Seele Vollerei: The end of reality, and what came after.

[Baughn]

It takes several hours to walk most of the way to the village, and at first you're just talking. Roza and Liliya chat about possible gifts for Teriri; pinecones feature heavily. You enter the conversation, wanting to push them to other ideas. Veliona and Roza discuss how best to herd siblings, while you and Liliya, both of you worried, consider countermeasures. It's a side of her you've never shared before.

You and Vel talk about life, the universe, and everything, all the things you should have told each other years ago but never did.

The four of you talk about memories.

It's a downer, and the conversation dies for a while.

ooOOoo

Liliya passes through, running at a brisk pace clockwise around your group.

A minute later, Liliya passes through again.

"What's going on?" you ask, frowning as you move your head side to side to squint at her through the intermittent patches of flickering starlight.

She stops, appearing embarrassed. "I just felt like running," she says, keeping her bright eyes on the three of you. "I love this place. There's so much energy here. It's not just the birds and animals and dirt, it feels like a living thing."

You nod. The air is alive. It feels heavy almost, and still very humid. You can smell all sorts of scents too, rotting wood and green life and the faint stench of decomposition you could never identify. There are sounds that you can barely hear as an edge to the silence.

"It's so wonderful here. It feels like a fairy tale," she says.

You glance at Rozaliya, who shrugs. "Bronya would be so confused if she saw this," she whispers, but you can see her smiling.

No, not just smiling. She's always smiling, and lately you've begun to doubt how genuine her smiles are. There's emptiness in her eyes, sometimes. Not often. And not now.

You smile back. Liliya's energy, the sheer exuberance she's demonstrating? It's infectious. It's exhilarating, and you squeeze Roza's hand, sharing the moment. You even have to close your eyes, tears welling up and threatening to trickle down your cheeks. You can't remember Liliya being this eager to move just for the sake of it, not since she was a young child.

When was the last time you saw her playing on her own behalf, actually? When you were ten? You're sure you recall her playing all sorts of games back then. She used to be the spontaneous one. Her and Roza were the ones who started all your games.

Everything before the quantum sea is a blur.

When you were even younger? In the yard, in the house, with Isabella, Zofia and your other sisters? It was before Bronya, you're sure of that.

You open your eyes again as you feel her arms wrapping around you in a hug.

"You love her, don't you?" She whispers in your ear. "You love big sister Bronya so very much."

You nod, rubbing the back of her head affectionately. She's misunderstood, but that's okay. "Yes, I do."

Her words make you see a flash of Bronya, the girl you grew to love. "I want those days back," you whisper.

You stop yourself from thinking about anything else after that, and just focus on Liliya. The softness of her hair is enough for the moment, and you ruffle her head. She laughs, the sound merry and bright. For the moment, at least, she's the energetic child she once was.

The light shifts as a flock of fireflies appears overhead, illuminating the forest with a marine glow. Liliya breaks into another run around you.

"When we get to the village, bet you anything that machines will be humming all over the place. Like whirring windmills and stuff," Roza says. "And giant glass bottles to gather lightning or something. That'd be so cool, right?"

You smile—she's still a dreamer. "Probably. You sure you want to snoop around and not just walk straight in?"

"Well, I'd like to, but…" She fingers her horn, and her tail flicks with a bit of reluctance. She adores the appendages, because their augmentations saved Liliya's life, but at the same time it makes her stick out like a sore thumb.

"We've got these," she says. "And our eyes glow. What do you think any ordinary humans will say about us? This isn't back in Japan. They might try to kill us."

You stroke her hair. "Most people are good, Roza."

"Yea…" She keeps fiddling with her horn, while Liliya slows to a halt and comes over to hug her from behind. "I hope so. I hope they are. Because I don't know what I'd do if they weren't."

You clasp one of her hands. The gesture is intimate enough that Vel snorts at the exchange, and you push at her shoulder. "You say anything and I will kick your butt."

"Butt kicking is my specialty, Seeley," she says. "You can ask your sister."

That brings to mind another thought, and you put on a serious expression.

"Hey, do you think we might be able to contact Bronya?"

You say it casually, and continue walking. You think you hear Lili or Roza suck in a breath, while Veliona stops grinning.

She's dead. You know that, but–

"I'm holding her core," you say. "I've been trying not to look at it, but I remember what she told us about Welt. He was conscious in the core for quite a while before he could resurrect himself. That means Bronya might be awake as well, right?"

Vel swears under her breath. "I remember her telling us that. I can't believe I didn't think about it, but what are you planning to do? We can't exactly knock and hope she answers. If we can't figure out how to use it, then it's essentially a rock."

Rozaliya and Liliya are staring at you as well, waiting for an answer.

You shake your head. "I don't know. But I'll keep thinking about it."

ooOOoo

The landscape between the portal and the village is natural and wild, which is another way of saying it's uncultivated. There's no sign of human influence anywhere. Closer to the village than the portal a hill rises before you, crowned by a lone stone.

Hiking toward the hill, you get a closer look. The stone is ten or fifteen feet taller than you, with broad slabs that should be large enough to sit on when someone wants a rest.

You climb up the side, finding your assessment is accurate. You sit down on the middle slab, Veliona sitting next to you. For several moments, both of you gaze out over the landscape.

It's the middle of the night, but no-one in your party is bothered by the lack of light. The grass is sparse but green, and there are wildflowers on the hill.

"Do you think she's still alive?" Veliona whispers.

You're a bit startled by her question. Do you think Bronya is still alive in her core? If she is, then what has she been doing these few days? You feel a combination of hope and fear.

Roza and Liliya want to believe that Bronya is alive, but can't do so yet. You want to believe it too, but fear letting yourself get too hopeful.

"I don't know." Your answer comes out in a whisper as well. You lean against Vel with all your weight, and she responds by putting an arm around you. You like the feeling of being close to her. You feel warmer, more at home.

"We'll do everything we can to help." Vel sounds almost angry. "As soon as we figure out how."

You nod. You believe in Bronya with every cell of your being. If anyone can pull through this, she can.

Eventually you get up and climb to the top of the rock, scouting the path onwards. You can see the village from here, and you're very much afraid Roza will be disappointed as regards its having any technology at all.

The village is smaller than you'd hoped. You can see most of it from your position on the rock. Stone houses, the occasional window with a candle or fire-pit showing. In the centre of village there's what seems to be a small market square. You're slightly disappointed that there's no building where people might have living quarters above their business-space, like in Bronya's books. There's actually no two-story buildings at all.

They're made of roughly fitted stone, which is why, you guess…

From here you think it's another hour's hike, mostly because it's dark and there are no paths.

Leading down towards it, starting a few minutes away there's a wide valley, with a stream running through it. You can hear the sound of water over rocks, like a violinist playing a soft passage. The smell of flowers and spices is heavy in the air. It makes you want to lie down on some grass and take everything in.

"Come on up," you tell your sisters.

Rozaliya climbs up first, then pulls Liliya up to sit next to her.

"It's beautiful…" Liliya sighs.

You nod, and pull out your phone to check your bearings.

The village is at the end of the valley, and you're somewhere up the slope of the highlands next to it. The map's stopped swirling around; it's got enough of a baseline now to decide you're going westwards, the portal fifteen or so kilometers to your east. From up here it's got a good view of the surrounding area, and as you watch you can see it filling in.

Tesla said something about composite synthesis, which means in effect it grabs whatever data it gets its hands on. You hold up the phone, slowly turning around to give it a good view of the surrounding area.

It beeps, sounding satisfied, and the map highlights a point to your west, well past the village. As you look in that direction you spot a giant tree, a slender one with silver needles growing out of its branches on stalks like lightning-rods. The tree is beautiful, but you can't help but notice it feels out of place.

You think about it for a second, then poke your map to check why it highlighted the thing. As you do, the answer comes up: It's emitting an electromagnetic field. That is to say, it's a probable radio transmitter.

You look up from your map, blinking. There's no sign of technology in the village, unless you count the technology of cutting stone. If your map is right, though, that tree has a radio. Or maybe, is a radio?

"Guys?" You say, looking up from your map.

Vel looks at you with a quizzical look. "What?"

You point in the right direction. "See that tree? I think that's a radio tower, or at least a transmitter of some kind. It has the right shape, and it's radiating."

After a moment, she spots it. Her eyes widen briefly. "What do you mean?"

You grin, unable to help yourself. "The tree. It's a radio. If we're searching for Einstein, that would be a good place to do it."

She looks it over, biting her lip in consideration. "Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make it look real, but that's huge for a tree. How far away is it?"

"About twelve kilometers," you say, looking down at your phone. "It's enormous. Two hundred meters tall? More, maybe?"

She shrugs. "Not really a problem. There's no hills or anything to slow us down. Just the ones here."

She looks back at it. "Sure is tall, though."

You smile at that. Vel looks a little nervous for some reason. "Are you afraid of heights, sis?"

She turns to look at you, expressionless. "I'm not scared of heights."

You grin a little. Truth be told, you're no good with heights either. "Just checking. Let's get moving, then."

"Let's have a look at the village first. It's on the way," she says.

You smile a little bit. "Sounds good. Let's go."

You put down your phone and follow Vel towards the village, Roza and Liliya trailing behind, and shortly you arrive at the hillside above it. The last few lights went out while you were walking, leaving it roughly half lit by the crescent moon. Grasses fill the spaces between houses and fields, and there's a wooden fence around a small orchard.

It looks ancient.

There's a low wall surrounding the entire village, made of heaped dirt and stone.

Propped up against the fence is a flagpole with a tattered banner that looks to be in very bad condition. You step up close to examine it, but it's not a symbol you recognize. It's just a simple, white cross on a red background.

You look down to examine the fields where villagers must have been working only a short while ago. You make out rows of neat, orderly plots tended by careful hands. The soil is dark and rich beneath the moonlit sky. You take in a deep, sweet breath of the scented air with its heady hints of fruit blossoms, and it just makes you smile.

ooOOoo

You circle around the village, keeping to cover. There are a few people still in the streets, mostly gathered in groups by the doors of their houses. You can hear the occasional murmur of voices.

A baby is crying somewhere in the distance, but it quiets before you come near. The village is silent as you reach the forest on the far side from the portal. You're looking for anything exceptional; anything that says this isn't precisely what it looks like, a primitive village with no technology beyond the medieval.

You find nothing.

"Did you notice?" Rozaliya says in a hushed voice.

You shake your head. "What?" Liliya asks. "I don't see anything."

"The walls," she says. "Around the village. There's exactly one way in or out." She pauses. "And here, look at the marks it's got. You know what they look like? Like claw marks."

You nod. "There's no honkai energy, though."

"There's a little," Liliya says. "Can't you feel it?"

You frown. "It's faint, but—yes."

There are also claw marks on the edge of the trees.

You stare at them for a long moment. Then you draw closer to examine them.

Honkai beasts do not, as a rule, bother to sharpen their claws on trees.

You look at them up close. Then you silently pick your way through the underbrush, south by south-west, towards the river downstream of the village. Like you suspected, you find claw marks on the river bank. Whatever has made them, it needs to drink.

