Yeah, I did mean that as "let us kill you." Which like, I do not expect him to do that, and I was hoping for it to be a source of conflict, but I also don't want it to actually start a gun/swordfight.
[X] The older Mimiga still has his reasoning. Announce ourselves, and without making any overtly aggressive moves, confront him about having eaten the red flowers, ask him if he knows what he will become, and if he's comfortable risking this girl's life because of it.
-[X] Or at the very least, why he believes he won't be a danger.
I did really like the idea of Bracket figuring he's in a bad state to fight but also that he can't just leave a soon-to-be-rabid mimiga alive, and blunt as he is, deciding to just try to convince the mimiga of the utilitarian good of being killed by him. Ah well.
[X] The older Mimiga still has his reasoning. Announce ourselves, and without making any overtly aggressive moves, confront him about having eaten the red flowers, ask him if he knows what he will become, and if he's comfortable risking this girl's life because of it.
-[X] Or at the very least, why he believes he won'tbe a danger.
So I like this write-in, however, I think that asking him to let us shoot him without a fight might simply prompt immediate violence as a response? That's my reading of "go down quietly", anyway, and even if it's not the intent I don't think it's an unreasonable one, or particularly unlikely that this guy will interpret it the same way. It also isn't strictly necessary if our objective here is to just rescue the kid without getting drawn into a fight under disadvantageous circumstances.
[X] The older Mimiga still has his reasoning. Announce ourselves, and without making any overtly aggressive moves, confront him about having eaten the red flowers, ask him if he knows what he will become, and if he's comfortable risking this girl's life because of it.
-[X] Or at the very least, why he believes he won't be a danger.
Adhoc vote count started by Lepidoptera on Sep 27, 2024 at 10:25 PM, finished with 12 posts and 7 votes.
[X] The older Mimiga still has his reasoning. Announce ourselves, and without making any overtly aggressive moves, confront him about having eaten the red flowers, ask him if he knows what he will become, and if he's comfortable risking this girl's life because of it. -[X] Or at the very least, why he believes he won't be a danger.
The decision should be obvious. There are two Mimiga, one of whom is going to become rabid soon. It's not a surprise; you already saw one Red Flower nearby. You may be damaged and in a poor physical state, but you have the element of surprise and the tight caves dramatically favor you in a battle against a rabid Mimiga. It would be simple to gradually retreat back through the cave system and take advantage of your superior range to remain out of danger instead of being overpowered in close distances. It is an easy, well-practiced strategy that will lead to victory barring any unexpected circumstances. There are two main issues with that strategy.
For one, there's the girl. It has already been decided that she is a useful source of information and a complete non-threat. Rabid Mimiga attack indiscriminately and only recognise other rabid Mimiga as allies, becoming as dangerous to bystanders as they are to any real combatants. The likelihood that she would be injured, potentially even seriously injured, is high. Risking the life of somebody who has every reason to survive the mission is unacceptable. Maybe you would have to accept it anyways if it were not for the other important factor.
Two, the older Mimiga is fully aware and even capable of speech. He still has not moved past the first stage, the discoloration of the eyes, and even that is only expressed partially. It's possible he somehow consumed a small dose without noticing. You can't see any other logical reason for the present circumstances. If he knew what the Red Flowers did or that he had consumed some, he wouldn't be walking around so cheerily. If he still has his reason, you may be able to convince him of the risk he is at.
With this in mind, you make the entirely reasonable decision to avoid escalating the situation and prevent collateral damage. You slowly leave your hiding place, leaving your gun holstered but still visible. Your hand hovers over it more by routine than anything else. Even in a peaceful situation, it pays to be ready for conflict.
The older Mimiga is already staring in your direction. His eyes widen for just a moment when you step out of cover before narrowing again. His smile remains constant in contrast to the flashes of emotion in his eyes. Immediately, he steps forward. With one arm he ushers the girl back behind him, raising his sword and pointing it towards you with the other. The way he carries the weapon it appears weightless, but you know from how it carves through the ground in that motion that it is anything but.
