“Fuck no!”
It’s a harsh answer, but it’s one the curious scientist anticipated. Winter raises her arm up, covering her forearm with her other free hand.
“I just got this shit bandaged up! I just don’t like anybody lookin’ at it, okay?”
“I can easily rebandage it for you. I just want to know how your abilities as a Winterlance function.” Arch Extent raises an eyebrow, knowing his next words might seal the deal with her in terms of getting to study her arm. “If you allow me, I’ll be more than willing to answer any other questions you have. I also won’t ask any invasive questions about the history of it, if you’re uncomfortable sharing.”
She’s a bit surprised, and Arch Extent knows it convinced the timid huntress.
Didn’t he just tell me earlier how he wasn’t at liberty to discuss?...Huh.
“Fine. Neil is getting sea sick anyways…so I got time.”
The two wander off to Arch Extent’s personal room on the ship. It wasn’t much different from Winter and her big brother’s room other than the fact there was a single bed: a dark chestnut dresser closet, two stools, a table to the side, and another flat-top dresser to place items on top. At the end of his bed was a wooden chest with a simple black lock on it, decorated in a leafy-swirl-like pattern etched into the thick wood. Arch Extent pulls out the two stools from under the table and sets them up in the middle of the room before anything else. Winter watches the scientist carefully swing the backpack off of his back and places it on the flat surface of the shorter dresser.
“Take a seat.” The scientist directs her.
The female Winterlance follows his command and simply places her rear to the stool. Arch Extent seems to also be fumbling through the tan bag, swiping digits at the bottom to pull out a silver device with a harsh true blue emitting from it, as well as a red light.
“Could you remove the bandages on your arm? I won’t take your blood.” His goal is to build better trust with his new companion, especially knowing that she’s fully capable of turning any minute and could end his life. He gives out a frustrated sigh at the device, watching the small lights flicker then die out. It must have a damaged battery from when the deathworms attacked them.
Winter pulls her hood back and takes her scarf off to at least get comfortable. She tosses the scarf at the table afar and removes the worn gauze.
If he’s going to look at it, guess I’ll be here for longer than I plan.
Arch Extent sits across from her in the other stool and watches closely while Winter hisses as she removes the bandages. There’s still small lacerations from when she overused her Winterlance mutation, and he knows that the skin had begun to literally pull itself off of the muscle. Upon closer inspection, once the bandage was fully removed, he sees just how brutal the damage has been to her in the past. He keeps his earlier promise of being quiet, not to ask any invasive questions; he knows the answers to these questions will come with time.
The scientist places his hands at her skin, making sure to graze the surface gently without causing anymore irritation or pain to the epidermis. Winter goes wide-eyed for a minute, a bit embarrassed at how callous his fingers appeared, yet were considerate with the amount of pressure he placed on her. Her cheeks tint a light pink, and she briefly looks to the side. He holds her hand and starts to delicately rub his thumb upwards into the old battle-damaged skin of her wrist, slowly working his way up to the top of her forearm. He’s disappointed his equipment isn’t working, or else he could have actually scanned her arm properly to see what elements laid under the surface.
He’s a lot gentler than that Blazerock healer is…Maybe I should have had him take care of my arm earlier rather than her. Fuck, what are you thinking, Winter? You’re not enjoying how this guy is touching you, are ya? Wait, maybe he is a doctor or healer too! Let’s ask him.
“So…I do have way more questions than I want to admit. I know you said you’re a scientist, but are you some kind of doctor?”
“I’m a geneticist.”
“What’s a gen-eh-tits?” Winter blinks a few times at the foreign word, unable to reciprocate it.
“Geneticist.” Arch Extent delicately rotates her arm to get a better view of the underside of her forearm. “I study mutations of the natives here on Division 5.”
“So…your job is to study people here.”
“Yes.”
