here we go again...

[bulletbiter]

Who: Everyone
Where: Aimintas
When: Day 56
Open/Closed: OTA

[ Feel free to use this entry as a mingle for whatever your characters will be up to during the bigger Uvi attack! You can find details about it in this weekly update post.

(This post is forward dated by a few hours as I temporarily forgot how timezones work... please forgive me.) ]

Comments

[deem]

[9S takes a moment to observe what Julius seems to be attached to at the moment. It's a worrying thing, the sight of something so very large it could just swallow the man]

You mean that...thing you're sticking out of?

[Confirmation is necessary when dealing with the new and unusual]

[bulletbiter]

All of this is me. Or was. I turned into it.

[ The One Who Opens The World is a long mouthful of a name and it isn't one he's aware of. It was given to it by someone else. ]

[deem]

Turned into—wait, you mean you were modified?

[That's what it sounds like to him, though only part of this thing looks like Julius. It seem from his perspective like he's sticking out of some foreign mass rather than a part of it]

[bulletbiter]

Something of the sort... [ The Aragami hovers, still in the air. What's visible of Julius' own human form is but a reconstruction at this point - taken from his memory. ] I'm sorry. It's.... complicated.

[ There's a subtle difference in his telepathic conversation compared to when he was still in a human form. His words are slower, each carefully picked clean to be without the influence of the Singularity. ]

[deem]

I don't understand... Why do you keep saying that?

[Why is he sorry? 9S can only wonder.

Given the difference in size between them, he questions now whether he should've asked 2B to join him. His own power is relatively weak in comparison to hers, especially if he's unable to use hacking.

...But if Julius is modified, if he's something not quite human now, could he?]

[bulletbiter]

[ What could he say? That he was cursed? That he was a fool? No, that wouldn't be conducive to the mission. ]

I've put you at risk to save the others... it shouldn't be this way.

[ And every moment that they spend here might be wasted. They need to move. It's the purpose, and the conversation, that keeps him grounded. ]

[deem]

You risked yourself for the same reason, right?

[To help other people, that is. 9S edges closer, even as his sensors tell him that he's getting nearer to something powerful and dangerous to himself...much as they did when he faced Emil's clones]

It's not like I didn't have a choice.

[bulletbiter]

[ To be chosen, and trusted. He wouldn't be afforded this opportunity back home. ]

We should go. Fighting helps me focus.

[ If he can still control himself, then it should be spent on the purpose with which he transformed for. ]

[deem]

Right... Let's get going, then.

[9S will back him up, insofar as someone this much smaller than him is capable of doing so.

He just hopes his presence will be enough to help]

[bulletbiter]

[ Julius gravitates towards the sound of fighting, and fighting is aplenty in this sort of condition. A small group of Uvi approach from the north, so he makes a beeline for them - still mindful of 9S' own pace in the shadow of his mantle.

Truly strange, to feel this sort of body. ]

I shall speak with you... more than I usually do. I can convey to you that I am still here.

[deem]

I'm a bit of a talker anyway, so that suits me just fine.

[He conveys as much casually, as though this isn't a discussion of Julius taking measures to ensure he knows whether the man's lost control of himself or not. Despite the difference in their sizes, YoRHa are swift enough, so 9S hopes he's not slowing him down as he follows]

[bulletbiter]

Yes, of course.

[ Their opponent comes into view, the fishmen carrying sea life in a bubble behind them. With how Julius glows, he's bound to attract attention soon - ]

I could use brute force against them. What do you think?

[deem]

If we don't have any means of trapping them like Alphonse, that's the only method we've got.

[And while 9S could think of some ways to conveniently take out the lot of them, once that water's pooled everywhere the chances of collateral damage are too high]

[bulletbiter]

Very well.

[ The Aragami lifts its single hand and orients its blades forward. The Uvi have noticed them by now and start charging towards the pair - Julius needs a few moments to charge up the Singularity's laser, so 9S could probably knock some of them back into shooting range.

The beam itself is bright much like a flare, and it would certainly burn. ]

[deem]

[By now 9S has made good practice of using his weapon to herd enemies. Having it orbit groups and using weak attacks is enough to concentrate them in smaller groups as they attempt to avoid damage...

And that means that Julius' attacks can be all the more effective. Support is, after all, what 9S was assigned to]

You really do pack a punch, huh?

[bulletbiter]

[ There's silence for a few moments, telepathy conveying only the sound of something similar to static before words come through. ]

It does. [ It, not himself. ] This is the furthest I can go without risking too much.

[ Given how versatile Aragami are, he could kill the Uvi in quite a couple of ways - but this was the simplest. ]

[deem]

[That sound is decidedly unnatural, when the one he's communicating with isn't an android. Isn't a machine.

But what is Julius, exactly?]

...You sure you're okay?

[bulletbiter]

[ Would an android truly be able to understand something of alien, biological origin? ]

I've made my choice. I must see through to it, so I'll do as much as I can before it ends.

[ As long as there's something to fight, he should be able to stay lucid. ]

[deem]

Just...be careful.

[It's hypocritical to say, he knows...but it's still concerning watching someone assume enough risk to demand a safeguard like his presence here]

You're not the only one who can fight.

[bulletbiter]

[ He isn't, but there also are a shitton of Uvi and his conclusion was that they should employ the most devastating strategy possible to their enemy. ]

I know. I mustn't let you come to risk.

[ Because, as he's said to Lenka, this world is better off without him. ]

[deem]

...Don't insult me.

[Julius isn't quite human, so 9S can muster up some sass more easily here. It's a struggle where humans are concerned, feeling it's not truly his place, but Julius is something else...

Still human insofar as it counts though, in his eyes]

Why call on somebody if you're not going to rely on them?

[bulletbiter]

[ There are plenty of things he could have said here, but he lacks the words. It's thus in his favour that telepathy transmits in his stead - conviction (for the duty that he must do), regret (at calling upon another's help), and a lingering visceral fear that 9S would perish. ]

I need your help. But I won't let you die.

[deem]

I don't plan on dying again anytime soon.

[There's a word in there he has to bum-rush out of his own thoughts because he's still not particularly great at this whole telepathic conversation shtick]

But I'm expecting you to keep living too, you know.

[bulletbiter]

[ Strange, how 'dying again' applies to the both of them - but it's not a topic to be asked about, not when he's requiring 9S to do something unpleasant. ]

I'll try my best to fulfil that.

[ If anything, he can feel slightly more confident that he would find acceptance here. ]

[deem]

I'll be here to make sure.

[That statement applies to more than one thing of course. He intends to help Julius should he need it. And likewise, he plans on making sure the man remains alive.

Surely he doesn't have the option of another body]