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string theory [closed]
Without any warning or preamble, a set of messages are sent briefly over Communion.
To D and Matt, the message is simple. It’s time. Go to The Crown to meet Coalbrand. He’ll be the one getting you to the tower. And indeed, they’ll be welcomed by the demon with a glittering smile and cloying words asking if there’s anything he can supply them with. Whether they do so is up to them, but it’s not wise—that’s how you end up in debt to the house. But eventually, a magical slumber will greet them and they’ll awake within Aetós’s tower.
To Flat and Gen, the message is a bit more complicated, but it amounts to “it’s time to work”. Bring whatever you might need for a few days, since the work itself isn’t usually quick. But when they’re ready, come to The Crown. Aetós will meet them there.
To D and Matt, the message is simple. It’s time. Go to The Crown to meet Coalbrand. He’ll be the one getting you to the tower. And indeed, they’ll be welcomed by the demon with a glittering smile and cloying words asking if there’s anything he can supply them with. Whether they do so is up to them, but it’s not wise—that’s how you end up in debt to the house. But eventually, a magical slumber will greet them and they’ll awake within Aetós’s tower.
To Flat and Gen, the message is a bit more complicated, but it amounts to “it’s time to work”. Bring whatever you might need for a few days, since the work itself isn’t usually quick. But when they’re ready, come to The Crown. Aetós will meet them there.
EVERYBODY
This will have to do. We'll get started.
[ He looks to his two assistants. ]
Gen, I'm assigning you to D. Flat, to Matt.
[ He looks to D and Matt as he steps forward. ]
You came willingly. So we can avoid restraints until necessary.
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A long time ago, Gen told him a certain someone's Meridian persona could help him with a prosthetic arm if he had been interested. D did not expect the prosthetic arm benefactor to be the same man as Aetós actually, so his brows do rise slightly in surprise. Well, this explains the Meridian part.
He's still accustomed to people not being who they seem at first.]
I'm fine with whatever is needed.
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He pushes away from the wall he'd been leaning against, bootsoles thumping against the ground as he steps forth to where D is, coming to a halt a half-step behind and to D's side -- the perfect position to grab at him and maneuver him as Aetos requests, if necessary. Though Gen makes no move to touch him, not yet. He instead stands with his hands resting at his sides for a moment before clasping them behind his back, bodyguard-style, where he can grasp hard at his own hand to vent a little tension.
In that psychic link between them, maybe D can feel the low simmer of unease and discontent prickling through Gen's mind, rasping at him like sandpaper. Though Gen's expression and the majority of his psyche radiate a grim determination, those dog ears of his are gently tilted back. ]
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[ He wonders about that, perhaps. But with a nod to Gen, he gestures for them to step into the room adjacent from where they’d been waiting. It’s a door locked with magic, and Victor’s hand hovers over the handle. A teal light comes from his hand, and there’s a heavy click as the door unlocks. Clearly, this is the room that’s kept most secure.
Inside, it’s clearer why. This is a proper laboratory, and it’s also set up much more nicely than his previous one in the Below. That’s the benefit of being state sanctioned (/having a sugar daddy). There are tables set up for surgery with tools neatly set next to them, tables with mechanisms in the process of being worked on, but most strikingly, in the center of the room is a large pillar of glass filled with swirling teal light. It’s enclosed, but there’s a hatch to access it. This isn’t strictly relevant though, since he gestures to one of the tables for D. ]
Here. Get comfortable. [ literally impossible, but ] Gen will strap you in. It’s restraint for stability while I work.
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A retraction, a compartmentalization.
For some idiotic reason, he still has so much hair, except it is now fortunately braided back into a single, long plait. He only has one arm, so this must have been done by someone else. He removes his hat politely and sets it out of the way nearby. All the armor would have been annoying, so he came in nothing but the fitted leather top and leather pants. He removes the top in case with a sort of clinical air, surprisingly adept with one hand, and it is placed aside with the hat after.
As he slips onto the table to lie like a corpse, his gaze lingers on the large pillar of glass rather than Gen strapping him in.]
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The first strap, he pulls tight without comment, and without even looking at D. Keeping his focus solely on his own hands as he yanks the strap into place and gives it a tug to make sure it's properly secured. But as he leans in to fasten down a strap against D's upper arm, he speaks. Softly, voice rendered low enough that only D will be able to hear it comfortably. ]
This is probably your last chance if you wanted to change your mind.
[ Gen knows about how unfairly strong D is. He could probably rip his way out of those straps and leave if he wanted. But once the experiment starts, all bets are off, probably. So now really is the last chance, he imagines ... though equally, he's pretty sure D won't take that offer (suggestion, urging, insistence) that he leave.
Fucking dumbass. ]
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He doesn’t respond to Gen’s words, though to himself, they’re noted with interested. What would he feel if they were taken? Irrelevant, he decides.
So, by the time he turns back and tugs on a glove (his mercury hand hardly needs one, after all) and starts to tie an apron, he looks to Matt also being secured nearby. ]
We’ll be solving a problem for you, technically. It will be unpleasant. But this is an area that I have significant experience. [ He pauses, considers, then nods to Gen. Or more specifically, his arm. ] A transplant first, then a prosthetic. It seemed the most discordant considering your ties.
