[Jon's order receives a much less approving look. As does his general... everything. But their drinks are placed on the table and she uncorks the wine for him, trying to get him to sniff said cork and do a tasting. Jon just hurries her on with an irritated wave, telling her to pour it. If they're serving it here, it's probably fine. Probably.
Ava's explanation of the effects is mildly concerning.]
If you start to feel anything we probably ought to go. The wine seems... fine from what I can see.
[He eyes his glass suspiciously, takes a sniff, then a small sip.]
Hm! It's... good, as well.
[Time will tell if there's more than just alcohol in there.]
Maybe we should interrogate the waitress. Or some of the patrons...
[Clearly the ideal move in this case. Jon's eyes turn toward the door. He's hungry.]
But I'm sure it'd be fine if you felt anything, right? Relax. I don't plan to drink too much.
[ Enough to get an idea if something's up, at least. When the necklace's stone seems brighter in color, she puts it back on, and her appearance changes once again. She takes up the martini, sniffs, and then sips it. ]
Yeah, it's good. It's...actually better than most of the drinks I've had before.
[ Probably because it's top shelf, but she isn't so sure. Ava gives him a long look. ]
Why don't we wait, first? I'm not telling you no...but the minute you do that, you're going to raise some alarms, and then we're going to have to leave. But when the waitress comes back with food... Yeah, we can ask questions, maybe. Just can't be too long or she'll be missed.
[ So getting a proper Statement is probably out of the question, for the moment. ]
[He will not relax! Jon just frowns at her as she tastes her own drink, watching for some kind of violent reaction to the magic powering her crystal. It doesn't come, though, thankfully, and he takes another sip of his wine. Being told to wait is... sensible, he supposes.]
It doesn't need to be long.
[That... came out far more sinister than he'd actually meant it to. Jon sighs at himself and takes a longer sip of his wine.]
Right. You're right, of course. Private rooms for all of this, though. It's a bit odd, isn't it? The fact that they even let us in. I'd think a place like this would have reservations out to Christmas.
[ That earns another look, but it's one of concern, not one of consternation. ]
Please try not to. This is our first visit into this city and if they call the police, it's going to be our last, and then you won't Know anything beyond what you get here.
[ She doesn't even want to be encouraging, but if she can at least appeal to Jon's rationality, maybe that'll help? In either case, she leans back in her seat and considers. ]
It's...possible that they had open spaces. But you're right, it's... It's such a nice looking place and so upscale that I'd think that people would be lining out the doors every night. There has to be some kind of catch.
[ And something smells off about this place. Not necessarily unpleasant, but there's a smell in the air that she's smelled before and can't quite place. ]
I know. I... yes. I'll try. I have my knife. And presumably I'll be vomiting blood if I do anything.
[He doesn't particularly want to test Lilith's curse. Especially not with it likely to cause problems for Ava.]
We still- I still need to sort that out. [It's not her problem right now. It's his.] I don't suppose you have any books on curse-breaking, or something?
Maybe the food's actually awful. Or it's some sort of... Lotus Eater thing that all the locals know about? If you feel like you want to stay here forever, do mention.
[ God, that...really still upsets her, even if she swallows that down with another drink from her martini. Fucking witches. Fucking curses. Fucking Lilith. She needs to figure out how close she wants to get to all of that. ]
Look, I'm new to this whole witch...thing, and I probably need to build a repertoire of spells because no one fucking taught me anything, but I'll start looking. I'll try anything.
[ It's just going to cost a lot of blood. And not Jon's. ]
Oh, totally. Especially if we have less than four hours and I suddenly get it into my head to stay for good. [ She glances at the timer again. ] ...What do you think will happen? When it hits zero, I mean.
You don't need to- If you can just point me in a direction, I can sort it out.
[Maybe.]
Honestly? I'm hoping someone's just going to come collect us and take us back to the entrance. Or maybe we'll have some compulsion? I wonder if the Web could be involved.
[He sets down his tape recorder to take a closer look at his wrist. He scratches at the numbers, but that doesn't actually do anything. On the extremely off chance, he takes a tentative lick of the back of his hand just as the door opens and Jon's cheese and meat board is brought in. Jon freezes, and the server stares at him for a long moment, then smiles.
"We do have a selection of sauces with your plate that should whet the palette for the lady's main course, sir. We can hang up one or both of your clothes, if you'd like to ensure they're kept tidy. I'm sure you'll both enjoy."
Jon feels his face going hot as he lowers his hand. Before he can say anything, the server sets down the board, winks, and is away.]
No. I want to help. Don't... I'm just frustrated it happened, okay? I'm allowed to be upset that someone hurt you.
