(no subject)

[recollecters]

EVENT

Re:Coded The city of Recollé...? PROLOGUE. On the first day of September, the air crackled and it was almost possible to taste the static electricity on your tongue. The charge grew and grew as the hours ticked on, counting straight down to the time Retrospec would chime in with a post as they always did. But no one came. No one posted to the network, no video appeared for all to see, and as the timer on your palm from last month finally reached zero, a jolt of electricity hits your hands and the network immediately goes offline. No matter how hard you try to open the app, it appears that it’s finally broken. Instead, at the usual time the Retrospec post would go live, several citizens of the city will suddenly feel as though they’re emerging from a deep fog. Memories begin sorting and reorganizing in their heads, and many will soon discover that they haven’t quite been themselves for the last few months. While the events of July and August may be unclear at first, over time those affected will come to find that something has altered their memories and who they were. On the other hand, there are still several people you know who weren’t quite as lucky. Though they’re still your friends and loved ones, it becomes clear that not everyone remembers things the way you do. Retrospec hasn’t forgotten though. While there’s no word from the company for several days (and no signs of the liaison’s return), the static appears to be a constant presence and smoke begins to overtake the city. It’s only on the fifth that everything begins to make sense. On the evening of the fifth, each user will find a scarlet A or a B engraved on their palm indicating their stance as an Alpha or a Beta. Alphas continue to be marked as those who have had the app for more than a year as of August, while betas are those who have been around for less time. Like the timers from before, no matter how hard you try the marking won't disappear and it continues to burn and throb against your palm. Overall it seems harmless though. There's no clock counting backwards, no impending sense of doom…just a brand. However, the moment a user reaches for their phone for any reason, the marking flares up. An abundance of As and Bs spread over your body, swirling all around you before your body begins to pixelate and disappear, absorbing into the screen of your phone and leaving this plane entirely. A dial-up tone rings in your ears as you watch yourself disintegrate bit by bit, and your phone clatters to the ground where you once stood. I. The good news is that you’ve re-materialized. You have all of your limbs, all of your senses are intact, and you can’t seem to find any strange changes about yourselves. The bad news is that you've awoken in someone else's bedroom. The appearance seems off, though it may just be that sepia wash. As you exit the room and head downstairs, there's no one to greet you. Instead, you'll find a map of the city waiting for you on a table along with a swipe card for the local subway. Lucky for you, the subway is just outside the front door. Literally. As you open the front door and come to your senses you will find yourself inside an abandoned subway station not unlike the one several users explored in January and February. Even better, you're not alone. You may spot friends or relatives nearby who are app users looking just as confused as you may feel. The subway station appears clunky and blocky in its appearance, shapes not quite defined and edges a little too sharp. Other app users who arrived at the same time appear unharmed as well even if the environment remains digitized and almost poorly rendered. Perhaps the most important part of this location are the tunnels all around the central station. There are ten tunnels in all, six of which are labeled as leading toward the six districts of the city of Recollé. Anyone can ride the trains leading to these districts, and they'll find they even have some pretty groovy background music to accompany the journey. Upon entering any part of the city, you’ll find that everyone you know and love who isn’t on the Retrospec network has a place in this digital world as well. The longer you explore the more familiar faces you’ll see. Or, at least, they seem familiar enough. It may be hard to tell when their rendered models don’t look quite as good as yours. The strange thing about it is that no matter what time of day you check on them, these people remain rooted in the same spot, often spouting out the same line of dialogue to you. Your parents may not be able to leave your house, or perhaps your best friend is waiting for you at the movies at all hours of the day. They can't deviate from their script very much, but with a little persuasion (or some yelling, whatever works for you) you can unlock some bonus cutscenes. The landscape around the city matches that of the subway station. All