In this memory, Eirene is in some kind of scientific facility along with a heavily-armed contingent, consulting with a woman she refers to as Medic. In front of them is a person who seems to have been put in stasis, who they're removing from a person-sized metal box attached to some kind of apparatus.
Eirene is very worried for the person they're retrieving, and distinctly agitated; when they wake up, she's elated, but soon realizes that this person, "Doctor," doesn't remember anything, and explains to them that they're a member of Rhodes Island, like the rest of this group.
However, some kind of unanticipated conflict seems to be breaking out where they are, and they run into armed insurgents that prove hostile. The Doctor is apparently some kind of tactician, or was, before their memory loss, and Eirene asks them if they're able to command the battle.
Eirene has recently returned from some kind of mission; a woman named Dr. Kal'tsit requests to check her hands and examines the crystal lesions on her wrists, as well as the blue-green metal rings she wears on each finger. She gets scolded for being uncautious, but is told that the rings haven't cracked or discolored, which is apparently good. Eirene seems a little downcast, though, and distinctly remembers being internally distraught.
As she leaves, the Doctor comes in to talk to Kal'tsit; she can hear the Doctor getting scolded a bit from outside for allowing her to be in "that much risk."
She remembers—a great horned warrior, a "sarkaz," in his tent surrounded by a great fire. He is roaring about being betrayed once again, for being Sarkaz—their civilians have been killed, his wife has been killed. He wants a place to live in peace and a place to call home, but every time it is snatched away.
She remembers him raising his sword, a great, heavy thing. She remembers raising her own arm; she remembers feeling his rage and his fury eternal as part of herself. She remembers that Sarkaz killing all the oathbreakers in front of him; she remembers that afterward, he turned his sword upon himself.
In her hand, which was formerly empty, surrounded by crimson flames of rage, a sword manifests. Beside her, the dark-haired woman with her crimson sword looks bewildered; in front of her, the pale-haired woman in the black dress with her long dark sword looks at her solemnly, and declares her the Lord of Sarkaz; the enemy of humanity.
A general memory of medical treatment and Eirene's history with the medical department of Rhodes Island, both as a patient and as an administrator. She's not a medic herself, but has an overview of the treatment of Oripathy and its usual symptoms and effects.
In the aftermath of a difficult battle, the troops Eirene and her odd hooded and masked colleague are leading attempt to sort out what's going on, only to find out that the battle isn't quite over—one of the enemy leaders ambushes them from below, attacking the one Eirene calls "Doctor."
The enemy leader, codename Skullshatterer, attempts to detonate his caster's staff—and Eirene, determined not to let anyone hurt the Doctor, uses her Arts, impaling Skullshatterer with an black crystalline blade.
He dies, uncompromising and unforgiving, castigating her for fighting against her fellow Infected.
Afterward, the Doctor comes to find Eirene, and asks about how she's feeling. She talks to them relatively candidly—they're clearly someone she trusts. She talks a little about how she doesn't want her power only to be used for hurting others, but that she'll always use her powers for the Doctor's sake, so she doesn't regret it, exactly. What she regrets is not being able to find a better way—it's that it came to this, that she wasn't able to avert the battle in the first place so that they wouldn't have to fight, and so that she wouldn't have to take the life of another Infected.
The Doctor sort of awkwardly reassures her by saying that at least she protected them, and she reassures them in turn that she'll always protect them. However, before they can get too comfortable, they run into some stragglers from the fight, and in the aftermath a familiar face who seems to be another enemy commander ("from Chernobog"?) throws a phone at Eirene and says someone wants to talk to her before throwing a flashbang and getting the hell out of there.
On the other end, there's a young girl's voice, and the sound of people yelling in the background—crying over the dead, trying to triage the wounded. Eirene identifies the speaker as Misha, who is is having some kind of personal breakdown. She talks about how Reunion destroyed her home, but that her family brought it on themselves by letting her younger brother be dragged away for being an Infected, and that she should have protected him back then. Eirene tells her that Skullshatterer is dead, and that she can come back to them now, but Misha says that as an Infected, she sees now that she has to stand on the side of the Infected.
Eirene says she's going to come find Misha, and tries to reassure her, but Misha says that she's made up her mind, and that to stand on the side of the Infected is to be part of Reunion. And then she says she's sorry, and hangs up, leaving Eirene holding the phone.