[ And Jon seriously needs to learn that she meant what she said: just because she's still considering signing the contract doesn't mean she has second-thoughts about being his friend or helping him, and he's just going to need to deal with that.
The server comes in before she's able to give more, and the exchange is just...weird? Very weird. Borderline creepy. Take off one of their clothes? What--
Oh. Oh no. This city has things about sex too. Christ. ]
Well, you just found out what's wrong with this place.
[ Food is sexual in some sense. Which means whatever they eat probably has some kind of potent aphrodisiac attached to it. But she doesn't feel very strange, even with half of her drink gone. She doesn't feel very warm or particularly aroused.
[He doesn't have much of a defense to her concern, but trying to find the balance between pushing her away enough not to be influencing her and keeping her close enough to show that he doesn't just want to discard her is difficult. It's tiring trying to sort it out. It was easier when he didn't have to worry this much about the Eye taking an interest in her. He does extremes far better than he does sorting out the middle of the road.]
Oh, god.
[Jon knows he couldn't have it anyway, but he looks down at the board with intense suspicion. At least the drinks seem to be all right? He's not feeling anything just yet, not even much of an effect from the alcohol.]
That can't be it. I felt... there has to be more to it. There's something else wrong here.
Or maybe the Beholding thinks you'd be horrified, and so it's feeding off of that.
[ Look, it's not like the Eye doesn't appreciate Jon being the centerpiece of some terrifying masterpiece. Else, why hasn't it tried to protect him from all of these curses? Or from Ava? Just saying.
She manages a bit of a smile, smelling the food. The meat actually smells good and the cheese looks fine. Nothing stinky, nothing rotting. She grabs one of the little knives they've brought to cut a small slice and pop it into her mouth. She shrugs. ]
I mean... It tastes fine.
[ She tries a similarly small piece of one of the meats, eats it, and takes another sip of her martini. ]
Nothing yet, but I'll let you know. There likely is something but... I don't know if it'll completely fall in line with what you're thinking. You could always ask the waiter when they bring my food out.
[ She ordered the special to be mostly rare, to at least see what kind of meat it is. 'Prime cut' would usually mean beef but...it didn't clarify. Maybe it's horse or something completely bizarre. ]
[The look Jon gives her in return is absolutely scandalized. Then, he can't help looking upward with a mighty scowl. If the Beholding led him here just to be tormented, he swears to some other eldritch entity.]
That's not it. It would have just put that in my head like it did with Father Anderson's-
[He breaks off, wrinkling his nose. Just the memory of all of those sex dreams is enough to make him gulp the rest of his wine and refill the glass to try to wash it out of his head.]
Ugh... that had better not be it. Do you know how expensive all of this is going to be?
[And for food that's going to go mostly uneaten unless the 'special' is just impossible for Ava to resist.]
Maybe there's something in the kitchen... Did I tell you about the meat grinder Statement?
Oh my GOD, Jon, no-- I don't need to hear about that!
[ The last thing she wants to know is about Father Anderson's anything, whether it's about sex or dreams or who the fuck else knows. N o t h a n k y o u.
She scrubs at her face, reaching for her drink to finish it at this point. She'll stick with water, even if the burn of the alcohol is nice to try to sear the idea out of her thoughts. ]
I can pay. I have a good job and I don't mind. It's not like I pay for much these days, anyway.
[ Ava's slicing off more cheese when he talks about the meat grinder, and she pauses, giving him an odd look. ]
No, but considering this meal's already going to be weird, you might as well tell me.
That's not- I didn't mean you need to pay, Ava. I haven't been paying you. I'll get it and it was my idea.
[Sort of? He'd sort of just felt... compelled to come here. Or was it a hunch? He has trouble telling the difference between those two things these days. He sighs and turns off the tape recorder. They already have this at the Institute, and he doesn't need to record a highlights reel of it and waste the tape.]
The meat grinder, though. It was a Statement by Mikaele Salesa, a man who's appeared more than once throughout our Archives. He's deals in antiques. Many of them to do with the powers. Before that, he was working under Jurgen Leitner. A fool of a man who thought he could collect and protect all the books touched by the powers. Salesa left him long before his library was attacked and destroyed, the books scattered everywhere for innocent people to find. But this story begins on the sea...
[He's dramatic sometimes, Ava, and he's watching her closely to see how she's taken that first bit.]
I don't mind paying, is my point. You have a business to run and people to see to in your home, right? I pay for clothes, these days, and the occasional small thing. Hawke...insists on paying for me because I want for very little and I think he wants to feel useful.
