Our elders once taught their descendants this: "報仇,你應該挖兩個墳墓". Seek revenge…and you shall dig two graves
Dongnan has always been one thing in the eyes of Maelstrom: Gullible. For many centuries, the… barbarians in Volvangar struggled to conquer our land, for their muscle was not a rival to our ancestral knowledge. 2 centuries of bloody, cruel battles passed until they found a way.
To crush an army, you strike at the people. You strike at their homes, their hearts, their spirit…and then you strike a deal. You give us your knowledge…we give you our strength. It was a good deal, one of the best we could get in those days. Together, we would both thrive. Or at least it is what our elders thought.
In this, Volvangar really did match Dongnan's knowledge for once. They managed to trick their enemy into willingly subjugating itself to The Commonwealth, and now…Dongnan is back to their humble start, empty head with no knowledge and all hay, all ideology. But what better place to store water than an empty bottle?
"Hey, Nerdy. Get up" I get interrupted. It's Psyche again, as usual
"Let me sleep…I'm on my leave…" I tell him. I just want to rest…
"Come on, get up, they're shooting…what do you guys call it again?" He says back to me. Not now…
An explosion goes off out of the window. I forgot. It's Unison Day today
"Yanhua is what we call them" I reply, a bit hasty and with a gritty voice. I always wake up with a dry throat
"Well, they're shooting those, come on, you're going to miss them" He tells me
I get up. Psyche, you are not a kid anymore…Silly man…but…everyone has their own silliness these days…even Balisong
He grabs my hand and takes me to the window. Grasp palms…but I would not have them any other way. Every step I take I feel the cold ceramics on the palms of my feet. It's … 7 in the morning, don't the Yanhua get shot at like…sunset?
Well…not for him. He set off some of them for our anniversary
"Happy Anniversary, Oracle" He tells me. He remembered our anniversary. I giggle a bit
It was a certain type of Yanhua. Frail, tiny sticks you can light up and blow. They work well for cakes. But that doesn't explain the explosion from before
"Wow…thank you, Psyche" I say. I honestly had forgotten, in my rush to just enjoy my leave and finally get some hours of sleep, I forgot this was our second year together. Well. This might as well be a good day.
A Good Day.
I blow the "candles" for the cake
"Well. That covers our bases" I say, then go and hug him. He hugs me back. I continue
"But…what about the Yanhua outside?" I asked him
We walk to the window. Neighbors had set them off to avoid being busted by some of the patrol guys. There are knocks on the door. Psyche wants to go
"Don't. I'll handle it" I say then head for the door. I open
"Gloria Maelstrom and good morning ma'am" The Reaper on patrol tells me
"Gloria Maelstrom…umm…Good Morning. Does the patrol need assistance or anything?" I ask. Just get the hell away from my house, I'm on leave…
"Well yes we do. I'm Reaper Mugembe. My partner, Reaper Zoya, is waiting at the front door of the building, we have some questions regarding some…illegal fireworks" He tells me
"Well, Reaper Mugembe. First off, I'm Reaper Oracle…and…we..umm" I say. Well, I kind of messed up here. Why now of all times?
"It's our anniversary, Reaper Mugembe" He says. He apparently stepped in while I wasn't looking
"Excuse me, who are you?" The patrol guy asked. Ah…there goes the rest of my leave
"I'm Reaper Psyche. On official leave, same as her. Is there a problem?" He says….Whyyyy now of all times…
"Well then…Guess I will have to report this to the system administrator then. According to local legislation, there are not to be relationships between members of the Armed Forces, regardless of whether or not they are in active duty" The patrol guy then continued and pulled up a datapad then followed up with another statement
"I shall report this to the nearest local administrator. Now…aside of that, there's also a penalty fee that the Collective will charge you for accordingly, seeing you were in possession of illegal fireworks" The guy then said.
