[Nexus] Remnant III

[Gullara]

Infirmary

The hyperventilation changes a bit, switching from uncontrollable shallow breaths to uncontrollable deep gasps. In addition taking her pulse will find that her heart beat is not only too fast to be healthy, but erratic. There is SOMETHING going horribly wrong with Gerri's cardiovascular system, and of course the doctors need to go the extra mile to find out what. A moderate sedative helps the heart rate go down, and the doctors proceed to put her through an advanced medical scanner...

If Erani wants to look at the scan results, even to her it will be obvious what is wrong: Gerri has four lungs and an extra pair of heart valves, not to mention a number of other internal organs that are duplicated.

[Infirmary]

It's not an entirely strange for the Remnant doctors to see strange biology. That said, it's obviously a problem, and not normal. Once again, what they do next is beyond their player to describe, but they would do something to help with the immediate problems.

Erani sits beside Gerri's bed, looking worried. She saw the charts, and it doesn't look very encouraging. But maybe it's not so bad. "How are you feeling?" She asks gently.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

The doctors hook up the device to see what's going on in real time. The organs are shifting, and the extra heart valves slowly split off into another heart. It's fascinating... but the doctors don't think that they can do surgery in this state; they have to watch, take samples, and try to locate anything life-threatening before it gets too bad.

"I feel... odd," Gerri will tell Erani, "Like I'm... too full. It doesn't hurt. I just feel... like my insides are bigger than-ohh..." At this, Gerri will try and shift to a more comfortable position, giving Erani a good view of her spine as it splits into two.

From there, there isn't much anyone can do. It's like it's all downhill, like that was the hard part and now the process speeds up. It looks unnatural, the way that the flesh grows, warps, splits... it's just not something that human flesh was meant to do. But it happens, and where there was one Gerri there is now two.

They are for all intents and purposes identical: perfect clones. Even the clothes were duplicated, despite the utter lack of sense that makes. One Gerri immediately falls off of the left side of the bed, one off of the right. Thankfully, both are unconscious... there is time to ensure that both are physiologically stable and prepare the setting(s) in which they will wake up.

There is one thing that the doctors will probably find: While the two clones have identical genomes, the samples taken from Gerri while her organs were replicating have a completely different genome that makes no sense whatsoever.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

The first thing Erani does is turn away and throw up into a thankfully nearby garbage. That was... disturbing on so many levels. What the **** just happened.

A short time later, the two Gerris are placed on separate beds with curtains around each. No need to freak... them out too much when they awake. Erani isn't by either of them. She's a short ways away, sipping at a glass of water. She has absolutely no idea how to approach this.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

The two Gerris wake up at more or less the same time, at least a half-hour later. Neither one does anything much more than look around at the moment. She... they are really considering going right back to sleep, because they feel so tired.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"She's awake."

Erani looks up at the man that came to give her the news. "Alright... I guess we have to tell her what happened." She waves off any protest. "I need to do this."

She takes a moment to collect herself, then goes over to one of the Gerris' bed. "Hey Gerri." She takes a seat and pauses. "Something happened to you. We're not sure what, but... You split into two people."

At the same time, the other Gerri will be getting a similar explanation from the man.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

"...what?"

That's more or less the expected reaction... she looks up at Erani, confused. Also, tired. Like someone who you just woke up in the middle of the night. The other Gerri is reacting in the same way.

[UncleWolf]

On Vacation
“You sure she’s the right choice, Ed?” Vasquez asked over the phone with a hint of concern. “I know I’m on vacation, but there’s still some things I’d like to be kept in the loop on.” She’s met with a sigh on the other side. “In all honesty, I don’t see much of a choice, but even if Hero was still here, I believe I’d go with her. She’s stabilized now. You’d have to be here to see it to know what I mean, but trust me.”

The Commander gave a sigh of her own and reached up to rub her temple before nodding. “Alright, go ahead. And Ed? Give her my regards and be sure to give her the best.”

“I never thought otherwise.”

---

1

While there were likely millions of blacksmiths, roboticists, carpenters, armorers, and other such builders in the multiverse, there were very few True Craftsmen in Geoff’s opinion. Sure, there were master tradesmen and the rare Builder-Monk, but the machinist of Remnant couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the others as he doubted they could hear the Soul like he could. Perhaps Sunny did, but he considered her a unique near-peer. While she could hear the Machines and how they were, Geoff could hear every hammer, every sheet of metal, and every rivet screaming to him, pleading to be used how they were always meant to be. Forges sang and bellows wept near him. Many people considered objects, well-crafted ones at least, to be “alive”, but few ever gave thought that the objects could be living. Such people sometimes said that a sculptor didn’t make his art, instead simply released it from the prison it was trapped in before then.

