OPEN MINGLE: Search for the Cure

[anti_nonsense]

Who: Anyone involved in the cure development effort! Or poisoned people, last-minute volunteers (and voluntolds), nosy people, whoever!
When: D5 onward. Efforts will continue through part of the moon visit.
Where: Medical tent, the laboratory in the Supervisor Grove, the Big Top, and more!
What: Working together to develop an antidote! This is an open mingle log, so feel free to make your own toplevel and tag around! Most of the actual work doesn't need to be played out on-screen, but this is a chance for participating characters to meet, chat, or interact while working!
Warnings: Potential for medical squicky stuff, testing on (undead) animals

After a public call to action over the radios, several people have volunteered their skills and resources for the cause of curing workers afflicted with the Prince's poison.

Over the next several days, they meet at various locations to collaborate on a cure. In the medical tent, affected characters and their symptoms are examined through medical, magical, and spiritual means. A file on a desk there is also used to consolidate information, and volunteers may go there to report their findings or to look over reports of what others have learned.

Lambert has volunteered use of the laboratory he and Sans share in a spare trailer in the Supervisor Grove, so that individuals with knowledge of chemistry, herbs, or potion-making may attempt to concoct helpful solutions. From D7 onward, he’ll move the equipment to his cabin on the moon, where work can continue through the visit.

A portion of the big top has also been roped off and may be used as a working space. Trying out some weird spell or ritual? That might be a good place for it, away from the delicate lab equipment and sick people.

Of course, those are only the main bases, and people may take their work to wherever they find suits them best.

When enough progress has been made, there will be a need for practical testing. Foster has made use of his necromancy to procure them some undead rats (ranging from normal-sized to weirdly gigantic) to test on. For later-stage tests, some brave volunteers may be needed.

For reference, the characters in leadership roles are:

Oversight: Peridot (+ Mari, Herbert)
Magic: Strange, Rita
Medical/Chemistry: Herbert
Herbs/Potions: Lambert
Spiritual: Ginko
Anyone is welcome to join the effort at any point. Completed cures will be administered at a later time, during the vacation on the moon.

Comments

Rita Mordio | OTA, will match formats

[anti_nonsense]

[closed to herbert / d5 / medical tent]

After a brief conversation over the radio, Rita sets out to meet the new doctor at the medical tent. She wears a simple tank top and shorts; if she's going to get a medical examination, she might as well wear something easy to work around, where most of her petrified skin is visible. Around her neck, however, she wears a yellow scarf, loosely wrapped over her bruises to conceal them. Not from the doctor, mind you. Just to avoid any nosy passers-by who might wonder at the shape of them.

She steps into the tent, and barely casts a glance around at its inhabitants before just taking the direct route and calling out, "Hey. Somebody here named Herbert West?"

[laboratory / d5 / fetch quests]

Maybe you're here to work with one of the teams. Maybe you're just curious and happpened to poke your nose in to see how things are going. Whatever your reason for being here, you'll find Rita sitting on the floor, surrounded with beakers containing various substances, and some illegible notes scrawled on scrap paper and spread around her.

Seeing someone come in, she looks up. "Oh, perfect. You don't look too busy." Because they literally haven't had a chance to do or say anything yet. "I need something. Think you can get it for me?"

[wildcard!]

Feel free to encounter Rita hanging around any of the major locations. She'll usually be analyzing samples using magic or chemistry, or mixing solutions at the lab, or looking over notes at the medical tent. As one of the afflicted, she also might occasionally run out of steam and just pass out on top of her notes or in the middle of the laboratory floor or something. Don't mind her. Or, y'know, do mind her and give her a hand.

d5, cw: mild sexism? sorry...

[scientificist]

Herbert isn't precisely in the middle of much at the moment, just staring with some irritation at a beaker with a failed test in it. So he doesn't have any problem in setting it down and looking towards the sound of his name from the tent's entrance. Miss Mordio's voice over the radio had been young, definitely, but he thinks that he personally is evidence that age need not act as a barrier to intelligence. As for her gender, if Peridot is indicative of more than just her species, he may have been too dismissive in his prior interactions with females. Maybe. Anyway, he's not discarding the possibility his judgement might have been impetuous, not taking into account the variables.

But then he recognises her, through the haze of his Manor memories.

"Oh," he says, pulling off nitrile gloves as he walks over, "it's you." He disposes of the gloves in a nearby container before he reaches Rita and stands in front of her, his hands in his pockets. "A specialist, was it."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita's eyes widen with recognition when she sees his face.

"What the... you're that onion guy!" she blurts out. "You're the new medic?"

It's not completely inconceivable... but it is a weird coincidence that the guy who was tending to them back in the dungeon is now the guy tending to the same victims in a medical context. Rita's not sure how she feels about that yet.

[scientificist]

"West," he corrects instinctively, followed with, "Herbert," because they're doing first names, right. "I was a medical student before I ever was an. 'Onion'. 'Guy.'"

Is he ever going to be allowed to lose that moniker? The Prince is haunting him even now that he's been excised from his mind.

"Should I call you, 'Shouting Girl' or will Rita be sufficient?"

lab!

