These guys don't sparkle

[Sagasu Yume]

It had been three days since there had been outbreaks of patients coming into Omni Prime’s walk-in facility. There was nothing peculiar about them except they all had the same story: They were out for the evening on a starless night, the sky a thick shade of ebony, when they would feel the compulsion to wander towards an alley way in Red Lights. They would feel a prick at their neck that would slowly spread warmth through their whole body causing them to feel numb and slightly euphoric. When they would wake up they would feel ice cold, wincing and shying away from the illuminated panels that reflected the conditions above ground. The victims would never come in voluntarily but they would be cognitive enough to explain their story. It was their friends and loved ones who would notice a difference. The flesh would be unusually pale for one of the underground village and their eyes would be red, either the iris or the sclera, it varied between subjects. One of the mothers had tried to feed her son some garlic toast as it was an old family remedy to cure sickness. He flew into a rage, tossing the table across the room and breaking the door down on his way out of the house. That was another symptom that appeared over time: Unusual strength.

The mednin brooded over these thoughts as her pestle and mortar went to work on the numerous bulbs of garlic that had been brought to her in the test facility that was Keystone Prime. Was their aversion to this substance due to it now being lethal, and so a form of self-preservation, or was it because it could cure them… also leaning towards the conclusion that the infected had heightened senses toward self-preservation. The connection to use it as a cure came about when one patient came in voluntarily. It had been found that his diet had been high in garlic and while some of the symptoms still showed through, they did not seem to linger and the patient returned to normal in a few days.

Yume would lean down and inspect the oils that she had collected from the crushed bulbs and wondered if it would be enough. The only conclusion she had come to as to why garlic seemed to work was because it boosted the body’s natural immune system. Drawing the oils up into a syringe, she would proceed over to a subject that had volunteered; or rather been voluntold by her mother that if she ever wanted forgiveness for being in such a seedy place she had better help out. The young lady was strapped to a chair. She wailed and begged that she was better, that she didn’t need to be there. The last time Yume had listened she was mauled and the subject licked blood from her wounds. It had disgusted and fascinated her at the same time. What was it that drove them to need blood? Was it the heme or was it to do with the superstition that blood contained a high concentration of chakra and by tasting it you could gain the strength of your victim? Her forearms had been bandaged up and now she just looked at the woman with a cold stare as she found a vein and injected two drops.

Now she would wait.

 

[Akechi]

The starless nights and ebony shade caused pale freaks to appear in numbers. That was the story anyways. A new phenomenon gave birth to humans that matched the complexion of those that had recently passed, shied away from all forms of light, and who possessed above average strength. They were something out of a folklore, told to scare children into obeying their mothers when they told them to be no further than the front doorsteps of their homes when clouds blanketed the sky during nightfall. The only difference was that this story seemed to be true, and not just true but a growing epidemic. Shinn found it interesting. In fact, as he ran his hands over the broken hospital’s catalog of patients, transcribed into braille notebook using Shinn’s chakra, he began to form a sort of document of his own. He wanted to catalog each of the patients’ symptoms, how they were affected certain stimuli, and create a knowledge base for this phenomena. After all, the key to defeating any disease or illness was to figure out the cause of each occurrence, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the sickness, and develop a cure based on the assessment. And with any luck, develop a method for immunity before it began to spread.

”I hope they put someone good on the case,” Shinn said to himself, making his way down to the test facility. After all, they wouldn’t be able to solve such an issue without the proper tests… simple trial and error in the name of science… and human prosperity, of course. The dark haired boy had been out of the game for far too long. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to be in the research lab, not by his lonesome anyways. He was more like an assistant or a nurse, handling the normal routine tasks that a true doctor wouldn’t waste their time handling. You know, resetting bones and general pediatric medicine. That was what he had been subjected to since losing his status after a two year hiatus. Made sense, but it still was a tough pill to swallow, even for a blind man.

Tapping against the wall with his sheath out in front of him, he followed his sense of smell. Garlic was in the air. The faint smell of its sullied mixture of garlic, tainted by blood and other chemicals that were more than likely combined for cause and effect. ”I didn’t know someone else was already here,” Shinn spoke, leaning against a nearby wall with his eyes closed, the sheath that doubled as a cane resting against the wall next to him. ”Has she lashed out at you yet? I hear that they can become violent when they smell a particular pheromone.”

