#03; 2 Jul, evening. (forward-dated)

[paragon]

Sorry to spring this on the folks just getting out of the hospital. [ Not 'new people'. That would only be more cause for confusion than what he's about to say. ] It'll make more sense if you go back and listen to the recent messages from Dr. Rousseau. In her first message she asked us to accept the leadership of the people who brought us here in exchange for certain freedoms. That's not really how it works.

[ Boy, is it nice to be able to speak his mind again. It took a few days, as he was told, for the consequences of attempting to do so to wear off so he could get on the phone for this at all. ]

They were trying to save the people of this world. I understand that. But to do it they made some choices, choices that kept us from making our own. Made us think their choices were ours. That's something they're gonna have to live with. They don't get to make decisions for us anymore. It's not up to them where we go from here. That's in our hands now, if they really intend to make up for their mistakes. In my experience those with power don't tend to give it up easily, so they've got a long way to go to prove that. Half measures where they approve who goes outside the fence and when don't count. Neither does retaining the positions they've given themselves in this town. They need to offer their cooperation, not ask for ours.

[ That might sound like it's the end of it — short and sweet. It certainly has a note of finality, and maybe you've even hung up on your own by now. But after another pause, he continues: ]

Some of you may have heard my conversation with the doc after her last message. I could only confirm one person for myself with the restrictions they gave me, but I can tell you a friend I've been missing is still alive in one of their cryo units. If people you care about have gone missing too, I'm willing to take them at their word that's where they are too.

[ Now he's done. ]

((ooc: The phone lines throughout Wayward Pines are currently very fucky and unreliable due to the damage to the town and also Raven blowing up a house, y'all. So your character will not necessarily have to pick up the phone this time, since not all lines will be ringing. Please feel free to say they don't hear this message right away or at all if that's your druthers!))

Comments

[coy]

[ your sister missed all of this while in her not!coma, so she's still catching up. she's only been awake for a few hours and she's back home now, resting.]

You saw that friend? Did you see... anyone else?

[imitable]

[ She takes a moment after listening to this speech, contemplates his words and then takes his advice and listens to the conversations at hand (something flickering out of the corner of her eye as she does so — a woman, dark hair, in a white lab coat — but when she turns to look, she's gone). By the time she comes back to respond to this, there's steel in her voice. ]

They took my memories and gave me new ones?

[ There's something about that — that angers her. She doesn't know why, and that angers her further. ]

[paragon]

They only let me see Sam. Not even in person, it was a live feed.

[ Did you tell your brother you were home, Caroline? ]

I'm sorry.

voice;

[allfornothing]

... yeah, considering how much knowledge and expertise they have which we lack, I somehow don't see that happening in the near future. They don't need us, but we need them. Until we find a way to survive whatever is out there independently and indefinitely...

You're not wrong in principle. But practically? With the kind of power they have, and how little it'd cost them to start over? We don't have a workable alternative yet. And we won't for a very long time. I mean, I can't wake people up from cryo. I don't think any of us not in the direct employ can. So even if they turn over everything? They'll still have hostages. All of us.

Crowe out.

[coy]

[ He won't be able to miss the disappointment she's feeling about that.]

How do you know... [ It's real? That it's not a trick? ] Why did they let you see him? Would they let me see Elena or Stefan or any of my friends?

[ Also, no, she snuck her ass home.]

[weaponxx]

How do we find the place where the cryo units are?

[ Because if you think that Laura's going to just let Logan remain in a tube, you have another think coming. ]

[paragon]

Yeah. Sorry to drop you right into it.

[imitable]

Somehow I get the feeling it isn't your fault.

[vdova]

If they don't need us so badly, why bother keeping us alive at all?

voice;

[windchasing]

Finally, some sense.

[ Pietro's senior superlative may as well have been Most Likely to Overthrow the Government for all his civics class tirades, so, y'know. His agreement here may not come as a surprise. All this still has him pretty rattled, but his voice is sharp and clipped. ]

I'm not particularly interested in the cooperation of people who think tagging and brainwashing us is an acceptable solution to any problem. If you've any ideas for divesting them of said leadership, however, I am listening.

[ He's not talking about politely requesting their resignations — nor is he shy about saying so on a tapped line, apparently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

[paragon]

They only let me see the one through a live feed.

[ Probably because of questions like that. Probably because that's his first instinct, too. ]

They're not gonna make it that easy for us.

[ Not that he's against trying. ]

[allfornothing]

I hear people play with dolls, usually when young. [ ... and it really is from hearsay, with her. ] They leave them in their boxes, or they set them up to do things, playing out different situations. They get upset if the dolls break or get lost.

But they don't need those dolls. They just like to have them.

[ If Crowe had a little more knowledge of biology, she might have brought up genetic diversity as a necessity for species survival, and how they don't even need them awake for that. But, well. Species survival became a question shortly after her time, so she missed those questions and answers. ]

[weaponxx]

Nothing has ever been easy for me. [ A pause. ] It has not stopped me from trying.

[vdova]

[ Natasha's tone changes from the mildly casual of her previous comment to almost ice cold. ] I wouldn't know. I never had the chance. And I don't intend to be anyone's plaything — regardless if I'm left in my box or not. I worked hard to own myself. I'm not going to let someone take that from me because they think they have the right or obligation.

[paragon]

I don't. [ Answering the part of the question she didn't finish. ] I asked. It was the right thing to do, but I don't know how much that had to do with giving me access. [ The phone shifts slightly, an audible kind of shrug even if his shoulder doesn't move much in actuality. ] I couldn't say if they'd give it to you too, but I hope they do.

[allfornothing]

[ Meanwhile, Crowe's tone doesn't change at all. She didn't have a chance for dolls, either, but that's a. irrelevant and b. she already said it. ]

And what exactly can you do to stop them right now? Kill them? Kill yourself? Once you start trying, how long until you wake up, again, not remembering a thing about this conversation?

[paragon]

Still, it's quite a welcome.

[vdova]

This isn't my first rodeo.

[imitable]

And here I thought flowers were the appropriate gift for someone who was in the hospital.

[allfornothing]

It seems it's the first 'rodeo' for none of us. [ Going by Rousseau's explanations about previous failed attempts. ] Don't think it makes any difference.

[vdova]

I'm not talking about whatever lies this Ortech is feeding us. I'm talking about my real, actual, life. It's not the first time I've toppled a regime. It won't be the last.

[allfornothing]

[ Crowe considers for a moment, then just gives the equivalent of a verbal shrug. ]

Right.

[ Not disbelief, not argument. Whatever. If the woman's right and she manages it, great. If not, whatever. There'll still be more than enough people who'll need to be shielded from the worst of what's to come, and that's been her job for long enough that she's just going to... focus on doing that. ]

[paragon]

Glad you approve, Pietro.

[ Wry, sure, but a little fond in a way that Steve doesn't really telegraph, so who knows if it's picked up on. Anyhow, Steve would like to think this is his less than polite request for resignations, though he's willing to get a lot more impolite. ]

Keep your ears open. We'll see if they have anything else to say.

[aeturnus]

So... we make our own organization? More like a union, I guess.

[paragon]

If they mean what they say about cooperation, it goes both ways. They can't be the only keepers of that knowledge or the decisions we make about what to do with it. That's the point. And I wouldn't discount the ability of the people who were brought here to learn what they need to know.