1281/Dragon Diagnosis

Dragon Diagnosis
Date of Scene:	06 January 2015
Location:	The Citadel - Domain of the Puissant
Synopsis:	Styraco, one of Genghis Rex's minions, examines the Copper to see if the crippled dragon overlord can be made whole again.
Cast of Characters:	114, 611

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The Copper (611) has posed:
Welcome to the Citadel! As one would expect of a superfaction full of Elites that pursue their own agendas, it's pretty grand and maybe even a little overbearing. Also pretty darned cool, at the end of the day. Come on. Floating islands. What's not to love?

It's on one of the nearer floating islands that the dragon overlord of the Lavadome is waiting, having been asked to meet with one of Genghis Rex's subordinates. He's lounging rather aimlessly, watching the fluffy clouds scud by, the bright sky reflected in his coppery, metallic scales. Beside him sits a massive dragon, red the colour of old blood. He's huge, and he has the look of being solid muscle under all that scale.

Fortunately, they're not real hard to pick out.

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Rex steps casually out onto the golden road, flanked by a heafty looking Ceratopsoid carrying a large medical satchel. The Ceratopsoid has a large frill that fans out behind his head and a single black horn that spires out of the center of his snout.

For all of Rex's grace and poise, Styraco is the exact opposite. A lumbering, hulking mass of muscle, bone and scales, yet he is draped in a white labcoat and wears a stethoscope around his thick almost nonexistant neck.

The Copper (611) has posed:
"Tyr." At the sight of the hulking figure and Genghis coming down the road, the big red dragon's tail reaches over to prod at the copper dragon. The crippled dragon's head cocks over, then down; those big, liquid-copper eyes blink as he refocuses on the pair.

He then bows his head on its long, serpentine neck. "Genghis Rex." His head tilts to one side, eyeing Styraco. "Allow me to introduce HeBellereth, one of my best fighters, and Commander of the Aerial Host."

"Greetings," HeBellereth says, with the voice of a jolly mountain.

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Rex approaches the two dragons confidently, Styraco, for all his size and strength, seems a little more cautious of the newcomers. Being somewhat of a criminal on his homeworld, it could just be Styraco's normal frame of mind to be somewhat suspicious of everyone.

Rex looks Hebellereth up and down and smirks, "Excellent choice of color. I approve!"

Styraco tilts his head at the large Red, then turns his gaze to The Copper, his eyes focusing on the whithered arm like, much lke a hatchling might eye a piece of candy. "I take it you will my patient for the evening."

Rex snorts at Styraco, "This is Styraco, my medical officer. He seems quite eager to examine you."

The Copper (611) has posed:
"Hoh? I'm glad you approve." HeBellereth puffs his chest just a little, making the massive dragon seem a little more massive. "It is a becoming hue, if I do say so myself."

The Copper ignores his lieutenant, instead rolling his good eye to Styraco and eyeing the enormous Ceratopsoid dubiously. My, isn't he a tall one? But he shows no fear, settling his scales and the armoured fans behind his jaw; each settling into place with a metallic, ratcheting sound.

"No. The healthy dragon over there will. Of course I am." The crippled dragon slides his jaw back, then forward; clicking his teeth in amusement. "Well, we may as well have done with this, then. But do not be too long. I trust things to run well enough in my absence, but my empire will not run itself indefinitely without me."

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styraco smirks and opens his satchel. He quietly pulls several tools from the bag and sets them into the air. The Hovertools simply hang in the air, above the orange Dinosaur. A jagged looking knife, several pokey looking implements, a items that looks like scanners of some sort.

Styraco pulls a metalic gauntlet from the bag and slides it over his stumpy claw, a dozen small spider-like digits shoot out of the guantlet creating an artifical hand for the ceratopsoid, allowing for finer dexerity. He plucks a scnaner out of the air and swipes it across The Copper, then begins reveiwing the readout.

"What is the nature fo these injuries? how did you receive them?" Styraco asks, wihtout looking up form the scanner.

Rex steps back, folding his claws behind his back and letting Styraco get to work.

The Copper (611) has posed:
The dragon blinks his big, round eyes at the sight of the tools just, well, hanging there. In most cases he's pretty sure things are supposed to fall when you drop them. HeBellereth squints at the tools in open suspicion, while the Copper just goes on staring at them openly.

In fact, it takes several seconds for him to tear his gaze away from that, only to stare at the gloves and their extra fingers. Oh. Oh, my.

"Old, mostly." Please pardon the Copper, he's going to stare at all those shiny tools. "Some were dealt when I was a hatchling -- male hatchlings fight for dominance of the clutch -- and the rest were by the Dragonblade, a hominid dragon-hunter."

"Human," HeBellereth clarifies. "He's dead now."

"As HeBellereth says," the Copper adds. "This was from one of my brothers." He indicates his crippled limb. "This was from my sister, when she found out... well. That's not important," he adds, dipping his head to indicate his bad eye.

