Nitrogen-Based Discipline (mdu)

[Anonymous]

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Tetra returned after he had eaten that evening, with the same notepad and pen he had used for the previous trial. Again, he had written the date and time of injection at the top of a blank page, and again, he knew what to expect. It was almost laborious, documenting the initial stage of the experiment again, but it was proper procedure, and he needed something to keep his hands busy.

He got to the cell door, and a thought flashed through his mind of how terribly inconsiderate it was of him to just waltz in every twelve hours and wake the mage from whatever state he may have been in. He opened the door anyway, having learned long ago to disregard his conscience when it came to the subjects. It's twelve hours. If he can't adjust his sleep schedule to accommodate that, he's a failure of a mage. He stepped inside, examining the sleeping mage, curled up on the cot. Looks well-adjusted enough. "102379," he said, calling the subject by his numerical designation for the first time in quite a while. "I'm back."

[Anonymous]

102379 blinked and found himself on a bed. He never slept on beds. he'd never been allowed. He must have been on the bed without permission. Saw his master on the bed and realised that his master had called him. 102379 scrambled off the bed and onto the floor repeating apollogies in a frenzy-like pace.

He saw that the food was still there. He had not finished it. That meant that he had been asleep at the wrong time, slept on the bed without permission and had not finished his food. He had done three discrepencies within one day! He deserved to be beaten or have anything done to him for that. he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, his master did not like it when he paniced. He would not disobey his master again. He would not be disloyal. He would now anger his master.

[Anonymous]

((OOC: Damn, I really set him up, huh?))

Tetra was startled, as much by the subject's abrupt waking as by his mile-a-minute apologies. Wow. What does he think he did this time? "Calm down. I don't like waking up either, but seriously..." he chuckled to himself. Maybe he had no empathy whatsoever anymore, but there was something unbelievably funny about someone so thoroughly fucked-up that they wake up apologizing. Yes, it appears I'm a sociopath.

He tapped the pen against the notepad and watched the mage go into full-on panic mode. "I'm not mad at you for anything, if that's what you're wondering." He leaned against the wall. "However, I would like to know whether or not you've experienced any symptoms. I can stay here for a bit, while you wake up... it's kind of hard to relate experiences when you've been unconscious."

[Anonymous]

I must calm down. I must calm down. I must calm down, 102379 thought. He also whispered it under his breath, which was returning to normal. He must not let his master wait. It was kind that his master was giving him time to soothe himself but he it was kindness he did not deserve. He had been a flithy, disloyal mage. If a mage was not loyal they were worth less than nothing. He was worth less than nothing.

'I'm sorry, master,' he said slowly. 'I don't have any symptoms. I'm sorry.'

He was failing his master again, this time he was not showing symptoms. That could not be good. It would be his fault if this experiment failed, it would be due to his failure to produce symptoms or change into a psychic.

'Master?'

He lifted his head to that he was looking at about his master's knee level and clenched his fists. He opened his mouth but it took a few tries to get anything out, 'I'm sorry I slept on the bed, I'm sorry I didn't finish the food and I'm sorry I wasn't awake.'

102379 remained perfectly still and waited for his master to react. He would not panic, he would not upset his master.

OOC: He will show symptoms next time Tetra comes.

[Anonymous]

Tetra jotted a few words down in the notebook. That's different already. He looked over at the mage, who was still panicking over something. "It's not your fault. Rather, I was intrigued that you did show symptoms so fast the first time."

The mage forced himself to calm down a bit. "Master?" he said, looking up a bit. Tetra waited silently for the mage to spit out a fully-formed sentence. "I'm sorry I slept on the bed, I'm sorry I didn't finish the food and I'm sorry I wasn't awake."

The scientist shook his head at the mage's cowering, waiting to be whipped for his transgressions or something. "I thought we'd been over this. First, the bed is for sleeping on; that's why it's here. Not that it's the peak of sleeping technology or anything; it's probably the comfortability equivalent of a stretcher, but it's still better than the floor.

"Second, I'm perfectly capable of waking you if you're asleep when I walk in, as I demonstrated today. In fact, with most subjects I prefer that they be asleep when I enter their rooms. Imagine if behind your cell door, instead of you, was something twice my size, clawed, winged, two-headed and fire-breathing... and asleep." He paused for effect. "I wouldn't want it to be ready to meet me head-on as I walked in, now, would I? That's why you can't hear me when I walk down the hall outside. You just happen to be one of the nice ones I don't mind awake."

He ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Third, you should probably have gathered by now that I'm not the type to exact physical punishment on my subjects, unless they're deliberately trying to make me. Mostly, it's company policy to be nice to the subjects. Also, if we had to corporally punish a subject every time he forgot something, we'd have to take on a whole new staff division in charge of it." He smirked dryly.

"Last, I am a bit saddened that you didn't finish your food. However, it's been a while since you last ate, so you should be able to finish it now." He threw up his hands theatrically. "See? Problems solved." He smiled, not like the mage could see from down there. I wish I could make my coat hem look a little bit happier, so he'd stop thinking I was mad at him all the time. Maybe Mae's right, and my voice really doesn't sound any different between emotions.

[Anonymous]

He should not upset his master. 102379 remained perfectly still while his master spoke, not even breathing too loud in case it made him appear scared. His master was being kind and speaking to him as though he was a human; he should be appreciative.

His master was trying to soothe him. 102379 had seen other masters doing this back at Edanith but had never experienced it himself. His previous master had always prefered him to be terrified into submission. He was unsure how he was meant to behave to being treated like a human. He felt grateful and ... different to frightened. How was he meant to react to this?

Once his master had finished speaking he bowed his head to the floor. 'Thankyou, sir.' After saying it, he regretted it; something didn't seem right. He hoped he hadn't done anything to upset his master or made a mistake.

He went over to the chicken as instructed (or so he thought), pulled off a chicken leg and began to eat. He felt uncomfortable about eating in front of someone; it was rude to eat when others weren't. He should have eaten the chicken earlier, or at least most of it. He wasn't going to be able to fit a whole chicken in but his master had said that he should. He must eat the chicken.

[Anonymous]

((OOC: I'm sorry this SUCKS.))

The feeling of fear around the mage was dissipating, and Tetra was glad. Maybe I'm finally getting through to him after all. The mage bowed, his head touching the ground. "Thankyou, sir." Tetra smiled piteously at him, not like he could see. "You're welcome."

The mage ripped the leg off of what, retrospectively, seemed like an awful lot of chicken for such a small human, and set about eating it, with uneasy glances every so often at Tetra's coat-hem. The scientist got the message, and opened the door to leave. "I'll be back tomorrow morning... you have twelve hours to yourself. Good day," he said, and left the room. This experiment had better work properly this time, if only for the fact that I don't like his self-blame.

[Anonymous]

102379 turned and bowed to his master as he left, waiting until the door was shut to turn back to the food. He ate as much as he could without feeling sick. He must finish it before his master returned but he must also remain healthy for his master. If he ate too much or too little it could be taken as disloyalty.

Once he had finished eating he found that yet again he had no orders to obey other than to remain healthy and survive the experiment. How should he go about that? Did that mean he should exercise or conserve his energy so that he wouldn't die when the experiment got worse? Perhaps he should take the middle road and just walk until he was more stable on his feet.

He pushed himself to his feet and kept his hand on the wall as he walked around in circles. He could only last about a quarter-hour at a time before he would get dizzy and need to sit. After several tries he began to feel guilty, if he didn't get stronger he might become worthless to his master. He must serve his master, he must not fail him.

He started to get pannicky so he began thinking the rules his previous master had forced into him.

I must not disobey my master. I must not touch my master. I must not look upon my master. I must not want anything. I must not make requests. I must not speak without permission. I must not eat, bathe, urinate or deficate without permission. I must not ask for persmission to do anything. I must not do anything without permission. I must not be disloyal. I must not sleep without permission. I must be punished. I must not protect myself without permission. I must protect my master. I must accept anything my master gives me. I must not dissapoint my master. I must be loyal to my master's thoughts.

And so on.

 Eventually his legs began to hurt from walking too much. He went over to the corner and curled up while he continued repeating these thoughts for several hours while he waited to serve his master. Eventually his arms began to turn red and itchy. He was not sure if he was allowed to scratch them. He had not been told he was allowd to and scratching might cause him harm so he tried to ignore it.

[Anonymous]

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Tetra woke up late again the next morning. Later than usual, even, to the point that he basically threw on his lab coat, grabbed his notebook, and walked doubletime to 102379's cell, hoping his observations wouldn't be skewed by morning grogginess. For a while he lost himself in Wing Alpha, and one of the guards had to direct him to the right corridor, but eventually he made it.

He opened the door to the cell, and closed it behind him, missing the button the first time. "Ugh... good morning... afternoon, 102379." He ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the wall. "How go your symptoms?"

