[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 7: Dark Side

• oh boy. medical first aid from the Colonel himself on his sleek aircraft. i am... i am really bleeding. his gloves are awash in it as he unwinds the bandage from my leg.
  
• Caleb: "Are you mad at me?"  i don't know what i am. but clawing disappointment is in the top three, let me tell you.
  
• "No."  no?!  excuse me, me and girlfriend need to conflab for a minutes, what do you mean no? 
  
• "As I hear him take out the medicine and equipment, I start to turn around. But then his hand covers my eyes." hopefully he took the gloves off. "a fine needle pricks my skin and the searing pain instantly dissipates."  oh. phew. thanks.
  
• okay, the girlfriend is finally saying some home truths. will it carry her anywhere at this late date is the question.
  
• what has he been doing behind your back? you weren't even supposed to BE in Skyhaven! you weren't supposed to even have your brother at all. this was all supposed to be done and dusted where it wouldn't have been anywhere near you, no matter which direction you were facing.
  
• "What do you think could've happened if I hadn't been there tonight?"  i might have gotten eaten i guess. i might have gotten shot. i might have gotten chewed on, shot, and then thrown into a cell for another interrogation by somebody who is more interested in the collar and baton than you were
  
• (Caleb, could we go back to that at some future unnamed date? asking for a friend)
  
• what? "I can't bear going through the same pain again. Or do you want me to re-experience that loneliness because i left you?"
  
• i don't know, Caleb. i don't think we hold grudges, we've been pretty darned forgiving so far. 
  
• yeah, he's not even seeing anybody else as worthy at all; live, die, whatever, as long as I'm safe.
  
• "Anybody who dares wield power that isn't theirs must pay the price." now what the fuck does THAT mean? /intrigued
  
• "Fine. Once your fleetship lands, I'll leave."  ohhhh, that is NOT going to go down well, girlfriend. that may not go down AT ALL.
  
• "No, you won't."  bingo! i so called it. "Since you managed to escape once, we'll be going somewhere else."
  
• oh BOY. do you mean to tell me.. and correct me if i'm getting the wrong impression here, gege.. that since you tried it the nice way with the apartment and the cuddle toys and my favorite meals in the kitchen and i was patently unappreciative of your efforts, that i am now going to be handcuffed to a radiator in a squat somewhere? 
  
• (He lifts his hand and cups my cheek. Yet his fingers are freezing cold.)
  
• "I will protect you." 
  
• handcuffed to a radiator in a squat somewhere with a BLANKET.
  
• THE NEXT MORNING, stapled to the medical bed: i am a mystery passenger to the nursing crew. my vital signs are apparently abnormal "because of the rain".  i guess i got contaminated in the storm.
  
• ooooh. do i respond when he asks me how i am, or do i glare in silent judgment. decisions, decisions. where's my third option, break into Caleb-incapacitating tears? 
  
• i can "leave" when my medical signs return to normal.  i notice he doesn't say where i'll be leaving to. 
  
• OOOOOH, i confront him about the "cold" pills. wow, girlfriend. bold as brass this morning. or desperate to hear the worst of it and fall to the bottom of your heart.
  
• "You never planned to let me go since the beginning."   and the beginning might be farther back than you're even aware of. aaaand I throw a cup at him in anger. aaaand he lets it hit him. 
  
• i may never call this man gege again.
  

Chapter 8: Escape

• okay, still in the medical bay, but its nighttime. i was sleeping? "A few lights twinkle like fireflies in the heavy mist."
  
• heavy mist?! 
  
• am i in a betacurve protofield?
  
• XAVIER? no. no. little twinkly lights do not ALWAYS mean your prince so very warm and charming is here.
  
• oh darn, i was right to yank my runaway horses to a standstill. the mist is OUTSIDE the window, along with the outlines of buildings. darn. i thought maybe somebody with the rest of Spatium was going to walk me out through an alternate reality.
  
• /little lore snippet - the "Fleetship" is a starship that spends most of its time in the sky, rarely landing.
  
• nice. poor nurse. at least she'll get a nice nap in my medical restraints. do we.. switch uniforms?
  
• nice. i'm a nurse on the lam. with uniform, face mask and cart, i am on my way to freedom, baby.
  
• oops, i am heading to where the guns are on the ship. i would have stopped me too. 
  
• okay. so the officer that stopped me commandeers some syringes on the cart - "stabilizers". wasn't there something that EVER was handing out to civilians in Linkon, "flux stabilizers" that were wearable and were supposed to, i guess, calm the metaflux around it to prevent Wanderes from manifesting (ie, manipulate the fields to do whatever the fuck EVER wants them to do). is this more of the same, only injectable?
  
• Cybezin. Shit, thats the stuff that drove Joseph mad or that Caleb claimed drove Joseph mad with an overdose.
  
• "only those with Toring chips may use this. this drug should not be used daily."
  
• "If chip implantation is common in the Fleet, then Caleb might have gotten it too."  you don't say. "maybe everything he'd done so far wasn't of his volition." 
  
• well. i guess. that's a good question. does he really want to handcuff you to a radiator in a squat because the metallic command centre in his brain tells him too, and the real Caleb just added the blanket as a rider to the addendum?
  
• "For a moment I can't tell if I'm onto something or trying to excuse his actions."  I KNOW. its a mind bender, this one.
  
• (( for the record, even if Caleb DOES have a chip and even if it IS controlling him, I will hang onto my personal belief that he's choosing to let it do what it does for reasons of his own, because anybody that can make a black hole on command could certainly squash a tiny piece of metal into dust between one heartbeat and the next. ))
  
• oops, Caleb! uh.. shit. meld with the walls meld with the walls.
  
