The Practice War [Complete]

[Snowfire]

Year 17, 2121

It was a different wakeup to last year, but also so very similar. No sister to hammer on your door, or a greater family to pull you from the memories of a life left behind. Yet the same slow waking, watching the sun rise. Despite a year free of the Presidency, you were still an early riser. But then, you'd picked up that habit long before. The biggest difference was that you weren't alone in the room, as had been the case for most of the last six months.

Sitting up to watch the dawn hadn't woken Mary, but that wasn't unusual. She'd always been a far sounder sleeper than yourself. It had made pranks back when you were teenagers so much easier, even if she always got you back. For now, though, you enjoyed the silence. You hadn't been able to do that a year ago, it had been too strange. You liked to think that growth was a good thing. This year was going to be busier than the last, the Restoration of Mytikas was unlikely to allow anything else. And that wasn't the only thing that was going take up time. Although most of them wouldn't interrupt you in the middle of watching the sunrise.

The knocking on your door was far more subdued than Amelie's had been, but no less insistent. Reluctant to move and disturb your friend, you hooked the handle with a wisp of energy bled through from your Aegis, and pulled it open. "Good morning, Iris." A subtle movement forestalled any attempt at diving on top of you, that would undoubtedly wake Mary.

"Moom, Sidra won't let me make breakfast." There was definitely a whine in her quiet tone, but she didn't try to overuse it. "I wanted to make you something for the morning, but they said no!" The last words came out as if it was an affront to the natural order of things. Conveniently ignoring that Iris was…still a work in progress where it came to cookery.

:What was she wanting to make?: You asked soundlessly, and an image of half-cooked pancakes disintegrating in flight appeared suddenly in your mind. :Oh.:

:I thought it better to save the kitchen the trauma.: Sidra remarked dryly, and Iris glared.

"You know I can tell when you're doing that." She muttered, and you laughed gently, reaching out to muss her hair. She muttered something formless and insulting, but didn't pull away. Just like her obsession with blankets, she loved it when you played with her hair. Even if she tried to pretend otherwise. "S'not fair. Other kids don't have to deal with a telepath for a mother."

"Most kids think that their mother can see everything anyway, Iris. You're just in the unfortunate position of having one that comes much closer to that reality." You wriggled towards the edge of the bed, but stopped when Mary's hold tightened. "And I'd be happy to help, but unfortunately, well," you gestured at where her arms had her pinned to your torso.

"Why is mum so sleepy?" Iris asked, eyes sparkling with sudden curiosity. "She wasn't until halfway through last year." Her face crumpled a little. "Is she sick?"

"No Iris," you told her quickly. Your daughter was incredibly intelligent, but sometimes her conclusions seemed to jump several steps in the formative stage. She was also smart enough to create ways to attack threats to her family in a way that very few could match. So you needed to nip this in the bud, and fast. "She isn't sick, I promise. Mary's just…" you trailed off, struggling to find the right words. It was easy to forget that for all her intelligence, Iris still lacked a full grasp of context. She just didn't process information the same way. But she was also far more mature then her body looked.

"She's been having trouble sleeping sometimes, since the Restoration. It's why she was staying here so much before we completed your avatar, and why her room hasn't been getting much use at night." It came out in something of a rush, but the day Iris had data intake problems wasn't one you saw coming soon. She stood there for a moment, thinking, then nodded slowly.

"Is that why she's been looking at flights to Mars in the spring?" Your face paled slightly at the innocent question, but you forced yourself to nod silently. It was the truth, after all.

"Yes. I'll probably be going too." You hadn't realised she'd been looking at making the trip so early, but you'd talk about it. It was…important wasn't a strong enough word.

"Does that mean I'll get to stay with Aunt Amelie?" Iris asked, and you resisted the urge to facepalm. The rest of your family had left the Residence after Christmas, but those still living on Earth had arranged to relocate to the local district. They'd become used to Iris's presence over the year, and aware of how important the childlike AI truly was to you. When you'd finally succeeded in giving her a body, they'd welcomed her into physical existence like family. When they'd left, Ames had told you that if you ever needed it, she'd be more than happy to take care of her. You weren't sure she was fully prepared for the whirlwind that Iris could be, but she'd offered. And after seven kids, she probably had the better grasp on parenting.

"Most likely, yes." You admitted, and Iris nodded. Working on context she might, but this was well within her ability to understand. "It's something that I think the two of us will need to do."

"I understand," she said quietly. "I hope momma will be able to help mum get better." She turned away, and you felt a sudden surge of network use through Sidra's link to the Residence systems. "I'm going to go read, let me know when you get up so you can help me make breakfast, ok?"

"I will." You told her warmly, and she smiled back over her shoulder before padding quietly out of the bedroom. You looked out through the windows as dawn started to give way to day, shards of tiny rainbows blooming through the trees from the dew on their branches. It was beautiful, but you had other responsibilities. Looking down with a sigh, you shook your friend gently. She blinked sleepily, and you gave her another little shake. "Wake up, love." Mary murmured something indistinct, but her eyes opened this time.

"Mandy, why are you waking me up at dawn?" She asked blearily, and you chuckled.

"Iris wants to make pancakes. I thought it best not to let her get impatient." Mary's eyes blinked again, then she gave a small laugh of her own.

"No, I guess that probably wouldn't be the best idea." She yawned, releasing her hold on you to stretch. "Alright, I'll get up." Her eyes met with yours, clearing quickly. "We've got a lot to do today."

The words turned in the air between you, somehow becoming endlessly more serious, and she stilled for a moment as she realised. You only smiled, and nodded once. "Yes, I think we do." Throwing back the covers drew a yelp of surprise from Mary. "But making plans on an empty stomach is probably not the best idea." Ignoring her wrathful glare for removing her from the warm, you skipped away to the shower like a child. "See you downstairs in ten minutes!"

Iris would have heard that, her room was close enough. But after breakfast was done, and she was settled with whatever she wanted to do for the morning, you'd have something else to do.

What would it be?

1 Major Action

[] What Lies Beneath: Your Practiced working with Vega in 2119 unlocked the Elder's Vault completely. There's so much hidden there, more than you could process in a lifetime – and how strange that that wasn't a limitation anymore? Then there are the Unison Platforms, the most powerful examples of Practice ever created. Currently beyond your ability to replicate. That needs to change.

[] Brave New Worlds: Something that Harry mentions, and your own relationship with Iris brings clearly to the fore, are the worlds that humanity has begun to explore, in one case again. The 3rd​ Revolution is one such world, one of brilliant possibility, but it's undercut by your inability to replicate the creation of the beings that stand at its heart. Vision and Iris are unique, unlike anything humanity has created. To leave them without fellows would be wrong. And then there is the final world; a physical one. Mars. Once the centre of humanity's quest to understand reality itself. Could it be that again?

[] Cities and Circles: The Circles are your greatest and most enduring creation, according to many. Now that you're free of the demands of government, you can finally give them the attention that they deserve again. Amelie is deeply excited by this possibility, and she tells you that every member of the Hearts shares that feeling. You're not quite sure it's so universal, but you aren't going to argue. There's so much that the vast family you started building as a child can do; for themselves, humanity, and you. If Practice can be brought together by focus, they're the perfect place to start.

