trans_9 | Friendly Fire

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Friendly Fire

Elsewhere on this ship, a war was being waged. A war for the hearts and minds, the souls and very sanity of this crew.

A war that Stacy wasn't certain that all would survive, hence why she released you. Replacements would be needed.

But that war is miles away from where you are. Or at least, so it seems. There are no screams of agony to greet you, no monsters trying to claw at you.

But that doesn't mean the Nightmare King can't reach you.

Prior to your arrival here on the Obs deck, reality had been shifted. Constructs of the current crew grew out of nothing. All of them look, sound, feel, behave, and scan as the crew member they're copying. They're as real as you are. And with smiling faces, they await your arrival.

They can't wait to welcome you. To your doom.

Won't you say hi?

[ooc: Nightmare plot is still on, people, and this is the newbie portion. For all current players, as stated above, the Nightmare King made copies of your guys, who are still stuck fighting nightmares elsewhere in the plot. You can tag in as the copy of your character, have them be friendly, get the newbies to let their guard down, and then the real nightmare can begin. Newbies, you can tag in, have fun, and suspect nothing until its too late.]

[Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have the copies of your guys greet the newbies.]

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Rude, paranoid, and testy would have worked fine on Rein. It was realistic, given the circumstances. But anything less than naked hostility would have served him just as well, when he offered an answer to her single, all-consuming question. It was strange, but she was relieved that he had seen through her so easily.

"Hayate Yagami. A girl, Japanese, fifteen years old, short for her age, brown hair, blue eyes. She often wears yellow ties on her bangs, and carries a heavy book with a device of a fitched cross." Reinforce's speech was normally slow and steady to a fault, so while her description probably didn't sound unusual she wasn't sure she'd ever said anything so quickly in her life. There was a strange, wrenching feeling that came with describing the girl that she wanted very badly not to focus on.

Ahh…give trust but crush hope. That was his imperative, wasn’t it?

Clone!Dustin pretended to ponder about this, even managing to capture that odd glimmer in his emerald eyes whenever the complex gears in his head were turning. He added a contemplative stroke of his unshaved chin for good measure.

Now, what was the best answer here? Real!Dustin certainly hadn’t encountered this individual, at least not on a name-to-name basis—but suggesting that he had…Hmm.

“…Yes, I think I know who you’re talking about,” he nodded, letting his shoulders drop and casting his glance at the floor for dramatic effect, “I…saw her body when I first woke up here. It seems someone tampered with her pod—experimental reasons, you know, to figure out how they worked. Such an abrupt shift in stasis…”

That was based off something true, wasn’t it? Hadn’t Real!Dustin seriously pondered doing such tests? ”Sacrifice one, save millions” was his logic. What a monster. The Nightmare King was doing Rein a favor, exposing her to this new personality.

Quick, say something intelligent! Get her spirit up!

“…It’s unlikely that she would’ve survived, but…there’s a chance that they found her in time. Got her into a stable environment before her body shut down. The ship doctors would know.”

When he'd gone into thought, the answer she'd expected was 'no'. It was by far the likeliest response, after all, and anything that did not come to him in the first flash of memory was unlikely to be produced by a few more seconds' consideration.

So the response to his sudden, unenthusiastic 'yes' was confusion, and the explanation took her completely by surprise.

It was every bit the crushing blow he'd hoped. Rein hadn't cried in a very long time, not since that night three years ago when she'd thought she would be the one to end Hayate, but she did now, a sudden upwelling of silent tears that, unlike then, when she had denied they even belonged to her at all, she tried to blink away.

And if she felt some kernel of suspicion at the way he had delivered the news with such confidence despite taking so long to dredge it up, she was forced to bury it. Once she went down that road it could well mean violence, and all he had done was answer her question. She could not consider it.

Instead she turned away, and responded haltingly. "I'll... I'll ask them as soon I can, then."

She couldn't bring herself to thank him.

The Vivio copy walked into the room. For the most part, it was exactly the same as the real deal... except for those who knew her realized she was missing Sacred Heart, her Device.

But, noticing the girl in front of her jostled memories of another onboard the ship.

"...Rein-chan?"

Yessss. There was no need to thank this creature—Rein’s pathetic little tears were good enough to make him smile.

He quickly twisted the joyful grin splitting his cheeks into a sympathetic grimace, placing a gloved, callused hand comfortingly on her shoulder. There was a chance that she would leave to go find med bay, and he couldn’t have that happen, not yet. He needed to keep her preoccupied.

