therookery | 'Tis but a scratch

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'Tis but a scratch

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Gareth
RECIPIENT: All of you guys
WHAT: Gareth has a very necessary question regarding the anchor shards
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Everywhere that has a person with a crystal
NOTES: tw for dismemberment discussions probably

[ A new voice pops up on the Crystals, cheery despite the nature of his query. ]

So, I've been wondering. Has anyone tried just removing the hand their anchor shard is on? Would that get rid of it, or would you just get a glowing green stump?

...If no one has done it, I'm not volunteering, for the record. I've got my finger on my nose. You can't see it, but it's there. I'm just curious about possible options, here.

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It's their hand, it's not like you can stop them.

[ Offers his two coppers. ]

Practically, we could, but that gets into a whole other realm of ethics.

What measure does a man's hand belong to himself? I feel like there's an entire dissertation hiding there.

Several--there's rather lively scholarship on the subject. The Prophet's denunciation of the evils of slavery--that it takes from men the greatest gift the Maker's given them, their very selves--leads into all manner of discussion on how much we ought value leaving someone her agency, even if it means permitting her to choose self-harm.

I guess this is a religious organization. [ The 'unfortunately' is not said, but implied with his tone. ] I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if they base their rules off of whatever the Chant says.

[Lightly,] It was commissioned by the Divine herself. [he can hear that u no] But no, there's enough here who'd riot if Chantry law were imposed to make that impractical.

What position would you take on it, on what backing? D'you own your own hand, and who said you did?

[ For the first time, his tone darkens. It's brushing close to one of the subjects he's pretty sensitive about. ]

No one owns any part of me, save myself. I say so, and I've done enough fighting against people who said otherwise to allow anything else.

[And he's not so tin-eared as to not hear that and back away, immediately.

Soft,] Which is what I was ultimately asking Warden Serra.

If you'd choose to pay that cost to save yourself from your shard, how far can we reasonably go to prevent you?

...I apologize. [ He doesn't try to get so fighty. It just. Happens. ] It does make sense that the Inquisition would have some concern if their agents were running around mangling themselves.

[ It's not an admittance that he wants to make, but he offers it as an olive branch, to apologize for Shit Getting Dark. ]

It's not a cost I'm willing to pay at the moment, certainly. I was just...curious.

It's forgiven. You've got cause; it's not an academic exercise for you. [He doesn't get it viscerally, but he can imagine. Arguing with Van sometimes got precarious that way, too.]

I do and don't wish we had an answer for you--it wouldn't please me to think someone else had mangled herself that way, but it would be a tidy fix for the shards if it did work.

Though we'd be obligated to work out a way to give the lot of you some kind of workable replacement hand, I'd think.

It was intended to be one. But I suppose it's hard to separate yourself from certain topics. It's something I'll have to practice.

[ His temper itself is something that he's been working on. But it'll do little good if he has to avoid whatever topics upset him. ]

It's always good to have an alternative, if worse comes to worst. I, for one, would be curious if creation magic could do something about replacement hands. Cutting a hand off of a corpse and transferring it, perhaps? The bone wouldn't be too hard, maybe not even the ligaments. But there's a lot of delicate arteries in the wrist, and a whole lot of nerves in the hands as well, that would have to be successfully connected.

[ Now he's getting excited, even if it's a pretty macabre subject. But the idea of limb transplants aided by magic? Fascinating. And while he doesn't know a lot about creation, he has a great grasp of the human (and elf probably) body. ]

[Wryly,] Don't I know it. If you ever want the practice, though, I'd be happy to provide the questions.

[This silence is Myr making an "Oh Maker what" face at his crystal. He does a masterful job of keeping it out of his voice when he responds.]

All right--leaving aside all but the technical issues with that, there's still the bit where if someone's truly dead, you can't bring them back with magic. So I'm not sure whether you could bring just a hand back--life is finite, and so on; if someone's dead, you'd have to reason all her members are dead, too. Though, [now he's starting to get into it--Maker forgive him,] that's because the spirit's fled, and the spirit in whoever you graft the hand onto is still good, isn't it? And if not there's always necromancy, though--Maker's bones--I wouldn't want to go around with some other spirit bound into my hand to make it work.

