[ For a terrible, tense several moments, it looks like she hasn't heard him, or she's too paralyzed with indecision to move. But at last, she forces herself to her feet and stumbles to the lift, brushing past Jon so she can get herself into the furthest corner and far away from him, practically facing the wall like an animal that knows it's done wrong.
The hunger is still eating away at her. She puts her face in her hands, tries to cover her nose, and doesn't look at him. If she doesn't look, if she doesn't smell it--
But she knows it's there. Jon's covered in blood and she's so hungry. ]
[But Tom! If she could hold out just a little longer. Just a little bit longer. But this is his fault, and looking at her, looking at the way she's shoving herself into the corner and not looking at him, Jon knows better than to press. He'll come back later.
Unless...]
Would it help? My blood. Could you...?
[He's pressing the button for the lobby as he asks and staying well away, but if they can stay and get answers, that's what he so desperately wants.]
[ Jon will just be terrified of her forever at that point. She's already put a fucking scar on his back. She can't bite him too. She'll just... Maybe she can find a blood bag. Maybe she can just hold off while he does whatever he's going to do--
But she's so hungry. ]
I... I can't. You'll... You'll just get tired. It won't-- [ It'll wear him out and they only have a few hours, and she can't make this worse on him. Ava takes a slow breath, trying to quiet her panic. ] I'll... I'll be fine. I can do this. I had...some.
[ She's going to need more. They both know it. She just hopes she'll last long enough for him to do whatever he's going to do. ]
[It's almost painful, but Jon thinks about what Hawke or Martin would say was appropriate. And him wandering about with blood all over him and Ava craving blood... isn't. It dings at the lobby and there are a pair of men with a gurney waiting. The one on the left stares at Jon for a long moment.
"What the hell? Are you okay?"]
Y-yes, I'm fine. I-hemophiliac. I'm a hemophiliac.
[The man looks to his companion in confusion, then to Ava.
"Did you... come up?"]
No! No, we came down. We're leaving. [The men eye them with deep suspicion as Jon tries to grab Ava's arm and drag her out of the lift with him, around the hospital. One of them, a large albino, tries to grab Jon or Ava if he slips by.
"Not when you're bleeding like that. We can get you admitted."]
[ Slowly, she turns around when the door starts to open, and is stricken to see there are others. They're pulling a gurney. They're likely heading down. They're going to see. They'll know.
It's too easy to move her only because it's Jon, and Ava's gone full flight-or-fight at this point to do anything but follow him. It's a little like back when they first met, the barely-concealed terror that she's done something wrong and is going to be caught.
One of them reaches for her and it's a mistake. She turns, whips around, grips the man's arm before he can touch her. Ava's gaze bores into his own. ]
We don't need your help.
[ "Miss, your friend is bleeding, we just want to be sure--"
The recorder hisses with static. Ava's voice drops low and soft and deadly as she stares at both men. ]
Leave us alone. There's nothing wrong here.
[ Both of them seem to snap to attention and she lets him go, allowing them to enter into the lift past them, close the door, and head down. Ava watches them go, then turns back to Jon. ]
...They're going to find out. We need to go. Or you need to find your man.
[Jon can feel the Eye's pull, the gut instinct that tells him to go further into the hospital, over to the break room, to find Tom. But looking at Ava, at the terror glazing her eyes.]
We'll come back.
[Once more it's difficult. It's insanely difficult to turn away to hurry to the front and out the door. Jon is breathing heavily, fighting down fear and his own hunger. He has to focus on actually heading them toward the doors to Duplicity, as well. Thankfully, with how they look, no one accosts them on the journey back.]
Go find blood once we're back. I'll... contact you later.
[ With that, Ava lapses into silence, letting Jon essentially lead her back without kicking up any kind of fuss. She doesn't look at anyone, doesn't even look at him, and doesn't breathe, all on purpose. Because if she looks at someone, she isn't going to see them as a person; she's going to see them as food, and she is going to want to drink.
Jon manages to get them back to Duplicity's doors, past the checkpoint, and back into the city. The numbers on their wrists disappear. They get through the final set of doors and back into Duplicity, and Jon can likely feel the tremor in her.
