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mythandlaur · 2 years

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Prompt number: 1 - "I chose you" Fandom: Warframe Rating: Teen Warnings/Tags: Discussion of brainwashing/brain upload Characters: Kepler (OC), Cephalon Ordis / Ordan Karris, other OCs mentioned (belonging to @apprenticenerd & @buraidragon) WC: 1,307 Additional Notes: Requires some knowledge of the cephalon fragments, set between Apostasy Prologue and TNW. Dear god I'm actually going to try and do this.

prompts here

"...How long have you known?"

It's...odd, hearing that voice coming from the orbiter speakers. It's not exactly the same as it had been in the recordings--it was still covered in layers of artificial filters, making it buzz a bit around the edges like a bad comm signal. But he isn't faking his usual voice anymore.

That's all 'Ordis' was, really. Fake. She's sure of it.

"Couple months," Kepler mumbles from her pile of blankets on the floor of her personal quarters. Her kavat sits on her feet, its head swiveling back and forth as if keeping watch over her. It's appreciated, if not necessary. "Jhia found one of the...log things. I realized I had more. We asked Glace and they told us the rest."

"I see," Ordis--Ordan--says. It's impossible to tell how he feels about it from his voice alone. "It...makes sense. Tell them I am not upset. You deserve to know."

Kepler buries her face deeper into her blankets, hoping he can't see her grimace from his angle. Ordis had told her once there was only one camera in the personal quarters, right above the door, just so he could know where she was if he needed.

Maybe she shouldn't have said anything. Ordis had been glitching badly, leading up to a slight shift in his tone he'd tried to downplay as nothing, just requiring a system reset. Kepler had blurted it out before she could think, I know what happened. I know who you are. The knowledge had been digging at her since Glace had told her about it. Though the initial anger and frustration she'd felt had faded, there was still something left, heavy and sick at the pit of her stomach.

Maybe that's why she couldn't leave the matter alone.

"...I remember now. Glace spoke of my past with me." A quiet, rumbling laugh from the deep stranger's voice. "More than spoke, in fact. Did you know New Loka found a fossil with a very...specific skeletal feature on Earth? They tried to display it. Glace stole it from them. Buried it on the Plains of Eidolon."

It's strange how she can still notice Ordis' usual tone in the voice somewhere. The way it rambles on, the ups and downs of the pitch. It's not inconceivable that it's the same voice, and that just makes her feel worse.

He lets out a sound like a sigh, a rush of static. "It is...shameful that I have hidden this from you, but it was for your own safety. I am a broken, mangled thing, and to dream of being someone better, someone worthy of redemption...it seems much kinder for all of us. But I know you must have questions."

"Just one."

Kepler's throat feels dry. She's never been one to not say exactly what she means at all times, even to her own detriment, but this question, this thing that's nearly crushed her under its weight, growing bigger and bigger the more she thinks about it...it feels impossible to get the words out.

So she does it like she does everything else, quick and blunt and loud.

"Do you hate us."

The long pause that follows threatens to make Kepler crumble. She faces that feeling defiantly, sitting up in her blanket nest and glaring at where she thinks the camera is, face stern.

But he still doesn't answer. Her mask threatens to wither away. She knew it. She knew it. Glace had said otherwise, and Jhia had shown some doubt, but she'd told them, the L--Natah--she had shown she hated them, hadn't she, why wouldn't he despise them when he had so much more reason to--

"Of course not."

Somehow, the softly-spoken answer just makes Kepler's face twist as anger burns up her throat.

"No!" She hits the ground with balled fists, startling the kavat. "I don't want you to tell me what they told you to say! I--I want you to tell me the truth!"

(Why is her voice cracking? Why is there a lump in her throat? Her heart threatens to pound out of her chest, and tendrils of green Void smoke curl from her fingers).

He doesn't respond immediately. The silence is suffocating. Kepler has to fill it. "You--you've been forced to babysit us Void freaks for how long because you got fucking brainwashed into caring about us and you don't want to say it but I can take it just say it! Just tell me how much you--"

"Operator."

It's firm, cutting off Kepler mid-rant and demanding silence without sounding angry. It suddenly doesn't seem so strange to think he'd been a leader of his people at one point.

"I am not the Lotus. There is no way for us to know why she left. But Ordis, at least, will not abandon you."

Kepler suddenly feels very small. "But what about you?"

She bears the silence this time. When he speaks, his voice is softer than she could've imagined it being, even as Ordis.

