[ Bruno confirms it along with a slow, tired nod of his head. He'll stay where he is for now, just standing within the light so as not to look like he's lurking too much in the shadows. His arrival was obviously already startling enough. ]
I... didn't want anyone to stop me and ask questions on the. The way in, so, um. When they let everyone go, I didn't want to stay up there, or anywhere in sight, or obvious, or...
[ Or anywhere easy to find again. Meaning he came here, where he knew not that many people knew about, especially here, in Silco's office, where he kind of realizes he isn't meant to be at all, but that certainly makes it the most safe place to be.
From Patho-Gen, anyway. Less so from Silco himself, but of the two? He'll take Silco. ]
So I just came in as a mouse, since no one ever looks for a mouse.
He's right, of course. It's not an unwise thing. The unwise part of it was coming into his space, Silco's, where it's more a space for solitude. The old looking couch tucked into a corner, the desk, the liquor. Silco has no need for eating or drinking, but still, he indulges.
He watches Bruno for a long moment, before he finally stabs the knife back in the desk. Likely not the best for the point, but... well. ]
I understand. They took you, along with others, yes? The safest place seems to be down here, where they don't look.
[ The question of what they did only manages to make Bruno even more nervous, which alone is a great feat in itself. He reaches up to anxiously scratch his neck, not the side with the old augmentor scar, but the other. It's faint, the way a circle of fur has been shaved down to make room for... something, something that isn't there any more, but it's more the new circle of tiny scars, barely visible now, that bother him more. He can't help but scratch at them whenever he tries to remember.
What they did...
What did they do? ]
...I didn't want to go, but they made me go anyway.
[ After the fiasco with the weird injections months ago, walking into Patho-Gen's headquarters on purpose wasn't something Bruno cared to do. It hadn't mattered. Apparently something was wrong with him, wrong enough for them to-- ]
I guess they fixed whatever was wrong with the augmentor I have? But, uh.
[ But that doesn't feel right. ]
I don't remember anything about that. There's. I mean, there's something, like. I feel like something's missing. Like, a lot of somethings, only it's not... there... or maybe it is there, but I can't... recall... and when I try, I get scared, and I want to stop thinking about it?
[ His jaw tightens as he watches him reach up and scratch at a shaved patch. At what he says. Silco has been watching the way Patho-Gen makes them fall in line. He has been building this up on purpose to stay underneath their notice. Will it be enough? Can it be enough?
He needs to stay out from under their watch. He needs to manage to slip their notice.
This whole thing, it claws at his paranoia. At the way he feels the need to keep looking over his shoulder.
His lips twitch, he breathes. He keeps his eyes on Bruno, impassive. ]
They took it from you, you mean. The memory of what they did.
[ Not only can they do it, they can take it, leave them just as compliant as before.
[ He's right, of course. They did take it, or, at the very least, tried. Bruno can still sense what's missing, something very specific, and that tells him the rest of his memories have been meddled with. It leaves him feeling off-kilter, even sick to the stomach, although, thankfully, he didn't even stop for food on his way here. There'd be nothing to throw up if the urge took him and, honestly, if it does, he'd rather not do that here, in Silco's office.
Bad enough that he snuck in already. ]
They must have, yeah... I think so... I don't. I don't know if it'll stay that way. I know something is missing, I just can't put my finger on it. Yet.
[ Only he isn't here to reveal how he knows he had a vision of the future at some point that week. Silco could easily find out about that when Celia and Claude take to the network later, anyhow. ]
But whether it does or doesn't, I don't want to be up there anymore. I don't want them to be able to come find me again so... so easily... s-so, um...
[ He understands, of course. He remains underground where it feels the safest. There are locals around. There are people who will stop anyone from coming in. Security. People. Silco has people who he pays, and gives food to, and they all respect him, because they know he has given them more than Patho-Gen or Karteria as a whole.
Pay. For Work.
Ludicrous. ]
They did not encroach on the underground.
[ He admits. ] Some of the workers stay down here.
[ Hearing that some of the other workers stay down here as well has Bruno immediately looking less tense, because suddenly, asking this isn't weird. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. He knew several of them always seemed to be around, and yet? He hadn't considered that the unaugmented would want to hide down here. ]
They do? Does that... mean... it'd be fine if I did, too? As in, move in down here? I wouldn't take up much space or anything, honest.
[ Oh, that's exciting. Dig himself a hovel, though he'll need flooring, some support beams, something for the wallsโ oh, that's going to take some work, but that isn't what causes him to pause while considering. ]
That's a relief to hear... But you don't mean just anywhere, right? I don't want to dig into something you're going to be using.
