Jun 19
Sakalava woman in Analalava, Madagascar
French vintage postcard
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Sakalava woman in Analalava, Madagascar
French vintage postcard
Reunion and Turnabout - Endgame 3/5
Over half a day ago, you stood in this very hallway, staring down at Erisu’s supposedly-dead body. Flanked by two different government agencies, and the ragtag duo of operatives who had led them into the facility, you watched the dorm elevator descend to the floor where a very alive Erisu was presumably waiting with her sisters.
It wasn’t either of the three who first greeted you, however. You only caught a quick glimpse of the bespectacled brown-haired girl when she turned around in surprise at your arrival, before Akito strided forward to embrace her with a genuine sob of relief.
There were no words exchanged between the pair. Enough was communicated in the way Akito bawled into Kristi’s shoulder, one of the few times he could let himself cry, and she clung onto him with teary eyes of her own. The waking nightmare that plagued them for months was finally over.
The other four, you found to be in the room with the cells rather than hanging out in the hallway, with all three glass cages with their doors opened and unlocked. An at present was using her arm to support Weiss’s back as he was arising from his coma, though Weiss was clearly displeased with the physical touch. Erisu seemed tired, spending most of her energy on trying to stop her past plans from coming to fruition. Hands wrapped tightly together, she watches Weiss from afar, rather glad her brother is now awake. Calluna, meanwhile, seemed to be in the process of reading a wheelchair beside them both, face uncharacteristically serious and contemplative, even if the details at a quick glance seemed too mixed to tell the emotions behind it.
An raised her head as the door was practically busted in by the sheer amount of people marching into the room, unamused by the entry. She sighed with distaste, clicking her tongue first and foremost before she raised her voice to respond.
“Wow, sure is a whole lot of you barging in on a private sibling moment, huh? How tactless. Wow there sure is… about as many of you here as there was when we first started this shebang, huh?”
An flicked her eyes to the gun holsters on some of the new arrivals’ hips, before slowly transferring Erick to a wheelchair she’d already brought beside the cot, largely ignoring the threat for now. Not that she needed to wait long for Akito to interject, as well.
"I'll consider barging in as payback for trying to get me executed. Before anything else, how aware are the Erika Foundation about what’s happened here in the...” Akito glances at his phone, wincing. “The last twenty hours since Yuletide first hacked into your system?”
Calluna eyes Akito for a moment before responding as though there isn’t the unseen threat of holstered firearms within the room, not bothering with her usual fake smile this time even if she seemed to stay calm and collected.
“Within that frame of time? They’re aware of the initial compromisation to some degree, I would imagine, but given the feed we had on our end has been shut off ever since the second incident at the end of your last trial, I would not be surprised if the feed on their end of this facility was similarly stopped at that point, especially given there weren’t any sudden messages from those above us as things went further off the rails. Though they may not know the specifics, I imagine our father would certainly suspect something to be gravely amiss already.”
“Rats. And here I was, hoping we could pretend everything was business as usual for a few days. Alright, how much time or freedom do we have now? Is the Foundation just going to pretend that your Kaleidoscope Project no longer exists, or should we be prepared for them to make sure of it?” Because Akito wouldn’t put it past them to have some sort of contingency plan for failures like this.
Calluna hums. "Likely the former. It seems that external access to the emergency destruction function on this facility has been already cut, as has the internal route we hadn't been previously aware of now as well, thankfully. But if you're asking if in person reinforcements will be sent, I find it unlikely they would directly contest...," her eyes flick between the collection of uniforms here, "Presumably, multiple governments, least of all if they end up turning to satellite data."
Firebrand - Ch5 Emergency 1/2
After you’d had the time to process the chaos of about 10 minutes prior, the Fallout, and the calm, things seemed to change. Both hosts seemed to be alerted by a ping to their tablets, visibly reacting as they read the message. Whatever the situation may be, they seem to be heavily more interested in their tablets than they were any of you.
Tension returned, in a much different way. Something that was a higher priority than Akito, or the guns, or… An swallowed, finally looking up with an unusually serious expression for them.
