prismatica | 001

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[Edward's been seeing all of these different posts come up. It's obnoxious to him, but he can see the potential of being able to communicate with so many like this, so he decided to give it a try.]

It's come to my attention that there's a few people here who use "magic." From what I've seen, there's nothing like it where I come from and I have a few questions for anyone who's willing to answer. In science, you've got different laws that everything follows. Is that the same for magic? Does some magic have laws while others don't? Are there different fields of magic? What are they? Where does the energy or power come from? What makes it "magic" and not a field of science?

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That's too bad. Any way I can help you look for something that you could use?

[Ed gets a little quiet after that second bit. Sure, there were people like him who were stupid enough to try human transmutation, but there were at least things in place to deter people from it. For one, it's illegal. Second, chances are whoever performs the transmutation is going to have a rough time of it depending on what's taken as the toll for opening the Gate.]

So...there's not system in place to prevent that? Like, making it illegal? Or making it harder for people to figure out how to do it?

Well you'd have to find me a vampire or something containing the element astermite~

[And he knows finding one would likely be much easier than the other, given that so far he hasn't managed to find anything containing astermite in this place. And since that it's made from rewriting the constitutive formula for coal he's skeptical that it will just be conveniently available here.]

Well generally speaking your common person couldn't do it anyway, even with years of study. They would have to either be a genius, a vampire, or possess an item that could alter world formulas. And there aren't many of those, either. [technically there's only one.] Of course that hasn't stopped people from starting witch-hunts anyway.

A...vampire.

[He repeats it slowly. It hadn't occurred to him until now that he'd have to consider the existence of magical creatures along with everything else. This is the first time anyone's brought it up.]

Are you saying you're a vampire, a genius, or both?

Oh, I'm neither!

[There doesn't even need to be a video for it to be clear that he's giving a shit-eating grin right now.]

But I am a doctor who cures vampires!

[Ed's come to the realization that it would be very easy for people to fuck with him though this post. Even if he's not trying to, the guy he's talking to now is making him question the validity of everything he's said.]

Where I'm from vampires are just a myth. I don't think there was any way to cure them in the stories I've heard about them.

[That's certainly a fair enough worry. Vanitas lies about a lot of things, this just doesn't happen to be one.]

So I've heard from a few others. But where I'm from vampires are very much real, but what I cure isn't their vampirism.

What do you cure then?

[He's not convinced he's not lying. Still, he might learn something if he humors him for now.]

Curses. Malnomen. Maladies that specifically effect vampires and alter their true name.

You're going to have to get a bit more specific for me to get a better idea of what you're talking about. What exactly makes vampires different from humans in your world?

They have fangs and can gain sustenance from blood, although it isn't strictly necessary for their survival. They can be easiest spotted by the way their eyes glow red in the darkness.

Vampires are also innately able to alter world formulae at will, although of course this manifests differently in each individual and some are more adept than others.

And you help these guys by treating their illnesses or whatever? Why?

[There's a pause before he chuckles.]

Why not?

[Ed's quickly losing his patience.]

What do you mean why not? You just said they drank people's blood! That's more than enough reason to question your motives here!

While vampires can drink human blood it isn't a necessity for their survival, so if they're honoring the agreement made with humans then it isn't a problem.

But if they kill humans or become curse-bearers, which causes their bloodlust to become nearly insatiable, then that's where I step in... And of course then sometimes killing them is necessary, depending on the progression of their Malnomen.

[Why didn't he say so in the first place? Could have negated a lot of confusion there, buddy.]

I get it. So I guess that means vampires and humans generally get along where you're from then? I can't imagine that there wouldn't be any tensions between them though.

[Providing extra information right off the bat isn't something Vanitas generally does, sorry.]

Get along? [He snorts.] Definitely not! I mean I guess there's a sorry excuse for peace nowadays, but the Church would still leap at the chance to start war with them again.

I guess expecting humans to get along with something non-human is too much to ask. We seem to have enough trouble getting along with ourselves.

[His face falls even further considering the church. He doesn't have a good track record with organized religion.]

Sounds like thus Church has a bit of power they can flex. That's not a good thing in my experience.

[Oh Vanitas definitely doesn't either, and his distaste is obvious in his voice.]

You're right. The Church took advantage of the confusion and fear when vampires were first appearing to lead the original crusades against them. Everyone was stupid and eager to flock to religion and all the garbage like that so they didn't even question it.

[He scoffs.] And now while they're technically not allowed to openly hunt vampires anymore they still have a group that does it.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

[Was it really too much to ask for one world where people weren't so focused on killing each other?]

It can't be all bad though. I mean, you're a human and you're helping vampires. You can't be the only one trying to bridge the gap.

[Vanitas pauses for a moment before he hums softly.]

You would think so... But most vampires hate me. [Not that he generally endears himself to them. He's not great at first impressions, human or vampire.]

[Those must be some nasty grudges for vampires to still hate a guy who's going out of his way to help them, but it's not like Ed has any way to actually contextualize what's being said right now.]

There must be some pretty deep grudges then. There was a bad civil war in my home world which ended in the genocide of a people and they were still able to appreciate the help they got from doctors who were members of the opposing race.

[Aaaand Vanitas doesn't see a need to elaborate on why vampires dislike him in particular, at least not to someone who is essentially a stranger. So he just hums thoughtfully as he listens.]

It seems that no matter the world people are quick to rush into conflicts.

[You're preachin' to the choir on that one, Vanitas.]

Yeah, well sometimes it seems to be the best idea at the time.

[Sometimes, Edward? Sometimes?]

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