[Transmission 08] [UN:i.leiermann] [CW: Mild body horror and bawdy humor][Filtered to Sleepers 18+]

[subject_013]

[The feed opens to a view of a worktop in Wesker's lab space at Soma, as evidenced by the dim lighting and some howls of pain heard in the distant background, but a few items stand out among the equipment: a copy of Frazer's Golden Bough atop a desk reference on virology, a row of leather-bound books on a shelf, above them on another shelf sit a bleached skull with a pair of aviator sunglasses perched on the bridge of the nose and a specimen jar containing a heart beating gently as it floats in its bath of preservative fluid.]

[Wesker peers into a microscope, a lean, brown-haired young woman watching him intently through her thick eyeglasses, adjusting the sling supporting her right arm.]

Hm.

Is that an interested hm or a concerned hm? [She asks]

It's both. These don't resemble the usual cells you find in a sample from a Beast. The structures are similar to what one finds in Beast cells, but there's a coating of something like Sleeper Squid Ink. Also, the cut I took this from started to regenerate as soon as I removed it.

[He steps back from the microscope, giving his assistant space to peer into the eyepiece. She takes off her glasses as she does so.]

Seriously... whoa.. How do you think it's possible?

I'm wondering if our dear Bugge is a Sleeper trapped between Beasthood and transforming back into themself. Perhaps one of the Zealots' little pets?

[She steps back from the worktop.] I'm wondering if it's a hybrid between a Beast and a Sleeper.

[She claps one hand over her mouth, half-suppressing a giggle] Oh no... you thinking what I'm thinking?

Leiermann, am I certain that I want to know the answer to that?

I'm thinking some Sleeper got crazy with a Beast. [As she says this, a greenish pink tint crosses her cheekbones. Wesker, on the other hand, looks into the camera trying to keep his composure, but his lips wrinkle as if he's cringing inside.]

If you think about it, it's sweet. Someone cared about their loved one enough to embrace them and bring them back to themself, even in that terrible state.

I, however, was about to demand of our audience, which of one you gluttons for the delights of the bedchamber had anything to do with this? But given the farmers' talk about it, I'd say it has existed for quite some time now and the parents may have passed on or returned to the Sea.

Wait, audience... [She darts a look at him, then at the device as an utterly trollish smirk crosses his face.] Did I hit the transmit button along with the record button??

Comments

video | un: sds

[fogsong]

[ There's a faint look of disgust on her pale features. ]

You both should go directly to jail for that. [ Eugh. ] You don't actually think that's how it was created, do you?

Re: video | un: sds

[subject_013]

Considering the appetites and quirks of some Sleepers, it wouldn't surprise me. [A slight greenish cast passes over his features.] However, I'm more inclined to think the Zealots, or some early iteration of them, may have created the Bugge in a lab. However, their usual tactics involve dismantling things, rather than combining them. [He runs his hand over his chest, wincing a bit, then resumes his usual sang-froid.]

[The assistant, Leiermann, who'd looked his way sympathetically, pulls her shoulders almost to her ears and raises her hands, disarmingly.]

Okay, I own that and how messed-up it sounds. But hear me out: one of the most... well, more effective ways, to bring someone down from Corruption, is the love of another, in, well, you know... any form. Maybe some recognition sparked in the Beast and they managed to, well, let their lover come close enough to bring them back to themselves.

I think you've merely read too many novels inspired by this universe's answer to 'Beauty and the Beast'. [He says this as patiently as he can, but it's clear this talk bugs him to no end (pardon the pun).]

[fogsong]

[ Her lips purse when he runs his hand over his chest and she frowns lightly but doesn't bring it up. She knows he's gone through some shit with the zealots and she can sympathize. ] Who really knows how the Zealots have changed over the years? Plus, you can learn best how to combine things by taking similar things apart. Reverse engineering and all that jazz.

[ As Leiermann goes on, Sharon's look of disgust deepens and she shakes her head. ]

I guess it's possible but... it's also possible the story is much darker than you'd like. Or weirder. Personally, I'd rather not think of that. Gives me the heebies.

[subject_013]

They may have had the best intentions at their inception, but as with many who hold that claim, as time went by, they found themselves justifying their later methods.

[An odd note, as if he's restraining some internal hostility toward the personages in question. Something small, brown fur speckled with white and sinuous might emerge from his lab coat collar, perching on his shoulder to reveal itself as a weasel Omen, perching itself close to their Sleeper's neck, as if offering a calming influence.]

The reality is often far darker and more strange than the stories would lean one to believe, my dear Leiermann.

[fogsong]

Sadly, what they did in the past, or the reasoning behind their actions, really doesn't fucking matter when you think about what they do now. [ She picks up on the note in his tone but more than that, she can see that precious little Omen. She's got a feeling it's trying to provide some comfort and she knows she doesn't want to continue down a conversation path that may be causing him even a little distress. ]

It would be nice if things like that had some sweet story. We don't get many of those so I get where she's coming from.

