Everyone has a breaking point.
You really, really don’t want to see Lissa’s.
Emmelyn 'Limelight' Seras to Freesia Bayden, 2053***
‘I’m gonna kill her.’
I wouldn’t bme you.
Standing in the door of a small partially ransacked pawn shop we had found, I tap my foot impatiently against the ground as Freesia rummages through aopped box of ons.
“Oh, what about this one?” She pulls out a long, wicked dagger, then throws it over her shoulder and goes bamaging. “oo malicious looking.”
I stumble over, pig the bde up.
“I dunno, I think it fits you pretty well.” My cheek twitches when I see her leave one box to move to another. “ you hurry up already?!”
She chuckles, pauses, then lifts up what I reize as a taser baton. “Found one! let’s go.~”
I roll my eyes as she walks past me, humming as she twirls the on around in her hand. I ch the knife in my fist to resist the urge to knock her on her ass.
Teically, though obviously a bit misled, she has the right idea. You need neons.
I grimace as my exhausted muscles twitch, then respond, ‘I think I need something to fight for me, I don’t know how much more physical work I am gonna end up doing tonight.’
There are a lot of things for you to choose from, but keep in mind you do have access to advaimunts in order to alleviate that issue. Any addi be cleared out with just a few paltry points.
I roll my eyes as I fidget with the dagger a bit. ‘I’ll be fine, I know better than to rely on things like that. Reend me something that won’t give me away to cameras, as well as maybe the human eye? I want something hard to fight against for humans.’
Hm… Iing, for reference, how opposed to minor cerebrum modification are you?
I pause, then start walking when Freesia turns to look at me.
‘As in, brain augs?’
Precisely, in this case, it would be used to allow for easier parallel trol of the drone.
I run my tongue against the roof of my mouth, examining a small burn I obtained from dinner and missed until now.
‘Would it ge my thoughts or emotions? Aive side-effects?’
No.
I shrug, putting my hands behind my babsp;
‘Yeah, if it doesn’t do that I’m fih it. Don’t see the point in being wishy-washy about it when it could mean the differen survival or not.’
Put your judgement on hold until I expin. My idea mainly revolves around four separate purchases. First, is to purchase a bat model of your choice from the Css-I Advanced Framework Models (Avatars) Catalog. Then, we’d get a hard light emitter for your eye, and finally a cerebrum upgrade to allow for simultaneous use of the creation alongside your body. This would cost between one hundred eighty to two huwenty points, but would allow for what you ask for plus more iure.
I take a moment to parse her expnation, then tilt my head.
‘Wait, so I’d be able to make physical things iy with basically just my mind?’
It’d be limited to a very short radius, as well as requiring pre-prepared three dimensional models designed specifically for the purpose. Thankfully, those are not very expensive in the long run, and you could even potentially learn how to make them yourself.
I groan, putting my fato my hand. ‘Dammit, you sold me on it. Admittedly great idea Raya. Just get me a basibat avatar for now, doesn’t o be anything specific.’
If that’s what you want.
Starting Total:
232 Points
Catalogs Unlocked!
Css-I Advanced Framework Models (Avatars): 50 Points
New Purchase!
SHLE/CSE Eye Upgrade: 30 Points
CMPC-Core: 50 Points
Tactical Avatar B21232 (ized): 50 Points
Total Cost:
180 Points
Final Total:
52 Points
For a moment nothing happens until a single package pops ience about a foot in front of me. I hastily take a step forward to catch it, only to end up juggling the box around a bit. I breathe in relief when I finally have it only to then look up, just to see Freesia grinning at me.
“What’d you buy, Lissa?”
I stuck my to at her, refusing to expin, then flicked the tainer open to reveal a tact lens and a syringe of some sort.
I assume you know how the lens works, but all you o do for the other is i it into your body somewhere, the nanobots will do the rest. Do please also put the ta your w eye please, all it’ll do otherwise is irritate your already damaged flesh.
Remembering the pain of the other one, I decide to take the harder route first, so I pce the dagger on the edge of the box. I take a deep breath, then stab the needle into my arm and press down on the pluhere’s a slight pain as the maes enter my body, but as I brace myself for more, nothing actually follows, beyond a slightly disf tingling. A bit reassured, I then put the tato my right eye.
Of course, I end up hissing through my teeth as it almost immediately feels like I stuck my eye into va. I kneel down while pressing my palm against my eye until the heat begins to disperse, then take a breath as I grab the dagger I ended up dropping as I stand up again.
Careful, you might not want to be standing for this.