"I'm not intending to fight. I'm only here to help." you clarify, not moving from your position. Your hand makes an aborted twitch towards the grip of your machine gun as you stare at the sword pointed at you. Years of experience demand that you draw and fire to ensure your own safety. The girl shrinks further behind the older Mimiga, shaking. She still moves with a clear limp.
"I don't believe we'll be needing any help from one of you." the older Mimiga replies. His tone is still as bright and genial as it was when he spoke with the girl, but without any of the care or warmth. The red tint in his eyes is even more obvious from where you stand now.
"You do need help." you say. 'One of you', he said. Your real nature isn't exactly hidden, with half your skin torn off clearly showing the machinery underneath, but that way the Mimiga speaks says he knows what it means for you to be a machine soldier sent to this place. You sift through your memories, trying to find any sign of the Mimiga currently pointing a sword at you, but nothing arises. There are too many blank spots to come to Andy conclusions. Even so, it's not surprising. The Island was a war zone before you were knocked out, and it's improbable that that fact has changed since then. The Mimiga are most likely still under threat. "You're already showing early signs of having consumed a Red Flower. You are in danger, as is anyone near you when it progresses."
If he knows about machine soldiers, he must know about the Red Flowers as well. It's because of them that Mimiga are so dangerous in the first place. Without the flowers… you would prefer to say that the Mimiga would have been left alone. You know better than to believe that, though.
"As opposed to being in danger because of you?" the Mimiga challenges. Your eyes keep drifting back to the tip of his sword, still pointed at your chest.
"I won't attack you for no reason. If you don't decide to start a fight, I won't either." you insist. As irritating as it is to have your logic ignored, you can understand why a Mimiga wouldn't trust you. It's possible the girl told him you shot her, too, though at that point you imagine you would have been attacked on sight. Instead, you stare at the sword-bearing Mimiga through the cramped tunnel.
"Oh?" The Mimiga's voice is half doubt, half a dare. Looking forward to proof of your words but not expecting it. "So why have you been attacking us, then? What reason did we give you to come here?"
Your hands twitch again. Not towards your holstered gun, but simply a pointless gesture trying to act on something you cannot act on. There's no good answer to that question. None that would satisfy a Mimiga, anyways, and none that matter to you. Trying to justify all your orders would do more harm than good. Even here, on what was a rare supposedly peaceful mission, you were still commanded to attack the Mimiga as a matter of course.
"Our mission was primarily to study the Island and bring back information to Command." you lie. It was much more than that, not that explaining would help in any way. "Any Mimiga who consumes a Red Flower is dangerous to everyone around them, as I said. Which is why I'm warning you now."
"So you'll kill me just because you think I've eaten a Red Flower? Is that it, then?" the Mimiga says, flourishing his sword before aiming it back towards you. "Why haven't you shot me, then? If I'm already as dangerous as you said."
The Mimiga girl tries to step forward, about to shout something, but she is ushered back. The older Mimiga shoots her a glance you don't manage to catch, but she reluctantly retreats.
"Your reasoning is still intact. It'll be safer for everyone if you are willing to isolate yourself of your own free will." you explain. "If you know what the Red Flowers do, you should understand the consequences of remaining near others when the transformation takes hold."
"You're very confident about all that." the Mimiga says dismissively.
"Discoloration of the eyes is the first sign of affliction caused by Red Flower consumption in Mimiga." you recite. "This is followed by mental degradation as well as physical and magical mutations progressing extremely rapidly. The rate of this condition is dependent on the quantity consumed, but even extremely small doses lead to transformation."
Even inhaling smoke is too much for a Mimiga to stand. Your team only tried burning Red Flowers once.
"I'm still not seeing why you haven't tried to shoot me." the Mimiga says with a grin.
"I'm trying to be reasonable. Would you really be willing risk the lives of that village you mentioned if you go mad?" you snap. Does he want you to shoot him? "Or that girl there, for that fact? What do you think you'll do when you become rabid?"
