I honestly don't know what else to say besides Let's freaking go. we have a lot to get through.
Song Suggestion: SOB By Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Disclaimer: I own nothing CapCom Plz don't hurt me ovq/ I'm just a fangirl that thinks you're really cool
Charlotte followed behind the hunched over hobbling figure as she was lead from the church like building down a rocky forest path. the trees all looked sickly as if they were ready to drop their leaves for the fall even though Summer was still well underway.
"Where are we anyways," Charlotte asks as she looks at Moreau while remaining 3 steps behind him. She just needed to get back to an area that was familiar then she could try and book it.
"We're leaving the stronghold to go to the village" Moreau replies contently.
there were other people around here? thank the lord maybe one of them could help her. "Does the village have a name?" She asks patiently. maybe she could find where she is on the map.
"Mother just calls it the village," Moreau says in response which causes Charlotte to frown.
Well, that was particularly creative... a village with no name? was that even possible? "I see." The two continued on their way and eventually, Charlotte would notice Moreau occasionally glancing back at her. "What?" she asks curiously.
"You're still here," Moreau says expressing his curiosity.
"Of course, I said I was going to help after all" Charlotte replied as she felt some unease prickle at the back of her neck. She was here for now but she was going to ru-
"That's good. I don't want to have to kill my new friend. Mother would be mad." Moreau explains which causes Charlotte to pause as she remembered the instructions given to him before they left.
"Moreau, take our new guest to the reservoir and be a gracious host during her stay." Miranda states and Moreau nods.
"Yes Mother," he says, though his words seemed gargled as he was speaking through phlegm.
"I trust she won't give you any trouble but if she tries anything. Kill her and deliver the body to Lady Dimitrescu," Miranda says with an air of calmness that felt sinister by its own right.
Charlotte shutters slightly at the memory. "No, I don't think either of us want that." She says, speaking genuinely for once.
"No." Moreau concurs though he continued to occasionally glance back at her. it took a few minutes but he spoke again. "Why me?"
"Pardon?" Charlotte asks confused.
"No one likes me..." Moreau says with childlike sorrow evident in his gurgled speaking.
oh her heart. "I'm sure that's not true," she offers in response. these people were insane but the statement struck a chord with that tone.
"It's true. The others don't like me... They don't usually talks to me." Moreau explains while avoiding Eye contact and continuing to hobble forward. "It's causes I can't control my Cadou as well they can..."
"... What is a Cadou anyways?" Charlotte hesitantly asks. she saw the metal controlling powers with her own eyes and this still didn't make sense to her. Superpower bullshit like this wasn't supposed to be real.
"do you wants to see?" Moreau asks with what Charlotte assumed was a smile.
"...Sure." She replies hesitantly earning some clapping and chuckles in response and the two stop walking.
"Okay. Watch me," he says and holds up his hand. it sounded like he was concentrating really hard. that or he was about to crap himself...
Oh god, he's insane, she thought as she forced a smile. She wasn't sure how she kept forgetting that but her mind felt like it was trying to block out everything as it was happening as if the mere concept of what she was going through was too much to process. Eventually, the display stops as he lowers his hands and chuckles
"Tadah," he says with a proud tone before turning his neck to face Charlotte as he points over his shoulder, gesturing for her to look behind her. As she does so she's horrified by what she found. a solid 10-foot wall of green sizzling ooze and popping pus was solidifying into an odd green coral-like structure.
"I-its acidic to the touch. it burns bad," Moreau explains with horrifying glee.
Okay, running was not a good idea because he'd just trap her in that and she'd be burned to death by acid. great. "That's... very impressive," she says trying to mask her horror and keep a neutral expression.
"You really think so?" Moreau asks as if he just received the most heartfelt compliment.
"The fuck did you block the path for, you moronic freak," says an irritated masculine voice from the other side of the large wall of solidified ooze and pus.
Moreau was about to start laughing only to cower instead as the wall was easily smashed to pieces with an effortless swing of an oversize metal hammer, revealing Heisenburg on the other side. "I'm S-sorry brother," Moreau says as his fear causes him to stutter.
"Can it," Heisenberg says causing the hunched-over figure to whimper, "Try that again and I'll pop that gross head of yours like a zit."
