2023-10-18: Brainjam
- Cast: Gayatri D'Cruze (NPC), Teletha Testarossa
- Where: Merida Island
- Date: U.C. 0097 10 18
- Summary: After rescuing (kidnapping) a genius teenage girl from the REA and Yuliana's own claws of death, a Colonel outlines the present, past, and what is yet to come for a girl who didn't know that she isn't alone.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
There's a certain sort of anxiety when stepping into a conference room. The sort of anxiety that wonders if the guess is wrong. If the reports received were inconclusive to the point of wronguful interpretation. Questions upon questions upon questions, even if it was practically nearly certain that what she suspected was true. The whispering of the engineering marvels on common REA infrastructure, the attack on REA soil to force the soil to bloom with unknown flowers. It all matched up. And yet.
She didn't want to say for certain.
There's a knock on the conference room door before it opened. Once, twice, thrice. Gayatri had been taken there a few minutes before, asked to sit inside at the table while they stood guard outside. Just a Colonel's orders, the same one that rescued you. Don't worry, she means well.
And in walked Teletha with a strong gaze, to close the door behind her. Carrying a bundle of files, sitting down across from Gayatri and setting the folder down. A few papers peeked out: Photos of recognizable infrastructue. Bridges. Buildings. Roads.
"Gayatri D'Cruze." Her voice is on a particular razor's edge; Whether from stress or from exhaustion, one couldn't say. "May I ask for your birthday?"
<Pose Tracker> Nunnally Lamperouge has posed.
It's been a little harrowing, honestly. Gayatri figured out at some point that she's been kidnapped, and this isn't the REA, not really; she was warned this could happen, so of course she's afraid.
But she's been good. She isn't a soldier, though she's frequently accompanied by them; there's no way she's escaping. Besides, they don't seem... unfair. She's always being watched, but she's used to being watched. She can think of a few stints in Medical where she's had less freedom than this, certainly.
At least her hands are free to play over each other, now. Her knees all pressed together -- she has dark skin, but not as dark as her mother, thanks to her Britannian father -- she looks up to Teletha, her own blue eyes piercing. (Her hair is brown, but light rather than dark, and it hangs long over her shoulders.) "... are you the Colonel?" She asks, first.
Her hands twist and fold over each other, and she remembers, a moment later: "Oh, uh... weird question, but... December 24th? It's kinda cool, you know, it's one of the Days of Military Honour over in Zaftra... like, waaay back in ancient history, though. I, uh -- I came way later than that, like, '79... you know, you don't look that much older? Is this, like, one of those situations where they give someone a title to control them, 'cause I have NO clue how you get to be a Colonel at that age, and, uh, I've had really bad luck with that kind of thing? Like? The Captain just tried to kill me again? Just, letmeknowinadvance, uh, thanks." She's nervous, obviously; she's talking too much.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
Tessa's done her best to make sure the (yet another, to the grumble of some higher-ups) person she took on board (which is definitely some would merit as kidnapping) was treated well. Just treat her like a normal prisoner. Yes, she was watched, given a bed and proper meals, and such...But nothing untoward.
Tessa's own eyes are a mix of apprehension and hope. CLosing them for a moment. Taking a deep breath in and out. Don't be afraid. Don't be anxious. This is possibly more harrowing for her. "Yes. Colonel Teletha Testarossa." A beat. "...I apologize for the deception about masquerading as the REA." It only felt appropriate.
However, at hearing the date, the year...she visibly relaxed, sighing out on the chair for a moment before composing herself. "December 24th, 0079." Gayatri's birthday...and her own. Thankfully. "No, no one is coming to kill you here." ...Not that she knew of, but she couldn't let her paranoia shine through.
"And I made it here with my own head, just like you made a name for yourself for what's inside yours." Careful. Precise. The sort of practiced motions one makes when preparing to pull the curtains back. "Your own headspace suddenly expanding. Knowledge that you can talk about at length and other people are amazed at." Flipping open the folder, pulling out various documents. Comparisons. Concrete. Steel. Bridges. Roads. Asphalt consistencies, concrete mixtures, handwritten notes about the differences in compositions and tensile strength.