[ Honestly, plenty of people have been doing the same, and he's wondering how formal it'll be soon enough.
housing can truly come after the network is completed. First, they need to fully be able to reach any corner of the city without stepping aboveground. ]
I'll show you a few sites. There are some tunnels that are closer to housing now. For the staff.
[ Silco really is going to just make an undercity whether Karteria likes it or not. ]
[ Undercity, round two, but the real question is, will he pick a Z-related name for it? Will he? At least now that it's very clear Silco is fine with this idea and definitely not going to stab him for his audacity to sneak into his office, Bruno feels safe enough to approach his desk rather than carry on awkwardly standing halfway in the shadows by the wall. ]
I wouldn't mind being close to the others.
[ He actually gets on fine with the others, which is funny, because when he isn't being a giant badger, he's definitely the smallest, least intimidating person in the tunnels. ]
Are there... any barrier concerns, though? I thought. Well. Weren't these abandoned because we're under it?
There are barriers issues here and there. I have a...
[ He shuffles the papers on his desk, to show him. The places where it draws close, where it doesn't. Where they would be in danger, and where they would not be.
He can't get around the barrier issue by making new barriers (yet) but he can skirt it. ]
The place where the staff are usually sleeping are...
[ He points. It's offshooting between Water's Edge and Gloria, the tunnel that's now connected giving them the opportunity to move between the two. They don't intend to spread too much out, and he points at an access tunnel. ] Here. They're starting to dig into it, but it is difficult work. We have power, some plumbing. I'd like it to expand, but one thing at a time. We need to spread to the rest of the city before we expand the luxuries.
[ The barrier... The barrier... Now that they're discussing it in part, something at the back of his mind bothers him. There's something. What is it? And it's that which spurs Bruno to look uncomfortable all of a sudden, not recalling whatever it is. He stares down at the papers Silco is showing him, trying to refocus his thoughts.
Tunnels. Digging. Reaching the rest of the city. Come on, Bruno, focus! ]
...uh... r-right. They're sleeping there. W-well, I'm back now, so I can help again. It would be easier if we could just make a barrier of our own, though, huh?
[ Hs eye narrows. He looks... off, like there's something beneath the papers he should stare at, something that โ
He rights himself. That's... odd. ]
It would be, if we could. That's technology out of my reach, certainly. Though if the ability to use it is discovered, I would very much be interested in that. Pay for it, too.
[ As would the whole organization, if they had the ability to keep it from threatening them. If they could move ever-deeper. ]
You have that look about you. [ He finally says after another long moment. ] Something from before?
[ Of course, Silco would notice. Frankly, anyone with even an ounce of observation skill would, seeing how Bruno is often an open book. He fidgets, still focusing his gaze on the papers on the desk, though he isn't really reading them anymore. ]
Yeah... [ He admits slowly, uncertainly. He can't remember. He can't remember! The more he thinks of it, the more distressed he begins to feel. ] There's. There's something. Something I'm missing. Something about the barrier.
[ That's curious. Interesting. Possibly dangerous. The barrier is the only thing keeping them all from getting subsumed by whatever it is that's causing problems for the rest of the world here. It's why Kelesis had been so dangerous to open up.
Danger is something that needs to be controlled. That he knows something... or might is... ]
You'll need to. [ he says firmly. No sympathy here, I'm afraid. ] Did they take it from you? They might have stolen whatever you learned, given how they took you in the first place.
[ A tiny bit of sympathy wouldn't hurt here, pal, come on, but then again, it's Silco. Just because Bruno thinks well of the man doesn't mean he's blind to the man's intensity and seriousness. ]
They must have...
[ Only Bruno can't help but hesitate. He isn't sure how someone like Silco will take his gift. Those kinder, less controlling, they've been... fine with it, they haven't asked for anything, which has been a relief so far. But this is different. He can sense it is. His mind is trying to draw his attention to what's missing, even when everything else feels so out of reach to him right now.
He looks up, nervous, only moving his head up just enough to watch Silco through the curly black hair that drapes over his vision, so his head is still mostly angled down. ]
I can... tell. That they. They did something to. To trigger one of my visions. It's a. A thing I can do from home. They might have made everything else foggy, b-but. I always know. I always know when I see something.
[ His eyebrow drew down. One of his visions, he says. He doesn't say anything else about it. What they are. Just that he's seeing something, and he can do it from home. He says he can see something, and that's enough to pique his interest. His eye narrows, and his lips twitch.
He doesn't push. Not yet. This is a delicate thing, isn't it? ]
So they made you do it, and they took the knowledge you learned from you?
[ Of course they did. Of course.
