a crowded room, friends with tired eyes

[hypoxic]

Who: Leo Fitz and you maybe?
Where: Around the mansion (real world)
When: Ewaymas!
Rating: We can warn in-thread if anything goes above PG13. I don't see it happening, but you never know.
Summary: Ewaymas catch all for realside stuff. His toplevel for dreamside event business is here.
The Story:

[ early event ]

[Okay, that was strange.

After having visited the bizarre dreamscape, Fitz spends some time visiting friends and family alike, comparing notes from the previous night's dreaming and developing theories. It's obviously an event, but not nearly as blatant as they've been lately. Maybe Wonderland is feeling festive enough to let them off lightly this time?]


[ mid-event ]

[Scratch that business about getting off easily. With Jemma's help, he's developed some rudimentary means to monitor some of the people who've fallen asleep. Since they can't be woken by traditional means, the solution is clearly to see what effects are happening to sleepers' bodies.

It would just be so much easier to accomplish this kind of observation if he wasn't so tired all the time. He slumps over his desk, struggling to focus on waves of raw numbers and charts. Something'll have to make sense. Memories are at stake.]


[ late event ]

[He's had it wrong the whole time. He lost so much time trying to reconcile things on the colorful side that he missed the obvious answer: it's the white side that's real. It's a bit like the Matrix, where they were given a collective fantasy to experience that would prompt them to vocalize memories and give Wonderland a chance to draw them out. This can't be solved in a fantasy land. He has to fix it on the white side.

So he'll be largely unconscious. When awake, he'll moan and fuss, mumbling things about how "this is wrong" and accusing people of not being real. Dazed and exhausted, he'll occasionally recite random events from home or otherwise, just to prove to himself that they're still there. Some of those things might have been considered secret, but it doesn't matter anyway. It's just some hallucination he can't seem to wake up from.]

Comments

for Cami, LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN.

[hypoxic]

[Fitz is on a mission to establish as much research about vampiric ability as he possibly can. It sounds like there's the potential to do quite a lot with it, but his actual vampire friend is relatively mum on the issue. He'd hate to move forward with an under-researched experiment, and so he reaches out to the other person he knows from that world, via text message.]

Sorry to trouble you, Cami. I have some questions about Compulsion. Would you mind getting together to discuss?

[therapize]

[Cami is fairly used to getting texts and phone calls at random points throughout the day; it's something that tends to happen once someone establishes themselves as the psychological sounding board in a world literally made of crazy. No, her surprise comes more from the content of the message, which is followed quickly by a soft groan.

Someone asking about compulsion—someone who is close to Klaus. While there's a chance it could be idle curiosity, somehow Cami is doubtful. She types out a quick reply, thankful she's not busy at the moment.]

I wouldn't mind at all. Where are you? [And after that's sent, she readies a bit of vervain to take along with her.]

[hypoxic]

I'm in the lab at present. But it's a bit busy here. Shall we meet at the coffee shop? Darcy's not much of an eavesdropper.

[therapize]

Sounds great. Be there in ten.

[All the better if she does end up needing to get him on vervain today; something like coffee tends to be strong enough to mask the taste unless you're like Cami, who has been on it so long she barely notices how awful it is anymore. She doesn't need much time to make the trip down a single floor, allowing her the chance to order a cup for herself while she waits for Fitz to arrive.

Equally, it gives her the opportunity to wonder what to do if Fitz has been compelled; Freya might not be so willing to undo that brand of mind control if Klaus had been the one to put it in place.]

[hypoxic]

[He makes his way down with an armload of notes and scratchpads, setting them on an empty spot at the table before settling down himself. He's got a few days' stubble, but not quite at his worst in terms of unsheveledness.]

Ah -- good morning. It's quite kind of you to meet with me on such short notice. I hope I'm not setting your day too far off-kilter?

[therapize]

[Perhaps it's typical of a scientific type to carry around so many notes, but Cami can't help but think back to her own days spent under the influence of compulsion. She'd tried so hard to fill in the gaps of lost time, the missing memories, and it had left her with quite a pile of research and notations both.

Still, Fitz seems far more chipper than that; he's a couple of days behind on shaving from the looks of it, but Cami doesn't see the same brand of stress that had haunted her all that time ago.]

It's fine; I was actually free this morning. [She offers a polite grin, then looks around carefully to judge who else is around, and if they're close enough to overhear.] How are you doing?

