Muraki Kazutaka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
letsplaysurgeon) wrote2011-05-26 03:25 am
letsplaysurgeon) wrote2011-05-26 03:25 am
Case 004 [Voice/Action]
[Due to the recent disclosure from the last experiment, Muraki no longer feels the need to hide his voice--even from the ones who know about him. His tone is warm and casual, as if he didn't realize there isn’t a filter over his post. Or that he was the type of gent who didn't need a filter because he was a good banana, through and through.]
It's difficult not to notice the recent stream of newcomers over the journal system and in the village. Salutations are in order, as you will be staying here for quite some time. And don't be offended if I don't refer to you collectively as "New Feathers." [As it sounds like something a four-year old came up with.] ...But I will welcome you. I'm Muraki Kazutaka, a doctor that has settled into the local clinic. It is always open if you ever need anything. And of course I offer my own services in any way that I can.
[He stops for a moment, and noise can be heard in the background: a sharp metallic click, and then a steady release of breath. He lights a cigarette and proceeds to smoke while he talks.] If this place has anything going for it, it's the variety of medicine that different people bring with them. I've seen practices similar to my own, and some that my colleagues back home would consider crude, if not primitive.
I have to wonder, with this irrefutable evidence of other universes, if perhaps there is a world where medicine has advanced to the level that I had always dreamed of: one that is past sickness and death. [A offhanded chuckle.] Or perhaps that would only cause sickness to evolve the way a mouse finds a way to outsmart the updated mouse trap.
[Despite the nature of his journal entry, Muraki spends very little time at the clinic that day. He leaves after a few hours and goes by the flower shop, picking up a bouquet of light pink roses and brings them back to his apartment. They are arranged with care in a vase next to his bed, on the side that he rarely sleeps on.
He doesn't care much for the heat wave, or the sensation of his clothes sticking to his skin like an envelope. He stays inside until the late evening, when it cools--and it's more likely he'll run into the one he is most interested in seeing.
Muraki was more of a night owl, anyway.]
It's difficult not to notice the recent stream of newcomers over the journal system and in the village. Salutations are in order, as you will be staying here for quite some time. And don't be offended if I don't refer to you collectively as "New Feathers." [As it sounds like something a four-year old came up with.] ...But I will welcome you. I'm Muraki Kazutaka, a doctor that has settled into the local clinic. It is always open if you ever need anything. And of course I offer my own services in any way that I can.
[He stops for a moment, and noise can be heard in the background: a sharp metallic click, and then a steady release of breath. He lights a cigarette and proceeds to smoke while he talks.] If this place has anything going for it, it's the variety of medicine that different people bring with them. I've seen practices similar to my own, and some that my colleagues back home would consider crude, if not primitive.
I have to wonder, with this irrefutable evidence of other universes, if perhaps there is a world where medicine has advanced to the level that I had always dreamed of: one that is past sickness and death. [A offhanded chuckle.] Or perhaps that would only cause sickness to evolve the way a mouse finds a way to outsmart the updated mouse trap.
[Despite the nature of his journal entry, Muraki spends very little time at the clinic that day. He leaves after a few hours and goes by the flower shop, picking up a bouquet of light pink roses and brings them back to his apartment. They are arranged with care in a vase next to his bed, on the side that he rarely sleeps on.
He doesn't care much for the heat wave, or the sensation of his clothes sticking to his skin like an envelope. He stays inside until the late evening, when it cools--and it's more likely he'll run into the one he is most interested in seeing.
Muraki was more of a night owl, anyway.]
[Voice]
Ah... no, I am not. I am a certified astrobiologist by training... But, I would like to learn how to doctor here, at least to the extent where I can be somewhat competent in the case of an emergency.
[Softly:] There is too much violence here, and thus I should... learn to compensate.
[Voice]
But he imagines Luceti must be an astrobiologist's paradise: the whole idea of trying to search for life outside of one's own planet and then being tossed into a melting pot of different worlds. He almost comments about that, but then Robert continues into another topic.]
I take it you care deeply about the well-being of others, then.
[It's a statement more than a question, and Robert might be able to hear the faint smile in Muraki's voice. The observation that there was too much violence in Luceti was quaint--especially since he hasn't seen most of this alleged violence. As far as he was concerned, it was the same as in his world.]
[Voice]
And he's easily manipulable - helpful for Muraki?And Luceti really is a paradise for him in some ways - though his world has confirmed, explicit evidence of non-Terran species (including non-human sapients from outside Terra), the sheer diversity of hominid forms in Luceti is staggering to him.]
I do. Or at least, I... I-I try to.
[Faint smile is totally heard but not... heard. And for Robert, any violence at all is more violence than what he's used to.]
[Voice]
Helpful for Muraki only if he thinks there's something he can exploit from him.]Then I believe you have the potential to become a doctor--at the very least, you have the starting tools. [Useless compassion and a penchant for rambling? Check.]
...Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be anything in the way of a medical school in Luceti. But there are many competent doctors here: I'm certain that one might be willing to devote the time to teaching you what they know.
[Voice]
Who knows when an astrobiologist might come in handy?]I... thank you for that assessment. Doctoring is a noble profession, and I... I have always had respect for those who pursue it. Most Terrans would, actually.
[It's not just rambling; there is a brain behind that mouth, of course, and Robert knows to an extent what he's talking about.]
