wildestmods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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wildestlogs2022-03-30 06:50 pm
wildestmods) wrote in wildestlogs2022-03-30 06:50 pm
Entry tags:
- agent connecticut,
- aiden price,
- alloran semitur corrass,
- ange ushiromiya,
- aziraphale,
- bob laughs-at-the-storm,
- bumblebee,
- bunnymund,
- cammie maccloud,
- dan sagittarius,
- dick grayson,
- doreen green,
- elle bryant,
- filbo fiddlepie,
- holly short,
- kaworu nagisa,
- kon-el,
- michelangelo,
- miles morales,
- mio amakura,
- need,
- nog,
- sarah kerrigan,
- stacia novik,
- tim drake
MEMORY SHARE ※ 1
MEMORY SHARE
It's during a pause in their day. A nap. An idle moment looking out from the gardens at the landscape passing by below. Taking a moment to catch their breath after a jog in one of the castle's larger magic rooms.
The squad is suddenly connected. Mental pathways locking together, they're forced into one another's innermost beings. Thrust into one another's memory palaces where the mind collects and stores everything that makes them who they are. The core of their beings are only a few steps away and no one can prevent the link.
To make matters worse, it comes with no explanation or no ability to pull out and stop. Once they're through the first memory, perhaps they can find a way out, but they're already witnessing some event from their host's past. And, if they left, who knows whether or not they'd end up accidentally invading another memory palace?
And if they were there, who was in theirs?
[ooc: So, how this works: the memories can either be viewed in spectator mode or the guest can be experiencing everything themselves. The person whose memories are being shown, the host, can watch as their current self or take the form they had of their past self. They can also be invisible until the memory is finished. They can talk about the memory with the "guest" that's visiting.
They cannot control the first memory shown, the player decides that, but they can sometimes control any other memories they'd like to show people after. Of course, there's also always the option of an extreme emotional reaction bringing up other memories unbidden.]
no subject
"You really should feel proud, that's for sure! I said I wanted to look at the stuff you had mentioned but I didn't think it'd be like this!"
For once a memory shows something neat. The memories he has watched so far have been either horrible, or shows facets of the people around him. This one is a refreshing change.
no subject
She does genuinely smile at that—out of all the memories she's had on display, this is the least bittersweet because it's easier to focus on just how goddamned cool they all looked. She's damn proud of her work on those Holons. She doesn't think she's cocky to think she could take over the program, one day, honestly.
"Thanks, Filbo." Her ears are upright, and it's not forced. "My memories do 'em so much more justice than me just describin' it ever could. I've never seen this from the outside before, seein' them in action really is somethin' else. D'you wanna know who's who?"
That might sting a bit, but only a bit.
no subject
...he has been so curious how Kazu is like. He changed what he was going to say, not wanting to remind her of that name without Cammie taking the first step on that regard. The loss must still be so fresh, he's sure. That wound needs to heal.
no subject
Cammie nods, starting to point towards each Holon as she names the person uploaded to it. The colour-coding luckily translates to the avatars that look like their human selves, too.
“The yellow one’s Yaz, she’s kinda overbearin’ sometimes, bit of a team mom? It can be kinda annoying, but I still love her all the same. She used to be Union, the bad guys, but she defected. Takes some guts, that, so— she’s cool.” Despite momming her sometimes.
“The purple one’s Val. He’s kinda cynical an’ he’s that edgy ‘I don’t trust anyone but myself’ type, y’know? Except he trusts us now, because we’re just that special. He’s kinda a party boy, not that we get a lot of chance to do that stuff lately.” Not that it stops him, really. She patched the mindscape so he could get digital drunk.
“The blue an’ teal one is Chase, he’s kinda just the robot now? That’s what we were talkin’ about, at the start. He gave up his human body to stay uploaded an’ give us time. Which— that body was already stuck in a tank? It’s a long story. He’s been havin’ a hard time, for a lot of reasons, but he’s been at this longest and it shows ‘cause he’s real good.”
By process of elimination, that leaves Kazu, but she doesn’t go straight on to him.
no subject
"They sound like very reliable partners in arms! A-And I saw how you all managed to do this together, it was pretty cool!"
He's gushing so much. Seeing others in their coolest moments is such a great thing -- and seeing this after the many rough memories he witnessed before makes him get more attached to it. Sometimes, after swallowing a lot of lemons you just want some candy for once.
But this seems like it could stop that. There's one person left to mention, after all. Having committed to memory every color and person so far, there's one person left.
So this...this is Kazu. Filbo gives him a good look. That Cammie doesn't talk about him was to be expected. Maybe she isn't ready?
Giving her an encouraging grin, he says:
"That leaves one person to be named. Do you...feel ready to talk about him? If not, we can step away. Sometimes hard things need more time before you feel ready to face 'em"
He knows that, and who is he to push Cammie to talk about Kazu? So he leaves the choice to Cammie. In Filbo's opinion his entire existence is meant to support others as much as he can, so of course, he'll try to do so.
no subject
"Mindshare makes us all the best versions of ourselves. We're damn near unstoppable like that, when it's all of us together."
