002 [ Video ]

[doctoral_bird]

[ It may be an unfamiliar face to many! Malkus is actually appearing on the feed without his signature mask. Even a plague man like him needs fresh air now and then. His sickly facade wasn't far from the norm! That's just... his face. ]

Greetings fellow residents. It has been some time, but with the lull in disturbances I feel now's a better time than any to- ah-... discuss...

[ He scratched his claws against the wood of the bench outside, trying to remember what the hell he was going to say. As the pause grew, he could feel his social anxiety build.

Don't give them dead air, Malkus! The people hated pauses! ]

I am sorry, sleeping outside has left me- e-eh-... melancholic. I'd forgotten what I wanted to bring up. Ah! Yes!

[ He moved the feed to the mask sitting beside himself, placed daintily on a heap of papers and glassware. ]

As it often becomes a point of conversation, I would like to ask my fellow residents if anyone has actually had an epidemic ravage their land. I've come to realize I may be alone in this topic.

Comments

[doctoral_bird]

Goodness, I should hope not. Evidently, if they didn't outright die, they'd become something else. But ah- as far as I'd seen, they would simply... pass on.

[ The details were much more macabre. Bodies bellowing spores like wretched chimneys before they perished. People driven to murder in their desperation. Entire villages burnt to the ground in a futile attempt at eradicating the plague. But it was nothing this poor woman needed to hear. ]

I'm sorry to hear about your world. I hope your own physicians were more capable than ours. Truthfully I feel we could have done more. Or better.

[survivorsguilt]

[She nods in gratitude, feeling a strange sort of solidarity, even if their experiences definitely vary.]

Sorry about yours, too. Our doctors, uh- they were trying. Some were.

[It's not their fault that the girl with a cure in her veins fucked it all right up.

Wait.]

You're a do- uh, physician? Does that mean you know how to, like, cure things? Like maybe a different kind of virus, like the one I just mentioned?

[doctoral_bird]

[ If only Marian were still here, Malkus would be able to get that one Law fellow and set up an "our world is an apocalypse" club. Ellie would certainly be invited, apparently. ]

I-I've treated sickness before. Before the one that took everything, I'd managed to quell a couple of minor outbreaks!

[ Those were faint memories. Contaminated water sources. Open graves spreading sick air. Malkus missed those times. His potions absolutely destroyed those tiny plagues! ]

Yours sounds to be on a much grander scale. B-But there is a laboratory in this city, I believe. Doctor Alphys works there, if I'm correct.

[survivorsguilt]

[She looks a little disappointed at the lack of an enthusiastic yes, but at least he changes tack quickly enough to bolster her hopes again.]

Alphys? I know her. I didn't know she was a doctor. Guess I should talk to her about this.

[doctoral_bird]

Well, more of a scientist I believe! But I can assist her!

[ Malkus chimed up, trying to keep spirits high. ]

It’s just difficult without samples, you see. B-But it is a fungus? I-I think I could possibly brew together some fungicides. Concoct some kind of aid? I would be a shame to plague doctors if I did not at least try.

[survivorsguilt]

[She bites her lip, unsure of how much she wants to reveal after how far it got her last time.]

What if, uh. What if I could get you a sample.

[doctoral_bird]

[ Malkus wasn’t a particularly quick-minded man, but it didn’t take long to come up with some ideas as to how Ellie would get this “sample” in the first place. That being said, his only conclusion didn’t make much sense... Given the nature of the fungus she just described... Ellie didn’t seem like an aggressive mushroom zombie. ]

If I were to get a sample? One that I could contain enough. I’d certainly bring it to the laboratory and see if we have the proper equipment to study it!

Admittedly, I may be rather old world but I could at least provide you with notes. Perhaps to pass onto your world’s scientists.

[survivorsguilt]

[She laughs sharply and without humor.]

Yeah. You wouldn't have a problem containing it.

Cool. Thanks, dude. I'll keep that in mind.

[She thinks she might wait until she knows Malkus better to entrust this to him.]