01: video

[baldrshand]

Hello all! For those of you who haven't yet met me, I'm Ethlyn.

I've started working in one of the clinics here, and it's both familiar and not... and it's become clear to me that the places we all come from are far more different than I could have imagined.

So I'd like to ask you about how medicine is in your homelands. Where I'm from, we use magic to heal wounds cleanly and quickly, but we don't always know what causes illness and infirmity. How are things for you--do you use magic to heal, or do you have to rely on technique?

As well as that--who else is a healer themselves? (And: can you ride?)

Comments

[starguy]

Hah, yeah... it was kinda bad. People were real down after the War, so they kinda went overboard.

[ He laughs it off though. Let's not get into that. ]

Oh, yeah! They're like. Vaccines with needles. We call 'em shots cause they hurt when you get poked.

[ Even in space... you gotta get your shots. ]

I'm no doctor so I don't know the details, but I think scientists try out a bunch of different medicines and microbes or whatever until they find something that kills the disease. But that's because they get down to like, microscope level, you know?

[ Something tells him she does not, in fact, know... ]

[baldrshand]

...I can imagine.

[After a war... yes, Ethlyn can imagine how a powerful healer with lacking morals could take advantage of that.]

Ah--so you inject medicine into people! More like a spider than an archer, then. [She's never heard the word microscope, but she thinks she can pull it apart a little to have a good guess.] And a microscope is a device for looking at very small things?

[Jugdral has telescopes, so microscopes must also be for looking, yes?]

[starguy]

Yeah, exactly! Microscopes let people see really tiny stuff like germs, which are what make most people sick. And once they can seem 'em, they're easier to stop. Probably.

[ Somewhere out there, a real doctor is cringing at Peter's terrible descriptions. ]

I mean it sounds creepy when I explain it like that, but hey, it works.

[baldrshand]

Oh no, hardly creepy! [Instead, Ethlyn looks and sounds delighted and fascinated.] Then you're saying that scarlet fever, pneumonia, arthritis - these are caused by miniscule creatures? And then once they're found, they can be killed?

[almost there ethlyn]

[starguy]

Yeah, exactly! I mean, ish. They're not exactly creatures, more like single-cell stuff most of the time, but that's pretty much it.

[ Close enough! ]

Actually, I think the last one is like... maybe caused by old age, but don't quote me on that.

[baldrshand]

Ah, I see. [Of course, arthritis is an illness of age, but she'd thought for a moment that maybe there are 'microbes' that more easily attack elders than robust young people. But maybe it is about use and deterioration after all.] I didn't even realize there were living things so small--it makes sense since there are some you can only see right up close, like aphids, but I didn't realize they could get smaller still.

What exactly do you mean by a 'cell?'

[starguy]

[ Science is truly wild and it's a good thing Peter doesn't know too much about space science or I would be in trouble... ]

Oh, yeah! There's microorganisms and stuff that come together and make bigger stuff, like creepy amoebas and some of the space jellies I've fought.

[ At least he's pretty sure that was their deal? Peter is not a reliable source here. ]

A cell, is like... [ He holds his fingers together, almooost close enough to touch. ] Too small to see, but I think it's the smallest building-block of what makes us organics who we are. [ It's not. ] So like, skin is made up of a bunch of cells, and so's our hair, and our blood, but also plants are made up of 'em too. They're all different kinds!

Basically if it lives and breathes then it's probably made up of cells.

[ Boy, he feels smart! ]

[baldrshand]

So it's like all the stones that make up a castle. It makes sense--all things have to be made up of smaller parts, so of course our bodies are the same. [Which can be told from things like bones and organs, obviously, but it's eye-opening to know that there are even more fundamental constituent parts.] And these microbes penetrate through to cause illness.

I know this is going to sound silly, but are these space jellies--anything like, well, ocean jellyfish?

[That has nothing to do with medicine, she's just curious now]