EVENT ★ LABYRINTH II

[futurologists]

DEEPER Following the marked path near the lake leads Audentes (and George) further into the maze, closer to the goal found at the center. Some other inmates (including Zymandis agent Mavahari) and correctional officers follow along, having picked up on the organized manner of Audentes and figuring it’s their best bet on getting out of here alive. Unlike the dry stone and sand in the outer ring of the maze, this next section is overflowing with flora. Jungle vines cling to the walls to the point where seeing the stone underneath is a difficult task; trees sprout from between cracked tiles, bearing alien-looking fruit; branches and brambles cross certain parts of the maze, and will need to be hacked through unless you want to find another way around. Water is more plentiful now as well, since obviously the plants need it to flourish. For the first time since setting foot in the labyrinth, a rain begins to fall, drizzling and gentle. This can be a respite or an annoyance, depending on how you look at it: while it’s soothing and can make collection of fresh, clean water easier, walking around in wet clothes is probably not that pleasant. Your fellow ALASTAIR recruit George has inexplicably struck up a friendship with the Zymandis agent Mavahari, and they can often be found exploring the maze together, with Mavahari helping him due to his broken arm. They seem to be getting along well enough, but maybe checking in with George is in order. Otherwise, survival is the name of the game; though the center of the labyrinth is closer, it’s impossible to tell how close, and how long to expect to be here. Collecting water is simple enough, but food is growing scarce. The tree fruits may be a good solution, but it seems as though some have unfortunate reactions to them, ranging from stomach cramps to rashes to fever and temporary blindness. But an allergic reaction may just be the least of your worries. LOVE ME LIKE A REPTILE The monsters seen so infrequently in the outer ring of the maze are now a common nuisance. Giant insects and rats scurry about, hungry for whatever flesh they can find, but they’re easily defeated, particularly if encountered as a group. But with new terrain comes new, adaptive animals, and the labyrinth is no different. Lizards are now the main threat: enormous and camouflaged, they stalk their prey and take their time, looking for the perfect opportunity to ambush. The lizards are three-headed, with each head containing fangs dripping with venom, capable of rendering its victims paralyzed within five seconds flat. Their blood is also poisonous, capable of burning through metal, not to mention flesh. If a head is severed, the lizard will retreat back into the jungle, presumably to nurse its wounds but possibly to grow another head -- no lizard will ever be encountered with less than three heads, so it’s possible they have regenerative abilities. The best way to defeat one is to remove all three heads at once, or simply kill it in whatever way possible. The lizards are quick and mean, but not invincible. Now more than ever, it’s important to take care in exploring the maze. Stray too far from the group or try to make it alone, and you might not survive. OOC NOTES Once again, we have a plotting post here and search requests for the next ring of the maze. Please note: during the labyrinth event, all drops are ICly delayed. What this means is that characters who drop will be handwaved to still be around on auto-pilot until connection with Oska is resumed, at which point they will be transferred to a different team as usual. If you have any questions about the labyrinth that aren't answered here, please direct them to the Leramzen dossier. If you have questions for any NPCs, please direct them there as well! Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ and you may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Comments

[kisha]

You seem to misunderstand what it is to serve.

[Unamused at his lack of direct answer, (why did so few people in this place actually speak plainly instead of dancing around everything?), Hayame's arms cross over her chest, human fingers tightening in irritation as a back hoof scrapes the ground in annoyance.]

All things become my "business".

[And by the look on her face, she really isn't interested in asking for a second time... though she's pretty sure she's going to have to.]

If you have nothing to hide there should be no issue with speaking your intent.

[digiorno]

[Just like that, he becomes still as the surface of a lake on a calm day. That's how you can tell he's furious. He misunderstands? All right.]

Let me spell it out for you clearly, Hayame. And I'd like you to listen, because I won't say it again.

[He looks up at her, jaw set, unblinking, and pronounces every word very carefully.]

You are violating his privacy and his trust by asking me this unless he's sent you. If he hasn't, you are out of line. If you have a concern about my intentions, it's him you should be speaking to about them, not me. This, what you're doing here, isn't service, it's being a busybody.

That being said, I'm happy to tell you my intentions. Ninurrta is someone I admire, and I would like to be his friend. Although I'm not sure why you even asked me, since I doubt you'll take my answer at face value.

[kisha]

I am out of line?

[She gave him the benefit of the doubt and listened, even through that condescending tone and know-it-all speech. Raised by humans as she was she knows better how to school her human features than her equine ones, and though her facial expression remains stoney beyond a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth tempting to turn into a sneer, her tail stiffens and raises in indignation the longer he speaks.

