He's gonna change her like a remix, then he'll raise her like a phoenix

[otomechapilot]

(For a second, there's a certain gathering tension in the network. Both bewilderment and fear. It comes to a head in a single, piercing telepathic cry, not quite a scream, over the network.)

Oh my GOD, what did I DO!?

Oh my god I nearly killed Hebe! Is - was Hebe one of ours?! Was Atlas? Athena? Nike?! Kallias!? The manticore!? Doctor whatsisname was definitely one of ours but I just -

Oh god oh god please tell me I didn't kill any of ours.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

Hey, slow down a second. Take a breath. [If... she needs to, the network being what it is.]

Kallias was Kanji. I think most of the gods other than a couple of the Titans were familiar faces - they show up every now and then, but aren't part of the group - but I can't speak to all of them.

Private, Psychic Protection I

[otomechapilot]

Okay. Okay. So I wasn't a - my other half was a friend of Kallias, at least, and we saved some lives at the end. There's that much.

I definitely remember fighting some people who weren't monsters. But I... wow the Greeks had some weird hang ups.

Is this going to keep happening?

Private, Psychic Protection II

[leftbehindagain]

[Once he catches her locking down the conversation, he meets her in the middle and locks down the whole thing.]

What, infiltrating? Probably. I've infiltrated around half of the jaunts I've been on.

Permaprotected until stated otherwise

[otomechapilot]

Was Kanji himself? Should I talk to him? It's okay for him to hear this conversation.

I didn't even know I could make it private, it just kind of happened.

[leftbehindagain]

...Yes and no. I snapped him back to himself a couple of weeks in.

Filtering stuff can be useful, but if you don't need it to be you can take it back down.

almost simultaneously with Naoki

[fridgeninja]

Deep breaths.

[otomechapilot]

Working on it. I - I expected to at least be myself.

Don Orlea told me about the many worlds thing but not that I might not be myself.

[fridgeninja]

Ah.

It's definitely more difficult when you're not expecting that.

In any case, killing us isn't something to worry about too much, since we all come back now. Natives of the worlds we visit probably don't.

[otomechapilot]

For most of the monsters that probably doesn't matter, but I met at least a couple who were... people. You know.

Proved it to me pretty easy. I think he - there was this manticore, and he dragged people away to a doctor on a cart with... her... help.

...does the park with the rides mean we did it? Whatever we were supposed to do?

[maximumest]

You are okay. We are all okay so far. If anyone is dead they will be back.

[otomechapilot]

...and you were magnificent. You saved dozens of lives. As a literal monster.

I don't think I got your name. I'm Sara, without the I.

[maximumest]

Sara, no I. .. Hm.

[He almost liked the sound of Sarai more. But she seemed pretty stressed out already so why mention it and make things worse?]

I am Broly. It's very nice to have thumbs again, and no fleas or ticks. ... It was the right thing, right? Even for a monster?

[otomechapilot]

Are you kidding, Broly? You fought the end of the world with us and we won.

Sarai, (she chuckles, nervous) and I had this much in common - we both thought anyone could try to be a hero. If anyone deserves it this Jaunt you deserve it as much.

You helped people. You saved lives. That's absolutely doing the right thing.

[truerevelation]

Ssh. You're okay... rattled your brain, did it? Yeah. I feel you there. I'm - uh, I was, dammit - Kallias. Or Kanji, here.

Locked via Psychic Protection I

[otomechapilot]

I was more weirded out by how much like me she was, for being a... kind of bloodthirsty Spartan. Or that I'm that bloodthirsty without being a Spartan. Maybe.

Yeah I - Naoki told me earlier. I met him back in the Trojan Horse, he started telling me about the Arcana. Looks like Chariot won, with all the robot horses letting us ride them.

I hope his telling me was okay. I mean I... locked it the way I locked this.

Psy Protection 1 lock back

[truerevelation]

I get what you mean. They say there's always some kind of ... resonance between us and them? Something big we have in common or we couldn't end up living their lives. With Kallias, he's like ... I dunno. Like if I'd never had to fight and stand up for myself. But maybe he will now. Hope so. He's got stuff to fight for.

And yeah, that's fine, ain't like it's some big secret... If you ever want more Arcana talk stuff, hit me up, it's cool.

Locked until further notice

[otomechapilot]

Honestly I think food that's not just meat and bad bread, and drinks that aren't booze, are a bigger deal right now. God, she drunk SO MUCH wine. My brother would kill me if he was Travelling.

But I'm taking you up on Tarot Talk later and there's a friend who might want to sit in too.

[reallymean]

My real name is Allura, not Nike, but I am a Traveler.

If you did kill any of us, they will have come back by now, and you can apologize for what you did while you weren't yourself. It's one of the more unfortunate side effects of Infiltrating - you don't know who's actually an ally.

[otomechapilot]

Yeah I really wish Don Orlea had mentioned that part when I asked him what was going on.

...answered everything I asked him, but didn't mention anything else, now that I think about it.

So, uh. Even if that wasn't you, thanks for... for everything.

[reallymean]

I've never met him, but I would guess that if you confronted him about it, he'd say he didn't think to warn you because you didn't ask.

Thank you. You were a good friend to...to her.

[otomechapilot]

...no, you've gotta be right cause that's the most Foolish thing I've heard since I got here - and I heard about the Goat Of War in the council. Or she did. Or - is this what dreaming is like for people who don't Pilot?

If it's okay with you I'd like to be your friend too. ...forcing it won't work, but, just throwing it out there.

Audio

[bite_the_hand]

[Eren waits for a brief moment while others help calm her down from the initial freaking out. A few people telling her to breathe is good; half the Network telling her that would be less good. Once she's had time to catch her breath, Eren speaks up.]

First time you Infiltrated as someone like that, huh? It helps to remember they were the one that did all of that, not you. Doesn't fix everything, but... It's a start.

Re: Audio

[otomechapilot]

Sarai wasn't even that bad. Compared to other Greeks, anyway. Just... really into killing monsters.

It's not that she wasn't like me. It's that she was a LOT like me.

Re: Audio

[bite_the_hand]

Of course she was a lot like you. You wouldn't have ended up Infiltrating as her if she wasn't. But just because she was a lot like you doesn't mean she was you. You had no control over her actions so whatever she did wasn't your fault. Even if what she did is what you would've done before you became a Traveler that doesn't mean that's who you are now. Who you are now is what's important.

Psychic Protection 1

[otomechapilot]

...Yeah.

I wish... I really hope being orphaned isn't a running theme with my Infiltrations. That's not something anyone else needs to go through, and it's... bloodthirsty Spartan stuff aside, it freaks me out that what happened to her parents was as close to what happened to mine as you were gonna get in Legendary Greece.