3.3 - Rainbow Sea
You're walking to the landship, when you suddenly hear a voice. A warm voice. Like the sun. You recognize the voice. She's been silent for some time. It's not good news that she's returning to your head.
Abel, where are you?
…silence on his side. It seems that he's still not ready to face her.
"...good morning, Sieg."
She does not get to call you that.
"Ah. You're so sad, like this. Barely keeping the facade. You shatter, you break, and than you leap into the fold again, without even bothering to put your body back together."
You have no patience for this sort of amateur psychology student horseshit. You take a deep breath, and you simply… tune her out, like you did so many times before. Hear that? That's the sound of something utterly meaningless. The words that should be aimed at your heart simply pass through without touching anything. Empty lies and hollow promises, all of it. You tune out everything, and simply walk back to your room in complete silence.
You walk through the corridors.
You walk through Rhodes Island.
You open the door and step into the communal dormitory.
…hm.
It's a huge place, this landship.
You take a look around the empty dormitory- no, not empty. There's someone sitting in a bed, someone with prosthetic legs. A blue haired girl, whose animal parts… well, you're not sure of what animal she's supposed to be, but the legs- she's cleaning one of them.
Uh, they kind of remind you of Lech, with the energy lines running through the surface, around the knee… you didn't know that this place had this sort of prosthetics- you didn't see any in Lungmen. Maybe they're just rare. You mentally shrug and look below the bed you were assigned. It's nothing important, really.
Your bags are there. You start looking for a shirt and a clean pair of pants… here.
"I presume she attempted to speak to you again." says Abel.
Yeah, and the ever-dapper, ever-rational and calm "Manager" ended up running away, like always. Come on. What's the issue here? Why can't Abel even speak to her?
"You would not know."
…what really was Carmen to him?
"Carmen was everything. Do you think… I attempt to flee because I want to? No. Never. Carmen… When she was gone, I truly and utterly believed all was lost. It was the last straw. "
There is a moment of silence.
"Before she died, we had reached a roadblock. No matter what we tried, all the equations pointed towards the same conclusion. It was simply not possible to push forwards in the Cogito problem. There was one solution, but it was unthinkable. But we held on to hope."
…you attached everything to her. You used
""We've got Carmen with us- surely we can break through this." That was what we believed. "With Carmen, we can reach a solution." We could not even fathom the idea of continuing without her. The tests say that Carmen is the fittest candidate to produce Cogito… but that cannot be possible. There must be another way."
Was there?
"There was not."
Another moment of silence.
"...I am still that person. Who held onto Carmen until the bitter end, who spat on her soul and desecrated her body. Everything I did was in the name of her dream, and in the end, that dream was not enough for me to cross that threshold. I am still that man. I cannot stand against her…"
You stood against her.
Abel did the same.
"...ha. I am no hero, Steel Determination. I lack your inner strength."
Does he?
"Have you not seen? When she looks my way, I flinch. When her voice calls, I struggle to not answer. She was everything to me. Even if I know that the voice in the Light is nothing but a pale shadow, a mockery of her- Carmen was still my love."
Love hurts.
"It very much does. I cannot… I cannot stand it. I hide away in the recesses of the human mind. Trying to stand there, trying to stand stalwart when that voice I know so well calls for me… it is simply not possible…" he says. "I am no different from Abram. I simply pretend to be someone else… the mask of rationality that is nothing but a falsehood. When she was gone, I was annihilated. And I cannot be repaired."
But that is simply not true.
"...?"
You are on the road to stand against her. If he wanted to follow Carmen's advice, he could. If he wanted to follow her, he could.
Abel is better than he thinks he is. You stood against Abram, and he took part in the combat. You could not have gotten this far without him. The advice on the Dreaming Current, the truth about Lobotomy Corporation- Abel is a vital part of this war.
If it would not be an issue… you would be honored to call him a friend.
You ask the voice in your head. Would he join the Turbulence Office? It's a bit cheesy, but.
Abel chuckles.
"If you would take this old man… Truly, I am no better than that fool of a shark. I accept."
…well, now that's done with, you have to actually get to the shuttle, it's almost time. You'll get to read the books of Abram and the Dreaming Current on the road, so it's not that bad.
Really, you literally just asked for your things and they gave out the books.
