video | un: r.chambers

[herbmixing]

Hi, everyone. My name's Rebecca.

[ The video opens on a small, homey apartment, filled with plants and books. Rebecca sits at a small piano, a mug of coffee steaming by her side. She looks...tired, really. It's been a difficult few weeks.

But that's no reason not to keep trying. ]

I was just wondering...what's the state of medicine like in your world? I had thought we were on the cutting-edge back home, but with everything I've seen here, you realise just how far we have to go. Considering everything that happens to us so regularly here, it can be really easy to lose track of your health.

I'm a field medic and a chemist, so I'd never call myself a doctor, but I still wanted to extend an offer to everybody: if you need someone to patch you up or do a quick check-up, call me. If you need medicine - over-the-counter stuff, obviously, not anything serious - then I'll run it over or get someone to deliver it to you. Just... [ She gives a weak smile. ] I want to help a little more, and I don't think being okay with a handgun really holds up against everything others can do, you know?

...anyway, I'm rambling. [ She looks down, playing an idle few bars of a melody. ] I've been staying in a lot. Watching old Disney movies, mostly, and I ended up working on this...

[ She adjusts the sheet music and sets her fingers in position. What follows is a nice little rendition with very few errors. Being able to just concentrate on something helps, a lot. Once it's done, she flashes a quick, embarrassed smile at the camera, then leans over and shuts it off. ]

Comments

video; un: laurea

[wearingguess]

I know shamefully little about my world's medicine, though I am certain it lags behind what is possible here. But I believe our high-level healing magic is at least at a comparable level, and it's being further developed all the time.

More importantly, though—that was beautiful! Did you say you composed it yourself?

[herbmixing]

I've heard that a lot, healing magic. There's nothing like it where I'm from. Is it commonplace where you are? Reliable?

[ As for the music, she lifts both hands from the keys and shakes her head. ]

Oh, no, it's from a movie! After I rewatched it, I wanted to learn how to play that song, so I found a copy of the sheet music. [ She drops her hands again, running a finger over the keys. ] I've been practicing over the last week. It's still a little sloppy.

[wearingguess]

Very reliable, but... not particularly commonplace, at least not outside Magnostadt. No other nation comes close in that or any other application of magic, and even a Magnostadt-trained healing magician residing elsewhere wouldn't be able to achieve the same results on their own. ...Moreover, even within Magnostadt itself... not everyone has access to the highest level of treatment.

[ it's largely a problem of scale—there just aren't enough high-level magicians, enough hours in the day, enough life energy available to go all out for every single person—but still, he looks rueful. ]

Really? I didn't think it was sloppy at all! What movie was it?

[herbmixing]

So it's still a really specialised field.

[ Support-type that she is, it's fascinating to her. How worlds that have literal wound-healing magic are structured, and what that means for people like her trained in regular medicine. ]

Um, it's called Aladdin? It's based on an old fairytale. I saw it when I was younger and it's still really nice and comforting to watch. They all have nice songs like that.

text | j.valentine

[torsion]

You've gotten a lot better. :)

text | r.chambers

[herbmixing]

Thank you! I've been working on it a lot the last week.
I didn't think I'd end up working on Disney scores, of all things.

[torsion]

Arrangements aren't easy, but working with something you are familiar with (and enjoy) is the same in any field. Always easier!
I'm not really familiar with them, but I'd love to hear more -- or join you, maybe?

Just no Moonlight Sonata.

[herbmixing]

That would be nice! I'll be honest, I was looking at Beauty and the Beast as well...and the Lion King. It's so much easier to watch them here instead of dealing with rewinding tapes!

[ It's been one of those weeks. ]

Haha...I think we've had enough of that one for a very long time.

video; u/n lynx

[jadedlynx]

Medicine back in New York can't compare to what stuff they have here but as dangerous as it was, it's not as dangerous as this place can be either. With technology, the cities here are a lot more advanced.

[herbmixing]

Oh, you're from New York? I'm from the Midwest!

[ It's more of a relief than it should be to find someone from the same planet, let alone the same country. ]

They really are. When you say it's dangerous back home...what time is it, exactly, in New York for you?

[jadedlynx]

Yeah? What part?

[ It is oddly rare to find someone else from the United States. So many people seem to come from other worlds. Or Japan. Ash was originally from much further East in the country, but New York is a bit closer to the Midwest. ]

2019.

[ And zombie free, but Ash isn't going to get that she's curious about that. ]

[herbmixing]

A place called Raccoon City, in Arklay County. It's... [ Not actually specified in canon, but best guess: ] Sort of near South Dakota.