"Knowing that you know something people don't, but not able to explain how you know it. Does that sound familiar at all?"
...Whatever the answer was.
"I was talking about myself. If this also applies to you...I know what it's like."
<Pose Tracker> Nunnally Lamperouge has posed.
"Oh, um... it's okay? Uh, I mean... I'm kind of confused about everything, but you guys did save me, even if I guess you kinda kidnapped me after, but..." Gayatri certainly sounds a touch harrowed. But Teletha assures her no one's coming to kill her, and that's not nothing.
Gayatri peers over at those documents, and yelps -- "Hey! That's my stuff!" -- and surely she means that the file is documenting her works. But...
"Wait, you?" She blinks, looking over to Teletha, hands all bunched up in her lap. "S--sorry, but there's no way that's true. Jingyi and the scientists and everyone, they're always talking about how there's no one else like me... you know, 'if we had ten of you, we'd be the strongest nation on Earth!', stuff like that. Honestly, it's kinda a pain... I just noticed some stuff wasn't efficient at all, so I told them how to fix it, and before I know it I'm, like, some kind of celebrity?"
She sighs. "Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad... you know I once even got to meet Sheryl Nome? Yeah, at one of those fancy dinners they like dragging me out to... haha, I was too embarrassed to try and dance with her, though..." Her cheeks do, in fact, go red at the memory.
"... well, anyway, I mean... I guess I should ask... why are you saying stuff like that?" Gayatri frowns, hands curling over each other again. "I guess some weird stuff happened, in that fight... yeah, I can't really explain it. So... maybe you get it... I don't know. I really don't know anything that's going on right now, honestly."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
"Unfortunately, I can't answer much about where you are." Precautions were precautions. "However, I can answer anything else you want to know." She's offering herself up as free information. A source of anything and everything...Within reason.
"We know." That was good confirmation in of itself. A suspicion confirmed. Multiple, even. "So you're behind the REA's reputation of infrastructure..."
"...I understand." Glancing away from the table. Ten, to be the strongest nation on Earth. "Ten. They wanted ten, when they don't know how much one could bring..." There's the sound of scrunching paper, a balled up fist before she relaxed. "...I do understand that sort of sentiment. More than I'd like to know." Another breath in, another breath out.
"You did? They let you out?" It's a slight bit of a surprise. Others...Others usually weren't afforded much freedom, from her experience. "I haven't heard much of her stuff lately, but Universal Bunny is a good song." There's a small giggle. Fond memories, and people she should search out.
"Because it's confirmation of what you are, Gayatri. There are people born on December 24th or 25th, date line dependent, 0079 within a span of three minutes. Things that seem futuristic. Techniques that seem obvious in hindsight that no one's been able to do. Quick advancements that leapfrog past decades of knowledge into something new and better everytime. The submarine in the dock is of my design. Not the general layout. Every last bit of blueprint work and design, down to the millimeter tolerances."
The Colonel closes her eyes for a few seconds. "I do get it." Even if sometimes I wish I hadn't.
"There's a term for it. For us. Whispered. What we are was an accident of design, but...I'm sure you can think of how better engineering techniques would push forward something worse if one wanted them to do that, and only that."
<Pose Tracker> Nunnally Lamperouge has posed.
"Oh, um, good to know," Gayatri nods, though she doesn't ask anything immediately. Perhaps she's intimidated.
(She's definitely intimidated.)
"Yeah, I guess..." She unlaces her hands, to scratch at an ear, before she frowns. That scrunching paper... "... is that really that bad? That's kinda just, like, that's how the Republic works, if they've got one thing that works they wanna scale up to having a hundred of that thing..."
She smiles, a little nervously. "Um-- yeah. They didn't used to, I mean? When they first like... figured me out? But I was a lot younger then. Like, um -- sorry, I'm rambling again," she shakes her head, and listens.
