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

[myocordial]

[The memory isn't at all like the one from the previous week. That had been a good memory, the final piece he needed to truly understand himself. And this... this almost begins similarly. It should be wonderful, this memory of Medic reaching her ultimate evolution. And for a moment? For a moment, she is beautiful and everything is well. But then...

"I made a few modifications."

But then...!

"I am an ultimate evolution as well."

That damned voice... It's been burned into his mind for so long. But this wasn't from long ago. This was fresh. The words of someone who should be long dead. And yet... There it was, clear as day. Medic's voice, in contrast, should be a comforting sound. And yet as it is in this memory, empty and repeating the same words over and over, all it does is make him feel empty. And compared to the other, it's barely even there.

Before he wakes... no, as he wakes... the memory of that voice brings another, older one to the surface. One no one could ever take from him or erase. It continues to echo in his mind, even after the new memory has already stopped.

"How was that?

Did it hurt?"

In room 9, Heart, fully awake now, stands up very quickly, breathing heavily and steadying himself by putting his hand against the wall. It was... not a pleasant awakening for him, from the look of it.

Even later, as Heart finds his way to the garden, he... doesn't look much better. It's easy for anyone to tell there's something off, as he's not at all as calm as usual. He'd hoped that being alone in here would help him collect himself, but far from it. His breathing isn't as steady as it should be and the look in his eyes seems both troubled and distant. His surroundings might as well not exist right now, for as much as he's paying attention to them. He's... not doing great today.]

room nein

[plugout]

[ Rhys, shockingly, had an okay dream. ... Alright, it involved him being shot at a lot and nearly dying in a literal death race, but at least he remembers a couple of... friends? Sure, let's go with that.

But he wakes up when he hears Heart breathing so hard. Rhys is on high alert now; Heart had helped him last week, so obviously, he wants to return the favor. ]

Heart--hey, you okay?

[myocordial]

[There's a brief moment where Heart just stands there. And the look in his eyes... It's the first time since he's gotten here, even after all the death, that Heart has looked afraid.

But Rhys speaking up does get his attention. It snaps him back to reality. He closes his eyes, taking a very deep breath. What he saw was real and it happened, but it's not happening now. He's god knows how far removed from all that, both in time and distance.

It doesn't help as much as he'd like, but at least he's not caught in the middle of bad memories anymore.]

...Yes. [No.] I'm... I saw some disquieting things, but I am fine.

[That'd be a more believable lie if he looked at all okay.]

[plugout]

[ He stares at him for a good few moments. Rhys isn't stupid, he knows when someone's bullshitting him. You can't bullshit a bullshitter, after all. A few weeks ago he maybe would've been way more tactless, but Heart doesn't need that at the moment.

Heart needs a friend. ]

I really don't believe that. [ He frowns. ] You definitely look like hell.

[ He pauses. ]

What'd you remember?

[myocordial]

[Usually, being told he looks like hell would get an amused reaction out of him. Right now there's just nothing. Just the knowledge that Rhys can obviously see through his sorry attempt at deflection, because he's not an idiot.

He opens his eyes again, looking at Rhys.]

It was... [God. Where does he even start?] Someone... Someone I thought was dead... apparently is still around after all.

[plugout]

[ ... wow. Okay, Rhys knows how that goes. Judging from the reaction, it's... it's bad. Rhys has always thought of Heart as one of the most put-together of them, and to see that fall apart a little? It's jarring.

And it shows just how human Heart is. ]

Wow. Alright. Uh... An enemy? Or... someone close to you?

[myocordial]

The former. Definitely the former.

My creator. Tenjuro Banno...

[It's amazing how much feeling someone can put in simply saying someone's name. But the way Heart says it, as if it's poison... It's pure hatred, plain and simple.

Dislikes: Banno.

It seems like one hell of an understatement.]

[plugout]

Oh.

Holy shit.

[ Even holy shit seems like an understatement. ]

Was he... you know, in a body?

[ And not an AI, is what he's really asking. ]

[myocordial]

[Ha ha, yeah, about that...]

Not... precisely. His own body is definitely dead, I'm very sure about that. [Spoken with the confidence of someone who has definitely confirmed this personally.] No. No, I should have... anticipated this. Arrogant as he was-- is... he is a genius... Of course he would have something in mind for...

[But he's rambling now. Not that Heart is always great about giving proper context for everything, but this is a whole different level. At least as he trails off he remembers that Rhys, you know, asked him a question and all.]

...He... uploaded his consciousness.

[So. Yeah. Definitely an AI.]

[plugout]

... Jesus.

[ Dead boss. Dead creator. Both returned in the form of artificial intelligence... shit. Rhys takes in a deep breath, reminded intensely of his own experience. ]

Always... one step ahead, right? [ A nervous, shaky laugh. ] I hope you kicked his ass. In-- in some way.

[myocordial]

I would have. I wanted to.

[He tried. Going after him had been the first thing he tried to do.]

...But he has... leverage. He reprogrammed one of my dearest friends. Turned her against me. There was nothing I could do.

[And that's the most frustrating part. Banno came back into his life, took away his allies, and Heart was helpless to stop it. After all he did to be free of that man.]

[plugout]

[ Okay.

Whoa. That's a lot, a lot. Jack had never done anything like that... or, he thinks. He hopes. Turning your friends against you?

He wonders if that was done out of revenge for Heart going against what he was supposed to be. ]

Did... did you, you know... somehow re-reprogram her?

[myocordial]

I wouldn't even know where to start. Even if I did, with him controlling her like he is, there's no way I could even try anything in the first place.

[That's how you win, isn't it? Not by having all the cards, but by taking them from everyone else.]

...I don't know what else transpired after the memory ended. But I do know that at the end of it, he was in complete control. The one thing I could do was prevent him from taking even more power.

So I sent away my other closest ally.

[One close friend brainwashed. Another on the run, instructed to stay far away. And here Heart thought he was alone here, as the only one of his kind in a group of mainly humans. It seems so foolish now.]

garden

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Ever since he noticed the little memorial space, he'd been meaning to come back. Falcon was a bro. He deserved better than what he got. So did Mai, and Mikaela. Even Lee. He still can't, for the moment, distance the thought of her from the sound of her blood splattering across the glass.

Maybe he'll go to the corpse room, too, eventually, but this is safer, and--he has to make a stop first. The memorial won't vanish if he stops, because Heart is here, and...does not look good.

Church is starting to get okay at approaching people who are clearly not okay. Be glad he doesn't lay any hands on you, Heart.]

Hey. What's going on?

[myocordial]

[Heart is a very different type of quiet than usual right now. Not calm, but all tense. Really, the only reason it takes a bit for him to answer is so he can collect himself a little more first.]

...Much more than I thought, it seems. [Not a very clear answer, but he has to... figure out how to put this.] I remembered something... very troubling.

[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.