He tries to extend his left wing, but the joint slips over itself, and the limb simply flops in a semi-tangle of vanes and membrane. "And that, that was a gift from the Dragonblade. Ordinarily I use a piece of dwarven engineering to keep it from slipping. It's functional, but I'll never fly like a dragon of the Aerial Host. Oh, and that." He lashes his tail, indicating the stiff, broken and badly set end. "Dwarves."

"I think that's everything," he adds, copper eye rolling skyward for a moment as he considers.

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styraco eyes his scanner, plucking data from the screen and placing it into the air next o his tools. The words, glowing reptilonian letters and diagrams of The Copper's body begin cluttering the air around Styraco, his eyes flash from the data, back to The Copper's many injuries, "So, none of these are magical in nature? No curses or afflictions of an unnatural origin?"

Rex pokes at one of the diagrams, detailing The Copper's damaged wing. Styraco slaps at his claw, "Do NOT interfere."

Rex grumbles

Styraco returns to his holographic diagrams, spinning them in the air with the dexterity guantlet, breaking some of them down to tendons, nerves, blood vessles.

The Copper (611) has posed:
"No, they're just wounds. Unlucky wounds." The Copper seems tired when he says that, though his eyes are still bright, watching with evident fascination as Styraco starts moving data around. He stares at the glowing letters, though he can't read them (after all, they're not in Drakkine); as though he were mesmerised.

Meanwhile, HeBellereth creeps up next to Genghis Rex, also staring at the glowing letters. He reaches out a folded wing, aiming with the clawed tip of his wing joint to poke, hesitantly, at the glowing thing in the air. He stares with wide eyes, the glowing light reflecting in the dull gold of his eyes.

The Copper, meanwhile, sits back on his haunches.

"...What /is/ all of that?"

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styraco leans in and looks closely at The Copper's damaged eye, tilting his head, "It is you. Down to your smallest molecule"

"You are in pain. Considerable pain. Your neuropathy is off the charts. I'm surprised you're not insane."

Styraco glances at Hebellereth, "He's not, is he?"

Rex blinks at his subordinate and then to The Copper, rubbing the back of his own head, "Forgive him, my friend! He's a bit ... direct."

Styraco, hrumphs at Rex, "I need blood."

The Copper (611) has posed:
"Me?" The dragon tilts his head to face his good eye toward the display, the lines and data reflecting in that liquid copper. He stretches a little, standing on his haunches, neck craning to get a better look at the more distant figures. "Fascinating."

HeBellereth blinks, tearing his own gaze away from the figures when queried directly. For a second or two he looks from Styraco to the Copper and back again, cocking his head like a puzzled hound. "What? No. Of course not. Preposterous. My Tyr is the most clear-headed dragon in the Lavadome. He'd have to be, to lead it."

"Neuro-what?" the Copper echoes, faintly, somewhere behind HeBellereth's assertion.

HeBellereth, meanwhile, gives a limber swish of his tail that probably equates to a shrug. "I do not care. I have heard worse! Lady Tighlia--"

"--is not a proper subject of conversation," the Copper finishes succinctly for his lieutenant, clicking his teeth for emphasis. "Blood? Very well. How much?"

HeBellereth mutters something under his breath, but he doesn't argue or raise his voice.

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styrco smiles, "Just a drop."

He waves his guantleted claw at the floating diagrams, causing them to fade out of existance. The orange dinosaur plucks a floating syring from the air, and begins speaking very plainly, "I cannot yet assertain if I will be able to help you. I trust you are using some sort of magical method or simply mental acuity to manage your pain. Any assistance I could offer in that respect would be some sort of chemical pain management via Narchotics, which would cloud your thinking. You do not strike me as someone who would find clouded thinking as an acceptble state of being."

Rex's attention snaps back and forth between Styraco and The Copper.

Styraco continues, "The blood sample will allow me to review your DNA, create samples of your tissue and seen if it is within my power to repair this damage. Cybernetic replacements are also an option, but always a last resort. CYbernetics are never preferrable to flesh and bone."

The Copper (611) has posed:
"No magic that I know of." The Copper tilts his head to watch Styraco with muted interest, eyeing the syringe in evident puzzlement. He's never seen a tool like that before. "No, not particularly." Seriously. Dragon politics are worse than Rome. He's going to want to have his wits about him at all times.

HeBellereth similarly watches Styraco and the Copper, as though he were watching a tennis match -- left, right, left, right. He has a vaguely befuddled air about him, as though even if he had the nerve to ask a question, he wouldn't even know where to start.

"Hunh." Most of that makes absolutely no sense to the Copper, and so he amicably takes it in with a thoughtful sound. It probably makes him seem like he understands a lot more than he actually does. "Cyber-what?" The dragon blinks his good eye somewhat blankly, attention snapping away from the diagnostics and the syringe -- will that thing even get under those metal scales without snapping? -- to look at Styraco directly.

