Eve | Seth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aprettygirl) wrote2013-11-27 10:25 am
aprettygirl) wrote2013-11-27 10:25 am
[MEMORIES # 41-49 / SKILL # 10]
* Meeting Abel on his way out of the questioning chambers. (trivial negative)
[Game 222 – CYOA – Merlin | Day 286 | nonshareable (cootie catcher; use)]
‘Questioning’ in this case actually means interrogation by hands-on torture; this memory is the peak definition for how Abel was as a young man and why Seth used to be afraid of him as a child, even though she also loved him dearly.
+ Taken.
* Working as a fortuneteller. (trivial positive)
[Game 226 – Dear Aather – Merlin | Day 290 | shareable 1/2 (ballpoint pen; uncap)]
Tarot, tea leaves, palm reading, crystal balls, and the fine art of sweet-talking customers.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Serving a noble wrongly suspected of treason. (trivial positive)
[Game 228 – kissing bets – Dorian Gray | Day 292 | nonshareable (chocolate lips in red foil; unwrap)]
In which Seth is a maidservant for a few weeks, gets a look in and around, has a couple of close shaves with her sneaking, writes a report to the Fortuna scion posing as Augusta Vradica at the time, and thus has the investigations and inquiries withdrawn from that noble house and pointed in a different direction. Seth is chuckling in the background at the confusion and immense relief when the noble in question receives the news.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Activating Crusnik 80% to deal with a hardliner. Requesting a redesign of the Imperial wardrobe. (significant negative)
[Game 229 – Halloween costumes – Goldie | Day 293 | shareable 3/4 (sparkling pumpkin handmirror; view reflection)]
Somewhere around the middle of her reign; in which Seth is partially baited and partially provoked into gutting and entirely draining the blood of a particularly powerful and rebellious Methuselah noble, and that noble dies calling and thinking of her as a monster. She activates Crusnik at 80%, which summons her wings and destroys her dress; the redesign ensures that her future ceremonial clothing tends toward an open back to allow for them next time.
+ :/
+ Taken.
* “Looks like…I’m hated again. Heh…” (significant negative)
[Game 230 – Lambda’s heart – Dream | Day 294 | shareable 3/4 (bag of tiny ginger gears; eat)]
Manga link; goes to the next page. A (familiar, oft-experienced) moment of heartbreak; this has happened before, but it’s still hard to handle animals she has handled and who have trusted her their entire lives having that wiped away once they see her Crusnik mode. Genuine hurt, compounded by trying to take a little comfort in Abel's presence but Abel being unable to offer her what she's asking for.
+ Taken.
* Cain’s accident; saving his life with the discovered nanomachines. (significant neutral)
[Game 231 – Cry Wolf – Gingerbread Witch | Day ~295/296? | shareable ∞ (tiny clear bottle; fill & drink)]
From the novel summaries: Some time after discovering the nanomachines – they still haven’t tested them fully, but have figured out a little of their nature – Cain gets into a machinery accident and is mortally injured. After they try every other means, Seth points out they have nothing left to lose and applies the nanomachines to his dying body. They watch him go through the agonizing several-day process of conversion to Crusnik, extremely worried but with a breath of optimism since the nanomachines do repair the tremendous damage to his body in the process. He does wake up at the end, and reassures them.
This memory follows with a couple of weeks immediately following, in which they monitor Cain and note their relief at his being okay after all; his personality subtly quieting and changing after the incident is attributed to the extreme trauma rather than the nanomachines having driven him insane.
+ Seth might easily take this memory as ‘omg I was the cause of all the bad things I’m so terrible,’ but fortunately she is old and philosophical enough (and has regained enough of that aspect in Aather) to recognize that while she messed up severely, she was also doing the best she could do in a dire situation and couldn’t have foreseen all the crazy things that happened afterwards. So she’ll be upset but not, you know, wallowing in guilt.
+ Not taken.
* Confirmation that Cain lives; primer on the Rosenkreuz Orden. (significant negative)
[Game 235 – stat effect – Persephone | Day 299 | shareable 3/4 (chestnut; crack)]
Reading the reports of Cain’s activity and the nature of the Orden – Cain’s terrorist organization, dedicated to opposing and sabotaging any attempts at peace made between Terrans and Methuselah, while promoting any events that will cause the fragile peace to erupt back into war. Their motto is Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, or ‘through fire shall the world be reborn.’ Feeling a wellup of slow, old rage and horror from long ago – a particular mix of emotions that only Cain brings out.
