Sam/Gregor: on Jo and the Temptation of Power (Part 2)

[15:08]	Gregor	It's 2 days later when you hunt down the not all that elusive Gregorsaurus - you heard him return twenty minutes ago from a run outside, the big german so very happy to be in full working condition again.
[15:19]	Sam	knocks on the door to Gregor's room, a manilla folder tucked under his arm. "Gregor? It's Sam."
[15:24]	Gregor	"Come in," you hear him say. When you enter, he's clad in simple black shorts and little else as he does push-ups on his bed.
[15:25]	Sam	closes the door behind him. "They're done."
[15:27]	Gregor	continues his methodical push up and down. "They're what? Wha-- did any of these fools break up?"
[15:28]	Sam	"No no no, the drawings you requested."
[15:28]	Sam	holds out the folder
[15:28]	Gregor	Gregor suddenly freezes.
[15:28]	Gregor	"That..." he doesn't look at you from where he's frozen in mid-pushup. "That was faster than I expected."
[15:29]	Sam	"I made them a priority."
[15:30]	Gregor	sighs and like a fish, twists around the horizontal axis and lands on the bed with a 0x1dpomf0x1d.
[15:31]	Gregor	"Nngh." Sweating slightly from the exertion, Gregor's right hand is like a claw as he reaches for his heart.
[15:31]	Gregor	"It feels strange, you know."
[15:31]	Sam	cocks his head
[15:32]	Gregor	"I really..." Gregor sits up, pulling one knee close and resting his chin on it. "Really do not want to see them."
[15:33]	Sam	"I'm not going to force you Gregor, the choice is yours."
[15:35]	Gregor	"I don't want to, but I need to, yes." Gregor uses his free hand to rub his face.
[15:36]	Gregor	"There are days when I miss the clarity of purpose and unbending conviction."
[15:37]	Sam	nods, listening to Gregor
[15:39]	Gregor	turns to face sam, feet slapping on the ground as he scoots forward, holding his hand out towards Sam.
[15:40]	Sam	takes Gregor's hand
[15:41]	Gregor	(( he was reaching for the folder :V)
[15:41]	Gregor	"The folder, Sam." Gregor smiles mirthlessly.
[15:41]	Gregor	"But the sentiment is appreciated."
[15:42]	Sam	" . . . " Sam clears his throat and hands Gregor the folder. "Right sorry."
[15:43]	Gregor	barks out a laugh.
[15:43]	Sam	chuckles as well
[15:44]	Gregor	takes the folder. "Bookmarked them?" he asks.
[15:44]	Sam	"No, just the two."
[15:47]	Gregor	"Ah." Gregor sights, scooting back on his bed, until he sits crosslegged there. His right hand is right over the top of the folder, almost there to open it.
[15:49]	Gregor	You can hear see how tense he is, but with one long breath, he relaxes again and opens the folder.
[15:49]	Sam	Gregor: Two drawings are included, one of Asuka and one of Jo.
[15:51]	Sam	Jo is wearing her school uniform, blouse and the knee length skirt with a pair of stockings. She is clutching her journal to her chest. Her shoulders are slumped and she is shrinking in on herself. She looks downward slightly, unwilling to meet the viewer’s eyes. She is unsure of herself, vulnerable, seemingly terrified of what you may say, of what you would ask her to do.
[15:57]	Gregor	hisses through gritted teeth.
[15:57]	Sam	doesn't say anything.
[15:59]	Gregor	You can hear Gregor's breathing speed up as his face twists with pain, but after a minute of this, he slowly unballs his shivering left hand. You can see the grooves his fingernails dug into his palm.
[15:59]	Gregor	"You." He chokes out as his breathing slowly returns to normal, "you have talent, Sam."
[16:00]	Sam	"Thank you."
[16:03]	Gregor	closes his eyes and takes another deep breath.
[16:04]	Gregor	"Looks great. A bit too heavy on the fear. Enough to make me consider skirts over pants."
[16:05]	Sam	"mhhmm. I'll keep that in mind."
[16:10]	Gregor	looks at this... image of Josephine again. "I would be lying if I said that this is without appeal." He waggles the folder. "But love requires equality. Fear is no foundation."
[16:11]	Sam	"What you feared wasn't love, but domination, or at least that was the impression I was given."
[16:11]	Gregor	nods. "It is good to know that one's darkest impulses are just that. Impulses."
[16:11]	Sam	"We are who we make ourselves to be."
[16:12]	Gregor	nods slowly and respectfully at Sam. "Yes."
[16:14]	Gregor	"But it is not merely about making. This is the other part, Sam. We are who we choose to be."
[16:14]	Gregor	With heart unburdened, Gregor puts that image of Josephine aside, not looking down at the one of Asuka.
[16:16]	Gregor	"What was it like for you, Sam, to draw that one," A nod towards the drawing of Jo.
[16:19]	Sam	"This may be strange Gregor, but. . . I enjoyed it in some ways. There was a challenge there, to see what Josephine is, and to mix that with what she /could/ be, and then to display that, earnestly without creating a caricature. I'm not quite sure I succeeded fully at that, but it isn't a bad work." He nods "As for what it /means/ , I hold no doubt that that image will remain just that, a...
[16:19]	Sam	...drawing that does nothing more than look at a possibility, rather than reality."
[16:19]	Sam	"I am proud that I could put these skills to use helping a friend."
[16:21]	Gregor	"And helped me you have, yes." Gregor nods and pulls off his glasses, a sign for Elise to not be looking. And only then does he look down at the other one.