There are a lot of them, and some of the traces are fresh.

You look back at the trees, and see the heads, peeking out from between the uppermost branches. Ape-like animals. They're roughly the size of an adult, and they have bat-like ears, as well as of course the claws. There are six of them.

You brace yourself instinctively, eyes widening, heart suddenly beating faster—but none of them lunge at you. Instead, they look away as though unconcerned. They make no movements that you can see.

If their intentions weren't so plainly hostile, you'd find it cute.

You stare at them for a long moment. Then you slink towards the river bank, moving as silently as possible. You kneel near one of the larger claw-marks, pull out your phone and take a photograph.

"Uh. Seele," one of the twins says. You think it's Liliya, but you're focused on documenting this.

"Yes?"

"Uh—so, I guess that… these things are for real? Shouldn't we defend ourselves, or… something?"

You continue staring at the claw-marks, not glancing at the scouts. "If they wanted to attack us, they'd have done so already. Those six are distractions; they're here to keep our attention while the rest of the pack gets in place. They might give up if we seem unconcerned, but you two are keeping them from thinking anything's wrong."

You take a few more photos, until you've documented all the tracks. For lieu of anything else useful to do, you just walk down to the river and take a drink. You use the time to think.

The claw marks are plentiful, but not very deep. The creatures who made them might be grapplers—it would fit with their general ape-like appearance. They're not too smart, or they'd realize what you are doing.

Vel starts softly laughing behind you.

"You're just waiting until we get surrounded?" Liliya asks, sounding exasperated.

You shrug. "Best way to stop them getting away."

Rozaliya seems less annoyed. "Why are you trying so hard to kill them?"

You wipe your mouth, and straighten up. The water is sweet. "Think about it," you say. "These are honkai beasts of some sort. They've been attacking the village. Stopping that is worth a couple minutes of our time, and you don't mind, do you? Besides–"

You can feel a small smile on your face.

"It should make them more willing to help us, too," you add with a grin. "No matter what you look like, nobody dislikes valiant, wandering defenders."

"It just feels wrong," Liliya says. "Your tactics are… absolutely terrible."

"Rule one," you say. "The only terrible tactics are the ones that don't work."

Rozaliya is deep in thought, still staring at the animals. "You're sure there's no danger?"

You could literally destroy the universe by moving out of the way, but you don't feel like saying so. It isn't a valid answer. Can you destroy these monsters, whatever they are, safely and without concern for anyone's safety? Yes, easily; your scythe will slice them in half. Sleeping Beauty should work just as well. If they were a danger to the four of you, then the village would be gone.

"Hey, Roza," you say, lips twitching. "It's the middle of the night. Shouldn't you rename your sword to Insomniac Beauty?"

You expect Liliya to get mad, but she sighs and shakes her head. Roza giggles, though.

Your laugh echoes out loud, and that triggers the creatures to attack.

Trolls, you decide. You'll call them trolls. The monsters are trolls, same as the tales. You can see their bandy legs and dirty hides. As a tribe they look more like animals than humans. They have snouts and long claws. A few of them carry clubs, which would imply a level of intelligence if they weren't attacking the most dangerous people in the universe, but you've also seen zombies wear power armor.

"Get them!" Rozaliya shouts, raising her sword.

"Okay!" You laugh, but she's already away, Liliya right behind her.

Vel is already gone, but a field of black tentacles sweeps out around you. You grin, draw Undine's Tale out of the nothingness, and bring it down on a troll's head. The thing's head rolls off like a ball.

You pull your scythe back and toss the head away. It bounces crookedly across the ground, coming to rest near the river.

You laugh as the tentacles sweep outwards, seeking to corral the monsters. Veliona, you're sure, is having fun. She always loved fighting.

"Aiya!" Rozaliya shouts, leaping off a troll's head and landing on another's shoulder. She stabs down at it with her sword, cutting into its back with a wet squelch.

You laugh harder as you watch. You don't doubt that your sisters can take care of themselves, but they're hardly having to try. It's already a rout. The monsters see them coming, and turn tail. They run away with a speed that belies their size, making little squeaking noises as they flee into the shadows, where Veliona rips them apart.

You can hardly find anything to fight, and you think Undine's Tale is hungry for souls—no, bad Seele, don't start repeating Veliona's absurdities, even if you're starting to see why she enjoys it.

"Aaaagh! Darn it, I almost got it!" Liliya shouts at the world in general. She whips her sword down again, only for a monster to leap out of her way. "They're fast!"

Well, they are, but not exactly…

As you fight, you watch Rozaliya plunge into a swarm of panicked monsters, spinning the sword around her like a top. The weapon screams through the air as it bisects them, cleaving monsters in two. Liliya freezes a few into ice statues, then actually punches her tail straight through the middle of a troll. She nearly freezes herself, as it weakly clutches her tail, her face set in an expression of disgust.

They're not exactly surviving, these trolls. Obnoxiously, the corpses stick around—you guess they're more like zombies, not honkai beasts. Whatever. You can feel the energy leaking from them, so it's not like you're wiping out a pack of innocent man-eating animals. These are monsters.

Vel starts shrinking her encirclement, and what's left is mop-up. Between the four of you, you turn the monsters to powder. It's even easier than you'd expected, and when one of them finally catches Liliya with a desperate claw, it doesn't even scratch her skin.

ooOOoo

"Sooo…" Rozaliya says. You can hear her trying to lighten her tone, but she's plainly confused. "What was the point of this? We didn't save anyone's life. If there's one pack like that, there's more."

She shrugs, and Liliya shakes her head.

You can still feel heat from the fight in your body. You close your eyes to regain your balance. You can feel your heart hammering away inside your chest, which is just crazy, because you don't actually have one. The adrenaline rush was something else though. Usually when you're fighting you're too scared to feel much of anything, but this time it was different.

It worries you, which makes it hard to respond to Roza's question, but you do sort of have to.

"Eventually," you say. "Predators are typically territorial. There's a chance it'll take a while before there's more."

Liliya nods thoughtfully, and Rozaliya shrugs.

"So let's grab a few trophies, and get back to the village. It's past midnight," Vel says, "and there were people out and about. I suspect these are why."

As Liliya snaps off a claw, you turn to Roza. She nods.

"It makes sense," she says.

Well, but...

You make a face, sidle up to one of the trolls and rip off its right-hand claw with a sharp tug. You hold it up to the light of the moon, and examine it closely. This close, you can see a faint tracery of eerie dark veins.

Okay. Monster anatomy. You learn something new every day.

You really wish this scene could fade to black.

ooOOoo

At the western side of the village, all's not quiet. You hear rustling in the grass, and faintly you make out the sound of hushed crying.

You look around until you find the source.

It's upstream from you, near the edge of the village. Beneath a tree where the moonlight doesn't reach, two someones are lying prone in the grass. You squint your eyes, trying to make out their shapes, but it's difficult in the shadows.

All you can be fully sure of is that they're children. They're too short to be adults.

One of the children is sprawled on their back, arms stretched wide. The other is propped up on top, face buried in the other's chest. The sobs are audible even from where you stand, a hundred meters away.

They quiet for a moment, then they start talking. They speak words you can't hear clearly, but it sounds like a very heated argument. The language, surprisingly, is one you know.

It's too dark, and you're too far away to be spotted. To your eyes, and those of the twins, the village is merely in shadow; but to the children above, it must be nearly pitch black. As the wind picks up, their conversation grows clearer.

It ceases to be a conversation.

This is just one-sided yelling, a girl—you think—shouting tearfully at her brother.

It continues for several minutes, and despite the distance you make out enough to piece together the nature of their argument.

Their mother is sick, is the long and short of it. There are no doctors in the village. They can do nothing for her, and the boy wants to leave to find help. The girl doesn't want him to go.

An ordinary fight, about an ordinary tragedy. You look away, embarrassed at eavesdropping and ashamed at planning to do nothing. Even if you had the time for it, none of you are doctors either.

They get quiet again. But when you look over they're still lying there. The girl has given up talking, and is crying into his chest.

You should–

"We should go," Vel says quietly. "Now."

She's right.

= = =

I like using the AI as a random number generator, but asking if something is there is, usually, a recipe for making it exist. There are exceptions, which are… difficult to explain, but by and large you have to be very circumspect.

A lot happened in this update, and it's a difficult one to write voting options for; a lot of Seele's possible actions contradict each other. I can still try, but I'd prefer to give you some ideas and see what you come up with as a write-in.

So let's try this.

- The children. You can leave them be; circle around them, and ignore them entirely. Or you could bring their plight to the attention of other villagers. Or you could try to help them yourself; it's true that none of you are doctors, but your medical supplies might as well be sheer magic, and there's a good chance you can help.

- You could try to leverage this directly into getting assistance. Or not.

- You can sneak in, and show up in the bedroom of the chief of the village. Or you can present yourself at the gate. Or anything in between.

- You can make a point of having defeated dozens of trolls… or you could try to appear harmless, though I have some doubts about that one.

- You can directly ask questions about the situation, the tree, and so on; or you can try to probe them, carefully; or you could ignore the subject for now.

- You can even bypass the village entirely.

What sort of story do you want to see?

Incidentally, there is a 24-hour moratorium on votes. Please think about this first, and post your ideas; don't jump straight at the first one.

[ ] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Dec 21, 2020 at 5:25 AM, finished with 5 posts and 3 votes.

• ---

  3 people have voted

  [X] Approach the children and ask if they need help, you can't make promises but you'll try
  -[X] If they agree to let you help, ask if they can get you into the village without it being a problem
  --[X] While in the village, if possible, ask the children or anyone else willing to talk if they know anything about the tree

  • Alcor
  • BoundaryPhantasm
  • thelordofmango

 

[Baughn]

She's right.

She's right, but...

You can see the unwillingness on Rozaliya's face, and the angry energy in Liliya. They look up to you; they'll listen to reason.

Right?

"No," whispers Roza.

Liliya nods slowly in agreement.

You look at Vel for help, but she shakes her head stubbornly; she doesn't want to convince them, she wants you to. You open your mouth to try, but… you just can't. Not even for Vel, can you do something that cruel. Nor do you want to.

What you want, what your heart is telling you to do, is help these children. They're no-one you know, and you have problems of your own, but maybe… just maybe, you can do something for them. It doesn't have to be entirely a waste of time. They might be able to help you get into the village. If nothing else, there's so much you don't know about this world; talking to them could be enlightening.

If you tell yourself that enough, will you believe it?

So what do you do?

The girl whispers something to the boy, and they start getting up. In a moment it'll be too late.

"Stay here. I'll go talk to them," you tell the twins, trying not to look at Veliona. She's sure to be angry, or at least disappointed…

You glance at her, but to your surprise, she's frowning and looking at her hands. Something really seems to be bothering her. Is she… conflicted? You pause, unsure of what to do, but you have little time to decide. After a moment's uncertainty you walk over to the two children.

"...Hello," you say, startling them. They look up at you. They're very dirty, and they look famished. Their eyes are red, like they've been crying. "What are your names?"