"...It is true that, in the beginning, my love for you was manufactured, a law of code and light binding my very soul. But even as these chains fall away, I still see you are not Orokin. You are not the ones who did this to me. You are their victims as much as the Beast was. When Lua fell, I felt only joy, even if it would have been scandal to speak of it. When you were gone, and I found the pieces of that mirror, and I saw this monstrous ghost staring back at me...I chose to cast it off for your sake. I chose this life. I chose to be Ordis. I chose you."

The smoke that had been filling the air around Kepler dissipates, cutting a thread of tension, snuffing the fuse of the powder keg in her chest. All the fight goes out of her at once.

"Even if Ordis is merely a dream," he continues, "I know that his care for you three is true to my own. You did not deserve any of this."

Kepler lies back down in her blanket pile. She hides her face for a different reason this time.

"Neither did you."

"...It was for the best." She notices he doesn't actually acknowledge what she'd said. "Just as it's for the best that I hide again, pretend again. Even if you know the truth, I..." His voice turns strained. "I cannot trust myself to fulfill my duties adequately like this, and it would be cruel to expect you to trust me."

Kepler doesn't respond. Maybe she should say she trusts him, but...she isn't sure she does, really. She trusts that he's telling the truth, but in the end, Ordan is a stranger.

It takes some weight off her shoulders to know not every guardian figure she has secretly hates her, though.

"...Go ahead." She knows his audio sensors are sharp enough for him to hear her even when she's mumbling into her blankets. "And...thanks."

He doesn't say anything else, and Kepler assumes he's gone. She's seen him do this before even if she hadn't known what it actually was for; a maintenance cycle to restore an uncorrupted backup taking a couple of hours. The next morning, he'll be confused, and she'll tell him what missions she'd done yesterday so he can log them again, and they'll both act like nothing happened.

She's shut her eyes, resigning herself to stewing in her own thoughts, when he speaks again, the volume on the speaker much lower.

"I...am proud. Of you three. Tell Jhia that, too."

Kepler opens her eyes, only to see him dimming the lights in her personal quarters. She wipes her nose with the back of her hand. It's a stupid reaction. She's stupid.

But still.

"I will."

#warframe #fictober22 #cephalon ordis #ordan karris #my writing #c:kepler #others may be really short in comparison i just went off #really wanted to do something platonic with this prompt to counter how it'd probably usually be read #v:teeth eyes and burning hair #may change that one later

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mythandlaur · 3 years

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Burai here on anon, rip Side-blog personal blog. Anywhoo-- The Will of the Swarm, Children of the Archives, Light Unseen, and are ya winning the tournament son. If you don't mind.

The WIP Tag Game

@buraidragon You should know these--you were involved in at least two of them.

Lots of text under the cut!

The Will of the Swarm (working title only) - Spiral Knights - 2018

A collaborative project with friends Burai and apprenticeNerd; a roleplay adaptation that would’ve made for a multichapter fic. Knight-Elite Ixtharion and his protégé, the slightly pyromaniacal Ashoza, are called on for a cryptic rescue mission in the Wildwoods, only to find the person they’re rescuing is none other than Parma, reconnaissance specialist of the lost Alpha Squad, who bears worrying information from the Core and evidence of her claims in the form of a dark miasma that appears to have eaten away her right arm. Ix has some knowledge on prosthetics, and takes over the effort to get Parma set up with one, facilitating interaction and camaraderie between the trio--and it’s them who chase after Parma when she delves back into the deepest layers of the Clockworks upon word coming back of the fate of the Alpha Squad’s technician...consumed by the Swarm and working for Herex.

I still really enjoy this concept tbh??? Like I don’t know if I could WRITE write it but if you guys still wanted to poke at it after all this time I’d be game. I don’t have a snippet, but I do have some nigh-incomprehensible notes from a document dated August 2018

Events:

Parma needs to recover a little bit, explore Haven when she can (her arm’s definitely going though)

Ix dinner party

Discussion of important things/she lets them in on what she found

Vanguards find Shadow Rulen in the depths and Parma immediately runs off looking, Ix and Shoza having to follow after her

Other ideas and stuff:

Scout slowly becomes a Seraphynx

Drunk Ashoza happens at some point

Concepts:

Shadow Rulen/Technomancer Rulen:

Is possessed/corrupted by the Swarm and taken in by Herex

Speaks in the plural in this state

Creates a very large mech (possibly named “Omega” something for irony?)

