Week 5

[airlockedmods]

[As with the weeks before, life in the Fantasy Sweet returns to something resembling normalcy with shocking efficiency. The second floor rest area and Adventure Zone Death Orb Room are spotless again, the demon glitter has been vacuumed, the deflated orbs have been replaced. It's like none of it ever happened, like three more friends aren't dead and stored away in the guest house morgue.

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 activity for week 4, submit your memory regains and put in your threads for the Benefactors!]

Comments

[myocordial]

That sort of life... No one would do well. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been.

...No one could blame you for trying to be free of such a life. Least of all me. [Honestly, in a way he can relate.] As I said. I don't think you were in a position to refuse.

[Which still might not make this easier for her, of course.]

...What would have happened, if you had?

[brokencode]

[She couldn't say with certainty, but the control core was more just a way of keeping her powers in check. There was plenty there that could be used against her.]

I... don't know. But Jack eventually developed a tool to keep people like myself, sirens, under control. Do you remember that collar I wore?

[myocordial]

...Yes, I do.

[It was difficult to miss.]

Did he... use that on you?

[brokencode]

Not yet. But it was... designed to keep another siren under control. The threat is enough. Especially when he has other ways of getting me to listen.

[myocordial]

You had reasons to fear it could happen. You had... plenty of reasons to fear him...

[ Geez, Angel... :( ]

Fear can be very powerful.

[brokencode]

I still... [She let out a breath.] If I do not hold myself accountable for their deaths, who will?

[myocordial]

I still say that the one who orchestrated the whole thing is the one who should be held accountable.

However, I imagine nothing I say can stop it from weighing so heavily on you. Especially not so soon after you received that memory. The wound is still fresh. [He frowns, just... looking at her very gently.] It's only natural for a good person to feel guilt over this.

Still, I hope eventually you can trust your friends' view on this.

[Plural, because he's sure the others will feel similarly.]

[brokencode]

I... hope so.

[The doubt was clear on her face all the same. She couldn't imagine how the others would feel the same. Surely they would be a touch more reasonable, would condemn her for what she had done.]

I do not agree with you, and I have made that clear. However... I appreciate your understanding, nonetheless.

[myocordial]

Of course. Your feelings on this matter are your own. Whether or not you change your mind is entirely up to you. And so is whatever you decide to do with these feelings.

[Agree to disagree. He's not one for forcing someone to see things his way.]

I happen to know a thing or two about being used. And how complicated it makes things.

[brokencode]

I am... sorry you know this feeling. Regardless of how I feel about what I did... no one deserves to be in my shoes. I know that much...

[She reached out, offering a hand to the man.]

If you would like to talk about it... I am here to listen. I owe you that.

[myocordial]

[He looks up at her. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that she would turn around and offer to listen, just as he had just done for her, but in some ways he still feels a little... far away. He still seems distracted even as he takes her hand.

The most recent memories have been rough for just about everyone.]

...I think... we can both relate to feeling disappointed in those who created us. [Just like Angel, he avoids using the word "father", no matter how accurate it would be.] From the way you describe it, you were... essentially treated as a tool, yes?

[brokencode]

[Her thumb swept over the back of his hand, and a small, sad breath escaped her]

You are correct, yes. [A concept that still hurt to admit outloud.] Did the same happen to you, then?

[myocordial]

Hm. My creator has never really seen me, or anyone else of my kind, as a person. We were only ever meant to be tools, from the very start. It's the whole reason I even have this form. [He looks down at his hand for a moment.] The very first of my kind to have a human form. Hah...

[...]

But more recently, he used me and some of my closest friends to become more powerful...

[brokencode]

I remember you talking about this... [Pieces of it, at least. He did not, however, mention anything his creator using his friends. This had to be a new piece of the puzzle of their memories.]

What... did he do, exactly?

[myocordial]

...

[What did he do... The more Heart finds out, the more it seems the real question is what Banno didn't do.]

I thought that... he was dead. Actually, I killed him myself, not long ago. But he had uploaded himself. And so he returned. When he did, he... removed me from my position, making himself the new leader of our kind. But that isn't something he could have done on his own, so...

He reprogrammed someone very close to me. Medic. Turned her into a... mindless servant.

