Scene #8390: Her Bathtub

Owner	Pose
Angela	Angela has invited Persephone Kore to Lobotomy Corp and Lobotomy Corp is pretty much a-okay with any Concord agents dropping by--so when Angela sends word to Persephone that she's 'ready', that's all it really takes to go through the Warpgate to step out into the upper area of the company where various agents and clerks are taking readings and talking to one another. But Angela is also waiting there. She is considerably more human looking in person--odd paleness aside--than how she appears in her video reports which simplify her appearance somehow. "Welcome, Persephone." Angela dips her head, eyes closed as she puts on the appearance of a servile and demure secretary. There's a habit to it. Lobotomy Corp right now is weirdly peaceful. Nothing is presently breaking out of its cells and they have reached their energy quota for the day. "How was your trip?" Angela asks. "I am grateful to finally meet you, Persephone."
Persephone Kore	It isn't really possible to be ready for what it feels like to be in a room with me. To feel the leading edge of her aura through the Warpgate- a psychic impression of contented warmth, of ominously vast gentleness, of being held in the hands of something cosmic that treasures you- is one thing. Sometimes psychics have things like those! But then the minutes pass, and she still hasn't arrived, and it feels like your ears ought to pop under the building pressure, until- Oh! I found you~ "Ahaha, it was great! Thanks for being patient for me, Angela!" The person stepping through the Warpgate looks very ordinary, and a little strange, and a lot strange. Ordinary in that she looks and dresses not unlike an ordinary human; a little strange in that her keyhole sweater and arm-warmers seem much too warm and a bit too casual. And a lot strange because it feels like she's the only Real thing in the room, and everything else has suddenly become a plastic toy version of itself. But don't worry about that! It's you I'm interested in. Her hand comes up to cup her own cheek. The gesture puts a smile on her face, but- "there's no need to bow, I promise! We're coworkers, aren't we, Angela? Haha, and I'm grateful to meet you too."
Angela	Angela is not wholly unaccustomed to psionic assault--though this is usually something that the Agents have to deal with rather than her--but despite being an AI, she is anything but immune to psionics. In fact, she might be weirdly vulnerable to such things relative to those who are wielding the power of EGO. But fortunately for Angela, Persephone is a kind psionic. She is not really accustomed to something that isn't a monster using such a power on her. That warmth... She does not cry--she cannot-but she does shudder in spite of not feeling any colder than normal, despite actually feeling warmer than normal. Angela takes a steadying breath. "I ... see." She isn't sure what to say to that. THat kind of interest. She isn't accustomed to it. Warmth isn't something she is used to. The multiverse is so alien to her it's more horrifying to her in some ways than the actual monsters within the facility. "We are," She says. "The Concord is not exactly what I expected when I first was notified of the alliance. There shouldn't be any Abnormality outbreaks but we are, nevertheless, going to visit an Outbreak. I do not know how it would interact with someone like you, but I want to caution you that it is not a pleasant one. Nevertheless, It is one of the Abnormalities that is closely linked with ''her''. There are others, but it should be a good start." She opens her strange yellow eyes. "You can still 'back out', of course. I would not blame you." Some expectations are tough to shake.
Persephone Kore	Persephone shuts her eyes in the kind of expression you'd see on stained-glass saints, and breathes out through her nose in that way that's really a laugh. "You're so determined to look out for me, aren't you, Angela? Ahaha, it's really sweet of you!" "But worrying about me is totally forbidden. I've had an unfairly easier life than you have, after all! And being sheltered hasn't made me weak; it's let me grow up really strong." Her orange-brown eyes have a childish determination in them when she opens them again. Persephone holds out her arm-warmer-clad hand to Angela, expecting to be led along to the Abnormality. "Or, is it that you're used to people abandoning you?" She drops that line so casually, just as an afterthought, that it'd seem cold coming from anyone else. It's a childlike, innocent kind of cruelty to just say something like that out loud, but she doesn't even seem to realize she's said anything strange.
