All 16.2 - Interrogation

"Heeeey," Virgil's voice intoned from Cohen's doorway, "Why do you have a dog collar on?"
The doctor's face flinched slightly at the question. "Because I can’t take it off," he replied simply.
"Why not?"
"Because it doesn't come off."
"Why?"
"Because magic."
"Oh," Virgil paused to consider this before continuing, "Why would someone make something that doesn't come off?"
"Because they don't like the person they put it on," Cohen replied with all of the bluntness of Virgil's questioning.
"...So, 'cause they're being mean? Or is it cause you’re in trouble?" Virgil asked. Cohen made no reply to this, but grimaced slightly. Virgil continued, "Does it do something?"
"Go away, tiny monster," he declared.
"But you didn’t tell me!" Virgil whined.
"I'm not talking about it."
With a frown and a 'hmph', Virgil left.
----
"Luccaaaaaaa..." Virgil intoned as he wandered in. "Why would someone make something that doesn't come off?"
The druid looked up from the potted vine he was tending to see the dark-haired child milling about at the entryway. "Hmmm...well, it really depends on what you're talking about, yeah? There's lots of reason...generally though, cause they don't wanna have to worry about it getting messed up or going missing or something, ya know? Like the paint we used for the boat: it'd be a pain to have to redo it all the time, so we had Dr. Cohen make us some that'd stay on." Virgil seemed to consider that response as Lucca added, "Weird question, dude, why do you ask?"
The boy still looked thoughtful as he replied, "Well, 'cause the doctor said that the collar he has on doesn't come off, an' it doesn't come off 'cause it's magic and when I asked him why someone would make somethin that didn't come off, he said it's cause they didn't like the person who's wearin' it." Virgil fiddled about, still talking, "But when I asked why they'd make it like that, he didn't say why. If they didn't like him and are making him wear something, is it like a joke? Or is he bein' punished? But why would you make clothes that don't come off anyway; that's weird...Oh!" he seemed to put something together, "If it's got other magic that you didn't wanna redo, then you put magic on it so it doesn't come off! Then it can't get lost an' you don't gotta redo it like you said, right?"
Lucca paused what he was doing and considered this for a moment before nodding, "Yeah...yeah, there you go. That sound's about right; it has to stay on so that the other magic stays on him."
"What's the other magic?" Virgil replied almost immediately.
Taking a deep breath and chewing at his lip, Lucca thought deeply for a moment, as Virgil looked on, waiting for an answer. Eventually, he offered, "Well...you remember the stories about the doctor, when we met him in the Underdark, right? And how he's an evil doctor that does scary things? It's magic that makes it so he can't do that."
Virgil scrunched up his face, frowning. "...Then how come he helped me trick you? That was scary."
"Mmh..." Lucca looked a bit uncomfortable, "I guess I'm not explaining very well...that wasn't the right word." He sighed heavily, "It stops him from hurting anyone."
"Oooooh..." Virgil said. He paused, thinking, "...huh. Ok." Seemingly satisfied with this answer, he turned and walked out the door. Only a few seconds passed, barely enough time for Lucca to return his attentions to his plant, before Virgil came running back in, looking very concerned, "But we're on an adventure! What if he gets in a fight?!"
"I...uh...I actually don't know. One sec?" With a perturbed look, he closed his eyes and silently directed his thoughts towards Harlequin. How the hell DOES that work anyhow?
Lucca could hear his own voice laughing back at him. I have no idea, actually. It's just an overpowered, broad-ended spell. Specifics are for Materians. But let's hazard a guess, because hazardous guesses are the best kind. There was a sound of a throat being cleared before the disembodied voice of Harlequin continued. It's making him 'good', in the broadest sense possible. It can't physically stop him or make him do anything, only Queen Komatsu can do that, so it must be a mental block. If I had to guess what kind, I'd say guilt. That's always been good's greatest weapon. So whenever he thinks he might do something that might maybe be evil, he has an overwhelming guilt attack, stopping him. Would that stop him from being able to fight? Nah, good people fight all the time. Good people can be right assholes. Look at the winter king. But, but but but! Good people have grown up with their guilt, figured it out and know its limits. A good person already knows what they think is right and wrong and will just work with it. This guy? Suddenly has a bunch of guilt over things he never cared about before. Likely has no idea what he *now* considers to be right and wrong, and is probably wanding about in a morass of guilt, hitting his head on his moral walls like a drunk moth. So, if a tiger jumped at him? No problem: killing animals in defense isn't usually a thing. But if it's a person? That could be evil, and even a second of 'what am I even feeling right now?' could throw him off and let the other guy throw him down. His offensive abilty might even be screwed entirely, depending. But hey, I don't know, what do I know about what's 'good'? That's my guess.
Fuckin' hell, eh? That's balls...straight up...ugh! He shook his head with a frown of distaste, which disappeared as he looked back towards Virgil. "Well, bud, I don't really know for sure. But I think the magic would probably make an exception in a situation like that."
Virgil frowned, "If you're all adventuring, an' you get in a fight, you gotta make sure he doesn't get beaten up 'cause a spell's not letting him fight right. That's not fair at all, and he's not very good at fighting anyways."
"Of course, dude!" Lucca reassured him. "We're not gonna let him get his butt kicked, especially not because of a stupid spell! I'll keep an eye on him for you, kay?"
Virgil nodded, "Kay." With a small bow of his head, he turned and left the room again, leaving Lucca alone with his thoughts and his vine. After a few moments quietly focused on the first, he turned his full attention back to the latter.
----
"Hey!" Virgil called.
The doctor's reply was less than enthused, "And you’re back again."
"Yeah," Virgil said simply. When Cohen didn't reply, Virgil asked, "Why we’re you in jail?"
"Because your father and the others put me there."
"No, like, before. Like, when you escaped the first time, why were you there?"
Cohen sighed, "Because I did bad things."
"What things?"
"Bad things."
"What kind of bad things?"
"Lots of bad things."
"But what kind of things?"
"Not things that I'm explaining to a child."
"Come oooooon," the child whined, breaking the rapid exchange they had been having.
"You’re too young. They aren’t things to talk about to children."
Virgil frowned again, "Fine. I’ll go ask someone else."
"You do that," Cohen replied, as the boy stomped off again.
----
Lucca heard the telltale pattering of footsteps that heralded the arrival of the young Erzebet. Approaching Lucca, and with no other introduction, he asked, "Why was the doctor in jail? Like, before he escaped and you caught him again? He said he didn't wanna explain it."
