animus_network | Second Duel (Forward dated to late Saturday morning)

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[au3] margulis

Second Duel (Forward dated to late Saturday morning)

*It's Margulis' first appearance on the network, and...well, he looks horrible. He looks like he's barely slept in days and he looks almost sickly pale, except for where he skin is inflamed red from the cold. His scar is an angry red line down the side of his face and it doesn't take a doctor to figure out that it has to be causing him pain. It's no wonder he looks somewhat annoyed, right?*

I hadn't thought you the sort of coward who would leave a message and then refuse to show his face, Jin Uzuki. Or have your scant manners finally failed you completely?

More generally, I've been indisposed for the past two days. If anything of note has happened in that time, I'm interested in hearing about it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Margulis, you look like you're about to lose a few fingers. If you need help warming up, let me know. I have already put my blankets and sheets in your bed, but if you require more, I can warm you up. You just need to ask.

*He still has his fingers, but they're too stiff for him to really type effectively. So he'll reply with video.*

I still have some ability to make use of my Ethers. I'm not in danger of losing fingers yet.

That's probably true. However, the fact that you didn't reply in text probably means that your fingers are so stiff with the cold that you cannot move them. Where are you right now? I shall come to you and warm you up.

*He hates that chaos is right, almost as much as he hates that chaos figured it out. And it shows in the growl to his voice.*

I'm on the first dormitory floor.

Alright then. Please wait a moment..and there's no need to be angry. We all need help sometimes. Even I do. there's no need to be mad about it.

[A few minutes later, chaos can be seen walking down the steps onto the first dorm floor, looking around for Margulis.]

*He's sitting at one of the terminals, arms wrapped around himself when he's not replying to messages. It's pretty obvious that the cold is really bothering him. But he does spot chaos when he comes onto the floor.*

I'm over here.

[chaos nodded, noticing how cold Margulis looked. He walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder, warming him up and healing him.]

Sorry for the wait. I would have been able to help you sooner, but I got a little sidetracked.

[By death. It was something chaos was still getting used to-how could he die so easily..and just wake up the next day? Plus, that whole ordeal meant that there were things here that even he couldn't handle. That he'd be powerless to stop. That made him feel pretty powerless, but he wasn't going to show it. He wasn't going to worry anyone.]

How did you end up getting this cold? Did you get punished for joining that mob?

*He doesn't have any actual injuries, but the healing does help with the scars that have been aching from the cold. He generally dislikes relying on healing Ethers, but this is petty enough that it doesn't sting his pride too much. And he visibly relaxes when his body starts warming up.*

Yes, however I did discover something interesting during my stay under Jason's hospitality.

[chaos smiled when he saw that Margulis was relaxing a little. He removed his hand from the mans shoulder and nodded.]

I see. How interesting is it?

[Codewords for 'Is it safe enough to talk about it?']

*He starts flexing his fingers as they thaw. It burns, but that's a small price to pay for being able to feel them again.*

Interesting enough that I don't plan on discussing it with people who might misuse the information.

*Code for 'Doubtful.'*

[chaos nodded, thinking about whether or not he should use his powers here. It might be suspicious..but he was certain that Margulis would probably just accept that he could do this, if he had been comrades with the man in a previous Recurrence. So, he used his telepathy.]

'How about thinking it then? Ah, and please just think your answers. I'll be able to hear them. As for how I am doing this..this is just something else that I can do. It is nothing to worry about.'

*It was a little startling at first, but he had long since gotten the idea that there was something not quite normal about chaos and gotten used to surprises from him. Having his mind read was...not exactly comforting, but it was one way to get the message through.*

'We encountered a small girl during our captivity. She admitted to being the subject of successful experimentation, but wasn't familiar with Jason's name. She was also capable of influencing the cells as well as teleporting and evidently reading minds.'

[Margulis shouldn't have worried. chaos tried his best to avoid reading minds unless it was necessary. He knew it made people uncomfortable when he probed into them. In his head, chaos nodded at Margulis's statement.]

'I see. I believe I have an idea of what happened then. You may have seen a form of the Administrator named Ruana. She has been here for thousands of years and has those sorts of powers. She was also experimented on in the past, even though we don't know why, and she refuses to talk about it, as those memories are painful. She is also responsible for some of the games and tortures that go on around here.'

*It's the principal of the thing, he's not a particularly open person.*

'We were also rescued by another child, a boy who claimed that that location was particularly dangerous.'

[Another child?]

'I am sad to say that I do not know who that child could have been. Did he mention his name? How did he free you?'

'No, and we didn't see how he transported us out of the cells, either. He put us to sleep with a few words and I woke up in my bed.'

[chaos thought for a moment and then nodded.]

'I see. My best guess is that was the Administrator known as Dax. He's supposed to be a rather humane and kind person. It's possible that he's also not quite human. He and Ruana may have decided to show each other as children..if I am correct.'

'Well, they're a disjointed bunch, aren't they?'

'They do seem to have different goals and methods. I am not quite sure why they are all working together at the moment, but it is possible that Ruana has some sort of hold over all of them.'

'If that is the case, though, we may be able to use it to our advantage. The girl was quite distressed when I explained Jason's hobby to her.'

'..That's quite interesting, seeing as she also performs cruel experiments on people. However, she also sees it as just a game, so she may not understand why what she does is cruel. We may be able to turn her against Jason, if we meet her again.'

'That was my idea as well. It would certainly be useful in attempting to get rid of the worst source of rot in this place.'

'The only problem being that we'd have to wait until the Administrators showed their faces again before we tried that. However, we have time. We can wait.'

'We would do best to attempt to maintain some subtlety even then. I have no doubt that an overt tempt to sow infighting would result in far worse punishment than two days of imprisonment.'

'Indeed. Which is why, if we are planning this, we need to be subtle and plan quite a few moves ahead. The wrong word or sentence can mess up a plan like this, so we have to plan out things in advance..and what things we would say to certain Administrators.'

Second Duel (Forward dated to late Saturday morning)

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