The huntress can feel herself smirk, raising her head up as he continues to rub his fingers ever-so-gently along the grooves of her damaged tissue. She doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s enjoying it. So she thinks.
“That also explains why you’re all infatuated with me.” She feels proud of herself at that comment.
That has to be a jab at me over the microscope earlier…
The Arch retracts his hands from her arm and finishes his work. He’s examined the grooves long enough to understand there’s a much denser region of adipose tissue that not only cushion her muscles, but protect her against her own mutation’s freezing temperature. It still doesn’t explain how her Winterlance mutation could assist her in being immune to Cosmos Plague. He makes a face at her before returning to a much more inquisitive expression.
“There is something important I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“If anyone else were to discover you’re immune to Cosmos Plague, then our lives will be in far more danger than whatever the Cloaks tribe leader has in store for us.” Arch Extent hunches forward with his words, placing bare hands on his knees. Winter’s expression spells out confusion.
“What’s more dangerous than him wanting to kill us for getting his daughter killed?”
The geneticist brings up his hands to clasp them together as he leans his chin on them, elbow digging into his thighs. There’s another group they should be worried about. It’s not the natives of the plant he fears most. It’s the other company. And they would gladly take Winter away from him.
“There’s an organization called Nexus. They’re an enemy. Someone we need to watch out for.”
“Do they study people like you do?”
Arch Extent hesitates for a moment, carefully debating what details he should let loose to Winter. He remembers the few encounters he’s had with Nexus, of how they’ve wiped out teams of Seraphic agents on this planet. He would rather go toe-to-toe with a Blazerock than someone from Nexus.
“Yes, but I’m not on good terms with them.”
If only she knew the half of it.
“Sounds like you’re not on good terms with a lot of people.” Winter raises her blonde eyebrow and swivels her eyes to the side. She knows the remark probably agitates the scientist, and he’s well aware that it's just verbal claws trying to dig into him to get a reaction out of him. However, Winter looks back at the scientist, leaning forward herself towards him.
“I just don’t understand, Fancy Hat. You told me you couldn’t answer questions back in Daggermouth and now you’re telling me this.”
“There’s a chance we’ll run into Nexus at some point during our trip to Lyke. They’ll also want you due to your immunity to Cosmos Plague.” Arch Extent pulls his right arm out and taps his index finger to the circular plate in the middle of a metal bracelet wrapped around his wrist. It begins to glow cyan and brings up a small holo-screen greeting him. By now, Winter is still adjusting herself to this technology as her new norm.
“So what’s the organization you’re from?”
“Seraphic. Anyways…I’m done examining your arm. Do you want me to rebandage it for you?”
“It’s fine, I can do it myself.”
I don’t want him to get any ideas if he touches my arm again like that…or better yet, give me ideas.
“I have a clearer idea of how your mutation works now at least. But I’d still like to get it examined properly at a lab.”The geneticist grazes his fingers along what appears as ethereal squares to Winter, logging into his account. There’s several unread emails, and he’s reminded what time it’s currently back home from the zone he was born in.
“Did ya find anything noteworthy?” Winter finishes wrapping up the gauze along her arm upon inquiring.
“I did.”
“So…Don’t keep it to yourself!” His answer wasn’t satisfactory at all to the Winterlance, and it made her grow rightfully agitated.
That’s right…She doesn’t know much about her tribe. I’ll try to figure out how to explain this to her.
“The ice you flash freeze on the surface of your skin is a defense mechanism. You’ve used it for offense, but your body isn’t designed for that. I believe your ice is meant to protect you. But really, I can’t tell you much more than that until I get a better look at a blood sample. At a lab.” Arch Extent swipes a menu to a map of Division 5, determining what the next closest lab would be so he could give a proper examination to the Winterlance test subject.
“Will my blood tell me why I’m immune to Cosmos Plague?”
“It should.”
