156 DIAGNOSIS

[vicodincrutch]

 In order to properly conduct an experiment you need to start with a few assessed facts and then form a hypothesis. An if then statement. If I do x then y will happen or it will mean y. 

I realize that conducting anything in an uncontrolled environment means that there will be unexpected results. 

The result is that this is a failboat.

[ooc; very bad things happened. :( ]

Comments

[Video/private]

[brothertragedy]

Fai-lure, fai-lure. [... delivered in the same manner one typically announces a train's destinations in. It's this weirdo, who else could it be? His very angry ghostly companion is cutting in and literally burning with anger.] I believe this is your stop, Sir?

If you had left me to my own devices, I would have arrived to nearer station to Victory. My target would not have been one tasked with preservation of life.

[He would ask if this is not a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, but it would be too easy to turn against him (a conductor's duty involves killing passengers now?).]

[Video/private]

[vicodincrutch]

Come off of it. You thought it was a good idea too.

[Well. House doesn't entirely believe that. Now fully awake he is fully cranky.]

We're tied. You're welcome.

[Video/private; for some reason, my response never goes through. ^^;;]

[brothertragedy]

I did not. Your actions left me with no other choice!

[He's a bit harder to read, although he's clearly disappointed by the deception. His partner, on the other hand, is scowling, which is kind of funny with the corners of its mouth stitched in a perpetual smile or maybe it's just creepy.

... yes, in the end, we were both deceived. We were both driven off the right track and should stay alert to avoid a recurrence. [Starts off strong, then trails off, looking troubled.]

[Video/private; /makes it work for yoooou]

[vicodincrutch]

But here we are with tickets to ride. You an't say that it was a completely negative outcome.

[Dropping the word failure like that. House is not anyone's typical optimist. If he gets what he wants then it was worth it. This time he is having a hard time swallowing that pill.]

I think that it is too soon to tell.

[Video/private; -flails at DW-]

[brothertragedy]

Too soon? If this had been successful, we would return as promptly as we arrived. It is surely within their power.

Do you have a destination in mind?

[Video/private; -DW nooooo-]

[vicodincrutch]

Don't you think that the Deities would notice that many people at once? It can't happen like that. It's too simple.

Home.

[Video/private;]

[brothertragedy]

I would like to think they would have noticed the killing spree. They had to be the ones to resurrect us from those charred remains. Isn't that, in and of itself, suspicious enough for the Deities?

Then, the necessary route is unclear.

[Video/private;]

[vicodincrutch]

That's not the same as all the vacant spaces.

They're suspicious in general. I think now is a fine time to start strategic analysis of their motives. I gather they're riding the high of power. Reign of terror. Good stuff like that.

[Except not.]

Clarity never has had a place here. Which is why the most strange way out could have been the way out.

[Video/private;]

[brothertragedy]

It must wear off eventually... haven't they been on board long enough? Studying them now is far from ideal, but as good an idea as any.

Really, what an incredibly frustrating place.

[Video/private;]

[vicodincrutch]

They build and run this place. People come, people go but they've been here the whole time.

[...word has it. House doesn't want to admit there's even a shred of a possibility he may be wrong. It pains him.]

No duh.

[Except he can't leave it like that. For God's sake he killed the man.]

...I've been here for a few years. It's hard.

[Video/private;]

[brothertragedy]

To what end, I wonder. I doubt that the high of controlling and manipulating a city full of helpless "citizens" is the only reason they have kept it up for so long. There must be some greater reason.

[He bears him no enmity or grudge. Nobori is a strange one; if House had targetted someone or something under his care, he would have been livid. As it stands, Chandela's undoing was born of its own desire to protect him, Nobori himself had intended to off someone so he could not claim much higher moral ground, and so he, could not blame the Doctor for the messy ordeal, only the Deities behind it.]

... it must be. Your steadfast hope is admirable, Doctor. May you never lose sight of that light.