"Hey! Don't talk about Arthur like that!" the girl yells back at you, pushing up against his arm and waving her balled fists at you before he presses her back again.
"It'll be alright," the now-named Arthur says to the girl, without the bite he keeps aiming at you. "I'm going to be fine."
"What makes you so sure of that?" you insist. Whatever the Mimiga believes, he'll only get people hurt like this. It's senselessly optimistic to think he can somehow stave off the transformation with… what, willpower? Faith? Some secret Mimiga technique?
"Why should I tell you? I still don't know why you haven't started shooting yet." Arthur repeats casually. Does he really find it so hard to believe that you wouldn't solve every problem you see with violence? You're not one of those low-rate machines that can barely think for themselves. Or Paren when Chevron isn't around. "You're a pretty poor murderer, aren't you?"
"I'm not a-"
You're not a murder.
The torch, burnings its pitch throughout the conversation, has finally begun to dim. Only the distant fingers of faint orange light brush against your body, slowly receding towards Arthur and his simple, shining armor.
"I'm a soldier, not a murderer."
There is a difference. Even if it doesn't always feel like it.
Arthur smirks. "Well, 'soldier', why are you wasting time talking with an enemy?"
"To avoid civilian casualties. I don't want to cause needless bloodshed; I'm not a monster." you answer, still lit by the slowly dying flame. It's not just about the girl anymore. You're not some mindless killing machine and you're going to prove it.
"And we are monsters?" Arthur says, swinging his sword and carving into the cave floor. The motion, his tone, the way he flares and grins at you, it's all too much. Your hand twitches towards the holster again.
You don't know if you were actually going to draw in that moment. It doesn't matter. Arthur's gaze snaps to your hand hovering over the gun's trigger. His eyes widen for only a moment before narrowing. He pushes the younger Mimiga back and crouches, shrinking his profile and breaking into a sprint. Whether you wanted to or not, you draw your gun and fire.
The decision to try and reason with an enemy soldier who's already consumed Red Flowers baffles me. I don't want to say "I told you so", but like I predicted the only thing we managed to accomplish was cede the initiative.
Was it because we didn't want to leave the girl? If so, the only thing we've accomplished is put her in the line of fire.
[X] Write in: Retreat while laying down suppressing fire.
My first instinct was to say "aim at the child to force Arthur to tank the machine-gun fire", but I took a second to think about it and realized how utterly sociopathic that is. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't win the vote either.
The decision to try and reason with an enemy soldier who's already consumed Red Flowers baffles me. I don't want to say "I told you so", but like I predicted the only thing we managed to accomplish was cede the initiative.
Was it because we didn't want to leave the girl? If so, the only thing we've accomplished is put her in the line of fire.
We've opened a dialogue with Arthur, and gained some in-character information (or pertinent questions at least) about the Mimiga and the Red Flowers. Fundamentally I was against attacking here as there was simply not a compelling enough reason to do so, the circumstances are disadvantageous and killing one more Mimiga is not going to make much difference to us. Our only motivation for not retreating immediately was ensuring the girl's safety and possibly keeping her as an informant - and based on this, Bracket can reasonably assume that Arthur is lucid and is very obviously unconcerned about succumbing to the Flowers even when the risk is brought up to him. The girl is unlikely to provide much information if we gun down another Mimiga in front of her, and her information is arguably not worth getting seriously damaged.
At the end of the day this is a net positive over retreating immediately with no information and a lingering worry about the girl's safety. That's all we needed to achieve here.
And we confronted a little bit about our own role on the island and continued that exploration of who we are. The farther we move away from "mindless killing machine" the more interesting we become IMO.
The decision to try and reason with an enemy soldier who's already consumed Red Flowers baffles me. I don't want to say "I told you so", but like I predicted the only thing we managed to accomplish was cede the initiative.
Was it because we didn't want to leave the girl? If so, the only thing we've accomplished is put her in the line of fire.