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Gen had made the attempt a few times now.
D's lids lower briefly, and he turns his head to look up at Gen as they lift again. He searches Gen's face, his own expression annoyingly resolute. It seems like he simply exchanges a little, but the cool roll of D's being curls up through Gen's mind.] I can handle it. Help Hayame get rid of me if something happens. [Aetos experimentation on the last few people didn't go so well.
His eyes shift around Gen to Victor, and Gen can feel the dip toward sourness. Not for himself. His eyes then look slowly over in the direction where Matt and Flat are. Oh boy.]
Will he be conscious?
[He is not.........worried about himself!!]
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Matt glances to Flat with a look of relief. He doesn't know a lot about Flat, really--he still considers them close to strangers--but he trusts what Flat said about humanity being important to him. The drive to preserve human beings as a group, it has to mean opposing Oblivion at least a little bit. And on a selfish level, if Matt's going to be tortured, he'd rather it be by someone he knows and likes. ]
Oh, ah--before I forget. [ Before he's too busy screaming and/or growing horns and/or turning into a patch of mushrooms. Matt pulls a slim leather sleeve from his bag and holds it out to Aetós. ] The notes I took about Oblivion. It's not a lot, like I said ... but for what it's worth.
[ Inside the sleeve are a few notebook pages, their text copied with care to write neatly. Matt has also included a drawing of the spell diagram he used to detain the shadow Tezcatlipoca interrogated. ]
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[ though observant, flat reaches a rather unconventional conclusion— as per usual.
even with the experiment about to start, the young man is… well, still not any different. still upbeat, still energetic, still— ]
Hey, I wanna see that, too!
[ —extremely curious. he swipes the papers from matt’s hand, turning his back on both mages. he takes about 30 seconds to go through them for information, memorizing them in their necessary files. once he’s done, he turns back towards aetós, all papers in hand— ]
Got it! Here you go, sir! [ and, turning back towards matt with a bright grin: ] Thanks!
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Thank you. [ To Matt, while Flat is doing his speedreading. ] I’ll review it… Hm. After, I suppose. Unless you think there’s anything pertinent now.
[ He takes the papers when Flat offers them with a bit of a withering look, but doesn’t actually scold him otherwise. There’s an impression that he (correctly) feels like it would be a waste of time. So, he nods, and off into the lab they go. ]
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Savants, [ he says to Aetos-now-Victor, in a pleasant, what can you do tone. His nose wrinkles. ] Although if we're all properly the products of every Aspect, maybe that doesn't mean much.
I don't think there's much in there that's immediately relevant, past what I've already shared, [ he adds, as they proceed into the lab. His attention is caught by the surgical tools, obviously, with a brief gut-plunge of what did I sign up for, but drawn after that to the pillar of gleaming teal.
So this is where you'd steal stuff from, if you were to try and steal. ]
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he smiles, an impish sparkle in his eyes. ]
Come on, Matt. Isn't this cool? It really does look like a mad scientist's lair. If I worked here, I would build Frankenstein's Monster 2.0. But a bit more efficient. Oh, then I guess it would be called the Escardos Monster? [ a beat. ] Well, I guess that already exists.
[ right. the experiment. ]
You should lay down on the table. He's probably going to make me strap you in or something like that like D. [ which he points behind his shoulder at. ] So if you're feeling like running away, this is your last chance!
[ he says this with his usual, peppy cheer, but the intention behind it is genuine. this is matt's last chance to take back this offer. ]
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[ Victor looks up at Matt and silently appraises him for a moment before returning to the papers. ]
A Stargazer. The other pieces are simply useful. With certain interests, at least.
[ With a nod, Victor sets the papers on a desk as they pass to review later, and he heads towards a sink to begin to scrub up. To Flat, he nods. ]
Your assumption is correct, Flat. Please secure him.
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Likewise, though he wants to say something about alchemy and completion, the progression of Tarot, to try and explain what he means about the Aspects, he doesn't do that either. Now's not the time. Plus, as he approaches the table, those thoughts start slipping past his grasp, leaving a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. ]
You know what's interesting that I forgot to ask, [ Matt says to Flat, sotto voce, ] is "how does raising Discord even work."
[ He doesn't really expect a reply. Or, to be more accurate, he doesn't expect a reply that he'll know what to do with. Onto the table he goes, beginning to breathe on a steady count: in four, hold seven, out eight. ]
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[ well, that's that. flat had tried to give matt the final out, but it seems like the other mage is just not having it. it truly makes him wonder if matt has a genuinely good idea of what he signed himself into, or if he has even wondered about why flat chose to be on the side of victor’s experiment versus strapped to the table with him and D.
making out the other conversation, flat's eyes widen just slightly as he hears matt whisper the question.
he turns back towards victor, towards D and gen, and then back to matt with a somewhat pitying smile. matt really should have asked that question ages ago. he straps the young man down, making sure that he won't wriggle out.
when he's done, he replies, in a soft, yet still somewhat chipper tone, if only to maintain the levity: ]
Haha...let's just say that we're going to be testing how good your meditation skills actually are. [ the smile widens just slightly, and he tilts his head to the side as he observes matt. ] Man, I can't believe you didn't even research that. I think you'd be really bad at surviving a horror movie, Matt. You're basically like an unwitting sacrifice.