01 - stupid 'unborn baby' card

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Video ]

[ Ceres is patient. She waited centuries to get her revenge on the Mikage. She can wait a few days until the flood is over to attempt communication.

Aya is not patient. Aya is lonely, and scared, and young, and she panics easily. And every time she pulls the 'I have to get back to my lover and child' card Ceres breaks a little more until she is finally pushed to make this call at possibly the least convenient moment possible.

The beautiful and demure (can you believe this body is only 16?) young woman speaks calmly in Japanese. ]

< I know there are those among you who can understand me, or who can translate. I ask your help. I need to speak with a priest or a psychic, any who might be able to separate two minds in the same body. There is a girl here who needs very badly to return home. >

[ And now that her message is out to anyone who speaks Japanese or is unaffected by the flood, it's time to make use of ALL THAT STUDYING AYA YOUR MOMENT TO SHINE IS HERE. ]

I do not speak much English. I need to talk with a priest, or... [ don't know this one make something up ] mind-speaker. There are two people in one body. My friend [ she uses this word loosely, because she can't think of a better one ] needs to go home.

Comments

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[versusnurture]

[Abigail almost doesn't respond. She kind of wants to sit this flood out and let people be confused at each other on their own. But the part of this that she can understand is interesting. Two people in one body.]

Mind-speaker? Like a telepath?

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[heavenlymisandrist]

I don't know the word in English. It is hard to describe. Are you a telepath?

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[versusnurture]

No. But someone on board is. Charles Xavier.

Do you need someone who - [She hesitates, trying to phrase this as simply as possible.] - just speaks, or who can change things in your mind?

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[heavenlymisandrist]

Is language a problem?

[ Silly girl couldn't wait just a few days. Kids, honestly. ]

I need to change something. Send her home.

[coldlies]

[Given time and inclination, Loki could understand Japanese but for now he'll go with English.]

There are two souls in one body and you wish the other one to leave?

[heavenlymisandrist]

Yes.

[ Thank you Loki, that sums it nicely. ]

[coldlies]

That can be a difficult spell to break, depending on the method the two of you were combined into one body.

Oh. Blows to head apparently work in some cases. I assume you'd rather avoid that.

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She shakes her head. Luckily she understands English a little better than she speaks it. ]

It was not a spell, more like an accident. < Reincarnation. > Second life.

[coldlies]

[He focuses on the one word for a second, forming a translation, cheating terribly with magic.]

Ah! That makes it a great deal more difficult. [He is actually fairly interested in this.] Still possible, I would think.

[heavenlymisandrist]

Can you help? [ She's not terribly interested for herself, but Aya being separated from her child is still heartbreaking to her. ]

I think I am supposed to be here, but she is not.

[coldlies]

Possibly. I would need to know more about the circumstances.

I have but limited access to my magic but I could try.

[heavenlymisandrist]

It is difficult to describe in your language. Beatrix has volunteered to translate.

[coldlies]

It would be easier, I think, to speak again after this trouble with languages passes.

[Because he does not want a third party translating something and being a witness.]

[heavenlymisandrist]

Easier, yes. But Aya is impatient to return.

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[coldlies]

[A sigh because it's such a hardship to cheat with magic to understand Japanese.]

< There is no telling how long it will take. Tell me what you can. >

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[heavenlymisandrist]

It would be far simpler to show you, if I could.

[ Helpful, haha, what's that? ]

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[coldlies]

By all means. Must we meet in person for this? Do you have a suitable location?

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[heavenlymisandrist]

Unless you are able to use your magic over these phones, I may have enough power to show you in person. Where we meet is not important.

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[coldlies]

My quarters are suitable. [insert room number and level here.] The door will be unlocked.

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[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Ceres, ever polite to everyone always, just nods and shuts off the feed.

But hey at least she indicated she was coming? And before long she's there in person, and knocks lightly before entering the room. ]

< Excuse my interrupting. >

[wedonot]

[Languages have always come very easily to him, so he could probably just respond in Japanese, but since it's not really something he's had opportunity to study before, it would require making telepathic contact and even though she's asking for help, he's still reluctant to make contact without permission.]

My name is Charles Xavier, and I can't promise I'll be able to help, but I'll do everything I can.