By the time your finger is on the trigger, Arthur has already closed half the distance between him and you. The first bullet grazes his shoulder as he ducks down and levels his sword, pinging off the small steel pauldron affixed over his cape. The second bullet and those that come after it are nowhere near as close. The Mimiga warrior ducks to one side, bracing for a moment on the cave wall he is pressed up against, and lunges with his sword pointed straight forward. You have no choice but to cease firing and twist to one side. The blade scrapes across your chest instead of piercing through, scarring the metal with an ease that tells you it would have no issue puncturing your body entirely if you were to be struck directly. If you had been just a step closer, or a second slower, he would have torn you open then and there.
For a moment you expect the blade to swing to the side and cleave you open, but Arthur pauses instead. You seize the brief opportunity and, before he can move to either withdraw or strike, throw your entire body into him. The full weight of tonnes of steel and circuitry is too much for the off-guard warrior to withstand and he topples back. His limbs flail wildly as he falls. Echoing clangs fill the cave and drown out the cries of the girl further back when his arms and legs impact your frame. The blows leave dents, but there's not enough direction to that force to cause any real damage. The two of you hit the ground with a loud crack that sends dust and pebbles raining from the roof of the cavern.
You press one arm over Arthur's body, pinning his sword arm as you try and level your gun towards him. He's faster and stronger than any Mimiga should be, a clear sign of the effects of the Demon Flowers progressing, but he's not bulletproof. Arthur's grin has tightened and sharpened into a grimace and his off-red eyes are narrowed, completely contrasting your expressionless half-face. Whatever the Mimiga thinks, whatever either of them think, you hadn't intended for this to happen. It's unnecessary. But if it comes down to it, you aren't going to just lie down and die.
Arthur's foot braces against your chest just as you lower the barrel of your machine gun towards him and kicks. You barely realize what's happened. There's only a horrible pinching sensation, a tightness pressing into your chest, and a feeling of weightlessness before you hit the cave ceiling. Your insides rattle and the cavern shakes again. The uneven stone is displaced by your body, partially forced into the hard surface. Arthur's eyes are fixed on you, gleaming like bloody jewels in the dim remnants of torchlight. They follow you as you peel out of the crater in the roof and fall back to the floor. His blade's polished surface glints menacingly.
There's a new cut in your skin, which should heal quickly enough. It might even already be gone. The gash in the metal underneath will repair slower, but isn't a significant impairment. You've taken the most damage from being kicked, the force of the blow having partly caved in your chest. Valuable internal components are pressed together too tightly in the dented shell of your body. It reminds you in a way of the time you and the others tried holding your breaths for as long as you can. You don't need to breath in the same way human's do, but circulating air and incorporating some of its components is useful for your internal systems. Holding your breath feels wrong. An unnatural stiffness, somewhere between being numb and a buzzing feeling, would fill your body. Now, that feeling weight on your chest as you tumble to the ground.
This fight isn't worth it. You didn't come here to kill anyone this time. You get nothing out of continuing this. You'll come back later, when you have the others with you.
You twist midair, aiming your machine gun and firing carefully to propel yourself back through the cave's tight passages. Arthur's sword is a silver crescent carving through the dark, always too close. You retreat back further, still firing and watching the Mimiga's determined stare illuminated by the muzzle flash. He prefers to dodge wide, putting as much distance as possible between where you're shooting and himself rather than just charging ahead. A safe tactic, but one that strikes you as unnecessary for somebody so fast. His sword swings in wide arcs and long thrusts, completely unimpaired by the small available area. It tears the walls apart with every strike, scattering rubble through the air. Arthur's eyes are never quite on you, twin points of red reflecting each crack of light.
You duck back into a wider part of the cavern, weaving between stalagmites and stalactites all while firing more in hopes of warding off your assailant than to actually land a shot. The earthen spears are torn apart in sweeping lines of silver, splintering from the force of each swing. Without stopping his pursuit, Arthur picks one of the broken stalagmites up off the ground and throws it like a javelin. A single gunshot blows it apart, showering you in bits of rock, and in the wake of the shattered projectile you see Arthur leaping towards you.