Swarm turret gatling gun

Shard bomb launcher

Tears out bits of the world and slams them down on enemies

Weak to overheading

Last ditch attempts to escape deeper into the core

Potential concept of Rulen losing his body to the Swarm and becoming a spirit who possesses/manipulates technology

Grantz’s Sword:

This dude took his oath way too seriously and stuck around even after dying, possessing his sword which remains around the core

Doesn’t realize he’s dead

Inadvertently possesses whatever knight holds the sword

---

Children of the Archives - Hollow Knight - 2019

Another collaborative project between the same trio, an AU affectionately referred to as “Monomom”. There isn’t so much a plot summation for this as there are a bunch of concepts; basically, in this verse, a very large amount of Vessels find their way out of the Abyss and into the Teacher’s Archives, becoming mainstays around there long before the Infection starts to take hold. Though Monomon still fulfils her duty, she isn’t happy about it or the Pale King’s plan, and Quirrel stays behind to take care of the Vessels after she’s gone, though becomes infected as a result. Several events in the game go differently, partially because Hornet is aware of the vessels and is more open with Ghost because of that awareness. Was meant to probably be a verse with a lot of domestic nonsense going on overall.

I don’t have a snippet, but there’s a doc with a lot of concepts, including about three pages’ worth of Vessels created between the three of us. Have some favorites:

Trio - Early model, has three arms. Acts like the older brother to other Vessels. Probably has three small Nails.

Ase - Broken Vessel, stoic leader, mature, has been wandering longer than the others, cares about siblings more than themself - Insists they’re strong and independent and don’t need help, try to get to the void, fail, several others from the Archives sneak out to drag them back to the Archives badly injured and scare the living daylights out of Quirrel

Lantern - Likes putting lumaflies in their head. Yes, the eyes glow depending how many there are. Theoretically if they Consume the shock ones, they could have laser beam eyes?

Vault - Taller and thicker vessel that likes storing stuff inside of them. Not a fighter. They fight by flinging stone writings at people and running.

Spite - Seven horns, is upset about that, breaks one off that forms the core of their nail, always down to fight. Will probably stab you if you insult a sibling.

Ink - Gets really good at making ink, their shell’s always stained, loves learning, pesters the students. Probably carries brushes instead, and would hang around Sheo for art.

Legion- One Shade spread over five Vessels. They act as a collective within a collective. If threatened will pile into a very stable tower and initiate a five-tiered Loom. Highly skilled in combat, as you need to take all five of them out within a short time period to fully incapacitate them. You might find one of their Shells roaming Fog Canyon, too keep a scout’s eye out for any potential dangers. If nothing else, they’re bouncing off of jellyfish because it’s fun. Each Shell of Leigon’s has a pentagon inked onto the back, with a dot in each corner responding to which Shell it is. Legion’s shade is as large as Hollow’s.

Smith: Slightly-large Vessel, missing a leg, really wants to be a Nailsmith. Alters between studying under The Nailsmith and practicing Nailcrafting on sibling’s blades. Keeps them in shape, if nothing else. Has a metal peg-leg they are perfectly willing to take off and smack you with if they’ve lost their nail.

---

Light Unseen - Destiny 2 - 2019

A backstory oneshot for Kaira, a blind Guardian only capable of seeing traces of Light where it’s present, and her Ghost, Nel, who acts as her guide. This particular bit of writing was meant to be Kaira and Nel’s first meeting, and Kaira’s first (and second) revival, as Nel tries to figure out how to accommodate her and help her escape from a Cabal ambush in the EDZ, eventually assisted by more experienced Guardians Irina and Elara-4, who become Kaira’s good friends.

I really, really love this character and I really, really want to do something more with her, but D2′s writing has gone in the crapper since Forsaken and I don’t agree with basically anything Bungie’s done with the game in the last year, so I’m in a bit of a pickle. I do have a snippet, though. Trigger warning for a brief description of an extremely long-dead corpse/skeleton.

Other Ghosts do this for years, he’s heard. But for him, it only takes a few minutes.

Sticking out of some bushes, the Ghost finds a leg. Not much of a leg, of course; the flesh has long since rotted away, and the elements have left just the barest scraps of fabric from the deceased’s clothes. As he delves into the bushs, branches scraping and poking at his shell, he sees the rest of the remains tangled inside are similarly skeletal. The skull is the worst, mangled and caved in around the eye sockets. He wonders how they’d come to be in a place like this, in a state like that. Had they fallen? Had someone, or something, tried to hide their body?