"Oooh, boy," Lucca replied, running a hand through his hair. "Jeeze man, let's see..." he said as he sat back, taking his time to think out a proper answer. After some time, he offered awkwardly, "Honestly, dude, I'm probably not the best person to ask, 'cause I don't exactly remember...I think it had something to do with him doing some weird science stuff in the Underdark, and people going missing? But don't quote me on it."
Virgil frowned, glaring at him pointedly. "...You reeeeeally don't know?", he pressed, obviously not trusting Lucca's honesty in the matter.
"Uuuunnngh, dude! Don't start with that look, that's not even fair!" the druid groaned in protest, "Come ooon. Is this the face of someone who'd lie to you? Hmm? Of course not!"
After another few seconds of scrutinous stare, Virgil conceded. "...Alright. I'll go ask Dad then," he said, turning and leaving once more.
----
"Dad?" Virgil asked tentatively, walking gingerly around the pilot's chair where his father sat, looking out into the ocean.
"Yes, Virgil?" he replied calmly, not breaking his gaze into the blue.
"What did the doctor do to go to jail?"
"I’m not entirely certain. I’m trying to steer the ship, why don’t you ask Lucca?"
"Aww," Virgil scuffed the floor, "he said he didn’t know either."
"Well, ask Mr. Komatsu then. I’m sure he knows. I honestly don’t remember the details, and I’m busy with this. I know he was arrested for murder and for using alchemy."
"That’s not what Lucca said...What’s alchemy?"
"Virgil, please, go ask Mr. Komatsu. I’m trying to focus."
"Ok. I’m sorry."
"That’s alright." With that, Virgil scampered off yet again.
----
"Mr. Komatsu?" Virgil tentatively asked, peeking his head into the storage room where Ryuji stood, holding out his sword.
"Hmm?" he looked around, sheathing his blade.
"Can I ask you a question? Well, two questions?"
"Sure, what is it?" Ryuji said.
"No one will tell me why the doctor was arrested. The doctor didn’t wanna, and Lucca said he didn’t know, and Dad’s busy an’ said to ask you, ‘cause you’d know.
"Oh..." the man seemed taken aback, "that’s…maybe not something that you’re old enough for…"
"Dad said he killed people, an’ did alchemy. What’s alchemy? That was the other question."
Ryuji blinked at that, surprised that the child knew. "...Well, alchemy is...hmm...how to explain...you know how nature has rules?"
"Yeah."
"And magic has different rules?"
"Yeah."
"Alchemy tries to mix the two of them together, so it’s not really magic, but it’s not really natural either."
"An’ that’s illegal?"
"Yes. Well, most of it."
"Why?"
"Because most alchemy hurts people. There’s a...a sorting system for it, and almost all of it explodes, mutates, or poisons."
"What’s mutates?"
"It’s when something turns into something else, but since it’s not magic, it hurts and isn’t nice."
"Oh...so it’s like, bad shifting?"
"Mmm, yeah," Ryuji considered, "Bad, broken shifting that sometimes can’t be undone."
"...Ok. So, why did he go to jail?"
"...Well, it sounds like you already know most of it…" Ryuji was obviously hesitant to answer.
"I wanna know why!" the child demanded.
"Did your father really say it’s ok for you to know this?" he asked, his expression skeptical.
"Yeah."
"...I’m going to ask him," Ryuji declared.
"Fine," Virgil was unfazed by this challenge, and followed after him down the hall, arms crossed with defiance.
Walking into the command room, Ryuji and Virgil walked around to stand near Victor's line of sight. After a curt greeting, Ryuji asked, "Did you really want me to tell Virgil about Cohen?"
Victor replied, "Yes, I didn’t know and I’m trying to focus on this. Also, I don’t remember the details."
"See?" Virgil said with a touch of arrogance.
"Alright, I wanted to make sure," Ryuji said defensively, "Aren’t you concerned?"
"Why would I be? He’s heard scarier stories then what I assume your legal recount will be. If he’s scared of the doctor after hearing it, he’ll be no different then most others on the ship."
"I’m not scared!" Virgil said defiantly.
"I just don’t think that it’s proper to tell a child about it," Ryuji said, ignoring the boy.
Virgil did not take kindly to being ignored, "Stop calling me a kid! I’ll go ask Mr. Webber, he’ll tell me, and he knows everything about everyone!"
"Don’t use gory details, and it’s fine," Victor said."
"Alright, alright. It’s not like it’s a secret anyhow," Ryuji rolled his eyes, still obviously not comfortable with the whole thing. Turning to Virgil, he explained, "He was arrested because he led a cult, killed a lot of people, and was using alchemy illegally."
"What’s a cult?" Virgil's questions came without hesitation.
Ryuji thought for a moment, then said, "It’s a fake church where people worship something wrong, and the leaders want to hurt their followers."
"Why’d he do that?"
"So he’d have people to test his illegal alchemy on."
"...What?"
Ryuji took a moment, then reiterated, "He convinced a lot of people that a bad idea was a good idea, and they believed him, so they...they let him give them bad medicine that did bad things to them, because they thought it would be good."
"What bad things? Did it kill them?"
"No, it turned them into the monsters that your father and I fought in the Underdark when we went to go catch him."
"He turned people into monsters?" Virgil asked with a touch of incredulity.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he’s a terrible person, and you shouldn’t be spending time around him," Ryuji said bluntly.
Victor interjected, "Excellent editorial."
"It’s true," Ryuji replied, turning his head towards the other man.
"But you said he killed people," Virgil continued.
"Well, he did kill twenty-one people: the leaders of the cult. The police thought he killed ninety-six more, but they were just missing, so they didn’t know for sure. Those people were all the monsters in the Underdark."
"The leaders were monsters too?"
"No, they were still people. They died too early to become monsters, I guess."
"So, so why’d he kill the leaders, if he didn’t kill everybody else?"
Considering his words, Ryuji explained, "Because he was going to be discovered and arrested for doing terrible things to people, so he killed the people who were leading the cult so that they couldn’t tell anyone where he was going to hide. The police found him before he could escape, so they put him in jail. He wouldn’t tell anyone where the other people were, so after they were missing for long enough, the police decided they must all be dead too."
"But they weren’t, they were in the Underdark."
"Well, yes, but they didn’t know that then."
"Did the police apologize?"
This caught Ryuji off-guard, "...Huh?