4 Minor Actions

[] Mother of Circles: Beyond returning to the Circles to learn and teach, there's also the opportunity to simply be part of them again. You never lost your place among them, you simply set it aside for a time. Now you can return to it if you wish, to grow and build.
[] The Spoken Word: Your success in teaching Vega to Speak, for all that you still lack an advanced understanding of the subject, led her to suggest that you begin teaching others. Not everyone is her, but the vast scale that Words act on make this a possibility you can't ignore. Even if only a fraction of the Potentials prove capable of it.
[X] Valkyries: The Two Twenty Three were the only force to emerge from the Second Battle of Sol intact, after facing the most lethal of the FSN's enemies in that fight. They brought down the Medicament, and faced Shiplords in direct combat aboard Calypso. Yet there is much that can still be done to temper the blade of the Unisonbound, and you are part of that weapon. It must not be marred by imperfections.
[] Tinker: Being free of your old role changed many things, but one that didn't was your interest in creating and understanding your own Practiced creations. Two of those remain unknown to you in full, and you finally have the time to study them. You also now have the time to dedicate to creation again. With all your new understanding of Practice. That's going to be interesting. (May be taken multiple times)
*New* [] Avatar: It took a lot of work, but Iris has a body now, forged of Sixth Secret technology so advanced as to be almost beyond you. Yet there's still so much more that could be done to enhance the form created for her. As an infomorph, Iris may be uniquely capable of integrating Sixth Secret technology into her shell. Mary's wanted to upgrade the basic system she designed since it was finished. And if you can't give your daughter an Aegis, you'll give her the next best thing.
*New* [] An Uncertain Grasp: The Lady in Fire Enfolded is a group within the Circles that seems dedicated to confounding you. On the one hand, they believe in you to a degree that is far more than you're comfortable with. On the other, they've refused to jump to conclusions as to your presence on Mars when the Restoration occurred. How to deal with them, and if you even should, is a question that you're not sure there's an answer to. But if there is, you know who to ask.
*New* [] Halls of Olympus: The Mytikas Restoration has changed all the rules of the game, but it's also given you some new options for Arcadia. You know that Adriana has been pushing an expansion of general education facilities, and it would be so easy to suggest that the current Institute constructed for Arcadia be folded into that initiative. The Olympus Colleges were where humanity unlocked the Second Secret, and so much else besides. You're not quite sure how Mary would feel about it, however.
[] Write-in

5 Personal Actions
Child of Sight is locked until such time as it is not. Unison Training is strongly recommended.

[] Powerful Words: Your words have a Practiced strength to them, but that's a cheap thing to say when you have no real understanding of what's involved. In some ways it's exhilarating, being able to draw so easily on the strength of your Focus. But you worry about what could happen if you put Practice behind a wrong word. You need to hone this gift, learn its limits and strengths. [317/???]
[] The Web Between: In 2119 your understanding of the conceptual links that Harmonials can access took a massive leap forward. Yet you're still not able to explain it in ways that others can understand. This will be theoretical work above all else; trying to translate feeling and instinct into something much more concrete. But it needs to be done. [107/???]
[] Unison Training: Training with the entire Two Twenty Three is one thing, but you can get just as much personally out of dedicating time to work with your own small part of it. Vega, Kalilah and you represent three of the organisations most powerful members, and a high level of synchronicity between you will reflect on the rest even without full group training. Of course, combining the two will make that effect much stronger.
[] Harmonic Voice: Vega's Harmonic Circle will be attempting their first group workings this year, but that pressure is far less than she was under as a Minister. After her monumental success in Speaking at the Elder's Vault, continuing to work with her can only benefit you both.
[X] Child of Sight: Some have called Iris your daughter. In this case, the some would not be wrong; you're definitely one of the most important people in the young AI's life. You might not be the expert that Amelie, but the last time you checked, stability was important for children.
[] Blood Ties: Having your family with you for a year was a blessing in many ways, even if it took time for you to properly realise that. They'd moved out of the Residence now, but they were still close enough for you to spend time with if you wanted to. And it being your choice this time might be nice.
[] Restoration: You're adamant that you know how to relax, even if you've only had a year to start practicing again. Your siblings and friends, traitors one and all, aren't entirely willing to believe you. Given how much that disbelief did help you last year, it might be an idea to trust it again. They clearly got something right.
*New* [] Graves Down Memory Lane: Your part in the Mytikas Restoration has remained a secret, but Mary knows the part you played in it. She was born and grew up in that vast city, and with its complete Restoration…her childhood home has also been recovered. She is going to go see it. The only questions are when, and if you'll be travelling with her.
[] Write-in

Please vote by plan. Planmakers, label your plans with the [Plan] tag so that it separates properly.

---

Answers With Amanda

Each turn, you (the questers) will get the opportunity to vote on a single question to ask Amanda about the world that she lives in, her past, etc. A warning: attempts to ask 'waifu' questions will result in you wasting a question if it wins. I should not need to tell you what classifies as one of those. The response will come in the manner of a reply to a friend, a diary entry, or something along those lines. Do not expect more than a paragraph or two per response (this may be lies). I'm doing this so that you can start learning more about the world if you like, and hear about it from the PoV of Amanda, who will be the primary point of view of the quest from this point onwards.

Rollover write-ins are as follows, more are always welcome.

[] [Answer] How has philosophy progressed since the Week of Sorrows? Nihilism, Existensialism; How have they all changed?
[] [Answer] In the past, humans were mortal - A Greek word that meant 'Doomed to Die'. Much of our culture was influenced and shaped by that one fact…which is no longer true. How has biological immortality changed humanity?
[] [Answer] How has the advent of biological immortality, and then the Week of Sorrows, affected relationships, marriage, and those aspects of society?
[] [Answer] Write-in

There Will Be An Eight Hour Moratorium On These Votes​

 

[Snowfire]

The Second Ring

A year ago you set out to return to the world, and the Circles to which you've given so much. What had been received in return was the welcome you'd hoped and prayed for. Peace without expectation, freely given by the family you'd founded. You'd reached out and found the hands of billions extended in fellowship. None of the hidden wounds that you'd feared in the deepest parts of your mind, and the Lady in Fire Enfolded were more disturbing than truly worrying right now. You'd watch them, you didn't have much choice given that they were your creation too. But for now, they could be.

The connection between you and the Circle had been restored, as strong as it had ever been. Maybe even stronger, and with what you believed the Circles might be capable of, that would matter. You wondered though; would the members of LiFE take better to the mutual model of working that should be possible if every human truly possessed a fragment of power in their souls. You hoped that they wouldn't, but stranger things had happened. And if they did…you would find a way to endure, without becoming an object of worship. Yet the possibilities of the future were little against the needs of the present.

But with that resolution, the question remained; what would you seek to do within the Circles this year? More of the same, tightening the bonds that were already drawn close? Or maybe something new. A beginning to the process the Circles had been unknowingly built for, and that you'd tapped during the Second Battle of Sol. But if you were to do that, which direction would you come from? Knowledge, or the act of Practice itself? It was a hard question.

Choose One:

[] [Major] Halo

The strength of the Circles has always been in their greater connection, and you are a part of that no less than the newest member. You've walked among them for a year, rejuvenating and strengthening further your bond with them. But there's still more that could be done. If the Circles are to be used as a foundation for communal Practice, why not make it the strongest foundation possible?

[] [Major] A Shared Brilliance

What you're trying to do here is unlike anything else you've deliberately attempted. To tap the well of power through many, all with only a fraction of the strength that you possess yourself. Put bluntly, you're flying blind here. The Circles possess a great many scientists, however. Between all of you, a better understanding of what you're attempting to do should be well within your ability to grasp. With how the Circles appear to be put together on some levels, this might be able to help your scheduled work with Vega as well.

