thirteenth incision ෴ video

[prideofwisdom]

[Stein's sitting on the edge of his bed, his back a little stiffer than normal, but seeming pretty normal other than that. He takes a few deep breaths and tries to relax his back into a more typical curve.]

They're lying.

[He sounds so resolute, so matter-of-fact when he says it, it's almost tempting to believe him

Comments

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

[She wants to ignore this so much, but she can't. Her conscience doesn't let her.]

We've stopped experiments before. Even if we don't stop it, they have to be lying. Lobotomies aren't breaking people, they're giving up on trying. They want to break us, not turn us into mindless drones.

They're sick and twisted, but they're logical. They are lying.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

[It takes him a while to respond, both because he needed a chance to calm down a little so he could type without shaking like a leaf, and to cope with the fact that people actually saw that, Maka specifically being pretty embarrassing.]

Yes, it does seem odd that they went from getting us attacked by plants to doing something like this. We'd hardly be as much fun to torture like that.

Just in case though, how did you stop experiments before this?

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

We would be useless to them. If that had been what they wanted, they would have done it from the start.

People fought back. [She isn't being deliberately cryptic without reason, it's just probably not the brightest idea to announce how over the network.]

Sometimes, ignoring experiments seemed to anger them too, but I don't think that's an option this time.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

Unless they're bored of us now. Maybe this is how they get new interns. [Though that was awfully morose of him and he'd much rather not dwell on it just in case it becomes a legitimate possibility in his mind.]

But you're of course right. Why now, and why all of us. They wouldn't do that.

[But there is a part of him that, just in case, wants to apologize to her in some way at least.] I hope one day you'll trust me enough to tell me how exactly you managed to fight back.

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

It's not. The interns It's been a long time, but the interns used to talk to us. They are definitely not former experiments.

This isn't about me trusting you. [Thought she sidesteps that issues.] This is about sharing information safely.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

[That at least puts his mind at ease that he won't end up an intern. Mindless drone, perhaps, intern, definitely not and he was willing to count that as a victory.]

I see your point. I sometimes forget that there's no such thing as privacy here. And something as important as that ending up on the next observations post is probably only going to spell disaster.

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

Just don't give up. It's not over yet.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

Same to you. We'll find a way around this. There's no chance you know how the ventilation systems work is there?

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

I don't.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

I guess I'll just have to do some poking around and find out for myself. There's a bit of a plan forming in my head, at least. Try to keep yourself safe in the mean time.

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

You stay safe too.

[Text]

[prideofwisdom]

If I get my say in things, that won't be a problem. For either of us.

[Text]

[togana_keiri]

I hope you do.