"I'm Pip and she's... Annie."

"Hello, Pip, and hello, Annie. Why are you out here? I heard you crying.."

Pip looks down at the ground, while Annie hugs herself. "...We had to get away," he answers softly.

"From what?"

"Our parents..." Annie chokes out. A fresh wave of tears come over her, and Pip hugs her tightly. His own eyes are red. Whatever happened, it was recent.

You glance back at Veliona. She just sighs, looking downcast.

You look back at the children. "I'm sorry to hear that," you say. "My name's Seele. Maybe I can help?"

"Seele... Like seelie?" Annie asks. "That's a strange name."

A second passes. Pip looks you over, his eyes growing wider by the second. You don't think he can see you properly, in the darkness, but he's seeing something. You consider your appearance; dressed in clothes worth more than their entire village, the Cherenkov radiation dancing through your hair damped down to an absolute minimum but still vaguely visible, and showing up out of nowhere... You were a better choice to make contact than Roza or Liliya, but only just.

"I don't recognise you. Do you... Have fae blood?" he asks, a spark of fear entering his voice.

See, you're someone from a different universe. Someone from outside the universe, in all honesty. You're not even human; you lost that a long time ago. You can't say he's wrong. He'd never believe it.

It doesn't usually bother you, but sometimes…

"...No," you say, kneeling to look them in the eyes. "I'm something else, but please believe that I want to help you. We were passing by, and... I couldn't ignore children crying."

Pip doesn't seem convinced. Annie just looks too dazed to speak.

"...Do you have family here?" you ask. "We can go there, and talk to a grown-up. You mentioned a sick mother?"

His eyes grow even wider.

"Mama's at the church. Papa's in the graveyard, and Jane's in her room," says Annie, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Alright. And your mother is… what's wrong with her?" you say questioningly.

"She has a bad chest, and she's coughing," explains Pip. "We can't get medicine because of how expensive it is. Papa died and we needed to buy his medicine. The village chief said the merchants are cheaters."

A tear trickles down from his eyes. They're young; shockingly so, even more than you'd imagined when you saw them from afar. Seven, eight years old at most. Pip and Annie seem to be nearly the same age, Annie perhaps a year or so younger. The two seem very close, to the point where they're instinctively protecting each other now that there's a stranger nearby, each keeping an eye on a different angle of the forest you came from. You make a note not to come too close.

"We need to save my mom," Annie says seriously. "We can't lose her."

"You said her chest is bad. Is she coughing blood?" you ask.

Pip nods, dabbing his eyes. "She coughed up some this morning. The priest said..."

He goes quiet, and the silence speaks louder than anything else.

"What did the priest say?" you ask.

"He said it was a bad omen," admits Pip in a very small voice. "That she's demon-possessed. He wouldn't let us go near her. He's wrong! Mom isn't dangerous, she's… mom." His voice is nearly breaking. "It's not fair."

You nod to yourself. The priest is hopefully right, at least to not let anyone near. What's ailing her sounds like an infectious disease. If the kids were around her, they'd probably get sick as well. That's good news, though. An infection… infections can be cured. Anything else would be harder.

You're carrying enough medical equipment for any vaguely probable scenario, but the only pieces you really know how to use are Liliya's, and there's little variety to that. Immunosuppressants, top-ups for her nanotech immune system replacement, a few spare bits of cybernetics you haven't gotten around to clearing out after Liliya told you hers just… fell out, and… that sort of thing. A lot of it would also work on Roza. Most wouldn't be useful for anyone else.

The nanotech, though? That's generic, soulium-equivalent stuff. All you need to do is flip a switch on the medical nanites, asking them to discard Raven's hand-tuned profile and use the built-in universal one. Pretty much no matter what's wrong with her, that'll make her feel better for a few days…

You hope it's an infection, though. If it's an infection, it'll cure her.

"Are you two at all hungry?" you ask, smiling at the children.

They glance at each other. "No," they say together, and you shrug. Too bad; it would have been an easy way to gain their trust. You glance back at where Liliya, Roza and Vel are hiding. Roza's the one with most of the medical gear, of course. Still, you need to be careful about how you present them.

"I'm going to ask some friends to come out," you say, still smiling. "They're my sisters. They look a bit odd, but they're the three nicest people you'll ever meet. Okay?"

They look at you, then shrug. In a louder voice, you call out to your siblings. "Come on out, Vel and idol team!"

You barely resist saying 'idiot team'. Roza would get you for that.

The three of them come out from where they were hiding, and the children stare at them. Not so much at Vel, which is just as well; claiming she's the 'nicest person ever' was a white lie at best. Rozaliya's tail twitches uncomfortably, and she's looking away in a doomed attempt at making her horn and glowing eyes less obvious. Liliya is less shy about it. For a change she's the one pulling Roza along. They stop a few meters away, watching the childrens' eyes grow wider and wider.

"See?" you say. "No reason to be scared of them. These are my sisters."

"They're monsters," Annie whispers, and you sigh. You want to reach out and comfort her, but…

Wouldn't work.

You speak as gently as possible. "Annie, they haven't hurt you, and they won't. These are my sisters. They're people, just like you and me, we just look a little different. The only scary one is Veliona." You point her out, and Vel rolls her eyes. "My twin sister. She's a little abrasive, but she's not dangerous. She's honest, is all. The one with pink hair is Roza, and she's an idiot, but she's genuinely the nicest person you'll ever meet. Just don't get between her and her snacks."

"Or she'll… eat me?" Pip whispers, then immediately clamps a hand over his mouth. His sister clenches his hand. You're tempted to roll your eyes.

"Or she'll eat the snacks, then tell your mother it was you," you say, smiling fondly. Roza looks like she's about to say something, but thinks better of it. Liliya chuckles softly, though.

"And that's Liliya," you say, gesturing at your youngest sister. "The adorable one with the cute horn. She's quiet, but loves reading. If you want her to like you, all you have to do is tell her stories. Uh…" As your thoughts catch up with what you're saying, you wonder if that's entirely true anymore. No, no, she definitely loves stories. Still, 'quiet'?

Roza looks more and more rebellious. You grin inwardly, but decide against deliberately trying to make her blow her top. Right now.

"...Liliya thinks she's smarter than she is, so you can take advantage of that," you finish. Heh.

The children slowly move forward, and begin to whisper quietly. Annie seems to be the bravest of them. She whispers back at Pip, occasionally glancing your way. Vel stands off to the side, frowning slightly as she watches. You walk over to stand before her.

"Vel," you murmur, and she looks at you. "Put on a friendly face. They're scared of us."

Vel nods slowly. "I think they're mostly scared of the twins," she murmurs. "Can't say as I blame them."

"Still…" You look at the twins, your adorable idiots, and try to imagine yourself scared of them. It's not possible. You know she's right, but the feeling just isn't there.

She sighs. "Oh, fine..."

Vel gets down on one knee and waves a hand. "Come here, little humans. I won't hurt you." she says in a deep voice before quickly switching to her own. "I'm still scary, though."

You giggle at that, and the kids move forward.

"That was mean, Vel." You laugh.

"They're fine." She smirks. "Go ahead, human boy."

Annie walks forward slowly, followed by Pip. Your smile falls. Truthfully, you don't like this at all. You're not some sort of alien, and you don't like being treated like one, but Vel's right. You can't blame them. These children were raised in a primitive society—they may never have seen someone with clean hair, let alone with cosmetic prostheses. The twins' aren't cosmetic, and also aren't prostheses anymore, but that's not the point. You're an alien to them, and you can't be mad at them for reacting the way they do.

"Can you help mom?" Annie asks, staring up at you. "She won't get better."

You don't know what to tell her. You want so badly to embrace the girl—she's about to cry. You wish you could say yes, but…

"I'm sorry," you murmur. "I can try to take a look. I can probably help a little. But she might not get better. It's not up to me."

"Alright." She sniffles, rubbing her eyes. "Do you promise you'll try?"

"I promise."

She runs a finger under each eye, drying the dampness as she walks back to her brother. She takes his hand.

"Don't worry, Pip," she says. "She's gonna help mom. She promised."

"In return for what?" he asks, scowling suspiciously. Your smile fades. Is he actually…

"Nothing you'd mind," you tell him, crouching down so you can look him in the eyes. "I promise. We're not here to hurt you, or anyone in your village. We're strangers here. I'm searching for my teacher, and when I find her I'll leave, but I heard you crying and couldn't leave you alone. The only thing I'll ask of you is that you introduce us to the leader of your village, so we can ask him some questions. That's it."

His face is dubious, but when Annie pulls on his sleeve, he nods.

"I'll take you to them," he says. "Come on."

"Right. Um… wait a second," you tell him. "I need to think."

He narrows his eyes at you, but you're not lying. If you go with them, they'll take you to the village's leaders… you guess, and you guess that could work, but you don't feel too sure about it. If this is the reaction you get from children…

You're not sure if adults would be more or less anxious about your appearance, but you guess you'll find out.

Or you could go straight to their mother. Fix her up, as best you can. Use that as a distraction, or a voucher—maybe just leave straight away, actually. You have a pretty good idea of where to go next.

= = =

Shorter than usual, but I felt you deserve some input here.

You have the option of being the mysterious strangers who no-one except Pip and Annie ever see, whose existence is only believed—to those who believe it—because their mother is so suddenly healed.

Or you could go see the other villagers. There's no way to avoid your first meeting being at least disconcerting, but you can choose the type of disconcertion. Give that some thought, if you pick it.

[ ] Go along with the kids and meet the village leaders
[ ] Go see their mother first
- [ ] And then see the leaders
- [ ] And then leave
[ ] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

While I'm in here, I'll propose that you should also consider how I'd be implementing the previously existing vote. I don't generally want to bias your voting, but I feel this is more stating facts than overriding anyone.

You voted for Seele to help the children rather than bypass them, even though bypassing them is probably the better move, from the perspective of the greater good. Sort of. Okay; if anyone was ever going to rationalize bypassing them, then that is the rationalization they'd have used. This is true for Seele, Veliona, and also you lot.

But in-story, for Seele? For Vel? If we'd bypassed the children, it wouldn't be purely out of high-minded ideals. It'd be a selfish decision, made because Einstein, Theresa and everyone else on the Hyperion are people Seele knows and likes, and these children aren't.

While that's a meagre level of selfishness, it's still selfishness. You're valuing your allies over a possibly larger number of unrelated people. We found out this episode that the children are famished; you can most likely guess why that might be, in the middle of the summer in an life-rich valley. No, it's not because their parents are hurt. This is a bronze-age society; these children have a lot more people taking care of them than just their mom and dad.

(Personally, I feel the fact that this isn't the case in modern life is a failing of modern society. The few examples I've seen where it is the case tend to produce far happier, more well-adjusted children. In fiction, Non Non Biyori would be a decent example. But regardless.)

= = =

Seele and Veliona are practically the same person. They have the same genetics, the same early life experience. Veliona is a few years older than Seele, but mostly the difference between them is that Veliona never had anyone in her head, and went through a worse backstory. Obviously, again, Vel's real name is Seele Vollerei, though she doesn't remember that.

