agogelogs | DO BETTER,

Entry tags:

DO BETTER,

WHO? Everybody! Including fourth wall visitors.
WHAT? HRHR and swap shenanigans, among other things.
WHEN? 12 XII, Year 6 of Sanaliel's reign.
ANYTHING ELSE? Please warn for anything besides physical violence and move to a personal journal if it's beyond PG-13.

BE MORE, DO MORE;

check your blood pressure

READ THE LEMURIA INFOPAGE.

STRANGE THINGS ARE AFOOT

You've been in Lemuria a little while now, trying to fit in, assimilate, and survive. But on the dawn of the twelfth day of the twelfth month of Lemuria's third and final season, something strange happens.

You wake, but it's as though your mind isn't your own. Or maybe you stayed up all night and felt the change, in the AM hours before it's so late it becomes early. A mental stirring, a feeling that only gets worse as it goes on, no matter what you tried to do and how you tried to halt it. Whatever the case, you're in its sway: Lemuria has become a hive mind.

Your memories are no longer private. Your powers are no longer your own. The barrier between you and everyone else is gone as easy as thinking. In a flash, just looking at someone allows you to instantly understand their thoughts, or encourages their memories to suddenly become your memories, too. It's instantaneous, like the memory has always been there, like it truly happened for you. Once upon a time, it was tangible.

It isn't a perfect science, however. While the intention is there, what exactly you experience is fuzzier. Your scouts will eventually chalk up the inconsistency of the experience (why do some hold up better against it than others?) to individuality and the BCEs, but who knows, really.

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

Stranger still, when you venture out to see the rest of the city, the city is calm and silent, like a perfectly preserved relic or a dream. The average citizen is dead asleep, in their beds or in the streets, whether they collapsed walking, riding a hoverbike, or driving a vehicle.

There are accidents, eerily still besides smoke curling from the wreck, with no paramedics on the scene. When someone dies, they die as unaware as everyone around them.

Besides you, of course.

For anyone who dies, their memories remain out of reach; otherwise, you might very well see the past of any Lemurian citizen you pass. Even if their hopes and misfortunes don't survive with them for the night, they might survive with someone else.

In the midst of the sleeping city, you can try and help those in need. They won't wake up and you'll probably never get a thank you, but bandaging wounds sure would be nice of you.

A CITIZEN'S ADDRESS

Not long after the sun rises, a post goes up on the network:

@ASHOLE | @ALL

something got seriously fucked up holy shit
were doing our best to figure it out but honestly? it seems like some kind of technomagical intercurrent based on hypothetical thaumaturgic mnemomancy
uhhh in laymans terms somebodys fucking with memories but you knew that right?
the thing is theres somnomantic undercurrents as well
only thing i can figure for why were still awake and theyre not is because of the bces
they havent been invented yet, but theyre designed to protect us from things like the sleeping shit
so we arent being affected exactly the same way as the lemurians, either
but thats got its own problems because uh
you know how were undercover spies in a volatile period of time and shit
well we aint the only ones
the regency-to-be has guys hanging around here and they got bces too
vega's already run into a couple

be fucking careful
and for the love of GOD dont go to the bolthole
youll lead them right to us

ill update with better intel as i get it
i have some theories but i wanna run a few tests

I WANNA ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT

So despite all the sleeping people and the horroresque quiet, you're not alone.

Walking around in broad daylight is a dead giveaway to Regency spies that you have a BCE. And they will attack. They're dressed as civilians and seem better prepared for the situation, lurking in the shadows and staying out of sight. Some of them may tail you for a very long time before waiting for the right moment to make a move. Some may leap out as soon as you reveal yourself. Each fights with their own style and aim to kill.

They're equipped largely with blasters similar to yours and they don't, for once, have power nullifies. They do have superhuman strength, speed, senses, and healing, so watch out.

Some may engage in conversation, but it's largely of the trashtalk variety. It's not impossible to have a genuine talk with one or two (feel free to NPC them as you like and ask if you need any specific information on something they would or wouldn't say, but really, it's up to you), but it is unlikely. They are consummate fighters.