buildings, landmarks, flora and fauna appear to be pixelated and digitized. Even most of your pets are rendered poorly unless they're animals obtained from Retrospec themselves. The longer you look, the more you'll realize that the only things that aren't pixelated are items and buildings obtained from Retrospec. Every now and then the other buildings might flicker but they remain standing. The city remains hustling and bustling as it always does, people on their way to work or school, shops open for business and the sun rising and setting like clockwork. Don't get too close to the buildings though. As you explore more of your beloved city, you'll soon find there are several weak points in these structures. Retrospec users will find themselves glitching out, phasing through walls, teleporting to other parts of the city and even discovering hidden rooms inside some places. Granted, the hidden rooms are more than likely storage units and the like, but it's still probably not a place you want to go. The glitches are endless, and some may be more outrageous than others. And most importantly, the longer you look around the city, the more it becomes obvious something is missing…but you can't quite put your finger on it yet, can you? Think hard. When was the last time you saw your friends who used to be on the app and have since dropped off? Happy searching. II. Or perhaps you're not interested in venturing out to Recollé right away and you want to look at the four remaining tunnels. These tunnels are labeled as A1, A2, B1 and B2. An A-train and a B-train wait for passengers to step aboard and at the doorway of each train stands a guard. Those branded with an A may board the A-train, and those branded with a B may board the B-train, but should you try to board the incorrect train these little guys will happily grab you and throw you back into the middle of the station (and possibly straight into someone else. Oops.) While there's no indication which of the two tunnels these trains will venture down, they'll zip along through the dark and out of the tunnels toward your new destinations. Alphas and Betas will find themselves in one of two places depending on how the train is feeling at that particular moment. Is it possible for a train to have a personality? It may be best not to question it. The same background radio plays on the train, but passengers will notice that this journey takes about twice as long as it would to get to any parts of the city. A1. Trains that disappear down the A1 tunnel will be greeted with a splash of color upon arrival and the sight of several large buildings with intricate designs. Unlike Recollé and the subway station, this area appears to be smooth and almost like reality albeit two-dimensional. The train pulls in at a small station at the outskirts of town and shoos its passengers off. The ground beneath their feet feels cushy, almost like walking on a trampoline. Bounce your way through this land if you'd like! It's more fun than just walking, isn't it? The flora of this region appear to be made of sweets with cotton candy rose bushes, peppermint bark trees, red vines and more. It's free for the sampling and anything you pick seems to grow back automatically. A jaunty little tune plays as you walk, autolooping seamlessly and try as you might you can't find the source of the music. Approaching the town itself, visitors will find that all doors are unlocked to all buildings and they can explore at their leisure. As you venture forward, however, you will soon find that all of these buildings are the homes to toy shops. There's a shop for sports equipment, a shop for board games, a shop for model trains, planes and automobiles, a shop for gadgets and gizmos aplenty and more. The urge to play a game is nearly overwhelming, but the strong (or the grumpy) can get away without taking anything from these shops. At the far end of the town, however, is the largest building of all. Several stories high and decorated with twinkling fairy lights and soft colors, it seems to invite you in. For those who can't resist the siren's call, you'll find yourself entering the building and the doors will shut behind you. Lowly lit like a museum with plush carpet under your feet, the walls of the foyer are flanked with glass cases housing miniature versions of buildings in Recollé. It's easy to spot your favorite places…Flix, A Good Bean, The Towers…your own house… …wait, what? Before you can investigate too closely, the floor beneath you creaks and groans as it begins to move on its own. Glued to your place on this moving sidewalk, you begin to pass life-like displays of life in Recollé decades ago. The eyes of these figures seem to follow after you though the mannequins themselves don't move at all. An audio track overhead attempts to play and narrate your journey, but the words are garbled and distorted. The time periods begin to change