kenoslogs | 2023 catch-all

Entry tags:

2023 catch-all

Who: Liem & various
What: Catch-all for non-event threads
Where: Various
When: Throughout the rest of 2023
Warnings: Will be in headers as appropriate

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[ Keitaro takes up the march behind the other two. Strange as it all is, he gets a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach as Liem points it out loud. Of course Keitaro doesn't think he sleeps too deeply, usually. But even if the trek of the day before had tired him out, he shouldn't have overheard the commotion of dozens of men leaving. "Magic" is a word that, here, ultimately contends with his previous understanding of it—in his world there'd been many things to call wizardry, but then been explained through technology. And an impossible future.

Still, next to Liem and Link, Keitaro feels ill equipped to act the rearguard when keeping his eyes and ears open is all he can do.

Though to him, too, their surroundings seem to change. Liem motions to them, but in near the same moment Keitaro blurts out his suspicion, not finding room to doubt his observation. It's almost like he forgot that they came walking in a forest, and that much more strange, had the other two navigated the underbrush so much more lucidly. ]

This place is...

[ Ashitaba City in the 1980s is still, in a way, far from home. However, Keitaro knows the inner city streets, the shopping district, even the way to the Kurabes' old house. ]

I know where we are...!

[ The first glimpse of a strange roof over the trees does not, as presented, strike him as strange. It vaguely reminds him of the architecture in Kakariko Village. What's strange about it is that there's any kind of building at all out here, deep in Alenroux, far from any Cornerstones... Until the next building they comes into view is definitely, undeniably something he's never seen before — electric lights, colorful advertisements for sodas and Japanese candies in the windows, and a wide rack of magazines and manga just past the glass doors. It's something completely beyond Link's understanding, as this sort of modern-era convenience store doesn't really exist even in Kenos. Not like this.

He doesn't know where to look — at the strange glowing building lined by glass walls, or the harrowing patch of fresh blood on the ground. Keitaro says he knows this place, but that should be impossible, for multiple reasons. And the other guy looks like he's just seen a ghost.

...the other guy? The other guy. Huh. Who is he? He doesn't think he's ever seen him before, and yet, he hadn't snuck up on them from within the woods. He'd walked here with Link and Keitaro. Hadn't he?

Frowning, Link juts his hand out in front of Keitaro, stopping them a safe distance from the unknown man. ]

Who is this...? Do you know him too? [ gestures with his other hand at the blood. ] Where are our other men, and what are you doing out here?

[The bottom drops out from Liem’s stomach as he reads the note, and for a single, terrible moment, he is struck with dread that he hasn’t felt for well over a year, since before he was first taken from Taldor. Somewhere out in the wilderness — the city? — the author of these words is still shadowing him. That presence plays horribly with the reality of fresh blood on the soldiers’ trail, making Liem wonder just what happened here.

Wherever here is.

Keitaro’s revelation interrupts his train of thought, dragging Liem’s eyes away from the note and back to the young man following behind him. Initially, he thinks to reply with a question of his own. Where are they? He doesn’t recognize this city, nor recall anything like it from elsewhere in Kenos or his own world. But before he can venture such a query, Link’s wary gesture stops him short.]

Link…? [His own stricken expression furrows slightly, concern coming to the forefront for the moment, despite the renewed need to find the lost soldiers as quickly as possible.] We came out here together, remember? I’m your expedition leader. Liem.

[This isn’t his father’s work; at least, he doesn’t think it is. Some other power is interfering in their mission, but what, he doesn’t yet know. Glancing over at Keitaro, he asks,] Where are we? Have you experienced this before?

[ Keitaro is all too willing to believe that what he sees is true, as firm fact. Even as he touches one of the utility poles that line the sides of these modern streets, he really can put his finger on it. If he is here he must be in the Ark's simulation after all, in all these weeks. Even with the mist in front of him he takes sure steps. Though, just then, he realizes the blood as across the concrete sidewalk, something slick the tip of his shoe touches. He looks down, not seeing Link's hand out, but stopping when it meets him mid-chest.

