FAITO
"So…now you have a choice. To cause me problems…or to help me. Only one will ensure a minimal loss of life. So what will it be, Doctor of the Heart? Obedience or pain?" She smiles, as sweet and as warmly as a girl in love.
3:27 PM
…somehow, it makes this strange woman all the more unnerving. Like a happy shark.
3:31 PM Annabell
tried to stay calm, not to panic nor to rage about this, and looked at the other woman as though she had spotted some unsightly blemish upon the Earth, "'Minimal' is not 'none'. The fact that you are trying to blackmail me with the lives of others is not a good indication of your general honesty or sincerity."
3:32 PM FAITO
"Oh, I am entirely honest and utterly sincere, Doctor. These two things have nothing to do with my ultimate morality, but…alas. Morality is the refuge of those who require external motivation. I am a very…motivated woman. You understand, Doctor? I have no reason to lie to you, simply because you have nothing that I couldn't simply take."
3:36 PM Annabell
"And you are motivated to kill children, who you obviously have plans for, just for convenience?" Annabell asked, her tone somewhat scornful, "So far you have implied that some will die."
3:37 PM FAITO
"Yes. This is unavoidable. Those with severely metasticized cancers or certain traumas that are…less than amenable to radical reconstruction will die. It will be brief. It will be painful. It will be better than rotting in their cribs as others would prefer."
3:42 PM Annabell
As a doctor Annabell had to accept the idea that some patient's were simply beyond saving and yet this woman's attitudes, let along methods, felt simply wrong to her, "And, knowing this, you choose to make them die in pain without any say from them or their loved ones?"
3:47 PM FAITO
"If their loved ones had loved them, it would have been better to snap their tiny necks than to let them go on so…wretchedly. It's a selfish impulsive, to leave children in pain because you cannot let them go. Am I wrong?" She tilts her head, smiling sweetly. "You are a rational woman, aren't you?"
3:55 PM Annabell
"I am rational enough to be wary of justifying murder," Annabell replied, her hands tightening, "Are you at all rational though?"
3:57 PM FAITO
A soft, gentle laugh - completely out of place. "You know, most people don't ask. They just assume. I would think that I am /entirely/ rational, moreso than those subject to socialization and cultural conditioning. Others may consider this a form of psychopathy. Ultimately, it depends. Can a man be sane by his own terms…or only in the context of his rulers?"
3:59 PM Annabell
"Being rational does not imply not being delusional nor even psychotic." The doctor replied, still trying to figure out a way around the current situation, "One can reason to fantastic conclusions given a false or mistake premise."
4:01 PM FAITO
"Naturally. But when that is all peeled away…do we have a perfectly social being? Or an utterly antisocial one? Locke versus Hobbes, essentially. Is that what you wish for this conversation to be about?"
4:07 PM Annabell
"I'd have a conversation about why you, apparently, are responsible for the infection of children. Or should I say 'infestation'?" Annabell replied then nodded to the children, "They have hope of recovery. Of getting better. And you seem intent on just using them up."
FAITO
"I'm saving who can be saved. And this, though I am taking charge, was not my work. As a woman, you must understand…we receive whatever…infestation is set upon us, but we do nurture what results. Do we not?" She walks over to one of the beds, tracing fingers against a child's sweating brow. "This one will make it."
4:31 PM Annabell
"Not your work, but it is your responsibility?" Annabell pressed quietly, watching the woman and trying to judge her feelings from her actions. Trying to see if this was the attitude of one with no emotional stake in the matter or one who actually cared.
4:32 PM FAITO
(Empathy!)
4:33 PM Annabell
(0…)
4:37 PM FAITO
There is certainly love in her gestures, but…a lot of things can look like love. What does it meaN?
4:53 PM
"Responsibility is a fiction. We do what we choose to do, ultimately. Based on who we wish to be. I've…always wanted to be a mother, of children worthy of my affection…children not stolen from me by cruelty or circumstance.
4:53 PM
"…is that so much to ask?"
4:55 PM Annabell
hesitated, reminded of how alone she had felt at times and what a child could mean to her, then said softly, "And what of children being stolen from their parents, their mother, by this?"
4:56 PM FAITO
Those kind eyes harden for just a moment, then close as she smiles again. "Any parent who has the fortitude may come and reclaim their child. It's only fair…let the fit parents prove their love. Nothing is free. Cowards will flee. The weak shall die. This…is nature, bare of illusions."