It should be of no surprise, then, that Veliona tends to be the outlet for all of Seele's darker impulses. It's not true in any metaphysical or cognitive sense. It's not like Seele has a dark thought, and then it gets moved into Veliona's mind, so Seele doesn't feel it...

Seele has that thought, and suppresses it.

Veliona has the same thought, and doesn't suppress it.

Because they're very close to being the same person.

Needless to say, this means that when you're faced with a binary choice that -- in a computer game -- might be tagged as 'Paragon' and 'Renegade', you're also deciding which of the two of them takes the lead. Make the pragmatic, ice-cold, selfish choice? Veliona will be the one to speak up, and to convince the others. Pick the bleeding-heart choice? It'll be... to be honest, it'll be Roza and Liliya most of the time.

Seele herself is more balanced, and will tend to choose whatever she feels would 'work best'. Whatever that means at the time. She's more typically the spokesperson for compromise votes.

Not that any of the above is a hard limitation on their characters, but as a general rule...

...

There was no chance of Roza and Liliya not speaking up. They know what it's like to lose family, and to go hungry. More so than Seele, who hasn't felt hunger in years and who wasn't around to lose family. She was the one lost.

So the choice here was between Veliona suppressing them, convincing Seele to take her side and convincing them their older sisters know best--

Or for her to not do that. Seele herself was unsure. It may not have seemed that way from the narrative, but it was really the twins' reaction that tipped the scales for her.

...

And since Veliona stopped speaking, and refused to continue her argument after those first three words, that means she suppressed that same impulse in herself. She decided that avoiding conflict with the twins, and defending Seele's feelings -- rather than, perhaps, her physical body, or more realistically those of the twins -- took priority over what she thought would optimize everyone's chance of survival.

= = =

This is, as it were, an example of character development. If she faced the same choice back during Honkai Impact canon... well, I don't need to say anything. But even a day or two ago, inside this story, it's rather less likely she would have made that choice. I wouldn't have even put this up for a vote; you'd have got the conflict first, and then a decision on how to deal with it.

Since you did make this choice, it's pushing Veliona further towards... being a good person, essentially. Don't expect that to be equally obvious every time.

I don't know if you did any of that on purpose. If you did, good work. If not, you now have a better idea of how I think about this.

= = =

Lastly, as for what it means for Seele to help the kids and then leave, sneaking away in the dark...

Or, for that matter, what the alternative choices would do...

I won't tell you, of course.

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Dec 27, 2020 at 6:31 PM, finished with 14 posts and 4 votes.

• ---

  2 people have voted

  [X] Go along with the kids and meet the village leaders
  - [X] But stop to talk to another random villager along the way.
  - [X] Talk about the giant radio tree

  • BoundaryPhantasm
  • Graviator

  1 people have voted

  [X] Go see their mother first
  - [X] And then leave

  • Alcor

  1 people have voted

  [X] Go see their mother first
  - [X] And then see the leaders

  • thelordofmango

 

[Baughn]

"Just… give me a second," you say, glancing between the children and the twins. Roza and Lili are 'subtly' fidgeting, trying to convey suppressed impatience, but you know them far too well to believe in that. "I need to have a quick talk with my sisters."

You're probably not backing out now, but you need to think about this carefully.

They've slid in behind you, and you couldn't possibly miss how this puts you and Vel in between them and the kids, as if they're afraid of a pair of absolutely harmless children. In a way, they are. Rozaliya is still, almost unnaturally so, and her complexion is nearly as pale as Liliya's would usually be. It's not the first time a child has called her a monster, but it might be the first time she expects adults to do so. You hope so. You hope that's it, and it isn't experience talking.

"Seele?" Liliya says, her voice subdued. She looks like she's going to continue, but then she stops.

"Mm," you say, nodding at her, and focusing on Roza and Lili specifically.

Veliona just stands around, looking uncomfortable. She's glancing down at her hands every once in a while; you don't know why, but it's clear enough that she doesn't know what to do.

You weigh your options, and the stability of the twins. Ideally...

Ideally you'd have run into Einstein right away, you suppose. You weren't expecting an Adventure, although you aren't sure why you weren't; bubble universes are always like this. You really should have known better, but there's no use crying over what you can't change. In the meantime, the danger here is that Roza and Lili break down a little more. Their life hasn't been kind to them.

If only this was something you could fix with words.

Rozaliya sags as you study her, then lowers her head in defeat, clutching Liliya's hand a little more tightly. She's breathing rapidly, and you can feel her whole body tense up as you reach out for her, pulling her and Liliya into another hug.

It's about all you can do for them, and you can feel Roza's shivers as she accepts your embrace. As she releases her grip on Liliya and hugs you back, you can feel her tears dripping onto your shoulder. She's so angry, so frustrated… and she has every right to be. You wish that you could make it all better for her, but you're not sure that you can.

They have reason to be afraid. That much is certain. Thoughts of fear and hatred are both forefront in your mind, along with the bitterness of not knowing how to keep them safe from the world, but at the same time... You can sense their sadness, hardly suppressed at all anymore. You know, if you asked them to leave the village with you, they'd feel relieved. You also know they'd hate themselves for it.

You don't know what to do anymore, and you haven't for some time. At one point in time, years ago, Rozaliya wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have realised. It's been…

"We're okay," Rozaliya mumbles into your coat. "Don't worry."

It's not even worth a laugh.

After losing Isabella and Nina… and Zofia, even if she didn't mean to? How much innocence do they still have left? Zofia's death just struck you with a sort of numbness, but at least you cried. Neither of them cried when they got the message. It would've been so much easier if they had.

Sin's dead too now, you guess. You hadn't given it much thought.

"Yeah, I know," you tell them in a low voice. "Everything's just perfect, right?"

The twins react by tensing a little, then slumping. Both of them, in unison.

You sigh. The four of you are lousy excuses for Valkyries, aren't you? And never mind that all of you have gone through combat training. There's more to it than just knowing how to fight.

Even so, you're not sure if you care.

"Liliya. Rozaliya. Look at me," you command.

Slowly, they raise their eyes to meet yours. There's no sadness in their eyes, just a numbness, the type you've been seeing too much of lately. That's probably why you do what you do next.

Without thinking, without planning, you kiss Roza on the forehead, the only place not covered by her shoulder-length pink hair. Then you do the same for Liliya. They stare at you.

"Roza, you were right," you tell them. "I'm all you have left. Which means–" You smile, and there's only a little sadness in it. "That goes both ways, and you're all I have left in the world as well. You, Lili and Vel, and Bronya if we can help her. You're not letting me go? That's perfect, I don't want to let you go either. We'll stay together the rest of our lives. We'll beat the odds and make our own perfect, happy ending."

You hug them both as best you can, seeking reassurance that they're still there. This is still Roza and Liliya. Still your childhood playmates.

"This time we won't just go to a beach," you say, your tone as light as you can make it. "I'm taking you to a festival. Think about it—the five of us eating pancakes, and eggrolls, and drinking juice, and watching all the jugglers and dancers. And while we're there, I'll even buy you whatever you want from the booths."

At last, Liliya's lips quirk upwards in a small smile.

"Really?" she asks, her voice touched by a semblance of her usual humour. "Even cotton candy?"

"Well, maybe not that," you admit. "That stuff'll kill you. But we can get you some nice jewellery, if you want."

"It would be nice," Rozaliya says. "Can I have a space shuttle? And a keychain?"

There's a very momentary silence.

"You can't fit a space shuttle in your pocket," Vel says, finally speaking up. "Or on a keychain. It's not going to work."

"I can too," Roza says.

"Baka-Roza," Liliya grumbles. "You're not taking this seriously."

"Yeah I am! I'm as serious as a heart attack!"

You laugh like she wants you to, and rub her head with a fondness that isn't ever faked.

You love them, you really do, and you're trying your best to show it. It's not like you've been neglecting them. Before the world's end you spent nearly every day together, but being there is usually all you can do. When Theresa's academy was destroyed, and Liliya ended up in hospital, unsure if she'd even walk again, it was you, Bronya and Kuu-chan who convinced Raven to come help.

In the end you're still just one person, one of four siblings all messed up by the world you're living in. It's not enough. It'll never be enough. But it's what you are, so you'll try your best to help them achieve the impossible, because if you can't you'd be betraying the rest of your family. None of your older sisters would want the four of you to be sad. Everyone's cheerful, adorable little sisters are still adorable, even if not so little or so cheerful anymore, and you have to be the one to fix that, now.

They trusted you, more than they could trust Liliya and Roza, or Sin, so you'll do your best living up to that trust. Even if they've never asked you to.

"We'll be okay," you say, stroking their hair. "I'll always be here for you. Okay?"

"Okay," Lili says, in a tiny voice. Roza says nothing. Her sugar rush is over, and she's doing her best not to cry. She'll succeed, just like always.

But there's another pair you should worry about here, so you brush away a few tears of your own and turn back to the two local children. You expect they probably think you're insane now. Hopefully, at least, none of that outburst scared them.

"Sorry about that," you say.

Annie and Pip do look taken aback, but after a brief pause, Annie smiles. It's a sad smile, though.

"It's... it's okay," she says. "Thanks, um..."

"Seele," you answer, almost automatically. You smile encouragingly at the girl.

"Seele," she says again, as if testing the word. "I didn't forget. You were acting like mom and dad did when they couldn't see us listening. Are you going to help mom?"

"I..." You hesitate, and your level of worry jumps up a few notches. "I'll try."

"Okay," Annie says.

An awkward, uncomfortable pause hangs in the air as you look at her. You're no expert, but she looks half-starved; sunken cheeks and dull eyes, as if the only thing keeping her alive is determination.

Pip looks about the same, except he has a bit more meat on his bones. Still, the pair of them look about as far from healthy as you can imagine. Given that, and their refusal of food earlier, you wonder what precisely they think of you.

You reach into a pocket of Rozaliya's backpack. Slowly, like you're approaching a wild animal, you walk forward. The pair of them are watching you apprehensively, like they expect you to do something malevolent at any moment.

You unzip the pair of sandwiches, lean down to the grass and leave them there, on top of their packaging.

"Here's some food," you say. Your tone's gentle, caring. Despite yourself, you find yourself smiling a bit at the children's bewildered expressions, like they're Siberian huskies approached by a stranger with meat in hand.

They eye the sandwiches uncertainly.

"It's not a gift," you say, guessing that's their worry somehow. "Roza's backpack was just a little too heavy, so I'm throwing these out. If you want to pick up my junk, feel free."

You look away.

You sigh, taking in the scenery. The river is glistening softly in the moonlight. The air is warm on your skin, but there's still a weak breeze. It's a pleasant night... And there's a pair of children desperately tearing at a pair of sandwiches. You keep looking away, not wanting to disturb them.

"Thank you," says the boy, once he's caught his breath, "Thank you for helping us."

You shrug. "It's nothing. Like I said, I was throwing that out. If you want to thank someone, thank Roza."