They're trying to find the source of COST's boltholes around the city, and take out as many COST operatives as possible in the process. Why don't you return the favor?

Ooor maybe you lead them right to the bolthole. Somebody's always gotta be that guy.

I'M A BELIEVER

During all of this (and maybe despite it), there are missions. Their exact timing is up to you; while they take place around the hive mind overtaking Lemuria, they don't necessarily happen during it—barring, of course, the one where you save the day and bring down Fafnir.

You can use this event to your advantage or disadvantage, through gaining someone else's memories or knowledge, or adapting to a set of powers you haven't spent a lifetime honing. The Lemurian people are a silent wellspring of information; even the most oblivious has an intimate understanding of their home and outlying territories that COST can't replicate. And, well, an unconscious person is an easier target than a conscious one.

READ THE LEMURIA INFOPAGE.

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A. Strange memories
[Chiron's memories are what he might personally consider a danger to COST. He is and isn't himself. He puts other Chiron at risk as more and more people can see flashes of the god Apollo with a young centaur, instructing the youth in art, in medicine, in music, in prophecy, in archery. A young thing growing stronger, stronger, stronger in all of it, until in turn roles are reversed.

The students blend together. Achilles with his green hair and keen eyes. Great Heracles with strength and attentiveness to spare. Asclepius with his thirst for knowledge and skilled hands, a healer if there was ever meant to be. Jason, Perseus, Ajax, all of them. All of them cycle through, across from a centaur who makes them better.

There are flashes of other things too. The lofty heights of Mount Pelion, the miles of olive trees there, a small home, a family with four children who have dedcided that they have to wrestle to see who rides on dad's shoulders versus who's stuck on the horse part. A pointless game, one that sees Chiron simply make suggestions for improving one's wrestling techniques.

Ancient Greece goes. Romania comes into focus, along with a young girl in a wheelchair who Chiron is quick to call Master. Their conversation is indistinct, but there is warmth and affection there too.

--

ooc: feel free to pick at a memory you're interested in and explore with it, or pm me for something more solid]

B. I'm out here
[In the churning current of the hivemind, it helps Chiron to have a task to focus on. Taking to the streets to help those who have fallen into this sleep at the worst possible times, falling by the wayside on the street or else crashing into something far more stationary than themselves is the best thing he can think of to accomplish that task.

It is very much a way of having one's head down, nose to the grindstone. All the moreso as he rips off the driver side door of a crashed vechile, throwing the metal aside to try and extract the injured passenger. (It is one of the times that being a Heroic Spirit has a true advantage) They're bent over at the wheel, bloodied, and Chiron can tell that there are multiple breaks to the legs when he sees how the metal has crumpled.

Extraction is the first step. With no one else around that he can see, or is even paying attention to, he rolls up his sleeve.]

Gods willing, this madness will be over soon.

C. ...And party every day
There is some raw satisfaction in using his hind legs to send a Regency agent flying across the street from where said agent has tried to jump Chiron from the side, hoping that the centaur wouldn't fight back as fiercely as he is. Every mission has been life-or-death, but this one is even more so.

But there is no sound of agent landing with a sickening thud on the sidewalk or cracking a bone. Instead what Chiron turns his head just in time to see is the Regency agent getting to their feet, having somehow managed to tuck and roll from a whopping kick.

With no one in sight and with no prying eyes, Chiron charges just as the agent begins to fire their blaster.

D. Wildcard
You know the deal.

Daenerys.

Chiron pulls at the telepathic connection between himself and his Master, standing some half a mile away from where he has done the bulk of his misson's work. The thing requested of him, to ensure BCEs are never invented, was a mission made to express all the fury he had kept bottled up inside while dealing in the world of spiders.

As the text said. No way these assholes didn't figure out they were handling god bones.

Chiron had made a decision of his own upon recieving the briefing, one that was as cold as he had demanded his students be in the face of battle. Anyone involved with the lab and it's research could not survive the night. He coud persuade, and then years later, minds could be changed and the BCEs would still come into being, setting off a chain reaction.

