ArchivedLogs:Soldiers

Soldiers
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Thea
In Absentia	2013-09-08 '
Location Somewhere under the streets of Harlem
Thea has been making her way back and forth through the last couple of weeks. The insert location is known to the Brotherhood, and the tunnel cuts under most of Harlem at this point. The new tunnel taking shape is mostly supervised by a woman-shaped ant queen called Red. Normally queens wouldn't be well-suited to directly overseeing this kind of drudgery, but being raised to sentience means the 'queen' is something more than she was. Thea came down early Sunday morning to see how things are going. She has a duffle bag with her, and she's dressed in jeans, tan work boots, and a modified black tank top which lets her wings drape behind her. The tunnel is mostly circular, about two meters wide, with a flat bottom about one meter wide. The walls look like dirt but have a texture not unlike concrete. Ants the size of large dogs scurry back and forth, constantly working, while Red and Thea have stepped aside in a side tunnel, content to have a conversation without lights on. "Are we on schedule?" Thea asks softly. "Yes, Lady, of course. I work these creatures like the spawn they are." Red's voice is raspy, but clearly feminine. Dusk is following soon after, not coming from the island but slipping down into the tunnels to meet up with Thea. He's dressed pragmatically as well, jeans and boots and a soft grey-green t-shirt that has also been altered to allow for his wings. His steps are quiet as he makes his way through the tunnels, wings cloaking him darker where they wrap around his shoulders. He stops a short distance away from Thea, head tilted to listen, quietly. Eventually, though, he steps forward, apparently also content with the darkness. "S'coming along nicely, then." Red's first instinct is to crouch and hiss at Dusk's approach, which in turn makes all the worker ants pause, and look in their direction. "Shhh," Thea says, reaching out to put a hand on Red's shoulder. "You remember Dusk. He was down here before." Red twitches her antennae, taking in the bat man, before nodding. "Sorry," she rasps. Red straightens up again, actually a few inches taller than Thea. The workers get back to work. Thea gives Dusk an apologetic look, but just says, "Yeah, they're going more quickly than I figured. It's the first time I've used an ant queen to supervise. She's been very... efficient." Red bows at the perceived compliment, apparently not reading some of the concern in Thea's voice. Someone closer to humanness would almost certainly recognize her use of 'efficient' as a euphemism. "But how have you been?" Thea asks Dusk, as if trying to change the subject. "Sorry," Dusk murmurs, though it seems a reflexive courtesy more than any true contrition. "I didn't mean to sneak up." His eyes shift, flitting over Red for a moment before he looks back to Thea. "Efficient." He echoes this word quietly, leaning to the side to rest a shoulder against the wall. "How much do the ones working for her appreciate that?" Thea gestures at Red, who interprets it as a dismissal. Red ducks her head again briefly, and stalks off down the tunnel, chittering commands to the workers. Thea takes a deep breath and nods, but one has to wonder if the twitching of her antennae gives away more than she means to. "I - well they're just dumb animals..." Her tone makes it sound like she's voicing something she's mulled over a lot. But she does seem a little unsure. "They don't appreciate anything, one way or another." Dusk exhales a soft breath, arms crossing loosely over his chest. "Really." There's a note of surprise in his voice. "I didn't know you felt that way about them. I mean, my ferret doesn't even have any kind of advanced intelligence and I sure wouldn't do to /her/ --" His shoulder shrugs, quick and restless. "But, I mean, we eat animals, right? I suppose working them to ruin isn't /that/ far worse." Though his tone doesn't really sound /convinced/ of this. "Don't know what the rush is, though. Things are quiet right now. It'd be just as good if they got it done at -- more /relaxed/ pace." "No, not really..." Thea glances out, and down the tunnel at the scurrying workers. Red is out of sight at this point. Thea faces Dusk again, shaking her head. "I know, but eating them is not the same as... terrorizing. But..." Thea drags her feet, having trouble explaining. Probably even to herself. "When this started, I thought we /were/ in a hurry. Then, last week, my moulting started." She sounds more than a little embarrassed to explain, but soldiers on. "I knew I'd be out of commission for days, and the project couldn't wait, so I made her. But I made her when I was in a bad place. I've never done it before, but I think... I think it effected her. My pain." Thea adds in a whisper, "I don't know what to do." There's a small twitch at the corner of Dusk's mouth. It doesn't really resolve into a smile, just tugging there for a moment and then vanishing. "Unmake her? Try again? I mean," his wings rustle briefly at his back, "City Hall and -- Jersey and -- it doesn't really seem like you have a problem with sending them to /die/, would turning her back into a normal bug be /worse/ than getting them shot to death?" His hand turns upward in a small shrug. "Re-making her in a better mindframe might at least make the rest of their lives less, uh. Torturous." Thea's expression grows dark and her voice goes cold, though remains quiet. "I /hate/ putting them in danger, but I do what I have to