[subject_013]

No, it doesn't. I'll admit to not having the cleanest hands or the clearest conscience, if I still have one that functions as most people's do, but even I know when seeking the greater good devolves into something worse than fanaticism.

[Relieved for the lighter talk, he might smirk a little, glancing off in the direction his assistant had departed.]

If you can't tell, she's a bit of a romantic. I suspect it comes as a coping method for dealing with the madness which this world throws at us. She's certainly earned the right to it, for all the hard cases we get at the Lumenarium.

[fogsong]

Honestly, I'm a little jealous of her. To deal with everything this place puts her through and still manage to look at the world through a romantic lens, it's impressive.

video | un: sharpshooter

[azurestar]

[Well that's… gross, but not surprising. He's seen and heard of some majorly weird shit after all this time. And monsterfucking isn't even a unique concept to this world or the world it came from. Granted, back in his (and others') home worlds, it's treated more like a joke… but for a some people it definitely isn't.]

Sooo, thanks for that mental image. [He makes a face.] I think the real question I wanna know is if it's sentient somewhere in there. Or has a soul.

[Not that that would really change whether he kills it or not for the harvest, he's practical like that. But it seems like important knowledge regardless.]

Re: video | un: sharpshooter

[subject_013]

[Fortunately, the assistant has quit the view, however, the master doesn't look any less annoyed.]

I can't say it's a mental image I relish having in my head, either. The implications are painful and disgust-inducing, no matter what angle you take.

The Bugge is sentient, in that it can sense things and have emotional responses; the real question is if it's sapient, if it can solve problems and learn from its experiences. I've observed it while tracking a Hunter whom I'm assisting: sapience is hard to determine, but not likely, from what I've observed.

If it has a soul, that's even harder to pin down. I'm a scientist and a healthy skeptic, but not completely devoid of belief in the spiritual or supernatural. Even still, I'd leave determining the existence of the soul of a possible Sleeper-Beast hybrid those more qualified than I.

[azurestar]

[Lance's eye twitches a bit. Then he rolls them, because wow that was way more than he needed and he is reminded of school. Gross.]

Right, thanks for that "professor". I'll just go consult my local Disciple on the whole soul thing and get looked at like an idiot because who cares when we've got a harvest to think about??

[He heaves a breath. Honestly agreeing with the locals on the Bugge and the sacrifice needed there. From what he's seen in the universe and how Allura traded quintessence with a living planet, he's pretty sure the Bugge has something. But so do Galra and he's killed a whole lot of those.]

Why are you doing these experiments, anyway? Isn't it better to not know when we're just going to kill it to feed the earth or whatever?

[subject_013]

[The other chuckles in his throat, amused.]

Doctor will suffice. Calling me 'Professor' makes me seem as if I'm fifty years old and clad in a tweed jacket.

[A voice with a thick Cockney accent calls from off-screen. "Oy, boss! Yer *are* turnin' fifty!"]

In two months, Cypher my dear. [A beat and he composes himself. He certainly doesn't look that age.] As I was about to say before my Omen interrupted: I'm examining samples in a bid to isolate the cause of the enhanced fertility, in an attempt to replicate it. Perhaps it can be synthesized and eliminate the need to hunt the Bugge, which would ease the minds and hearts of the objectors and keep the farmers pleased and their fields well fertilized.

[azurestar]

[Lane takes a moment to look at him.]

Well, you give off major tweed vibes, just saying.

[He knows what it's like to have an omen that meddles in embarrassing ways, but he's not sympathetic enough to not add to that subject. Then he blinks at that explanation.]

Waaait, wait wait wait. Are you telling me, that the bugge isn't magically regenerating every time I keep seeing it pop up? That it's actually banging out more bugges??

[subject_013]

[The other chuckles, down in his throat, amused, but still a bit spooky.]

I'll own that. I suppose my accent adds to the effect.

[Back to the matter at hand.]

Rest assured: it's regenerating itself, rather than reproducing. I'd considered cloning the creature to better study it and its capabilities, however, we don't quite have the technology for that, at least at the moment.

[azurestar]

[Lance cringes when he mentions cloning it. And just the concept of cloning in general.]

No offense to your mad scientist goals and all that, but I hope we never get that kinda tech around here. This place is enough of a horror show without adding cloning.

But how do you know it has enhanced fertility and why're you studying it if it's not mating like rabbits?

un: AskMalice, video

[slayerskiss]

Wouldn't surprise me if there was someone out there willin' to bang a beast. Some of 'em even look humanoid enough. [She got a fair amount of action when she looked especially monstrous. Still... weird. She decides not to think about it.]

Orrr it could be somethin' a bit more artificial than that. I know some people get up to freaky science shit with blood magic. But when it got turned back by that superhero kid, it looked like a bear.