Eirene is out walking alone on a rainy day in Lungmen when a small child bumps into her. The child apologizes, and asks if she shouldn't go inside, because of the weather. Eirene says she's just taking a walk, and asks if the child is looking for help; the child, surprised, says yes, and asks how she knew, and Eirene says it's a secret. It turns out the kid is trying to get a record player out from a pile of junk to take home and repair so that they can play the records they've collected for everyone.
This gives Eirene a moment of pause, and she wavers in her certainty, murmuring: "...Such a difficult thing, said so casually... What am I doing this for... What can I even do...?"
The child asks if Eirene is afraid, because they're infected; Eirene recovers her composure and explains that she is, too, and says that "There's nothing wrong with being an Infected. Whether you are healthy or infected... If you're a good person, that will never change. " She asks the child if they'd like something to eat, and says that she's out here because she made a promise to someone.
She has a strange moment after the child leaves, where she argues with... herself? asking why she can't protect those around her, and then countering that Rhodes Island keeps fighting for the infected and that they've come together for a common goal, and that the Infected cannot succumb to despair just yet, reiterating that she made a promise to "her."
She's distracted, though, when off in the distance she sees someone familiar—the Lungmen Guard Department superintendent, Madam Ch'en, receiving a small stuffed bear toy from a little girl, who says "A big sister once told me that these dolls won't work unless you make them yourself. So that's why I'm giving this to you!" Ch'en seems pensive rather than pleased, though, and when Amiya asks what she's doing here, Ch'en says it's none of her concern.
Eirene is very small, and walking through some kind of wasteland; she's wearing an ill-fitting jacket and doesn't seem particularly well-prepared, otherwise. With her is an adult-sized person wearing a heavy coat and protective gear that obscures their face.
While the person with her is kind of unsettling and mysterious, they're clearly safeguarding Eirene, and they pause to pick some mushrooms from near their path, explaining to Eirene how to determine which ones are edible or at least safe when cooked.
Eirene is huddled with a handful of others, including the "Doctor," in the icy ruins of some city—it looks like it was struck by some kind of disaster akin to an earthquake or an explosion. Half of the group seems incredibly worse for the wear, like they've been in the field for days; Eirene looks comparatively fresher.
One of the operatives, a young woman with droopy cat ears and a sensible ponytail who the others call Jessica has clearly had enough of whatever is going on, and is huddled in the fetal position, shaking. As the others look on, Eirene takes Jessica's hand, closes her eyes and does... something? Whether it's just the comfort of another person's presence or something else, Jessica calms down enough to be sensible again.
Before they get to discussing what's threatening them, Eirene asks the Doctor—who seems to have noticed what she did—to not say anything to Dr. Kal'tsit about it.
Eirene is mildly scolding the individual known as 'Doctor' for worrying her, and seems to be escorting them out of some kind of prison? They're accompanied by a powerfully-built woman with long dark hair and cat ears, and a nondescript guy in a baseball cap who has dog ears and a tail.
The woman with cat ears, Blaze, asks the Doctor what they're going to say to Kal'tsit, and the Doctor just says that they'll say they learned it from her; Eirene sighs, and notes that they'll need to hurry up if they're going to keep their timetable to accept their invite to the Kazimierz Major.
Eirene is in the middle of a battlefield, fighting alongside her own forces. One woman, with fox ears, shouts for her to stay back from the enemy, but Eirene is insistent; furthermore, upon seeing the enemy commander, Eirene appears to recognize them. And the enemy commander seems to recognize her, too—calling her by (redacted) name.
Eirene asks the commander, who is hardly taller than her but doesn't have her face visible, why she became like this; the commander replies that maybe it was their fate all along.
The local guard department leader, a severe woman with dragon's horns and tail and appears to be on Eirene's side, says that this is enough, and it's time to put an end to it, and that if she has to hate anyone, she should hate her, before the two of them charge into battle.
In the end, Eirene kills the enemy commander, and kneels next to her body to remove the gas mask covering her face. In reality, she can't be out of her teens.
The guard captain says, "People always have a way of surpassing your expectations. Even moreso when it comes to the Infected. Power begets madness, and desire begets depravity. They are cancers, eroding away at all that is good in the world. I don't think this mask will have any particular significance for you." Eirene is sure that she's trying to be kind, but—she's not sure what to think when the guard captain goes on:
"She did no evil. Nor did we put an end to any evil here today. This happened just because of a choice she made. Nobody has the right to stop her, and nobody has the right to blame her."
