. . .trash bin

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ??? OPENING PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . _PROGRAM CRASHED _PROGRAM REBOOT? >N >SCAN PROGRAM . . . _PROGRAM CRASHED . . . >EMERGENCY LEVEL . . . >EMERGENCY LEVEL . . . _EMERGENCY LEVEL LOADING LOADING. . . LOADING. . . LOADING TEXTURE-NIGHT-SKY, TEXTURE-FULL-MOON, TEXTURE-DIRT-PATH, TEXTURE-CAMPFIRE LOADING SOUND-CRICKETS, SOUND-GRAVEL, SOUND-WIND, SOUND-FIRE-CRACKLING UPLOADING USER UPLOADING USER UPLOADING USER UPLOAD SUCCESSFUL TRASH BIN It feels more like an electrical zap than dying. Dying might feel a little bit more like falling asleep, but this is harder, more painful. If you've ever been electrocuted, the feeling might seem familiar; the discovery you make when you open your eyes, too, is likely very familiar. It's the night sky. Stars twinkle, a fire cracks warmly. You sit up and observe the surrounding area, and it's like you've woken up in some sort of canyon. The fire burns brightly, the moon shines beautifully, the crickets sing, and it is ... peaceful. Mostly. You know you're dead. This must be, then, the after life? Or something like it, at least. The horizon stretches on forever, the dirt and gravel seemingly endless. The moon is so big and bright, it's like you could reach out and touch her. There's a shed not too far from the fire, only but a stone's throw away, as if someone else might have made it, and then went inside it. Approaching it, you can see the light glowing inside it through the dusty windows that are littered with fingerprints. A computer screen, so large and wide that it's baffling, sits, waiting. Turning knob reveals that the shed is unlocked, and stepping inside... it doesn't feel any different from the outside. A chair sits in the center of the room, a strange contraption strapped to the head of it. It looks like it would lower itself upon the head of whoever dares to sit on it, and wires from it's bottom curl up towards the machines attached to the screen. Several smaller desktop screens sit beneath the giant monitor. They, too, are hooked up to the machines scattered around the room, to the ominous one perched on top of the medical chair, and they blink, as if fighting to stay alive without use. Pressing the giant monitor on, it lights up, and displays, strangely enough... a security camera feed. You push the button. It switches to another room. Again, another room. Again, another room. So on and forth. You peeping tom! But no one can blame you, in the end. You might as well digitally haunt the rest of the ship until the game ends, and AL-2955 can clean out the trash bin. ...Right? rule book taken characters information cards

Comments

[qundercover]

Yup. Got a contact here - calls herself Admiral Sonya Perkins. Captain of the Pygmalion. Seems like a straight talker for a ghost - helped us set up a communication of sorts through that Furry Passing game. Got 5 minutes a week to talk to someone on the other side. Passed my information along to Dorian.

You should get a chance too, but should be careful about who you pick. Still got the demons lurking out there, pretty ready to pounce on anything.

[bloodbiter]

Is it limited to one person for each of us, or can we spread those minutes out however we choose?

[a nod]

Of course. I'll remember. Now... You met the captain of that vessel? Have we uncovered anything else about it?

[qundercover]

[He laughs. It's a sharp mind that immediately starts to bend the spirit of a rule without breaking the letter.]

Good question. Don't know. Could be worth asking about, but this place has never been good about skirting things like that. Gonna guess it's just one - know a couple people who are probably safe if you need it.

[He just nods at the second question.]

Yeah, we met her. Or a version of her. Told us a lot, actually. Think Shelley has more on the whole name of the ship and all that, but it was described to me as "existing to bring us all together. To keep loved ones connected with those that had passed. It was a way to keep living." [He has a notoriously good mind for remembering what people say. Gotten more than few in trouble before.] Called us her crew, told us the demons - aliens, I guess - took us out.

[bloodbiter]

I will ask her when I see her, then.

[A pause, her eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.]

We are her comrades, according to her? And we were killed by those things?

[qundercover]

According to her. Called me soldier, knew my name. Even used the The. Everyone forgets the The.

