001 | ( VIDEO. ) | JULY 30th

[pubertytwice]

_{[ The feed clicks on and shows a kid appearing no older than 13 seated back in a chair, curled knuckles against his face. His eyes look tired and expression rather thin. He's wearing a uniform of some sort, though pieces of it look tattered or stained. One of his legs bounces in his seat (aren't his shorts cute?) but after a moment of mulling over what to say, he leans forward, hands folding together neatly. ]}

I already lack faith in gathering information from anyone here, and yet, here I am with inquiries. Serious responses only.

_{[ What could this boy possibly be asking for?? Where is the best place to get ice cream? Hardly so. ]}

Has anyone has ever even attempted hacking into any confidential files that could be in the government's system that operates here? Alternatively, if anyone has ever attempted to assassinate the Queen?

_{[ Oh.. what.. ]}

If not, is there any place on this goddamn planet that serves coffee? Decent coffee. Every place here is a shit hole.

_{[ That's it. No thanks for your time or anything. ]}

Comments

[pubertytwice]

That's quite the combination.

_{[ He can dig it. Though, are you ready for his? Five even plays on her sentence a little. ]}

I used to be a hit man.. with full on intent of timeline balancing.

_{[ He really has no shame in admitting what he used to be. Five doesn't enjoy killing, but he was good and knew it. He was just proud of his work. ]}

Sometimes things needed to happen according to plan, and the only way to fulfill that was to take someone out.

[fourthdimension]

[ sounds about right. elizabeth thinks that they've got too much in common, actually, though she could never plainly admit what she was. that's her lie by omission, perhaps— the collection she received just happened to be someone else's life. ]

Comes with the job, doesn't it? Constants and variables... a little bit of a push to ensure that a variable becomes a constant. [ elizabeth pauses briefly, mulls over how to proceed. she feels a need to actually put a name to her existence, somehow, as if that'll help her situation. well. ]

They called me a quantum superposition. [ a beat. ] Before that, I was just a girl they were studying in a tower. Number Five... so there were at least five of you. The question is: you or other people?

[pubertytwice]

You mean other people who have the same abilities I have? You're looking at the one and only. The only other people that have numbers like me are my family— all adopted from different mothers.

_{[ A pause. ]}

Well, adopted sounds a bit too.. affectionate for what actually happened. I guess all of our mothers were impressively compensated and handed over when we were babies.

_{[ That's more like it. ]}

[fourthdimension]

[ that really is more like it! ]

You don't say. [ HAH. ] Sounds about par for the course, about as expected as a golf ball rolling into the hole. [ someone just has to... hit it there, first. ] My name's Elizabeth, but they called me The Subject... Or the Lamb of Columbia. My father... kept me where he could watch my abilities grow without worrying about influences. Made sure I was his and his alone. [ not a particularly affectionate man himself, that zachary comstock. ]

Don't tell me your surname is Comstock.

[pubertytwice]

_{[ OH BOY, does this ever sound familiar.. Vanya and Elizabeth would have a lot to talk about on this subject. More like, Reginald isolated Vanya to keep her powers suppressed instead of growing, but still. ]}

Hargreeves, actually.
Sounds like both of our guardians suck in the whole fatherly affection department.

_{[ Five scoffs slightly. ]}

Sometimes influences is what makes a person's abilities grow stronger.

_{[ Really depends on what kind of influences we're talking about here. Klaus is a prime example of being influenced and just getting weaker. ]}

[fourthdimension]

Nurture over nature, you mean? [ she wonders. ] Unfortunately for Mr. Comstock, his nurturing only turned me into a revolutionary aid twice over.

[ WHOOPS!!! ]

Mr. Hargreeves, it's a pleasure to meet you. [ she offers a hand, her nails perfectly painted red. ] I... wished it would be under different circumstances. [ you know. furry island and all... or whatever?? ]

1/????

[pubertytwice]

_{[ Mr. Hargreeves. What the fuck. ]}

2/3

[pubertytwice]

<sub>[ This is the first time in his life someone has ever called him Mr. Hargreeves? Not little this or young that. Not a boy. Not a number. Just Mr. Hargreeves.