[ For little things, of course. Food when they order in, groceries if he's out with her, small things when she asks. But Ava doesn't eat much, steals some things, and never really asks for much besides his company. And she does have a good job, if morbid. She thinks Hawke would pay for more if she let him.
Ava's chasing her food and martini with water now, both to listen but also because that hunger is growing, not to the point of ravenous - and not specifically a hunger for blood, just for...food - and she thinks listening will keep her from being too fixated on it.
She listens, taking in the names. Has he mentioned them before? She feels like he's mentioned 'Leitner' before in passing, but never really indulged in who he was. ]
Books touched by...
[ Bad. That's really bad. ]
Sorry, sorry. One thing at a time. Go ahead, I'm listening.
[He'll have to tell her about Leitner's library later. Jon sips his wine periodically as he speaks, barely noticing as he refills for a third glass or the fact that he's getting increasingly verbal with his hands as he tips further into drunkenness.]
Most of Salesa's cargo finds its way around the world via ship. He's been a sailor most of his life now, or at least the life I've read about in the Statements. During one of his voyages when he was getting started out, he let the crew check his more... unusual cargo. He had the cook on the ship minding it for this particular voyage and he found that the man was taking increasingly long in his inspections. Finally, he went down to confront him when he'd taken an age and found Cook staring at an antique meat grinder. Salesa didn't know there was anything particular unusual about the meat grinder then, so he offered to sell to the man on the spot. A tidy deal, he though. Cook accepted and that was that as far as Salesa was concerned.
Almost immediately after that, Cook began serving portions of meat at the meal. Not unusual, really. A man might like to test his new 'toy.' But it kept going. Meat and meat and meat, far more than they should have had available in the stores on a voyage like this. He also noticed that Cook, himself was changed. He'd always been a meticulous man, but now there were small bloodstains on his clothes. Not something most would pay attention to on a ship, but enough that Salesa noticed. Cook had also started hiding his left arm. Always with a coat or something draped over it, even when it was too hot to warrant it. Salesa stopped eating the meat at the meals.
It went on, though. The quartermaster couldn't account for it in the stocks, so Salesa went snooping in the kitchen. He found the meat grinder there, perfect, polished, looking practically brand new. There was also a stock pot with rather suspicious-looking bones in it. He didn't have time for too close a look, though. So he came back when he knew Cook would be there...
[A pause for effect as much as to take another sip of wine.]
He broke into the kitchen, surprising the man. He found Cook's severed arm on the counter, the stump shoved deep into the meat grinder. He was grinding away with his free hand an ecstatic look on his face. It wasn't his own flesh coming through as mince, though. No. Cook was pulling a new arm out of the grinder's funnel. Slowly, painfully, blissfully.
Of course, Salesa grabbed the man, demanding answers. Cook panicked, tried to kill him, and Salesa dispatched the man. The crew threw him overboard, but Salesa kept the grinder, sold it to some Canadian who went missing a few years later. If that meat grinder or something like it found its way into the kitchens here... that might be why we've come here.
[ Jon has himself a devoted audience, as Ava slips into listening with rapt attention. The quality of Jon's voice, while dramatic, still falls into a strange cadence that almost seems...smoother when he talks, like he's memorized these things, like he has the Statement in front of him.
She's not fixed on it. But she's absorbing the information, sipping her water intermittently, mouth gone dry. She doesn't touch the meat, even if she's chipping away a little at a time with the cheese board.
When he comes to the end, she's gone pale. ]
Christ.
[ Ava drinks from her glass, finishing it, stomach roiling painfully with discomfort...and the gnawing hunger, which she dislikes even more now. ]
Maybe. You think maybe things like that are collecting in a world like this... Like sewage dump in a nexus? Your story reminds me of a nagaraja I met--
[ Oh. And her food's here now. Christ.
Ava looks even worse now, because the food smells really, really good. She's ordered it mostly rare so she can try to figure out what it is, and she gives it a good look when she realizes--
Well, it's not a sure thing. But she's pretty sure she knows that smell now. And the smell of the 'gravy' that's being poured. The waiter starts to leave. ]
Hey, uh, sorry-- Sorry. I don't get to know what the special is?
[ The waiter smiles. "It's our specialty for a reason! And it's not something we can just tell people--" ]
Oh, come on. [ She's staring right at him now, eyes on his. ] Tell me what it is.
[ He stops. Stares. He can't break away. "It's...rare meat. Very rare. Sourced from donors!" Ava's about to start literally digging into his mind if he doesn't give her a straight answer. Does he even know? ]
[It's all Jon manages to get out the server steps in with Ava's food. It does smell delicious. But after recounting Salesa's tale, that just makes the Archivist all the more suspicious. And as Ava uses her own brand of compelling. Jon's tape recorder clicks itself back on. Apparently this is important.]