on this journey, taking you through the 50s up to the 2000s. Rounding the corner, the displays seem to change. The mannequins seated in these sets suddenly look familiar, posed in ways that aren't quite so natural. The faces that look back at you are those who used to be on the app itself, glassy marble eyes staring straight at you. The moving sidewalk stops and a horrible metallic screeching occurs. The models rise to their feet and open their mouths, the dial-up tone exploding in a loud burst of sound before they lunge. Escape the building via any means possible. There are no windows or doors besides the one at the entrance, but who says you need a door to exit? The mannequins will be in hot pursuit of any living being in the house and follow them all the way until they find an escape. As the mannequins move further away from their original display, they begin to fall apart until they are their bare metal skeletons. You can fight them if you dare, but they will electrocute anyone who gets too close. Upon escaping the building, the door seal shut and the mannequins cease their chase. Everything about this region appears the same as before. The happy music plays, the sun continues to shine, and the faint scent of chocolate chip cookies fills the air. But you haven't left empty-handed. In your pocket, purse, or somewhere on your person you'll find a miniature keychain shaped just like the missing person that chased you out. B1. Trains that disappear down the B1 tunnel will immediately be hit with the scent of the sea and the low light that comes from a cloudy day. A castle is mounted up on a hill, and unlike Recollé and the subway station, this area appears to be smooth and almost like reality albeit two-dimensional. The train pulls in at a station near the shore and shoos its passengers off straight into ankle-deep water. Oops. Have fun with that. Walking along the beach you'll find that the waves seem to push you toward the town. Starfish and seashells appear at your feet and while wet sand would normally be hard to navigate the ground beneath you doesn't sink in at all. Every couple of feet you'll find wooden stands offering food and drinks. Fresh fruit, tropical smoothies, barbecued meats and more attract your attention and no matter what time of day you arrive everything is freshly prepared and served. A soft tune plays as you walk, autolooping seamlessly and try as you might you can't find the source of the music. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be any other buildings in this region beyond the castle in the distance. There are plenty of caves to explore and little seaside shacks containing bait and tackle supplies for those who want to try their luck at fishing. Should you choose to explore the caves you'll find all kinds of small trinkets ranging from glassware, coins, jewelry and small weaponry. There are glass figurines and maps of the city, seashells and silly wares like those you would find while vacationing at the beach. For those brave enough to venture into the water you'll find that it's a warm temperature and much more appealing that Recollé's ocean. When you eventually make your way over to the castle at the end of the town, it's easier to see that it's not only a castle but a sea-side resort. Unlike the inn in Pesgare, this swanky joint is high-class and maybe a little out of place for a seaside getaway. With smooth marble-esque floors, stone pillars, open windows and glass chandeliers, all betas are welcome to stay free of charge. There's a room with your name on it and it seems that your bags are already waiting for you. These lush rooms are catered specifically to your tastes, decked out in your favorite colors and styles. The ocean laps against the shore just outside of your room, but the only window available is a large skylight above you. The door behind you shuts with a soft "click" and the lights flicker on just as softly. The snackbar in your room is stocked with treats, the covers on your bed are freshly washed and folded, and the phone on the bedside table rings. The phone rings? That's odd. The phone will continue to ring until someone answers it, nearly jumping off the table and growing louder in pitch the longer it's ignored. When you finally answer, that same dial-up tone crackles in your ear before a voice filters through. Is it familiar to you, or is it a stranger? Someone around you may be able to identify it as someone who used to be on the Retrospec app as well, mangled as the voice may be. The first part of the message is clear though: "You have to get out of here." As they shout out a warning to you and beg you for help, the walls around you begin to warp. Rotted wood and stone replace the gorgeous fixtures and the foundation shakes. The four walls begin to press in as the room becomes smaller and smaller. Escape the resort via any means possible. There are no windows or doors besides