• oh, he's going to take the fleet on patrol through Deepspace in three days.  
  
• WHAT THE FUCK! WOOOO!  "The Fountain of Atei is about to enter its next phase. A banquet in your honor will be held before you leave."
  
• that Caleb does not intend to be at, due to 'personal' matters. its okay, you can say my name without combusting.
  
• CAUGHT! 
  
• i think Caleb just has tingling-me sense, the bastard. orrr, yeah. right. eyes everywhere. i forgot about those. i am terrible at this, good thing i'm not normally employed as a spy.
  
• good point! if Caleb is going to take me to HQ (and not a squat with a radiator and ...) then that has to mean he believes he can keep me safe there.  (definition of 'safe' a variable descriptor, perhaps. or maybe he just figures if it get bad enough, he'll just implode it and have done.)
  
• ... so he takes me home? to the apartment? this is 'safe and sound'?
  
• oops. locked door. didn't i shoot that off? well, i was out for a bit in the medical bay.
  
• my knee is bleeding again. 
  
• Answer the question, Caleb!
  
• ack! picked up and just moved. ow, ow my leg. Caleb, you're.. uh. hurting me.
  

Chapter 9: Captive Bird

• am loving these chapter titles but so far, this is my favorite. now what? 
  
• I WAS NOT READY FOR A CUTSCENE OF ME BEING CARRIED
  
• oh, this is really confrontational. wow. okay! /popcorn
  
• whatever makes you think Caleb and the Colonel are different people? just because you want them to be? 
  
• this is.. uh. 
  
• Caleb kneeling between the girlfriend's legs, looking very pissed off as he strips off her boots, is really really doing something for me.
  
• oh fuck me. he's using his evol to pin her leg down when she tries to get up.
  
• that's just so. so. hawt.
  
• this game is really pushing my buttons here.
  
• soooo. do we sass him back or do we tell him he can do whatever (implication: because we can't stop him anyways)
  
• we've been collared. well, braceleted.
  
• nice, infection risk! well, we did get hit with a 98% build Wanderer and Zayne did tell us what could happen with crystal infection. 
  
• "Is there a way for you to run around without getting injured?"  haven't really found it yet, no.
  
• struggle, girlfriend! tell him to get his untrustworthy hands off you! "I've had enough of your protection"
  
• oh, this is not going well. for either of them.  is Caleb going to smash it and her to the wall? throw her in her bedroom with a new lock? say something truly cutting and then just leave her there to cry? 
  
• "If being with me only brings you pain, just put up with this for three more days."  "What are you going to do?"  "Tie up loose ends." 
  
• aaaand he leaves.
  
• THREE DAYS LATER: radio reports the lockdown is ending. 
  
• "The Fleet will return to the Deepspace Tunnel. You'll be safe. For now." 
  
• "In other words, you'll just disappear again? And not even say anything?"
  
• /clutches pillow
  
• "I'll be gone. Aren't you happy that you won't have to see me then?"
  
• /clutches two pillows
  
• oh. oh, that's heartbreaking. he grabs her arm to lead her to the kitchen for their last meal together and she just violently jerks her wrist away.
  
• oh, she is being cruel.
  
• i love that this scene is playing in very little color, just grays and browns and blacks. 
  
• aaaand she sits down couch, he sits down on the coffee table in front of her...and grabs a red apple.
  
• "I'm not mad." girlfriend, you could fool me. you seem super mad.
  
• "Tell me. How did you turn into someone I hardly recognize?"
  
• oh, wow. so he comes back with the whole "you think i have a chip in my brain and that's the problem". he really does know her that well. or, you know, she can't keep anything off her face to save her life.
  
• "What if I told you I was always like this?" 
  
• eeeeeeeee
  
• "The people who are after your power, who wanna hurt you - they should all just... disappear."
  
• AND YOU"RE JUST THE GUY TO DO IT
  
• wow, how long was he hiding behind the affable brother mask, i wonder. or even, when did it become a mask.
  
• "You're only safe when you're by my side." 
  
• UNTRUE. but i'll grant you the sentiment. Sylus is fast on the kill but you might be faster. 
  
• also, truly awesomely terrible screenshot of Caleb leaning over us with a slightly unhinged expression.
  
• "I don't need you--!"
  
• SO CRUEL GIRLFRIEND
  
• (hides face in hands oh my god he's nearly on top of her)
  
• "All right. What do you need? You can tell me."
  
• (a knife, another knife, a really big breakfast, twelve plushes in a single round and a half forty of vodka)
  
• oh no, he took off the necklace. to remove the tracker but he's not wearing it anymore. oh no, that's so not right. even with all of this. "No one will be able to find you ever again. I'll protect you forever."
  
• oh, she is going to break his heart.
  
• "You can't just... you're very important to me. And no one could ever replace you."
  
• "Really."
  
• and he grabs her by the arm again and there's a fast shot of the red apples on a serving tray.
  
• "I've always held myself back and endured. Day, after day, after day. It was suffocating."
  
• are we sure its just Rafayel that might be affecting the weather? Because the rain has now turned to lightning.
  
• "But now I'm tired of playing these games." 
  
• oh shit, he has her by both wrists, kneeling over her on the couch.  bruises. so many finger bruises from that. bracelets of them. aaaand apples scattered in the foreground. they are not being subtle with the imagery.
  
• NO DON'T STOP THE CHAPTER THEEEERE
  

heart attack time. that was INTENSE.