"Sorry, I'm sorry," Moreau says while holding his face in an attempt to protect it. Heisenberg waits for Moreau to hesitantly lower his hands and look at him. as soon as Heisenberg sees Moreau's eye he takes a quick half step forward which causes Moreau to flinch. A smirk crosses Heisenberg's face before looking over to Charlotte over the top of his glasses for a moment.
What an asshole. Charlotte thought opening her mouth for half a second before closing it.
"Got anything smart to say, Scarlet?" He asks and instead she scrunches her mouth shut in a sneering frown. She hated bullies like this guy but she didn't have a way to keep herself safe. All of these guys were on a different level and she didn't just earn a chance at freedom only to lose her life for a quick remark.
"That's what I thought," Heisenberg says as he put his hammer back over his shoulder and started walking away.
"Try not to break your new toy too quickly," Heisenberg says as he takes out a cigar from his coat pocket and the end of it seemed to catch fire on its own before he put it in his mouth. "You remember what happened to the last one."
That was not comforting...
"Are you okay?" Charlotte asks with some sympathy. suppose even psychopaths have their clicks. Moreau nods.
"Y-yeah..." He stutters before nodding though the action took more of his body bobbing before starting to walk again and leading the way back to the village. Charlotte looked around curiously. it was like she stepped back into the late 1800s. Everyone was dressed very plainly. on occasion, there was a person with slightly more modern clothes but they were far and few between. the roads, if you could call them that, were all made of dirt. There was an occasional tractor or car but again they all looked like they were from the 1940's at best. the whole place looked like a time capsule. A very poorly cared-for time capsule at that. there were a few sparse electrical lines but it looked like gas lighting was still prevalent. Livestock ran around freely crapping where ever they like. The place smelled disgusting it made Moreau seem like he was daisy scented by comparison.
"Who are these people..." Charlotte asks concerned. How did this place exist?
'who is that?' 'an outsider?' 'they're with Lord Moreau.' 'Maybe a new lord?' 'I don't think so.' 'Mother Miranda would have said something.' 'What is she wearing?'
Charlotte could overhear occasional whispering from villagers as they made their way to the village center then down a southern path. by the time they made it to the Reservoir, the sun was setting and Moreau's breathing had become labored.
"Hey, are you not feeling well?" Charlotte asks and Moreau stops walking only to puke up a giant green puddle. "WHOA!" She says while quickly stepping back from the hissing bubbling goo. "Oh my gosh um. do you need a doctor?" she asks not sure what to do at this point. she could try running if he wasn't feeling well but she remembered the lord's ability to create walls of acid and there was the fact she didn't know how to get to the statues from before. or even which direction to go from there.
Moreau eventually fell over into the water and his body started convulsing and shifting. Charlotte slowly steps back horrified as he turned into a giant monster and dove into the Reservoir.
Oh fawkin' Hell nah! Charlotte thought as she took off back towards the village. Just as she feared a wall of sludge quickly formed and blocked her path though to her surprise she was not surrounded and instantly killed. She turned back around to find the creature crawling out of the reservoir.
"Please, don't go," she heard as the creature opened its mouth for Moreau's body to stick out like a tongue. This was too much for her to handle. good god what was this thing? "P-please don't go" it croaked out again. "I don't want you to go."
"Okay, okay I'm not going. Please don't hurt me," Charlotte replies terrified as she rapidly nods.
Moreau smiles before the creature closes its mouth again and dives back into the Reservoir. it takes her a moment but she eventually falls to her knees from the stress. this was too much. what does she do now? she said she was going to help but how? she didn't even know where to start. she wanted to run but if she did she'd die. the people here saw these freaks as 'lords' and seemed to respect this mother Miranda person. if she asked any of them for help they'd likely sell her out in half a second without a second thought. Given how strong these people are, short of calling in an army, she wasn't getting out of here... the only way she could think of to survive was to be useful...
It took a few hours of sitting there but eventually, a sopping wet Moreau crawled his way out of the reservoir.
"That's much better," he says as his usual gargling speech returned. "That really hurt..." he adds quietly before standing up and walking over to Charlotte as each step made a sloshing sound. "...You stayed?" he asks with a smile as if he hadn't expected her to do as he asked.
Charlotte nods again still terrified.
Moreau motions for Charlotte to follow him once more "my room is this way." he says and leads her toward what appeared to be a cave. Despite every fiber of her being telling her not to go inside, she does so anyways and follows Moreau through the various maze-like mine shafts before eventually ending up in a dilapidated narrow wooden room with a few small pieces of furniture and a few lines of string across the ceiling held clothes that appeared to be slightly damp. a strong mildew scent filled the air but it was more pleasant then the village or Moreau's usual stench so she breathed it in as if it was fresh air.
a small circular box was waiting on a table with a note.
