exsilium | 06 △ VIDEO

06 △ VIDEO

[ Video--coming from Adam's tablet for once, and not his retinal enhancements. it shows him, obviously in his messy apartment, and obviously... different from what one might be used to. he's neither properly dressed nor his usual stoic, composed, monotone self.

but most notably, the lenses of his shades--which are mounted to his head--are retracted. his eyes are visibly artificial. here's the usual gravely voice: ]

...And they keep dragging more and more people here. Or is that the machine malfunctioning again? Can't be sure anymore.

Anyway, hello. My name's Adam Jensen and I'm -- [ insert vague, dismissive gesture here--his hand, too, is artificial and looks like it's made out of black metal. ] ... who the fuck even cares. I'm the local oversized can opener. Hi.

[ if it wasn't obvious before that he's drunk, it's sure as hell now. ]

Given the uh, premise under which you all arrived here as well as the popularity of thought-provoking surveys lately, let's talk about a topic each of you surely can contribute to with a story or two. Since I couldn't help but notice that we're quite a miserable bunch of misfits. Exceptions prove the rule by the way.

[ pause, during which he reaches off screen... for his smoke. ]

So, broken dreams. There's a pretty catchy song on them by Green Day which I can only recommend. But before you scurry off to find it, why don't we share with the class why we're all so damn bitter, and not only since we ended up in this shithole. Though I guess the shithole made it worse, in some cases. I don't know. Getting it off your chest might have a soothing effect, or something.

[ another pause, and he seems pensive for a moment. ~~he might be able to offer alternative treatment methods for your troubles which may involve punching~~ ahem. ]

Here, I'll start. I was planning to get married not too long ago, start a family. I had the perfect girl, a decent job I liked and paid well, and then--then science happened.

[ a dry, humorless chuckle. ]

Gotta love science. Your turn.

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[ see this hand he raises in front of the camera? he thought it was obvious. ]

Cybernetic enhancements. Not all of them are visible.

[Ah.] Those are...not known on my planet. My...sister...had a cybernetic arm.

[Wow, that was actually very difficult to talk about. She almost looks pained for a second, but shakes it away.]

I was altered at a genetic level when I was nine years old, to enhance my natural abilities.

Yeah? Me too, when I was an infant. Or so I heard.

[ it feels kind of liberating, to just say it. ]

Made it possible for me to be augmented to this level without having to rely on drugs. What are your abilities now?

Mako experimentation on an infant would most likely kill it.

[She supposed it could be different with cybernetics.]

I can download and store large amounts of information from networks into my mind, and can rapidly sort through one if I am directly connected to it.

...

And I can turn invisible.

Huh. Sounds neat.

... The data processing part, not the dead infants part.

[ adam can hack because of the device implanted into his brain, but he's not drunk enough to announce that. ]

We do seem to have a number of things in common.

[ and then he turns INVISIBLE. yeah. only for a few seconds though, just to demonstrate. ]

It is...useful. I have spent the last ten years using it, so I suppose I have adjusted. Before that I never really had cause.

[She had never been able to figure out how Shinra knew what she could do.]

[She raises an eyebrow at that trick, and after a moment she is gone as well. Her own is an alteration on Vanish magic, infused into her being, so if someone looks very closely, she can still be 'seen' as a vaguely rippling outline in the air whenever she moves.]

Hn.

[ that's a neat trick too. though he's not sure how that's even possible without cybernetics but... well, magic. he's gotten used to it. ]

And how did it affect you, when your DNA was altered? You didn't have a choice, I take it?

I was nine. [She says this in a way to imply 'does anyone have a choice when they are nine?']

[She fades back into view in a shimmering crackle.]

I am nineteen. I have not aged a day, and without a very specific substance, my body would barely make it to tomorrow.

[ well, hey. ]

So you never asked for it, huh.

[ oh woe. ]

You mean a drug? Are you still dependant on it here?

Would anyone ask to be a child forever?

And yes, I am.

Well, I know this story about a guy named Peter Pan...

[ he trails off. ]

How do you get it?

I had some with me when I arrived. I am...still in the process of determining a replacement.

Ah...

[ this is the part where he's glad he isn't dependant on neuropozyne. ]

You should talk to the Initiative guys. If they can bring people back from the dead, I'm sure they can prevent them from dying, too.

People have suggested that, yes.

[Shelke spent the last ten years dependent on people she truly hated, deep down. It's not something she's particularly motivated to repeat.]

I will if I must.

Not fond of the idea?

No.

I'd rather find something I can acquire myself.

I can sympathize, but I wouldn't risk it. Dying is not a pleasant experience.

I would imagine not.

As I said, if I cannot find something else, I will go and speak to them.

And how much time do you have left to 'find something else'?

...Two weeks if I am careful.

... That's not very long.

How about, you go to the Initiative guys right now... consider they might need some time to recreate the substance you need. It might be too late if you wait any longer.

Then when you're safe, you can still look for an alternative.

And if I go to them, and whatever substitute they are able to create, if they are even able to do so, alters whatever is already fundamentally wrong with me, and makes it so I cannot ever switch to another solution?

[She's given this a lot of thought, man.]

... Now you're just sounding paranoid.

I mean you can do what you want in the end, but uh, considering how they're already able to control us by simply keeping us here... it seems like a pointless risk to take.

I was kidnapped as a child, tortured, turned into a weapon and forced to spend ten years a prisoner surrounded by people driven mad by their own transformations. And just when I thought I might be free, I was brought here.

I am not paranoid, I am...judging from what has already happened.

All right...

[ what can he say against that, seriously. ]

So who were those people, if I might ask?

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