[] [Major] Beacon of Souls

Practice is, at its core, an act. It is not theory, although humanity's understanding of it has grown in leaps and bounds over the last two decades. To try and understand an act before it has been made is backwards. During the Second Battle of Sol, the focus of billions gave you power beyond anything you'd thought possible. As bizarre as it sounds, sometimes just trying to do can be the best way.

 

[Snowfire]

January 15th​, 2121

With your place among the Circles restored in full last year, you found it a little surprising that you focused on them again. The possibilities of Mars, and the greater work of Practice were like a siren song to your mind. And yet… You took this sabbatical to remove yourself from that work, if only for a time. The Third Revolution was proceeding smoothly, and Adriana was pursuing far more than just that in her grander strategy. You'd trusted her enough to support her in a run for the Presidency, you could leave that to her. But the Circles were something important to you despite the possibilities their unity promised.

"What do you have for us, Amanda?" The Hearts had been quick to gather when you'd asked them to do so to discuss a matter of great importance. Each one had sent a representative, and their eyes were curious as they looked to you.

"A glimpse of the future," was your reply, bringing up the holographic display over the centre of the table. "And what we realised only a few years ago that the Circles were perfect for." You nodded at the image above, a still of your first Speaking during the Second Battle of Sol. "You know what this is."

"We do." Came the chorus, and there was more than curiosity in its tone. One, a younger man, put voice to it. "You've spoken of how Purify was an act of far more than just yourself. I remember the report in 2119 about how even non-Potentials should hold a fragment of the power left behind by the Dragons. Are you," he paused, taking a breath to steady himself. "Are you saying that you want to try and teach us how to use it? How?"

"Carefully." You'd considered jumping straight to practical experiment, exerting the power of your soul to find that of the Circles. It might even work. But in the end, you'd chosen to be the scientist first and Potential second. The Circles were too precious to risk a single member of them with the chance of backlash, however slight. "Project Insight led the way for the Potentials decades ago, but only after years of tortuous trial and error that saw over a score of Potentials lost. I am unwilling to court such a risk now."

"No less than we would expect from you," another representative spoke, red bangs falling elegantly across her face. She looked up at the image, the golden moment of power that you could still remember surging through your veins. "You truly believe that this is possible?" She asked, almost in a whisper.

"I do." You said steadily. "All you have to do is look at Earth's cities to see that communal manipulation is already happening." A flurry of soft confirmations swept the room. No one in here was blind. "The Circles have to be a major factor in that, the connection you share is similar to the one that working groups of Potentials form. I could try and find that connection myself, tap it directly" a thought extended the gloves of your Aegis. "But without you knowing what to expect and how to handle the connection," you shook your head, and the familiar silver and aquamarine retracted.

There was a long silence, and then another of the representatives spoke. "So you need to teach us."

"I need your help working out what to teach." Admitting that didn't come easily, but you were out of your depth here. Potentials you knew and understood. What worked for them, however, wasn't guaranteed to work for humanity at large. They looked between each other, and you wondered what they thought. People like you stepped into the unknown through a power granted by chance. For the lion's share of humanity, the closest they ever got to that was Practiced technology. This was rather more than that.

Mother of Circles: 99 + 31 + 10 (Concert Set) = 140. Greater Success. +20 to Shared Brilliance

"Of course." The words resonated in another chorus, stopping your thoughts cold. Then a warmth filled you, the same one you'd found with the Circles again last year.

"Thank you."

"We aren't blind, Amanda." The young man from before, his name was Adam, noted with a wry grin. "We guessed you'd be asking something when you called us here. The Hearts are the guiding force of the Circles, you designed it that way. If you needed our help, it was going to be for something important. And this, this is." He nodded to the picture still hanging in the air between you. "That, and what came afterwards, won the Second Battle of Sol. If we're going to win the greater war, that we all know is coming, we're going to need to learn how to replicate it."

"Adam is right." The redhead who'd already spoken agreed. "And you shouldn't have worried so much." Her smile was a brilliant thing. "The part you played in training the Unisonbound is a matter of public record, and they were different to anyone you'd had to work with before, too. Still related, but if the current theory's correct, then so are we."

"That's not untrue, Gail," you paused a moment, and the woman struck through the silence before you could recover.

"We'll return to our Hearts, then and explain to them what you've explained to us." She continued. "There are scientists among the Circles, unlike those currently consumed by the Arcadia Institute. I'm sure many of them would be happy to help."

"And you know there are many Potentials. Even if it's only a small number." That was Delia, the oldest person at the table by a large margin. "And if this can make us capable of defending our world, even those unsuited for battle, then it will be welcomed."

You'd had more to say, but there didn't seem to be the space to say it. "Thank you, again." Your lips quirked in a small smile. "I have packets for you, will you at least take them to the Hearts?" Laughter swept the room.

A Shared Brilliance: 21 + 26 + 10 (Concert Set) + 20 (Circle Foundation) = 77. Success.

(Full Circle support confirmed indefinitely for this project, assuming no dangerous backlash. Theoretical grounding of practical techniques developed. Low level experimental process begun.)

 

[Snowfire]

February 16th​, 2121

The soft hum of the transport's engines was the only sound in the compartment, the rush of atmosphere around the sleek craft long gone. It wasn't a long trip to Mars anymore, even with the drives limited to civilian craft. Including launch and landing, a government flight like this would make the trip in just under ninety minutes. The advantages of half again the capacity of purely civilian craft, although naval drives were faster still. Of course, that chain of thought was just you trying to distract yourself from what was waiting at the other end of the journey.

"Mandy," Mary said from the seat next to you. "You need to stop borrowing trouble."

"That's a little hard when my best friend is about to-" a warm hand covered your lips.

Mary's green eyes bored into your own, and she shook her head once, just a little. "I know it's hard, Mandy. But you aren't making me do this. No one could." The gentle words twisted around your heart, but their steadiness didn't reach her eyes and she knew it. "I know I've been having trouble sleeping, but I can't just keep on living like that. If I want to come out the other side…"

Her hand dropped from your mouth. "You have to do this." You bowed your head. "And I just won't let you do it on your own." Warmth squeezed around your fingers, as she wrapped hers around them.

"And I can't tell you how much that means to me." She told you, her voice so soft that the silence could break it. "Without you, I might not have boarded today, you know." Her eyes flickered, and for a moment you saw the same fear you'd been able to chase away evening after evening for the last seven months. "But you were there. Like you'd promised."

"Of course I was."

She leant in to hug you, and you wrapped your arm around her without conscious thought. "And that's why," her voice shuddered, but didn't break, "I know I'll get through this. Because you'll be beside me from the moment we land."

"Are you," you paused, wondering if you should even ask.

"Am I what?"

In for a penny. "Are you sure you want to go straight to…where you lived before." You winced, that hadn't come out the way you'd wanted it to. "Um," you began.

"If I don't," Mary said, "then I won't make it there. I've spent seven months getting ready for this, and I still wasn't sure if I'd get into this seat today." You wanted to say something, anything, to make her reconsider. But you just couldn't. This was going to hurt her, but she knew that, and it wasn't possible to prepare more than she already had.

"All passengers, we're beginning our descent towards Mytikas." The voice came over the speakers, and you looked over at the travel map. You were almost at the atmosphere. "We're cleared to the pad, and will be down shortly."

