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[Wesker has been working from home today; it's mostly just data entry whatnot, nothing that he explicitly needs to be in the labs for, and besides, he's got his personal projects to keep him occupied if he's too bored. However, he isn't going to be completely preoccupied to the point of not keeping track of the time; he can be found in the study this evening, whenever Jaeger gets home. He's going through notes again, but he doesn't seem unwilling to talk; if anything, he sort of wants to today.

He isn't sure how well the conversation is going to go, granted, but he seems calm enough. Just sorting through things is all.]

[Jaeger returns home at the usual time, making his way to the study almost immediately. He's not surprised to find Wesker there, and he's quick to take his usual seat with a smile.]

Good evening! How has your day been?

Slightly dull, but that's still nothing to complain about after the past month. If anything, it's been nice to be bored.

[Seriously...]

And yours...?

Same here, but I agree; it's nice to be able to settle back into my usual work! If the most I have to complain about is a little boredom, then I think I'm doing just fine.

My thoughts exactly - it's good to know that everything is going well for you. Although...

[He'll shuffle through his notes a bit more before closing them up for the time being.]

Do you mind if I talk to you about a few things...? It's nothing new that I've remembered, and it's not as though it's anything pressing. But you did want me to try to speak to you about important things, and things that have been on my mind.

[Oh, that's...!]

Of course I don't mind. What is it that's been troubling you?

I wouldn't say it's been troubling me, per se. I just realized somewhat recently that I haven't told you much regarding the corporation - where I came from, and what it was like there.

It's something that's become rather important to me lately.

Ja, you haven't told me very much about it. I'm glad it's not something that's been troubling you. What was it like, though?

...When I was seventeen, I was introduced to Birkin at one of the offsite laboratories belonging to the Umbrella Corporation. I don't recall where it was, or much about it - simply that I met him then, and we were told that we were to be friends, and after that we were. That seems to have been how a good amount of our relationships were back then - all controlled and orchestrated by Umbrella, by way of restricting our access to other people that we could conceivably become close to.

Shortly after that, after I had turned eighteen, we were moved to a training facility of some sort. The compound was in the middle of the woods, in the mountains; it was too far outside of civilization and the terrain was entirely too unforgiving for us to walk back. There weren't any proper roads, either, so there were only two ways to get to it - by helicopter or by train. I believe Umbrella controlled both, and it took hours either way to get back to the city - basically, once we were there, we couldn't leave.

Containment was...very important to them. I was there for at least eleven years, possibly longer.

[He listens to all of that quietly. It really does sound like a terrible way to live...]

It sounds awful. Do you know why they wanted to keep you contained like that?

...From what I can tell, it was a bioterrorist organization. We were creating weaponry; I assume it wouldn't be good for the corporation if we were in a position to talk to outsiders until they knew that we would rather die than say anything of value.

[...]

I also suspected at the time that it was to keep any potential outbreaks contained to the compound. If something unfortunate happened, we would all die, but it wouldn't be a great loss to Umbrella overall. Birkin thought I was being paranoid when I tried to mention that to him, but I'm still fairly convinced that was at least part of the reason.

That makes sense.

[He doesn't like it, but it makes sense.]

I doubt you were being paranoid. If the only way in or out was by helicopter or by train, then presumably any outbreaks wouldn't make it back to civilization. Or at least, not easily. Still... It doesn't really sit right with me.

But you eventually decided to leave, ja? Even though Birkin wouldn't come with you.

...I know I left for good at the age of 38.

[So, about as old as he is now. A bit younger, maybe. Who knows.]

I assume I was outside of the compound for a while before that - I was a member of S.T.A.R.S. for a while; I found that woman that I told you about, the one I had the relationship with. But I don't know the intervals at which any of that happened.

I don't know if Birkin was with me then, after I was allowed to leave, or if he stayed there. I know he didn't meet his wife on the outside - she lived there with us, her name was Annette. I don't know if Umbrella introduced them or not, but I believe she was moved onto our research team at one point, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was an attempt on their part. His daughter was born there, as well.

[...]

