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"If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a thousand battles." independent oc rp blog

[cyclopsofthescorpio-deactivated]

"So why have you come here? Perhaps you will be one of the many to try and kill me for what I've done hm? I do believe Lancelot left a rather... displeasing first impression on you Tesla."

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"Oh-!" Virgo said with soft alarm as her initial instincts flashed, causing her to hop backwards into a defensive position and halfway reach for concealed weapons that weren't even equipped at the time. It was upon quickly remembering that the man before her was an ally in her own headquarters that she lowered her defenses - just in time for him to push her aside and shut them both in the room she had previously been trying to exit.

Her expression restabilized itself, aside from a minute crinkle between her brows. This was the first time Tesla had directly encountered Mirdyn since decrypting his message, and she couldn't help but to immediately take notice of how carelessly the illusionist let down his guise of insanity. Wasn't he aware that the authority he was trying to fool extended their presence to even the most private of a person's sanctuaries? And Lancelot... wasn't it quite convenient that Mirdyn mentioned him when he was the reason she ended up in this room in the first place?

Both thoughts delayed any kind of response. She looked at him, unblinking.

Tesla was certain of one thing that came from her exchange with Lancelot in his desperation; his pleas were reflective of human nature. The homo sapiens seeks understanding, and Zodiacs were no different. Lance wanted to understand purpose - to understand a certain breed of emotional chaos - so he could obtain his freedom from it. However, the grasp by which he hung was weak, the rope slippery with oils of complexity and confusion, and despite his efforts, he ultimately fell away. And so, this led him to seek help from one person Mirdyn trusted in a sea of strangers.

"I beg of you Tesla. I beg of you to stop this madness."

At least, that was Tesla's conjecture on the matter.

It was the need to understand that also brought Tesla to Mirdyn's room. After that ostentatious episode, it was only natural that she had many questions about the origins of such pitiful madness. The search itself was fruitless, but now, the man himself stood before her.

"Who is Maria?"

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bed intruder~~

A shadow slithered across the darkened wall, her movements carefully orchestrated by the familiar pulse of time, her breaths steady and slow. In these quarters she was alone - she had been alone; half an hour of sneaking about the space proved such to be true. However, the shadow was considered a trespasser in this premises, and so it was not beyond reason for her to treat the situation with this in mind. The possibility of being discovered was nullified by nothing.

Fortunately, the purpose of this personal mission had been satiated to its fullest potential, and now the intruder was headed towards the room's only entrance and exit for a quick and undetected escape. An easy, almost undermining, task, it was. She hadn't even come across another person since embarking on this miniature break-in.

But of course, for the sake of plot progression, that suddenly changed.

When Tesla slid the door open, she found herself in a face-to-face encounter with the person whose bedroom she had just been found trespassing in.

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Tell me about one of your relationships to any member of The Family. What do you like about them, what do you dislike, etc etc.

"There is one; he has an unparalleled gift of understanding others by simply watching from afar. He will utilize all that he knows against you if given the leverage to. It is admirable, yes, but it he is hardly successful when pitted against me, and he has been made aware of such."

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You are asked to describe yourself in one word. What is it?

"Annoyed."

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ask by vagabondofwar

Having decrypted Mirdyn's message just the previous day was a heavenly act of good timing that spared Lancelot's life, for if he had approached her just a few days earlier, or if she was not assigned a mission that granted her access to a computer outside Alpha influence until later, his skill would be jam packed with concrete by now. That was how outraged ten seconds of this madness had made her.

This was not the case, however. She had been updated on Mirdyn's ploys, all which Lancelot was forcibly subjected to following. They were supposedly feigning insanity, and as the humanoid approached her with an unsettling air about him, Tesla initially believed she was simply about to see some great acting.

But no sane man could fathom what insanity did to a person's thoughts and body, not at the level that Lancelot had reduced himself before her. She saw into his eyes, felt the desperation of his voice, and she knew all of it was absolutely real.

Insane or not, Tesla didn't want to deal with this bullshit. It would quickly attract a mass of negative attention she did not ever want to be exposed to, plus the whole scenario was making her incredibly uncomfortable. And pissed off. Especially when Lancelot progressed to self-strangulation.

