paradoxlol | .046

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.046 | Video.

Is it too late to get the Admiral enrolled in a driver's ed class? There, I did my requisite bitching for the day. I really feel like a part of the community now.

[Pause.]

Who's up for sparring?

[Filtered to ~ARTHUR'S BBs~ (aka his graduates)]
And how are we doing today, kids? You know I love to check up on you.

[Private to Perry]
Stop playing house with my twin and come to my cabin. We've got a therapy session tonight.

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Or you'd be sticking up for someone. [Something most wardens here probably wouldn't say.] Using your strength to stop a bully, to survive. How's that as bad as him? [He laughs dryly, standing so that he can start hooking Perry up to the PASIV.] Principle... Remind me never to call on you if I'm in trouble.

[Perry grits his teeth and swallows his anger as best he can, focusing on Arthur's movements, the intricate and compact PASIV machine, anything except his guilt and shame at not being able to help himself or Rex or anyone else. There's a snapping point inside him that he never wants to reach so he can't do anything. The best he can do to help anyone is take as much punishment as possible; he's stronger, he can take it. Perry notices his hands have involuntarily clenched into fists. He starts to uncurl them, but his anger at Arthur's goading comes through in one low hiss.]

I wouldn't help you anyway.

[It's petty, but hey. It's true. With that said, he works on pushing the rage down. He's not going to be like his dad. It's not going to happen.]

Edited 2011-08-19 17:46 (UTC)

[Arthur chuckles again and sticks the small needle into Perry's arm, before sitting down by the machine and doing the same to his own.]

I know. But that won't stop me from looking out for you. [That potential is, in fact, the only reason Perry's even "privileged" enough to have had regular sessions with the PASIV to coax out his killer instinct. Arthur could've easily incepted him and been done with it from the get-go, rather than work slowly. Now, however, it's the end of the road.]

The thing is, Perry... You've got potential, unlike the other schmucks I was assigned to. [Snape, Loki, even Parker... Arthur doesn't respect any of them.] I want to help you reach it.

[With those foreboding words, he sets the timer. The special compound hits his veins and knocks him out almost immediately.

The thing about performing inception as regularly as Arthur does... He's got a lot more refined selection of compounds than his original self does. Yusuf and other chemists-- some on the Barge, even-- have perfected an array of compounds to suit various... needs. This particular sedative takes them down, deep, from the beginning. Four levels down, which is dangerous as fuck, because it's so unstable, but he needs this idea to stick, and the fourth level's just... a set, really. A quick deception. They won't be there for long. The third is the one that matters. The second will reinforce the idea. And the first will wrap up the job.

With Arthur as the dreamer, he's set up a fairly surreal setting. An obvious dream-- the ruins of a city after something (Triangles?) has run through it. And when Perry dies, it'll take him a layer up, back to the "Barge." That's where the work will really begin.]

Remember. Projections aren't real. [He looks around, although it's quiet for now. Any projections that will cross their paths will have obvious signs of infection, beyond what Perry himself experienced.] Think of it like a shooting game.

[And yes, Perry, you do have a gun now.]

[Perry starts to reply to that last comment in the real world, but the drug kicks in fast enough that he's out before he can form a single word. Then-- They're in a city, ruined. Burnt-out shells of houses and the skeletal remains of skyscrapers. He looks around, taking it in. He almost goes to ask 'What happened?' when he remembers that Arthur set this up. It's his creation. Arthur built this city and then tore it down. To help Perry reach his "potential". A tiny shudder rolls down the big inmate's back.

The gun is tucked snugly into a holster on his belt. His normal self wouldn't keep it, too afraid of how fast a gun would let him shoot himself like Bill's voice tells him to, but this Perry has no suicidal urges and he just glances down at it with a mild look of disgust. He may not be suicidal, but Arthur's various creative methods down here have left him with the knowledge of how it feels to get shot. In just about every part of his body. He doesn't exactly like the idea of guns anymore.]

A shooting game. [He echoes in a hollow voice. A shooting game of dying people, a game to train him to kill in the real world. Arthur can turn nasty down here, so he doesn't bother to protest out loud, just slowly slides the heavy pistol into his hand.] Is that all we're doing down here?

Edited 2011-08-19 19:16 (UTC)

Unless there's a sudden plot twist. [Arthur shrugs, a little smirk playing at his lips as he catches some movement out of the corner of his eye, looks to the side to see an older woman, the skin of her arms hanging loose from sudden, rapid weight loss, staggering among the ruins. There are a few Triangles visible, even from the distance, underneath her skin.]

Boy, she looks like she's in pain... [He muses, wholly unconcerned with the projection's condition.] Bet she's gonna pop any minute.

