(open) someday the flowers will wither

[bunnyhopped]

who: hana song and you!
what: did someone call for more memory share logs? + catchall for aftermath
when: october
where: various
warnings: violence

1 | CONSCRIPTION | first-person

[ It's all over the news— the latest simulations for the Korean army's new, recalibrated piloted mech units show that even the top air force pilots cannot produce the same results as the programming the previously unmanned drones had been equipped with. Headlines for every news site, both locally and internationally, all read similarly and much the same as Hana scrolls through sites on her phone: WHAT HOPE DOES SOUTH KOREA HAVE NOW?

There's a feeling of uneasiness at all of this, but it's not borne out of hopelessness. Rather, it's coming from a strong feeling that something big is about to happen. The army has been blowing through pilots ever since the colossal omnic permanently compromised MEKA's drone control networks. No one has been able to pilot the machines like there were no pilots inside to begin with. No one has the speed and reflexes—

That uneasiness rapidly melts away into that sinking, sinking feeling in her stomach that happens when one’s fears have become reality when she looks up and finds her father handing her an envelope addressed to 송하나 - Hana Song - from the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army.

Carefully, she opens the envelope the unfolds its contents, casting uncertain glances up at her father as she does so. The look on his face is just as uneasy, creases on his face betraying his demure composure - it's the look on his face that she knows means he's worried. She doesn't have steel enough nerves to be able to read what the letter says in any coherent way, but her eyes zoom in on words enough that she knows what this is about - in fact, she's known what it would be about before she even opened the letter.

Aptitude. Skills required to operate Mobile Exo-force armored units. Pilot. Duty. Mandatory service. To her country. ]

Dad, I—

[ Her voice comes out shrunk and the rest of what might have been a sentence is swallowed in the quivering of her voice, and then by her dad's arms around her.

"I know. It's going to be alright, bunny. Everything is going to be alright. You're going to become the best pilot they've ever seen, I just know it. I’m so proud of you, Hana. So proud...”

In the silence that passes between father and daughter, the breaking, just-in news report airing on the television in the other room just confirms what they've been dreading: DESPERATE FOR RESULTS: MOBILE EXO-FORCE CALLS UPON TOP GAMERS FOR PILOTS ]

2 | UPRISING | third-person

Dad, I’m about to beat the gym leader! Look here!

[ —calls twelve-year-old Hana Song out to her father. Her request falls on deaf ears; her father is busy watching news pour in of the Omnic uprising in King’s Row, counts of casualties of human and omnic alike - where is Overwatch? Should they be deployed? - and what the Uprising could mean for omnics around the world.

”Not right now, bunny,” he says, and Hana sinks into her Pachimari plush with a pout, shifting her gaze back down to her handheld console. The sounds of her game are drowned out by news broadcasts of videos taken by people in London - screaming and raining gunfire and explosions - and then by the prime minister remaining steadfast in decision: they have the situation under control, and they will not be seeking outside help. They will not call for Overwatch. ]

That’s so dumb.

[ She doesn’t even bother looking up from her handheld. ]

If Overwatch is willing to help why doesn’t he just let them? That city’s getting wrecked just because he doesn’t want outside people helping. So stupid.

3 | DRONES | third-person

[ Hana is seventeen years old, the reigning Starcraft II champion in the world—

and she has no idea how much her life is going to change.

She’s lived through a few of the colossal omnic’s attacks, by now - but the story always ends the same. MEKA leads the way, and the omnic is defeated, but not destroyed. Victory is short-lived as the somber reminder that it’s still out there hits. That it will come back and it will be stronger than it was before. That the time spans between its attacks have been getting shorter and shorter over the years, to the point that the army has to rely on reading seismic activity to figure out when the omnic is on the move in the depths of the oceans. That the day that the decade-old strategy they’ve always used to fight against it finally gets beaten may be much closer than they all think, or believe.

