maskormenace | ★ 002

Entry tags:

★ 002 | audio

[Since her hotel hostage adventure had gone south, Lourdes has been laying low - not out of a desire to look repentant (she isn't, and she sees no reason why she should pretend that she is), but because she's been sulking. Her powers are gone, which is both horrible and a relief, and she's on probation, which she considers a joke.

But what she's most upset about is that it hadn't worked. She's not at all surprised that she'd been caught, and she'd always figured that it would happen eventually - but before that, when she'd been in the hotel with everybody, it hadn't done anything to make her happy, which had been her main goal in the first place. It hadn't been like Hearst Castle, or even the Horizon. It had been meaningless, just like everything else in the world.

She waits a while before turning to the network. She hasn't actually been planning to address this in any way - not to explain herself, and certainly not to apologize. But one evening when she's sitting around in her apartment, angrily glaring at the tattoo on her wrist, she fires it up and says something on a whim.]

It was for their own good.

[She has no idea how far news of the takeover has spread, or if most of the people who hear this will even know what she's talking about. That's okay. She doesn't care.]

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I'm gonna guess it wasn't the noise complaints.

Do you remember everything I've told you?

[He tilts his head a bit when the security level on the feed registers a change. He nods, sitting up a little from the customary Just-Surfing slouch.]

Yeah.

I told you that everything people think about their lives is a lie, and there's nothing I can do to change it.

There's nothing anybody else can do to change it, either.

[There's a clear AH HA moment from the other kid. So... sharing the distraction.

It doesn't last though. The small trip out of the country heightened an already incredible paranoia. The question is sharp, a little urgent.]

Even here? There's some insane skills here.

We can't fight what we were made for.

What do you mean?

[A sudden simple suspicion that SHE is the time bomb here... Its a place he'd been before.]

[She hesitates.]

If I tell you, you won't be able to forget it. This is your last chance to stay in blissful ignorance.

[So far, in each of their conversations, this has been where he's backed down. He considers for a moment, and then nods slightly.]

Hit me. Best case, at least then you don't have to deal with being the only one who knows.

[That strikes her as an incredibly, impossibly selfless reason, and she's speechless for a moment.]

There are these... aliens. They're from a parallel dimension that's nothing like ours. They're parasites, and when they come here, they take human hosts.

They consume souls - human souls. And Earth is theirs. Everything here, everything in everybody's lives, only exists to keep humans occupied until mealtime.

Do you get what I'm saying? This is why humans exist. They're like cows.

[He is quiet for a moment, leaning back in his chair. It is hard to actually give it the attention it deserves. It's easier to deny it... Because to consider it a truth is bleak, destroys the worth of everything he HAD fought for and against...]

You're sure they're here?

Maybe not yet. But they will be someday. This is still Earth, and the people here are human.

[The non-imPorts, anyway.]

I wasn't created to be food. I was created to help the aliens. People like me are supposed to subdue the others so they're easier to feed on.

[The first time she'd been told this, she'd been horrified. Now she just sounds resigned.]

[He looks aside, a little lost in thought for a few moments.]

So. You've just been doing your job, is what you're telling me.

No.

[She sounds sharp.]

This wasn't about feeding anybody to anyone.

[Some of the stuff she'd done at home, on the other hand...]

[The sharp tone WAS good to hear at least. He rubs the side of his face, thoughtfully.]

It might not happen here unless they're brought here somehow.

[And THAT thought worries him, more than almost everything is these days...]

On one hand, things that make my world mine are missing here. So obviously gone that I can constantly feel it. I don't think it's wise to assume anything is an absolute.

On the other hand, it is Earth. Those are humans out there. You've got time to make plans.

They're not going to play by the Porter's rules. They can come on their own, whenever they want.

What plans do you think I should make?

[He actually looks startled at that. He opens his mouth to say something... starts and stops again... before laughing.]

I'm the worst person to give any sort of advice on that.

I mean, I could tell you what I'd do, but I've made maybe.. what... three good decisions in my life? About three.

Edited 2015-10-04 19:56 (UTC)

I just worked with them, back home. I don't think there's any way to fight it.

You hate it, though.

I don't care.

[But she sounds less sure of herself now than she ever has when saying it in the past.]

Edited 2015-10-04 20:16 (UTC)

[There's a light shrug at that.]

Well. Humans as a whole really aren't worth caring about. Hang the gods too, if you ask me. Aliens as well.

And you may be right, there may not be a way to fight. But what you care about is all that really defines you. Whatever plan you make... figure that out first... and then carve that into everything in your way. That's what I'd do.

I don't think I'm going to make a plan.

[He really shouldn't be this frustrated. It's not like that world or this one should mean anything to him. But for the last few days EVERYTHING has seemed interrelated and terribly personal.]

Nothing, then?

Why should I do anything? What do I owe the world?

Why should it be my job?

The world? Not even the first thing. The concept of greater good is full of it.

But it's not making you happy.

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