It's what kept them all alive for so long after things went to hell, really. Duo and trio mindshares give them an edge, but there's nothing quite like all of them together.
...she's not sure what it'll be like without Kazu.
She takes a deep breath. "It's fine, I've... talked about him on an' off, since that first day. He's— he's like I said, he was this goofy big brother kinda guy, liked to play around, tease me; I always gave back good as I got. He loved his Holon, despite denyin' bein' into the manga I based the design off."
RoboShogun. He became kinda re-obsessed with an animated adaption of it, in the end. Dork.
"He was never any good at emotional stuff, worse than even me, but— but he knew how to show he cares. Food, mostly. He'd let me sleep by him, if I couldnae sleep, too. An' he— he died protecting Yaz, she woulda been gone if he hadn't."
no subject
That he died protecting someone else doesn't make anything better, but it does hit Filbo with a pang of familiarity. Still, he's pretty sure that, if Yaz had been the one to perish, Cammie would have been very affected by that too.
"Oh, right, you said he had accidentally beamed an entire language into you by mistake. He did seem to have a different language than the rest of you"
It was just a few words, but it was enough for Filbo to notice!
no subject
Losing Yaz would have fucked her up, too, for sure. She thinks Yaz probably wishes it had been her instead of Kazu, though. Yaz always seemed so scared to lose any of them, and losing Kazu with their minds connected like they were when it happened... god. She needs to give her a hug, if she ever goes home. And apologise for acting up, herself.
"Yeah. He was a really great guy." She breathes in, breathes out. "Aye, that was him speakin' Japanese. We didnae get it beamed into us like, full-time 'til a few months after this. The thing about mindshare, especially big group ones like that, is the neural bleed is way higher. So one day, after we fought off... well, about ten of that big black-armoured bastard," yeah, ten of the guy it took all five of them mindsharing to even defeat one, this time, "we downloaded and suddenly..."
She splays her hands.
"Fluent in Japanese. He got English off us, too, but he never spoke it."
no subject
This really seems like a convenient thing to happen -- getting beamed Japanese to be able to actually talk. Still, it was months before that, he thinks.
Despite talking about someone Cammie lost, Filbo really is trying to focus on the subjects he thinks would make Cammie able to talk without feeling too much heartache. Part of him is concerned this is like treating Cammie with kid gloves, but it's better than outright bringing up something painful -- or at least he hopes so.
no subject
Luckily, it's subtle enough not to hit Cammie's big, often flashing, 'being treated with kid gloves' buttons. Keeping her chatting about comparatively normal stuff works pretty well on Cammie, all things considered.
"Where I come from we got live translation technology." She points at her eye. "I got implants, some people just have 'em as glasses or contacts. They translate everything around you, subtitle it across your vision. Plus, when we're uploaded, we sort of just... understand each other even without that? Benefits of having your minds connected. You can just tell what they're trying to say."
no subject
But at least some things are more convenient once technology is advanced enough. That he has to give credit for.
"Not gonna lie, Cammie, your world is like something out of science fiction -- and you and your friends...you all seem so much like heroes. I know everything is rough right now a-and...well..." some pretty terrible things happened, to put it lightly. "...but someday everything will be a thing of the past. You'll go a long way. Your friends will too. And..."
He hesitates before adding.
"...Kazu will be proud. You'll see"
It's almost guaranteed to be hard, but everything he has seen and knows of Cammie leads him to have faith in her.
no subject
She wishes she still had this kind of optimism and faith in the future being okay. She really does. She still tries to cling to it, but it feels like it's slipping through her fingers a little more every day.
"...yeah. Yeah he will be. That I don't doubt." It's everything else she's doubting. The idea that they can win. The idea that they're really heroes when they haven't done what they were supposed to, in the end. Looking back at this memory, it's easier to remember what it was like to feel like they could win. How powerful they felt.
Maybe they can even the odds again. It'll just take a lot of risk.
(That doesn't save their world from climate disaster, but what's she supposed to do about that? She's 17, maybe 18. It's hard enough fighting a war.)
"Thanks Filbo. S'nice to be reminded we at least look like heroes, sometimes."
no subject
Filbo seems glad. Truthfully speaking, trying to encourage others is his way of distracting himself from his own issues, so these days he's a little hasty about doing it, perhaps too hasty -- and he still means every word.
But it probably isn't the right stuff to say.
"Guess nothing of what you do is meant to stay secret anyway. I mean, you all were fighting in the middle of the city. That's gonna draw eyes"
no subject
"Funnily enough, the details of what we do was meant to be secret—the fact we put our minds in the robots, instead of just pilotin' 'em normally, but..." She shakes her head. "You saw, the Union had Nemesis. Soon as they took him, few years before this... they knew. Knew enough, anyway."
