Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcarnival2017-11-11 10:17 pm
ringleaders) wrote in lostcarnival2017-11-11 10:17 pm
Entry tags:
- !event,
- 9s,
- @heartstone manor,
- alphys,
- amethyst,
- cole,
- commander syrlya,
- doll,
- five,
- ginko,
- gongenzaka,
- hinawa,
- ichigo kurosaki,
- john childermass,
- joker,
- jonathan strange,
- julien delacroix,
- junko enoshima,
- lambert,
- lauren,
- mari makinami illustrious,
- miko nakadai,
- papyrus,
- reira akaba,
- rita mordio,
- sans,
- sora,
- susan,
- tallisibeth (scout),
- tyki mikk,
- yotsuba tamaki,
- yūya sakaki,
- zangetsu
⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD
Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.
HOME GROUND↴ At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment. Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply. The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it. ► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling. ► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it. |
no subject
Because he has no doubt that Rita would've had questions for 2B. Rita's just like a Scanner, in many ways.
9S pauses, gathering his thoughts as he leans back against the couch. "January 30, 11942 AD. 4:25 AM, Bunker Time. That's when my model was first rolled out. You could say that was when I was 'born'." He rests his hands on his knees, the metal of his palms slightly warm against the remaining skin on his knees. "I remember feeling happy. Happy that I was given life so I could serve mankind. But us Scanners... Unlike other units that get sent to Earth, Scanners work alone. So it was always just me, a whole bunch of machines, and my Operator on the other end of a spotty connection."
With Operator 21O being the way she was -- he can't blame her; who'd want to get attached to a unit destined to die? -- he had been so crushingly alone.
"That all changed on March 10, 11945 AD. I was directed to support 2B and destroy a massive goliath-class machine. It was my first mission with her... and we both died in the process. I don't remember it because my data didn't get uploaded to the Bunker in time. But she remembers, because the me back then uploaded her data first."
It sounds like exactly the sort of thing he'd do, too.
"Afterwards, she actually thanked me for it." Unbidden, a small, wistful smile curls the corners of his mouth. "I was surprised. I thought 2B models were kind of cold, you know?" Rita's met 2B, she should understand.
9S' goes quiet for a while, before he murmurs, "Thing is... That wasn't the first time she worked with me."
no subject
Rita leans against the couch, sipping at her water, as she listens intently to 9S's story. It's weird to think that someone could actually remember their first moments of life. Being happy to serve... it's not easy for Rita to relate to, but it does sound like him.
Then three years of relative solitude before he met 2B... It's no surprise if he got attached to her, then. But it wasn't the first time...?
Rita's brow furrows as she puts the pieces together. "You mean... your data was lost before, too? From dying...?"
no subject
He'd put it out if his mind. He trusted Command. At least he did back then.
"After that mission, 2B was assigned as my partner to support me as I gathered data. I thought it was really weird. Why would they assign a combat unit to a recon mission?"
He lets go of his knees and curls his arms around his legs.
"...But that wasn't her assignment from Command. Her true mission... was to kill me."
no subject
"Why would she..." no, it's not 2B who chose this, "...Why would Command want you killed?"
It doesn't make sense. 9S was happy just to serve their cause... wasn't he?
no subject
Pod 153 hovers nearby, one of its arms outstretched as it silently offers to take Rita's empty glass.
"It must have happened over and over and over again. I must have died so many times... Just for Command to keep their secrets."
He can't help but laugh at the futility of it all. How many times... and in the end it doesn't even matter.
"And now it might all be gone."
no subject
She remembers talking with 9S about dying, him telling her about how his data would be retrieved from the Bunker each time. At the time, Rita imagined relatively small periods of data loss. She never would have thought he'd have lost more memories than he's retained in his life. That's just...
"That's stupid. Collecting information is your job, it's..." It's what he was made for. What kind of secrets could Command possibly have, that they'd be so quick to eliminate a soldier who's too good at what he does?
What 9S is saying... it's bleak. Everything he's ever known could be gone. But if it's not, what would he be going back to, anyway? More years of getting killed again and again by his own allies? Still...
"Is there any way to avoid the virus?" she asks after a moment. Here in the Carnival, time doesn't move in their home worlds... There could be time to form a plan.
no subject
If she isn't real, then there would be no circuits for the virus to spread through.
"But I thought the Ringmaster might be able to help. That she could work for the Ringmaster and stay in her uninfected state."
His fingers dig into the remaining skin on his knees, the feeling in his chest tightening.
