[Another world... The concept is something that she wasn't unfamiliar with. In her years a Contractor, though she hadn't taken any actual enjoyment out of television, books, or theater, there had been occasions when a mission or need to blend in had involved absorbing a certain degree of knowledge. She was familiar with the idea of it as a genre, a fantasy for text and screen... People had thought the skies and the false stars might have had to do with another world, when they first appeared...
But no. Those belonged to them, now.
Some Contractor could surely possess an illusion-based power that could convince her of such a thing, but... She isn't sure. If she were trapped in such a thing... She was resigned to it.
And she is asked a far more important question. (By a woman who actually did have a keen instinct... But perhaps there'd be no proving that without the other members of that elite cell, without Bai, Hei, and Amber, each afforded the color in name form in place of birth ones lost to government agencies and ME squeeze.)
What did "Carmine" wish for... ? She's naked and confused, weak and newly reborn, but... She knows the answer. Even if this was another world, somehow, some way, if it was far enough from Hell's Gate...]
I just want... to live quietly... somewhere I won't hurt anyone else...
[It would have been foolish, to think that the woman responsible for the deaths of so many could have a quiet life. Hundreds or thousands, depending on if you counted the collateral damage as hers, if the people who died days later trapped under rubble or in hospital beds counted... She did not deserve to live, or to feel happiness. But she still wanted to, now, as a Regressor capable of feelings and desires beyond the instincts of survival.]
I want... to cook good food... and make children smile sometimes... and grow things...
[She had never dreamed as a Contractor. Now, though... The answer might be low and weak, but it is sure.
If she could go back... back to those days spent with Laura's family in the country, before she'd been discovered by someone who knew her as Havoc...
no subject
But no. Those belonged to them, now.
Some Contractor could surely possess an illusion-based power that could convince her of such a thing, but... She isn't sure. If she were trapped in such a thing... She was resigned to it.
And she is asked a far more important question. (By a woman who actually did have a keen instinct... But perhaps there'd be no proving that without the other members of that elite cell, without Bai, Hei, and Amber, each afforded the color in name form in place of birth ones lost to government agencies and ME squeeze.)
What did "Carmine" wish for... ? She's naked and confused, weak and newly reborn, but... She knows the answer. Even if this was another world, somehow, some way, if it was far enough from Hell's Gate...]
I just want... to live quietly... somewhere I won't hurt anyone else...
[It would have been foolish, to think that the woman responsible for the deaths of so many could have a quiet life. Hundreds or thousands, depending on if you counted the collateral damage as hers, if the people who died days later trapped under rubble or in hospital beds counted... She did not deserve to live, or to feel happiness. But she still wanted to, now, as a Regressor capable of feelings and desires beyond the instincts of survival.]
I want... to cook good food... and make children smile sometimes... and grow things...
[She had never dreamed as a Contractor. Now, though... The answer might be low and weak, but it is sure.
If she could go back... back to those days spent with Laura's family in the country, before she'd been discovered by someone who knew her as Havoc...
But, no. She can't.]