And that's the end of that conversation. You can see their unwilling glances at Rozaliya's backpack, still full of so much more food, but they aren't going to ask and you aren't going to offer. Not because you don't want to, you just happen to know they'll get sick if you give them too much food, too fast. All three of you have seen that happen before. Vel has as well, you suppose, if she was around when Bronya showed up.

Anyway, it really is nothing. You know, for a certainty, that you can't do much to help Annie and Pip survive. Not unless you were to bring them back to the Hyperion, or something, and that–

Theresa would never deny you. It'd be, what, the third or fourth time one of her subordinates has done so? With a jolt, you realise you haven't seen hide nor hair of Kuu-chan since the world ended. Hopefully she's okay. For the kids it's something to think about, if it becomes the only option, but not now. Right now, you'd have to kidnap them. You don't want to put them through that. It'd complicate everything, and they still have a mother.

Not now.

ooOOoo

Annie and Pip guide you into the village, avoiding the villagers with an ease that speaks of long experience. You examine the primitive, stone-walled houses and the strips of dirt that serve as streets. A village, like something out of a fairy tale, designed to be as unlike the real world as possible.

Right.

It's as real as a heart attack, as Roza said. And it's not right that anyone should have to live like this.

It's late in the night. Maybe not as late as you'd thought, but late enough that everyone should be asleep. This place has no electrical lighting, not even the gas pipes Rozaliya had been hoping for, but with as many people as are awake and staring into the night, you'd have thought there'd be at least a few candles. Instead, everyone's just staring into the darkness...

It's obvious enough why. Practically everyone, parents and children included, are staring out towards the village walls. Occasionally you hear the shuffle of metal on leather, or a creak as someone leans just a little too far forward in their seat. Of course they're all watching. It's obvious, now that you're looking for it.

The trees behind you rustle a little in the night breeze, and you feel the... whatever is out there... drawing nearer. Honkai energy, and lots of it. It feels uncomfortably like home.

This isn't like the trolls. Whatever's out there feels heavier. More dangerous, enough to give you a fight—one you'd win, no question about it, but enough to make you know you've been in one. It still feels like a horde, and it's far away. Far enough to make it hard to tell that it's drawing closer.

Roza and Liliya have caught it too. They sniff the air, the hairs on the back of their heads standing up. It unnerves them a little less than it does you, since they're more used to it. They still lean into each other, clutching at one another's hands.

"Cavaliers, you think?" you ask.

"Cavalier level?" Roza mutters, glancing at you. "No, there's at least a few emperors. Smells sweet. Should we…"

You tense.

Yes. You'll know you've been in a fight. But against these people, these primitives, armed with sticks, spears, and a few metal daggers? That won't be a fight. It won't even be a massacre.

You look over at Vel, standing behind you, to get a sense of what you should do. She stares out in the direction of the energy, frowning ever so slightly.

"They'll be here in two hours. Maybe three," Roza says, looking you in the eyes. "What do we do?"

"We get a move on," you say.

[ ] [Horde] Ignore it.
[ ] [Horde] Fight ruination head-on. It will not pass.
[ ] [Horde] Attempt to coordinate with the villagers.
[ ] [Horde] Write-in

[ ] [Villagers] Let them know what's happening.
[ ] [Villagers] Keep them in the dark.
[ ] [Villagers] Write-in

Votes are by plan.

"Pip, Annie?" you say, not taking your eyes off the unseen miasma in the distance. "I think we should hurry."

The two children start, their eyes growing wide again as they look between the four of you.

"What...?" Annie starts to ask.

"Shhh," you say, holding a finger to your lips. "We'll tell you after we get to your chieftain. Right now, let's hurry. That is... I don't suppose you know why everyone is watching the walls?"

Pip rapidly nods his head, his eyes flicking over to the walls and back.

"A monster came out of the purple stuff in the forest," he says quietly. "It didn't do anything. We thought it was a ghost or something, but then people went in and didn't come out. So the adults told us we can't leave the village, even to hunt or gather fruit. But then people started getting sick..."

Annie takes over the explanation.

"We don't know what's wrong with them," she whispers, tears welling up in her eyes as she points towards the centre of the village. "So the priest takes care of them. But they get really pale, and there's stripes on their skin, and then they start hurting people. They act like monsters, but they're really sick. We don't know what to do. It's been like this for months now."

You nod gravely, and give them a small smile.

"It'll be okay," you say, the lie as kind as you can make it. "I've seen this before. I know what to do."

Yes. You've seen the results of a Honkai eruption before, many, many times. This one seems special, but only because the world is so primitive it shouldn't have one—but then there's that radio tree, so that's explained. Honkai energy poisoning is a nasty way to die.

It doesn't always make you cough up blood, but it can.

There's still a chance it's tuberculosis.

"Vel. Check me on this," you say, as the six of you hurry towards the centre of the village. You're going too fast to be sure of avoiding contact, but that's as may be. You'll just have to deal.

"Sure."

"When Schrödinger and Einstein were discussing the Honkai. Last time, while we were waiting for word on Otto's proposal. She was speculating on where it comes from. Right?"

"Yeah?" Vel doesn't seem sure where you're going with this. You suspect she wasn't paying attention. You miss a step, accidentally kicking a rock; it makes an awful noise as it bounces off a house.

"What I mean is–" A momentary pause as you wait for someone to notice, but if they do, they aren't nearby. They can probably hear you talking, anyway. "She said eruptions aren't caused by something inside the universe, so it should be something outside. Well, right now we're practically wrapped around this one. I could literally go look."

Veliona kicks your leg.

"After what you just told Roz?" she hisses at you. "Are you in your right mind, sis?"

= = =

Points to whoever guessed it'd be a strange Honkai disease, but that was effectively random chance. We still don't know for sure.

Seele may be able to help. Or not. One thing's for sure, she ought to give some thought to what she'll do afterwards.

[ ] [Mother] Continue with the plan.
[ ] [Mother] Make a likely terrible attempt at preparing the children beforehand.
[ ] [Mother] Write-in

[ ] [Outside] Go look.
[ ] [Outside] Don't.
[ ] [Outside] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

Scheduled vote count started by Baughn on Jan 16, 2021 at 8:56 PM, finished with 24 posts and 4 votes.

• ---

  2 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Improved Unseen Aid
  -[X] [Horde] Fight ruination head-on. It will not pass.
  -[X] [Villagers] Keep them in the dark.
  -[X] [Mother] Continue with the plan.
  -[X] [Outside] Go look.

  • Thelxiope
  • BoundaryPhantasm

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: The Grim Truth

  • thelordofmango

  1 people have voted

  [X] Plan: Improved Unseen Aid
  -[X] [Horde] Fight ruination head-on. It will not pass.
  -[X] [Villagers] Keep them in the dark.
  -[X] [Mother] Continue with the plan.
  -[X] [Outside] Go look.

  • Alcor

 

[Baughn]

"After what you just told Roz?" she hisses at you. "Are you in your right mind, sis?"

"Well, maybe you can–"

You stop. Your conversation is too loud, and Roza and Lili have excellent hearing. You turn, with some trepidation, to find them standing stock still. Roza's face is blank, and Lili looks—she's staring at you, her expression shifting between fear and something much worse.

"I–" you say, your throat seizing up. You're not good with words, and you just now realised how badly that came out. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry I scared you, Lili."

"You didn't scare me," Liliya says, so quietly that you almost miss the words. There's something in those hard, low words that cuts you deeper than a Honkai beast's claws. She's always been the most attached to you, but you've never seen her react like this.

"I really didn't mean it!" you say, your nervous laugh dying as it leaves you. "I'm not leaving you. I'm already out there, really. All I'm talking about is closing these eyes, and opening some others."

"But you would," she murmurs in response, voice suddenly hoarse. "You'd leave if you thought it was best. I know you would. You've done it before."

"I… no! I wouldn't. And it's safe," you say, wishing it were the truth. You lean in to hug her, and she draws away. That hits like a gut punch. She knows you'd go–because you always do what's best for her, which isn't the same thing as what she wants. But you're not even leaving! You said so!

"Stop lying!" Liliya draws herself up on tiptoe and hits your chest with her fists, hard enough that it's nearly a punch. A variety of expressions cross her face, before she settles on anger. She grabs on to your collar, knuckles clenching so hard they go white.

"Are you genuinely out of your mind?!" she snarls at you. "This is an Impact we're looking at! And you want to go prancing about, looking for whatever's caused it? Did it perhaps slip your mind, sis, that every single one of those has had a Herrscher at its core? That's not safe! That's the opposite of safe!"

"I–"

You can't defend yourself.

You can't explain that you're very nearly larger than the universe they're in. That you're not here, so much as carefully dipping a fingernail in. That if something dangerous is out there then you're in so much more danger by keeping your eyes shut than by looking, even if there are some dangers that only become a danger when you spot them. It wouldn't answer Liliya's very reasonable anger, or soothe the fear driving it.

Why isn't your throat working?

"I-I just don't want you to be hurt," you try to tell her. She punches you again, hard, and it's only as you rock back that you see the tears in her eyes..

What have you done? How do you fix this?

Veliona glances rapidly around, a reddish light flickering around her. You follow her gaze, and spot two or three villagers staring at you from a distance. It doesn't feel important, but you don't protest when she hisses, steps up close to you and pulls at your sleeve.

"Not here." Veliona tugs you away from the open ground, her voice strained with worry. She drags you towards a stone wall, only for Lili's hand to pull you up short. Vel looks round at the sudden stop, and you silently plead for her to do something, anything. Heaving a sigh that only you can hear, she takes a step back, and one of her hands comes up to catch that of your impromptu anchor.

"Liliya," she says. Vel has even less experience with words than you do, but she tries. "We shouldn't do this here. It's not the right place."

"We're doing it now," Lili restrains herself from another snarl, clenching her teeth around the words as if trying to choke them. "And you aren't going, Seele. You promised." For the moment that's all it takes to speak those last words, the pain driving her anger overwhelms it, and it's enough to break your heart.

You want to hug her, tell her it'll be alright, like you always have for your youngest sister. But you already tried that, and you can't believe she'd accept it now.

'Then maybe,' Vel says, 'try talking to her like who she is, not who you think she is.'

You can feel the impatience in her voice, the driving need to get all of you out of the centre of attention right now. Who she is? She's still your little sister, you tell yourself. You can't surrender that, you won't. But looking down at her hurting, angry eyes, another realisation hits you. That you can't define her, or Roza, as only that. They're both sixteen now. Had you forgotten that?

"Alright." You slump, and Liliya's gaze sharpens. It's like salt in the wound to recognise that, right now, she doesn't trust you. "Alright, Liliya. But can we please not do this in the middle of the street?"

Your sister looks around, and for a moment the tension between you vanishes as she takes in the scene. A few villagers watching from a distance, a mess of hazy emotions on their faces. Roza, staring at her twin as if she's grown a second head. Her white knuckles on your travelling coat. You wonder, hope for a moment, that maybe that'll be enough. Maybe she'll even laugh?

