week 4

[airlockedmods]

[Just like the previous week the status quo is restored with frighteningly quick efficiency. PAL still makes the morning and night time announcements through the PIP on each Champion's arm, and still the Champion unitards are freshly laundered and re-hung each morning in their closets. Even the glass roses Choromatsu and Takumi broke after the trial in their fit of anger have been replaced with fresh ones. All signs that there was anything amiss this weekend are completely gone.

There's a new floor to explore, their "reward" for a job well done.]

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday



[ooc: Don't forget to to turn in your AC for week 3, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Not a very clear answer is pretty par for the course from Heart when he gets interrupted while deep in garden thoughts, it seems.]

You and at least half the people here, I'm pretty sure. Saturday apparently took no prisoners.

[myocordial]

Hm. I suppose I should have seen this coming after I got off easy last time. [That memory had been pretty chill...] If this pattern holds then I'm sure there's much more for us all to remember, too. But...

[Well, right now this sucks a lot.]

I thought I didn't need to be concerned about the situation back home. That it was under control.

Now... I can't think about anything else.

[motherfucking_ghost]

A bunch of really important shit happened, left you on a cliffhanger, and now you're itching to go back so you can hop right in and fix whatever's going wrong?

Except, if the pattern holds like you said, then it's already way past, and you're just going to end up remembering the aftermath of whatever it is anyway?

So you're keyed up to go do something and get back there right now, but you also kinda realize this is like a stupid PAL ploy to make us more desperate, even though it hurts?

[myocordial]

...That is an excellent summary of it, yes.

[He lets out a deep breath. He's still steadying himself, this whole time, and he's... getting there. It's just all so raw now.]

There is something deeply frustrating about knowing you are being played and feeling yourself falling victim to it anyway.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Have a supportive hand on your arm, Heart.]

I understand that feeling exactly. When I woke up, there was nothing in this universe I wanted more than to get back home. I needed it. There's...there's just so much that's about to go wrong. That's going wrong. I just need to...do something, and I don't know what I'd even do. Whatever decisions I might remember next week, or the week after that, probably.

And it sucks that we have to just stand here and take it.

[myocordial]

A truly frustrating feeling. I wish none of us had to know what that's like.

[It's good that he's not alone in this feeling, at least. There's some comfort in that, even if only the slightest amount.]

My whole life I've done nothing but fight. It is... strange, not being able to do that. [But then, in that memory he couldn't really fight either.] ...I'm very worried about what memory might follow. I'd like to think that next week I'll wake up and realize everything was already resolved. But I'm not sure how likely that is.

[motherfucking_ghost]

I'm not much of an optimist myself. Because it...sucks to try and get hopes up only to have them dashed. [Like Friday.] So, yeah, probably not very likely.

[It'll get worse. That's what he told Ardyn. It'll be true for the fallen chosen king, but does it have to be true for everyone else?]

But we also have not a single god damn clue what'll happen. Especially when some people aren't remembering things chronologically. It's bits and pieces all over the place. So...maybe it'll all make sense and work itself out later, or maybe it'll get worse, and it sucks not knowing where to go from here.

[myocordial]

I usually don't... consider myself a pessimist. But in this case... [His fist clenches as he thinks back to the memory. Medic...] Someone very important to me was... reprogrammed. And I'm not sure it's actually possible to reverse that.

[Thinking about this doesn't help, not at all, but it's all he can do.]

Indeed. Just like with everything else here, we're only getting pieces of this puzzle. I know this memory was after the first and I don't believe it was that long after it either, but even so there are... parts missing. Questions that I have no answer for.

This was clear enough even so, but other memories could very well end up missing important context...

[motherfucking_ghost]

Makes it easier to jump to conclusions, to panic. Work ourselves up, lower our guard. Does your friend have maybe like a...backup to reboot from? Maybe they can just be reprogrammed back?

[myocordial]

No, backups aren't really... a thing for us. All that we are is stored into our core, there's nothing else. And... the one who reprogrammed her... It was our creator.

Arrogant as he is, he is still a genius. To undo his reprogramming would require someone who could match that genius.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Your creator dude is a massive bag of dicks. One can only hope he'll get what the fuck is coming to him.

[myocordial]

[That gets a wry smile out of him.]

You have no idea. Honestly... I wouldn't hesitate to call him the worst, most vile human I have ever encountered. [And considering some of the humans he's ran into back in Tokyo, that's... saying something.] I wish that I could be the one to give him the fate he deserves, but...

[...That's not happening.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

No? Why not? Sounds like it might as well be you, else someone else is gonna get the satisfaction.

[myocordial]

[He hesitates for a moment. Because this is... not something he feels particularly proud of.]

...At the moment the memory ended, I was... cooperating with him.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Aaaagainst a bigger, badder evil? I'm guessing? Because the whole enemy of my enemy is my friend and all, it's legit.

[myocordial]

No.

After he reprogrammed my friend, he... took over my position as leader. Hijacked our plans, started using my kind for his own purposes... [At that, he chuckles for a moment. It's a really hollow sound.] Pathetic, isn't it? Allowing the very person I rebelled against years ago to take over like that. Answering to him, even...

[motherfucking_ghost]

What, why the hell would you let him do that?!

[myocordial]

...It was my only option.

[That doesn't mean he feels good about it. Even if he's been backed in a corner, all he can feel is disgust at himself.]

He holds all the cards. Fighting him proved... ineffective. I couldn't stop him. [He feels himself getting more agitated as he speaks, so he... pauses. Takes a deep breath.] Don't misunderstand. If it were up to me, I would have reduced him to scrap. But as I'm unable to do that, all that remained was staying close to protect my friends... However I could.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Jesus.

You made the right call. No use throwing yourself against a wall if it won't do anything, and when your team needs you most. Still, it's just...damn.

It's really sounding like memories are getting worse. Anything happy get tempered with something definitely not good. I just...hope that's not actually the case and it's just some god awful coincidence.