His lips very momentarily peel back. ]
Yet again they do something to us. Perhaps you can push through the fog, with time. Get distance from it.
[ An actual night's sleep. Not that Silco knows what that's like. ] Take back what they took from you. That's your power, isn't it?
[ Okay, but he's not wrong, is he? They made Bruno use his gift and then hid what he saw from him. Either that or he saw it independently, which is also a possibility, but it doesn't feel right. It's a gut feeling, one that's both frustrating and frightening at the same time. ]
I'll have to... somehow. I'm not really sure how yet. M-maybe it'll just. It might just come back, but... [ He has no way of knowing. ] Whatever it was, it's. Well. The thing is, I only see bad things? Which means whatever it was... it must have been...
[ Bad. There's no way that whatever the vision was would be good. ]
Do they... come true? These bad things that you see? Is it a guarantee?
[ Do they have the advantage of information as well as the playing field? His fingers drag against the map, tracing one line that moves underneath patho-gen. ]
How big could this be?
[ He can't let anything get in the way of what he wants. Of returning home. If it is that bad, does he need to move up the timetable? ]
[ See? They don't even know what it is, and Silco is already upset with it! This is why he didn't want to tell people! This! ]
I... yeah? Probably? I mean, no one's ever. We've never been able to stop one before. Not that a lot of people have tried. They just, I don't know, accept it and then... blame me... for...
[ Okay, maybe he will retreat back from the desk a step or two, because he's already mentally preparing for Silco to do the exact same thing. He's becoming far more nervous the more they talk about this potential vision, almost as though he wants to slink back into the shadows and hide again.
If it does come true, it'll be his fault, right? Even if it would have happened anyway, which makes no sense, butโ ]
I can't. I won't. Know until. I see what it is again.
[ he asks. Sure, Silco is unreasonable, but not so unreasonable that he's going to blame Bruno for what he sees, just that he didn't know about it until now, when clearly he would get a great deal of use out of the ability to see what was wrong with things ahead of time.
Then again, it didn't sound like he controlled it, either. Maybe there was nothing to control. ]
Can you make it happen again? Or are you stuck to waiting until it arises?
[ "Shoot the Messenger" is essentially the story of Bruno's life; the reason he's so nervous, the reason he thinks he's always a problem, the reason he retreats from people, the reason he wishes to just be... normal. If only he could be normal...
He'll only nod mutely to that. He doesn't want to talk about it more than he has. He doesn't want Silco to start thinking maybe, just maybe, everyone back home was right. ]
...um. I can choose to have visions when I want to, there's a whole... ritual for it... and I can show other people... but sometimes it's out of my control. They can just happen? I think they... must have forced one...
[ He shivers at the thought, pulling his ruana closer. He doesn't even want to think about how they managed that. ]
But if I don't know what it was, or what they wanted to know, I don't know how to find the same vision again.
They yet again have all of the information. They yet again manipulated things to their advantage.
Is it that they are able to use what they have, to take what they must? Likely, and while Silco will take anything he most from the other Augmented, Patho-Gen has the advantage of these devices. Silco can't stop half of the individuals here if they decide he's gone too far. No, no. He has to play this carefully, even while impatience slithers under his skin and itches like fire. ]
Did they make the ritual happen, or do you think they simply stumbled on it? I suppose in the end, it doesn't matter.
[ He pinches the bridge of his nose. ]
Have you considered trying to recapture the knowledge? By using the ritual?
I mean, I still don't remember, s-so, how they did it, I don't remember that, either...
[ But he's right. It doesn't matter, in the end. They got a vision of something, and Bruno can't shake the feeling that it was important, important enough to have to do with the barrier. ]
I... could try... Only it's. I need to know what someone wants to see? To look? A-and it's just forward, not backwards. I can't do the past. I mean, if I could, I'd just... That's what I would do, just look back, but I can't.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ Bruno confirms it along with a slow, tired nod of his head. He'll stay where he is for now, just standing within the light so as not to look like he's lurking too much in the shadows. His arrival was obviously already startling enough. ]
I... didn't want anyone to stop me and ask questions on the. The way in, so, um. When they let everyone go, I didn't want to stay up there, or anywhere in sight, or obvious, or...
[ Or anywhere easy to find again. Meaning he came here, where he knew not that many people knew about, especially here, in Silco's office, where he kind of realizes he isn't meant to be at all, but that certainly makes it the most safe place to be.
From Patho-Gen, anyway. Less so from Silco himself, but of the two? He'll take Silco. ]
So I just came in as a mouse, since no one ever looks for a mouse.
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He'll remember that.