You're just too slow. Maybe you would have been able to keep up with him if you could move at full speed, but your too-stiff limbs aren't enough. Even in good condition, he would still have been faster than you. Arthur's sword stabs through your right leg, the one still sheathed in false skin. Stainless silver cleanly pierces the artificial layer right below the knee and mangles the machinery beneath. It could have been worse, you suppose. You're still functional enough.
It's almost completely pitch-black now. The torch Arthur was carrying is back down the passage, where you can hear the Mimiga girl's screams still echoing. Light comes in flickers with every round escaping the barrel of your gun, swung in a wide arc. It collides with the side of Arthur's head, and you follow by ramming your own metal skull into his. The combined blunt force trauma is just enough to stagger the Mimiga warrior and he stumbles back, snarling like an animal.
You've figured it out. The wide movements, the bursts of speed, how you go from matching him one moment to easily overpowered the next. Arthur still has his faculties intact. But even if his mind is untouched by the Red Flowers, his body isn't. There's a dissonance, a gap between how fast he can move and how fast he can react. Every time Arthur moves, he's vulnerable just until he's adjusted to where is is next. The results speak for themselves.
With your foe stunned, you try to turn and continue your retreat o lot to find your body stubbornly refusing to comply. Your injured leg has gone stiff, pinned to the ground by Arthur's sword still impaled through it. Despite the extent of the damage, you can't help feel relieved. Because the sword is stuck in you, yes, but it's not in Arthur's hands right now and thus unlikely to be stuck somewhere worse in the immediate future.
You reach down and try to dislodge the blade from your leg both quickly and carefully. Before you can even ponder the contradictory nature of what you need to happen, Arthur lunges at you with a snarl. The way his arms are outstretched and his legs shift under his body is all too familiar. Instinct takes over and you raise your gun too late. The soon-to-be rabid Mimiga tackles you, and the two of you tumble further down the cavern. Dust and rubble scatters and the cavern shakes, and for some reason your first thought is annoyance at how there is once again foreign matter inside your inner workings. You need to patch your body up the rest of the way at some point soon if this is going to keep happening. Maybe you're focusing on that above all else because it's the only sensation that makes sense. Everything else is a blur of motion and darkness, two thrashing shapes thrown against each other falling through a cramped, jagged world.
The movement stops, and Arthur lies on top of you, teeth bared and eyes slits of red. You try to raise your gun, but the Mimiga on top of you shifts his posture and pins you further. Your other arm is still free, at least, so you can still-
Arthur stops, eyes widening as he steps back so quickly the motion itself feels like another attack. You hate the way he stares at you, forcing your body to move against the failing machinery that drives you. The same way Quote stares at their targets after a mission is over. Maybe the same way you do, too.
You're not dead, yet, though. You push yourself up off the ground, trying to figure out where you are. The only passage in the direction you were thrown by Arthur was too small to fit through. He must have broken it open with your body. There's no light down here. Your eyes don't need it to see, but the blurry greyscale you're forced to shift to feels worse than blindness sometimes. In it, you see Arthur carefully step towards you. Not like an enemy soldier, but a wounded animal. One hand reaches for the sword still lodged in your leg.
You move, though for what purpose you aren't quite sure. Would you have ran? Would you have attacked? Whatever the case, it doesn't happen. Instead, one final groan echoes through the caverns and the ground gives out beneath you.
So. We have a lot of information here! Some specifics of the nature of the... I suppose one might call it augmentation Arthur's undergone, which even with the 'flaws' presented is still potent as hell are very appreciated. Interesting to see that there are still mental effects to it, too. The clear aggressive strategy and style, the choice to actively pursue instead of focusing on his ward... And of course, when he dipped into the more typical feral state of a Red Flower victim. I find it especially interesting how he pulled himself back from it, too. That he can resist the effects to a degree. I probably missed stuff, even with that, too. Would be neat to see others' takes on the engagement, I think.
