Tell Me What You See (Agari)

[Asher Davis]

Asher sould have been extremely embarrassed. That is, he would have been if he'd even known what he was doing at the moment. He hadn't been sleeping well since the whole discovery of his improved vision. You could call it crazy, and honestly that was probably what it was. It was just some strange paranoia, a fear of the unknown. He swore every time his eyes closed that he could see the back of his eyelids. He started to wonder just what would happen if his eyesight kept improving. All of it left him far too agitated to sleep, and thus he'd become something of an insomniac.

However, lack of sleep does tend to catch up to us, and not always at the best times. It was a good thing Asher had finished his food, because he'd fallen asleep face down on the table. The tray his food had been on had gotten pushed off the table, much of which was not taken up by the young man's head, arms, and part of his torso. It was the first time Asher had actually slept in a while, but, as much as he needed it, this wasn't really the best place for him to be sleeping. Someone was bound to find him, and if they questioned why he hadn't been sleeping.... well, he really wouldn't know how to answer that. It wasn't exactly a great idea to go telling people the truth. Most would think he was crazy, and as much as that was half true, he didn't need the drama that diagnosis would cause.

[Agari]

"Hahaha, good one Archibald. I'll have to tell that one to my Ecology professor the next time I see her. She would get a kick out of it." Agari and the other scientists chuckled a bit more as the got up from their table, ready to head back to their rooms or their stations after dinner. Agari was going to head back to his room himself, but stopped when he noticed a guy sleeping on one of the tables behind him. It was Asher.

"You guys go on ahead," he said to a couple of his coworkers. "I'll talk to you later." After the other scientists left, Agari set his tray down on Asher's table and began picking the contents of Asher's tray up off the ground.

Once all of the larger items were cleaned up, Agari went about waking Asher in order to see if anything was wrong. He tried waking up Asher using the most reliable technique that he knew of. He reached down to pinch Asher's nose to cut off his air supply.

[Asher Davis]

One moment Asher was sleeping, a dreamless sleep brought on by exhaustion. The next he was drowning... or something of the like. He couldn't breathe. His mind panicked and brought up any number of scenarios as he went quickly from being asleep to awake. His eyes shot open and after a moment he saw the familiar face and surroundings.

"Agari," Asher said, breathing a little heavily to both make up for the oxygen he hadn't gotten in the few moments he'd been deprived of it and to calm his panicked state. After he'd had a moment to collect his thoughts he said, "At least it was someone I know who finds me asleep in the mess hall. I don't think I could explain this to anyone else."

He looked around, wondering how bad this looked. Fortunately the hall was empty aside from the two of them. Well, that was at least something of a blessing. It would have been best if this moment had never occurred though. "I think I've been driving myself crazy," Asher admitted after a moment. "It's the whole improved vision thing. I can't wrap my head around how it could have happened and I'm constantly wondering if it's somehow going to keep getting better and what will happen if it does. Thinking about that isn't exactly conducive to sleep."

Asher paused and looked kind of sheepish, realizing that Agari hadn't asked to know about all of this. "Sorry. I just figured you're the only person I can really tell about this anymore. Anyone else will think I'm crazy, because I can't exactly prove that my vision has gotten better..... that and I probably am at least slightly paranoid. I'm half convinced I can see the back of my eyelids." Agari and Liara had been the only ones who knew about Asher's vision. He couldn't tell anyone else. It didn't feel safe.

[Agari]

Agari tried unsuccessfully to hold back a smile as Asher came out of his sleep. Waking people like that was always amusing. But his smile faded as Asher told Agari of the problems he was having. Agari couldn't say he could relate, exactly, but he understood. It was strange realizing you had super powers. And Agari doubted Asher was doing as much rigorous testing as Agari himself was doing.

That gave Agari an Idea.

"You know what, Asher? I want you to come with me to the science stations. I just realized that I told you, way back when we were still on The Destiny, that I would at least try to help you do some tests with your abilities. And I think now is the right time to do those tests. My shift just ended, the labs will be mostly empty, and you are so conveniently right here. What do you say? Maybe we can figure out a way to make you feel... healthier."

Agari motioned for Asher to follow him and took a step toward the door. "What have you got to lose?"

[Asher Davis]

Agari did have a point. Asher didn't have much to lose in attempting to test his vision to see what he was capable of. That, and if he could track the progression of this ability, if it did progress, then he might be less paranoid about it all.