Keitaro's relief isn't made to last and he pulls his gaze back up, puzzled. ]

Link? This is Liem, he–

[ He would know the man much longer than Keitaro, wouldn't he? Yet one look back at Liem matches Keitaro's confusion. He is sure he knows the people he's with, as well as he might, and this place too. But what about the blood, the missing men? In a pause, Keitaro urges himself to look at the situation with reason and composure, despite the metallic savor in the air as he takes a breath. The simulation uses all manner of processes to make everything feel real to the senses... ]

This must be 1985. We're in Ashitaba City and...

[ They should be quite safe here. Keitaro puts his hand on Link's arm, gesturing that he need not keep up his guard. The look in his eyes even seems to expect Liem to understand. ]

My Sentinel, it brought me here before, from a battlefield in 1945. This is Sector 4.

[ Keitaro might feel that the trio is safe here, but Link is not even close to being ready to make that assumption. The here that they're currently in shouldn't even be here, and for that reason alone, they need to proceed with extreme caution. This being some kind of illusion, beset upon them by Aetós, is the most obvious of possibilities, but that's only one mystery of many. Clearly, this "Liem" character is also part of the illusion; between that and these strange buildings being something from Keitaro's world, it's safe to assume that he's the one targeted by whatever magic this is. ]

I don't know you. And I definitely didn't come to this place with you. You're no leader of mine.

[ With a stern look, he pointedly declines to lower his arm from in front of Keitaro. ]

What's that paper in your hand? And where are our missing comrades?

[Unease prickles over Liem’s skin as he looks between the two remaining members of his expedition. He already doesn’t like this strange, quiet city; he can’t recall ever having been here before, and he can’t remember how they were brought here on this occasion either. Were they transported here, as Keitaro had been before? He doesn’t recall anything like that. It bodes ill that he can’t remember how they came to be here, and it bodes just as ill that Link has forgotten who he even is. Something or someone is playing tricks on them, and they can ill afford the distractions.]

We don’t have time for this. Wherever they have gone, they are in danger now. The shadows are still thick enough for monsters.

[Frowning, Liem lets his hand drop, leaving the note pinned where it was. He cannot think of a single thing his father had ever done “for him” that hadn’t come at the expense of those around him. The vague promise contained in those written words is like a noose tightening around his neck.

As if in response to his unease, a scream sounds from somewhere out in the city, distant and echoing down the streets. Liem lifts his head like a hound called to attention, tightening his grip on the crossbow in his hand.]

Don’t fall behind, [he says, and hurries down the street, past the spilled blood, following the sound deeper into the fog.]

[ Realizing that neither Liem nor Link fall into an understanding of their surroundings, Keitaro should follow into their suspicion. But he deeply wants to still find something familiar in the place he came to all of a sudden. Waking to the reality of the Sectors for the first time had been little more strange than this.

Even so, the area is abandoned, he wonders if that means the Deimos had already attacked and the people been forced to relocate. Still, where's the destruction in that case? Keitaro looks around, in the end hardly any more sure of this place than his comrades. He can only just make out the piece of paper in Liem's hand, and wonders its importance when the other just leaves it. It may not be much of a choice, when that scream hits his ear too. ]

What was–?

[ Keitaro may know these streets, but he doesn't want to get left behind– or rather, abandon either of them. As Liem doesn't wait the distance, Keitaro still had his hand on Link's arm, urging him again. ]

Link, please, let's follow him.

[ As Liem starts to hurry away, Link takes a step forward, like he can't decide whether to let him go or chase after him. All of this is so — so confusing. How did any of them get here? If Liem is a malicious illusion send by Aetós, it's kinda weird for him to be... running away after doing nothing to them. Or is he meant to lead them into a trap? But neither does that seem likely. Isn't this already a trap?

Keitaro's urging finally gets Link's attention. He gives the other man an uneasy look, before glancing at Liem's silhouette beginning to disappear into the fog. ]

...Be on your guard. This situation we're in is extremely dangerous.

[ That's as close to a "yes" as Link is willing to verbalize, but it's still a yes. He jogs a few paces over to the tree, tears off the paper that Liem had been looking at, and after a quick read, gestures at Keitaro to start moving. ]

"You'll thank me for this someday," it says. A note from Aetós, I guess? What could that mean?

[ As they hurry along, Link peers at the outline of the unknown man ahead of them. He has a terrible feeling about this. ]

[As Liem hurries on, gambling on his companions following after him whether they feel like they know him or not, the streets and alleys around him change, just a little. The brick and asphalt paving remains, and the blocky buildings with their many glass windows don’t disappear, but the layout of the streets and alleys shifts to accommodate his memories. He is transported back in time, to the streets of Oppara, years ago, before the war for Taldor’s throne had begun brewing, when all he had aspired to was to help keep order in his home city.