[Not that either of them really knows what'll happen when they pop. Perry died before that ever happened, the sentimental idiot. On the plus side, it gives Arthur more leeway with the projections.]

[Perry hears the voices before he sees the woman--the toneless alien drone of the Triangles' mindspeech filling his head--and despite his seeming resignation to doing what Arthur wants, he winces. They're just... screaming. It's worse than he remembers, half directionless abuse, half a wordless expression of their rage. He shudders visibly, his big body hunching forward as if the sound were a physical weight placed on his shoulder. He doesn't need to look at her; he knows exactly what he's going to see. But he looks anyway. He can't stop himself. The Triangles stand out dark blue on her sagging skin, their tentacles radiating out underneath. Their black, lidless eyes stare right at Perruy. No matter how many times he's seen projections with Triangles, the eyes still get him. A strangled moan escapes him and he tears his eyes away to look at Arthur.]

I don't want to do this. Please... [He says it desperately, his exterior calm gone. The voices are too loud.] I don't need this.

[Arthur, for his part, observes the projection without any emotion. It doesn't mean anything to him, doesn't really bother him beyond aesthetic reasons. He puts a hand on Perry's shoulder, seemingly supportive.]

Hey... I know it's tough, but you need to do this. If you ever want to get out of here, if you ever want to get strong enough to help your friends... [The projection notices them, her demeanor going tense with sudden hostility.] It's kill or be killed.

[As Arthur's hand lands on his shoulder, he flinches, turning back to the woman. The projection's face twists into rage and the Triangles' screams turn on Perry. He cringes back, but brings the gun up instinctively as she moves towards him. He doesn't fire, though. Not yet.]

Arthur, come on, please.

I only put five minutes on the clock. We won't be here more than an hour, okay?

[Arthur pulls his own gun, but he doesn't fire at the projection yet. He wants Perry to do it.]

[Perry chews the inside of his cheek, ripping the skin and drawing blood. His hands hold the gun steady. The projection is getting closer and she's speeding up. Everything that happened--the way they burrowed their way out from under his skin, the cold, black malice in their three eyes looking at him from his own body--it all comes back. They used him. They violated him. He doesn't want to be this person, but what they did... The woman's Triangles' voices scream at him. She's only feet away now. With a wordless groan, he closes his eyes and fires.]

[The shot hits the projection, but nowhere lethal enough to stop it in its tracks, just slow it down. Arthur looks at Perry and shakes his head, firing a quick shot to finish off the projection neatly.]

Your aim's not gonna improve unless you actually look where you're firing. I want to see you try next time. Come on. [Time to EXPLORE his horrible dreamscape.]

Do I have to? [Perry mutters it as he follows Arthur, trying not to look at the woman's body. The protest is weak, more a teenage whining than anything else. Arthur won't stop until Perry does what he wants him to do. Plus, he knows his warden's methods of dealing with actual resistance first hand. It's just dumb to argue. Instead, Perry just keeps trying to tell himself that they're not real. The people he's killing down here aren't real. If they were real, he'd take any punishment Arthur could dish out to avoid taking lives. They're not real. He just has to keep hold of that thought.

When they've gone past the body, Perry looks over at Arthur.] Where are we going, anyway?

Edited 2011-09-14 13:14 (UTC)

To the source of your problems.

[So nice and vague. What Arthur means, of course, is Bill. Not the real deal, no, but Bill-the-Traitor. Bill, who's somehow responsible for the scenario they're in. Who's working with the Triangles, either because he wanted to or because he's too scared-- too undisciplined-- to refuse and stand up for people like Perry.]

[Perry really doesn't like that. He moves silently through the ruins after his warden for a while. They're getting deeper into the city now; there's smoke and twisted metal and bodies covered with rotting holes where the Triangles must have torn their way out. There's weird skittering sounds and occasional Triangle voices. But what Arthur has planned worries Perry more than even those. He doesn't want to know what Arthur thinks is the source of his problems, he really doesn't. But he asks anyway.] Which is?

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.046 | Video.

SPAM - PRETEND I'M NOT USING A BEARDLESS ICON

SPAM - WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I SEE A BEARD THERE.

SPAM - IT IS LUSH AND FULL. Now watch me butcher canon :V

SPAM - You totally aren't. And I have to sleep but I don't wanna because this is amazing.

SPAM - SORRY I HAD TO VANISH FOR A BIT. Party :c

SPAM - Partying is awesome. And crappy internet is not. :c

SPAM - booo internet :C

SPAM

SPAM

SPAM

SPAM

SPAM

SPAM - AGAIN, PRETEND THERE IS BEARD

SPAM - THERE IS ALWAYS BEARD