Lord Moreau,
Here are the rations you've requested for the week.
- Duke
Upon seeing the box he claps and hurries to open it showing a simple wheel of cheese. Charlotte's shoulders dropped. She was going to die.
"Here... you can cut out your share for dinner first." Moreau offers as he hands her a butter knife that looked like it hadn't been washed properly in months.
"That's. nice," she replies trying to be polite, the last thing she needed was to upset the one person that seemed to not want to kill her. she accepts the knife and cuts out a small section. after all the stress she didn't feel hungry anyways.
Moreau accepts the knife back and puts it away without cleaning it causing Charlotte to scream internally. "This is my space" Moreau explains as he hobbles over to a section with a rug, stool, TV, an old fashion wood stove, and a table with a jar labeled Cadou sitting on it with an old fashion rotary phone, a few books, and scraps of paper scattered around. "you can has that space over there" Moreau offers as he gestures to a small empty area of the narrow room.
Charlotte nods and walks over to it to sit down as Moreau sits on his stool and turns on his favorite movie. an old fashion black and white romance movie where the guy gets the girl in the end. As he watches this with wide-eyed wonder, he uses a clawed finger to cut into the cheese and eat it without looking away from the screen.
Charlotte listens to the movie as it plays but avoids looking over instead she digs through her bag to see what she had to work with. 3 sets of day clothes, 3 sets of nightclothes. Some toiletries that she had been carrying with her between cabins, a first aid kit, a month's worth of water purification tablets, some rope, a few snack bags of trail mix, her wallet with 450 lei in it, equivalent to roughly 110 USD. Her ID, credit card debit card etc. Her pocket knife was officially gone but she smiled as she pulled out what she was hoping to find still in tack. her laptop. she had made sure to turn it off completely while she was traveling so it should still be fully charged. she was going to need to use this sparingly if she was going to do any meaningful full data review. Collect the data on paper then bring it back here. limit her time to 10 to 15 minutes a day and that might make it 3 weeks. that wasn't going to work... okay collect the data over the first two and a half weeks. limit it to 2 hours for digitalization and shut down to leave 1 more hour for presenting what she found? that could work. she digs a bit more and smiles as she pulls out a small black square. Bingo. she had a wireless hotspot. she smiles at this as she turns it on and quickly digs around for her phone. 5% battery life. Shit she better move quickly.
she quickly connected to the wifi and opened up the map to try and figure out where she was using GPS. she stares at the map frustrated. as she pulls out her paper map and tries to zoom in enough to find a landmark. before long she had an answer and she marked down her location on the paper map. she was getting somewhere at least. lets see what is around...
Shit... the next closet town was another 50 miles away. That kinda tracks since she was planning on staying in a cabin before all of this instead of a hotel. It was a decent size town, it had a Cora too, which she learn was kinda like a Walmart, so that was nice. Where was she in relation to that cabin she was going to stay at anways? As the question crossed her mind the phone shut down.
"God damn it..." she thought annoyed as she turned off the mobile hot spot. there was no point in killing the battery in that too. she might need it for her laptop. she packed everything back up before laying her backpack on the ground and using that as a pillow. if she was lucky she'd wake up and find out this was all just a bad dream.
This never happened as the next morning she was nudged causing her to slowly start to wake up.
"5 more minutes" she grumbles before remembering everything that had happened prior causing her to jolt awake and check to make sure she was intact. no missing fingers? toes? stomach wasn't cut open? she gave a sigh of relief only to find Moreau watching her confused.
"It's noon... you weren'ts moving" Moreau explains with a hint of concern.
Should she apologize? She was kinda a captive but he wasn't horrid. "Sorry, Yesterday took a lot out of me," she says as she sticks with her plan of being polite since Moreau didn't want to kill her to the best of her knowledge.
"I'm going to go swimmin' my body hurts," Moreau says and Charlotte nods as she gets up and puts her book bag back on.
