deerington/deercountry Inbox - UN:A_Wesker013

[subject_013]

”Greetings. You’ve reached the voice mail of Albert Wesker. I can’t come to the phone right now, as I’m either at work in the laboratory or chasing some Beast off my roof. At the sound of the tone, please leave your name and number and a suitably short message and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.

“However, if you’re Chris Redfield, stay on the line….”

LUMENWOOD BLOOD MINISTER BUSINESS INBOX | HUNTER INBOX

Comments

[demonicbeauty]

Whichever you want to give, Albert.

I can't decide that for you.

[subject_013]

The short answer is: no, I don't regret protecting the mission.

The long answer is: I have a peculiar definition of protecting life. Enrico and I weren't close. We were colleagues, but that was as far as it went. I was assigned to a position he was hoping to fill, which created a certain amount of friction. However, we kept personal differences out of the work place. I will admit, no friendship was lost when I eliminated the threat he presented, to the mission, to the work I was hoping to accomplish for a different employer. Sometimes one has to sacrifice a life to protect others.

[demonicbeauty]

And did that sacrifice protect others?

[She doesn't feel convinced. But his world is entirely foreign to her. Alien.]

[CW: Messed-up/Blue and Orange morality]

[subject_013]

I'm puzzling over that myself. It was a part in a far broader picture; I'd call it a small part, but only because of the scope of the canvas I was striving to paint. And that canvas? Saving the world from itself. Or trying to.

[Something in the last bit suggests he's had reason to question the masterpiece had in mind.]

[demonicbeauty]

[Ariadne just raises her eyebrows at him.

Although she tries hard not to judge, the way he's saying these things sounds like judgment enough.]

[subject_013]

[And it's that look he wanted to avoid causing in her face. Its that reaction he wished to avoid. At one in the same time, he feels part of the connection unravel, while another part grows stronger.]

[He drops his gaze, lowering his eyelids, not quite closing them.]

[demonicbeauty]

[Now, that's a more thoughtful expression.]

I think you regret more than you're letting on.

It's all right, you know. To have regrets. It means learning.

[subject_013]

I regret that it's raised your suspicions. I regret that it was likely one of many missteps that led to disaster. I regret that from whatever angle I look at it, I failed to achieve whatever I set out to do. If someone like me is capable of regret.

[demonicbeauty]

Everyone is capable of it.

[Except maybe the Red Dragon, but she doesn't know for sure.]

Anyway, I'm not suspicious. At least, I don't think I am.

[subject_013]

I hope that notion proves true. [He's not even certain he still has a soul, given what he's endured.]

[He looks up at length, some of his calm sang froid returning.]

I would hope not. The only dancing around you that I'd care to do would be a waltz. I value our connection too much to compromise it.

[CW: Fictional pathogens mentioned.]

[subject_013]

As am I: I had dozens of siblings at first, narrowed down to twelve others... though in the end, only two of us remained. I wasn't as close to them I could have - we weren't allowed to engage with each other too closely, though that didn't keep Alex, or 'Subject 012', from forming a personal link.

I have the sense your people had a better notion of family than humanity does, though I may be biased: I wasn't the best at being human, by some people's standards.

[He draws in a breath: this will be a long tale.]

It was a long process. I was selected for my intellect and pedigree. Then I was taken from my family - kidnapped, rather. From the outside, we had a life of privilege, all our physical needs met, the best of medical care and the best educations money could buy, with nothing to hold us back intellectually. But that came at a price: we were manipulated on a genetic level without our knowing, later inoculated with an experimental version of a mutagenic virus known as Progenitor, which could transform a human into a being of god-like strength and swiftness, or a twisted nightmare. Eleven of my siblings suffered the latter fate, dying in agony; two of us, my sister Alex and I survived, transformed.

[demonicbeauty]

I think you understand what would compromise it.

[At least, she hopes he does.]

And I don't think you're a person who would cross that line. Not any more.

[subject_013]

The version who came to Deerington might have crossed that line, but the version who walked through the door that led from the remains of Deerington to the edge of the Pthumerian Sea won't.

[He bows his head to her.]

You have my word, and if I break that word, I give you permission to help strike me down.

[Much as he expected The Doctor might.]