"Did they apologize for saying that he killed a lot of people when he didn’t?"
Ryuji frowned, "Virgil, he turned them into monsters. That’s worse than being dead. They were in pain, and had gone crazy, and were living like animals in a cave. He did horrible, awful things that don’t deserve an apology."
"Oh…" the boy said, before continuing, "How’d he kill the other people? He’s not very good at fighting, you and Dad and Lucca beat him up an’ he didn’t even fight back."
"He poisoned them. They didn’t know he was going to kill them and they didn’t have a chance to protect themselves."
"Oh." Virgil considered all of this information before finally replying, "...Ok," though it appeared as though he had more questions.
"You don’t have to worry," Ryuji reassured, "He can’t do anything like that to you or any of us."
"I know," Virgil said with certainty. "He’s gotta collar that stops him from hurting people."
This took Ryuji aback once more, "You know?"
"Yeah. An’ you gotta make sure that if he’s in a fight, people don’t beat him up cause he can’t fight back, cause that’s not fair."
Ryuji blinked in mild shock at the child's demand. Victor filled the silence, "Yes, Virgil, we’ll make very sure, don’t worry."
Virgil bowed slightly, "Thank you for explaining." With that, he ran off once more, leaving Victor and Ryuji alone.
Eventually, Ryuji ventured, "…Did you tell him about the collar?"
"No," was Victor's response, "Why, was that a secret?"
Ryuji shook his head vaguely, "No..." before asking with more certainty, "Why did you want him to know about all that?"
"Because I honestly don’t think there’s harm in knowing. And Pierce probably would have told him, in much less sterile terms, which might actually have scared him. Better he have a boring analysis from the lawyer than a drama and horror soaked monologue from the journalist." Ryuji blinked, then frowned slightly at the implication. "Thank you," Victor added.
"...You’re welcome," he said, unimpressed.
----
"Why did you kill a bunch of people? An’ why did you wanna turn people into monsters?"
Cohen jumped a bit, startled at the sudden voice behind him. He turned around, "How did you get in here? Don’t you knock?"
"I didn’t this time. I’m sorry. Here," Virgil ran back into the hall, closing the door behind him. A single knock came from the door; it was followed by many more when Cohen didn't reply.
Finally, he relented, "Fine, come in."
"Hello," Virgil said, all polite.
"Hello, tiny monster," Cohen sighed.
"Why did you kill a bunch of people?"
"Of all the topics in all the world, this is the one you fixate on?" Cohen was obviously exasperated.
"I wanna know."
"Why?"
"Because it doesn’t make sense yet."
"What doesn’t?"
"The story doesn’t make sense! It’s gotta make sense."
"What story?"
"You killed a bunch of guys, but I don’t know why! Stories doesn’t make sense without why. You gotta have all five W’s and how to make sense. Mr. Komatsu said it was to not get caught, but you got caught before you even got away, so why would you kill guys to get away and not get away! It doesn’t make sense!"
Cohen turned back, away from Virgil. "Not everything makes sense," he replied flatly.
"Yes it does!"
"Do you not understand that this isn’t something I want to talk about?" he asked, somewhat harshly.
"Yeah, but…"
"I don’t want to talk about this."
"But I wanna know!" Cohen didn't reply to this, so Virgil continued, "Why did you wanna make people into monsters?"
The doctor made a low growling noise, "I didn’t."
"You didn’t?"
"No."
"Then why did you?"
"I didn’t."
This confused Virgil, giving him a moment's pause, "...But…"
"That’s enough," Cohen said with finality.
"But...!" Virgil tried to interject.
"That’s enough, leave. Please leave."
With a bit of sadness and frustration, Virgil consented, "...Fine."
----
"Grrrr..." Virgil was practically growling when he returned once more, stomping heavily. He flopped down on the floor near Lucca, making a frustrated 'aurgh' noise.
"What's up?" Lucca asked, setting down the book he was reading and turning his attention to the boy.
"People keep telling half a story and I wanna know the whole thiiiiiing! It's not fair!" Virgil said loudly, upset. "Mr. Komatsu said that the doctor killed people, but the reason is stupid and doesn't make any sense and the doctor won't talk about it and Dad is busy an' I just wanna know!!"
"You're just havin' a rough go of it, eh? What bit parts of the story do you got so far?" Lucca raised an eyebrow, "And what did Ryu say the reason was?"
"So...so he was usin' alkemy to turn people into monsters, but he didn't wanna make monsters, an' he said he didn't make them but there were monsters so where did they come from? An'...an' he killed a bunch of people to escape the police, but he didn't escape! Mr. Komatsu said that he killed them so that they couldn't tell on him, but he was caught before he got away so how did they find him if he was stopping people from telling on him so he could get away?! That doesn't make sense!"
"Alright, I think both your questions actually have the same simple answer, kiddo: he messed up." He gave the boy a sage nod as he continued, "For the first bit, about the monsters, I can tell you pretty solidly that that's the case, 'cause he basically said so back in the day. He was trying to do something else with them, got sent to jail for a few years, and when he came back they were like that. Either he alchemied wrong, or they messed it up while he was gone. Now, for the second bit, I honestly don't know; I'm pretty sure the doctor is the only one who does know the answer to that, so you'll have to go work on him some more. But! By the sounds of it, he was just too slow trying to get away, no? Someone must have already told on him and he didn't get goin' fast enough? That'd be my guess." The druid finished with a shrug.
The child was obviously still flummoxed. "But why'd they tell anyways? They were like, the leader people of his fake church. Mr. Komatsu said they thought it was a good idea, so why'd they tell on him? An'...an' why would he kill anyone anyways, instead of just running?! It would just get him in more trouble. If someone was gonna tell on my hiding spot, I'd just hide somewhere else while they were lookin' in the spot they thought I was gonna be, not try and shut up everyone who knew where the first spot was, that's so dumb! If he thought they weren't gonna tell on him, why would he try to kill them? An' if he thought they were gonna tell, why didn't he just get away?" Virgil bit at his lip, thinking very hard as he rolled about on the ground. "They musta told on him early, 'cause he wouldn't have gotten caught before getting away if he knew they had already told on him and the police were coming...unless he's really really bad at getting away." He rolled over and looked at the ceiling, "I guess he was really bad at it, when you caught him...how can you be so bad at getting away? It's like he doesn't even try! I should teach him how to get away from stuff. Maybe he doesn't know how it's supposta work"
Lucca with bemusement as the boy tried to work it out, offering when he finished, "I think you're onto something, dude."  He nodded firmly, chuckling slightly, "That poor old bugger is the worst getter-away I've ever seen; maybe you should go offer to help him out, tell him how it's done."
