Characters present: Doc, Cinder
Date: 1/21/24
Season: 3

[Cinder meets Doc outside of his manor home. They approach, a little nervous, but excited to talk to Doc one-on-one.]

[14:14:19] <✦[rp] cinder> Well thanks for meeting up with me on such short notice! By which I mean. No notice

[14:14:30] <✦[rp] cinder> I realise I maybe should have sent a letter ahead or something

[14:14:46] <✦[rp] Doc> "Oh, that's fine. I don't do much outside the house."

[A bee begins buzzing around Cinder from Doc’s plants.]

[14:14:59] <✦[rp] Doc> "Ah, you've made a friend!"

[14:15:12] <✦[rp] cinder> I have! Little guy!!

[14:15:18] <✦[rp] cinder> Do you keep a lot of bees?

[14:15:47] <✦[rp] Doc> "Oh yes, there's at least 4 hives close to this side of the house. I don't use the boxes though"

[14:16:23] <✦[rp] Doc> "I plant flowers they like. I really just like to watch them, honestly."

[14:16:47] <✦[rp] cinder> I've always wanted to keep bees. Maybe if I had a place of my own,,, at the moment I'm just staying in one of the houses in Verdegris

[14:17:11] <✦[rp] cinder> I get what you mean about mostly staying around home. Joco's been encouraging me to talk to more people. This is part of that, I guess

[14:18:35] <✦[rp] Doc> "Yes, I know most plants don't grow very well in Verdegris though. And I don't have much reason to leave. All of my research is here."

[14:19:12] <✦[rp] cinder> Research? I know you clearly have some science knowledge from what you said about Prince and the arm thing and stuff, but I dont really know much more

[14:20:41] <✦[rp] Doc> "Yes, for a while now I've been trying to figure out how to get back home. And figure out where exactly 'home' is."

[14:21:24] <✦[rp] cinder> Oh, how do you mean? Are you from another server or something?

[14:21:37] <✦[rp] cinder> Though I suppose if it was just another server, it wouldnt take so much figuring out

[14:22:04] <✦[rp] Doc> "Oh. No one told you. I guess no one had a reason to. No, I come from another world- maybe even another universe. It wasn't all blocks like this where I am from."

[Cinder is taken aback, immediately fascinated.]

[14:22:43] <✦[rp] cinder> Wh- Why would no one have told me this before hand thats INCREDIBLE. How does that even work??

[14:24:01] <✦[rp] Doc> "That's the thing, I can't remember most of it. I was doing an experiment of some kind. And it all just- exploded. And when I woke up, I was on that little island."

[14:24:47] <✦[rp] cinder> What was it like? If it wasn't like here?

[14:27:39] <✦[rp] Doc> "There were curves and smooth surfaces and not everything was a cube. And there were germs and bacteria and diseases and atoms"

[14:28:23] <✦[rp] Doc> "There were so many things that are completely different than here. There were no monsters, no giant spiders, no dragons"

[14:28:54] <✦[rp] cinder> I don't understand half of what you're on about but it sounds.... amazing. strange and amazing

[14:29:09] <✦[rp] cinder> So it was a lot safer? Without the monsters?

[14:29:38] <✦[rp] Doc> "There was also no respawn. And people still died. People still killed eachother. Sickness could kill"

[14:30:08] <✦[rp] cinder> So a different kind of terrifying, I guess

[14:30:14] <✦[rp] cinder> do you... miss it?

[14:31:19] <✦[rp] Doc> "I had kids. I had 4 kids."

[14:31:31] <✦[rp] Doc> "I miss them. I don't know where they are or if they're okay"

[14:32:02] <✦[rp] cinder> Void. That's... Im sorry.

[14:32:25] <✦[rp] cinder> I'm sure they miss you too. Im sure they miss you quite a lot.

[14:32:45] <✦[rp] cinder> I don't know if thats at all a comfort. But I am sure of it

[14:33:02] <✦[rp] Doc> "And they're all still just kids. And there's no one else there- I adopted them. I don't know if anyone is taking care of them or if they

[14:33:28] <✦[rp] Doc> “even can take care of themselves. I just hope they don't think I abandoned them by choice."

