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[bloodbinds]

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( Roberts, Ava )

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[compellingstatement]

[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.]

Basement...

[bloodbinds]

[ 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. ]

[compellingstatement]

[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.

[And safer for Ava... even if she is dead.]

[bloodbinds]

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.

[compellingstatement]

[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?

[bloodbinds]

And if there are cameras downstairs? What exactly are you going to do then?

[ Getting gutted is still kind of high on the list, unfortunately, but the more likely outcome is a little bit less than that. Maybe? Maybe. ]

You don't think blackmailing them won't piss them off enough to come find you in Duplicity? I'm just asking that you slow down and think, okay?

[compellingstatement]

They might be... limited like we are? Four hours on our side. That's hardly enough time to find me in a city as big as Duplicity.

[These are all perfectly sensible things to think about, but they're delaying what he wants, which is to be downstairs and looking around.

As for the cameras... he really wishes he had Elias' powers at the moment.]

I don't suppose you could sort of just break any cameras?

[bloodbinds]

Or they can use the directory and find that one Jonathan Sims runs the new Magnus Institute in Duplicity. And find that he's a Dom with a couple of Subs, and wouldn't it be fun to hurt them to get to him?

[ Fucking think, Jon.

To his question, she just sighs and rolls her eyes, heading around him. She briefly pulls the long knife out of her boot to show him. ...And the pistol that's in her pants. ]

Yeah, I can. So let's go.

[compellingstatement]

They didn't know my name until you said it. [And there might not be any cameras up here, but still. Jon huffs as he jabs the button to call the lift. It opens almost immediately. He'd like to see someone try to hurt Alessandro. That wouldn't end well for the other party. Lyall, though...] I'll be careful in what I ask them. And if they start to get agitated we can leave. I can just pretend I'm making a donation still and back out, if I need to. I can't even chop off my own fingers. I doubt they'll get very far.

[This is, surely, comforting information.]

[bloodbinds]

[ Ava steps into the lift with him, checking for those cameras in question. There aren't any, likely to protect them from liability. If no one knows the faces or names of the people who have come in to make donations, then they can't be pulled for complaints. Can't be pulled in to court. Especially if it's all about a debt.

She wonders if they shouldn't be going to some director's office. Maybe she'll do that after.

Ava looks towards Jon. ]

Uh... Do I want to know why you're aware of these facts?

[compellingstatement]

[Jon sighs.]

I needed an anchor to get Daisy out of the coffin. My own body seemed... good enough. I'm rather attached to it. [Hahah! Dismemberment humor.] But I couldn't cut off my finger, no matter how hard I tried. It was healed as soon as I pulled the knife out. It's why I'm fine with stabbing myself if I get... hungry. It's not going to do any lasting damage.

[bloodbinds]

[ U h h h h h. ]

It doesn't matter if there's no lasting damage, it still hurts like shit.

[ And considering she has been stabbed multiple times? Yeah, she knows that personally. ]

An anchor is supposed to be a part of your body? You weren't attached to anything else in the world?

[compellingstatement]

Someone put tape recorders outside the coffin. They helped bring me back. I think it was Martin.

[He shrugs his shoulders uncomfortably as the bell dings at the doors open on the basement level.

It's a morgue. Charming. Jon's silent as they step out and he looks to Ava. He can hear someone working behind a curtain nearby. She might be able to sense there are two people over there. Only one of them is moving.]

[bloodbinds]

[ That doesn't help context at all but, frankly, this isn't the time or the place for it. She absorbs what the information tells her, at least, about tape records and Martin. And when the door opens, she reaches out to grab Jon by the shoulder before he goes too far. She just wants a moment to figure out what's down here.

The morgue is clean. Pristine, actually, but it just adds to the dichotomy of the city in general, the black and white stark in contrast. But she hears someone doing...something. It doesn't sound like an embalming machine, like the one she's used to. It sounds like the soft clank of metallic instruments, like surgery.

Her vision shifts to Auspex and she moves just a little ahead of Jon to get a good look at who all is down here. Just humans, she realizes, but one is moving...and one is not. The second person isn't even dead, not entirely, not yet--

And the blood she smells is fresh. Warm. It hits her and stirs her stomach, makes her half-ravenous. She should've eaten, she realized but she'd...just had blood before meeting Jon, and she shouldn't be this hungry, but she is and she doesn't understand it. She blinks away Auspex, turning her head away, trying not to alert Jon too badly. With a gesture of her hand, she indicates he should be quiet as they approach. ]

[compellingstatement]

[He holds back, notices the... odd reaction Ava's having, and creeps after her. As he does, Jon hits the record button on his tape recorder again without even thinking about it. It's only a soft click and very quiet whir from the tape, but in the relative quiet of the morgue, it's practically deafening. The sounds of movements pause and a man's voice calls, "Tom, is that you? Five minutes, man. I've gotta close up."]

Close up what?

[Jon can't help himself. He really can't. Static crackles across the tape. A melanistic man pokes his head out from behind the curtain looking confused.

And then he freezes. "I'm closing up the donor. I've got the piece of lung we needed." He blinks. "What the... who are you?!"]

[bloodbinds]

[ The tape recorder clicks on. Ava turns back to Jon, irritated. And then again, near-furious, when he actually says something.

Fucking idiot--

The guy startles and Ava is quick to cross the distance between them, getting his attention solely focused on her. ]

I need you to keep working and close him up. Don't worry about us. You don't need to be concerned.

[ All of the weight of Dominate comes down in those words, forcing him to do exactly what she wants him to. But this only makes her hungrier, makes her want to eat, and now that she's so much closer she can taste the blood in the air --

Focus, Ava. Focus. ]

You need to keep that man alive.

