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 Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:19 am
The trials had been worse, once he had remembered who he was. And they were pretty bad to begin with.
Rodney hadn't done anything he was ashamed of, at least. It must be buried somewhere further than his conscience. He hadn't hurt anyone, but he'd been completely useless, and now he was alone again with his thoughts, and he had been alone a long time. There was a brief reprieve, like a dream, where he had dressed in grey and had large, soft ears.
He had died (after a fashion) there, too, and wept bitterly. He was not afraid of death, but he was very afraid of pain. He wished he could busy himself in his studio. He wished he would die. He wished someone could come get him.
For the first time in a long time, he thought he heard a voice.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:35 am
Chantelle didn't mind pod duty, it was interesting to be permitted back near the pods again at all, to watch them like flawed statues sleeping their way towards their ultimate disposal. Few ever woke up.
The solitude let the mask slide, let Lawr read what he wanted rather than the tripe he was resigned to read behind the persona of the body he was presently trapped in. Folded neatly inside the pages of the book she carried - a romance novel of frankly tame contents - was a small edition of the kind of poems he favored best. His nails, or rather Chantelle's were decorated with strange pointillism designs which had taken up most of the morning.
One of the pods sounded the alarm which meant there was someone waking and once again he was pulled back into the shadows, the bright smile of the gothic girl replacing the blankness.
"Hey! Hey!" she called. "Are you like...all right in there?"
She pushed the button to set him free, peering at the name listed. "Uh. Good..Morning ...Rodney?" she said, more than a little hesitant. "Can you hear me?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:01 pm
Rodney opened his eyes, feeling sluggish and a bit ill. The lights were too bright. He put slender and pale fingers to his temple.
Everything was physical. Intense. Almost...a bit much. There were new voices, new sounds now, although he thought, in the back of his mind, he could still hear the other...or was it...? He strained. Had he imagined it?
Someone was asking if he was alright. Politeness won out, and and said through an overly dry mouth, "Hello."
Was he alright? He touched his t-shirt, which was a soft cotton grey with long sleeves.
"Yes," he decided. Was he...himself? It had been so long. "Where...where are we, please?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:14 pm
"Good you can hear me." she beamed. "Well, we are on an island like, in Bermuda. You are on Deus Ex, which I like, assume you signed up for." She shrugged her slender shoulders. "You are like, in the pod room, where you've been sleeping for ages. Your weapon has called you and woke you up."
She gave him a curious sort of look. "I'm here to answer your questions and point you in the direction of the weapons cove."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:25 pm
"This is really it?" Rodney whispered. "I'm really here, this time? It's very..."
He notice at the stark floor, the whirring machines, and, in rows and rows beside him and in front of him, suspended sleepers. Were they alright? It looked more like something from Roswell than an ancient military.
"Clinical," he decided sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm sure, it's all very...clean, um. Those people all- they, they signed up too? Are they alright?"
Although it had been a while, Chantelle (or someone buried in Chantelle) might have noticed something familiar in the color of his clothes, soft voice and mannerisms.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:31 pm
Chantelle looked him over thoughtfully.
"Yeah, it's real. Whatever you like, might have dreamed while you were in there it's real. Your life choices like, brought you to this point." She did however look a little surprised at his concern for the other sleepers, glancing over at them and then back to him before repeating the gesture.
"I assume like, they signed up. Most of them anyway." she examined her nails. "Some were kidnapped, I know that."
She thoughtfully studied him again, an intense and bright sort of curiosity. "And they are as fine as you were a minute ago, for now anyway. You know if they don't wake up after too long.... well." she made a hurt expression and briefly covered her face. "Doesn't bear like, thinking about."
After a moment of seeming stricken, she pulled herself together again, taking a steadying breath. "All going well, they'll wake up like, safe and sound. I'm glad you are up, at least. And you seem to be able to move all your limbs too, that's good."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:44 pm
"Kidnapped?" Rodney turned slightly pale at that. He turned even paler at the insinuations of what might happen to them. "Oh. Oh no, but that's..."
He didn't seem able of taking his eyes off the other pods.
Chantelle's mutual sympathy seemed to make Rodney's crumpling expression worse.
