Pick Your Poison [Lykos]

[Hilana Chenzira]

23 Searing, Year 123

[Closed - Lykos]

As she hauled in her bounty from the Holy City, vividly-coloured skirts swished about her long legs. Dyed red and gold with black stitching that Lia had decided to embroider a dragon with, the cotton fabric neatly hid her sandal-clad feet as it usually did. Hilana was not about to forget the earlier events of the season when the Void monster had attacked the Citadel. She also was not about to forget the warnings Sentinel Phocion had issued. That for the moment, it served their goals to protect Lia, but in the future, it might not. Lykos had offered to purify the Void from her using Negation; it was just a matter of refining the method.

Once he had that down...

Lia could hopefully live a normal life. It might not necessarily be the life of luxury that Athalia - the present one - enjoyed, but they could make it work. Hilana could get them a bigger place once they found Lykos' family in Kalzasi and were no longer remanded to the Citadel. Lia could start her tailoring business, or look after the house, whatever she wanted to do: Hilana brought in enough for both of them as it was, but even if Lia picked up something part-time, it gave her more options to play with in terms of her future. Maybe she would even meet someone. But for now, practice made perfect, and practice was the order of the day. While Lykos was free to leave the Citadel and seek alternate arrangements, Lia could not enter the cities safely without concern of another attack. The goal was to make sure that she could, and that she was simply any other Vastiana. It would just take time.

Hilana had chosen her poisons for today wisely. The contents of the vial would induce paralysis, but wouldn't kill the subject outright. Which was probably for the better with the present "victim" of sorts - a desert hare that Hilana had picked up at the market and doused with calming clover to keep it from trying to escape the basket. Her sister was side-eying her. "How comfortable with this are you?" Lia asked her frankly when Hilana set the basket and her rucksack down. She did not have either snake with her today; Tiaz and Fiya were both in the middle of a shed, and Tiaz was also digesting a meal. There was also the fact that her chunky noodles made the poor Rathari's nose go off, and not in a good way. Hilana would rather he was able to concentrate and focus on the task at hand rather than get distracted by her pets.

"I believe in Lykos' ability to do this," Hilana smiled at her. Lia put down her embroidery, sitting back in her chair, a slight frown on her face. She understood that Hilana's training from botanist-herbalist also involved botanist-poisons, and she didn't necessarily like it. Still, she wouldn't deny that the skillset made sense, and in a place like Solunarium, it might very well be invaluable... even if it made others uncomfortable. "He's ready. Aren't you?" she beamed at the demigod Rathari, lining up a number of vials on the table in a rack from her her bag. For once, no food first. Food after... rather than risk a mix-up.

[Rickter]

Pick Your Poison

Timestamp, 123rd Year, A.o.S.

Today involved something of an experiment that Lykos needed to be ready for, as it would require his focus if he ever intended to harness the true power of his Negation magic. In the time he'd spent busy with the cold room, he'd often wanted to experiment, but refrained from doing so, with the concept if only to further his own personal knowledge on the subject.

Ideally, Negation wasn't a magic known for actually cleansing and purifying things, as either Afflictionists or even healers themselves were the ones to dabble in such art. Negation was a concept meant for reinforcing the state of something, and blocking out anything in general that might challenge that. So, conceptually, it seemed highly illogical that his own powers could achieve this, however, something in Lykos felt more than certain he could pull through with it.

Therefore as he'd sat down at the table outside, he'd tucked his feet beneath the bench he resided on, with his hands pressed together in-between his thighs as he meditated. He'd thought of his theories, and of the principles he knew both from heart and from research on Negation. Lia, of course, had accompanied him there, listening to him often ramble a bit on his tangents, as she was also a healthy influence on his approach to the concept.

But according to what Lana had planned, those concepts were about to be put to the test; once and for all. So when he detected the scent of her earthen flowery fragrance, he naturally fixed his lips to refrain them from contorting into a mixture of a smile and a frown. Truthfully he had mixed feelings about the approach here, if only because of what might be involved in the process of the experiment. To him, all manner of life was something sacred to protect and preserve, a principle he found integral to his core without ever realizing it before.

