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poison in a pretty glass

@buryingthebodies / buryingthebodies.tumblr.com

Miss Pauling of Team Fortress 2 -------------- selective | nsfw | multiship | multiverse | oc friendly | canon divergent sidebar
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❝ FASCINATING…!  BUT OF COURSE, I KNOW that Respawn be difficult to maintenance and to handle… ❞  He’s done a bit of poking around in it himself in a collaborative effort with Engie. The chance to work with the machinery that handles a process as delicate as reconstructing their very lives has been, for Medic, both fascinating and rewarding.
❝ Handling the technology in it as well as the technology for it, for that matter, is no easy task. And all of them are employees? Or just the most of them? ❞  He barks out a laugh at the comment that follows. It’s half in jest, he’s sure, but there is likely some truth to it.  ❝ Oh, well… it would appear that the Administrator is not a fan of many of her employees, then. ❞
It’s a personality fitting to the strict voice that at times instructs them over the speakers of RED’s base. The Administrator has never struck Ludwig as the type of woman to empathise very much. Not in this sense, at the least.
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❝ Anyway — how did you enjoy monitoring the operation the other evening? Learnt anything new that you might add to that lethal arsenal of yours? ❞  As if Pauling needs more reason or cause to be deadly. Medic doubts that she would be a match for him at this point – without the advantage of surprise, that is, and he has been keeping careful watch. But he knows full well that she’s capable; capable of what exactly, that remains to be seen. 
For now, he’s mostly interested in seeing if he can pry any information out of her at all, whether through a slip of the tongue or in picking apart well-placed half-truths and lies. Such things, despite their intended effect, can be quite telling.
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“Most. With the level of security clearance you need to work for the Administrator, the background checks, the measure she takes...it’s all pretty serious business. The only part-time employees are janitorial staff and some very basic secretarial positions. And the NDA there is pretty intense across the board.”

Everything was pretty intense when it came to the Administration. “As for the bodies...” Pauling wiggles her hand in a wishy-washy eh gesture. “I’ll be honest, it’s hard to know who everyone is with the scale of the operation. I’m in charge of erasing identities, not preserving them.”

Miss Pauling’s expression brightens at the mention of the operation. God! The fact that the Administrator asked her to sit in...er, stand in, and document such advancements! Granted, she didn’t know what the hell she was seeing for a lot of it, but it was big. 

“Well. I found it all fascinating, Medic, and I know the Administrator was particularly pleased with your results. That’s high kudos. As for me, I don’t see myself personally benefiting.” 

That and she didn’t have the desire to wind up on his operating table.

“I try to stay out of the line of fire, if I can help it. But it was truly incredible, what you’ve achieved.”

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Wilhelm’s own hand tightens around hers a fraction, not enough to hurt but to wrench her closer. Silver tongues have no place here. “You would not be in your position if that were true.” Head cants as he quietly regards her neither admonishing and once again falling into that familiar monotone. Wilhelm holds her gaze for before releasing her hand. Silence greets her question and he gives her the only affirmation needed between them. 
Stepping past her to rifle through stocked cabinets it doesn’t take long for him to find what he needs and in no time withdraws a plastic bottle and give is it little shake. They have a deal. She wasn’t wrong earlier about her file being too tempting to peak into. If they were to rely on modern medicine his entire stock would be drained. These are pills of his own creation though he keeps the fact to himself. Still though he has faith in his research that medicine will ease her symptoms there is no miracle cure. He is aware of this and he thinks that Pauling understands too. The small container is held out before her, pinched between forefinger and thumb yet cold gaze locks onto her. He’s yet to give the mouse permission to take her bait. 
“You will not make another surprise visit here and will inform me ahead of time.” These are no requests but demands towards the assistant, their positions made clear. He is the Doctor and she is the patient. And just in case she’d think he’d forget. “Take two in the morning. My compensation will come later.”
A pause, short yet painfully dragging. 
”Take it.” 

