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[totalize]

SYNTROFOS PROFILE

Username: mockingbird vivant
Name: Hugo Vlad Ravenlock
Age: 35
Hometown: New Eridu

I'd much rather hang out with all kinds of people than fight monsters I can't even talk to. After all, there is nothing more complex and interesting than "people" in this world. text / audio / video / action art credit code credit

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[biomancy]

I have been thinking on our predicament.

Have you spent much time thinking about it? What they have done to us?

[totalize]

I have. Honestly, there’s scarcely a day that goes by where I don’t think about it… It’s a bit hard to forget when it’s so physical, no?

Why is it on your mind today, though?

[biomancy]

I assume we have all been through this...

I had a moment today when I didn't recognize myself in the mirror.

I experienced this once before, when I'd regrown my eye, and found that it was... not correct. At least then it was my own failing that caused it. Not what others have done to me.

[totalize]

Ah… Yes. I understand. There was a while where I considered getting rid of all my mirrors just because I dislike what I see nowadays. I decided against it, clearly, but that’s because it’s hardly a solution. It was just me being a bit cowardly.

[ As always, he thinks, but he doesn’t want to bring up how he’s able to hide those changes under his glamor. Heinrix uniquely understands that it’s not something permanent, since he doesn’t tend to use it at home. It’s exhausting to keep up constantly, even if it’s essentially second nature at this point. ]

It’s awful, and I loathe them for it. I don’t think that’s a surprising opinion, though it’s more unpopular than I’d like.

[biomancy]

I don't think I've met one person who has been fully untouched by these terrible changes.

Even so... some do not seem as incensed as they should.

Why?

Do they think if they soften their fury, that it will change Patho-Gen's mind?

[totalize]

I think it’s more that they see cooperation as a better path.

It’s not like the idea doesn’t have merit at all. Patho-Gen does hold all of the cards, including keeping us on proverbial leashes. The fact that they can control us so readily means that some think that playing along and helping at least means that we get to keep our own agency.

…But having experienced that control personally, I don’t agree. I think that’s all the more reason to try and shed those chains through any means necessary.

It’s one of the few areas where my Soul and I seem to agree.

love how my inbox ate this notif

[biomancy]

That sort of compromise is dangerous. The more we do it, the more we will find that they have power over us. The more we do it, the more we will slip.

Do they not see that? I know that the people they bring here are...lax, to say the least.

But it seems foolish.

[totalize]

You won't hear me disagreeing. Not that I have any solution to the problem, of course, but considering what they've done so far? I refuse to be subject to their whims, much less trust them.

What I truly wish for is best not spoken here.

[ There's a pause, then another message comes through ]

...Are *you* alright, though?

[biomancy]

I will survive this. I have to.

[ That is not an answer, and he knows it. ]

I have not been able to reverse the effects more than temporary.

[totalize]

[ so that's a no, ]

I'm honestly impressed you can reverse it at all, even if it doesn't last...

Doesn't that hurt, though?

[biomancy]

I have to flay the offending pieces off, so yes.

The disappointment is in that it doesn't last.

[totalize]

Flay??

I understand the distaste, but... That's rather extreme, isn't it?

I suppose you're fine, since I haven't seen any sign of that, but I'll still express my concerns for you all the same!

[biomancy]

I should hope you haven't.

I have long mastered the art of healing over injuries. My biomancy allows me to correct injuries or imperfections.

Surely you don't think a warrior like myself has no scars naturally?

[totalize]

Well... No...

[ He'd noticed, since it's hard to miss especially when he's truly seen all of Heinrix, but. Now he's feeling a little silly, since he just hadn't thought about it? It's the sort of thing that's become easy to just not think too hard about, since with all the different worlds and abilities out there, he finds himself out of his depth more often than not.

A fact that is not at all changing with this conversation, of course. ]

That doesn't change my concern, though! Even if you can heal it, naturally I'd still be worried about you hurting yourself.

It's really that taboo where you're from? So far, there's little that would separate you from the Thiren of New Eridu, at least to me...

[biomancy]

[ Heinrix should remain silent, but he cannot. ]

I have executed men for far more minor crimes. For even entertaining straying from the emperor's light.

This is far and beyond that.

[totalize]

[ It would be a lie to say that wasn’t intimidating, since he is a criminal, but… ]

I’m sorry, Heinrix. I hope that didn’t come off like I’m minimizing things.

[ Though he’s also glad to be having this conversation through text instead. He worries about Heinrix, he really does, but in this moment? There’s something bitter in his heart.

At least you’re alive.

Don’t you dare leave me too.

…And he’d be lying to himself to blame his Spectral soul for that. How shameful. ]

Maybe this isn’t my place, but I’d hope you wouldn’t turn your sword on yourself in that way.