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styraco explains, "Cybernetics. Replacement artificial limbs. I would need to amputate your damaged body parts and replace them with machines that you would control with your mind. It is a ... savage undertaking and doesn't always result in the most positive of outcomes. Deadened senses, months or even years of rehabilitation, and sometimes depression, axiety and insanity result. As with ANY surgery, thee is always the risk of dying on the operating table."

Styraco speaks with the matter of factness of a schrewd businessman.

He leans in and places his gunatelets spider-like fingerlets on The Copper's withered arm, the tiny digits trail lightly across the twisted scales, as if searching for a weak point in the scarred limb.

"Hense, why genetic re-engineering is always preferrable. May I"

Styraco does not wait for The Copper's response, as he lifts one of the dragon's scales and jabs the syring underneath one, drawing a small sample of blood before the Tyr can react.

Styraco holds the syring up to his eye, examining the sample, but motions to Rex.

"That one would be dead, were it not for me, and we haven't had to resort to any cyborg parts ... yet."

Rex blinks at Styraco, looking a bit taken aback.

Styraco grins "But don't lt him fool you, not all of his parts are 'original'."

Rex gapes, "I ... errr ... WHAT?!"

Styraco places the syring into his satchel and begins putting his tools away.

The Copper (611) has posed:
The idea of replacing limbs with artificial ones is a foreign notion, but it isn't outside the realm of conception. After all, the dwarven engineering that keeps the Copper's wing open is a little like that. Now he's trying to imagine a sii-limb governed by gears and sprockets and cables and all that mess, and controlled with his mind. It's a very weird mental image for him.

Probably explains why he has a slightly blank look about him at the moment.

"I see." His tone suggests he probably doesn't see at all, but he's saying it for the sake of being nice, or at least keeping the conversation moving. "What do you mean to say, you can /regrow/ my--"

He might say 'ow' but he's a dragon, so instead of 'ow' Styraco gets a full-throated roar, right in his face, the armoured fans under his jaw dropping and rattling in threat. HeBellereth moves as though to throw himself at the dinosaurian doctor, but the Copper waves him off, forcibly raising the armoured plates under his jaw with a series of clicks.

Ahem. He composes himself, giving the syringe a withering look. That thing might be small, but it's got an impressive bite.

"Hm. So you are also... 'regrown?'" The Copper looks to Genghis Rex, blinking owlishly. His bad eye is open, but it's clouded and probably mostly blind; the abbrieviated way the lid moves suggests it just doesn't move any more. "Fascinating. You've given me much to think about."

Turning, he gestures with a claw, and HeBellereth falls into line beside him. "Well, we'll keep you no longer. Thank you, brothers. And one of these days, we will have to have you visit the Lavadome. You would be honoured guests."

Genghis Rex (114) has posed:
Styraco pulls out a hankechief and dabs his face after being roared at. He seems nonplussed, but his beaked face doesn't really lend itself to much expressiveness.

Rex folds his arms at The Copper addresses him, "I am NOT! I have had many battles in my lifetime, but I have never lost a limb."

Styraco says, "No, not a limb. A liver though, a gall bladder, maybe a kidney or 3."

Rex glares at Styraco with an expression that clearly states 'STFU'

Rex bows his head to The Copper as he sees the Dragon is readying to leave, "Travel Safely, my brothers. I will get back to you with Syraco's findings once he has a course of action in mind."

The Copper (611) has posed:
"Hmm." Pulling in his useless wing, the Copper casts his good eye over the mess of slipped tendon and bone. It's not bloody or fresh, but looks like it was done in his youth; healed over incorrectly, although not scarred, as though someone had neatly snipped one of the connective tendons. "Well, as I said, that is interesting, and something I'll certainly think about."

To fly again, free as the breeze; without relying on this infernal contraption... no, that would almost be too much to even dare to dream. But the thought is a tempting one.

"Hm. Travel safely, brothers. Thank you; we will await word from you." The Copper delicately sets his teeth to a leather contraption on the joint of his wing, tugging it over -- a twitch here and a yank there, and it's covering the damaged joint. It's gone through a hell of a lot of revisions to stay in place, and still be manipulated with deft claws; and every time he takes wing he probably says a prayer, not knowing if it'll fail or not.

As though following some unspoken signal, HeBellereth gracefully drops off the edge of the island, spreading his vast wings with a leathery /snap/ of tendons. The Copper does the same, though his descent is more gradual -- leaning into the wind and resistance more carefully, too afraid to pop that restraint right off his wing.

The two dragons are soon lost to sight, gliding back in the direction of the nearest warpgates -- one flap-gliding somewhat clumsily, the other moving forward with sure strokes of his broad wings.