He's right, of course. It's not an unwise thing. The unwise part of it was coming into his space, Silco's, where it's more a space for solitude. The old looking couch tucked into a corner, the desk, the liquor. Silco has no need for eating or drinking, but still, he indulges.
He watches Bruno for a long moment, before he finally stabs the knife back in the desk. Likely not the best for the point, but... well. ]
I understand. They took you, along with others, yes? The safest place seems to be down here, where they don't look.
[ He's been hearing whispers, but... ]
What did they do?
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What they did...
What did they do? ]
...I didn't want to go, but they made me go anyway.
[ After the fiasco with the weird injections months ago, walking into Patho-Gen's headquarters on purpose wasn't something Bruno cared to do. It hadn't mattered. Apparently something was wrong with him, wrong enough for them to-- ]
I guess they fixed whatever was wrong with the augmentor I have? But, uh.
[ But that doesn't feel right. ]
I don't remember anything about that. There's. I mean, there's something, like. I feel like something's missing. Like, a lot of somethings, only it's not... there... or maybe it is there, but I can't... recall... and when I try, I get scared, and I want to stop thinking about it?
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He needs to stay out from under their watch. He needs to manage to slip their notice.
This whole thing, it claws at his paranoia. At the way he feels the need to keep looking over his shoulder.
His lips twitch, he breathes. He keeps his eyes on Bruno, impassive. ]
They took it from you, you mean. The memory of what they did.
[ Not only can they do it, they can take it, leave them just as compliant as before.
Oh, he hates them. ]
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Bad enough that he snuck in already. ]
They must have, yeah... I think so... I don't. I don't know if it'll stay that way. I know something is missing, I just can't put my finger on it. Yet.
[ Only he isn't here to reveal how he knows he had a vision of the future at some point that week. Silco could easily find out about that when Celia and Claude take to the network later, anyhow. ]
But whether it does or doesn't, I don't want to be up there anymore. I don't want them to be able to come find me again so... so easily... s-so, um...
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[ He understands, of course. He remains underground where it feels the safest. There are locals around. There are people who will stop anyone from coming in. Security. People. Silco has people who he pays, and gives food to, and they all respect him, because they know he has given them more than Patho-Gen or Karteria as a whole.
Pay. For Work.
Ludicrous. ]
They did not encroach on the underground.
[ He admits. ] Some of the workers stay down here.
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They do? Does that... mean... it'd be fine if I did, too? As in, move in down here? I wouldn't take up much space or anything, honest.
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You can dig yourself a hovel for all I care. I understand the need to go to ground.
[ Truly, he does. He would too, if he wasn't already down here. ]
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That's a relief to hear... But you don't mean just anywhere, right? I don't want to dig into something you're going to be using.
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housing can truly come after the network is completed. First, they need to fully be able to reach any corner of the city without stepping aboveground. ]
I'll show you a few sites. There are some tunnels that are closer to housing now. For the staff.
[ Silco really is going to just make an undercity whether Karteria likes it or not. ]
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I wouldn't mind being close to the others.
[ He actually gets on fine with the others, which is funny, because when he isn't being a giant badger, he's definitely the smallest, least intimidating person in the tunnels. ]
Are there... any barrier concerns, though? I thought. Well. Weren't these abandoned because we're under it?
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[ He shuffles the papers on his desk, to show him. The places where it draws close, where it doesn't. Where they would be in danger, and where they would not be.
He can't get around the barrier issue by making new barriers (yet) but he can skirt it. ]
The place where the staff are usually sleeping are...
[ He points. It's offshooting between Water's Edge and Gloria, the tunnel that's now connected giving them the opportunity to move between the two. They don't intend to spread too much out, and he points at an access tunnel. ] Here. They're starting to dig into it, but it is difficult work. We have power, some plumbing. I'd like it to expand, but one thing at a time. We need to spread to the rest of the city before we expand the luxuries.
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Tunnels. Digging. Reaching the rest of the city. Come on, Bruno, focus! ]
...uh... r-right. They're sleeping there. W-well, I'm back now, so I can help again. It would be easier if we could just make a barrier of our own, though, huh?
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He rights himself. That's... odd. ]
It would be, if we could. That's technology out of my reach, certainly. Though if the ability to use it is discovered, I would very much be interested in that. Pay for it, too.
[ As would the whole organization, if they had the ability to keep it from threatening them. If they could move ever-deeper. ]
You have that look about you. [ He finally says after another long moment. ] Something from before?
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Yeah... [ He admits slowly, uncertainly. He can't remember. He can't remember! The more he thinks of it, the more distressed he begins to feel. ] There's. There's something. Something I'm missing. Something about the barrier.