the skylight and the locked door, but who says you need a door to exit? The walls will continue to close in, and staying in the room for too long will cause sand from the beach to filter through tiny cracks in the walls to slow your movements. You can try to escape via the skylight, but you will be electrocuted the moment you touch the glass. Fight hard. Upon escaping the resort, the room behind you collapses and turns into digital dust. Everything about this region appears the same as before. The calm music plays, the sun continues to shine, and the there's a stand with coconut water just to your left. But you haven't left empty-handed. In your pocket, purse, or somewhere on your person you'll find flash drive containing the image of the missing NPC that called you and an audio clip of the original message: "You have to get out of here. Please. Get us out of here." III. Perhaps your train decided to head through the A2 or B2 tunnels instead. The destination is dark and seems to take even longer to reach than the end points of tunnels A1 and B1. The music plays on the train and looking out the window reveals nothing but darkness. As the train finally lumbers to a stop, you'll find yourself on a platform surrounded by half-constructed models and paths that lead straight onward into the dark. These pathways seem endless and give visitors plenty of room to explore. While Alphas and Betas are let off at two different drop points, they can explore this region and meet in the middle to find fellow explorers of both Alpha and Beta-kind. While this space may look intimidating, the world is in the palm of your hand. Literally. For any space under construction, visitors may manipulate the world around them to recreate basic designs. The musically inclined can reprogram an area to play a certain song, the architecturally gifted can create new buildings and structures, the athletic can jump from platform to platform and create obstacle courses for themselves…the possibilities are endless. Anything you create will appear as a base 3D model made up of lines and code and will immediately disappear the moment it's no longer needed. For those technologically inclined, you may even find more possibilities and changes you can make in this region. For Alphas, they will find that they can venture down a path that leads them to a temple-esque structure. With walls composed entirely of numbers and strings of code, Alphas will have the ability to change the writing on the walls and change features about themselves so long as they're in this region. While they won't know what exactly it is that they're changing about themselves, they will find appearances, personalities, and even some abilities will be altered. Alphas whose ID begins with 02 to 04 will find themselves more prone to appearance changes, while those whose ID begins with 06 to 08 are more prone to personality changes. While any and all power changes or gains are on the smaller scale, users will find that they're easy to use and can experiment with them so long as they remain in this region. For Betas, they will find that they can venture down a path that leads them to a field. Seated in this field are thousands upon thousands of eggs in all colors and sizes. While most of these eggs will remain unhatched, each Beta will be able to feel drawn to one egg that shakes and wiggles, shell cracking and expanding before a creature crawls out. Congratulations, you've become a parent! These little critters will now rely on their Betas to feed them, play with them, clean up after them, and love them as their very own. As Betas bond with their pets, they will find that they'll level up and grow a little to gain new abilities. Betas whose ID begins with 09 to 01 will find that their pets are more prone to acquiring low-level offensive attacks, while those whose ID begins with 02 to 06 are more prone to acquiring low-level defensive attacks. Pets will remain loyal to their owners and follow them everywhere so long as they remain in this region. Neglect of your pet to the point they are injured or even killed will hinder your progress! Should you let your new pet die under your care, you will find yourself trapped inside a large human-sized egg and will have to wait three days to hatch. Your health stats will start out relatively low and you will feel easily fatigued until you regain your strength and grow. That sounds rather unfortunate, doesn't it? And though it may take a bit of time and some playing around, some users may discover that they can generate a key emblazoned with an A or a B to be used as a guest pass for their Alpha-Beta friends. While these keys will not work on the Alpha and Beta-only areas of tunnels A2 and B2, they will allow users to board the trains and visit tunnels A1 and B1 once per key. What will you create? The only limit is your imagination. IV. Naturally there's still the whole problem