week 3 - yona - monday morning

[completelycrazy]

[Newt and Yona are out at the cavern today. He promised he would give her some pointers for examining a corpse. He doesn't feel great about this, but she had a point when she brought it up in the first place. Some basic biology knowledge could do everyone here some good, just in case. He's even brought a dead fish for... examples, or something.

God, what the hell are they doing?]

So, uh, just a disclaimer here: I work with alien corpses, which aren't exactly human analogs. I'm not a literal doctor.

Comments

[completelycrazy]

[He pauses. He... hadn't thought of the latter, actually.] Right. It's best to spread out the knowledge.

[Luckily, when it comes to mucking about with dead things, Newt knows his stuff. Relative to biology, anyway, but close enough. He's not squeamish, at least. He cuts into the fish's belly pretty easily despite the fact that he's using a seashell. It's not a very big cut, but it'll do for his explanation.

time for me to fudge this???]

Something like a seashell wouldn't do a whole lot of damage on a person, but see how the cut is kind of jagged? It's more like a rip than a cut, like something you'd make with a real knife. You can sometimes tell what kind of instrument was used by looking at details like that. The shape of the wound will match up with the shape of the thing that caused it. In this particular case, this seashell isn't all that sharp.

[He runs his finger along the edge to demonstrate. OH GOD HE SLICED HIS FINGER OFF HE'S BLEEDING EVERYWHERE nah he's fine.]

I can cut the fish with it, sure, but I've gotta apply some force, so the cut is messy. Most handmade or makeshift weapons would look like this. Make sense?

[cutefaced]

[Yona's nose wrinkles at the smell of the fish being cut into - gross gross gross - but she steels herself and stays exactly where she is. If she runs away from this, there's no way she'll learn anything at all.

She pays close attention to his explanation.]

...right. That makes sense. [So there will most likely not be a death by seashell on the island - but maybe someone using a sharpened branch, or... bone... or a rock. Any of those things could cause messy wounds.]

So, then... a real weapon, with a proper blade, would have more of a... smooth cut?

[completelycrazy]

[He appreciates your determination, Yona.]

That's right. I'm used to working with scalpels, for example, and those are as sharp as they come. Cuts made with something sharp, or even just something meant for cutting, have a smooth edge to 'em. It's more of a hard line than a jagged tear. It seems like the killers have been able to get knives and stuff for the murders, but still, this knowledge could be useful. [Maybe, anyway. It's not like any of the evidence has ever paid off during a trial.]

The same applies to bone too, kind of. That's more like... Hm. Like if you cut into a log, or something? And look at it after? If you cut through with one clean slice--which takes some strength, by the way--it'll leave a flat surface. If you have to, um... Saw or chop through, there will probably be these kind of teeth marks or jagged edges in the, well, bone.