snowblindrpg | [network] @featherydouche; video; unsafe medical experiments for fun and profit; morning 190 [open]

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[network] @featherydouche; video; unsafe medical experiments for fun and profit; morning 190 [open]

[No text today! Instead, the viewers of Norfinbury get a video showing a weird orange bird guy filmed from inside a house. In addition to the shades, behind which a faint orange glow is visible, he's got on the standard peacoat people receive here. It's the same violent shade of orange as the rest of him.]

Hey. A bunch of you already know by now, but the name's Davesprite, and I'm this thing called a sprite and I'm part crow.

[He caws demonstratively.]

But I'm posting this because House and I just did some experiments about the whole nonhuman thing yesterday. See, some people were positing that maybe I only look weird because of distorted perceptions and junk, so we wanted to test basically if I'm the way I should be or not.

Thing one, I've got a hole through the middle of my chest where my sword used to go, because sprites are weird. Don't worry about it. Watson told me how normal objects found here go right through anomalies, but stuff coated in rubble dust hits them. So he and Sherlock wanted me to try to stick some rubble in my sword hole. Spoilers, it worked.

Thing two, my blood's bright yellow like somebody cracked a glowstick open, and it doesn't look like a human's under a microscope. Since the admin said my bloodtype's been "adjusted", House wanted to inject some of it into himself to see if he could. And that worked too.

If you want to go and lecture us about how that was dangerous and stupid and we could have gotten ourselves killed: Yeah, I know, but too late. Sometimes you gotta be stupid to get science done. And now we've confirmed that looking nonhuman is still real and not just some illusion cast on our senses via the nanomachines, and that regular humans can accept "adjusted" blood with the right type.

Thing three's got nothing to do with the experiments, but House wanted me to share that he found an SD card back on day 183 with Andromeda and Winter talking some more. If you saw the post I made about the card I found a while back, the one where they were talking about the cult? It sounds like this one relates to that.

[Here at the end Davesprite links a few files. First are video recordings of him and House performing the experiments described above. His blood in the relevant experiment is indeed a yellow as he said and slightly luminescent. Along with this he includes a couple photos of his blood taken under a microscope. The blood cells aren't human or avian, but a shape that looks somewhere between both.]

[Next, he includes the audio file of Winter and Andromeda talking.]

(OOC: Replies may come from either Davesprite or House!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

we're getting philosophical now?
that's outside my pay grade, dude
or are you taking a swipe at the addict thing?

Well if it is beyond your expertise, I rescind the question.

pay grade
not expertise
you wanna play that game
tell me something interesting about yourself
something you haven't told anyone else here

I don't consider any of this a game.

[Unless one counted real-life 3D chess a game...]

And why should I do that? Besides, I only give out real life heart-felt details of my life in person, doctor. The give and take is better that way.

yes, you do

[House isn't sure what they're playing, yet, but he's getting the sense of a game that he would play.]

and my charming conversation didn't woo you?
aww, snaps!
i don't do in-person consults when i can avoid them
guess we're doomed to never really get to know each other
such a tragedy

That's quite the accusation. Would you care to back it up with facts?

[Very well. Let's play a game, Doctor.]

Such a shame. I envisioned you as such a lady's man who had as much in the way of looks as he did in engaging gratifying conversational wit and humour. I suppose this interplay here will be as far as we go.

there are three types of people who engage with me over the network instead of hanging up or yelling at me and hanging up:

a. idiots
b. overly polite assholes who don't know how to tell someone to fuck off
c. people with an agenda

you're not an idiot
you're not that polite or you wouldn't make jokes about shit
you already said you were trying to see if i was any use
now, that last one could've been sarcasm
but it's legit
it also means you're playing a game

what were you doing back home?
i saw you tell watson and solomons you're military
and now you're some government bureaucrat?
you want to know everyone's skills so you can see how to best use us
should i call you chessmaster pierce?

and see
that sorta thing is just suspicious
but i'm an asshole who's suspicious of everyone
so lucky you
no one's gonna care what i think here
all you have to do is play possum
just the old bro trying to help everyone out
not sure what you've got planned beyond that
but you've got something planned
hope it's interesting, at least

[Pierce stares at this reply for a long time, considering many an option on replies, deciding the path he wanted to take. So few were good at psychoanalysis based on few details after all, and he could admit that this man now had some of his respect. That is a rare thing to earn so quickly.]