"Let's go then," she agrees as she prepares to follow him back out of the Mines. she needed some sort of plan. she started mulling over ideas honestly there were a few suggestions she could make already that would likely improve the quality of living for Moreau but she had nothing as far as research. she thought this over as she slowly munched away at a bag of trail mix. She needed to ration this it was the only food she had besides the block of cheese in Moreau's 'room'. She had 5 snack bags of trail mix. if she only ate half a day that would get her at least some calories for 10 days... she needed enough for 21. that would be 11 days with only water and likely contaminated cheese. it wasn't going to be comfortable but she'd survive. not comfortably, she'd be starving but she'd survive. if she had half a bag every other day that might be more comfortable rather than the front loading the calories.
As she puzzled over this she put the half bag of trail mix back into her bag. she'd see it again in two days. it took an hour but eventually, Moreau returned.
"Hi," he says as he hobbles over, and his clothes were once more waterlogged. "did you see me?" he asks with a smile.
"Yeah, you were really swimming around for a while," Charlotte replies with a short chuckle. the more she talked to Moreau the more it felt like talking to a child. A weird, fish monster child.
He chuckles at this before looking away to cough up a small puddle of phlegm. Charlotte winces as the gagging sounds he made did not sound comfortable.
"Hey so. where do you keep your research notes anyways?" Charlotte asks and Moreau frowns.
"Those is a secret," Moreau replies as he seems worried.
He really seemed to hold this mother person in high regard so. "Well, I can't keep my promise to Mother Miranda if I don't see it." She says in return and that seems to have Moreau torn."She won't be happy with either of us if I cant keep my promise because you didn't help me like she asked." She hated this but the only way to survive was to act like this.
"Oh no... oh nonononono" Moreau repeated as he seemed upset by this. He eventually nods "If it's for mother..."
this sucked. "Thanks, Moreau," Charlotte says with a smile as she gets up.
he hesitates further but eventually starts leading the way again. past a windmill and this time into the mountains. the trail twisted and turned through the sickly trees. Howls of Lycans could be heard as the creatures ran freely through the woods. Once more she was glad she was kept from running away. If she did go into the woods she would have been torn apart... Her heart sank. There really was no way out.
as they made their way up the mountain she paused and stared. as if this place couldn't get worse she looked at a pile of corpses it had to be at least 10 bodies high and 7 to 8 wide at the base as it made a cone-like shape. it was easily a hundred corpses stacked on top of each other with parts missing and ripped off. the stench of decay got to her as she ends up puking.
Well, there went her calories for the day. She became irritated at this thought and pushed herself to keep walking and follow Moreau to a rundown shack. Moreau shuffled back and forth a bit as he stood by the door.
"Well. here we is. This is my special secret place... Don't tell the others abouts it. okay?" Moreau asks nervously.
"I promise I won't tell them," Charlotte says and Moreau nods before gesturing that she could go inside.
the place looked pretty empty, to be honest. she eventually found a table with a journal, some medical equipment, and a few scraps of paper.
Mother Miranda gave me a mountain, Now I can do lots and lots of Cadou experiments. This is my Secret Special Laboratory.
I did 3 Cadou experiments today. But they all went pop and made a mess.
I put in the Cadou and then I tried putting wolf blood from a needle into the spine. The person wriggled a lot then killed my assistant. I could not hold it down so I put it in a cage. Now I have to feed it.
So that's what Heisenburg meant when he said not to break his new toy... Moreau had an assistant at one point. Well great, that didn't bode well for her... As much as all of this horrified her part of it was oddly fascinating. these Cadou whatever they are react to animal blood. and that seemed to create a stronger connection to the host? Why were they treating the Cadou with animal blood if they were trying to create a human though. as she dug around for more information she eventually found a dusty journal in one of the drawers.
October 1, a sunny day. Mother Miranda brought me 5 people from the village. Just like I Askeded. I made them sleep with some liquid then I put Cadou in their tummies. I am looking forward to the Cadou to grow in their tummies.
October 2, a cloudy day. 4 of the people from the village are dead this morning. 1 is almost a Lycan. I sent it to my lab on the mountain. I failed again. Mother wants Strong vessels but I cannot get any. I will need more people from the village.
That... The people from the village? that's who they were experimenting on?! Just when she thought this couldn't get worse it did. She wasn't sure where they were getting the bodies from but to have that confirmed. Slowly a plan started to form in her mind. It was a stupid one but it was a plan. She had 3 weeks. That was just enough time.
She looked around and eventually found a blank journal and a pencil which she used to start writing things down. With newly rekindled determination she walked out to rejoin Moreau. She was going to get out of here. She was going to get ALL of these people out of here. She just had to be smart about this.
