Postdated to after the rescue

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

It has... come to my attention that my Overlay, while... under the influence of that foul thing... inflicted several Travellers with a particular form of madness that I am all too familiar with.


It's original vector is not Eldritch but rather parasitic, and I have reproduced a treatment from my world of origin.

I am a carrier, immune, and my presence suppresses it.

I will provide this treatment without obligation or any strings attached, for the safety of all Travellers, myself not least of all.

...no one should have to suffer it's effects.

I regret that it must be injected, as I know that is... a... a common feature of the paranoid phantasies of those affected. This is important enough that I have been forced to confirm it in the Red.

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

There is a... a treatment?

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Yes. In my probability space of origin, there was a vaccine developed. Antibodies harvested and replicated from immune carriers carry certain proteins and hormones that will slow or stop the progression of Hinamizawa Syndrome.

A mere vaccine would be too little and too late, so I have used my own intimate knowledge of the parasite to improve on the formula and push back the infection.

The medicine from home was called C-203. For my own reasons, I call this variant C-234. When injected into the bloodstream, C-234 will suppress the symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome. It may cause fatigue and muscular aches, to a lesser degree than more primitive forms of the medicine.

I am not sure how easily it can be replicated with Liminal magic. It may require the assistance of those with knowledge of biochemistry, medicine, or alchemy.

[neverfeltthatway]

Oh.

Hinamizawa Syndrome is... the impulses related to the visions he induced? [For that is not the sum total of Armin's madness from this jaunt, though it is the majority.]

CW: gore, formication, madness

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Yes. It is named for the village where my mortal self was born and raised, the only one where the parasite is known to live.

The sensation of crawling things under your skin, the paranoia, the phantom "footsteps of Oyashiro-Sama" behind you, vivid hallucination... All of these are known symptoms of that disorder.

There are other madnesses and eldritch, foul magic that the Crawling Chaos may have used - including that damnable, blasphemous Ritual of the Drifting Entrails - but thanks to that terrible being's meddling and the inspiration he took from Oyashiro-sama, I can say with certainty which symptoms are magical in origin and which are the syndrome.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Though she can't see him - he's taken to thoughts and text only on the network until he's more himself again, lest he reveal more than he means to - Armin shudders at the description of many of his symptoms.]

That's... good to know. [He feels like he should speak more about the specifics of his madness and its source, find out more about this syndrome - but he just can't bear to. Not so soon.

Perhaps after the symptoms are being treated.] How does the treatment work? And... you said it's an injection? How often must it be administered?

CW needles, medical procedures

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

I believe that the medicine manages the levels of hormones that the parasite manipulates into destabilizing patterns. The ideal dose is 100 milligrams, every 12 hours. You can likely get away with waking and sleeping; those from my world did. I can conjure a vial with hundreds of doses, and will provide the means to make more to others, in case I cannot be reached.

Do you know how to inject yourself from a syringe? I would create a simpler autodosing pen or pump but lack the mechanical knowledge. [There's a note of frustration, there.]

[bite_the_hand]

There's a cure!?

[Eren's voice is hopeful, but very cautiously so. He knows this is unlikely to be some kind of instant, magical fix for everything that was done to his friend's mind. No matter how much he wants it to be.]

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

For those symptoms and madnesses caused by the parasite of my world, yes. I make no promises that this is a cure-all, but this should negate or lessen the paranoia and the crawling sensation.

[bite_the_hand]

So it'll at least take care of the worst of it. How many doses does it take to kill the parasite? Or... is it something that can only be treated, but not cured?

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

(There is a long, awkward pause.)

I know of no cure for Hinamizawa Syndrome. The disease I remember from my homeworld can be held off indefinitely with the medication, and mine is an improvement on the formula from home. But it is not enough.

...I wish that this were not so.

(This may be the closest she will ever get to an apology for anything.)

[bite_the_hand]

...Shit. I had a bad feeling you were going to say that. [There's the hint of a mental sigh.] But... Thank you for doing what you can. Even if the medicine can't cure it, at least this will make it easier for him to fight back against it.