Clone!Vivio seemed like the perfect distraction. Dustin shot her a careful glare from the corner of his eye. Follow my lead.

“…You know, I think I recognize you from a picture someplace,” he noted, cocking his head as he looked her over, “There are some others looking for you, I think. What was her name…?”

And then, on cue:

“—Ah! Vivio!” Clone!Dustin cried triumphantly, casually spinning Rein around for a better view, “I knew you’d be here! Look who I found!”

The intervention was well-timed; she had, in fact, been ready to set off in search of the medical staff. She hadn't quite had time to begin objecting to the restraining hand when Dustin began to explain.

Others looking for her. It had to be her knights. They would surely know what had happened to Hayate... and if the worst had come to pass, they would need her. And she them...

But the name Dustin called and the face he turned her to see were unfamiliar, and now she blinked in confusion as well as to clear her eyes.

"I am Reinforce, but... how do you know that name? I do not know you," she said, simply.

No, that wasn't quite true. There was something familiar about the girl, from the distant past...

Reinforce. The same as the tiny one. A bit of searching had the clone realize something - the tiny one was Reinforce Zwei. That meant this one was the original. And the look of confusion and familiarity...

...so much potential.

"My name's Vivio. Vivio Takamachi. I'm Nanoha's daughter... and the reincarnation of the Saint Kaiser."

The real Vivio wouldn't have admitted that part outright. She hated that. But, here? If she could use Reinforce somehow, well...

The introduction only further muddied the waters. The Nanoha she knew was only fifteen years old, and the Saint was a relic of ages past, nearly as old as she was. The old royals had passed down magic and memories through their lines, made themselves the strength and wisdom of their nations... but Olivie had left no heirs.

"Ah..." she trailed off, still evidently confused. "Hello, your highness. Could you take me to your... mother, please?"

Even to her, that felt strange to say. The names were familiar but the context seemed impossible. She needed to speak to Nanoha, someone she knew, and sort out what had happened...

The Clone!Vivio smiled both outwardly and inwardly. She kept up the appearance of the little girl willing to help anyone, but at the same time, knowing that she had the confused Reinforce made things a lot easier.

"Of course! I'll take you to her...!" Vivio said, starting to lead the way. Had Nanoha and Fate not have been here, it would have been easier to start up a sob story like Dustin had did concerning Hayate's "fate".

"It's good to know someone else is alive and well..."

But not the one who mattered. Nanoha and Fate were precious to her, as the courageous souls who had aided Hayate in leading her from the endless nightmares and giving her her name, and as friends of their family in the years since, but the love she bore for her master was much, much more. Far more than she held for herself, to be certain.

She... couldn't dwell exclusively on that, though. There were still people who needed her. Her name demanded...

Thinking about her name was hard, too.

"...how old is she? How long has she been here?" Reinforce asked instead as she followed after the little girl. Better to concentrate on learning about her circumstances.

"Nanoha-mama?" Vivio asked back. "I... think she's 19. She's... younger than I remember her."

That was the truth to that part. Vivio came from a point in the future further than where Nanoha and Fate were. "It feels weird, though... but I don't care. It's my mother and I love her no matter what."

"Anyway, she's been here longer than I have... maybe four months?"

Younger than she remembered? A strange comment. When the ship said 'many worlds', could it have included different timelines...? That was something entirely different from ordinary transdimensional travel. A seeming impossibility. It made her once again wary.

"What sort of things do you both do here?" She followed up after a pause. The girl wasn't acting like a prisoner, at least...

Clone!Dustin followed close behind them, almost thankful that Vivio had shown up. His real counterpart hardly knew anything of these people—true, he’d met Nanoha, but his views on the woman were decidedly skewed and would not help at all in providing tantalizing information to this ~~victim~~ newcomer. No, Dustin’s mind was far more apt to answer the ship-related questions, the ones that he could actually understand. Lifestyle might be tricky, but he could manage.

Their outlook was happy enough that Clone!Dustin already knew how to phrase this. Though…though perhaps he could have a little fun here. Just enough to keep Rein on her toes.

“Whatever we can,” the scruffy, smiling man shrugged, making sure to keep his prosthetic hand in his pocket—the device acted oddly without the correct mental signature—“Recreational activities, mostly. It’s really not as bad as it seems; the longer I’m here, the more I’m convinced that we’re on a cruise…”

A dreamy pause as Dustin glance at the roof, as if remembering a particularly fond pastime made available here.

