(no subject)

[covert_bandage]

"This," says Arcade as he sets down the unpleasantly greasy-looking bag with the slowly growing dark brown stain, "was supposed to be my lab area. No, seriously. I don't even have one of the matchboxes on me and you bring me here?"

The bar does not answer.

"You're aware that I'm carrying something that needs to be either dissected or refrigerated immediately?"

Again, no answer.

"Fine. All right. Be that way if you must. How much for a great deal of ice?"

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

"Dissected or refrigerated."

Nori raises an eyebrow at that with a rather curious and yet grossed-out look. "Seriously?"

Says the girl with six stitches above her left eyebrow, doing her level best to pretend they are not there. The thought of them makes her feel faintly like passing out or throwing up. Possibly both.

[covert_bandage]

"Sure. Nightstalkers don't just split open and drop their venom glands at death," Arcade says. "Antivenom's messy stuff to make."

[electro_kinetic]

She doesn't say anything to that for a minute.

"Oddly, that doesn't sound as weird as I was expecting it to."

[covert_bandage]

"Oh good. Nightstalkers are bad enough as it stands." Arcade shakes his head. "We've got some experience with their venom that indicates we should be able to produce an exceptionally potent and broad-spectrum antivenin when combining the stuff with radscorpion poison glands. I was hoping to get the relevant material out while it was still fresh."

[hey35andholding]

Clementine winces at the smell coming off of Arcade's bag. "What crawled in there and died?"

[covert_bandage]

"Niightstalker," says Arcade, looking up. "Also known as a rattledog, and 'what the hell were the scientists of the old world thinking when they genetically engineered coyotes and rattlesnakes into one animal'. Venomous and bad tempered. Fortunately this one's dead, so it's only the first part that's of any relevance."

[hey35andholding]

"Coyotes and rattlesnakes. In the same body...did they want to make fur coats with maraca tassels?"

[covert_bandage]

"That would make at least some kind of measure of sense," says Arcade, "and so far I haven't found any evidence of that on my own, so sure. Why not. We'll go with that."

He eyes the bag with a measure of weary disgust.

"All I know right now is, nightstalker blood and venom are some of the best sources of the compounds we need to produce antitoxin for... well, nearly anything venomous in the Mojave. It's not always good enough to clear out bark scorpion hallucinations on its own, but it's the best fallback we've got."

[hey35andholding]

She shrugs. "I've seen people wear weirder things." She's worn weirder things. "They're useful, for something then. Maybe they evolved that way?"

[covert_bandage]

"I shudder to think of the mutations necessary to produce such a thing naturally," says Arcade. "Or the initial matings involved. They do seem pretty well adapted to the Mojave environment, though, which is more than I can say for most humans."

[hey35andholding]

Clementine tries to picture the matings required and...ew. Her brain locks up for just a second. "I wouldn't last out there for two seconds," she admits. "I burn in two minutes."

[covert_bandage]

"A problem we both share, as it happens," says Arcade. "I do my best to stay covered up and out of the sun where possible. Some of us simply weren't meant for the desert, but what can you do?"

[hey35andholding]

"I have a whole UNIFORM for going out on a sunny day." She can relate. "Big hats, lots of sunscreen."