You didn't think it would be this easy, but that seems to be a running theme with this world. It's just… simpler, you suppose. For you. Things have been remarkably straightforward, and your jobs haven't been too complicated. Beat up some Syndicate goons, smash a Distortion to pieces, kill some ugly fish or another.
You kind of like it, all in all.
The parents had long deserted the child. They said the old infection would kill the child before two years passed. The researchers were the child's new parents. He learned to coo and walk. Although unable to talk properly, the child liked the ocean. Instead of visiting the ocean, the child was given candy which let him see the ocean. Many colorful nights and days passed.
…it's an interesting book, this one, for sure.
The child, who was thought to die within 2 years, managed to live for a long time. As always, he liked sweet candy, followed them, and loved the place as his home.
You pass the page, and are greeted by the illustration- done with colored pencils- of a figure in a labcoat, carrying the child on their shoulders. Like every other image of them in the book, the child's face is covered by a rainbow.
Though the only thing the child could do was run around inside a cramped lab instead of a grass field under the sun, his steps were shaky but filled with enthusiasm. Excited about what kind of candy he would eat tomorrow.
More drawings- this time, the crayon images that a child would make- feature in this page. Drawings made by someone who was simply having fun, trying to draw a piece of candy by simply sketching balls and triangles together. In the middle of the candy, the shark.
It's a grotesque creature. Those wide mouths with many rows of teeth, rainbow colored tongues sticking out of them, the eyes that drip black liquid, the syringe painfully lodged in a side of its body, and the bloody marks and wounds around its back. It reminds you intensely of Abram's synchronization, and it's every bit as ugly.
And just as everyone wished for, the child- The Dreaming Current- can live here forever.
Well, that's the end of it.
Hm.
It's kind of interesting, with all the shark facts, but the book doesn't have much actual information. The pictures were well-drawn- you especially liked the one with the kid in the bed blowing bubbles- it's a cute one. But it's a children's book though and though.
It doesn't explain why. Why did the kid turn into the shark? What does it mean? How did it even happen? Do infection patients just end up doing that? Was there a possibility that every time you passed by hospital, a shark would leap out and lunge at you?
"The story doesn't explain much, yes." said Abel. "The Dreaming Current was created in our laboratories, through the usage of Cogito."
Was that after or before Carmen?
"After. We had already mutilated her body by that stage, and the temporal loop had been engaged. The Current's extraction was overseen by the Sephirah of the Extraction Department- Binah?"
…Binah? The Arbiter?
Figures. What was an Arbiter doing at Lobotomy Corporation, anyway? You'd think they wouldn't lower themselves to the position of Wing lackeys.
"...that is a story for another time. But I assure you that it was not by her choice."
Well, you don't care. Fuck her. Fuck the Arbiter and fuck the Head.
"Uh… what are you reading?" says the girl in the shuttle.
…right, the Sarkaz you're supposed to be bodyguarding as she takes a trip through the city's Infected areas. Hibiscus. An Infected herself, tending to the Infected as part of the mission of Rhodes Island.
"I don't really know. It's called "The Book of the Dreaming Current." I found it during my trip to Iberia. It looks like a children's book, and I got a bit curious about what was inside."
It's not a lie, technically. You really have no idea what these books are or how the Pale Librarian shoves those abominations of nature inside them- wait.
If the Current was made in a lab, what was the story about? Was it a lie?
"No, no. The child did exist. According to my sources, they were a patient inside one of Nest L's medical research institutions, a company associated with Lobotomy Corporation. Even after the parents stopped paying for their care, the scientists continued to take care of the child. They even paid for the medicine necessary for the child out of their own pockets. Eventually, when their body finally began to give out, it was discovered that the child possessed a high rate of Cogito compatibility. They were then taken to our facility and the Current was created."
So the L-Corp method of energy production was literally powered by child sacrifice?
"...that is correct."
That feels gruesome but frankly you can't bring yourself to be outraged.
"Can I read it?" asks Hibiscus, putting the piece of paper she was writing on away.
It's not like she can access the power within, nor is it extremely personal like the information contained within Abram's book.
Wait, she can't, right?
"I locked the book the second you placed your hands in it. Give it to her- it will look somewhat suspicious if you deny something so harmless. It is currently under my control. It is not an issue."
You give the book to her and take a look at Abram's book. It's probably going to be depressing, so you won't open it now. It already looks sad, with the photograph of those two doors. You feel sadder just by placing your hand on those pages.
