[ somehow, yes, you manage to sneak out of the office with this file.
and you book it. the world around you blurs until you come across your house and you run inside, shutting the door behind you. nobody was chasing you. in fact, you managed to get away with this confidential file.
now that you're in the privacy of your own house, you feel a little safer. what's your next step? ]
[well the first next step is definitely just, like, breathing a little because phew.
but after that-- it's safer here, and there's not limited time, so it should be easier to try to look up translations for this file and find out what's going on.]
[ it is, in fact, safer here. and it's empty. you have a lot of mixed feelings about this house when you're alone (which is often) but for now you find yourself settling under the kotatsu and staring at this file. you have brains and you have the internet. you can use a translator app for this, can't you?
as you start to read though, you feel...different. your bones ache. you're tired. there's a sinking feeling in your chest that you've just learned to live with. it's a heaviness than seems to cling to you like a second skin. ]
The subject has been led to believe that there are special genetic abnormalities in his DNA. Subject has been coerced into starting gene therapy via genome editing to save his own life.
All vitals are healthy. Progress of the editing process continues steadily. Subject's response to the medicine provided has shown improvements over the last few weeks.
[ the data in this file goes back for several months, perhaps even almost a year. it's charts and blood tests and samples of heart reading and even skin samples. it's information about a genetic code being rewritten, and the way the body has stood up to the test of time. there are failures recorded here, too, of when the body has fallen ill or started to reject the genome editing. but there are successes across the board.
a cold feeling of anger and anguish seem to wash over you the more you read, slowly coming to realize the truth.
there was never anything wrong with you. and this institute isn't interesting in helping you. you sort of always knew something was wrong, didn't you? and here it is, the proof.
you were never meant to be helped. you were only used for human experimentation.
...suddenly, you feel a little hopeless. you're not really sure what you were expecting to find. you already knew this. but it's a fact you have to live with for the rest of your life now. ]
The child's growth is heavily stunted. In fact, he has not significantly changed in appearance in over six years. He is currently eighteen years old.
Chikara Horadori couldn't completely stop the aging process, but he slowed it to a crawl. Slowing down the aging process wasn't only achieved by modifying the genomes of fertilized embryos. Chikara was able to rearrange the DNA of a fully matured adult.
The sole success of Chikara's experiments. The lone success of the research. He's cursed with eternal youth and life.
[ reality comes back into focus suddenly in your empty, lonely home.
....you are eighteen years old, and no one around you really knows how to cope with that. most people think you're weird or you're creepy or unsettling for never changing. you have no way of rewriting your own code. you're trapped in your own body with no escape. this wasn't something you wanted, but the results of someone else's greed. this is your eternal curse for long beyond the time you want to live.
the scene fades, the walls of the house falling away and soon it is just the rift they had been pulled in. but at least now it isn't just gregor. shoma's in this rift still, arms folded over his chest and frowning to himself having to rewitness all of that. hello. ]
[god. that was a lot, especially experiencing it in that way; it takes a moment for him to come out of it and shake it off, but fortunately, identities give him some experience in resurfacing from memories that don't really belong to him.
it's-- well, it leaves him unsettled, but all he says at first is:]
Does it? [ it's a tentative tone, light and like he's ready to talk his way out of it in case this conversation goes poorly. granted, considering who gregor is, he thinks maybe it can't be that awful. ]
[ okay. there is a slight laugh to that since it does ease the tension a little. ]
I don't know if it's better or worse to say we had a serial killing case we were working on back home, actually. [ don't just fucking say that. ] I think I've just been really good at hiding how well I'm handling all of this.
To be fair, solving the case was more Mizuki's job than mine. [ surprise! that is not his babysitter! that's his fwend...... ]
...some parts of the City felt a little familiar, but no offense, I think I'll stick with Tokyo. [ ... ] I never...it took me a few years to really learn what happened to my body. I knew about the experiments when I was 12 and stole that file, but I couldn't figure out everything back then. And when I confronted the director of the institute he just acted like nothing was wrong and threatened me if I told anybody. It became pretty obvious a few years later.
Saying you should be grateful because now you're special. [ softly. this is actually not something he wanted to have in common with anyone here, and he looks at his metal hand for a second. he should really get this removed and get his real arm back, but hm. surgery still scary. ]
[he says, finding a spot to take a seat, arms propped on his knees.
his gaze flicks to the tattoo on his left arm.]
...I ended up their most successful case, more or less. Only one who didn't get the same side effects and mutations. But that doesn't make it much different.
They could've gotten other people to fight in their war. Volunteers, even. [ he's mad! he like. knows the language is foreign, but he can't quite interpret it. ]
I can't say I blame you. It might even be better not to know. [ ... ] And there's no way to change it for you either, is there?
[ he frowns deeply to that. how can anybody even make rational decisions when they're that young? he doesn't need guesses, but he wonders if it's appropriate to ask.
he does anyway. ]
How many times did you try? [ how many times did you fight against your own body to try and regain some autonomy? ]
[that was all that it took, to know it was futile.]
I didn't... do it myself. [he didn't have the will for that.] But it would act on its own. React to my own stress, or strong emotions. It turned on a person, once.
[he recalls it clearly. her terror, with the blade of his arm at her throat. pulling against it with all his might while it refused to budge.]
Security-- I yelled at them to cut it, and they finally did. But after that...