Social media is the first to buzz about a new attack. Civilians and news agencies alike report that they have visual on the omnic - civilians within the coastal cities are to evacuate into shelters immediately - and MEKA is deploying. Hana feels relatively safe in Seoul - but everyone looks out for each other whenever one of these attacks happen. Several of her teammates on her pro team are from other cities, coastal cities included, and for their sakes she keeps her news feed fresh.

It’s not long before confusion strikes across any and all reports. MEKA drones are being spotted in cities further inland. In Seoul. There’s no word from MEKA and evacuations continue in the coastal cities as the colossal omnic approaches the shores. Hana is huddled with a few members of her team in their house, all watching tweets go by on one screen and messaging their families on another. Hana is on the phone with her parents, who live just outside the city. ]

I’m fine, you guys. Promise. We finished training for the day so we’re at the dorms. I know, we’re looking at the news, too. I don’t know what’s happening. But I’ll see you guys this weekend, okay? Love you.

[ Hana ends her call just in time for one of her teammates to scream.

”The drones are attacking!”

Sounds of explosions and gunfire that Hana is used to hearing through the speakers of her phone or headphones when she sees the news— suddenly sound very, very close. And so are the screams of people outside. Their team manager bursts into the room, yelling,

”Everyone get out of here! Get downstairs! Hurry! The city is under attack!”

They scramble to get out of the small room that they all usually sleep in - racing down stairs, several teammates crying out wondering what was happening and others already claiming that they were going to die. Whatever is happening, it hasn’t quite sunk in, in Hana’s mind, until another explosion shakes the building.

The drones are attacking. The same drones that had helped protect the country and all of them for all these years - they’re attacking. They’ve turned against the people they’re supposed to protect. They’re basically defenseless. They colossal omnic is going to beat them.

Everything feels like a blur and Hana feels - she doesn’t know how she feels. She’s confused. Anxious. Worried. Scared. She and her teammates are shuffled into a room in the basement of their building and from there, the explosions and gunfire and screams are muffled. It’s dark except for the light of everyone’s phones as they continue to keep track of what’s going on - and as they try to reach out to their families. Hana’s phone is buzzing with messages from fans from around the world, who’ve undoubtedly heard, themselves, what’s happened - and messages from her parents. She feels - numb. Like this must be some sort of horrible dream. This isn’t really happening. Her teammate is crying, now, and Hana puts her arms around the other girl in a gesture of comfort, but she feels nothing.

Am I going to die…? ]

4 | FAME | first person

[ Hana is greeted by cheers and nearly-blinding flashing lights as she steps out of an armored vehicle that has transported her from the MEKA headquarters to her new apartment building in the city of Busan. She’s escorted by soldiers in uniform and her manager, too, trying to act as a barrier between her and the crowds that have gathered at her residence. Hana, herself, is dressed in her army service uniform and heels click against the pavement as she tries to just - go home for the day. She’s tired, her arms and wrists are sore, but she can’t let any of that show. Instead she walks, smiling, waving at the press and at her fans putting what little energy she has left into looking okay.

”D.Va! Your first mission as a pilot was a huge success! Do you have anything to say about it?”

“You’re my hero, D.Va!”

“Please let me take a selfie with you!”

“Hey! Are you ever going to return to the pro gaming scene?”

“Miss Song— you’re fighting against real enemies now, not virtual ones. Aren’t you afraid?”

Hana stops in her tracks. The crowd falls silent as she does, only the sounds of camera shutters firing off fills the air. And she turns, slowly, to a camera - any camera, even if it isn’t the one for the reporter who’d asked if she’s afraid. Her courteous smile has subdued into something more cold and professional, a look that not even her opponents from her competitive days would see on her. ]

I’m not afraid. I’m going to fight with everything I have to defend our country and its people, and I know my fellow pilots are going to do the same.

[ Liar. She’s afraid. If you mess up in a video game, you get to restart from your last save point. Or you get revived and you get to keep going.

There are no extra lives in real life.

But she has to put her smile back on and raise a hand, flashing a victory sign at the camera— ]

So please keep on cheering us on, everybody! Thanks for the support!

