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[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon has the wig on today and sunglasses (finally got a pair thanks to the Ingress) and a black suit that was probably once very sharp but after two hundred years and a nuclear apocalypse is very much the worse for wear.]

Hey, science-y people, anyone have experience with laser guns?


[Locked to Medbay Staff]

So, totally hypothetically, if someone wanted to completely change their face, could you do it?

[He should try to hang on to the face he's got for another six months at least, but he wants to know what his options are. And wants to know whether or not he has options.]

Comments

[bloodbinds]

That is even worse. Oh my god, Deacon, at least try not to irradiate your insides or something.

[ Synth or not, that's so gross and unsafe. ]

Do you think you'll be okay until...until she'd be able to look you over? I mean, as far as I know, the Institute's not here. Not unless the Moira suddenly brought people in without us knowing.

[ersatzeverything]

Yeah, it should be safe here. It's almost freakishly safe; I'm not used to it. Even if someone from the Institute did show up, they are seriously outnumbered here. And they'd be stuck here, too. They wouldn't be able to drag me back, and if they tried to make me their slave here on the ship I could tell them to fuck off.

I could probably announce it to the whole network "Hey, secret android here, what's up!" Hell, I think half the ship's crew are robots or AI and everybody seems pretty chill with that. But you keep a secret like that, one your life depends on, for such a long time it gets hard to get out of the habits: changing my face, lying, all of it.

[bloodbinds]

Maybe, in retrospect, the Ingress did you a favor by bringing you here. Not saying some asshole from your world might not show up - but still, you have an advantage here. Especially if you know more of what's going on here than they do.

[ A secret your life depends on... Yeah, she knows what he's talking about. Ava goes strangely quiet for a few minutes, before finally saying: ]

I'm not going to tell anyone. Institute or no Institute, it's not going further than me. I promise.

[ He might not realize or understand or even trust that she's going to keep her word. But she knows so, so well the fear of someone finding out the truth. It gnaws at her stomach to know her own truth could be so easily discovered. She knows she can't hide it forever in such close quarters. Still, Deacon's secret is safe with her. ]

[ersatzeverything]

Thanks. Better to be cautious, you know?

[And by keeping his secret, Ava passes Deacon's convoluted little test. There's more than one way to pass, but proving oneself capable of being circumspect is one of those ways. It means that if he needs someone to entrust with a true secret, and not just this fantasy he's concocted, she may be someone he can go to, paranoia appeased through the evidence of her discretion.]