holdmypoodle | hey, mr curiosity, is it true what they've been saying about you?

The patient was being transferred today.

It was some strange kind of psychological exercise or another that Cosima was the one who'd gotten her hands on Cassandra Cain's intake, really, though it was a new special hell that she'd found herself placed in here. Maybe they thought they were doing well with their secrets and subterfuge, keeping her in the dark, but it was no real mystery for Cosima as to what she was doing here. Cassandra is young, smart, attractive, with a highly capable physical prowess. She'd made a reputation for herself with Batgirl. She'd made a name for herself when Dyad had gotten its grubby mitts all over her.

Clones, cloning. They had to want to clone her. They had to want to do something with her, but the first determination was just what side of the nature versus nurture puzzle she leaned towards.

It's out of her hands, for the first few days. 'Project Stellaluna isn't functioning how we'd hoped,' is the most of the information she gets on the surface level; 'Ms. Cain is being uncooperative,' Delphine hears behind closed doors and in places they think are out of reach, and that's much more satisfying to hear relayed, and Rachel's stolen itinerary can only confirm the fact. When Cosima has her shouting match in Rachel's office - really not much of a match, Rachel doesn't really do things that might disrupt her super interesting robot lifestyle, like shouting, or emoting - it's Monday morning. When she receives the work order to run Cassandra Cain's intake herself, it's not even noon.

The woman sitting before her is a haunting one, nothing so much that Cosima can begin to blame her for. Cassandra's been taken captive, confined to a cell, poked and prodded - she guesses; the medical testing would come first. She doesn't want to imagine how they got her here, less so how they would have coerced her into any manner of consent. They didn't do much around here without some kind of liability form, the very bare bones of legality. Hunched over like Cass is in her spot too, she figures there's some manner of injury going on underneath there. Unless she's faking it.

Cosima sits a relatively safe distance across the table from Cass, tapping fingers in loose debate against the keys of a Dyad laptop. The guard has forcibly directed her into her seat, and the pair of cuffs she's wearing are really - honestly - impressive, thick and steel and unlocked only with an approved thumbprint scan. From what she understands about Cassandra, that's not necessarily enough to stop her. Neither are the chains lashing her to the table. With a crooked and concerned tilt to her mouth, Cosima's head tilts at Cass as the guard leaves and locks the door behind him, joining his equally heavily-armed buddy outside.

"That's Stuart," she offers after a few beats of silence, for the sake of everyone involved trying to be as helpful and compassionate as she can manage. She doesn't expect this woman's seen a lot of that. "We don't talk to Stuart anyway, generally. His mail order bride skipped out on him after five years and he's très perpetually grumpy about this."

Her hands pat lightly against a slew of notes spread out before her, as she thinks in careful intervals about where she's going to proceed from here. With the embarrassingly conspicuous two-way mirror hanging up on the wall, considering who she's talking to, she can bet on this being recorded and fully monitored. She can't risk much, but she's going to risk what she can. She looks at Cass and she can't help but see a girl who looks just like her, parked into the same chair, scared out of her mind as they draw her blood and claim what is hers as their own, duplicate it, triplicate it.

If it's up to her, Paris Hilton's going to see that Oscar before Cass sees any more of the ugly underside of the Dyad Group than she has to. And that she can bet her goddamn life on (or at least what's left of it).

A candy bar slides across the table suddenly, neatly bumping up against Cass' knuckles on the table. "Brought you something. I didn't know if they were actively, like, feeding you."

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Most certainly something she wants to do herself, though it's not entirely without help, at the least. There's a shortage of Dyad employees who are self-aware enough about where they work to know - know, and act upon, thankfully - that the whole place is just Bad News Bears. She doesn't know how much she can trust the people within that she does have, though she's leaned on them an awful lot in the past. And she can't do this without help.

"I'm sorry," she offers in a quiet voice as Cass drinks the tea, low enough that the mics won't pick up on it but just enough for Cass to hear. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you."

There really is a genuine nature to Cosima that bleeds out her skin, her mouth, her eyes. There's, surprisingly, a gentle nature to Cass in how her fingers grasp at her wrists - she doesn't break, doesn't misbehave, doesn't hurt. She's just tired, and she just wants a drink. In part, this whole experiment is to prove that Cassandra Cain does not need the sort of security on her that she already has. "But you need to help me."

