luministi | ◌ 017 ◌ What is behind door number two?

[Fuu has a look on her face that might best be called 'flabbergasted', but she is too busy trying to reconcile what she's just been told to bother thinking about what her expression is.]

[Her mouth opens a couple times before she can finally formulate her response: she gives Ms Sara a wry smile.]

I told the Doctor I had sympathy for lab rats! Only I had no idea at the time just how precisely true that was. We've been taken - not summoned, trapped, and observed. Data being compiled on us... [Her skin crawls at the thought.]

And the end result for this data, Miss Osculia? What are they trying to find out?

[raises an eyebrow at Miss Osculia at her comment about "small pleasures." but her expression turns to horror at the rest of what she says]

Like the old men in the clock...

[she recovers quickly, her expression becoming less horrified and...harder. angrier. but she doesn't say anything for the moment, just waiting for the answer to that important question]

[frowns grimly] That's Constantine's big secret. I don't know his exact goal, but I do know, essentially, what he wants to discover--how to revitalize the human body.

[!!!]

[...Well, that just blew every other thing out of the water.]
[Fuu's mind instantly jumps to the Doctor, who has a phoenix-like regeneration. He could be in serious danger! She fights her instinct to exchange a look with Ms Sara, to see if she'd had the same thought. ]

[Fuu blinks and takes a breath to gather herself. It seems that the Mayor is much more of a foe than she'd ever thought.]

That is certainly some secret. By revitalization, do you mean immortality? Or bringing back something to new life?

[Sara catches her eye, but her expression is hard and closed. she doesn't want to give Miss Osculia any more information than she already has. again, she waits for the next answer, unwilling to speak her thoughts on the matter]

[shakes her head, expression sour] That's his secret, like everything else. It could be for both reasons, or either. All I know is that he's testing all of you, seeing how well you can endure things--and also how well he can reverse what he does to you.

[The skin on the back of her neck prickles as she thinks about the nanobot poison and the transformation into dolls. Fuu frowns, her tone dead-serious.]

I think you know, Miss Osculia, that we must fight this completely indecent action that has been carried out against us.

For a while now we've known that there are at least two factions in this town. We had thought that they were divided over whether or not is was a good thing to have brought the new residents here. Perhaps they were more divided over what was being done to us? We have already been allowed some glimpses behind the curtain - what is really going on behind the scenes, Miss Osculia?

[pieces are starting to fall together in Sara's head--not only about why people have been brought to this town, but even more why these people have been. young, resilient people. people like the Doctor who can naturally regenerate from injuries. and her--a woman who was a house for more than a thousand years and then gained what she has a feeling is a perfectly healthy human form. perhaps she didn't wish herself here after all]

[she keeps her expression impassive, but anger and indignation are building up just under the surface. she's escaped from the house only to be trapped again]

Of course. That's why he didn't want you to know about it.

Two factions? [laughs] I guess you could say that. That is how Constantine looks at it, anyway. One faction who wants the project to go forward, and one who wants to stop it.

But don't insult us all by thinking that there aren't those working on the project who have their reservations about what's being done to you. Some of us have questioned--even protested--it from the beginning. But you do see the benefits, don't you? The lives that can be saved if only this project is successful? For most of us, that end seemed like enough to, in at least some ways, justify the means.

I do think it could have been, if that fool Resarci hadn't taken over the search for the anti-project elements in town. [scowls angrily]

[Fuu looks at her in horrified shock] Anti-project elements? You don't mean, the three men who were murdered?

And yes, I know that there have been people with reservations about this for a while now. [She pulls out her journal and flips to the record she made of the Doctor's note from the garden* (http://community.livejournal.com/luministi_ooc/3053.html). She holds it open on Miss Osculia's desk, allowing both her and Ms Sara to read it.]

It's easy to imagine the benefits. But if your people are suffering, why did you not ask us for help? Almost anyone who was brought here would gladly have helped, had we but known!

[continues to let Fuu take the lead, though her hold on her opinion is growing more tenuous. this is reminding her every moment more of the Earth Empire's great clock. when Fuu pulls out her journal, however, Sara steps forward and turns to Fuu, carefully not looking at Miss Osculia as she does so] May I see that?

[her expression is dark] No. One of them, maybe, but I don't think he ever even suspected the other two!

[stares at the journal page] Who gave you that!? That conversation was...

[Equally darkly] Maybe one out of the three? ...If it was not doctor Resarci, I must suspect the Mayor, then.

[Fuu takes the journal off the desk and passes it calmly to Ms Sara - it seems that Miss Osculia has seen enough to know exactly what it is. (And Ms Sara can read all about the notes in adjacent pages of the journal.)]

Like I said, we were granted a few glimpses behind the curtain. And, as we're into the truth here, the simple fact is I don't know who gave me that.

So, that conversation was what, Miss Osculia?

