i n [B] o x . // EXPIATION.

[abandonware]

Proposal: Leave a message.

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txt; un: QUEENOFZAUN

[opheliac]

hello 🙂

un: unitA2

[abandonware]

[This isn't a username she recognizes. She briefly thinks of ignoring it — even thousands of years in the future, spam was not uncommon.

But this place is different.]

who is this
?

[opheliac]

someone u dont know, but u *can* know. i saw u on the broadcast and im interested!

[abandonware]

why would i need to know you?

[opheliac]

the answer is easy! ure getting to know someone who i know personally. soooooooo i just want to make sure ure a good egg. this place gets pretty whacked.

safety first.

text | un: user010102

[computation]

Hey, meet me outside the inn. I have something I need your help with.

[abandonware]

[Is this some sort of JRPG fetch quest... hm.]

got it. i'm on my way.

[It doesn't occur to her to ask what she's needed for, exactly. It isn't long before she arrives with Pod in tow.]

text; un: brickfuckingmaster

[giraffic]

i know it was fucked but

thank you

@unitA2

[abandonware]

[She has no idea what to say to that. To be thanked for such a heinous thing makes her feel sick. But she's used to it. What was new is being able to speak to someone she'd killed.]

you're back.
is it gone?

[giraffic]

its gone. hopefully for good.

i'm sorry for asking you to do that.

[abandonware]

you were doing what you needed to do.
are you ok

action; beginning of the month

[rebellions]

[ With all the efforts put into the cleanup and rebuilding of the city, Aldrip is slowly but surely beginning to return to its former glory. There are still areas that need renovations, sure, but at least the place no longer looks like a bomb had gone off in the middle of the residential area. Truth to be told, Ragna would much rather be spending time at his church, far away from the reminders of his own actions ─ his own failures ─ but he figures he can't run away from it. Jerry and the Council may see his way of resolving things as foolish, but he wants to set things right by his own two hands ─ whether by sacrificing himself, or literally, by using his strength to help the clean-up effort.

So here he is, sorting through the remaining wreckage. Now that he's got his right arm back, along with both his eyes working, it's not a difficult job, though the sun's getting low, so he should probably finish up for the day. But if he does, he will be left alone with his thoughts. What if this happens again? is one that pops up most often, What if next time, you won't be able to stop it?

Clearly, working isn't enough to stop those from resurfacing, and before he knows it, Ragna tosses a piece of concrete a bit too hard, missing the bin for the debris, and it ends up landing at the feet of an approaching passerby. Great. Accidentally clobbering someone is exactly what he needs right now. The man reluctantly directs his gaze there, only to realize he recognizes the newcomer. ]

... If it wasn't Sexy Legs. [ He greets her, trying his best to sound casual; the last thing he wants is for the source of his annoyance to become a conversation topic. ] Here to help?

[abandonware]

[It'd been her usual routine for a while, since Minato had coaxed her out of her self-inflicted punishment. Find an area that looked particularly bad and start cleaning up. Sometimes she helped with the cleanup groups, though she rarely ever spoke and left as soon as the work was done. Sometimes she would keep awake in the small hours of the night, moving away rubble. Righting the things that she had helped destroy. It was oddly soothing, this: the sudden awareness that things she had ruined would not be that way forever, for once.

She's not seen the man — Ragna of the so dark and mysterious title — in a while. She keeps tabs on those she has met out of the same attempts to keep her mind orderly. To dwell too long on this place and its illusions made her chronic paranoia worse by magnitudes. And so she maintains her sense of reality by making sure that the people around her don't change too drastically.

... He has changed though, she realizes as she approaches. No longer missing pieces.]

I do this every day.

[Her response, as it usually was, is flat. But after a moment, she decides to try and make conversation.] Most of the humans can't lift this junk. So I do it.

Haven't seen you in a while. [She adds.]

[rebellions]

[ Ragna takes a brief moment to study the woman in silence, taking this opportunity to try and assess if she's suffered any damage in the battle that no doubt ensued after he was out of the picture. She doesn't seem to be doing any worse than the last time he'd seen her, at least, so it's reassuring. And while he's certain she's sturdy enough to get through that and the restoration efforts, he still folds his arms on his chest and scoffs in response to her explanation. ]

At least take the weekends off.

[ All work and no play... and all that. He suspects she would scoff at the idea of "play", but that's all the more reason for her to learn to appreciate it more. He's not about to accept "cleaning up rubble" and a viable hobby for her to pick up. ]

I was in time-out.

[ And... that's it. He simply refuses to elaborate, though he figures it's not that difficult to put two and two together. He had no qualms about giving his life in exchange for granting the other Chosen a chance to fight back, but acknowledging it? That's a whole different story. ]

... You?

[ Listen, it's a small miracle he responds to the attempted small talk with something other than contempt, okay. You can't expect him to flat-out ask how she's been doing, even if that's what the half-assed question is meant to imply. ]

[abandonware]

No.

[Her response comes immediately and without much emotion. She sets to work nearby him after that, she and Pod working in concert to move heavy slabs and jagged stone.

His answers make her look over to him, their eyes meeting for a second. Then A2's gaze shifts back to her work.] I see.

[...]

