deernet | un: trienemybest; video

[The video feed opens in Varian's creepy basement lab where health and safety regulations go to die. The boy himself isn't looking that great, his skin has a grey-ish tinge to it and he looks more exhausted than usual. But that's fine, he's fine. He turns the camera around to take in some sapphires on his workbench. Some are soaking in various chemical substances, some are under a microscope, some are in various steampunk-y machines: it's clear some testing has been going on. ]

So, Flynn was kind enough to give me some of the crystals that grew on his corpse during...whatever weird new thing death is here. [He doesn't sound as excited about this as his usual projects and anyone who knows about his deeply unfortunate past will know why.] I have experience in creepy, magical death rocks -no...no I'm not going to elaborate on that- so I decided to study them. They seem to be crystalising the actual cells of the body- so not just a separate coating. I also found traces of warmblood within the crystals themselves, which I think is what Flynn is? A-anyway, it seems they're working on a cellular level, like they're what jumpstarts the reversal of the cell degeneration after death- so- so it's possible they're what reverses then entire process.

Anyway, moral of the story is, they're probably super important in resurrecting people so maybe don't mess with the process when it's happening? Of course, without having any other samples to compare this to, it's all conjecture right now.

[A beat, he turns the camera back to himself, grimacing.]

Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. Please don't take that as encouragement to get yourselves killed in the name of science.

[Another beat, then he waves a hand airily.]

Thaaaaaat said, this is October, so statistically, there's a high chance that a not-insignificant portion of the population will be dead by the end of the month. So...if you wanna donate your death crystals for science then, that would be less...morally grey. Probably? Probably.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Raccoons are the worst, Scorponak. It's a horrible lesson to learn.]

Oh, you can't do that anymore? I...uh remember Ironhide could. That's interesting. I've noticed the blood give new powers- maybe it's stopped to being able to change?

[He waggles his hand in a so-so gesture. ]

It was different there. Some people had their powers dramatically lessened- there eventually came places they could meditate and get them back for a short time. But it never gave new powers to people like it did here. I definitely never had any sort of magic before coming here.

Oh, I'm not referring to my alt-mode. That works well.

I'm curious about the squid form. Rather than rearranging my frame, I was composed of fleshy parts that became metallic. It's unheard of! [He looks pretty happy about this.] Yet it seems to be involuntary - imagine if we could change our chemical compositions whenever we entered the water!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Now he comes to think about it, that IS pretty weird. Wasn't that what happened to Fern? A fleshy squid and then a grass boy? How did that even work?]

You know, that's a good point, it seems involuntary. Though having the transformation happen with connection with water might make things like...showering and being in the rain messy.

[He lives with Luca, he's seen how easy it is for the guy to get wet and suddenly get scales.]

Doesn't ocean water have a high salt content? Perhaps it's a reaction to a specific type of water- [But...He pauses, going through the little information he has figured out so far.] What if it requires that we visit some location deep in the ocean?

Hmmm, that's a good point. I'd have to get a bucket of the stuff to run some tests on it.

[Just to rule it out if nothing else. ]

You know, depth is a possibility I hadn't thought of. That would explain why we switch to our...for lack of a better word normal forms once we get close enough to the surface.

We could test that out, but I unfortunately do not have a marine alt-mode. What I can do is create a pressure chamber and fill it with ocean water in an attempt to simulate the environment where we originated.

Ooooh!!!

[That's a genuinely excited ooooooh at that.]

That's even better! Then we can study it in a proper lab environment!! I could get so much data from something like that.

Exactly! [Work partners! He can believe it took such little time to find someone willing to go along with his brilliant if controversial ideas.] Though we do have a limited pool of subjects...

[But eh. If someone wants to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, so be it.]

Yeeeaaah that's kind of a problem. Maybe I can work it with blood samples instead? See how that reacts without...actually drowning someone.

...Probably should avoid drowning someone.

[He's right. They'd die and come back to life angry. Scorponok doesn't want that.]

What if the blood only reacts when in contact with a living creature? Should we inject it into a fish?

[He hums thoughtfully.]

Maybe I could try and create non-sentient organic matter? So we could test it out without uh... morally dubious areas?

[Probably. It feels like a thing he should probably be doing. ]

Fish aren't intelligent, sentient beings. I am not the same thing as a typical techno-scorpian.

I live with a sea monster so I beg to differ on that one. And given how omens work in this world, we can't rule out that they aren't sapient anyway.

[You just never know!!]

You aren't? There's a difference?

I'm not going to experiment on an omen. [That's just stupid!] I wouldn't even experiment on my own.

[And Varian hits a nerve.]

Is a Cybertronian who transforms into a car the same thing as a car? When I transform into a scorpion, do you think I am an unintelligent as an animal?

Oh good, nice to be...sure.

[He scratches his cheek.]

Well, no, you're not. But where I come from, animals aren't unintelligent. They're all pretty smart- we can talk to them and everything. They're almost like humans.

Then you don't eat animals on your planet?

[At least, most species don't eat other sentient species.]

I-

...Well okay, we do eat animals on my planet which I realise now really doesn't look great.

[Disney explain yourself. ]

[Even Scorponok has to acknowledge that's kind of messed up.]

[Welcome to the horrible fridge-logic of Disney, buddy!]

un: trienemybest; video

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