she'd say he was late, if she knew what the time was. though she can't see, she stands around just outside the door with a hatterene to tower over her. her fingers are curled around an appendage, and the witch acts as her eyes and her guide - much to her chagrin, with all the people around and passing by. it was no doubt too loud for her liking, but she'll just have to appease her with poffins and treats later. [break][break]

why is she in such a good mood? because she has been blessed by two wonderfully deeper voices this week - one from a bitchass, and the other by this wonderful man pushing through a door not too far from her. her hatterene turns, and she sees from her vision. the image is never perfectly clear, and the colours are sometimes a little muted, but it gives her a better idea of space. "oh, oops~" she smiles, nonetheless. "they wouldn't let my hatterene inside, and i kind of need her since, y'know~" then she raises her hand, casually and gently tapping the back of her finger against a closed eye-lid and against the glass. [break][break]

"hope it wasn't too hard to find me."

Leonidas Stone

☉

”Nah. There was only one other place to look if you weren’t in there, anyways~.”[break][break]

A soft, chuckling hum escaped his lips as he strode by with ease and briskness, giving the Hatterene off to the side a moment’s worth of his time in form of a wave in greeting before pulling a chair aside, sitting down before scooting himself closer to the table that the two of them resided at. With an idle sigh, he propped an elbow atop the surface by him before leisurely resting his jaw against the heel of his palm.[break][break]

”Better make it up to her, though,” he added, sending an amused glance towards the aforementioned Pokemon. ”Not sure why, but it kinda looks like she doesn’t like being out here~.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

"because she doesn't" she never did, and the scowl on her face was something she wishes she could see. [break][break]

ariadne raises a hand to reach and pat the hatterene, although it's always weird having to look at herself through the eyes of her pokemon. the image in her head still never sits familiar. "so" she starts, lowering her hand. she doesn't bother to turn to completely face him, through tilts her head in an effort to find where he is. in relation to her. [break][break]

"what brings you out from your busy schedule to see lil ol' me?~" her fingers tent, her eyes closed with cheeks raised "gasp, is this a date?~"

Leonidas Stone

☉

”As much as I’d love to flatter you, I sadly can’t say that’s the case,” he laughed, tapping a finger against his cheek whilst eying her.[break][break]

He remained as such for only several moments more before inhaling deeply, yet quietly; hues of hazel veiling over briefly as he straightened his form and leaned back. The touch of the chair against his back met his senses before long, and with a soft hum and the relaxing of his arms against their respective rests, he crossed his legs within a leisurely manner.[break][break]

”I can’t say I had a development on the whole eye situation,” he mused on, ”but I at least wanted to, like…bring you up to speed on the stuff we’ve hunkered down on~.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

oh, boo. what a bore. [break][break]

she feels around for the chair then seats herself - partially hoping that she wasn't holding it the other way. it's happened before, when she pulled out the chair with the seat on the other side. her rear paid for her hubris. [break][break]

when she can settle herself, there's relief. her upper body leans onto the table, elbows (so rudely) digging into the rim. "ohh, really?~" smile doesn't reach her eyes "i can't say i expected much, considering my circumstances" her head tilts. it's not an insult "but go on" her hand waves in a beckoning motion "tell me more about what you have planned~."

Leonidas Stone

☉

He eyed her for a while longer, amused.[break]
The smile upon his lips shrunk faintly as he inhaled and exhaled deeply in thought.[break][break]

”...Honestly and bluntly speaking? There are ways to help you— given you’re willing to go through it, at least,” he started off, reaching into his pocket. The tips of his fingers grazed along the frame of his phone before pinching down onto it, pulling it into his palm in full. ”Based on past experiences with other people, it’s pretty dependable.”[break][break]

He pressed a finger against the device’s scanner to unlock it.[break][break]

”The issue, though, is that it’s…fairly pricey.”[break][break]

He scrolled through before pulling several documents he’d saved and prepared up, scooting over and holding the screen up to the woman’s Hatterene in hopeful conveyance.[break][break]