“... Buckle buttercups, we have a situation on our hands that could threaten every single person in here. INCLUDING ourselves, so we have some shit to do, and can’t be bothered with whatever it is you’re doing.”
Calluna, having gotten her bearings after the second assassination attempt on her after a trial was dealt with, knowingly or not in this case, Calluna frowned, sharing a look with An before addressing all of you with a more serious expression.
“Indeed. It appears that our dear sister’s backup AI has gone rogue, and is currently in the process of attempting to destroy this entire facility. How she gained access to the controls she did, I’m not currently sure of, but we’ll have to deal with this ourselves regardless of what the lot of you do yourselves.”
An’s brows furrowed, as she seemed to be desperately holding onto her cool with a sharpened knife as she continued to examine her tablet. This was a lot to swallow, and she was far more likely to show it on her face than her cool-headed sister.
“... Ok, get your asses back into the dorm elevator so we don’t have to deal your gremlin selves. We’ll fetch you once we’ve settled everything we need to deal with. If your rescuer friends come or whatever, tell them we’re fucking busy not exploding ourselves and all the equipment with your dead friends on it. Keep your mouths shut for everyone’s sake. Shoo, shoo.”
With little choice otherwise, the group slowly filed through the now-repaired elevator doors (When did that happen? Did AION fix them?). An and Callie, after ushering the entire group into dorms, waited back in the trial room as the doors closed on you. The tablet reader on the dorm floor blinked with a small red light, preventing you from pressing any buttons. It seemed like you were confined here, huh?
We Used to be FriENDs - Ch5 Trial Results 3/4
END lived a life at full-throttle, empowered by a hobby that necessitates lightning quick reactions at times and for one’s reflexes to be on point. This might have not been the same situation, but those quick habits came in handy here as one hand darted to the inside of the lab coat she was wearing. She withdrew a gun of her own–Eureka’s railgun, a sleek, square pistol shaped weapon. Two bands of light span the length of the barrel, and the laser sight easily rested on the other’s torso. With a quick action, her hand disengaged the safety and switched the invention on.
“Adrik! Put the gun down or I swear to fuck I’ll shoot you in return!”
A response was immediate.
“What the fuck— why are you stopping me? Are you insane?! This is the only way! It’s US or THEM,”
Adrik retorted in disbelief.
“And what the FUCK d’you think happens if you gun her down?! D’you think An’s just gonna go ‘damn, oh well’? That’ll fuck over everyone–them, us, and all of our dead friends! Fucking–I don’t wanna have to kill you, man–just put it down!”
END’s heart was racing a mile a minute. There was so much she wanted to say, to reason her way out of this. For the first time in her life, Erika Nitro wanted to wait, to avoid acting. There was just no time.
An, having shot her vision back and forth between the two of them during this exchange, slowly inched her way closer to Calluna, hands still raised. It was harder to tell in the immediate, but she at least wanted to be in the best position possible to shield Calluna if needed.
“... I’m one to hold a grudge.”
An threatened, with less venom than she would normally provide. If nothing else, there was a strong will to survive in that body of her’s.
“Be fucking for real—“ With a gun pointed at Adrik, they’re left with no choice but to slowly lower their aim, one hand raising in the air in defeat as the other placed the gun by their feet. Their movements were shaky, but they complied. “When we all die, you’ll regret this-”
And at once, as soon as the gun Adrik held was no longer pointed towards Calluna, their body jerks before they crumple to the ground with a shout, twitching for a few moments. It only takes a moment to notice the glow that formed on Calluna’s antenna, which was to say… Tazed.
END stared them down until they finally put the gun down. She flinched when they were suddenly zapped–though, thank god, it didn’t look like they'd been murdered for it all.
“Maybe I will,” she answered simply, “but I’ll also regret it if we all die because you killed one of them, too.” She slowly lowered the railgun as well, turning the switch back off but leaving it held in her grip. “I brought this thing here to stop anyone from getting shot, because I’m fucking tired of all of this. I just figured it was Akito who snatched the gun–which, can I just say, fuck Akito for knowing you had that and saying nothing?”