Mary tensed as the thin air of the Martian atmosphere hissed against the ship's drive field, then took a deep breath and visibly mastered herself. Pulling back, she straightened in her chair, and nodded firmly. Only decades of familiarity let you see the faint tremor in her motions as her eyes roamed towards the window.

"Hey," she looked round, a question in her eyes, and you squeezed her hand. Nothing more than that, but nothing more was needed.

"Thank you." She breathed, an echo of a warm smile tugging at her mouth. The vessel shook a little as it dropped into the thicker air produced by the conversion towers, but it was moving slow enough now to not imitate a meteor on approach. Something whined below you as landing gear extended, and then there was a soft tone as you dropped onto the landing pad.

"Time to go."

Mary and Amanda will be heading directly to the former's family home on departing from the shuttle. Given what you know of Mary's mental state, this is highly likely to cause a grief related breakdown regardless of what you do. A few questions should be resolved first, however:

Practice is very capable of softening and repairing mental scars, just as it is physical. However, Mary is not going to be suffering new wounds so much as opening some very old ones. Does Amanda intend to try and consciously use Practice in helping her friend through this?

[] Yes
[] No

Mary has expressed a wish to enter her old home alone at first, but also a contradictory desire for Amanda to be there beside her. Resolving this will fall to Amanda's choice. Will she go with Mary, or let her enter alone to begin with?

[] Walk Together
[] Trust The Wish

 

[Snowfire]

Spoiler: musical note

If you're looking for a theme for this post, this is what I wrote almost the entire section to. You have been warned.

February 16th​, 2121

There wasn't a word for how you felt on stepping out of the aircar. Your heart shuddered, as you took in the familiar street, still burned into your memory in a way you couldn't escape. You'd made peace with that pain once, even if it still existed. But seeing it back again, seeing it real; it tore at scars that you thought had faded a long time ago. Amanda tried to hide her amazement, but it was obvious to you. She'd only ever seen this place on holovids, or images after the Sorrows. The walls and windows that had housed the leading lights of human science, and their families.

You were in some of those vids. A smiling girl, happy in the world she'd been born into. Free of the terrible wounds the Shiplords had inflicted. You'd not watched those in decades, until you chose to revisit them in the last months of 2120. It had been one of the only things you could do to prepare. Going back to Mytikas would be returning to your past, after all. And not in a way that you'd ever been prepared for. Not even after Skylark, or the Harmonic Miracle that had restored the Elder's Vault.

Amanda was a step behind you, a comforting warmth that showed no signs of leaving you. Deciding if you were glad for that was being impossible. On the one hand, you'd wanted to face this alone, at least at first. But on the other... One the other, you weren't sure if you could get through the doorway without her steadying presence. Let alone further in to the house that loomed above you, far taller to your mind then it was in truth. You'd been born and had grown through the first half of a childhood here, then lost it all in a figurative instant that you barely remembered. But the place itself…

The steps up to the house from the street were missing the flowers your mother had used to grow; you remembered the blue and yellow blossoms. The pots were there, ancient ceramic restored by power beyond human comprehension. But there was nothing in them. No earth. No life. All of that was still gone.

Amanda's hand brushed against your shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly, and you took another step. Each one was like a vast weight, the inviting door of the home you'd lost beckoning to your emotions despite the knowledge that there was no one behind it. Bearing down on you like a tumbling mountain, and you were no colossus. You reached up, touching a hand to the panel beside the door, and the lock clicked off. There was no greeting, no welcome from the house as there'd been before. Then the door slid open, laying out an entrance hall that haunted your dreams.

You didn't remember the steps you took to leave that hall, past the static memories that had been stripped of the life that had made them real. There a painting your father had brought home from a trip to Earth. Opposite it, light shone through a thin set of drapes that had been passed down by your grandmother, and from mother to mother before her for centuries. They…were probably yours now, weren't they? You didn't want to think about it.

Uncertain footsteps brought you to another door, the world rippling in front of your eyes like a dream, or maybe it was a nightmare. The room that had made the house most truly a home, that you'd come to fear above all others. Half the ground floor, it had been the living space of the household, the centre of your original family. You looked back, and you couldn't have described the mix of emotion that rushed through you as you saw her standing there just behind you if you'd had all the years in existence. Something passed between you in that silence, and you straightened, forcing your shoulders back. This was going to break you. It wasn't a matter of if, or even when. But it didn't matter.

You opened the door.

Dead silence, and the cold of an empty house greeted you, scattered about the memories of a world that you'd thought lost to you half a century ago. No. Not just thought. Accepted. You had made peace with that loss, with the pain. A human could do that, and move on. But this was something else, and you weren't sure there was a word in the languages of humanity to describe it. It was like it was taunting you, and you felt tears that you'd thought spent sixty years past burn on your cheeks.

Amanda was humming something, a gentle melody, but you couldn't hear it properly. You were lost in the world in front of you, set out perfectly and yet missing its heart. A jagged wound torn through where you'd once lived and played. Then you saw it, through your tears. A picture. A simple photograph, on the paper that had almost been obsolete then. Colour painted the sky behind a smiling couple, above a sea of vibrant green, rich gold, and faded red that stretched to the horizon.. And a girl beamed out at you, her eyes sparkling with joy from between the arms of her parents…

That…that was… You couldn't think it. Your thoughts rebelled, tightening your throat and forcing you to breathe faster. A step towards the mantlepiece turned into a stumble, and something in your legs just gave out. Hands caught you, turning the fall into a controlled descent, but your eyes never moved. That picture. The child in it.

Something twitched at the edge of your mind, something dark and light and all things in between, pushing against it. A memory you'd not wanted, that you'd learned to live without, because you'd never be able to see it again.

"Who is that?" You cried out, tears streaming down your face as you searched desperately for the rest of the memory that was beyond you. "I know who it is! I know I do! But I can't," you hiccupped around a sob, wishing the tears would cloud your vision, but they just kept flowing. "I…I." The single syllable turned in your head.

It turned again, and again, spinning around the picture burning in front of your eyes. Your body shook, trapped between a crushed past and a future that had never been thought possible. All you'd ever wanted was your family. Your family. Your family!

That was your mother. Your father. Naomi and Michael. And that meant…

The girl was you.

You felt something shatter deep inside of you, like a wall giving way, or foundation crumbling. Raw emotion battered against your psyche, the controls you'd set around your mind so carefully and over so many years swept away. Like sand in a whirlwind. Then there were tears, and pain, and a bone-deep loss that pulled a keening wail from the depths of your mind and body. You were the child in that picture, but equally you couldn't be. That Mary D'reve had died with the Burning, when her family had been taken. You couldn't be her, you didn't know how.

You do when you're with Mandy and Iris a treacherous thought whispered, and you batted it savagely away. Or you tried to, except it wouldn't move. The world didn't make sense, all the mental furniture you'd thought locked in place had come lose. Sliding, and falling, and breaking bits off of itself and you. How were you meant to find yourself in that? Why had you thought you even could? You felt another wave of tears pour down your cheeks, and couldn't understand why.

There is a final vote before this section resolves, and it's not what you might expect. I know what Amanda is going to say. To be blunt, giving you a vote on it wouldn't work for me, and I hope you can understand that. I'm not going to throw the burden of that social at you when I already know exactly what Mandy is going to say and do to help bring Mary out her spiral. I can only hope I do the scene justice – and it will be from Amanda's PoV. But if you don't get to pick what she says, you can influence it. This is going to be a strange vote, because the options probably aren't going to make sense on the first pass. This is intentional. Amanda is trying to understand the deeper source of Mary's pain here, not just that it exists, and that requires an understanding of the room.