"Kay." Virgil stood up and held out his hand towards Lucca, as a sign that he should get up. The druid blinked and looked at the offering. "You should come, 'cause he keeps makin' me go away. You're bigger, so he maybe won't make you leave, an' then I can stay."
"Awww maaan," he whined in protest, "I can't right now, 'cause I'm...busy...yeah" he finished lamely, holding out his book as evidence.
Virgil glared and shook his hand pointedly, possibly a bit threateningly.
Lucca groaned and grumbled for a bit under the boy's aggressive gaze before eventually heaving a melodramatic sigh and hanging his head in defeat, "Fiiiiiiiiine."
Virgil smiled as Lucca took his hand, and he pulled the druid up and guided him down the hallway. The child put his hand on the door to open it, paused for half of a second, knocked a few times, then proceded to open the door anyways without waiting for a response. 
The doctor sat at his desk, his back to the door; when Virgil opened it, he slumped forwards slightly and groaned, without even looking to see who had come in, "Do you honestly have nothing better at all to be doing?"
"Nope," Virgil said. "We thought you needed to be taught how to get away, 'cause you're really really bad at getting away from things."
"We...?" Cohen put down the book he was reading, rubbed his eyes and turned slightly to look towards the child, sighting Lucca as well. "Oh, and now you have reinforcements too."
"Do you know how getting away is supposta work?" Virgil asked with all seriousness.
"Is there a point to this?" Cohen asked Lucca. "Or an end? I'm looking very much forward to the end."
"Well, the point seems to be that Virgil wants to hear a proper story, and ain't so good at taking 'no' for an answer," the druid explained, with some amusement, "The end usually comes when you finish the story to his liking. So that's all on you, man."
"Yes, I have gathered the 'lack of no' part by this point. Why is this even happening? There should be some level of dicipline here. He shouldn't be allowed to have this little restraint."
"Stop talkin' like I'm not here!" Virgil demanded, "I just wanted to know, an' you wouldn't tell me an' no one else knows! Why would'ja kill people and still not get away?" Cohen looked pointedly at Lucca, gesturing at Virgil. "Come on!" 
"I don't care!" Cohen exclaimed, "What do you think? Make up something! I don't care how or what or why you think it happened," Cohen's frustration was evident, matched by Virgil's.
"I don't wanna make it up, I wanna know!"
"Everything is made up! Everything is always made up! Everyone picks what they want to believe! It's what everyone does, so just do that! If it doesn't make sense, then think up reasons until it does! It's a skill everyone has, learn it!"
"Oookay, guys. Chill. Like, actually. Come on." Lucca made a face and rubbed at his temple, "Ugh. Clearly Dr. Cohen has had enough storytelling for today, so how's about we leave him be and go do something else? You can teach him how not to suck at getting away tomorrow or something, kay?"
Virgil glared, crossed his arms and sat resolutely on the floor, staring at the doctor. "Is it a secret?" he asked.
"Is what secret?"
"What you're not telling." Cohen just made a look of confusion; Virgil continued. "It doesn't make sense. The story's not done. You won't talk about it and no one else knows, so you're hiding somethin'. If it's not a secret, then I'ma find it out." He held his resolute gaze. "Makin' it up is dumb." 
"Why? Why do you care?"
"'Cause."
"...You're going to sit there a very long time," Cohen replied. He began to turn back towards his desk, but Virgil's short 'hey!' pulled his attention back. Virgil pointed at him threateningly, glaring. "...Fine." Cohen turned back around, crossed his arms and returned the child's venomous gaze.
"Oh for the love of-!" Lucca threw his arms up, his tone sarcastic "Okay, kids, you do that! Have fun. I'ma go finish my book." Shaking his head, he turned to leave the room.
"Hey!!" Virgil shouted, turning on Lucca. "You can't leave either! He can't make you leave, so you gotta stay here in case he tries to make me go before I find out."
"You have got to be kidding me. Virgil, come on." He levelled a rather exasperated look at the boy, "That's not fair."
"We have left 'fair' territory and have crossed into what I can only guess is 'tyrannical child' land. It is a harsh and unforgiving place that should probably havestricter laws enforced on it," Cohen supplied. Under his breath and with even thicker sarcasm, he added, "Unfortunately, the king is a frightening man, and none would challenge his choice of rule."
"Shut up." Lucca shot him a sidelong glare, "Nobody wants your opinion, thanks."
"If nobody wanted my opinion, I'd be finished reading about rock ptarmigans and be on to pheasants, thank you. You have a lot of dedicated reading on birds, incidentally."
Virgil grumped, "Don't you wanna know too?"
The druid sighed, "Kinda I guess, but you'd be nice and tell me later, right? And then we'd both know?"
"No, if you wanna get a reward you gotta help do the work," Virgil replied.
"Give up. Join us in our path of mutual destruction, that will hopefully end before one of us starves. Or before the tiny monster decides to cannibalize one of us to continue his relentless quest of intrusion," Cohen said dryly.
"Oooh, you are a butt sometimes, you know that? Sheesh!" Lucca replied to the boy, shaking his head with a soft snort, "You're gettin' too clever. Tell ya what, lemme go grab my book and I'll come right back and help?"
Virgil glared. "...I guess..." He turned back to Cohen, "You can't read though. Then you'll just ignore me."
"Perish the thought..." Cohen muttered as Lucca made for the door. "Escape! Flee! Tell the world of my fate," he shot sarcastically at Lucca as he passed through the doorway.
The druid just shook his head as he left the room. True to his word, he made his way to the bunk room to grab his book and headed more or less straight back, taking a small detour.
He poked his head into the command room and called to Victor, "Hey geezer, Virgil's takin' hostages again, just a heads up. If we're still in the doctor's room when you switch out here, maybe come rescue us?"
"I'll keep that in mind, certainly," Victor replied, and Lucca returned to the small room, where Cohen and Virgil were still locked in a staring contest.
The doctor's gaze flicked up towards the door as it opened and closed again. "Oh, you poor fool. Come back to join us then?"
"Of course he came back. He said he'd come back," Virgil answered for him.
"Are you familiar with the concept of lying?"
