Me either. Shitty time to be missing Five. Codebreaking wasn't really the strong suit for the rest of us.
It's a cipher, and there are about eight of them. That's all I have so far. Some people think it's just a game; me, I'm worried it has something to do with those apocalypse predictions.
Seriously. He'd have it solved in like ten minutes. Or be insulted I thought it would take him that long, even.
[He misses Five, more than he'd like to admit. Cocky little shit had been gone for so long, it sucked having to lose him again when he disappeared from this place.]
Eight? Why is it that the first thing that makes me think of is that weird spider-cult in Jeopardy?
Yeah, I don't think it's nothing. It seems like everyone got something in this, there has to be a bigger reason behind it than just trying to fuck with us.
Not much. I mean, I haven't really looked that deep into it or anything. Some of the locals are really insistent with the door-to-door proselytizing kind of stuff. It's WEIRD, but I never really thought they were an active threat... maybe that was the wrong assumption.
Vanya literally blew up our entire neighborhood block at a time when people have been predicting the end of the world to happen any minute now, and everybody's getting weird messages. It's like something right out of Five's Temps thing. Reminds me of people trying to warn us.
Our sister isn't the Apocalypse given human form, Luther.
[The message comes a few minutes later. He still has a lot of things on his mind from his first visit at Aegis with Vanya, and subsequently Allison who had utterly refused him one second of privacy with their sister. Who could blame her? Not like Diego had much history of being a half-way decent person to Vanya.
But still. Those implications settle all wrong in his chest, and he can't help making the point all the same.]
[ Luther feels bad saying it. It sits heavy in his chest like a stone. But he still just remembers Vanya's bleached-bone-white skin, the glowing eyes, the atmosphere humming around her. The feeling of his life being drained out of him. The sight of the burst of energy exploding out of her, bursting through the ceiling and taking a chunk out of the moon. Just one young woman, all of 5'1" tall, and yet her small body containing enough power to destroy the world. The strongest of the Academy. ]
She literally brought on the apocalypse last time. She didn't mean to, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened.
Do you want to make her a self-fulfilling prophecy, Luther? If you don't quit thinking of her that way, and looking at her like that, it's going to happen again because we push her over the edge. Again.
[He remembers the Icarus. Vanya's everything so bright and bleach-white, shining and stealing their lives as they hovered in the air in front of her.
But he remembers how small she looked in that cell, too. The one at home. And the one here. She was nowhere near the kind of panicked at Aegis as she had been in the cell at the Academy, but she still looked so small.]
If you treat a tiger like it's been de-clawed, when it hasn't, when it's recently proven that it really isn't, then you're putting yourself in danger.
I'm not saying we ostracize her. I'm not even saying we lock her up. I'm saying we remember what can happen if she doesn't get her powers under wraps.
We all had power malfunctions when we first started -- but look at you, you don't hit yourself with your own knives anymore. It just takes time, but she's behind the curve.
I'm not convincing myself a tiger's a housecat, here, Luther. I know she's still dangerous. I'm not ignoring that. She knows, too. Why the hell do you think she's just sitting in there? We already know that if she really wanted it, she could be out of that place in a second. She obviously thinks she deserves to be there, otherwise, what's stopping her from blowing the entire place down, like she did at the Academy?
When's the last time you talked to her at all? When we were all stoned on alien rocks? When's the last time you talked to her of your choice?
We'll get her powers under wraps, Luther. We will. But you can't be all tactics, all the time. Like you said, she's behind the curve. And she isn't used to that. You have to take a different approach.
[Not that Diego's got a single clue in the world what approach to take with her, yet, either. But he's got that much figured out so far, at least. It may not even be a full step forward, but it is. Still moving forward from where he's been, for too many years.]
[ Uncustomary swearing, from their so typically buttoned-up leader. But he's frustrated. He's frustrated and he's tired, and he's cutting straight to the gap in Diego's proposal. ]
[It doesn't come quickly. In fact, it's several minutes for those three words to hit Luther's screen. But it's the only thing he can think of at all. It's another minute or two before he adds: ]
I haven't got it all figured out yet, either. It's like chewing glass half the time, but I'm trying, Luther. Really... trying this time.
At least it doesn't exacerbate it. Doesn't exacerbate her. Doesn't trigger another meltdown.
[ Not that Vanya had actually lost it the one time they'd had to suffer each others' presence alone in-person, but Luther's still fixated on worst case scenarios. On that hole in the wall, which he'd taken it upon himself to repair.
(On Vanya's bleach-white face and the feeling of his body floating in mid-air, wracked with pain, dying and dying and dying.)
But. Still. Luther's afraid of her and he knows he's afraid of her, but Number One's also been trained to not give in to fear. So he's wedged between a rock and a hard place, thinking of it. 'Chewing glass' was a good description. ]
If I do talk to her and she blows up the entirety of Nonah, then it's on your head.
Do you not fucking understand that being ignored and shoved aside in a box away from everybody else is like 99% of the fucking ISSUE?
Jesus, Luther. I get you're trying not to step wrong, but you still are, in a big fucking way. If you completely leave it up to her, I'm not sure she'll ever come to you. Because I think that's part of thing all together. She needs us to make those steps, not the other way around.
