Empty Nest (MK)

MKR

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 19, 2018
626
3
18
#21
The Getviewm silently watched the spectacle unfold when combat finally concluded she let out a hack, coughing as all the damage done to her physical body, every bit of electricity, finally made its presence known. She had the good grace to mute her microphone during this time, leaving the other unaware just how bad the situation she was in exactly was. Yet still more than aware enough to listen to the words.

"Morta..." She coughed to herself, bringing a sleeve up to her mouth to clean it. After that she finally activated the microphone once more. Now that she had recovered, mostly.
"I'm afraid you'll need to elaborate 'last' some more..." She swallowed the brick in her throat as she watched the Garberus on her cameras, instinctively she knew that wariness was required still, in spite of her life being saved. The childlike laughter of monsters usually meant that those children were just that.
She remembered, faintly, dying one time. Whether it was actually her mattered little at this point. It was like that was her there, being torn bit from bit and muscle from muscle.


"There... are more of 'me', or perhaps I am more of 'her'." Remedy elaborated "But I don't know if there should have been more, others that weren't... Her, me, us." Her eyes panned over the Garberus contemplating over the mention of 'Pa' "Ah... LEVIN." She paused at that remark herself, unsure where it came from but taking a soft glee in it regardless. It was like an old habit perhaps?

She paused for a moment.
"You'll have to understand however, it is hard for me to blindly trust you as one of my few memories... Well you were there, and I didn't survive it. At the same time however, I was also there when Duminass vanished even if my attention was mainly aimed at it." When not using one of a plethora of silly nicknames the tone Remedy took when referring to a certain brain was all but pleasant.

"And I also know, that if you wanted me dead you would have killed me. As such I am willing to believe you and I won't fight you, but if you want my trust... Then you'll have to answer my questions."
Her voice had been gentle so far, when not referring to a certain individual, but now there was a burning desire within it.
"First and foremost, just... who am 'I' and who is 'me'."
 

GEAR

Administrator
Staff member
Jun 15, 2018
1,165
1
18
#22
"Wherever we went, "You" would appear... Trying to protect the worlds we ravaged. It was like that... for a long time."

If Morta bore Remedy any ill will, it seemed to be muted. Rather, she seemed almost happy to be asked to do something semi-politely. The Garberus tilted its head back wistfully, as if mimicking the movements of its pilot as she let out a thoughtful sigh.

"But after a certain point... No more. It was as if you had just given up."

She shook her head, slowly. If this "doll" had been partly responsible for Decima's death, well... she wasn't about to begrudge her any kindness. Duminass... could never have been felled by one so small, so insignificant. That much she knew for certain, having witnessed the construct's powers firsthand.

"...Yes. It was right after that incident, one hundred years ago."

The Garberus moved over to the pile of debris that had once been the Custos, tilting a fragmented, bestial head with the tip of its foot, as though testing to ensure its demise was indeed final.

"These beasts... Were there as well." She said, quietly.

Something was... fizzling, almost, at the back of Remedy's mind. It was not unlike a record player's arm, trying to catch a slick surface so that it could belt out its tune, but instead it found only silence. There was a distinct sense, almost like white noise at the back of her skull. Something was supposed to be here, wedged between her memories. But, what?

"That was what P... Dark Brain told us." Said the Homonculus, once again correcting herself.

"He had a "doll" like you from long, long ago, before we were even created. One with blue hair, and red eyes... but, something happened to it after we tried putting Nona in there. That was why we had to come here, to L'Isola."

Here Morta paused, the Garberus looking questionably at the Getviewm as an uneasy silence settled in.

"You really don't remember, do you?"
 
Last edited:

MKR

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 19, 2018
626
3
18
#23
Tried, she didn't like that word- tried. It implied she didn't succeed. Perhaps not even once, but still 'she' hounded it and its cronies to the ends of the earth and further. She wondered how much woe she had caused it, given its reaction to her aboard the Tantra... Not enough. Or perhaps once there had been something beyond hostility there? She didn't know, couldn't a this point. Too little to go off, too little to recall.

Still, Morta continued and Remedy continued to listen. The sentence thereafter caused her to pause. "Given up?"

