(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

2

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ Jason stood silently observing it all as it happened, his eyes mostly on the news and the father more than the girl he figured was Hana as the markings on her face. She was adorable of course but the new's was important. ]

Did they ever call in the Overwatch? [ He asked, wondering if it was like the Justice League. ]

3

[spellslots]

[This has happened enough times by now that Taako is familiar with it, immediately looking around to figure out who's with him, and offering Hana a smile when he spots her - the real her, not the one on the phone not her parents.]

Hey, sweetheart, what're we in for tonight?

[His tone is light, but gentle, in case this is bad.]

[bunnyhopped]

[ There was a fond look on Hana's face as she watched the memory play out in... her head? Whatever this was. The uprising, she could be less interested in - after that incident, relations between humans and omnics only continued to be precarious. But— she missed her dad. She had no idea what was really going on, why Jason was in her dreams, why she was watching a memory of hers play out like a movie in her head, but there really wasn't any reason not to talk to him. She was probably just making this all up. ]

Overwatch went in themselves without permission, but they stopped a huge bomb from going off in King's Row. So I still think they're heroes. Most people didn't, though.

[bunnyhopped]

[ When Taako finds her, she's sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, curled up into a ball. She only offers a hum in response, at first, before she adds: ]

Probably one of the worst days of my life.

[spellslots]

[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.]

[bunnyhopped]

[ 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.

[spellslots]

[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.]

[bunnyhopped]

[ 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.

[spellslots]

[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.]

[bunnyhopped]

[ 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?

[spellslots]

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.

[hititwithacrowbar]

[ He crossed his arms over his chest his eyes still moving. Still observing and painting a mental map of the place. Like any good detective should. Even the one of hot mess variety. ]

Sounds like heroes to me, and how heroes are treated. So, is this what lead you to becoming what you became?

[bunnyhopped]

[ 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.

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana huffed a rueful laugh. No, this wasn't deeply related to what happened to her. ]

Not really. Overwatch got disbanded a couple years after this, since people didn't think they were needed anymore. I kinda disagree, though. Things are still crap in other parts of the world.

[ Including her home. In the scene before them, the news reporters that Hana's father was watching switched gears and began to talk about the latest omnic attacks on Busan. While it wasn't a large-scale attack like ones brought upon them by the colossal omnic, it was still destructive and newsworthy. On the screen, there were videos being shown of the MEKA drones fighting the bots - they looked strikingly similar to the armored mech unit that Hana now piloted, but they weren't pink, for one, and they lacked a pilot and anything that looked like a cockpit. ]

1

[verflair]

[ There are many things that X’rhun doesn’t know about Hana Song. They have exchanged niceties, brief descriptions of their home stars, but he’s never asked about her family. He doesn’t know where her magitek— ah, mech— came from, or how she came to be so adept a pilot. These are curiosities, but X’rhun always tells himself that there will be time to ask later.

Fate, it seems, has decided he needs to know now.

No matter how many foreign memories enter his head, he’ll never get used to the sensation. It feels as though he’s plucked out of his body and dropped none-too-gracefully into another without the slightest warning, and his head is sent spinning as emotions that are not his own wash over him.

Fear. Dread. An anxious sort of nervousness. The feeling of something incomprehensible in both size and importance looming on the horizon. Change, and not for the better.

This is Hana’s memory, he knows that for certain. He knows the writing on the front of the envelope as her name, even if the language is alien to him. When her father addresses her it only confirms what he already knows.

X’rhun has seen more than his fair share of war, he has seen time and again the way children, gods children, are forced into the fray, to take up arms and defend their homes— or die trying. Even if they survive, their childhood, their innocence, is forfeit.

She is much too young to have this thrust upon her, and while the Hana of the memory looks to her father for reassurance, X’rhun’s heart breaks for her.

When he finally returns to himself, he promises that he will seek out Hana in the morning.

But, as ever, the choice is removed from his hands when he settles in to sleep for the night.

------

There is smoke drifting over the peaks surrounding Rhalgr’s Reach, thick and oily black, it threatens to block out the sun, leaves everything cast in eerie shadow even in midday. Inside the stone walls of the keep, watched over by the looming image of Rhalgr himself, the people of Ala Mhigo prepare for war.

The country has been ravaged, left hanging by a thread thanks to civil war. With their king dead and the people barely hanging on, the Garlean Empire has come to call. Wolves that they are, the Imperials followed the scent of blood and fell upon wounded prey without mercy. The attacks have been coming for days now, with seemingly no end to the Empire’s troops and resources. It is a losing battle, and word has it that the XIVth Imperial Legion is on their way to finally grind Ala Mhigo beneath their heel.

In the crowd of soldiers and medics scurrying through the Reach in their dark earth-toned uniforms, there are flashes of vibrant red. Men and women in crimson are moving through the crowd, hands on the hilts of their rapiers as they pass on their way to the war table. They gather among the soldiers to peer at the map laid out there, listening as the commander lays out strategies.