What type of donors?
[The tape recorder hisses with static.
"Consensual. Entirely consensual donors. I can assure you we're not that sort of canteen."
Cannibals. These people just straight cannibals.]
Where are they, your willing donors?
[The man is struggling now under the weight of both Ava's Dominate and Jon's compelling power. "The-the... I don't know? I think the hospital? The charity shops?"]
Right.
[He's a little drunk, but that doesn't matter.]
Ava, we're going to hospital. Now.
[The server looks alarmed. "But your food!"]
Eat it yourself.
[He pulls out his wallet and puts down several hundred dollars. He'd sort of been planning to use that for Integra's 'signing bonus,' but here they are. He can get more.]
[ Cannibals. They're fucking cannibals and she almost was going to eat--
Her stomach churns painfully. Ava doesn't know how she keeps herself from throwing up, but she realizes she knew exactly what cooked human flesh smelled like long before this, and the memory is so visceral that her grip on the table tightens almost to the point of snapping it beneath the pressure of her hands. It's a good thing that Jon jumps in, because Ava's agitation skyrockets, and she is terribly close to grabbing the waiter and pulling him into the room, and that won't end well for anyone.
...Or maybe it wasn't great that Jon jumped in, because he's tipsy and throwing money on the table, saying they're going to head out, and...
This really isn't going to go well. Ava stands after Jon leaves the room and she follows him out the door, not once mentioning how she's still hungry. Being in the hospital may or may not make things better on that end. ]
No one's going to give us this information, Jon. It's probably privacy protected. And we really can't be compelling hospital staff on their shift.
[ Is that stopping her from following him? No.
Is it stopping her from looking for a side door? Not at all. ]
[Jon lets his instinct guide him as they leave the canteen and walk along the pavement. His senses are alive and he is hungry and focused. So very, very focused.]
Why not? We need to know why these people are doing this. What's making them 'willing' donors.
[There's his Statement. That's what he wants. That's why the Beholding sent him to that restaurant. The nearest hospital isn't difficult to find. Jon strides with surety, some of the fear burned out of him for the moment. The drink is helping with that, but it's more than that. The Archivist Knows this is what he needs to do. With as little certainty as there is in his life, it's hard not to grasp it and cling tight when it comes.]
[ And they still don't know what'll happen if they're not out of here by then. Die? Suffer some other horrible end? She'd like to not be caught here if she can help it.
Ava's wandering after him, and she does see a side door that seems to go into the back of the hospital, which seems...dark? But it's evening, so maybe they're down to smaller staff? It's hard to tell, and she gets the door for Jon as they head in. There are only a few people in the waiting room and things seem quiet enough. Not unheard of, as it might not be the only hospital in the city. The man at the front desk asks if they're there to check in, and if someone's injured.
[It's more than enough time, and Jon steps in when Ava holds the door open.]
I'm here to make a donation. [Jon's eyes are fixed on the man who blinks in surprise as they approach.
"Oh! Um... well, the finance department is closed this late, but if you come back-"]
Not a financial contribution. Something else.
["Something... else?" His smile is about as fake as it's possible to be. "You'll need to be specific."]
A few excess pounds. What would you be able to tell me about that, Davis?
[There's a soft hiss from the tape recorder.
"Not... much? I mean, I don't work downstairs. I just know that people donate their bodies for tax write-offs and to pay debts. You'd need to head to the basement." He pauses, an expression of confusion crossing his face. "W-wait. Why did I...?"]
Come on, Ava. That's all we needed, Davis. Thank you. Why don't you get a coffee? It's late isn't it? You must need a little pick-me-up by now.
[Davis opens his mouth, then closes it a few times, backing away from the desk and nodding mutely before walking off.]
[ It's...weird to watch Jon in action. To see him stirred up and plucking at information right and left, divesting it from people without a care while he remains focus and steadfast on his goal. She knows, deep down, that she's looking in a mirror of parallel actions and has no room to judge him. But Jon is so set on this that she doesn't bother to ask him what he'll do once he knows the truth. Is he going to have the hospital shut down? Is he going to change anything?
Davis looks startled as he heads away, and Ava follows Jon with a frown that continues to grow. ]
Tax write-offs. Debts.
[ It's one thing to sell your body in terms of deeds, work, sex, that sort of thing. But putting your body parts on the black market? That's a whole other thing. And then it's...what, sold to a restaurant?
It's not really willing, she tells herself. ]
Jon, this isn't going to go well if we go down there. You know that, right?