I know several doctors myself, actually. That... w-was rather my plan, to see if any of them might be so kind as to assist me.
Are you perhaps a doctor yourself?
[Voice]
However the honest desire to help others, and calling medicine a "noble" pursuit does run a nerve against a sand-paper surface. Robert seems harmless, and less hypocritical than Tsuzuki in his love for human beings. But it still makes Muraki a little bitter, thinking he knows the truth about medicine that Robert hasn't discovered yet. He hides his feelings well.]
I suppose that's something your world has in common with mine.
[More smoke is blown, and he leans against the windowsill with a confident smirk.] I am. Until I came here, I worked in a hospital in a place called Tokyo, Japan.
[Voice]
And this pacifistic-to-the-point-of-bigotry scientist derp is compassionate to a ridiculous extreme. He can't even muster up some real hatred for the Malnosso, at least not to the point where he'd hurt any of them. Harmless indeed.]
Japan... there are a significant number of people who seem to come from a place with that name. A... "country", they say. There is even an anthropomorphic country - however that works, I do not know - with that name as well.
... He is a very kind person, though, and quite technologically adept.
But yes, I suppose it would be a commonality of our multiversal worlds... most of the knowledge-based professions are held in high regard.
[Voice] 1/2
The few things he's reaped from Luceti keeps him calm. He has a job, and two people that remind him of what is waiting for him back home. He has the man that he loves, and the tools to destroy him. As long as the Malnosso kept their hands out of his business with Tsuzuki, and didn't touch what belonged to him, he would play by their rules...for the most part.]
I have noticed a similar pattern, and the fact that many people are very quick to trust me due to my profession. It's a small reward for the sacrifices one has to make to become a doctor.
[Voice] 2/2
I'm sorry, did you say anthropomorphic country? [Trying to put the two words together in a logical fashion gives him the weird sensation that he spontaneously forgot English--or he was having a blonde moment. A body of land distinguished by its government, language and people with a human form and/or attributes? Seriously?]
[Voice]
... Not to say that it is not jarring. I long for Terra sometimes... it had none of these odd paranormal things that are so prevalent here.
[Voice]
...Does it have a name? [Referring to the humanoid Japan walking among them.]
[Voice]
The two I have spoken to have called themselves Japan and Poland, respectively. They may have other names and titles, though, but if they do they have not informed me yet.
[They do, but Robert never bothers to ask. Just calls them Mr. Japan and Mr. Poland respectively.]
[Voice]
He sighs, a long release of oxygen.] Just as well.
...Though I'm curious. From what you've told me about your home world...Terra, was it? There are no countries or separate territories?
[Voice]
Eventually it had simply become too engrained into the collective consciousness, and thus adopted as the governmental standard.]
The megatropolises of Terra have their own governments, but generally only for the sake of making things easier to manage; at any rate, there is often active communication between the two levels of government, and it can be difficult to disentangle them entirely.
[Voice]
The race of man united under one flag: Muraki considers it a pipe dream. As a whole, humans were far too attached to their notions of nationalism and what was correct and normal to love each other unconditionally.]
...It almost seems ideal. I can understand why you would miss it.
[Voice]
Hatred never really goes away, it just manifests itself in other forms.]
As much as I miss Terra, though, there are people here I would... not wish to leave...
[Muraki may be able to tell how much these people mean to Robert with his tone. He can't read tones in others - likewise, he can't tell how much his own tone broadcasts with himself.]
[Voice]
Oh? Have you found loved ones in this universe?
[That seems to be something that happens here quite often. From viewing other conversations on the network, it seems that the prisoners of Luceti get far too attached to one another. Muraki can't relate to this: there are one or two people he's fond of, but knowing that he won't remember them when he goes back doesn't faze him.]
[Voice]
...
I d-do not think I could leave him... though I know this place is f-fickle, at best.
[Robert, by contrast, is incredibly afraid of the potential loss of Don. Even beyond his usual fears with forgetting...]
[Voice]
[The hypothetical question rolls effortlessly off his tongue, as though he had been waiting to ask that since Robert responded to his recorded post. Though part of him wasn't even sure why he asked. He doesn't care about other people's love lives--perhaps he just wants to see where Robert's values lie. Or give him something hard to chew on.]
[Voice]
Yes. I would, if it meant being with him.
I would do anything for him...
[Maybe Robert doesn't mean "anything" exactly literally, but there is an unhealthy amount of conviction in those words.]
... Ideally I c-could take him home, or vice-versa, but if I had to choose between the two things... it would most certainly be him.
[Voice]
Muraki could understand, but he can't stand to relate himself to other people. So he settles on feeling nothing.] 'Anything' is more than most men will give to another person. [Though hollow if it remains just a concept. He wonders if Robert would stick to his convictions if pushed--and decides he's interesting enough to keep tabs on.
Taking one more drag from his cigarette, he crushes it against the windowsill until he's satisfied with the cherry being extinguished.] I don't believe I got your name.
[Voice]
As for the weakness part - Robert has never known it to be a weakness. He's never been toyed with or manipulated by anybody, not deliberately and not with any kind of forethought. He simply wasn't in a position where it was ever used against him.]
He deserves everything I can give him...
[Robert pauses, realizing that, no, he hasn't given his name yet.]
... Ah. My apologies for the... u-unprofessionalism.
My name is Professor Robert Alexander Hastings.
... And yourself, if... if I may ask?