He kind of likes that? It sounds so seasoned. God, he likes that.

Sorry, this is just him realizing that. ]</sub>

[pubertytwice]

_{[ Look at that smile! He's so pleased as he reaches over and shakes her hand. ]}

Unfortunately, shit like that happens sometimes. Both revolutionary aid twice over and meeting in an alternate and pliable multi-verse.

_{[ He talks as if he is discussing the weather. ]}

You know, that's precisely what I want to know. Where and when we exactly are. It might help clarify some things. Most importantly, it might assist in helping me figure out if there's a way to get everyone back home. I mean, if they want to go. Some people I know seem to find this place an absolute delight.

_{[ Klaus is one of them. The guy is filthy rich cause he sleeps around so much. ]}

[fourthdimension]

[ with hand shake comes the usual charge of a chroma exchange. elizabeth wonders if she'll ever get used to that, as he comments that some people do seem to actually enjoy the place. in the moment, she thinks of yan qing— perhaps it is a place where others can find something. ]

There's always a way to travel, a place to be. Time and space are as non-Newtonian as you can get, a pliable source just as solid as a doorknob at times. [ speaking from experience, here, but she imagines he is, as well. ] Crunch the numbers and you'll arrive at a conclusion, but I have to wonder whose rules we're playing by now. I don't know about you, Mr. Hargreeves, but I have nothing to return to. If a quantum superposition snaps back into place, it loses that friction. It becomes... [ she snorts. ] A normal girl with a normal pinkie.

The universe I knew... it didn't like it's peas mixed with it's porridge, let's say. And here we are, two peas dead center of a bowl of porridge.

1/2

[pubertytwice]

<sub>[ Yeah. It's bizarre. But Five needs it. He's not the mos affectionate person.. and his spatial jumps that he's been using so recklessly really takes the toll out of him. In any case, he really likes the way she speaks. It's definitely his kind of language, and he supposes that it does make sense that a collection of people have nothing to return to.

So, gently, he answers: ]</sub>

I have nothing to return to either.

_{[ But then: ]}

I have absolutely nothing to return to in the present, but that means I have every reason to return to it.

_{[ As Klaus is addicted to his drugs, Five has a different addiction, and it's called 'saving the world from my OP sister who decided to blow up the moon.' ]}

[pubertytwice]

It's just..

_{[ Oh, his jaw clenches. ]}

Even if it takes forever to get back to our respectable places, I just want to know why before anything else. Why us specifically? I was in the middle of something kind of important.

_{[ He sort of loses his calm when he doesn't understand something. Little shit thinks he knows everything. ]}

[fourthdimension]

[ for a moment, she thinks about ignoring him. this is her problem, she knows. that's why she'd spoken to booker and told him exactly the issue the two of them had: a dewitt left well enough alone. if she and booker were smart, they'd have let it all go. they'd never help a person, and they'd never go back for someone else. unfortunately, elizabeth is the kind of person who bends destiny for one little girl and starts a revolution to ensure her freedom. ]

Why? Because we just do. We just are. [ that's always been the answer, right? "the delicious question is when," the luteces had said. but... ] I had all the answers once... every little thing was at my fingertips. I can relate to your anger, but it's like overheating the trail tracks. If you want my opinion, someone has to get in with the scientists here. I don't know how much they actually know, but what I do know is how to make someone into a quantum superposition. I wasn't born with those powers, I was made into that.

[ she cannot believe what she? just said? okay. okay. OKAY??? ] But it all depends. What's your something important?

[pubertytwice]

_{[ Talking to her really calms his anger, but he's still just a tad obsessed.
Just a tad. To his delight, most people have believed the stuff he's been saying, so he's curious of her reaction— someone as smart as her. ]}

Stopping the apocalypse.
Someone explained to me once that it has to happen, but now that I know the cause of it, I want to prevent it.

_{[ He sort of wants to prove the person who said it had to happen wrong, so there's that, too. ]}