"Yeah. Lucca doesn't usually lie though. Unless he's taking an animal away. Then he's always lying," Virgil said, shooting a dirty look at the druid. "Why, did you think he was lying?" he turned back to the doctor.
"I think most people usually lie."
"That's not very nice. You shouldn't lie."
"That doesn't stop anybody from doing it."
Virgil frowned thoughtfully at this. Rolling his eyes, Lucca joined Virgil sitting on the floor, "Lying is a mean thing to do, it's like fighting. Sometimes you have to, but only when it's really important; only jerks do it when they don't have to." He opened his book and leafed through it, looking for his page. Virgil considered this, nodded, then turned his attentions back towards staring at the doctor again. 
After a protracted pause, Cohen asked, "Is he allowed to read out loud?"
"No. You're gonna tell me what you're hiding, an' that'll be distractin'." 
"Hmmn." With that, both parties settled in for a long siege. The pair stared at each other as Lucca read quietly, the sounds of the pages the only thing that disturbed the silence. 
It wasn't long before the druid spoke up nonchalantly, not taking his eyes off the page, "I have to ask, seeing as we're sitting here, and kinda on the topic already...the mutants were a screwup, you said, yeah? Experiment went wrong and all? How was it supposed to turn out?"
Cohen looked at the druid, who was still focused on his book. After looking at him for a minute, he sighed and slouched back, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. "It was supposed to be an enhancement. It was working. It was increasing the overall efficiency of their physical systems. They had improved health and tissue repair, reduced nutrient needs and enhanced muscle output. Their senses were improving over time, much better than average for humans. I estimated they would have longer life-spans, but I couldn't prove that in the amount of time I had. Some of them were beginning to manifest spell-like abilities. There weren't any particular side-effects that I had noted, but I can't say with certainty that they weren't delayed."
"So...you were making people better?" Virgil interjected.
He sighed, "...Yes, I was trying to. It had to be made very specifically for each person. If they tried to do it themselves, and made a mistake, almost anything could go wrong. Alchemy is like that; it's very unstable." He sighed again, leaning forwards, "I was so close...then a decade in prison, waiting and hoping to continue, then everything was gone."
"Hmm...You say 'they'...these were the cult people, I'm guessing? Why the heck did you make a cult about it anyway? You don't strike me as the sort." He flipped the page.
"Oh, you don't think I'm the sort who could go out into the very progressive city of Losanti and charm over a hundred people into thinking I was their prophet, leading them into a new era of prosperity?" Cohen said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "With my winning personality and all, really? You don't think I'm the sort?"
"I think you just make people mad," Virgil offered.
"Thank you. That had escaped me."
"You gotta be friendlier if you wanna make friends."
"I will cherish your life advice forever, tiny monster."
"...So, why'd you do it?" Virgil pressed.
"What?"
"Why'd you make a cult?"
"They made themselves. It was an awful idea, but they carried on."
"That seems awfully convenient," Lucca commented, unphased, "That many subjects just cropping up around you, and being devoted enough to you or your cause to not only take part, but form a cult. How'd they find out about you and your work in the first place?" 
"Good marketing strategy, apparently."
"Care to share what it was?"
"That would require me actually knowing something about it."
Lucca shot the doctor a sidelong glance, "Oh? How does that work?"
"Well, if someone isn't around to observe something, and they are never informed of it through verbal or written means, and they don't possess certain magical or psychic powers, then they aren't going to know about it, now are they?" Cohen said, dripping sarcasm. He continued, more seriously, "The first five were familiar with my work in the academy; they worked in similar research and volunteered themselves. Offered, actually, since 'volunteer' implies that I asked them. They multiplied their numbers themselves from there. I screened and selected them for biological suitability, but they always showed up themselves."
"Huh." His eyes returned to his book, "What sorta work were you doing while in the academy anyhow? I mean, how much of this stuff could you get away with before you had to go underground?"
"Well, if people, myself included, weren't utter idiots, all of it. I had a Class 4 license; I could basically do anything, except test on humans. Well, I could have technically applied to do that, but I wouldn't have gotten permission, and it would have been the absolute fastest way to get the government or council on my case. Both of them watch the school like vultures, looking for talent; either to get it for themselves or ruin it for the other one. Only the testing was technically illegal, so if I wasn't an idiot who wanted larger test groups, and they weren't idiots who decided to start wearing outfits and calling me a prophet, the research probably could have gotten much farther."
"Talk about a serious screw up, way to go." He looked thoughtful, "So, back to the mutants thing...they only came about after you went to jail, yeah? Do I have this straight? If so, it doesn't sound like you were actually doing anything that harmful before you got arrested. I mean, 'improvements' to willing volunteers...not something I'm really down with personally, but still...doesn't sound so bad. So why'd they come down on you so hard?"
"Alchemy is illegal, in all of its forms. It's also valuable, particularly if you don't want to call on the arcane council, so the government gives out little pieces of paper and looks the other way. The caveat being the second you do anything to even remotely call their attention, you're out of luck: prosecutors leap upon alchemists like wolves on wounded deer. With a Class 4 license, I'm sure any lawyer could have been given me 5-10 years for jaywalking. You can guess what testing Class 4 mutagens on humans without government clearance would get."
"And you killed guys. That's bad," Virgil offered. The conversation had gotten a bit technical for him, but he still listened carefully.
"Yes. That too," Cohen said flatly, rolling his eyes again. 
"Mmh, sucks to be you, then. So I'm taking it you knew from the get go they were gonna have your ass so hard if they found out about what you were doing...so you killed the dudes that you thought were gonna rat? Were they subjects too, or no? Heck, why not just get rid of the whole deal, all the evidence, if that's what you were doing?" Lucca glanced up from his book once more.
Cohen made a face of distaste, tilting his head back up towards the ceiling again. "Isn't that a good question," he muttered dryly.
"They musta been," Virgil said, looking at Lucca, "'Cause that's what Mr. Komatsu said: they were cult guys, and they were gettin' alkemy medicine from him. Oh, and they were the leaders too." He turned back to Cohen, "I asked that to him too, why you'd only kill the leader guys and not all the monster-people. He said it's cause they knew where you were gonna run to." Cohen didn't reply to this.
Lucca switched tack slightly, "Did somebody rat? Or did the cops just sniff things out on their own?"