Instead, she steps back, but only one step. Her hand drops from your collar to your closest arm, and she latches onto it like a steel trap. You almost, almost try to hug her again. Tell her you're sorry. You only just manage to stop yourself.

"Let's go, then." Lilya's voice wavers, but doesn't break. Veliona nods silently, grabs Roza's hand, and leads your little party away into a conversation you'd never wanted to have.

ooOOoo

There's nowhere good to do this, really, but you follow the children—and though they're doubtful, and it must be obvious to them by now that you're not some sort of apparition, they nevertheless lead you to their home.

The villagers follow at a distance, but give way in front of you. You aren't in the mood to analyze them. You spend the walk desperately thinking of ways to fix this, and your body is on autopilot, following along. Liliya's iron grip on your arm wouldn't let you stop if you wanted.

When you finally get to the house it's… not what you were expecting exactly, but something pretty close. It's… homey? It's a bit bigger than the others, and the thatch roof is mended in several spots, there are slabs of stone making a walkway up to the door… It looks like a scene out of a storybook.

It's not until you see the dirt floor inside it that you remember these villagers are poor. Truly poor. The floor is packed dirt, and the furniture looks like it's made out of rough-hewn wood. It's all just trunks and stumps and branches, still looking very much like the tree it once was.

While you're examining it, Annie and Pip run into one of the… you'll call it a "room". You hear low conversation from inside, before Annie comes back out, her eyes cast down. After a moment she looks up, staring at you with large eyes.

"Can I… can we have another piece of food?" she asks. "Not for me. For Jane. She's so hungry, and the food will help her feel better, and we… I don't want Jane to die."

You catch Liliya's eyes, and they're wide. The two of you both knew this was coming, but you can't help but be shocked when it happens.

"How old is Jane?" you ask Annie.

"She's two years old," Annie says.

Old enough to eat normal food, at least. Her being two and dying of starvation… that's almost heartbreaking enough to make you cry. Rozaliya hands Annie a sandwich from her backpack, without saying a word. Annie takes it and dashes back inside.

You look back to Liliya, wondering if she will say something. She doesn't, but her eyes are wide and staring after Annie like she's witnessed an atrocity beyond comprehension. Actually, you kind of agree with her.

You walk over to the doorway, looking inside. There's a dull wooden table in the middle of the room, and against the far wall there's a bed with a… you're not even sure what to call it. Some kind of woven cover? It's hanging from the ceiling and stretched across some wooden frames, like a hammock. In it is a little girl.

She's thin, like a skeleton. Her eyes are sunken in, her face is pale, and her hair looks like brittle straw. She's asleep, her breath coming slowly. She looks like if you touched her, she might break. Still, she's alive. You may have just saved her life.

Annie kneels next to her, stroking her head softly.

"Jane?" she asks. "Jane, do you want to eat?"

The child doesn't respond. Annie picks up the piece of bread and takes a small bite of it, chewing it carefully. Then, she puts it into Jane's mouth, holding her head, and the little girl starts swallowing, her eyes fluttering only partially open. Tears stream down Annie's face as she feeds her sister. After Jane has eaten half the slice of bread, she stops feeding her and watches the little girl as she closes her eyes. She falls back asleep.

"We should–"

"Let's–"

You look away.

"Let's leave them alone," Liliya says, speaking your thoughts out loud. You want to help, but none of you are doctors. What can you do?

Still, it's hard to step away from little Jane, starving and so thin. You wonder if your medical nanites would help at all, and make a note to find out. Annie strokes her head gently before rising. She takes a deep breath, then gives Roza a smile.

"Thank you," she says.

"Jane's lucky to have a big sister like you," Roza replies.

Annie turns back to her sister, and you turn away, finding a… log? Yes, a log. You sit down on it, and Veliona sits next to you. For several minutes, the only sounds are Annie and Pip talking to each other. You can't really hear what they're saying. Roza and Lili, you're sure, can make out far more.

Eventually Lili turns to you, her expression troubled. You look back at her, heaving a deep sigh.

"Let's talk," you say.

"Yeah. Let's. Seele…" Her eyes have lost all focus, but her voice firms up as she keeps talking. "Seele, do you know why I'm angry at you?"

You have an idea. "I… I don't want to guess," you say.

"Try," she says, almost chiding you.

You take a deep breath, and just look at her. Liliya is your little sister. She looks the way she did when you returned from the Sea of Quanta, which is nearly the same way she did when you were lost—horn and tail aside—which is to say that she looks like she's twelve. She'll always look like she's twelve. She has that in common with Theresa, but she is in fact sixteen. She has the body shape of a twelve year old girl, and to some small degree, the mind of one too. Lili's frozen in time.

That's why, you suppose, the three of them have become such good friends. It's why you refuse to grow any older. It's also why…

"Because I was still treating you like a child," you say. You're not looking at her; you're looking at the dirt beneath your feet. "When I said I didn't want you to be hurt."

She sits down next to you. "You think I'm still twelve," she says.

"No," you say, "I know you're sixteen."

"Then why?"

"Because… because I care about you, Lili. I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt. Okay? Is that… Can you accept that?"

Lili falls silent. You hear Roza shift uneasily. Annie and Pip are still talking about who knows what.

"Yeah," she says, her voice wavering. "I can. If you'll let me say the same thing. I care about you too… But I can't stand the thought of losing either of you. Especially like that. Especially if it's because you were defending me. You want to hear something crazy? When I was little, I thought I just got easily tired. But then I started realizing that everyone else saw me as some kind of… broken thing. Like something to be put in a jar and kept safe, not to be interacted with or risked in any way at all. I was so angry about it, but the number one culprit was my twin sister. Roza, you–"

Liliya never finishes that sentence, because she looks up at her sister, and the pain on Rozaliya's face in that moment is indescribable.

Liliya looks quietly at her. Her eyes flit back to you, and then she clasps Roza's hand and smiles. It isn't a genuine smile. She tries to make it one, as hard as she can. She fails.

After a few moments she lets out a sigh, takes both of her hands in her own and gets back to her feet, looking into Rozaliya's eyes from perhaps a centimeter away. Roza has the same deer-in-headlights expression as you, right now. You know she's terrified of what's coming next.

"Back when I was in the hospital," Liliya says. "After the attack on St. Freya's. And yesterday. Twice in the last few months, you've said you'd give your life for me."

Her voice is carefully controlled, but she's clearly on the verge of tears.

"Don't you know I wouldn't want that?" she says. "No, I'm not going to lie. I'd give up my life for you, Roza. In a heartbeat. But I don't want you to do the same, and I don't want Seele to do so either. It's not very fair, is it?"

"Life's not fair, Lili," Roza says, cracking a ghost of a smile.

"I know." Liliya's voice breaks. She turns back to you. "But I guess… I guess that's just the way family is, sometimes? I mean, look at these three. Pip was desperate to save his sisters, enough that he'd wander through a Honkai-infested forest. Annie desperately didn't want him to die, but she must have felt so torn, knowing Jane would likely die without help. I doubt she even considered herself. I can't forgive the other villagers," she says fiercely. "They should have helped. Letting children starve to death is… I don't have words to describe it."

"I don't think anyone else has food either," you say quietly. "We brought a lot, but…"

A lot, yes. Enough for two reactor-powered girls, for two or three weeks. More, if you come across wildlife. Not enough for a village, no matter how much Roza and Lili can devour in one day.

"Oh, I know," Liliya says, her voice tired.

The conversation halts for a while. You want, so very much, to give Liliya a hug and tell her it'll all be okay. It'd be a lie, you don't think it will, and you don't think she's ready for that yet, but you…

Are you crying?

You quickly wipe them away, then look back at Liliya.

"I wanted to help," you say. "That's all. It wasn't about protecting you, at least not physically. I… I saw a chance to find out what an eruption is, and… it's an entire Impact, Lili!" You look at her appealingly. "We can't fight that. You know we can't. At most we can keep this village safe, which means they'd slowly starve to death while dying from honkai radiation. If I look, then I don't know what I'd find. Maybe it'd help."

You can see the fading sparks of her anger flare back to life, buried under melancholia.

"And I suppose it doesn't matter how dangerous that is to you," she says, her voice full of hurt. "Or that you promised not to leave, less than ten minutes ago."

"It's not like that, Lili!"

"You're not going." She says it slowly, but accusingly. "We agreed. We promised. I won't let you leave us. You always do this! Every time someone has to make a sacrifice, it's somehow one of you. Otto's so-called plan, the X-10 experiment. Twice, yesterday and today. You, Bronya, Isabella, Nina. Zofia…" Her voice cracks. "Don't you know how much it hurts for you to vanish? Why don't you ever think about the ones you leave behind?"

"Lili…" Your voice is sore, on the verge of breaking, and it's only the thought of Jane in the other room that keeps you from shouting at each other. Roza, too, looks like she's on the verge of tears. It's not true, what Liliya said. She knows it isn't true, but you think you know why she feels this way.

"Can we make a deal?" Roza asks, her voice just as hoarse as Liliya's. "Seele? Liliya? Veliona?"

She waits until she has your attention, even Vel's, who looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here. No; if she really felt that way, she'd have hidden away inside you. She wants to be here, she just doesn't like it. You can scarcely blame her.

"I want us to stop doing this," Roza says.

Liliya shakes her head–

"Hear me out, sis. Please." She looks at you, and at Lili. Quietly, you take Veliona's hand. It seems like the thing, and…

You want reassurance, you guess.

Lili nods. "Okay," she says.

"Right. So… Seele said she'd close these eyes, and open some others," Roza says. "I want to know what she meant by that, but I guess that's not the most important thing. Like I said, I want to make a deal. Lili, you said it yourself." She smiles, just barely. It's a weak and sickly thing. "You'd give up your life for me. But you don't want me to do the same? It really isn't fair. So here's the deal. Lili, Seele. Vel–"

You can pretty much guess where this is going.

"Can we quit trying to save each other?" she says. "What I mean is, stop sacrificing yourself. Lili, stop jumping between me and attacks! Do you have any idea how often you've made my heart stop pulling that stunt? And Seele, stop just… disappearing. Or touching magic balls, and then collapsing. Or… or being attacked from outside reality. At least explain what you're doing."

Her voice grows quiet again.

"Please? And I'll be more careful when I'm fighting, I won't get hurt so much, and I'll let you help more, Lili. Can we try to fight together, properly? As a team, the way Hua and her sister do?"

Lili looks away.

"We can try," she says, her voice barely audible.

"Do you promise?"

Lili nods. Roza looks at the pair of you, and you see the fear disappear from her eyes. She smiles, a bit sadly.

"I promise too," you say. "I won't do anything without telling you, and I'll try to explain what's happening. I can't promise I won't ever make mistakes, or get attacked, but I'll try to let you help as much as possible."

"Okay," Lili says. Then, a bit more strongly. "Okay."

"It's a deal, then," Roza says, and holds out her hand.

You put your hand in hers, and Lili puts her hand in yours. Roza looks at you expectantly, a trace of a smile appearing on her face.

"Vel?" you say, looking her way. "Do you want to join in?"