[14:34:22] <✦[rp] cinder> Kids are... Resilient. Capable, even when they shouldn't have to be. I'm sure they'll be okay.

[14:35:10] <✦[rp] Doc> "They've already been through so much. All of them have. I don't want them to have to go through anything like that again"

[14:36:15] <✦[rp] cinder> Then we'd better get you home, huh?

[Cinder looks off into the distance. They tuck their wings close to their back.]

[14:35:00] <✦[rp] cinder> I was around 13 when I had to leave home. It wasn't pretty, but... I made it. There's ways to make it work. I don't know how your world differs from this one, but

[14:37:19] <✦[rp] cinder> Different situation, obviously. And there's... not anyone waiting for me back there. But still.

[14:38:01] <✦[rp] cinder> Though who knows if it would even be the same thing

[Ae looks back towards Doc, struck out of nostalgia by the feeling of the wind on aer face.]

[14:36:33] <✦[rp] cinder> If there's any way I can help, please let me know. I know the feeling of not being able to go back home.

[14:36:56] <✦[rp] Doc> "Before the arm, I was working on a portal. During it, I couldn't really do anything. I've tried almost everything I can think of at this point. I'm not sure what there's left to do"

[14:37:40] <✦[rp] cinder> I mean... Do you have a Void in your world? Maybe something to do with that could work?

[14:38:05] <✦[rp] Doc> "No, nothing like that. How did you get here? Do you know how to get back?"

[14:38:59] <✦[rp] cinder> I... There's not really anything to go back to. It's gone now.

[14:39:14] <✦[rp] Doc> "Gone? What do you mean? How can you be sure?"

[14:39:32] <✦[rp] cinder> I'm... I'm quite sure. It-

[14:39:53] <✦[rp] cinder> They told you about the world that was eaten by the Void, right? At the meeting you dropped in on?

[14:40:11] <✦[rp] Doc> "Wasn't that the last world? Did you come with them from that world?"

[14:41:21] <✦[rp] cinder> No, not that one. But I had... My own situation. From what I understand, the last world was eaten away at, bits and pieces. Like an infection decaying flesh

[14:41:38] <✦[rp] cinder> Mine was more like... Stepping into the maw of a hunting trap. One snap and it's over.

[14:42:17] <✦[rp] cinder> No one could have done anything. There wasn't a chance to run. They're all gone now.

[14:42:28] <✦[rp] cinder> Fuck. Sorry. Bit intense there!

[Doc nods, reassuring.]

[14:43:00] <✦[rp] Doc> "It's alright. My arm got eaten by a sentient virus and I've been in a war. There's not much you can tell me that I'll have a horrid reaction to anymore."

[14:43:50] <✦[rp] cinder> That's... Comforting, I suppose. Sucks for you though

[14:44:35] <✦[rp] cinder> I did want to ask, about the whole sentient virus and arm thing. How exactly did that play out? Joco gave me the summary but it was vauger than I wouldve liked

[14:45:51] <✦[rp] Doc> "I woke up one day and my hand was looking a bit pale, and it was difficult to move. At first I thought it was a circulation issue, and then my arm started turning that blue color"

[14:47:38] <✦[rp] Doc> "And I just kept getting more and more tired. And then I had nightmares and I started hearing things"

[14:49:03] <✦[rp] cinder> Hearing things is never good

[14:49:13] <✦[rp] Doc> "Well it still hasn't stopped."

[14:49:30] <✦[rp] Doc> "Whole situation is pretty godawful, honestly."

[14:51:30] <✦[rp] cinder> Yeah no that sounds really bad

[14:51:40] <✦[rp] cinder> Even after cutting off the arm the other stuff hasn't stopped?

[14:52:17] <✦[rp] Doc> "I'm still having nightmares and I hear the stuff, but that's it. I'm not having any physical effects, and I have a prosthetic arm now"

[14:52:59] <✦[rp] cinder> Huh. I mean.. Are you sure you arent still... infected? To some degree?

[14:53:54] <✦[rp] Doc> "If I was, I should still be feeling the physical effects. I think- I know the infection got into my head. When it left, it took what it infected."