Angela	"...Understood." Angela says. Persephone's got a point. Worrying about the Sephirah didn't help either and she was actually in a position to help. Indeed, helping was the problem. Theoretically she could be free to lend whatever aid she'd like to Persephone but she isn't the sort of person to deter people from doing what they'd already like to do. It's only fair --she gave a warning and everything. That's about as fair as things can get here. She stops short as Persephone Staggers her with a weakness hit. She looks back to Persephone and her hand. She reaches out and....just shakes it, terribly formally. She just leaves it at that, but that bit of hesitation suggests she might have chosen not to even do that. "...This one is stationed in Central. We'll meet the Tiphereths. A machine must behave as a machine. Being upset about such things is decidedly against protocol. "Besides, it was not really abandonment. He was never there to begin with." She leads the way down to CEntral. Some Agents give Persephone looks. They're accustomed to Concord visitors right now but they can't help but turn their heads and stare at her all the same like they haven't seen anything quite like her. Angela steps into an elevator and, once Persephone boards it, it will head down a floor before the doors open up again. Without the aid of the Cognition Inhibitor, this area too is cold, and dark. No agents down here just yet. But there are two strange cube-shaped robots one named Tiphereth and the other named Tiphereth. Each one has an eye and the easiest way to discern between the two--at least for Agents--is to recognize that one has a ribbon on their body. "Angela...!" Tiphereth says, clonking towards the two of them. "You didn't tell me there would be a visitor--" "I am not under an obligation to, Tiphereth. We've come to see Bloodbath. That is all. It will be no trouble." The other Tiphereth speaks, "It's nice to meet you ma'am." The Ribboned Tiphereth quieted down considerably when learning the reason for their visit.
Persephone Kore	Persephone stops at the same time Angela staggers. Oh. Poor thing. Her lips press and her head tilts; only now, after sensing the impact, does she have the good sense to regret saying it just a tiny bit. "But if you felt like he should have been there, it feels the same as abandonment, doesn't it? A story can hurt just as much as the truth. That's what I think." The handshake makes her half-laugh again. "Thanks," Persephone says, because I know you're doing your best! But an invisible force squeezes Angela's hand a few seconds later, anyway, because I wish I got to show you kindness. Being stared at doesn't seem to bother her. She loves it, actually: every time she catches someone doing it (and she always catches them), she answers it with a wink, or a confident smile, or playfully sticking out the tip of her tongue. "The people here are really nice," she says innocently, once the elevator doors shut. "Don't you think so?" She has a few moments on the elevator to properly examine Angela's heart, instead of just cherishing and admiring it. How does Angela feel about Persephone's visit? And about her situation here, broadly?
Persephone Kore	Phony's arms cross against the cold on the new floor. But I have a solution for everything: I wish it were warmer and brighter, and the air and dust compress to the point of atomic fusion and ignite above her cupped hands, forming themselves into a little apple-sized star that she cradles like a precious treasure. Its warmth radiates around them both. Persephone, herself, doesn't seem to feel that's remarkable. She's far more interested in the pair of robots. "Oh, goodness! Look at you two! Are you related?" She reaches out to shake both of their hands while holding the sun in her left- they have hands, right? "It's nice to meet you too! Ahaha, I love your friend's ribbon!" "I'm Persephone! Phony for short. And don't worry, I utterly promise to be no trouble at all." She means it, at least, whether or not she can keep it.
Angela	Angela really hopes that this trust isn't unfounded because she won't be able to forgive herself if she gets played by someone who goes by 'Phony' but so far it hasn't really felt like that, at least, so she just has to set aside her misgivings. As Phony speaks about the cold, and warms Central off with herself--only Angela seems to notice. She adjusts her labcoat some and flex her fingers inward. "Bloodbath is usually quite deadly..." Ribbon Tiphereth says. "I understand, but she won't be doing a Work." Well, not a traditional one wanyway. Tiphereth (ribbon) approaches Phony and takes her hand in a claw and shakes it. "...Thanks, just don't blame me if anything goes wrong." Despite not really having a face, you can practically feel the pouting all the same even witohut telepathy. "Come with us, Tiphereth." Angela doesn't seem to pay the other one any mind but te three of them lead Persephone into a metal sealed door. Angela taps at the controls and the door slides open, revealing... Bloodbath doesn't look like a typical bathtub. For one thing, it has a face. Like Angela, its eyes are closed with long eyelashes. It's flesh colored and there's fleshy little legs ending in little hooks that hold up the rest of the bathtub a few inches from the floor. It's also filled to the brim with blood. Leading up to the sowerhead, a curved....arm?...spins around up to the shower head that ends in a disembodied hand. There's bruises and stained blood across the 'face' and 'hand' both. And then a little hand bobs out from underneath the surface of the blood and bobs lazily across the surface of it. There's a...presence to it--but it doesn't overtly try to do anything to Phony. At least not yet. It just...sits there. "Your thoughts so far?" Angela asks.