Among them, a young miqo’te, barely more than twenty summers in age. He has a handsome face, more suited for smiling than scowling, but for now his ice blue eyes stay fixed on the table as he nods in grim understanding.

X’rhun, the X’rhun of present day, realizes with a start that he knows what day this is. He knows where he and all of those men and women are headed, and he can only watch. ]

[spellslots]

[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.]

3

[franciscoramon]

[ This is a new one, for Cisco. He's seen memories on his own in dreams, and with other people. But for all of the latter, he'd been right beside that person, when the memory started. That isn't the case, here. As soon as he recognizes Hana, his heart sinks. This is so much worse because it is someone he knows, but not all that well yet. A few of the memories he's seen have been neutral, but a lot of them have been deeply personal. He doesn't want to be invading her privacy like this, but he's learned the hard way there's no getting out of these things.

So he watches as Hana talks to her parents over the phone, with rather alarming announcements coming from the TV about drones. And then the explosions start, and everyone's going for the basement, and Cisco has no choice but to follow, heart beating fast with sympathetic panic even though he knows that none of this can affect him. But that doesn't matter, because Hana just looks so scared. He sees her huddle down in that basement, looking like she's in shock (at least, she looks like what being in shock feels like).

Then he hears a small noise, faint and quiet. Somehow, he knows it's not like the muffled explosions and screams in the memory. He whirls around, and sees- ]

Hana!

2

[scholiast]

(Lucretia has talked to Hana once before of course, but outside of her appreciation of 'vintage memes', she doesn't know all that much about her. She does recognise the younger version of her albeit vaguely as the dream flickers to life; she's seen photos on Taako's phone. Thankfully, she's clued into how these work by now and a glance to her left confirms that the present day Hana is standing there, watching along with her.

Lucretia doesn't say anything: she feels awkward, hesitant, like she's intruding on something. Instead of trying to crane her neck and see what 'gym leader' Hana is trying to beat on her handheld device, she watches the television instead in silence, trying to piece everything together with the information that she has.

Finally, she speaks up, still watching the television.) What is 'Overwatch'?

[hititwithacrowbar]

That's how it works, even in my world. Heroes get shit on for not being perfect or daring to have lives.

[ Jason stepped closer tipping his head as he watched the screen, then looked back to Hana.]

Isn't that like yours?

[bunnyhopped]

[ There's no getting accustomed to the strange occurrences over the last few days; Hana had been thrown into the thick of it at the very beginning, having seen Genji's most intensely personal - and violent - memory, having memories of her own play out like some virtual reality game while she sleeps and being joined by another spectator, and now being the spectator in someone else's memory.

She sees a world entirely unlike her own, monumental stone carvings into a mountain and majestic waterfalls - but the sights and sounds of warfare, at least, are familiar to her. She doesn't know whose memory it is she's seeing until she sees a young, blue-eyed miqo'te that reminds her of the old, blue-eyed miqo'te she knows. Her eyes stay on X'rhun (young) until she notices a sudden movement nearby, turning to find X'rhun (gramps) watching... himself? This must be what Taako and Cisco felt like, finding themselves in her memories over the last few nights... Cautiously, she approaches, not wanting to startle him any further and not wanting to offend him in her accidental intrusion of privacy. ]

Hey, gramps...

[verflair]

[ X’rhun, the real one, is without his Duelist attire and is instead dressed in his usual nightclothes- a simple shirt and sweats. Without his usual hat to conceal their movement, his ears swivel suddenly in Hana’s direction. The rest of him soon follows suit as he turns to face her, bewildered. ]

I… Hana.

[ And just like that, his heart is breaking all over again. The last thing he wants is to expose her to more war. ]

I’m sorry. Would that I could keep you from seeing this.

[bunnyhopped]

[ It's Hana, indeed, present-day Hana who has since been drafted and become a soldier fighting in piloted versions of the very things attacking them in the memory. Present-day Hana who is sitting curled up on the floor on the other side of the room, still trying to debate whether or not she actually wants to see how the rest of this plays out - since she already knows.

The rumbling of destruction growls above them, shakes the walls and ground surrounding them. Someone in the team wails and it dissipates into a sob. Past Hana stares back down at her phone, watching alerts and messages pour in. Only when there's a lull in the rumbling does the Hana of the present respond to Cisco with a weak, ]

Hey, Cisco. Sorry you're seeing this.

[bunnyhopped]

[ Hana recognizes Lucretia from the conversation they'd had on the network, for her part. She's lost the ability to be surprised, at this point, that pretty much anyone can apparently show up in her dreams at night to watch bits and pieces of her past play out before them. So she sits there in silence as Lucretia takes in the scene; Hana's gaze is fixed on her father, in the meantime. He looked so different back then. Less gray hairs and less worry in his face.

Hana turns her head, though, at Lucretia's question. ]

Overwatch is— was a peacekeeping organization. They got disbanded a couple of years after this happened.

[bunnyhopped]

[ 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. ]

[spellslots]

[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.