[ Either they're going to get thrown out or someone's going to have to die. ]
[Her concern does actually get him to pause for a moment as they head toward the lifts. Jon looks over at her and while, he's desperately curious and needs to know what's down there... they don't have to risk the two of them. Probably, they shouldn't.]
You don't need to come down with me. Find the stairs and guard them. I'll come up to you again. It might be good to have a lookout.
Yeah, fat chance of me waiting here while you go down and likely get tossed out. My point is that either of us wandering in on a possibly illegal operation will likely end with guns being pointed in our direction - that's how it usually happens in my experience.
[ And she's walked in on too many of them in her life already, to be very frank about it. ]
What are you planning on doing? Just taking the information from them like you did? Because I'm pretty sure that's going to piss them off.
[Tossed out would be the nicest thing that could happen to him, really. Jon would expect to get gutted before that.]
I...
[What is he planning to do? Mostly, he just wants to know and that's the sum total of this endeavor. The lack of forward planning is likely clear on his features as he stares blankly at Ava for several seconds.]
Well, I mean, I could ask them their darkest secret and just sort of... blackmail them into keeping quiet and letting us out once we have what we need?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:40 pm (UTC)Ava's explanation of the effects is mildly concerning.]
If you start to feel anything we probably ought to go. The wine seems... fine from what I can see.
[He eyes his glass suspiciously, takes a sniff, then a small sip.]
Hm! It's... good, as well.
[Time will tell if there's more than just alcohol in there.]
Maybe we should interrogate the waitress. Or some of the patrons...
[Clearly the ideal move in this case. Jon's eyes turn toward the door. He's hungry.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 03:48 pm (UTC)[ Enough to get an idea if something's up, at least. When the necklace's stone seems brighter in color, she puts it back on, and her appearance changes once again. She takes up the martini, sniffs, and then sips it. ]
Yeah, it's good. It's...actually better than most of the drinks I've had before.
[ Probably because it's top shelf, but she isn't so sure. Ava gives him a long look. ]
Why don't we wait, first? I'm not telling you no...but the minute you do that, you're going to raise some alarms, and then we're going to have to leave. But when the waitress comes back with food... Yeah, we can ask questions, maybe. Just can't be too long or she'll be missed.
[ So getting a proper Statement is probably out of the question, for the moment. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:01 pm (UTC)It doesn't need to be long.
[That... came out far more sinister than he'd actually meant it to. Jon sighs at himself and takes a longer sip of his wine.]
Right. You're right, of course. Private rooms for all of this, though. It's a bit odd, isn't it? The fact that they even let us in. I'd think a place like this would have reservations out to Christmas.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:15 pm (UTC)Please try not to. This is our first visit into this city and if they call the police, it's going to be our last, and then you won't Know anything beyond what you get here.
[ She doesn't even want to be encouraging, but if she can at least appeal to Jon's rationality, maybe that'll help? In either case, she leans back in her seat and considers. ]
It's...possible that they had open spaces. But you're right, it's... It's such a nice looking place and so upscale that I'd think that people would be lining out the doors every night. There has to be some kind of catch.
[ And something smells off about this place. Not necessarily unpleasant, but there's a smell in the air that she's smelled before and can't quite place. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 04:22 pm (UTC)[He doesn't particularly want to test Lilith's curse. Especially not with it likely to cause problems for Ava.]
We still- I still need to sort that out. [It's not her problem right now. It's his.] I don't suppose you have any books on curse-breaking, or something?
Maybe the food's actually awful. Or it's some sort of... Lotus Eater thing that all the locals know about? If you feel like you want to stay here forever, do mention.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 05:08 pm (UTC)Great. Swell.
[ God, that...really still upsets her, even if she swallows that down with another drink from her martini. Fucking witches. Fucking curses. Fucking Lilith. She needs to figure out how close she wants to get to all of that. ]
Look, I'm new to this whole witch...thing, and I probably need to build a repertoire of spells because no one fucking taught me anything, but I'll start looking. I'll try anything.
[ It's just going to cost a lot of blood. And not Jon's. ]
Oh, totally. Especially if we have less than four hours and I suddenly get it into my head to stay for good. [ She glances at the timer again. ] ...What do you think will happen? When it hits zero, I mean.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 06:15 pm (UTC)[Maybe.]
Honestly? I'm hoping someone's just going to come collect us and take us back to the entrance. Or maybe we'll have some compulsion? I wonder if the Web could be involved.
[He sets down his tape recorder to take a closer look at his wrist. He scratches at the numbers, but that doesn't actually do anything. On the extremely off chance, he takes a tentative lick of the back of his hand just as the door opens and Jon's cheese and meat board is brought in. Jon freezes, and the server stares at him for a long moment, then smiles.