Her, the one violating trust?]

You have proven yourself so far to be a merry thief and little else, and you say I am the one who is out of line? You ought be thankful enough I have taken this chance to allow you to make your case as is, though you make your ignorance even more clear.

[How was if that none of these people understood the meaning of the servitude which she undertook, the yolk she had always longed to bear? The way of honor, and service, and pride, and obedience that spelled a better life in her world and yet seemed spat upon in this one.]

My lord is kind, and I shall not allow him to suffer being tainted by those who are not honorable. Have you honor or merely a mouth?

[Despite her demeanor, Hayame had judged her own motives fair. A chance to allow this man to speak plainly to her of his intent and explain his pedigree, past, or profession... but already things have taken a turn for the worst, and she's not about to overlook what she perceives as slights.]

[digiorno]

You consider your judgment to be better than his. This is what you're saying by coming here and speaking to me in this way.

[His pedigree is monstrous. His past is a broken shambles. His profession is criminal. He told Hayame he doesn't believe in honor, and he meant it. But his intentions are nothing but good.]

[It's this that keeps him steady, now. He's calm, the anger passed.]

Did he tell you what happened during the crash?

[kisha]

[He's not actually wrong on that account, and she cannot lie and say he is. "Better" is not the word she'd use, but she certainly feels as if Ninurrta is kind. In these situations, perhaps too kind. Kind enough to see the best in people, where Hayame herself sees the worst.

And as his vassal, it was her duty to turn that discerning eye on those who would try and grow close to him.

At his question, she cannot hold back the sneer any longer, and her lip curls in anger, exposing fangs far too sharp to belong in the mouth of either creature whose parts she was made of.]

If you have something to claim, speak like a man and do not prance about it like some washing woman at a well.

[But inwardly, a feeling akin to panic had already started to close around her gut.]

[digiorno]

[He quirks his lips. It's not a smile, not really. Just quizzical.]

. . . That was supposed to be an insult, yes? Didn't quite take.

[Probably he shouldn't be antagonizing her, but this time he couldn't help himself. She's just so--stiff. Is she blind to nuance, or is she just from a world so different from his that their nuances are too different to meet?]

[He sighs a little, already exhausted by this.]

I won't. I don't know what he wants to be common knowledge and what he doesn't, and I'd really rather not betray his confidence. I--hm.

[He purses his lips. Does he want Hayame to know anything about him? It's the best bet, he thinks, given all of . . . this. It would be a real pain to have this conversation again.]

Let me say this: you'd have to ask him for specifics, but if you do, you can tell him I've already told you I can heal. I think he might be worried about confidence as well.

[kisha]

[The latter. Hayame is discovering that her culture is far different from most of the people she is encountering in this gods-forsaken team. Not only in terms of culture, religion, clothing, and comportment, but technology... and time. She is so tired of displacement, of alienation, of... all of this.

She doesn't bother replying to his needling about her choice of insults. To stoop to explaining why he should be insulted to be compared to a common woman- tch.]

I am not asking you about my own lord.

[The one who she should know the most and best, and who he slyly attempted to imply that she did not. Her gut twisted, but she attempted to hide any signs of doubt or discomfort, knuckles blanching.]

I am asking about you.

[And all she's learning in addition to her previous "merry thief" assessment is that he speaks too much but says very little of value.]

[digiorno]

I've already told you my intentions. What else do you want to know about me? More importantly, even if I told you, would you listen to or believe my answer? Because everything you've said and done so far tells me you think you already know everything there is to know about me.

[He's so exhausted by this. What's the point of talking to someone who won't listen? Why is she even here?]

Ask me anything. Ask me exactly what you want from me, Hayame, and I'll do my best to give it to you. For him, not for you.

[She's tiring him. And this is the last time he'll say the same thing over again.]

[kisha]

[What information does she want from him? Everything. Where was he born and to whom, and what did that mean for his standing in his own world? How old he was, what work he does, the reason for the number on his gods-cursed forehead- but really it all boils down to a single issue and that was "can he be trusted not to corrupt".

Was he worthy enough to stand beside the person she had dedicated her life to in a time when she'd had nothing and was surrounded by a world she had neither the experience nor capacity to understand. If he could be trusted to speak to and potentially influence the person who had persuaded her to abandon the suicide that her upbringing dictated was the only way to atone for her failings. The person who had given her the first and only embrace she had ever received.

