audio } un: panoptes

[sisterswitch]

[hey look, it’s jack. on a video feed, which is pretty unusual, come to think of it? she’s set up at a table in the kitchen, frowning in concentration as she gathers her thoughts.]

Where I’m from, people like to say that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over and expecting a different result. I will be pretty mad if it turns out I’m insane for doing this again, because last time I made this offer, I sorta got my head ripped off. Not literally, although I’m sure some of those jackasses would’ve done it literally, if they’d been able to find me. Too bad Jane’s not here anymore, she could tell you all about it.

[and jack rolls her eyes, because yes, she’s still holding a little bit of a grudge about all of that. the expression is short-lived, however - she shakes it off and continues:]

Anyway, remember that weird stalkergram video we saw the other day? That wasn’t some performance art piece. I know who sent it. See, before I ended up here, I spent a few years in a city called Dualis - real neon hellscape, right out of all of those cyberpunk movies you know and love. It was run by a self-aware AI called Mindseye, and Mindseye had this bad habit of killing literally everyone in the city, and not in the Skynet “drop a nuclear bomb on everyone” kind of way. This thing wiped out the entire population it was created for with a virus, and then started kidnapping people from their own worlds so it could study them and make robot copies of them. Murmur was there too, so ask him if you don’t believe me.

[sorry angel frand, you’re apparently a more trustworthy adult authority figure compared to jack.]

Back during that weird time when we were all wandering into each other’s dreams, there was this one dream about some things that happened in Dualis, and I couldn’t figure out where it came from. I thought maybe it was some kind of mental transfer from one of us who’d been there, but it wasn’t from a person’s perspective - it was Mindseye’s memory of what happened. That’s what Mindseye was talking about when it said we were all connected. Oh - right, I should’ve mentioned - Mindseye escaped from Dualis. Uploaded itself right into all of those robot bodies it built and skipped town. And it sounds like it landed somewhere in this part of the final frontier.

[and that’s worrying! for obvious reasons!!]

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not keen on being hunted throughout space by a homicidal AI. Now, I was able to fly under the radar in Dualis because of this tattoo I have. It’s a sigil I created for making myself invisible to surveillance - long story short, I’m a witch, I used to do a lot of meatspace activism when I was in college, and getting arrested isn’t anywhere near as fun as it looks on TV. Fool me once, et cetera. Point is, the sigil is magick, and it works, and I am willing to share, but I’m asking to trade something for it. Nothing big like a firstborn child - just a story. I want to hear about a time you did something unjust and got away with it. That’s all. That’s the offer, and you can certainly refuse it, but I’d take it as a personal kindness if you’d not be a dick about it.

[aaaaaand that’s all, folks!]

Comments

[bilocates]

My parents first. Then others. They are... many. Too many, but I'm finding them.

[Alex's show was helping. There were more than the ones she'd just caught wind of, of course. Simon just wasn't going to volunteer specific details lest they get wise to his methods.]

[sisterswitch]

[his parents. oh, that hits a nerve, and for a moment, something passes through jack's expression, something dark and inhuman. a child's betrayal by their parents is an injustice she cannot tolerate, because it's too close to her all-too-human heart.]

Good.

[she all but hisses the word. his methods don't matter - the fact that he is carrying out justice and punishing those who deserve it is what's important. she takes a breath and the tempestuous rage fades, leaving her more familiar easy-going facade in its place.]

I'm glad you stood up for yourself and got out. A lot of people in that kind of situation don't.

[bilocates]

[Now the motives and strange behavior have fallen into place, haven't they? He had a feeling she might understand. Like Alex, she knew he was right. They deserved it for what they do to the children, for what they did to him.]

Most can't. They start so early. When you're still in a crib.

[What hope did any of them have to escape? Simon was lucky to be so defiant by nature, most weren't.]

[sisterswitch]

Unfortunately, that's true. Standard procedure, right? Get 'em while they're young and impressionable.

[disgusting. humans can be so awful to each other.]

I wouldn't say you did anything unjust, though. Looks more like the exact opposite to me.

[bilocates]

Exactly.

[Indoctrination is most effective when you know nothing else.]

They got what they deserved. [He won't dispute that he felt it was just.] Some might disagree.

[Some did, they put him in a hospital after all.]

I don't know what else to give you.

[sisterswitch]

Some people have really shitty opinions.

[like if you disagree that people who harm children shouldn't pay a hefty fine for it? your opinion is invalid. sorry, that's jack's rule.]

You don't need to give me anything else. It sounds like you've had more than enough taken from you already.

[bilocates]

Yes.

[Simon agrees quite a bit with that sentiment. Offering your own child up to a demon to serve is, in his opinion, deserving of murder. What else could they have expected?]

Then... we have an arrangement?

[Because he'd really like in on that anti-surveillance tattoo. It sounds incredibly useful.]

[sisterswitch]

Yeah, we do. Let me know whenever you're ready and we'll get you all inked up.

[bilocates]

My schedule is open.

[Not much going on while they're in transit after all.]