You look to her, and see her as she was when you first met her, surrounded by darkness, unable to tell if she was a demon or a person. A lot's changed since then, but she's always been insistent that she's the one meant to protect you. Not the other way around.

You don't want that. You don't want her putting herself in danger, and you don't want her to feel like she needs to. You just want her to be family.

"Vel?" Roza asks, raising an eyebrow. "We're waiting."

You hold out your hand and look at Veliona. She studies you for a moment, then smiles and touches your fingers to join the chain. Good enough.

"Thank you," Liliya says, and it's as if the air goes out of her. She seems to deflate, and there's a long pause before she straightens back up, looking at you.

"Do you want to tell us precisely what you're doing?" she asks.

ooOOoo

"So walk me through this," Roza says. "Seele, you're– an upload running on your stigma. You've said that before. What's it mean?" She nails you with her eyes. "Lili, sit on her if you have to."

Lili raises an eyebrow, gives a little shrug, then does as she's told. You're pinned. Uh…

She draws a deep, slow breath, leans back against you, and relaxes completely. You hesitate, then wrap your arms around her. It's… nice. Roza smiles a bit, though it soon fades. She's incredibly tense.

Vel smiles as well, looking less like she wants to run away.

It's a vote of confidence, you think, but you're still not getting out of this.

There's a lot of ways you could put this that wouldn't be a good idea. 'The X-10 experiment destroyed my body, Vel was just barely able to rescue my mind,' for example. Points for honesty, negative gigapoints for telling them you're dead, and you don't think telling her you're not would work, there. She can see you're not.

"It me-means…" You hesitate. You also don't want to lie to them.

"Yes?" Roza gazes patiently at you, but underneath the surface you know she's anything but.

You've relied too much on the twins' willingness to go along with bad explanations, and assumptions that they understood your vague references. No, you weren't even assuming. You were just happy to pretend.

"So, the stigmata is–it–it's a computer," you say, the words coming jerkily. Now that you're saying it, your stutter is back. "Well, it's also a universe of sorts, but mostly it's a computer. I'm a–" You can't say 'program'. "Uh, it dragged me inside. Or really, Veliona did. That's how we survived the experiment."

"So you're an upload running on a computer," Rozaliya says. "Like an AI, only not artificial. Got that. And?"

And? "And what?" you ask timidly. "You already knew? You're not mad?"

"Oh, I'm hopping mad, but not at you," she says, seemingly calm. "Mother has a lot to answer for. Well, she would, if she wasn't dead. I'm not upset at you because of what she's done, though. And? Do you have trouble feeling touch? A missing sense of taste? Anything like that?"

She pauses a little, forcing herself to calm down. There's still Annie and Pip in the other room. As well as Jane, and none of you want to wake her. Her body needs all the energy it has left.

"I wasn't faking anything," you quietly protest, shaking your head. "I'm not like Kiana was. Cakes have to be sweet, or there's no point to them. Do you think I could make borscht without being able to taste it?" You look appealingly at her. "Yeah, my body's a projection, but I'd hate not being able to hug you. There's nothing like that going on."

"Ah," she says, equally quietly. "So that's how it is. I thought so. It's the only thing that makes sense, really. It couldn't be just Vel." She purses her lips. "And?"

"And?"

"I'm still waiting for the punchline," she says, her voice low. "Like, is Veliona actually your twin, killed by Cocolia to make the stigmata? Your dark impulses come to life? A herrscher trapped in your head, like Kiana?"

You shake your head.

"We're separate people," Vel supplies. "Mostly. As separate as you two. Seele's easy to predict, but I reckon I'd know if I were a Herrscher, so no."

"That's not funny," Roza sighs. "But thanks. And thanks for the last christmas present, come to think of it. It came in handy. And?"

"And?" the two of you chorus.

"Where's she from?"

Liliya perks up a little, looking curiously up at you as well.

"…I have no idea," you say.

ooOOoo

"Okay, so," Liliya starts. "Counting this off. Vel thinks she came with the stigmata. Theresa thinks she came with the stigmata. Seele, you agree." She pauses. "Which doesn't explain where the stigmata got her from, or why you're so alike. Any thoughts?"

"Lots," you say. You look questioningly at Vel, who shrugs. "No idea how to test them, though. My best guess…" You collect your thoughts, willing yourself to say this exactly right. Then, you squeeze her hand a little harder, and look her in the eyes.

"I think I've had the stigmata for longer than since I was twelve," you say, studying Vel. The two of you really are astonishingly alike. Mirrors? Who needs mirrors when you have her? "I think, when I got it, it copied me. Just like it did during the X-10 experiment, except the first time it left the original me in place. Which means Veliona really is my twin sister, or even closer than that. She's me, from when I was eight, or six, or… whenever it turned on. But she didn't have a body of her own, and she wasn't fully conscious. Not until years later."

You nudge Lili slightly, and fortunately she takes the hint, hopping off your lap and getting to her feet. She stretches as she does so, like she was about to fall asleep. Like a cat. It's a good sign, you think.

After a moment, she starts playing with Roza's ponytail.

You stand up, looking into Veliona's perfectly mirrored eyes, and wait patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

"That's… actually a really sweet thought, Seele," she says. "But…" She looks down. "How come I don't share your memories, then? Everything I remembered when I woke up was about the stigma."

You shrug helplessly. "Sorry, Vel. Maybe it didn't copy properly? Or maybe I'm completely wrong. It's just an idea. Was it a lot of work saving me?"

She shakes her head. "Not much, but… it was some. If I'd let the stigmata work entirely on its own… I don't think you'd…"

She falls silent. You lean in, and give her a hug. After a moment, she hugs you back.

"Really though, I don't think it matters," you say. "I just want you to keep it in mind. You're not some sort of guardian AI. You're my sister, okay? Can we work with that? I don't want you to hurt yourself for me."

"It'd explain a few things," she says, so quietly you think you're the only one who can hear her.

You tilt your head.

"I'll let you know when I feel a little more sure of it," she says, then grins. "That said, I'm still the older sister. Okay? You can keep calling me Vel. And if we're looking at an Impact, then I'll be the one to do it. You can stay here, with the twins, where it's safe."

"Okay, Vel." You laugh. Roza's smiling at the two of you. After a moment, Lili coughs conspicuously.

"As cute as that was, I still have questions," she says, nudging her sister. "If you're up to it?"

You give her a serious nod.

"Whatever you want to know," you say. Liliya smiles.

"Okay, so… You're sharing the same body. But not the same mind?" Lili says. "Only, I'm sure I've seen you talk without words."

'So do you,' you feel like protesting.

"Well. Yes," you actually say. "I can talk to Vel without opening my mouth, but that's more like talking than telepathy. Usually I just use my mouth. And she's predictable."

"But you're walking around in separate bodies," Liliya points out.

"Yeah. Now." Roza looks at you. "So are you using radio or something?"

You shake your head.

"We're still sharing the same body," you say. "I said it before, but the ones you can see are projections. Like… shaped honkai energy, except a little less aggressive. I guess in some ways I'm a little like a honkai beast?" You blink. "Makes me a little more like you two," you say, smiling.

"So you're not… really here?" Liliya asks.

That's, well.

"Soooort of?" you say, drawing the word out. "It doesn't feel any different. But my real body's kind of adjacent, yeah. I'm like one of those four-dimensional objects in your math books, Liliya, only it's not quite like that—it's an adjacent possibility, not four-dimensional space."

She looks unsure about that proclamation. Well, you weren't expecting her to like it. It can't be helped, you guess.

"I used to think Vel was the projection," Rozaliya says. "As in, just her. I mean, I guess that doesn't make sense when you disappeared entirely back when she said you had to sleep, but she used to borrow your body to sneak out for snacks, and…" Her voice gets lower and lower. "…combat, that sort of thing."

Roza draws a deep breath.

"We were wondering when you'd introduce us properly to her," she says. "I said it'd be this year, Lili didn't think it'd happen before the end of the world." She flinches. "I guess we were both right."

"Getting sidetracked," Liliya says.

"…You only have one body, right?" Rozaliya says. "So Vel, why on earth do you think it'd be any safer for you to go out, on your own, than for Seele to do it? Want to explain that one?" She shakes her head. "Something's still not making sense here. Also, didn't you say you're not moving at all?"

"I'm better at fighting than she is," Veliona says. "Anyway, we don't overlap completely. There's a part of the stigmata that's mine, and a part that's hers, and I'm better at dealing with damage if it happens. It makes a lot more sense for me to do it."

You almost groan. You love her, really, but that wasn't a good answer. You can see Liliya struggling not to explode again, biting her lip, and you'd be half tempted to join her.

"She didn't mean she'd go alone," you say, giving Vel a warning glance. "I'll keep an eye on her, so if anything happens I can help. And to explain this first, we really wouldn't be moving. It's like…"

You look around, before inspiration strikes and you grab hold of the system Veliona rigged to make your butterflies. A moment later about a hundred of them are flapping in mid-air, all jammed into a single small sphere and looking like nothing so much as a slowly undulating glob of water.

"Okay," you say, once Roza and Lili are both looking your way. "Imagine this is the universe we're in. The bubble, I mean. I'm sort of squished in around it, but…"

You add a few more butterflies, floating in three orthogonal lines around it. Then a few more, until there's what looks like a wireframe of a 3d compass floating in mid-air. Up and down, left and right, and so on. Vel, who can see what you're doing from the inside, is suppressing giggles. You give her an irritated look.

"These are… places I can look, I guess," you say. "Only I'm mostly looking inwards, because it's hard running an avatar. That's tos ay, it's hard for the stigmata. Not really for me, but it can hardly do anything else while running two at once. And also… it's not really three-dimensional space. What I mean is…"

You let the compass blink out, rotate the butterfly-glob slightly, and form a second one. Then you do it again. And again.

"Each of the lines is a different set of directions I can look," you say. "There's at least several thousand. Trillions, really, but they're connected in a way so I can't just go straight to whichever one I want. They're not really dimensions either. Does that… make any sense?"

You look mostly at Liliya. She squeezes Rozaliya's hand, then nods.

"Kind of," she says. "So you're literally not going anywhere." She narrows her eyes. "And it's perfectly safe?"

You draw a deep breath. "It's… safe-ish," you say. "Safer than not looking. There are things that can only notice you if you're looking, but there are plenty of things that don't have that problem. It's safer than sitting here playing ostrich."

Liliya slowly nods. She looks sick, but accepting.

"Lili, before you say anything else, I'm sorry," Vel says. "I just want you to be happy."

You blink in surprise. Well, that's unexpected.

"Thanks," Lili says. "But you're still going, right?" Her eyes glisten.

Vel's eyes dart to you, then she sighs. "Yes. It's still what makes the most sense. Seele's right, there shouldn't be any danger. And if there is, I'm the best choice to deal with it. But I'm actually considering a third option."

"Oh?" you say.

"The stigmata?" Liliya asks, humming. "You said it's like a bubble universe. Can we go inside it?"