Persephone Kore	"I absolutely promise not to blame you, too," Persephone says with a little laugh while she shakes. "And haven't you heard? It's utterly prohibited to worry about me!" There is, of course, no way Tiphereth could have heard, but she seems to assume. She likes to speak in certainties. I can make certainties come true. "You know, this is sort of like my bedroom. I kind of like it?" she says, just before the door opens. But the certainty slides off her, like she's shedding a coat, when she enters the room with the Bloodbath proper. It's replaced with a solemn, quiet receptiveness; now is a time for listening, not for speaking. The only noise she makes is a soft, inaudible gasp. Then she approaches, and bends down as if to get on the bathtub's level, and lays a hand- warmly, gently- on its rim. "It's perverse, isn't it? A bathtub is where you get clean. A bathtub full of blood is backwards," she says softly, as if speaking any louder might disturb it. Someone else, someone smarter, might recognize the obvious symbolism! But Persephone really is sheltered. "And it's hurt. But it seems at peace, anyway? Somehow. Making peace with things you shouldn't." She's just babbling on now. But Persephone has reason to be distracted. As she chats with her hand stroking the rim, she's shutting her eyes to focus on the bathtub's presence, sifting through its psychometric narrative residue. Everything has traces of how it came to be. Pottery bears the fingerprints of the potter. So she ought to be able to find out: why are you the way that you are?
Angela	Tiphereth says, "I...haven't? But suit yourself!" That singular eye in the center of the machine stares at Angela as if accusing her about bringing weirdos to Central. Angela is completely unsympathetic to Tiphereth's take. "Your bedroom is a place like this?" Angela asks, genuinely surprised to hear it. But maybe she shouldn't be, but she is. ''A bathtub is where you get clean. A bathtub full of blood is backwards.'' Angela doesn't answer this accusation. She doesn't say anything. This all happened before her creation so in a sense it has little to do with her. In another sense it has everything to do with her, but that doesn't mean Angela really knows how to feel about it. How could she? She wasn't there. A hand bobs towards Persephone as she places her hand on the rim. The hand reaches out, as Persephone closes her eyes, and holds her wrist. It isn't painful, but it is firm. Persephone traces along the fingerprints and they speak. A man's voice mind enters her mind. It is no easy feat to cut one's wrist with a sane mind. A strong will is needed with the resolve to make multiple attempts. Only when it is sliced as if one were simply cutting a mere slab of meat, can they achieve this. Only when one yearns for death that much, can they succeed. I eternally regret not realizing to ask her why she needed that industrial knife. I eternally regret not realizing that she was hiding her wrists with long sleeves. I eternally regret not realizing that she always took extra care to hide them whenever I spoke with her. I eternally regret not realizing that I never heard her cheerful laughter anymore, and that she roamed around the company with lifeless eyes more and more often. I cant even imagine how painful it would be to cut your wrist. I found out that the only reason she could manage to do something like that was she cut hers straight through. We always popped open a bottle of wine every time we succeeded. It became one of our customs. She told us that it only takes one slight misstep to fall into indifferent habit if we get too used to success. Thus, we should always smile, rejoice, and celebrate every little thing in the wake of success. And we should never neglect failure, as success can be born from a pile of failures. When I saw the latticework of scars on her wrist, I was reminded of our wine cabinet. We had used up so many of the bottles; there was only one left. That day, I popped the cork off the last one. Persephone sense there's more, though. That this is simply a surface reading. There's something there, even deeper. The sorrow filling up this bathtub is a deep red and it is trying to reach back, reach back and make Persephone feel that intense encompassing sorrow. But there is more. Watching, Tiphereth watches with a very uncomfortable eye. Angela's fingers dig into the doorframe of the cell.
Persephone Kore	"Well, it has a bed, and a couch, and things like that. But the airlock door, and the thick walls, and the touchpad..." she murmurs. "It's nice as a bedroom, isn't it? It makes the world outside seem far away." 'Suicide' is another of the concepts Persephone can only, yet, grasp through analogy. 'Wanting to escape from this world into the unknown', 'being unable to convince yourself to go on', 'eternally leaving behind your loved ones'- those are things she knows of. If she composites them together... "Oh. I almost get it." 'Almost' is enough to make her eyelashes glitter with tears. She tries to smile sympathetically, as if the bathtub could ever see her expression, but the smile is a little weak. Persephone reaches up and takes the floating hand in hers, squeezing it gently to offer a little comfort, even if the blood gets on her arm-warmer. Then she looks back over her shoulder at Angela. At Angela's eyes, gracefully closed, not unlike the abnormality's. At Angela's long sleeves. Persephone keeps her heart open, in case the bathtub has anything else to tell her, but she has a feeling the answer will come from elsewhere. "Angela. Who was she?"
