Comic 910 - Receive the book
Posted on 8th Apr 2018, 1:14 AM
in Shipping Off to Southden
Average Rating: 5 (3 votes) /
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Author Notes:
You head to the stack of books... and you pick up Geoangular Control.
"o n e l a s t s u g g e s t i o n
(Let's cheat one more time, why not?)
t a k e t h a t t h i n g
y o u s h o u l d n o t h a v e
t o a p l a c e
y o u s h o u l d n o t b e
i f y o u w a n t t o l e a r n
s o m e t h i n g
y o u s h o u l d n o t k n o w ."
Before you can ask what the library means... you're no longer in the library. You, Caius, and Dr. Finch find yourselves just outside the glass dome, standing not too far from your motorcycle. Sitting in the sidecar is a canister of biopaste, which you spent an extraordinary amount of time buying instead of visiting a library that never existed. A very light rain has begun to fall.
Clutched in your arms is a green-covered book titled Geoangular Control. It's ancient, with yellowing pages, yet it's in very good condition.
"So, uh," Caius begins, "did that actually happen, or...?"
Dr. Finch smiles a little. "Technically speaking, I don't believe it did. We remember an event that never truly occurred, in a library that was never in Southden. Which means that..."
Dr. Finch points at the book. "...isn't just illegal, it's functionally impossible."
"Like growin' flowers on Mars," Caius says with a chuckle. He makes his way to the motorcycle and climbs on, but Dr. Finch hesitates. He turns his gaze to the sky, shoving his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.
"...Leopold," Dr. Finch says simply.
"Leopold?," Caius asks.
"My name," Dr. Finch clarifies. "Leopold Finch."
Caius looks at you, then back at Finch, his eyes widening a little. "...Damn. If you got a name like Leopold, why tha hell do ya go by Dr. Finch?"
"Because I'm a doctor," Doctor Leopold Finch replies. "I earned it. It's a title I take great pride in." He pauses. His gaze lowers. He gives a soft and somewhat sad smile. "It's also a title I hide behind. Being a doctor requires empathy and understanding, but also a certain level of detachment. If you let yourself become too involved, every... every hurt child, every dying patient would tear you apart. ...I've let that detachment, that emotional disconnect bleed into my life. Everything is cold and calculated, simple facts and numbers. I can't take math for granted, I can't be betrayed by physics, I don't have to worry what biology thinks of me. I can just be... a doctor, not burdened by biases and opinions and emotions and the other... the other painful things that make us human. I try to stay objective, try to stay above it all to... well, to protect myself."
Dr. Finch pauses, staring at the ground. "It's stunted my growth as a human being. I never look inward. I refuse to. When something does affect me on an emotional level the very act infuriates me. I don't... want to feel. I'm bad at it. I'm bad at dealing with people and I'm bad at dealing with myself. I want everything to be a cold, hard science and it all refuses. I'm telling you my name because..."
He looks at you, specifically. "You are, essentially, our leader. My leader. I should keep no secrets from you, and... to put it very bluntly, should something happen to me I imagine you will be the one to bury me. I know your name, you... you should know mine." He smiles again, wearily.
"S'funny," Caius says. "I got tha problem you got in reverse. I never look at stuff... y'know, rationally. I just do what feels right. I go where my heart tells me. I also get my ass kicked tha most, so... yeah. It ain't all it's cracked up to be. I wish I could look at tha world like you do--like it's under a microscope, like I ain't in it. ...'Cuz it does hurt. I fuck stuff up all tha time, and I know when I do it's 'cuz I wasn't thinkin'. I just run in half-cocked, no plan, and I get us in trouble or I get myself killed or... or whatever. Maybe that's..."
Caius gives a small shrug of his shoulders. "I dunno, maybe that's why I feel like I need you, Leopold."
Dr. Finch smiles wider. "I have walls," he says. "I have... I have emotional barriers that I've been putting up, and you... you've somehow still found a way to tear them down, repeatedly, walls that have been there so long I didn't even remember them. ...Walls I had grown quite used to. That's... that's why I wanted you to know my name as well, Caius. I want... I would like to put fewer walls between us. There are... still, a few things I haven't figured out yet about me. I don't have answers, but the fact that you've made me ask the questions at all makes me want... to know you better. To let you know me better."
He gives a light sigh. "It feels silly to be discussing all this now."