[as_damaged]

What sort of outcome were you expecting?

[vicodincrutch]

Nothing. I was expecting disappointment, reverse psychology.

[as_damaged]

What happened?

[vicodincrutch]

I played with fire and I got burned.

[Literal fire. Literal burning to death but... no one said he had to go into direct gory details. One thing at a time.]

[as_damaged]

[Even taking it as a metaphor it doesn't sound good.]

Are you all right?

omg typo so so so sorreh bb jesus

[vicodincrutch]

I am now.

[And vague. Very vague.]

Did you take a trip too?

baw no worries i didn't see a thing <3

[as_damaged]

Boats in this town don't usually pan out so well. Maybe you've noticed.

[vicodincrutch]

It all can't be the Titanic. That was my logic at the start.

[as_damaged]

That's always the best you can say, here, isn't it? At least it's not the Titanic.

[vicodincrutch]

I don't see you straining with any personal hardship to dole out deflective criticism.

[as_damaged]

What happened, House?

[It's never anything good during curses, she knows. Cameron loves a good talking cure.]

[vicodincrutch]

I made a bad decision. And I burned for it.

[Which is the short answer, the long answer and being evasive again. :I]

[as_damaged]

[She doesn't like how you keep returning to the word burn, sir.]

And now?

[Are you dead, House? She'd rather you not be dead.]

[vicodincrutch]

And now I know. And knowing is half the battle. There is no way out, fyi.

[Dead but feeling better? That much is good. Maybe.]

[as_damaged]

I might have guessed.

[vicodincrutch]

And you didn't bet? You could have got money out of it.

[........]

So if you weren't on the boat did anything out of the ordinary happen?

[as_damaged]

Nothing of note.

[dr_conscience]

Well, that's certainly cryptic.

[ He doesn't like cryptic. Cryptic makes him worry. ]

[vicodincrutch]

Do you want the good news or the bad news?

[dr_conscience]

I have a feeling if I get one, I'll probably want the other to go with it.

1/2

[vicodincrutch]

Both?

You should know by now that you can't have it all.

[vicodincrutch]

The cruise had excellent accommodations. The rooms were a great size. Great food.

Unsatisfactory emergency system in case of a small fire.

[dr_conscience]

"A small fire?"

House. What happened?

private;

[vicodincrutch]

There was an anonymous message. We have tried everything here, everything or so I thought. This message offered up an alternative. A sort of Clue arrangement with specific target. With instant life renewal and because this was on the last frontier it would be worth the attempt.

I thought a gas leak would be harmless except some asshole goes around with a weather balloon for a pet.

private;

[dr_conscience]

[There are just too many things there for him to figure out what he's most upset at. Give him a minute.]

So. You got on a boat, in the City, got an anonymous message telling you to kill someone, and you tried to go through with it. Because you thought maybe this would finally be the trick to getting home?

private;

[vicodincrutch]

[Dammit Wilson this is all upsetting. Already House is angry at himself for following through on an impulse but now he sees that he should have taken more time to privately process this.]

Yes. I was on the boat. The anonymous message was locked and encrypted. When did the Deities ever send something specialized?

[Try never but really though...]

I gave it a try because short of that, everything else has been attempted. If it worked, I would have left evidence or at least with enough people slowly popping out there would have been a trail.

[That he would deem reasonable to follow for Wilson. Cameron with help. Chase with a guided map as well as GPS.]

private;

[dr_conscience]

[Hey, he's holding back on the lecture for the moment. That's impressive - it takes a lot of restraint, but he is keeping in mind that House has already gotten much worse. He even follows, though the attempted murder doesn't exactly sit well with him.]

There's a first for everything.

[Like House trying to kill someone. He's really stuck on exactly how alarming that is already, and it's only barely started to hit him.]

If it worked, then you're probably right. People would have made the connection, for whatever good that would have done, tried to figure out how to follow those who had left...

[Which sounds potentially horrific.]