Unprompted: Synthesis aftermath
anonymous
July 16 2012, 03:55:55 UTC
With all the discussion and fills about the consequences of synthesis, I was wondering what would happen with all those suddenly freed Reapers, especially those left in some more remote places. It wouldn't leave me alone, so this happened.
The worst thing, Varinnia thinks as she is struggling with the innards of a power generator, isn't even rebuilding after the war has ended. Nor is it the irreversible changes that have been wrought upon everyone - and Spirits, hearing others think and feeling what they feel is bad enough. She almost has gone crazy until she has managed to figure out how not to listen, not to hear, how to put up a barrier between her own thoughts and that endless chatter
( ... )
Husks are even worse. And the worst of the lot are Marauders. She still can't stand even looking at the twisted things, the nightmarish merging of one of her own people and lots of cybernetics. Abominations. She rips at the cables, silently cursing under her breath, gropes around for a wire cutter. Her fingers close around empty air. She lifts her head, then almost jumps out of her plates at the sight of the Marauder staring at her
( ... )
She has personally seen it walk around with what had to be part of a set of crystal wind chimes of the sort the asari in this place had liked to hang in their gardens. Incomplete and cracked, the sound the chimes had made had been nerve-wrecking to her, and she has been very close to considering a violent solution, but it had lost interest just before she had snapped
( ... )
It's a few days later just past sunset that the Reaper starts to move. It walks around the outskirts of the city, just barely not hitting any of the buildings, its movement a clumsy search pattern. Varinnia's own temporary quarters that she refuses to call home are in a building just at the edge of the city. The buildings are sparse and built low to the ground here, so the Reaper is clearly visible and impossible to ignore as it wanders aimlessly past the few sprawled buildings. The streets are empty, the lights are still out in this section, she is tired and just wants to go lie down, but she sees it turn. Then it takes a faltering step and another, crosses a rather open section that used to be a park before the Reaper attack turned it into a dry, burned wasteland. It appears to be heading towards her position
( ... )
The Marauder is there all the time now, hanging around somewhere just at the edge of her vision as she goes about her daily business. She's sure now that it's stalking her, although she has no idea why. After a while, even the human engineers notice and crack some jokes about it, about how she's acquired a cyborg admirer. She in turn cracks a few heads in response, and that's the end of it. The Marauder keeps its distance, so there is no excuse to throw things at it again. The Reaper huddles just outside, motionless again
( ... )
It stares at her, long enough that she starts to believe that it hasn't understood, but then it turns and bends down, retrieving the can of green paint. It decides on the door to the grid station as an acceptable surface, and even in this situation she cannot help wincing as it drags a green stained claw against the white of the metal
( ... )
Re: Stars 7 - end
anonymous
July 16 2012, 20:20:16 UTC
This is a wonderful tale, anon. Loved every bit of it. Thank you for sharing it, and for the tones of hope in the end. They played right into my own vision of Synthesis.
Re: Stars 7 - end
anonymous
July 23 2012, 05:24:55 UTC
This is wonderful - eloquent, intelligent, and the perfect combination of bittersweet and hopeful. You portrayed the difficulty of war's aftermath very well while making me feel for both Varinnia and the Reaper. I wish the synthesis ending had been this nuanced.
I'm sorry.
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Yes, she confirms ( ... )
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You made me sympathize with a Reaper-- what else have you written?
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