Comic 1119 - Consult Caius
Posted on 12th Nov 2018, 8:29 PM
in Like a Bullet from Behind
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Author Notes:
At the very least, you agree to give up the pancakes.
There's a pause... and the tradesmen reply.
"A written request will not alter the outcome of the ritual. ...Not in any way one might hope for."
Well, that's that then.
You take out your phone and attempt to call Caius. There's... an odd noise on the other line, at first, but eventually he answers.
"Yeah? Brain phone, who's this?"
You inform him that it's you, calling from within the tradesmen ritual.
"...Wait, how?"
There's some murmuring in the background before Caius continues.
"Like, we're watchin' ya just stand here. ...This ear thing is nuts. Oh, and some pancakes jus' disappeared into thin air. We're hopin' that's you too, an' we ain't got breakfast ghosts."
You... explain the situation to Caius. All of it--that you're trying to find out what's beyond the door, the tradesmen can't answer for some reason... and that they want Knox in exchange for an answer on what's stopping them.
Caius takes a little while to mull it over.
After a great deal of silence, and a heavy sigh, he responds. "Look. That thing we fought at tha church... that ain't Knox. He was always an asshole, but whatever happened to 'em... he's a fuggen monster now. You do what you gotta do. If Mac could see 'em--if Mac knew what he was like right now--he'd prob'ly say tha same thing. Even if we could fix 'em..."
Caius gives another, smaller sigh, and takes a moment to collect himself.
"Man, if somethin' like that happened to me, I wouldn't wanna be fixed. I wouldn't wanna have to remember bein' that... that thing. Even if we turned 'em back into regular ol' classic asshole Knox, I dunno if he'd be right. I ain't a therapist or nothin', though."
Caius pauses again, more briefly, as something crosses his mind.
"...It's gotta be Nil, though? Right? Hidin' all that from tha tradesmen? It'd have to be somebody with some oomph, and we know Nil's tried to work over Carpenter before. Maybe that freakshow finally got to 'em."
and I also wanna ask the tradesmen if they're safe and if no one's out to get them because playing all sides is probably gonna piss a few entities off. They're a great source of info and gear and it'd be bad if that suddenly goes away
I think he's just the only other deity we know so he gets the blame
Good? Not at all. He’s not egging on Mine nor is he on anybody’s side but his own. He is not ‘good’ either... Not inherently EVIL, but not good. He is literally the embodiness of nothing.
The deal was so he could take control of Macland and have an anchor to Mine’s world, not out of the goodness of... Whatever his “heart” is.
like he wanted us to owe him a favor, and maybe not destroy him for his impudence of standing against us
Going forward, we should maybe try to knock out stuff on our list of things to do. We apparently have some time. And it's not like Carpenter to be subtle about anything. Maybe just have Fuse keep a tight watch on the news.
Heck, maybe even alien tech that stuff and get like a literal mental heads-up-display of our fatigue. xD
However, I have a feeling that just about anything Thale can do with his tricks can be undone by the genuine Red.
Caius is probably at least partially correct, though perhaps not quite, when it comes to Knox's attitude; they have the same genetic base and purpose. However, they're not the same person. I don't feel comfortable with euthanizing or selling him without some method of either verifying he's beyond help or unwilling to receive it. I suspect the team feels the same. Caius himself seemed hesitant to take the stance he did.
As for his speculation about Nil... maybe not spot on, but potentially close. Carpenter has shown he can harness Nil as a weapon of sorts. Who's to say if infecting people with him is the only way he's learned to use that thing's abilities?
Edit:
Also, well, it's a bit of morally grey area but we are capable of deleting memories.
Carpenter/Thale obviously cares less for the wellbeing of their friends and employees than we do.
However, Big red also said that there might be reprecussions to that, "physically, mentally and causally". We may wanna ask about that last part, if reverting someone's personal timeline will alter the past. Since don't wanna alter one hair of the past.
"Why remains of Knox rebalance the info about your inability to look into Mysterious Adress?"
We'll be able to deduce a lot from the price.