What I'm going to do here is ask you to vote on the object that Amanda uses as her focus point when building that understanding. None of these are trap options, I want to make that exceptionally clear. It's a directional vote, and Amanda isn't stupid or unobservant enough to lose herself when her friend/sister/whatever needs her. Your options are as follows:

[] Mantlepiece
[] Dining Table
[] Mother's Easel
[] Bookshelf
[] Music Player

This is a ranked vote, please number low to high by preference.

 

[Snowfire]

February 16th​, 2121

You'd known that Mary's reaction was going to be bad. You'd walked onto the flight with her knowing that, and thought yourself sufficiently prepared for it. You still believed that, but the conviction was shakier than it'd been a few minutes ago. Mary was still conscious, but her awareness of the world had begun imploding the moment she'd entered her home. It had been harder than you'd thought possible to not step in as she walked down the hall, to hold back from catching her trembling hand as it touched the admittance panel to the house's living area. But you'd promised to let her go as far as she could on her own, and you weren't going to break that.

Then her legs had failed her, and you'd moved. There hadn't been a single conscious thought in that reaction. She'd started to fall, and a moment later your hands had caught her, gently lowering her to the ground as you knelt on the room's shallow carpet. Mary didn't even notice. Her eyes were fixed on the picture on the mantlepiece, a picture that you didn't need historical records to know contained her mother and father, simply being those things to her. And therein lay the problem.

Your friend had never been able to properly resolve the loss of her family, for all that she'd learned to live with it. She'd changed, become someone new, but that had been a process of change that allowed her to move past the pain. But the pain itself remained, the same pain that had been so present after the Second Battle of Sol. Pain that not even you, a Mender among Menders, had been able to heal. For a long time, simply being able to control it through the person she now was had been enough. If the Mytikas Restoration had never occurred, it might have remained enough. But the Restoration had happened, and that left Mary in a horrific position.

There was the Mary you knew. Your closest friend, and the woman who'd earned the title that had been left behind for her. A Daughter of Secrets in truth, with a collected understanding of them greater than any human alive. A sister in all but blood, and shared parent to the first AI born into humanity as opposed to being created.

And then there was the Mary. A young girl, brilliant and precocious, but also utterly innocent in the face of the horrors of the Sorrows. The smiling child in the picture on the mantlepiece, for whom this room had been the heart of her corporeal existence. And who'd had every single piece of that life torn away, leaving so little behind.

Two very different people, with very different lifetimes. But they shared more than names. This place belonged to both of them, but what it meant to each of them was beyond simply different. To one, it was home, and all that accompanied that. To the other, pain beyond comprehension. A faded, cold echo of the warmth that it had held before the Sorrows. How does one unify those images?

It starts with finding something, somewhere, that evokes the same emotion from both parts of a fractured mind. So that's what you did. You held her as you searched for that elusive thing, offering physical support as a stopgap. Your gaze raked across a tall bookshelf in the corner, full to bursting, but you didn't recognise any of the titles. If you'd had more time to look, but you didn't. An easel, with a picture still on it if you weren't mistaken. Mary had told you once that her mother had been an artist. Who knew what was on the other side of the stand, though. It could heal, or it could harm. You couldn't take a risk like that, not with her so terribly out of balance.

A music player, its keys faded from years of constant use. What songs had they sung, and listened to together? But again, a gamble. No. Not with a mind so close to breaking. You chastised yourself as your senses flicked on, everything was a risk here, but now wasn't the time for layering chance on top of chance. The mantlepiece itself, scattered with pictures like the one that had sent Mary falling into this deadly spiral. Maybe there was one there that would give her hope, give her happiness, but how could you tell which one it would be? You'd never known her as a child. Only after the Sorrows, when there was almost no child left.

That left…your gaze stopped on the dining table. It was old, you could tell. A product of craftsmanship older than the city that held it. How much it must have cost to transfer it from Earth to Mytikas, you could only guess. Light reflected from the mirror sheen of hardwood and varnish, but you dug deeper than just what it looked like. What did it mean? A central table meant family, and there was a very good reason for that to bring your friend pain. Yet that wasn't everything she felt at a table like that. With you and your siblings, and then Iris too, she'd found a joy that couldn't be faked. Not a replacement for what she'd lost, but a new happiness. That's what you needed.

"Mary," you breathed her name out above her hair, and she shook in your arms around the sobs. It was a reaction, however, and that was all you needed. For her to listen and, you hoped, understand. She was still in there, you just had to find her. Not so simple, but not impossible either.

"Mary, I know you're in there." Your voice shook, the tangible pain of your friend cutting at its edges, but you refused to bow to it. "You feel like you're lost, I know. Like the world you built is falling to pieces, and what you need to put it back together is hiding just out of reach." She shook again. "Will you let me help you find it?"

For a moment, there was nothing. You worried then, but this was her fight. If you told her what you'd seen, it wouldn't help. Then she jerked her head forward, once and twice. That was all you needed. One of your hands rose, gently wiping away the tears. They didn't stop flowing, but you'd cleared her vision enough, at least. This wasn't just pain from being here, you'd realised. It was pain from the similarity, too.

"Mary, Dearheart, I can't imagine what you lost here. But I know you didn't lose everything." She coughed out another sob, almost like a laugh. 'How did you know', she was asking, without saying a word. "I know that, because you told me so. And I believed you when you did. You know me, Mary. Would you be able to lie about something like that?"

"N…" she broke off, but the single broken syllable lifted your heart. "No." She murmured, shaking her head. Another question rose, unspoken. How you could tell was beyond you.

"What do you have?" You gave it voice for her. "Think about that question, love. I can't answer it for you." A gentle squeeze of your hand, catching her own. "If it helps, tell me."

"I," she stumbled over the word, trying to string more of them to it. "I have…you?" The fearful way she asked almost shattered your heart.

"Yes, you do." You smiled through the sudden sting of tears. "What else?"

"…Iris?" The question was less frightened, and you simply nodded. "Y..your siblings." A pause as you nodded again, your chin brushing against her hair. She wasn't shaking so much. There was another word, dancing at the edge of her lips, but you wouldn't say it for her. The silence lengthened, and the sound of her tears faded to silence. They fell slower, but they still fell, as she grasped for the words that would show her a way through the pain. She couldn't escape it, not anymore.

"A family." It wasn't a question. "I have a family." The words weren't new, but there was something in them. A change in the way they were said, the conviction behind it. "That doesn't take anything away from what I lost, or make it better. But the Sorrows won't define me," there was fire in that statement, and she looked up sharply from where her head had fallen towards her chest.

"This was a place for my family." She said softly, squirming around in your hold to look up at you. Her eyes were still leaking, but it had almost passed. The line of her mouth was firm, and her eyes very clear behind the tears. "I want it to be one again. I want to see you and Iris around that table with me. I…" she shook her head, unaware of the warmth that had spread through you. "I want this place to be mine again, Mandy."

"Then it will be." You kissed her forehead. "I promise."

You have a few votes now, for present and future. Given that Mars is now a short commute from Earth given the capabilities of merely 'government' drives, some possibilities are open to you. These won't take full effect this year, but some of them may influence the setting of later posts. Mechanically, no effects.