The purple-haired girl opens the book and starts reading. You just wait. Nothing seems to happen- her eyes don't bleed black, her tongue doesn't shift into some sort of rainbow rope, and she doesn't charge madly at you. It's good to know that the book is not contagious, at least, though-
"Light."
What?
"The book is a source of Light. As she reads it, she suffuses herself in Light… I did not anticipate this. She is far too stable to listen to Carmen's voice, and I don't see someone like her Distorting or attaining E.G.O. But as you see, I do not know much about her."
So the books can spread Light around? That's plenty dangerous.
What would happen if you destroyed the Book of the Current?
"The creature would be released."
And it would charge immediately, right?
"...I am not… not sure. The Current was created and then immediately placed in Deterrence. In that state, it's one of the most docile Abnormalities in existence- it's nearly impossible to trigger a breach in normal conditions."
Why did it go berserk whenever it took control of Abram's body, then?
"Again- I am not very sure on its properties outside of Deterrence. It might have felt threatened."
So burning the book is out of the question. How would you harness it, then?
"Ah, that part is more… instinctual? Angela actively guided Librarians in the usage of Abnormality Pages. I will assist you in a similar regard. Based on my study of the book's Light Frequency, I might be able to grant you some limited effects."
A middleman, then?
"Indeed. To put it simply, I can deploy a large-scale disabling field that would reduce all enemies' speed, grant a considerable increase in your own speed, or materialize candy that could grant beneficial effects. What these effects are, however, is beyond my control. In the case of emergencies, I could also release the hallucinogenic wave that Abram employed. It's quite a powerful book, I believe."
Uh.
That sounds almost too good to be true. Just all of that, free of charge?
"No. I will need a vital component to trigger these effects- emotion. The stronger your emotions become during a battle, the more I will have to work with. The emotion concentration should remain steady as long as you keep fighting- there is no need to artificially inflate it. If you were anyone else, I would also argue that there is risk of E.G.O Corrosion, but you're likely not going to be threatened by that particular effect."
Corrosion? So, like that stuff Abram was undergoing? The Abnormality taking control of his brain or something.
"Indeed. If you lost control, or a small period of time it would take over your body, and attack indiscriminately. But you have sufficient mental fortitude to ignore such effects. If you were attempting to utilize high-class E.G.O such as Paradise Lost or Twilight, it would possibly remain an issue, but not in the case of the Dreaming Current. It's far too weak."
Well, good to know- and the kid's finishing the book. Seems that nothing happened.
"Uh. That… was a book, I guess." she says, returning it to you.
"What did you think of it?"
"I don't think it's for children. It looks like a book for children, but the illustrations are just too gruesome for that. And the ending was sad? The child just dies."
…uh, right, the Current part could be interpreted as that, if you didn't know about Abnormalities and all that jazz.
"I just found it. Thought the same thing."
"...well, you're Sieghart, right? Operator Sarasa."
"Indeed! I'm your group's collective bodyguard for this little trip. To be frank, I took one look at that Shining lady and thought- welp, I'm not going to be needed here. I even feel kind of useless!"
Hibiscus giggles.
"She's kind of scary, isn't she? But don't worry, Shining is nice!"
"That's good to know. This is my first time coming to this city, actually. Is it yours, too?"
"I never went here before, too. Are you going to be staying in the Infected quarter with the rest of the Medic Team?"
While Rhodes Island docks with this city- the so-called "Grand Knight Territory," you were told that they would be helping a large number of Infected there, and moving them to Rhodes Island by treatment.
As part of your tasks as a recently hired Operator, you will be responsible for bodyguarding some of the Medical Team while they transit through the Infected quarter. So you'll be moving a lot through the regions and staying here for some time, except during the periods where you'll be helping with the movement of Infected from one place to another.
"Yes." you tell her. "The rest of my Office will be moving too, I think. I'll come back to the Landship from time to time. I want to keep an eye on the Major too- a friend of mine is competing."
"A friend?"
"Linette. She's called the "Mirrored Knight" here, I think? I think I might try and bet some of the money I have left on her. She'd like if I did that. Maybe I can check up on her after the battles are over."
"Nearl is fighting in the Major too, and she even won before. I don't think that gambling is really healthy, but should you really bet on her?"
You chuckle.
"I have faith in my friends. I'll keep trusting them. If Linette wants to win, I'm sure she'll do it, even with this country's entire army against her. But I'm a Rhodes Islander now, I think. So I'm not sure who I should be cheering on."