Caius grins. "Well, I did almost die again, prob'ly. Gotta get it all out there before I bite it f'real. Talk about it when ya wanna talk about it, you ain't gotta schedule a time to express yourself. You prob'ly don't want us spillin' your full name to everybody, right?"
Dr. Finch looks to Caius, still smiling wide. "I hadn't really considered it, to be honest, which I suppose is a step forward in and of itself. If... neither of you mind too terribly... I do think I would prefer to take this a step at a time. I'll... let everyone else in later."
Caius nods, and gives a thumbs up. "Your secret's safe with me, Doc. Wouldn't shock me if they already knew, though--Michelle's a cop and Fuse's a hacker." He shrugs one shoulder, his smile relighting. "S'cool, though."
Welp, time to head back to the bunker with our precious cargo in tow. That was crazy but beautiful.
Leopold Finch, heh. <3 Your secret is safe with us for now~ I really adore the character development and growth in BiM. It just feels so real.
Also place we shouldn't be might be behind Infinite Fall Bunker.
Mostly what you said though, because enaJ already taught us some things.
(check the safety is on !)
Therefore, it stands to reason the soul-gun is more likely the thing we should not have, at least over the book. It's entirely possible it could still be something else other than just those 2 options but I'd definitely go with soul-gun over book for not-meant-to-have-ness.
Also would someone mind reminding me what the error room was, I lose track of things easily >_<
I agree we should go there with GC. (Since the book shouldn't really exist, yet it is)
The soul - killer gun is something nobody should have, so that could be it too.. maybe bring both, and hope it isn't as spectacularly dangerous as it sounds.
also, caius, dr. finch, you want we should leave y'all alone for a minute oooor...? ;P
Error room, what terrifying secrets do you hold?
Bunker C is barricaded from the other side of the door. It's meant to keep US out, not whatever is in there in (I imagine it was in better shape to remove the barricade some 100 years ago if it wanted to then it is now).
As for the X-box, remember that whatever is in the error room is in a dilapidated state (recall the flower we were wearing was either dead or wilted on enaJ). If we bring the X-box in there, it might be in a deteriorated state that'll let us see what is in it and, more importantly, whatever is in it might itself be in an, "inactivated," and thus safe state to observe.
Just some food for thought.
The easiest solution might be a spritz bottle, but perhaps we could fill a fog machine or a vaporizer/humidifier with our blood.
Her sisters need to do the same, and I suspect there will be only one more powerful, significantly more than an echo, entity, after a bit.
I was going to suggest using the error room as a storage area for dangerous items, but now it's specifically requested. The gun is the obvious choice, but perhaps some of the other items could be placed there as well. The room might have a weird way of identifying what those unknown items are. One or more of them might actually be even more dangerous.
EDIT: Actually, maybe we should read the book first?
Ah... I was going to say "maybe whoever's in the side car should try to start reading the book on the way back" but that is a terrible idea in a motorcycle, even in the sidecar, because of the wind.
Sentient building (check)
Us but an alien (check)
An alien that's not us
Every human
Every cat
Robot (check)
A planet
Everything else that isn't Thale or Lasker
Does Jury also fall into the monsters and weapons into people category?
So in its entirety We have 2 threads I want to check in on.
A) our understanding of electrical brain impulses and how that connects to bringing Faraday together
2) What exactly we are going to learn in the error room. and I Figure It's the book we gotta take because much like the Library said it had to cheat to get us this so clearly we weren't meant to have it.
Honestly I think we should focus on curing the Best Ghostgirl trio first as messing with too much magic at one time can be a tad dangerous and our minds just got bent a little bit more than I'm comfortable for one day already.
Return to Bunker E. Drop off items to Tesla and introduce Dr. Finch. Maybe linger a little to watch her explore her presents. Get everyone else caught up and discuss next steps (read the book, investigate The Library's ominus hint, address one of the many, many other irons we have in the fire already, etc.) over dinner. I'm gonna recommend a pasta of some sort. Lasagna seems like a good victory meal after getting the book but spaghetti with meatballs dinner is fine if we don't have access to that.
Read book by ourself
Debate who else should read book and read book with them, Dr Finch definately, Fuse, Caius, Michelle probably.
Discuss Pierce reading book.
After book is read thouroughly take book to error room.
If this is not "correct" take book and soul gun to bunker C. Added prep may be needed.
Consult with Faraday and express that an oath of loyalty may be adequate to allow you to assist her. Explain your parents relationship, and how marriage allowed your mother was able to keep your father healthy for an unusually long life without your father being a thrall.