[video/action]

[fearmylaserface]

[He knew what Wash had said. Wash had damn well warned him not to go alone.

Did Epsilon listen? Of course not. When he wanted to see something, he was stubborn.

That's why he's currently somewhere on the Mother of Invention in spite of the warning, holding his head. At first... It wasn't terrible. It probably would have been fine if he hadn't been alone with Allison and his memories. The Alpha's memories.  Being tortured to the point of breaking over and over again.  Now? He couldn't really tell where the memories ended and the world began.

And that's why Allison has his communicator, pressing buttons to turn it on with the camera on her person.  The camera isn't steady...  Someone needs to talk to him for her.  She's making anxious noises and trying to comfort him... It's not helping. Especially as she knows there should be Nightmare Dream Eaters somewhere here. It's a matter of time before they're noticed, and her person in no shape to run or help. Not that he isn't more likely to put a hole in the ship than help.

Allison would die before she let him down in a time like this.

The background of the shaking camera isn't various obvious, but it appears to be a hallway.  Epsilon managed to get further than the bridge before he was overwhelmed.  Not by a whole lot.]

[Edit note:  Added last paragraph]

Comments

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas has slowly been making his way into this new world. It's not the mansion, it's something brand new, so he figures he's safe. He doesn't have anything like this in Sora or His memories, so it's kind of exciting as well. He's a little wary about the technology but still, it's a space ship. It can't be that bad.

Except that video can't be good.]

Epsilon, are you alright?

[fearmylaserface]

Failed them...

[He's not really listening to the noises from the communicator... But this one didn't quite sound like the voice in the memories, at least.]

[seasaltkeys]

Failed who?

[Roxas is glaring at the communicator, trying to see if there's some sort of landmark he can head to, like a sign or something. He's going to have to go looking. There's a flash and Oathkeeper is out just in case.]

[fearmylaserface]

My fault... Not enough time.

[It's pretty standard Mother of Invention hallway... No landmarks visible.]

[seasaltkeys]

What are you talking about?

[If he gets lost in the bowls of the ship, he's blaming you.]

You haven't done anything!

[fearmylaserface]

Wasn't fast enough. They died.

[seasaltkeys]

No one's dead! What are you going on about?

[Why do all the hallways in this place look the same? He looks around. Has he passed this place before?]

[unrecovered]

[This, some tiny voice in Wash observes, is what it looks like from the outside.]

[It's not good.]

Epsilon, get out of there.

[fearmylaserface]

Need more time...

[unrecovered]

No- Epsilon, listen to me, you have to leave. Allison, can you snap him out of it?

[fearmylaserface]

[That name probably wasn't a good idea to mention for the moment. There's panic. Despair.] Allison!

[Allison makes protesting noises. She's trying. She keeps trying. He stopped responding after being there a few hours.]

Filtered to Epsilon

[unrecovered]

[Usually he can handle that name. Then again, usually that name isn't said in that tone by that voice-]

[His head snaps back as the fragments, the memories that are still stuck in there surge to the forefront, screaming with grief and despair. He gives a short, sharp cry, pressing his hands to his helmet - that never helps, that doesn't work - and forcing himself to breathe, to shove the memories back so he can function.]

[He at least has the presence of mind to filter this post. That doesn't stop him from sounding ragged and desperate as he falls back on the commands Epsilon hates so much.]

Program Epsilon! Command: full shutdown and reboot! Execute!

no filter

[fearmylaserface]

[Epsilon goes silent at that and is no longer moving. Instead, it's Allison that's freaking out. You hurt her person. You hurt him.

And while it's taking a little longer than might be expected to reboot... His systems are managing to push aside the memories that took over so badly. He's been stressed too much.]

[guerriera]

[ Less than 24 hours in this place, and she'd still been operating under the certainty that this was all part of the Director's plan, and not anywhere near so neat an excuse as a 'dream'.

Epsilon's broadcast -- not the fuzzy critters, not the monsters, not her oldest (and dead-est) friends, but this broadcast -- is, finally, causing Carolina's disbelief to fall away. For a moment, she stares at the once familiar corridor beyond the collapsed blue armor, stunned within as he appears without.

It's only once she hears other conversations directed at the fallen figure, saying a designation she knows all too well, that the most recently arrived Freelancer speaks up. ]


Church?

What's happened? Where are you?

[fearmylaserface]

[That voice calling him that name. It's confusing the memories at least, with Epsilon looking around. He's disoriented. But his mind is trying to tell him that was his name.

Allison is looking at the stranger warily, dropping the comm to make a warning noise.]

[guerriera]

[ Don't you growl at her, Allison. She's met your name sake. She's not intimidated. ]


Church. [She saw that reaction. More firmly:] Snap out of it.


[ Meanwhile, Carolina's already on the move, a aquamarine hurricane storming her way out of the hotel. Where the hell is he, and how does she get there. ]

[fearmylaserface]

[If she checks at this point, seemingly out of nowhere, the AI goes unresponsive and still. Seeing as the command itself was filtered above, that's not likely to be comforting.]

[guerriera]

[ In the middle of dislodging a little passenger on her shoulder, the sight of Epsilon's body going still doesn't register immediately. Then, eyes widen behind gold visor, before a muffled curse ending in--]

Damn it!

[-- is uttered. Then her communicator clicks off.

Fast as she is, it's going to take time, far far more time than she'd remotely like, for Carolina to make her way to Twilight Town, and then reach the portal. ]

[fearmylaserface]

[Unfortunately, Carolina missed the slow reboot that flushed out some of the problems in that case. Wash's idea worked, if imperfectly.]

[raisethemoon]

[...oh dear. In all her concern for Agent Washington, Luna must admit that she hadn't considered this place's effect on Epsilon at all.]

...Epsilon?

[fearmylaserface]

[Considering all Wash's problem memories came from him... It's not good. It's a familiar and unfamiliar voice again...] Dead. Because of me.

Filtered to Epsilon

[raisethemoon]

[Curses - between the shakycam and her lack of experience with the Mother of Invention, there's no way she can just teleport to his location. The camera feed fuzzes into static as she and it move to the bridge of the ship, at least.]

Church. No one is dead. The Agents are all quite well. [And that's not entirely true. Not the point.]

[fearmylaserface]

Director said...

[raisethemoon]

The Director lies.

[fearmylaserface]

He wouldn't.