Asher stood up, "Well, you did say you'd help me test this. That, and you're right. I have absolutely nothing to lose in attempting to test it, even if we don't get much in clear results." Though results would depend on how they tested his vision. Maybe a standard vision test? Well, whatever it was, maybe it would give Asher some peace of mind.

"Got any ideas for how we test increased vision?" He asked as he started to follow Agari towards the door. He was awake now, if only because he was somewhat charged with anticipation. If testing his vision could help him sleep at night, he was willing to try almost anything.

[Agari]

"I have a few ideas," Agari assured him as they walked. "I mean, human medicine is not my area of expertise. Not by a long shot. But I do know quite a few of the basics. And more importantly, I know where to look to find information I don't know."

After walking for a few more moments, Agari figured it would be a good idea to fill Asher in on a bit more of his plan. "Our first stop will be the infirmary. I think Chell is on duty right now. She's pretty nice. As long as you aren't one of her patients. We need to borrow a couple basic tools from her, which shouldn't be a problem as long as we fill out a couple check-out forms."

Agari hoped he wasn't intimidating Asher with all of his semi-technical and vague explanations, but it would be easier to show Asher than it would be to explain every single thing ahead of time.

[Asher Davis]

Asher listened as Agari explained, in very vague terms, what they were going to do. The infirmary did seem like the place to start with for their experiments, at least for getting the supplies they'd need. As for Agari's medical expertise, or lack there of, Asher wasn't too worried.

"Well, honestly I'll trust you know what you're doing. You probably know as much if not more about medicine than I do." It was only after making that statement that Asher realized it would make no sense to Agari. He didn't know about Asher's past, nor did anyone on the ship really. Asher hadn't been much for discussing it, though he'd need to in order to explain that statement.

"Sorry, I realize that statement doesn't make any sense. I don't think I've told anyone from the Destiny or the Madras that I was a student in med school before I quit and left home via the Destiny." He left it at that, still not sure he wanted to explain how he'd been expected to follow in his father's footsteps and how it had taken a year for him to figure out his parents didn't know who he was. They'd just tried to mold him into the person they'd wanted him to be. It was all drama he'd tried to leave behind on Glace Au Four, and not something he enjoyed thinking about.

"So, I assume I'll know more about all this once we get what we need from the infirmary," he said, changing topics swiftly back to the present. Hopefully that change would signal that Asher didn't feel like discussing the past, though that didn't say Agari wouldn't start wondering.

[Agari]

"Oh, you were a med student?" Agari asked, not sensing Ashers attempt at changing the subject? "Any specific area you were studying? I was never officially a med student myself, but I had a lot of overlap classes. Especially when it came to my pharmacology classes. You need to know a lot about how medicines work when you make components for them."

"But... I haven't ever taken any optometry courses. Have you by chance? Maybe you should be the one deciding which instruments we will be needing," Agari said with a wink. Then he stopped to wait for Ashers answers. They were outside of the infirmary now, and he didn't want to risk talking about this stuff in front of Chell.

[Asher Davis]

"I wasn't actually in it long enough to pick a field of study," Asher admitted. "I'd gone to med school because... well, I was an only child and my parents of course had all these plans and dreams for who I was supposed to be. One of those was me being a doctor like my father."

He paused here and ran a hand through his hair, his expression stormy and yet unreadable. "Turns out that who they wanted me to be and who I am are not the same thing. As soon as I learned that, I dropped out and.... well, that's basically how I ended up here." He'd dropped out, taken his college savings, and left. Maybe that hadn't been the best choice, but he'd felt he'd never figure out who he really was if his parents kept telling him he should be.

Agari hadn't exactly asked for that much information, but Asher had just kind of let it all spill out. He shook his head as if trying to clear those memories out of it. "Sorry. As for the optometry courses, I took one. I don't know how much I'd be able to help in figuring out what we need, but I can always take a stab at it."

[Agari]

Agari listened patiently to what Asher had to say, even though he wasn't too interested in all the details. It sounded like he had some troubles back home, but Agari didn't want to pry. "I don't think I have met a parent yet who "gets" their kid," Agari commented, trying to ease the tension. "At any rate, lets head inside."

He activated the door and it slid open. He was right about Chell being on duty and he waved to her. "Hello, Mr. Coid. Feeling a bit under the weather today?" she asked.

"No, no. This sickly appearance is how I always look," he joked. Then, indicating Asher he continued. "We actually came in to see if we could borrow some equipment. Nothing you should miss in the near future. Just some eye doohickies."