"2B didn't want to join, at first. I think she... felt guilty for killing me all the time. That she didn't deserve to be saved. That... The only way for her to stop killing me was if she was dead. But I managed to change her mind."
Unintentionally, his voice grows louder, agitation lining every word. "She was... supposed to be here, free from the infection and free from her orders. We were supposed to be together!"
But she's not and the thought of losing her forever hurts more than he can bear.
no subject
In a way, Rita can understand that. After all, 9S killed her, and here they are... though she'd be lying if she said there wasn't a lingering feeling of weirdness about the situation. She knows he did it to save her. It's just -- whatever. It's behind them now.
Hearing 9S's anguish, she can't help but wonder... Why were androids made like this? Why were they made to feel love, and loss, and grief like this? If they were made for battle, meant to die again and again... isn't that just unnecessarily cruel?
But necessary or not... the reality is that 9S is alive, and he's hurting, and there could be a way to help.
"It might not be too late," Rita says, her voice quiet but determined. "When you came here... she wasn't infected yet, was she?"
no subject
It all seemed so long ago. In a way, it kind of was, with his memories being as short as they are.
"Everyone was still fine back then."
no subject
"What if the two of you sever your connection to the Bunker before the virus starts spreading?" Rita might not fully appreciate what that connection is like, or what it means for an android, but if everyone connected to the Bunker ends up infected, that seems like a way to potentially evade the virus altogether.
no subject
Maybe by then, he'd already discovered Command's secrets and was looking to scatter and run.
"The other option... I think if I got to 2B before she's too badly corrupted, I'd be able to destroy the virus before it takes hold seriously."
Why hadn't he been there? 9S hadn't been entirely satisfied with 2B's explanation.
9S flexes his right hand. It had been cut with shards of glass from when he shattered the drink of water during the ball, but that particular injury had long healed. Now it's just the skin on the palm that's melted off, as well as the burns and scorches all over the back of his hand.
no subject
"Maybe, but... it'd be ideal if she could avoid infection in the first place, right?" Rita has a feeling 9S would have tried to cure her quickly if he could. But for some reason, he couldn't. If he goes with his instincts on this, he could end up repeating whatever situation led to her demise the first time around.
His damaged palm catches her attention, and she gives it a long look as she thinks. "Are you... able to heal that?" She's not sure exactly how 9S's body handles minor injuries. It could be tricky, but maybe they'll need to find a way to synthesize the material that makes up his skin...
no subject
9S follows Rita's gaze to his hand.
"Oh, this?" 9S lets out a thoughtful hum as he turns his hand over. "The nanomachines can handle the burns," the fact he has better mobility in his fingers than when he passed out is a testament to that, "but I think my palms are gonna be stuck like this. Can't repair something that's missing, after all." He shrugs. "It's not a big deal. It doesn't hurt and I don't need skin to still be functional."
He'd much rather look like the humans he's modelled after, though.
"...Though I guess it could be really unsettling if people saw what I look like underneath. But we have skeletons here, so it might not actually be that weird?"
no subject
It is a little unsettling to look at, though. But that's more because Rita knows that she's the one who inflicted that damage on him. And because it's hard not to picture how painful those injuries would be for a human.
She shakes her head. "Maybe it's not top priority, but if it can be fixed, it should be. Besides, skin serves a protective function, doesn't it? It might be fine to go without for the short term, but exposure to the elements could cause problems after a while." Regular maintenance might keep those problems at bay, but this is the only body 9S is going to have for a while... or possibly for the rest of his life. It should be treated with as much care as any human body.
no subject
Dirt would be able to get into the joints now. He looks back at Rita.
"What about you? Is there anything I can do to help? I don't know much about human medicine, but..."
He just wants to be helpful, especially when Rita is clearly injured.
no subject
"This should heal with time... but until then, anything that can soothe the throat would be nice. Water, tea, soup..." Now she's remembering how hungry she is. She'd managed to put it out of her mind for a while. "Could really go for a proper meal, too. Slim pickings back in the dungeon, if you can believe it." They had onions. Rita refused them.
no subject
He doesn't even have to finish his command when the robot bobs and says < Commencing food retrieval > before hovering towards the door, claw-like hands manipulating the door handle to open it and leave.
Huh.
"I'll get you more water," 9S says, getting to his feet without waiting to hear Rita's response. He's a little unsteady compared to his usual gait, but he manages to hobble his way over to the kitchen sink and fill a glass before returning with it in hand, careful not to spill it.