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[ That's curious. Interesting. Possibly dangerous. The barrier is the only thing keeping them all from getting subsumed by whatever it is that's causing problems for the rest of the world here. It's why Kelesis had been so dangerous to open up.
Danger is something that needs to be controlled. That he knows something... or might is... ]
You'll need to. [ he says firmly. No sympathy here, I'm afraid. ] Did they take it from you? They might have stolen whatever you learned, given how they took you in the first place.
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They must have...
[ Only Bruno can't help but hesitate. He isn't sure how someone like Silco will take his gift. Those kinder, less controlling, they've been... fine with it, they haven't asked for anything, which has been a relief so far. But this is different. He can sense it is. His mind is trying to draw his attention to what's missing, even when everything else feels so out of reach to him right now.
He looks up, nervous, only moving his head up just enough to watch Silco through the curly black hair that drapes over his vision, so his head is still mostly angled down. ]
I can... tell. That they. They did something to. To trigger one of my visions. It's a. A thing I can do from home. They might have made everything else foggy, b-but. I always know. I always know when I see something.
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He doesn't push. Not yet. This is a delicate thing, isn't it? ]
So they made you do it, and they took the knowledge you learned from you?
[ Of course they did. Of course.
His lips very momentarily peel back. ]
Yet again they do something to us. Perhaps you can push through the fog, with time. Get distance from it.
[ An actual night's sleep. Not that Silco knows what that's like. ] Take back what they took from you. That's your power, isn't it?
[ Yeah, he is handling this very normally. ]
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I'll have to... somehow. I'm not really sure how yet. M-maybe it'll just. It might just come back, but... [ He has no way of knowing. ] Whatever it was, it's. Well. The thing is, I only see bad things? Which means whatever it was... it must have been...
[ Bad. There's no way that whatever the vision was would be good. ]
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[ A hiss of annoyance. ]
Do they... come true? These bad things that you see? Is it a guarantee?
[ Do they have the advantage of information as well as the playing field? His fingers drag against the map, tracing one line that moves underneath patho-gen. ]
How big could this be?
[ He can't let anything get in the way of what he wants. Of returning home. If it is that bad, does he need to move up the timetable? ]
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I... yeah? Probably? I mean, no one's ever. We've never been able to stop one before. Not that a lot of people have tried. They just, I don't know, accept it and then... blame me... for...
[ Okay, maybe he will retreat back from the desk a step or two, because he's already mentally preparing for Silco to do the exact same thing. He's becoming far more nervous the more they talk about this potential vision, almost as though he wants to slink back into the shadows and hide again.
If it does come true, it'll be his fault, right? Even if it would have happened anyway, which makes no sense, butโ ]
I can't. I won't. Know until. I see what it is again.
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[ he asks. Sure, Silco is unreasonable, but not so unreasonable that he's going to blame Bruno for what he sees, just that he didn't know about it until now, when clearly he would get a great deal of use out of the ability to see what was wrong with things ahead of time.
Then again, it didn't sound like he controlled it, either. Maybe there was nothing to control. ]
Can you make it happen again? Or are you stuck to waiting until it arises?
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He'll only nod mutely to that. He doesn't want to talk about it more than he has. He doesn't want Silco to start thinking maybe, just maybe, everyone back home was right. ]
...um. I can choose to have visions when I want to, there's a whole... ritual for it... and I can show other people... but sometimes it's out of my control. They can just happen? I think they... must have forced one...
[ He shivers at the thought, pulling his ruana closer. He doesn't even want to think about how they managed that. ]
But if I don't know what it was, or what they wanted to know, I don't know how to find the same vision again.
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[ Annoyed, again, but it's without direction.
They yet again have all of the information. They yet again manipulated things to their advantage.
Is it that they are able to use what they have, to take what they must? Likely, and while Silco will take anything he most from the other Augmented, Patho-Gen has the advantage of these devices. Silco can't stop half of the individuals here if they decide he's gone too far. No, no. He has to play this carefully, even while impatience slithers under his skin and itches like fire. ]
Did they make the ritual happen, or do you think they simply stumbled on it? I suppose in the end, it doesn't matter.
[ He pinches the bridge of his nose. ]
Have you considered trying to recapture the knowledge? By using the ritual?
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[ But he's right. It doesn't matter, in the end. They got a vision of something, and Bruno can't shake the feeling that it was important, important enough to have to do with the barrier. ]
I... could try... Only it's. I need to know what someone wants to see? To look? A-and it's just forward, not backwards. I can't do the past. I mean, if I could, I'd just... That's what I would do, just look back, but I can't.
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