Starring:
Date: April 12, 2016
Summary:
Mushi takes Aburei on a field trip to examine the Land of Water's native herbs, then reveals a hidden agenda to their foray.
"Murdered Medics - Toxic Herbology"
Hidden Tropical Oasis [Land of Water]
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Marvelous, strange and exciting. A literal forest domed right inside the large cliff face. Its walls spand high into the sky surrounding the entire area, high above there are large openings where light seeps in providing just the right amount of light to light up this area. The dome shaped area from within the caves is filled with life, trees and bushes. Some trees spanding 100 meters into the sky with thick green leaves. The area is heated in the days and cooled in the evenings, a constant cool wind brushes throughout.
There are vegetables, fruits and a natural source of water in this area allowing the flora to grow. There are rocks, small caverns and openings with flower patches. Further north there are ruins of what seemed to have once been a stone city, now a relic of its former self. Overall this area is a miracle to exist, undisturbed by the human race it is a natural living habitat of great marvel and mystery.
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Mushi is on her hands and knees by the oasis, divesting her late breakfast onto the forest floor. Aburei and her had been examining an unusual herb that neither could identify. It seemed potent, but was it poisonous or medicinal? Or either, depending on what form it was in? Mushi decided to find out by ingesting it. So she popped it in her mouth. The result is revolting and doesn't sound much better. She had called him over to begin their journey of healing and learning. Perhaps this isn't quite the glorious start she had in mind.
After a minute, Mushi heals herself. Not just the poison that needs creeping through her veins, but the burningly itchy rash that had begun to form in her mouth. She splashed water from the oasis onto her face, and rinses out her mouth, swishing it. "Th…the Land of Water," she says. "I think I'm going to die of embarrassment if Okumo Meruin ever heard about this. Aburei-kun… food. Something light. I hate the taste of…ugh." She slumps against a tree, her eyes closed. The world class medic…sick after having stuffed her mouth full of toxic substances. "Thanks for coming with me." She doesn't look good at all.
If it had been anybody else, Aburei might be freaking out right now. Putting an UNKNOWN PLANT FORM into your DIGESTIVE TRACT!? x.X; That's kuku forkokopafusu! Lots of plants have nasty chemicals stowed in their tissue specifically to KEEP themselves from being eaten! You shouldn't even be TOUCHING unfamiliar plants if you can help it! Madness! Scandal! Mismatched socks!
But if it's Mushi-neesan, obviously that's okay. Mushi-neesan the world's most brilliant and learned medic. Mushi-neesan knows what she's doing and has the skills to fix anything that might go wrong. Mushi-neesan is indestructible. n.n So Aburei simply fulfills her request for food, digging an apple out of his pack. "No problem, Mushi-neesan. Not like I have anything to do I couldn't do twice as well with you around." :) After handing her the apple, Aburei notices she still looks a little peaky…not that his appraisal is likely to be more accurate than hers, but…maybe she missed something critical due to not being able to see her own face? n.n; So he pulls a hand-mirror out of the pack and holds it up for her. "You sure you got everything okay, Mushi-neesan?"
Mushi is itching her arms now. Maybe she's not a hundred percent after all. But she gets a mulish, defensive look on her face when Aburei questions whether she's alright. For a second she looks as if she's about to shoot him down. But then her face clears, and she gives a woebegone grin. "How do you think I am? I just ate a toxic plant without a third thought," she says. As a medic with a good reputation, she would likely say something with more confidence and deep knowing to someone she'd just met. However, she's always relaxed her demeanor around Aburei. She didn't request he come along to carry on formal and serious conversations.
"Well?" she says, beckoning. "Check me up and heal me." Instead of holding still to help him, she starts munching on the apple, and rummaging through her pack. Between bites of apple she says, "This place is amazing. It may be the most potent treasure trove of natural medicine in the world…only dampened by the fact that half of it is seething with poison. If only there was some way to easily find the right ones…" She sighs, and then groans, clutching her stomach.
Aburei blinks. Is this one of those sneaky lesson-in-disguise moments? Not a great disguise if so. -.-a Well, let's see…the diagnosis isn't very hard at a basic level, YOU DUN DID ATE SOMETHIN' YA AIN'T SHOULDA. What that something is, what effects it has, and what to do to counteract it is the tricky part. From the fact that it's causing rashes, it's pretty potent…Aburei would recommend regurgitation as the first obvious countermeasure, but Mushi's already done that. Aburei dons a pair of heavy gloves (isn't it wonderfully convenient having mentioned a pack in an earlier pose?) and plucks some of the offending plant's cousins. He grinds it up a bit, then applies a pH measuring tab to it, hoping to identify whether it's highly acidic or basic for a start.
