Noted. You know I trust your take on those in the city, so I'll make sure to add him to the very limited - thankfully - list and I'll let Tim know as well for security purposes.
Nothing concrete as yet, but I don't like the feeling I get from him.
Recently, we were discussing vampirism and his research interests: virology, and in particular theoretical viruses capable of resurrecting the dead as mobile vectors of disease. He told me that his focus is on preventing devastation from such a biological weapon, but I'm not convinced.
He sounded to me as though he's thought about his research in a militaristic sense for quite some time. It wouldn't surprise me if the counter-terrorism explanation is a fig leaf.
Well lovely. That is definitely not someone we need running around this place unchecked. Given the different species that might be weaponized against others? Yeah, not something I would be comfortable with either.
I wonder who is running S.T.A.R. Labs these days. It's the other lab I know of. Barry's dominant used to run it. She may still.
That's my assumption as well. Along with a further assumption that LIES would be little help with any epidemic mitigation that conflicted with their rules.
I don't know who's running it either, unfortunately. Are you thinking to give them a heads-up as well?
Precisely. I could imagine them getting involved if an epidemic threatened their grander aims, or the more important members of the native population, but beyond that? No.
[Charles' replies pause for a moment as he considers that question.]
Speaking candidly, all I have on him is a gut feeling. He's sophisticated, which could mean that asking him what his deeper feelings and opinions are wouldn't reveal much.
If he does take up a position in a laboratory in the city, I do feel his work needs to at least be observed on some level from time to time. Even if he's only thinking about things like biomedical weapons and armies of vampires from the perspective of someone /else/ who might use them, in our conversation he continually brought up the idea of how powerful and devastating those things might be. He strikes me as preoccupied with the idea, and I didn't pick up accompanying opinions of disgust, or concern as we chatted about it. He felt remote to me. Casual.
We come back from the dead, so I don't think they would care unless, as you said, the natives are part of it.
Though I would say, his efforts could be moot. I've been here for years, and no one gets colds, there's no STDs, no one comes in with the viruses their worlds were overrun with. Maybe there's some way that it's not possible for them to be actually spread here.
Sadly we can only find out if it did happen.
And that is the most dangerous part. Someone that isn't worried about what could happen but excited by it. Even just curious. Especially if he knows death doesn't last. It might feel like there's no consequences then.
[Kyle makes a good point, and it's one he's only loosely considered, himself: the potential futility of someone trying to build a biomedical weapon of some kind in the city. On further consideration, he decides the man's probably right.
Which is a relief.]
Yes, the attitude of cold curiosity is what concerned me. I don't know if he's yet aware of the city's ability to resurrect people or not, but I could imagine him being interested in it. [Because, in a less nefarious sense, he thinks, who wouldn't be?] I'm currently trying to play along with him, to see if I can get more of his opinions out of him.
Which isn't much more promising. If he's into those kind of things, experimentation to learn about it all, what might he do knowing that people can't die permanently? Or heal the way some of us can.
Which is alarmist of me, I know. Just definitely someone to keep an eye on.
I can have Tim electronically keep an eye on him on the network when he openly posts to others. That's all open knowledge, after all.
I agree. One person acting alone isn't likely to manage much in this place, but the obvious threat would be if someone with bad intentions managed to influence others to support them.
I think that's a good idea. No doubt Tim would do a good job of it, too.
Exactly. We've had hunters and others who don't like the supernatural... not to mention those that were killers in their own world.
It's one of the things he's a specialist at in his own world. Shouldn't have been something that he was dragged into at the age he was, but that's on his adopted father. I told him how I felt about that once.
Were there more of them in past years? During my time here, I've only met one man who was blatantly anti-supernatural, and anti-vampire in particular.
[Charles wonders for a moment how appropriate it might be to ask for more details about Tim. Would that be overstepping? A potential intrusion into the relationship Kyle has with him? He doesn't know. But if it is an overstep, he trusts Kyle will tell him that.]
I sometimes forget how young Tim is, because of how well-educated and capable he's proven himself. But he really is still a child, isn't he? [Compared to himself, at the very least.]
So you've met Sasha's husband then? It was kind of a rough thing through the years given how close she and I were.