But there is no worth in the question "are you trustworthy" posed to a person you already suspect, so that is not what she asks.]

Your pedigree. Your profession. Your nature. Your number.

[Accompanied by a flick of her fingers towards the numbers still stamped on their foreheads, stifling the shame that came of even thinking of the "0" on her own that even dark bangs couldn't hide.

For him, and not for her. Hah. As if this was for her at all.]

[digiorno]

[It all comes down to that, then. After all this time, what matters is who his father is.]

[It feels like his heart's been crushed. Logically he knows it shouldn't feel this way. Why does he care what Hayame thinks? Sure, she'll probably tell Ninurrta, but he can make his own decisions; he's not stupid. It's the implication of the thing. He can never escape it--that legacy.]

[The only thing that he can do is own it.]

[He looks up into her eyes, tips his chin up, and, for once, tells the truth. His shame doesn't show, and for what it's worth, there isn't much of it.]

I'm the bastard son of a mass murderer with delusions of grandeur. I'm a criminal saving my country from its own collapse. I'm ambitious and dangerous and the best friend I know how to be, and I wish I didn't care so much about Ninurrta or I would've told you to fuck off a long time ago, but I do, and I'll put up with a lot for the people I care about.. I've killed nearly seventy people, and I'll kill more when it becomes necessary.

What does that all add up to, in your equation?

[kisha]

[A bastard. Humans might care for that sort of thing in other worlds, but Hayame comes from a world where it did not matter if your mother was wed to your father or not, if you were acknowledged then you were acknowledged. As proudly as she demands his pedigree for her to use in order to decipher more about him, it isn't as if she can claim an illustrious one herself. Isn't like she can proudly hold her head up and say that she had been born from an armless broodmare chained in a stall and mated with the most obedient stallion her master had on hand when she'd gone into heat.

She can almost respect that spark in his eyes, if not for the other alarm bells ringing.]

And are you your father's son, then?

["Mass murderer", he called the man, but claimed to have killed seventy himself and be a criminal.]

For what is it that you kill and thieve for?

[digiorno]

[How much time do you have to talk about economics? he almost snaps out, before catching himself at the last second. No, he's started. He might as well continue. This is the problem with caring too much.]

[There's got to be a simpler way to frame this. He thinks for a moment, then presents the situation as follows:]

My position was once held by a man who wanted to bleed the country dry and prey on the weakest people in society. He did it very successfully, in fact, for a long time. Law enforcement was useless against him, because he had most of them in his pocket. Nobody could do anything by legal means.

I killed him. Now I'm taking care of people like him, those in power who are using and manipulating the poor and vulnerable. And when I'm done with that, I'm going to use the money they stole to rebuild my country and protect the people within it who most need protecting.

That's why I do it.

[kisha]

[It sounds more like a folk tale than reality, what he's saying- and it makes her want to dismiss it. But she can't, even though it's her instinct to do so, because her entire world had been turned upside down by everything about this place. Magic. Travel to other worlds. Aliens. Technology.

But what was she supposed to do? Just believe that this boy was some sort of... righteous bandit out killing bad people and stealing for the sake of the impoverished?]

So you are some sort of... Ishikawa Goemon, hero of justice?

[There's something about him she doesn't like, something sly and slippery that makes her distrust him, makes it as hard to believe as everything else. Or maybe it was just a poor first impression for a warrior bound by honor to be faced with a man who smiled before stealing for a group she viewed as her enemy.]

[digiorno]

I don't know who that is.

[He's exasperated more than angry, now. Maybe it's just the effort of talking about all of this, how frustrating it is to find himself in a position where the best thing he can do is just be honest. Or maybe it's the anxiety inherent in telling the truth.]

[Whatever it is, he's just kind of tired now.]

I don't really think of myself as a hero. This is just what I want to do, so I'm doing it. I honestly don't know how to explain it better than that.

[kisha]

[Of course he didn't. Of course he didn't know, just like none of them knew about the things that were so basic to her world, didn't know about noh, about honor, about the proper way to receive food, about the appropriate addresses, about the gods of the mountain, about anything,

This is when a better person, or a more socially skilled person, might apologize- or at least accept with grace. She still doesn't trust him, a professed criminal, and yet she can hardly defy the lord she has sworn to and speak ill of someone he seemed to think we'll enough of.

Yet.]

Then mark me. No matter your intent, if your influence just doing it should ever bring harm upon my lord-

[Whether it intimidates him or not, her tone is beyond sincere when she leans down to be at his eye level, gaze steeled in determination.]

I shall kill you, and then myself.