There was no pride in the fact it meant killing others whose inventions did not have this intent at the start. There was irony in it too, given how the Regency approached the families of those who would later do harm to the empire. No justification could change that fact.

So Chiron went about his grim work. He broke into the lab first, using his spirit form to bypass all security. He destroyed nothing first, he instead found the names of all employees, their addresses, and went through the list. His face was long and drawn at the first act, sagging and getting more and more aged as the list grew shorter and shorter.

Most were asleep. Some were drunk. A few fought back, giving almost as good as Chiron was. There was a broken bone or two (healed quickly), and a few things that found their way into him that he hadn't had time to remove yet.

With all the work doe, the labs remained. Chiron burnt the research, the prototypes, all notes, all remaining material first in small, contained fires. (The future, apparently, still had metallic wastebaskets.)

There was only one thing left.

Daenerys. I need you to use one of the command seals.

Edited 2018-09-15 23:05 (UTC)

The days pass by with her rallying those around her. It takes a delicate hand to organize those in her midst. To gather the leaders without drawing undue attention was a task in and of itself, seeing as neither she, nor Jon, had a name for themselves... or enough of one. There were no dragons to back her, only her fire.

It's during a lull in speaking with a man partaking in rather unpleasant business that Chiron speaks up. And his request--it has her brows furrowing, a note unhappiness hovering in her silence, before:

For what?

I need to access my Noble Phantasm, and the energy from one prevents me from drawing too harshly on your own energy.

Chiron pauses, realizing that it isn't the best explanation. He elaborates, brief and to the point.

The mission I was assigned requires that I destroy a lab and all materials within it. This will ensure the completion of the mission.

What will become of you if you don't use my energy?

She understands, of course, why he's concerned--but this bond wasn't made without careful consideration for both involved.

I would rather you take what you need.

If I take everything I require directly, it would cripple your ability to complete your own mission. With the command spells, the energy is freely spent with no burden, and moreover, they are gone from your person.

Chiron understood where his Master stood when it came to bonds of all sorts, and which she could never abide. To point this out was perhaps a little too cunning, but the point needed to be made.

Oh she sees straight through that sneakiness, Chiron.

None whatsoever? Doubt creeping into her tone. Do what you must, then. So long as you walk away from your task alive and able.

Are horses ever subtle? Not really.

Then release the things on your hand and keep an eye skyward for the next few minutes. You'll know I'm well when you see the result of what I'm asking.

Genji has already had to learn the hard way that going out at all during the day is a good way to place his head on a platter for the Regency. He's managed to get away from them unscathed so far, and that's due in part to the sudden gaining of new and unexpected abilities that have helped him in a bind.

He doesn't even know where most of them came from, and they don't last long before they're replaced with something else. It's been quite an adjustment, especially when you can look at someone and end up with a new memory on top of it all.

Genji has learned his lesson, at least somewhat. He's staying inside buildings for the most part, only ducking through alleys or jumping across rooftops to traverse the sleeping city. Being high up also gives him a good vantage point of what's going on in the streets below, and the silence means that when there is some kind of commotion, it's obvious.

So when a fight starts between Chiron and a Regency agent, Genji has a bird's eye view of it from up above. He wants nothing more than to get down there instantly and help, and that's exactly what happens. He's on the roof one moment, then at Chiron's side the next, with no real understanding of how he got there. The Regency agent's shooting at them, and Genji gets his wakizashi up in time to deflect the shots, sending them right back at their foe.

"I thought you could use some help!" He doesn't know how he managed his flashy entrance, but he's going to make the most of it.

It is a hell of an entrance, one to be remarked upon after the whole fight is over. For the time being, Chiron can only do two things. Nod his head in recognition of Genji's appearance, and respond, "Appreciated. Let's see if this is easier than fighting spiders."

The agent dodged the returned bullets easily enough, and now cover is being provided by one of those low level walk downs that lead to basement based apartments. Chiron bolts for the area before any bullets can start flying, hooves carrying him quickly across the street.

