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.

[marriedatoilet]

[ Guess who is pushing open the door to your bedroom? It's your favorite dissection subject! ]

Stein...

[prideofwisdom]

[Marie's soul pops up as a tiny blip on his mental radar before it gets shut out by more panic than Stein really knows what to do with.

Slowly, sheepishly almost, he raises his head as she says his name.]

...I didn't mean to make you worry.

[marriedatoilet]

[ She smiles, but it's awkward and forced. She's doing her best to put on a strong front for him. That's what he needed at this point. ]

You didn't worry me. I was just... concerned. That's all.

[prideofwisdom]

Thank you.

[If he notices the forced smile, he makes no indication of it. He just wants to be selfish and get comforted for now.]

Though I didn't mean to make you concerned either. I just panicked.

[rebelliousrat]

"..Stein."

[Ah, good, another person he knows is still here. Not that Jet has ever seen you lose your cool like this.]

"Hey, don't let them get to you. Give them a reaction, you give them what they want."

[prideofwisdom]

[He never really has ever lost his cool like this. Lobotomies are the one thing that manage to do this to him.]

I... I know. I'm not really sure how things work in your world, but lobotomies were fairly common practice not too long ago where I'm from. This place isn't exactly giving me a pleasant reminder of that either.

[rebelliousrat]

"I.. don't know of the procedure exactly, but from what I hear, it sounds like brainwashing to me. Had a problem with that in the city I was in, before the Consortium got me. The people there, they're all smiles and just nothing."

[Jet shakes his head; how close he was to being one of them.]

"But I agree with what everyone else is saying. Why would the Consortium bother to bring me back just to kill us all this week?"

[Though for once not having anyone on the termination list does look a little ominous]

[prideofwisdom]

It wouldn't kill us all. Just make us complacent, not as violent. It would "fix" us.

[There's a slight shrug, though it's clear that Stein's having a hard time being so casual talking about this.]

It's used to alter the personalities of the criminally insane. I wouldn't call it a treatment, but... Hard to justify removing part of the brain without calling it a treatment.

[Video]

[hurtandscared]

Stein.

[Her voice is hard and stern, sounding completely out of place with a little girl.

Snap out of it, Stein.]

[Video]

[prideofwisdom]

I know. Now's the time to come up with a solution to this, rather than just hoping for one.

[Logically, he realizes that, but at the same time? He's utterly terrified of getting a lobotomy and it's not making it too easy to think.]

You wouldn't happen to have an idea for what to do, would you?

[Video]

[hurtandscared]

It's an experiment like any other. It'll only last for seven days, max.

You know that as well as I do. Don't let yourself panic.

[Video]

[prideofwisdom]

I almost got a lobotomy once... A real one. I suppose my resistance to the idea initially compounded itself into a minor phobia. I doubt I can control my panic all that well. But I certainly didn't want Val and the interns to see the effect the idea has made on me.

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[guillotine_beat]

No, they are not.

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[prideofwisdom]

No, Maka's right. They're too interested in our reactions to do something to stifle them.

[Or so Stein is currently in the process of forcing himself to believe.]

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[guillotine_beat]

The purpose of the Facility: "Modification of behavior. What will cause a long-term change in a subject's ways of interacting with others. What will make a subject easier to train. What stimuli will cause a sentient subject to become controllable."

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[prideofwisdom]

[Enjoy waiting for your response because it's taking Stein kind of a while to digest that without going back into a complete panic.]

Why would Maka have lied to me?