There was a good amount of backstabbing in the compound. Birkin and I killed someone to steal his research; given that we had the entire security team there with us as we did it, I'd assume that was a fairly common occurrence. We also...

[...This is where he trails off a bit, trying to work out exactly how much he wants to proceed.]

There was also a lot of human experimentation that happened there. Things that make what happened to Excella seem merciful, by comparison.

[This entire thing sounds like a goddamn disaster, but he'll keep that thought to himself.]

I see. Was that a fairly common occurrence too? I have a hard time imagining exactly what you went through, but... it sounds terrible.

[He was with them for so long, too...]

...I know I used my supervisors as basis for my experiments a few times. I saw nothing wrong with it at the time; they were just another resource to me. Birkin assisted me with it on more than one occasion.

[...Yeah.]

There was also a creature there, some horribly mutated thing, that wouldn't die. I'm not sure why. Either way, she had been there for quite some time already - she was there well before we were. We did...horrible things to her, things that would have killed a human being several times over. But she just wouldn't die. I remember introducing parasites to her system once that had killed every other test subject we'd tried them on, and she just...absorbed them.

I tried killing her a few times; I shot her, I...used explosive devices on her. She still remained alive. She hated me, but I didn't care. She was mine to do whatever I wanted with; I had fun with her. We kept her in the basement.

[...]

Her name was Lisa. We were...fairly certain she was human once.

[Jaeger nods a bit at that, but it takes him a lot longer than he would like to find words.]

...I don't really know what to say to something like that.

[Well, at least he's honest...??]

I do think it was terrible that you were trapped there, and from the sound of it the corporation was... incredibly messed up. But...

[He's not sure how to continue, so instead he trails off and shakes his head.]

...I know.

[He wouldn't know what to say to something like that either, honestly.]

Spencer was one of those in charge of Umbrella. Everything he did to me was part of it as well.

It doesn't excuse anything I did back then and it doesn't make it any more deserving of forgiveness. But just the same, knowing what things were like then... I can't say that I don't understand why it happened, at least to some extent.

[Why he hated people, why he saw nothing wrong with using them. Why he thought they were only good for harming each other. Why he couldn't trust anyone.]

...I think I can understand as well.

[It certainly doesn't make it okay, but Wesker knows that better than anyone. Being used like that, trained to become exactly what Spencer wanted... it really isn't all that hard to believe that Wesker could turn into a person who hated humanity.]

Thank you for telling me. I feel like I understand what you went through a little more now.

[It's still difficult to know what to say, but he does appreciate the effort that this must have taken. It can't be easy to talk about it.]

...It's why I can't hate my past life anymore.

[It's quiet, when he says it.]

I still hate everything I did, but...

I think that's understandable. Your actions were terrible... but you had been through so much. I don't blame you for that.

[Besides, Wesker is closer to it than anyone else ever could be. Of course he feels like this. Jaeger isn't surprised to hear it.]

...I was also a terrible person then; everything that happened with Lisa was more than enough to prove that. You saw her, I believe, in October. She was in the old man's mansion, near the front entrance - the chandelier...

[You know, the one that had been dropped somehow, the one crushing some inhuman abomination.]

That was how I left her. I brought it down on her and left her to die. It was one of my earlier memories.

Oh...

[Yes, he remembers that. That's...]

I'm sorry you've had to remember things like that. Your actions were terrible, but...

[He hesitates for a moment before forcing himself to press forward.]

But I think at least part of it is understandable. I didn't realize the extent of it.

[After a moment he holds a hand out to see if Wesker will take it. Wesker probably doesn't need it as badly as he does, but he's attempting to be comforting.]

[He'll accept it with only brief hesitation this time; he doesn't need the comfort, but he can tell what Jaeger is trying to do and he suspects that even if he doesn't need it, Jaeger does.]

...Are you all right? I'm fine discussing it, but I know it can be a bit much.

[Thanks, he appreciates it...]

I'm okay. It is a bit much, but I can handle it.

[He doesn't seem to be too badly off, even if his grip is a bit tight.]

You really did go through so much... It's a lot to take in.

It is. However, in a way I'm grateful to know; it's good to have an explanation for all of that, even if it doesn't excuse anything that happened as a result.

03/07

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