[network] @Menmosyne; video; morning 265; as if nothing really matters [open]

[bookofnope]

I barely know where to begin.

[Beckett is seated on the loft bed in Building 108, all the plastic cases from the drawer under that bed - scattered in front of him. He's shirtless, despite the cold in the house, and alternates between fiddling with the cases, and carefully prodding at the deep bruising that is all that's left of the blows that shattered both his arms.]

It feels - aghhh, bloody hell, still hurts - feels like there are a hundred connections I'm not making. I can't believe I haven't connected the eye of the Prophet to the eye under the ocean before, though what does it mean? And what we're undergone - is there actual resemblance to what the patchwork anomalies have communicated undergoing? I haven't even had a chance to revise the timeline. Riley Sung died twenty-nine years before the catastrophic impact event. Whatever the demonstrations were against, something was abnormal in Norfinbury long before the town died. It's all - [he gestures limply at the cases] as scattered as this mess.

[Granted, some of it may be the recent extreme trauma. He's not about to talk about the bloody trauma, though. He shivers a little.]

Too damn cold here. Was this building always so... never mind. Those of you who were brainwashed, how much do you remember? Don't start with the guilt trips. Just think. Enoch said to me that the god the Prophet stands for is what caused the event that burned out her eyes. I'm not sure what to make of it. We need to know everything.

Comments

[armoured]

It's not about what I'd like to believe, it's about looking at the truth.

[He learned a long time ago that reality and what he'd like to be reality very rarely match up to one another.]

Maybe they were brainwashed, or maybe they chose to do this, we don't know yet. It's silly to close off one avenue of possibility just because it's upsetting.

[bookofnope]

Ahh, now that's well said. [Sometimes Alphonse does remind Beckett of why he has such a good opinion of the boy despite his age and his tender heart. Yes - it's about the truth.]

I wish we did know, because then we may know what kind of influence the Norfinbruy Entity has, or had, on the town - direct or indirect, malicious or accidental. But I understand that it wasn't even on your minds, when you were acting.

[armoured]

Right, it just seemed like--- like I was still me, like I was helping people.

[That's the worst thing about it, he'll never ever forget that.]

Maybe that's what the people who did it first time felt like, I've seen people do awful things before because they were desperate and thought it was the right thing.

[bookofnope]

More often than not, that is exactly why people do awful things.

[Whether that's a positive or negative comment on human nature... he'll leave for Al to decide.]

Hmm. A different question: were you under any impression that something about you has changed? Not in the sense of the brainwashing - in regards to being rendered better fit to survive in Norfinbury. In the "new world".

[armoured]

No, not at all.

[He shudders, glad that Beckett can't see it, though the background noise of armour clanking might be a giveaway.]

That's what made it so bad, there was nothing. I don't remember feeling like I'd changed at all.

[bookofnope]

I don't mean merely in the mental sense. You seemed to to think - perhaps it was just Enoch. [As desperate as they come to preserve the brainwashing's fantasy. Coming up with reasons...]

But he seemed to think there would be a more... essential change. Did you at least think we would heal from the injuries of the torture?

[armoured]

Yeah, I was pretty sure that once you came to understand that-- uh-- that the Prophet had to be followed then you'd heal up and be better.

[He wouldn't have hurt them if he thought it was permanent, not even under brainwashing, he had to convince himself it was short term pain for long term gain.]

[bookofnope]

I wonder if that was just one more delusion, or indicative of some actual power over the nanites... not for the Prophet, presumably, but for whatever it is that truly moved you. Them. Whatever it is that still hides from us.

[armoured]

I don't know.

[He swallows audibly.]

Look, I-- I want to help, but I think I've given you everything that I can, I don't know any more.

[bookofnope]

[It's hard to accept. Beckett does take a breath in to protest, to continue demanding - it's all visible on his face. But in the end he purses his lips and lets it out in a defeated hiss instead.]

If only we could salvage something of value from all of this... but I believe that you have done your best, Alphonse. Thank you. It was bravely spoken.

[armoured]

I'm sorry it wasn't more.

[He means that for now, and for before when all of his effort wasn't enough to stop what they had done. Al leaves it at that, hesitating only a moment before hanging up.]