Aburei would be able to find the composition generally. The plant itself is basically mild. What was really having Mushi break out was a thin powder clinging to the leaves, and easily spread at a touch. Mushi's eyes are open now. She's watching what he's doing, and with close attention. After all, since she survived, she ought to see this as a learning experience. So is this a lesson-in-disguise? No. Because Mushi says openly, "Be confident, Aburei-kun. You're just as good a healer as me. On your wandering, at the places you lived, the friends you made, you've healed more people than most any medic I know. Yet you act like you barely have any experience when you're as good as a team of medics." Far from sounding heartwarming, she practically growls the words. Or maybe that's just a sore throat.
Aburei shrugs as he continues examining the plant. "Well, I guess I've had plenty of field experience at this point, sure…but I haven't studied much since I started wandering. Books are expensive and all." n.n; Aburei tilts his head at the powder. Hmmm, is that produced by this plant, or is something else coating it with such? He looks to some other nearby flora for comparison…
Mushi sighs as Aburei shrugs off her pep talk. She shakes her head in rueful concession. "For all the ways you think *cough* the world of me, you don't think as much of yourself," she says. But she leaves it at that. Fortunately Aburei would see that there are similar plantsweedsbut just a small patch of them twenty feet off, from where they'd first plucked them. Mushi glances at her hands then, as if examining them. "I handled that plant, and look. Not a mark on my skin." Indeed, the sores that had formed were only in her mouth. "But when I put it in my mouth it started poisoning me almost at once. Maybe…*cough* it reacts to lots of moisture? In other words, my saliva. And in other words, most locals, or anyone for that matter, would only react badly to it if *cough* they were dumb enough to eat it untested." She smirks at Aburei. "Well, test it out."
<Weather> Clouds are dotted about the sky, keeping the heat in and making the air stiflingly hot. The only respite comes from a cool, gentle breeze blowing lightly from the southeast.
Aburei pulls a face. "Test it? You mean I should try putting it in my mouth? That won't help the situation much." XP Even Aburei's not that selfless. But then, he could do something a little less drastic. He takes off the left glove, then brushes the plant lightly against the back of his hand. He observes for a minute, to be sure the powder doesn't have any effect on its own…then he spits on it, to test Mushi's moisture theory.
Mushi blinks and then smirks. "I meant to just pour some water over it or something," she says, and coughs. She goes still after that and starts taking gulps of water from a flask, swishng them around, before spitting it out. Rinse and repeat. Aburei would find that the contact with the water would make the powder of the leaves turn from light brown to a white color. And would sting any of his exposed skin if he didn't put it aside. "So what did you find? You know, I almost came here to study poisons. And how to cure them. But I chose Suna. Because while Kiri has the natural poisoners, the more natural talent, Suna has practiced more at ways to administer them lethally."
Yep, definitely some reaction there. Aburei carefully sponges the powder-spit mix off the back of his hand with a cloth, then rinses it off as best he can. "Well, it's definitely moisture-activated. Probably a natural defense against consumption. If we had time to observe the local fauna, they might lead us to a neutralizing agent. But I'm sure you rather not sit here dead still long enough for an animal to come along, eat the poison plant, and then just maybe eat something else that counteracts it." :P The talk about the specializations of different ninja villages kinda goes in one ear and out the other. What does Aburei care about ninja stuff? If they want to kill someone, generally they succeed before Aburei has any chance to make a difference in the matter. n.n;
"To study the local fauna," Mushi says, "is precisely why we're here." She is healing herself now that she knows the poison, and eventually she stops itching her arms. After a few minutes she pulls out a vial. It is empty. On the vial is carved the symbol of Kirigakure. "A household was attacked. I'll tell you about them later, but they were important. By the time I got there, those who would've died without my help, were dead already. They had been attacked with poisoned weapons by shinobi. I found this." She holds up the empty vial. "Supposedly dropped, and at the time full of deadly poison. I have it stored away. What was strange was that I couldn't find the origins of the poison. Untraceable, and not native to that region. All I know is it's made from plants. So I ask you, what kind of Kiri poisoner is smart enough to create a poison I can't trace, but leaves their symbol on it?"
