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[sankta]

first.last@compass.net (3) (no subject) D12 63:19PM first.last@compass.net (6) Re: Mission D11 8:01PM first.last@compass.net (12) [text] D10 9:35AM

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week 17; day 1; middle of the night

[sturmhond]

[ It's early in the morning before Nikolai finally makes his way back to the workshop. He finds Alina on her mattress, already sleeping, and he sighs. He locks the door behind himself, and then comes to sit next to her, back against the wall. It had been a busy week. For now, he's content to sit in silence. For once, Nikolai feels genuinely tired. ]

[sankta]

[ The door closing stirred her, him sitting on her bed finally woke her. She sat with a jolt, realizing someone was in the workshop and casting her light through the entire room, trying to blind whoever it was.

Until she realized who it was.

She let her light go out, relaxing again as she took deep breaths. ]

Saints, Nikolai. Warn me next time.

[sturmhond]

[ Suddenly the dark room is filled with the light of the sun. Nikolai winces, bringing his hand up to shield his eyes, and then looking sardonically at Alina when the light dims down. ]

I thought you were sleeping. Who did you think it was? There's only one other person who knows how to take off my lock, and she's across campus at the moment.

Jumpy, aren't you?

[sankta]

No one. [ She didn't, for a second, fear the Darkling was back.

She relaxes, sitting against the wall now, glancing at him. ] Sorry. Didn't mean to blind you.

[sturmhond]

[ Nikolai rubs his eyes, until the memory of her light starts to fade from them. Then, leaning back again, he looks at her and smiles a little. ]

No harm done. Are you all right? I really didn't mean to wake you, I thought I was being quiet.

[sankta]

Yeah. [ She nods her head as she looks up at him more. ]

You just never know what's going to happen here.

Are you done, then?

[sturmhond]

Mmm.

[ Nikolai nods, and then decides he's done with the wall. He stretches out on the mattress instead, shutting his eyes briefly and then looking up at her with something akin to a smile. ]

For now. I got rather more than I bargained for. But I ought to be here much more from now on.

[sankta]

[ She watches as he stretches out on the bed, then lays down next to him. She lays on her head on her hands, looking in his eyes as she lays on her side. ]

Anything you can talk about?

[sturmhond]

Nothing I ought to, until the others are ready.

[ Which won't remotely stop him at all. He looks up at her, musing over where he should start.

With the most shocking fact, clearly. ]

There's something worse than COMPASS here. Something much worse, and we are all in danger from it. We have always been in danger from it.

[sankta]

You are the least comforting person. [ She tells him. Really, she's just trying to process. Worse than COMPASS? She feels like she's suffered enough at COMPASS's hands. What could be worse?

She takes a deep breath and finally asks. ]

What is it?

[sturmhond]

Clary told me the same thing not two weeks ago. At least I'm consistent.

[ He looks up at her, smiling faintly, and then shrugs. ]

Something I can't pronounce. Apparently, COMPASS made a deal with it, to house their experiment here. This world doesn't belong to COMPASS, it belongs to that other thing.

The informant expired before we could get much more than that. Everything we got will be collated, and shared. Honestly, I didn't think we'd get as much as we did.

[sankta]

[ Expired. He says it so easily. She knows it's a must. All of this has been made necessary. But it sends a chill through her all the same. ]

At least it's something. [ But should they fear this other thing more? Or try to make an ally of it? ]

Was that all you found out?

[sturmhond]

[ A brief little shake of his head. ]

Apparently, whatever bargain COMPASS made with these entities was dependent on their having a representative here on campus.

[ A beat. ]

The representative we currently have incarcerated, in point of fact. I'm somewhat glad we didn't kill him, now.

[sankta]

The Janitor? [ She sounds a little incredulous. She thought he was just... well actually she didn't know what she thought. No one seemed to think about it. ]

Nikolai... be careful. Remember the last time people did something COMPASS wasn't okay with?

[sturmhond]

[ Yes, well, speaking of the Janitor. His smile turns grim, and completely humourless. ]

He's not the Janitor, Alina.

He's the Project Head. That's what he's been all along.

[sankta]

What's a Project Head? [ Not that she really needs to ask to know it's nothing good. ]

[sturmhond]

From what I understand, it means he's COMPASS' representative here, in charge of the day to day management of their experiment on us.

Though, in truth, once we had him, he seemed afraid of us. [ Possibly because Nikolai kept threatening to torture him, even though they had no intention of that. Still. ] I don't think previous Project Heads were anything like that fearful. The last one was killed in battle.

At any rate, that's what he represents. He's no ally of ours. He's been working for them.

[sankta]

Of course. [ She sighs. ] Because anything nice here comes with strings somewhere.

[sturmhond]

Yes.

[ He props himself up on his elbows. Sleep isn't going to come yet, no matter how much he wants it. His mind is far too active, going over everything he's seen and heard. ]

So it is in most walks of life. But there's a delicate balance here. The cultist we took prisoner spoke of a veil, protecting us from his masters. He implied they'd been able to break through it, and spirit us away.

When we leave this place, Alina, I'm not sure that's the doing of COMPASS at all.

[sankta]

Is it any better? [ She asks. ]

The only way it's better is if we could somehow harness and control that energy. Otherwise we're just someone else's victims.

[sturmhond]

No.

[ Eyes opening further, he looks up at her. ]

It's worse, much worse.

I had hope that we could ally with them, at first. With enough persuasion. I thought them the lesser of two evils. Now I can't say that for certain at all. My instinct is to ally with neither of them.

No matter how impractical that may be.

[sankta]

[ She shakes her head. ] We couldn't trust them. We couldn't ally with them.

[ She lays her head back down and stares at the ceiling. ] Did you learn anything else?

[sturmhond]

Two things. The first being rather pertinent.

[ He sighs. ]

The veil they've been breaking through. It seems they don't just want to take us to other worlds, though when they do that, it increases their power.

They want to destroy the veil completely, and with enough time and effort, they believe they can do it. We need to be ready for that, Alina. We need to be ready to fight them.

[sankta]

The sacrifices. [ She nods her head. ] When we first got here, they sacrificed a bunch of us in fire.

I always thought they were working with COMPASS to terrorize us.

[sturmhond]

No, it would seem not. They and COMPASS seem to be rivals, though they hold a tenuous agreement as to our staying here. But this is their world, Alina. To be frank, it seems that COMPASS are the only thing preventing them from damaging us even more.

[ The strange part about this is, it implies to him that COMPASS, in truth, are the lesser of two evils. But given that COMPASS are his actual kidnappers, that's more than a little difficult to stomach. ]