"Do you have a record of the subjects that you tested on?" Charlotte asks as she heads back over to the door.
"huh?" Moreau asks.
"A record, something that shows a list of traits of the subjects, Age, sex, pre-existing conditions, blood types. all that." Charlotte lists off and Moreau shakes his head no.
Charlotte nods. "Let's get to work," she says before leading the way this time as she heads back down the mountain towards the town with her journal and pencil in hand.
'*'*'*'*'
Two weeks and 4 days passed by agonizingly slow but Charlotte pushed through each day as she continued working and cataloging the data manually. Each day was a routine. She'd wake up when Moreau informed her that it was daytime. The two would go outside. Charlotte would get a bottle of water started with it's purification process and look over the previous day's data while Moreau got in his morning swim. The two would then go into the village where Charlotte would catalog buildings, food, people anything she could find. by the end of the day, they'd return to the Narrow room in the mine where Moreau would offer Charlotte the knife so she could cut herself out a piece of the cheese wheel. To her great joy, she convinced him to let her wash the darn knife between uses so long as she used some of her purified water. it meant less for her to drink but it would mean decreasing her chances of getting some sort of stomach bug so she was more than happy to make that sacrifice.
On this particular night, Charlotte powered up her computer for the first time and quickly started entering the data from her journal into a spreadsheet. A tab for the villagers and various graphs on statistics. a tab for buildings, livestock, vehicles. Any sort of resource she could catalog she did. She had just about finished. there was one tab left she wanted to make though it was more for her own curiosity. before she could get started she heard footsteps walk over to her side of the room and Moreau clear his thought in its usual gargling way.
"hm?" Charlotte asks to show she was listening.
"Hey Charlotte?" Moreau asks quietly showing he wanted her full attention.
Charlotte looked over "what is it Moreau?"
"... Do you want to watch a movie with me?" He asks with shy hesitation which threw her off guard. This was a Psychopath. he experimented on people but. only because he was told to... she didn't think he genuinely understood what he was doing was wrong. And he was asking her to watch a movie with him as if they were friends...
Charlotte thought it over and went to click to save her work before powering down the computer. she still had a few days. "Sure. Let's watch a movie." She agrees and gets up to put her laptop back into her bag.
Moreau smiles and happily gurgles to himself as he hurries back over to his side of the room. Charlotte fishes out her last bag of trail mix. might as well have something to snack on since she hadn't had her half of a bag yet.
The movie was a bit unusual but most older films were a bit iffy in the writing department. That's not to say there weren't gems among them but you just had to wade to find them. the two quietly watched the film and just like every time that Moreau watched the film his eyes were glued to it with starry wonder.
after an hour the movie started to wrap up and Charlotte mentally cursed as she realized she ate the full pack of trail mix while watching the movie.
"This is my favorite part," Moreau says under his breath as his eyes stayed trained on the TV.
Charlotte watched as after the ups and downs of the film the young man approached the woman he loved with a bouquet of flowers and professed his undying love for her. the camera shifts to focus on the couple's faces as they kiss and a swirling script proclaiming "the end" shows on the screen.
Charlotte tried to keep a straight face to hide her contemplation. He wasn't a Psychopath. He was being used just like the rest of the village. He didn't understand what he was doing. He was just doing what he was told. She looked over to Moreau and the tattoo on his arm that caught her attention a few times now. A jellyfish with a scroll that read mother. she checked this whole village. there was no tattoo gun or artist in the area. He had been allowed to come and go for some time and was tricked. It was the only explanation that fits. He was a sap for love stories. He probably thought that mother Miranda would love him if he just tried hard enough and that made Charlotte mad.
No one deserved that. She'd get him out of here. she'd get the villagers out of here. SHE was going to get out of here. but not without them. Fuck her job, to hell with backpacking through Europe to 'find herself' because she did. This was her purpose now and she was either going to succeed or die. It scared her how easily she accepted that. Yet at the same time, the timer was ticking down to see if her plan was going to work or not. 3 days...
"Thanks for watching my movie with me," Moreau says as he finally looks over as the credits stop.
"No problem, thanks for suggesting it." Charlotte says returning the smile "I think it's just what I needed." She admits as it helped her solidify her resolve in its own weird way. She stood up. "Good night Moreau."
"Salvatore," he says cautiously which causes her to pause.