[ —before she spins on her heel and finally, finally makes it into her door. ]

((ooc; new and existing cr alike are welcome! feel free to hit me up at camerata if you have any questions or wildcards to throw! ))

Comments

4

[flowlikewater]

[ Genji is off to the side of the crowd during this memory, watching it all happen. It's an unfamiliar scenario for him; in Blackwatch it was always behind the scenes (until it wasn't) and even then he was kept out of the spotlight intentionally. (Covert ops and cyborgs? It could have gone much worse than it did.)

But seeing this side to Hana he never really saw and coming to an understanding of all the things she must deal with... not just being a soldier, but having to keep up an "image" for her country. Genji never doubted it, but Hana Song is so incredibly strong.

He turns to her. ] I never really realized how much the press really did hound you.

3

[lionunchained]

[Shiro knew pretty quickly who this dream was about. He could see her quite clearly. As his mind was used to doing, he was listening picking up as much as possible about what was going on even though he's basically just walked in in the middle of this. He's gathered a bit about what is going when someone runs in telling them to get out, that the city is under attack.

His breath catches, knowing this is a memory and nothing can done to change what he's seeing, but that doesn't make it any easier.

In the midst of all of this, he realizes that he's not the only one observing. The other is Hana. Not the same one from the memory. The Hana he knows, the one he's friends with. She's out of place there, like he's out of place here]

Hana...

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana is oh, so casually sitting perched on a bench nearby; she remembers this day, but she also remembers so many more days and encounters like this one. She looks tired. After night after night of either visiting someone's memory in a dream or being visited, much like now, Hana had decided that maybe sleeping isn't such a good idea, these days. But she is only human, and apparently, even passing out at her computer in the middle of editing a video could pull her into one of these. In the end, she just heaves a sigh when Genji addresses her. At least it's Genji, and at least this memory isn't... too bad. ]

Really? Of course they hounded me. Korea's golden girl and hero... how could they not?

[bunnyhopped]

[ The Hana he knows is sitting across the room from the memory Hana, leaning against the opposite wall, hair unkempt and she - looks exhausted as hell. Apparently she's taken to avoiding sleep altogether in order to prevent these memory dreams from happening, to evidently little avail. She'd noticed Shiro there, watching this play out, but she has so little energy left, so little feeling left from having seen this scene play out so many times over the last few days that she can only answer with a rather meek, ]

Hey.

[ The ground and the walls around them shake as the MEKA drones continue their assault outside; past Hana and her teammates huddle in close together. ]

I'm sorry you have to see this.

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ It was exactly the case as well, his own world would have that issue in time thanks to a certain big brain in his family, one of many possible futures Gotham had, but the Rise of the Batmen, was not a scenario Jason would like very much. Though he slowly nodded as she explained.]

Ahh, yeah that would do it. Shit that would be bad.

[mysophobic]

And that's why you pilot your meka, right? [ Because if machines with intelligence can't be trusted then of course humans had to take their lives into their own hands. ]

You're really brave...for doing what you do though. And I'm sure everyone back home appreciates your hard work and what you had to sacrifice in order to do it. I'm sorry that...you had to give up so much in order to do so.

[lionunchained]

You don't need to apologize for something like this.

[Shiro says this as he walked over to her, carefully avoiding anything in the memory that was in the way. Yes, it was a memory, but still. Seemed a little weird to walk right through the middle of it.

When Shiro reached her, he sat down beside her, sitting cross legged on the floor. He could see she was tired and hurting. She had been trying to avoid seeing this again, but it hadn't worked. He knew the feeling exactly. It was something he spent too much of his normal life doing. It was even worse now that he knew other people were seeing these]

So this happened? Was this a normal thing?

[bunnyhopped]

Yup.

[ She says it plainly. As far as she's concerned, it never stopped being at war. Even when the Omnic Crisis was 'over,' it's not as though the world was suddenly completely at peace, no matter how hard Overwatch tried to work for it. People could even argue that Overwatch only exacerbated conflicts, in some cases. And as for Hana—

The colossal omnic first attacked twenty years ago, before she was even born. She's been surrounded by war all of her life, even if there were lulls in between attacks. ]

There's a lot going on. Humans versus killer bots, humans versus non-killer bots, terrorists who just want to make things worse for everyone...

