( 001 ❱❱ VIDEO )

[coarse]

[The device clicks on the video recorder to reveal a pale man, tired but fully aware. There's always a sense of restlessness and a weight in his eyes that not even the technology of this ship could rid him of, but his current situation doesn't quite invite a lighthearted mood to begin with, does it.

He's been lost, confused for someone else, drifted away from the crowds and dealt with a headache he couldn't control, all the while trying to place a name on the idea that there was someone he was missing. Several hours later Bass has checked the network and tried to use his abilities to make sense of this situation and find out what happened to that someone -- Bonnie.

The tone is deliberately careful and his sentences slow.]

I need to know why we're here. The prophet couldn't do this. The sulfurs couldn't do this, either. [Way too fucking elaborate for a problem that could've been solved by just shooting him in the head.] So I need to know what you want, and I need to know what you did to my sister.

More importantly, I need to know that she's okay. [A beat. Suddenly he doesn't sound so careful anymore, tension growing in his voice.] Because if she's not, you're going to be in very, very deep shit.

[Silence. Having said that, Bass takes on a new expression, brows knitting only slightly, message carrying a much more personal purpose.]

Bonnie, if you can see this -- just say something. [She should know what he means: Call for me, even if it's just in your thoughts.] I'll find you.

[Click.]

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Comments

text;

[majestyofthethrone]

What did they do to your sister?

voice;

[coarse]

[He's fallen out of the habit of writing many years ago (if it ever was a habit to begin with) and doesn't have the patience to try it now, so voice it is. The feeds clicks on; he answers after a beat.]

I can't find her. They wouldn't have taken me alone.

permatext;

[majestyofthethrone]

Are you a twin?

[coarse]

What? [The end of an exhale, louder after a beat.] No. She's my younger sister.

[Half-sister.]

I'm supposed to protect her.

[majestyofthethrone]

Why would they take you both?

[coarse]

[Reluctance to answer? Reluctance to answer.]

Because she's more valuable than I am. They wouldn't leave her behind.

[majestyofthethrone]

Oh.

I'm sorry you're not with her.

[coarse]

[Bass almost laughs, humorlessly.]

No more than someone will be.

Who am I talking to?

[majestyofthethrone]

My name is Sera. Sera Dias.

You?

[coarse]

... Bass.

[No 'nice to meet you' or anything of the sort coming up. He's not the most polite captive out there.]

You're a prisoner?

[majestyofthethrone]

I guess I am.

[coarse]

You guess.

[majestyofthethrone]

I didn't ask to come here.

[coarse]

[That settles it, then. Assuming she's saying the truth.]

I think you'd be the first if you had.

[Assuming the rest are saying the truth, too.]

[majestyofthethrone]

That isn't a first I'd aspire to.

[coarse]

Then this must fucking suck for you.

[majestyofthethrone]

It's not pleasant, no.

I have a twin. He's supposed to protect me.

[Spoiler: he sucks at it.]

[coarse]

[Oh.

... Oh.]

Is he here?

[majestyofthethrone]

No.

[coarse]

[Silence. He's seeing a pattern here, a growing number of apparently missing siblings. There's a new element in his tone when he speaks again - calmer, with one less layer of defensiveness.]

Why did they take you?

[majestyofthethrone]

I don't know.

[Lie, lie, lie]

[coarse]

[Pause. Flatly:] You don't know.

[majestyofthethrone]

I'm a sixteen year old girl. I really don't.

[coarse]

That doesn't really mean anything where I come from.

[He was younger than that when his power came crashing down on his head, maybe a little older when he lost control and devoured a man for the first time.]

Just putting that out there.

[majestyofthethrone]

Where I'm from it means I'm in high school.