So the idea of potentially putting anything into a state of suffering, be it benign or not, wasn't something Lykos would've inflicted on any creature. Upon the arrival of the younger Vastiana his eyelids drew to an open, the smell of a rodent bathed in a combination of aromas briefly perplexing him. So the poor hare before him was the one who would likely be enduring whatever afflictions the lady had planned. Hopefully, it wasn't going to be anything too severe, or he would undoubtedly make sure she'd never hear the end of it.

Seeing Hilana line up the vials of what he could only determine were poisons, he finally caved with a bit of a frown and nothing short of a very soft growl. "I can only hope." He remarked in turn with his eyes never leaving the hare in the cage. As conflicting as it was to understand the laws of nature, and the fact he was inadvertently a predator looking at prey, the wolf still felt apprehensive toward what they were about to do. Perhaps because at the end of the day, his prattling had been nothing short of theories untested after all. What if he were to fail or worse, find that his magic was indeed limited by the concepts he'd thoroughly studied over so.

"Obviously, I don't fully consent to doing this... but I understand the motivation behind it." He admitted before he lifted his hands from his lap, before his rough digits rested on the edge of the table itself. He felt utterly compassionate for the creature before him, enough to where he would've rather pet the thing instead of harm it. With that said, he reluctantly gave the sisterly pair a nod, and resumed the focus on his aether reserves he'd honed in on for this experiment.

"At the ready when you'd like to begin." He confirmed with a determined expression.

"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."

[Hilana Chenzira]

Hilana just raised her eyebrows and leaned forward, putting her hands on the table when Lykos said he didn't quite consent to this. "A hare is the easiest to work with," she reminded him not unkindly. "A hare is at least a mammal, a chicken is a bird and that's a larger physiological difference. I could have purchased a servus from the market for the same purpose, but that may be a test for later. Use Nyx and see what that does to them, and then purify them from its influence." The girl was speculative. She may have been being blunt, and she knew it may well rankle Lykos' sensitivities and upset the Rathari, but she may as well prepare him for what was coming. She didn't want to just risk Lia before the method was fine-tuned. Lia just facepalmed with a sigh.

Besides, they all ate meat. This wouldn't kill the rabbit, and provided that it was completely purified later, she'd likely feed it to her snakes later. The massive cobras might well enjoy it. Barring that, she could cut it up and feed it to the cats, too. Either Lykos would be able to cleanse her poisons from the mottled furred hare, or she had the antidote on hand to take care of it. One way or another, it would be safe for consumption. She just didn't think the others would want to partake on the creature, even after it they verified its health with Semblance... but she could always cook it up for lunches for herself to take to work, too. Decisions, decisions.

But with his assent, Hilana pulled the hare from the wicker basket, setting it on the table. Its velvety nose twitched as it lifted its head, enormous brown eyes looking around. Yet, it was more placid than one might have expected. Under scrutiny from Semblance, it had already been drugged with something, some sort of food. Some rounded green leaves were mounded on the table. "We call this calming clover," she explained to Lykos. "It helps relax creatures and makes them less stressed out and anxious. More biddable. From little rabbits to large rams." He had to know so that he could identify it in the hare's system, since it wasn't what he wanted to remove.

"This is one of my poisons. It's not a lethal one," she smiled wryly at that. "All it will do is paralyze it. It makes the muscles seize by affecting the cardiovascular system." Hilana opened one of the vials, offering it to Lykos to let him investigate it.... all while the hare looked up at them, looking rather pitiful. Well, faex, as the sisters might have said.

[Rickter]

Pick Your Poison

Timestamp, 123rd Year, A.o.S.

The facts that Hilana posed as well as her pragmatic attitude were not lost on him one bit. Lykos did nothing to denounce her claims as he could understand well enough, but to put such a tiny creature through the torture it would soon have to endure. No matter how mundane of an experiment it was, part of him felt conflicted if only because of the doe-eyed look the little critter maintained.

What's funny enough is that he would've easily considered the animal another part of his dinner palette in a separate circumstance. Any other day, he would have batted an eye when it came to his meals. Perhaps that had been the inner predator in him, the wolf that accepts the hunt for what it is in the cycle of life. This certainly felt different to the contrary, even so, that didn't stop him from having mixed feelings about it.