"Eye doohickies? I'm afraid you will have to be a little more specific."

Agari just laughed, then went about naming off a few of the things that came to mind, such as eye charts and an ophthalmoscope. Then he asked Asher, "Can you think of anything I might have forgotten?"

In the meantime, Chell started gathering the supplies and Agari started filling out the check-out forms.

[Asher Davis]

Asher had to think a little at the comment Agari made about parents generally not "getting" their kids. That did seem true, and wasn't something Asher had considered before. Half the reason he'd left home was he was mad at his parents for trying to make him into someone he wasn't, but maybe in that respect he'd been a little hard on them. If I ever get the chance to go home or contact them, I should apologize. I still think I'm better off finding out who I am on my own though.

With that they entered the infirmary, and after some somewhat witty banter between the woman working there and Agari, they began checking out a list of supplies for their tests. Eye charts, an opthalmoscope, and a retinoscope were already on the list when Agari asked Asher if there were anything else he could think of.

Asher looked at their list and thought for a moment. "I don't know if we'd have one on the ship, but perhaps a lensometer." There was a reason behind that particular instrument that Asher couldn't mention in front of Chell. It was just a thought, but he thought it might be useful in their experiments to measure the prescription of his glasses so that they knew how bad Asher's vision had been when he'd needed them. It just seemed wise to have an idea of where his vision had been at the start so they could accurately measure how much it had improved. Even if some of the data turned out to be unnecessary, it couldn't hurt to collect as much of it as they could.

[Agari]

"A lensometer? Okay, throw one of those in too, if you got one, Chell." Agari hurriedly filled out all the forms, then began stacking the supplies onto the cart. "Is it alright if we use this too?" he asked, referring to the cart. Chell gave him a nod of approval, so he continued to load it up.

"I think that's everything. Should we get going Asher?" Agari started pushing the cart toward the door they had come in. Then calling back to Chell he said, "We'll have these back to you as soon as possible. Most likely tonight. We just have to run a few experiments first."

[Asher Davis]

Apparently Agari didn't understand the lensometer, but that was ok. Asher could explain the idea behind it to Agari once they were no longer in Chell's presence. By this point the forms were all filled out and all the tools, lensometer included, were being loaded in the cart by Agari. Asher helped him finish that up once they had the okay to borrow it from Chell.

"Yeah, I think we're good to go," Asher said. Agari bid Chell farewell, at least in a sense, by promising her that they would get the equipment back to her by tonight. After that they were out the door and on their way down the hall.

"So, the lensometer is to measure the prescription of my glasses," Asher said as he walked next to Agari, who was pushing the cart of equipment. "It may not be necessary data, but I thought it might be useful to know how bad my eyesight was before it started improving. Better to have data we don't need than not have the data and not know if we needed it."

As an afterthought he added. "By the way, are you leading or should I be? I just want to know so one of us has an actual place we're going to and we aren't just walking aimlessly down the halls of the ship."

[Agari]

"Ah, so that's what a lensometer is for. I didn't even know what one looked like until we put it on the cart. It could definitely come in hand. And I agree with your method of investigation. We should collect all the data that we can, then figure out what is important when we review it. For all we know, hair length could be a factor. Although that is one aspect I don't plan of testing. At least not yet." Agari grinned at Asher to show that he was at least halfway kidding.

"And as for a place to do our tests, I was thinking we could do them in the same place we fist met. In the cargo area. Although it wasn't the cargo area of this ship, and I'm not sure if we will even be able to get in... But I figured we could check it out anyway. Unless, of course, you have a better place in mind." Agari was always open to suggestions.

[Asher Davis]

"Ha. Funny." It was kind of funny. Not that Asher liked the sound of testing hair length. Kind of seemed like to do that they'd need to cut his hair.... or shave it off. He really didn't want to do either. Everything else they wanted to test would be good though. They would have to find something, wouldn't they?

Agari mentioned running the tests in the cargo area, just like when he'd been running his own tests that Asher had stumbled upon when they'd been on the Destiny. It was certainly out of the way, and if they could get in there they weren't likely to be intereupted. "That should work. If we can't get in there.... there wouldn't be a lot of space, but maybe one of our rooms. Either way, we want to be somewhere we're less likely to be stumbled upon. I know we're not on the Destiny anymore, but I think Liara was wise in saying that we should keep this to ourselves for the moment."