[hypoxic]

Oh, I'm quite well, thanks. [They're exchanging pleasantries, aren't they? There's no reason to second-guess his language at this part. She's the one doing him a favor, in this instance. There's mild noise around them, but the cafe isn't busy enough that Fitz worries she might have difficulty hearing him. It's as well as can be expected, really.

While she surveys the area, he pulls out a few key pages -- brain scans, from the looks of them.]

Now... Since you were keen to meet with me, I suppose it's a safe assumption to consider that you're familiar with the -- abilities granted to vampires of your world. I've come to understand a bit about the nature of compulsion, but I'm attempting to accrue as much information as possible before coming to any conclusions... I'm interested to see how you'd describe it in your own words.

[therapize]

[Cami cannot understand how Fitz is being so casual about it all, save to think he's possibly been compelled to be okay with being compelled. Then again, maybe not everyone has the same instinctive hatred for the notion of someone else so easily being able to manipulate them, make them forget, make think they're losing their minds...

Yeah; for as far as she's come, Cami's never quite going to think of that time fondly.

But it does make it easy to describe it in her own words.]

Are you looking for something other than mind control? Because that's what it is.

[hypoxic]

[His brows shoot up at Cami's blunt response. That isn't how it's been presented to him at all...]

Well -- I suppose concealing memories could be considered a form of mind control, but you make it sound malicious when you put it that way.

[therapize]

[Cami sighs quietly as Fitz questions her description; from the sounds of it, there's only one aspect of compulsion he's been told about.]

It absolutely can be malicious, depending on what it's being used for. [To make men stand helpless and silent as they were tortured, killed? Definitely qualifies. But Cami's also very aware of misguided attempts made to use compulsion for the benefit of others--even if in her case, it had been anything but.

And Fitz is friend's with Klaus. She doesn't want to leave him vulnerable--but she's fairly sure Klaus cares for Fitz, too.]

I was compelled back home. Someone--[someone Fitz might be able to guess]--was trying to help me move past the death of my brother. They compelled me to forget how much I wanted to find out the truth behind what had happened to him. They made me be at peace with something absolutely horrible.

[hypoxic]

[He could guess -- the evidence is plain. But it doesn't seem like an option. Klaus wouldn't do something like that. Klaus loves Cami. It was probably one of those other vampires.]

How could that possibly be beneficial? Was it a malicious creature covering its tracks?

[therapize]

No; my brother wasn't killed by vampires.

[She presses her lips together; he wasn't driven insane by them either, but those details aren't what matter now.]

They were trying to protect me. At the time, I barely knew anything about the supernatural world. The more I tried to find out the truth, the greater danger I'd put myself in.

[She brushes a lock of hair back, at the same time remembering the things Klaus had told her that night.]

And they really did want me to be at peace. I'd told them earlier that I hadn't been sleeping, and when I did, I had nightmares. They were honestly trying to help me--in their own way.

[hypoxic]

Sounds a bit misguided to me. It's a bit rude to not even ask.

[She really should have been able to make a choice that big for herself. What is it that makes some people think that women aren't strong enough to make their own decisions?]

I take it that you didn't enjoy this peace?

[therapize]

[A bit rude? She huffs out a laugh.] They weren't exactly swayed by not having my permission.

[Or Cami's pleas with Klaus to let her keep her pain.]

Not at all. I knew that suddenly being okay with Sean's death was wrong. It felt like I was just letting whoever was responsible get away with it. I couldn't accept that how my brother died--that what he'd done was who he was.

[hypoxic]

[Well that's loaded. Fitz sets his elbows on the table, leaning closer.]

Is it all right for me to ask what happened to your brother?

[therapize]

[It's the obvious question. Cami's grin tightens, but not out of anger; even after all this time, it isn't easy to talk about Sean.]

Yeah. He was hexed. [She shifts in her seat, folding her hands together and laying them on the table.] Our uncle was leader of the human faction in New Orleans. When the witches tried to do something--pretty horrific, he stood against them. And to punish him, they cursed my brother.

He was a seminary student. He wanted to be a priest, just like Kieran. [Cami shakes her head; Sean had wanted to do good just as much as she had, and look what came of it. She doesn't say as much out loud, however; instead she takes a breath to brace herself for the rest.] The hex made Sean go insane--to the point where he killed his entire seminary class, and then himself.

[hypoxic]

[He lets out a breath in a sympathetic hiss, jaw tightening.]

