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Post by skyeknight on Feb 7, 2018 22:02:00 GMT
"If I'm going to test it I need to know if it'll work on Halflings," Vanitas said with narrowed eyes. "Or gifted humans?"
He was playing it under the guise of the fact he couldn't walk up, ask someone if they were human and force them to drink something. Really he just wanted to make sure if Moses came across this, he didn't drink it and it hurt him. Then he realized his first thought had been about Moses' safety. He had been on the receiving side of a painful serum. One that had left him weak and defenseless. He had seen experimentation. Now this bastard wanted him to do it himself.
"Yeah, lucky you. Sure your zoo is coming along great." he muttered.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2018 22:11:19 GMT
"If you know any halflings, do bring them here and let me see myself" said Roman breezily. "There's too few to actually find, and I want to know if this will bring out their monstrous side, or create an entirely new creature. Or, not affect them. And no, it doesn't work on gifted humans. We're already basically Others, but we look human" he gave a feral grin. "You could always abduct a police officer and bring them here and I'll do it. It's too bad if you've gone soft" he smiled faintly. "Vanitas, do you want to see my 'zoo'?"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 8, 2018 3:18:16 GMT
Vanitas would not be testing this serum on Moses. He had experience the torture of experimentation first hand. He would not subject Moses to it. He physically could not do it. But there were other Halflings out there. Like that troll bitch who helped lead to his arrest. Well, it was her kidnapping that led to his arrest, but she was still at fault.
"I know a Halfling. Jane LaRue. Has a soft spot for kids if you think your little spider girl can take her." Vanitas shrugged. "But let's just say she and I aren't exactly friendly so I can't exactly invite her over for tea and dose her."
He was trying to stay clear of cops. He also didn't know much aside from how much Black and Malone pissed him off. He hadn't focused on any other cops besides them. But kidnapping a cop was going to be hard enough. Not only that, it was something too risky for a recent jail bird like him.
"If I'm so soft, you catch a cop," Vanitas said. "You seem to have all your underlings doing the dirty work for you."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 3:45:52 GMT
"Well, might be interesting to try it out. She'll be getting a temporary dose" the little girl he'd been talking about showed up, in the tattered remains of a girl scout uniform. She was awful to look at, with four eyes, pincers coming out of her cheeks and four hand-like legs arching out of her back. Roman grinned at her. "Darling, uncle Roman's got an assignment for you because someone here is gutless and can't do it himself.I want you to dose a lady named Jane LaRue. Find her, trick her, and dose her with the special temporary stuff, got that?" the little girl nodded and Roman grinned. "Good girl" the child scampered off and Roman took off his hat and ran a hand through his red hair. "I could catch a cop, but I need a human cop. Most active ones here are not human. So I have to bide my time and catch someone suitable. Plus, you're an easy distraction. It would be so much easier to work if there was more than just riots and protests scaring the city, but all in good time I suppose"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 8, 2018 22:03:34 GMT
"Yes, because insulting me is going to get me to do so much for you, asshole," Vanitas sneered.
He folded his arms across his chest. His eyes followed the little girl that had once been human. Was she stuck that way? Was she truly happy as a little spider girl? He shook his head. Maybe Roman was right. He was going soft. He knew it was Moses' fault but the stinging fury that usually would have welled up wasn't there. There was annoyance, but it was directed at Roman. Naturally. The man was arrogant and boastful. As if he already won Vanitas to his side. To do his bidding like some lap dog. Vanitas wasn't going to fall into line. He questioned things. He called bullshit on lousy 'rules' and awful commands. He was not a soldier.
"I'm trying to stay out of jail. Last time they were fighting for the death penalty." Vanitas reminded Roman. "So far, your cause isn't worth my life."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 23:10:12 GMT
Roman looked at Vanitas with interest, as he seemed to look like he felt almost bad for the girl. "Don't tell me going to prison gave you a conscience, or is there something more I'm not seeing? Has someone made you their personal lapdog?" he laughed at that. "The great Vanitas, at someone's beck and call. Don't you want to be free?"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 9, 2018 14:33:41 GMT
"You're really making me regret not stabbing you," Vanitas groused. "Get to the point and get over your goddamned conspiracy theories!"