"Aye." He agreed, still reluctant but more so willing now, as he looked from the hare to the animal handler in question. Hilana was quite knowledgeable in a lot of things, things that even baffled him as Lykos picked up on the finer details of what he had to work with. The calming clover, for example, he could smell the traces of it and somehow it smelled similar to lavender. Not quite like it but aromatic enough to have the same calming effect, an important detail to note as he mentally noted the tones of the scent on the hare.

When it came to the poisons though, that was where his attention shifted wholly in particular. Here were the very tools he had to learn to cleanse, which required him to identify the toxins with all of the senses he had available. Visually it looked like nothing more than a bottled serum, but once he popped open the cork, the pungent smell was enough for him to crinkle his nose. So much that he felt his sense of smell go numb for a minute, and that was enough to encourage him to return the vials to the younger sister.

"So in other words, this injection is only going to cause paralysis." He reiterated with some small confidence, admittedly brushing his fingers on the underside of his fuzzy jawline with contemplation. So far he had a decent idea on what he was going to cleanse from the subject, but he wouldn't be able to perform the task accurately if he wasn't seeing the poison take effect in action. The wolf gave one final low groan to himself, his folded arms then loosened to where he leaned on the table.

"Alright. Do it." He confirmed with a deep breath through his nostrils, with the reserves of his aether focusing through his eyes. With a slow blink, the irides around his pupils glinted, and their blue hues transitioned to silver as he observed the desert hare in its current state. The critter's aura proved small to behold but that was to be expected, with slow and steady fluctuations pulsing throughout the aura to show the signs of life it possessed.

Already, Lykos could determine the hare was a young male, likely in his prime before he wound up snagged in the trap that captured him. He wasn't quite malnourished but he clearly struggled to find good vegetation out in the sands, but all that hardly mattered compared to what Lykos really needed to see. Observing not just the hare but the poison Hilana held as well, he could see vibrant green hues glimmering within the vial now. That was enough to help him identify the poison as it entered the hare's body, so now, all he needed to do was watch and wait to see how this panned out.

"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."

[Hilana Chenzira]

"It's just going to paralyze it. This is a very mild, watered-down use of neurotoxin. This one in particular came from a puffer fish," Hilana explained. "There's many natural sources of it, and neurotoxins attack the nervous system of the body," the Vastiana put the end of the hypodermic needle into the vial, withdrawing the plunger to draw the clear liquid back up into it. Hilana had noticed that the way his nose had reacted to the scent of the poison, the way it had crinkled. Hm. That may be something she was going to have to play around with with Alchemy - to give these poisons the scent of water so that he wouldn't be able to detect it that way. That was a good point, and a good note, and mentally, she put it in the back of her mind for later so that she could talk to Domina Clelia about that. She knew attributes could be moved from one to another... so that? That was smart.

She made a crooning sound at the hare, who had some more of the clover, its nose twitching as it chewed. The girl gave it a moment to swallow - she didn't want to choke it after all - before stroking it and lifting it up to position it in her lap before she carefully lifted the skin at the back of the hare's neck and inserted the needle. She hadn't withdrawn much from the vial, considering the creature on her lap was so light that it really wouldn't take that much for it. The dose made the poison, after all. Hilana knew how much it weighed, and so she could apply her dosage accordingly. The hare twitched at the injection before she put it back on the table, no longer allowing it to have clover.

The hare certainly wanted it, but due to the way its heart pumped, the poison was spreading quickly through the animal's system. While it was still breathing, its nose was no longer twitching, its ears were no longer flicking, and it was still. Very, very still. The sisters looked to Lykos then, and Hilana smiled at him. "All yours." Both of them were keen to watch and see what and how he did it, and if he could restore the hare to its normal state.

[Rickter]

Pick Your Poison

Timestamp, 123rd Year, A.o.S.

Lykos observed diligently as Hilana primed the syringe and then injected it into the hare's body. As tactful as the younger sister was she wasn't heartless at all with administering the dosage, and while the wolf would've found solace with that it didn't distract him from what was about to come next. The aura of the critter fluctuated with pulsations, showing signs of discomfort before the toxins began to pump throughout the veins.

