WEEK 2

[bathymetric]

So far, good news! You've managed to avoid killing! A week has passed in the facility, but how many more are there to go until one of you tries out Rule Seven? I mean.... we know, but.

No new areas just yet, it remains you guys and yours here for now. Well, and Angel, but again - you don't exactly see her unless you want to. It's more than a little lonely... maybe someone ought to shake things up.



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 2, your first case week! Remember to turn in regains here, your AC for last week here, and if you like, come visit Angel's office hours here!

Comments

[fivestagegod]

So much for patience, I guess.

[God.]

I'm not going to ask you what yours is. But how bad is it?

[shieldsister]

I wouldn't share even if you did.

[Not that she sounds irritated about it or anything, it's simply a fact.]

It's bad enough that it will put my shield-brothers in danger. I can handle myself just fine and were I the only one at risk, I wouldn't care. But this will endanger the Companions as a whole.

[fivestagegod]

...All right.

[There's no decent way to explain what he's trying to say, but.]

Mine's not bad enough to warrant putting somebody's head through a wall. But I get it if yours ends up being like that.

[Nailed it.]

[shieldsister]

[...Hm.]

We have no way of knowing if he's being honest - all of this could be a bluff. I don't have any plans for acting on this. I don't like the idea of giving him exactly what he wants.

[...]

I understand what you're getting at, though. It's appreciated; at least as much as it can be given the circumstances.

[fivestagegod]

Yeah, absolutely. It's more that sometimes there's not a whole lot that can be done for it, and I get it. I'm not exactly the best at acting in my own self-interest when I'm under threat, though, so there's also that to take into consideration.

[It's flippant, noticeably so. Might as well be, because what the fuck else is he supposed to do about shit like that.]

[shieldsister]

[Sometimes you just get real flippant, it's fine.]

Sounds like something you should work on while you're here. Don't go getting yourself killed.

[There's a note of humor in it, though.]

[fivestagegod]

I won't.

[That seems easy enough.]

If this is going to be how he's doing things, there are actually very few things he could threaten me with. Besides, it's like you said - there's something to be said for not giving him the satisfaction.

[shieldsister]

Precisely. It won't be enough to stop everyone. I wonder what will happen if someone does kill for this, though.

[There's definitely more to this setup, right?? This seems way too simple.]

[fivestagegod]

...Yeah, I'm bothered by that too. It seems too simple, and he threw a new parameter at us today that we didn't know existed previously, what with him being allowed to goad us like this.

[shieldsister]

That's my concern as well. It seems there's much he hasn't told us. I wonder if he would answer even if we were able to find the right questions to ask.

[fivestagegod]

I doubt it, honestly. He doesn't really like being useful.

[shieldsister]

Apparently not. I wonder if that's his personality or if he feels it's necessary for his experiment.

[fivestagegod]

Maybe both. People who run experiments like this aren't exactly known for being too put-together or helpful, but maybe he's playing it up a little with us.

[shieldsister]

That seems likely. There's no reason for him to be helpful, so why would he bother? He likely enjoys having this much power over us.

[fivestagegod]

I'm sure he does. He reminds me of some guys I used to work for, they were all kind of like that.

[shieldsister]

[Oh look, a distraction!!]

Tell me about them.

[fivestagegod]

Honestly, there isn't much to tell.

[He shrugs a little.]

One of them was more the sort to give orders from a distance. I never saw him, I just heard his voice once in a while when he had something to say to us. He wasn't keeping us under constant surveillance like this place is, but he was kept informed of our projects and stuff. Sometimes I had written correspondence with him, but not much.

I worked a bit more directly with the other one; I helped him with some of his experiments, we did some stuff with leeches like the one I got out of the machine. Al...worked with him too, but he was doing something different; I didn't ask about it too much because it was none of my business. We didn't spend too much time with him, either way; he pissed off the wrong people and ended up getting shot.

[shieldsister]

Sounds like things were far more cutthroat than I would have expected.

[Not that she really totally gets what Birkin was doing, but you know what, sure, why not.]

Did either of them run any "experiments" similar to this?

[fivestagegod]

[It takes him a moment. Not that he doesn't have an answer, he just isn't sure how to word it.]

I've known some people who have done some pretty messed up things. Nothing like this, though.

[shieldsister]

This is a very specific brand of messed up, I suppose.

[at least umbrella has not run any murdergames (probably)]

[fivestagegod]

[He wouldn't be surprised if they have, let's put it that way.]

Yeah. I don't have any experience with this specific sort of messed up, and I guess that's a good thing in the long run. Not much help to us now, but still.

[shieldsister]

I'd be surprised if anyone did have experience with something like this.

[fivestagegod]

I don't know. That's betting on this being a really unique kind of messed up, outside of just being really specific, and what with all the different worlds out there I'm sure someone's had the same idea.

[shieldsister]

As horrible as the idea is, that's certainly possible. It does seem unlikely that this would only happen once, when there are plenty of other worlds out there.

[fivestagegod]

To say nothing of plenty of weird people populating them.