There had been a colleague: a young, gifted inquisitor with a good reputation and possession of information that Liem couldn’t afford to have get around. “Blackmail” was such an ugly word, so the colleague dubbed them friends, and came to rely on his friend’s help quite a great deal.

He hadn’t known that bad things tended to happen to Liem’s companions.

Up ahead, through the mist, come the faint and echoing chitter of tiny creatures and the shrieks of someone in distress. Liem quickens his pace without meaning to, turning a corner with the echo of a memory in his mind: the stink of blood, a body made unrecognizable, torn apart by rats. In his desperation, he cannot imagine finding anything else.

He pelts through a broad, shallow puddle lying in his way — and plunges straight in, as the road seems to crumble and melt away all at once, revealing a steep drop down which he tumbles, straight into a river hidden beneath the illusion of a city thoroughfare.]

[ Keitaro gives Link a nod, and vanquish to hide any inkling of worry or doubt on his face as he looks at him. If there's any way to keep up with Liem, there's no time to question his comrade about his momentary confusion and apprehension right now.

The words on the paper hinge on something sinister and Keitaro feels a sudden lurch in the pit of his stomach. ]

Nothing good, I'll wager. Let's hurry.

[ He sees Link in front and Liem, even further ahead, barely still visible through the fog. This fog... it's too much and it doesn't seem to settle. For a moment Keitaro thought it the dusty mess of rubble, trampled in the Deimos' path. However, even as they keep going he doesn't find the destruction he's looking for. Sector 4 seems quiet in every sense of the word, abandoned. Except for another scream that tears through the silence. ]

Liem?

[ Keitaro looks in the direction, stares ahead the same way they are going. He isn't sure that he can see Liem anymore– was that him?! That worry leads him a few paces ahead of Link, breaking their rank. He only gets close enough to see Liem disappear, as if the ground swallows him.

Water splashes beneath his shoes. In the moment it takes him to register the trap ahead, Keitaro loses his footing too. His head is reeling, looking between their leader—he reaches for him, but his arm swings down without much aim—and the world falling upside down. Keitaro claws at the dirt under his other hand, fingers turning white against the fractured asphalt. Somehow he caught himself. ]

Link! Help!

[ One second, Liem's silhouette is in front of them, footsteps splashing through a puddle as he hurries through the fog. The next, he's gone, suddenly tumbling downward as if walking off a cliff. But there is no cliff. As far as he can see, they're still surrounded by boxy buildings on all sides. His boots still thump on the strange, flat rock covering the road underfoot. There's no doubt that this is an illusion at this point, but Link has no chance to ponder on it more than that, as Keitaro pulls ahead and trips into nothingness just as quickly.

He dives to catch him and finds himself at the precipice of a long drop, appearing out of nowhere at all. Blinking, Link crouches at the edge and reaches down to clamp his hand around Keitaro's wrist. ]

I've got you!

[ But from this vantage point, he's able to look deeper within the drop. At the bottom, Liem is laying in shallow water at the bank of a river. And the sight stirs something within him — concern...? He feels, suddenly, as if he needs to save Liem too. Like needing to save a friend. But he still does not recognize Liem himself, does not know him, and the impact of this dissonance makes him feel dizzy. ]

Can you... can you climb down? We've got to get down there...

[ Squinting, he looks to the man he's clinging onto — and does not recognize him anymore, either. ]

[Liem’s fall sends him skidding and tumbling down the sheer bank of the river, bringing loose stones and dirt along with him as the river hurtles up to swallow him with a sudden slap of cold water. The shock of it stuns him for a brief, bewildering moment; rushing water jostles him and turns his vision into a confusion of muddy, incomprehensible shadows as he his mind catches up with his new situation. It takes another long moment for him to thrash back to the surface and drag himself half out of the water, clutching at the muddy bank in defiance of the current trying to pull him further downstream.

Where did this river come from? It smells like water, not sewage; he can’t have fallen into a sewer tunnel. The confusion is enough to make him realize in a moment of clarity that the city he was running through is an unfamiliar one, and that the familiarity of the streets and alleys around him had been an illusion. He isn’t back home, after all; he’s… he still doesn’t know where. A city far from home, far from any of his old church colleagues.