She wouldn't, would she? She didn't feel like 'she' would ever give up, but after an incident one hundred years ago? What happened then? In its aftermath... She could only bring forth one mental image. One which fused itself with the static ravaging her mind, the presence of a memory that had been but no longer was. Robbed of its presence whatever it was. And in its place...


This... Caused anger. A part of her had been taken, ripped out, she knew, knew, that was more than mere amnesia. It was sabotage! Who had done so, she did not know, or perhaps remember, but should she even know. There were bound to be choice words and more. Still, all the same in her mind Remedy continued to work at the puzzle even with one of its pieces in a woodchipper. The fragmented memories from before began to be pieced together, not in content but in a rough order.

Events replayed, reordered.

"A true event horizon. It's beautiful, isn't it?"


Next memory,

hearing the childish laughter of the monsters from the dark


Next.

Soft voices in a sunlit room.


Next!

"It's never too late."


NEXT!

This service is being discontinued. Please report for decommissioning.


And then.

Countless bodies drifted upward from her in a line.


This seemed the most likely order to her, still listening to Morta as the latter spoke.
A doll like her? Blue hair and red eyes...
Softly she muttered.
"Iris?"

She unscrambled her thoughts, focusing fully on the conversation once more. Silence reigned for a bit until Morta asked her question.
"I really don't." Finally came the answer "Memories come to 'me' in bursts, a spray of them struck me when I faced that brain in a jar but they were half formed at best, before that I had nothing but the memories after 'I' awoke." It was so hard keeping track of who of them was first when they all remembered the same.
"I never felt as alive as that moment, when I fought him and since then- I've been trying to put together what I can from the visions 'I' had then."

"Faint ideas, distrust. Seeing nothing. Being... stopped, halted, forevermore." Such a loose term forever, discontinued perhaps but here she was. Living in spite of it.

"The beasts... I want to remember them, but I can't. As much as my mind longs to remember there is only... Nothing."

"Morta please tell me, what was the incident a hundred years ago... What happened, what stopped me."
The request itself was almost teary eyed, sadness within.

Was it internal politics of that sunlit place that put an end to her? Was it the heat of that place?
Or perhaps the bodies built a tower of babel from being piled up so high- so far that they drowned out the sun itself.
 

GEAR

Administrator
Staff member
Jun 15, 2018
1,165
1
18
#24
"One hundred years ago, on the other side of this galaxy... There was a catastrophe."

Morta once more nodded along with Remedy's words. What was there to hide, at this point? Would destroying this woman before her soothe her need for vengeance? No. Something more was afoot, like the sensation of a pulse beneath her fingertips, gentle and subtle - but beat after pulsating beat, blood forcing its way through tired arteries from a heart that refused to die.

"It was not one wrought by our hands. It was the denizens of this world who caused it."

Her eyes narrowed. She could remember it, clear as day - all three of them, and Mama, sitting and watching the horror on the horizon unfolding. Of those wings being wrapped around their bodies, pulling them back into the protection of the darkness as the light grew to a fevered, blinding pitch. Of her words that day, how mankind deserved everything that happened to it.

"The destruction of the Crossgate."

The Garberus made its way back over to Remedy, Morta still evidently deep in thought.

"That was when we had first attempted to emerge into this world..." - She trailed off before continuing, eyes on the Getviewm, remembering how desperately they had thrown themselves at her and her "sisters" once they had emerged.

How pointless it all had been, for all of them.

"But... the ES Wave forced us back. We had to wait. It was... too dangerous. That was what Mama said."

Morta lapsed into silence. What Remedy said made sense. She too, knew how it felt to be cast aside. Perhaps there was yet a chance for them to find some sort of closure for their respective stories?

"That was your fall from grace, I think. Because you could not prevent it. Because you could not protect that child."

Yes. That particular memory was, for her, clear as day. The one around whom that entire bloody, violent day of reckoning had revolved around:

"...The Masyaf."
 

MKR

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 19, 2018
626
3
18
#25
Words passed by, entering. Staying inside, rummaging about. Her mouth was dry, she remained quiet as Morta spoke. A need to remember something that didn't exist, or rather for certain exists everywhere but one's memory. A question of why, why these memories had been taken from her.
The words, statements, shook through her entire being but could not rest elsewhere inside her. There was no place to soothe them as a distant truth, one not known by memory but by feeling knowing it to be true but trying so so desperately to deny its existence.