There have been several vampire hunters here. One was the love of Diva's life, and he keeps bouncing back and forth here. There was Buffy and Faith. They both hunted vampires back home, but one of them loved one so there's that.
A child compared to you or me? But he's 19 now. When he first came here he was just turning 18. The Tim that was here before came here at 17, I think. There's been a few others that young as well.
They always seem to have had the roughest lives of anyone I've known, and been through more than I could imagine in your lifetime nonetheless theirs.
Yes. Early on in my time here, Tim and I had a minor disagreement over vampires. [Which was a bit more than minor in reality, but Charles wasn't bothered or surprised by it at the time.] But I have met Faith, too. So I suppose hunters, slayers, aren't terribly uncommon in general - I could understand why.
I suppose I tend to see anyone younger than about their mid-twenties as children. Not to suggest that they may be any less experienced than some adults, but physiologically, their brains are still developing, and more often than not, they're still learning and deciding about people and the world around them. Learning how to manage and respond to their emotions, looking for role models in the people around them...
Tim and I have had our disagreements over the years too. But I also went by and saw him after she vanished too. She would want me to... and I had to prove to him I could drink alcohol just to see his face.
I was friends with Buffy so I get it. The ones who were outright killers here were human and just horrible villains in their world according to Harley. You neve rknow.
I medically can't argue that with you and I wouldn't. Tim is young, and it makes it worse all he's been through for me.
Were you ever at times able to have a friendly relationship with him? [If any vampire could do it, he imagines Kyle might be one of them.]
Yes, I got a small taste of that during the storm, myself. My own growing impression is that he's been pushed far and beyond to achieve, and to be uniquely capable. Like a soldier of some kind.
At his wedding, yeah. We had a really good time that night. He was too drunk to remember my name, but things after that night were never as bad as before.
Literally a soldier. I've known several of his brothers, all adopted like he was but one. All of them trained like that. One of them is back in the city it seems.
I don't know his stories exactly, but having talked to Sasha and Jon who are all from the same world? It's the most horrific singular world I think I've heard of.
Sadly yes and no. It's given him a chance to live outside of that but I think it's hard for him as well. Like so many others, they only know one way of doing things, and this place usually screws that over.
I don't know if someone could be entirely blamed for feelings like those, if they've had traumatic experiences with vampires. For the large part, I do feel that vampires like you or I - you more so than myself, even - are less common.
It's quite fortunate he has your support, then. Mine as well, should we come to have that kind of friendship.
Sad but very true. You are one of the first I've known who truly lean into the kind of life I have has one. The kind of life I want. It was what first attracted me to you.
That said, we can't judge everyone by a bad experience. If I didn't that, I wouldn't be the man I am now.
I hope you do, for both your sake. It's never expected though from me. It's good for him though, and perhaps you as well.
That's how I feel about it, too. Prejudice doesn't form out of nowhere. It's a harmful set of ideas for people to carry around within them, but in my experience, unresolved fear is usually at their heart.
It would make my day if you and Tim became friends. Just to know those that matter the most to me get along, and could rely on one another in this place if they had to.
But I accept it might not work out. You're two different people but very good men.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
text; @C. Saville
If a man named Albert Wesker approaches you for a job, or to use the hospital's laboratories for any reason, I strongly advise turning him away.
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How concerning are we talking? What happened?
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Recently, we were discussing vampirism and his research interests: virology, and in particular theoretical viruses capable of resurrecting the dead as mobile vectors of disease. He told me that his focus is on preventing devastation from such a biological weapon, but I'm not convinced.
He sounded to me as though he's thought about his research in a militaristic sense for quite some time. It wouldn't surprise me if the counter-terrorism explanation is a fig leaf.
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I wonder who is running S.T.A.R. Labs these days. It's the other lab I know of. Barry's dominant used to run it. She may still.
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I don't know who's running it either, unfortunately. Are you thinking to give them a heads-up as well?
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Honest question, what do you think? You spoke with him, so I trust your thoughts on it.
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[Charles' replies pause for a moment as he considers that question.]
Speaking candidly, all I have on him is a gut feeling. He's sophisticated, which could mean that asking him what his deeper feelings and opinions are wouldn't reveal much.
