It's a bloody mess

[justice_is_blond]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Anders
RECIPIENT: All
WHAT: Beginning of a theory
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Your Local Gallows
NOTES: Blood talk.

[The first sound is a shaky breath that he wishes he'd managed to take before activating the crystal.]

I think there is a fair chance blood is key to this plague, at least with the Rifters.

[A short beat.]

My notes indicate that a Rifter drank blood from the suspected first patient, [he sounds vaguely confused but continues anyway,] well after the matter started, and the effects as the former described them were reminiscent of lyrium,. The blood itself was a pale, luminescent blue. Solas reported recently that the plague involves sweating blood out the skin, which was concerning but not immediately so because the sweat is blue.

...But this morning an injured Rifter came to me, bleeding. Her blood looks somewhere in between what we consider normal and the described blue. Rifter blood might be changing. And we need to know more about blood.

[He takes a slow breath this time, deliberately, centering his thoughts.]

I am not saying that we need to use blood magic to look into this further. I don't know that we can, because I'm not aware of us having any blood mages here.

I am saying that some long-held lines might need to be toed if we are to look into this angle as either her body is making blood incorrectly, or it is being changed by something after it's made. We also could use knowing if this is happening to more of the Rifters, preferably if it is happening to most, which means if any Rifters will volunteer to have a small cut made, it could help.

It could also help to know if this is happening to Templars as well, but again, volunteers.

[Just because Templars have forced mages down and taken their blood for actual blood magic doesn't mean the favor will be returned, and he might have phylacteries on the brain. There's one more short pause.]

I welcome any additional thoughts on this. If there are volunteers, I am in the infirmary currently and will mainly be there for...

[His breath catches.]

...the foreseeable future.

Comments

[iceblade]

[Wait, what.]

Someone...drank the patient's blood?

[justice_is_blond]

I don't think we can condemn any Rifters for not thinking straight right now. Or doing things that... are like that.

[youwonscience]

Did you look at it with the microscope?

[She sounds a bit fuzzy; concentrating is difficult.]

You could look at it and see if it's lyrium-y or just blue.

[justice_is_blond]

I didn't yet.

[He should have, but it's still so new the thought hadn't occurred to him.]

As soon as I have a volunteer. Do I need to add water to the blood or lyrium? And I can get you down there to supervise if you need help.

Private to Anders

[purered]

I am willing to volunteer anything that can be asked of me. However I would like to forewarn that my blood had unusual properties before this sickness and that may skew the data.

Private

[justice_is_blond]

What sort of unusual properties? It may still be valuable information, especially if there's natural resistances.

[Or natural vulnerabilities, but he doesn't want to say that.]

Please come down to the infirmary. I'm the blond man in blue and silver robes with two cats hanging out.

[faithlikeaseed]

[Quietly,] Templars have lyrium in their blood already--if they were exuding more, they'd not be going through symptoms of its withdrawal.

It's as if the plague is burning it out of them.

[justice_is_blond]

They have it in their blood, but it isn't actually...

[He's looking for the words.]

It isn't in place of their blood. If there's any that can spare a little, I'd like to know if theirs has gone a deeper red or if it's instead going purple-blue as well. I can't think of why it's making Rifter blood more like lyrium while burning it out of Templar blood.

[A beat.]

It can't be a transference, Templars to Rifters. That doesn't make any sense in the least, but it's where my mind's gone.

[provenforce]

If you need more of mine you can have it.

[ She's also laying five feet away from him while saying this but w/e the crystals are talking so she's gonna talk back ]

[justice_is_blond]

[He looks over, giving her a faint smile before grabbing a blanket and bringing it over to offer it out.]

As soon as, um. [That's odd. He's forgotten her name. Anders' expression goes blank before he shakes his head and it comes back.] As soon as Cosima's ready, I may take you up on that. I'd to not do so, you lost a lot, but if no one's dropped by by then I will.

[utulien_aure]

What will happen to the blood samples after you've had the chance to look at them?

[justice_is_blond]

I'm planning on only making enough of a cut to see it, unless someone is fine with giving a little so we can look at it under a microscope. If you're not, the blood will well up, I'll heal the cut, and you're free to wipe it with a cloth and burn said cloth or whatever you'd like to do.

This is about a cure and not power.

[el_tybs]

[A heavy sigh on his end, for numerous reasons]

Obviously I'm not volunteering about giving blood. [Can't really since he doesn't have symptoms.] But I can offer help with... whatever it is you need to do.

Private

[justice_is_blond]

How is your brain?

[His voice is tiredly amused.]

I need more theories of where to go from here. But more than that... You've examined Kirk a great deal, I'm assuming? Is there anything of a foreign nature you've detected? Perhaps subtle? Something is changing their blood.

[He'd have been constantly examining Nate if it was some sort of archer plague. Or chin-hair-tuft-bearer plague.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Shit. Shit. Uh, I'll definitely volunteer if it means a chance to, y'know, not turn any bluer than I've already turned and die? I definitely don't want to bleed out and die, but at least I'd do it in my color.

[justice_is_blond]

The knowledge of if it's happening to most or all Rifters could help, and seeing if there are different changes between Rifters could as well. Right now I'm grasping at nearly every possibility as I'd likewise prefer you lot not turn bluer or die.

Please come by.

[castintoflames]

I will bring you a vial of my blood. (Because he is more comfortable cutting himself than having another do so.)

[justice_is_blond]

I hardly need a whole vial, especially with the sweating going on. Less, please. I don't want to overtax your body.

[tar_minyatur]

[ Elros raises a finger and opens his mouth and then closes it again. He does this twice before he manages to actually speak ]

To start with, who in Eru's name drinks blood and I mean sure, whatever, if you need to bleed me a bit that's fine.

But no seriously?!?

not here

[thunderproof]

❰ look it seemed like a good idea at the time ❱

[justice_is_blond]

No one's getting the name, no matter how magnificent their ship may wind up being, Elros. I'd like to see you in the infirmary, please.

[tagartist]

... Gross. [ That's about all she can manage at first, because look, all these Crystals implying THIS SHIT MIGHT KILL YOU, HERE'S HOW!!! are getting to her a bit. Not that she's not just feeling more agitated in general at the moment. ]

How small a cut?

[justice_is_blond]

Very small, just enough to verify that your blood is no longer the usual red. I've enough to look at under the microscope already; this is just for visual verification.

private

[altusimperius]

um...

[not like I care, BUT,]

...can I... do anything?

private

[justice_is_blond]

I would welcome any help you can offer, Benedict. Do you know anything of diseases, or anything out of the usual with lyrium, or... I've no idea even what else to ask. But I'll take a great many sorts of expertise.

[crowncitizen]

I'm sure that person didn't mean to do anything bad, though I'm... trying to figure out why someone would drink another person's blood.

[Prompto's kind of out of it, but not so much that the whole 'someone drank someone's blood' thing goes over his head. His optimism is in overdrive thanks to this flu and whatever it's doing to his head, but even with that he can't fathom why someone would do that.]

But, uh. I volunteer if you still need it!

[justice_is_blond]

I'm quite sure there were no ill intentions. And I'd like to check every Rifter that is willing, please. Drop on by, Prompto.

[judgemewhole]

[... well all this was going to just go wonderfully. He had about a thirty second window before new hallucinations started again, so.]

If you can get a few more men and women to hold me down, you can have my blood, Ander. I am hallucinating badly, though. I will likely struggle.

[justice_is_blond]

Will you consent to a paralysis glyph? That should make matters... easier.