...that's pretty horrifying. [ he has at least never had that kind of traumatic side effects. his are more a slow-dawning horror of everything in the world changing around him but he never will. ] How...so it's another one of those things where you really have to stay calm in order to control it. Or did it get better and more adjusted after that?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
and you book it. the world around you blurs until you come across your house and you run inside, shutting the door behind you. nobody was chasing you. in fact, you managed to get away with this confidential file.
now that you're in the privacy of your own house, you feel a little safer. what's your next step? ]
no subject
but after that-- it's safer here, and there's not limited time, so it should be easier to try to look up translations for this file and find out what's going on.]
no subject
as you start to read though, you feel...different. your bones ache. you're tired. there's a sinking feeling in your chest that you've just learned to live with. it's a heaviness than seems to cling to you like a second skin. ]
The subject has been led to believe that there are special genetic abnormalities in his DNA. Subject has been coerced into starting gene therapy via genome editing to save his own life.
All vitals are healthy. Progress of the editing process continues steadily. Subject's response to the medicine provided has shown improvements over the last few weeks.
[ the data in this file goes back for several months, perhaps even almost a year. it's charts and blood tests and samples of heart reading and even skin samples. it's information about a genetic code being rewritten, and the way the body has stood up to the test of time. there are failures recorded here, too, of when the body has fallen ill or started to reject the genome editing. but there are successes across the board.
a cold feeling of anger and anguish seem to wash over you the more you read, slowly coming to realize the truth.
there was never anything wrong with you. and this institute isn't interesting in helping you. you sort of always knew something was wrong, didn't you? and here it is, the proof.
you were never meant to be helped. you were only used for human experimentation.
do you continue reading? ]
no subject
he's already read this far. at this point he wants to know.]
no subject
...suddenly, you feel a little hopeless. you're not really sure what you were expecting to find. you already knew this. but it's a fact you have to live with for the rest of your life now. ]
The child's growth is heavily stunted. In fact, he has not significantly changed in appearance in over six years. He is currently eighteen years old.
Chikara Horadori couldn't completely stop the aging process, but he slowed it to a crawl. Slowing down the aging process wasn't only achieved by modifying the genomes of fertilized embryos. Chikara was able to rearrange the DNA of a fully matured adult.
The sole success of Chikara's experiments. The lone success of the research. He's cursed with eternal youth and life.
[ reality comes back into focus suddenly in your empty, lonely home.
....you are eighteen years old, and no one around you really knows how to cope with that. most people think you're weird or you're creepy or unsettling for never changing. you have no way of rewriting your own code. you're trapped in your own body with no escape. this wasn't something you wanted, but the results of someone else's greed. this is your eternal curse for long beyond the time you want to live.
the scene fades, the walls of the house falling away and soon it is just the rift they had been pulled in. but at least now it isn't just gregor. shoma's in this rift still, arms folded over his chest and frowning to himself having to rewitness all of that. hello. ]
no subject
[god. that was a lot, especially experiencing it in that way; it takes a moment for him to come out of it and shake it off, but fortunately, identities give him some experience in resurfacing from memories that don't really belong to him.
it's-- well, it leaves him unsettled, but all he says at first is:]
I-- guess that explains a couple things.
no subject
no subject
[joking, probably. trying to lighten this up juuust a little. (but it is kind of true.)]
You've been... you know. Taking everything pretty well. Usually means you've had to do it before.
no subject
I don't know if it's better or worse to say we had a serial killing case we were working on back home, actually. [ don't just fucking say that. ] I think I've just been really good at hiding how well I'm handling all of this.
no subject
[shoma can handle a serial killer, sure.]
...think you have been, though, yeah. I mostly just, uh-- thought you might be a little closer to a kid from the City.
no subject
...some parts of the City felt a little familiar, but no offense, I think I'll stick with Tokyo. [ ... ] I never...it took me a few years to really learn what happened to my body. I knew about the experiments when I was 12 and stole that file, but I couldn't figure out everything back then. And when I confronted the director of the institute he just acted like nothing was wrong and threatened me if I told anybody. It became pretty obvious a few years later.
no subject
[of course they are.
which feels like a good time for shoma to get a little context, through a memory of gregor's in turn. runs to 1:32:04.]
no subject
wow...same hat. ]
...they really are all like that.
no subject
[he mutters quietly, reaching up and rubbing at his face.]
no subject
Fifteen's pretty young.
no subject
[he says, finding a spot to take a seat, arms propped on his knees.
his gaze flicks to the tattoo on his left arm.]
...I ended up their most successful case, more or less. Only one who didn't get the same side effects and mutations. But that doesn't make it much different.
no subject
It's still something you didn't need or want in the first place. [ ... ] Did they ever at least tell you why they were doing this?
no subject
[the resilience of bugs makes a good trait for war, doesn't it?
he notes shoma looking, but he doesn't try to cover it. it's almost always out there anyway-- same as his callsign here. ungeziefer.]
...she called mine a present. Investment. Said there's more to it than the arm. But-
Honestly, I don't care about finding out what else she did to me.
no subject
I can't say I blame you. It might even be better not to know. [ ... ] And there's no way to change it for you either, is there?
[ no reversal. ]
no subject
[you know. normal things.
at that question, though, he huffs out a breath.]
...one of the things that's special about my arm's the regeneration.
[three guesses how he knows. the last two don't count.]
no subject
he does anyway. ]
How many times did you try? [ how many times did you fight against your own body to try and regain some autonomy? ]
no subject
[that was all that it took, to know it was futile.]
I didn't... do it myself. [he didn't have the will for that.] But it would act on its own. React to my own stress, or strong emotions. It turned on a person, once.
[he recalls it clearly. her terror, with the blade of his arm at her throat. pulling against it with all his might while it refused to budge.]
Security-- I yelled at them to cut it, and they finally did. But after that...
Just turned on them instead.
no subject
...that's pretty horrifying. [ he has at least never had that kind of traumatic side effects. his are more a slow-dawning horror of everything in the world changing around him but he never will. ] How...so it's another one of those things where you really have to stay calm in order to control it. Or did it get better and more adjusted after that?