought she could save the world, she couldn't save her surrogate family, and then she couldn't even save him. a man who's scope was a lot narrower than an immortal's lifetime, but who carried so much pain in him, it had been hard to even look at him. sometimes, she had only been able to be near him she when she could empty out her personal self and leave only the professional shell behind to interact with him.

but Ardyn's question is a simple one. still, she needs a moment to consider. her roommate is a preternatural telepath, after all, so there's someone else to consider. )

I could meet you at my assigned housing. Number thirty-six.

Thirty-six. Very well. I can meet you there in an hour from now, if that’s acceptable to you?

[A personal residence was acceptable. If she wanted to examine him, and if he wanted to show her exactly what plagued him (only briefly — not in its fullest capacity, he didn’t quite want to cross that line for his own sake), a large space wasn’t necessary. A modicum of privacy might even be appreciated.]

( It seemed a lot more appropriate to her than the park she was currently sat in, to be sure. Anyway, she'd gotten more than enough sunlight now, in a world where she's yet to find any sunscreen. Super pseudo-science healing available to her or not, she knows better than to stress her body when it doesn't need to be. )

Of course. I'd only ask that you knock. ( A small smile as she adds: ) Not that I thought you wouldn't.

[As a man who sometimes appears from absolutely fucking nowhere (just ask Prompto), this is perhaps a reasonable request. But he has no reason to tread upon propriety where the good doctor is concerned.]

It would be rude of me not to. I'll see you then.

( perhaps it is a good thing she asked, then, even if she does inspire him--or whatever it is that is it-- to walk the line. )

All right. I will see you soon, Ardyn.

( Neutrally delivered, though there is a hint of a smile left for him. With that she ends the feed. )

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video | un: Mercy

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i'm good with continuing this here or in an inbox, whatever you prefer!

i'll throw something in your inbox, then!