I scoff, but as I open my eyes again, I end up wing as a lot of new information begins to flow into my brain. It takes a moment for me to process not only the new subtle colors spread basically everywhere, the basifo of how the hologram emitter works, and even a distinct shift in how my body naturally moves. I lift my hands up, slowly moving them in unison in front of my eyes.
“This is fu’ weird,” I murmur before I turn the emitter on and create the only model I have access to. After barely a moment of dey, a feminine figure, with most of her details pletely washed out by violet light, forms in the air in front of me, floatilessly as she stares down at me. I move her hand to wave down at me, then chuckle to myself as I start moving her around through the air. “Corre, this is super fug weird.”
Freesia’s eyebrow raises as she asks, “You know how annoying it is to only get pieces of what’s going on?”
I move the avatar down to stand beside the woman, throwing a peace sign. Raya giggles in head my as I respond, “Yeah, I do. Get guiding, Freesia.”
Her eyebrow goes higher, but she still turns to walk as she ents, “Oh, fident after that purchase, are you?”
I move the avatar to the side and have it sm a fist into a crete wall, breaking a small hole into it with ease. I tilt my head momentarily as Freesia’s head shoots over to look at the hen say, “A bit.”
Nervously, she looks back at me, then around the area to find how I just did that, but it’s to no avail. The woman takes a moment to look at me, then turns and starts walking. I chuckle quietly under my breath as I follow behind her. A thought pops up into my head as I move the avatar around in the about ten foot radius it seems to be able to exist in.
‘Hey, why did I o get an avatar like this anyways? It’s really cool and all, but wouldn’t it be way more effit to just… make a knife or something to stab things from a distance?’
It’s really not that simple. The hard light structs you make are limited iain ways, mainly in that unless specifically designed for it, they ’t move on their own. Sure, the emitter could reproduce the struct to animate it as if it were moving, but not only is that an incredible waste of energy, it wouldn’t have any force behind it. You ’t just move objects with your mind, or at least not yet.
I blink, then share a look with my avatar. ‘Okay wait, how is it moving then?’
Through the power of its coded framework verting energy into force. As strange as it sounds, the hardlight you make with the hologram emitter isn’t directly reliant upon the emitter to keep its form, but rather the internal stores of energy tained within its mass. As long as it’s within a certain radius of you, it exist in this form as long as you supply your hard light emitter with energy. Even if you close your eyes, it’ll still be there.
‘Wait, if the emitter isn’t what’s trolling it, what is?’
The new core we ected to your cerebellum. It’s why you move it like it’s part of your body. Iure you could likely create multiple autonomous units by getting AI cores with their ower.
‘Huh.’
I move the avatar over and pce my palm against its owe the fact that I know I have no senses ing from it, a phantom seells me that I feel my hand pressing against it, almost like it is numbed. I stare at it for a moment, then y eyes and sigh, moving the avatar to hover behind me as I proceed in my trailing behind Freesia.
We walk for a little while, her of us really saying anything. I don’t know if I spooked her with my little show of power, but the woman is ominously quiet. At least, until we begin to approa interse between blocks where we find a group of at least a dozen Model-Seven zombies standing eerily still upon one of its ers. The entire group is staring bnkly up at what is probably one of the only w street mps on the floor, seemingly pletely entranced. Immediately upon seeing them we dip into an alleyway, where after g her teeth, Freesia turns to look at me.
“Well, Miss Samurai, time to use yic powers to open the way.” While her tone is nont, perhaps even a bit ung, I see her trembling at the sight of the zombies.
I shrug as I cautiously start over to the group, fidgeting with the dagger still in my hand as I do my best to be sneaky. As I get about halfway there though, I grin, then toss the on to my Avatar, with which I effortlessly catch the bde. I hear Freesia gasp behind me, likely at the floating on, which is actually sort of reassuring, si tells me that normal humans really ’t see my avatar.
I slowly creep closer until I am just in my ten fe, then will my puppet forward. As it approaches, I sort of worry for a moment the zombie is going to notice it, but thankfully that isn’t the case. In a swift single moment, I stab the poor corpse in the back of the head, causing it to colpse to the ground unceremoniously. All of the zombies abruptly jerk their heads to me, which certainly makes my heart skip a beat.
In a terrifying single unified movement they all rush at me, and the reality of the situation dawns ohe previous hordes I had taken out, Dad and Pops were there to support me in the fight. They’re strong, fident, and both trained in bat in a way that I’m not. However, I bite my lip to reassure myself that I have an advahey don’t.
I’m a Samurai.