A spirit of handiness, perhaps?

[ Hyuk hyuk hyuk. ]

[An obliging groan.]

Get out.

You don't know where I am. Maybe I am out. Maybe I'm everywhere.

[ Pause. ]

I don't think a spirit would be necessary for the hand--the person will keep their spirit after losing the hand, and I don't see why it's reject the hand, if it were successfully grafted. It's just like healing a chunk of flesh, yeah? [ Just a very large chunk of flesh. ] It's not like the hand would retain the spirit of the corpse, I haven't heard of people sticking in their own bodys for long after death.

No, I think the real challenge would be with making sure that the graft was fully successful, there's a lot of little ligaments and tendons in the hands that would need to be properly connected, if there's any hope for fine motor control.

And that's not even getting into having to make sure that the hand is fresh and hasn't suffered irreparable decay.

If you are, you'll have to use your omnipresence for good. And not spying on all of us in the baths.

--Right, I can buy a body's own spirit animating the new hand, but that's not how healing a wound works. At least--in theory, I'm not any good at massive gaping injuries you'd need a whole new chunk of flesh for--but it's a matter of growing something new out of someone's own body, not putting some new likely piece of meat in and grafting it in like a tree.

[Careful, thoughtful pause. When he speaks again, his tone is free of suspicion:] How d'you know all of this, anyway? I wasn't aware the Gallows was much known for medical magic. [It's more of a suggestion veiled as curiosity: new friend, are you sure talking about this openly without a plausible excuse is a good idea?]

Edited 2017-11-10 05:19 (UTC)

I would never. Being invited into one is much more appealing.

[ Gareth is ready to start into Myr's reply, already thinking of what kind of spells you'd need for the grafting--and then Myr continues on, and he can feel a sinking pit in his stomach. There's so much he has to remember, it's not just that he can't run around screaming about blood magic. There's a thousand tiny minutiae that he'd cast aside.

Can't even learn about how bodies work without it getting sketchy. ]

It wasn't. But I was in the war, I saw plenty of injuries. And I tried to help them--had to learn how to do it the old fashioned way, when my magic wasn't enough. And I'm pretty shoddy at creation magic, so...that was often.

[ It's probably a lame excuse, but it's the best he can think up, and more importantly: it's mostly true. He did see nasty injuries, he did try to help. It just...isn't what taught him as much as he knows. ]

Besides, I like thinking about the practical application of magic in mundane things. It's important for mages, and everyone else, as well.

We-ell, I wouldn't offer a standing invite myself so soon after our first meeting, [or for someone who strikes him as so young,] but keep pouring on the charm and I'm sure someone will ask you sooner rather than later. [The tone's teasing and not quite serious--but he likes the guy, even if he's a goofball who asks questions that set the whole Inquisition atwitter.

Or perhaps because of that.

He sobers, listens to the explanation, weighs it--and finds it likely enough. It leaves some reason for suspicion--there's a not-the-whole-story air about it--but damned if he'll go digging into it in public.]

I'm shoddy at the healing part of it myself, so I understand having to go the long way round on fixing an injury. Maker's breath, though--I don't like imagining how many chopped-off hands you must've seen to come away with all that.

[Logically, only one but after a close examination, which is still too many in Myr's estimation.

He is completely willing to seize on a safer topic that's nearer and dearer to his heart.]

Damn straight it is. Part of the fear of magic is not understanding it's meant for more than destruction. So what've you come up with to do with your own school? [Because he can list the mundane uses of creation for days.]

Don't worry, I think I'll manage, somehow.

[ He wasn't trying to get YOU to invite him, Myr. Gosh!! He neatly skips over the next part, because he's said all he wants to on the matter, and it seems handled, for now. ]

Well, I've offered to help a girl named Fern with the gardening. I can break up the earth, move rocks...prrrrobably. I've never tried it on a gardening scale, but! No progress without first making an attempt!

[ Famous last words. ]

[Oh Gareth, you are speaking the words of Myr's heart.]

That's the spirit! And Fern can certainly use the help. [And the friends.]

...But just from personal experience--try it on something other than the flowerbeds first.

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'Tis but a scratch

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