Hilana might've known what she was doing in this instance, however, the wolf himself hadn't the slightest idea how he was going to handle the situation. He could only watch and observe, as the traces of paralytic poison spread to slow the very aura the hare gave off. Though mortifying to a degree it was also interesting to him, seeing how such poison not only affected the physical but astral body of the creature as well.

Still, while he could comprehend the poison for what it was, the challenge now remained for Lykos to try and cleanse the critter of it. He nodded in tandem to Hilana's gesture when she confirmed it was all him from here, and so, the silver-eyed wolf brought a hand to wrap around the contours of his fuzzy chin. How could one such as he remove toxins from a subject like this? If he compared it to a situation similar to Athalia, then perhaps that might've allowed him to think a bit better.

In hindsight Lykos felt lucky this was only a paralysis condition, otherwise, he would've been stressed for time were it any other poison. Even then, he understood the value of time investment with this, as he did not wish to waste energy and resources on an impossible feat. Lana gave me everything I needed to know to pull this off. He ruminated with himself mentally as he went over the cliff notes once more. The muscles seized because the neurotoxin had settled in, so it was safe to say that the entire nervous system had been compromised by the toxin.

It's entirely possible to just quarantine the toxin itself, and keep it from affecting the creature's nerves. But that doesn't get rid of the toxin, just simply negates the effects until it wears away. Which given his power was one easy solution, since the hare would burn the toxin out of its system that way if given the opportunity. Cleansing the toxins would mean targeting them for removal, and purifying the aetheric sources within so that they convert to their original state.

His fingers tapped diligently underneath his chin as his lips pressed more firmly. Everything he thought of wasn't out of the realm of possibility, for him, but the more he thought on the notes he had; the more he realized it was all just conjecture thus far. Negation was merely a means of reinforcing the state of being for something; be that a person, thing, or state of reality in a present moment. Everything he pondered didn't necessarily challenge that, but there wasn't exactly any information on Negation being able to cleanse things from said subjects.

So really... he wouldn't know if it would work unless he tried. Okay. He confirmed with himself as he never once looked away from the immobilized hare, his hands dropped to where they rested on the table near each side of the critter. Isolate the toxins first. While I'm at it I'll need to slow the critter's aetherial flux, so that it doesn't bolt the moment it regains mobility.

Here he went.

As Lykos turned his hands to linger near the hare he stared intently, past the vacant doe eyes the hare still possessed, and deep into the source of its tiny aura where he studied it more. Throughout the color of it, there were traces of the green hues from earlier, significant shades of color that represented the poison where it had settled. Use the hare as the anchor point. Sure enough the lights on his skin flickered across flesh, the Negation rune flaring to life across his shoulders and down his arms where he channeled aether.

The normal glimmer of lights fanned outward to lace around the hare, creating a shimmering sphere of aether as Lykos forged the anchor that would serve as the focal point. Now he began to task it with the perimeters necessary to achieve his task, while the Kinetics rune beneath his clavicle glimmered in response to the secondary approach. Controlling the subtle fluctuations of the critter's aura, Lykos observed as the pulsations stilled to a sudden halt, while the toxins became isolated as per the command he instilled within the ward.

Okay. Now for the difficult part... The lights emanating from his palms faded out while the glimmering sphere of light lingered, the hare perfectly still as a statue within as the wolf bit his lower lip in heavy thought. Removal of the toxin involves redirecting it somewhere. We want it completely out of the body, but where exactly would we be expelling it?

Lykos leaned back and for a minute or so he seemed perplexed, utterly fixated on the project before him before he leaned his head back, and observed the bigger part of what he had accomplished already. The barrier around the hare acted as a boundary did it not? It served as the principle between what was and what Lykos wanted to reinforce. The toxins were what he wanted to be eradicated within that boundary. So in a sense, he could expunge them without totally harming the hare in the process.

"I think I figured it out now." He murmured as the silver in his eyes turned back to their blue hues. Focusing on the anchor once more he held his palms near the barrier, and channeled just a smaller portion of his aether within it. Coaxing his aether to cover and fill every fiber of the hare before him, Lykos generated another layer that would influence the toxins within its body.