She slips her arm out of his grip, pulling away at last. ]
I'm sorry.
[ That's all she feels she ever has to say, these days. ]
Contact me later.
[ And she immediately starts walking in the opposite direction, knowing if she stays, she'll hurt him, and she doesn't want to do that again. ]
[It's not until the next night that Jon contacts her.]
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you last night. I went back on my own today. Tom Gillen has some sort of power to persuade people. It's not entirely natural. He said he's always been good at it, manipulation. But there was a course at the university he took on negotiation that changed everything. There was a professor who captured his attention, pulled him in, became his mentor. Eleanor Beals. I've already checked and she's no longer on staff there. She may be aligned with the Web. Something to be aware of if you go there again.
[ It takes a bit for her to respond but, eventually, she does. ]
It's not your fault. I should have had better control.
[ Which she's still muddling through but at least no one was hurt besides Aamir. She found a few more people that night who were willing to let her bite them, and no one died. It's hard to think of that as the best outcome, but... ]
She might also be dead. We don't know. I can do follow up on her and see what I find. Do you want me to deal with Tom?
[Is this what Elias had Daisy doing? A pet attack dog for the Institute to deal with any problems that can't just be left alone and observed? It makes his skin crawl.]
I want you to do whatever you think is best with the information you have, Ava. I'm not going to ask or order you to deal with someone.
[Knowing she's not going to kill him is... comforting in a way. He doesn't want her to feel obligated to do that every time he tells her about a Statement.]
Yeah. Yeah, it is. I can't imagine it's the only one, either. That restaurant wasn't full, but there were enough people that you'd need a steady supply. Not to mention the organ donation business for medical reasons.
Probably not. I ran into something similar back home. It's definitely something that's prevalent, even if it's not overly common. It wouldn't surprise me if there's something similar in Duplicity. But Duplicity seems a bit more skewed towards sex and Dom/Sub roles. Insincerity is really strange in comparison.
Wouldn't surprise me if they did. They have to have something. I wonder what the dividing line is. Rich and poor? Everything's so dichotomous but I feel like that's too obvious.
I feel like it's one large social experiment per city.
Maybe all of them have Dom/Sub designations. I know we didn't see them in Insincerity but that doesn't mean they weren't there. Also. 'Insincerity'. Might be in flux?
Not sure. Hard to imagine LIEs can just...have a normal city, everyone calm, no sex shit, no changes. I'm sure there's a city similar to that, one that DOES have changes. But there are no Dom/Sub designations, no quotas, but still city shifting.
[ Wait... ]
What if all of the cities have different quotas and different measures? Like, instead of three month contact periods, they're permanent always? Or the quota isn't about sex but something worse?
That's what I'm wondering. Or if not cannibalism... I don't know. I mean, they DID want us to eat food off of each other. That could have been sexually-related. But I didn't see as many hotels or clubs or anything like that.
Good luck with that. They know what we are and what we can do. I've gotten looks when I've approached the doors. They don't look at me or interact with me unless they need to.
It's weird, though. I've gone over to Veracity and there's no sign of LIEs. Same thing with Insincerity. They're all on Duplicity's side of the barriers.
[Jon sighs to himself. He knows she's right, and it's frustrating.]
It could just be safer here? A more docile population? Although, maybe they'll rethink it with these people that keep attacking them. Rafa's told me things turned out rather poorly the last time there was such open rebellion.
Rafa's scared. I don't blame him. The things I've heard about that fort sound like a fucking nightmare. I get why he doesn't want it to come to that. I don't want it to, either. But Rafa has time on his hands to make changes happen if we're stuck here. He's immortal. He doesn't have the same kind of perspective normal people do. And sure, they don't have his patience. But things have to change. We can't keep being at the mercy of a system that treats some of us as lesser.
[There have been too many odd things that have happened.]
I do want to help people, but I'm hardly political. And I certainly don't want to get arrested or thrown in one of those centers. I'm not sure what there is to do apart from just help the people I can now I'm a Dominant.
[And while he's inclined to complain and be stubborn and aggressive in many ways, Ava might well have picked up on the fact, at this point, that Jon tends to be fairly passive in terms of accepting miserable living conditions and circumstances for himself, whatever they might be.]