Angela	Angela wonders about Persephone's bedroom but she is quiet--as if uneasy about distracting Persephone in this moment. Her eyes have closed again. She looks at Persephone through security cameras instead as if the distance might fill her. ''Angela. Who was she?'' "Her name was Carmen. My neural framework draws from her mind." Angela shares this deeply personal thing as readily as you might ever expect--why? Maybe it is because she's someone she never really knew, and yet is indelibly connected to her. But is she really like Carmen? Persephone keeps her heart open. She digs a little deeper. "I was built to be her replacement." Angela is someone who hasn't gotten to decide who she is yet. But the digging. The unknown man's presence seems to fade away and instead it is replaced by the feeling of a woman. Persephone can see a flicker of her. A woman with brown hair in a labcoat with bright red eyes. While Angela has pale blue hair and yellow eyes--it is easy to see the 'family resemblance'. Angela is paler, colder than this woman--but she looks so much like her otherwise. So much like her. The woman--Carmen--turns her head and smiles at Persephone. It is a genuine smile, a quite warm smile. There is sorrow in her eyes, but it is a triumphant kind of sorrow. As Persephone is digging deeper, this presence--perhaps the Abnormality or something behind it--is looking back at her. She wants to touch Persephone, she wants to sing a soft lullaby to her, she wants her to be the best she can be. Certainties can be made true. Carmen is of one mind with Persephone. She is selfish in her selflessness. She wants humanity to grow, evolve, live, and thrive and in the doing become more human than human--or perhaps so human that it is undeniable. The Abnormality speaks back to Persephone. No, something else is speaking to Persephone. It sees her too. What a big dream you have. But I have no Light to grant you yet. There's a bit of dissapointment there. She wants to help Persephone, this...reflection? There are flashes. Scientific papers scattered across the floor and tub, Carmen's listless eyes staring into the distance, laughing and crying. It is a triumph. Why? A voice speaks to Persephone, one that she's heard before from a robot with a ribbon in her hair. She sees her, there, but not as a machine but as a human child, holding her brother's body. You should have been the one to die. You're right. Like a realization. --and then there is nothing else to share except-- --a few more hands grasp at Persephone's arm-- --and tug her to try and pull her into it. It would love to have Persephone join Carmen where she's at and does not have the scientist's restraint. "Persephone...!" Angela says before biting her tongue. No worrying over her, she was told. She's already embarrassed.
Persephone Kore	"Oh." Persephone is leaning over the tub. Her tears- drip drip, drip drip- dilute the bathtub's blood. "You were trying your best, weren't you, Carmen?" Just between us, there's a crossing-over that's always tempted me too. Someone I loved very much already went there, and it's hard to stay when you've been left behind, isn't it? But I still haven't given up. I think I would have liked you lots. Maybe, someday, I could...? The hands end the 'conversation'- is she even being heard?- by trying to drag her in. "Ahaha. I told you not to worry, didn't I, Angela? They're just trying to be friendly, I think." Persephone's tone is still melancholy, bittersweet. But I wish they wouldn't grab me, and the hands are pried away by a gentle yet irresistible force. Her fingers linger in contact with theirs for just a moment before she straightens back up, her back still turned to Angela and Tiphereth. "You talk like you don't feel a connection to her at all, Angela. But that can't be true. If it were, why would you show me all this? Why would it be so important that I know."
Angela	Maybe someday... But that's all she can say right now because the hands--as desperate as they are--are forced to let go of Persephone. Now that that she's making that active effort, it isn't that hard to pull away. Persephone can still feel them reaching--but they don't try to pull her in again. Angela frowns deeply as Persephone calls her out on worrying after all and she says, "...Carmen and I are not the same and I have no blood to fill a tub. Perhaps those hands have gripped me, but I'd say that is the first half of the story before I enter the stage." Angela says softly. "There is one more I'd like to show you some day, but it is not active yet so this will have to be all for today." Tiphereth (Ribbon) doesn't reach for Angela's arm, or offer any kind of words of encouragement. She just wheels back to the other Tiphereth for now. "I suppose I do feel a connection to her, but is it strange that I do not wish for her to define me? Not anymore." Why did she show her this? "I would say this event ultimately formed the Center of L Corp going forward."