[Anonymous]

102379 stood up as soon as he heard the door click and was saluting even before the door had fully opened.

'Ugh... good morning... afternoon, 102379.'

102379 dropped his head back down and bit his lip. Was he supposed to reply to this or not? On one hand it was not a direct question so he might not be allowed to answer. On the other hand it might seem rude if he didn't.

'How go your symptoms?'

He extended his arms to that his master could see that they were red and were beginning to swell. Much of the rest of his body was red too but it was not swelling. 'They are going well, sir. My body is itchy but the arms are worse,' he replied. He hoped this would appease his master.

He had been able to hold off from scratching, only because the thought of disobedience  frightened him. If his master let him, he would probably have scratched patches of skin off by now.

[Anonymous]

((OOC: Aargh, I'm sorry~))

The man's arms certainly were inflamed. Tetra looked at them, and jotted a short description down in his notes. "Right... that's good. Relatively, I mean." It was certainly odd hearing the subject refer to his symptoms as "going well" with a straight face. He was unsure whether to snicker evilly or act sympathetic. No reaction is as good as any, I guess.

His eyes fell on the plate, still where he had set it the previous day. He walked over to pick it up; no doubt it was unsanitary to leave it so long. The mage had eaten most of it, which was good. "Are you hungry at all?" He placed his pen in his pocket and looked down at the mage, waiting for an answer. I'll bring him food anyway... it's unhealthy to go too long without.

[Anonymous]

102379 turned his head and averted his eyes as his master came over and picked up the - still unfinished - chicken. He muttered an apology for not having finished it, still. He should have finished it. His master probably wasn't going to beat him but he still felt guilty for what he'd done. He finally lowered his arms

"Are you hungry at all?" He could feel his master looking at him. It made him uncomfortable but he didn't make any movements to show his discomfort.

'I'm sorry, sir. No, sir.'

[Anonymous]

"Don't be sorry," Tetra said, examining the bones and remaining meat on the plate. "I probably gave you too much anyway." He chalked it up to inattentiveness. He could have eaten that much, but the mage was much smaller, human, and not accustomed to much food. He smiled a bit as the subject lowered his arms, amicably, not showing teeth.

The mage looked away, out of respect or subservience, or something. Tetra sighed. "I'm getting you something anyway. I don't want you to be too malnourished when the virus really starts taking over. Don't overfeed yourself, either..."

He walked to the door with his pad and paper. "I'll be back shortly. You don't have to eat what I give you right now, but at least you'll have food when you get hungry." He pressed the button and walked out.

[Anonymous]

His master's sighing upset 102379. He was upsetting his master and he didn't know how. Was it because he hadn't finished the food, because he always averted his eyes or because he hadn't accepted what his master was offering? Perhaps he should have said that he was hungry and accepted it like a good servant. He couldn't say that either though, it would be lying to his master.

102379 remained still while his master spoke and remained that way when he left. His master would be back shortly so there was no point sitting down again. His master might find it offensive if he wasn't standing to attention.

[Anonymous]

Tetra returned to the cell carrying various packaged foods. Plain crackers would help calm his stomach once the virus reached that stage again, mixed nuts had protein, applesauce... various things Tetra himself wouldn't have touched, but the human interns found palatable. "I'm back," he said, somewhere close to unenthusiastically.

He set the things down on a table and turned to face the subject. "You're welcome to eat any or all of this. You don't have to; I won't be angry if you do not. Now... I am leaving again, and will be back in twelve hours... though I trust you know that already." He waved his hand and opened the door again. "Goodbye, 102379." He stepped out and headed back to his office.

[Anonymous]

OOC: Ok, it was early afternoon in the last visit (about 26-30 hours since injection, depending on just how late in the afternoon it was). When Tetra comes back it will be... 38-42h (which would make it about 2-6am-ish).

When his master returned, 102379 was rubbing his arm. It stung from the virus but he knew it would only get worse if he scratched it. What if it did and his master got angry at him? Self inflicted pain would be the same as disobeying his master's order to survive. He had to be healthy to obey his master. He stopped rubbing his arm and muttered an apology then said thank you for the food, bowing slightly.

His eyes flicked upwards when his master waved, only long enough to resister the moment, before he looked back at the ground between his master's feet. 102379 was unsure what to make of his master's gesture and he shifted awkwardly. He raised his hand, which trembled slightly, then pulled it straight back to his side.