Work Text:
Adrian entered the containment unit to find the room covered in overgrown branches and leaves. It smelled viscerally of rot and decay, like stepping into the inside of a compost bin. In the centre stood Snow White's Apple, a tall feminine figure with a decaying apple for a head, facing away from the door. He had heard that at a point in time, it was just the apple, but after being left to rot and forgotten for so long it began to gain sentience and grow itself a body out of decayed branches, dying leaves, and rotting carcasses. It was a tragic tale, yet also utterly repulsive. Adrian had become used to the sight at this point, but the smell still wasn't all that pleasant
Snow White's Apple turned to face the presence that entered the containment unit. Adrian had come to figure out that it was completely blind, yet it still had an uncanny ability to sense anything that comes near it. "My prince? My prince? Are you here? When will you finally come and put an end to this wretched curse of mine?" It pleaded hopefully, sporting a higher pitched, soft, and cutesy voice. Adrian had heard them go through this same song and dance multiple times and knew it was all a ruse. Snow White's Apple liked to put on a front to convince newer or more easily manipulated employees into letting it escape. Acting as a defenceless princess like the women it so despises to gain the trust and adoration of its caretaker, only to warp that trust into allowing her to cause havoc. Adrian had seen countless of his coworkers fall victim to its manipulation. Instead of even acknowledging the woman-like figure in the containment unit, Adrian instead unsheathed his weapon and started cutting the many vines littering the unit.
While it cannot see directly, the familiar feeling of Adrian's weapon slashing its vines was enough to tip the Snow White's Apple off that its front hadn't worked. "Hmph, I thought they could have sent someone new today. Oh well, it was worth a shot." Its tone shifted drastically compared to when it last spoke, now speaking in a more deep and elegant voice, yet with a venomous undertone. There was no point maintaining its façade now that it knew who was in the containment unit with it, this wasn't the first time it was subject to this treatment.
"The only prince left for you now would be in your dreams, Apple. How many times are you gonna attempt that?" Adrian snapped back. While being explicitly rude to the abnormalities wasn't a requirement for repression work, he specifically couldn't stand the damn thing and thus didn't hold back. It had killed one too many of his colleagues for Adrian to even consider treating it with any sort of decency or courtesy.
"It would take a fool not to realize that by now, not a soul in the world exists for me." It was a wonder how Snow White's Apple could talk without the use of a mouth, but Adrian chalked that up as another mystery surrounding the abnormalities. It's not like he actually knew the intricacies of how they worked, he was just paid to work with them.
"Could you at the very least not cut the branches as short as-ow-...apparently not you swine." Snow White's Apple grumbled. Adrian explicitly ignored any request that the abnormality made as he shortened and cleared the vines covering the containment unit. It wasn't the most dignified use of E.G.O., but it was able to cut away the vines Snow White's Apple grew more efficiently than any conventional tools; a weapon that damages the very essence of life itself beats a rusty pair of garden shears any day. In any case, he knew that the unit would be completely covered again next time he came, but cutting them made sure they didn't spread outside of the unit.
"Be grateful it isn't your head, Apple." Was all Adrian retorted with before sheathing his weapon. He took a look around the containment unit for any he may have missed, and let out a small sigh of relief when he found none. Now that all of the overgrowth was dealt with, it was time for the abnormality itself.
"Oh please, do not tempt me with the prospect. If you have found a way to return me to the earth, do as you want, my greatest wish is to simply rot peacefully." Snow White's Apple's voice was laced with malice and a deep hatred that Adrian did not care to understand.
"Hah, that's even less probable than you finding your so-called prince. I'd personally be glad to see you go; but even if we did find a way to kill you permanently, do you think the corporation will ever let you die?" Adrian poked Snow White's Apple with the blunt of his weapon. "You're a pretty valuable source of energy, you know. The higher ups only seem to care about how much shit we're able to extract out of you, and you seem to have a mountain of shit to spare."
"Keep spouting such nonsense and I swear I will tear you apart!"
"Yeah, like you did the last several times? Do you want to know how that'll turn out? The same as every other time, with my weapon lodged in that head of yours."
"You lowly filth! You shall be buried beneath my vines soon enough!"
"Your threats don't scare me, Apple. That burning anger of yours is playing right into my hand, it fuels this damn corporation. We keep you alive because your hate never ends."
Repression work involved the eradication of an abnormality's wants and desires, including their perspective of mortality. One of Snow White's Apple's biggest wishes was to simply die, to finally rot away in peace after being cursed for so many moons, so an effective way to repress that desire is through continuous reminders of its immortality. To be denied one of the very few constants of any being's life, that being death, yet constantly reminded of what it could feel like, every time it decides it has had enough only served to heighten Snow White's Apple's jealousy and anger. Snow White's Apple hated it, it hated the vicious cycle that it had to endure daily, the exploitation of its own emotions for the purpose of a higher power it had no control over...yet...
...After going through it so many times by this point, it was starting to come to terms about its situation. Every time Adrian steps into this room, it feels the primal desire to lash out, and tear him limb from limb, before the realization that there was nothing it could do to change its situation came back to it again and again. "Yes...my unending hatred and anger towards that damn princess, this tyrannical corporation, and you. I know it is what you want, what you are tasked with extracting from me."
"And you're gonna take it all down with your own hands, yeah yeah. Stop repeating yourself and just shut up already-"
"Then what if I no longer gave you what you sought? What would you do then?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Time passes, worthless worm. You exploit me until you cannot exploit any longer. What if one day, my supposedly ceaseless hate and jealousy were to come to an end?"
Never had Snow White's Apple countered like this, and it caught Adrian off guard. It does bring up a valid point however; Adrian doesn't know the full extent of how the corporation even extracts energy from the abnormalities, only that their emotions are involved in some way. If the main motivation behind an abnormality's actions were to be suppressed or resolved, what use would they be to the corporation? He didn't know, the only things Adrian could focus on were the sudden sensation of pain and headache he had just felt, and the abnormality staring him down. He couldn't mess up now, nearing the end of the work timer.
"...That won't happen, so stop talking about it. You are one of the most aggressive motherfuckers we have." Adrian retorted.
Seemingly ignoring Adrian's words, Snow White's Apple continued. "Yes...one day. If I were to ever come to terms with my endless suffering, my existence that was thrust upon me against my will, perhaps you all would deem me unnecessary, and finally grant me the sweet release of my demise."
"...Even so, does that not sound worse to you?" Adrian perked up with a slight smirk.
"Are you slow? I have told you before, I wish to rot away completely, most of all."
"Then, what a shame it would be, to finally have that wish of yours granted only when you have come to terms with your own existence. Spending all of the effort, to finally make peace with your life, only to have it snatched away the moment you do."
"No! I will only be satisfied once I am granted my death! Don't you-"
"That's true now, but when you've finally taken the steps to achieve that satisfaction you crave so badly, I know you'll come to find you now crave something entirely different when it's too late. No matter what, we have you, your desires, and your entire being in the palm of our hand." Adrian looked Snow White's Apple dead in its eye holds, the two locked in an intense stare before Snow White's Apple almost huddled into itself, defeated.
"Curse you...I'll find a way to end this miserable corporation, and free myself from this endless torment."
"Yeah, yeah, keep dreaming. Until that point comes you'll be stuck here." The work timer sounds, signifying Adrian's allotted work time has come to an end. "Speaking of, I can't stand being in here a second longer. One thing's for sure, if I found a way to make you smell better I'd implement it in a heartbeat." After that final quip, Adrian hastily exits the containment unit, leaving Snow White's Apple to fester on his words and grow their vines until the cycle must be repeated once more.
