2020-03-17 - V Stands For (Don't Visit The) Vivisectionist

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Hellooo this is Enzo Addington in case you deleted my phone number. Have you ever met someone named the Vivisectionest and would you recommend their experiments?

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Hi Enzo, it's Izzy Reede, we've gone together on such excursions as That Time When We Had To Straddle Glass Peacocks To Get To Some Horrible Doll Factory Under The Veil Carousel. I still have your number, how are you?

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : I've never met the Vivisectionist but I can tell you what I know of...her. I think it's a her. And no, I would definitely not recommend her experiments. I can tell you about those also.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Why the interest? Is she asking you to come in?

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Well, see, it's a long story. But it sounds like my grandfather broke something in the Veil when he was trying to switch some lights back on? The Exorcist said that sounded like the Vivisectionest's department and that they answered email so...

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : So I sent out like 900 emails to possible addresses and eventually I got a reply inviting me to sign up for some experiments.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : ...I have her e-mail address. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were looking for her, otherwise I would've just given it to you. Anyway, she was responsible for this really bad epidemic over the summer that really did a number on our bodies and damaged the use of our gifts for about three weeks. What was doubly worse about it was that the illness she decided to introduce to the populace also pulled us in different Dreams in the worst stages of it, without our powers. Luckily most of us survived it, but I wouldn't recommend signing up for her experiments because you can expect more of the same.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : We managed to recover from the flu, but I can't say the same for the other things she might decide to do to you if you go and meet her.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Fucking yikes. That actually sounds like one of her available experiments. Which sounds a lot better than LIMB REGROWTH.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Don't worry about the e-mail, I figured it out. Anyway, I don't know that I have a choice. I don't have a lot of leads on where he went/what exactly he did.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Did she send you that too? There's also one about forcefeeding some kind of chemical accelerant on the subject to see if the abilities recover from it. Was wondering if she's developing something that suppresses or neutralizes our gifts.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : I had lunch with your sister recently, I suggested that she read the bed your grandfather has been sleeping in for the last several years, but she told me that Margaret's house is in some kind of psychic lockdown?

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I'll forward you the e-mail later. Maybe she'll just accept me breeding with some gnomes as a reasonable experiment. A man can only survive so much trauma.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Yeah. Margaret is in kind of a state. As friendly as always.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : .....wait, what?! How did you get put up to be some kind of...gnome stud?

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Ugh. It's a mess. I got caught up in this gnome rebellion in the Veil and they wouldn't stop attacking me until I agreed to help repopulate and also fight their leader.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I'm hoping I can just fight the leader and get out of the other part.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Did they say why you, specifically? And yeah - I mean, in old cultures, if you managed to dominate the leader successfully, that makes you the leader, so you get to call the shots. You can always tell them no on the gnome repopulating thing afterwards. As for your grandfather...

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : I told Hyacinth that maybe your grandfather donated some objects to the Addington House museum for its exhibits. If you guys can't read anything from Margaret's house, maybe you can find something there that might give you guys a clue as to what he may have been thinking over the years. It's a long shot but I think it's better than coming face to face with the Vivisectionist.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : (typing, not typing, typing)

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Oh my god. That is brilliant, I just have to assert my dominance over the tribe after I beat up the leader and tell them to take care of their own population! Of course then I need to like immediately resign or something.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : She barely opened the door for us, I doubt she'll let us in. But yeah, it's possible some of his stuff is there. That's way more her wheelhouse than mine though.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : All I'm good for these days are ideas, but yeah that's how ancient groups and even some modern day groups work, maybe it will work the same with the gnomes. And no, I meant...the museum. Where Patrick works. Maybe Thomas will have some things there Hyacinth could read. Definitely NO on seeing the Vivisectionist though, unless it's a very, very, very last resort.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Right, yeah. That's what I meant. Sorry, I was too blown away by the idea that I wouldn't have to father like fifty baby gnomes. You have n idea how badly that's been weighing on me.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Well, hopefully the 'beat the crap out of their chief so you can be the king of all gnomes and could delegate your siring duties' plan works. If not....we'll think of something else. If you're getting into a fight though, I hope you're putting in the gym time. You'll never know how they're going to cheat.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I'm in a shape! Despite how often I've been getting beaten up by random Veil creatures. They're only eight inches tall. How hard could it be to fight one of them? I'm going to wear a diving suit.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : ....what, why? I mean, neoprene's pretty sturdy. Is it because it's waterproof? Do they explode if you kick them?