There’s a few moments of silence between the two, Winter noticing her male companion focused intently on the floating cyan screens that came out of his little device along his wrist. She’s not really sure how to break the silence, but she’s trying to analyze the foreign symbols that decorate the floating bright square. He pulls up a menu, sending a message to Knyocke labs.
“This deal of ours is sounding like it’ll go beyond just paying King Uthar a visit…” Winter comments.
“I’ll have everything I need from you regarding Cosmos Plague before we get to Lyke.”
“Alright…Well, I need to go check in on my big bro anyways. I bet you he’s probably barfing his brains out.” Winter stands up from the stool, bringing it back to the table her client first pulled it from. The huntress grabs her scarf and immediately swivels around once the geneticist calls out her name.
“Winter.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t tell your brother about anything we’ve discussed.”
“Got it.”
-
Winter had retired to her quarters after her encounter with Arch Extent, being questioned by her brother about what discussions took place. Neil seemed bothered by his sister not confiding in him, something she usually does. However, after an argument or two, Neil makes his way to Arch Extent’s cabin as his first duty in the morning.
The Arch had spent the entire night working on a personalized document specifically for Winter, ranging from her blood type, all the way to her physical appearance, and whatever else he’s gathered from his observations. At some point, the man had passed out from severe exhaustion, laying his back into the white cotton sheets, and his black hat fell over to cover his face. Blue light emits from the device over his physique and floats in place as he sleeps. The scientist jolts up fiercely the moment he hears loud pounding on his door, followed by Neil’s voice yelling.
“Time for us to go, Scientist!” Neil rests his arm at the door, casually letting the knuckles of his hand tap a few times at the wooden door.
I wonder how long I passed out for…
“I’ll be out shortly.” Arch Extent stands up, jumping to his feet as he registers his surroundings. He looks out the window, realizing it was already morning.
Arch Extent goes to his orange lined backpack, making sure everything is in there: the damaged mask, box of gems, and other small equipment. He opens the chest at the end of the bed and grabs his dual pistols with the holster, turning them on briefly to check the plasma core of the weapons. He figures he’ll be in a much heavier population so presenting advanced weaponry at this time wasn’t necessary. He places his pistols into the tan bag, making sure the straps are fastened.
Everything should be packed at least. I should probably change these bandages before we leave though.
Arch Extent glances to the bandage on his arm, realizing that with a harsh wound as the one Winter gave him, the harshest he’s ever received in his life to date in fact, he should apply new bandages to it. He begins to unravel the tight wrappings on his bicep, carefully pulling it off slowly to make sure he doesn’t irritate the stitches the Blazerock healer had applied.
I have to say her Winterlance mutation is no joke. This is definitely the worst injury I’ve received to date. He’s expecting to see a nasty scar form from this encounter.
Hopefully these stitches are still holding up from the outpost we stopped by.
That’s what he expected. To see stitches.
But there was nothing there.
“It’s healed?!” The scientist rushes to take off his brown tattered jacket, absolutely flabbergasted as to how there now was no trace of the inch deep wound that lacerated across his bicep. He tosses the jacket to the bed, placing his free hand on his opposite arm to run across where the wound once was. He fumbles out stuttering words, trying to understand how a serious wound like that healed overnight. There’s no way.
It doesn’t make sense.
Neil knocks again at the door, growing impatient with Arch Extent. “I’ll give you a few minutes then. I’ll be back, Scientist.” He walks away, determined to make sure his sister isn’t getting into any trouble with the Featherdusters.
The geneticist takes a seat on the bed, trying to remain calm about the situation. He’s already planning to head to the Knyocke labs, the closest lab to where they’re at. It would be a day or two ride out on Featherdusters, but it didn’t feel like it would be soon enough now that he’s in denial at the fact his arm simply healed overnight. He breathes, collecting himself.
We’ll just head to Knyocke. It’s on the way. Something in me says this has to do with Cosmos Plague...but I’m going to figure out why Winter is immune before I deal with the Cloaks Tribe leader.
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