[16:21]	Sam	Asuka is wearing a full length dress, her shoulders and arms covered by it as well. She is sitting on a chair, a book resting on her lap with her hands folded over it. She is looking at the viewer with a soft gentle smile; her eyes lack that burning drive, the intensity to push forward. Instead there is a sense of quiet contentment, and gentle deference.
[16:24]	Gregor	laughs once. "Oh. Not what I asked of you, Sam, not at all."
[16:24]	Gregor	"But it's nice."
[16:25]	Sam	"Ah, then I seem to have misunderstood your question then. What is it you wanted to know?"
[16:26]	Gregor	"If and how I could deal with an Asuka so..." Gregor pauses, "afraid, and slavishly devoted."
[16:27]	Gregor	waggles the drawing of Asuka. "This is ... a young woman free of the touch of bitter old men."
[16:28]	Sam	"Ah, well. . . my art got a bit away from my original intent I suppose."
[16:30]	Gregor	"It is, however, a very nice piece." Gregor says. "Thank you."
[16:30]	Gregor	"And especially for the other."
[16:32]	Sam	"I could try again, if you really wanted me to."
[16:34]	Gregor	mhms. "If you find the time. It is not urgent, but it would be appreciated."
[16:34]	Sam	"I have the time."
[16:35]	Gregor	"Is there anything I can help you with?"
[16:36]	Gregor	puts the drawing of Asuka down and, unconcerned, walks over to his table, where he draws a circle, and within that circle a triangle. He shows that to Sam, like one would show a banner.
[16:36]	Sam	"Maybe. Akram spoke with me about the wedding. He's convinced this is a mistake, and he is hurt that he wasn't able to convince me to stop. I think, maybe, he thinks he's failed to stop something that can *only* end badly."
[16:37]	Sam	gives Gregor a puzzled look
[16:39]	Gregor	puts the paper away for now. "What of Akram?"
[16:40]	Sam	"Well, I was telling you in case you might have a way to help him feel less shitty. I don't think there's much I can say to him that won't be the equivalent of rubbing salt in the wound. He's just so touchy, it's hard to know how to try to help, and honestly the best thing might be to just leave it well enough alone."
[16:42]	Gregor	"He worries... for his friends." Gregor says as he sits down on his bed. "And for his adoptive sister."
[16:42]	Gregor	"He thinks you are hasty, and I agree."
[16:42]	Gregor	"But I do not share his pessimism. He is a child of the business world. He is bad at selfless action, both giving and receiving."
[16:45]	Gregor	"It might end badly. It might not." Gregor shrugs. "It is your choice to make, and you have made it. My duty is to stand with you in battle, physical or mental."
[16:47]	Sam	"It is, and I am glad you're here Gregor. I don't think your concerns are unfounded or even unreasonable, for what that's worth. But for us we think it's the right thing, we could be wrong, we may not be, but it's our mistake to make."
[16:48]	Gregor	"If indeed it is one. It is your 0x1dchoice0x1d to make," Gregor says again.
[16:49]	Sam	". . . You know. When a military personal gets married, the best man can wear a sword."
[16:50]	Gregor	raises an eyebrow at the implication, body language radiating "You sure?"
[16:52]	Sam	"We're still working out how exactly there ceremony will go, but if we do have a best man positon I'd like you to be it. And even if we don't, the sword is totally a symbol of your station, I mean we've gota be officers by now, at leas de facto, right?"
[16:54]	Gregor	nods. "If by the time you have settled on a date you would still choose me, I am honored to accept."
[16:54]	Sam	"When we get things figured out I will let know."
[16:55]	Gregor	That said, Gregor pulls the paper he drew on into vision again.
[16:56]	Gregor	"Trust nobody who wears thsi sigil. They are, and will always and forever be, our enemies."
[16:57]	Sam	"I see. May I ask who they are then? I trust that they are my foe, but. .  well know thy enemy and all that."
[16:58]	Gregor	"Who is our enemy, Sam?"
[16:58]	Gregor	"Who is playing this world against itself to exhaust us into compliance?"
[16:58]	Gregor	"Who offers slavery or death?"
[16:59]	Gregor	"Who are they who would be gods to rule us from above?"
[16:59]	Sam	". . . That is one foe I will feel no pain unleashing the Light of my Soul to burn them from their holes."
[17:00]	Gregor	"Name them, Sam. What name do we know our enemy as."
[17:01]	Sam	"Command."
[17:01]	Sam	"NERV Command. hostis humani generis."
[17:01]	Gregor	"Not NERV. Not just NERV. It is only one of their tools."
[17:01]	Gregor	"They would Command all mankind."
[17:02]	Gregor	"To make us More."
[17:02]	Gregor	"More than what we are."
[17:02]	Gregor	"Under their guiding hand."
[17:02]	Gregor	"Or leave us to die in our mediocrity." Gregor looks serene as he says this.
[17:02]	Gregor	"They offer slavery or death, and in turn shall die for it."
[17:02]	Gregor	"Trust no-one who wears this sigil, Sam."
[17:03]	Sam	"I won't."
[17:05]	=-=	Gregor is now known as extinct
[17:05]	Sam	Gregor: The next day you awake to find a drawing slipped under your door
[17:05]	Sam	The picture is of Asuka in a formal military style uniform. Her head is turned slightly to face the viewer, and it is bowed. Her eyes do not quite seem to meet the viewers. There is still that endless drive, the furious driving energy there, that need to prove her-self the best, but for you. Utter devotion and a drive to prove herself to you.