This led the hare to suddenly glow with the same coat of Northern Lights as the barrier, while the aether within gradually seeped in to expel the toxins from the body without harming the nerves or tissue. After a few minutes had passed the light show itself began to fade away, starting from Lykos' hands to the body of the hare, until the very barrier itself faded and the critter was moving around of its own volition once more. The lupine draegir then sank into his chair with a weary groan, having found himself certainly challenged on how to apply his craft in this situation.

"I wasn't sure if that would actually work!" He remarked with a surprised look at his effort, both relieved and jubilant to see that it somehow paid off. "But it looks like all traces of the poison are removed."

"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."

[Hilana Chenzira]

Neither sister offered and words of advice or encouragement as they let Lykos focus on the now-paralyzed hare, and let him come up with a plan of action. That wasn't to say that they weren't rooting for him; they just had to let him work this process out for his own. This was something he alone was going to be able to do; and neither of them was able to do this work with Negation that he could. Athalia had been a steady sounding board while it was the two of them regularly with the younger sister being back and forth at work and commuting to the Citadel in the evenings to stay with them.

But Hilana had chosen the solution that she had precisely to make him feel a little less anxious and worried about being on the clock with something that would be fatal. She had no shortage of concoctions and poisons that could kill in any number of gruesome ways, from internal bleeding to overloading the nervous system, or attacking the heart directly... she was a ready student, even if this wasn't a subject that many were interested in. But he had what he needed to put this together, it was just connecting the pieces of the puzzle. Connecting the substances that the soft-furred hare had ingested, from the calming clover to the injected poison, with the hare itself, and then removing only the poison that Vastiana had used was the challenge. Especially now that it had worked its way through the critter and had fully taken over its nervous system.

She did, however, attempt to follow what Lykos was doing with Semblance. She focused on the Rune that was hidden on her scalp beneath all of that black hair, and when she opened her eyes again, they were no longer just brown, but reflected each of the elements that she had worked with so far in an ever-changing kaleidoscopic gaze. She kept her enhanced gaze away from the demigod, trying to keep it on the hare and only on the hare. She was getting a little better at distinguishing which parts of Negation were which, especially under the Sembling sight. She only had so much time to focus as Lykos' crafts were worked relatively swiftly, and with... that was Kinetics, wasn't it?... in the mix, the most she could do was identify the anchor and the first ward. She did not have time to pick apart what each was for, and how the use of Kinetics entered the puzzle, but that was a question for later.

But as he said, it was clear. As Hilana scrutinized the hare's aura, she found that he was right - there was no more traces of the poison that she had dosed the hare with, not even a single lingering whiff. He was thorough, that was for certain. She closed her eyes again and relaxed her Rune, letting her eyes return to normal. "You're right, you've purified it. What was the Kinetics for?" the Vastiana wanted to know, interested and curious. She was, after all, interested in Kinetics from a surgical standpoint, so understanding how it had come into play here might be yet another tool for the arsenal.

[Rickter]

Pick Your Poison

Timestamp, 123rd Year, A.o.S.

During the process of analyzation when Hilana utilized her Semblance, her caution would've remained well placed, had it not been for the fact that there were noticeable symbols not visible to the naked eye. Sure, behind them awaited what would've seemed like a searing sun waiting to threaten her very sight, but the symbols that remained noticeable were undoubtedly wards composed of a combination of Semblance and Negation magic. Lykos had, after all, worked diligently to do more than simply mask his own presence within the citadel, he'd focused entirely on containing the intensity of his aura into a singular focal point. A focal point that required several layers of wards in fact, but one that made him seemingly passable as an expert or master mage nonetheless.

While that had been the most tangible subtlety of his own work though, the art in which he utilized Negation for the purification attempt was not. Having focused on the extraction of the would-be toxins, the unmoving hare would soon be rid of the poison that Hilana had injected into it's system moments after. Slowly but surely the sluggish fluctuations of his aura gradually resumed their original pacing, signifying that the application of Kinetics had also worn off in turn. If only because Lykos' focus finally waned after the last of the analysis had passed, and thus, he soon reached up to the critter to pick it up within his hands. Upon the younger sister's inquiry of his application with Kinetics, the wolf looked up from the creature in his hands, a soft chuckle near escaping his lips as he started to stroke a finger between its ears.

