Sunday Evening, The Boiler Room
Alice
The problem with being quite definitely insane, alongside having a short attention span, was how easily one became bored.
It was all too easy to push breathers into a precarious mental state. Poke at her sanity here, allow Zack a nibble there. Hold a weapon against her throat and let her imagination do the rest. Hint that her loved ones would be next, or had already fallen into their hands. Remind her that she had failed to keep her mother alive. No need to use a club when a scalpel was far more effective.
But the toy was failing to respond in an interesting way. There was no information that was being pulled from her, point by wretched point, to at least add the game of tug-of-war to the proceedings. Jen knew nothing they cared for, and her whining and bleating were beginning to grate.
The freakish tube-dweller was cranky, Zack was in dire need of a napkin, the toy was broken and Alice was bored.
"Perhaps we could set her on fire?" Alice suggested. Once upon a time, she had feared fire, but fire had given her many gifts. Her madness, for one. And flames would give the interrogation a certain zing.
Jen
Jennifer was broken, but she wasn't letting it show. At least, not as much as she was. She gritted her teeth, tightened her fists again but couldn't bring herself to strike those who were her friends,
She had to keep reminding herself that. Even though it made what they said and did worse. She couldn't just smash them, she'd never forgive herself when this wore off.
And they weren't going to kill her. She could just push through this and everything would be fine in the morning.
"Sorry, I'm green but I'm not Frankenstein's monster. Fire's not gonna scare me off."
Zack
"You're strong," Zack purred, running bloodied fingers over her lips. "No wonder Alice likes you..."
Strong in so many ways. Strong in ways that he hadn't been, when he first met the vampire. It filled him with a touch of awe, perhaps, as he realized that. That she was still holding out.
"But you really don't know anything, do you?" He frowned a little, pulling his hand away. "You can't help Mother."
Jenova
Her attention drifted, floated on the air, while the children played with their newest toy and she made plans and systematically sought out weak spots in them and reworked around them. Always thinking, always planning.
Jenova still heard her son, though.
Now she was paying attention.
Alice
Alice tossed her knife down with a huff. "Is that really all you care about?" she asked. "Helping your so-called Mother? We're in the delicate process of destroying someone's sanity and breaking her spirit, and instead of enjoying the wonderful art we're creating, you just keep chattering on about her."
Never mind that she herself had just been bored. That was different.
Jen
The knife was down, she just needed to distract them and she'd be able to make a break for it. She glanced around and spotted that stupid ball Zack had been throwing. Carefully, trying not to make it obvious, she reached with a foot to try and snag it, to bring it closer to her...
Jenova
<
Jenova's voice, like broken glass and metal through their minds.
She needed no other explanation for him putting her first. The little girl didn't even understand that much.
Zack
"I am. I can't help it!"
He really, really couldn't. He was preoccupied, for reasons that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Mother was important. Mother was everything.
"She wants to be free, Alice. She wants calamity. And we caught the wrong person and she can't help!"
Alice
"So we kill her and find another," Alice said, rolling her eyes. "I don't see the great rush to it. We'll take a few hours, do this properly, break her, and fetch another breather for whatever calamity wants."
Calamity so far was boring. And distracting her from a thoroughly pleasant interrogation.
Jenova
<
Jenova's eyes glowed through her tube, through the liquid. Malevolent.
<
Alice
"Death is never pointless," Alice snapped. "It is endlessly fascinating every single time I observe it. No two deaths are alike. If we're killing her anyway, what will it hurt to allow me to have my fun? Zack can even chase down the next victim if you're so pressed for time."
She was a blue woman in a tube. She could not exactly be in a hurry.
Jen
Jennifer reached down, picked up the ball, and threw it as hard as she could.
"Good boy, fetch!" she said, with all the determination she could. She was exhausted, drained, and ready to just keel over but she would run like a nuclear blast was chasing her down if she could just get his attention away.
Zack
"BALL!"
Oh, well-played, Jen. Well-played.
Because that? That there? That was a mad scrabble across the room to chase the ball. Finally, somebody who wanted to play fetch with him! He liked fetch! It was even better than twenty questions, which Zack had just decided today was really, really dumb.
Fetch meant things bounced.
Jen
That was it, her chance. Jen summoned every ounce of strength she had left and ran for the door. She wasn't going to look back. They'd be back to normal tomorrow, and everything would be fine and they'd never have to speak or think of this again.
It'd all be fine. Perfectly fine. Nothing bad had happened at all. Really.
(OOC: Preplayed with the incomparable trio of not_jaded_yet, puppy_fair, and flowering_mind, with extra props to the latter for the sweet coding job. Follows this. Establishy, so NFI, and there's only one more part to go!)