Once Upon A Time [tl;dr + Text]
[Off-network - Action]
The weather was still uncomfortably frigid, and the wind that whipped across the rooftop only made the contrast to the apartment's warm interior that much more startling. Alpha shivered as she stepped out into the chill, wrapping her coat tighter to preserve some small amount of heat as she shut the door to the stairwell behind her. Her body, artificial as it was, offered no comfort. She could feel the cold as well as any human, and for a minute she reconsidered her plan. Cube was of course considerate enough to leave her alone if she asked, and she didn't want to worry him by slipping out like this. But the building top was deserted, and the solitude it offered was enough to convince her to continue. She didn't think she would be long.
She made her way toward the edge of the roof, pausing for a moment to breathe on her hands for warmth. Her eyes wandered, taking in the scene. From above, the broken, jagged skyline of the city could have been the skyline of home, the ruins of Yokohama. Perhaps the world she knew had conditioned her to appreciate something others usually couldn't, but despite its hardships she couldn't help but think that Discedo had a solemn beauty of its own. She wondered what had become of this world. She wondered if it was anything like her own. A similar tragedy had befallen it; that was to be sure. But where the world she knew had accepted its fate, quietly resigning itself to the twilight of life, Discedo was grasping to hold on with a will so strong it had reached across universes. For a moment she thought of the ones who had brought so many to this place, the scientists. Who were they? What did they want? Were they really bad people, as so many thought? Or were they simply people - people who had a wish they were trying to grant, not unlike the one that had given birth to Alpha and her kind. Why did they do what they did? What moved them to rip so many people from their lives?
Alpha shook herself from her reverie, reminded of her reason for coming here. Turning her back to the scene, she took a seat on the low crumbling wall that ran around the perimeter of the roof. She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out the small white camera, her treasure. For the last month it had sat by her bed. Every day she placed it in its pouch around her waist and carried it with her, both out of habit and the sense of comfort it gave. But she had yet to look at the pictures. She couldn't pinpoint the fear that kept her from checking, but no matter the reason, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
But she couldn't keep running away.
She plugged the end of the thin cord into the camera, staring into the single eye of the lens. "Owner...will I find my answers?" With a deep breath, she placed the other end in her mouth, her eyes slipping closed. She imagined she could feel that blue eye watching her, waiting patiently for the unspoken command. Alpha worried her lower lip in thought, wondering where to begin.
'My first picture after...nine months ago.'
The image of the apartment appeared so instantly and naturally that it seemed she had been there all along. The frigid air and hard stone around her seemed to fall away, replaced by comfortable temperatures and the worn fabric of the couch. Cube was seated at her side, smiling bemusedly up at her, taken by surprise by the sudden snapshot. The moment hovered in her mind's eye, so real that she could have reached out and touched him. He didn't move, frozen in time, but it felt like he would at any second. Alpha lingered for a minute longer, taking in every detail, before turning to the camera again, nudging it forward with her mind. 'The next picture...'
She looked at herself, arm thrown around Cube's shoulder, pulling him close for the shot. Both of them were smiling widely, laughing at the spontaneous portrait. She stared into her own eyes, full of fondness.
'The next one.'
Anemone's hair was much longer then, falling past her waist as she grinned and sat cross-legged on the floor of her apartment, Gulliver cradled in her lap like a large, squishy doll. Alpha could almost hear the girl's laugh ringing in her ears, the dog's playful whine.
She continued. She stopped at an image of Amu playing in the snow, and then a set of unusually unique snowmen. A picture of a young man with a red guitar and a hesitant smile made her pause, a hollow ache filling her chest. There were two shots of a dark haired man with sunglasses that made her feel sad. In the first he was scowling, mouth open in protest at the sight of the camera and the image tilted as he tried to snatch the device away. The second was more candid, taken from the side when he wasn't looking, caught in what seemed a rare moment of tranquil thought.
And then Alpha found herself facing Lucca again. None of the awkwardness of their earlier meeting was present here. The other women was seated at a work bench littered with papers and bits of machines. She held a steaming mug of what Alpha knew to be coffee - two sugars, light cream - and smiled so warmly that Alpha thought her heart would break if she looked away. Her owner's camera held her there, a single moment in a past that hadn't happened, trapped in a memory that wasn't quite her own.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, past and present blurring together for a surreal moment. The wind bit her skin, feeling infinitely colder than before as she ripped herself from the warm memory. Tears had gathered and overflowed without her notice, and she let them fall. Her mind went back to that day on the pier so many years ago, when she had taken Sensei's ship across the water for its one and only journey. Her connection with the machine then, her primitive ancestor, was the same as the one now between her heart and the things her camera remembered. No matter how much she searched her mind, the memories weren't there. She couldn't begin to explain why she was feeling these things. But despite not having experienced them herself, she was sure she knew them, in the same way she had known Sensei's ship. And the feeling was the same as well - the deep longing for a friend she had never met.
She took the cord from her mouth and held the camera tightly to her chest for a minute longer. Then she wiped her eyes and stood, making her way back inside.
~
[Filtered mostly away from friends, about 40% secure - Text]
People come and go here. But...why do some people remember this place, while others forget completely? Is there a reason they take those memories away?
Those moments are important, even if they may not all be nice to remember. All of the people you knew, the things you learned...all of them meant something.
It isn't...very fair.
[OOC: YOU CAN SERIOUSLY IGNORE THE FIRST PART. REALLY. DON'T READ IT, IT'S SILLY. Also, going to bed soon, tags tomorrow!]
