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Sorrow - Past and Present

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Azurat: ...
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Azurat: I must admit that I have an unusually bad feeling about the experiment.
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Azurat: Maybe it's something the Zetsfir council isn't telling us. I don't know.
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Ravenna: What if you just quit your job and we can go off-grid or something?
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Azurat: Living on the run, constantly hiding and sneaking around? Impractical in this day and age, to say the least.
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Azurat: Besides, the surveillance grid tracks every vehicle, communication device, and financial transaction.
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Azurat: Those off-grid stories are from an era 200 years ago. I've yet to see anyone able to hide from the world government.
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Ravenna: Hmmm....
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Ravenna: (There has to be something we can do...)
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Azurat: It was during early testing of the system involved in these experiments that your mother was killed.
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Azurat: It was a standard diagnostics routine she was running at the time.
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Azurat: The V-CORE prototype activated normally but started to exhibit anomalous behavior.
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Ravenna: Yeah, but you never figured out why?
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Azurat: Right. We were never able to identify the reason.
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Azurat: I had just returned to the lab with some coffee.
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Azurat: The next thing I knew... she was...
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Azurat: ...obliterated. Not even a trace left behind.
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Azurat: The lab shut down for a mere two days before the project resumed.
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Azurat: No answers were ever provided.
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Azurat: Zetsfir offered me a generous paid leave afterward...
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Azurat: ...but instead, after the funeral, I buried myself in my work, hardly leaving the lab.
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Ravenna: I do remember going to stay with Uncle Gesh for a few days...
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Ravenna: ...but he was institutionalized the day I arrived.
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Azurat: Yes. That's right. Seeing him unravel made me realize that I had to pull myself together.
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Azurat: Despite everything else, I have to give Zetsfir credit for making sure our needs were met.
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Ravenna: ...
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Azurat: You were always her top priority, Ravenna. Even on her busiest days with Zetsfir, you came first.
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Azurat: Your expression of her bloodline's unique traits always fascinated her. You had so much energy.
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Azurat: Of course, with your above-average strength, sometimes you could be a real handful.
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Ravenna: I was only six years old...
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Ravenna: It's hard to remember.
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Azurat: We knew that you were different than your mother. Your traits were more dominant.
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Azurat: In fact, you quickly attracted Zetsfir's attention. They wanted to perform experiments right away.
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Azurat: Your mother and I were able to stop them for years until the situation, according to them, became too dire.
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Azurat: They could have forcibly taken you away but they knew we would take our research and run if they did.
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Ravenna: An insurance policy of sorts?
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Azurat: One hell of an insurance policy, kiddo. I never put all of my cards on the table and they've always known that.
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Azurat: You could say that Zetsfir and I have been at a stalemate when it comes to using "the nuclear option" to get what we want.
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Azurat: Of course you can credit your mother for defending you.
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Azurat: It wasn't just Zetsfir. Your teachers and the police were afraid of your strength.
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Azurat: Should you have become a delinquent, it would have been troublesome for everyone, or so they said.
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Azurat: They wanted you to undergo treatments to restrain your abilities but your mother and I prevented that.
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Azurat: Of course I knew you wouldn't go down the wrong path.
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Ravenna: Ha ha, I'm a goodie two shoes..!
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Azurat: It's hard to believe it's been ten years already. I may have come to terms with it but...
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Azurat: I would not be able to come to terms with such loss again. This is why I'm against the upcoming experiment.
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Azurat: Even if my unsanctioned copy of the V-CORE becomes operational, what good is a time machine if I can't go back?
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Ravenna: It seems far-fetched that such a thing could even exist. Does Zetsfir really think it's possible?
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Azurat: I've studied the theory behind it quite extensively, Ravenna. Only in theory so far but it's a solid concept.
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Ravenna: But going backward is totally out of the question?
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Azurat: Yes. Based on this model, absolutely.
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Ravenna: Do you think there's any chance that Mom...
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Azurat: Ravenna, the system wasn't finalized. It would have been fatal. Let's not get into the details as to why.
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Ravenna: ...sure.