"Well, I'd say you should cheer for your friend. I can cheer for Nearl! Is Linette a member of your Office? What is your Office?"
'Well, she is. We've been separated for some time, so I'm not sure if she'll want to come back. But she was a member. We're… mercenaries. Yes, mercenaries. We do all kinds of jobs, really- bodyguarding, transportation of goods, information gathering, all-out warfare, a-" you explain, catching yourself before you can say "assassination" to the young girl. "-and a lot of other stuff."
She places her hand in her chin. "Some Messengers do these sorts of things, I think. And I've seen a lot of mercenaries before. Where are you from."
"Sargon."
"How did you get to know Nicole? I've never seen her look so happy as she was when you came back. She was even smiling, and she forgot her cigarettes! I've been trying to get her to stop for a long time, you know! Why do you let her smoke so much?"
Right. The "twenty-or-more cigarettes each day" thing. That was probably very jarring, but you can't just say "well, I couldn't stop her compulsion, so I just bought new lungs for her from time to time." Wait, she's still smoking like that?
You don't think there's any way for her to get new lungs here. She should have destroyed her lungs already… but that girl in the dormitory did have prosthetics. You'll prod her a little for some answers.
"Well, she didn't smoke that much when she was with us." you say, lying as naturally as you breathe. "Did she give you any trouble? Is she okay? The cigarette habit worsening is worrying. Did she catch anything?"
Hibiscus blinks and tries to remember something.
"She ended up being transferred to me after she almost got in a fight with Warfarin. She's okay, but… there's some surgery scars in her chest, you know. Like someone cut a hole into her lungs…"
Right, the mechanical implant surgery.
"Did… did someone cut through her lungs while I wasn't there?" you say, feigning terror.
"No, it was… strange. I did think that, but there's nothing there. Her lungs are normal, and the cells aren't being destroyed like they should. The surgery seems to have done… nothing."
…did. Did she regrow her lungs, somehow?
What the fuck?
It's… it's probably something connected to those medical Arts that seem so widespread around here. You'll talk to her once she gets in the Infected quarter alongside Arabella, Wympe and Capone.
"I'll… I'll talk to her."
"That would be great! She's always so quiet during the check-ups… oh! We got there!" she says, taking her bags from a corner, and picking up her staff.
You stand up as well and take your own things.
You suppose it's time to get up and actually visit Kazimierz.
"Gender?"
"Female."
"Place of birth?"
"Kazdel."
"Date of birth?"
"Don't remember. Mark it as… well, April 18th. The date where I joined Turbulence Office."
"You don't remember your date of birth?"
"It's been a long time, and it wasn't important."
"I see. Age?"
"Roughly eighty-one years."
"You said you were a Vampire Sarkaz, yes?"
"Yes, indeed."
"How many years of combat experience?"
The white-haired woman pauses, embarrassed.
"...twelve."
"Twelve years?"
"I… I wasn't a fighter until some time ago. For most of my life, I was a humble actor, you see. I did have training in swordsmanship- one of the few good things done by my horrendous disgrace of a father- but I did not utilize it outside of simple mock battles. Fencing, essentially. I only left after… well, it matters not. It was an unimportant incident regarding my playwright. Proceed with thy questionings."
"Well, what codename would you like to receive?"
"...Kim is surely going to rage and scream in impotent fury at me for this, ha. Serves that fool of a swordsman right. Call me "Lineage.""
"You said you were a Lupo, Tendril."
"...yeah, so what? Don't ya see the ears, or the tail? What else is in need of explainin' here?"
"Lupo don't have tentacles."
It is a bit strange to be in this form.
The jar was a rather jarring change, but your Mother assures you she'll help you make a brand new body for you. So you can become human. So you'll bear being inside a jar filled with blood- your Mother's wonderful, nourishing blood- for the time being.
Being human. Your wish... there is nothing you would want more than that. You dislike- no, you hate- being a mass of nervous tissue trapped inside a jar. You hate it. You hate this misshapen form, this wretched thing with a single eye and communication that is so limited that your Mother has difficulty properly conveying her thoughts.
But you'll wait. Soon the time will come, and you'll be human.
You hope it's coming now, rather then later. But you will wait for Mother. You will wait for the stars to align, and then the time will finally come. You will be human, and you will let nothing stop you from realizing that wish of yours. Nothing will stand in your way.
