stealth_andsecrets | Memories in your pocket

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Memories in your pocket

It was a pretty normal day in Los Angeles, Lorne continued his efforts of ensuring the Initiative knew everything they needed to know about running his bar. And those who cared for him, like Purple and Cipher Nine, had to watch him get worse and worse, without still finding a way to help him.

They were closer to the truth, that much was apparent after their last adventure in the Underworld. They had discovered that the conspiracy went deeper than Persephone trying to get 'revenge' on Cipher Nine.

But they still had nothing to bring them further from that knowledge

Purple was going through the Watcher Library today, hoping to find something that might take them to the next level of their search for truth. And justice.

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Cipher Nine's searching the shelves right alongside Purple, not entirely sure of what, exactly, they need to be looking for, but for now focusing on Greek mythology—namely, on any enemies Persephone might have, who would want to see her dethroned as Queen of the Underworld. Hard copy books are still something of a novelty to him, in a good way. They still exist in the Skyriver, but the only people who really read them are archaeologists, historians, Jedi, and Sith.

He has a stack three or four books high when he settles himself down at the nearest table to start reading. Hopefully there'll be something here they can use to give them a hint.

There is a noise of a small crowd heading into the library. It is Swan, who is leading a small group of Demon children. She is carrying a large pile of books in her hands. The children scatter around, playing hide and seek in the many stacks of books and artifacts.

Swan places the books down on a table. "As requested, Purple. More research material."

A few children run around and around the table. There is a few things that happen at once. One of the children looses a button. Another child places a bookmark into the books. A third child places a flower on the table.

"Come on children. Back to our studies..." Swan guides them away.

Cipher Nine watches the children with a small smile on his face and a quiet chuckle. "Thanks, Swan," he says when she sets the books down, scanning through the titles of the books quickly (assuming they have titles).

All of them have titles. They include information on Demon tales regarding Greek myths, after all many demons were the base of those stories.
And so they have a different perspective.

Purple comes beside him to go through the books too. She is interested in a Nitobe book, written about the Greek myths.

Unfortunately, for them, there is something on that table that has a curse. And as soon they come close enough, the curse is cast.

It will only take a few seconds for the curse to take effect too. And when it does -- both Cipher Nine and Purple have their memories reset.

As the curse starts to take hold, Niverian scrambles to his feet and takes several steps backwards, looking around almost in a panic. His surroundings are completely unfamiliar; it looks like he's stepped out of time, in fact. He's never seen actual books before. And as if the abrupt change in surroundings weren't enough, one side of his face feels... just, off.

Then he spots Purple, and, noticing their close proximity, immediately goes kind of purplish in the face and steps away from her, out of her personal space. "Wh—who are you?" he manages to get out. "Where are we?" His voice is a breath higher in pitch, and lacks the roughened edge it usually has.

Purple immediately has a strange feeling in her arms. She looks down at the one with cybernetics, and slowly starts to have a panic attack -- not understanding what is going on with her own body.

She is shaking with that panic, when the stranger asks for her name. And when she looks at him, seeing how blue and unusual he is, she backs away from him too. "Your face..." She whispers, wondering if they are both experiments in some sort of strange science experiment.

Purple backs up until she hits a book shelf. "What did you do to me?"

Niverian's eyes widen, and he manages to stammer, "N—nothing! I don't even know how I got here!" Then he pauses and asks, quietly, "Um... My face? Wh—what's wrong with it?"

Purple sinks to the floor, hugging her knees. She runs her fingers over the cybernetics in her arm, whimpering softly at each strange sensation.

"Half of it is burned." She replies softly to him.

She is starting to realize that the cybernetics are not just on her arms. She is tracing them up to her shoulder. Her face.

"Half of mine is... mechanic. Isn't it?"

He blinks, and slides down to the floor across from her. "Well... yes, but... I didn't... didn't really think anything of it. It's... pretty common for people to have cybernetics... A—at least where I come from." He reaches a hand up to feel his face, then pauses upon sighting the black leather gloves he's currently wearing. What happened to my work gloves? Then he peels the glove off to brush against the scars on his face, eyes widening a little. "Scars? But I... I don't even remember getting these..." His heart races, and he turns the burned side of his face away from her, like he doesn't want her (or anyone else) to see them.

Cipher Nine is comfortable with his scars, because he remembers the context in which he got them, and therefore views them as a mark of fortitude and strength. But at the moment, Niverian has nothing to give them meaning, no context from which to view them. Simply not knowing how he got them is enough for a sense of fear to accompany the thought of them.

She hugged herself tighter when he sat across from her. When he turns the burned side of his face away from her, she turns the cybernetic side away from him.

"These aren't common where I come from."

"But neither is blue or purple skin." She studies the own hue of her skin color.

"So that begs to wonder, where are you from? Neither of us know where we are... though it looks like a library. Are you a soldier? Why are you wearing a uniform?"