Your psychoanalysis is very intriguing, especially based on so few details, and with the give and take of sarcasm that I've been reading in our replies to one another. However, there is a fault in your logic: everyone has an agenda, but I'm positive you know that. I also am suspecting you have trust issues, that your flippant attitude is a sign of defense mechanisms to stop people from getting close to you. Your comment in particular about patients just happening to be carriers of disease indicates to me that you're brilliant, but you can't engage on a similar level with other people. Probably a recluse socially. Probably only have a handful of friends, I'm guessing. You are more interested in solving the puzzle than anyone involved in it. Your own agenda seems to involve self-destructive behaviour, taking unnecessary risks for the value of information. I doubt you play well with others in the sandbox; which of your parents was detrimental to your healthy emotional development? Close? Far off base? I suspect you'll denial anything and all things close to a truth. And since we are all being so honest with each other, when I arrived here, something of mine was taken. I intend to get it back. That is my agenda, Doctor.

[House bristles at how on-point much of that is. He's going to try to avoid giving Pierce more to work with, though. Actively denying individual items will just point the man in a direction.]

i deny anything and all things, mr. freud
especially the truthful things
keep 'em guessing and watch 'em dance
that's you're philosophy, too, right?

you're right, though
everyone has an agenda
some people have a more interesting agenda than others

everyone had their things stolen when they got here
if you're fixated on what was taken
that must mean it was super special
not sentimental
you don't seem like a guy for sentiment
something useful
something dangerous?
something you think could help you get out of here?

[Ah, now they were playing a good game of verbal tennis. How he had missed this. It was a shame it was public or he might have hit home a few serves harder.]

Well, in the time I was raised, dancing was a very important social necessity. It was how I met my wife after all. Swept her literally and figuratively off of her feet. Also, I don't see you as a man who likes the guessing games unless it is you forcing everyone else to play your game of I, Spy. 'Interesting'. You out yourself again. You're here to watch people react, to see who is a puzzle you can pick apart and solve for your own intellectual curiosity. I don't suppose any puzzle is left unfinished? On this particular item, I am truly invested and sentimental about. We have been together a very long time, this item and I. And getting out of here is less my agenda and more assisting others in doing so.

[Okay, this guy is annoying, but he's fun. Boredom is the enemy, after all, and Pierce is anything but that, now that they're actually engaging instead of sniping. House mentally reviews their conversation and the conversations he's skimmed that have Pierce in them. He just skips past the I, Spy comment.]

you know that story of bach and his son?
guy was on his deathbed and the kid was playing scales on the piano nearby
didn't play the final note and bach leaps up to hit it
i don't like an unfinished melody
it's not clean

as for your item
it's nothing medical
not a clothing item
at least not a useful cold-weather clothing item
you don't get invested in clothing or tools, either
not unless the tool is something you've been working to improve
something you built or inherited and improved on
it's something you had with you or nearby often enough to feel robbed
a project
a machine?
i'd guess a car or a bike
but guys who're in love with their little hot rod or harley don't call them "items"
"we" is an interesting term
all of your phrasing's interesting there

[House is still working out why and what it actually means, though. Definitely some sort of project. And damn Pierce if he isn't making this just intriguing enough to hold the doctor's full attention. He wants to know, even if the other man isn't going to admit to anything.

Maybe it's some sort of robot? Hand-built. But there's still the 'this item' phrasing. It's almost intentionally deceptive. Pierce is picking his words carefully, that much is clear.]

[Pierce is thoroughly enjoying himself. There was nothing paltry about this conversation. This was about two men trying to outmaneuver each other and gain the upper hand, and that was something he quite thoroughly engaged in. So few could meet him on this level so far.]

I'm familiar with the tale, yes. So you're admitting that you're obsessive compulsive. I'm glad we have that out in the open. Definitely not clothing, medical, not a sweet ride, not a machine and definitely not a project. It's completed after all. Now I have to wonder how long you will obsess over this, given your previous statements of not liking to leave things unfinished. As for my phrasing: it's intentional. Words are powerful, and I happen to take an interest in words. [Besides, this being public, he can lead anyone reading in a certain path or heighten paranoia. He knows how the game works; he just happens to be playing his cards carefully right now regardless of how engaged and curious of House he is.]

[House isn't going to bother denying that he has an obsessive streak. Anyone here for long enough will pick up on it.

Not a machine.]

a completed project is still a project
mr. pedant

[House considers what he's deduced about Pierce once more. Mover and shaker, king-maker or breaker. Chessmaster. People are pawns or other pieces in the game to him. They're 'items.' And this is a very special piece in his set.]

so, who's the item
'cause it's a who
not a what

[Very astute. House has more of his respect. He almost can say he even likes the guy.]