[accepts the journal. that was exactly what she wanted to do, in fact--she engrosses herself in reading that page and those adjacent to it. not that she's stopped listening, of course]

No, you don't understand. It was Doctor Resarci. But his method of luring out the people working against the project was to kill people in town. He killed two people who had nothing to do with it, just to find the real culprits!

[frowns] No. I suppose you wouldn't know. But that conversation, Miss Hououji, was a private conversation between Constantine and me.

[Fuu has that completely stunned look on her face again]
What?! No-- You mean to say, two of them were... bait?! No, I didn't even consider--

Was Mister Ardes was the true target then? What was he to doctor Resarci that he would go to such lengths...?

And I don't suppose you would have some idea of who would do this?
I'm sorry that we have intruded on your private conversation, Miss Osculia, but I had no idea until now whose conversation it was.
[Tilts her head, considering] Given how you corrected me over there being those who have protested what's being done to us, are you perhaps 'HA'?

[ooc: Skipping Sara on purpose this round! She's reading.]

[her expression is dark] Neither did I. I'm afraid Teger was only killed so Iussus would have to take his place. He's so obsessed with evidence, Resarci likely thought he would be easy to evade. But that didn't work either. No, you residents got that poor girl involved, and look what happened for it! [eyes Fuu a bit angrily]

Resarci thought he was, but clearly there is still someone out there who is working against the project. And isn't it obvious? Resarci has poured half his fortune into this project. Constantine may be the only one more set on its success than he is.

Well, as I'm sure you've already guessed, it was most likely either Mr Ardes or his accomplice. Or accomplices. But no, I don't know who that might be.

HA? [blinks] Oh, yes, Head Assistant. And Constantine is the Head Researcher. They're abbreviations for our positions on the project.

[Fuu nods seriously. The parts of the 'big picture' that she can start to see are frightful. It had been incredibly suspicious timing for Iussus to replace Teiger, and now she knows for certain it was no accident.
Everything that happens in this town goes through the Mayor, and his close accomplice doctor Resacri to whom the whole town in indebted to.]

[Fuu feels a pang at Miss Osculia's angry look. Poor girl? The evidence against doctor Resarci--]
Miss Verita? We- No, for certain we didn't mean anything to happen to her! I tried to warn her about what she was doing, but...

But still, we worked together to question doctor Resarci.

[After a long moment Fuu holds off the sense of guilt that is trying to overtake her. She will take time for it later, but she has to hold on to clarity just a bit longer.]

What does doctor Resarci stand to gain from all this? Having poured so much money into it, he must want something desperately.

[she doesn't like the way Miss Osculia is regarding Fuu at all--nor Fuu's expression when she heard it. Sara looks up from her reading, closing the diary and offering it to Fuu] It sounds to me like Verita made a choice--and a brave one, at that.

[snaps] A stupid one! Do you think Resarci would have tried anything with Constantine's own daughter if she hadn't been so foolish as to stand against him? Any of you could have stopped her. Now, not even Constantine's loved ones are free of scrutiny!

[but she takes a deep breath after that tirade and also takes that moment to compose herself. after several deep breaths, the anger fades from her expression. she pushes her glasses unnecessarily up her nose] Results, of course. He believes in the benefits of the project--and certainly in the money it could bring in. And now that he has put so much into it, he has even more to lose if it isn't successful.

[Fuu can't help but flinch as Miss Osculia yells at them. She agreed with Ms Sara - Miss Verita had made a brave decision. But there was no ignoring the consequences of what they'd led her in to.]
[She will certainly speak to Miss Verita about it later. And apologize deeply.]

[in quiet anger] Money-- A business venture. Profit... [Fuu stands stock-still for a moment, eyes closed. Oh, the next time she sees that awful man she'll bind him in wind and not let him go! She'll be happy to ensure he loses every penny of this 'investment'! But... One last thing to be certain of.]

And what do the townspeople stand to gain from all this? You said that nearly everyone agreed that the benefits would be worth it - what were they looking forward to?

[Sara can't stay quiet anymore. this is too familiar--too close to home. it screams of Mavic Chen and the Great Clock--the price the old men paid for the space lanes. and even worse, the price that the Empire was to pay at the hand of the Daleks for the Guardian's own ambition]

I'm not sure the townspeople are the only ones meant to benefit. What about the people of this world? But will they have any idea what their "benefits" cost?

[Miss Osculia smiles thinly at Sara] It seems you understand, at least. [turns to Fuu] Revitalization of the human form. That's what they--what all our people--stand to gain from this project.

[Fuu looks between Sara and Osculia for a moment.]

I'm sorry, Ms Sara. I still don't understand.
Revitalization is what everyone wants, not just the Mayor? Does that mean there some... world-wide illness or something that will be cured?

[She doesn't want to believe that they are all in this for some selfish reason, she doesn't...]

[softly] Does it have to be an illness? Think about your own world. What would your government do if they knew of a way that people could be revitalized who otherwise would have died?

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