Having heard END’s final speech, An paused to watch her. To process what exactly just happened, with a mixture of both confusion and respect welling up in their chest. They swallowed, their life no longer flashing before their eyes, before they scurried over to the prone Adrik and rummaged through their pockets. An removed their gun from their person, their tablet, and any other belongings they presently carried on their person. Those were no longer things Adrik could be trusted with, after all.
Carrying all of the belongings in her arms like a squirrel prepping to store for the winter, An stored the items behind her podium safely, where they couldn’t be accessed.
“... Thanks.” An gave a nod to END, just briefly.
Calluna laughs looking at Adrik on the ground, though it doesn’t sound kind.
“Do you realize what you’ve almost caused, with that lethal injector? Do you realize that the two of us are the only reason the REST of you have a chance at survival? We could easily kill all of you for your own superior sync rates but had planned to make the argument to our father to leave you be? You are a fool, nothing more. None of you were going to be at risk of death with this result.”
Angel with a Shotgun - Ch5 Trial Results 2/4
As all hell broke loose, one person decided to get out of their seat, making their way to the center of the room in a flurry of blacks and whites. It was now or never, with the hosts completely distracted. Adrik had been waiting for this opening since the trial started. They were almost at the end, they were almost free, so now? It was do or die. They could barely hear the music over the pounding of their heart as they acted. Their hands reached back under their cape, immediately finding what they were looking for—
“Enough of this shit! I’m not letting you kill another one of us! I’m sick of being stuck here, of being lied to, of being forced to stand back and do nothing…!”
Adrik pulled out a gun from the depths of their cape, aiming it at Calluna. Their finger sat on the trigger, itching to shoot. They smiled, but it was strained, the corners uncontrollably twitching. Golden, manic eyes stared down their target. This was it.
“It’s over—!”
With a gun directly pointed at Calluna, An jumped in surprise, slowly setting her tablet onto her podium in favor of putting her hands into the air. This wasn’t the same as with a knife, with the range a gun had.
Calluna’s eyes narrow at once though, a hand instinctively going out to keep An back behind her as she stares at what is almost certainly going to be a shot towards herself with little time to react. But…
One moment, everything was normal–at least, as much as ‘normal’ qualified in a murder game. The next, and all of the screens were covered in…. What was that? END vaguely thought she’d seen some of that from videos way back when her parents were younger, but…. What the hell? She was already wound up too much, she didn’t need this on top of everything else!
END watched the sisters carefully, sure that if they were going to put their plans into a lethal overdrive, it was now that it would happen. She was so focused on those two that she didn't notice the actual threat in the room until they were halfway through the space. It took her a few seconds to process what the other was saying, before her body caught up with her and she moved to act.
“Fucking–Byrne, don’t look!!!”
The Results Are in! - Ch5 Trial Results 1/4
Calluna passed a look to An, considering commenting on some of what she’s said in response to others, but left it at a nod for now, before waiting the appropriate time before speaking again to call time.
“Well, that’s quite enough of that. Truly this trial was not for our own sake in the first place, so please don’t make inaccurate assumptions. But as 15 minutes have now passed, that marks the end of your voting period. Truly, things could have gone either direction before the very end, but the results are as such:
Erika N has 1 vote Akito has 2 votes
… And the one who’s netted the most votes with a total of 5 votes is Erisu Kabasawa, for the murder of herself.”
There’s a pause as she looks over all of you in the room, before ultimately nodding.
“Thankfully for one of you, at the very least, you are correct. And, might I add, this was always a special case given the circumstances, so the results of such will be different than they normally are.”
Upon the conclusion of Calluna’s results reading, An crossed their arms, clearly lost in thought as they read the results on their tablet repeatedly.
“... I get that you hate us and want to make everything harder for the two of us, but I thought that at LEAST enough of you liked–”
The rest of the proceedings were interrupted when a poptart cat smashed through a “shatter” on the screen of the northernmost wall, and several dozen copies of the long-forgotten meme invaded the screens around you, blasting Nyan Cat in 8K surround sound as you're subjected to yet another unexpected interruption. Amidst the chaos, a message appeared all around you, refusing to go anywhere despite the hosts' attempts to control the situation through their tablets.
"Hey, keep your hands off our problematic meow meows! They're under our AEGIS, and that means you're not allowed to fuck with them, arschgeigen! Hang in there, civilians, we're breaking in shortly!"