Psyche then slapped a paper on the Reaper's mask
"There. The receipt from the Collective. I ordered these some days prior, so you and your penalty fee can just leave us alone before we are called back to duty, right?" He stated. He isn't very good at keeping our relationship concealed…but he makes up for it in his own way
"Fine then...Have a good day, Reaper Psyche. Reaper Oracle" The patrol guy gives Psyche the receipt back then leaves, clearly annoyed. I get a notification in my terminal, then immediately get another one. I sigh. This always happens. Not an issue
"Be advised. A recent report filed against you, the System Administrator for the Richushan Area ,has reported that you show signs indicative of an emotionally charged bond with a fellow servicewoman. As such, you have been place in queue for disciplinary action from your assigned commander. Gloria Maelstrom" The first notification said in emotionless console text. Next
"Reaper Mugembe, using emergency automated report to denounce improper conduct between Reapers Oracle and Psyche. Gloria Maelstrom" The second notification said
"Fellow servicewoman…huh?" He says behind me
"Yeah. Change hasn't gone through in their system yet…" I reply
"No, they just don't want to change the registry…Lazy bastards" He tells me
"Well. Nothing I can do, that's up for the Database Admin. Would change it if I could" I tell him
Another notification reaches me. It's our assigned commander, Arbiter Minerva. Balisong's direct handler since they are in the same squad. The usual. Be more careful, you resume service tomorrow for this, she can't keep looking over kids like this. I sigh in relief
"Back in service?" He tells me. I punch him right on the abdomen
"Yes…Back in service for anniversary, right?" I tell him. Agh...I hate him but...I don't hate him. I can't
"Hey, you need to do exercise, nerdy. All gizmos and no cardio isn't good for you" He tells me. I giggle back then head for the cape to dust it off. Dusty capes are not acceptable
"So. What do you think our next assignment will be?" I ask him. He's at the kitchen
"What if I told you…anywhere but here?" He tells me. No way that was true
"What do you mean? Any news?" I ask him
"Well yeah. Whole world is upside down because of that lady on the north. Vale and Mistral are … in shambles" He tells me
Regrettable. Beaches in Vale are preferable to here. They are warmer and it isn't raining all the time
"Wait you mean like…" I was saying but then he interrupted me with a coffee cup
"I mean totally upside down. Academies, Public Force, cities….all of it" He tells me. I take a sip
"Guess this may be an opening for us, right?" I say. Guess our leave wasn't lasting for long regardless of what happened 5 minutes ago
"Yeah. And..another thing. You like Trolesund?" He asked me.
"Not really. I don't go to Volvangar if I don't need to, why?" I reply
"Well. Get ready quickly. I will show you something. Hurry" He tells me, then goes for his gear, I get to the shower.
Warm water is always good regardless of the situation. Always good. Gets the blood flowing and the mind cleared and focused. 5 minutes go by. Thoughts upon thoughts, crossing in front of my eyes in the form of decomposed geometry, millions upons trillions of triangles of different colors that end up looking like white noise overlayed over the ceramics of the bathroom.
If he is this excited, maybe he has something big in store still. 10 minutes have gone by. He knocks on the door. Shower closes. I get the towel on immediately. I hate the cold…I hate the cold, I hate the cold, I hate the cold, I hate the cold, I hate the cold. Clothes…finally
Once dressed up I turn at the cake. Guess cake goes well with coffee. I serve myself a second cup then take a slice. Chocolate crust outside, soft…well, cake and ice cream inside. Size allows for 4 slices, 2 for each of us…or 1 remainder and 1 for his brother, Cipher
I begin going at the cake with one of the spoons…the teaspoons to be precise. It is tasty…might as well have this for breakfast then maybe find some bread along the way. Trolesund is a long train ride from here so surely Psyche can find some bread on our way there
He hits the shower. Probably left the coffee cup empty somewhere. I continue picking away the slice of cake little by little, enjoying the sweetness of the chocolate, the softness of the insides. The smoothness of the cream.
A Sweet Memory.
We both eventually got ready, capes on, masks waxed and cleaned. His face of metallic benevolence, of an ancient concept of beauty looked at me with clear confusion in their eyes. I had decided to take the cake on our travel
"Was it…bad? Not of your liking?" He asked me
"No. You know I am not good with cake so, since we are going to Trolesund, I thought we might as well take a slice to your brother" I told him, carefully packing the rest of the cake inside of the packaging
"Oh. Right. Well…we do stop close to his place so…sure, why not?" He replies then opens the door, but steps aside to continue
"Alright, Birthday girl. Lets go" And so I stepped forth, stopping to hold the door open for him
"Don't…do that. Please" I tell him. Enough for one day to be honest
Although…I wish I could have had some more…just for a little longer
The train ride was...uneventful. Dongnan has pretty views of the mountains and the villages, but Volvangar has better, more...pristine urban landscapes...and of course, better structure, design. Because they took the best and left us the rest. The best engineers, architects, cybersecurity experts...except me.
I take out my drone to begin tapping into it a bit. Got to check it is still working. Psyche looks at me all absort
"Nerdy...I don't think I will ever see the day these gizmos of yours will ever stop fascinating me, you know?" And he was wrong...
"Well, you know I am always open to teach you during our next break" I want to teach him...
