Mr. Erratum

Chapter Seventy-Five

Appareil glanced at the notebook in Rainier's hand. "This is all very interesting" Appareil told them, looking back at them, "Though I'm not sure how we'll be able to help" He admitted. Nightmare huffed, "So there was no point in coming here?" Nightmare turned to glare at Sci.

Rainier jumped off the table, "ah! of course not!" Rainier exclaimed, "brother's knowledge in this is... ah, faible, lacking" He said with a large grin. "I have a vague Idea on how this will work already, A theory if you will." Rainier stated. Ink gave him a curious look, "vague?" he questioned. Rainier nodded excitingly, "Of course Encre! Things like this never work on the first try!" He informed him happily. 

Erratum looked to Appareil, then Rainier. "cOulD yOu ExpLain YoUR.. thEOry" Erratum asked the scientist. Rainier nodded, and clapped his hands. "oui! I've been listening to your words, of magic and coding and souls" Rainier paused, flipping through the notebook, before pausing at a specific page, hitting his pen on it. "and I believe a raccordement- ah, conduit is what we need" He explained. 

Pigment frowned, "Conduit?" He questioned, glancing at Erratum. Erratum refrained from frowning himself, "a cOnDuIT? IsN'T thAT JuST THe MACHiNe WE WEre TalKiNG abOuT?" He turned to look at his coworkers, who seemed just as hesitant as he was. Rainier huffed, "yes-no" Rainier responded, waving his arms as he spoke. "'machine' is a very vague term, cher voyageur" He dropped the notebook onto the desk, "We need a conduit to connect magic to code, correct?" he walked over to Appareil, hitting the skeleton on the arm. "And before Mon Frère can make it, I'll have to make the concept" He added.

No one spoke up, "We'll have to test all of this, of course, we may be wrong" Appareil's words cut through the silence. Rainier gave a slightly sadder nod at that. "oui, now everyone leave but cher voyageurs, and sans" Rainier ordered them, "We need to test some stuff" He informed them.

Ink, Sci and Nightmare left the room, leaving only Erratum, Pigment, Sans and the two scientists. Rainier hummed, "Brother! Take this one, I'll handle these two" He told the older, referring to Pigment and Erratum. "uH..." Erratum frowned, "WhAT ArE wE doInG eXactLy?" He questioned. Rainier didn't answer for a moment, and instead led the two over to a hospital bed, "Sit, sit" He insisted, after Pigment didn't do as the scientist said. 

Rainier paused his movements, "you asked something, oui?" Rainier asked, making Erratum nod, the God feeling slightly awkward being squished next to Pigment on the bed, their feet dangling. "YeS" Erratum replied. The human hummed, "You've been to a hospital before, yes?" Rainier questioned, making Erratum shrug. 

The skeleton chuckled, "WeLL, TeCHniCallY, YeS" He responded. Rainier didn't question what Erratum meant by that, and instead asked Pigment the same question, putting on disposable gloves as he did so. Pigment gave him a small, jerky nod, his eyes never leaving the human. Rainier grinned, "Très bien, very good" He muttered, Pulling something out of a draw. Rainier revealed his hands, showing off the needle in his hand.

Erratum felt Pigment give a violent jerk beside him. He frowned, glancing over to Pigment before turning back to Rainier. "dO YoU nEed tO dO thIs TO bOtH Of Us? WouLdn't It Be quIckER If YoU oNly DId IT tO OnE of uS?" Erratum inquired. Rainier made a thoughtful noise, "oui, that would be quicker" He agreed.

Pigment didn't need another word, jumping off the bed as quickly as possible, walking a good distance away from Rainier. The purple-eyed human gave Pigment a curious look, "oh? you're afraid of needles?" Rainier asked. He didn't bother waiting for a response from Pigment, instead turning to Erratum. "You are a nice friend, traveller" Rainier told him.