"That's what didn't make sense!" Virgil declared. "'Cause the cult guys died, right? Nobody coulda told afterwards, right? So they gotta have told before! An' they died cause they were gonna tell, but why did they wanna tell if they were all doin' somethin' that they wanted? An' he had to know that they were gonna tell, or he wouldn't have done anythin' about it! So, if you knew they were gonna tell, why didn't you jus' run away faster to somewhere else?"
"Keep trying, little monster, I'm sure you'll find an explanation eventually," Cohen said with little affect.
"Perhaps there was a mutiny in the ranks..." Lucca quietly flipped a page in his book, talking mostly to Virgil, "Maybe they didn't rat, and it was something else. Maybe somebody had issue with the way things were being done maybe? Wanted to be the boss instead?" He shrugged and turned his attention back to Cohen, "What'd you need 'leaders' for anyway? Organization and administration crap? Keeping all the cultists in line?"
"I had nothing to do with their religion," he said, stressing the word with extreme disdain. "I'm a doctor, nothing more. You'd know better than I what a religion needs to run itself."
The druid offered only a quiet grunt in respose.
Virgil thought hard, trying to piece together Lucca's line of thought and coming up blank. His face showing his resignation on the line of thought, he said, "Nah, they couldn't have been the leader, 'cause the leader was the doctor and they weren't doctors, they were cult-people." Returning to his earlier statement, he added, "You're really bad at running. You shoulda ran when you thought they tattle, like you shoulda ran when Dad an' Lucca an' Mr. and Mrs. Komatsu came insteada trying to catch them." 
Cohen sat up sharply, turning to Lucca. "They're married?" he asked with a look of concern and disgust. Looking away, he added, "...Is that legal?"
Lucca looked up from his book and nodded slightly, "Ya-huh. You didn't figure that out before?" He shrugged, "Ain't gotta clue if it's legal or not though. I guess it might be?"
He looked very off-put as he sat back. Making a 'gehh' noise, he shook his head a bit and dropped the topic. 
"Is that right?" the druid cocked a questioning eyebrow at him.
"It's like marrying a doll," he muttered before adding more clearly, "I'm not discussing my thoughts on..." he flicked his eyes towards the rather engaged child staring at him on the floor, "post-mortem relationships, in front of a child, thank you. This is quite awkward enough."
"What's post mortum?" Virgil asked.
"Exactly," Cohen replied. "...Please tell me she raised him after the fact, and didn't literally construct a husband."
"What?" Virgil pressed.
"Nothing," Cohen replied.
"If it's nothin', don't talk about it. An' stop changin' the subject," Virgil demanded.
"Hush, Virgil. You changed it first anyway." He turned his attention back to the doctor, "And not quite. It happened beforehand, though they were kinda a thing at the time? Ish? It was weird. At any rate, they got married later."
"I don't...it's not that I don't understand necromancy, it's just...off-putting. It's disingenious, I'd think, to keep pretending after someone's..." he looked at Virgil again, "gone."
"Who's gone? Noone's gone. What are you talking about?" Virgil asked, confused.
"Mmmh, I guess so? It's not necromancy though...like, I mean...it wasn't intentional or anything. Nobody was aiming for it; it's fey nonsense. And he's still very much the same righteous prick as he was before, so its not like he was ever gone-gone or anything. Still weird though, yeah," he shook his head, turning to Virgil. "Don't worry about it, dude. It's nothing important."
"Wait, he's a converted un..." he stopped himself short under Virgil's gaze. "He's converted? That's rare, to say the least. I thought he was a construct. A very good one, mind, but still. And he maintained his sentience?"
Returning once again to his book, the druid nodded slightly, making a soft noise of assent before changing the topic, "So Virgil, what sort of things do you think we need to teach Dr. Cohen about getting away with stuff? We should do that while we wait for him to tell us why he killed the cult leaders, eh?"
"Oh yeah!" Virgil replied with excitement. Cohen, for his part, groaned quietly and sank back again. Virgil sat up as he continued, "So, if you're doing something that you're gonna get in trouble for, first you gotta get a good hidin' spot. You're already pretty good at that. But you gotta leave if someone finds your spot! It's not a good spot anymore if people know where it is. Why don't you leave when you know you should?"
"Because there's no point in running," he replied.
"But...but you get caught!" Virgil insisted.
"I have nothing other than my work. I don't have family, or friends, or a house. My work is everything. If I'm running, I can't work. So tell me, tiny monster, why would I run? What's the point of that?"
Virgil furrowed his brow, considering this. "But...you can't work if you're caught either, can you?" he asked.
"I can't do what I want, but I'm still doing something. I'm not wasting time running if it's the same either way."
"Is it the same either way?" The druid chimed in, sounding dubious, "The work you want to do is no different than just doing whatever?"
"It didn't matter if I ran or not," he said, sitting up, his tone tinged with anger, "because neither one lets me do what I want. My work requires equipment, subjects, and time, none of which I can have if I'm forced to flee everytime the police close in. I'm not running experiments slip-shod around the country with thrown-together resources. That is neither safe nor conducive to progress."
"What?" Virgil interrupted.
"Rg, it's not...it won't go forward, I'd have to keep starting again and again and again, and it took almost 19 months before the first subjects started actively showing results. Tell me, how long did it take the police to find me when the Riptides freed me?" He didn't wait to answer his own question, "Less than half a year. And that was in the Underdark, in a scry-proof bunker! How long do you think I could stay anywhere in Asanon? Days, with the proper means to block divination? A week? I would have to literally never stop moving, never stop hiding, and could never do anything other than running ever again. A waste. A waste of time and effort, spending every moment in fear. There's no point, no benefit, no life in that. I opted not to bother. At least in jail I could do something other than run, even if it was banal and forced."
Lucca considered this for a few moments before nodding, "Fair enough, fair enough. In that case, why didn't you just go quietly?"
"Well, I was being brutalized by three men, a woman and a robot at the time, so I think some yelling was in order. I think I was reasonably quiet before that point though."
The druid shot the man a snotty look, "Ah, no. I was meaning the first time you were arrested, smartas-" he cut himself off mid-curse with a glance at Virgil and cleared his throat.
"I was about as quiet then as I was with you," he replied dryly. "More police involved, but only slightly less brutality. They don't take chances on mage arrests." 
"And the dudes that you felt the need to kill...? Because...?" he snorted, " 'Cause that don't count as quiet."
"Well, that happened before the arrest. I'd imagine I'd have a very hard time killing that many people during the event. Well, non-police, at any rate. I might be able to kill that many police. Certainly not mage-police though."
