un: klapbak | video

[klussy]

Surprise, bitch. I lived.

(Have Eddie, flipping the camera off with his right hand aka his prosthetic.

Eddie looks different than the last time most people had seen him. For starters, he has a green undertone to his skin. For another, his tongue is completely black. Behind him is an empty room with gray floorboards and peeling green walls. It at least looks clean. There's a Gucci suitcase on its side, opened up, with clothes spilling over and across the floor. Another Gucci suitcase sits next to it, but it has been partially charred.

A dog is passed out and snoring rather loudly in the opened suitcase.

Despite his on-point meme drop, Eddie's delivery is completely and suspiciously blank. His gray eyes are flat, and his expression remains completely empty.)

Richie's here too. (As if on-demand, a massive fireball blast out from the doorway of a nearby room followed by some crashing and yelling. Eddie doesn't even bother to glance over his shoulder.)

We're settling in okay. We're in Lumenwood. I've got some of my supplies from Deerington but I've got a shitton of stuff I need to restock.

(Which was going to be such a drag.)

But for those on a need-to-know basis, I've already made some important notes on this place. Not that any of you give a shit, but if you do...I guess we were given journals for a reason. I suck at journaling though. Here's a uh --- transcipt? Is that what it's called? Whatever, I typed it up.

(He shrugs. The screen goes blank only to be followed up by some text that Eddie clearly wrote up ahead of time:)



IMPORTANT TRENCH NOTES SHIT STUFF?
i dont know i dont normally do the note takin thing so feel grateful

1.)

our blood's fucking weird now but also no shit it's weird now is anyone surprised

give me your blood so i can figure it out. i studied hematology a LOT

last time i checked out my blood under a scope it was totally different than what it is now on a cellular level.

i actually tried to expose my blood to some bacteria and germs that would usually cause an infection and it was really weird? what look like my new white cells just immediately seemed to swallow up the bacteria and it was like it never existed at all

thats not to say you should run around and stab yourself with a rusty fork anytime soon

but it'd be cool if i could get more samples to see if this is just a Me thing or an Us thing

2.)

i spit on richie and we figured out that my spit can cause a numbing feeling. if you ever need to spit on you, let me know
it's probably gonna be useful if anyone gets injured
normally i would say don't let someone spit in your open wounds
but my spit is totally sanitary
i swear



(shut the hell up)

3.)

only 1/3rd of my closet made it here and no im not ready to talk about it. this place doesn't even have goddamn chanel

4.)

taylor swift still exists so we're gonna be okay

Comments

[klussy]

oh yeah. blood is different between species too like you can't take a cat's blood and give it to a human or vice versa
blood is weirdly complex

which makes me wonder if our old blood types are relevant to these blood types or if they even exist WITHIN these blood types
oh man
there;s so much shit i gotta look into

(He does NOT feel ready.)

it's northwest in lumenwood and about two blocks over from the big red tower (lumenarium) to the left. it's a SUPER green house. seventh house up the road and like the only green houes on the block

[Action]

[schoolingfish]

[The directions are good enough that Luca's able to find the place, and once he does, Eddie will hear a knock on his door. Still thinking about the whole 'species' thing, Luca wonders if he should mention being a sea monster so they can figure out if there are any differences with his blood compared to everyone else's.]

[klussy]

(Eddie approaches the door quickly enough. He's worn down and tired-looking, but regardless, he looks pleased to see Luca if only because he was always a bit honored when someone trusted him with this kind of thing.)

Hey, man. I'm Eddie. (Proper introduction and all. He puts out his prosthetic hand for a handshake because Manners or Whatever.)

Are you uhh- good with needles? I forgot to ask.

[schoolingfish]

Hi, I'm Luca.

[Luca has seen a prosthetic limb before, thanks to Varian. He's also known someone with a missing arm and no prosthetic back home, so the lack of an arm isn't particularly surprising to him. He is also...sort of aware of handshakes. Alberto had shown him a handshake, though the one Alberto had shown him was a little more...elaborate. Luca isn't sure if a prosthetic limb could do the things Alberto had done, so he just takes Eddie's hand and looks at him expectantly like he's waiting for a queue as to what to do next.]

Good with needles? Do you mean...like...sewing needles?

[Luca wonders what that has to do with anything. Is Eddie going to prick him with a sewing needle to get his blood?]

[klussy]

(Eddie doesn't even blink at the awkwardness. It's not the first time he's met someone foreign to human stuff like this. So, Eddie gives him a gentle handshake to try and show him what you're supposed to do.)

