riverviewlogs | (open) someday the flowers will wither

Entry tags:

(open) someday the flowers will wither

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! ))

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[He hesitates for a moment, unsure, before deciding that he'd rather overstep than not do enough, and moves to sit next to Hana, close enough to lightly bump his shoulder against hers.]

I can't-- not watching doesn't work, or I would, sorry. [He could close his eyes, but he'd still hear everything.] You wanna walk me through it or you wanna just sit here?

[Sometimes talking helps, even if it isn't his style.]

[ She draws in a breath, long and slow but quivering on the exhale; feeling Taako next to her and offering his support doesn't go unappreciated - it's just that she can't express it, at the moment. Her brow furrows as the explosions start in the scene playing out before them and she— doesn't really want to talk about it. She doubts Taako would force her to.

But a part of her has to say something, anything. ]

I was living with my pro team in Seoul back then. My parents were just outside of the city. I was supposed to see them that weekend, because we'd just won a tournament and we got to have time off, but... those things attacked the city.

[ The memory reveals, now, that as Hana and her team were being ushered downstairs, she managed to catch a glimpse of what was going on just outside - whatever is attacking, it looks just like the mech that Hana now proudly pilots, albeit less pink and without a glass canopy. Just a faceless machine with fusion cannons that never run out of ammunition. ]

They were supposed to be protecting us.

[He wonders if this is what everyone in the planes felt when the Hunger attacked; he's never really seen it from the ground, from the people who were desperately fighting something that seemed endless and unbeatable, who didn't have the luxury of knowing they'd come back.]

What's controlling them?

[It's a prompt, if she wants to take it. He wishes he could do more than just be a presence beside her, but he's not sure if she wants to a hug or anything like that right now, and there's no real words to say in the face of this. Any platitudes would be just that, hollow and meaningless.]

[ A hug would be great, actually, as Hana is generally hug-shaped, but she wouldn't ask for one, not when her thoughts are elsewhere. Instead, she curls a little bit more into herself. ]

There's a giant omnic that attacks us now and then. Whenever we beat it, it comes back stronger than before. I guess this time it learned to use our own weapons against us.

[Omnic doesn't really mean much to Taako, but giant does, and at the end of the day what the creature is doesn't matter as much as it's actions and how they effect Hana.]

That's why they put you in the mech, huh?

[He's not the smartest dude in the world, but he can put puzzle pieces together quickly enough.]

[ She nods. The Hana in the vision before them is in the basement, now. She can still remember, even without having to watch it all play in front of her, what it was like to sit there and hope for survival. To be so completely powerless in the face of machines that were supposed to protect them. To want to do something, anything. ]

They needed pilots. The omnic can't brainwash us. [ probably ] They couldn't find people who could handle the job so they called us up. Told us we had a duty to use our talents and skills in service to our country. So I said yes. How could I say no?

Cha boy would've said no, for sure. [He's going somewhere with this, but first he tentatively rests a hand on Hana's back, just a gentle pressure between her shoulder blades. Not a hug but - getting there.] It's pretty fucking brave, to survive this shit and come out the other side wanting to fight back.

[ She doesn't shirk away from his gesture, rather easing into it, letting her shoulders drop a bit. There's a rueful little smile on her face at the compliment, though. Hana would like to think of herself as pretty fucking brave. There are some days that it's easier to believe that than others, but tonight is not one of them. ]

It didn't really feel like I could say no. If I did, what would happen to everyone else? I couldn't just sit back... I guess I figured, if I could do something then I have to, and I have to be great at it or else people will die.

[ She looks back up at the memory, looking at the faces of her teammates. ]

Some of the people in there got called up, too.

[That's all the confirmation he needs to put his arm properly around her shoulders, shifting a bit so she can lean against him if she wants.]

Running is almost always an option, bubbale, but you didn't.

[Whether it was duty or bravery, both of those are something he can respect even if he doesn't possess them.]

Are they okay now?

[He has to wonder, if that's why she's upset, because this was the start of losing her friends.]

[ She does lean against him, forehead pressed against his shoulder like she doesn't want to look at her memory anymore. His words are comforting much like the arm around her is, but the memory of this day is something she's put past her - or tried to - necessitated by her new role as a soldier. She can't dwell on how absolutely terrifying that day was because now she has had to fight these bots. ]

Some of them are.

[ The ones that got called up like Hana - not all of them have adjusted well into military life. ]

[He's not quite sure what to say to that, because I'm sorry feels like an empty platitude, so he just gives Hana a little squeeze and presses a kiss against her hair. It's the sort of thing he'd do for Lup, if she was sad.]

If you don't feel like going back to sleep once you're up from this, gimme a call, yeah? I've always got time to kill during the night.

[ She merely nods. And sincerely doubts that she's going to be sleeping tonight - or really any other night until this thing, whatever it is, is over with. She doesn't want to see this again. After drawing in a long breath and sighing, she says, ]

I will. I don't— want to be alone. And I don't want to bother Genji...

[ She doesn't want him to think she's a coward. ]

[This is hard; he's not good at dealing with people when they're upset, but he wants to try for Hana.]

That's cool, bubbale, we can do whatever you wanna do, I'll even let you kick my ass at mario kart.

["Let", as though that isn't just the natural order of things.]

[ If it helps - which it doesn't - Hana doesn't really think she's upset, somehow. She'll be super totally cool and fine if she does go to see Taako after waking up. For sure.

She definitely notices the "let," though, and it actually manages to pull a smile out from her. ]

Oh, you'll let me, huh?

... do you have sweets at your place?

[He hums a quiet laugh, not touching that question with a ten foot pole because it's more fun to leave it ambiguous.]

Pretty sure some of Lup's famous brownies survived Magnus, both regular and special, so you can get in on either of those.

[Special meaning "full of weed".]

[ There's no missing the meaning behind "special," and while it is a little tempting, the soldier in her still has to incline, especially given how weed is super mega illegal in her country. She waves her hand dismissively. ]

I'll take the regular ones, thanks. And booze if you have it.

If you can't find booze at our place you've gone to the wrong house.

[Just saying.]

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(open) someday the flowers will wither

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