do." She takes a deep breath, and her tone softens. "I'm sorry. No one was supposed to get hurt in Jersey, but City Hall... /Someone/ had to show them we can't just be pushed around." Thea reaches up to pull her hair back into a ponytail, using the elastic on her wrist. She sounds a lot less defensive now, and explains, "No general, no one sane, /likes/ sending soldiers to battle. But sometimes you have to. What you're suggesting though... Red is a /person/. You're talking about sentencing someone to death for kicking a dog." "It's better to sentence them to death because /you/ feel like it's worth it if they die?" Dusk's eyebrows raise, gaze turned in the dark towards Thea. "Soldiers have a choice. /We/ have a choice. I wouldn't order /children/ into war." "Who are you, to judge me?!" Thea cries, her voice suddenly loud, but panicky and desperate, echoing down the tunnels. All of the ants stop in their tracks, turning to look at the source of the sound. The corner of her eye twitches in the long silence, and she makes a choked noise in the back of her throat. A rottweiler-sized ant tentatively approaches, pressing up against the side of her leg, and Thea's last shred of control falls apart. All of her self-doubt and worry comes crashing back in on her. She collapses to her knees with an arm around the ant, and looks up at Dusk, pleading. "Oh god... what have I done?" Dusk holds his hands outward, palm-up in a surrendering gesture. "It was a legitimate question. I actually /did/ want to know if you thought this was --" He shrugs, with a wing rather than a shoulder, shrinking faintly back against the wall when Thea collapses. "I mean, we all do a lot of pretty terrible shit but it seems like everyone's got their reasons for it. I'm interested in where people draw their lines. I'm never -- entirely sure where to draw /mine/." He takes a half-step forward, one wing stretching out towards Thea, but it pulls back shy of actually touching her. "You've fought. Like we all have. I just --" He looks down, from her to the ant. "That's /your/ choice. /Is/ it theirs? I don't know. I don't have the connection to them that you do. I just know -- what I see the people going through who /I've/ fought for, ordering actual adults into battle -- it must be multiplied like crazy when you're talking about creatures who don't have that same." His fingers wave towards his head. "I used to think they could..." Thea adjusts to settle into the kneeling-sit position, and reaches up to touch Dusk's wingtip, hesitant, if he allows it. "I mean, they're so intelligent. But I don't really know if they follow me because they /have/ to, or... what." A screeching noise proclaims Red's opinion of all the little ants standing around, doing nothing, but the screech is cut off in a short squawk at a gesture from Thea. The tunnel is quiet for a moment before several big ants come and peer down the side tunnel where Dusk and Thea talk. Thea gives the one at her side a last squeeze and sends it to the group gathered. "It's ok, just keep digging please. It's ok." She watches as they hesitate, and then scurry back to their work. "Dusk," she says quietly. "I think there's something wrong with me... and it scares me." Dusk does allow it, his wing flexing outward gently at the touch to wrap in soft-fuzzy blanketing around Thea's shoulders. "I'm not even sure how you'd tell," he admits quietly. "If they follow you because they love you or if they follow you because they're -- compelled to love you." He exhales soft and quiet, watching the ant scurry back off. His wing tightens just slightly, a small squeeze to Thea's shoulders, and he slowly moves away from the wall to crouch down beside her. "I think --" There's a note of hesitation in his voice, his hands dropping to rest fisted knuckles against the tunnel floor. "I think I'd be surprised if there /wasn't/ something a little wrong with all of us, knowing what -- I've seen of this world. It kind of does its best to break you. You just maybe have to -- fight all the harder to keep yourself together. And maybe turn things around a little bit." His head turns, gaze tracking down the dark tunnel towards the ants. "I think that's kind of why I keep people around me who I -- trust. Not just to be there for me, you know, but to -- kind of pull me back when I'm going off the deep end." Thea leans into Dusk's comforting wing, and takes a breath. "I honestly don't know why they do what I say." She swallows hard and shakes her head. "I've just... I've been alone so long. I don't remember what it's like to have people. I mean, no one I didn't make myself." She shrugs at the strangeness of her own words, but also tries to use the gesture of snug closer to the winged man. Dusk's wing slips further around Thea's shoulders, rubbing gently against one of her arms as it curls more snugly around her. "You have people now. I mean -- you don't have to. Keep being alone. I think it's --" His smile is quick, a brief flash of fangs in the dark. "-- been a long time since /I/ met anyone who /wasn't/ fucked up, one way or other. But maybe we can all kind of keep each other -- sort of in check." Thea smiles as well, turning her head to peck Dusk gently on the cheek. "Thanks," she says quietly. "I really needed this. I'd... like to be with people again." For a moment Dusk does not move, just squeezing Thea gently close. His head tips to rest his forehead against her temple, his eyes closing. After a few breaths, he moves, brushing a soft kiss to her temple before standing. "You are, now. Don't think we're going anywhere."