Event || The Enemy Within

[melodiesmods]

Characters: All characters who signed-up for the event.
Where: In their heads.
When: January 15th.
Summary: The Heroes of Light have a vision-- They are living through a hypothetical future where the Sage share his knowledge with them, and things went horribly wrong as some Heroes of Light became the villains in this timeline. Maybe they'll revise their thoughts on getting all of that knowledge.
Warning: The apocalypse, deaths, tragedies, overall a lot of very bad things.

Mingle Threads: The Antagonists || The Protagonists || The Others || General
Free Open Threads: The Two Years || Other Events

#01 Attempts at Negotiations || Trano Golsaucia
#02 Tactical Espionage Action || Aqures Ixen
#03 Judgmental Glares || Aerilon
#04 The Fight for the Crystallized Bodies || Aqures Tosf
#05 The Dusk of the Heroes || Mysidia
#06 The Fight for the Moon || Lunar Gate
#07 Conflict Above the Stars || Moon Base
#08 The Birth of a God || Crystal Life Tree
#09 The Death of a World || Moon Base
#10 Where Everything Ends || Pandaemonium

Conclusion || The Sage in Mysidia

Comments

Re: meredy's office terminal (closed)

[line_piece]

[Meredy is greeted by the Pac-Man theme as she puts in the last keystroke - the prelude to Chiaki's face appearing on the screen a minute or so later. There's a warm smile on her face even through the digital display, as she's always happy to see Meredy.]

Hi, Meredy. What's up?

[melnics]

( and here she is, humming along to the tune up until chiaki shows up, and she brightens again -- ) Ah, there you are!

( there's some quick clicks of the keyboard as she minimizes, restores, and then sets up so that everything, chiaki included, can fit on the screen at once. )

Meredy has made some calculations on some of the repairs for the other terminals. What do you think? Will you please look them over?

[line_piece]

Sorry. It takes a while to move between systems sometimes.

[Chiaki spends a lot of time doing that. She feels like she needs to keep an eye on everyone, since she's uniquely equipped to do so.]

Sure, I can take a look.

[It's a pretty fast process, really, considering Chiaki's brain is now once again completely digital. She can check the calculations at the processing speed of the computer.]

[melnics]

You bet! No problem!

( a few more quick and fancy movements produced the documents. a complicated set of blueprints and equations, scribbled and crossed out, worked on and re-worked for what looked like hours. something like this... would have been much easier with the help of other heroes. but it seemed like the list of people willing to work with her was growing smaller and smaller every day. either because they had more important things to do or just... didn't believe in the cause any more... )

Meredy is grateful for the help, Chiaki is probably very busy... ( doing... whatever living computer programs did, probably. ) Here, here -- ( she's pointing to a problem area in particular ) This is where Meredy was having problems.

[line_piece]

[Chiaki, at least, will always believe in her friends. There isn't a single person she knows that she doesn't still try to talk to, even among the antagonists. She's still hoping she can bring everyone together somehow.]

It's fine. I can work a lot faster like this.

[She glances over to the other window - the one with the calculations - and starts to run some checks in her head. Lines of code scroll through her eyes as she uses the Programmer Job to help.]

Oh, I see. Here's the problem.

[Reaching over to physically move a few things around, she rearranges Meredy's equation.]

Try compiling it again.

[melnics]

Mmm? ( she leans in, squinting as she reads over the changes -- leaning back again and looking spirited. ) Ah! Correct, you are right. Now it will definitely work. Thank you, Chiaki!

( as she saves -- and closes her work, she's humming again, that pac-man theme stuck in her head, until her desktop is clear, and she leans back. ) This will help with progress for us, and you too! ( -- it was a bit like having someone on the inside. )

Ahh, Meredy worked very hard today. ( and here's quickie, jumping down into her lap as she smiles, petting him. ) Relaxing tonight would be very nice...

[line_piece]

Yup, anytime.

[Chiaki smiles, watching the windows close one by one before her face expands to fill the screen once again. She's honestly happy to help - Meredy's one of the few people who still feels as much hope as she does.]

Relaxing, huh...

[She can't actually sigh like this, but from the tone, it's easy to imagine that she just did.]

I kind of miss sleepovers. I guess there's some drawbacks to living like this.

[melnics]

Mmm... ( those were times that she missed, as well. during there time here, chiaki had just naturally become one of her closest friends -- it wasn't the ideal sitch for your friend to become a living computer...

leaning forward, she smiled wistfully, closing her eyes as she remembered something. ) Do you remember... when we stayed up so late playing WHIS for the first time? Hehe... It was so much fun Meredy didn't even notice...

[line_piece]

That happens to me a lot.

[Chiaki smiles too, remembering that night. It was technically a date, but they just played games until it was too late to go home.]

