[It hadn't occurred to him until the moment when he's coughing, spitting, trying to wipe trails of blood from his mouth that he has a vampire with him. It's made abundantly clear just how much of a problem that is when he looks up and sees Ava staring at him... and then at Aamir.
Jon can't help his own gaze sharpening on the man as he gives his Statement. Pitiful though it might be, it's a lead to this Tom. Perhaps something of the Web is actually at work? The Web aiding the Flesh?
He doesn't get too long to ponder on it by the end, though, because Ava is gripping him hard enough that Jon can't help a sound of pain. And she's growling, and leaning in, and his mind flashes to that day with Daisy, with Mike Crew carelessly murdered beside him, a dull knife pressed to his own throat. Ava's teeth won't be dull, though.
His pulse thrums a rabbit's pace as he stares silently, terror gripping him. And then she's bodily shoving him halfway across the morgue to the lift. Jon staggers with the force and whips around as Aamir starts to scream. She'd told him to leave, but he can't. He can't leave when he has to bear witness to this. His throat is tight. But that man's is tighter. He's going to die.
Aamir is going to die tonight and maybe that would be right, but-]
Ava, stop! [Jon shouts it. Then, because he doesn't have any better 'weapon' to use against the vampire... he tries to compel her.] What are you doing, Ava? Answer me. Right now, right here, what are you doing?
[ The blood is sweet and good on her tongue, warm as it slides down her throat. She's monitoring his heart rate even as the Beast howls in triumph deep within her chest. Ava's control is only just, a thread that's plucked over and over and close to snapping if she doesn't get what she wants. This abates that need just a little but she's well aware that she'll need more. Jon will go and she'll find her way back up, and everything will--
She hears her name only distantly until Jon compels her, and then she's wincing, whimpering into Aamir's neck, pulling her mouth away to gasp painfully, the sound wet with blood that drips from her mouth.
Whipping her head around, she sees Jon there, and her gaze is dark and predatory. She is being denied her meal and he's hurting her. ]
I'm eating, Jonathan Sims, and I told you to get away from me.
[ Those last words are not only thrumming tightly with Dominate but also being shouted into his head, trying to get him to actually go while her meal is fresh, while she can glut herself on this man, or she's going to turn on him. ]
Guh! [He's forced to take a step back toward the lift, and he almost raises a hand to call for it when he stops himself. He's now sporting a splitting headache of his own.]
Promise me you won't kill him. Are you going to kill him?
[Without Ava's fangs in his neck, there's a bit of a lag for Aamir, but he does start to stir. "What's going... on?" Speech slurred. "Hey... you?" He's trying to sound solicitous, clearly still high on whatever toxin is in the vampire's bite.]
[ That hurts even worse, and Ava almost loses focus on her task. The Beast is screaming and she feels as if she's going to unravel at any moment into a bloodlust she won't be able to stop. Her fingers dig into Aamir's shoulders and she shoves him down again, hissing. He doesn't stir much, doesn't even seem bothered, too lulled by the Kiss. There's a searing pain in her head. ]
No! No, fuck, no, I'm not!
[ What is she doing? What is she doing? It hurts to think, everything hurts, she just wants Jon to go away so she can eat but this... This isn't right.
Ava tries to rouse herself, tries to hold off the Beast, and Jon will have a good look at her simply looming over Aamir as she struggles with the desire to feed, the want to tear into him, and some other raw panic that's trying to force her to let him go. Her shoulders are shuddering and she bends down to lick the wound closed, her hand going over the man's mouth. Her gaze is on his own. ]
You won't remember this. None of it. You were here doing your job and no one else was here.
[ Aamir goes rigid, eyes wide, staring at her...and all fight slips away as she works her magic and her power into him, the hunger still terrible in her stomach. Do this right, get out of here, get away from Jon--
Don't kill. Don't kill. Don't.