The druid offered only a small, non-comittal grunt in response and went back to quietly reading, seemingly out of questions for the time being.
"Auuugh," Virgil groaned, flopping back onto the floor. "You're a jerk."
"I've been told."
"Why wontcha talk about it?" the child pressed. "It can't be that much of a secret."
"No. Hardly one at all."
"Then why won't you talk about it?"
"Because I don't want to. I don't want to and I won't talk about it. You can make up your own story from all the little pieces, like everyone else."
Virgil frowned. "...I can sit as long as you," he said.
"We're testing that now," Cohen replied. Virgil made a grump noise and folded his arms, scowling again. Cohen settled back once more. The three sat in silence for a long time: Virgil and Cohen stared at each other while Lucca read his book. Eventually, Cohen began spinning his pen about in his hand again, Virgil took to whistling, and Lucca tried to take a nap, though his efforts we're thwarted by the boy who demanded full attention.
Eventually, there was a rapping at the door. It opened, revealing the pleasantly inquisitive face of Victor. "Are you two about done in here?" he asked, looking between Lucca and his son.
"Oh thank the spirits," the druid muttered under his breath, cracking one eye open.
"No," Virgil said grumpily. "Not till I know."
"Know what?"
"The story."
"Ahh," Victor said, stepping into the room.
"He said it's not a secret, but he won't tell me so I'm not leavin' till I know," Virgil explained. He sat with his arms and legs crossed, and his expression was undoubtedly that of a surly, tired child. 
"Hmm..." Victor considered this. "Well, it's nearly time for bed, so let's speed things along somewhat, hmm?" He looked to Lucca, "Can I have a summary?"
The druid rolled over onto his back with a sigh and launched into a brief, but thorough recounting of the tale Virgil had been extracting from the doctor, his words a weary monotone. He finished with, "And so the sticking point seems to be 'why did the doctor kill the dudes!?' Which he," he pointed to Cohen, "ain't sharin', and he," he pointed to Virgil, "ain't leavin' without knowin'." He let his hand fall back to the floor with a heavy thud.
Victor took a breath and turned to Cohen. "So, you won't admit a motive or means, but you're answering questions? Which is why it's not a secret."
"Yes," Cohen said flatly. He was sitting up now; he had stopped spinning his pen and was leveling a stare at Victor. Virgil had also sat up, his excitement renewed. He sat patiently, looking between his father and the doctor. "If your tiny monster wants to make a different story from the facts at hand, he can make one up. Like everybody else."
Victor smirked, "So, if we're allowed all the facts, it's just a matter of putting it together differently. Do you mind if I try?" Cohen just looked flatly. He said nothing, but gave a small shrug and a hand gesture to procede. Making a vague frowning expression, Victor rubbed his temples. "So...if I remember from Ryuji...there were...117 counts of murder?"
"Yes."
"96 were the people in the Underdark. They became monsters from failed alchemy, yours or otherwise. They were not murdered."
"Correct."
"The sticking point are the remaining 21. According to Ryuji, the police declared that you poisoned them because they knew where your hiding place was, which I'm supposing was the Underdark base, and were going to give you away."
"Yes, I believe that's what the report said. Well, besides the Underdark part, they obviously didn't know that," his sarcasm began to show itself again.
Victor stopped and considered that for a moment, closing his eyes and breathing slowly. Eventually, he asked, "Why did the police never find it? Rapture, or whatever it was called." 
"Because it was very well hidden," Cohen said simply.
"You could only get there by teleporting?" 
Cohen shrugged, "Technically you could walk, it was connected to a tunnel. But I have no idea where the path goes or how long it would take to walk it."
"So, essentially yes. You'd have to teleport," Victor clarified. Cohen just shrugged an assent.
"The, the only people who could get there were people who knew the Lightning Transit code, or knew what it looked like enough to cast the spell."
"Now now, don't discount the people who could walk in the front door," Cohen said sarcastically.
Victor ignored him, "These 21 people knew either the code or the coordinates. That is why they died, yes?"
"That's what the police report says."
"The police would have used Speak with Dead. They would have been looking for the missing people and would have been looking for any lead," he said factually. "Yet not one of the dead gave that information. Why?"
"I suppose they didn't feel like it."
"Because it's very hard to force dead bodies to speak truthfully," Victor added. "In death, they were all still loyal to the cause, if not you personally, because not one of them gave up the location. Odd, that the reason they died was because of treason, if that's true."
"Isn't it? Odd little thing," Cohen's sardonic smile began to creep in, though it didn't reach his eyes.
"But it is rather easy to make the living speak truthfully. So many spells for that."
"So many."
"I'm sure you're familiar with most of them."
"Intimately."
"That's why you're good at double speak, I'm sure. But you were in jail for years, and a hundred people were missing without a trace. They wouldn't have held back. What's the better explaination: that you held onto a secret despite years of mages casting spells at you, or that you honestly just didn't know the answer to their question: where were the missing people?"
"Well, I'm certainly fond of the former. Superhuman will is a marvellous trait, isn't it?"
"You fell to Caitlyn's spells on several occasions. You couldn't withstand the Council of Arcana for years." Victor said factually. "You never gave them the location because you honestly, truly never knew. You didn't know how to get to the Underdark base." Cohen chuckled. Victor continued, "Why kill people to prevent them from telling the police where you were going, if you didn't know how to get there yourself?"
"That just seems absolutely silly," Cohen replied. "Rather inconvenient, at the very least."
"If you didn't know how to get there, those twenty were the only people who knew, and all of the other subjects were already there, which they must have been, since none were ever seen again and were presumed dead, killing that group would have seperated you entirely from your experiment, which I've gathered was somewhat important to you."
"A smidgen, yes."
"Further, the cult leaders were part of the experiment, correct? They were taking drugs from you."
"I prefer 'treatment', drug sounds crass."
"Why would you kill off a 6th of your test pool, and abandon the remaining ones, if your work was that important to you?"
Cohen leaned forward, his eyes narrowing, "Why. Indeed," he said icily. 
Virgil sat quietly, hugging his knees and looking serious, listening to everything. Victor turned to Lucca, his imperious grin playing at his mouth. "Do you have any further ideas to add?" he asked.