But somehow, despite that, he is certain his father has found his way here too.]

Stay where you are! [he calls up the riverbank, dragging himself onto his hands and knees. He aches from the fall, and stings in a few places where he’d been scraped up on the way down, and he thoroughly soaked with muddy water, but nothing feels broken.]

If you climb down too, we’ll all just make targets of ourselves.

[ Wherever Keitaro tries to grab on for more support, and keep himself from taking the same rapid fall into the river, it's nearly impossible to find sure purchase elsewhere in the loose dirt. He's thankful for Link's hand grasping tight at his wrist, just when he'd felt like he needed to brace himself for a dive into the roaring waters as well.

A glance up at him, behind Link the high rise buildings are still looming. How did this deep gash in the road come to be in the middle of the city? Keitaro looks back down, searching along the bank when he hears Liem. Thank God, he's standing. But what now? ]

...Then you need to get out!

[ He's of the same mind as Link. They can't let themselves get separated at this point. Liem is their leader, though, and there's no uncertainty to his command.

After pulling himself up with Link's help, Keitaro can see that the river follows the ravine some way, imbedded in the forest that runs underneath the cityscape. Perhaps up ahead they can meet up. He turns back. Keitaro notices, after brushing the dirt off his knees, that his comrade looks disorientated. While Keitaro is sure that confusion had come across his own face over the strange note, just as Liem seemed wary of the city they walked through in turn, despite Keitaro's confidence, he doesn't know where to place that look in Link's eyes.

He even finds himself taken aback. ]

Are you all right?

[ Allegiance has never played a strong role in why Link does what he does, is the person he is. What allegiance is there to be had, really, in a kingdom that no longer existed. The Hyrule he once served died a hundred years ago. It was its remnants he felt obligated to, the scattered people who descended from those who somehow managed to survive through indescribable loss. People he did not know, and who did not know him. Perhaps this is why it is so easy for Link to yank Keitaro up onto the safety of the road, despite having no idea who he is — and for him to look down at the other stranger clinging desperately to the rocks lining the river below, and feel a sense of obligation to help him too.

Keitaro might feel inclined to follow the orders of the expedition leader, but Liem is no longer that person to Link. He shakes his head briefly at Keitaro's question, dismissing it, before swinging his legs over the edge of the drop and beginning the climb down. His descent is fast. He's a practiced climber, with well-trained instincts and an iron grip, unafraid of heights and sure in his choice of footholds and handholds. It takes less than a minute for him to reach Liem, ignoring any and all statements from either of the strangers telling him to stop.

Nearing the river, he stops, double-checks the support under his feet with a few pointed digs with his toes, and lets go with one hand so he can twist his body to get a good look down. The grey-haired stranger has ears like a Hylian, but eyes like a monster. It's the fear and strain his his face that reassures Link of his humanity, and at the same time, his need for help. That water is too cold and moving too quickly; it won't take long for it to wear down one's endurance. ]

Can you climb up just a little? Reach out to me! [ Link is close enough that Liem could probably grab his ankle with some effort, but it's his outstretched hand that he wants Liem to try for. ]

[Climbing back up is indeed the plan. Liem is soaked, and already shivering from being dunked in the river’s brisk current, but he’s used enough to navigating different types of terrain, and his grip on the rocks at the river’s edge is firm despite their slippery sheen. His fingers haven’t yet numbed from the chill, at least.]

No— Link, wait!

[When Link begins to descend towards him, Liem tries to get him to stop long enough to just scale the bank himself, high enough so the others can pull him up. (Would Link even be strong enough to help him back up the side, if he reached him? He’s such a small man…) But the riverbank is slippery in places and crumbles easily in others; his attempt to climb out of the river is foiled by a deceptive, shallow-seated stone that gives way beneath his weight and sends him sliding back into the river, shocking him again as icy water swallows him up to the waist.

As Link scrambles, monkey-like, down to him, Liem tries a second time to drag his dripping body out of the water and up the side of the drop. He is cautious about his choice of hand- and foot-holds, and this time he succeeds in clambering up to grab Link’s outstretched hand with his own waterlogged one.

He only hopes that nothing happens to Keitaro while they’re both down here…]

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2023 catch-all

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