"How about a crash course on these robots of yours?" Time flew by
When you live as an outcast, the first thing you learn is that you are on your own. You either find yourself your means...or get piled up with the rest to die. And I clinged to life. I wanted out. And I got out. Tap after tap, bit by bit, character after character, while my motivation was true...I was going to keep going. And then it turned false. I had no motivation...but then
"You got the basics on it right?" I ask him
"Something something plaque something something one zero yes" He replies back to me
I sigh. Of course you wouldn't get it. You could never get it. As wonderful as you are, you still could not get close to understanding it. I don't blame you...and a part of me is thankful that you couldn't ever understand these machines.
A Guilty Relief.
The train eventually reached Trolesund, nothing in particular happening along the way. His comments being a soothing melody. We got off the station and we walked towards the main town square. Trolesund is pretty when it is not foggy. There are the mountains to the north, their barrier from the rest of Volvangar...and Maelstrom, and the beaches to the south. A fake prospect freedom. The freedom of the unknown to those not in the Corps. The freedom of the sea.
The Prospect of Liberty.
Trolesunds houses are mostly made of concrete and clay. Steel would rust, wood would rot, but concrete and clay don't. They can withstand the merciless winds of water and salt without any stains. Concrete can retain heat, and heat can fuel your heart. All the windows in Trolesund are locally made. The smoke from the Great Furnace can be seen from the town square. A giant chimney of darkened brick, beneath which the sand is blasted into crystalline panes or all colors and textures.
We arrive at one house in particular...well, an apartment building. Green concrete, black balconies. We begin going up the stairs. Second floor. Third Floor. We get to the 7th door and knock on it 4 times. Steps can be heard scrambling to reach the door. Then a warm greeting
"Ah. Brother!" Cipher said, greeting both of us, hugging his brother then hugging me
Cipher is complicated. He used to be way worse. But he has been getting better
"I see the therapy has worked well" I told him. His place was cleaner more organized, it looked stable and it looks like he is actually getting better
An Image of Betterment
"Yeah. Been cleaning and stuff. Got some new furniture, repair other pieces. Began to weld during my leaves too. So, what's the ocassion?" Cipher asks us
"Well. We, all of us, are going back to service. Heard the news right?" Psyche responds. Then I continue
"So, we thought of visiting, maybe even enjoy...some Shokolad Krem?" I tell him. My Severny isn't really the best, but I think I got it right. I then show Cipher the cake that we had brought
"Well, we are not eating Shokoladnyy Krem outside, come on in" Cipher said, then allowed us into his home, stepping aside to allow me in first, then Psyche
While we took off our boots, Cipher took the cake from my hands and placed it on the kitchen counter. Psyche heads for the bathroom to wash his hands, I follow him while Cipher manages to take out three plates. We get back to help him slice the cake. Psyche has always been handy with blades...he was a good cook too.
"You guys had a bite during the trip?" He asked us
"Oh no. It's...umm...A special day. But...yeah we did have a bite of it before coming" Psyche replies back, scratching the back of his head before grabbing the knife. After cutting the cake pretty much perfectly, he then serves the first slice, sliding the plate over to me
"Hmm...Wait a minute Ahh haha, I had almost forgotten" He says. Cipher totally forgot, right?
Psyche then serves the second slice and slides the plate to his brother, then replied to him
"It's fine. We don't really visit that much so you couldn't have remembered right? Wanna pin it somewhere so you don't forget again?" Psyche told him
"Sure. Here, write it down here, I will pin it on the fridge" Cipher replied, then handed us a small piece of paper and a pen
A Date to Remember
We concluded our visit to Cipher a couple hours before sunset. From his apartment building, we then headed all the way to the less inhabited west end of the town. But just before we got there, he covered my eyes
"Hey! Cut it off, what is it?" I asked him
"A surprise. Follow my lead carefully" He told me in response
I took my hands of his. I felt the breeze of the sea, the grass on the tips on my fingers. The scent of freedom. Then he took his hands off my eyes
"Happy Anniversary, Oracle" He then told me
On top of a hill stood a two-story house. White polished walls, black tiles for a roof. A brick chimney protruding from one of the sides. Fine smooth stone frames on the windows. The perfect place for anyone wanting to spend their time in peace
"W-what? How? Wouldn't the Ministry of Interior…" I asked him, confused and impressed
"They know. I bought this house for retirement" He told me, then grabbed my hand and then continued
"They never asked for whose…"
And so…we walked forth, step by step, getting closer to the house
"And…when are you planning to move here?" I asked him
"Once the war ends, this house will be just for you…and me. I promise" He replied
A Promise Left Unfulfilled