+ Taken offscreen.
* A Returner is killed; the Dark Ages War begins. (significant negative)
[Game 237 – lost and found things – Eliza’s brother | Day 300 | shareable 2/3 (small dented candle-lantern; light)]
Seeing and participating in the violent outrage among the Returners from Mars (the fact that the single Returner’s death is an accident is unclear and/or lost in the confusion somewhere); this eventually erupts into their making a return strike against the Terrans of Earth and pitching the situation irrevocably into full-blown war.
+ Taken.
* Nearly being exposed due to use of an automata double. (significant negative)
[Game 238 – two truths and a lie – Dormouse | Day 302 | nonshareable (2” dollhouse chair; try to sit on it)]
Somewhere in the first few hundred years of her reign, not too long after she has started to conceal her identity effectively from her people. Seth begins by using a humanoid robot (common in the Empire) to take her place, but through accident or sabotage said robot malfunctions partway through a Court session and it’s only through some very clever finangling and a lot of luck that the situation is salvaged. Seth concludes that she will need a more reliable means of being in two places at once and starts looking around; this is the bridge to her eventual close connection to the Fortuna family.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Crusnik activation up to 80% + wings and the ability to draw Bacillus. (special)
[Skill Game 41 – Zombie Dice – Butterfly | Day 291 | nonshareable (nasturtium flower; eat)]
For reference, Abel displays the 80% state through to page 30 of this chapter. An amped-up version of all the Crusnik abilities she has back, plus the ability to manifest six insectile wings and use them; manipulate the air around her to some extent offensively or defensively (less showy than Abel's lightning-based abilities); and psychically call any freeflowing Methuselah blood in the vicinity to her and absorb it through her wings.
Canon portrays this state as being terrifying (anyone in the vicinity feels like ‘prey’ and Seth looks like/is very much a monster, as her consciousness gets severely sublimated by the nanomachines’ singleminded hunger at this activation level.) It’s the highest level of Crusnik she can reach without getting irrevocably possessed/going insane. The effects are obviously a lot less dramatic under powercap and the abilities all require her having a lot of energy and fresh blood on hand to keep them up for even a few minutes without shorting out, so I doubt this activation level will ever be used in Aather.
+ Taken.
[Game 222 – CYOA – Merlin | Day 286 | nonshareable (cootie catcher; use)]
‘Questioning’ in this case actually means interrogation by hands-on torture; this memory is the peak definition for how Abel was as a young man and why Seth used to be afraid of him as a child, even though she also loved him dearly.
+ Taken.
* Working as a fortuneteller. (trivial positive)
[Game 226 – Dear Aather – Merlin | Day 290 | shareable 1/2 (ballpoint pen; uncap)]
Tarot, tea leaves, palm reading, crystal balls, and the fine art of sweet-talking customers.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Serving a noble wrongly suspected of treason. (trivial positive)
[Game 228 – kissing bets – Dorian Gray | Day 292 | nonshareable (chocolate lips in red foil; unwrap)]
In which Seth is a maidservant for a few weeks, gets a look in and around, has a couple of close shaves with her sneaking, writes a report to the Fortuna scion posing as Augusta Vradica at the time, and thus has the investigations and inquiries withdrawn from that noble house and pointed in a different direction. Seth is chuckling in the background at the confusion and immense relief when the noble in question receives the news.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Activating Crusnik 80% to deal with a hardliner. Requesting a redesign of the Imperial wardrobe. (significant negative)
[Game 229 – Halloween costumes – Goldie | Day 293 | shareable 3/4 (sparkling pumpkin handmirror; view reflection)]
Somewhere around the middle of her reign; in which Seth is partially baited and partially provoked into gutting and entirely draining the blood of a particularly powerful and rebellious Methuselah noble, and that noble dies calling and thinking of her as a monster. She activates Crusnik at 80%, which summons her wings and destroys her dress; the redesign ensures that her future ceremonial clothing tends toward an open back to allow for them next time.
+ :/
+ Taken.
* “Looks like…I’m hated again. Heh…” (significant negative)
[Game 230 – Lambda’s heart – Dream | Day 294 | shareable 3/4 (bag of tiny ginger gears; eat)]
Manga link; goes to the next page. A (familiar, oft-experienced) moment of heartbreak; this has happened before, but it’s still hard to handle animals she has handled and who have trusted her their entire lives having that wiped away once they see her Crusnik mode. Genuine hurt, compounded by trying to take a little comfort in Abel's presence but Abel being unable to offer her what she's asking for.