[Just dropping by. Hope ya don't mind]

 

[Sagasu Yume]

At first she would ignore the tapping noise, chalking it up to the hum and clink of machines in the different wings of the research facility. As the noise grew closer, her sensitive Inuzuka ears would note that it was the sound of something hard tapping on the floor, a cane perhaps? But it had a different resonance than she would expect of a normal walking stick. The words of the intruder pulled Yume’s attention before she had inserted the needle, turning her head for a second to see who had entered. The individual in the chair seized the opportunity to dive forward, teeth out stretched and aiming for her neck to which Yume responded by slapping the young woman on the cheek and scolding her as one would do to an unruly child. Finding the vein again, she would proceed with the dose and step back from her patient.

Yume would watch with a neutral expression as her subject would thrash and pull against the restraints. Her teeth would gnash at the air, head lunging forward to try and snap at the Mednin and gain purchase on any part that she could manage, perhaps as a response to the slap but most likely a reaction to the garlic taking some sort of effect, but the shinobi was quick and had stepped out of reach before the first seizure had hit.

She has a few times but this is the worst. Earlier she claimed that she was feeling better so I loosened the bands and scratched me. I’ve felt no symptoms as of yet. The strange thing was that she simply licked at the wounds, occasionally kneading my arms to siphon more blood. She had me vulnerable, so why didn’t she bite me? Per haps it was the garlic already on my hands at that point and it was all she could bear to only get a taste. Who knows?

Taking up a clip board she would begin to scratch down notes.

Time: 2:02pm
First dose observations. 2CCs administered.

- Flesh slightly flushed after administering the garlic oils.
- Heart rate slightly elevated
- Eyes dart wildly around the room as if searching for a way out.
- Mental faculties are aware and subject speaks coherently when calm.
- Enters into an animalistic state when threatened.
- Strength increases during episodes of distress.
- Attempt to break free from the restraints have been unsuccessful.

*Note: It has been hypothesized that they might respond to pheromones, further suggesting a kinship to lycanthropy and animal affiliation rather than it's own classification of disease.

A machine had been attached to the patient and was reading her vitals which Yume would glance at on occasion to ensure that she was not nearing any hazardous levels of stimulation. Looking up at the man who had entered, she would gesture to the stool to his left out of habit before remembering that he had been using his sword to find his way down the hall and was presumably lacking in the ocular faculties.

There is a seat to your left if you would like to have a seat. It should be far enough away from the subject so that you can observe and be out of harms way. You’re not familiar to me. Who are you?

 

[Akechi]

Seemed he had startled the beast of a woman. He could hear her turn predator, attempting to break the restraints that kept her at bay in order to ensnare her pray. Though he could not see, Shinn could feel the danger in the air, right down to his core. His thumb raised slightly and slowly, revealing just a bit of the black blade as his face pointed in the direction of the test subject. Should she need to be put down, he would put her down… hard. However, it would seem that this scientist didn’t need help. A loud smack radiated throughout the room, nearly silencing the beast as it could only manage to clamp its teeth together. ”So though she has become more feral and savage, she still possesses the intellectual capacity to lie and be deceitful,” he spoke aloud, giving the woman a chance to listen to his opinion before deciding the best way to proceed. ”However, despite this presumed allergic reaction to garlic, she continued to ingest your blood while it was tinged with enzymes that her body cannot properly process. That’s odd.” He continued, occasionally stroking his chin as he pressed his back against the wall, laying the sheath next to him as he felt that he was truly out of harm’s way.

”This condition seems to change the patient into some type carnivorous predator, operating purely off of the insatiable urge to fulfil its need for blood. However, this desire seems too much for her to control, causing the patient to feed despite knowingly ingesting food that could harm them… like a dog and chocolate.” This was the first time that he was able to be in the same vicinity as someone afflicted by this “disease.” He found the condition interesting and also dangerous, depending on how quickly such an affliction could spread. ”How lucid is she? Also, how contagious do you think this virus is?” He really didn’t think it was a virus but he honestly didn’t know what else to call such an affliction that affected more than one person.

Listening to the sound of her voice and the direction that she had given him, Shinn slowly moved over toward the seat toward the left him. After all, it was him that dropped in unannounced, and it was only proper to keep out of her way as much as possible. ”Me? O, my name is Akechi Shinn. I’ve been out of the village for about two years. I was a med nin but I guess I deserved the demotion… It’s kind of bullshit honestly.” He giggled on that last part, allowing a few words of truth about his situation to slip through. ”And you?”

 

[Sagasu Yume]

The quivering voice would creep from the young woman’s lips, now calm once more as if a switch had been flicked. The transition would be day and night but the Mednin had previously observed that the sweet nature was only an act and that the deranged lust to shed flesh asunder was the true nature of the infected. Deciding that petitioning the Mednin was as fruitless as trying to break free by sheer force, she focuses her charm on the man that had entered.