This was when she slapped him on the face with a force so great that even the pads of her own hand felt a resonant sting.

"Shut the hell up. Y--" You're making a fool of yourself, she wanted to say, but as she observed Lance's state, her mind ruled on the fruitlessness making the statement was - seeing as he was beyond the civil state of mind where one would even care about their outward appearance.

"You seek help because your comrade told you that I could be trusted. Frankly, there is not a thing in this world I could or would do to help you. Trust me." This man had mutilated the definition and expectations of the world, as if earning Mirdyn's approval made her a saint that could transmute water into wine and sickness into health. Of course he wouldn't know otherwise. Mirdyn might as well have raised that pitiful thing in a cave with the way he ignorantly tried to mold him to be some ideal piece of equipment. And here were the consequences of such, lying here before her.

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[blinded-by-the-truth-blog]

"What do you propose to do with this, however? Spreading knowledge is good, but I doubt that someone would have such a trove of information for no particular reason." She looked back down at the documents, more unrelated awkwardness overtaking her once more. "Not to brag or make your accomplishment of gathering this any less… but I’ve speculated them potentially being involved with the church, simply I don’t see a way for this to be used to our advantage…"

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The woman did not diverge from her tense behavior until Galatea offered one of her rare compliments. Only then could her breath come a bit less difficultly. At least, until the other began making statements that could easily be interpreted as a threat by their superiors. At the words "to our advantage", Tesla's eyes glinted with a fleeting look of foreboding and irritation, as if she had done something guilty and was just exposed. Essentially, by Alpha's standards, she was doing something to feel guilty about, and Galatea wasn't helping to mitigate it.

Tesla spoke her her next words slowly. "Don’t misinterpret the intentions that compelled me to share this with you. I’m not quite spirited enough to encourage another uprising any time soon; believe me. Though, I do understand the ease with which one can control when they sequester their subjects from information, breeding ignorance. It is much more difficult for a person alone to manipulate an identity or a perspective once a foundation of truth has already been established. I do not see where control has specifically been an issue for yourself; it is simply that you are the one who expressed vague interest in such material not long ago.”

As she said this, her eyes turned sharply to her surroundings to tell Alpha that, yes, she was firmly aware of their omniscient presence. Such is why she did not openly share the other advantage that this documentation bestowed upon her; the pages her comrade just absorbed were what familiarized Tesla with the computer systems upstairs. It came in handy on a certain fateful, temperamental day. Perhaps Galatea would one day find the same kind of benefit.

“Anyway, to answer your first question, I originally compiled this,"

"because I was curious to know who in the high heavens would want to fund the 8,760 distasteful meals that pass through The Fridge per year.” This, of course, was but a joke, yet also an understatement representing a much more in-depth interest that once possessed Tesla. The arsenal was the prime example, having both all of the Zodiacs’ respective metals in stock, some costing millions just to isolate several grams of specific isotopes, and illicit weaponry that displayed destructive and technological dominance over the arms of all their enemies, including the faciment itself. All of it was morbidly expensive, and the funding for it all had to originate somewhere.

Suddenly came the wretched siren. Tesla’s eyes met Galatea’s once more, then, like always, the slow, monotonous hum of an inhuman woman’s voice followed:

“The following agents are to report to central command at 19:00 for mission assignment: Beta 06 and Beta 07."

Had she ever told anyone she did not believe in coincidences? Not that she could recall, but it was true.

After a string of silence, Tesla retrieved her documents, nodded at her comrade, and departed as quietly as she came.

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What were you like as a kid? What were your dreams and wishes?

"I was quiet and followed orders. In the Last Obelisk, you count bodies, ammunition, binary. You do not count clouds."

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Tesla found her when she was alone. She cautiously traversed the length of the common area on the pads of her bare feet, as if unwilling to be spotted in a last second's effort to prepare herself for what she was about to do. And yes, she was unreasonably nervous - no, nearly afraid - that the documentation she held in her hands would not sufficiently purge Galatea of her curious appetite. In fact, Tesla knew it wouldn't. The entire first quarter of her research was a collection of completely obvious facts on the Araen religion that droned on, and then what followed was almost embarrassing once she reviewed it in the eyes of a hypothetical audience.