Sure, not every nail was, nor every gun or suit of armor, but sometimes one was made with extra care, attention, or with such a special purpose in mind that that one object, be it small or large, was given an actual soul. Under special circumstances, when allowed to truly practice his craft, Geoff could give something he built said soul.

It was because of this, when he was looking over Celerity, that his eyes watered with both joy and sadness. While the suit hadn’t been given a Soul by him, he had just been told that he was going to reforge it. “You want this to be my best work?” He asked as he looked at the suit of armor as it laid on the platform in front of him and several others.

Edijar shook his head. “No. I want it to be our best work.” He corrects, nodding towards the others there. The Priestess Arla nodding back, but Fidget the IT Specialist and Aliz the elementalist just frowned as they went over the detailed list of equipment they’d need. “If you’d have us that is.” He makes sure to add. Geoff chuckles a bit. “Of course I would, but we do things my way. Do whatever I say, exactly when I say it, exactly how I say it, and we’ll be fine. If there’s any objections, oh well. You were stuck the moment you broached the idea to me, so take two days to rest as I prepare things. We’ll meet at 3am the next day and I expect this to take a full week, if not longer, so sleep and eat well. We won’t be sleeping.”

The goblin looked up, a bit startled, and bit his lip before daring to ask a question. “I…I’m not going to be needed for the actual armor, will I? I’m sorry, but I won’t be much good for that.” Amused as he was, Geoff knew to be respectful enough to simply nod towards Fidget. “You won’t be needed for that too much, but you still need to do the programming and much of the machining.” The clarification eased him a bit, causing his ears to slump a tad in reassurance before they all left Geoff alone one by one.

At the door, Edijar paused, looking back. “Should I call in Sue too? And should we put the shop on Lockdown for the duration?” He asked, knowing they may need the Giantkin’s greater strength and wondering whether the extra security might be necessary. For a moment, Geoff looked thoughtful before nodding. “On the third day. And don’t bother. I’m going to open the place up and get the appropriate workbenches brought in. The Sirens can make sure any bystanders don’t interrupt.” His questions answered, Edijar finally left to head back home. The machinist that was left behind couldn’t help but smile down at the armor in front of him and began to pull out some polishing rags. He smiled and worked in silence for several hours, taking painstaking care to polish every nook, cranny, dent, and divot to make sure the armor would feel comfortable before the reforging process took place. “Don’t worry, love…” He whispered to himself as he leaned down to kiss the helmet of Missy’s power armor. “You’ll still be beautiful. I promise.” Geoff swore even as he took out the necessary tools to begin dismantling the work of art.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"I know it sounds strange, but there's two of you." Erani says hesitantly. She doesn't expect this to go over at all well. "We don't know what happened yet."

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

Gerri tries to sit up straighter, but her body insists that the vertical axis is overrated and remains lying down. She reaches up and rubs her face, trying to think. "I... there's just two of me now? Another one of me just appeared? You said... I split in two?" She shifts a bit more... "Erani... could we talk about this while I have some food? I'm hungry. And thirsty."

The other Gerri will make a similar request for food and drink.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"Yes, just wait one moment." Erani leaves, but quickly returns with something to eat and drink. It's nothing fancy, but it's what the sylvani could get on short notice. "Alright, here you go." She puts it on a tray in front of the girl.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

"Thank you." Gerri will begin to eat, and soon the food will soon be gone. "I didn't realize how hungry I was." She will now sit up, kind of, and ask, "Okay, what exactly happened? I just... split right in half and now there are two of me? Is that all you know?"

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

Erani nods. "Yeah. We don't know what did it. They'll want to do some medical and magical tests, though. There's got to be some explanation for this, and it's best we find out what it is." She doesn't say that they need to make sure there are no other problems.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

"Yeah, sure. Um... what about her? The other me. Is she okay? When will we meet?" There is the metaphorical elephant in the room. There isn't much reason to avoid it, but...

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"She's in the same condition as you, and she'll be going through all the same tests." Erani glances in the direction she must be in. "You can meet anytime if you like."