of actually being digitized and how the hell you're supposed to get out of here. With non-app NPCs carrying on as normal (or, at least, as normal as they can in one spot) and the previous app-using NPCs still missing, it's hard to know where to even start. Exploring the city and the new regions may be your best shot for finding clues. As you continue to live your best life and hunt for clues to solve this puzzle, fragments of those missing will flicker in and out of existence. In areas across the city, especially those relevant to past app users, citizens will notice old items belonging to their friends will appear, or even full-bodied apparitions. They may appear just as you remember them and while they can't speak they all bear a computer chip worn around their neck. This chip cannot be removed but it has their name and an ID on it indicating whether they would be an Alpha or a Beta. Digital constructs will grow stronger the more clues, information and secrets you gather about the missing people. Talk to one another, learn about those who used to be here and help restructure them and preserve their memory. Visit their previous hang-out spots, deliver their favorite food to someone else, pick up a hobby they used to be fond of, anything that keeps these people at the center of your mind. Of course…there's also the viruses to worry about. Appearing faster than you can blink, these bugs will swarm in and immediately aim for app-based NPCs as they try to eat their data and destroy their chip. Their teeth are sharp and they will cause electric shocks in addition to bite wounds and they move rather quickly. They can be fought via normal means, but as you fight one bug two more will appear. While they are more aggressive in the city around fragments of lost NPCs, they can also be found roaming in the space beyond the A2 and B2 tunnel if you're especially unlucky. Can you take them all on by yourself? Can you protect those you care about before their memory is erased? Maybe it's time to recruit a little extra help here. BONUS. While your phones might not have materialized with you, that doesn't mean that you're cut off from all forms of social media. When you return to your home, you'll find yourself situated with a brand new handheld device roughly the size of a cell phone. It isn't personalized and it doesn't contain any of your photos, music or apps, but everyone on the Retrospec app is in your contact list. The app itself is also on this device and appears to be functioning just fine even with the lack of communication from Retrospec themselves. There's also a drawing app and the game of Snake for all of your entertainment needs. Posts will still show up as posted by your Alpha or Beta IDs and whether you're sending or receiving messages, a string of colored text, numbers and code will leave or enter your device. These devices also need to be charged constantly, so be careful when taking them out of the house! And finally, with a little fiddling, users will notice one more app. A navigation app appears, but any attempts to open it will cause the entire device to crash. As the month progresses, the app will stay open for a little longer, up to 15 seconds, but it seems as though someone doesn't want you to see that yet. Take care of it. If you lose this device, you will not receive a replacement! You'll have to survive without it. Welcome to recolle's September's event! Following the game's new format, this is the first event log! The second log will go up and coincide with the game's TDM on 9/17! Items found in A1 and B1 may be taken from these regions! Collect your toys, trinkets and more. Try not to stockpile on weapons though. As indicated in the prologue, those who successfully recovered their original AUs will fully feel the effects and be back to their original selves on the 5th. They will vaguely remember the last two months and their alternate AUs but they'll believe those memories are false and the influence of an outside source. Those who failed or half-failed to recover their original AUs will go forward with these new changes and believing these memories are the truth. There will be an opportunity later to regain your character's original AU if you wish but more details will follow at a later date. At this time, characters will not be able to visit the four regions outside of the city (Pesgare, Respatrum, Bosuma and Magatus!) However, they will be able to visit places just outside of the city such as Rainbowland, Jabberwock Island, and Wall Maria. If you would like to explore further in Prompt III and venture into the digital paths, please contact the mod team and we can provide you with some basic information for a little exploration! Finally, any questions you have regarding this event may be directed to the mod comment here. Be sure to review the mods' question thread on the plotting post for important information as well!