[ s h r u g ]

[flowlikewater]

[ He goes to sit next to her on the bench, noticing how tired she is. Genji feels exhausted even seeing all of that, he cannot imagine having to live it nearly every day. His life of near solitude was also a struggle, but the exact opposite of that could also be thought of as a type of curse.

He rests his hands on his knees. ] Admittedly, I didn't get very good reception up in the mountains. [ Genji shakes his head, then looks at her. ] You are strong, Hana. I have never doubted it.

[bunnyhopped]

[ As X'rhun tells his story, Hana looks out at the scene, trying to take in the details, trying to imagine the larger world that this takes place in. Magic, kings, empires... it all sounds like something out of a fantasy game. Like the kind of game where she'd make a character and pick a class and do all sorts of quests, go on all sorts of adventures and fight all sorts of fantastic creatures. Except that X'rhun actually lived though this. Her gaze settles on the younger version of the miqo'te and the others at the war table. ]

So you were a soldier trying to defend your homeland. Against advanced technology.

[ Much like herself, she thinks. Although she's not sure what "advanced technology" means in a world with magic. Was it technology like how she knows technology? Or something arcane? She looks back up at the older, present X'rhun. This brings her to her next question; she has a feeling that the answer will end up being related, given what X'rhun had said earlier... ]

What did you see from my memories, earlier?

[bunnyhopped]

...Thanks.

[ For Hana's part... she's still not sure to people knowing her as Hana. Most people at home knew her as the fearless, heroic D.Va - without bothering to think about the girl behind that persona. But she wasn't D.Va, here, at least not in the same way. She wasn't a hero and she didn't have an entire country's burden on her shoulders. People she met here met Hana. Hana, who—

isn't entirely sure what to do without D.Va.

The Hana within the memory starts as her phone lights up again, this time with another phone call - she's surprised that calls can come through even with everything going on, and even though she's in a basement. But she answers the phone and her voice shakes. ]

Dad?

[ The Hana beside Cisco curls up - but she forces herself to keep watching. ]

I'm hiding with the team. I know, I saw the news. Are you and mom okay? Are you safe? Good... good. Mmm. I love you, too—

[ And then her eyes go wide as the call ends abruptly, and she pulls her hand away to look down at her phone, telling her that her call with her father has ended. Present-Hana speaks up, ]

Don't worry. It was just the reception being choppy.

[ But Hana of the past didn't know that. In a situation like this, the first conclusion was that something must have happened to her parents. ]

Dad... mom... no...

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana managed to laugh and only sound a little less bitter, this time. She hoped she didn't have to explain that the drones getting hacked was exactly what had happened, and exactly what had led to her becoming a pilot. ]

Yup.

[ She took another glance at the news on the screen, and eventually all it was all she could do - to sigh. ]

I guess we kind of had it coming, though. I mean, trying to find killer robots with bad AI with more killer robots? [ It was destined to fail. ] Still, it worked for a long time...

[hititwithacrowbar]

Sounds like something Tim or Roy would do... People I used to know that loved that kind of stuff.

[ he explained feeling a little down hearing this future, as he looked to her with a little more sympathy than he cared to show. ]

[bunnyhopped]

[ She's silently thankful that she doesn't have to spell it out. So she just nods in answer, humming along.

The praise, though, feels - undeserved. To Hana, all of it was just a matter of course. Of course she stepped up when the army called on her. How could she not? Of course she worked hard. If she didn't, people would die. Of course she had to be brave. If she wasn't—

suffice it to say, if you put a bunch of young folks who have only ever played video games their whole lives and put them on the frontlines of a war, not all of them are going to make it out alive.

Of course she had to be brave.

She enjoys praise, naturally. Hana is a confident person at heart and the reinforcement helps. But... sitting in a dream of a memory, in a dimension so far removed from her own, where there's no war, where she's so far away from everything she loves and wants to protect... it doesn't feel good. ]

... I should be there, you know. Not here. People could be dying at home because I'm not there...