Persephone Kore	Persephone finally turns back around to give the departing Ribbereth a weak smile, not unlike the one she'd given the bathtub. "I'm sorry," she says. But she doesn't elaborate. With a gesture, the little sun she'd abandoned near the door is telekinetically drawn back to her. She cradles it in her arms. I think I could use the warmth, right about now. "It isn't strange at all, Angela. You were close enough that 'he' hoped you could replace her, right? But far enough apart that he couldn't accept you." It isn't an accusation; more like a clumsy attempt at commiserating. Persephone steps forward- clack- and leans down, just a little, to tap Angela's forehead. "But you're the only 'you' I've ever known. And that goes for all those other friends you're making, too. We aren't going to let go of you for not filling a dead woman's shoes. I promise that, too." She takes a moment to wipe her own face with the arm-warmer- which gets a bit of blood on her cheek, but she doesn't seem to notice- and look up at the ceiling. "You hate it here, don't you, Angela. Is there any reason at all that you want to stay?" It isn't hard to tell what Persephone's thinking. 'Up' is the direction of the warpgate.
Angela	"....I'm not like those upper Sephirah. I'm capable and know what I'm doing. I don't fall apart when I'm reminded of a bad memory. And Enoch is still here." WIth those strange words, Tiphereth departs. She doesn't really want to be here anymore. Angela relaxes a little when Persephone claims she's just commiserating. She's always very very tense. The door automatically shuts behind Persephone as she approaches Angela and-- --Angela is tapped on the forehead and those shoulders tense up again--but this time they relax on their own before she does anything with that tension. Persephone threatens her with friends. It's a strange idea but not one that Angela is hostile to. She just never really had the opportunity considering the script she had to follow. ''You hate it here, don't you, Angela. Is there any reason at all that you want to stay?'' Angela is glad that Tiphereth had left already so she wouldn't hear this--not out of shame but allowing the Sephirah and particularly the Agents know her true thoughts on the matter is just a recipe for disaster. "How I feel is irrelevent in this case. I cannot leave. My body will not allow me to leave through the Warpgate. But I suppose there is one reason I want to stay, at least until the job is done." Revenge? Or is she waiting for something? It isn't clear even in Angela's mind should Persephone take a peek. "Thank you for paying a visit all the same, however. Being honest I expected you to turn around once you saw it."
Persephone Kore	"My body will not allow me to leave..." "I could-" 'give you a new one', I almost say. But that would mean making her new body from her own self-image. And is her heart really healthy enough for that? So Persephone comes up short, and shuts her lips in a warm, bittersweet smile. "Then I'll try my best to be a good friend until then, Angela. Okay?" She offers her free, non-sun-holding hand to Angela to be led out- whether or not Angela actually accepts it is less important than the gesture of offering- and manages a little laugh, which doesn't even sound entirely drained. "I told you back then, didn't I? 'Too much of a good thing' isn't real. People have been kind to me, always, but that built me up! It didn't make me fragile." Persephone winks, and at the tips of her eyelashes there's a little sparkle, and if Angela looks very closely, she might notice that the sparkle was- however briefly- a tiny little star. "It's unfair, so I have to share it. Someday you'll have good things like that, too. I promise."
Angela	Is her heart really healthy enough for that? Not at all. Angela is a mess of contradictions. More than that, she is bitter and resentful. Does she even know what she wants for herself besides 'leaving'? Or does she simply believe she does? Still, Persephone offers a hand. Angela stiffly holds onto it, and will, at least, until they make their way back into the elevator. Maybe that's something that friends do. She sees a small sun in Persephone's eyes. Perhaps Persephone is an Abnormality herself. She thinks of the Child of the Galaxy for a moment. For him, the stars are everywhere but the eyes that cry, can't stop crying. Angela never minded the Abnormalities really. In truth, she is as ill inclined to see them locked up almost as much as she's ill inclined to see herself locked up. Her hand is cold, though the ambient light of a sun can warm it up so long as it's there. Someday you'll have good things like that, too. I promise. Someday, Angela thinks, but for that to happen she has to make this ''work''. Once she breaks away from this eternal hell.... Once she makes it back to the elevator, then and there she pulls her hand free to summon the elevator. She does not take the hand again, stepping in as it arrive. She's thinking about what Persephone has said. Perhaps that is why she and Benjamin were always destined to be enemies. He believes sublimating one's desires to follow this ideal Ayin of his--whereas Angela wants those good things. It's only fair, she thinks, after everything she's been through--and is going through. And will go through. In this moment, Angela makes a vow to make those words of Persephone true. "Thank you, Persephone. I will rely on those words." Angela says. "Feel free to drop by any time." It isn't the most inviting place but Persephone has managed so far.