"We do have a selection of sauces with your plate that should whet the palette for the lady's main course, sir. We can hang up one or both of your clothes, if you'd like to ensure they're kept tidy. I'm sure you'll both enjoy."
Jon feels his face going hot as he lowers his hand. Before he can say anything, the server sets down the board, winks, and is away.]
What... what just happened?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 06:28 pm (UTC)[ And Jon seriously needs to learn that she meant what she said: just because she's still considering signing the contract doesn't mean she has second-thoughts about being his friend or helping him, and he's just going to need to deal with that.
The server comes in before she's able to give more, and the exchange is just...weird? Very weird. Borderline creepy. Take off one of their clothes? What--
Oh. Oh no. This city has things about sex too. Christ. ]
Well, you just found out what's wrong with this place.
[ Food is sexual in some sense. Which means whatever they eat probably has some kind of potent aphrodisiac attached to it. But she doesn't feel very strange, even with half of her drink gone. She doesn't feel very warm or particularly aroused.
...In fact, she just feels hungry. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 07:34 pm (UTC)Oh, god.
[Jon knows he couldn't have it anyway, but he looks down at the board with intense suspicion. At least the drinks seem to be all right? He's not feeling anything just yet, not even much of an effect from the alcohol.]
That can't be it. I felt... there has to be more to it. There's something else wrong here.
[Or the Beholding is trolling him.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 07:54 pm (UTC)[ Look, it's not like the Eye doesn't appreciate Jon being the centerpiece of some terrifying masterpiece. Else, why hasn't it tried to protect him from all of these curses? Or from Ava? Just saying.
She manages a bit of a smile, smelling the food. The meat actually smells good and the cheese looks fine. Nothing stinky, nothing rotting. She grabs one of the little knives they've brought to cut a small slice and pop it into her mouth. She shrugs. ]
I mean... It tastes fine.
[ She tries a similarly small piece of one of the meats, eats it, and takes another sip of her martini. ]
Nothing yet, but I'll let you know. There likely is something but... I don't know if it'll completely fall in line with what you're thinking. You could always ask the waiter when they bring my food out.
[ She ordered the special to be mostly rare, to at least see what kind of meat it is. 'Prime cut' would usually mean beef but...it didn't clarify. Maybe it's horse or something completely bizarre. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 08:01 pm (UTC)That's not it. It would have just put that in my head like it did with Father Anderson's-
[He breaks off, wrinkling his nose. Just the memory of all of those sex dreams is enough to make him gulp the rest of his wine and refill the glass to try to wash it out of his head.]
Ugh... that had better not be it. Do you know how expensive all of this is going to be?
[And for food that's going to go mostly uneaten unless the 'special' is just impossible for Ava to resist.]
Maybe there's something in the kitchen... Did I tell you about the meat grinder Statement?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-02 11:46 pm (UTC)[ The last thing she wants to know is about Father Anderson's anything, whether it's about sex or dreams or who the fuck else knows. N o t h a n k y o u.
She scrubs at her face, reaching for her drink to finish it at this point. She'll stick with water, even if the burn of the alcohol is nice to try to sear the idea out of her thoughts. ]
I can pay. I have a good job and I don't mind. It's not like I pay for much these days, anyway.
[ Ava's slicing off more cheese when he talks about the meat grinder, and she pauses, giving him an odd look. ]
No, but considering this meal's already going to be weird, you might as well tell me.
[ It's not like she's expecting to eat much. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-03 12:19 am (UTC)[Sort of? He'd sort of just felt... compelled to come here. Or was it a hunch? He has trouble telling the difference between those two things these days. He sighs and turns off the tape recorder. They already have this at the Institute, and he doesn't need to record a highlights reel of it and waste the tape.]
The meat grinder, though. It was a Statement by Mikaele Salesa, a man who's appeared more than once throughout our Archives. He's deals in antiques. Many of them to do with the powers. Before that, he was working under Jurgen Leitner. A fool of a man who thought he could collect and protect all the books touched by the powers. Salesa left him long before his library was attacked and destroyed, the books scattered everywhere for innocent people to find. But this story begins on the sea...
[He's dramatic sometimes, Ava, and he's watching her closely to see how she's taken that first bit.]
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Date: 2019-09-03 12:40 am (UTC)[ For little things, of course. Food when they order in, groceries if he's out with her, small things when she asks. But Ava doesn't eat much, steals some things, and never really asks for much besides his company. And she does have a good job, if morbid. She thinks Hawke would pay for more if she let him.