They don't know how to scan someone for compatibility, or to upload a new mind, that's why they were always trying to steal a brain with someone uploaded already, but... they knew what they were.
"The actual fightin' is no big secret though, nah. We're the least secret secret weapon ever. They need us too much to hide us off the front lines."
no subject
Although part of him really has to wonder how Cammie and others could have tried to keep it hidden in the first place if they had to. The public can believe a lot of things but there's a certain limit to what they're willing to believe!
The thing about Nemesis, though...that's indeed a problem. Any advantage they could have had is gone, that will make everything far more difficult, if it hasn't already.
"They might not know everything, though. I mean, that'd be limited to whatever they could get from that one. Yeah, they probably know...a lot? But can you think of anything perhaps they didn't figure out?"
Anything you could use in your favor? Seems to him that any advantage, no matter how small, could be invaluable.
no subject
"Well, they haven't figured out how gen:LOCK actually works, not really. They can build the brains we use, they copied the one they got with Nemesis, but they can't upload new minds to one even if they somehow found someone compatible. Unfortunately, they did figure out how to copy an already uploaded mind, so..."
She's not sure it makes much difference that they don't know everything, unfortunately. They know enough to be a problem. A hundreds-of-Nemesii-in-a-few-months level problem.
"I guess that has kinda gone in our favour lately, 'cause our General found some more compatible folks who've been helping us—not that I've met 'em—and multiple individuals who can mindshare will always be better than a Nemesis, but... honestly I dunno where she even found those people. We're one in a million. I guess she was scanning civilians, or..." she shakes her head, waves the thought off. What matters is she found people, she supposes.
no subject
"Welp"
What do you even say to that, that doesn't sound absolutely vapid? Optimism that isn't rooted in reality is pointless.
"What's important is that she found them. As long as nothing sketchy happens that's a good thing" As long as it doesn't cross any lines that turn this into a worse mess than what they have to fight, yeah! Because right now it sure feels they need any advantages they can get.
...he really doesn't like the thought that, if everything gets bad enough to warrant it, lines will have to be crossed, if they haven't already.
no subject
"Yeah. We gotta take all the help we can get at this point. I mean, fuck, I was a civilian before all this, sometimes... sometimes you gotta rise up and help."
She says, completely unaware of the reality behind the situation and probably to some degree refusing to consider it, in good ol' Cammie fashion. She has enough on her plate. Right now she needs to at least believe that her side of the war is still not crossing too many lines, for the sake of her own sanity.
no subject
He's wording it that way to avoid saying firmly that yeah, people better be willing to rise up and help. Indifference only leads to further trouble, he knows that really well so he's willing to put his money where his mouth is, but it's pretty unrealistic to expect absolutely everyone out there to be as willing as he is, so...
...so he's glad there's people in Cammie's world that are willing to do so too.
It really is a good thing neither of them know the reality behind the situation.
"How did you get involved in all this, anyway? I mean, no offense, but you seem...kinda young, as far as I can tell on humans" Which doesn't mean much because he still can't tell much about humans. They're strange. "Did you rise up to help or was there another reason?"
He hopes that's not too invasive of a question, but asks it anyway.
no subject
Her ears momentarily splay at 'kinda young' but it's whatever, she knows she is, so long as she's not actually being patronised it's fine.
"Funny story, that. So I kinda got arrested? Like, okay, before this I mostly did hacking work. Still do some of it, but less than I used to have to. Stealing data and stuff. One day I uh, fell for what is in hindsight an obvious trap and got caught. Soooo, I got arrested, and instead of going to prison I agreed to work for the Polity. Y'know, the good guys."
Don't examine the fact they arrested a 17 year old and forced her to work for them on threat of years in prison too hard. Cammie sure doesn't!
"When the guy who invented gen:LOCK was lookin' for compatible folk, he used Polity medical records to do it. An', because I was Polity..." She splays her hands. "Hey presto, he finds me. He wished I wasn't so young but I'm awesome so he can't really complain."
no subject
Better focus on that Cammie wasn't thrown into prison, he tells himself.
"Yeah, he probably got lucky finding you. Hey, does that mean everyone in your team was already in the Polity?"
no subject
"I was lucky he found me, too, really. gen:LOCK is way more interesting than just Polity Cybersecurity where I was for a year before GL went active."
Hard as things have been, in GL she has people who genuinely care about her. A new family. She wouldn't give it up for the world, not really.
"But, aye, basically. Well, kinda except Yaz? Like I said, she defected from the Union, so she was in the Mesa—a prison—at first, they have to do all sorts of checks to make sure defectors aren't spies, I guess. An' Val had retired a couple years before we were all called in, but he was a Polity soldier before that."
Cammie was the only non-soldier on the team. She had to learn quick.