You're a decade ahead of me, then. Why do you say New York's dangerous then, if I can ask?

text; un: professeur

[sycamour]

[Sycamore listened to that entire recital with a smile; he's not sure if Rebecca is quite up to talking to him over the video (or at all, really), but it's hard to resist just...sending a quick message.]

That was beautiful. Have you been well?

[Let's...start with that. At least she looks like she's been all right.]

text | un: r.chambers

[herbmixing]

Thank you. :)
Not too bad! I've been keeping busy.

[ There may or may not have been a few tearful nights, broken-hearted over her hot professor. She can't put that on him, though. He turned her down in such a gentlemanly manner, and she knows she was hoping for too much.

Mustn't let him hear that self-pity. Even now, texting instead of talking, he's being considerate. ]

Playing piano, obviously. What about you? Any new discoveries?

[sycamour]

[Oh, this seems promising! The reply will be prompt.

(...and he'd be very apologetic about those tearful nights, if he knew about them....sorry, Rebecca...)]

A few! I've been looking into the 'exalted' forms of the moonblessings. They're quite interesting!

[He's, uh. Not going to go into detail about what happened during his! Would be a tad inappropriate!]

There's always so much to discover here in Lunatia, though. Have you been getting out and about?

[herbmixing]

[ Her tender heart, Professor...you cad! ]

Oh, right. They're essentially advanced versions of the moonblessing we already have, aren't they? Some kind of second form?

[ And the second question - eek. The answer is a strong 'no'. ]

A little. Mostly for coffee or to have a run.

video

[realimperfect]

I think my world was actually more advanced than here, with their medical technology. Or at least what was available to me was more advanced than what is offered here on the .. few times I've needed medical attention.

[ Re-L pauses for a moment, and then decides that perhaps an example may be helpful, tucking a piece of her dark hair behind her ear in the moment, shifting in her seat. ] I was attacked in my home in my world and on the few scrapes I had my doctor could apply a bandage, spray them with a special spray and those healed without a scar in a few days. He stitched the cut on my face for the sake of a smaller scar if one appeared but used the same spray, same result.

[ She touches her right cheek right at the crest to indicate where it might have marked her, though she's obviously wearing make up, and so perhaps is not illustrating her point in the best way about her skin being unmarred in the end. ]

... In my world it is also possible to have children grown in an incubation chamber called the wombsys, which is my main thought as to why it is more advanced there. Or rather, was..

[herbmixing]

That's new. We've only recently created a similar kind of spray at home that disinfects and closes wounds really quickly, thanks to a particular sort of herb that grows in the region.

[ And also across the world, apparently...but details. ]

The wombs aren't anything like what I've heard before. Are they very common?

[realimperfect]

I don't know what was in Daedalus' sprays, admittedly. When you're entrusted to the Director of the Health and Welfare Bureau you just allow him to use what he says is best, basically.

[ And the man who literally created your DNA chain, but .. details, right? ]

It's the only way humankind could reproduce, so they were very common. Every fellow citizen of Romdeau Dome came from one so far as I know.

It's because of a nuclear holocaust, before you ask. The why human's can't reproduce on their own anymore tends to be the next question asked, so I will pre-empt it.

Video; un: moonfang

[vizard_did_it]

I know what you mean. My old man runs a clinic, so I figured I'd seen about all there was to see when it came to medical stuff. If this is any sign, the future's gonna be even crazier.

[herbmixing]

It always is. There's so much that I didn't think would ever be possible which is just commonplace. Here and on the other worlds people are from.

Was he a general practitioner? Whereabouts?

[vizard_did_it]

Yeah, in Karakura town. That's in West Tokyo, Japan if any of those places exist in your world.

[video] I hope it's not too late to comment!

[spah]

Beautiful playing if you don't mind my sayin', miss.

[enter: extremely Texan dude]

To answer your question... well. This ain't exactly a widespread thing in my world, but another field medic I knew durin' a war I was part of invented a sort of... healing vapor. Wound up being a staple on the battlefield. I've built dispensers that put out the same gas.

So to make a long story short... I guess medicine's advanced in some ways more than others.

it is, how dare you, banished forever

[herbmixing]

[ Dang. This dude is very Texan. She can't help but smile at the compliment. ]

Thank you.

It really is, isn't it...a vapour, huh? Like an aerosol? How does it work?

ALAS....................

[spah]

[Dell flashes a wide, lopsided smile as he scratches his beard.]

It looks more like a gas, I reckon. I know machines better than human bodies, but to my understand it sorta... repairs the cells and closes up injuries at a rapid pace. I seen it regrow teeth, of all damn things. But it's also saved my life more than once.