"Two things really." He answered briefly as he felt the relaxed hare crane its head further into his fingers, likely enjoying the gentle scratches it received from Lykos. "The main objective was to ensure the hare remained in place, as a thorough inspection and cleansing of the toxins required concentration. Risking the hare to run the moment it felt the effects nullified would've still allowed them to persist, which, its body would've still metabolized and burned off anyway... but that remained counterproductive to the process altogether."

He then lifted the hair from his lap so that the critter could sit back atop the table, in the event one of the sisters wanted to handle the creature during his second half of the explanation. "Which is where and why the other reason came into play. Scrutinizing the aura thoroughly while it was active allowed for an understanding of how the poison affects the body both physically and spiritually. Yet, to effectively remove the affliction as a source, it's easier to identify wherein that source takes root, and then purge it in a manner that beneficially removes it from the subject. In this case, to cleanse the poison was to treat it like an extraction with magic, cleansing the toxins so that the process wouldn't have harmed the body during the attempt. "

Yet the approach only remained simple because of the fact it was a hare, therefore, a small animal with much less complexity layered within the aura. Were this something larger and a more complex aura to observe, Lykos would've undoubtedly needed more time to trial and error. Auras were interesting that way after all, in that they reacted to the world just as the mind and heart did. Invasively seeking to remove something such an affliction wouldn't have been so easy. "Does that make sense?" He inquired with a raise of his eyebrow, hopeful that his understanding of the practice sounded relatively easy to grasp. He was delving a bit into unknown territory with this after all, since he hasn't really read or heard of another Negator utilizing the craft in the manner he has.

"Every side attacks you when you don't pick sides."

[Hilana Chenzira]

She listened to his explanation of why he had used it, and found herself nodding. That did make sense. He effectively locked the hare in place so that even if it wasn't for the poison in its body, it couldn't go anywhere... which allowed him to focus on blocking and therefore removing the poison that she had injected the golden-brown hare with. It had been interesting to watch through Semblance, to see the way the aura of the target had changed through the process. Now that it was no longer in danger of choking because its muscles had been paralyzed, and it was no longer held in place by Kinetics or another craft, Hilana let it have more clover. She would put it back in the basket from where it had come from earlier once it had another snack.

"That does make sense. So next time, we'll try something that's more challenging on a bigger target. Maybe a goat," she was thoughtful. They would keep graduating through targets and toxins until they were up to something that was person-sized and see what happened. But it did mean that they had a series of experiments to work on and a goal to work towards. A gradually-increasing system was still a controlled experiment, and while there would likely be issues along the way... the more they did it, the more familiar Lykos got with the process, and... well, who knew. Maybe she should introduce another poison to their little furry friend tomorrow and let him try with a different type of venom. "And when we're further along, you'll need to work it on something that has very much taken root and integrated with the system, because it's part of her, too," Hilana looked over to her sister.

She wondered if the Sentinels might be interested in this process and this use of Negation. They might well find it interesting, if one worked Semblance and Negation together on targets... Who knew what was coming, or what their enemies could come up with? This could save Lia, and perhaps one day it could save all of them. There was no way of knowing. But it was a valuable process, and something different and something exciting. One could banish bacteria, too, to fix infection... that might be a faster method than making antibiotics, even with alchemy.

"I think we can let our test subject go back into his basket, Hilana. I imagine Lykos is about ready to eat," Lia removed her aura glasses before she gathered her embroidery and put it away in the hamper beside her. They could go to the kitchen and see how dinner was progressing, or, better yet, get their wolf something to eat.

[Chronicle]

Hilana
Points: 10 XP, applicable for involved magics used
Loot: N/A (unless Hilana got a new pet bunny)
Injuries: N/A

Lykos
Points: 10 XP, applicable for involved magics used
Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A

Comments: And they ate happily ever after. <3 Seriously though, this was a fun thread and am excited for the next segment.