One of Repetition || An + Callie || Trial 5-2 || RE: Adrik, Kenshin
An cleared their throat, opting to be the first to address questions.
“We’re gonna turn down that favor, Addykins. That’d mean we’d have to take you out of the trial room for it, and to be frankie, in your current agitated state? I don’t fucking trust you to not try to like. Smash her head in and ruin the brain. We need that, you know, and you’re impulsive as heckie.”
An shook their head in disapproval. Not Adrik, at least. Not them. Maybe An would consider if it was someone else? Haaah... Well! That was a pointless thought, anyway.
As KENSHIN spoke, however, their expression changed, annoyance flaring up in the form of a sudden heat spreading from their chest and into their fingertips.
“... You’re one to talk about insane. Aren’t you the one who’s been willing to throw himself into the throes of death since basically the beginning of this thing? Couldn’t be me!”
They scoffed in his general direction. What would he know? What WOULD he know?
Calluna meanwhile… looks to Kenshin as he calls her insane, as he smiles and then smirks towards her with a somewhat somber expression on her own part, though the particulars are difficult to parse.
“I suppose I could be thought of as close to insane in some ways, though there remains rational reasonings for my actions still, and certainly for all of this.”
“You’re correct though, that I did tell you that. I don’t believe that things will simply work out for An and my futures if we simply hope for it, and that action is required to be taken to secure it.
However, I do have to clarify for you, that this is the purpose of this greater experiment on a whole, rather than this case individually. Neither of us would be permitted to continue existing as ourselves unless this experiment provides adequate results to take our places, as is still a risk to us, a fate we discovered only in recent years. I may not have feeling as deep as An’s for the siblings that I have not grown up with, but I do care for her, and it is for the both of us that I am helping lead this experiment.”
“That is the extensive work I’m putting in, and is also exactly the reason why the result of this trial is not rigged in any way. There is a correct answer to who it is you need to vote for, and many incorrect ones as well. Might I remind, you do all need to make a choice for who to vote for as well.”
An lifted their head to continue speaking.
“By the way, Akito’s still lying to you all so you shouldn’t be taking everything he says at face value. Kinda weird to keep believing a liar over and over. That ASIDE, a lot of the questions you’re asking, we’ve already answered. You can keep asking them, but the answers aren’t gonna change.”
Calluna nods. “Indeed. In fact, though he has claimed that we have ‘found out’ about his connections to the HPGB, I will the very least confirm that this is false, and that to our knowledge, he is not employed to them himself. in fact, both of his partners have been told completely different stories than that, and from each other. Of course, that’s up to them to confirm.”
She turns to look between both Adrik and Kenshin.
“As for many of your claims that we are dodging questions, I simply don’t believe that to be the case. This is a trial, might I remind you. Not an opportunity to tell you exactly how it was that Erisu died ourselves.”
And Make that Double | An + Calluna | Trial 5-3/4 | Re: Akito, END
This go around, both An and Calluna give something of an amused look.
“Of course you didn’t see a burn mark, duh. I changed my shirt, captain idiot! And you call yourself observant? I’m not wearing my boobs now and these shirts are fitted, not stretchy. If you’d paid attention when you got to Erisu’s body, you would’ve noticed that.”
An rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“I was there in person because she asked me to be. Most people who ask me questions don’t actually ask to meet in person for it? Pretty sure you asked me to show up in person once, too.”
Calluna likewise gives a nod to her sister at that, before looking back to Akito first.
“Indeed, though I’ve been called to arrive in person with people wanting to ask a question numerous times, personally. I must say, it does seem like many of you were eager to enjoy my presence over the weeks for that sort of thing- Though I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that someone would eventually take advantage of that,” she says with a sigh.
Then, she turns to END.
“As to the other question that it seems you have now, I can confirm that Erisu Kabasawa’s vitals were no longer detectible to us, and do trust us that our methods of detecting such things are quite advanced. She was certainly not simply sleeping, though as a fair arbitrator, I cannot give you more than that.”
Certainly, she wouldn’t just be handing them case answers for free, now would she-