[bunnyhopped]

[ She didn't shy or move away when he sat next to her, but she didn't move closer, either. Even leaning on him or anything of the sort felt like it would take too much energy when she felt like she had none, even in a dream. She couldn't even shake her head in answer to him, so instead she merely hummed. ]

Mmm, no. This wasn't supposed to happen, according to them. The mechs that are attacking - they were supposed to protect us. But the enemy hacked the network and turned them against us.

[ The sound of another explosion outside punctuated her statement. Their team manager pulls up a news feed on the phone and throws it out to a larger holographic screen, projected so that everyone could see. The news showed the drones attacking other major Korean cities - drones that looked eerily like the mech Hana now pilots, albeit lacking in color and a pilot. ]

Do those drones look familiar to you?

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana loves her life. She really does. She loves defending her people and being the best at what she does. Loves the way people look at her with hope in their eyes when, for so long after the MEKA drones first turned on them, all she could see behind people's gazes was despair.

But she also knows that her life has deprived her of a lot. She had a promising career in e-sports. She may never get to travel to all the whimsical places she's read about in Mei-Ling Zhou's journals. She may not even live past her twenties.

But she gave all of those up because if she didn't, who else would?

She manages a rueful little laugh. ]

Thanks, but I already knew that.

[ Well. Even if she'd been doubting herself as of late. Genji doesn't need to know. ]

And thanks for using what little reception you had to watch my streams. I always kinda wondered why I'd get viewers from the middle of nowhere sometimes.

[lionunchained]

[Shiro looked over at her. She was tired. Very tired. She didn't even seem to have the energy to shake her head in response to his question. It was hard to watch, both the attack that was going on around them as a memory and her reaction to it, how exhausted she was. It hurt her to see this again, to be trapped in this situation.

So after a moment, Shiro took the initiative and put his arm around her shoulders. Shiro was there.

He looked back at the memory as the manager put the feed up on a large screen. Those drones... they looked like Hana's MEKA. Almost exactly]

Yeah, they do look familiar. Your mech. Those are what the drone are?

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco rubs his hand across Hana's back; she is sitting so tense, curled around herself so tightly, that he tries to brace himself for the worst. That she might be hearing bad news - a home destroyed, a loved one killed, something of the sort. It's strange, the way it all feels so urgent, watching this, not knowing what will happen. And yet it is all also over and done with. Set in stone. Or, as the case may be, in memory. ]

Hana... I'm so sorry.

[ It's clear that the Hana in the memory is convinced of the worst, that she thinks her family has been hurt, and Cisco's heart is breaking, watching this. Bad enough for it to happen in the first place, but for Hana to be forced to relive it like this, it's just unfair. If only his powers were strong enough to just break through whatever it is causing these stupid dreams... ]

You know after we both wake up, we should do something fun.

[ Not that there's anything fun enough to salvage the next day, doubtless, after this. But Cisco can't just sit here, doing nothing. He has to provide some distraction, make some plan. A concrete action to help, because the past Hana is terrified and the present one doesn't seem to be faring all that much better. ]

[bunnyhopped]

[ That sympathetic look was new on him, considering all the other times the two of them had ever spoken with each other, it was usually to flirt. She kind of resented that he'd seen this side to her now, a less chipper, bubbly, flirty side, but it couldn't be helped at this point. ]

Who're Tim and Roy? Friends of yours?

[ At least he'd brought that up. It gave her an easy out of talking about her messed up world some more. ]

[bunnyhopped]

[ To add insult to injury, she'd been made to watch this same memory over. And over. And over. All during the last few nights, which was why she stopped sleeping. One would think that eventually she'd become dull or unfazed by it, but it wasn't the case. Each new time was just as painful of a reminder than the last of how horrifying it all was, and what a tremendous impact it had on her life after, of how the fight wasn't over at home and yet she wasn't there— she was here.