She sat in her pilot seat, her legs coiling up into a ball as she sat there. A the center of the Getviewm a woman holding in tears.
"The... Crossgate." She remarked, perhaps she had even failed. No- no perhaps. Even lacking the memory she knew she had failed then.
"A moment please." Remedy told Morta.

A hand moved to a keyboard, a screen opened up. Three faces all identical answered.
Two looked exactly like the one who sat in the Getviewm, a third was clothed differently.

She looked up to them, up to her. Her eyes reddened. She was talking only to herself now, Morta did not get to listen in to this.
"I've... Learned something." Remedy told Remedy. The ensuing discussion was short, there was no contention to claims as deep within, they all knew the same.

A plan was made, a path was forged.

Trust, was a hard thing to find. Which was why they were glad to have each other at all times. If nothing else, together she was fine.
An agreement between four of the same woman keeping in tears, they would not permit that same failure. From now on two were to guard the Masyaf. The two closest. They would not permit that same failure.
One was to continue her 'vacation' to uncover truth there, of that sunlit room and the face'd faceless whom had condemned her eyes as false for they could not bear the unknown truth beneath.

And one... The one here.
Outward communications opened. The woman's voice was clearer, tears swallowed.

"I didn't mean to keep you waiting this long." The Getviewm began motion once more moving closer to Garberus. "But- You've earned my trust. All the rest of 'me' agrees as well. And for that reason, I'll keep you safe. If need be you can think of me as your parole officer."
Even if they screamed at her to stop, she'd protect them. She wouldn't tolerate either of them dying.
Trust... There were very few she could Trust, even the Masyaf was only a faint recollection.
For the greater good, that's what her deaths always built towards, no? She'd just have to determine that good.

Such a weird thing, did she trust Morta. Yes, unconditionally however? No. She was no fool she wouldn't be played like a puppet looking for strings. Not by Morta, not by who had taken her memories. Not even by the Masyaf. She would keep them safe all of her would keep all of them safe- She wouldn't fail that again.
When she had put the pieces of herself back in place that would be when she made her final call.

Even if she had to build a tower of her own corpses... Or that of others.

"I can attest, travelling alone is no thing to do. So we'll keep each other safe. We've both fallen from grace, even if that 'grace' was something else. I... didn't have anyone to lean on and my memories were taken. There is no way I'm letting you go through part of that." From her suddenly insistent tone of voice it was clear, Morta would have little choice in the matter. If she ran off right now, Remedy likely would just pursue at a distance.
 

GEAR

Administrator
Staff member
Jun 15, 2018
1,165
1
18
#26
Morta listened with mild interest, cocking an eyebrow at the woman's strange bout of resolution. It was a refreshing change, she thought, from Decima - but there were still aspects of this... entity... that were reminiscent of her.

"Let's go, then." She said, sofly.

And then, she added privately, perhaps I can find the answers I've been searching for.

Her fingers tightened on the controls, and she closed her eyes. The vow she had sworn was still fresh in her mind. No more tears. Not ever.

Wait for me just a little longer, Mama.



Location: Unknown
Time: Unknown

1623923745006.png

"Well then..."

Within a dimly lit cockpit, a monitor crackled to life. Sound bars flickered back and forth, as a conversation began to play out, flecked with static, between two men.

"Was that the desired response? It seems a shame to lose the protoform in such a fashion."

"We already have the refined product. If anything, they did us a favor by disposing of that unstable garbage."

"So you anticipated this outcome?"

"Do you expect anything less?"

"...No. I suppose not."

"Good answer."

"...What's the next step?"

"Continue to monitor all communications. We're moving ahead to Phase Three."

"I hope you understand that it will be impossible to keep things under wraps much longer-"

"By the time they realize what's happening, we will already be beyond reproach."

"Even by the Masyaf?"

"Of course."

"Hnm."

There was a low, gravely chuckle, as the lights dimmed, plunging the monitors into darkness.

"Carry out your orders. Everything is proceeding according to plan."

Click.