"I...I wouldn't mind, I volunteered, I knew, but- oh. I thought we were supposed to help people." He clutched his shirt, and finally looked at something at something besides the pods, "Did you volunteer? Or were you-?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:49 pm
Chantelle nodded sadly, looking off into the rows of pods with sad eyes. "It's like, awful and tragic." she agreed.
The mention of helping people also seemed to hold her attention, clearly a topic she had feelings on.
"I was kidnapped too." she said, before holding up a comforting hand. "But don't worry yourself about me, it was like, a good long time ago and I've come round since, I do get to help people here, more than at home." She smiled and there was a sort of sparkling delight in her eyes. "I'm here to help you, and anyone else who might like, wake, right?"
She extended a hand to help steady him if he should need it.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:14 pm
"Oh, but you didn't get a choice in any of this- and they- I'm so sorry."
He did, at last, take her hand, but his grip was very light, as if she were made of paper.
Rodney was having a hard time taking it all in. His face felt hot, and he tried to tighten against the tears pricking at his eyes. He had made it, he was alive. He had waited so long. They'd been told to murder each other as some sort of training game. And that there were so many people in the same situation...some who hadn't even asked to come-
"What sort of organization is this?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:19 pm
"A like, not very nice one." she volunteered in conciliatory tones. "But like, a lot of that is because they recruited a lot of not very nice people. Those of us who are like, doing our best to make the best choices are trying to make a difference. The things we fight do want to hurt us, we are saving people."
She kept up her reassuring looks as she went on. "It isn't as bad as it seems, its probably like, all very overwhelming to you right now. Once you get your partner and weapon it'll be a bit easier, they'll help you through things one on one, you will both get to learn together."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:25 pm
"Weapon?" Rodney shook his head. He assumed that partner meant something like a roommate. "I'm not- I don't need a gun, I can't- n-no thank you." He continued softly, "I know in a military, it's...necessary, but I personally am, um, nonviolent."
He looked ill at the thought of it, and his gaze wandered back to the pods.
"They said there were other ways I could help."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:31 pm
"Oh don't worry about that." she said gently. "I am a pacifist too. Weapons is just what we call them and a shape that they can take. Sometimes we are beset with dangers that cannot be like, avoided and we need something to help us out. A sword like, doesn't need to be used to harm, it can be used to pry open a door, cut something in our way. Like that. Mostly they are a voice in our head, to counsel and guide us."
<mouse.>>
"Mine is a kitty cat." she offered airily. "I help doing jobs like this, doing small things, little helpful things. But we all like, need our partners, without them we like, can die, they are what wake us up, and you need them. They chose you, they won't hurt you and they can't make you like, hurt anyone else. That choice is all on you."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:37 pm
"Oh. Your...weapon is a cat? And...your partner? Like a..." He hesitated, "familiar?"
He seemed relieved at this.
"Yes. Yes, alright. I'm sorry, this is all...very new to me."
After accepting her help out of the pod, his legs felt alright, if a bit shaky. He looked at the pods again. "Is there anything I can do? To help them?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:45 pm
"Yes." she said. "Though I assure you like, I'm not a witch, I like reading about them is all." His relief seemed to take a little of the tension out of her too. "It is fine, everyone is a little shaken when they wake up. Especially the ones who had the dreams. You'll perhaps find some of the dreams you had like, were more real than you'd imagine, and shared by the waking."
Once again she gave him a knowing sort of smile. "You remind me of a dormouse I met once, for instance." The worst he could say was that he didn't remember, that it had not been him.
"As for the people in the pods, there's nothing you can do for them but wait. They'll find their way like, in their own time the way you did, or they won't, it lies in their own hands, we can't make them and if we unplug them, they die." She picked up her book. "But once you are sorted out, I'm sure that you like, can help us watch them and guide them when they get up."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 2:10 pm
"Paganism is fine," Rodney said, "I've known some very nice wiccans. It's very concerned with naturalism," He said gently, "I've always believed there were some elements of truth to it."
"Have we met before? I was a dormouse, for a while, in that place with the trees and cakes. Rodnent," he said. "I hope we didn't meet while we were wearing the...gasmasks. I'm sorry if we did. I...wasn't very useful."
It sounded like there was nothing they could do, for now. Not make them more comfortable, or even talk to them...he hadn't heard anything from this room until he'd woken up.
"I...I see, well, let me know if I can. I'm ready to meet my partner now, I think."
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