alan_1 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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thisavrou_log2017-01-01 03:53 pm
alan_1) wrote in thisavrou_log2017-01-01 03:53 pm
Entry tags:
i think i thought i saw you try [closed]
Who: Alan Bradley and Nihlus
When: Some time during the last week of December
Where: Outskirts of camp
What: Nihlus still hasn’t told Alan why he attacked Rinzler, and Alan is 999% Done.
Warnings: Discussion of violence, possible amputation mention.
[It’s almost a relief when Alan gets pulled for a shift of night watch again. He hasn’t been sleeping well, for one. Tedium had given way to anxiety after his conversation with Rinzler. Now, reaching the Midway Hub it isn’t simply a waiting game; it’s something to be prepared for, something he has to fix before time runs out. He’ll have to find some way to convince Rinzler not to go back with Clu -- that, or find a way to force either of their hands. Watch duty at least gives him some time alone with his thoughts without the risk of distraction.
Like last time, he sends Bit off on his own route to report back later. Unlike last time, he also goes walking himself. He doesn’t go far, just to the outskirts of camp, away from the late-night stragglers still dotted amidst the tents. He isn’t expecting to encounter anyone else -- which makes it all the more of a surprise when he catches sight of distinctive red lights in the darkness.
It’s not Rinzler, though that’s hardly a relief. Last time Alan had seen Nihlus, he’d waited for the turian to approach of his own volition. He had thought Nihlus would want the chance to explain himself, to provide some answer for what he’d done. Instead, Nihlus had turned and walked away without so much as an acknowledgment that Alan was even there.
Alan won’t let that happen again. Nihlus’s actions were already unthinkable before Alan was fully aware of the consequences, and now that he is, he knows he can’t simply wait for Nihlus to talk about what he’d done on his own terms. He needs to answer now. Alan walks over, making sure Nihlus sees him approaching so he doesn't have an excuse to slip away this time.]
I was wondering when we’d get the chance to talk. [He says, expression carefully neutral. He'd never made a very good CEO at ENCOM, but at least years spent with the board at his neck taught him how to put barbs in even the most civil of greetings.] You didn’t seem up to it last time.
When: Some time during the last week of December
Where: Outskirts of camp
What: Nihlus still hasn’t told Alan why he attacked Rinzler, and Alan is 999% Done.
Warnings: Discussion of violence, possible amputation mention.
[It’s almost a relief when Alan gets pulled for a shift of night watch again. He hasn’t been sleeping well, for one. Tedium had given way to anxiety after his conversation with Rinzler. Now, reaching the Midway Hub it isn’t simply a waiting game; it’s something to be prepared for, something he has to fix before time runs out. He’ll have to find some way to convince Rinzler not to go back with Clu -- that, or find a way to force either of their hands. Watch duty at least gives him some time alone with his thoughts without the risk of distraction.
Like last time, he sends Bit off on his own route to report back later. Unlike last time, he also goes walking himself. He doesn’t go far, just to the outskirts of camp, away from the late-night stragglers still dotted amidst the tents. He isn’t expecting to encounter anyone else -- which makes it all the more of a surprise when he catches sight of distinctive red lights in the darkness.
It’s not Rinzler, though that’s hardly a relief. Last time Alan had seen Nihlus, he’d waited for the turian to approach of his own volition. He had thought Nihlus would want the chance to explain himself, to provide some answer for what he’d done. Instead, Nihlus had turned and walked away without so much as an acknowledgment that Alan was even there.
Alan won’t let that happen again. Nihlus’s actions were already unthinkable before Alan was fully aware of the consequences, and now that he is, he knows he can’t simply wait for Nihlus to talk about what he’d done on his own terms. He needs to answer now. Alan walks over, making sure Nihlus sees him approaching so he doesn't have an excuse to slip away this time.]
I was wondering when we’d get the chance to talk. [He says, expression carefully neutral. He'd never made a very good CEO at ENCOM, but at least years spent with the board at his neck taught him how to put barbs in even the most civil of greetings.] You didn’t seem up to it last time.
no subject
But he doesn't and when he starts talking again, his voice is quieter, more distant. ]
... It's aware and intelligent. Probably AI like the Reapers themselves. If the Indoctrination process goes too far, the victim's neural systems get fried and they stop being useful. The Reapers know that. It knows that.
[ There's a quiet, slow breath here, Nihlus mentally leafing through the reports he'd read. ]
The tech they use to establish mind control includes very precise stimulation of certain parts of the victim's central nervous system through sound waves. It takes several days to establish the control. To 'tune' into the victim essentially. Initial symptoms include severe headaches, paranoia, hallucinations. Eventually you come to view the artifacts and the Reapers in a religious light. Loving them. Fearing them. Both.
no subject
So this artifact made you want to serve these “Reapers,” [He says carefully, brow furrowing on the unfamiliar term. It answers a few questions, but raises more. “AI” suggests someone made them. It also suggests a purpose.]
What did they gain by having you attack Rinzler?
no subject
[ Virus. That was what Rinzler had called the Husk J had turned into. He'd killed it. Those wounds had been inflicted by his disks. Nihlus remembers that exact assessment running through his head the moment he'd flicked his MID open to watch that video. ]
The artifact couldn't affect him. It wasn't... made for that. But he was dangerous, so I... I...
[ It's still him. It's still him. It wasn't the strange out-of-body disconnection he'd expected Indoctrination to be.
He'd been the one pushing Overload into Rinzler's dock, he'd been the one cutting the program's legs off, he'd been the one trying to kill Shepard, to stop her from destroying the Monolith.
It was him, it was all him- it'd felt so clear, so perfectly logical, the singing note filling every single vein and artery in his body with beautiful, endless light-
Nihlus makes a low, broken noise, body curling crookedly inwards, helmet dropping to the ground with a hollow thud. ]
I'm sorry.