House and Homes: Mary has told you in no uncertain terms that she wants to…reclaim her restored childhood home in Mytikas. She wants, in some ways needs, it to be hers again, and she needs you and Iris to help her do that. The question is how to go about it.
[] Vacation Visits: In truth, it might not be the best idea to simply drop everything you have back home and transfer it all to a city that is still being certified by the Home Office as secure. Give Mary what she needs, but keep Earth as your permanent residence. It's been that for far longer.
[] Split the Difference: This is important to your friend, more than a great many things ever have been. You owe her more than just a visit here and there. It might be difficult, but you can dedicate more time in future. The commute from Earth to Mars isn't long, and as a government official you still have access to their flights. Of course, you can make that flight in a third of the time on your own, but that's nitpicking. Still, it will complicate things.
[] Making a Home: The Residence has been your home for two decades, and it will always be yours. This, however, is too important to leave to chance and hope. Pack up what you need, and move completely to Mytikas. This would have been nigh impossible two years ago, with Iris constrained to a holographic avatar. Her new body, however, makes it quite feasible. And once the Mytikas network has been fully investigated, she'll have a vast new digital playground.

Arcadia: The resolution on Mary's part to reclaim her heritage rather than try to run from it, or reject it, has other consequences too. Adriana mentioned the possibility of shifting Arcadia to the Olympus Colleges late last year, but it was an offer, nothing more. You know she's willing to make the same offer to Mary, but only if your friend goes looking for it. The choice will be hers, but it's up to you if she gets the chance to make it.
[] Tell her
[] Don't tell her

 

[Snowfire]

April 27th​ 2120

"Try again, Mir." Vega said firmly, nodding encouragingly at the pale-haired man sitting across from you. "You're almost there, I can feel it."

"Of course you can," the younger Potential muttered shortly, though the warmth in his eyes robbed the words of any bite. It had grown to be a common complaint, and not just from the members of your Heartcircle. The problem you'd discovered within the organisation had been easy to identify, but fixing it had stood to be a lot harder. "If you couldn't, I would have given up weeks ago."

"You're more stubborn than that," she chuckled. "If you weren't, you'd never have ended up with us." You'd been able to get to Mir before he could properly learn any habits that would need unlearning. The rest of the new arrivals were another story. Or would have been, had Vega not promised to dedicate her limited free time to the deeper flaws behind Mir's issues. Which just so happened to line up with the problems facing the rest of the Two Twenty Three. "Now come on. You aren't the only one who needs this."

Vega's solution wasn't new; if the instincts were wrong, then you needed to change them. In the case of almost anyone other than the Unisonbound, there'd be only one way to do that. But the more you'd pushed, the more you'd both started to realise that it might be possible to bypass the months and years of un and then relearning. It would just require you to dive deeper into the structure of the Platforms then anyone'd ever attempted. Sidra and the other Platforms were people, there was no denying that. But their hardware was based on computing technology, blended with what you'd call a soulbond if the word wasn't so tacky. Theoretically, then, it should be possible to deliberately transfer information between them.

Vega had explained before you started down this road that the links between the Platforms weren't conscious. She might maintain them, but she didn't know how to control them. Despite that, you couldn't simply not try. Sidra's memory held instincts built from years of companionship, training, and the only battle that their kind had ever been a part of. Most other Platforms had different instincts, the result of how your training had differed in the early years of the organisation. Some of what Sidra knew was wrong for the current direction of the unit, you weren't President anymore for example. But the basic preference set would be far more effective in the interest of seeing them used as training wheels instead of a crutch.

One part to a grander scheme, but if it worked it would be the most important one. Which left you sitting across from Mir, as both of you delved into your Platforms in search of the data that had made one of you stronger, and was only holding the other back. Once you had that, you'd be able to follow it. The shared instincts of the Platforms were formed from a combination of their experiences. You didn't want to make that uniform, but it was clearly in need of rebalancing.

The data structure of the Platforms wasn't a simple thing to navigate. Sidra knew what you needed, but finding it was as complicated for them as it would be for you to tell exactly where in your mind a recalled memory might originate. Still, you were making progress, and the simple fact of Vega's presence was helping it along.

:Got it!: The feeling of victory raced across the connection between you and Mir, carrying the needless words. Sidra's presence wrapped around the section that you'd both found, digging into it and working to mirror the information contained within in a way that another Platform would be able to understand. This was uncharted territory for both of you, but you'd made the first step. There would be no leaving it unfinished. Across from you, you felt Mir working steadily to try and replicate what you'd done. His own Platform, Sakina, helping as she could alongside Vega's hazy guidance. He'd come far since she'd taken a hand in the Two Twenty Three again, her very presence steadily harmonising his skills with that of the Heartcircle. It was almost enough to prompt a stab of envy.

:I can feel it,: Mir voice rang through the link. One of the first things he'd started to do after Vega had returned was use the Harmonic links to communicate. That was something he should have been capable of anyway, but the deliberate desync between him and his Platform's instincts had made the process of that becoming familiar far lengthier. You could even feel the grasping emotion behind the words. Just a little further.:

You left him his work, focusing on your side of the process. The new depth of connection between you and your Platform was still strange, but you'd had time enough to become used to it. Sidra would find a way to make what they knew transferable to another Unisonbound. It was up to you and Vega to find a way to move what they created.

Vega was the heart of the Harmonic web that bound the Two Twenty Three together, and control or not, that was a path you could follow. For all her growth, her understanding of those links on a conscious level was still lesser to your own. You'd worried about that a little after Mytikas, even though she'd offered you the opportunity. That had been a moment that she could have grown from herself, even if the results would have fallen short of your own. Potentials learnt through doing, after all. Far more than from anything else. In truth, you worried still.

:A strange thing to worry over, Mandy.: Her voice poured through your mind around the feeling of a small smile. Her presence pulled you along, mixed as fully with that of Kagiso as yours was with your own Platform. You'd only talked like this once since the Restoration, and it hadn't been about this. :Focus on the now,: your friend chastised you gently. :We can address the past once the future is made safe again.:

:Alright.: You sent back, taking a moment to gather yourself. Then you reached, and the world in front of your eyes shattered. How to describe what followed? A feeling of reaching, perhaps, like hands sliding across cold glass and oil? Or a vibration, running between threads of gossamer and woven possibility, trying to find its way to the other side. Or maybe…maybe it just didn't matter.

There was a warmth, you remembered that very well, when the connection formed. A fierce and powerful thing, that held you in a gentle yet irresistible grasp. And spreading out from that grip was a vast web of shifting light. An enormous fractal born of the lives of your fellow Unisonbound, that shone with their hopes, dreams, and the brilliance of infinite possibility. It was breathtaking in a way that even the Restoration struggled to match, and not just because it didn't end. Two hundred souls, brought together by a twinned Miracle.

But you needed more than simply a vision. You needed to understand the order that underlay the chaos, the set that defined the fractal's pattern. Find that, and you'd be able to navigate the twisting and ever-changing paths of the Harmonic net that linked the Unisonbound. The structure that had made them a swordblade. So you followed the connection, and sank yourself into the network of links spread around you. Followed it on and on, down and ever further into a spiralling maze.

Vega's presence surfed the web beside and around and through you. She formed a tether, stretching back to where you'd begun and onwards too. Part of her, at least, knew what you were looking for. Or, as it turned out, who. Over and above your own desire to understand the underlying mechanics of the network, you'd entered it so deeply in search of a connection. Vega found you what you needed within the tangled links of her own making. You'd have to try something else to find what you'd wanted.