So you swear.
But for now, you will sleep. Just a little longer, you tell yourself. Just a little longer.
…you're here.
It's a lively city. Even in the Infected quarters, you can still see the part that is full of billboards and ads and images of the Major, especially with your vision. In one of the screens in the distance, some knight you don't know beats up another knight you don't know. It reminds you of some of the busier Nests, except that the workers running around
Hibiscus is talking to a guy selling keychains. Apparently he wants to sell her a Nearl keychain. You don't even have any keys, so you don't have any use for them.
Actually…
"Come, take the keychain!" says the seller. "You don't even need to pay, girl. I've been having some good business recently. Really, there's no issue. The Radiant Knight is going to win, I just know it!"
You cough politely as Hibiscus hesitantly takes the piece of metal with an image of an emblem that you don't recognize.
"Hello. Do you have anything for the Mirrored Knight?"
He blinks.
"Mirrored… Knight?" he says, before picking up something from his stand. "I don't see many people buying those here. They say she betrayed the Infected and all of that. Frankly, I don't blame her. We all have to eat, don't we? That… that will be 7,50."
You hand him a 10 LMD bill, and he hands you the piece of metal with Linette's symbol.
"Ha! It's not her real symbol, you know!" he says.
"Not… not her symbol?"
It's… a shattered mirror, with every piece of glass painted in a different color. Rays of light poke out through the cracks as well. How long has it been? Will she even want to return? The Linette you knew would despise this place- she'd despise the idea of being a celebrity.
"I presume you don't know a lot about that girl, right? Ah, you're a tourist. It was the symbol of the old Glasswork Knightclub. That Mirrored Knight was their star! But then people stopped caring about them. No one even cared about the club, just about her. When she vanished, they ended up vanishing too, a few weeks later. I still remember it."
…Glasswork Knightclub, uh?
"Well, thanks for the keychain."
"It's nothing. Come by this place later, will you? I'll tell you some more stories of her."
You chuckle. Maybe you will. It's interesting.
As you walk away from the stand and back into the narrow alleys of the Infected district, Hibiscus takes a look at the keychain.
"Is that Linette's symbol? I like it."
"...it's almost-"
You hear a sound. Someone is loading a weapon- a bullet is being placed in the chamber.
There is no time for hesitation. You are currently in a bodyguarding job- you are to protect your care with your life. You move as quickly as possible- manifesting a shield in your right hand and covering Hibiscus with it. With the other, you unsheathe your sword.
The bullet flies through the air as a loud impact rings in your ears. It clatters harmlessly against the shield, pushing your body back from the impact.
You alter the shield into a projectile- making it thinner, more fragile and prone to shattering, but making the edges sharper. A sort of makeshift chakram.
You then toss it in the direction of the sound, and you then catch the sound of fabric. Whoever was the shooter- hidden in some dark corner- they dodged the projectile.
You stand there, covering Hibiscus with your effective deflection radius. You need to get her out of here, but you're not sure if you can just tell her to run and keep the shooter busy. There might be more assailants, and they might be targeting Rhodes Island as a whole.
What do you do now?
Character Sheet Unlocked: Nicole
Character Sheet Unlocked: Hibiscus
Abel's third trait has been revealed. (Scars: Abel cannot stand up to Carmen. He cannot even bear to hear her voice. Not yet. The pain is simply too great.)
[ ] Retreat.
(Take Hibiscus and get out of here.)
[ ] Attack.
(No assailant means she's not in danger, right?)
[ ] Utilize the Book of the Dreaming Current.
- [ ] How?
(Hey, you wanted to test this thing out, didn't you?)
[ ] Write-in.
(Write-in a tactic or a solution that Sieg could use to solve this problem.)
Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Fine and dandy!
Hibiscus: A little spooked, but that's no issue, she's been in combat before.
Enemy Status:
The Shooter
- Grade: Unknown.
- Condition: Hidden.
Sieghart's Note: They think they can hide, hm?
A/N: I love Hibiscus. I really do. In fact, I love all 3* Operators. Kroos, Midnight, Ansel, Spot, fuck, bring the entire Reserve Team squad here. And the 2* Operators too! Where's my 12F event? Where's my Durin event? Come ON give me something? If you're going to keep doing those damn alts, at least give 12F one, too!
: Hah. It always is annoying to deal with snipers when you need to protect another. Where's that 'Shining'? Her presence should help you greatly.