The weather was still uncomfortably frigid, and the wind that whipped across the rooftop only made the contrast to the apartment's warm interior that much more startling. Alpha shivered as she stepped out into the chill, wrapping her coat tighter to preserve some small amount of heat as she shut the door to the stairwell behind her. Her body, artificial as it was, offered no comfort. She could feel the cold as well as any human, and for a minute she reconsidered her plan. Cube was of course considerate enough to leave her alone if she asked, and she didn't want to worry him by slipping out like this. But the building top was deserted, and the solitude it offered was enough to convince her to continue. She didn't think she would be long.
She made her way toward the edge of the roof, pausing for a moment to breathe on her hands for warmth. Her eyes wandered, taking in the scene. From above, the broken, jagged skyline of the city could have been the skyline of home, the ruins of Yokohama. Perhaps the world she knew had conditioned her to appreciate something others usually couldn't, but despite its hardships she couldn't help but think that Discedo had a solemn beauty of its own. She wondered what had become of this world. She wondered if it was anything like her own. A similar tragedy had befallen it; that was to be sure. But where the world she knew had accepted its fate, quietly resigning itself to the twilight of life, Discedo was grasping to hold on with a will so strong it had reached across universes. For a moment she thought of the ones who had brought so many to this place, the scientists. Who were they? What did they want? Were they really bad people, as so many thought? Or were they simply people - people who had a wish they were trying to grant, not unlike the one that had given birth to Alpha and her kind. Why did they do what they did? What moved them to rip so many people from their lives?
Alpha shook herself from her reverie, reminded of her reason for coming here. Turning her back to the scene, she took a seat on the low crumbling wall that ran around the perimeter of the roof. She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out the small white camera, her treasure. For the last month it had sat by her bed. Every day she placed it in its pouch around her waist and carried it with her, both out of habit and the sense of comfort it gave. But she had yet to look at the pictures. She couldn't pinpoint the fear that kept her from checking, but no matter the reason, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
But she couldn't keep running away.
She plugged the end of the thin cord into the camera, staring into the single eye of the lens. "Owner...will I find my answers?" With a deep breath, she placed the other end in her mouth, her eyes slipping closed. She imagined she could feel that blue eye watching her, waiting patiently for the unspoken command. Alpha worried her lower lip in thought, wondering where to begin.
'My first picture after...nine months ago.'
The image of the apartment appeared so instantly and naturally that it seemed she had been there all along. The frigid air and hard stone around her seemed to fall away, replaced by comfortable temperatures and the worn fabric of the couch. Cube was seated at her side, smiling bemusedly up at her, taken by surprise by the sudden snapshot. The moment hovered in her mind's eye, so real that she could have reached out and touched him. He didn't move, frozen in time, but it felt like he would at any second. Alpha lingered for a minute longer, taking in every detail, before turning to the camera again, nudging it forward with her mind. 'The next picture...'
She looked at herself, arm thrown around Cube's shoulder, pulling him close for the shot. Both of them were smiling widely, laughing at the spontaneous portrait. She stared into her own eyes, full of fondness.
'The next one.'
Anemone's hair was much longer then, falling past her waist as she grinned and sat cross-legged on the floor of her apartment, Gulliver cradled in her lap like a large, squishy doll. Alpha could almost hear the girl's laugh ringing in her ears, the dog's playful whine.
She continued. She stopped at an image of Amu playing in the snow, and then a set of unusually unique snowmen. A picture of a young man with a red guitar and a hesitant smile made her pause, a hollow ache filling her chest. There were two shots of a dark haired man with sunglasses that made her feel sad. In the first he was scowling, mouth open in protest at the sight of the camera and the image tilted as he tried to snatch the device away. The second was more candid, taken from the side when he wasn't looking, caught in what seemed a rare moment of tranquil thought.
And then Alpha found herself facing Lucca again. None of the awkwardness of their earlier meeting was present here. The other women was seated at a work bench littered with papers and bits of machines. She held a steaming mug of what Alpha knew to be coffee - two sugars, light cream - and smiled so warmly that Alpha thought her heart would break if she looked away. Her owner's camera held her there, a single moment in a past that hadn't happened, trapped in a memory that wasn't quite her own.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, past and present blurring together for a surreal moment. The wind bit her skin, feeling infinitely colder than before as she ripped herself from the warm memory. Tears had gathered and overflowed without her notice, and she let them fall. Her mind went back to that day on the pier so many years ago, when she had taken Sensei's ship across the water for its one and only journey. Her connection with the machine then, her primitive ancestor, was the same as the one now between her heart and the things her camera remembered. No matter how much she searched her mind, the memories weren't there. She couldn't begin to explain why she was feeling these things. But despite not having experienced them herself, she was sure she knew them, in the same way she had known Sensei's ship. And the feeling was the same as well - the deep longing for a friend she had never met.
She took the cord from her mouth and held the camera tightly to her chest for a minute longer. Then she wiped her eyes and stood, making her way back inside.
~
[Filtered mostly away from friends, about 40% secure - Text]
People come and go here. But...why do some people remember this place, while others forget completely? Is there a reason they take those memories away?
Those moments are important, even if they may not all be nice to remember. All of the people you knew, the things you learned...all of them meant something.
It isn't...very fair.
[OOC: YOU CAN SERIOUSLY IGNORE THE FIRST PART. REALLY. DON'T READ IT, IT'S SILLY. Also, going to bed soon, tags tomorrow!]