+ Taken.
* Cain’s accident; saving his life with the discovered nanomachines. (significant neutral)
[Game 231 – Cry Wolf – Gingerbread Witch | Day ~295/296? | shareable ∞ (tiny clear bottle; fill & drink)]
From the novel summaries: Some time after discovering the nanomachines – they still haven’t tested them fully, but have figured out a little of their nature – Cain gets into a machinery accident and is mortally injured. After they try every other means, Seth points out they have nothing left to lose and applies the nanomachines to his dying body. They watch him go through the agonizing several-day process of conversion to Crusnik, extremely worried but with a breath of optimism since the nanomachines do repair the tremendous damage to his body in the process. He does wake up at the end, and reassures them.
This memory follows with a couple of weeks immediately following, in which they monitor Cain and note their relief at his being okay after all; his personality subtly quieting and changing after the incident is attributed to the extreme trauma rather than the nanomachines having driven him insane.
+ Seth might easily take this memory as ‘omg I was the cause of all the bad things I’m so terrible,’ but fortunately she is old and philosophical enough (and has regained enough of that aspect in Aather) to recognize that while she messed up severely, she was also doing the best she could do in a dire situation and couldn’t have foreseen all the crazy things that happened afterwards. So she’ll be upset but not, you know, wallowing in guilt.
+ Not taken.
* Confirmation that Cain lives; primer on the Rosenkreuz Orden. (significant negative)
[Game 235 – stat effect – Persephone | Day 299 | shareable 3/4 (chestnut; crack)]
Reading the reports of Cain’s activity and the nature of the Orden – Cain’s terrorist organization, dedicated to opposing and sabotaging any attempts at peace made between Terrans and Methuselah, while promoting any events that will cause the fragile peace to erupt back into war. Their motto is Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, or ‘through fire shall the world be reborn.’ Feeling a wellup of slow, old rage and horror from long ago – a particular mix of emotions that only Cain brings out.
+ Taken offscreen.
* A Returner is killed; the Dark Ages War begins. (significant negative)
[Game 237 – lost and found things – Eliza’s brother | Day 300 | shareable 2/3 (small dented candle-lantern; light)]
Seeing and participating in the violent outrage among the Returners from Mars (the fact that the single Returner’s death is an accident is unclear and/or lost in the confusion somewhere); this eventually erupts into their making a return strike against the Terrans of Earth and pitching the situation irrevocably into full-blown war.
+ Taken.
* Nearly being exposed due to use of an automata double. (significant negative)
[Game 238 – two truths and a lie – Dormouse | Day 302 | nonshareable (2” dollhouse chair; try to sit on it)]
Somewhere in the first few hundred years of her reign, not too long after she has started to conceal her identity effectively from her people. Seth begins by using a humanoid robot (common in the Empire) to take her place, but through accident or sabotage said robot malfunctions partway through a Court session and it’s only through some very clever finangling and a lot of luck that the situation is salvaged. Seth concludes that she will need a more reliable means of being in two places at once and starts looking around; this is the bridge to her eventual close connection to the Fortuna family.
+ Taken offscreen.
* Crusnik activation up to 80% + wings and the ability to draw Bacillus. (special)
[Skill Game 41 – Zombie Dice – Butterfly | Day 291 | nonshareable (nasturtium flower; eat)]
For reference, Abel displays the 80% state through to page 30 of this chapter. An amped-up version of all the Crusnik abilities she has back, plus the ability to manifest six insectile wings and use them; manipulate the air around her to some extent offensively or defensively (less showy than Abel's lightning-based abilities); and psychically call any freeflowing Methuselah blood in the vicinity to her and absorb it through her wings.
Canon portrays this state as being terrifying (anyone in the vicinity feels like ‘prey’ and Seth looks like/is very much a monster, as her consciousness gets severely sublimated by the nanomachines’ singleminded hunger at this activation level.) It’s the highest level of Crusnik she can reach without getting irrevocably possessed/going insane. The effects are obviously a lot less dramatic under powercap and the abilities all require her having a lot of energy and fresh blood on hand to keep them up for even a few minutes without shorting out, so I doubt this activation level will ever be used in Aather.
+ Taken.