Pauling offers nothing in response to his accusation. They both know he’s right. She instead keeps her balance, which is no small feat, and maintains her gaze on his as her index finger pushes her glasses up by the bridge. Despite the fact that Wilhelm isn’t trying to hurt her, her skin is left red and stinging by his grip when he finally does let go.

The mousy assistant rubs at the flesh, her attempting to sate the burn fruitless as the physician roots through his medicine cabinets in search of an adequate pill for her ailments. When her turns to reveal the container, Pauling reacts in a way that is downright Pavlovian, her eyes bright and eager. 

She begins to reach, until she recognizes the sternness...no, the danger, in his gaze, and her fingers curl in her pausing. 

“...Understood.” Pauling answers, painted lips sliding over one another uncomfortably. She barely recognizes the mention of compensation, not when relief is so close, not when her bones are burning in her body.

Miss Pauling is careful not to snatch the pills from him, but instead takes them almost tenderly from Medic.

“Thank you.”

She clears her throat.

“Can I do anything for you while I’m here?”

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Sorry I’ve been MIA for a little bit. I’ve been distracted and depressed and just haven’t felt motivated when I kind of know being here will just make it worse.

I’ll try to get some activity going again soon.

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“ it’s like we’re not even lovers anymore. ” Words teeter on over theatrical, nearly shaking with held in laughter. He's been sent for a wakeup call on Vanguard's base. Grunt work. Work he's gladly taken. A hand rested across his forehead, as he leans against her. Further and further still, until nearly all his weight crushes the poor woman. Goodbye Pauling he knew thee well.

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“Oh Fetch—” she answers, meeting his theatrics with gusto, even surpassing them. Her arms link around his waist, and she’s almost breaking character, her voice on the edge of a laugh two words in. “We’ll always have Milan.” 

She stifles laughter against his shoulder, squeezing him a little. Pauling lifts her chin, staring up at Fetch with green doe-eyes and crooked glasses. “You can kiss me,” laughter, “One last time.”

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I’ll actually be around more tomorrow afternoon. 

I finally finished a bigass project that has been stressing me out for ages so I can take a smol break. But unfortunately we have a funeral to go to tomorrow. One of our sweet church ladies passed away this week of a heart attack. :( 

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@buryingthebodies liked for a STARTER !
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❝ I HAVE BEEN WONDERING, MISS PAULING… where exactly does Administration get all of these cadavers from? Not that they aren’t lovely. Oh, they are… !  and I have no complaints. But a scientist must know from where he receives his supplies. Being in the know is important when it comes to careful work like ours. ❞

She could argue with him, of course, that there is nothing very careful about splattering the remains of what was a man’s perfectly good heart across his lab and shoving a baboon’s in its place. But given the nature of his experiments and the spectacular results that they have produced, he doesn’t imagine that Miss Pauling nor her employers will be very critical of a man whose technology they clearly intend to steal.

In fact, he might be able to coax some kindness and cooperation from them – tactics which men have used before to try and extract every ounce of usefulness from him they could. He’s no stranger to such techniques and, though he certainly doesn’t intend to fall for them, he could very well reap what benefit they had to offer for now.

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“Well.” Pauling stalls, adjusting her glasses with her fingers fiddling against the frame. The mercenaries are always an odd game of chess for her. Weighing truths against lies, measuring their halves and parts. It was especially true before Medic, whom she found to be...sharper than his counterparts in the Teufort Nine.

“Truth be told, we do quite dangerous work up at admin headquarters, Medic. And most of us...aren’t hooked up to the respawn system. Only those of us who stand reason to be in the line of fire...”

Or, more accurately, would be particularly difficult to replace.

Which didn’t apply to many people in the Administrator’s mind.

“And we’ve all signed waivers that release our corpses to the administration, in the event of death. So, in short...your looking a lot of poor bastards who died in the line of duty. Or, you know,” Pauling barks a little light, that hangs awkwardly in the air, “people the Administrator really didn’t like!”

She says it like a joke. But does it really come off like one? Debatable. Her delivery has always been atrocious. And she’s not really joking, anyway.

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