[brokencode]

Like an A.I.?

[Both what Rhys told her earlier, as well as what he had revealed weeks ago stuck out. Why was this such a common tie between the people in this place? Why was it always A.I.?]

Your friend... were you able to help her?

[myocordial]

Yes. His old partner did the same thing. Created the method, actually. I should have... anticipated that my creator would follow suit.

[He should have seen it coming. Destroyed that damn tablet that housed Banno before any of this could happen.]

...I could not. Something like that was beyond me. All I could do was stay near her. [Not entirely willingly. It's complicated.] It only makes sense to reprogram her instead of someone else, really. It provided my creator with leverage over me. And more importantly, she is... the only Roidmude with the ability to heal. I... We... needed her.

[Take her away and all Roidmudes become weaker.]

...But he had another reason for needing her.

[brokencode]

[Angel chewed on her lip, mulling over his words. Breaking control like that wouldn't be easy, but maybe if she could get there... She had at least some experience with hacking, and if nothing else, her technopathy had its uses, didn't it?]

Maybe when we get out of here... [But she trailed off, listening to the last of what Heart had to say.]

What reason is that?

[myocordial]

[He doesn't say anything to the first part. As for the second part...]

Among us Roidmudes, there are those who have managed to evolve further than anyone else. Those who have reached their Ultimate Evolution. For his plans, my creator needed four of these Ultimate Evolutions.

Because of the nature of what he is, he himself counted as an Ultimate Evolution. Then there's me. And then Medic.

[Three out of four. Almost all of the promised number.]

...All he needed was one more.

[brokencode]

[Angel grimaced. They were so close, to what she didn't know. Judging by Heart's demeanor, though, it wasn't good. Especially if it was someone he felt so negatively towards.]

Do you know who, or where, the fourth is? [A pause.] And what is it that he needs them for, anyway?

[myocordial]

It's... When all four reach a specific place at a specific time, apparently it would grant the power to create a Global Freeze. [A term he hasn't mentioned to anyone before...] ...Stopping time entirely, for ordinary humans.

[So. Nothing good, indeed.]

The fourth is actually the first of any of us to reach that level of evolution. Brain. [There's a moment, right after Heart says the same, where he averts his eyes from Angel. It doesn't seem like a conscious act, but almost as if he drifts away briefly.] ...My first friend. He and Medic are my closest friends, out of everyone.

...When I realized what my creator... Banno... what he was planning... I realized that all I could do to fight back was to prevent him from gathering all of us. I ordered Brain to disappear. To stay away at all costs, lest we give Banno exactly what he wanted.

[...]

He listened... at first.

[brokencode]

[It was a little hard to fathom, the concept of stopping time. There was the unbelievability of it, for starters. But also... what good would it do, to stop time for humans? Other than removing them from the picture entirely.

Could that be it then?]

You said at first. I am... guessing he came back at some point.

[myocordial]

Yes. He showed up, suddenly, saying that he had changed his mind. That he wished to join Banno... Submit to him. After everything we'd done to fight him...

[It had hurt. A betrayal like that, from his closest friend. It may have been the most alone he'd ever felt, right then and there, in that room.]

...It was the last thing the plan needed. I... the exact sequence of events is difficult to describe. But the process of combining our powers together was engineered to destroy Medic. And she...

She almost...

[Almost...]

[brokencode]

She almost...?

[She willed his answer to be something positive. 'She almost died but... she got away.' The more memories she learned about, the more she learned that her friends were losing those she cared about. She wallowed in her own misery, but at the end of the day, what happened to her was her own doing.

Watching friends and loved ones die? That was entirely different.]

What happened, Heart?

[myocordial]

[It's harder than he expected, talking about this. Maybe... because actually putting it into words, discussing it, makes it real. It means he's admitting that this happened, that he can't just pretend it was all a bad dream.]

...One thing you should know about my friend Brain. Just like his name implies, he's a genius. As it turns out he never betrayed me after all. And somehow he managed to... to reverse what Banno had done to Medic. Restoring her free will. And... pulling all the power that was being forced into her... into himself instead.

["Quite the last minute assist, wasn't it?"]

He saved her life... at the cost of his own.