[demonicbeauty]

Albert, I'm not going to strike you down.

[She smiles slightly.]

Don't you know that by now?

[survivalthroughhate]

[He listens to Wesker, and once again, the similarities between their lives are driven home to Maul. To be chosen from the time they were young, brought to the attention of someone or something more powerful than themselves that took them for their own purposes, taught everything they needed to fulfill while being manipulated by one in the shadows for their own purposes, and turned into what they needed.

About the only point where they differed is that Maul hadn't been manipulated on a genetic level, though he was certain Sidious would have done it had he thought it would improve Maul's abilities physically or in the Force at all. Clearly, he'd learned a bit from the time of teaching his adoptive son if his idea of putting chips in the heads of the clone army to make them obey without thinking was any indication.]

A very familiar story, I am afraid, given what happened in my own life as we both know.

[subject_013]

I know that, though I suppose, given how I've been reshaped, it's hard for me to comprehend on some level. "The light shines on the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it," as one writer put it.

[demonicbeauty]

Well, clearly, the darkness just needs someone to teach it a little better.

[subject_013]

I'd ask the particulars, if you're willing to share. But since I've unloaded the burden of my life, I understand any hesitance.

We're kindred souls, if I might risk sounding sentimental. Though I suppose a stoical cynic is at heart a sentimentalist turned inside out.

[survivalthroughhate]

No, I can tell you of my past. I trust you.

[Such simple words, those last three, but there are many here who Maul has known for a great length of time who haven't earned them from him.]

I was born on the planet Dathomir. When I tell people I was practically born on the Dark Side of the Force, it is not mere hyperbole. Dathomir is a nexus for the Dark Side and it is stronger there than in other places in the galaxy. Those who live there are immune to the effects but outsiders oftentimes go mad if they stay for prolonged periods. I was born to Talzin, the leader of our particular clan of Nightkin. I was her firstborn, favorite, and heir. It was a simple life there with her and Savage but I was happy. I suspect she would have taught me how to use my Force powers so that I could become leader in her stead eventually but it was not to be. My master came. He claimed he would let her become his apprentice but he lied. His focus was on me from the very start. He saw my power and my youth and knew he could mold me into what he wanted in a way he never could with a grown woman.

Eventually, after he'd seen to it that I was put through enough pain to put anger into my hearts, he took me away to become his apprentice. He broke me down over and over again in so many ways until all that remained were shattered pieces. Then he built me back up into what he wanted: an assassin to do his bidding. No compassion, no remorse, no thoughts of my own. He saw to use me as a man uses a beast of burden, driving it on and on until it is of no further use and must be disposed of. But when he thought me dead after I dueled Kenobi and lost, he thought me dead. Without a second thought, he abandoned me, leaving me to find my own way in the galaxy after that.

[subject_013]

[Wesker listens in silence, his impassive face thoughtful. A flicker of bioluminescence may flicker behind his lenses, in an odd show of something vaguely resembling pained compassion or concern. They mirror each other, in his mind, though Maul's path covers a far larger and expansive canvas, a galaxy versus a single world.]

...I have no words at the moment...

[It's the closest to "Gods, I'm sorry" that he can express.]

[subject_013]

Perhaps with you as a teacher, the darkness can lift, at least into a twilight state.

[In his mind, with all the tampering done to his mind and body, it's the most he can hope for.]

[demonicbeauty]

I've never been a teacher before but...

[She shrugs. Maybe it's her optimism speaking here but...how hard could it be?]

I will. If you want me to.

[subject_013]

From your memory, it seems you were an excellent student. Those who learn well and learn carefully often make the better teachers.

[A small but genuine smile.]

It's more a need than a want, but it's a need that has become a want, especially in this place.

[demonicbeauty]

"Those who hear learn the most."

[She gets a bit of a glazed expression. For just a moment. Then she clears her throat and turns back to the camera.]

That's an Alastrian expression. You just made me think of it...

[He has a funny sort of influence on her, sometimes.]

Well, rest assured, need or want or both, I'm here for you.

[survivalthroughhate]

That is alright. Sometimes words are not needed.

[He and Wesker understand each other quite well, so he knows the lack of saying anything isn't because Wesker doesn't feel something after he's told him the story of his life.]