[ she looks up sharply, startled, but breaks into a relieved smile once she realizes who's come. ]
Sora. [ she's just going to gently lean against his shoulder. ] ...I'm okay. It just hurts a little, so I thought I'd check to see if they had painkillers or something, but it's still locked.
[that's not entirely what he's asking, but he's immediately leaning closer. now they're leaning on each other.]
Hard to believe, right? You'd think after some of the stuff that happened last week they'd open this place up. Maybe...we can ask one of the leaders? They might be able to help.
[he doesn't seem intent on going to find them though.]
That's a good idea. They seem pretty happy to help us, when they can, and first aid would be really useful, especially after today. If things like that keep happening, we'll need it.
[ her eyes slide away, expression falling into a strained smile. ]
I'm not really sure where we went. First it was space, and then some rocky place for me and Archer-san, and then... I guess it was some kind of military base? I don't know.
[ here, ochako's voice starts to waver. ]
...But there were monsters trying to hurt us, so we had to fight.
I mean - my leg was kind of my own fault. Whatever happened, I had my quirk back for a little while, but I lost hold of the knife I was fighting with and it just kind of... landed in my leg when I caught myself.
[ gone forever, that is. ochako's genuinely curious, because she's never even considered that possibility - maybe because her quirk is so intrinsically tied to who she is.
apologetically: ] I... don't know that either, actually. Archer-san only saw them after Soo-won-san and Xie Lian-san disappeared, so I think there might have been some kind of illusion involved, but it's hard to say for sure. All I know is that the wounds they gave us were real, and...
[ she takes a deep breath, the exhale shaky and not at all as steadying as she'd hoped. ]
The ones we gave them matched Soo-won-san and Xie Lian-san, when we found them.
No. But I didn't think a lot of things would happen here either. [so he's being cautious now in his thinking. then again, as someone who's lost his powers before and has been threatened that they'd be gone forever...you know.]
...oh. [oh that's really bad.] Something happened with the connection? But I don't understand, how is that even possible? If you were split up...well. I guess the question is how did you find each other again? Where did Won and Xie Lian go?
Ah… it’s the same for me. There's a lot of things here that I would've never considered before.
[ then it’s something to keep in mind, she thinks. a reminder, perhaps, to not be so cavalier about everything. ]
We found a base, after we killed the monsters. They were inside, in a room down a hall from the entrance, and… [ she pauses, taking another unsteady breath, eyes squeezed shut as if that will make the memory go away. ] They were both dead, just like the monsters.
Well... Archer-san found some syringes, with a serum that was supposed to revive someone. The note said it would have some side effects, but thought it was worth the risk to bring them back alive. And it did work. It brought them back to life, it just...
It did something to them. They grew these horns, and when they woke up, they just... attacked. And they wouldn’t stop. They were - they were trying to kill us. Archer-san and I tried to stop them without hurting them, but we couldn’t. The only way we got them to stop was to… to kill them again, and I didn’t even -
[ her eyes look a little watery, but ochako grits her teeth, struggling to hold herself together. ]
I didn’t mean to hurt him, I didn’t want to, even though he asked. It just - it was an accident.
...of course it was just an accident. It wasn't like you had a choice, you wouldn't have done any of this on purpose. [that's so hecked up? excuse him?]
...it's weird. We found syringes in our area, too. Empty ones that were used to inject a serum into people to turn them into monsters. I wonder if it was the same somehow.
[ the. kidnapping or whatever it was. that seems like a bad sign. ]
We didn't see anything about a lab, but if you saw those syringes... it had to be related somehow, right? It's too much of a coincidence. Maybe what happened to our groups was connected.
It's weird. We left on Wednesday night, and our group split up, too. Alex and I were following our trail and it led us right to a lab were people were being experimented on...and a few months that escaped.
[ she's been all the more antsy for it, but at least there's an explanation. it's not like sora was avoiding her.
that's awful, though? human experimentation? though it does explain some things. ] Did... Did you find any notes, or anything? Those serums you found - was their only purpose to turn people into monsters?
I'm sorry. [it wasn't even his fault, but he feels like he should apologize anyway.] We didn't really find notes, except for the ones talking about subjects one through four failing and subject five being in containment. But we found this DVD? There was this guy in a lab coat and he was talking about the experiments. He said that it was a disappointment that none of the subjects who were injected with some serum survived in one piece. They either mutated, or they died. But he was talking to someone else because he was saying he had high hopes for them. But it didn't matter because the numbers were high.
I don't know what that means but...the video skipped, and I saw someone. She's really, really important to me. I know it probably wasn't real, but that was here, and in a few rooms over there were these containment tubes holding onto two of my friends. I couldn't figure out how to save them.
After that, the video skipped again and showed us footage of this huge monster with claws and fangs...except it sort of looked like a person. It was covered in this purple slime that Alex and I had been following...and then it broke out of the chamber next to our room. We had to get past it to get out of the lab, even if that wasn't the end of it.
I still don't know what was and wasn't real in there. I wish I did.
[ just like ochako's adventure wasn't hers, she wouldn't blame sora for it at all. she listens closely to his story, though, frowning. it just keeps getting worse, huh? ]
I know what you mean. I'm still not sure how much of what we saw was real, either. [ but some of it had to be, right? otherwise why would any of them be injured? ] Weird how they didn't say why they'd want to turn people into monsters. Like... what's the point of hurting people like that?
That's exactly it. I don't know why somebody would want to do that either. It's like they were doing it just because they could. That's not really a good reason at all either.
It makes me wonder if there's something we missed in there. But I don't think we have a way of going back.