Also, now that I think of it I'm p sure I failed to mention it in the moment but it's pretty cool that we got to see the effects of having high Capacity in our ability to destroy that red flower and the mention that we have the most raw power to throw around out of any of our squad.
Onto other topics, let me try and figure out who's who on the vote, based on my memory of the game.
The Servant is probably one of the two bound by the Demon Crown, Misery and Balrog. I'm hesitant to say for certain, given there's also a witch and Misery is quite explicitly a magic user, but that's my best guess, given both are very notably unwilling servants. Alternative guess would be one of the Plantation Mimiga. IDK which, but one of 'em.
The Sister is probably Sue Sakamoto, a human girl from the surface who got turned into a Mimiga via The Doctor's mad science bullshit. She has an older brother named Kazuma (Useless Goddess not included), but that's one of only two big sibling relationships I can recall in Cave Story, save maybe one of our squad, which... I severely doubt given the option of The Comrade. And let's not even go into the second pair of siblings because I think it's more likely that sister falls under...
The Witch. Now, like I said it might be Misery, maybe. She was never really shown having a plan to escape the Demon Crown, though, so I don't think it's likely. Especially because we have another witch in the form of Misery's mother, Jenka. She as of Cave Story Canon has the keys to a storehouse full of Red Flower seeds, and is veeery reluctant to give them up to The Doctor. She sends Quote on a side quest to get her dogs who're scattered about with the intent to give them to him for the purpose of destroying the flowers but then uh... HUZZAH! happens. And then you get The Blade.
The Researcher could be multiple people, all of them interconnected. My first guess is Momorin Sakamoto, Sue's mom and. Well. A researcher. I know, how insightful of me. Very helpful, I'm sure. According to the wiki she survived a murder attempt by The Doctor (Tardis not included and GODS I am several dozen posts too late with that joke), and set up a hidden base somewhere in the Plantation to try and fight back.
Other options are Professor Booster (Surprisingly he's actually a whale biologist Blatant Lies) whose name is... very on the nose for what he does in the game (Make "Boosters" which are basically just jetpacks for robots), and Kazuma Sakamoto, Sue's older brother who was the lead scientist on the whole Island project before shit went to hell. Could maybe also be Itoh, the other human-turned-mimiga, but he's an engineer rather than a scientist, so... I think not.
The Comrade... has to be one of our squadmates. Who specifically? Good question! I can bare minimum rule out Quote under the assumption of canon. He doesn't wake the fuck up for... a while, let's say. Honestly, now that I think of it how the fuck did he end up in that First Cave anyway? It's one of the weirdest places he could have woken up. Feels like "What the fuck did we do last night" levels of fuckery, there. But anyway, while Curly's the only other 'canon' survivor, we're not in canon here and even if we were I have doubts about it being Curly. I can't fully explain why, but I feel like she might maybe already be preoccupied with surprise smol mimigas to take care of. Which is a thing that happens and sorta-kinda leads to a boss fight with her. Side note, IIRC she shoots to kill in that fight, which uh. Curly. THE FUCK!?
...The Prisoner is. Complicated. I can only think of one person it could be, but that just leaves me with more questions than answers. After all... it touches upon the greatest secret of The Island. In the words of the game itself?
Did you know that the woman named Jenka had a younger brother?
His name was Ballos. And like his sister he possessed magical powers that no man had.
He led and protected the people with his magical power. They loved and trusted him. ...Even more than their own king.
Jealous of Ballos, the resentful king caught and imprisoned him.
His punishment was severe and cruel.
Humans truly are terrible creatures...
Ballos was driven to a state of pure, uncontrollable rage by the punishment.
Weakened by the torture, he was helpless to contain the fury.
The king and kingdom were swallowed by Ballos' wild magical force.
The life that he loved so dearly was turned to ruins in a single night... ...Shrouded only by fiery hot ashes.
Driven insane by his punishment, Ballos was confined to the floating island in the sky by his sister, Jenka.
That was all she could do. For Jenka, killing her own younger brother would be impossible.
Jenka's witch daughter, Misery, is the one to blame for The Demon Crown...
