#ir event: subversion p2

[lalaluuz]

When Luz became aware of the spotty memories of this Other Luz, she was still… emotionally compromised. The fact that the Other Luz had her own Other Amity, whom Other Luz was admiring from afar… well, that didn’t help things. It kind of stung, actually, since Luz knew they’d end up together eventually, even though her own Amity had gone home now. Her emotions were a swirling mess, and it made trying to locate Other Luz… hard. And Luz found herself stalling despite knowing she shouldn’t.

Meanwhile, she knew that Other Luz was absolutely, definitely fading. She’d come across her double a few times, each time not managing to catch her, and each time finding that her double was more and more not in her right mind. And the pressing threat of death–actual death, for both of them–finally pushed Luz into moving a little more purposefully. But by then, Other Luz had deteriorated even further, and was disoriented and acting rather crazy, even by Luz standards.

After losing track of her, again, Luz kinda collapsed onto the ground, sitting first and then laying back, staring at the sky with a disheartened wrinkle in her brow.

”What am I doing wrong? How am I supposed to get her?”

[trggrhppy-blog]

“Welp, guess I gotta break someone’s handsome face. Ah well, sure as shit beats dyin’. Now where th’ hell would I be hidin’...?”

[punrifyingflame]

Embers of Fate [Subversion part 2]

Words: 1056

Lailah was, suffice to say, a little bit confused.

She had woken up in a place only just vaguely familiar to her, immediately being told that something horrible had happened by the item- a phone, her memory supplied her with- on her nightstand. She had no real context of when she’d arrived here (again) and how she’d arrived here (again), but she supposed now wouldn’t be the best time to ask those questions. Rather, it would be a better thing to ask how to help this person, who was supposedly ill.

According to this phone, the other Lailah was still within the city. There was nothing indicating she had even left the sector, in fact- she too was still in Archimedes, so apparently she hadn’t been the sort to run.

However, while Lailah could say there was a familiarity to this… setting, and even to some of the faces she passed by, she couldn’t say she quite remembered here. She did, but didn’t- odd. It was all very odd. Who was she to discuss oddity, though? After all, she was visible here, an oddity of itself! But that at least was a welcome one, to know that she could talk to more than just the shepherd and his squires.

Her searching through the ward was more of a brisk walk through it- she in truth wasn’t terribly sure where she should be going or where this other her would be, so it was best to familiarize herself with the area. It didn’t seem like her double was moving at all, or at least the app wasn’t telling her as much- which was for the best. That seemed good.

Eventually, her walking led her away from the cobbled streets and out to a quieter area. Delicate flowers lined the path, bringing a smile to her face- it was some place she was sure would’ve been nice to visit with Sorey and the others. And perhaps she could- the vague recollections that seemed to be getting a little clearer made her believe her friends and companions could be here.

“Oh!”

A gasp escaped her lips as she looked to the end of the path, a young woman looking the same as her (although dressed differently) standing and staring out towards the sea, hair waving in the breeze. This had to be her double, the other Lailah- she could sense the hints of anxiety in the air like buddings of malevolence, but it was finding no hold in her heart.

“This place is… beautiful, don’t you think?” An unexpected question from her other, still turned to face away from the seraph. Her voice was quiet enough that it was almost lost to the wind- but Lailah had spent many years listening in to the whispered prayers of those in Ladylake. It wasn’t terribly hard for her to hear, not with a little focus. “It’s called Filotimo here- savior’s respite. Beautiful, but… tragic.”

The sound of waves crashing against the cliffs below washed away the sound of words, the only thing left to disturb the silence hanging over them being the sounds of birds and sea. Lailah could understand the implications- a place like this, a name like that… it would not be the first time she’d known of a place used in human sacrifice.

“Yes… tragic indeed. Why are you here, then?”

“I’m not quite sure, to be honest. I suppose I wanted to be… away from people. I may be from a city, but it can still be overwhelming at times. Do you understand?”

Her double turned to face her now, and Lailah smiled with a shake of her head.

“That may be a difficult question for me to answer. It is not easy to be in places with large amounts of humans, at times- I am not like you, although I suppose you may have gathered that already.” Her double nodded, a light smile on her face as Lailah continued. “Human emotion- be they good or bad- have the capacity to impact my health, and the health of those like me.”

“Then, wouldn’t it be best to live away from humans? If they could cause you harm so easily.”

“Perhaps… and that is what some of my kind do. But I believe, even if they have capacity for cruelty and hatred, they have an even greater potential for kindness and growth. A human being may not have magic- but they have the power to change who they are, something that differs from us seraphim. And I love that potential- the potential of a second chance.”

“I see.” Her double paused for a moment, bringing a finger to her lip, before smiling widely. “You’re the sort of person I’d hoped another me might be. I can’t say that I fully understand exactly what you are- but had things gone differently, I would’ve liked to talk more with you.”

“And I, you.”

“It would be best not to delay much longer, correct? I’ve heard talk of things- I’ll admit, half of me wants to run away at this very moment.”

“Yes, likely for the best then. It was nice to meet you- farewell.”