But if it's too late... then we'll just have to keep it in mind in case something like this happens again. I took notes on what we found, since our memories won't be reliable here. Maybe you guys should, too?
[ oh, wait a second. ]
...And we should probably tell everyone else, too, huh? That way, we'll all be on the same page in case any of us forget, or if another group gets taken someplace else, like we were.
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Sora. [ she's just going to gently lean against his shoulder. ] ...I'm okay. It just hurts a little, so I thought I'd check to see if they had painkillers or something, but it's still locked.
[ that's what he's asking right ]
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Hard to believe, right? You'd think after some of the stuff that happened last week they'd open this place up. Maybe...we can ask one of the leaders? They might be able to help.
[he doesn't seem intent on going to find them though.]
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...what happened to you guys? Where did you go?
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[ her eyes slide away, expression falling into a strained smile. ]
I'm not really sure where we went. First it was space, and then some rocky place for me and Archer-san, and then... I guess it was some kind of military base? I don't know.
[ here, ochako's voice starts to waver. ]
...But there were monsters trying to hurt us, so we had to fight.
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You guys found monsters, too? Is that what did this to you?
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I mean - my leg was kind of my own fault. Whatever happened, I had my quirk back for a little while, but I lost hold of the knife I was fighting with and it just kind of... landed in my leg when I caught myself.
[ hahaha, whoops! ]
But my arm and shoulder... that was the monsters.
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[ she gives a little half-shrug, with her uninjured shoulder. ]
It's gone again now, but it was nice to have it back for a little while. It's so much easier to fight with it.
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So then what happened...? Like, where did the monsters even come from?
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[ gone forever, that is. ochako's genuinely curious, because she's never even considered that possibility - maybe because her quirk is so intrinsically tied to who she is.
apologetically: ] I... don't know that either, actually. Archer-san only saw them after Soo-won-san and Xie Lian-san disappeared, so I think there might have been some kind of illusion involved, but it's hard to say for sure. All I know is that the wounds they gave us were real, and...
[ she takes a deep breath, the exhale shaky and not at all as steadying as she'd hoped. ]
The ones we gave them matched Soo-won-san and Xie Lian-san, when we found them.
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...oh. [oh that's really bad.] Something happened with the connection? But I don't understand, how is that even possible? If you were split up...well. I guess the question is how did you find each other again? Where did Won and Xie Lian go?
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[ then it’s something to keep in mind, she thinks. a reminder, perhaps, to not be so cavalier about everything. ]
We found a base, after we killed the monsters. They were inside, in a room down a hall from the entrance, and… [ she pauses, taking another unsteady breath, eyes squeezed shut as if that will make the memory go away. ] They were both dead, just like the monsters.
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But...[what do you even say to that? he just kind of looks horrified while also moving to lean against her a little more.] ...then what happened?
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It did something to them. They grew these horns, and when they woke up, they just... attacked. And they wouldn’t stop. They were - they were trying to kill us. Archer-san and I tried to stop them without hurting them, but we couldn’t. The only way we got them to stop was to… to kill them again, and I didn’t even -
[ her eyes look a little watery, but ochako grits her teeth, struggling to hold herself together. ]
I didn’t mean to hurt him, I didn’t want to, even though he asked. It just - it was an accident.
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...it's weird. We found syringes in our area, too. Empty ones that were used to inject a serum into people to turn them into monsters. I wonder if it was the same somehow.
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You... what?
[ she was dealing with injuries and missed the second group's return, lmao ]
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[ the. kidnapping or whatever it was. that seems like a bad sign. ]
We didn't see anything about a lab, but if you saw those syringes... it had to be related somehow, right? It's too much of a coincidence. Maybe what happened to our groups was connected.
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[ she's been all the more antsy for it, but at least there's an explanation. it's not like sora was avoiding her.
that's awful, though? human experimentation? though it does explain some things. ] Did... Did you find any notes, or anything? Those serums you found - was their only purpose to turn people into monsters?
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I'm sorry. [it wasn't even his fault, but he feels like he should apologize anyway.] We didn't really find notes, except for the ones talking about subjects one through four failing and subject five being in containment. But we found this DVD? There was this guy in a lab coat and he was talking about the experiments. He said that it was a disappointment that none of the subjects who were injected with some serum survived in one piece. They either mutated, or they died. But he was talking to someone else because he was saying he had high hopes for them. But it didn't matter because the numbers were high.
I don't know what that means but...the video skipped, and I saw someone. She's really, really important to me. I know it probably wasn't real, but that was here, and in a few rooms over there were these containment tubes holding onto two of my friends. I couldn't figure out how to save them.
After that, the video skipped again and showed us footage of this huge monster with claws and fangs...except it sort of looked like a person. It was covered in this purple slime that Alex and I had been following...and then it broke out of the chamber next to our room. We had to get past it to get out of the lab, even if that wasn't the end of it.
I still don't know what was and wasn't real in there. I wish I did.
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[ just like ochako's adventure wasn't hers, she wouldn't blame sora for it at all. she listens closely to his story, though, frowning. it just keeps getting worse, huh? ]
I know what you mean. I'm still not sure how much of what we saw was real, either. [ but some of it had to be, right? otherwise why would any of them be injured? ] Weird how they didn't say why they'd want to turn people into monsters. Like... what's the point of hurting people like that?
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It makes me wonder if there's something we missed in there. But I don't think we have a way of going back.
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But if it's too late... then we'll just have to keep it in mind in case something like this happens again. I took notes on what we found, since our memories won't be reliable here. Maybe you guys should, too?
[ oh, wait a second. ]
...And we should probably tell everyone else, too, huh? That way, we'll all be on the same page in case any of us forget, or if another group gets taken someplace else, like we were.
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