Entry tags:
REPORT 031 :: ALONE // VOICE | WRITTEN
[ACTION | MORNING]
[Daisy's eyes continued to stare where Keimi's head used to rest as she woke up.
Her room had been left alone three weeks ago. She didn’t know why she kept resting in the same position as if Keimi had remained in Luceti. It was the same smidge of hope she kept that she would return with her memories, even if day and day she tried writing a filter for Keimi that always failed. She just did the same mechanical motions to stand up, bathe, dress, and eat before going to work
She didn’t lock herself up, she didn’t cry, she didn’t lose her discipline the slightest, or forsake her duties. Instead, she became what Spartans did in times of extreme stress. What she reverted to at many times during Harvest. How John coped with everything he had ever seen and done.
She just functioned.
SPARTAN-023 continued her project on what they found underground, she continued to help those that would request help, she would continue her exercises and training sessions, and she would continue to meditate. But there was a reason in all of it. The second she fell into the temptation to skip one day from her tasks, even like this, she would be falling into a deeper hole. Social tasks took a secondary priority.
Those that might have seen her within those days, after Keimi left, will notice that her eyes had turned glassy -- with a perpetually tired look. In spite of her maintained uniform, she is now attempting to cope. And she is fearing she is failing.]
[ACTION | NIGHT]
[Too punctually, she returns to the self-appointed time to sleep. Even this took priority on how to behave. Sleep, she knew, was an important weapon... as hard as it became to do so now.
Daisy sits on her bed. She lets herself watch the other side of her bed once again...
… she hears rushed steps. A group is running here. Heavy.
Metallic.
SPARTAN-023 grabs her broadsword. Her teeth clench. Her pupils dilate as her eyes widen for the first time in months as every part of her drove itself for the kill. She timed the moment they would come--
They break the doors. She moves to slice with far more hatred than she ever had against any alien or any cultist, and almost ignores the pain of their moves trying to subdue her as she screams in anger to use her own hands to rip them apart with far too much instinct.
She tears one apart, she stabs another against the wall to pummel it until only dent and cracked plates remained, the last ones moves to grab its’ broken companions--
The woman only continues to attack viciously and trying to break one of its legs, but even she only gets to remove a forearm when the last droid leaves with everything that could be considered dangerous for the residents to have.
She stares for a long time at the door, still holding on to her sword. Before she knows it, it is over.]
[Daisy’s irises widen back to normal when it all ends. It takes her a while to pace her breathing as her heart even took longer to do the same as it hammered her chest. She looks at the disaster the fight brought over along with the tracks that were left behind by the droids before picking their pieces and running, then at her own injuries. Blunt body trauma, strained tendons, blood on her forehead... but she was otherwise alright.
She grabs her helmet for a brief transmission for those that would use radio, communicating a need for assistance, keeping an even voice. Then, she tried taming her hand to write on the journal.]
[TEXT]
Requesting Medevac
CH5, Floor 1, Room 2
Journal, Radio Freq. 84.2 preferred, SPARTAN-23
# Patients - 1C - Priority
1A - No special equipment needed
1B - No litter needed
P - Possible hostile presence
E - Broken door
A - UNSC personnel
All clear of NBC contamination
[Daisy's eyes continued to stare where Keimi's head used to rest as she woke up.
Her room had been left alone three weeks ago. She didn’t know why she kept resting in the same position as if Keimi had remained in Luceti. It was the same smidge of hope she kept that she would return with her memories, even if day and day she tried writing a filter for Keimi that always failed. She just did the same mechanical motions to stand up, bathe, dress, and eat before going to work
She didn’t lock herself up, she didn’t cry, she didn’t lose her discipline the slightest, or forsake her duties. Instead, she became what Spartans did in times of extreme stress. What she reverted to at many times during Harvest. How John coped with everything he had ever seen and done.
She just functioned.
SPARTAN-023 continued her project on what they found underground, she continued to help those that would request help, she would continue her exercises and training sessions, and she would continue to meditate. But there was a reason in all of it. The second she fell into the temptation to skip one day from her tasks, even like this, she would be falling into a deeper hole. Social tasks took a secondary priority.
Those that might have seen her within those days, after Keimi left, will notice that her eyes had turned glassy -- with a perpetually tired look. In spite of her maintained uniform, she is now attempting to cope. And she is fearing she is failing.]
[ACTION | NIGHT]
[Too punctually, she returns to the self-appointed time to sleep. Even this took priority on how to behave. Sleep, she knew, was an important weapon... as hard as it became to do so now.
Daisy sits on her bed. She lets herself watch the other side of her bed once again...
… she hears rushed steps. A group is running here. Heavy.
Metallic.