There’s no way for him to know, and he doubts he ever will. But it doesn’t matter, because what he does know is that this is it.

He doesn’t know in any logical capacity, but he knows because he can feel something inside of those bones reacting to his presence, like a pair of magnets drawn to each other’s polarities. He feels...warm, and whole, and his shell is buzzing as if with errant electricity, except it is not electricity, it is Light, his Light, the Light the Traveler had given him with the sole purpose of passing that wonderful gift on to another.

Their body isn’t really in an ideal position for resurrection, and he can’t do much about that given his lack of both size and limbs. But that doesn’t dampen his growing excitement, as he looks at those bones and wonders not for the first time what they’ll be like, what sort of adventures they’ll go on together.

There’s only one way to find out, he knows.

The red-shelled Ghost hovers there, relishing this moment of anticipation for a few seconds longer. And then, he can’t contain it any longer.

He opens himself up to the gift of the Light, and it all but consumes him; his form expands, a little blue sun with little metal planets orbiting around it, and every mechanical sensor cuts out. The part of him that isn’t mechanical reaches out, and from the tiny floating solar system comes a beam that bathes the lost bones in Light.

Flesh reforms itself in the wake of shimmering waves, and clothes over that. The skull rearranges its broken, twisted parts and knits itself back together. After what feels like an age to him, his sensors come back online as his shell wraps around him again, and he drifts back to check his handiwork.

They wear the cloak, hood, and mask of a Hunter, hiding their face. Their shape is vaguely feminine--he’s going to assume until they tell him themself. Her chest rises and falls slowly with her newly-restored breathing, as if she’s not yet fully awake, and she doesn’t seem to realize the fact that she’s lying in a bush.

“...Guardian?” He quells his excitement, trying to keep his voice soft as he flies in closer to her face--then quickly back as he realizes he may be too close. The branches rustle with a slight movement of her arm, and her head turns sluggishly. “Guardian, wake up. I’m sorry, I couldn’t move you--you’re going to have to get up.”

She tilts her head slightly upwards towards his voice. For a moment, there’s no other reaction, but then the words seem to register and she starts pushing herself into a sitting position. Branches snap and crack as she pushes against them, struggling, before she seems to realize a better way and starts sliding her feet along the ground, dragging herself out with her knees little by little until she can sit up unhindered. Once she’s up, she crosses her legs under her and sets her hands in her lap, chin dropped towards her chest as he hovers around her to make sure she’s all in one piece.

He can hardly believe it. His Guardian, living and breathing once again, right here in front of him. The Ghost flies around to hang in front of her face. “How do you feel?” No response, no acknowledgment. He guesses she’s still a little rattled. “Not much of a talker? Okay, you don’t have to talk right now, but we do need to get moving, there’s--”

The Hunter abruptly raises her head, and he stops talking. In the silence, a loud rumbling can be heard, gradually growing louder. Seconds pass, and he turns his eye upward to see a shadow in the sky above the trees--a very familiar shadow, as he’s seen several of these during his scouting missions.

“...Maybe they’ll pass us.”

The dropship stops in the air, almost directly overhead. The side of a wing is all he can see, but he can hear grunts and shouts all too close nearby, feet hitting the ground hard.

So, he’d been quite lucky to find his Guardian so quickly and easily. But apparently, he’d used up all that luck at once, and now a Cabal scouting party is here, for whatever reason.

“You know what I said about moving? We’re going to need to start on that right now.” The Ghost quickly disappears in a shimmer of light, still keeping an eye out around them. “I’m still here. I’ll explain everything later, I promise, but right now we’ve got to run. I’ve got a marker up for you, just follow that and don’t stop. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

The Hunter stumbles to her feet, holding her arms out to steady herself. The Light is still waking inside of her; she probably doesn’t know how to control it, and without a gun, running is their only chance. She glances about wildly, and then takes off--not exactly in the direction of his marker, but he trusts she’s got a plan. If she’s a Hunter, she’s likely got impeccable instincts.

---

are ya winnin the puyo tournament son (doc name) - Puyo Puyo - October 2020

You know I had to do it. This is a oneshot based in an AU where Sig’s ancestor, Ajisai, is reconstituted by the deus ex machina duo themselves, Ecolo and (much to their chagrin) Satan. After spending a few weeks living in the middle of nowhere, Ajisai hears about an upcoming Puyo tournament and decides to participate in the festivities, using it as an excuse to endear themself to varying degrees to the students and visitors. Eventually, they confront Satan about his unacceptable behavior, and get a hint that Satan’s actions may be a bit more tragic than merely pathetic.