What you'd needed, though, was enough. You charted the connection between yourself and Mir, in a way that Sidra could access properly. And that ability, with some refinement, proved replicable. In the days that followed, you slowly transferred an entire new set of instincts from Sidra to Sakina, and helped her find a way to process them that didn't just destroy the old instincts. You wanted to patch a weakness, after all, not make new ones. In the weeks that followed, you would repeat the process across the entire Two Twenty Three, and use it as a level to alter how those instincts were used.

And it bought you time, too. To talk to Vega properly, and fully examine your worry of having scarred or damaged her ability to grow. In the end, you'd done neither. She'd lost a chance at Mytikas, but she'd done so willingly, in the full belief that it wouldn't be the only one she'd ever have. If the work of the Harmonic Circle was anything to judge, she was likely to be proven correct in that assumption. As for that Circle, they'd needed time to rest and recover from the vast working. Vega's time working with the Unisonbound had given them that. When you'd asked her if it would have been better for her to have rested with them, she'd laughed.

"They have an opportunity to learn." She'd told you, chuckling still. "That you happened to need a little help here was simply a fortunate coincidence. And one that I was happy to take advantage of. If I'd thought myself better placed with them, I'd never have offered to leave them." The last words were delivered solemnly, despite the amusement still present in her manner. Truth, without question. That, and your successes, were more than enough.

Unison Training: 55 + 32 + 24 = 111. Solid Success
Valkyries: 56 + 32 + 24 = 112. Solid Success

(Reliance by the Two Twenty Three on their Platform 'instincts' resolved. Some understanding of the Harmonic web between Unisonbound uncovered, but far more study of the subject is required. Will unlock a research action next year. Vega and Amanda have time to talk, with positive results. Mir will have reached full readiness, by the standards of his Heartcircle, before the beginning of next turn.)

 

[Snowfire]

July 10th​, 2121

You hopped from foot to foot excitedly as the elevator descended towards the basement workshop built into the Residence, that you'd never had the chance to use. That lack of use had been a constant itch throughout your Presidency, but there'd always been more important matters to attend to. Ensuring the survival of your species really did a number on one's free time. But now that was over, and for the first time in twenty years you finally had the chance to sit down and build something. It was a nice feeling.

The elevator doors slid open, and you clapped your hands, the sharp sound bringing the large room alive. Lights flickered on, construction systems hummed cheerfully to life, and you breathed in deeply. The sterile cleanliness of the place was familiar and welcoming, a reminder of brighter days when you'd forged tools in the pursuit of miracles. Peaceful things, even if you'd since learned how to turn one of them to the cause of defending your home. You'd only ever created two of them, three if you counted the strange crystal that you'd made with Mary.

Someone unknowing of the complexities of a Potential's craft might think that strange. If you could make things so much better than what they started out, why not do so freely? But Practice was a funny thing that way. You could, of course, take an item already created and pour power into it. That was how the Potentials had changed human existence, after all. Giving humanity the tools to fly, and challenge the power of the Shiplords. Where it came to your tools, however, that process didn't quite cut it. A Practiced Artefact was more than just an item used again and again until it became greater than it'd once been. They began life as more than a simple object. Or at least, most did. Some, like Kalilah's Lance, came into the possession of the Potential as more. All of your Artefacts had been of the former variety. Built by your own hands, and brought together by Practice. Which made your crystal something of an oddity.

But then, your life was full of oddities now. What was that crystal compared to Iris, after all. A smile tugged at your lips at the thought. You had a lot of work to with her this year, no thanks to Adriana. Not that you were really complaining for proper, Ministerial support as you tried to work out how to upgrade her systems beyond what Mary and you had been able to give her. More Mary than yourself, if you were being honest. Maybe you could change that this year? That would be nice.

But that wasn't why you were down here, the selection of tools and material you'd laid out quite without thinking about it was proof of that. You could use this time to look at one of your past creations, but you weren't sure that you wanted to. Your multitool was the modern-day equivalent of a 20th​ century Swiss Army Knife, and it had been key to the many successes you'd enjoyed in your years mending the Pre-Sorrows world. Yet you'd grown so much since those days. Words had replaced your need for a tool of Mending, or so you felt.

Which left the strange, blackbody crystal; the result of trying to push the boundaries of your Practice in a way you still couldn't quite remember. You could try to make sense of it on your own, but you weren't sure you had any real chance of success. Not when everything beyond its physical existence and how exhausted you'd been after creating it remained a mystery, despite Mary's best efforts.

Both were still options, but as you looked down at the worktop, you considered that maybe there was a better one. Instead of going back to what you'd left behind, you could make something new. An Artefact suited to the person that you were today, and the world you'd come to live in. Your concert set and multitool had been created to amplify part of your Focus. One had helped you piece a broken world back together, and the other had brought you closer to people. Let you be heard. Those had been what you'd needed then.

What did you need now?

You have three choices here. Two involve working on previous creations, with differing DCs involved in doing so. The multitool will be relatively simple to relearn, while the Void Crystal would be difficult to unravel with Mary helping you. Before you ask, she isn't available to do so right now. Something about Mars. The final option involves creating an entirely new Practiced Item for Amanda. If you choose this option, I will need a general direction for what you want her to try to make. Be aware that building a weapon is unlikely to fly, simply due to the nature of her Focus. There are other devices than weapons used in battle, however. If they would be the right thing to make is another matter, and wholly up to yourselves.

[] World's Remedy (Multitool) - Medium DC
[] Blackbody Mystery (Void Crystal) - Very High DC
[] A Mender's Forge (Write-in) - DC varies depending on write-in.

 

[Snowfire]

September 22nd​, 2121

One thing you had to admit, as you considered the screen in front of you. When Adriana wanted something done, her Ministers were just as competent as yours had been. Case in point? The current situation. You'd been given resources last year to pursue the creation of a body for Iris, but not even yourselves had really expected to succeed. When you had, the reaction had been extraordinary, if understandable. She'd put it best herself, although much removed from the moment in question.

'The Shiplords took away the Second Secret with the Sorrows. Humanity's ability to build upon the life you'd been given, and even make it.' What you'd done in creating her avatar had been to reignite the dream of making humanity more than itself, but more than that too. Her skin was a sensory marvel, and the ability of her chassis to simulate the perceptions of a human a vast leap forward. Even more so in that it had been done without Practice being woven into her shell. It was replicable. The response had been predictable.

"Miss Hawk?" A voice tugged at you, but you ignored it. Questions could wait, this was important.

Resources had flooded in, alongside a Home Office led team with backing from the Ministries of Science and Practice. But subordinate to you and Mary, as you'd both demanded. Iris was still young, and she wouldn't be able to stay that way for long. The needs of humanity might support the need for a swift understanding of her frame, but you wouldn't compromise her childhood. Not if you could help it. Fortunately, you could. The work had proceeded according to a schedule created by yourself and Mary, with as little of Iris's time taken up by it as possible.

There hadn't been a single protest, but at least some of that silence was down to the meticulous notes your friend had kept of the design and prototyping stages that led to the avatar that Iris now wore. That and the knowledge of the process you both shared. There was very little reason to involve your daughter in the process, apart from the requests for up to date scans. You were, after all, constantly working to upgrade her frame.

"Miss Hawk?" That voice again. "I'm sorry ma'am, she's not… But I couldn't just do that," the suite of system modifications and software upgrades was coming along nicely, so much so that you hoped you might be able to finish it this year. Without the support you'd been given by the government it never would have been possible, but now?