"huh?" She replies confused.
"you can call me Salvatore... if you wants to" Moreau offers which causes Charlotte's expression to soften.
"I see, well. Good night Salvatore," Charlotte replies to respect the requested change in how she addressed him. With that, she went back over to her side of the room. laid her backpack down on its side and went to sleep.
In the morning she wasn't greeted by her usual nudge. instead this time she was awoken to the sound of the rotary phone ringing. She deeply inhales as she pushes herself to get up. Moreau answers the phone
"Hello? Mother!" he says with jubilant excitement though his expression drops as he looks over to Charlotte for a second with an expression of fear before looking back to the stone and wood wall. "O-oh... no no Is not a problem. Yes mother. goodbye" he hangs up the phone.
"Mother says we should go to the church now," Moreau says which causes Charlotte's stomach to drop. she still had 3 days! "She wants to see you now..." he says as if he could tell what she was thinking before motioning that she should follow him as he put on his hood with bone crown.
Charlotte nods. It was now or never. "Let's go," she agrees knowing well enough that she was a lamb being lead to the slaughter. The two silently walk out of the Reservoir, through the village, up the stone pathway to the church. it appeared they were the second to arrive as Lady Dimitrescu smiled with a devilishly hunger in her eyes when the two walked in.
"Good of you to join us so promptly," Lady Dimitrescu says as if she had been kept waiting for a meal. "I look forward to hearing what you have to share... you do have something don't you?"
"I'd hate to ruin the surprise" Charlotte replies earning her a disgusted stare in response as Dimitrescu goes back to waiting in silence. the Figure cloaked in black and her doll showed up next. the figure silently took her seat though the doll danced around Moreau and Charlotte.
"You're going to Die, you're going to diiiie," it sang over and over as it laughed and danced around the two. Charlotte closed her eyes while taking a breath to try and keep her wits about her. she was starving. she could feel herself shaking not just from fear but from the sheer lack of energy to keep going on. She just needed to get this plan to work.
"Well well, if it isn't Moreau and Scarlet." says a voice as heavy steps could be heard entering the church. "You're still alive. Color me impressed."
She sneered and says nothing. she didn't work this hard to die now.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Heisenberg taunts as he walks over and takes another puff of his cigar.
Just keep ignoring him, he has no- that's not true he had power either way but speaking would just result in a deluge of insults and she knew it.
"Everyone to your seats," says Mother Miranda as she materializes at the head of the church in her usual position. 6 wings stretched out from her back as she finished forming before resting around her. "Except you child. stay where you are."
Moreau hesitates slightly but does as he is told and goes to his chair to the left of Miranda. Heisenberg takes his seat on the pew to Miranda's left. once the two men were seated Miranda nods to Charlotte since the two women were already in their place.
"I've given you your requested 3 weeks. Tell me. What insight do you have to offer me that is worth keeping you alive" She asks with an unsettlingly calm plainness.
"Plenty," Charlotte says as she shifts to take her bookbag off her back. "May I have a table, Mother Miranda?" She requests and the woman nods. the name felt like tar on her tongue but she needed to keep her favor.
"Moreau, please bring us a table." She requests and Moreau nods before getting up to gather the requested item from further into the church. As he does this charlotte continues to speak.
"before I speak plainly, if I may ask a question to confirm my suspicions?" Charlotte requests and Miranda nods.
"What role do the lords of this village play," She asks which causes the 3 to snicker.
"Stupid stupid you're so stupid!" the doll shouts giddily.
"Each lord oversees a section of the village and follows my orders to create a suitable vessel, for my work" Miranda answers as she plays along with the question.
"I see, Well Mother I regret to inform you that all 4 of them have failed their roles by that definition."She says which silenced the doll.
"Bullshit we did," Heisenberg says as he stands up.
"I must protest as well, this is a baseless accusation house Dimitresu is nothing if not loyal to you Mother Miranda" Dimitrescu announces as she stands as well.
"Tell me what quality of vessel are you planning to offer when any potential test subject you have wallows in their own filth in sub-par living conditions. Quality begets quality. if you use shit you get shit." Charlotte states which causes both to scowl. Moreau returns with the table and Charlotte nods before putting her laptop on it and powering it up.