"Oh," she blinks. "So... you're a Military Honour baby too, then? Cool." THAT'S her takeaway?!
(No, it's just a lot to take in.)
"But this whole submarine, huh... damn. That's pretty cool. I... can't say I heard the word 'Whispered' before, though. They called me 'Subject One', back in Medical, so I guess they never knew there were more..." Gayatri shakes her head, frowning down at her hands.
"Maybe I had better say what I was gonna, actually," she starts, a little hesitant. "See, back in primary school... um, see, where I grew up -- Solapur, it's out in Maharashtra, um, you know, India -- it's not bad, like, as far as infrastructure goes? But with all the wars and everything, and places like Mumbai get a lot of the attention, so... you know, one day they were actually filling potholes for once, and I'd been reading about, like, engineering and stuff, I was interested in that stuff, so I asked if I could see them mixing it up. But -- but they were doing it wrong," she insists, her frown deepening. "Like, it was so obvious the mineral powder should've been ten percent of the weight, but they had it at like, eight? This is totally basic shit, like, I was a child and even I got it, but..."
She sighs. "I just wanted to help my dad out, since he was always complaining about his wheels getting shot driving on those roads. But... soon after that, some people from the government came and took me into custody. Well, there were a lot of tests and junk... like, a lot a lot..." Gayatri's brow knits, and her lips twist. "... but they asked me to, like, build a wanzer for them, and it just didn't work like that? That stuff doesn't, you know, interest me. It's not like the civil engineering stuff I like to do. I get that, like, like that," she snaps her fingers, as if to demonstrate. "But every so often, they try and get me to design weapons and stuff, anyway. I reckon it's always gotta be some new suit getting disappointed I don't like that stuff."
Gayatri sighs. "... but it's not so bad, you know," she says, though her tone is wearied. "Like, these days I get to work pretty independently. I know there's people watching me, but I get real depressed when I get locked in a room, you know? I guess they wanna keep me happy. Bet they're worried now I'm gone, though... um, that might be some trouble for you. So -- uh -- sorry?" It's still a little strange to her that she's just trusting this girl with all of this information -- she does know about opsec, give her some credit -- but she... does seem to get it. And...
... it's lonely, being the only one.
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
The silvernette is doing her best to keep her relief up, maintaining a small smile. It was a lot to take in.
"It is...Something I chose to do. To be here. I can't say it isn't frustrating at times." Relax. Just. Just let it flow. Even if she was one. Why does the difference feel so far away, still? They're both cut from the similar sort of cloth. So why? Why is this...
"Subject One..." Ah, that's a small bit of relief. Even if...Others were out there, maybe. The way she says it...So that means that...A soft mutter. "Does this mean the REA doesn't know about the two others...?" That's a piece of good news. Bad, and good.
But she does listen to Gayatri's spiel. It's a similar spiel she's heard before. Somewhere inconnuous. Somewhere hit by the multitudes of war. Seeingt something, wanting to just help, something that struck as simple but pushed forward something by multiple years in singular suggestions. And like that, their simple lives were ended. "...Do you know where your family is?" The first question in her head, one that feared the worst, but still.
A subtle nod at the snap. It's the same way. Learning by instinct. Skipping over the agonizing years and just knowing. She doesn't raise up the obvious conclusion: REA's infrastructure is better. But what'd be even better is if she could birth a weapon that could reinforce their state in the world.
Cruelty.
"As far as we're aware, the REA is searching for you. But that's it." A small smile. "Only searching, with nothing they can find. You can consider yourself a free woman, Gayatri."
Turning a piece of paper on its axis, looking over the infrastructure, the pages detailing so, so much work. "I can promise you a few things. First, that you have the ability to leave whenever. Second, that we will never ask you to design a weapon, Wazner or whatnot. Third, that we can get you...something resembling a life that you want." There's a breath taken.
"I...wanted to make sure for myself that you were who I thought you were. I'm sorry for the delay." Its been a hard few days. "So I'm asking this. What do you want to do, Gayatri?"