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

Gerri thinks to herself, they should meet right away. But... Gerri can't really place it, but she doesn't want to do it right now. She doesn't know it, but it's because she's scared and doesn't really want to meet the other Gerri out of fear that there will actually be another Gerri.

"If it's alright with her, maybe we shouldn't meet until after the tests. Just in case."

The other Gerri, of course, is perfectly fine with that since she has similar reservations and would suggest the same thing anyway.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

Erani leaves briefly to consult with the other Gerri's caretaker. She returns a moment later. "We'll do your your tests now then."

Provided Gerri agrees, a number of tests will be run. Mostly medical to see if there's anything wrong with how her body is working, but also a couple magical scans to see if they can find some evidence of the cause of this.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

Gerri's body is working fine. There are few little details, just the natural quirks of the human body, like her slight farsightedness. The magic scan reveals some residual magic... but there isn't any details. In fact... there is a distinct lack of details, like someone went out of their way to make the magic unreadable. In any case, it's suspicious but not useful.

Oh, and the other Gerri has the same results. The magic is almost exactly the same, and the body is within a margin of error expected for a human.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

Once again, the two Geri's will be spoken to at the same time, though separately from each other.

"We weren't able to find anything conclusive. There was some magic detected on you, but we have no way to identify what it was. Do you remember anyone using magic on you in recent memory? We just want to make sure we're not looking at something that you already know about."

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

Gerri thinks for a bit. "No... I don't think so. I don't know of any time that magic's been cast on me." She hasn't been in contact in much magic in her life. She's seen it around, but she hasn't come into much contact. That she knows of.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

Erani frowns. "Then that's our lead. I hate to admit it, but it's not a good one. It looks like someone might have went out of their way to hide what was done to you. That or the trace was just too faint to get anything out of it."

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

The trace was very faint.

"Well," Gerri will say hesitantly, "I guess, if there isn't anything else left to do, I should meet her." The other Gerri is, of course, coming to a similar conclusion.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"Alright. I'll get her to come over here." Erani gives Gerri's shoulder a squeeze before leaving.

To go to the other Geri and the man talking to her. She stands there awkwardly for a moment before saying. "Ready to meet her?" Should she agree, the sylvani will lead her over.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

"Yes. I suppose."

She will be led back to the other Gerri... and there they will stand.

They will look at each other, like they don't quite believe what they're seeing. Each one will reach out, to touch the other, and their fingertips will brush. That's enough, they each pull their hand back.

"This isn't happening." They say it in unison, and then look at each other awkwardly when they realize that the other one said it, too.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

Erani just stands by. She has no idea what o say in this situation anyway. She just hopes that Gerri will somehow not take this too badly.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

The Gerris are very awkward. After a bit, they reach forward and shake hands. Because that's what you would do with your clone, right?

"Hi." "Hi." As I said, very awkward.

"Um... Erani? What... do we do now? Do we just go home... or what?"

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"That wouldn't be a problem. We'll just have to proceed the same way, except with two of you." Erani replies. "Are you... two alright with that?"

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

The two are quiet for a moment. Gerri isn't comfortable with two of her being around. She wants to go to bed and wake up and this have never happened. There being two of her in one house will be creepy... it may never stop being awkward. But... the alternative is to have one be Gerri and one be someone else. One may have that on their conscience, and one may feel that they're living the wrong life.

"Yeah, sure," says one. "Of course," says the other.

[Gullara]

[Infirmary]

"Okay. I'll give you a ride then. When ever you're ready, and just as long as you're both feeling okay." Geri says.

[Lost_Deep]

Infirmary

"I'm just a bit tired," one Gerri says as she look at the other Gerri.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go home." The other one agrees.

And unless Erani or someone else has something more to add, they can simply ride home. The car ride will probably be quiet.

[Earl of Purple]

Outside

Somebody is approaching. He's wearing a suit of plate armour made from magically reinforced chitin, but he's not wearing the helmet. Hanging at his waist is an automatic pistol adapted to have a hilt resembling that of a flintlock; opposite it is a steel morningstar with a head resembling the telson of a scorpion. "My name is Terrowin of Xela's Howe. I am the High Priest of Dalachrech within Inside, and I would like to report the theft of several powerful magical items from our morgue, where they were awaiting the return of Reverend Narahar, the Twice Martyred. In addition was a holy book, but I am not so concerned about its return."