”Cataract surgery’s already gonna be a pretty penny. …It’s the bionic ‘glasses,’ you could say, that’ll be worse, though.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

the hatterene squints, slightly, leaning down towards and closer to the device. ariadne can see it, though electronics were always a little pain to read through second sight. still, she struggles to read, slightly. in general. being blind doesn't exactly give you too many options to learn letters. still, she tries. [break][break]

a hunch tells her that the spoken words are more important, anyways. [break][break]

"doesn't matter." the smile shrinks as she speaks, as she struggles to read slowly, through the letters. one eye opens, the irregular, bright colour around her iris is a contrast to slightly tanned skin "money isn't much of a problem~" it's not a problem after she's worked for rocket for so long. it pays her well. cataract surgery will make a dent, but it's a small price to pay. [break][break]

what piques her interest, though? "but bionic glasses?" she hums, cheek resting in the palm of her hand. the other eye opens, one without a contact lens, clouded once-sky-blue. her brows furrow slightly, eyes squinting "i've heard the concept bionic eyes, but bionic glasses?~" there's a bit of skepticism. [break][break]

"tell me more."

Leonidas Stone

☉

Her response came so swiftly; so confidently.[break]
…Although admirable, he couldn’t help but wonder where the confidence came from.[break][break]

Nevertheless, though, financial reasonings and inquiries were the farthest from what he had been there for. It would’ve been intrusive to press upon it, either way, so with a simple nod, he pulled his phone back while humming.[break][break]

”Dumbed down, they’re technically the same thing,” he hummed, narrowing his eyes whilst beginning to scroll through the contents of his phone again. ”It’s just that the glasses are more realistic to what’s probably possible right now, and the actual eye is what people would imagine in, like…sci-fi. Works of fiction.”[break][break]

After finding another diagram he’d saved prior, he enlarged the image before showing it to the psychic Pokemon once more.[break][break]

”Basically, it involves getting you a retinal implant, which leads to this diagram,” he went on, eying the aforementioned creature before glancing towards her trainer. ”Number one is a camera in the lenses of the glasses, which sends the light recordings to two, which is a wire attached to the glasses.”[break][break]

He leaned his elbow against the table once more, and his chin against the respective, propped hand.[break][break]

”Two sends the signals to three, a receiver, which sends the signals to four, the aforementioned retinal implant. Finally, from there, it sends electrical signals to five, the occipital lobe in the brain, for processing in a similar way that it normally would for anyone else. You won’t have perfect, twenty-twenty vision, and I can’t guarantee anything past colors at first, but so long as your real, biological eyes stay intact, you should at least be able to see everything properly.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

she's starting to regret asking for more, because it all sounds so complicated. even with the hatterene as her eyes, she can't make it out too clearly, if only because the limited link between a psychic pokemon can never replace actual eyesight. still, it's clear enough for her to get an idea, or an inkling, of what he was on about. [break][break]

"so it'd be possible in theory, but technology is the main limitation?" that's what she gets from that, that's her understanding. but at the very least.. it does look like she'd be able to see through the glasses. her medical understanding isn't exactly the best, though. ariadne has never studied this. [break][break]

"so it's.. basically a camera trying to send me a live feed or video of what it sees, into my brain, so it can simulate sight?" ariadne is doing her best to wrap her head around a complex concept, though she doesn't know if she's getting it right. in the end, it doesn't really matter - so long as she can start to see again. [break][break]

she hums, resting her cheek against a closed fist "it sounds like i'd need surgery for the implant, and i'd need to come in for regular check ups to make sure that things are in working order?" it's a relatively new concept, and she imagines this isn't something that is often put into practice - she'll trust that he has doctors at the ready, but even she knows that his company doesn't specialize in medical technology.