Another alarmed look, before he glances down at his uniform. "...That can't be right," he notes. "I'm not old enough to be sent to the military yet... I have two more years left!" He looks back up at her. "Um. I... Would be in the military. When I come of age. It's... mandatory. I'm from... um, a colony world. Ord Jarta." He looks around at the library. "I've... never actually seen a real, printed book before..." He breathes, somewhat in awe. "Let alone this many of them..." He turns his attention back to her. "Um... I'm... I'm Niverian," he says, offering her his ungloved hand. Which is shaking a little out of pure nerves.

She raises an eyebrow. "You look older than me. And I am 18." Of course, in truth, she is older than that stated age.

"A colony world? Not Earth?" Of course, she has never heard of Ord Jarta. "Are we no longer on Earth?" A panicked hint to her voice.

She looks over to his extended hand, hesitating for a moment, before something inside urges her to accept the offer. "Anastasia."

"Then I'm very definitely younger than you," he says with a nervous chuckle. "I'm 11... My species matures rather quickly. We're full adults at 13, in every sense of the word 'adult'." Of course, he's really twice that age, he just doesn't realize it at the moment.

He shakes his head. "I don't know... But... there's no planet in my home galaxy that has this kind of architecture... It's likely that..." He trails off nervously. "...That I'm the one who's been displaced, not you." He hopes that'll help her calm down a little... He doesn't like seeing people in distress.

His hand is warm, fever-warm by human standards, though it's a perfectly normal body temperature for a Chiss. "That's... a beautiful name," he replies, not sure why he decided to say it, only that it feels... right to do so.

"You might mature quickly, but you look way older than 11. Like in your 20s." She clarifies.

It does calm her down that they might still be on Earth. And after an awkward pause, where she feels like she was holding his hand for too long, Ana finally lets go of his hand.

"At least it doesn't look like a lab." She still has the theory that they are both science experiments.

((might crash soon. Can't wait to see your response in the Maloker thread))

"Well... yes," he answers, nonplussed. "That rate of maturation is physical as well as mental and emotional." He gives her a quick once-over, and adds, "You look like you're in your twenties too, though. Not 18."

A little twinge of disappointment flits through his heart when she lets go of his hand. He doesn't give voice to it do. Instead, he takes another look around, and tentatively nods. "It doesn't, no," he agrees. "But... there, um. There could still be other rooms here."

Edited 2015-02-09 09:55 (UTC)

"So what should we do? Go out there and explore?" She sounds frightened about it. But it is really because the last thing she remembers is being on the street. And not being purple in color either. It has effected even her hair.

The fear in her voice tugs at Niverian's heartstrings, and he wishes he could promise to protect her, but... He doesn't even know how to properly protect himself. Plus, he's scared too—the last thing he remembers is being tucked into a shadowy corner of the abandoned warehouse he's taken up residence in on Ord Jarta, working on repairing some scrounged technology. "I—if we want to find out what's going on here, yes... we probably should get a good look around." He gets to his feet and, after a moment's hesitation, offers her his hand to help her up.

In truth, Ana is not really sure she wants to look around. She survived so long on the streets by staying out of sight, and out of mind. And the turmoil of not knowing where she is, or what she is doing here, is enough to unconsciously trigger the camouflage abilities slightly. But since she doesn't know about the powers, or how to control them, she just flickers slightly, almost disappearing, and reappearing a few times.

Finally, after a long silent debate, she takes his offered hand and stands to her feet.

"I feel like I can trust you."

The flickering momentarily startles him, but he decides not to remark on it for now. Her words, meanwhile, make his heart skip a beat and then speed up, a hint of violet tinging his cheeks. "Y—you do?" A brief pause before he adds, tentatively, "Actually, it... It's strange. I feel like I should know you already... And not just... just in passing. Like I should know you really well."

She blushed brightly. Ana had the same feeling in her heart, but couldn't understand it. And it seemed easier now that he confessed his own feelings.

"Me too. But I don't know how... or why..."

"Neither do I," Niverian admits quietly, glancing aside nervously. "Maybe... maybe it has something to do with why we're here?" he guesses, turning back to look at her.

"Like what? They kidnapped us and gave us false emotions, as part of some weird experiment?" It seemed far-fetched. Plus her emotions felt real. But she just didn't know what else to think right now.

It felt like LOVE. And she didn't even know the guy.

He shakes his head. "No, not that. I mean, it... it definitely doesn't feel false. But... I'm not sure what else it might be either." His emotions for her feel just as much like love, which baffles him for exactly the same reason. How can he love someone he's only just met this deeply? Biting his lower lip, he continues, quietly, "Something's definitely not right about what's going on here, and... I don't know about you, but I really need to find out what."

"Okay." Ana replied softly. She was scared. But strangely his presence was a calming effect on her.

"I guess we should start by opening the door."

Niverian nods nervously, and starts towards the door, slouched over little. He pauses just in front of it, and tentatively offers her his hand, before tugging the door open.

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