Help me help you.

"Cooperation's an issue." This is a bit louder, and maybe heard over the speakers, but it's half for show as well as it is for Cass. "You wouldn't be locked up so tight if you weren't beating the shit out of every employee you come across," she notes with a quirk of a grin. They probably all had it coming to them. "You think you can do that for me?"

You think you can help me get you out of this place?

Gentle isn't what comes naturally, but it comes easy when someone like Cosima is the one she's interacting with. Her fingertips exert just the tiniest bit of pressure against Cosima's skin to tip the cup down more. She'd gulp the whole thing right then and there if she was fine with burning her throat, she's that thirsty, but she finds that she actually wants to speak to Cosima.

It's a very weird feeling.

When she takes her hands away, they fold on top of the table and she spends a few long moments just watching Cosima, getting a good read on her. She's never seen this, someone feeling sad for her. It makes her feel sad and that is very new, she never knew she was a thing to pity until this moment.

"For you," she says very quietly. "Maybe. I don't know... what you want, though."

"For me?"

That's cool. That's a good thing to hear.

A thing to pity, Cass is not and Cass will never be, she assumes, but Cosima doesn't really pity by design. She feels for people, certainly; she's not cold, she's just observant. She just knows the world and how it can break people, maybe not as exclusively as she initially thought. All she wants is to get Cass out of here, get her a shower, get a decent meal in her. She's a nice girl, she's a pretty girl, and she's a smart girl. She deserves better than this.

"What I want isn't the question you should be asking." She peers at Cass over the rims of her glasses, taking back the tea and even taking a sip of her own. It runs smooth and warm down her throat, soothing the soreness of it. She adjusts in her spot and sets both cups down in front of her, hands raising expressively as she leans forward more towards Cass in a show of faith. This woman could strangle her if she so wanted. This woman could bite her fucking nose off.

She won't. And Cosima trusts her not to.

After this, if she can get what she needs out of this, they will praise Cosima for extracting the information they couldn't. Torture isn't the way to go, though it's certainly something they've obviously tried, judging by the look of her. Nobody ever got what they truly wanted out of fear and loathing, not unless they don't have the conscience to go with it. "This is about what you want. Your immediate desires, your - your desperate grasp for what it is that could be so close to you and what you once had but now it's been taken from you."

Her hands circle each other as she speaks, drawing out a globe sort of shape, the world in her hands and she could do anything with it.

It's freedom, Cass. She wants you to have your freedom.

It's very true that Cass has absolutely no desire to harm Cosima in any way. She wants to touch her more, her face and her hair and her hands again, and it's more pronounced when Cosima is so close to her. She's a little distracted, seeing all the things her body language is practically shouting.

She's never seen this level of trust. She's never seen what it looks like to be cared for. She can only take it for so long before she's ducking her head and feeling robbed, because Cain never looked at her this way. She was a weapon only, and now Cosima wants her to think as a human. She has no idea how.

"I don't want. I just... do." It's the easiest way she has to explain, to define what she is. "Never once had anything. Someone... told you wrong. Nothing's been taken. Can't take... what's never given."

Freedom is included. She's never been free, she wouldn't know where to start.

It's none so comforting, hearing that come out of her. It's not that Cosima pities her even further or anything, it's just that it's - She can't even imagine, is the thing. She's always lived a fairly cushy life, up and until recently, what she's found out about herself and what lies she's been fed for longer than she can remember. She hasn't been locked in basements, she hasn't had the kindness beaten out of her. She hasn't been honed into a weapon, something dangerous and so not like her own self that she can't even recognize herself when she looks in a mirror anymore. Not yet, anyway.

"Nobody told me anything," she remarks lightly, propping up her chin on a fist and frowning mildly. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've read your file. Your dad's a real treat." The last bit certainly has disdain written all over it, though she smiles as though it's not sarcasm, flat and without any teeth. He might be listening. He might even be watching.

Cass deserves something. Everybody deserves something. And this isn't something, this is - This is miserable. This is so fucked up and wrong on so many levels that she doesn't quite know how to properly comprehend, though she will for the time being. Cassandra needs her, more than she needs anybody right now. She needs help. For once, she's going to have to take it, even if she doesn't necessarily look for it.

"Do you remember Dr. Friedman?"

hey, mr curiosity, is it true what they've been saying about you?

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