She smiled as she held her phone out to the other Lailah, watching as she faded into the air before holding the device close to her chest. There were thoughts, feelings, emotions that lingered- plenty of things she was certain she would need time to sort through, but she would have time. She always had the time to do so, now would not be any different from the rest.

Had things worked out differently, it would’ve been quite fun to get to know the other her, she was certain. Had she been human, she wondered what her life might’ve been like- but something like that was impossible to comprehend for a seraph who had lived as long as she had, who had seen as much as she had.

Where one adventure ends, another would begin.

There was a lot she had to figure out now, for certain, and she would in time. But now it was time for her to find her way back to the city proper- her other had been calm, but it was possible that others may not be as lucky. If she could help some calm down, then that would be wonderful.

[4ourleafclover]

Like Looking in a Mirror [Subversion part 2]

Words: 787

While Clover had seen quite a few strange things in this place over the time she’d been here, she had to say that hearing she not only had a clone, but said clone was going to be running away and could potentially get them both killed if enough time went by was a bit of a new thing. And a bit of an unpleasant one, too! She certainly had no intention of letting herself get killed, which meant it was off to do some double-hunting. Weird, but sure, why not.

She’d grabbed the injection gun with the soporil just in case- she really didn’t want to have to use it, but it was better that than someone getting hurt. But she’d again rather just plan to not have to use it, there was a chance till that nothing would be wrong at all. Or at least, she’d hope for it.

Her double was apparently in golden ward according to the app on her phone telling her as much, and so she was quick to drive there in chase. However… where would she be? Well, why not just think about where she liked to be in golden? There were tons of good shops, lots of cute cafes, clothing stores, stuff like that… seemed like as good a place to start as any.

With that in mind, she started going from place to place, keeping her eyes peeled for a lookalike. Not at that one café that had great croissants, not at the cute little jewelry place she’d found that one time, not at that home décor place she really liked… but eventually she found a little bit of luck in a clothing store that she’d visited once or twice, turning to look at her double.

“Oh, hey- do you think that this’d look good on… me…… huh?”

“…yeah, I think so.” Clover offered the response with a dry laugh as her clone stood stunned, shrugging. “What, don’t think I’d have a good eye for it?”

“Um… why are you… me?”

“Not entirely sure, honestly. But I’ve seen enough of this place to know that ‘not normal’ is normal.”

“You’ve… uh… what?”

“Look, it’s something of a long story. I can tell you if you want, but I kinda doubt you’d believe me.”

Clover chuckled a little at her words, her clone still standing stunned. It lasted for a good few moments, until finally she just shrugged.

“I don’t think anything could be weirder than seeing another me standing right in front of me, but I’ll pass on the explanations. So, uh… why are you here, though?”

“Well, from what I gather, something’s happened to make you sick. And unless you agree to go back to what’s supposed to be your version of this city, we’ll both die.”

“Wait, what? Die?”

“Yep.”

“How are you so calm at that?”

“It’s, uh… well, more of a long story.” Clover put a hand on her hip, unsure how to explain the nonary games aside from that. After all, she didn’t exactly feel that bringing up the whole ‘childhood kidnapping for a death game’ thing, or the second kidnapping, or the third. And that probably wouldn’t help her double calm down. “The simple answer? I’m not sure what your life’s been like, but I’m a secret agent in mine.”

“Actually?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“….huh. Pretty cool.”

“I’d say so.” She had a proud grin on her face as she nodded, looking around for a moment before looking down to her phone. “So, uh… will you go?”

“What’ll happen? Will it hurt?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. But considering it’s supposed to just send you to where you’re from, and keep us both from dying, I don’t think it’d hurt. That seems a little counter-intuitive.”

“…yeah, I guess so.”

“Yeah.”

“Well… I guess I’ll be off, then? It was nice, uh… meeting you?”

“Yeah, you too.”

Tapping her phone against her clone, she watched as she disappeared into light- and then, she was gone. She almost wished she’d delayed more, there was a lot that she wished she could’ve found out- what had her life been like? What would a Clover who’d always lived in this city be like? But… perhaps it was better she didn’t know.

After all, she couldn’t change her timeline. Her life was her own, even for all the things better or worse. It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was far from perfect- but she already knew too well that wishing for different wouldn’t help her. It couldn’t change anything, so she couldn’t let it get her down.

For now, it’d be best that she got back to work- and of course, lend a hand to anyone who might need one.

[courageousguise]

@blowyourhousedown

Even if he’d rather not admit it, Link was honestly feeling pretty exhausted. After everything that’d just happened with the other him, it was like he was feeling everything and nothing all at once- so simple enough to say, he wasn’t expressive like he normally was, while trying to figure his way back from the forest to the city.

It was then that he noticed something- a huge wolf. Far bigger than he’d ever seen before, enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. However... it wasn’t like a wolfos. It didn’t seem like it wanted to hurt him- not... unnatural. Not dark.

So because of that, he wasn’t as on guard as he might’ve otherwise been. The hand that’d reflexively gone to his sword moved away, as he let out a sigh. Whatever was up with that huge wolf, it’d go away sooner or later.