(no subject)

[midgarhorizon]

Characters: Anyone who stayed behind
Setting: 29th to the 31st, Anywhere
Summary: After the volunteers went below, what did those who stayed behind do?
Warnings: Usual Animus warnings, check for subject lines!


[Post your prompt and time in a subthread!]

Comments

[midgarhorizon]

...That's somethin' I've only vaguely heard about. Guess people are too traumatized or something. What do ya remember about it?

[Reno sits back down, taking the cigarette and tapping it against the table.]

Ah that was... back in June, I think. Not this last year, the one before that. Several months after I arrived the first time. June? No, wait, that was the labyrinth debacle. [Going by on memory alone is getting tricky with his head filled with so many other things.]

Was it? No, that was May. Had to be May. June was the living experiment. After June, we got the rotating administrators each month after that. Before it'd just been Dax all the time. That October was the first time Ruana was in charge.

[bloodyashes]

...Nothing good.

[Congrats Reno, you hit on one of maybe two things he prefers to not talk or think about. Asch's words come with a clipped tone that's clearly struggling to stay detached.]

In addition to the brainwashing, Jason modified people mostly according to ironic whim, with worse modifications for those more brainwashed. I was in the group trapped in their bodies, but I couldn't recognize anyone. Wound up getting killed twice by people more brainwashed than I was.

[He makes an aborted gesture towards his ears before managing to still his hands, shifting uncomfortably.]

If you're having trouble remembering it now, write it down before you lose it.

[midgarhorizon]

Eh, I already did, it's in my report book right now.

[Sigh.]

It was June because that was the first month we went without food. Think that was about when I started to take up hunting. They left Zo in charge and he didn't know how to do anything. We organized a couple assault teams and went down to the administrator levels. I think that's the first time we did that. I was on Ganondorf's team and got into the control room. The other one tried to bust the others out of Jason's living experiment.

[bloodyashes]

Makes good enough sense to me.

[He's plenty happy to get off the subject of the brainwashing, at least, but trying to think of something else to think about is hard when there's a trauma nudging at your brain.

Time to read some papers instead, definitely.]

[midgarhorizon]

[Falling silent for the moment, Reno starts to organize the notes again. Nervous? Yes, but there's worse things he could be doing.

Soon enough, he stops.]

Asch, do ya think there's a way downstairs we can't see? Other than the elevators. I was takin' a look at the staircase... there's a lot of tech in there.

[bloodyashes]

I wouldn't be the one to ask. The Tower's well beyond anything we had on Auldrant.

[And it wasn't his area of study anyway. He's used to the science of living things - politics, anatomy, a dash of fomicry centered on the living replicas - not metal and wires. Truth be told, Asch probably couldn't fix any more complicated electronics than a lightbulb on a single circuit.]

[midgarhorizon]

C'mon Asch, I'm just tryin' to bounce ideas around here. I don't want to be empty handed when the others come back. Anything'll work, even if it's crap.