As calmly as I with the horde rushing at me, I direct the avatar to start pig off the targets as I frantically whisper, ‘Raya, spear and shield, preferably light enough that I won’t exhaust myself.’
plex, but easily done.
Points Earned!
10 Points
New Purchase!
1x Css-0 FAL-CHI One-handed Naginata: 10 Points
1x Css-0 Basic Alloy Kiteshield: 10 Points
Total Cost:
20 Points
Final Total:
42 Points
My ools appear just in time for me to raise my shield to hold back several of the zombies from ripping out my throat. I grunt from the impact before I start stabbing forward over and ain, sinking a bde into a corpse with eaent. I yell as I knock the zombie on my shield away as two start to move around the first group to hit at my sides, stumbling backwards and barely managing to avoid getting grabbed. Slowly but surely, I retreat from harm as my avatar picks off the ones I don’t end up stabbing, until finally I pull my new spear back out of the final enemy.
I look behi Freesia nervously peeking around the er, then yell, “Thanks for the help, Bayden! It’s over, e on!”
As she slowly trudges over to meet up, I hand my spear over to the avatar as I walk over to the light pole and lean against it. I take a deep breath and y eyes, thehem again when I hear Freesia stop a few feet away.
“I really… don’t think I gave you credit for being a samurai.” She muttered, looking disgusted down at the corpse around me. “I could never do this.”
“Oh, but you could abandon my sister after so long and bckmail me about my literally kidnapped parents?” I snap, pushing a bit to the side of the pole as I gre at her.
Freesia fli my movement, yet still responds with vi:
“her is my fault. I just want to survive.”
“Expin.”
Her voice trembling, Freesia says, “I realized a few months ago, despite her wishes, there’s no way she’d have been able to escape this po one !”
“Bullshit."
g her fist, Freesia takes a step towards me. “You know it’s true! Not only are you all here, but the tral administration would never let someohat petent leave! They’d have saddled her with some made-up crime and put her somewhere she could be useful!”
“And that’s grounds to abandon her?!”
“If she got arrested, I’d get dragged down with her!” Freesia points towards the ter of the floor. “Only a samurai even hope of esg, and even as samurai you both got burned by them, you’re just luckier than she is!”
I blink, then narrow my eyes.
“eat that for me?”
Freesia pales in realization, before she looks at the ground and very quietly mutters, “She was a samurai, and they still killed her.”
I ch the spear in my hand hard. “How the fuck do you know that?”
I’m a bit taken aback when the woman looks up with tears in her eyes. “Look, okay?! The Lysanders are the family that runs the floor, so I was able to get back down here after their son died on the sed with me! On the way down, the guards were chatting so I overheard them! She sughtered the staff of aire floor before they got her!”
I sm my new shield into the pole, causing the light to begin to flicker. A whirlpool of despair begins to swirl around me.
Off-On-Off. Off-On-Off.
Bck. White. Bck.
“If she really is a samurai,” I whisper as the world begins to shrink arouhere’s no way she’s dead.”
Tears running down her face, Freesia puts a hand on her chest. “I swear to god, I saw the footage! One sed she was there and the she was gone!”
Off. There’s no way.
On. The st time I saw Emme pops into my head.
Off. It wasn’t anything special.
Feeling a bit short of breath, I scream:
“Stop fug ag sad or scared or whatever this goddamn is! Tell me the fug truth for once!”
Freesia takes a deep breath, and all the emotion drops off of her face.
“She’s really, truly dead, Lissa. If we’re going to survive, you o accept that.”
Bck. I hate her.
White. Why is she the one who gets to cim this?
Bck. What if she isn’t lying?
“How ” I whisper, uain the breaths I’ve lost, “I trust you after everything you’ve done?”
Freesia scoffs. “I don’t expect you to. The truth will speak for itself.”
Dark. What do I-
Light. How do I-
Dark. Who do I-
Now pletely out of breath, out of words, I stare bnkly at the woman in front of me. My heart smming against my ribs, I move the avatar to put her hands on my shoulder, a tiny bit of support when my legs feel like giving out beh me.
“Regardless, Lissa, we o get moving,” Freesia states in monotone, “Who knows how long they’ll keep your parents alive.”
Freesia takes a step towards me, me a hand.
“You look shaky. I’ll support you when she ’t, it’s what Emme-”
I sink the avatar’s dagger into Freesia’s throat.
Shaking, her hands reach up to brush against the bde hilt deep in her flesh, releasing her crimson life to trail down her ebony skin. She slowly crumples to the ground, her eyes never leaving me. As her final breath leaves, the mp above me stops flickering.
Light.
“You didn’t deserve to speak her name.”