[ Because if he dies, there will be major, major consequences. Thankfully, he does go back to working, a bit of a glaze in his eyes, though he's still adamant (even if his tone is gentler, more placating towards Ava): "You shouldn't be here, you know. This isn't safe. I can get to you in a moment, okay?" ]

[compellingstatement]

[Jon doesn't hurry after Ava, letting her take point and looking around for 'Tom.' But there's no one else down here for the moment. His tape recorder crackles when Ava presses into the surgeon with her Dominate. Jon does approach after a few seconds, trying to get around the curtain to see what exactly is going on. There's definitely a man with his chest cracked open. And there's a cooler of some sort nearby. He can only assume the lung is in here.]

Rodney Fischer. [The name comes to him as he stares at the patient.] Gambling debts. He's been donating parts of his body for years to try to pay them off, but this is the biggest, yet.

[His gaze flicks up to the surgeon then over to Ava.] Can he answer questions while he's working like that?

[bloodbinds]

[ Christ. Ava glances sideways towards the man on the table, again reaching out to keep Jon from just running up into this man's space and causing yet another issue. She practically growls at him. ]

Don't. Let him close the man up, then you can ask your questions. If this flubs and Rodney dies, that's blood on our hands.

[ And she's refusing to let it come to that. ]

Give him time. You'll get to grill him.

[ "Yeah, uh, hi? I'm right here, I can hear you." ]

And you should be focused on your work right now. [ To Jon, she asks: ] You, be focused on Rodney. What else has he given? Do you know?

[compellingstatement]

[Patience. Right. Jon purses his lips and focuses on the patient. He doesn't even need the Eye's knowledge. If Ava is paying close attention, she'll see a faint sheen of multi-colored static flicker across the Archivist's eyes.]

Oh, god. I can- I can See it, Ava. Everything that was cut out. One of his kidneys, part of his liver, spleen, appendix, gallbladder, testes, two strips of muscle and fat from the backs of his thighs. Christ...

[bloodbinds]

[ She does see it. She sees the shifting static, the power in his knowledge. She isn't certain if he's calling on the Eye or if Jon simply Knows...

Some part of her wants to switch to Auspex, to look, to know, to understand the shape of the Beholding as it contrasts to Jonathan Sims... But now isn't the time. It'd be a phenomenally poor time to do this, so she holds off, squeezing his shoulder instead. ]

There's not much holding him together. His body's gonna give out one of these days.

[ "That's his problem, really." The surgeon continues to work, not even looking over. He's stitching the man's body back up. "If he's going to work himself into debt, then by all means. Why do you even care what he gets into?" ]

[compellingstatement]

[The Archivist's attention turns sharply to the surgeon, and the man will have to endure a silent, heated stare that causes his whole body to start shaking.

"C-can you- make him look away if you want me to finish this right." He seems to be imploring Ava.]

[bloodbinds]

Keep focusing on your task and keep that man alive.

[ It's snapped, more intimidation than pure Dominate, but it has the desired effect. In turn, she swivels Jon around by the arm so he's looking at her instead. ]

Hey. Enough. He's almost done. Don't make him lose focus, okay? Just a little longer.

[ She sounds like she's telling Wuffles to calm down when Hawke's making dinner. The irony isn't lost on her that Jon is staring down his next meal. ]

[compellingstatement]

I'm not doing anything. [It's a grouse, but Jon does keep his eyes turned away from the surgeon who seems to be working as slowly as humanly possible. Perhaps because he doesn't want to deal with what comes after. He looks up sharply after a few minutes, though, looking to the lift. There's another crackle of static on the tape recorder.]

Tom's coming for the lung.

["Thank fuck," the surgeon mutters.]

[bloodbinds]

[ She stares right back at Jon for a moment, like a mother might to a child that's insisting he's not touching his sibling because his hand is an inch away from them. But Jon does as she asks and she turns back to the other man, waiting, until Jon perks up again. Ava's eyes go to the lift.

Fuck.

Turning, she takes Jon by the arm and tugs him. ]

Go, get in the corner over there, behind the other curtain. Crouch down.

[ And to the other man, she goes and clamps her arm down on his shoulder until he turns to her, and she bores her gaze into him as if looking at him will kill him, and she hisses: ]

Don't tell him about us. We aren't here. And if you say anything, I'll rip your fucking throat out with my fingers. Got it?

[ He swallows, trembling a moment, and then turns his eyes to his work. Ava goes to join Jon if he's gone to hide. If he hasn't, he's getting dragged. ]

[compellingstatement]

[Jon does as he's told. Though he finds a place to crouch so that he can peer through a gap in the curtain hopefully without being seen. He wants to watch Ava and their surgeon. When he hears her threaten him, thought, there's a part of the Archivist that's... well, when she's directing it at other people, seeing Ava do that makes his heart beat a little faster with something other than fear. Maybe the danger of it is what's attractive? That's probably it.

Ava comes over and manages to get to her cover just as the doors ding and a portly looking melanistic man strolls out.

"Hey, Aamir. You got the goods, man?" He sounds far too jovial.

"Yeah. Um... I'm finished." Aamir grabs a cooler and plasters a smile onto his face as he offers it over. "Everything went smoothly. You should send Wes and Jules down here to take Mr. Fischer back upstairs. Soon. Really soon."

Tom huffs. "I'll let 'em know. Might be 20, though. Mrs. Kelso's acting up again."

Aamir's all but sweating as he nods. "Okay. See you on break."

And just like that Tom heads back over to the lift. As soon as the doors close, Jon is up and breaking from cover is Ava doesn't stop him. His eyes are fixed on Aamir. He does, at least, check with her.]

Can I ask him now?