[Eren's father was a doctor. He might not have learned much about health and medicine himself, but Eren has seen firsthand that sometimes, some things just can't be cured and there's simply nothing that can be done about it. He also has a vague idea of how much having the right kind of medicine can still help. Although if Armin will need this medicine indefinitely, that does create another problem.]

How hard is the medicine to make? Do you think Liminal Manipulation would work?

[biiowiired]

How does the Red confirm stuff? Also, how are you even doing that? This Network isn't like the computers back home. I didn't know colored text could be a thing. God knows I tried.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

A witch and those who play their games cannot utter a falsehood in the Red. As for why and how, blame Beatrice, not me; she codified that rule.

Although I know there's a trick to other forms of image projection. A certain very orange person was quite skilled at it.

[biiowiired]

I'm... definitely not a witch. [[ Especially not a future Batterwitch.... ]] More of a mage I guess? [[ He'd call attention to having blasted a hole in the defenses of "Bernthotep", but he's not sure if she remembers, and also he's still shaken from having died. He'll leave that entire mess for some dark corner of a nightmare instead. ]]

I've seen him around. What's birdguy's name?

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Davesprite. Or perhaps that's his title. He's quite unmistakable if you have color perception to begin with.

The sort of Witch I am is... immensely improbable in most worlds, I am given to understand.

[biiowiired]

Oh him. He's got special powers, too. He can fuck around with time apparently. Don't see what that has to do with color coding text. Maybe he's got some other weird shit going on. Like being eye-searing orange just gives him the power to inflict that on everyone else.

[[ So far so good, looks like this witch isn't displaying any desire to either enslave him or get possessed by a Horrorterror and kill him. Again. ]]

Everyone back home colors their text. I know this isn't really text, more like psychic words, but I still feel weird not doing it.

[awitchdidit]

Look, don't worry about it too hard, you'll just get a headache.

[biiowiired]

In other words, I'm not a witch and shouldn't waste my time fiddling with text I can't change ever.

Sounds like a challenge to me.

[awitchdidit]

Ahaha, take it as one if you wish, sir. It's been far too long since I had a friendly challenge I didn't already know the outcome of.

Truthfully, the Red Truth itself is fairly useless except as a means of swearing an oath, unless you're playing a very particular sort of game. That's why I don't use it much here.

[biiowiired]

I don't know the outcome of me trying either, but I've got to now. Maybe when I can figure out the Network a little more. So, Red's got to be truth.... what do the other colors do?

[awitchdidit]

I...appreciate this, Bernkastel. Even if I'm not 100% certain about using medicine from one world to cure a curse from another, you know this subject better than I ever will.

I'm debating whether I would need it, actually. Not-Featherine never actually got her teeth on my ectoplasm, and I haven't noticed any symptoms since I returned to Liminal Space...

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

It isn't likely, but the probability is not zero. And my guess is that the Crawling Chaos - a being as natively liminal as Astraea who is Justice and that Astraea hated - took inspiration from my world.

Two million times and more is enough time to recognize the symptoms, and the cause.

[awitchdidit]

Well, the little of it I did experience was bad enough I shouldn't risk it, I suppose. I'll be by later.

[Private, Psychic Protection II, Intrusion Detection]

I don't...suppose you'd care to hear me ask how you're doing, would you?

Permaprotected by Beato until otherwise noted

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Your sympathies are welcome, but I doubt this will be the last time I'm made to play the villain and it costs me.

Or that the worlds we go to will continue to conspire to the end of making me who I was before Lambdadelta's game, and that will continue to discomfit me.

If I let a thing like that defeat me I would not be the Witch of Miracles.

[awitchdidit]

No, you wouldn't.

It's just...ever since I was reborn...or no, really, since I've arrived here, I've come to the conclusion that it's possible to share my suffering in a way other than inflicting it on people. It only really works with people who have similar circumstances, however, and there's few people who have circumstances anything like ours.

I suppose what I'm saying is that if you care to tell your story, or even talk about some tangent related to it, I'll acknowledge it. As much as Witches fight, we're the only ones with a chance to understand each other, right?