"They're probably going to try and get into the building! What's on the other side of this?"

Genji came from above. He might have seen if there's a backyard behind the building, or simply more apartments. If the latter, there could be connected elements, or some other hidden passages.

The question of whether a Regency agent presents more of a challenge when compared to an Aranean is something of a toss-up, but given that it had been someone from the Regency who'd murdered Genji and Jack, he certainly has feelings about the matter. He's had some other run-ins with the Regency since that lost fight, but nothing quite like this.

If Genji's feeling any apprehension as a result of that, he doesn't let it show. There's a job to be done here. The more members of the Regency that they can neutralize, the better.

It's strange that the agent has chosen to retreat, which makes Genji wonder if he has some other trick up his sleeve. Genji races after Chiron, his prosthetics allowing him to keep up even though it's two legs against four.

"Some kind of shopping center, I think! There's likely a back exit to the building. Let's not lose him!"

Two legs, four legs, whatever. It's enough legs, and Chiron makes a tight turn to thunder down the steps that the agent has gone through. What he expects to be a walkdown is a cold metal door that leads into not quite a warehouse, but a storage area.

"This must be a part of the shopping center."

Chiron spoke hurriedly, carefully maneuvering all of himself through the door before stopping. He looked to Genji with a severe, worried face. This place could be narrow, and he didn't have the right body for dealing with that fact right now.

"If you can tail him, I can head him off in the shopping center proper. I have speed right now, but I also have bulk."

Having witnessed Genji in a fight, Chiron doesn't doubt for a second that the man can move through tight corners.

This underground warehouse isn't at all what Genji would have expected either, but it must be some sort of storage area or shipping dock meant to service the shopping center. Either way, it isn't the easiest to navigate for someone who's currently part-horse, and Genji doesn't mind the suggestion that they briefly split up.

"That's fine! I'll chase him down, so just make sure to catch up, all right?" Genji knocks his fist against his metal chest and nods, then takes off down the hall, already trying to listen in for the sound of faraway footfalls.

He knows that a Regency agent is not to be trifled with, but he's confident that he'll be able to catch up with him and slow him down, at the least.

"Contact me on the BCE immediately if something happens," Chiron manages to get out before Genji is gone.

There is power in well, horse power, and his hooves thunder over the empty streets. It is strange for that to be a singular noise in a city, but there is no luxury of time to dwell on that fact. Chiron focuses on getting to the shopping center as quickly as he can.

When he does enter, it is with a sense of relief. There is plenty of space where the stores sit across from each other, and if Genji has been successful, this is where they will emerge.

Still, Chiron keeps himself running, forward, forward, forward in anticipation. His hooves echo through the empty building, meaning his own approach isn't subtle.

While this might be a chase, Genji doesn't ever let go of an opportunity to make use of stealth. It's where he excels, and as soon as he catches sight of the Regency agent moving into the shopping center, he trails him in a subtler way, taking the high ground on the second floor of the mall to keep track of where his quarry is headed.

By the time that Chiron catches up with him, Genji has already made his move. He's got the agent pressed up against a wall, his short blade held to the man's throat. He hears the hoof beats coming toward them, relieved for the back-up because he knows he'll only have the upper hand for so long.

As expected, the agent squeezes on the trigger of his blaster. The energy bounces off of Genji's metal thigh, but he's forced to jump away in order to avoid greater injury.

Still, with Chiron here, they should be able to put an end to this.

Chiron arrives just in time to see the agent pressed against the wall. There's no surprise at the finger on the trigger, only a cold moment to calculate what the most effective thing to do is.

Genji jumps, and just as he does so, Chiron barrels on fron the side. If he was a human, it would be as good as tackling the agent. With the horse angle, Chiron instead manages to grab the agent and haul him over his shoulders, the element of surprise on his side.

Moreover and much more importantly though, the blaster has gone flying from the agent's hand, and Chiron's still running. In that moment, it occurs to him that he and Genji never quite discussed if the agent was to be questioned to any extent or simply be disposed of.