[kingsroads]

"Of course," Strange answers, as he bends down to look at Rita's...well, set-up is too generous a word for what this is. Workspace? Area? Needless to say, it's very interesting and he'd like to know what she's doing so don't mind Strange as he picks up one of Rita's notes to read while he answers her question.

"What do you need?" he asks, as he doesn't pay any attention to Rita and is instead reading one of her notes on scrap paper.

[anti_nonsense]

The notes were hastily scrawled with an unsteady hand, and are even more illegible than Rita's usual messy writing. However, from the organization of the scribbles, it may be possible to determine that it's a sort of recipe.

"Magic resin," she replies simply, like that's self-explanatory. Rita doesn't look at him either; she's already turned her attention back to the substances in the beakers.

Lab time lab time-

[otoko]

Mess that he looks-what with him still not quite mastering how to get his hair in order with horns, on top of most of his left side being encased in rock (at least the left arm isn't there to suffer)-Gongenzaka is not only being fairly diligent where he can help, but perhaps even eager. The man limps forward, somehow seeming even older than he's typically mistaken for, and while one eye still remains covered by bandage, the healthy one looks to Rita immediately. "Hmmmm?" He starts, nodding as he stops before her. "What is it that you need, then?"

[anti_nonsense]

It's hard not to be mildly alarmed at Gongenzaka's appearance, between his size, the relatively extreme changes he's sporting, and the fact that he looks like he probably shouldn't be hobbling around like this in the first place...

But, fine. It's none of Rita's business. If somebody offers to be used, she'll use them.

So after that flicker of surprise in her expression passes, she casually replies, "An eggbear claw." Like that's a self-explanatory request.

Jonathan Strange | ota!

[kingsroads]

big top / d5 onward
The big top's been set aside for weird spell or rituals, larger scale magic that might mess up some of the more delicate equipment. Surprising no one, that's where Strange hangs out most of the time. He's not any good with the more medical and magitech sort of things but dumb magical nonsense is right up his alley.

He's sitting on the floor of the big top, looking at a normal sized undead rat in a cage. Said rat has the stone covering that those afflicted have. And Strange is just muttering a spell, staring at the rat with a frown.

As he hears someone come in, he raises his head. "Odd question, but how are you with rats?"

laboratory / d5 onward
Strange should not be touching this piece of equipment. And yet, he is straight up touching this piece of equipment, fiddling with it and moving it around and just messing up whatever settings it was on because he is a literal child who does not know how to leave well enough alone.

Someone please fuss at him.

wildcard!
Strange is not afflicted. However, he's been going full steam for the past few weeks and, as such, has developed the world's most erratic sleeping schedule. When he can't be found working on magic in the big top of pestering people in the laboratory, you might find him just passed out in one of those locations.

Big Top

[mylastchance]

His pet rat, Stanley, is in his shirt pocket at that exact moment. He looks from Strange, to her and then back again, starting to feel a bit wary.

"Fine...?"

[kingsroads]

Strange smiles a bright and eager smile that's only slightly worrying. Partly because Lauren knows a bit about rats, partly because oh good, Lauren's actually talking to him. There's probably still some hard feelings with regards to the Hunt but at least they're able to work together now.

"Wonderful! I need you to hold this rat while I enchant him." As he talks, he gestures to the rat in the cage. It's got a tiny bit of stone on it's back, is very undead, and looks like it's going to bite Strange if he puts his fingers anywhere near the cage.

laboratory

[whattaprick]

"Don't touch that." Guess who's being stooping to using mind control magic to get his best friend to stop attempting to break his lab equipment? This guy!

"Why are you even here?" Lambert asks. He's working on something at the table -- cutting and separating leaves from stems and grinding them in a mortar and pestle -- and he's twisted around to make a face at Strange. "I thought you were working on magic, not alchemy."

[kingsroads]

Said mind control works, as Strange moves his hands away from whatever piece of lab equipment he was fiddling with. Once he blinks away the spell, he can't help but give Lambert a bit of a frown. Party foul, you could have asked!

Still, he did ask a question, so Strange is going to answer. "I am. I've been trying to coax the stone covering into working with me all morning." And, based on Strange's frown, it hasn't happened. So, time to change tactics for a little bit.

"I've an idea though. How much do you know about the act of enchanting an object? Imbuing something not magical with magic itself or magical properties, for example."

Because that's something Strange doesn't really know about. He does know how to break spells, after all, if he could enchant some of the equipment or some of the liquid into breaking spells as well, that could help. Somehow. He's not entirely certain yet. If Lambert has any ideas, he's not too proud to hear them out.

Lambert | OTA

[whattaprick]

The Nightrider can be found in the laboratory he and Sans share, but anyone coming in will be explicitly instructed not to touch anything on one side -- that's all the Warden's things.

Most of the time, he's standing at the table in the middle of the room, either examining some sort of chemical reaction happen in a beaker and writing down notes on a sheet of paper distractedly. Other times, he's brandishing a wickedly sharp looking knife to chop various herbs with alarming skill, but he seems to be happy to be working with his hands even if he's a bit tired.