“There’s an organizational structure, of course—a Command Crew, some other sectors—but they hardly do anything,” he waved his hand dismissively, “Not like they need to. Once new crewmembers get over the shock of it all, they become very…passive. As you can imagine, order is easy to maintain in such an environment.”

"Yes. I can," She said darkly. She was glad Dustin had spoken up before Vivio, then; the subtleties of psychological entrapment with which she was so intimately familiar were likely beyond the child. Especially if the environment was generally pleasant, as he'd said. But... something was nagging at her about the way he kept answering her questions. The way he phrased his revelations, and the easy smile that dropped only when it was completely inappropriate, gave her the feeling that he enjoyed delivering bad news.

She was far and away from suspecting his true nature, of course, but she had plenty of reason to want to doubt him... so doubt was fast creeping in.

"If we are of so little use, though, why wake us at all?" She asked. The ship-voice had assured her they were vital, and while in principle she trusted it less than her new acquaintances, it did make sense that they would only be released from whatever stasis they had been held in if there was some need for them.

Ah, yes. She was catching on, just doubtful enough of his answers that she was becoming untrusting of the environment, but not himself. He was only the messenger, after all; it’s never the messenger’s fault, is it? He is only the vehicle, not the cause.

Well, in theory. In reality Dustin was making all this shit up. Several halls over there was a full-blown WWII illusion trapping a good portion of the crew that was still alive and awake. No doubt their screams of terror and agony were wafting through the transport tubes as they spoke, muffled by the ambient murmur of the newcomers and the clones that were keeping them distracted.

“Training, of course,” the doppelganger answered calmly and readily, unfitting smile never once wavering, “The AI seems to have our releases timed to some sort of internal clock of hers. When she deems us prepared to handle the situation and further build upon it, then she releases us. Otherwise our minds would be overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the vessel within which we’ve awoken.”

Though far too polite for his personality, that was indeed something the real Dustin would’ve said. It was even a theory he came up with for the more random stasis releases—one of many, naturally. He was always postulating something new.

"Then the current state of affairs is only temporary," Rein mulled over the implications of the statement. "Do the command staff have any additional knowledge of the schedule? Of our purpose? Were they the earliest releases?"

Hayate was her first concern, but with Hayate... or without, she would need to understand her captor. To best aid it, if their purpose was as it claimed... or thwart it, if she uncovered any evidence that it had deceived her.

Destroy it, if it had brought Hayate harm, she added darkly.

"Nuh-uh. Nothing like that." Clone!Vivio said. "All we know is that our worlds are gone and that the ones who did so are still our there."

Oh, there was so much more out there, but, it's best to mess with the here and now.

"Then again, seeing as we haven't even gone after them... there may not be much hope..."

Clone!Dustin casually cocked his head with mild intrigue. It was…interesting how his smile did not shift this time, as if his expression was static.

“I’m afraid Vivio’s right,” he blinked unemotionally, “But hope is such an outdated notion, isn’t it? We have everything we need here. Why waste our time searching for what’s already lost?”

Ooh, this was getting creepy—just the way the copy wanted it. He gave a sidelong glance to his spectral companion, and his grin widened.

Reinforce stopped dead and stared at Vivio. This was Nanoha's daughter? Had she simply not taken after her mother, or had Nanoha herself changed so greatly in whatever time had passed since she'd known her? The sentiment was so utterly at odds with the girl who had stood against her at her awakening, it was hard to imagine even a daughter saying such a thing, blood of Olivie or no.

"There is hope," Rein said, a simple statement of fact. Her fact, a faith and credo. Hopelessness, a stagnant self-pitying fatalism that obviated the will, had made her what she was before, so it was anathema now.

Her eyes were even harder when they met Dustin's. Every time he spoke she grew to trust him less and less. Perhaps he was simply that cynical, pessimistic, lost... simply needed help. But she disliked the way he seemed to be intent on bringing her down, too. She'd lost her appetite for questions, if they were all going to be answered like this. All this could be taken up later. After she knew... she'd be in a better state. Sooner or later...

"Is it much further, your highness?" She asked rather than argue further.

Darn her and her optimism! It was obvious that Reinforce was as optimistic, if not stubborn, as the child's mother. It would have to change sooner or later...

"...it's not much farther, don't worry."

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Friendly Fire

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Ouch.

Re: Ouch.

Don't worry, it can only get worse.

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