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : No, because they're miserable wretches that basically pee acid on you. This has not been a good winter for me.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Ew! Is that why you ended up in the hospital the last time? Jesus christ, Enzo, I'm so sorry. That's another level of wrong.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Did you tell them not every human is into that? Some part of me hopes it's just a cultural faux pas.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : They also bite and punch, but yeah. Then two of them showed up at the hospital to revenge murder me from the incident in the Veil. Apparently they SNUCK through my door when I was getting out of there.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I don't think they care.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Here's hoping once you punt their leader to kingdom come they'll never do that again. I really hope this works, for your sake if nothing else. Still, I'm sorry that happened to you. Why does everything from there have to be so fucked up?! It's bad enough without pee being involved!

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I don't know, hopefully this whole thing with them trying to EXTORT me will end. Btw if you want to join my army to come fight the leader, you're more than welcome to. I'm not sure why I need an army to fight a guy that's eight inches tall but...

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : You're Anne's bestie, of course I'll help. Besides, I think this gnome thing might be connected to something I was looking into anyway. Something weird happened the last time I went into the Veil. Apparently the trees and the gnomes are having issues among themselves and the landscape there is already volatile as it is, the bigger a group you can get, the safer you'll be, especially if you're about to stage a revolution.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : I just got your fwd. That auto-reply is bullshit, by the way. The thing about contacting the Collector if you have an emergency? I've never met him, but I know a few things about him - and one of them is that the guy's got an appointment backlog several thousands of years long. Might just be a diversion to get you to sign up for an experiment in hopes of a faster response.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : ::admiralackbarIT'SATRAP.gif::

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : lol

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I kind of don't want to hang out with anyone called the Collector. Sounds like a great way to end up in a glass jar or something.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : You're not wrong. The last few people who ended up on the wrong side of him wound up in a glass jar, a plastic bag, or a pile of dust, from what I heard of the people who saw a part of his Collection.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : You know, I do like being right but... why couldn't he just collect butterflies?

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : ...you know, he probably does? But he has this thing about collecting things from our world to bring across, and anything that gets brought across changes. So for all we know he's got one, they probably all just...I don't know. Eat people now. Or pee on them also. God, I really hope this isn't a trend.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : I'm going to really need things being on me not be a trend. I get that's a thing for some people BUT NOT ME. Especially if it's acid. I guess I'll text my sister and see if she's going to try and get a reading. I'm asking my other sister to talk to Margaret because I already saw her once this month and she'll stab me if sees me again this soon, I think.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Okay, sounds good. Keep me in the loop? If I find anything else out, I'll toss it your way. I definitely don't want a bunch of us to be sawmill food.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Yeah, no problem. And same. Thanks for the advice re the Vivisectionist

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Whatever your grandfather did really riled Them up around the sawmill. I've never experienced this much overt activity from Them before, so if you're going to keep looking for him...be careful? I'll help however I can. And of course! Call or text me anytime.

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : Oh also

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : ??

(TXT to Isabella) Enzo : They were waiting around the sawmill to kill us but the Exorcist gave us the heads up so we were able to get out in time.

(TXT to Enzo) Isabella : Jesus. The last time I tried, I just got pulled into the same Dream on loop. It's gotten that bad, huh? Okay, thanks for letting me know, and BE CAREFUL. I'll see you soon, Enzo.