Ava's chasing her food and martini with water now, both to listen but also because that hunger is growing, not to the point of ravenous - and not specifically a hunger for blood, just for...food - and she thinks listening will keep her from being too fixated on it.
She listens, taking in the names. Has he mentioned them before? She feels like he's mentioned 'Leitner' before in passing, but never really indulged in who he was. ]
Books touched by...
[ Bad. That's really bad. ]
Sorry, sorry. One thing at a time. Go ahead, I'm listening.
cw: cannibalism, body horror
Date: 2019-09-03 02:19 am (UTC)Most of Salesa's cargo finds its way around the world via ship. He's been a sailor most of his life now, or at least the life I've read about in the Statements. During one of his voyages when he was getting started out, he let the crew check his more... unusual cargo. He had the cook on the ship minding it for this particular voyage and he found that the man was taking increasingly long in his inspections. Finally, he went down to confront him when he'd taken an age and found Cook staring at an antique meat grinder. Salesa didn't know there was anything particular unusual about the meat grinder then, so he offered to sell to the man on the spot. A tidy deal, he though. Cook accepted and that was that as far as Salesa was concerned.
Almost immediately after that, Cook began serving portions of meat at the meal. Not unusual, really. A man might like to test his new 'toy.' But it kept going. Meat and meat and meat, far more than they should have had available in the stores on a voyage like this. He also noticed that Cook, himself was changed. He'd always been a meticulous man, but now there were small bloodstains on his clothes. Not something most would pay attention to on a ship, but enough that Salesa noticed. Cook had also started hiding his left arm. Always with a coat or something draped over it, even when it was too hot to warrant it. Salesa stopped eating the meat at the meals.
It went on, though. The quartermaster couldn't account for it in the stocks, so Salesa went snooping in the kitchen. He found the meat grinder there, perfect, polished, looking practically brand new. There was also a stock pot with rather suspicious-looking bones in it. He didn't have time for too close a look, though. So he came back when he knew Cook would be there...
[A pause for effect as much as to take another sip of wine.]
He broke into the kitchen, surprising the man. He found Cook's severed arm on the counter, the stump shoved deep into the meat grinder. He was grinding away with his free hand an ecstatic look on his face. It wasn't his own flesh coming through as mince, though. No. Cook was pulling a new arm out of the grinder's funnel. Slowly, painfully, blissfully.
Of course, Salesa grabbed the man, demanding answers. Cook panicked, tried to kill him, and Salesa dispatched the man. The crew threw him overboard, but Salesa kept the grinder, sold it to some Canadian who went missing a few years later. If that meat grinder or something like it found its way into the kitchens here... that might be why we've come here.
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Date: 2019-09-03 02:57 am (UTC)She's not fixed on it. But she's absorbing the information, sipping her water intermittently, mouth gone dry. She doesn't touch the meat, even if she's chipping away a little at a time with the cheese board.
When he comes to the end, she's gone pale. ]
Christ.
[ Ava drinks from her glass, finishing it, stomach roiling painfully with discomfort...and the gnawing hunger, which she dislikes even more now. ]
Maybe. You think maybe things like that are collecting in a world like this... Like sewage dump in a nexus? Your story reminds me of a nagaraja I met--
[ Oh. And her food's here now. Christ.
Ava looks even worse now, because the food smells really, really good. She's ordered it mostly rare so she can try to figure out what it is, and she gives it a good look when she realizes--
Well, it's not a sure thing. But she's pretty sure she knows that smell now. And the smell of the 'gravy' that's being poured. The waiter starts to leave. ]
Hey, uh, sorry-- Sorry. I don't get to know what the special is?
[ The waiter smiles. "It's our specialty for a reason! And it's not something we can just tell people--" ]
Oh, come on. [ She's staring right at him now, eyes on his. ] Tell me what it is.
[ He stops. Stares. He can't break away. "It's...rare meat. Very rare. Sourced from donors!" Ava's about to start literally digging into his mind if he doesn't give her a straight answer. Does he even know? ]
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Date: 2019-09-03 05:17 am (UTC)[It's all Jon manages to get out the server steps in with Ava's food. It does smell delicious. But after recounting Salesa's tale, that just makes the Archivist all the more suspicious. And as Ava uses her own brand of compelling. Jon's tape recorder clicks itself back on. Apparently this is important.]
What type of donors?
[The tape recorder hisses with static.
"Consensual. Entirely consensual donors. I can assure you we're not that sort of canteen."
Cannibals. These people just straight cannibals.]
Where are they, your willing donors?
[The man is struggling now under the weight of both Ava's Dominate and Jon's compelling power. "The-the... I don't know? I think the hospital? The charity shops?"]
Right.