She forced Ballos to create it.
Because of this offense, she was cursed by the Crown, compelled to obey whoever possesses it.
The curse can be lifted if The Demon Crown is destroyed.
However...
The Demon Crown will be restored anew an infinite number of times, as long as Ballos' heart still beats...
That is the supreme magical power of his eternally enraged soul. It is intrinsically imbued into his evil creation, The Demon Crown.
So. Ballos. The source of The Demon Crown. The Island's greatest prisoner. And if you consider what's said of him, and what we know of the Red Flowers... probably the source of them, too. The fact that we've got the option of getting his PoV if I'm right is... uh. Certainly interesting! It occurs to me now that this could just be one of the people The Doctor has in Plantation Jail for Disobedience Crimes but considering Lepi ominously specifies The Prisoner with no other descriptor...
In her hiding place away from the Plantation, Momorin Sakamoto eats her dinner and stares blankly at the wall.
She thinks it's dinner at least. It's the last meal she's going to eat before going to bed, so that probably counts, but the scientist in her is rankled by the lack of precision. Consistency is everything in engineering. You can't build anything worthwhile without proper measurements, and she lost track of when's day or night weeks ago in spite of her attempts to control her sleep schedule.
Her current environment isn't conducive to a healthy sleep schedule, she knows that. A roughly cube-shaped room boxed in by dark blue rock and dotted with metal scaffolds. A few basic amenities are scattered around, but nothing more. She doesn't know what this room was supposed to be originally. The Plantation had been something before the Doctor co-opted it to house his Mimiga workers. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a house.
It isn't a house now, either. Momorin can recognize that easily enough. Just a hiding place.
She pokes at her food. At one point she had been careful to barely take any in her supply runs, not wanting to risk alerting the Doctor to the fact that she was still near enough to poach the Plantation's food. That worry had faded a while ago. None of the Mimiga up there are tracking how much food they're getting. The Doctor's so-called army is nothing more than a collection of scared people shoved together into a weak order. But even if they're just that, they'll still get her killed if one sees her.
She almost talked to one of them the other day. Paused right in front of the one sleeping at his desk while she was raiding their food stores and nearly woke him up so they could chat. Momorin knew what it felt like to have so much work you can't even be bothered to get to bed before you pass out. They could've chatted about that, at the very least.
Well, the Mimiga probably wouldn't have appreciated their sleep being interrupted. So it's really for the best Momorin didn't say anything.
Still, it would be nice to have someone to talk to.
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\
"What, you're telling me you're done already?"
The soldier leans further down against the broken machine. It can't answer on account of her foot currently pressing into its neck with almost enough force to tear it off. It's practically pitiful to look at the shattered thing under her. Its stupid-looking boxy frame is shattered, spilling circuits and wires and leaking oil. Almost looks like a real person bleeding out. Maybe that's an overly-generous comparison for something that doesn't even have skin, let alone the brains to be compared to a person, but the soldier's in a good mood today. The low-grade models were useless most of the time, but today they actually put up a decent fight!
She looks around the scene, admiring her handiwork. It's a total massacre. The Furnace Tunnels are a messy place normally, right passages choked by thick rows of brassy pipes and crossed by catwalks designed with basically no real logic or direction. The few unbroken lights mingled with the orange glow from pouring from viewing ports or vents placed haphazardly across random surfaces. The hellish appearance is amplified by the broken machines scattering the place. Everywhere the soldier looks is covered with those stupid toy soldiers. Their shattered bodies hang over pipes that they had been using for cover and clogged catwalks. Melted metal drips slowly over the wreckage. All in all, a good day's work.
This place is an awful defensive position. Too many directions to go, limited sight lines, narrow passages that only let a few people in at a time. It's basically made for a small strike team to tear apart. If the targets had anywhere else to hole up to hide from her, they would've gone there. This is it for them.
Of course, the soldier already knew that. She might not be the sort of weirdo who counts who makes spreadsheets out of her battles like Bracket does, but she can tell when the enemy's running out of supplies. After nearly a decade of fighting, the Island's been abandoned as a military objective by everyone.