Comments

[hauntedsavior]

"Hey."

It was the first thing that came to mind when she realized she'd been caught, then that she'd been caught by robotic hands, then by robotic hands that she knew even if she couldn't place them exactly. Once she was steady on her feet again, after she'd turned around and said that one short word, she let a smile, much less rare than it used to be, cross her face.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay. You moved pretty damn fast, huh?"

Almost like she gave a shit about Anna. Weird.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian shrugged. "I had almost caught up to ya anyway," a beat, and her smile got a tad wider and a little sly. "Ain't sayin' I didn't hurry there at the end though."

She leaned slightly to the side to look past her at the train, arms still tucked behind her. A2. Well, that explained it...

"Guess that name is a little on the nose for you, huh."

[hauntedsavior]

"Thank you. See, go explain that to the robot." As faux-exasperated as she was, Anna couldn't help but grin at her own dumbass joke that she was glad, despite what A2 was, Lillian was able to get in on.

Anna let out a short sigh, more a tired puff of air than anything else. "I totally would've been fine." That wasn't the point and she was pretty sure they both knew it. "Don't do anything different just because of me," she added, trying not to think about the last person she'd insisted that with.

[aintjustaweapon]

"Never had much luck explainin' things to robots, they can be awfully stubborn." She joked right back, with perhaps a bit of teasing in there too. And the she leaned back some, her expression thoughtful, at the rest of it.

"...You think that was anythin' different from what I'd normally do? Ain't just gonna let someone get tossed off a train and not try and catch'em."

Just because Anna was at the top of the list of people she'd help didn't mean she was the only one, after all.

[hauntedsavior]

Look. Anna's self-esteem wasn't terrible right now, but there were a lot of things all colliding together in her head that were making it hard to tell how she should be feeling about... a lot of things. So maybe she did think that Lillian wouldn't normally do something like this.

"Well, I appreciate it either way, yeah? My ass might be metal but that doesn't mean it won't hurt if I land on it." Which she realized was giving Lillian a huge opening, but, like, who cares. "Guess we found a place that won't open the door if I knock after all, huh."

Hey, they... had some shit to talk about now, didn't they. Huh. Anna glanced off to the side, trying to find some secluded part of the station to have a conversation in, and subtly tilted her head in that direction. "Let's head over there," she said in a lower, more serious voice. As though anyone would overhear.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian almost giggled at the ass comment, biting her lip through a wide grin as if to telegraph how many comments she was holding in right then. Because it was a lot, okay. At least fifteen. So many her eyes were practically sparkling at the thought of them.

But she managed to resist! Instead just hesitating for a second before nodding. "Sure, okay. Ain't go anywhere else to be int his weirdo world."

Someone had never played old school video games, clearly. As they walked, she still kept her arms behind her.

"You been alright since we all got sucked in here?"

[hauntedsavior]

"Fuck no, dude," she said once they were out of earshot of everyone. It still felt so weird, being emotionally honest with people—least of all people, she had to constantly remind herself, who were so much younger than her and had so much other crap going on in their lives. She needed to get her entire all of her together and stop leaning on people with their own everything.

"I remember trying to kill you, Astin fell off the app, and two people died. Hell no I'm not doing okay." It was. It felt wrong, being like this. Putting everything on the table. But Lillian probably deserved to know, right? Robot solidarity or whatever. Or just close friends. At least Anna's face was sticking to frustration instead of despair.

[aintjustaweapon]

"Yeah...it's been a lot, huh." Lillian nodded, and she made a motion that was probably familiar to Anna by now, sort of stepping forward, as if she were going to put a hand on the other girl's shoulder or arm to reassure her. But she stopped after a half-step, just catching herself.

"I'm sorry about Astin." She said instead. "It's weird when people forget."

[hauntedsavior]

"They were there the day I got my legs," she said, not entirely sure why Lillian was holding herself back like that, but that wasn't really the point. "They were the first person I called. And they didn't even mention them this time, and... they are not that smart," she added, unable to stop a grin at their expense. "So I asked them about some of the Retrospec things we talked about, and they just. Didn't know what I meant anymore."

She sighed and looked past Lillian instead, out towards the rest of the station. "Whatever. It's not like we were in love or anything." Which wasn't just her saying that to distance herself, sour grapes style.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian smiled at that, but it was a thin, sad sort of smile. She'd lost a few people to that, no one she had been dating, but friends who just...didn't remember so much. Too much, in a lot of ways.

"Maybe ya weren't. But you're allowed to be sad anyway, cause who knows what might've been, huh?" She let out a slow breath through her nose, looking in the direction Anna was, but only for a moment before back to the taller girl.