It's not something I put away in a drawer, no. Also, success is in the details. Wouldn't you agree?

[Ah excellent, let's add some gasoline to the paranoia fire that is probably burning off somewhere else in the city. Perfect. He barely has to assist in this.]

Can't a who also be a what?

[He doesn't respond to the success comment. If Wilson were still around, he could tell Pierce about the time House went searching through every medication in the hospital pharmacy after they'd already solved a case generally to confirm the how on a patient's diagnosis. Details matter. Details are what solve the puzzle to satisfaction.]

depends on how much of an asshole you are
and/or whether you care more about statistics
so you were in control of this item
or are we gonna be nice to the pawn and call him an asset?
military bureaucrat says some sort of attack dog

[The replies stop there because House knows of a military attack dog. He's manipulated and blackmailed one of those. And said dog had freaked about him putting out the cliche that the guy had some sort of activation code.

Holy fucking hell. This guy is the handler. Which means he is one of the most dangerous people in Norfinbury.

Great.]

I do enjoy statistics, but they have severe limitations as well. I mean, one could verify any theory depending on how they ask the question, study the data, the sample size. It is both extremely useful and extremely misleading. I don't like the word pawn. It devalues something that has intrinsic necessity, and it makes it sound like people don't have a choice. You are very specific on assumptions of gender, that my item is even alive, and that it has function beyond what only I could have use for it. That is a dangerous game, but I'll acknowledge your brilliance of details all the same. You are an excellent chess player, aren't you?

[He's also smart enough and knows that House has been around enough to perhaps narrow down a list of people who could fit the asset category. Knowing this man's crass degrading attitude, it would be easy to flip a switch on the Soldier. Now wouldn't that be an interesting twist of events. Not for a public conversation unfortunately.]

[His voice is a sharp snap, fierce and furious. He knows House has figured it out with the word 'asset', he knows because he's been blackmailed by this man before, so it doesn't matter if he reveals his hand.

But he'll add Pierce in on this too, he'll make sure the man incriminates himself further.]

Stop!

[Pierce goes silent, amused in his own way that he managed to get this far in the first place. However, he knows better than to voice himself, not about to out their involvement as knowing the Soldier. Not yet anyway.

There was a ruse to consider after all.]

[That answers that question, as far as House is concerned.]

and here i would've thought your handlers would've taught you manners, buckaroo
this is an a and b conversation
c your way out

[His voice remains rough and harsh, strained.]

You know about me, you proved that already, are you sure you want to get involved with him? Stay away.

Pierce... [Just the name sounds wrong on his lips, like it should be either 'sir' or 'bastard'.] I know you're listening to this, maybe you think it's funny to taunt me. But I swear to you, you'll regret every time you've called me your possession when I find you.

[Well, the cat really is out of the bag. A shame, but it was to be expected.]

This conversation doesn't involve you. Myself and the good Doctor were posturing, and now you've gone and made quite the statement for yourself. After all that talk of wanting to keep me safe.... I apologize for the interruption, Doctor.

[Though he had actually expected it.]

well, kids, you know?
always eager to jump in
my fellows are the same way

you wanna tell me why i can trust the guy who wants to kill me more than the guy who presently doesn't, barnes?

I don't want to kill you.

[Hate him, yes. Want to punch him, yes. Kill him, no.]

Ally with him, and you're allying with the head of an organisation born from the Nazi party.

[Come on, House, surely even you aren't that stupid.]

[He might have to side with House on the killing thread of thought. After all, he had been offered pleasantries and now was earning threats. It confirmed that House's personality might not jive with his Soldier's.]

Who said anything about allying with anyone? We were having a discussion before you interrupted, and besides, I'm certain the Doctor is smart enough to make decisions on who he wishes to speak to.

i don't do allies, barnes
i work with the joker
and the guy who wanted to lobotomize me after beating me into the ground
and the guy who got addled by an eldritch abomination and kidnapped epps
you really think mein kampf here bothers me?
pretty sure he's not gonna be nazi'ing it up in snowhell

he's interesting
and now thanks to you
we've got some decent blackmail on this guy
or
y'know
you could have some decent blackmail if you didn't go around snarling like a rabid dog
i can already see where he's going with the game, kid
and you're not gonna like it
also, i'm guessing you probably don't want to be talking to him or taking his calls
if he's the one who can snap you into psycho killer mode
just some friendly advice, pal

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