[14:54:05] <✦[rp] Doc> "I think the damage is probably causing this"

[Cinder answers almost too quickly.]

[14:54:34] <✦[rp] cinder> Huh, like a... Lobotomy or something?

[They pull back slightly, murmuring.]

[14:54:55] <✦[rp] cinder> I read about it in a book once

[14:55:51] <✦[rp] Doc> "Ah-"

[Doc is familiar. He takes a moment to think, his expression shifting slightly at the mention.]

[14:55:51] <✦[rp] Doc> "A bit, yes."

[14:56:38] <✦[rp] cinder> I know a bit about things... Getting in your head. Messing it up, somehow. It fucking sucks.

[14:59:59] <✦[rp] cinder> I wish I could help somehow.

[Doc shakes his head, looks away.]

[14:59:21] <✦[rp] Doc> "I'm not sure what I can do about it. I can't take care of my kids like this. I can't go back to them like this."

[15:00:20] <✦[rp] cinder> I'm sure they'd be happy to see you back, though. No matter what version of you it is.

[15:01:17] <✦[rp] Doc> "Sometimes things come back wrong. I don't want to disappoint them"

[15:01:51] <✦[rp] cinder> Yeah, but... Out of coming back wrong and not coming back, I think I'd always take the first.

[15:00:48] <✦[rp] cinder> I- ... I'd give anything to see my parents again. I wouldn't care how.

[Doc tilts his head slightly.]

[15:02:36] <✦[rp] Doc> "If you were doing the coming back?"

[15:02:54] <✦[rp] Doc> "Or if you wanted someone else to come back"

[15:03:36] <✦[rp] cinder> I don't think we get a choice about the coming back wrong.

[15:03:56] <✦[rp] cinder> But if someone I loved was coming back... I wouldn't really care how they did it. I'd just want them to try

[15:03:57] <✦[rp] Doc> "Would you want someone to see you? If you came back wrong?"

[15:05:57] <✦[rp] cinder> I wouldn't even want to see myself. But you can't try to tell someone else whether they should want to see you or not, right? They're just gonna want it either way

[15:07:07] <✦[rp] Doc> "Oh, I know. People do what they want and you can't stop them most of the time"

[15:07:28] <✦[rp] cinder> No matter how much you wish you could

[15:08:28] <✦[rp] cinder> Not in the same way, but... There's a certain degree of wrongness I can empathise with.

[15:08:44] <✦[rp] Doc> "Life is like that sometimes. People make mistakes constantly. That's what makes you human"

[Light-hearted: ]

[15:09:15] <✦[rp] cinder> I think maybe I'd like to be a little less human, in that case

[15:09:41] <✦[rp] Doc> "Oh, I'm not so sure that would help as much as you think it would"

[Cinder the laughter in their voice is bitter. The sentence after comes out like a curse.]

[15:09:59] <✦[rp] cinder> Haha. Don't I know it.

[15:10:53] <✦[rp] cinder> I barely even know what I am anymore. What with whats happening to my wings, and now my head. It's... Not any better than just being human

[15:11:05] <✦[rp] cinder> Well, human and avian. But the avian part is normal in comparison

[15:11:21] <✦[rp] Doc> "What do you mean, what happened with your wings?"

[15:11:46] <✦[rp] cinder> Oh! I guess like your world thing, this is something that... Wouldn't have come up.

[Cinder stretches his wings out into full, pitiful view. They wince as their muscles stretch out, some of the feathers seem crooked in their skin. The undersides are ragged, and consumed by a sheen of purple that seems to shift, no, glitch.

[15:12:44] <✦[rp] cinder> They- ha, well. This is NOT their default state, if you catch my drift.

[15:13:15] <✦[rp] Doc> "That does look painful."

[Cinder smiles grimly.]

[15:13:27] <✦[rp] cinder> Quite.

[15:14:22] <✦[rp] cinder> They were just a bit... Strange for a while, but they've just been getting worse. Its connected to the Void, to our plan that Joco told you about at the meeting. I'm just still trying to understand exactly how

[15:14:53] <✦[rp] Doc> "If it took your last world, you still might be connected to it in some way. It could still be affecting you"

[15:15:41] <✦[rp] cinder> Yeah, there's... Definitely a connection there. More than I'd like.

