SIXTY NINE ✖ VOICE & SPAM

[wedonot]

[Filtered from Alpha, Riddick and Creed]

I've got Rogue. I'm bringing her to the infirmary, and I've been able to flush out Alpha's handiwork. She should be back to normal once she wakes up.

And for the record, I'm more than willing to do the same for anyone else who's been affected.

[Private to Ned]

Any luck determining who the remaining victims are?

[Spam for Raven, backdated to after Zane's been healed]

[Once Zane is out of the woods and taken care of, and Charles finally feels like he can leave him to recuperate without feeling like he's abandoning him, he heads back to his room to wash up and change. He throws out the sweater - actually, he's almost considering throwing it over the side, because even if he could get all the blood off of it, he doesn't want to wear something that feels - and looks - more like a bandage now than an article of clothing.

He's so tired of this. He just wants his little circle of people to be safe, to stop having to deal with the reality that they're probably never going to be, no matter where they are.

It's an exhausting reality.

Once he's cleaned up, he throws on another sweater and just takes a moment to breathe, rubbing his temples with the pads of his fingers. This entire thing is just one giant headache, and he wishes it was less of a liability to just reach out and immediately find the other damaged people.]

[Spam for Touko]

[Charles heads to the library when Touko's shift is ending, just as Anya requested, and he's not... really sure what he's getting himself into. Obviously what Alpha's done to her needs to be reversed, but Anya's not wrong about how traumatic it can be, when you might like the person you were now more than the person you would have been without the tampering. It's not a simple matter of knowing that someone like Rogue or Riddick would be better off not getting homicidally angry.

Fortunately, it doesn't take long to find her.]

Ms. Fukawa? I was wondering if I could talk with you for a minute.

[Private to Zane, later]

[So. You're not on his item anymore. Which means either you've been reassigned, or.]

I have a potentially strange question to ask.

Comments

[persecutioncomplex]

[When Charles is there, she's packing up, signing out of computers and leaving everything logically organized for Chromie. She ignores him for a moment, because this has to be about school, and she stopped turning in homework in a language only two or three people on the Barge can read a week or so ago. She can't imagine any other reason.]

D-do you need a translation? I know Ms. Gordon's gone, and I don't know who else you'd ask.

[wedonot]

No, nothing like that. [He makes up the lie quickly, and it sounds perfectly casual and believable. While he talks, he's carefully examining her mind, looking for the tell tale signs of mental tampering.] I was wondering if you'd be interested in there being a sort of comparative history course. Pietro was thinking of doing something along those lines, but obviously he's left now, and it seemed like something the curriculum was missing. I wanted to gauge people's interest in it.

[persecutioncomplex]

[If Charles looks, even if he's never been in there before, he should feel seams like surgical scars. Nothing's cut away aside from a few snips, Arkady's work, but all Alpha's done is tuck fear and hostility into pockets with an opening smoothed over. Touko can feel someone else in her head tracing over her, and the first syllable of an answer hangs in the air before she can stammer out a response to make him leave.]

It'd be useful.

[He doesn't make any move to excuse himself, and that tells her who's inside her head. There's nothing wrong with anyone changing her; it's the only thing that's ever gone right here. She doesn't know what he wants, though, and she's never had entry without someone working away at her mind.]

You don't have to make me say yes. I'll already go.

[wedonot]

[He's still seen enough to know Anya was right, and so the light contact immediately pulls back, and he looks suitably shocked, and maybe a little hurt by the accusation. That, at least, isn't particularly difficult to fake.]

I'm not- I'm sorry, this is embarrassing, I haven't slept in almost three days, my control is a little... [He gestures uselessly to his head.] fuzzy, right now. I should have said something to warn you.

[And he can't help but make a comment about it, brow furrowing, because seriously. Maybe he's not exactly on the highest of moral grounds right now, but there's still a line he won't cross, and he's tired of people assuming the worst just because he's different.] I would never force you into saying yes to something.

[persecutioncomplex]

If you don't say anything, I don't know what you want.

[If anyone knows her well, this would tell them the truth about her: there's no poisoned edge to it, just the facts. Someone banging on your door could be looking for refuge from a psychopath, or they could be the one with the knife.]

Did you find what you wanted?

[wedonot]

Not exactly. [Which isn't really a lie. He didn't want to find out the progress Anya had thought she'd made was because of someone else tampering with her.]

But I suppose "it'd be useful" isn't an entirely unenthusiastic response, though. I'm sorry to have bothered you.

[persecutioncomplex]

What did you want?

[He'd have moved on if he'd just wanted an answer.]

[wedonot]

It doesn't matter. [And he has a perfect excuse if she pushes him on it. He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a slow breath; the headache isn't something he has to fake, either.]

I'll see you in class. [And he turns to leave.]