[Mostly? He's talking out of his fucking ass, he has no more clue than Luther how to go about Vanya, either. But he is still reeling from conversations with her in the last couple of days. The visit at Aegis two days ago that Allison refused to let him have on his own. He's trying to piece some of it together for himself, still.]
[ If Luther keeps going, he might just accidentally snap this flimsy communicator in half in his hand. Diego's always been the best at riling him up, at nipping at those patient edges and stoking Luther into actual anger.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
obediences) wrote2019-03-28 10:51 am
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It's a cipher, and there are about eight of them. That's all I have so far. Some people think it's just a game; me, I'm worried it has something to do with those apocalypse predictions.
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Or be insulted I thought it would take him that long, even.
[He misses Five, more than he'd like to admit. Cocky little shit had been gone for so long, it sucked having to lose him again when he disappeared from this place.]
Eight?
Why is it that the first thing that makes me think of is that weird spider-cult in Jeopardy?
Yeah, I don't think it's nothing. It seems like everyone got something in this, there has to be a bigger reason behind it than just trying to fuck with us.
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What do you know about the cult?
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Some of the locals are really insistent with the door-to-door proselytizing kind of stuff.
It's WEIRD, but I never really thought they were an active threat... maybe that was the wrong assumption.
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[ Spoken more like Space than Luther. ]
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So. The point still stands.
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[The message comes a few minutes later. He still has a lot of things on his mind from his first visit at Aegis with Vanya, and subsequently Allison who had utterly refused him one second of privacy with their sister. Who could blame her? Not like Diego had much history of being a half-way decent person to Vanya.
But still.
Those implications settle all wrong in his chest, and he can't help making the point all the same.]
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[ Luther feels bad saying it. It sits heavy in his chest like a stone. But he still just remembers Vanya's bleached-bone-white skin, the glowing eyes, the atmosphere humming around her. The feeling of his life being drained out of him. The sight of the burst of energy exploding out of her, bursting through the ceiling and taking a chunk out of the moon. Just one young woman, all of 5'1" tall, and yet her small body containing enough power to destroy the world. The strongest of the Academy. ]
She literally brought on the apocalypse last time. She didn't mean to, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened.
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[He remembers the Icarus. Vanya's everything so bright and bleach-white, shining and stealing their lives as they hovered in the air in front of her.
But he remembers how small she looked in that cell, too. The one at home. And the one here. She was nowhere near the kind of panicked at Aegis as she had been in the cell at the Academy, but she still looked so small.]
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I'm not saying we ostracize her. I'm not even saying we lock her up. I'm saying we remember what can happen if she doesn't get her powers under wraps.
We all had power malfunctions when we first started -- but look at you, you don't hit yourself with your own knives anymore. It just takes time, but she's behind the curve.
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When's the last time you talked to her at all? When we were all stoned on alien rocks?
When's the last time you talked to her of your choice?
We'll get her powers under wraps, Luther. We will. But you can't be all tactics, all the time. Like you said, she's behind the curve. And she isn't used to that. You have to take a different approach.
[Not that Diego's got a single clue in the world what approach to take with her, yet, either. But he's got that much figured out so far, at least. It may not even be a full step forward, but it is. Still moving forward from where he's been, for too many years.]
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[ Uncustomary swearing, from their so typically buttoned-up leader. But he's frustrated. He's frustrated and he's tired, and he's cutting straight to the gap in Diego's proposal. ]
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[It doesn't come quickly. In fact, it's several minutes for those three words to hit Luther's screen. But it's the only thing he can think of at all. It's another minute or two before he adds: ]
I haven't got it all figured out yet, either. It's like chewing glass half the time, but I'm trying, Luther. Really... trying this time.
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[ Not that Vanya had actually lost it the one time they'd had to suffer each others' presence alone in-person, but Luther's still fixated on worst case scenarios. On that hole in the wall, which he'd taken it upon himself to repair.
(On Vanya's bleach-white face and the feeling of his body floating in mid-air, wracked with pain, dying and dying and dying.)
But. Still. Luther's afraid of her and he knows he's afraid of her, but Number One's also been trained to not give in to fear. So he's wedged between a rock and a hard place, thinking of it. 'Chewing glass' was a good description. ]
If I do talk to her and she blows up the entirety of Nonah, then it's on your head.
[ He's being unfair. Grumbling. ]
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Jesus, Luther. I get you're trying not to step wrong, but you still are, in a big fucking way.
If you completely leave it up to her, I'm not sure she'll ever come to you.
Because I think that's part of thing all together. She needs us to make those steps, not the other way around.
[Mostly? He's talking out of his fucking ass, he has no more clue than Luther how to go about Vanya, either. But he is still reeling from conversations with her in the last couple of days. The visit at Aegis two days ago that Allison refused to let him have on his own. He's trying to piece some of it together for himself, still.]
Whatever, Luther.
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Whatev[ If Luther keeps going, he might just accidentally snap this flimsy communicator in half in his hand. Diego's always been the best at riling him up, at nipping at those patient edges and stoking Luther into actual anger.
So, in the end: no response. ]