[IC Contact -- Snowblind]

[bookofnope]

[There is a click noise. It sounds as though it might be judging you.]

Comments

[circumsutus]

I'm not doing brain surgery for you
That doesn't mean we can't compare notes. Just answe the question

[bookofnope]

I don't think so. Information is the only bargaining chip I have. But I imagine that leverage has limits, so, one answer for another: did you warn House, or anyone else?

[circumsutus]

You're being petty. Childish.

No.

Have you experienced any continued altered mental issues, possibly increasing in severity as time passes?

[bookofnope]

I'm working with what I have. If you've just lied to me, this is the last piece of information you'll get, so I hope you're sure of that answer.

All three of us that have worked on the grave have suffered physical and mental effects including anxiety bordering on panic, a feeling of distress and being unwelcome, dizziness and nosebleeds. Nothing so severe as to stop us working, though, merely unpleasant.

[circumsutus]

I didn't ask about initial symptoms. I asked about CONTINUED symptoms.

[bookofnope]

Oh, fine, another answer for free: I haven't noticed anything ongoing. Are you speculating about MN exposure?

[circumsutus]

That wasn't another answer it was the one I asked for in the first place.

Either MN poisoning or I have at a statistically improbable age spontaneously developed an uncommon mental illness that does not run in my family and is unlikely to occur with other conditions I have and should have been almost entirely prevented by past surgeries.

[bookofnope]

Interesting. If you could elaborate, I might be able to put together things I might not have noticed before. Is this different from the usual Nonfinbury-patented disorientation and anxiety?

[circumsutus]

Have you had any possible symptoms? Another possibility: staying in one place for an extended period of time causes long-term damage.

[bookofnope]

Not any that my companions seem to share, no. And if that were the case, I wouldn't be the ideal person to talk to.

And look, questions and answers are happening again. I think I might stop now, pending that little condition about you telling me the truth.

[circumsutus]

Any symptoms. Anything at all. Physical. You're experiencing PHYSICAL symptoms, not mental?

Why wouldn't you want to share information? Anything could give us a clue for getting out of here.

[bookofnope]

Because as I might have mentioned, information is the only currency I happen to have on me, and you have something I want.

And please don't try to tell me anything about how we should all work together as friends. You've seen how well that works out here.

[circumsutus]

What do I have that you want?

If we don't have open discussion we can't progress.

[bookofnope]

Your skills, the help I need from them. The ability to tell certain people what I asked you to do, which could have unpleasant results. It's all leverage.

So, open discussion: How do I know I can trust you?

[circumsutus]

I'm not trustworthy. However, I am determined to get out of here by whatever means necessary, and gathering information on every facet of our captivity.

[bookofnope]

Oh, that makes two of us, but it's also entirely irrelevant. If you aren't trustworthy, then the only way I have to stop you using the aforementioned leverage against me is to have some leverage of my own on you. And if I give you information freely, there goes that.

Convince me that I don't need to worry, and you'll have my full cooperation.

[circumsutus]

I don't like House any more than you do. That's all I can offer as a promise.

[bookofnope]

Not a bad start, except I suspect you don't like me any more than House does, either.

We can make this simpler. Give me something on you, something I can use as a counter. Then we'll have us a nice little balance of terror and can exchange all the information we want.

[circumsutus]

Pick something. There's nothing I could tell you that would terrify me as much as possibly letting House know your plans seems to terrify you.

[bookofnope]

You either severely overestimate how much that would "terrify" me, or you're dodging. All I need is something that, in case you decide to point Steve and his friends my way, I can use to point back at you to distract them.

[circumsutus]

You're the one who used the word first.

Don't you think the fact that I was willing to do it would be enough for them? Human laws are selfish and arbitrary, they won't need much of a reason to go after me.

[bookofnope]

Balance of terror? I thought you'd be familiar with the figure of speech. It's a human expression from the nuclear arms race. Handy, but maybe a little overdramatic.

Most laws are selfish and arbitrary. And you weren't willing to do it, not the way I asked. I'm not sure how much I'm ready to count on them taking my moral principle over yours.

[circumsutus]

My world has managed to avoid nuclear catastrophe so far. [And normally, he'd be fascinated by this topic, and follow it until he found something even more interesting, but right now it's a struggle to just stay focused on the topic at hand.]

They don't care about moral principle, they just want a target. Just suggest to them that I might be considering attacking House and they'll switch their attention over to me.

[bookofnope]

In that case, you probably have the balance of terror to thank for it. Isn't it a terribly useful thing?

While some of them are hypocritical, none of them are stupid. Well, none except Zack, perhaps. Refusing my request makes you look surprisingly moral. Overcoming temptation most terrible, I would say. And you do have the medical doctor card to play, which I do not. I'm just a selfish vampire.

[circumsutus]

Or it is a specific punishment for investigating the mass graves.