[ Depends on one's definition of control group, she guesses. ]
That's your choice, Jon. I'm not pushing you to do anything one way or another. It's good that you want to help people by being a Dominant and utilizing what you can.
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The hunger is still eating away at her. She puts her face in her hands, tries to cover her nose, and doesn't look at him. If she doesn't look, if she doesn't smell it--
But she knows it's there. Jon's covered in blood and she's so hungry. ]
Let's go. I need... I can't be here.
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Unless...]
Would it help? My blood. Could you...?
[He's pressing the button for the lobby as he asks and staying well away, but if they can stay and get answers, that's what he so desperately wants.]
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[ Jon will just be terrified of her forever at that point. She's already put a fucking scar on his back. She can't bite him too. She'll just... Maybe she can find a blood bag. Maybe she can just hold off while he does whatever he's going to do--
But she's so hungry. ]
I... I can't. You'll... You'll just get tired. It won't-- [ It'll wear him out and they only have a few hours, and she can't make this worse on him. Ava takes a slow breath, trying to quiet her panic. ] I'll... I'll be fine. I can do this. I had...some.
[ She's going to need more. They both know it. She just hopes she'll last long enough for him to do whatever he's going to do. ]
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[It's almost painful, but Jon thinks about what Hawke or Martin would say was appropriate. And him wandering about with blood all over him and Ava craving blood... isn't. It dings at the lobby and there are a pair of men with a gurney waiting. The one on the left stares at Jon for a long moment.
"What the hell? Are you okay?"]
Y-yes, I'm fine. I-hemophiliac. I'm a hemophiliac.
[The man looks to his companion in confusion, then to Ava.
"Did you... come up?"]
No! No, we came down. We're leaving. [The men eye them with deep suspicion as Jon tries to grab Ava's arm and drag her out of the lift with him, around the hospital. One of them, a large albino, tries to grab Jon or Ava if he slips by.
"Not when you're bleeding like that. We can get you admitted."]
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It's too easy to move her only because it's Jon, and Ava's gone full flight-or-fight at this point to do anything but follow him. It's a little like back when they first met, the barely-concealed terror that she's done something wrong and is going to be caught.
One of them reaches for her and it's a mistake. She turns, whips around, grips the man's arm before he can touch her. Ava's gaze bores into his own. ]
We don't need your help.
[ "Miss, your friend is bleeding, we just want to be sure--"
The recorder hisses with static. Ava's voice drops low and soft and deadly as she stares at both men. ]
Leave us alone. There's nothing wrong here.
[ Both of them seem to snap to attention and she lets him go, allowing them to enter into the lift past them, close the door, and head down. Ava watches them go, then turns back to Jon. ]
...They're going to find out. We need to go. Or you need to find your man.
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We'll come back.
[Once more it's difficult. It's insanely difficult to turn away to hurry to the front and out the door. Jon is breathing heavily, fighting down fear and his own hunger. He has to focus on actually heading them toward the doors to Duplicity, as well. Thankfully, with how they look, no one accosts them on the journey back.]
Go find blood once we're back. I'll... contact you later.
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Jon manages to get them back to Duplicity's doors, past the checkpoint, and back into the city. The numbers on their wrists disappear. They get through the final set of doors and back into Duplicity, and Jon can likely feel the tremor in her.
She slips her arm out of his grip, pulling away at last. ]
I'm sorry.
[ That's all she feels she ever has to say, these days. ]
Contact me later.
[ And she immediately starts walking in the opposite direction, knowing if she stays, she'll hurt him, and she doesn't want to do that again. ]
un: thearchivist; text
I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have pushed you last night.
I went back on my own today.
Tom Gillen has some sort of power to persuade people.
It's not entirely natural.
He said he's always been good at it, manipulation.
But there was a course at the university he took on negotiation that changed everything.
There was a professor who captured his attention, pulled him in, became his mentor.
Eleanor Beals.
I've already checked and she's no longer on staff there.
She may be aligned with the Web.
Something to be aware of if you go there again.
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It's not your fault.
