othellovonryan | Seasons Inbox

What'll it take to figure it out and implement? I assume you'd be fine if I volunteer for it.

I'm willing to get you whatever you need. For your time, we can call it even for the magic tutorials.

A number of brain scans. For feelings for a specific person, stimuli that makes you feel those particular emotions so the pathways can be mapped out. The more intense the reaction, the better, preferably without other distractions involved.

I'd need a sufficiently powerful computer. A lot of the equipment I can make as needed in seconds, but I need some physical hardware for processing and storing the data.

Equipment is easy. Get me the specs and I'll grab it for you.

Scans are harder, depending on what you want. The machinery is no problem, I can get it if it's portable or I can sneak us in somewhere if it's not, but scanners like that tend to be loud. MRIs especially. I have noise cancelling ear buds now but I have no idea if there's metal in those and asking the person who made them would make them ask why I need to know, and that'll be a whole thing.

[Have specs what kind of computer he would need for the data processing.]

That's all I need. I can use my mystic powers to recreate machines I can build, and just getting another MRI machine means needing to modify it to not have that godawful noise and read as accurate as I need. Its simpler to just mystically fabricate it.

Fabricated machines just can't be maintained in my sleep, so data needs a real machine to be stored on.

"Mystic powers" sounds like you had to summit your own mountain to get them from a wise old religious figure.

Good, then. That it's easy enough and quiet. Getting me to focus on him shouldn't be hard, considering that's the whole problem. Might be harder to get me to stop for a baseline.

We had to go to another dimension to free our imprisoned nth-great-grandmother, fight an ancient demon that almost killed us all, and then our big brother had to throw himself off a cliff to shock it into all of us.

The religious figure would have been less of a heart attack.

The noise distracts me so its for the best its quiet.

Have you ever done meditation?

How is your life weirder than mine, kid?

I'm good at meditation, yeah.

It all started when a mad warrior alchemist decided he was literally the only one who could prevent a prophecy and then he gets a genetic donor who has like three other prophecies attached to him and then their turtle children has to deal with a lot of prophecies at once after as normal a childhood freaks of nature super soldiers could have.

That'll be the way to do it.

[ lmao what the fuck ]

That sounds annoying.

So it won't be a problem then? What's the timeline?

Its SO annoying. Clean up was the worst way to get back into doing surgery.

About an hour after I have the computer and I check its up to task. At least for the scanning. It'll be a few days afterwards between studying the brain pathways and putting together the schematics for construction.

Then its just a question of having a clean room. I shouldn't need to cut a hole through the skull, either ear canal or nostril should work for the medical nanodrone to enter, but you can never be too clean for anything being put into your body.

Not my ears. It's just safer that way since it's totally outside your experience. I'm not sure how much anatomy and magic anatomy have in common.

Fine, give me a few days then. [ He has to scope out which shop has what he needs. ]

Abnormal anatomy is my expertise, but the magic is a wrench that I may not be prepared for, its true. Nostril it is. I would recommend using a neti pot that morning.

Though I should ask what emotions this is about.

The oxytocin comment didn't clue you in? [ Famously the hormone that makes you love someone. ]

That was a previous conversation and I shouldn't be assuming for brain surgery.

Fair enough. I don't like talking about it, but in this case I'll have to.

That's what it's about, though. [ His dumb feelings that won't stop existing. ]

Sometimes texting is easier for difficult conversations?

But yes, you'll have to. The more information I have, the easier things will be, the higher the chance for success.

Fair enough. It's a pretty typical story to want to ditch the feelings when you love someone who doesn't love you back, or so I've read.

He wants to be friends and I do too. Not easy when it just keeps getting my hopes up, so all I am is miserable all the time. He wouldn't want me to be hurt, he'd probably flip if he found out I am, so I figure it's easier to just stop feeling this way.

I've been trying to get my feelings to listen to reason, but they seldom do.

It is a very common ailment.

[There is a pause.]

It isn't easy. Its really not easy. It takes a lot of telling yourself that it isn't what they want. That they need you to be something else. Even when it goes well, there still seems to be a part of you that loves them a little in the way you both know can't happen.

Just make sure you're certain you want to do this.

It's gotten worse since I got stuck in one of those mistletoe traps and he insisted on springing me by saying that he wanted to protect me. And ever since it's constant clinginess. [ The physical clinging is so painful. If Macaque would ever use the phrase "Monkey's Paw" in a derogatory way, it'd be about this. ]

He wants to start over. I want to give him what he's asking for, and I can't do that right now.

Ah yes.

I am very familiar with that tradition coming in and proceeding to wreck shop on any and all emotional progress of getting over someone. [A punfilled version of Missile Toad, but goddamn, he didn't need to kiss Hunter, stupid frog.]

An important question.

Just the emotions, or memories?

Honestly? If I thought getting over him was even possible, I'd try it for longer rather than jump to something drastic. But if my own murder didn't make it stop then I can't imagine him hanging all over me is going to cause much progress.

Just the emotions. Bring it down to a friendship level. If the memories are gone then people will get all freaked out.

And I wouldn't want to forget any of our history. I wouldn't feel as strongly as I do if that wasn't important. I just need the romantic love to be gone so I can be his friend, like he wants.

Sometimes murder just doesn't have the oomph others like to assume when love is in play.

All right. We'll need to do a few different rounds then. Meditation for baseline, and focus on thoughts that are as purely romantic as possible. Then back to meditation and then more friendship feelings. Then baseline and more complicated feelings of hurt and what have you.

The more guided samples I have, the easier to isolate what I need.

Not a problem. I've lived long enough to have experience to drawn on.

Will it work right away? If it's going to take time to even out I might need to make up an excuse for being away. Like a quest.

It should work right away on removing the emotions. Evening out depends entirely on you.

There is a feeling of vertigo when feelings have been altered by an outside source. Like you know there should be a fall, except the fall is no longer there. Now when it comes how that interacts with all over emotions, that depends how well you process things.

It'd probably be better to tell people that I'm sick for a few days. It's not common among immortals, but it does happen. This way if I'm a little off for a while it won't be a thing.

I'm hoping I'll be relieved enough that the rest of it will seem minor.

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