He should have just stabbed Roman and be done with it. Walked away. With Roman trying to pry, it made Vanitas close down more. He literally just met the guy and he wasn't about to open up to some stranger who 'thought' he knew how Vanitas was. He didn't know and didn't trust Roman as far as he could throw him. The man was clearly a con. He used people to get what he wanted. Vanitas had very little interest in being someone's pawn, even if he held no love for humans. If there was a choice between Roman and the cops, Vanitas would likely sit shit out because he was tired of being caught in the middle.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 19:22:16 GMT
Roman snorted and started leading Vanitas away from the lab. "Alright, real talk" he said as he guided him through the place full of natural and unnatural Others. "I was a kid and woke up on the streets with no memory of who I was, where I was from or what happened. Cops did shit because shadows seemed to like me and do what I said. Freaked half the force out. So they left me on the streets. I worked my way up and in the underbelly where people deemed 'freaks' resided. Suddenly I wasn't alone anymore, suddenly I had a cause, a purpose. I want revenge on the people who shun our kind, and equal rights for everyone who's ever been stomped on" he led Vanitas down a tunnel and into a hospital room of sorts, one half designated to disoriented seeming Others going though physical therapy or sleeping. "I treat my patients like people too, not lab rats" he said, a touch of pride in his voice. "They get the best care as they get used to being Other"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 12, 2018 20:14:52 GMT
"Hey asshole, your story is a dime a dozen." he snarled. "There isn't a single Other alive that hasn't been discriminated against because of what they are."
Vanitas had gone through the same thing, minus finding cause and purpose. Even now he seemed to just exist to go from day to day. Freedom so easily yanked away if he got caught. The longer he stayed at the warf, he harder it would be to get back to Moses' place without being found out. He still had hours of moonlight left but this guy sure liked to talk, still trying to convince Vanitas of his point. That humans could be forced to change. Just as Vanitas had been forced to be powerless by scientists trying to weaponize Sapien. He had been considered a monster for what he was, for nothing more than existing.
"Except they were once human. Any prejudices they had before becoming Others are still there afterwards." Vanitas pointed out.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 21:25:55 GMT
"True" Roman conceded the point with a shrug. "But don't you wish that weren't the case? that everyone could just get along?" he laughed. "Yea, at first. But when their own friends and family start acting with fear towards them just from how they look, and Others are acting nice trying to get them used to the change, then the changed will start singing a different tune. The little girl did, more people beside her are, it's changing slowly but surely. All I need is to get this to someone high enough, and then we'll be making a change" he smiled slightly. "Not to mention riots and protests. If you want to go to one under a disguise, you're welcome to. Bring friends along, if you got one. And you must, or you'd be caught by now" Roman pressed a water bottle into Vanitas' hand. "This is the temporary dose. Should only last from a half hour to four. If you feel you need to get a point across, use it" he smiled and lightly pressed on Van's shoulder. "I kept ya. Better hurry and go before sunlight hits"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 13, 2018 3:19:46 GMT
"Everyone get along? Humans hate humans! I don't think it's going to 'make everyone get along and sing songs around the campfire,'" he snorted in contempt.
His hand closed around the bottle. His gaze didn't waver from Roman. This whole talk left him rather conflicted. Test this on someone. Subject them to experiments the same way he had been. Sure it would be some halfling he found but he just knew deep in his gut that Moses would not approve. He was being dismissed. Pretty much with a bottle of the serum and a pat on the head. He swallowed thickly.
"Right..." he said slowly. "Don't worry about your little operation. No one will hear anything from me."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2018 3:28:52 GMT
"Ah, but humans will stop picking on Others and that's all I care about" Roman countered. Their gazes on each other never wavered. Roman nodded slowly, still not breaking the gaze. "I'm sure I won't. Nobody would care if a convict nobody knows the whereabouts of anyway goes missing further. I wouldn't kill you, but I know places so far removed you'd never crawl out of them, got me" he made a little shooing gesture with his hand. "But I trust your word. Now scram before sun lights and blows your cover"
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Post by skyeknight on Feb 13, 2018 3:37:50 GMT
"Yeah, yeah, up yours too old man," Vanitas sneered.
He headed towards the door and the winding path out of the warehouse. He had taken a walk to clear his mind. Instead, he had more conflicts and more questions he had no answers to. Things were so much easier when he could just kill his problems. But that was what got him into trouble in the first place. He headed back out into the night, the bottle clutched tightly in his hand. He should just pitch it. Hide it so Moses wouldn't find out that he had snuck out. He made it 'home' before dawn, back to his dark and dingy basement. He wanted to stop hiding, but even if he did change the entire city into Others, no one would welcome a murderer.
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