5:00 PM Annabell
"The strong die too. Injury, happen stance, _infection_ can fell weak and strong alike." Annabell stated, not loudly but firm in her conviction that this was the truth, "You are taking children, without the parents knowing how to challenge or that they are at risk, and you believe that it would be proper? For someone to do that to you?"
5:06 PM FAITO
"It is /not/ a hypothetical." She turns back. "A day ago, I had perhaps a month to live. A week ago? Mere hours. I have /struggled/ to survive the betrayal in my own flesh. Somehow, I just /know/ he sickened me. Somehow I'm /sure/ he experimented…is that why they took-" She winces, as if pained, and cups her belly.
5:06 PM
She sinks to the floor. "…no. I must….maintain perspective. Doctor…do…do you think I'm pretty?"
5:09 PM Annabell
"I think that you're doing an ugly thing." Annabell replied bluntly, looking down at the other woman for a moment before offering her a hand up, "That colors how I see you."
5:11 PM FAITO
She stands on her own, nose to nose with Annabell. "Then you must be in black and white. Tell me, Doctor. Have you ever done /anything/ that made your heart race?" …there is no more smiling. None.
5:14 PM Annabell
"I'd say that I'm more a drab shade of grey." The doctor replied, oddly wistful for a moment despite the situation, "I couldn't really say that anyone has made my heart race and rarely has anything for long."
5:16 PM FAITO
Emily raises a hand…and Danu, mindlessly, floats into her palm. She wraps her fingers around the pixie. "Then…perhaps something more concrete. The children…or the pixie. You can keep one or the other."
5:23 PM Annabell
tensed and froze for a long moment. Finally she looked up, meeting Emily's eyes, and stated quite calmly, "Take more that isn't yours? Will the children thank you, will they really be _yours_, if you've torn them from their parents and changed them? Or will they turn their backs, one by one, as they see what you have done and the blood on your hands?"
5:24 PM FAITO
Wings snap under her grip. But the smile returns. "I have accepted my choices. You still have yours to make." Danu regains a sort of consciousness, whimpering in pain. "…I'm done with her, either way. I do owe my sister a debt of gratitude."
5:29 PM Annabell
twitched at the sound then asked, "You're wanting either something which is not mine to give or to 'let' you hurt someone else?"
5:35 PM FAITO
"You are /here/. /Now/. You possess your right to choose, or has that been bred out of you like cattle?" She smiles sweetly. "I can kill you here and now, but that's not what I want. So I am giving you that choice, because you were kind to me. That's all there is to it."
5:56 PM Annabell
"I was kind to you, at least in part, because it is my duty and responsibility to help people. To be kind to them." Annabel said, fighting the irresponsible urge to do quite the opposite and lash out at this _woman_, "It is my duty as a doctor to tend to my patients. It is my duty as a friend to take care of Danu."
5:56 PM
Taking a deep breath she continued, "As a surgeon I know that sometimes some harm must in the end be done, that 'first do no harm' is what is done first. To prevent further harm one must use what is needed. A scalpel in an operation or in a conflict…" She paused then looked at Danu significantly, "Zoi!"
5:57 PM FAITO
Danu goes from a wince to a smirk, And starts to SPARK.
5:58 PM
(Want to spend any fate points on aspects?)
6:09 PM Annabell
( Spending a Fate Point on ''It Isn't Supposed To Do That?' because Annabell doesn't really consider that the game might not allow direct conduction of the zap… )
6:17 PM FAITO
…the lights go out.
6:17 PM
Then there is great CRACK of lightning and Annabell gets an almost comical view of Emily Lin thrashing and writhing, letting Danu go.
6:18 PM
The pixie runs over and hops into Annabell's pocket. "Run!!! She isn't completely human!"
6:19 PM Annabell
was torn for a moment then dashed for the doors, reasoning to herself that the… woman couldn't do anything further to the children in the short time which she planned to be gone for.
6:21 PM FAITO
The last thing she sees before making the stairs are glowing purple eyes in her way. "No! She lives!!!!" Emily shouts…and the eyes disappeae.
6:21 PM
*disappear
6:26 PM
As Annabell starts to warn security, the sound of singing voices comes from below…and drawings - the children's drawings in AR from the game, start to paint themselves across the hospital walls. They paint away the doors….the windows…the sky. Until those inside are trapped in simulated wreckage, AR glasses ro no.