Yet, Tesla felt that, just this once, throwing herself beyond the boundaries of her comfort zone would be worth the possibility of pleasing one of the few people she truly respected; even if Galatea did not particularly care for her theories, Tesla could possibly receive some reliable insight on the matter discussed and improve upon it. Stars, she knew how much improvement was needed.

Without a word, Tesla seated herself across from the albino and quickly handed her the stack of electronic paper before she could second guess her actions. She sat erect, countenance revealing only a mind full of thought, fingers tapping ever so slightly against her lap in building anxiety.

"If you're interested. It's a little outdated, though." Know thy enemy, she wanted to say. Knowledge is power.

And she watched intently; watched for the reaction Galatea expressed once she opened the files and found that she had just been handed a collection of Tesla's conjectures and theories regarding the very topic of the discussion she had overheard several days ago, complete with mission logs related to companies with strong Araen presence, bank statements, employee files, mugshots, etc. - all for which Tesla had once utilized to answer a majority of the very same matters Galatea had mentioned. When she had more freedom to navigate through intel, that is.

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To: canary        From: Mirdyn

HOvmbw6EyKVgRYP2znHse0s8zFGhjGcovlDUPYUqTA Jn6VIXv6E//3cCx/dSoyqlURBa0kg/yptLDrzhITEzIcyzb7 tcvcO//6jITM5IdLyp0AvJGYhMTAhwWVPPSXPuivAl+oh MTIhr697WGX+B1y20PXYvDH7ckmagoYmT2fpGiEwIU WCpbfbeHYhMTEhi5UoxV1gkD2b1Ig/vMQ8H9B5Mm5y 5scIwuDCinBgq7EDc0mQoyEzMyEawR987MUQ1oVq3rg PbfzeOdl5ruXgt0wcITAhUctd6EelfqzNXnvjmK0tb/QWZwJ pITM5IdasxTaRG9.........

What appeared to be an extensive rigmarole of characters was truthfully an old school style of encryption, recognizable only by those well versed in the history of computer language. Incredibly easy to decrypt; in fact, Tesla would have been insulted if she hadn't quickly figured that this message was obviously meant to be read without great difficulty, while at the same time remaining unidentified by unsolicited audiences. Clever, she admitted. She may have commended the nostalgia Mirdyn's methods displayed - if not for the foolishness of the maneuver itself.

After all, he just attempted to communicate with a traitor on a medium that has undoubtedly been under Alpha's strict surveillance since her technology turned on them -- funny how people only take preventive measures after something's happened -- and, while Tesla understood that Alpha evidently lacked the sort of assets that would grant them the ability to read beyond the jumble, to run her decryption program on this system was nothing short of imprudent behavior.

The solution to this was beautifully simple, of course, but it would require her to contain her anticipation until a situation that would allot decryption arose. Until then, it was important for her to advocate the illusion present, as the chances of others seeing this were probable. Tesla responded:

To: Mirdyn      From: canary

Quit wasting my time.

Unsettling. Unsafe. Risky. But it would have to do. Virgo terminated her connection with the otherworldly Scorpio and quietly resumed her normal activities, hoping that the aberration would only rouse an insignificant amount of suspicion.

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Our bodies are ours to break: ours to throw into rivers; ours to light on fire; ours to launch into the depths of space.

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Why do you have your striking blue makeup?

I'm an assassin, not a brute. It is quite natural for me to have an appreciation for cosmetics.

And, human, it would save us both trouble if you had some insight when considering your questions from now on.

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What do you hate most about yourself and what do you like most?

...

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Tell me about the weapons you /always/ have on missions, your essentials.

//sighs

Pray you never have to find out, human.

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Say you didn't get Aeth as your partner. Who would you have picked if you could decide?

...................

To say I would have chosen anyone besides her -

well, it would be a lie.

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Tell me about the changes that happened personality wise from when you were a child to an adult.

I never changed. Everyone else did. As I aged, they all became more irritating to have around.

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So have you ever done any solo missions? If so, tell me about your first one.

The Family always operates in pairs.

...almost...always...