<Pose Tracker> Nunnally Lamperouge has posed.
"I mean... I sure didn't know there were two more. I didn't know about you, or -- that you could choose to do this stuff? But they don't tell me nothing, anyway... which is dumb, like, I'm old enough to enlist, but I'm still in the dark? Whatever." It's not whatever.
"Yeah," Gayatri nods, when Teletha asks about her family. "They're still in Solapur... though, I'm kinda worried." Her frown deepens, again. "Like, no one ever said that they got a comfortable life because I was cooperating, you know, with those words in that order, but... you know?" The threat, implicitly, is that if she doesn't comply -- if she tries to escape, or if she fails to work -- her family will face the consequences. Perhaps that's why they could let her work with the freedom she had. "I bet Jingyi's in a lot of shit now he's lost me, too..."
Maybe that's why she struggles so much with the idea that she's a free woman, now. "Um..." She starts, and trails off, listening to Teletha's promises.
"I don't... I don't really know," she confesses, a shade lost. "You're -- you're really telling me a lot, here, um... you know, even thinking I wasn't free back there, you know, like, obviously, but... you said two others? There's more of -- uh -- us?" She straightens up, grasping at her hair with a hand. "I don't... I mean, I can't just know that and not... be curious, you know? I guess this is some kinda top-secret military thing or whatever, but... I don't want to be alone. Can I just... stick around? You know, even if it's just for a while... maybe it's stupid, but I do want to trust you. I think... I think you do get it. But-- but if it's a pain, I don't want to be a bother, or anything, um..." She curls her hair about her palm, looking over to it. "I mean... it's not like I've ever met you before, but... I can't put my finger on it, but, you know, you seem pretty stressed. Sorry... sorry if I made shit complicated."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
"Not exactly my mind, but...what I can do with what was given to me." A tap on the forehead, not that she looks particularly proud about it at the moment. "If...they wanted you to know, I think they'd tell you. If I'm right, they didn't even know what you were, just what you had..." The same as always. The solutions. Never why.
"I'll have a few people look around. No guarantees, I'm afraid." Ah. She might have to...No, put that thought away. Don't be pessimistic about it. There's a chance, there's always a chance until proven otherwise. "Are you worried about him? Jingyi?" There's no reason to discount the initial superiors. Stories of people in bad places doing good things for what they could protect or nurture...Such talks are common, here in Mithril. A place where people go by choice for something that can't be solved by words or by just well leaving it alone.
"...I'm sorry for so much information." It's digestible. It's understandable. But even being able to break it down to the base elements, it's still...A lot to take in. "I didn't want to keep you in the dark about this. About what you are." A minute nod, slowly straightening up.
"You can. You'll have to work a bit, but...There's always things around here that need repair. Infrastructure-wise. Here. Other places. Around the world." It's a risky move, to push that sort of engineering out into the wild. But...Mithril has shell companies. Companies that can introduce these techniques, pushing bit by bit. "I can arrange for schooling, if you'd like." She's perking up, bit by bit. "I..."
"I just want to help people." ...Not just Whispered.
<Pose Tracker> Nunnally Lamperouge has posed.
"Yeah, they... they were always trying to figure me out." Gayatri sighs. "Honestly, the tests got pretty exhausting..." ... and given the place she came from, that may well be an understatement.
She shrugs, still wearing that frown. "Yeah, I guess. Like, I know Jingyi was supposed to watch me, I'm not stupid, but... you know, the head engineer's not a bad guy. He always used to give Medical an earful if they borrowed me too long, yelling about how I wasn't just one of their labrats... and he always made sure I got entry into the courses I wanted to study, even if I had to do it all by distance and stuff. He always kinda seemed a bit uncomfortable with everything they wanted me to do, he kept saying it was no good I wasn't growing up right... he did have me meet Major Pham and Captain Dispersal, uh, Kafim, but I don't think Jingyi knew she'd be-- whatever the fuck she is. Seriously, what's her deal?" Gayatri grimaces. "Anyway, he was worried about the Republic trotting me off to such a big dinner, so he wanted the military to protect me... I guess they saw an opportunity and took it."