In the end, Eirene takes her people, and goes home.
This is a memory of someone speaking quietly to Eirene, who is even smaller than she currently is, and being tucked into bed in a room that, while cozy, seems like it's part of a facility that otherwise isn't. a woman in a long white dress, with soft pink hair, speaks gently.
[REDACTED], to me, dreams are something far out of reach. Ahh, it's so tiring dealing with so many matters each and every day.
However, I do have a dream like that. This dream makes me think that no matter how much effort I put in here, it's all worth it. If your mom and dad were at your side when you slept at night, would you be a lot happier?
Yes, yes. Ehh, I know we may have conflict. You might still throw tantrums knocking over furniture or being picky over dinner. Don't give Kal'tsit a hard time, she doesn't mean it. I know, child. Yes, no matter what, we will always feel safer when our parents are by our side. They are like a lamp shining bright in the darkness. They will chase away the monsters hidden in dark corners, the drooling beasts prowling outside the windows.
It will all be okay, [REDACTED]. Your mom and dad must have thought so. No matter how many worries fill their minds, parents always think of more when looking at their children. Sometimes, it's the only reason for us to continue living. Because... life continues after we die, for no reason other than that others live on. That is the reason that helps us to move forward.
I do not wish for children to lose their parents, nor for parents to grieve over their children. In this world of ours, people are always having their lives taken. Inevitably, something will take away the people we love, the people that give us strength to move forward...
Sometimes, these things even happen between parent and child. Just because of a few words, a few thoughts... Their relationship fills with hate.
The blood that flows from our wounds cannot irrigate the fields. The pain that builds up year after year will never bear fruit. [REDACTED], we are weak. Even if our tears fall into the earth, seeds will not sprout there.
That's why, I have a very distant dream.
I wish for the people of this world to never again cry tears of separation and loss. I don't want our night skies to be filled with broken hearts and emptiness. Perhaps, one day... We'll be able to let everyone on this vast land fall into peaceful slumber.
Yes, everyone. Including us.
Even if that future will never come, even if this world should sink into darkness. [REDACTED], we live not just for a singular answer. Right now, Rhodes Island is still trundling along its path. Everything is running as usual, even if we never reach our destination.
...at the beach? It's in some kind of popular tourist location, clearly, lined by palm trees and festival-goers. There's heavy music playing in the distance, and a girl of the same age with bear ears and blonde hair has apparently pressed her into service running a food stall on the beach. It seems pretty lively, though.
In this memory Eirene and a small group of operators are fighting their way out of a city that seems to be in the middle of a major natural disaster, and also under attack. Her group, in fact, finds themselves having run afoul of the group that has seemingly orchestrated this situation—face-to-face with a woman in an elegant black dress who can summon huge torrents of flame.
She has the Doctor with her, who helps command the group despite seeming slightly out of their depth, but it's still difficult—a woman who looks startlingly similar to Chivalry Luminosity blocks heavy attacks with a radiant shield of light, but expresses alarm that it nearly broke through her defenses. In the end, a couple of her operators delay their opponents so that the rest of them can flee the city—
...and as she leaves, she doesn't expect to see them again. She hopes, but she doesn't expect it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
MEMORY 1
Date: 2021-07-12 06:01 pm (UTC)In this memory, Eirene is in some kind of scientific facility along with a heavily-armed contingent, consulting with a woman she refers to as Medic. In front of them is a person who seems to have been put in stasis, who they're removing from a person-sized metal box attached to some kind of apparatus.
Eirene is very worried for the person they're retrieving, and distinctly agitated; when they wake up, she's elated, but soon realizes that this person, "Doctor," doesn't remember anything, and explains to them that they're a member of Rhodes Island, like the rest of this group.
However, some kind of unanticipated conflict seems to be breaking out where they are, and they run into armed insurgents that prove hostile. The Doctor is apparently some kind of tactician, or was, before their memory loss, and Eirene asks them if they're able to command the battle.