At least we can still do that much. It was easy to program a version for the Ancient computers.

[Another window opens up, and Chiaki starts filling it with pixels, constructing an image dot by dot.]

I can still do pixel art, too. Just not on canvas or peoples' nails anymore.

[melnics]

You could do one of Quickie! ( she quickly suggested, lifting her furry friend up towards the screen, as he struggled from freedom, finally jumping up onto the top of her head. ) Hehe...

It was... Meredy's first time, spending the night with a friend like that. Before it was because we were all on a journey, not just for fun. I... had lots of fun.

( the sincerity of her tone caused her to drop her third person habit. since everything had started happening, she hadn't had time to think of home much. rather, maybe following the incident with the rifts made it dangerous to think about. )

Say, Chiaki... Can you -- access all the data we have gathered until now?

[line_piece]

I had fun too. I wish we'd been able to do it more often.

[It's one of Chiaki's few regrets about her time in Crystallis, really. Making friends and forging bonds is important. If everyone had taken more time to do that, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess.]

Huh? Yeah, I have it all. Why?

[melnics]

( it was too bad that fun was all but a memory these days... those thoughts were echoed in the change of her demeanour, as she pulled herself closer to the desk again. )

Would you... be able to show Meredy the information on the heroes that came to Crystallis before? Two thousand years ago... a hero named Shizel.

[line_piece]

Hang on. I'll have to pull the file from Palitutu's computer.

[The screen goes dark for a few minutes, and then Chiaki is back.]

Here it is.

[She displays the file, allowing Meredy to scroll through it as she wishes.]

[melnics]

( she says nothing at first, a long silence accompanying the photo as she scrolled down through the file. the woman looking, although much more harsh -- quite remarkably like meredy. there's something more than sadness twisting its way through meredy's features as she pauses at the personal information listed.

status: married
children: one, female

eventually, she continues, the multitude of information a bit much. when she finally speaks again, her voice seems a bit shaken... )

Chiaki, can you please... isolate the parts about the Dark Aurora for me?

[line_piece]

[Chiaki just watches Meredy's face as she scrolls through the data. By the time she speaks up again, she looks worried too, but nods.]

...Okay. If you're sure.

[She does as asked, though.]

[melnics]

( there's even more uncharacteristic silence here as she goes over the information. it's almost as if she even forgot chiaki was there, as she looks down at her hands, flexing and relaxing them...

looking a little deflated, she seems to finally come back into herself with a -- ) Oh. Thank you, Chiaki.

That... that is enough for today. Meredy is going to sign off now. Good... good night.

[line_piece]

...Good night.

[The screen goes black.]

mysidia terminal.

[melnics]

( it's a new access point this time, a few weeks later, one meredy has tried to set up so that chiaki could become more mobile. as the inputs the code, she has her best happy face on, though her dark complexion is unusually pale, and the back circles under her eyes are a hint at the lost sleep she's been experiencing. )

Hi, good morning, Chiaki! Meredy is still working on this one, how is it on your end? Do you read me? One, two, three!

[line_piece]

[And here's Chiaki after the expected lead time and Pac-Man theme.]

Hey, Meredy.

[She tilts her head to the side after getting a look at her.]

Are you okay?

[melnics]

You bet! Yes, of course! ( no, not at all... ) Just very busy, busy, busy! ( busy trying to get a hold on those powers... and shizel's custom job. subject changing time! )

So this is okay, yes? It is working good?

[line_piece]

[Chiaki blinks for a moment, but nods. If Meredy says it's fine, it's probably fine.]

...Yup. The processing power seems a little faster, too.

[melnics]

Hweel! ( now that should seem a little more like good ole meredy. it seems she's genuinely happy by that news. ) Finally, Meredy has figured out a better way to upgrade! If the circuitry is--

( but that enthusiasm comes with a price -- trying to turn away from the camera, a coughing fit creeping up on her. ) Ah-- s-sorry Chiaki -- ( is about all she can get out at first, overtaken again. )

[line_piece]

[Chiaki's eyes light up happily at Meredy's reaction, but it quickly turns to an expression of concern.]

Meredy...? Do you need healing? I can call Mogomi and get her here with my crystal so I can come out of the computer and equip White Mage.

[melnics]

( she wipes away at something before turning around again, a poor smile plastered across her face. ) No, no, Meredy is fine. ( she manages to repress the next cough, which dies away somewhere in her lungs instead. ) See? No problem.

( not to mention... she was beginning to doubt white magic even worked on whatever was happening. she'd tried that, too... ) Just a few more terminals to go, right? At this rate, Meredy might be finished in only a couple of more months!

[line_piece]

...Right.

[Chiaki nods, but she still looks worried. Meredy is a bad liar.]

Don't push yourself on my account, though. I'm the one who chose to take this form.