howl with me | dantei {ruina rex}
[At first, he’s surprised to hear it confirmed that Clove had been present, because so far, he’d only heard rumours, and he’d figured the rumours were fabricated. Mostly because they consisted of exaggerated ideas of Clove picking a fight with Kaiser, provoking him and threatening him until Kaiser collapsed. Which… really didn’t seem to track with Teilo’s impression of the NWRF Rep. With his impression of either of them, really. Even if tensions had risen, Clove wouldn’t have been interested in giving Kaiser that kind of time and energy. He’s not one to engage in that way. Much quicker to close himself off, to turn away when he doesn’t want to deal with the conflict. Acting above it, whether he believes it or not.
He’s also surprised he’d not heard the bit about the chair being thrown. If he had, he’d have been inclined to believe that was exaggerated rumour as well.
Dante focused on the medical side of things. His prognosis based on the details he has access to, educated guesses and inference. And by the case he makes, it does make sense. It makes too much sense for Teilo to really be suspect of the NWRF’s involvement.]
[He nods, pensive.] Mm. Yeah I was skeptical about the theories involving the NWRF as well. [Not because he’d put it past a corrupt government to orchestrate an execution of convenience, but because it just didn’t seem to add up, here.] But… if it really was caused by the use of his infection… that’s a scary thought, isn’t it? [All he can think of is Sid. If this is true, does Sid know? How does he feel about it? How would Teilo, were he in his shoes?] Because aneurysm or not… do you think it’s possible it could have gone unruptured, had it not been for the use of Kaiser’s telekinesis? Or even, do you think there’s a chance it was caused by the telekinesis? Do we know for sure that it wasn’t?
[Dante has little to do with the Infection testing. It’s not his area of expertise, he’s no geneticist. But he wishes now that he had some degree of involvement more than he does, because he honestly feels as much at a loss as anyone else.
It’s incredibly frustrating that six years on they still have such a sparse understanding of the Infections. Resources are limited and so many thousands of excellent minds have been lost, so of course there’s only so much they can do, but still. It isn’t in Dante’s nature to accept mediocrity.
It isn’t usually in his nature to tiptoe on thin ice, either. The tension is heavy in the air. Kaiser’s passing is bigger than his relationship with Teilo; he knows this in his head. The whole Colony is in chaos. So why doesn’t it feel as big? It feels incomparably small, a little hum of background noise to the clamour in his head. He wants to confess everything, and he wants to shut his mouth and not say another word. He wants to make Teilo happy, but he can’t imagine how that would be possible any more.
This conversation about Infections isn’t a conversation he wants to have, but it’s better than the one they will have to have in time. At least Dante knows the words to say, though they do sound hollow, as if recited by rote.]
No, and with how poorly understood the Infections are, I doubt the autopsy will provide much clarity. But even if the rupture was directly related to his telekinesis, that shouldn’t worry the general population. Brain aneurysms don’t really have an identifiable cause; sometimes they just happen. And when they rupture, it is often just a matter of timing. Only something like one or two per cent of the population have a brain aneurysm, and of that small percentage only a small fraction will have the aneurysm rupture.
That’s not a reason for people to change the way they live. If Infections were a huge risk to people’s health, we’d have seen a lot more of this by now. Kaiser’s death was extremely unfortunate, but even if it was directly caused by his telekinesis, I think you’d be hard put to argue that it’s a life altering revelation. There will always be statistical outliers and if you live your life according to the worst possible scenario then you live a limited life indeed.