MEMORY 2
Date: 2021-07-12 06:05 pm (UTC)Eirene has recently returned from some kind of mission; a woman named Dr. Kal'tsit requests to check her hands and examines the crystal lesions on her wrists, as well as the blue-green metal rings she wears on each finger. She gets scolded for being uncautious, but is told that the rings haven't cracked or discolored, which is apparently good. Eirene seems a little downcast, though, and distinctly remembers being internally distraught.
As she leaves, the Doctor comes in to talk to Kal'tsit; she can hear the Doctor getting scolded a bit from outside for allowing her to be in "that much risk."
MEMORY 3
Date: 2021-07-12 06:06 pm (UTC)MEMORY 4
Date: 2021-07-12 06:16 pm (UTC)She remembers—a great horned warrior, a "sarkaz," in his tent surrounded by a great fire. He is roaring about being betrayed once again, for being Sarkaz—their civilians have been killed, his wife has been killed. He wants a place to live in peace and a place to call home, but every time it is snatched away.
She remembers him raising his sword, a great, heavy thing. She remembers raising her own arm; she remembers feeling his rage and his fury eternal as part of herself. She remembers that Sarkaz killing all the oathbreakers in front of him; she remembers that afterward, he turned his sword upon himself.
In her hand, which was formerly empty, surrounded by crimson flames of rage, a sword manifests. Beside her, the dark-haired woman with her crimson sword looks bewildered; in front of her, the pale-haired woman in the black dress with her long dark sword looks at her solemnly, and declares her the Lord of Sarkaz; the enemy of humanity.
MEMORY 5
Date: 2021-07-12 06:17 pm (UTC)MEMORY 6
Date: 2021-10-23 01:51 am (UTC)The enemy leader, codename Skullshatterer, attempts to detonate his caster's staff—and Eirene, determined not to let anyone hurt the Doctor, uses her Arts, impaling Skullshatterer with an black crystalline blade.
He dies, uncompromising and unforgiving, castigating her for fighting against her fellow Infected.
Afterward, the Doctor comes to find Eirene, and asks about how she's feeling. She talks to them relatively candidly—they're clearly someone she trusts. She talks a little about how she doesn't want her power only to be used for hurting others, but that she'll always use her powers for the Doctor's sake, so she doesn't regret it, exactly. What she regrets is not being able to find a better way—it's that it came to this, that she wasn't able to avert the battle in the first place so that they wouldn't have to fight, and so that she wouldn't have to take the life of another Infected.
The Doctor sort of awkwardly reassures her by saying that at least she protected them, and she reassures them in turn that she'll always protect them. However, before they can get too comfortable, they run into some stragglers from the fight, and in the aftermath a familiar face who seems to be another enemy commander ("from Chernobog"?) throws a phone at Eirene and says someone wants to talk to her before throwing a flashbang and getting the hell out of there.
On the other end, there's a young girl's voice, and the sound of people yelling in the background—crying over the dead, trying to triage the wounded. Eirene identifies the speaker as Misha, who is is having some kind of personal breakdown. She talks about how Reunion destroyed her home, but that her family brought it on themselves by letting her younger brother be dragged away for being an Infected, and that she should have protected him back then. Eirene tells her that Skullshatterer is dead, and that she can come back to them now, but Misha says that as an Infected, she sees now that she has to stand on the side of the Infected.
Eirene says she's going to come find Misha, and tries to reassure her, but Misha says that she's made up her mind, and that to stand on the side of the Infected is to be part of Reunion. And then she says she's sorry, and hangs up, leaving Eirene holding the phone.
MEMORY 7
Date: 2021-12-19 01:10 am (UTC)This gives Eirene a moment of pause, and she wavers in her certainty, murmuring: "...Such a difficult thing, said so casually... What am I doing this for... What can I even do...?"
The child asks if Eirene is afraid, because they're infected; Eirene recovers her composure and explains that she is, too, and says that "There's nothing wrong with being an Infected. Whether you are healthy or infected... If you're a good person, that will never change. " She asks the child if they'd like something to eat, and says that she's out here because she made a promise to someone.
She has a strange moment after the child leaves, where she argues with... herself? asking why she can't protect those around her, and then countering that Rhodes Island keeps fighting for the infected and that they've come together for a common goal, and that the Infected cannot succumb to despair just yet, reiterating that she made a promise to "her."