Leonidas Stone

☉

”Kinda, yes, yes, aaaand…yes~.”[break][break]

Sudden rambles aside—regardless of whether or not they had always been necessary to bring another person up to speed—he’d always found some form of amusement seeing the varied reactions in response to his detail dumps, whether they be full fledged tangents or otherwise. As he leaned continuously upon his hand he eyed her once his gaze strayed from the diagram, shrugging slight.y[break][break]

”All things considered, it’s actually a concept that’s been around for a while,” he hummed, placing his phone down and sliding it over in the event that further examination had been wanted and warranted. ”The concept itself hasn’t been perfected, though. There’s been some successes; some failures. To an extent, yeah, it’s partially a tech barrier.”[break][break]

He sat up before long, leaning against the back of his chair once more while crossing his arms upon his chest all the while.[break][break]

”Surgery and checkups are basically as you said it,” he went on, nodding. ”Something you have a right to accept or decline, of course— and obviously, you’ll be dealing with actual medical professionals instead of just me by that point~.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

"sounds like a given~" [break][break]

she's expected as much, and she's prepared to have doctors take a look at her - surely they'll find some other things wrong with her, probably, that she hasn't bothered to deal with. or maybe it's her pessimism showing, gnawing at her mind as she wears the same smile on her lips. still, her hum is followed by a chuckle as she leans her upper body against the table, eyes opening slightly, to gaze with the artificially bright contact lens "guess i'll just drag a friend to drive me over whenever things are arranged~" she has someone in mind. he'll bitch about it, but he'll say yes, eventually. [break][break]

but smiles and cheeriness asides, the smile drops, subtly, when she tilts her head into a hum, with an eye that looks through him - you'd think she could actually see with how intently she was gazing a hole through a man's eyes - "what's the rate of success, and what's at risk if it's a failure?" [break][break]

though she doesn't think there's much at risk for her, she'd like to know if one of those wires are going to interact with her brain mind. nothing is at loss if it's just an eye.

Leonidas Stone

☉

”Worst case, I can arrange a right for you, too, if yours isn’t available~.”[break][break]

He gave another nod her way (nevermind how stupid he immediately felt in the irony of it all), mulling over the inquiries posed before him before long. Fair of her to be concerned with the outcomes— especially given that she, essentially, was more or less part of a test project in the making. A metaphorical guinea pig, so to speak.[break][break]

”As for the risks, I’ll leave that up to the professionals to brief you on,” he went on. ”It’s really the standard sort of thing to expect. Worst case—and this is the absolute worst case—is that you lose your eyes— but we know the situation with that, already, so….”[break][break]

Nothing much to lose. He hadn’t said as such, but he figured the silence spoke for itself.[break]
Nevertheless, he smiled in spite of the morbid thought.[break][break]

”The procedure’s already been implemented and proved to work with other test groups, though,” he added. ”It was hit and miss to begin with, but we’re well into the refinement stage of it all. Fine tuning. Bettering it all. Needless to say, you’ll be in good hands~.”

ARIADNE MAUCH [break]
notes

☉

Aw, how sweet of him, thinking about her. He doesn’t have to when she has a large chunk of metal to fly on, but the sentiment is always appreciated. [break][break]

The nod doesn’t go unnoticed, lucky him, she thinks the slight mistake is cute when she’s looking through the blurred, slightly static lens of a hatterene. Internal fawning aside, a soft sigh of relief comes from her lips when he confirms that her eyes would be the price of failure - so in other words, she has only to gain from this experiment. While she doesn’t exactly know how to feel knowing that her body is going to be at the mercy and hands of doctors who are following the instructions of a hypothetical, there’s not much else she can lose now, is there? [break][break]

“That’s a relief to hear~” she muses, elbow on the table surface as her cheek rests against closed knuckles.] “I thought my brain would be on the line, or something.” there’s a chuckle in her tone as she makes light of the morbid possibility, though she’d think that he’s grown used to her darker shade of humor. “If it’s successful, I’ll finally be able to see the pretty face associated with the voice~” she makes flirtatious banter as an eye opens up, bright, unnatural red and magenta as a result of contact lens.[break][break]

“So just give me a date to meet with doctors, so we know when to sort everything out.” her legs cross beneath the table, her head tilting further against her hand “There’re a lot of tests that I’ll need to run, right? Just to make sure my health is okay? Preliminary stuff?”[break][break]

There always is, and she wouldn’t be surprised to hear about any sort of contract she’d need to sign. There’s always some kind of fine print when it comes with acting with a company.

Leonidas Stone

☉