If he does take up a position in a laboratory in the city, I do feel his work needs to at least be observed on some level from time to time. Even if he's only thinking about things like biomedical weapons and armies of vampires from the perspective of someone /else/ who might use them, in our conversation he continually brought up the idea of how powerful and devastating those things might be. He strikes me as preoccupied with the idea, and I didn't pick up accompanying opinions of disgust, or concern as we chatted about it. He felt remote to me. Casual.
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Though I would say, his efforts could be moot. I've been here for years, and no one gets colds, there's no STDs, no one comes in with the viruses their worlds were overrun with. Maybe there's some way that it's not possible for them to be actually spread here.
Sadly we can only find out if it did happen.
And that is the most dangerous part. Someone that isn't worried about what could happen but excited by it. Even just curious. Especially if he knows death doesn't last. It might feel like there's no consequences then.
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Which is a relief.]
Yes, the attitude of cold curiosity is what concerned me. I don't know if he's yet aware of the city's ability to resurrect people or not, but I could imagine him being interested in it. [Because, in a less nefarious sense, he thinks, who wouldn't be?] I'm currently trying to play along with him, to see if I can get more of his opinions out of him.
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Which is alarmist of me, I know. Just definitely someone to keep an eye on.
I can have Tim electronically keep an eye on him on the network when he openly posts to others. That's all open knowledge, after all.
[ So it wasn't entirely stalking or anything. ]
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I think that's a good idea. No doubt Tim would do a good job of it, too.
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It's one of the things he's a specialist at in his own world. Shouldn't have been something that he was dragged into at the age he was, but that's on his adopted father. I told him how I felt about that once.
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[Charles wonders for a moment how appropriate it might be to ask for more details about Tim. Would that be overstepping? A potential intrusion into the relationship Kyle has with him? He doesn't know. But if it is an overstep, he trusts Kyle will tell him that.]
I sometimes forget how young Tim is, because of how well-educated and capable he's proven himself. But he really is still a child, isn't he? [Compared to himself, at the very least.]
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There have been several vampire hunters here. One was the love of Diva's life, and he keeps bouncing back and forth here. There was Buffy and Faith. They both hunted vampires back home, but one of them loved one so there's that.
A child compared to you or me? But he's 19 now. When he first came here he was just turning 18. The Tim that was here before came here at 17, I think. There's been a few others that young as well.
They always seem to have had the roughest lives of anyone I've known, and been through more than I could imagine in your lifetime nonetheless theirs.
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I suppose I tend to see anyone younger than about their mid-twenties as children. Not to suggest that they may be any less experienced than some adults, but physiologically, their brains are still developing, and more often than not, they're still learning and deciding about people and the world around them. Learning how to manage and respond to their emotions, looking for role models in the people around them...
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I was friends with Buffy so I get it. The ones who were outright killers here were human and just horrible villains in their world according to Harley. You neve rknow.
I medically can't argue that with you and I wouldn't. Tim is young, and it makes it worse all he's been through for me.
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Yes, I got a small taste of that during the storm, myself. My own growing impression is that he's been pushed far and beyond to achieve, and to be uniquely capable. Like a soldier of some kind.
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Literally a soldier. I've known several of his brothers, all adopted like he was but one. All of them trained like that. One of them is back in the city it seems.
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I'm glad, truly, that you were able to have something approaching a good relationship. His distaste for vampires felt very baked-in when I met him.
[He's honestly a little surprised that his intuition was so on the nose.
But it only makes Tim's situation feel that much more worthy of concern.]
Has his time in the city been good for him, you think?
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Sadly yes and no. It's given him a chance to live outside of that but I think it's hard for him as well. Like so many others, they only know one way of doing things, and this place usually screws that over.
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It's quite fortunate he has your support, then. Mine as well, should we come to have that kind of friendship.
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That said, we can't judge everyone by a bad experience. If I didn't that, I wouldn't be the man I am now.
I hope you do, for both your sake. It's never expected though from me. It's good for him though, and perhaps you as well.
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What do you mean by 'it's not expected'?
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But I accept it might not work out. You're two different people but very good men.