driftfleet ♪ IC Contact: Year Two

[save_the_souls]

"You've reached Allen Walker. I'm not around, please leave a message!"

NOTE: Some threads on this post may be considered NSFW.
Year One
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[dancingmd]

Allen,

Yes, it is. I am not sure how much you remember, so if you remember everything, by all means, stop me now. My goal is certainly not to upset you, only to make sure you're aware of what happened. If you feel comfortable enough discussing it over the communicators, than we can do that, though perhaps encrypting them would be be a good idea, just in case.

Beverly

text - encrypted FOREVER

[save_the_souls]

[ Well, Allen certainly doesn't remember the visit that Beverly did, but if it's anything like the last calibrations have been? Well...text was better, it means Beverly wouldn't hear just how profane he can be, depending on the situation. She was someone his age's mother after all. ]

Alright, I'll encrypt it.

[Give him a moment and...there! Got it!]

I think it should be safe now!

Anyway, I don't remember much at all really...what was it that you saw?

[dancingmd]

[Beverly hesitates before typing... she wasn't really prepared to do this in writing, but if that's what makes him the most comfortable, that's what matters.]

I spoke with your child self. He was - you were - in irons. Yours was the first calibration I encountered, so I had no idea how things worked, that touching objects would allow me to see your memories. I had to free you and when I did, I saw the auction.

I know this is a painful subject, and I promise I will never bring it up again. It's not something I should have seen, not without your permission, and I just feel that it is right for you should know what happened.

[save_the_souls]

[There's a good long pause on his end as he reads those words. Motherfucker- she saw that memory? A memory he's spent the past 17 years trying to forget? To distance himself away from? He's not even sure what to say at first-]

[Dammit Atroma. Not even Paradisa played that memory for anyone. What are you playing at?]

[Finally, he sends out a very brief message]

I see.

Thank you for letting me know.

[dancingmd]

[She waits anxiously for his response, wondering if she did the right thing, dragging these memories up again. When his answer does come, short and unrevealing, her heart sinks.]

You're welcome.

And... I'm sorry.

[It's hardly enough, but it's all she knows to say.]

[save_the_souls]

[That gets a quick reaction, deciding to interpret that apology one way that doesn't require thinking about that time]

It's not your fault.

Atroma is the one who's showing these things to people. They're to blame.

[dancingmd]

[It's one of the things she's sorry for anyway.]

I know. Yet I still can't help feeling some guilt for it. It's bad enough that they're violate our minds like this, but to make us complicit in the invasion of each other's privacy is so much worse.

[save_the_souls]

...I understand that sentiment, but I'd rather direct my anger towards Atroma, even if you feel guilty. I know you didn't want to see those things, Beverly.

[dancingmd]

I know. We did get a chance to talk afterwards and ... there were good things too.

[save_the_souls]

[There's a pause. For a moment he's tempted to ask about what good things. His father? The dog? But he stops himself- he doesn't want to hear that chapter of his life retold to him. He lived it, he knows far more than what a few flashbacks and words would say about it. He doesn't need to discuss it.]

With all due respect, Beverly, with whatever you may have been told in the dream...I buried that part of my past when I changed my name.

And I'd much rather keep it buried.

[dancingmd]

No, it's not my place to ask you to unearth anything, nor do I have any desire to. Most of the good things to which I was referring were about us, about the Blue Fish, not about the past.

[save_the_souls]

Ah-

[Well then. He pauses]

Well, of course that stuff that stuff would be happy. You guys mean a lot to me.

[dancingmd]

You all mean a lot to me as well.

Timcanpy was in the calibration. He played a memory, from when you first asked me to help you learn medicine. Maybe you've realized this by now but... I want you to know you don't have to repay me anything for that. You already have, multiple times over, just by being a good friend and student and first officer.

[save_the_souls]

[A recording from Tim talking about repaying....]

...Oh. I...I hadn't realised they were playing my journal too.

[THANKS ATROMA FOR READING HIS DIARY TO PEOPLE. THIS IS ONLY A LITTLE EMBARRASSING]

And um- thank you! [What do you even say to someone responding to your diary entry!] That's really nice to hear? ...Sorry, I didn't think anyone would listen to that entry.

[dancingmd]

No need to apologize, I know how unsettling this is. It's hard enough to process my own calibrations when I remember everything that happened in them and who was brought there. Had you remembered, I would have left it at that. You shouldn't have to be finding out this way. I simply don't want there to be any foundation for mistrust between us.

[Especially given the situation they are in. With all of Atroma's lies and misdirection, it's critical that they can trust one another.]

[save_the_souls]

Right...I do appreciate that, even if it's strange to respond to. I do trust you.

Was there...anything else you saw I should know about?

[dancingmd]

There was one other memory, but I am fairly certain it was not actually one of yours. There were two boys, brothers. I think perhaps they were homeless? In any case, their names were Nea and Mana.

[save_the_souls]

[There's a pause at that. Well. Shit.]

...Yeah. That's not my memory.

[dancingmd]

[Oh. Beverly's answer doesn't come immediately either, as she is not sure exactly how to respond. She would like an explanation of course, but she doesn't want to push him, completely aware of how much she has dumped on him over the course of this conversation.]

I see. And I take it it is something you would rather not discuss?

[save_the_souls]

[There's a pause. The answer is "yeah, it is.". But at the same time...he probably owes her some sort of explanation for that one- considering Nea is an actual problem that is relevant.]

...If you saw Nea, then that was probably a memory from the 14th. The Noah. Nea was...is his actual name.

[dancingmd]

[Oh god... She should have guessed, shouldn't she? It seems obvious now, but he is not what she was expecting from the Noah. She had always imagined him as some sort of non-corporeal parasite, not as someone who was once human. Someone who was a kid and who wrote music and had a brother whom he loved.]

Damn. I had no idea.

[save_the_souls]

Yeah...

[He knows. It's almost strange to think about for Allen, even if he knew all along. Not to mention, a little painful.]

You...probably saw them while they were on the run. Nea had tried to kill the Earl- er, the leader of the Noahs and their forces, but he failed and had to go on the run.

[dancingmd]

If he tried to kill their leader and was on the run, then how did he become one himself?

[save_the_souls]

Hm? How did he become a Noah?

Well...He was one all along, before he tried to kill the Earl.

[dancingmd]

I know we are going into complicated territory here but, I am afraid I don't understand. Was he only taking on a human form, in the memory I saw?