Re: un: AskMalice, video

[subject_013]

I've seen some that could conceivably be engaged with in that manner. I haven't reached full Beasthood myself - yet - but I could see someone with certain proclivities finding my Corrupted form attractive. Once I start losing myself, black tentacles start to protrude from under my clothes. [He glances away, breathing evenly and running his hands over his hair, as if to settle himself before continuing.]

I'm far more inclined to credit our friend the Bugge is the product of either Blood Magic or Blood Ministry at work. I've created genetic hybrids myself, in my world of origin, thus I can see the probability.

Re: un: AskMalice, video

[slayerskiss]

Yeah, I can see how that might be fun to play with.

[Sorry Wesker.]

I know people want to bang my corrupted form - the one close to beasthood but not quite there. This one chick I held against a tree and threatened to drink all her blood and eat her whole and she got turned on pretty damn quick. [It's a brag in return for a brag, at least in her mind.] But I haven't fully turned either, so who knows.

[She considers that, though. Faith's not exactly super smart but she makes a mental note to bring it up to Ozpin or Willow.]

Sounds complicated. Must be an awful way to live. I guess if they're made from a Sleeper, that explains why they keep comin' back... Could be those mad scientist guys that rounded everyone up and trapped them in their farm?

Re: un: AskMalice, video

[subject_013]

[He sighs audibly through his nostrils, trying to maintain his composure, going eerily still and not looking at the device.]

I suppose everyone has their quirks. However, I'd rather not be the receiving end of them, particularly when I'm in that state. For their own good: they'd be in mortal danger of losing all of their internal organs if they tried that. [He says this with just a hint of a dangerous smirk.]

The lure of dancing with danger? [A small smirk. Someone has a grasp of the psychology of being attracted to something dangerous, even if he puts it outside his boundaries.]

It wouldn't surprise me if those wizards of November had everything to do with the Bugge's genesis. Their work, as horrible as it seems, feeds into the Blood magic which powers this world as we know it. Their methods, however, have a lot to be desired.

Video: UN - Runeseeker

[onerthes]

[... blink blink.]

I... would ask if that's even possible, but I don't know that it could be construed as impossible either. Our bodies are intensely adaptable by nature, so the possibility of such a thing is not unheard of.

[Ahem]

Please apologize to your assistant. I think we took her aback a bit.

Re: Video: UN - Runeseeker

[subject_013]

[The assistant has quit the view, and the master is jotting some notes, while glancing back into the microscope before looking up again.]

I have no idea and I've not even pondered the organic process as to how that might come about - nor have I any desire to. Now that I consider it, if my assistant's theory holds any weight, it could explain a fact of our physiology which I've been made aware of.

[A thoughtful pause, and his gaze may fall slightly. A beat, then an inbreath and he recovers, smirking slightly.]

I'll pass it on to her: she's rather a romantic, in her own weird fashion, as you've probably gathered.

Re: Video: UN - Runeseeker

[onerthes]

A bit of a testimony to the oddity of romance in this place that such a conversation does not feel entirely out of place, does it? [She laughed, albeit very slightly nervously. There were times she wasn't entirely comfortable sharing the fact that she was quite as open in her ideas as she was about compatibility. Humans could be finicky in her mind.]

If these particular creatures are indeed closer to ourselves, does this mean there's a possibility of returning them to themselves?

Re: Video: UN - Runeseeker

[subject_013]

I suppose real love knows no why, it only seeks out the best for the beloved.

[He says this with a note of relief: his mind was heading toward some dark speculation, wondering if the genesis of the Bugge and its possible nature explains why the Sleepers cannot reproduce. Perhaps the Pthumerians effectively sterilized further arrivals, to prevent further weird hybrids. The chance to pull back from this line of thought comes as a breath of fresh air.]

The question remains: has anyone thought to approach it as a Sleeper lost to Corruption, rather than as a rampaging creature?

[onerthes]

By its nature, it's one of the ways that you know you're in love.

[Whatever strange and surreal form that took, and in this world? It could take on a very very strange element.]

Hmmm. It would require a corrupted individual who still has enough sense to do it, or at least the memory of what happened. Unfortunately, when I reach that state? I become so desperately paranoid by nature that I barely recall what it is I propose.

[subject_013]

I'm likely not the candidate for that experiment: I haven't reached full Beasthood and I pray that I never do. However, I do know that I become incredibly aggressive and antagonistic when I've slid into Corruption. If you ever spot me walking as if my hamstrings are partly paralyzed and with black tentacles trying to break out from under my clothing, please knock me over the head and drag me to the Salt Lake or some other place of quick cleansing.

[onerthes]

I will make a note of the physical description. And... I believe you're aware of what happens to me. We would have to find someone capable of maintaining their minds in that form. And that seems to be incredibly rare.