She's distracted, though, when off in the distance she sees someone familiar—the Lungmen Guard Department superintendent, Madam Ch'en, receiving a small stuffed bear toy from a little girl, who says "A big sister once told me that these dolls won't work unless you make them yourself. So that's why I'm giving this to you!" Ch'en seems pensive rather than pleased, though, and when Amiya asks what she's doing here, Ch'en says it's none of her concern.
MEMORY 8
Date: 2022-02-25 02:30 am (UTC)While the person with her is kind of unsettling and mysterious, they're clearly safeguarding Eirene, and they pause to pick some mushrooms from near their path, explaining to Eirene how to determine which ones are edible or at least safe when cooked.
MEMORY 9
Date: 2022-02-25 02:35 am (UTC)One of the operatives, a young woman with droopy cat ears and a sensible ponytail who the others call Jessica has clearly had enough of whatever is going on, and is huddled in the fetal position, shaking. As the others look on, Eirene takes Jessica's hand, closes her eyes and does... something? Whether it's just the comfort of another person's presence or something else, Jessica calms down enough to be sensible again.
Before they get to discussing what's threatening them, Eirene asks the Doctor—who seems to have noticed what she did—to not say anything to Dr. Kal'tsit about it.
MEMORY 10
Date: 2022-02-25 02:36 am (UTC)The woman with cat ears, Blaze, asks the Doctor what they're going to say to Kal'tsit, and the Doctor just says that they'll say they learned it from her; Eirene sighs, and notes that they'll need to hurry up if they're going to keep their timetable to accept their invite to the Kazimierz Major.
MEMORY 11
Date: 2022-03-24 05:55 pm (UTC)Eirene is in the middle of a battlefield, fighting alongside her own forces. One woman, with fox ears, shouts for her to stay back from the enemy, but Eirene is insistent; furthermore, upon seeing the enemy commander, Eirene appears to recognize them. And the enemy commander seems to recognize her, too—calling her by (redacted) name.
Eirene asks the commander, who is hardly taller than her but doesn't have her face visible, why she became like this; the commander replies that maybe it was their fate all along.
The local guard department leader, a severe woman with dragon's horns and tail and appears to be on Eirene's side, says that this is enough, and it's time to put an end to it, and that if she has to hate anyone, she should hate her, before the two of them charge into battle.
In the end, Eirene kills the enemy commander, and kneels next to her body to remove the gas mask covering her face. In reality, she can't be out of her teens.
The guard captain says, "People always have a way of surpassing your expectations. Even moreso when it comes to the Infected. Power begets madness, and desire begets depravity. They are cancers, eroding away at all that is good in the world. I don't think this mask will have any particular significance for you." Eirene is sure that she's trying to be kind, but—she's not sure what to think when the guard captain goes on:
"She did no evil. Nor did we put an end to any evil here today. This happened just because of a choice she made. Nobody has the right to stop her, and nobody has the right to blame her."
In the end, Eirene takes her people, and goes home.
MEMORY 12
Date: 2022-03-24 05:57 pm (UTC)This is a memory of someone speaking quietly to Eirene, who is even smaller than she currently is, and being tucked into bed in a room that, while cozy, seems like it's part of a facility that otherwise isn't. a woman in a long white dress, with soft pink hair, speaks gently.
MEMORY 13
Date: 2022-03-24 05:58 pm (UTC)In this memory, Eirene is—
...at the beach? It's in some kind of popular tourist location, clearly, lined by palm trees and festival-goers. There's heavy music playing in the distance, and a girl of the same age with bear ears and blonde hair has apparently pressed her into service running a food stall on the beach. It seems pretty lively, though.
MEMORY 14
Date: 2022-03-24 06:00 pm (UTC)In this memory Eirene and a small group of operators are fighting their way out of a city that seems to be in the middle of a major natural disaster, and also under attack. Her group, in fact, finds themselves having run afoul of the group that has seemingly orchestrated this situation—face-to-face with a woman in an elegant black dress who can summon huge torrents of flame.
She has the Doctor with her, who helps command the group despite seeming slightly out of their depth, but it's still difficult—a woman who looks startlingly similar to Chivalry Luminosity blocks heavy attacks with a radiant shield of light, but expresses alarm that it nearly broke through her defenses. In the end, a couple of her operators delay their opponents so that the rest of them can flee the city—
...and as she leaves, she doesn't expect to see them again. She hopes, but she doesn't expect it.