The Shimmer Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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theshimmer2020-08-08 11:35 pm
shimmermods) wrote in theshimmer2020-08-08 11:35 pm
WEEK FOUR
FOURTH WEEK
The Shimmer may have left you physically, but it's always with you; it's something it had insisted on yesterday, and it's something that continues to be pervasive even now, both in thoughts and within you in other, perhaps more noticeable ways. The statements that have been made weigh heavily; your surroundings continue to be influenced by something or other - plants you recognize are still present here, even as the trees themselves continue to crystallize, growing glassy white and transparent around mechanical insides - and the changes to your physical bodies are becoming more evident and difficult to ignore.
Perhaps more disturbingly, when you went to sleep in the clearing there were sixteen of you.
When you wake up, there are fifteen.
No matter how many headcounts you take, you keep coming up one short; the fact of the matter is that Rean Schwarzer is no longer among you. There's no visible evidence of where he's gone, and all of his belongings are still here; perhaps in some part of your mind, the possibility registers itself - maybe he's not with you because he went to the Shimmer. Not in the same way the cultists went, and not in the same way the ring of bodies seems to have gone, but maybe...
The thought is difficult to shake; the fact of the matter is that he isn't here, and you probably don't want to stay here. After all, your options are currently either to do what you set out to do, to return to the base and very possibly be killed for your efforts, or to remain here with the corpses.
The hike uphill is steep; perhaps it's fortunate that you're no longer tiring out like you used to. It's easier to keep going nowadays, even if it feels somewhat mechanical in doing so; your limbs know what they're doing, even if there's some reason for your mind to disagree. You seem to be making good time in moving toward the site of the initial impact of the meteorite; perhaps it won't be much longer before you find your objective.
That is, if all goes according to plan.
SUNDAY | MONDAY |
TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY
Perhaps more disturbingly, when you went to sleep in the clearing there were sixteen of you.
When you wake up, there are fifteen.
No matter how many headcounts you take, you keep coming up one short; the fact of the matter is that Rean Schwarzer is no longer among you. There's no visible evidence of where he's gone, and all of his belongings are still here; perhaps in some part of your mind, the possibility registers itself - maybe he's not with you because he went to the Shimmer. Not in the same way the cultists went, and not in the same way the ring of bodies seems to have gone, but maybe...
The thought is difficult to shake; the fact of the matter is that he isn't here, and you probably don't want to stay here. After all, your options are currently either to do what you set out to do, to return to the base and very possibly be killed for your efforts, or to remain here with the corpses.
The hike uphill is steep; perhaps it's fortunate that you're no longer tiring out like you used to. It's easier to keep going nowadays, even if it feels somewhat mechanical in doing so; your limbs know what they're doing, even if there's some reason for your mind to disagree. You seem to be making good time in moving toward the site of the initial impact of the meteorite; perhaps it won't be much longer before you find your objective.
That is, if all goes according to plan.
no subject
It wouldn't do to upset them too much, ja? Stories of hope and perseverance tend to work better in times like this. I'm sure they want to hear stories with happy endings.
[...]
If you ever do feel like talking about what you've been through, I'm always willing to listen.
no subject
I can't say I'd want to hear tales of doom and gloom while camping in a 'haunted' mine, no.
[After that remark, she pauses, before reaching over to her supplies and grabbing her AK-47. She's not about to start shooting anyone, thankfully (would bullets even work on ghosts? oh, who knows....); instead, she lays the weapon on the ground in front of her, and starts to clean it.
...]
....why did you agree to come here, Yeager? If you don't mind me asking.
no subject
The situation I was in wasn't a good one. Regardless of what I ended up doing, something terrible was going to happen.
This sounded like an interesting alternative.
[He doesn't usually give anyone anything that close to the truth, and even this is still very vague. What does it matter now?]
no subject
I see.
[Unclip the magazine, check it's full....with that sort of reasoning, perhaps Yeager might...well. Not understand, but empathise.]
I came because I have someone I need to kill.
[Magazine is definitely full, time to strip the barrel...]
I tried, once. The weapons from my world don't work on him. Vitali said I could have my pick of these modern ones.
[The damn thing is spotless. At this point, she's just giving her hands something to do.
...]
...however, I'm worried I'm too late. He's already done unimaginable damage to my home and its people.
no subject
Honestly, you have the right idea. Killing one man likely could stop most of my problems in their tracks. Perhaps I'll have to ask her for assistance once we're done here.
[But probably not, because that requires a lot more fury and determination than he currently has.]
This person... What did he do, exactly?
no subject
...it's a long story, so I'll try to summarise it for you.
[...how to...describe the clusterfuck that is Bowerstone, at the moment. Where to even begin?]
I take it you've read my little profile? The rebel group I lead recently disposed of the tyrant king of my world, and replaced him with his younger sister. All was supposed to be well, once that happened; myself and the other generals who aided her were all promised things, once she took the throne. Things that were....incredibly important to each of us. The return of control over lands that originally belonged to their tribes, for example. My request was for child labour to be outlawed.
[...]
Once she was crowned, she broke every single promise. All of them. Instead of things getting better, they got worse. So much worse. Worse than I ever thought possible.
[She's keeping her eyes on that spotlessly clean gun, but not...really seeing it.]
The man I want to kill is her...advisor, of sorts. He controls all of the industry in Bowerstone, our city. Every request I made to the Queen, to better things for the city and the people, he argued with. Suggested something reprehensible, but lucrative, as an alternative. She agreed with all of his proposals, and now Bowerstone is falling apart at the seams. The people are suffering.
If I can just kill him, get him out of her ear....perhaps we still have a chance to make things right.
no subject
And you said he can't be killed by normal means, ja? I can see why you would be desperate for something that can stop this.
[And even something this dangerous would be nothing if it means that she has a chance to save everyone.]
Do you think the Queen's essentially his puppet and that's why everything has turned out like this?
no subject
[Is it obvious that that memory stings? Because boy, is she wincing at the moment. Worst party ever.]
I'm confident that the AK will do the job, at least. As for the Queen...
[...hmm. That's another touchy subject.]
...I thought I had a good reading on her character. We fought together, multiple times. Perhaps I'm being naive, but I have to believe that if I can get Reaver away from her, she might return to who she was.
I don't...know what I'll do, if this was her true self all along.
[....
....]
...sorry. I didn't intend to turn this into a sob story.
no subject
I understand. It would be devastating to think that you were wrong about her this whole time.
[It's an observation, nothing more. But Yeager shakes his head once that's out there.]
You don't need to apologize. I appreciate that you were willing to share it with me! It can be... difficult to talk about this sort of thing.
no subject
Mhmm. It's not something I really intended to share, but...I do appreciate you listening.
[...
...]
...what will you do, then? If we manage to be successful here. Will you return home?
no subject
I don't know. I haven't planned that far ahead.
[It's a startlingly honest answer, so he shrugs afterward.]
It depends on how things are doing back home, I suppose.
no subject
Well. If someone doesn't shoot Vitali first, I hope you get the chance to ask her how your world is going.
[...]
I promise I won't shoot her until you get an answer, at least.
no subject
[thanks, yeager..........]
no subject
The thought is tempting, although I hold out hope that she had a very good reason for being so selective with the information she fed us.
[could at LEAST have mentioned the Shimmer entering the real world, but yanno]
no subject
no subject
[God, what a headache. She should've shot the Shimmer when she had the chance, futile as it likely would have been.]
I suppose all we can do is complete our mission. Too late to turn back now.
no subject
[Easier said than done, but hopefully we'll find a way...]