Quoted By:
>GOTCHA but like actually
It's a remarkably familiar lanyard— which is an odd thing to think, because there's nothing all that distinctive about it. The cord dangling down from Not Madrigal's pocket is dark blue, and from the corner sticking out you can tell the card is laminated. Normal lanyard things.
So maybe it's something else that's pinging you off. Not the face, or the voice, and besides that there's not much— the jumpsuit? Have you seen the jumpsuit before? It's <span class="mu-i">very</span> yellow. You think you'd...
...
...
..."<span class="mu-i">Guppy?</span>" you say.
Not Madrigal's eyes go very wide. You take the opportunity to verify by stooping down and grabbing the ID card: the photograph printed on it is scribbled out, as is the first name, but "'GUPPY VILLALOVEZ" is still plainly legible. Hah. "...Weren't you <span class="mu-i">dead?</span>"
"So I <span class="mu-i">AM</span> dead?" She snatches a glance at you, and The Sword, and looks down again.
"What? No. You should be... you should be dead." Your memories of that time are a smidge hazy, but you distinctly recall the skull-face. The skull-face, and then you woke up next to a giant snake... "You killed yourself. You tore your face off and you—"
Guppy shields her eyes . "Damn it! So I- I DID— I died, a-and I hallucinated all the stuff about Deirdre, and I— so who are YOU? How do you know... how... you're not some kind of demon, or shit, are you? I haven't done anything wrong! I- I was just getting paid! I didn't—"
God! You point The Sword at her neck and she shuts up immediately. "You're not DEAD, God-damnit. I'm INTERROGATING you."
Her mouth opens and closes. "How do you know my..." she manages.
The question is how you didn't recognize her earlier, and the answer is of course Richard. (It's always Richard's fault.) But if you admit to being at Namway under false pretenses... "I read your mind, stupid, so it's pointless to try and lie. Who's Deirdre?"
"...The HR rep...?"
Of Namway? "What the hell is HR?"
"Human Resources...? She supervised the, uh, the raw materials... and threw parties. She liked parties."
"What raw materials?"
Guppy acquires a 'why do you care?' sort of expression. "You know, um... BLOOD, and GOO, and..."
You wave your hand. "Good enough. What does Deirdre have to do with you?"
"If I'm NOT dead—" She doesn't sound convinced. "—then she— she rescued me... I guess the whole place was coming down around our ears. I wouldn't KNOW, since I didn't have a face, but I guess she stumbled on me on the way out and took some kind of fucking mercy—"
"Didn't you tell her you were trying to die?"
"Maybe I would've if I COULD'VE, but next thing I knew I already had the stuff stitched back on, and she said she had disguises— she'd salvaged some blood, I guess, the freshest there was, and she—"
The freshest there... meaning Madrigal's. And <span class="mu-i">yours.</span> The cave wall had stabbed you both. "She injected you?"
(1/2)