"As for the requested proof I have that in spades," Charlotte states as it powers up. she quickly opens the spreadsheet and turns the computer to face Miranda. "See for yourself. a full catalog of every villager. Most of them are over 40 years old with the next highest population older than that. your Cattle are not reproducing. you'll be out of subjects in 2 generations which is less than 20 years and with how little progress that has been made so far you be down to nothing before you find what you need."
As charlotte spoke Miranda slowly approached the table and looked over the data and charts. she knew well enough how to work the device with her time in the connection.
"Furthermore my time with the lord showed a lack of organized documentation of results. While I can not speak for the other lords there are better systems to find results the blinding moving forward with a subject that may be exactly like the one you already tested before." Charlotte says with an air of confidence. she needed to be confident for this to work...
"Mother Miranda with your permission I would like to offer a solution." Charlotte states and waits.
It takes a moment as Miranda looks over the different tabs. "Speak child." as Miranda seems engrossed with the offered data Dimitriscu and Heisenberg sit realizing that any act to protest could end poorly for them.
"For future research, I offer the following," Charlotte says pausing. she didn't know if she wanted to share this in the slightest. but her realization was the best bet she had at staying alive. "The Cadou is more effective when treated with a spinal injection of animal blood."
"We already know that smart ass," Heisenberg says with a sneer.
Charlotte continues as if he didn't speak, though her tone has a slight edge to it at the start. "Why this test was conducted is beyond me as we're trying to revive a HUMAN, not an animal. Treat the Cadou with the blood of a human prior to implantation and see if results fair better." Charlotte says before moving a step further "More ideally your blood mother, as it would be more genetically similar to the child you're trying to revive."
The room was silent. A small twist of a smile started to form on Heisenberg's face as he put his cigar into his mouth. She was smart.
"Unorthodox but, admitably, based on past experiments... a potential option." Miranda agrees with a slight nod as she looks to Charlotte with approval.
"Should this be sufficient enough for my continued involvement, I would, mother, ask for your permission to make addtional offerings to assist your work," Charlotte says and waits for the verdict.
"... It is sufficient," She says causing Dimitriscu to frown as she lost her meal.
"With your permission, I would ask to be allowed to venture out and collect equipment to improve the overall quality of living and research for the lords," Charlotte says as she vaguely allows herself to feel hopeful that this might work. "I can make it so all 5 of you can share your research data without having to gather in person. This would be ideal to avoid repeating processes." She explains while gesturing to her own computer. "I would also request, with your permission to be placed in charge of managing the quality of life of the village. Continue monitoring their livelihood and make sure they are well cared for so you have proper test subjects for your search."
Miranda thinks about this. "It will be as you requested, Charlotte." she says with a smile.
"Mother Miranda!" Dimitrescu says as she stands only to stop as the woman in black unfurl her wings as a warning.
Charlotte smiles as she hears this. It worked. She would have her revolution. That last tab she never got to make was a tab tracking weapons and munitions. The sharks were so confident in their own strength that they didn't notice the Piranha that they just let it into their tank. 3 weeks of starvation never felt so worth it.
"However, you will be accompanied by a lord during your time to collect equipment to ensure you return," Miranda adds which honestly Charlotte half expected.
"Mother Miranda, if I may," Heisenberg says though he remains sitting. "I would like to offer to go with our visitor to collect these supplies. She's under Moreau's supervision but if that sack of crap set foot outside of the village he'd cause a riot... I'm the one that passes more reasonably as a mortal."
Well shit.
"hmm. While crass as always Heisenberg your point is valid all the same... your request shall be granted as well." Miranda says before looking to Charlotte. "You'll both leave at noon I expect that you'll return within 3 days. Heisenberg will assist as you deem fit, charlotte." Hearing this causes the corner of Heisenberg's mouth to twitch slightly.
"It will be as you say," Charlotte says with a short bow. Let the games begin.
Well, hopefully, the length of this chapter makes up for how short the first one was X'D there was a lot more movement that was needed for this section so we could start getting into the core of the story lol. next up. a shopping trip with Heisenburg. How could this possibly go, ufufu vuv
Review Responses:
Black Moons Daughter - It makes me so happy to hear that the concept seems interesting qvq Funny enough I do actually have an explanation for why she's able to stay so calm which will show up in some later chapters. to avoid spoilers I'll just leave it at that lol. Hopefully, with this addition, I did a bit better with including the Heisenburg sass. he wasn't super present yet but he definitely will be in the next chapter. I hope I'll be able to earn your continued support as I write more of the story ^u^