Chiron takes his opening, running into the Regency agent like a freight train. It's quite an impressive sight, actually, and Genji can only watch in surprise and admiration until he sees the blaster fly out of the agent's hands.

It clatters onto the floor and he's on it in a second. Now that the agent's primary weapon has been taken away from him, he should be that much easier to deal with. On top of that, Genji could possibly give this blaster to another refugee who would make more use of it. (Jack, perhaps?)

He isn't sure what Chiron plans to do next, if he's going to put the agent out of his misery or let Genji take on that task, as he had in the arena. Either way he stands by, ready to make use of his blade if the situation calls for it.

It isn't a surprise that the agent in Chiron's grasp immediately scrambles for something on their person. A knife, most likely, which is why Chiron is quick to throw them ahead of his own far too fast gallop, barely giving them a moment to pick themselves up before well, trampling them.

There's something out of the agent that might be, "that's what I thought you'd do, you stupid horse," but Chiron speaks over them as quickly as he can, directing his voice towards Genji.

"Is it worth interrogating them, or shall I end it hear?"

Even with Chiron speaking over the agent, Genji can't help but catch what he says. Well, that's rude, to say the least. Chiron doesn't look too bothered by it himself, but Genji can't stand for people judging others based on appearance.

All the same, he forces himself to logically consider Chiron's question. His Blackwatch training makes him feel as if they have to at least make an attempt at an interrogation, even though he can already guess that the agent won't give them anything.

Best to get it over with quickly, then. Genji stalks toward the agent, who's still writhing around on the ground after that trampling he got. He shoves a hard, metal foot down onto the man's chest, to try and hold him still.

"What is the Regency trying to accomplish here?" he demands to know, his tone as sharp as his blade.

The agent is quick to respond, the response simple and honest.

"Ensuring that COST doesn't interfere with our plans."

Chiron looks over at Genji, drawing out his own bow and arrow. It's a very short range, making the long distance weapon pointless, but in this moment, Chiron can't say that he cares. He looks to Genji.

"I believe that makes this a kill or be killed situation."

In a sense, their goals are exactly the same. COST is trying to stop the Regency, and the Regency is trying to stop COST. One less Regency agent means one less threat to Genji and his people, and so he can't begrudge Chiron for his conclusion.

They can't spare this man, not when he would turn around and stab them the moment they turned their backs.

So there's only a brief pause before Genji nods, his gaze tracking between the tip of Chiron's arrow and the downed Regency man.

"I believe you're right." There's only one thing to do here.

"Very well."

Chiron lets out an arrow into the agent's jugular before there is even a chance for a response. The speed is the same as in the Arena, although being so point blank makes it nearly comical. Chiron tuts, and then leans over to pull the arrow out.

"You may want to step back," he advises Genji, aware that this is cruel. He isn't proud of the action himself, but it was the quickest thing he could do at the moment.

This isn't anything new to Genji. His brother is nothing short of deadly with his arrows, and there had been at least a few times where he'd been able to see those skills in action outside of the training yard.

Not to mention being on the receiving end of them during their confrontation at Hanamura.

He steps back mainly out of courtesy, but doesn't avert his gaze from the gruesome scene. There's something to be said in sharing the burden of a murder.

"That's one more of them off our backs," he says conclusively.

"Out of many," Chiron says, after taking a moment to lean down and make sure the unfortunate agent's eyes are closed. There's no coin on him, otherwise Chiron would to the bare minimum of rites for the dead.

He turns to Genji, giving a curt nod. He understands why Genji didn't look away, and that means the world.

"Shall we travel onwards together, or split up for the time being?

Chiron's words are a reminder that this fight is far from over, though Genji knows that this isn't the true battle. They're trying to rewrite history, to make it so that the Regency never exists in the first place. It takes some of the weightiness out of what they've just done.

If things go as planned, the man they just killed will never even exist.

"I think it would be best to head back indoors for now," Genji advises. "Where are you staying? We can go there."

DO BETTER,

cw for automobile accident injuries mentioned

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Ending here seems wise?