"Sometimes I think that retrospec is amazin', and other times...other times it don't seem like anythin' but cruel." Still hanging back a little, arms behind her back, not quite relaxed like she usually was.

[hauntedsavior]

"Yeah." Anna thought back to a second ago, to how she'd said she "got" her legs like they were some kind of gift. Like she hadn't had to spend days re-learning how to move them and walk properly while her body caught up. Like she still didn't sometimes think they were real, and like her body didn't sometimes trick her into thinking that her legs had been severed.

"It's been leaning into cruelty more and more lately," she said, trying to remain stoic. As stoic as she could. "I'm trying to stay optimistic, but it's hard fuckin' going, Lil. What's it hitting you with lately that's making you think it sucks?"

Did she need a specific answer to that? Probably not. But neither Annalise nor Anna herself was ever much for tact.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian was usually optimistic in the face of everything, really. Or she tried to be, and found it wasn't difficult, at least until lately. At Anna's question she frowned, looking back out at the passing pixilated people, her gaze distant.

She couldn't really hide it forever, could she? And Anna would understand more than anyone. And she wanted to tell her. But it was still frustratingly difficult. And a little scary. Legs were one thing, but...

Finally she let out a long, low breath and just silently brought her hands out from behind her back. She'd covered most of her arms with two rainbow arm warmers, but they bulged out around the strange ball joints that had replaced her elbows and barely covered up the thicker-than-normal solid red plastic that had replaced her forearms. Her hands themselves looked almost normal, except that the palms and the back were made of that same red metal, and her fingers were shiny silver, though they looked almost like normal fingers. If robot fingers could ever be normal.

She didn't say anything though, just glanced at Anna as she showed her.

[hauntedsavior]

Well. The arm warmers were cute, but she knew that wasn't nearly the point Lillian was trying to make. Anna had suspected as much when she'd felt fingers that didn't feel entirely right as she'd been caught, but it was another thing to be confronted with them like this.

The problem was that she didn't really know how to... react to it. Like, sympathy felt like the wrong reaction, but so did everything else? Christ. She decided, then, to forego words and let her hands make the first move. One of them reached forward and carefully intertwined its fingers with Lillian's. If she pulled away at all, Anna would stop, but. She hoped she wouldn't.

"I get it. I'm sorry." Was that even appropriate to say here? Fuck, was anything?

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian didn't pull away, but she did flinch when Anna's fingers touched hers. The first time anyone else had touched her new hands, it was...something. Warmer than she had expected. Did that mean she was colder now? She'd never had cold hands before, that was kind of a downer.

The thought almost made her laugh it was so ridiculous. Her hands weren't cold, they were metal. At least she could still feel with them, Anna's hand felt almost normal. A little different but...

Well, it helped that she just liked holding hands with the taller girl, probably.

She was quiet for longer than she meant to be, lost in those thoughts, and almost missed what the other was saying. "Uh..." She didn't really know what to say either.

"...Thanks for not freaking out." She finally decided on. If anyone wasn't going to, it was Anna, but still. "Guess they feel pretty weird huh."

[hauntedsavior]

"About as weird as my legs," she said, glad that Lillian was actually willing to accept the lame offering Anna had given. "What am I gonna freak out about, Lil?"

She knew, of course. Because she'd done all of it herself, and she still probably had more coming, though at least now she knew what to expect when the rest of her body roboticized and... ugh. She really didn't want to think about that. Any of that. Not until she had to.

"Did you have anyone there to talk to right after they changed?" she asked, then decided to be honest for a second. "That kind of made things easier for me. Just having them there, you know?" Gross.

[aintjustaweapon]

"Nah," Lillian shook her head, swallowing before she looked out at the passing people again. "They were like that when I woke up from all those dreams."

She hesitated.

"I guess I talked to you?" She added, almost looking a bit sheepish. "But I wasn't gonna bring it up after all that shit you had just gone through."

