kismet_loop | [Audio | Locked to Sam]

Yep. And yeah. [Zero will feel Sam shift her weight as she considers elaborating.] It's kind of personal, though.

I won’t press if you don’t want to talk about it, but I won’t deny that I’m curious as well.

[He’ll leave it open there for the moment.]

Well...

[Well, what? She weighs it. On one hand, her 'witch' status is no big secret, and if it is, it's Haven's worst-kept, but on the other? Some vulnerabilities can't be corrected, only obscured.]

This is just between you and me, yeah?

[He nods.] Of course. I’ll not tell your secrets, Sam, and don’t feel you have to tell them to me if you’d rather not.

Well, my secrets I'm gonna sit on a while yet. It's not you so much as anything said's kinda comprimised---we got telepaths and god only knows what else around.

[Since she's exploited the hell out of this, that someone else might also is, really, a reasonable concern.]

[He nods.] I understand. It’s enough for me to know that blood and hair samples can’t come from you.

We'll get into it one of these days. Meanwhile, I can offer you scab samples if you would want 'em. Most of them would contain some foreign pigments, but 'most' is better than 'all,' yeah?

[Compared to blood and hair, scabs are a low-risk substance---and that's lucky for Sam, because even if scabs were easily exploited, her healing tattoos have left scab flakes all over Haven. If someone really wanted some, they'd find some with time, patience, and a piece of scotch tape.]

Scab samples? [What’s that?]

['Arguably gross, but probably of interest.' Having spent several years brushing bits of scab off everything in her immediate environment (clothes, furniture, flatmates) Sam's absolutely inured to the 'arguably gross' aspect.]

I should probably cover scabbing so you have some kind of context. It's part of the process of an injury healing, provided the injury is something like a cut or a scrape. The brutally abridged version? The blood flow at a wound site triggers a chain of events for forming a kinda combination shield-and-plug to close up the injury as quickly as possible. The faster it's closed, the better, because that means blood loss is minimized, and there's less of a window for germs to enter the body since that's kind of a big thing with organics---infections are a talk of their own, I tell you. But! Just being closed, a scabbed-over wound isn't healed; the scab stays where it formed to protect the wound as it does heal, since the tissue forming for it will take some time. Once it's far enough along, the scab dries out and eventually falls off.

Scabs can be picked off, too, but it sometimes hurts to do that, and if you try too soon you might just reopen the partway healed wound. You're also likely to get a scar if you pick a scab---or so I was always warned.

[He’s leaned forward a bit, utterly fascinated] So organics have an ARS? [no acronyms, Zero, be clear.] Automatic repair system? Is that common for all organics or just some?

[As soon as Zero clarifies, Sam's nodding.]

All, though the ability of organic bodies to mend varies significantly. Like... Okay, I don't know if you've heard of starfish, but they are these smallish multi-limbed animals which live in salt water. Some are like this big...?

[She holds her hands apart to indicate.]

They're well-known for their ability to regrow entire limbs if one gets cut off. Most other organics can't do that, though there are lizards which can regrow their tails and some other animals which can jettison frankly alarming amounts of their internal organs to distract predators for the sake of escape. Humans can't manage anything quite so dramatic, but for almost any injury it's 'just wait for it to heal up.' Especially bad cuts can call for stitches, stuff like that, but... body systems do the brunt of it.

Amazing. Our bodies will repair to a point, but it sounds like organic bodies will do so much more. What are stitches? Are there things that an organic body can't heal?

[Hey, at least he's not thinking of going and testing this, he's not a cruel scientist.]

I've got to admit, it's pretty cool. How much self-repair is a Cybertronian body capable of? Self-repairs excluded.

[As cool as organic healing processes are, Cybertronians' ARS sound just as interesting.]

Stitches are used to hold the sides of large or deep cuts together so that they can heal closed quicker, and without quite so much scarring. The sides of the wound are pressed against each other and then sewn together, using... well, whatever threadlike material is deemed to be best for the job. They have this stuff for stitches which will eventually dissolve within the body because removing stitches can be---so far as I understand---an uncomfortable hassle, but I don't know what it's made of. I never actually needed stitches myself.

And yeah. Yeah. Like... minor wounds not so much, but moderate and severe wounds will heal up with some scar tissue remaining at the site. Scar tissue is fast-forming, and strong, and great for connecting stuff what's severed, but it doesn't act the same way undamaged tissue does, and so scarring on organs can interfere with their efficiency and create some serious long-term problems. Nerve damage is really problematic, too.

I hope this is a half-decent explanation. There's a LOT organic bodies can heal, but there's also a fair bit beyond the capacity of an organic body to heal, and a lot of stuff that's conditional, too.

Only so much. Basic things really, stopping leaks, closing small breaches in our structure. Enough to help us keep functioning most of the time if we can’t reach a medic.

[He listens, completely fascinated.] So when you’re hurt, your body will show it forever? Or can you get rid of scar tissue?

How's that work? You got like little nanobots along your fluid lines, or what? I probably shouldn't bother asking since I know very, very little about how you guys function physically, but I'm curious.

[And Zero's gotta be the last person on Cybertron who'd fault her for that.]

Pretty much, unless the hurt is pretty minor. There are treatments to minimize the visibility of scar tissue at the surface of the skin, but success'll vary, and some scar tissue is going to be present because you've got that fibrous tissue joining whatever tissues were parted.

Well...yes, actually, for repair purposes anyway.

Huh. So do you know when something is going to scar or not?

Oh. That's cool.

Sort of. Most of the time it's like "oh, that's probably going to leave a mark," or "ohhh, that's gonna leave a mark for sure," but every once in a while something heals up a lot nicer than anyone expected, or a small thing heals up with more of a scar than it seems it should have.

Huh. And you just never know for sure, huh? That's really neat. It's only breaches, uh...cuts, that scar, right?

Well, sometimes there's an injury you see and you know there's going to be scarring, but you gotta wait and see just how bad it's going to be. Wound care can contribute, cause scarring will be more pronounced if... [give her just a split-second, here, to get her mental checklist in order] If it's allowed to dry out, if aftercare products are more alkaline than acidic, and if the area is subject to regular stretching. I can rattle this off cause scarification is a thing, though I haven't any examples on me.

[Sam grins.]

See, while a lot of the time people want their scars to be inconspicuous, some like to show 'em off for the story or because they just like the look, and some get professionally cultivated decorative scars. I should have some pictures, if you'd like to see? It's a really interesting branch of body art.

Now, showing off a scar from an injury I can understand, it'd almost be like a badge for what you went through. But to cause cuts on purpose?

[whut?]

Well, the way it's done for scarification the cuts hurt---the way any are gonna---but there's no harm done beyond the strictly superficial stuff.

Y'know what, just gimme a sec.

[She'll fuss with her drone for a moment, bringing up the files transferred from her phone.]

They're here somewhere.... Ah, okay. Here's a good example.

[Rather than have Zero squint at the comparatively tiny screen, she sends the image and a couple others to his drone.]

Edited 2016-09-26 04:28 (UTC)

[Just...this face for a moment.]

You know, you make a face like that, I gotta ask what you're thinking.

[Audio | Locked to Sam]

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