"Amanda!" You jerked up from the scrolling text that you'd been lost in checking for the nth time, and froze. The workshops were often quiet, but not like this. This was the silence of the slow breath taken before the plunge, and all eyes were glued to the holographic representative of Adriana in front of you. She must have been calling, but why hadn't she gone through Sidra instead of-

"Clear the room." She ordered. A moment later, you were alone.

"Adri, what's going on?" You asked, or at least you started to. You only got the first two words out before she replied, with words you'd hoped and feared in equal measure ever since you'd learned they were coming.

"They're here." Data surged into your mind, courtesy of a sealed data package forwarded to you in the last few moments according to Sidra

Your eyes widened, then widened again as you started to absorb the contents of the packet. "This is live?"

"It is." Adriana looked down at the desk outside of the transmission intake. "Fifteen ships, just as Insight said there would be. They came out at the edge of the system ninety seconds ago, no active stealth systems as far as we can tell. The Lux will give us a readback within the next five minutes."

"They've been in a fight on the way here," you noted softly, Sidra picking out the signs of battle scars on a few of the hulls. "Can't have been anything too serious. Courier craft are long lightly armed, and they made it here intact…"

"That matches the reports I'm getting now." She replied. "We've put a lock on the lagless data, but it won't hold for long. We're too open a society, and I wouldn't be surprised if we start receiving transmissions from them within the next few minutes. They came here looking for us, after all."

"I wouldn't bother with the lock, Adri. It's a waste of effort, and if we're going to talk to them people will find out soon enough anyway." She shrugged at your words, a little helplessly maybe, and you smiled to soften any blow behind the words. Then you took a very deep breath. "Why are you calling me, Adriana?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked in return, a weary determination clear in her eyes. "We need you." Her hands came up quickly. "Not for long. Just the initial contact stages, a few months at most. But there's no one else alive that has the same common support, or knows humanity as well as you do.

"Please, Amanda."
###
Do you agree to help the Diplomacy Corps with Second Contact?
[X] Yes
[] No Hahaha you thought this was even an option

"Of course."

"I'll arrange a," you held up a hand with a chuckle to stop her.

"No. Focus on what you need to do on your end, Adri. The packet you sent has everything I need. I'll clear things here, convince Mary of how important this is," you restrained an artful shudder, "and make my own way. I'm faster than any ship you could send, and you know it. Just make sure I have some clothes for when I get there."

"Thank you." She breathed out, almost prayerfully.

"Thank me when I'm there." You replied. Mary really wouldn't be hard to convince, she'd known this had been coming. Fortunately, the Contact Fleet had been considerate enough to give her most of a year to stabilise after the event. Iris…might be more of a problem. Especially as she was likely to demand to go with you. That was going to be fun.

How do you approach your family about your being needed on Concordia very soon? As fortune might have it, Mary is teaching Iris this afternoon.

[] Write-in

Second Contact mini-turn commencing…

 

[Snowfire]

"Mary! Iris!" You called from the door to the Residence. Saying no to Adri hadn't been an option. The Contact Fleet promised so much, you knew, but it wasn't without dangers. The dominance of the Shiplords was one that had endured as much through trickery as through strength, after all. Over a million years of life had given them plentiful time to master every way in which the Secrets at their command could be used to break the unity of those who passed their tests. The security apparatus that you'd helped build had been enough to break the hold that the Tribute Fleet had left behind in Sol, and you knew that the relevant Ministries had worked tirelessly to try and ensure that Concordia would be secure. But no one could be sure that it would be enough.

"Mandy?" Mary's question was rife with confusion, but it confirmed her location. A moment later, you were blurring through rooms and up a flight of stairs.

In other words, Adri's request had been more than just asking you to represent humanity. The type of subversion that you knew was most commonly used by the Shiplords wouldn't work on you, it required physical contact that your Aegis wouldn't allow to occur. More importantly, you might even be able to sense the presence of that sort of control. It wasn't a sickness, but if your reaction to the Shiplord craft during the Second Battle of Sol was any indicator, it would be close enough for you to feel.

"I thought you we-" was all that your friend got out before you swept through the door she was standing by, catching her around the waist to stop her from falling. Iris giggled at the display from the couch, but it was clear she was confused too. Setting Mary down on her feet again, you stepped back.

"I know, I was planning on working with the Ministerial teams through the day. But something came up. Something big." Sidra shifted data into the Residence holo projectors, and you saw Iris' eyes start to widen a fraction of a second before the image sprang to life. "The Contact Fleet is here, and Adriana's asked me to do what we knew she would." Mary sucked in a breath, then sighed gently as she recognised the lines of your face.

"And you agreed." She said softly.

"We both knew this was coming, and how important it is." You caught her hand and pulled her gently across to where Iris was sitting. "You know I'd rather be here, with you and Iris, but this is so much bigger than just us." There were more words that you could have spoken, but they'd all been said before. As the deadline for the Contact Fleet's arrival had drawn closer, you'd talked of it a great deal, and how you'd be almost certain to play a part in it. You could have refused to, but Mary had never once suggested it. But there was something you could give her, at least. "Adri asked me to be there for the initial contact stages, a month or two at most. That's all I agreed to," you saw the worry in her eyes, its source her knowledge of who you were. "And all that I will, I promise."

She nodded, and a wan smile forced its way past the fear as you turned your attention to Iris, who was doing her very best impression of someone jumping foot to foot…whilst sat down. You'd talked to your daughter about this too, and her fascination with the concept of other races come to treat with humanity ran deep. Unfortunately, the conclusion you'd reached with her and Mary wasn't one she would be happy to hear again.

"Iris, I know you want to go, and I would love to offer you that, but," her movements stilled as you spoke, the excitement in her eyes fading swiftly, making you hate every needed word. "We have no idea how they'll react to you. True synthetic life like yourself doesn't seem to exist outside of Earth and the Shiplords, and-"

"Then why is Vision going to be there? I can understand not taking my frame along, but I can still manifest virtually." She wasn't quite snapping at you, but it was close, and that the anger was directed more at the situation than yourself didn't really help. "There are going to be half a dozen envoys observing through the link, why can't I be one of them?"

"Iris," you started to say.

"No." She shook her head, eyes flashing with emotion. "No! Not being there in person, I can understand. Vision could be considered a VI, if a very advanced one, and this body is clearly inorganic to even cursory scans. Not being there in person makes sense, until we know who they really are and what they really want. Insight says that they're friendly, but that might not mean all of them. I get it." She glared at you and Mary, but there was reason behind it, not petulance.

"I know you're trying to protect me from them. And I love you both for that, for caring enough, and being what I wished you would be for me." She looked down at her hands, then back up again. "But I need to be there, to see, and to watch your back if anything actually does go wrong." Mary started at that, opening her mouth to reply more swiftly than you, but Iris was faster. She'd always been faster.

"I'll just watch. That's all I wanted to be there for anyway, and I've been practicing my multitasking. But don't take this from me," she pleaded, clearly aware that you could tell her no. "Please." You looked over at Mary, and she stared back, both of you torn by the instincts you'd never imagined could be so strong. On the one hand, you could say no. But the consequences of that action…denying her the opportunity to take part in something when she had a valid argument for how she could. Her physical avatar would be a dead giveaway, but a hologram? No one would be able to tell that it wasn't just another human, not with Vision there, and the numerous others who would be attending only through holo to begin with.

Do you agree to let Iris attend the conference through a virtual projection?
[] Yes
[] No