Bolton's Office Hours

[theoverseers]

[Want to chat with Bolton privately? Here is where you do it! Bolton's office hours will be held in conference room B in the library for approximately four hours in the morning several days a week. During that time the blinds will be drawn and that room will be off-limits unless you're there to talk to Bolton, though the other three study rooms will still be available for use.


Comments are screened for privacy.]

Comments

[theoverseers]

I don't know how they got him here.

[theoverseers]

It's almost too real. Now that I could see being just to make all of you homesick.

[theoverseers]

[There's no response for a very, very long time.]

Very well. The Champions will be left alone.

[kingshaming]

[Why does he feel this sudden sense of doom...]

[theoverseers]

[Be careful what you wish for, Prince Xander...]

[cyan_maid]

[The only man who "got" Homestuck is a sad twenty-something in Boston with a horse obsession. It's okay.]

Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? I...she...

[Jane points a shaking finger at her head.] I don't know what she made me do but I know it can't be good...and I've been sent cake mix by the Benefactors, and Chitanda got my spoon, and - and just, please, tell me you don't have a Tiaratop in here somewhere, please...

[theoverseers]

[Are we even sure he understood it let's be real]

No- God, no, they wouldn't have that thing on board.

Jane, I promise. What she did to you... You're safe from that here, at least.

[cyan_maid]

...Okay.

[She'll believe you. It'd be the smartest thing the Benefactors had done.]

But...is everyone here going to be safe? If she's outside...can she get in?

[ratherdoweddings]

Ours was very realistic, but it didn't have nearly all the customization options this one has. It was mostly just preset options.

[theoverseers]

...I'd love to see her try and get past the lasers.

But no, she's not out there. I don't even think she knows where you are.

[cyan_maid]

...Is there a way to know if she's looking?

[Just. Okay sure, you'll zap her like you did Seth, that'd solve a lot of problems, but. She might still be out there hunting for her regardless. I mean it's not like someone killed Jane in front of her or anything, right?]

[theoverseers]

She's not.

The Benefactors would've checked for that sort of thing - a variable like that could throw off this whole experiment.

[Hopefully that's a reasonable enough excuse... He's not in the business of spoilers, here.]

[cyan_maid]

[...Just saying it like that is enough to set off suspicion in Jane's mind. How could the Batterwitch not be looking for her? Whether to induct her back under her control or kill her for somehow escaping, or...there's no way. She's a ruthless alien woman who doesn't stop until she gets exactly what she wants, and has the lifespan to wait if necessary. But Jane does believe Bolton - about the Benefactors, at least. Obviously this slow, gruesome slaughter of champions was too important to be uprooted by a dictatorfish.

Jane looks into the cup of coffee as she considers her options. One - the memories to come will show her that she and her friends were triumphant, and they made it to the new world and the Condesce is dead. Two - The Benefactors and the Condesce are one and the same, and this is all her own project, conspicuously scrubbed clean of red, to lead to some ridiculous end. Three - she just doesn't know Jane is here, and alive, which means that at some point, she was released from control. But how...]

...Can I ask you something else, too? Just...while I'm thinking about it. Can the PIPs do what the Tiaratop did to me? Can C.E.C.E. do that to us?

[refusedtoleave]

Really? I thought you two were closer than that... Did you really meet here?

[theoverseers]

[Bolton touches his PIP with his left hand.]

No. [He realizes that might've been a little forceful.] ...The experiment is made to see how much they can break you, not... control you.

[theoverseers]

Yes, we did. I didn't know Jamie before we met on this space station.

[theoverseers]

This one actually comes with some presets! But it pretty much can be anything you can imagine.

[cyan_maid]

[What the fUCK]

...They want us...to break. [Her eyes go hard, piercing. Not hard to do, with that bright a blue.] Is this entertainment for the Benefactors?

[ratherdoweddings]

People used ours for dates a lot. Sometimes with people someone else already liked, Megumi-chan. If there's one thing I don't miss, it's having five love triangles going on at once.

[theoverseers]

Hah, yeah, I bet. At least the couples here seem pretty clear-cut.

[theoverseers]

Not...

It's an experiment, Jane. They've taken the best of the best and they want to see how far they can bend them before... you know.

[Before murder happens.]

It's about trying to produce the Ultimate Champion.

[cyan_maid]

But why? What does that come to, in the end? What will they do once they have their "Ultimate Champion"?

[Why tip people from their lives, a good portion of them innocents?]

[ratherdoweddings]

It's really inspiring how so many people found love! Even if they refuse to admit it. I've been getting on Lightning-san for weeks.

[stitch_in_time]

[Okay, so they're either communicating well or managing to have two completely separate conversations from each other. Fantastic!]

Oh, well, that just depends on where you look. Some places'll do some pro-bono work if something's serious. Mind, you still have to a be sort of careful about the kind of place you're walking into-

{Not breaking verbal stride, he tugs his screwdriver out of the sleeve he's been keeping it in and taps it in his palm, an apparently idle tic.]

-make sure they've got clean instruments, that kind of thing. A medical diploma that's not from Coney Island's a plus too, but you know what they say about beggars and choosers.

[refusedtoleave]

How long have you been been here then? To know each other so well.