[15:16:13] <✦[rp] cinder> I guess it's sort of like your sculk thing. Like... It became a part of you, and it took something.

[15:17:09] <✦[rp] Doc> "Exactly."

[15:17:33] <✦[rp] Doc> "Hopefully you'll have better luck getting your effected appendages back though"

[15:18:20] <✦[rp] cinder> Eh, I;m not so sure. The feathers were cut, just normally, and they were meant to grow back, but they. Don't. I don't think they will, ever.

[15:18:34] <✦[rp] cinder> Guess I'm a flightless bird for the rest of my life.

[15:20:34] <✦[rp] Doc> "I don't know much about wings I'm afraid."

[15:21:02] <✦[rp] Doc> "But- you might be able to use one of the- ah, what are they? The wing machine you have here."

[15:21:22] <✦[rp] cinder> Elytra?

[15:21:49] <✦[rp] Doc> "Ah! That's the one. Could it be adapted to replace the feathers?"

[Cinder brushes their hands against the feathers. They touch the purple texture on accident and wince again.]

[15:24:08] <✦[rp] cinder> Yeah, i... I wish I could. With the phantom sensation, and how whatever's left of the feathers reacts to things, I cant stand it. Maybe if I had the rest removed, I could do it, but I won't do that. I don't even know if I COULD, all things considered.

[15:24:15] <✦[rp] cinder> it was a good idea, though

[15:25:17] <✦[rp] Doc> "I certainly understand the phantom limb sensation. Though sometimes it feels like I'm missing more than an arm. That might just be from the brain damage though"

[15:25:56] <✦[rp] cinder> Seems we're both a little fucked up in that regard, huh?

[15:26:57] <✦[rp] Doc> "I think I agree with you on that."

[15:27:43] <✦[rp] cinder> Well hey, you know nothing about wings and I know nothing about arms and portals, so we may not be able to help each other much. But it kinda helps to know someone gets it. For me, at least

[15:29:10] <✦[rp] Doc> "I'm glad I could do something to help someone. I've been feeling a bit useless lately"

[15:29:49] <✦[rp] cinder> If you ever want company, you could come feel useless in Corroded.

[15:30:03] <✦[rp] cinder> Just.. Maybe dont bring the arm. If you dont want Finch to dismember it even more

[15:32:09] <✦[rp] Doc> "I suppose it would depend on the day. The arm likes to feel included"

[15:32:33] <✦[rp] cinder> Of course it does. Of course that is a sentence that was just uttered

[15:33:32] <✦[rp] Doc> "It's like a child"

[15:33:45] <✦[rp] Doc> "It can't really exist by itself"

[15:34:03] <✦[rp] cinder> I guess that's nice for you, all things considered.

[15:34:19] <✦[rp] cinder> Well, there's another reason to get you home. Let your kids meet their arm sibling!

[15:34:48] <✦[rp] Doc> "I would say that would scare them, but one of my sons is half snake and the other one has a body that's kind of a black hole?"

[15:35:33] <✦[rp] cinder> That is so much more interesting than I assumed your children would be. Somehow I think they'd get on with Scarm just fine.

[15:36:22] <✦[rp] Doc> "Probably so. I tend to take care of strange children. I don't quite remember how, though."

[15:36:40] <✦[rp] Doc> "All that matters for me is that I miss them"

[15:37:40] <✦[rp] cinder> I'm sure they'll be happy to see you when you get back there. You'll have one hell of a story for them

[15:38:36] <✦[rp] Doc> "That I will. And you're nice to talk to, I'm sure you'll be able to make good friends with everyone else here"

[15:39:19] <✦[rp] cinder> Thank you. I'm... Still getting used to the whole making friends thing. It's been a while. But its nice to have another one to add to the list.

[15:40:00] <✦[rp] Doc> "Of course. You're always welcome here. I have plenty of room, obviously."

[15:41:03] <✦[rp] cinder> That means a lot. The same goes for you- I might not have my own house but general corroded property has dozens. Im sure I speak for all of us when I say you're welcome anytime.

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