The REA does so love their opportunities.
It is digestible information; logically speaking, it should be easy for Gayatri to absorb it. But... it's personal. It's just way too personal. "Thanks," she says. "For telling me, I mean. Guess it's a big ask, just judging by the place..." Not even the Colonel could tell her where she actually is.
She nods along, but it's Teletha's last point she answers, first. "Well... you helped me?" She ventures, with a small smile. "That freak was going to kill me. I guess I kinda asked for it, since I did go and attack her, but... you know, I had to stop her? There's no way she was doing anything good." Yuliana's behaviour towards Gayatri hasn't earned her a shred of consideration. "And -- and you got me out of the Republic, too, and... I don't entirely know how to feel about that, but, you know, mostly I'm not thinking 'oh no, I want to go home', it's more just, 'oh no, what are they gonna do if they take me back home', so... you know, probably I should feel good about it?"
Her smile grows. "And, uh -- you know, like, I've never been to, like, proper high school? Just learning on the computer, since they took me out of stuff when I was a kid. I think... I think it'd be nice. I don't mind working, either, since you said I don't gotta work on weapons or anything -- like, I enjoy infrastructure shit? A lot of people think it's boring, but it's actually really interesting! Just -- uh, if I have a choice about all this, really -- the Republic was always getting me into China, even though I wanted to go back and fix Maharashtra up, so -- I don't wanna just be fixing up the places that it's trendy to fix. I always had to be fighting people to get out to the spots no one cared about... it was such a pain."
<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.
<poem> Tessa is wise. Tessa does not prod about the testing. THere are people for that, others more equipped to deal with finding out exactly what they did to Gayatri. Common sense dictates that, especially with the REA, do not dig at the scabs of experimentation.
"Jingyi...I'll see what I can do." Burden after burden on her own shoulders. It's a mandated responsbility, almost. To be like this, to understand what goes on in the mind of another who had one similar circumstance spiral into the facets of life they currently inhabit. More names. The one in particular. "Yuliana Kafim. She married, and she's been doing her own activities. I'm not familiar of the majority of her movements, but she's been...planning something." It feels ominous. The itch at the back of her neck. The eyes boring against her skull, traces of those singular moments still etched in her mind. Even if the digging was barely, figuratively a millimeter...a mind doesn't heal the same way skin eventually does.
"We were lucky, in the end. We came in because of your distress signal." An obvious thing to recommit and reaffirm.
"I want people to know who they are." The information is understandable, but it's...something more. "It's jarring to not know yourself. To think that there's something with your brain that's unique and...terrifying." The sleepless nights every so often. Having this in your head. The jumble that fits so right, the knots that have every piece outlined without having to learn why. It's a certain kind of horror, if one thinks about it. To just know something has been there, and to understand that you remember never seeing it instinctually before.
A breath. Calm down. This isn't about yourself, right now.
"I'm glad." A smile of relief cropping up on her face once more, nodding at every directed sentence. It's the right thing to do, however the REA wants to term the loss of what's clearly one of their greater assets. "As I said, I don't think we have to worry about the REA after a while. Worst case...we convince them you're dead." It's simple. A mangled body, burnt beyond recognition, some spoofing for DNA and other such tests...It shouldn't be too hard.
"You haven't..." ...Cruelty. Genuine cruelty. In this world, to be denied the basics of growth. Of normalcy, or what passes for it in this place. "I...I'm not too aware of all our current options. There's the Invisible Burst from Jupiter every so often, but. Maharashtra, you said?" The sentence about fixing up spots no one cared about. "...Mhm. The places no one goes, but someone calls home nonetheless, right?"
"For now, we can get you properly registered and accommodated. Welcome to Merida Island, Gayatri. I'm Colonel Teletha Testarossa, employed by Mithril PMC."