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She nods. Abigail mentioned him. ]

You are a telepath? [ She thinks that's probably the word for what she wants. ]

[wedonot]

Yes.

[heavenlymisandrist]

It may be easier to understand if we meet in person.

[wedonot]

Can you tell me where you are?

[heavenlymisandrist]

I am in my room. Floor 6, room 17.

sorry my inbox ate this tag B(

[wedonot]

I'll be right there.

oh no!

[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She does not respond, but waits in her very bare and standard room. The door is unlocked. ]

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[wedonot]

[Charles does knock, though. It's only polite to give her a chance to compose herself before just barging in.]

It's Charles. And I don't believe I caught your name?

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[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Ceres is always composed. If by composed you mean wearing a bland expression. ]

I am Ceres.

[ No more formalities than that. ]

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[wedonot]

Can you explain your situation specifically to me? I can use my telepathy to understand Japanese, as long as you're comfortable with me doing so.

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[heavenlymisandrist]

It would be easiest to show you, if I may.

[ As Aya has pointed out, when Ceres talks about it she can be vague and misleading. ]

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[wedonot]

Alright.

[He carefully puts his hand to his temple and extends telepathic contact.]

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[heavenlymisandrist]

[ Once she feels him in her mind she replays the memories for him.

Long ago in Japan, a man and woman meet. The man falls in love. He has found her Mana, and he is afraid she will leave him. (What is the Mana? All she offers is that it is both a part of her and an ally, and that without it she will die.) He takes the Mana away, hides it where she will never find it. They marry, and have children. (Is this the right order of events? Hard to say.) She begs him to return it to her, tells him it is her life. The man refuses. She gives Loki only brief flashes of these memories. The woman wanders the world with her children searching for the Mana, but never finds it. She is still young when she dies, leaving her children alone, but the need to find her Mana and her hatred of the man keep her spirit alive. The next time a girl child is born in the family it is Ceres, but it isn't Ceres. She watches from behind the girl's mind, waiting for any hint of where her precious hagoromo is. When the girl dies she is born again in the next Mikage daughter, and still she waits. Centuries pass, and the world grows into something terrible. The Mikage, her children, her descendents are both perpetrators and victims, and Ceres watches as her own twist into something dark and unrecognizable. As her rage grows so does her power, and at long last she is strong enough to take over her own body and fight back.

They murder her. For generations they murder her again and again, always at the age of sixteen. Then, at long last, comes Aya. Ceres is strong enough now, and she overwhelms Aya entirely. Those who would kill her are thrown back by the force of her fury. But Aya remains, the girl who is the product of her upbringing, of this strange and horrible world. Ceres had no hand in this girl's youth. Aya and Ceres are equals in this mind, in this body. Aya even helps Ceres in her search for the Mana. Aya is still there now, in Ceres' mind, going mad with worry for her lover and their unborn child. Ceres understands this worry, she sympathizes. Aya is a good girl, for the most part, a high school student of very little note. Sending her home should be easy, if only she had her powers. ]

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[wedonot]

[Charles receives all the information, but parts of it doesn't quite make sense to him. It's all just alien and strange, and he wants to understand the process and how things wound up this way, but there's time for that later.

When the information stops, he pulls back and frowns, looking genuinely sorry.]

I'm sorry, but I don't think there's anything I can do for her. Not with my telepathy, anyway.

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[heavenlymisandrist]

[ She lets out a breath, much gentler than a sigh. She didn't have much hope for this, but Aya did. ]

I understand.

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[wedonot]

Is there anything else I can do?

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[heavenlymisandrist]

Unless you can free me of this place, no. There's nothing you can do.

[deadliestviper]

< I'm not a priest or a psychic, but I can translate for you if you want. >

[heavenlymisandrist]

< Thank you. It is a difficult situation to describe in limited English. I would greatly appreciate your help. >

[deadliestviper]

< You're welcome. What makes it so important that your friend goes home now? >

[heavenlymisandrist]

< She was with child. >

[ And that, to Ceres at least, explains everything. ]

[deadliestviper]

< And she's here? >

[To Bea, it's not nearly enough information. The idea that the Admiral would bring a pregnant woman here, in whatever form, disgusts her.]

[heavenlymisandrist]

< She was pulled here with me. I do not believe she was meant to be an inmate here. >

[ Aya's just too sweet, too... Aya. ]