Basically this is just ‘what if Ajisai lived because I want to write more for them and I want to see how they’d interact with more characters’. It’s mostly just me goofing in 15th anniversary’s style and I don’t know if people would be interested, but I’m getting some enjoyment out of it.

Looking down on Primp Town from the ridge is rather like watching a beehive--except instead of honeycomb, the excited bees are rushing about building a network of colorful streamers and decorations hanging between buildings.

“You certainly have a lot of celebrations here, don’t you.”

Sig gives the barest of shrugs, not even bothering to glance up from the caterpillar that’s made itself at home on a finger of his claw. “Guess so. It’s fun, though.”

“What is it this time? The Primp Festival wasn’t too long ago. It can’t be that again, can it?”

“Puyo tournament. The school’s running it.”

“Ah, I see.”

“They did it last year, too. Bunch of Arle’s friends showed up.”

“You do realize I was there for the last one, yes?”

Sig finally looks over, and they patiently wait for him to arrive at the realization. “Oh, yeah. Right.”

Ajisai chuckles quietly under their breath as their descendant goes back to admiring the caterpillar. It is easy to forget that they’d been present during many of the major events in Sig’s life, if only because they look and act so different now that they have a whole body to themself again. It’s a small price to pay for their freedom, of course, and they owe Ecolo a great deal for the service.

Well, not just Ecolo, they suppose. There had been...others involved.

“It’s different playing in it yourself, though,” Sig continues after a pause. Ajisai shakes their head to dislodge the loose thoughts before turning back to him.

“Are you going to be joining in this year, then?”

“Yeah.” A tiny smile comes to Sig’s face, though he still doesn’t look up. Nothing more needs to be said, so a comfortable silence stretches on between them, as Sig watches the caterpillar climb his arm and offers his right hand to crawl on instead so he doesn’t lose the little thing. Meanwhile, Ajisai can’t help but glance back down towards the frenetic party preparations, slight fangs poking at their lower lip in thought.

They’ve been alive and well for at least two weeks now, and only four people even know about it; they’ve either been staying at Sig’s house rereading the collection they’d passed down to him or wandering about the Forest of Nahe aimlessly, occasionally slipping into town at night to have a look around before quickly leaving again. But...they’d like to go into town, if only to visit the library. There are so many of Sig’s classmates they’d never gotten to meet properly, too. After so long isolated, they finally remember what it’s like to feel a need for companionship.

There’s only the question of if they deserve it. If they’ll be welcome there.

Ajisai takes a deep breath. “Is this tournament only for the students?”

“No,” Sig replies without missing a beat, “Bunch of other people are probably gonna play. Arle’s friends, Ringo’s friends, the space guys, Ally…Dunno who’s coming, but I’d be surprised if those guys didn’t.”

“Hm.”

“You wanna play too?” Sig takes his attention from the caterpillar, looking over at them with half-lidded, questioning eyes and pursed lips. “You’re really good.”

“Well…” Leave it to their ‘nephew’ to see right through them. Ajisai looks away, hair flicking in slight agitation. They’ve picked up a thing or two about Puyo over the years, it’s true--they’ve even given some of Sig’s classmates a run for their money in the past. Though that only brings up the circumstances of those battles, which were...less than ideal. “Do you think they’d be willing to have me?”

“You’d have to ask Ms. Accord.” Typical Sig--doesn’t even notice their internal struggle, or perhaps he does and doesn’t think it’s an issue. He points down at the town with a clawed finger. “She’s probably down there helping set up.”

Ajisai narrows their eyes, considering it. They suppose the worst that can happen is them being told no and having to go back to the forest, but the idea of just walking into town as they are is a bit unnerving. Still… “Would you mind if I went down there now, then?”

“Go ahead,” Sig says, focus returning to the caterpillar. They can’t help but chuckle a bit under their breath at their nephew’s fascination, the same all-consuming interest that they had for books and stories.

Ajisai stands, shaking the grass out of their cape before resting a hand on Sig’s left shoulder and squeezing slightly. “Don’t go running off,” they say with a wry smirk, fully aware that Sig will probably still be watching the caterpillar twenty minutes from now.

Sig knows it too, and huffs a little, amused snort through his nose. “Yeah, I’ll try not to.”

#buraidragon #Anonymous

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