And yeah. Apparently. Souvlaki, they're called. Invaded and took us out. Called 'em a hivemind, had a Queen. Like bees or something. Guess you saw with Elizabeth and Rhys - they pick a host, hide in there until they're forced to act. Makes it impossible to tell who's one of 'em or not.

[bloodbiter]

I remember none of this. Did she say how we came to be here in the first place? If she knew us...

And, you said you had ideas as to who are unlikely to be infected with one of those awful things. I take it Dorian is among their number?

[qundercover]

Didn't say. Not to me, anyway. Seems to be kind of a pattern of talking around important points - have to really zero them in.

[He nods again. It's not like it's a big logical leap to assume Bull trusts Dorian - it's barely a logic hop, really. But still, feels a little strange to hear it put into words. Of course he trusts the Tevinter Mage, of all people.]

Yeah. He is. Knew about my role for weeks, agreed to help try and kill for my incentive. If he was hiding one of those things, would have known - that was why Hancock got taken out, right? I trust him.

[bloodbiter]

[A nod.]

And obviously none of us were infected, save one, though it doesn't seem that knowledge is as important now. Who else do you think is safe? Do you think we really killed whatever was inside of Elizabeth?

[qundercover]

Grell's got a handle on things. She's smart too. Adam's a good kid - not entirely clear, but he's been involved enough we'd be looking at a big fu-- a big mess if he is one. Think he's pretty close with Luke.

[He looks like he's rolling an idea around for a second, before finally sighing out deeply.]

I don't know. It was a good show, but you don't exactly get unpossessed where I'm from. Rules seem different here though.

[bloodbiter]

And when they killed Harold after that in revenge... Do you think that was a show as well? Or just an opportunity for them?

[She knows she's biased here, so she's asking honestly.]

[qundercover]

Hard not to read it as a message when they made a big deal of it being so public. They want us to know they're around, they could be anywhere.

[Bull has his own biases - his own fears about it. Hard to shake that even when you're dead. Old habits, you know.]

Hivemind though, right? A Queen. If they are like insects, means they've got one up top givin' em orders. Directing them. Also might mean you cut off the head and the body falls too.

[bloodbiter]

If there is a leader, I doubt very much she would be possessing any of them. It would be too dangerous for her to stay inside someone who could easily be killed, forcing her to reveal herself.

[qundercover]

Could be. Sounds like a fair strategy. Also makes her easier to find than if she's hiding in plain sight. There's folks people seem to trust with no reason, because they've got a cute face.

[He definitely suspects The Queen is hiding in a Pure.]

There's gotta be a reason they take hosts. Gets 'em something - could just be the convenience of a warm place to hide, but not entirely convinced. Demons do it for power, a way to get out of the Fade. Don't know why the Souvlaki do it yet.

[bloodbiter]

If they take hosts among our number, they have more influence among us. Both times they've shown themselves and attacked us, we were able to defeat them without any of us being killed. The only time they've caused casualties is when they took over Elizabeth to kill Hancock and Light.

I would say that it makes sense that they would hide inside people who are more likely to be trusted, but that doesn't make sense. Why would they choose Rhys? Nobody was too fond of him, really. Even the monster said they hated working within his body. Could it be random?

[qundercover]

[And Harold. And Jack's hand, I guess. Dearly departed Jack's hand.]

Could be. Could be they made a guess at the beginning and made a bad choice - don't know how the host thing works. Would you really have called Rhys dangerous? Elizabeth had powers, but don't think anyone considered her a real threat either.

[Honestly all this demon talk is getting to him a little. He wasn't wrong when he told Addie he wasn't afraid of much, but he was fudging the edges on being afraid of nothing.]

Could be random for all we know. That was the problem. Figured if we were going to kill, should try and take one of those things out with us. Had no way to tell other than making a wild guess, try and target someone who's on equal footing. My guess was wrong.

[bloodbiter]

I wouldn't call him dangerous, but... [Frowns.] Wouldn't that make him a target as well? I know I would have at least considered him if he had still been alive once motive I acted upon was revealed.

