.046 | Video.

[paradoxlol]

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.

Comments

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

[paradoxlol]

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.]

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

[hatestriangles]

[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.

SPAM - booo internet :C

[paradoxlol]

[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.

SPAM

[hatestriangles]

[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.

SPAM

[paradoxlol]

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.]

SPAM

[hatestriangles]

[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.]

SPAM

[paradoxlol]

[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.]

SPAM

[hatestriangles]

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?

SPAM - AGAIN, PRETEND THERE IS BEARD

[paradoxlol]

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.]

SPAM - THERE IS ALWAYS BEARD

[hatestriangles]

[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?