[He's a little drunk, but that doesn't matter.]
Ava, we're going to hospital. Now.
[The server looks alarmed. "But your food!"]
Eat it yourself.
[He pulls out his wallet and puts down several hundred dollars. He'd sort of been planning to use that for Integra's 'signing bonus,' but here they are. He can get more.]
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Date: 2019-09-03 02:34 pm (UTC)Her stomach churns painfully. Ava doesn't know how she keeps herself from throwing up, but she realizes she knew exactly what cooked human flesh smelled like long before this, and the memory is so visceral that her grip on the table tightens almost to the point of snapping it beneath the pressure of her hands. It's a good thing that Jon jumps in, because Ava's agitation skyrockets, and she is terribly close to grabbing the waiter and pulling him into the room, and that won't end well for anyone.
...Or maybe it wasn't great that Jon jumped in, because he's tipsy and throwing money on the table, saying they're going to head out, and...
This really isn't going to go well. Ava stands after Jon leaves the room and she follows him out the door, not once mentioning how she's still hungry. Being in the hospital may or may not make things better on that end. ]
No one's going to give us this information, Jon. It's probably privacy protected. And we really can't be compelling hospital staff on their shift.
[ Is that stopping her from following him? No.
Is it stopping her from looking for a side door? Not at all. ]
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Date: 2019-09-05 01:34 am (UTC)Why not? We need to know why these people are doing this. What's making them 'willing' donors.
[There's his Statement. That's what he wants. That's why the Beholding sent him to that restaurant. The nearest hospital isn't difficult to find. Jon strides with surety, some of the fear burned out of him for the moment. The drink is helping with that, but it's more than that. The Archivist Knows this is what he needs to do. With as little certainty as there is in his life, it's hard not to grasp it and cling tight when it comes.]
We need to find out.
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Date: 2019-09-06 03:50 am (UTC)[ And they still don't know what'll happen if they're not out of here by then. Die? Suffer some other horrible end? She'd like to not be caught here if she can help it.
Ava's wandering after him, and she does see a side door that seems to go into the back of the hospital, which seems...dark? But it's evening, so maybe they're down to smaller staff? It's hard to tell, and she gets the door for Jon as they head in. There are only a few people in the waiting room and things seem quiet enough. Not unheard of, as it might not be the only hospital in the city. The man at the front desk asks if they're there to check in, and if someone's injured.
This isn't going to go well. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-07 01:16 am (UTC)I'm here to make a donation. [Jon's eyes are fixed on the man who blinks in surprise as they approach.
"Oh! Um... well, the finance department is closed this late, but if you come back-"]
Not a financial contribution. Something else.
["Something... else?" His smile is about as fake as it's possible to be. "You'll need to be specific."]
A few excess pounds. What would you be able to tell me about that, Davis?
[There's a soft hiss from the tape recorder.
"Not... much? I mean, I don't work downstairs. I just know that people donate their bodies for tax write-offs and to pay debts. You'd need to head to the basement." He pauses, an expression of confusion crossing his face. "W-wait. Why did I...?"]
Come on, Ava. That's all we needed, Davis. Thank you. Why don't you get a coffee? It's late isn't it? You must need a little pick-me-up by now.
[Davis opens his mouth, then closes it a few times, backing away from the desk and nodding mutely before walking off.]
Basement...
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Date: 2019-09-09 04:39 am (UTC)Davis looks startled as he heads away, and Ava follows Jon with a frown that continues to grow. ]
Tax write-offs. Debts.
[ It's one thing to sell your body in terms of deeds, work, sex, that sort of thing. But putting your body parts on the black market? That's a whole other thing. And then it's...what, sold to a restaurant?
It's not really willing, she tells herself. ]
Jon, this isn't going to go well if we go down there. You know that, right?
[ Either they're going to get thrown out or someone's going to have to die. ]
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Date: 2019-09-09 04:57 am (UTC)You don't need to come down with me. Find the stairs and guard them. I'll come up to you again. It might be good to have a lookout.
[And safer for Ava... even if she is dead.]
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Date: 2019-09-09 02:44 pm (UTC)[ And she's walked in on too many of them in her life already, to be very frank about it. ]
What are you planning on doing? Just taking the information from them like you did? Because I'm pretty sure that's going to piss them off.
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Date: 2019-09-10 01:10 am (UTC)I...
[What is he planning to do? Mostly, he just wants to know and that's the sum total of this endeavor. The lack of forward planning is likely clear on his features as he stares blankly at Ava for several seconds.]
Well, I mean, I could ask them their darkest secret and just sort of... blackmail them into keeping quiet and letting us out once we have what we need?
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