Please… please help me. This woman is mad. She hit me… and… and she won’t feed me. Make her let me go. Please… help a poor woman… I’ll do anything.

In that case would you shut up? Don’t listen to her. The infected seem to have a charisma about them that makes people want to trust them. I haven’t determined if it’s a symptom or just Genjutsu.

Seeing that Yume was trying to foil her plan, she would snap her teeth which would be answered by the Mednin gently bonking her on the top of her head and then responding to Shinn. His analogy of a dog eating chocolate made sense to Yume which prompted her to nod in agreement. As an Inuzka, she was mostly human and able to consume cocoa without any adverse affects; however it wasn’t unheard of for her to get a stomach ache when she would partake of too much.

Oi! Cut it out…

I believe that it is, in fact a virus. Any cultures that I’ve acquired all seemed to point in that direction. The subjects seem to be very lucid but tend to be on the violent side, only becoming calm and charismatic when they need to lure someone in. As for how it is spread I would guess that it requires fluid exchange, which would account for the puncture wounds found on the necks of the infected. Her saliva did come in contact with my blood so I’ve injected myself with a bit of the oil in hopes that I don’t become symptomatic.</B><i></i>

Deciding that they were in for a bit of a wait, she moved her chair to sit next to him so that she could observe from a safe distance and maintain a conversation.

<B>I’m Sagasu Yume of clan Inuzuka. I became a full Mednin last year and I specialize in genetics and acupuncture. Poor luck on the demotion. We’ve needed all the help we can get at the hospital. You should come by when I’m on rounds if you want to get back into practicing again.

 

[Akechi]

”Oh, anything you say?” Shinn leaned forward, attempting to hide the mischievous smile that had grown across his face as the question slipped from his tongue. The woman seemed to be giving off a specialized pheromone or casting some type of Genjutsu without any need for handseals. Honestly, either case would be both abnormal, impressive and dangerous; especially if her prey just happened to be other humans. The predators that this virus had created would become rather troublesome if they were allowed to spread. Not everyone held the same tolerance to Genjutsu and other mind alternating techniques as Shinn did. After all, being an Uchiha meant that it was only natural to excel in Genjutsu. Their eyes possessed the ability to cast Genjutsu without handseals, and even reflect the effects of a Genjutsu back on the person that casted the technique on them. It was odd and peculiar that half of this ability had been passed on by a virus…

”I know. I’m not that easy. Whatever method she is using, it will not work on me,” Shinn responded, grinning as he turned his head back toward the woman leading their little “investigation.” ”However, it does me wonder. Casting Genjutsu, especially those of this nature, are traditionally techniques that are passed down by blood to clans such as the Uchiha or the Hashigaki. It makes me wonder if these abilities can be passed on by virus.” It was a scary thought in the mind of the young Akechi. In fact, it made him wonder if the spread of this virus was more intentional than it actually seemed. Perhaps, Shinn and Yume weren’t the only ones that were running tests on the infected. Maybe there was someone else that infected these people with the intent to transfer abilities normally only unlocked by blood.

”By fluid? So it is that contagious?” The man spoke, a somber tone sneaking into his voice as he thought about the implications of such a virus. ”Before you injected yourself, did you feel any different? Like… maybe, even for a second, did you feel yourself turning?” Determining the potency of the virus was one of the keys to curing such a disease. After all, they needed to figure out how long it took before each person would turn completely.

”Yume-san, it’s a pleasure.” He responded, standing from his seat and bowing his head to her as he would a superior. Taking a seat, the boy would click his sheath against the ground again, just to see if it would draw any attention his way from their test subject. ”Genetics and acupuncture? Seems I’m still unlucky. I was hoping you’d say optometry or some type of surgical triage.” He giggled, obviously alluding toward his diminished eyesight. It was only right for him to bring it up eventually. After all, she was a med nin and it was the reason he had returned to the village anyways.

 

[Sagasu Yume]

She would sit deep in thought for a moment, pondering his last question. What did she feel when she had been licked? She shifted uncomfortably for a moment as she realized that she had felt tired and started to become a little moody, but all of that went away once she had injected herself. The loud clack on the floor from his sheath would cause both women in the room to jump and elicit a snarl from the subject in question. Her attempts at pleading had stopped and now she was just pissy from not getting what she wanted. A soft smile would show on Yume’s face and her voice would change inflection a little. Her once hardened ‘scientific’ voice would become gentle and understanding.