Bloody magic. [The more he learns about it, the less patience he has for it. It seems like he'll need to study for a few hundred years to develop a proper understanding of the way magic's physics operate. It feels like an entire population of powered people are cheating on an exam, using answers they don't bother trying to understand.

Pressing his lips together, he makes eye contact.]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I hope the witches responsible were brought to justice.

[therapize]

You know magic can be used for good too, right? [Like so many things, whether it ends up helping or doing harm depends on the person wielding the power.] Witches in my world are meant to keep balance, and protect nature. They definitely don't, always, but--that's what it's supposed to be.

[And vampires, as it turns out, are an abomination of nature. Cami shakes her head at the thought, just as Fitz offers his sympathies.]

Yeah; they paid for it. [Although Cami hadn't been happy about it--so much that she'd wound up slapping Klaus for the murder.

They've gotten off topic though. Cami lets out a slow breath to regather herself, turning away from the grief she always feels when it comes to her family.]

So why the sudden interest in compulsion, anyway?

[hypoxic]

I'm sure it can be. But the lot of them get so swept up in meaningless rituals and pointless mysticism that they don't bother comprehending the physics behind what they're actually doing. A lack of understanding leads to cultish behavior without proper checks and balances.

[Off topic indeed. But he can be ready to move on if Cami is.]

Well -- you see, Klaus has recently come out to me with regards to his abilities. But he can a bit reserved and shy about them -- I'm sure you've experienced similar. I've been theorizing potential ways to harness compulsion as a method of combating Wonderland's memory loss, but I'd like to be sure that I understand the process from as many sources as possible before any practical testing is done.

[therapize]

[There's...really a lot to disagree with when it comes to Fitz's view on witches. She thinks of Vincent, who might not understand physics but definitely knows about people: protecting them, trying to do what's right. The same with Davina, whose suffering came not from a lack of scientific understanding, but her people's devotion to tradition before lives.

Her uncle, her brother, Hope--no. It isn't a failure of science that has plagued them. She'll let it be for the time, however. She almost has to, given Fitz's description of Klaus. Like his thoughts about magic, it's so far off base, she has to stop herself from sputtering.

It's fortunate for them both she hasn't actually taken a drink of coffee recently.]

Oh, right. Reserved and shy. [Seriously? Cami's left to wonder if this is more Fitz's misunderstanding or Klaus' deception at play. Maybe both. Of greater concern, however, is Fitz's potential plan for those abilities.] Wait--you want to what?

[So this isn't about the possibility of Fitz being compelled at all--again, something that could be Klaus' doing. While she would address that with the hybrid later, for now she shakes her head at Fitz.] From a scientific standpoint, I can't tell you exactly how it works in scientific terms--but it overwrites a person's will, Fitz. A person who is compelled will do whatever it is they're told to do, whether they want to or not. You may want to use it to fight what's happening here, but you can't expect people to want to have that inflicted on them, even if your intentions are good.

[hypoxic]

["Whatever" is a big word. It opens the scope substantially, so much that he's begun furious note-taking in a struggle to keep up with his thoughts.]

So you're saying that this isn't entirely about the act of locking and unlocking access to memory. You're certain about this?

[One would think that someone might have mentioned that. Klaus probably wasn't comfortable addressing an unflattering end of it.]

[therapize]

[This is exactly the position she didn't want to be in: one where she feels like she's betraying Klaus's confidence somehow. But as much as he's grown and changed from those early days when he'd compelled her, Cami knows the power itself remains dangerous.

Seeing Fitz suddenly start writing doesn't ease that concern.]

I'm absolutely certain. [She sits up a bit straighter, trying to see just what it is he's jotting down.] I wasn't exaggerating when I called in mind control. I've seen it used that way on other people--and I've had it done to me.

[hypoxic]

[But if he knew, then why didn't he mention it? It might be too new. Maybe he'd just never thought to use it any other way.]

Does Klaus know?

[It's important to ask, though he's not sure why.]

[therapize]

Fitz...

[She huffs out a sigh, but Cami knows she has no choice. Fitz obviously has gotten the wrong impression of Klaus, and if that is due to compulsion? The guy deserves to be able to make his own choices.]

He knows. Klaus was the one who was compelling me.

[hypoxic]

[He looks up from his notes sharply.]

Klaus wouldn't do that.

[He loves Cami. He wouldn't violate that.]