Like a heartbeat, over and over, even as her body rebels and she starts to tremble. Just...hold out. Hold on. ]
[This is such a mess. They still need to talk to Tom, but now he's covered in blood and she's apparently desperate for it and- And this is a hospital. There must be blood bags somewhere, right? Or...?
Jon hastily jabs the button for the lift and it's almost a minute of tense silence before it dings.]
Come on, Ava. Come on. He needs time to set back up or people might get suspicious when they get here.
[ 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.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:15 am (UTC)Jon can't help his own gaze sharpening on the man as he gives his Statement. Pitiful though it might be, it's a lead to this Tom. Perhaps something of the Web is actually at work? The Web aiding the Flesh?
He doesn't get too long to ponder on it by the end, though, because Ava is gripping him hard enough that Jon can't help a sound of pain. And she's growling, and leaning in, and his mind flashes to that day with Daisy, with Mike Crew carelessly murdered beside him, a dull knife pressed to his own throat. Ava's teeth won't be dull, though.
His pulse thrums a rabbit's pace as he stares silently, terror gripping him. And then she's bodily shoving him halfway across the morgue to the lift. Jon staggers with the force and whips around as Aamir starts to scream. She'd told him to leave, but he can't. He can't leave when he has to bear witness to this. His throat is tight. But that man's is tighter. He's going to die.
Aamir is going to die tonight and maybe that would be right, but-]
Ava, stop! [Jon shouts it. Then, because he doesn't have any better 'weapon' to use against the vampire... he tries to compel her.] What are you doing, Ava? Answer me. Right now, right here, what are you doing?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:27 am (UTC)She hears her name only distantly until Jon compels her, and then she's wincing, whimpering into Aamir's neck, pulling her mouth away to gasp painfully, the sound wet with blood that drips from her mouth.
Whipping her head around, she sees Jon there, and her gaze is dark and predatory. She is being denied her meal and he's hurting her. ]
I'm eating, Jonathan Sims, and I told you to get away from me.
[ Those last words are not only thrumming tightly with Dominate but also being shouted into his head, trying to get him to actually go while her meal is fresh, while she can glut herself on this man, or she's going to turn on him. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:32 am (UTC)Promise me you won't kill him. Are you going to kill him?
[Without Ava's fangs in his neck, there's a bit of a lag for Aamir, but he does start to stir. "What's going... on?" Speech slurred. "Hey... you?" He's trying to sound solicitous, clearly still high on whatever toxin is in the vampire's bite.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:43 am (UTC)No! No, fuck, no, I'm not!
[ What is she doing? What is she doing? It hurts to think, everything hurts, she just wants Jon to go away so she can eat but this... This isn't right.
Ava tries to rouse herself, tries to hold off the Beast, and Jon will have a good look at her simply looming over Aamir as she struggles with the desire to feed, the want to tear into him, and some other raw panic that's trying to force her to let him go. Her shoulders are shuddering and she bends down to lick the wound closed, her hand going over the man's mouth. Her gaze is on his own. ]
You won't remember this. None of it. You were here doing your job and no one else was here.
[ Aamir goes rigid, eyes wide, staring at her...and all fight slips away as she works her magic and her power into him, the hunger still terrible in her stomach. Do this right, get out of here, get away from Jon--
Don't kill. Don't kill. Don't.
Like a heartbeat, over and over, even as her body rebels and she starts to tremble. Just...hold out. Hold on. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:47 am (UTC)Jon hastily jabs the button for the lift and it's almost a minute of tense silence before it dings.]
Come on, Ava. Come on. He needs time to set back up or people might get suspicious when they get here.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:52 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 04:56 am (UTC)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.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:05 am (UTC)[ 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. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:13 am (UTC)[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."]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:28 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:33 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:44 am (UTC)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
Date: 2019-09-15 01:43 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 02:51 pm (UTC)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?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 02:56 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:05 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:13 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:33 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:44 pm (UTC)[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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:50 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:54 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:31 pm (UTC)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?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:33 pm (UTC)You don't think part of the quota could be... cannibalism?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:35 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 05:39 pm (UTC)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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