COGNITIVE-DISSONANCE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“… There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say …”Patina’s room<\/p>\n\n\n\n
, GITMO<\/p>\n\n\n\n
25 NOV 2019. 2100 ETC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina’s on her back, in her room, on the bed, music up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her smoothly shaved legs cross together against the wall, over the headrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her duck-lips, finger tips, and tippy toes rock along to the song’s guitar solo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her little mini cat, Tilcayo, pounces up and over her a few times. Hunting for cuddles, and nestles her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She purrs as Patina caresses her teeny-tiny chin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A honey-wax candle sets a dim and flickery mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long cast shadows dance to her flame along all four corners of the room and plafond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An entire wall of dead monitor screens reflect a hint of mischief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A copper lined memento mori chandelier hangs high up in the middle of the chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She made it herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smiling, she traces the glow-in-the-dark stickers of stars she also stuck to the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sings along melodically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Wake you up in the middle of the night, just to hear them saaaaaay”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She gracefully rolls her feet off the bed and sticks the landing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Puts on a spider-silk bathrobe to cover her skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gently picks up kitty for company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They sit together at the vanity desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She adds to her face product from an \u00fcber-expensive kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its logo reads, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Blend in. Be seen.” –By Emma Goldman tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She adds lipstick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And some blush blush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song plays,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She inserts a fluid cartridge to her needle pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It contains a blend of plant and animal neuro-paralyzing agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“….they stab it with the steely knives but they just-can’t-kill-the-beast.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She leans closer to the vanity mirror for a last-second touch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A smidge to one eye to balance the eye liner, maintaining her Cleopatra look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“…we are programmed to receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had asked gunny to meet her at the jacuzzi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With both his pants and the lights off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How she always likes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She leaves her cat behind the room door as she closes it, promising mommy will be back soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Puts a high tech night vision eye patch on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The music follows her out the room, and down the hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunny hears her come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feels her hands over his shoulders behind him in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He moans in relief, been waiting for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Glad he wasn’t stood up this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She asks him the usual as she warms him up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How’s the wife and kids? What toys did they wish for for Christmas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did he really think they were good this year and deserved it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He plays along, answers, how they could always do more, how his expectations are high, how he didn’t have the same privileges they have growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She goes from that topic and digs deeper into a more intimate area of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“How are you feeling? About the whole, Cassandro thing. Anything on your mind?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunny shakes his head, exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That guy’s crazy but… … He does something where…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess, it gets you thinking you know? What if.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who am I when it comes down to it? Do my actions line up with my words? If I’m only human, what does that mean, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…I don’t know… what about you? You coming in?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina giggles seductively, “Yeah baby, he got me thinking also. Give me a minute, gotta find the hanger for this robe, then we’ll be clear hot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunny imagines her smiling as she always does when she says that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s ready to connect with her, and disconnect from all these thoughts that have him feeling vulnerable, exhausted, and alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She’s been observing him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Knows that he hasn’t been playing his video games or going to the gym lately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the final straw, she tracked him using her wi-fi to look up “Parasocial relationships”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She removes her pen from her pocket and gives him a pinch with the needle behind his neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunny freezes in place. Can’t move. Can’t breathe. Can’t feel his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His thoughts and emotions are running on full revs, on a chassis with no transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina’s hands feel warm against his face as she pushes his head deeper underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He couldn’t move to resist, no reflex as the water made its way into his lungs, could not even show a semblance of fighting back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He thinks back on how he never had control, but did have a choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His last thoughts were of guys he waterboarded. At least they could fight back in their restraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was a good Marine. Staff NCO level. Followed orders. God and country. He wasn’t ready and. This. wasn’t. fair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina keeps his head down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because she was afraid he could still be alive, she could never be afraid of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More so, a part of her admires her work, while another part criticizes that he was never even a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She feels a bit of disappointment that he didn’t have that character trait she finds so enticing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it’s the only one she respects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…A moral compass, and a sense of direction…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satisfied, she removes her eye patch and turns on the lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washes her hands. Double checks her makeup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opens her phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her screen displays Cassandro adjusting himself in the interrogation room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reluctantly surrendering his hands to the table lock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina smiles, her evening date’s ready. Glad he’s not keeping her waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That would’ve annoyed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
briiiiiiing, bruuuumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The custom elevator ding sounds as its doors split open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina flips the light switch and adjusts her spider silk robe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her Hutterite goose down slippers keep her feet dry and toasty as she walks to Cassandro’s cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She admires the cave-man drawings on his wall as she helps herself to some of Cassandro’s lamb’s bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man with a spear is surrounded by 4 individuals with arrows aimed at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On another side, the paintings depict the spear person and the 4 archers chasing down what looks like a mammoth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She thinks, “Tr\u00e8s magnifique.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And puts a fat joint in her mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina joins her midnight date in the interrogation room, sitting across him on the table and a bit to the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Immediately across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She slips her right foot off its slipper and rests it on Cassandro’s chair, between his legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
lightly touching him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She asks for a light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shrugs his shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She unties his belt and loops it around his hands from his elbows to his wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She then helps herself to his bracelet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Took me a while to figure out that of course, your bracelet would be functional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m going to go so far and guess that the wood charm is some kind of poison…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pins the cloth strand down with the iron cross, and sparks the flint cross over it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as she expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fabric tip ignites, she lights her joint with it and shakes it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