[hauntedsavior]

She appreciated that, sort of. Obviously she couldn't force Lillian to talk about anything, but if she'd known, maybe she wouldn't have been so glib about a whole bunch of stuff. But the past was the past and they were here now instead.

"I mean, I get it. Ain't got nobody else around here turning into a robot. I haven't seen your sister around lately," insofar as she ever did, "So I'm glad to be your first choice on that. We'll just figure all this crap out together, I guess."

She stood by that last thing she'd said right before she hung up, though. The gay part.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian looked so confused. "...My sister?"

Other thoughts were pushed to the side at the moment, even the robot hand, because what was Anna talking about?

[hauntedsavior]

Anna crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her back foot. If Lillian were the first person she'd run into where things didn't really add up with how her memories said they did, this would've been a bigger deal. That said? Still kind of a big deal.

"I sort of remember you having a sister, but, like, who knows." Might as well be honest about it, yeah? "I sort of remember a lot of stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe I was wrong." Maybe she just didn't feel like fighting it. If that was how the world was now, like how Kara was just a biker instead of... instead of whatever she'd been before... shit.

[aintjustaweapon]

When Anna's hand was taken away, Lillian folded her own behind her back again, her eyes narrowed. A sister? She had thought she came through whatever had been going on the last few months relatively unscathed, and yet...

A sister? Had she lost a sister?

"I..." She hesitated, the noise coming out as a long, uncertain sound, and then shook her head slowly. "I don't know. I don't remember, I..."

She let out a breath through her nose and sighed.

[hauntedsavior]

Yeah, see, she kind of. Expected this sort of reaction. Maybe she shouldn't have pulled away; maybe she should've stayed there. She was still pretty close to Lillian—so she carefully reached out again and tried to hold her friend's hand once more, since an outright hug didn't seem... appropriate?

Fuck, dude. She had no idea what she was doing.

"I could be the one remembering it wrong. I have an entirely different person's memories in here, too." Her free hand pointed at her temple as she gave the weakest smile she'd given in a long time. "Who knows right now, you know?" Yikes.

[aintjustaweapon]

Lillian didn't resist this time, her metal fingers curling into Anna's flesh ones, even as her attention still seemed mostly elsewhere. There was a...sister. In the memories from her other life. From 'Labrys' there had been Aigis, but...

She drew in a deep breath, trying to center herself, and thne forced a smile.

"Yeah." She agreed, hoping it sounded sincere. "Ain't nothin' I can do about it now, right?"

[hauntedsavior]

God, this whole thing was so fake. Anna knew it was fake and that Lillian was just trying to put on a brave face, but maybe worse than that was how much Anna was willing to believe it. How much she wanted to shove everything aside even though she'd told Lillian it never solved anything.

"No," she said, holding on a little more tightly even as she couldn't bring herself to look her friend in the eye. "It's just... more stuff the app takes from you. Stuff you'll probably never get back, even if you wanted it back."

They could fight, they could take the building, they could kill Vanderweele. But some things were gone. Christ, this was depressing.

[aintjustaweapon]

"It's weird," she said after a long few moments. "I never thought of the app as bad. I know everybody hates it but I ain't ever had a problem. It was fun."

She knew that sounded crazy, probably. "And then it...I guess it wanted to prove me wrong." She actually laughed, a tired sort of sound. "Robot hands and vanishing, forgotten sisters is a lot to take in at once."

[hauntedsavior]

"Yeah, no, I... I get it," she said, thinking back to the dream. The dream that Lillian had managed to escape from. And then to losing her legs, and then to getting a sword, and... sometimes it seemed like Retrospec had it out for her. It was probably only a matter of time. Then again, if Lillian's organs turned robotic—hadn't Anna thought about that before? And she sure as hell still wasn't going to say it out loud.

"This has been a really crazy summer and I don't think it's about to let up anytime soon." She sighed. "It's enough to make me wish the rest of me were a robot already so I could stop being so fucking exhausted all the time."