She gave a bitter smile when Shiro realized what she was getting at by pointing the drones out. ]

The drones were our strongest line of defense against this colossal omnic.

[ and almost as if on cue, the news reports began to show footage of what looked like a massive machine emerging from the ocean and attacking the coastal city of Busan. With the MEKA drones compromised and sent to other parts of the country, it could properly wreak havoc upon the coast. More conventional military units were mobilized, of course, but the mess with the MEKA drones had left defenses scrambled at best, almost useless at worst. ]

After that, the army realized it couldn't rely on unmanned units anymore. So they repurposed the mechs and made them piloted units. Since it couldn't hack people's brains, right?

[ And that's where she came in. ]

[bunnyhopped]

[ It does give some measure of relief, to Hana, knowing how this ends, knowing that her parents made it out okay even if maybe not all of their belongings did. But those were replaceable. And Cisco's promise of something fun after waking up helps, too, if only to take her mind, even momentarily, off what was unfolding before her. ]

It's alright. I'm sorry you have to see all this. Maybe it'll be over soon.

[ Or maybe the part where, while past-Hana is in shock and trying to desperately connect a new call to her parents, the team manager throws a news feed onto a bigger holo screen for everyone to see what was happening in other parts of the country. With the MEKA drones compromised and turning on them, the colossal omnic essentially had free reign over Busan, raining destruction upon it with artillery, nothing but conventional military units standing in its way. Hana of the present looks up at the screen and says to Cisco, ]

Ah, that's the final boss they're showing. That's what the drones were originally built to fight against.

[lionunchained]

[Shiro could relate. He'd had to watch himself be tortured multiple times over and had been trying to avoid sleep for the same reason. It just so happened that he had managed to fall into her dream tonight rather than someone being sucked into his. He knew it didn't get easier, as much as one hoped it would. It was hard to separate yourself from something like that even without watching it happen to yourself.

He watched the continued news footage of the machine rising up out of the ocean and beginning its assault. Even if the drone had still be functioning properly, they weren't near it to stop it.

His hand gently squeezed her shoulder when he realized what she was telling him]

So because of what happened with the drones, you were the one who had pilot them and go fight that machine.

[It wasn't even a question. It was stated as if he knew it were a fact]

[franciscoramon]

[ He can't tear his eyes from what is happening, but Cisco's mind is working, trying to think of something fun but relatively low-key that he could offer as an activity after they're done. Cisco's woken up from these dreams at all sorts of hours - it could be 8 am or even 3 am, so it can't be anything that requires places to be open... ]

I was thinking pajama party. Fancy waffles, Fallout 4, and we can use treats to bribe Shadow to hang out with us. He's getting really big, you should see him. I think he hit some kind of kitty growth spurt.

[ Cisco falls silent, however, when the screen shows the omnic laying waste to a city. He just stares for a moment, Hana's words taking a moment to process. ]

What- what is that thing? Did somebody build that?!

[mysophobic]

[ Shigeru understands that all too well. ]

I understand completely. Back home I...I was the medic for my team on the field. I just hope they're doing alright without me there. Some of them can get a bit...careless when fighting.

[ He smiles softly thinking of Shuu in particular. ]

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana would have loved to respond to Cisco's idea - except that Fallout 4 is like, so vintage? At least the cat sounds super cute— but Hana takes a deep breath. She— isn't sure that she can really answer his question, and the look on her face as she turns to him speaks to that uncertainty, but she'll try as best she can. ]

It's an omnic. A long time ago this company created these robots for manufacturing but got shut down because it became a dirty business - but the manufacturing plants had self-improving programs and after they became self-aware they started mass producing military units and went to war. That thing—

[ she looks up at the screen again, ]

—was made by one of those.

[ Which omnium it came from, no one knows, although the Siberian Omnium makes the most sense just from proximity to Korea. Still, no one knows much about its history - it doesn't matter, anyway, or at least Hana thinks so. ]

We can't really beat it. Every time we do, it comes back stronger than before. [ "we," because it's that thing that she now has to fight as a MEKA pilot. ]