Forgive my assumptions. You adapt so well to your environment I thought you had been born blind though that wouldn’t make sense since your eyes… your... eyes... your eyes! They’re red! I’ve been going about this all wrong. What if it’s not one virus, Akechi-san? What if the virus only explains half of it? There was one patient, the one who gave us the lead on the garlic, he explained everything like the others had but his eyes weren’t red. He was bit, felt drowsy, fell asleep, but when he woke up he was home. He said that his attacker had been chased away but never caught. What if the virus just makes them compliant? The blood lust could be psychological. We’ve all been told stories of vampires, right? So we know they’re supposed to drink blood. Or maybe they’ve been dosed with an opiate so they constantly crave something but don’t know what and assume it’s blood… but what if… what if the charm, and the eyes…

She would squeal with excitement, barely able to form coherent thoughts on her lips as she would get up and prance about for a moment to release some of the pent up energy. Returning to where Shinn sat she would throw her arms around him in a hug and then step back, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking at him with wide eyes.

Your eyes… you’re Uchiha. Could I take a sample of your blood? I want to compare it. Normally people with bloodlines don’t give blood for transfusions because we have to treat it, but what if the attacker has a bloodline. He knocks people out and infuses his blood. He would have to be O- for him not to have to worry about it but OH! What a novel idea! I promise I will help you find sight if you help me with this. I might not be skilled enough but I know a few people who might be.

The Mednin’s eyes would bore into his sightless orbs, begging and pleading for his assistance. She could use her own since she’s Inuzuka but she questioned whether it would be the same. Were bloodlines unique on a cellular level? From the moment Yume had sprang from her chair, the patient was silent, watching dumbfounded as the previously collected practitioner became frenetic. Lower than most could hear, she would mumble in realization.

She is bat shite f***ing loony. I’m stuck with a mad scientist and a blind man. FML.

 

[Akechi]

”Don’t worry about it, no apologies necessary.” He wasn’t offended or anything like that. In fact, he was rather proud to have been perceived as a person that had learned to adapt despite his disability. ”In fact, I take it as a compliment. Especially, given all of the training and rehabilitation that I had to go through, just to make the trek here… and other places,” he responded, chuckling a bit as he uttered the latter statement. He could’ve been in Sunagakure within 3-4 months of travel if they had traveled straight to the village but his ‘partner,’ Kei, had other plans in mind. She considered herself to be doing Shinn a favor and made cashed in on that favor right away. The rest was history. A dazzling side quest that would surely earn itself the title of “Ninpocho Chronicles Gaiden: The Tale of Akechi Shinn.” Or something like that!

”My eyes? They are still red?” Shinn asked with a confused look on his face, looking down at his hands as if he could actually see them. Unbeknownst to Shinn, the man’s eyes were a deep hue of red, possessing no discernable parts of the human eye, such as the sclera or the pupil. The Sharingan still seemed to be present but was incredibly faint, the kaleidoscope eye seeming more like residue than the active ability. ”Like some type of advanced hypnosis?” Shinn questioned, stroking his chin as the duo bounced from topic to topic. It would make sense as a possibility. After all, if this enigma really did plan to run some field tests on synthesizing blood related abilities, he would have to make sure that the subjects were willing to spread the virus. Blood would be the obvious choice of transmission of the virus and the bloodline abilities. However, normal people, even shinobi, don’t just ingest blood for the hell of it. He had to make sure that they would ingest blood, and also transmit the virus through the bloodstream.

In other words, he had to make sure that they were obedient and controllable…

Or as Yume said, complaint.

Rolling up his sleeve, Shinn went along with her request for blood. Not like he wasn’t used to being poked with needles, he was swordsman. It was kind of part of the job. ”Sure. Take as much blood as you want,” Shinn responded before questioning the motive behind this mystery person’s little project. ”If what you say is true then I wonder why our little enigma would want to transmit bloodline abilities. Money, perhaps? Or creating an army? Something underhanded it seems. It looks like he wants to weaponize it. He has be wondering why, and how do we put a proverbial thorn in his side?”

”By the way, just Shinn is fine. I’m not much when it comes to formality, Yume-san.” After all, Akechi-san made him feel a bit old, especially when it came from a person who sought to do him a huge favor. ”Really? You know someone who could perform an eye implantation procedure? I’ve been searching for awhile now with no luck. I even have a pair of eyes on ice, waiting for this day! I guess it took so long because I’m blind so looking for this person was rather… difficult.”

 

[Akechi]

[OOC: Sorry. Some stuff came up and I have to inactivity leave. We'll RP soon though!]

[Topic Left]

 

[Sagasu Yume]

[OOC: Okay then. Let me know when you're back around and we can RP again]

[Topic left]