SPARTAN-023 grabs her broadsword. Her teeth clench. Her pupils dilate as her eyes widen for the first time in months as every part of her drove itself for the kill. She timed the moment they would come--
They break the doors. She moves to slice with far more hatred than she ever had against any alien or any cultist, and almost ignores the pain of their moves trying to subdue her as she screams in anger to use her own hands to rip them apart with far too much instinct.
She tears one apart, she stabs another against the wall to pummel it until only dent and cracked plates remained, the last ones moves to grab its’ broken companions--
The woman only continues to attack viciously and trying to break one of its legs, but even she only gets to remove a forearm when the last droid leaves with everything that could be considered dangerous for the residents to have.
She stares for a long time at the door, still holding on to her sword. Before she knows it, it is over.]
[Daisy’s irises widen back to normal when it all ends. It takes her a while to pace her breathing as her heart even took longer to do the same as it hammered her chest. She looks at the disaster the fight brought over along with the tracks that were left behind by the droids before picking their pieces and running, then at her own injuries. Blunt body trauma, strained tendons, blood on her forehead... but she was otherwise alright.
She grabs her helmet for a brief transmission for those that would use radio, communicating a need for assistance, keeping an even voice. Then, she tried taming her hand to write on the journal.]
[TEXT]
Requesting Medevac
CH5, Floor 1, Room 2
Journal, Radio Freq. 84.2 preferred, SPARTAN-23
# Patients - 1C - Priority
1A - No special equipment needed
1B - No litter needed
P - Possible hostile presence
E - Broken door
A - UNSC personnel
All clear of NBC contamination
[Action]
For a long, long time she says nothing and just holds Daisy to her.]
You won't sleep here. You'll stay with me. For as long as you need, my home is your home.
[Action]
Daisy begins to feel the hold of winds and morning dew. Of rain. of...
For the first time since Keimi left, the girl's eyes widen outside of a combat situation as she looks at Saori in her true form. As a goddess. Of what she was.]
Saori...?
[She mutters. She doesn't know what to say. That her family in this world was gone, that Valvalis, Neliel, Kirimi, and Keimi were all gone, that she had something so beautiful she had waited her whole life to know what was it like, and she didn't know if this could be considered 'home' anymore.
As Saori the goddess holds her, Daisy lets herself feel the winds, and breathes to order the thoughts.
She needed this. She needed her.]
I don't want to stay here. I can't stand it.
[It's Valvalis' empty house all over again.]
[Action]
[The 'creature' looks down, eyes shining with silver droplets and gently runs a spined finger through the girl's hair.]
Valvalis took me in when I needed it. And Helios helped me after that. It's only right that I do the same for you. I'll do my best, to help you through this. Because I want to see you smile again. And because you're my friend.
We'll make you a home in our castle. And you can help keep our home safe.
[She nods encouragingly, holding up a giant's palm, careful of her claw-like digits.]
Alright?
[Action]
Because I want to see you smile again. And because you're my friend.
For a brief second, she sees and hears Valvalis in that sentence. Even when gone, she continues to watch over Daisy.
Daisy lowers her head, closing her eyes, letting Saori caress her hair. Her hand intertwines with the goddess' bigger hand.]
Alright.
[She moves on to hug her tightly. Weeks of loneliness that, finally, she realized she did not want to bear anymore. Not in Luceti. Not in her life.
Not again.]
[Action]
Her family, now.]
You are not alone. Never.
[Really, the castle had become quite the home after Sabriel and Adele departed. Makie, Fredrick, Helios, Skysong, the baby dragons, Keiko, and the menagerie left to Helios had made sure of that, but there was space. Four floors, mostly empty, with room for anyone who needed or wanted shelter.
No, Daisy, you won't be alone.]
[Action]
A family. Valvalis invited her to a new one when Daisy was first brought back from the brink. With Saori as one of the few remaining, of that family of the winds...
She falls on her knees in silence, still holding on to the goddess.]
Let's go home.
[Action]
Saori stooped and pressed Daisy's head into her chest, holding her there for a moment before slipping her arms underneath the Spartan and hefting her.]
You're tired. Don't argue. [The god turns and heads out the door, cradling Daisy like a baby in her enormous arms. A family of the wind indeed. And family cared for one another.]
We'll come back and gather your things tomorrow. They'll be alright.
[Action]
Safe.
Her hold tightens, curling in Saori's arms. As she willfully leans her whole body on the goddess', Daisy has the flashes of the earliest memories of her true mother.]
Don't worry... I won't. [She leans her head.] We'll be alright.
[Action]
Oddly, she's reminded of September, when she'd been paralyzed and injured during the memory-lapse shift. It was Daisy who'd carried her home and tended her with soup and warm words. In a way, this was like coming full circle, a strange little family cycle for the goddess, the Spartan, and the Elemental Fiend of Wind.
An odd little family, that. But who could deny that here more than anywhere, they needed the companionship.]