[A pause.]

May I ask something else?

[qundercover]

Could be. Guess there's no perfect host - everyone's got a weakness.

[Fair. He was definitely on Bull's early target list before he kicked it.]

Go ahead. I'm dead, answering questions is pretty much my main job these days.

[bloodbiter]

That's... what I was going to ask about, actually.

[How to say this...]

You said she called this place the Cradle? It seems oddly empty for any form of the afterlife. Has she mentioned why it's only us here?

[qundercover]

Yeah, not exactly what I expected from the afterlife either.

[What the Qun itself teaches is kind of vague, but in general probably less video games and spy cameras.]

She called it the Cradle, and said the rest were on the ship still. She seems to be somewhere else - talked about "servers" for the Furry Passing game, using it as a form of communication. We're all on different ones - us dead folks, the ones still on the ship, and wherever Perkins is - so guess that'd imply we're in three different places. [HE DOESN'T KNOW how computers work. He is smart but that's a pretty big technology advancement to get used to explaining in a couple of days. He's tryin'.]

Hey, uh. Can I ask something?

[bloodbiter]

I can't say for certain what I imagined, but... You're right, this certainly would not be it.

[She listens to that carefully, and nods when he asks.]

Of course. What is it?

[qundercover]

Dorian say anything to you? Before you headed this way.

[SMOOTH.]

Just wondering. We got the 5 minutes, but that's about it. Makes it difficult to hash out shit that could take a real face-to-face.

[bloodbiter]

Oh - yes, of course!

[The whole afterlife thing distracted her.]

He said... Bene valeas qui bene futuis. I imagine it's a message that was meant for you?

[Thank goodness she doesn't know Latin.]

[qundercover]

[LAUGHING.....................]

Should hope so. Thanks.

[ thank goodness she doesn't know Ancient Tevene. Poor sweet Addie, used to send nasty sexts across the afterlife. She can never know.]

. . . Listen, any of these guys start giving you too much shit, let me know. I get it if you want to let them vent it out, might help them sleep at night if they can't handle it, but I know why you did it. Guess I made a similar choice.

[bloodbiter]

...I murdered an innocent person, regardless of my reasoning. I can't blame them, especially him, for hating me.

[But she's tired, too.]

I don't want their forgiveness, necessarily. Just... understanding, I suppose. So - thank you.

[qundercover]

Had an old commander. In Seheron. Good guy. Smart, savvy. Knew his way around a fight and how to keep spirits up in a wreck. Served there when I was younger, it's where they end up shipping most everyone to harden their horns against the Vints for a few months. [Or 8 years.] Place is crawling: four different fighting forces needling each other through the jungle, a bunch of civilians trying to exist in between it all. It wears you down. The rebels poisoning a market in the middle of the day, the Tal-Vashoth bringing down a roof on a bunch of school kids, days of nothing but bugs and heat until they hit in the middle of the night when you're nodding off. Asala-taar. Breaks the best of us. Broke down my commander too - turned Tal-Vashoth and ran off in the night. Back in Par Vollen they send orders quick: take him out before he causes even more damage, shows the Tal-Vashoth where they can hit to hurt innocents hardest to prove some kind of point. So I do it. We track him for weeks, and when we find him I do my duty. I put my axe in him. It's a choice I'm pretty sure he wouldn't forgive, but he probably understood.

[It's not his best story. There's no dragons or giants or jolly parties with the Chargers. Just old friends, and things the Qun asked of him that might have been too much. He knows. He's tired too.]

If you're fighting for an entire people, you'll have to do things that aren't easy to forgive. Forgiveness doesn't mean anything anyway. You can be sorry for a lot without ever doing anything about it - carry around all the guilt you want and it doesn't change the way things work. Once you've buried the axe in someone you've got to live with that. At least when it mattered, you were a true warrior. You didn't sit on your hands and hope for someone else to solve it because sometimes threats mean you have to act. When the Qunari pick leaders, it's not about strength, skill or smarts. It's who can make the tough decisions. If they can't understand that, they aren't soldiers.