I should have had better control.
[ Which she's still muddling through but at least no one was hurt besides Aamir. She found a few more people that night who were willing to let her bite them, and no one died. It's hard to think of that as the best outcome, but... ]
She might also be dead.
We don't know.
I can do follow up on her and see what I find.
Do you want me to deal with Tom?
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I want you to do whatever you think is best with the information you have, Ava.
I'm not going to ask or order you to deal with someone.
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I'll look in on him.
I'm curious as to the extent of what he can do.
But removing him would cause too many problems and might not even fix the issue.
[ They'd probably just find someone else to sign these people's lives away. ]
Doesn't mean I won't put the fear in him, though.
Fucking sicko.
That whole operation is fucked up.
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Yeah. Yeah, it is.
I can't imagine it's the only one, either.
That restaurant wasn't full, but there were enough people that you'd need a steady supply.
Not to mention the organ donation business for medical reasons.
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I ran into something similar back home.
It's definitely something that's prevalent, even if it's not overly common.
It wouldn't surprise me if there's something similar in Duplicity.
But Duplicity seems a bit more skewed towards sex and Dom/Sub roles.
Insincerity is really strange in comparison.
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[Better to focus on the things that aren't quite as depressing.]
I didn't see Dom or Sub markings on anyone.
Just the black versus white.
They must have something similar, though.
I wonder if they have LIEs.
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They have to have something.
I wonder what the dividing line is.
Rich and poor?
Everything's so dichotomous but I feel like that's too obvious.
I feel like it's one large social experiment per city.
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Doms and Subs for Duplicity.
It sounds like that's what they had in Veracity, as well, though.
Maybe just more stringent?
I wonder what the 'control' city would look like.
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I know we didn't see them in Insincerity but that doesn't mean they weren't there.
Also. 'Insincerity'. Might be in flux?
Not sure.
Hard to imagine LIEs can just...have a normal city, everyone calm, no sex shit, no changes.
I'm sure there's a city similar to that, one that DOES have changes.
But there are no Dom/Sub designations, no quotas, but still city shifting.
[ Wait... ]
What if all of the cities have different quotas and different measures?
Like, instead of three month contact periods, they're permanent always?
Or the quota isn't about sex but something worse?
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You don't think part of the quota could be... cannibalism?
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Or if not cannibalism... I don't know.
I mean, they DID want us to eat food off of each other.
That could have been sexually-related.
But I didn't see as many hotels or clubs or anything like that.
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We really do need to find out more about LIEs, itself.
I think that might answer more questions than trying to parse between the different cities.
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They know what we are and what we can do.
I've gotten looks when I've approached the doors.
They don't look at me or interact with me unless they need to.
It's weird, though.
I've gone over to Veracity and there's no sign of LIEs.
Same thing with Insincerity.
They're all on Duplicity's side of the barriers.
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It could just be safer here?
A more docile population?
Although, maybe they'll rethink it with these people that keep attacking them.
Rafa's told me things turned out rather poorly the last time there was such open rebellion.
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[ Scary fucking thought. Also not likely. ]
Rafa's scared.
I don't blame him.
The things I've heard about that fort sound like a fucking nightmare.
I get why he doesn't want it to come to that.
I don't want it to, either.
But Rafa has time on his hands to make changes happen if we're stuck here.
He's immortal.
He doesn't have the same kind of perspective normal people do.
And sure, they don't have his patience.
But things have to change.
We can't keep being at the mercy of a system that treats some of us as lesser.
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[There have been too many odd things that have happened.]
I do want to help people, but I'm hardly political.
And I certainly don't want to get arrested or thrown in one of those centers.
I'm not sure what there is to do apart from just help the people I can now I'm a Dominant.
[And while he's inclined to complain and be stubborn and aggressive in many ways, Ava might well have picked up on the fact, at this point, that Jon tends to be fairly passive in terms of accepting miserable living conditions and circumstances for himself, whatever they might be.]
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[ Depends on one's definition of control group, she guesses. ]
That's your choice, Jon.
I'm not pushing you to do anything one way or another.
It's good that you want to help people by being a Dominant and utilizing what you can.
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