"Well, my big guess was it didn't have to do with ratting at all, but mutiny rather." Lucca replied from the floor, "These 'leaders' wanting to wrest complete control of their cult from him, as opposed to revealing the location. Although now, having chatted about it further, I might revise that a wee bit. He don't seem to give much of a damn about the cult at all, so why would he care if they wanted to usurp him there? His work on the other hand...that's pretty friggen key. If someone wanted to get in there and steal credit or something...?" He tilted his head to glance at the doctor momentarily, then shrugged, "But I ain't even gonna pretend like I got it figured, 'cause I don't even know."
"That seems to be a rather large leap. Is credit worth more than the completion of the work?" he asked, turning back to Cohen.
"Hardly."
"Killing the leaders effectively ended the experiment early, because you wouldn't have been able to get to the remainder of the subjects. Even losing credit entirely likely wouldn't have been worth abandoning everything," Victor summarized. "so that probably isn't the reason either." He turned back to Lucca, "You're missing the simplest answers, you know. What are the easiest answers to this question, of why he'd kill them in the face of so many reasons not to?"
The druid let out a frustrated growl, " I don't even know! I don't even care! I'm so over this crap, augh!" he flung an arm across his face, "Friggen...'cause he was pissed or 'cause they wanted to kill him harder! Or! He didn't kill them at all and is being a freak, I don't even know! Those are my final answers. Done, done and done. Ugk!"
"Well, maybe if you had been more thoughtful earlier, then you wouldn't have had to have sat here for so long getting frustrated," Victor said with a somewhat snotty tone.
Lucca lifted his arm enough to shoot the older man an indignant glare holding one hand up in askance. Not waiting for a response, he gave a dismissive wave and shook his head, dropping his arm back over his eyes.
"Yes, those are the simplest answers: killing in defense, or having no reason at all. Given that the doctor didn't kill us, let's assume he's not the sort to kill someone in a fit of anger." He turned back to Cohen, "Especially since there were twenty-one poisoned people, that's not exactly something that can be done in the heat of the moment." Cohen sat passively, his gaze distant. "So, no reason, or defense. Twenty-one people dead, in defense. Did you think that all of them had an agenda against you? Or was it one or two individuals that you couldn't identify, so you decided to remove them all, just in case? Regardless, you would have had to have thought about this in advance. Poisoning has to be thought out, at least slightly, in advance. Why would you kill all of them and not get directions from one of them first? That would be idiotic, for someone that wanted to continue working. There is no reason that I can guess at where it makes sense for you to have killed them all with premediated purpose. That leaves two options: that this was an accident, that you meant to kill one or two but mistakenly killed them all, or you miscounted something and their normal treatment became lethal..."
"I did not miscalculate!" Cohen snapped, his gaze whipping over to Victor. "You can say whatever you'd like, but do not insult my technical skills," he said with a cold anger.
Victor took it in stride, "Fine. Then it wasn't an accident. That leaves only the explaination that you had no reason. You had no reason at all to kill them. You didn't kill them. They killed each other, or some outside party did, and for whatever reason you took the blame for it." Cohen began to make a broken chuckle, laughing sarcastically to himself as he looked off into space. "From what Lucca described earlier, I'll assume it's because of what you said about alchemists. It wouldn't have mattered whether you killed them or not, you were caught anyhow. They had you associated with enough crime that arguing it would have been pointless, like running would have been. You took the blame because it didn't matter."
"Oh, well now you're making me sound apathetic," Cohen replied with his sick grin. 
"The next simplest answer would be that you took the blame so someone else wouldn't. You don't strike me as virtuous enough to protect someone."
"No no, of course not. I am a terrible, awful person that deserves no pity. I have made poor choices and idiot mistakes, and my goals can't be stomached by most. I have done things against the law, and against nature, and against moral code. I know exactly everything I've done, and until someone decided that I was required to suffer more for my choices, I had no regrets about them. But everything, always, has been for my work, my goal, the realization of mortal potential. Let's just say, as a supplement to your little version of the story, that there was another person, who had his own goals. It was perfectly fine, at the beginning, but eventually our goals drifted, and it became very obvious to him that mine no longer served his. He ruined me, so, I ruined him." He sat back, "The cult was mine. The murders were mine. The work was mine. Everything was mine. Because in all of that, there was never anyone else of importance." He chuckled, "Though I suppose, if someone had looked hard enough, they might have noticed that one person died of a different chemical dose than the others. Some might consider that important."
"Well, there's a twist." Lucca finally sat up, looking mildly interested once more.
"So..." Virgil looked confused. "Didja kill people or not?"
Victor picked up Virgil, and explained, "You know how you took Refin's drum and hid it for two weeks because you were mad at him? Even though you were getting in trouble for it?"
"...Yeah..."
"The doctor spent ten years in jail telling everyone he killed people and led a cult because he was mad at someone. I suppose he was someone who wanted to be the leader, who wanted credit for something. He made him mad, so he spent ten years taking all of the credit so that the other person couldn't have it, even though he was getting in trouble."
"Well, why didn't you say that?!" Virgil insisted, looking at Cohen, who remained silent.
"Because if you spent ten whole years hiding that drum, would you tell someone where it was?"
Virgil frowned, "...No."
"No, you wouldn't. So he's not going to tell anyone he didn't kill people."
"Oh," Virgil thought about this. "...Ok. That makes sense. Kinda. ...You're still really bad at running away."
"I am," Cohen conceded.
"Can I have a snack?" he asked, looking up at his father. 
"Yes, I suppose. Then it's bedtime."
"Aww." 
"I'm sorry to have intruded on you," Victor said, bowing his head towards Cohen. He glanced towards Virgil meaningfully.
"'M sorry I was bugging you," Virgil said, mimicking his father. Cohen didn't reply, but rolled his eyes. With that, Victor walked out, carrying Virgil with him.
Lucca sat silently for a few moments after the departure of the Erzebets, staring blankly into the middle distance. Suddenly clapping his hands together, he got to his feet, "Well! That was a way to waste an afternoon. Good times, good talk," his tone was tinged with a faint weary sarcasm, adding as he stretched and made for the door, "Sorry to be all up in your stuff so long."
"Ugh," Cohen made a sound of displeasure, straightening himself. "It's of no matter," he replied. "Privacy is a long-dead dream of mine. Still better than prison guards or mutants," he added dryly.
"Mmm, no doubt, gotta keep lookin' on the bright side though, eh?" Lucca snorted softly. "Anyway, enjoy your peace and quiet, doctor. Later. " He called over his shoulder he slipped out of the room. He closed the door behind him, leaving the other man alone with his hard won solitude.
Category:Advent of the All