Soon, the Doctor notices your presence, and says "Ah, I see you are all in relatively good health. Now that there has been a successful Binding, you're about to get access to the new headquarters the Senate arranged for you in the Administrative District."
The fact that the Administrative District was where the government operated out of, and where most of the rich people lived, was blindingly obvious to everyone involved.
It hadn't occurred to Elizabeth that she might lodge elsewhere. Of course, she was aware that there were lodging places for poor people, that awareness just didn't come from personal experience.
It was hard to imagine a hotel room with the patina of grime and disrepair that generally pervaded lower-class dwellings.
After that brief pause, the Doctor asks "So, how are you all doing? This is the first attempt at Binding where the subjects actually survived, so I don't actually know what precise effects the process might have had." The Doctor nervously tugs on his rust-red beard before adding "Also, if you have any questions, or anything else you might want to say, now's the time."
For the first time since the experiment, Elizabeth looks into herself and searches for something otherworldly.
She finds... me.
It took her long enough. The power I gave her may be subtle, but all she has to do to access it is actively search for something.
Elizabeth... fails to realise this even as I say it. She doesn't use her power to search out the facts about her power. She is too busy freaking out about having a mental connection to a Cthuluoid being.
This is such a stupid thing for you to fuss over, Elizabeth Arche. You committed suicide for the chance to snuggle up something like me metaphysically.
You hardly needed more power magically. I was the only obvious benefit.
You had days to turn it over in your mind and decide that your life would be better if you were trapped forever at the mercy of a being too incomprehensible to even deem monstrous...
Well, it sounds freak-worthy when I put it like that, but, still, the point remains that you actively sought this out.
OK; I'm done now. Tirade over. It's pointless to yell... uh, voice reasonable objections about her attitude... to someone who can't hear me.
And a voice in Elizabeth's head isn't going to go over well with her any time soon.
Elizabeth has mostly concealed her epiphany; only slight, involuntary shudders betray her shock and horror. Fortunately, the rest of the room seem distracted with their own concerns and amusements.
"It came from my pocket. What a silly question. That's as silly as asking where my briefcase came from!" He slides his pen into a pocket protector and picks up his briefcase from by his feet, which almost certainly wasn't there before.
Elizabeth notes that this is
not normal.
"I will admit, my...belongings have been replaced and it is easier to contain them. However," He smiles, but in a dark way. "I do have some tricks up my sleeve. Now, I'll show you one, but the other you'll have to pay for, Mr. Darius." He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a gun from no discernable location. It seems to glow with an unearthly light and the faint sounds of screams emanate from the metal as he checks the rounds inside it. He pulls out a pen, separate from the other one and drips a dark liquid that is seemingly ink on each bullet, lovingly measuring out each drop before returning it to whence it came. "Does that answer your question?" He slides the gun back into his jacket, where the bulge disappears without a sound.
Elizabeth notes that this is really
not normal.
He shrugs. "Probably bullets. The ink is for something else."
Elizabeth notes that he is being unnecessarily cryptic, despite the importance of letting the people who will fight with him know his abilities, and is deeply annoyed that he is doing this when she has been so forthcoming.
Welcome back, Elizabeth's hypocritical higher thought processes.
"I'm looking forward to those new rooms, frankly. Are we talking the sort of upper-crust area that has security cameras everywhere, or more the sort where there are out-and-out guards?"
Elizabeth wonders if this woman has ever been in an upper-crust area. Or, well, paid much attention to her surroundings anywhere. Upper-crust areas and wilderness are the only places that don't have guards.
And how could filling a place with cameras provide any sort of security? Intruders would hardly take pictures of themselves, then leave the valuable devices intact and unstolen.
Typhon, deciding that he is bored as wel, starts to jump at Mina's legs. Darius smiles "Hmm, it seems that you have made a friend." Darius does not clarify who he is refering too "It seems that Typhon would like to play with you, I hope that would not be a bother?" Darius asks
Elizabeth is deeply relieved it is not her legs that the creature is interested in. Those claws are dress-ruiners and, while she is seriously considering burning this dress anyway, she is mildly scared and disgusted at the thought of that scaly body jumping on her legs.
She seems pretty much back to normal for her.
I think she's repressing her feelings about sharing headspace with me. Or... projecting them onto innocent not-dogs? I'm no psychiatrist.
I'll give her a little longer. I may not care about Elizabeth Arche as a human of her world could, but she'll be far more interesting unshattered.
So, I suppose I will stay quiet until she's ready.
Or I become bored.