Erratum gave an awkward shrug at that. Rainier walked closer to Erratum, "Shirt off" He said, giving Erratum an expectant look. Erratum took the words in, and then promptly agreed, "okAY" pulling the red turtleneck off as he said so. Rainier started to poke at Erratum's scarred arms, the feeling of the plastic gloves uncomfortable on his arm. "wHat's THiS TEst foR?" He questioned curiously. 

Rainier dragged his first word out, obviously using it as time to think about how to explain it. "As you may know by now, hundreds of years ago, magic was very present in monsters" Rainier told him, making Erratum nod. "Back in those days though, monsters were seen as... unnatural, dangerous" He added, "So the humans forced every monster to wear these shackles that kept them from using magic" Rainier frowned. "atroce- horrible things they were, I've seen what they look like, absolutely cruel" Rainier muttered, the angriest Erratum had heard the man since meeting him. 

Rainier forced a cough, poking Erratum slightly harder. "anyway, after generations of monsters never using magic even once because of those things, their magic became weaker, until there was none left" Rainier finished, finally deciding a place on his arm. 

Erratum frowned, "And tHAT's goT to dO WiTH tHis?" he asked. "oui, very much so" Rainier agreed. "We don't know much about how monster magic worked, but-" He paused for dramatic affect, "It had to be stored somewhere, correct? and one of the most agreed upon theories is that it came from their blood" The needle went into Erratum's arm, making him hiss slightly. 

Rainier pulled it out almost as soon as he had put it in. "Or, in your case, bone marrow" He explained with a grin. The scientist wiped at Erratum's arm, before throwing the gloves in the bin beside him, The needle in his hands. The sound of feet tapping against the floor pulled Erratum from his stupor. 

Appareil and sans walked up to them, sans rubbing at his left arm, an upset expression on his face. Rainier grinned at Appareil, "ah- mon Frère, all is well?" He inquired, looking up to Appareil. The skeleton nodded, yellow eyes glancing around the room briefly, "yes. Je vois que vous n'avez pas saccagé cet endroit" Appareil spoke. 

Rainier huffed, "of course not, mon frère insensé" He replied, smiling. Appareil sighed, going to reply, before sans spoke up. "uh, hey? remember the people who can't speak anything but English?" Sans quipped, an easy smile on his face, his back slouching heavily. 

Rainier looked to Sans, a slightly surprised expression on his face, "oh yes, I apologize" Rainier grinned sheepishly. "sO, WhAT aRE We GOiNg TO do nOw?" Erratum questioned, getting off the bed. Rainier waved the needle around excitingly, "More tests!" He exclaimed.

Nightmare huffed, getting into the left side of the car. "That was interesting" The history teacher spoke, putting his seat belt on. Erratum grinned, getting into the car after Ink, "bUt HelPfUl. It MiGHt ActuALlY wOrk" He added, optimistic. 

Ink gave him a smile, elbowing Erratum. "How long these tests gonna take?" Ink questioned, leaning forward. Sci started the car, tapping the steering wheel. "The first results should come in around two days, apparently" Sci informed Ink, driving away from the house. 

Nightmare hummed, "and the longest?" He asked. Erratum shrugged, even though Nightmare couldn't see him, "THEy're Not eNtirELy sURe, sEarCHinG foR mAgiC cOuld takE as lONg AS a feW miNUtEs tO a Few wEEks" Erratum responded, repeating Rainier's earlier words. Ink frowned, "This is going to take awhile then, if it will even work" Ink realized, annoyance in his tone. Sci turned briefly to look at Ink, "At least it's going at all, right?" Sci offered, turning back to the road. 

There was silence for a moment, "If this works Erratum, you better bring me with you" Ink teased, giving Erratum a funny look. Erratum responded with a confused look in turn, "why would you wanna come?" Pigment asked instead, giving in a rather genuine look, for Pigment anyway. Ink snorted, "why wouldn't I? I look exactly like you- do you not realize how much chaos I could cause?" Ink snickered.

Erratum rolled his eyes, "I tHInk DreAM wOUld hAvE An AnEUrySm if hE sAW tWo INks" He joked. There was a paused, then, In a much more serious tone, Pigment replied with, "definitely" much to the amusement of the rest of them.