inhales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And presses it to Cassandro’s lips for a drag as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both exhale at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I got you a gift.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She puts his Pikachu in his palm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Kept it alive for ya. It was quite the handful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who gave it to you by the way? Have I earned the chance to ask?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She keeps her legs closed and robe tucked-in while she speaks with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro smiles. Feeds the Pikachu. It does a digital happy dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He feels better being reconnected to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A girl. Long ago, when I was in a UN orphanage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She smiles. “There’s always a girl… I’m Patina by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She must’ve been really important. What did you learn from her?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“…That gods don’t give gifts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina’s intrigued. “What happened to her?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“While everyone else was watching Arthur the Aardvark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was rpd for the last time and buried by the management officer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She shakes her head, “…so evil… What did you do to them?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Made stilettos out of the jolly ranchers he used to give us in exchange for favors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swissed him with it, and ran away.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina, impressed, asks for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Oh my goodness. How old were you?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro solemnly admits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Must’ave looked around, 10 to 12…”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro is pressed by her finger tips to smoke more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His face is fixed on the pikachu. He gives it another digi-cookie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She shakes her head, “The sick things these men can do. Not even animals, cartoons, or morgues are safe from their disease…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…So… He who spies with wary eyes…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did you think of my animal collection?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She leans in and looks at his mouth as he speaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro tries to avoid her gaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Something wicked”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Oh!? What a strange thing to say. What did you see that makes you say that?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She combs his hair with her finger nails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A vampire queen in a kingdom of bloody cages, exploiting the nuances of domestication…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro shakes his head at her in disgust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“…you’re indulging in some sweet spot where zoochosis, money, and learned helplessness intersect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…I find it creepy and pathetic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She smiles. “So you saw my cute little capuchins with the grapes?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He adds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And also your macaws with the metal washers. They, also, don’t like your fkd up parasite games.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina is unphased. She’s excited to speak to someone who can actually understand what she does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My favorite are the wolves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The domesticated dogs don’t have initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wolf, on the other hand, keeps tackling the problem until it gets its results. Especially as a family. The hunters, always, outsmart their prey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess some of us are built to be apexes, like wolves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And others, are simply born to serve their roles as house pets. What do you think of that?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think you should’ve taken more intimate notes from your omnivores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You had a rat in a trap-cage. The rat outside of it ignored chocolate trying to free it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you going to let a rat have more empathy and pro-social responsibility than you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She splits another drag with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’ve both got a bloody past that got us to where we are today. We’re not that different. You’re not better than me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Using violence to defend against monsters like you is exactly what makes me better than you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The guns and knives aren’t the bad guys. It’s the psychos with the wrong superiorities… …in bath-robes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina rolls her eyes, nudges his inner thigh with her foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“…you’re fighting a hydra. Don’t you get it? If you can’t beat em, join em.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro looks to the dying flowers and healthy mimic vine next to it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Cut the heads. Seal the stumps. Go for the heart….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it’s a team effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re so apex, would it kill you to join the family friendly side?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She nods her head, sways her legs together on the table… …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I know about the golden rook.” She chuckles, “Can’t believe you sewed it to a boot sole. You’re looking for my little step-bro, Darvok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s been dying to play with you. He’s held back because I needed to check you out first… …which is over, by the way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She looks at him, admiringly,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I can see what he meant by how dangerous you were. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s your speed at…” She bites her lip at him, “inseminating the moral ego… but in the end–“<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She leans her shoulders together, and reasons,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“–Nobility like me exists, because the humans wish us into existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They want to feel like they can have the option of being us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If they didn’t, they would’ve already done something about it, right?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She mocks, “Pray tell, how does an \u00dcbermensch like you view people?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro sucks his teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As survivors… …with uncomfortable choices, beyond dilemmas. I guess what should be said is… …you don’t have to be anti-social bat-sht crazy Patina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can be the good kind of guano, the kind that fertilizes growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patina snorts, “That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me”, and laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her legs loosen and swing back and forth some more..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I uh… …hear what happened to one of your soul mates… She must have been quite the catch, to almost kill Darvok and all is quite something really…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…so, I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but. I knew a guy, and for all his faults and grandeur, one thing always stuck out to me about him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s the only guy I know who wouldn’t accept gravity as defined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He insisted that it’s not about objects and their mass attracting. Instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s that the space objects occupy, that very same space wants it all to collapse right back to its center. He explained it like a balloon. As you inflate, you can feel the outside pushing the space back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the inside pushing the outside in. And something about rotations momentum inertia… …He was a silly old coot, so many layers to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, that’s the only thing I can genuinely remember him by…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His name was Kupfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your communication got through to his social circle. Some nobody security guard did him in, with no regrets… “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wipes a tear off, “Congrats, you did it. You put the fear back in us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She swings her legs gently apart, slightly further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s been a while since she’s felt something real, and relishes the smell of irony and helplessness coming from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She fantasizes a connection between them that he can’t appreciate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Convinces herself that she owns him, and feeds off of his rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She reaches down and removes Cassandros prosthesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whispers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I guess what makes you so dangerous is what makes you so damn becoming” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looks him in his eyes as she plays with it between her fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cassandro looks away and stares at the parts of his cell visible past the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enraged. Emotionless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Repulsed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COGNITIVE-DISSONANCE “… There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say …”Patina’s room , GITMO 25 NOV 2019. 2100 ETC … .. . Patina’s on her back, in her room, on the bed, music up. Her smoothly shaved legs cross together against the wall, over the headrest. Her duck-lips, finger tips, and tippy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28757","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28758,"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28757\/revisions\/28758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tokitopia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}