Occasionally, he'll frown and concentrate: Celandine, the marbled polecat that acts as his daemon, will appear and race around to retrieve items for him. Otherwise, he's alone in his lab, though he's expecting company.

"You here to work, or to ogle?" he asks whenever someone steps in through the door. "First minute's free, but after that you've got to pay."

[mylastchance]

He'd ask if he's paying to work or to ogle, but first he has to decide if anyone would ever actually ogle a 60+ year old dragon man. No, he decides, the answer for that is a definite no. The disgusted expression on his face communicates that decision pretty clearly, if Lambert's even looking their way.

"Work." he answers instead, ignoring the rest of the sentence.

[wild_magic]

Susan of course has no idea what Lauren is thinking, but at least he hasn't said anything too stupid yet so it's okay. Instead he laughs at the question before responding himself.

"Lauren's here to work, at least. He just didn't want to come alone."

[anti_nonsense]

"Yeah, no. I've already seen more of you than I'll ever want to, thanks," Rita retorts, rolling her eyes as she steps through the trailer's doorway.

But her demeanor seems to brighten as her gaze shifts to the laboratory equipment. "So this is your setup, huh?" She walks over to examine the equipment up close, giving a pleased hum as she does. "Not bad. I can work with this."

Okay, maybe Lambert wasn't wrong. She is here to ogle, just not in his direction.

[whattaprick]

"It's just the basics, but it does what I need it to." Lambert shrugs. The most complicated thing in the room is the distillery in the corner, but there's enough for most basic reagent synthesis and chemical processes for potion creation, and that's good enough for him.

Besides, it's the truth: a sorceress would have a much more complicated setup than this.

"I'm surprised you don't have one of your own already, since you seemed interested in that kind of thing."

Ginko

[dontpokethat]

Bloodwork - Laboratory - OTA

Since the medical tent itself isn’t exactly outfitted for this kind of research, Ginko has moved his assortment of blood and tissue samples - as well as skeleton sweat - into the lab. Any abnormalities he can find might well be hints as to how the poison works, and what can be done about it.

He’s so focused on these examinations, in fact, that he may not even notice anyone else coming in until he’s addressed directly. Don’t take it personally, he’s just very tired and trying to remain very focused at the same time.

Therapy Time - Around the Carnival - Closed to Poisoning Victims

Handling the spiritual effects of semi-or-entirely-magical diseases is something Ginko has a good bit of experience with - it wouldn’t make much sense to place him on the team for this otherwise.

But the thing about that is that it usually involves a good bit of talking. Which is normally all fine and well; he may not know much about casual social situations or emotional intimacy, but he knows plenty about talking people through their hangups and problems and doubts.

Unfortunately, a lot of the people infected are likely to be… reluctant to go along with that. So his best bet might be to just pull them aside and see if he can talk to them some. So any of the poisoning victims may find themselves approached, any time they don’t look to be too busy. “Hey, could I talk to you for a bit?”

Wildcard

(( OOC: I wanted to do more prompts but was too scattered SO hit me up if you want to do something else!! Or just like. Pull this loser aside sometime. Just go for it tbh ))

therapy

[wild_magic]

Susan usually isn't busy at all, especially in an off-week and without magic that's especially helpful for finding a cure. He's still maybe spending more time in his trailer than usual, still feeling the effects of everything he's gone through, but he still is pretty easy to grab when he's wandering, probably heading back to help Lauren out or something.

He stops when Ginko approaches him, his cat stopping a few feet away before looking back to watch. He nods after a moment.

"Yeah, what is it?"

[dontpokethat]

"Just wanted to check in and see how you were feeling about all this," Ginko explains, his tone casual. "We're making some progress with studying the poison, but how you're feeling will effect how curing it goes."

therapy

[anti_nonsense]

Rita's sitting at a table at the cookhouse when Ginko approaches. In front of her is a bowl of soup and some soft bread. She looks up at him, bread in her hands, and tilts her head.

"Hm...? Sure. What about?" she asks, proceeding to tear off a smaller piece of bread and dip it in the soup. Ginko's part of the cure development team... maybe it's about their work.

[dontpokethat]

He stands by the table, hands in his pockets, and gives a small shrug. "I wanted to know how you're feeling, about the poison and everything. Mental and emotional state can have a pretty big impact on treating things like this."

[espigeon]

Julien's poisoned enough that his bird body isn't moving around that much, even now, and his human body, only affected on the spiritual level, still gets bouts of lightheadedness and has to lean against things. He's still recovered enough to get both halves back to his trailer.

When Ginko passes through, his bird half is lying out on the grass, supported by sacks of hay and rolled up heavy cloth, his broad wings out, sunning. The rusty stains on his white feathers are less glaring now, more smudges.

"Oh, hey, what's up?" He sounds groggy but good natured, or at least, he's trying to. Julien's a little nervous of people confronting him. "I've got time."

[dontpokethat]

Well, he's clearly being pretty strongly effected physically, at least. Hopefully he's not too bad off mentally.

"Just wanted to check on how you were feeling. We're working on getting a cure put together for the poison, but it's important to track how you guys are doing in the meantime."