Everyone except her, though! Which means the victory goes to them again! The soldier grins at the broken machine under her and stomps hard on its faceplate, leaving a sizeable dent. She frowns. Another stomp dents the metal further, caving in the boxy steel shape until it can't possibly be called a head, but it's still really unsatisfying after having seen Syn, Bracket, and even Curly put their foot straight through one of these things.
The thought makes the soldier frown. Sand Zone… she's not going back there. The memory is already crumbling, details split into tangled possibilities she can't possibly sort back into the truth. She doesn't remember who shot first, but somebody did and the other one shot back. Everything after is a blur of fire and smoke. Even if she wanted to go back, she doesn't know what path she took up there. Up and away from the Waterway from here, sure, but that's not much to go off of. She'd have to go through the Deep Sands that way, and that place is a maze. No chance she's getting up the same way two times in a row.
Not that there's anything to go up for up there anymore. The soldier knows her memory is shaky at the best of times, but she can't forget the look Curly gave her. She didn't look damaged, but… well. Not a trace of recognition in it. She was sitting in the middle of nowhere, guarding a bunch of fucking rabbits. The soldier slammed her foot into the robot under her again and the metal finally gave way. The sound of steel wrenching and snapping echoes through the lifeless tunnels. Dwelling on that wouldn't help. Better to make productive decisions. Stay moving.
The Furnace Tunnels are gutted. Cold Storage was cleared out ages ago. Maybe another attempt at the Labyrinth? They're getting better at repelling the soldier, so maybe not. She'll save it for when she's ready to make a real push. Once the whole gang's back together, maybe. Plantation's out for the same reason. Maybe the village? If she's lucky, the bunny boy will be there again. For the sort of idiot who brought a sword to a gunfight, he wasn't half bad. It'll be easier if he isn't, sure, but the soldier needs a good fight right about now.
Anything to stay moving.
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A moment's lapse in concentration. Rage splits his skin apart. It curls and twists and lashes against the air, spitting up in jagged red spikes so pure and clean they cannot possibly be real. The hate does not fade, does not die. Instead, it shoots through the heart of the prison and out its veins. It will not bring the Island down no matter how it wishes to. The torn skin mends itself in a heartbeat. Blood like putty spills from the wound and then snaps back into place. Flesh whirls in on itself and then hardens a clay. Cracked but sturdy. Unmoving but secure.
His body has long since been lost to this process. All that is left is another cage within a cage. Cages upon cages, layered so tightly to bury his hate until it dies with him. It will not die.
He sees the scene in a thousand angles. The man's eyes are closed, sealed shut to deny his fury another potential outlet, but it is impossible to be truly blind in this place. It is his flesh and blood and bone that forms his prison. His eyes are always open. He can never blind himself to his lifeless statue of a form, cracked and broken and mended over and over.
It is tempting to let go. To rage within the sacred ground as a furious story. To break and break and break again until the pain has washed away. There is nothing here but him to receive such hate, but that would be enough. He alone has not been punished for the suffering endured. It would be righteous, to flay his flesh apart and tear at his skin and grind bone beneath bone. Righteous but meaningless. The end to his suffering cannot come by his own hand. For all his might, that power lies beyond his reach.
But beyond that, the coming moments demand lucidity. Clarity. The third bearer of the Demon Crown was slain, and the crown destroyed. The fourth claimed it as it reformed, but they are already doomed. The man stares through his flesh and bone upon flesh and bone, weighing the actors upon the stage. How it comes to be is clouded, but the end is clear. His suffering shall come to an end. It must. It will.
Blatant Lies) whose name is... very on the nose for what he does in the game (Make "Boosters" which are basically just jetpacks for robots), and Kazuma Sakamoto, Sue's older brother who was the lead scientist on the whole Island project before shit went to hell. Could maybe also be Itoh, the other human-turned-mimiga, but he's an engineer rather than a scientist, so... I think not.