[ChicletPrime]

/checks clock - yeah, i can do the next chapter before i gotta jet

3, Empathic Interrogation

• i am restrained on a chair, black walls, little red lights everywhere. Morticia Addams would be quietly approving.
  
• ah, one way glass it is.
  
• the best defense is an overwhelming offense. how about *i* ask the questions?
  
• "i am a small fish" - not according to Rafayel! i am definitely a medium sized fish with delusions of grandeur, and he would know.
  
• what IS the punishment for impersonating an officer? well, a rookie officer.
  
• eeee, he's coming in to interrogate in person! is my hair okay? did my makeup smudge?
  
• does he even recognize me? does he know who i am? who he is?
  
• i can't tell if that's a tie clip or another choke collar.
  
• "how can a stranger look so similar to Caleb?"   oh dear.  "sir, have we met before?"
  
• "You're wrong."  Caleb, are you scrubbed or playing a long game?
  
• LONG GAME
  
• his eyes are so beautiful. well, they all are, honestly.
  
• "an interrogation.. and a thorough inspection."  wooo! i mean, ah. oh noes. please don't. i promise to be ever so good.
  
• oh, he lifted the necklace charms out from under my collar.  yes, i'm still wearing them. did you think i wouldn't?
  
• and he tucks it back. awww.
  
• augghhhh! CHOKE COLLAR! noooooo
  
• what the... "mood tracker"?  so now everybody is going to know i'm feeling depressed when it dulls to a murky green?
  
• oh, oh okay. the cameras scan your eyes and face to send data. it then measures your 'emotional stability' or, in other words, when you're lying. that has to be what Caleb is wearing as well.
  
• eeeee! whispers: "be obedient and it will be over before you know it."
  
• CALEB!
  
• please don't be double crossing me, please don't be double crossing me...
  
• aaaand i get threatened with a very thin.. stick? baton? RIDING CROP!?
  
• oh, so.. confess that i'm here about the aether core? how does HE know about the aether core?
  
• riding crop baton thingie under the chin...  this is great. sorry girlfriend, you really need to play along better than this. and that crop baton thingie has a chunk of machinery on it, so... more data collection?
  
• oh, the N109 zone, hey? yeah, there was a core there too, but i dunno what happened to it. could have been anything really. a crow ate it?
  
• wow, somebody is really keeping tabs on me in particular. they know i disappeared into the zone, didn't check in anywhere and wasn't punished on my return.
  
• okay, i take it back. this VA is working fine for me.
  
• Fleet > World Evol Government. we're in Skyhaven baybeee and the cameras are watching
  
• "your survival and your chance to leave this place alive depend on your honesty and willingness to follow my orders."
  
• that is... that is a remarkable sentence. i am in AWE of that sentence.
  
• aaaand the little crop trails dowwwwn her chin, her throat, her collar...
  
• i also love that the "name" that is normally there to indicate who's speaking is still just "??"
  
• "i will ask... again."  so, sooo soft a delivery.
  
• finally enough light on his throat to confirm that yes, that's not a tie clip, that's also something going around his neck that you can barely see. Ever really has a kink for that.
  
• Is he really Caleb?  
  
• he has really elevated the art of deception into a class of its own, it seems. i deeply approve of this. its like every sentence he's uttering is an over/under layer.
  
• we, on the other hand, are goddamned terrible at it.  whyyyy did we lie? although i guess you have to test the boundaries as soon as possible.  always fall off a cliff into the water in any MMO as soon as you can to check for fall damage and drowning mechanics.
  
• yeah, the baton stick with its little monitoring thing is now blank. good? bad? did Caleb crush its little parts inside?
  
• ooookay? i passed the test? but i lied through my teeth!
  
• WHAT THE HELL?
  
• Hiiiii Caleb! not to complain or anything because i am very grateful to be out of the restraints, but you are touching my hair and your voice has changed and no, i didn't fucking forget you! yes, i am surprised!
  
• "Did I scare  you?"  DUDE.
  
• i like this interrogation a lot better now!  but bloody hell, are we no longer under surveillance or... ?!
  
• that was the BEST HUG EVER