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

Week 6, Sunday

[cyan_maid]

[A little before Bolton's office hours are supposed to start - fifteen minutes before, let's say - Jane sits down in front of Conference Room A, knees drawn up to her chest. She's in the spacesuit again - her shirt needs to be cleaned, and she can't wear that red skirt again for a few reasons - and she has a hand threaded through her hair in a way that lets the heel of her palm rest against the center of her forehead. There's bags under her reddish eyes. If she's slept, it hasn't been much, but fuck sleep. Fuck it, she doesn't need it.

She's kind of hoping to catch Bolton before he comes in, because she wouldn't knock if she had to. She'd be trying to force herself into the door, because this is important, and she won't let anyone avoid or ignore her if she can help it.]

[theoverseers]

[Here comes Bolton with his tray of coffee, as usual. He looks exhausted, and he seems like he's having to exert extra focus to keep the tray from spilling. But he sees Jane and stops, trying to put on a smile for her.]

Good morning, sunshine. Join me for some coffee?

[cyan_maid]

[She looks up, and Bolton might notice the flicker of something haunted in Jane's eyes. It takes her a moment, but she nods.]

...Yes, please. I've heard it's good. [This may be important but fuck does she need a cup of coffee. She stands, moving aside so Bolton can do his thing.] I can hold that, if you need?

[theoverseers]

[They've all got something haunted in their eyes now, Jane.]

Would you? That'd be great.

[When she takes the tray, he enters and motions her in behind him.]

If you want, you can lock the door.

[Noticeably, he's already got a pot of coffee brewed, unlike normal when he waits until he's set up to start. He takes the tray and pours two cups of coffee while she locks the door.]

Here you go, I've got cream and sugar if you need it.

[cyan_maid]

[Was it worth it, Bolton? Was it?]

Of course. [She takes the tray, and when the door opens, she'll put it down on the table and go to lock the door. Having a hot cup to greet her when she's done is so stupidly cozy that she looks at it for a good few seconds before coming to sit, taking a big sip of it straight and grimacing at the heat. Though it's bitter, it's good - but that's fine. This is bitter work.]

...Mister Bolton. I need to know something. It's...it's important, for the safety of everyone here. We can work together on the monsters and the pain in this ship, but that won't mean anything if she...

[Her hands are trembling enough to make the cup tremble.]

[theoverseers]

[Bolton would be 100% lying if he said that he in any way shape or form "got" Homestuck.

But this is a scared little girl. And he gets enough to know who "she" is.]

She can't get you here, Jane. We're safe from her, at least.

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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?

[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?]

[theoverseers]

I don't know.

[He sounds almost defeated. He really doesn't.]

[cyan_maid]

[...That's not good.]

You and Mister Jamie were really left with only the bare minimum of information when you signed onto this thing, weren't you?

[theoverseers]

You could say that.

[cyan_maid]

And you could say that's correct, because it definitely sounds like it is.

[Sips her coffee. Did she even put anything in it? Bitch she don't curr.]

[theoverseers]

[He sips his own coffee in silence.]

[cyan_maid]

[Is this a coffee-off. Is he waiting to see her flinch. Because she's not, Jane will slowly and genteel-ly drain a cup of strong black coffee if she needs to. Ectobiology or not, she's still her father's daughter.]

[theoverseers]

[Do it. Show your mangrit.

He's not really competing, he's just waiting for you to say something else.]

[cyan_maid]

[Showing it, it's here, and it's not backing down until the cup is drained.]

Alright...so...hm. I think that's all I wanted to make absolutely sure was okay. The last thing any one of us needs, no matter what we want out of this place, is the Batterwitch getting her prongs all mixed up in this business.