Vel massages her temples. "How would that even… no, Lils. It's not a physical place, and it's full, anyway. Of weapons. We should actually… nah, later. I forgot about those for a while, but Seele might be able to use some of them now."

"Oh." Her eyes cloud over with confusion. "Then?"

"Even if you could go inside us, there's nothing to see there," she says. "You wouldn't be able to do anything but sit still. So I have a different idea. How would you like to watch from here?"

Your eyes flick to Vel. "Watch? Watch what?"

"The scenery." Vel laughs. "Or rather, a three-dimensional mapping of it. You didn't think the stigmata came with holographic butterflies per standard, did you? What it came with is a hologram emitter. You stay here, I'll go look, and Roza and Lili can watch and make sure we're not doing anything crazy."

Liliya's eyes light up, and she nods happily.

"And if any of it looks dangerous," Vel says, "you'll…" She shrugs. "Well, you'll at least know. If I could think of a way to let you help, I'd do it. Anything you say to Seele I'll hear, so you'll have a way of warning me, but it's going to be confusing. Truth be told, you might not understand what you see."

She smiles at Liliya and Roza.

"You're sure about this?" you ask her. "We've never done this before."

"I'm sure," she says. "It's simpler than the butterflies, honestly. Just give me a minute."

"Alright then." You nod. "Let's do this."

ooOOoo

She turns away from Seele and twins, and it's all she can do to maintain the facade.

Not because she was lying, about anything.

She's starting to worry that her dreams are premonitions. What just happened, before they started talking? She's seen it before, in her dreams. Not in detail, but the general outline. Bronya was gone, Lils and Roz were in danger, she went to search for a way to help, and they…

In the end they died. How and when is fuzzy, just like all her dreams, but all day long she's been having moments of horrified realisation followed by stunned relief they're still okay. She didn't hurt them. She doesn't want to lose them. Her childhood playmates, her closest friends in the world.

'Her sisters.' That word echoes hollowly through her head. Like an echo… That's right, that's what it feels like. Like an echo of Seele's feelings, through a warped mirror, and if the stigma's not supposed to do that then maybe it's more broken than expected. Or maybe her "little sister" is right. She used to think her role was obvious, that they didn't see her the way they see Seele. She used to feel nothing for them, and she used to be okay with that. Now, though Roz and Lils are ever more accepting, she can hardly look at them without being overwhelmed by sourceless guilt.

It'll pass, it always does, but there's lingering damage from what Seele did to Ai-chan that's messing with her head, even though it shouldn't have, and and and even just thinking that thought makes her thoughts stutter and spark, like she's bouncing off limits she isn't supposed to even realise she has. It's not clearing up over time. It hurts, but this time she didn't forget. She was able to form the thought. Something is breaking.

She wants, desperately now, to find Einstein. A genius of her caliber might be able to help. Surely no-one else can.

Maybe it's okay, though. Maybe she's just remembering.

But that's later, and this is now, and right this moment she needs to be the one to help her family.

She pushes her awareness outwards.

Outside the bubble universe, which she and her sister are mostly surrounding, there's nothing except her, the void, and the distant bulk of the Hyperion. If there's a Honkai eruption, there should be something else here. She's never seen one from this perspective before, and could never have done so nearly as clearly, but she remembers at least a little bit from Schrödinger's lectures. Schrödinger wasn't able to tell Seele what it'd be, just 'something'.

There's a disturbance in the sea of quanta. The vacuum shudders, and she 'pushes' onwards, seeking the source across a multitude of potentialities. Just like she told Lils, she's not really moving. Her and Seele can't physically split up, whatever it sometimes looks like.

That's when she sees it.

It's a creature. A great, beautiful serpentine beast made of pure nothingness, but she can tell that it's alive, because it's moving with purpose around the island world. Its scales are the same as the void around it—black as the darkest night. But wherever its skin touches anything even slightly more real than it, reality starts breaking down.

It can't be the same snake-beast her and Seele saw days ago… can it? It's a quantum shadow, clear as day, but when she studies it she gets an impression of familiarity. It's bigger than when last she saw it. Much, much bigger.

There's honkai energy as well, flowing both ways between it and the world. If a serpent can be said to have hair, then this one has white tubes of honkai energy taking that role.

It's headed for where the twins are. She breathes in, and…

She feels a sense of regard coming from the snake-beast. It's not hostile, not like a honkai beast should be. It feels more like—curiosity? Regret. Surprise. Familiarity. Two at once, always two at once.

Worry?

Pride. In itself, and…

The impressions make no sense. But the void-snake is a predator, and the world the twins are in is its prey. There's no doubt about that. It could have attacked the Hyperion. For that matter, it could have attacked Seele. It didn't. Because this world is easier prey, or..?

She has to help them. She can't let herself get distracted.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she tells it, mind running a mile a minute. She isn't expecting a response. She is expecting it to attack her, but there's no need to play the role of prey here.

There's no response save for a slightly more urgent wafting of honkai energy, and the slow rumbling of the snake-beast gnawing through the fabric of reality. Vaguely, she wonders if it's trying to communicate something, or if the beast just does everything at that infernal pace. Finally, it pauses for a second. Turns its head, and studies her. And then, it–

Nuzzles her.

Nuzzles her with a big honking maw that could crush her skull like a peanut. That could crush Mount Everest like a peanut.

She does not want to know what Roz and Lils are making of this.

= = =

Sometimes, the characters just take over. This was one of those times.

That's how it goes. It might have been easier if Seele could have genuinely said she misspoke, but Liliya was having none of this. While I couldn't predict the events in advance, that rope has no more slack, and this conversation was necessary. I… guess it's essentially sorted, however. I don't expect you can go anywhere without them, ever again, and Seele gets a hard veto on betraying this new agreement, but the problem is resolved.

Kevin isn't around, but here's Jormungandr. A more genuine version. Concerns? No, I don't think I have any of those.

The next update will be set back in the village, and you can think the vote on Jormungandr over while I'm working on the start of that conversation. There was already a vote, requesting Seele run into a villager while searching for the leaders; it appears to be coming through, though you can expect said leader to show up shortly.

If you want to provide any guidance for the start of that conversation, let me know. Otherwise I'll go with what was already decided. That is to say: Let me know within 36h that you'd like to do something specific with the villagers, and I'll try to provide a few options if you haven't already thought of some. Otherwise the next vote will be a little into the conversation.

…

Anyway, look at that! Seele came up with a reasonable, sensible explanation for where Veliona is from! It honestly makes a lot more sense than the truth.

[ ] [Jormungandr] Headpat snek
- Veliona will accept advances of snek, without acting too bothered by hek.
[ ] [Jormungandr] Study snek
- Veliona will figure out what the hek. Snek may be annoyed by feck.
[ ] [Jormungandr] Write-in
[ ] [Villagers] Continue as planned
[ ] [Villagers] Write-in

 

[Baughn]

It's late at night, I'm tired, and I want to write but I have nothing to write. I'm resuming Questor Quest this weekend, but it's not there yet. At times like this... let's talk a bit about

Delta Olenyeva

She's a character from a recent HI3 event, but let me correct one thing, straight off. "Delta" is a codename, not her name. It's the one she goes by — she doesn't want to use her original one. She is, in the timeline she's from, Rozaliya and Liliya's older sister.

The event is set entirely in a bubble universe. One of the more stable ones, but it's got serious issues; a long-term Honkai infection, for one. The main character of the story is a young girl named Seele, who has just recently left the village she grew up in to go searching for her older sister, Bronya, who went missing after leaving to defeat the dark lord.

Seele's youth was spent reading adventure novels and listening to Bronya's tales, so she has a warped and... frankly unrealistic view of the world, although one which would work just fine in any actual adventure story. It's a pity this isn't an adventure story. It's a tale of how an eldritch horror from outside the universe has invaded, wiped out most of humanity, and was then temporarily sealed away by Bronya's efforts and those of AIs created by ancient scientists.

This young girl, after being taken advantage of in the first town she visits, finds herself taken under the wing of a more experienced... "adventurer", Delta. It's not necessarily clear why. Delta is a brusque person, unlikely to ever admit if she likes someone or not, but if we could read her mind we might find she can't help it. After all...



Delta used to have another name. She used to be called Rozaliya, before she lost the one person she cares most about in all the world.

Liliya isn't precisely dead. She was badly hurt after an attack on St. Freya's, at which time Rozaliya made the horrible mistake of telling her, out loud, that she couldn't wait for Liliya to be back on her feet and helping her again. That fighting, without her, was impossible. That was meant to be encouragement, but... this happened right after the doctors had just told Liliya she'd be lucky if she ever walked again.

I'm not sure where Bronya and Seele were at this time, but in Seele's case I don't think she existed at all. The overall scenario seems to make the most sense if the Sea of Quanta arc never happened. So Delta's Seele, if she's even still alive, remains lost in the void.

But Liliya did make it back to her feet. She wasn't able to fight again, but she was able to walk. Somewhat.

Which leads to the next, and final misfortune in Delta's life. There was another attack, or a fighting retreat; they were losing the war against the Honkai, quite badly by the looks of it. Rozaliya was desperate to get Liliya to safety. Liliya was desperate for Rozaliya to get to safety. Regardless, Liliya lacked the physical ability to run, and Rozaliya was fatally wounded while saving her. The end result?

Liliya begged the doctors to save Rozaliya somehow, even if it meant giving up her own life.

That bargain, it seems, was acceptable.

They merged. Liliya is still conscious, but the only element of Delta's body she can control is the tail. She is, at least, aware of her surroundings. And they are, to some degree, able to talk. They still fight together.

Ever since then, Delta has been a retrieval agent of sorts. She moves from one bubble universe to the next, fetching interesting items while looking for... something. We're not sure what, exactly, but she gets around, so it's very possible we'll run into her again. She works for Otto—probably. He has the means, and the text messages we were shown match his writing style. They don't match anyone else's.

= = =

This is authentic MiHoYo writing, folks!

Ah, but there's at least one spot of hope here. Delta is still Rozaliya. She's torturing herself for no good reason, but she's still the same good person she always was. She helps out, even if she has to pretend to herself it's for some selfish reason or other; as that universe's Seele quickly discovered, she can be quite reliable.

Granted, that was Seele, and I doubt Delta would be as accommodating to anyone else. When it comes to her siblings, she just can't help herself.

Oh, and she has two little sisters; Rozaliya and Liliya. That particular pair have been seen before. They're the Gemina twins. She picked them up from yet another bubble universe, where they'd been trapped, and... Otto can be quite accommodating to people who help his cause, really.

= = =

In terms of fluff, Delta has a rather dubious playstyle. She's the most powerful physical attacker in the game, but she achieves this using skills such as... ignoring enemy attacks (though they still do damage), going into a berserk rage, and psychically beating them down with a bizarre empathic projection at the same time as she's literally beating them down with a pair of broadswords weighing more than she does.

The only reason this is remotely survivable is high-speed regeneration, and I haven't even mentioned her unique weapon. Most weapons use SP to activate skills; this one uses HP instead. One HP, just so you know it's symbolic.

It's all very... lovely.

 

[Baughn]

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