It's just a polite greeting. Not everyone does it. (He...used to have that same wide-eyed, uncertain look Luca had. It's hard to not want to gently guide the kid. He lets go of Luca's hand after a second and grimaces at the question.)

Yeah, so. No.

(He picks Luca's arm back up and turns it over so that he could look down at his veins. He lightly taps the crook of his arm where there was a decent vein for sticking.)

They are medical needles. They are made a lot differently than sewing needles. They're like...Very sharp, very thin tubes, basically. And I'll poke it into here - (Taps Luca's vein.) And you'll feel a small pinch, not gonna lie, and then it's fine. You might get a little queasy. Some people do. But that's why we do it with you sitting down.

(He removes his hand from Luca and slips his hands into his pockets.)

Are you still cool with doing it?

[schoolingfish]

[He releases Eddie's hand when the handshake is done, nodding to indicate that he understood what Eddie was telling him. Then, he listens intently as Eddie explains needles. It's definitely a new concept, but honestly it's actually less scary than what Luca had originally been envisioning, which had been more of a 'cutting him and letting the blood come out' type of situation. This seems a lot neater, and like he might see less of his own blood, so that, he decides, is probably a good thing.]

I still want to do it. Although...since you mentioned before that blood is different for different species, there's something I should probably tell you.

[After all, Luca doesn't want to throw off Eddie's research just because he left out an important detail. He bites his lip, a little nervous about sharing this, but he goes ahead and does it.]

I'm not exactly human.

[klussy]

(Eddie watches Luca's eyes carefully. Moira once told him that it was important to keep focused on a patient's eyes since they usually gave away more of what they were feeling than their voice or body language might.

But Luca really does seem okay with the idea. Eddie relaxes. His morality might have become a lot more gray over the years, but he was still ultimately more of a compassionate person than not. He'd never intentionally hurt anyone.

He waits, patiently, and he's not surprised by Luca's news. He doesn't even pretend to be. Instead, he gives him a polite smile.)

That's okay, dude. I work on non-humans all the time. Probably as much as I work on normal people.

(He steps back into his house and gestures for Luca to come inside. It was still sparsely furnished, but it's clear Eddie and Richie were working hard on setting up the clinical parts. One step to the right and they were in what looked to be a cleaner Victorian medbay. Beds with deep green sheets, medical supplies on heavy wooden tables. And, of course, as promised, his dog was sleeping on the pillow of the nearest bed.)

Do you mind if I ask what you are exactly? Might help us both out a bit. I've been a few different creatures too so ya don't gotta by shy about the details.

[schoolingfish]

[Well, that's promising to hear. If he's used to non-humans, then what he has to say is probably going to be a non-issue. Following Eddie inside, Luca explains.]

I'm a sea monster. We turn human when we dry out, and we turn back into sea monsters when we get wet.

[Which explains why Luca's natural body odor smells a bit like fish. When he goes to the medbay, the first thing he sees is the dog he saw earlier in the video. Luca might not be familiar with the word 'dog', but he is familiar with the concept of a cute animal.]

Your pet is so cute! Or...is that your omen?

[klussy]

No shit? I was a siren once. I have no idea if that's anything like what you are but I had like - mermaid tail thing going.

(...He also ate people alive. He's gonna leave that physiological difference out for now. He immediately wants to test this out with a glass of water, but they could have time for that later and he wasn't a total asshole. He did kind of smell like fish, but Eddie smelled like rotten flowers, so really, mutual strong odors unite.

He grins brightly at the guy's reaction to his dog.)

Thanks. Isn't she perfect? Her name's Gucci. She's a huge brat and super cuddly.

(He's sooo proud of her.)

Oh, no. She's just an immortal dog that appeared on my bed one day.

(Which is equally cool. Eddie holds out his prosthetic and shadows begin to whisper and melt out of it, falling like dry ice onto the ground below. Out of the dark forms his actual omen: a large, sleek, black cheetah with bright silver eyes.)

This is my omen. Her name's Dolly. What's yours?

[schoolingfish]

I mean, I do have a tail. And scales and fins and stuff...maybe I could show you sometime. I change whenever I get wet, so it's pretty easy.

[He could just stand in the rain or dump a bucket of water on his head, after all.]

She is perfect! And she's immortal?

[That's pretty impressive, too. As is this guy's omen. Wow. Luca's seen cats before, but he's never seen a cat that big.]

Mine's a crab named Camilla.

[He calls her up, and black smoke comes out of Luca's chest before gathering in his open palm, forming into the shape of a small hermit crab.]

This is my omen.