Guess I was too. If that's what you want to call it. [She isn't stupid, for all that Pod quipped about her "cognitive ability," or whatever. She doesn't know the what or the how behind everything that had happened recently — her obsessive combing of the network had ceased during her Shade-induced exile. She hadn't yet gone back to this routine. But she knows that wherever he'd been, it must have something to do with that monster.]

Back now though. [Sardonically:] Good as new.

action; first week of the month

[decussate]

[ This isn't the first time Arlecchino has been suddenly set upon a wide new world, but the first time, she was gifted with more resources and responsibilities than a girl her age could have imagined. This second time, as an adult, she's been left with fewer resources and responsibilities than she could have fathomed having again. It's a grand twist of fate, and not one she finds particularly humorous.

When faced with frustration, she's always found the sea a capable ally. The waters off Aldrip's docks aren't quite meditative, but in the dead of night the low roar of the waves smooths her thoughts. She slowly walks the length of the docks with the moonlight to guide her way, paying no mind to the eyes watching from the depths of moored ships and black shades. They can stick to their nightly encounters and she will stick to hers.

Namely, her current encounter is with a beady-eyed pink loach that has taken to following her. A naked agent of surveillance, or simply a wayward pet looking for handouts? She stops and muses on the creature with crossed arms. Woman and loach stare at each other silently... ]

[abandonware]

[As Arlecchino has her quiet standoff, a drone and a woman are having a conversation during their evening patrol.]

"Hypothesis: there was no hostile figure in the wallpaper."

"Yeah. It was in her head, because she was stuck in that shitty room. Drove her nuts."

"Observation: the woman was not named for the duration of the story."

"Hmm..."

[It continues in this vein, this seemingly familiar rapport, until A2 sees the woman, hair pale as moonlight. She quiets, slows. There's a warning tingle along the back of her neck, her immediate thought being YoRHa, but gradually the image rights itself. No, not an android. Heat signatures were wrong. An organic.

She relaxes, though her face beneath the hood of the tattered cloak she wears is expressionless.

Awkwardly, she ventures a greeting.]

You alright?

[decussate]

[ Mysterious hooded figures aren't rare on the docks at this time of night. Arlecchino has already met a small number of them and humbly repelled their overzealous "advances," though she was not above accepting the "gifts" they kindly left behind.

This time, however, the hooded stranger approaching with her floating mek seems clearly disinterested in ambushing lone fancy women in the night. Arlecchino turns her attention away from the pink loach, and the loach similarly scurries in place to look at the newcomers.

Arlecchino's even expression mirrors A2's as she rests a black hand on her hip. ]

I suppose that depends. Are you familiar with these pink creatures?

[ The pink creature gapes up at A2. Hello. ]

[abandonware]

[Up close, the woman's oddities become clearer. Of note are her eyes, which remind her, disconcertingly, of the red glow that overtook the eyes of androids taken over by the logic virus. Those hands, too... strange. It only takes a second or two for her to adjust, however, reassured by the fact that, whatever this woman was, she wasn't a machine or android.

She glances down to the little lizard-thing, tilting her head at it. It tilts its head back. Huh.]

... Oh, these things. They're, uhh...

Ambystoma. A type of reptile, non-native to this planet. It appears to be of little threat.

[Pod intervenes, helpfully. A2 follows up with a,] Yeah. Think it might like you.

text; un: brickfuckingmaster

[giraffic]

can i ask a stupid favor

un: unitA2

[abandonware]

what's up kid

[giraffic]

[ is the lull in her usual response suspicious

it's totally not suspicious ]


okay first you can't freak out or yell at me

[abandonware]

i won't freak out.

[Not recently.]

spit it out.

Sentencing

[expi]

[You wake up in a courtroom. You're not really sure how you got here, just that you’re here. There's Jerry, sitting at the judges box. For some he might be new, and others he might be familiar or semi-familiar. He scrutinizes you, and then motions to the jury box. There's a plaque that’s sitting on the outside that says "Council", but there's no one sitting there. Everything looks clean and maintained, but there's no one in the courtroom except you and Jerry.

Weird.]

You are charged with destruction of property. In order to repent and further your rehabilitation, you have been tasked to set right the damage that you have inflicted upon the city. You along with others who have performed criminal activities will work together to restore the environmental and property damage caused by your actions. If you refuse to participate, there will be consequences.

[Jerry blinks down at you, fingers threading together as he looks down from the judges’ box.]

How do you plead?

[ooc: you have until July 9th to play out your sentencing. Even if your character doesn't participate with the Sentencing, you must comment on the NPC inbox for your penalty.

Also, there are effects for ignoring this Sentencing. Characters will show up to the damaged training grounds on time, and if they attempt to leave the grounds, they will experience nausea and dizziness and if they persist, they will lose consciousness and wake up back in the damaged training grounds. If they refuse to participate in the restoration activities, they will experience feelings of failure and guilt. They may even feel the urge to talk about these feelings with those charged with overseeing the restoration activities. If you have any questions about Sentencing, please let us know!

Jerry is interactive at this point, but we wanted to make sure you got your information in hand if you'd like to start plotting for your Sentencing!]

[abandonware]

[She comes to with a start and a gasp. It seemed that where... ever this was... it wasn't the dojo. Not the forest either.

Is she inside that building? The one with the "Council" —

But there's nothing here. No one here. Clean, empty. Unused. Only her and this... what was he? An administrator? A program? A2's eyes narrow, but she answers plainly.]

Guilty.

[She had no reason to deny it.]