2nd - Video

[circumsutus]

[The camera focuses on five little patchwork mice in a cage. It remains focused on them as Stein tries to pick up a little extra cash.]

Pet mice for sale to a good home. Friendly, healthy, and neutered. Five dollars each.

Comments

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A dragon?

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Sort of. Someone in the Port was selling them a year and a half ago.

But he can't ah...breathe fire, or even fly very well.

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Really? I could take a look at him and see if there's anything wrong.

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You...know how to take care of dragons?

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I have some experience, though I can't say that dragons where I'm from are the same as this one.

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But they still exist?

[He frowns, looks back down at the mouse.]

You didn't 'practice' like this on them too, did you?

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Of course I did. How else would I have been able to learn about them?

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There aren't any books where you come from....?

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Books are never as good as first-hand experience.

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Um...what exactly did you do for work in your world, again?

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I'm a doctor, and a teacher. [And one of the best hand-to-hand and armed combat fighters on the planet.]

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[Not entirely what he was expecting!]

What do you teach?

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Basic science and soul theory.

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--Soul theory?

[Why is this starting to sound alarmingly familiar...]

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That's right. My students are mostly concerned with practical applications, such as viewing and understanding an opponents soul.

[He hasn't activated his own soul perception yet, but he eyes Gilbert with a fairly predatory air.]

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Viewing? But that's...

[Horrifying to imagine. Though, if he does happen to look inside of Gilbert's soul, he'll come face to face with a giant raven, a huge expanse of black feathers and vicious yellow eyes.]

What's there to understand?

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[Of course he looks. Gilbert will probably feel the quality of Stein's gaze change, as if the doctor is looking through him, picking him apart like a specimen on a tray. It's a creepy, unsettling gaze.

The bird is a surprise, a unexpected interloper, and he'll ask about that, but at the same time, there are other aspects he picks up on.

He twists the screw in his head until it clicks.]

Basic personality traits, for one. You have a selfless, dedicated soul, easily flustered.

Abilities are something else that can be understood. [The bird, connected to the man's soul.]

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[Fff anyone who spends five minutes with him knows that!

Except he still reacts with surprise.]

H-huh?! That's not--

[He takes a small step back, still making sure to be gentle with the mouse even though he suddenly feels threatened.]

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Does the bird have a name?

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[He stares ahead, very slowly regaining his composure. For a second it looks like he won't answer at all, but then he finally mutters:]

Raven.

[Most anti-climatic name ever, right?]

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Really? That's anticlimactic.

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--I wasn't the one who named him!

[So offended?!]

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Oh? Does he mind his name?

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[Deadpan:]

If he does, he never mentioned it to me. He never says much of anything.

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Well, that's better than being bullied by him.