animus_network | Video; Preparing for the Worst, Hoping...

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Video; Preparing for the Worst, Hoping...

With all that has happened in the last few weeks and how angry Jason is, it shouldn't be surprising he's already making changes to how things work around here. There is really no way to know what he will do next. All we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best as foolish as hoping for anything here might seem. We may be limited in what we can do to prepare, but there is one thing I have noticed we can be working on. We all know how easy it is for any of the Administrators to turn off our powers. It can happen in the blink of an eye and without any kind of warning. And power loss is not limited to just when the Administrators wish it anymore. In addition to that and the floors that cancel out powers, ever since the initial systems' failure, it has become clear that even though systems are back up, they are far from stable. While there are some in the Tower who are as skilled fighting without their powers are they are with, there are a great many who rely too heavily on something they can lose so suddenly and completely.

There have been many people who have tried to set up training classes here in the past. I knew too briefly two of them, Hei and Tear Grants. Both of them are gone from the Tower now, but I would not like to see their hard work die just because they have been sent away. This is especially important right now since things will likely get worse around here before we can make them better.

I would like to ask anyone who is willing to help teach people non-magical ways of fighting and first aid to please contact me. As a great many people also rely on magical weapons they might lose without their special abilities, I would also request the aid of all who would be willing to help make non-magical weapons for those who need them. The weapons do not need to be pretty, only functional.

Finally, I would ask anyone interesting in learning how to fight without special abilities or would like to get a non-magical weapon to act as a back up for their magical weapons, to please contact me. I don't know how quickly I will be able to get the weapons together--that will depend on how much help I get. However, as I am one who is able to fight with or without my special abilities, I can start setting up training classes right away for any who are interested.

Thank you all for your assistance in this matter. I have always believed that the stronger we make each of us, the stronger we will be overall, and the more likely we will be to find the Truth we all are so desperately looking for.

Private Video Locked To: Shion (

savedbyasong ), Xion (

attheclocktower ), Akemi Homura (

rewindingly ), and Kirika Yuumura (

carrythesin ).

(OOC: I am aware that Kirika is no longer in the game, but since Diarmuid doesn't know, he is locking the message to everyone Hei asked him to contact in his letter.)

First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. While we may have passed each other in the Tower, I do not believe I have met any of you before now. However, we have a friend in common, Hei. I received a letter from him not long before he was sent away asking me to help all of you should he ever leave this place.

I am deeply sorry it has taken me so long to contact you. The last few months have been terrible, but that is no excuse for me to have neglected this request as long as I have. I ask you to forgive me for that since Hei is not here for me to ask forgiveness from.

[Here Diarmuid pauses to bow deeply at the screen. He holds the bow for several seconds before straightening and speaking again.]

If you ever wish to call upon my aid or that of my friends, please feel free to contact me. My room number is #4-16 and my mailbox is #0091. You may contact me through either means if you wish in addition to responding to this message.

With all that is going on in the Tower at the moment, I will understand if you don't feel comfortable accepting my offer, but I wish to make it anyway. It will always be open no matter if you decide to contact me now or not. Whatever you decision, I hope that you remain safe and that your quest for Truth is successful.

Private Video Locked To: Waver Velvet (

fionnuisce )

My friend, I have been invited to a wedding. Tell me I'm not going to jinx it if I go. I have already agreed to be there, but...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Shion was surprised whilst checking the network during his working hours to find a message addressed to him, he saw Xion's name as well. And two others he didn't recognise.]

Hello... [He blinked at the screen as it began recording.] I'm Shion, it is very nice to hear from you Diarmuid, Hei mentioned you in his letter to me and Xion as well, but as you say the last two months have not been kind.

[This is awkward, and remembering Hei and people who were to watch over him made him remember Elena, and Reno...]

Thank you for contacting me, Shion. Even if these last few months have been terrible, it shouldn't have kept me from such an important duty.

[Diarmuid bows his head to the young man again.]

Hei sent you and Xion letters that mentioned me? I was not aware of that, but knowing Hei I should not be so surprised. It seems like he cared about you all and wished you to be well taken care of if something happened to him.

Yes, he mentioned your name and said that we could contact you if we needed to. [He looked down] I didn't know him all that well actually, I only knew him properly for the last month he was here...

To be honest, I had only begun to get to know him myself when he was taken from here. He helped my brother out and I first met him that way. Afterward, I volunteered to help train people for the classes he was putting together. I was both surprised and honored that he trusted me enough to ask such a thing of me. It is why I feel so terrible about waiting for long to contact all of you.

[Diarmuid gives Shion a sincere look.]

I realize it is hard to trust right now, but I do wish to help you both however I may. I have always believed the more people are connected, the stronger they are. There is so much to be done here that there is no way only one pair of hands can do the work, but many...that is completely different.

He was good friends with Reno's wife, Elena. I helped in his classes as well, teaching foraging. [A shy smile]

You don't have to feel bad about it, Reno taught us to protect ourselves, and each other. [A defensive tone creeping up there]

Foraging is very useful skill to have. Especially in a place like this.

[Diarmuid nods, though his smile fades at the defensive tone. Still, it fades for only a moment since it makes him happy to hear someone has taught them how to fight for themselves.]

It sounds like they really took good care of you. I am so glad you had such a strong bond. It's a shame that they were taken away from here, but at least the bond you formed with them will always remain in your heart. No one can take those memories from you, so they will always be there to give you strength.

[Shion blinked at him seriously] Our memories aren't safe. It's important you know that.

They did, Reno was... [How does he even describe Reno] He taught me a lot, I would not be... I would probably not be sane if it were not for him. [He reached up to touch the Turk pin he wore]

What do you mean? I know memories can and have been altered, but I believe deep down in our souls our memories rooted in such a way we cannot lose them forever. However, I have only been here since January so I am sure there is much I don't know...

[Diarmuid watches Shion touch the pin and nods.]

I...know that feeling. There is someone in the Tower who I credit with saving my own sanity. If he had not arrived when he did...

[Diarmuid shakes his head, but says no more. There is no need since Shion knows exactly what he's talking about.]

Would you be able to meet in person? There are things I'd rather not speak about on here.

[He is interested in the fact that Diarmuid had a similar person, someone who saved his sanity. He would understand then, and he hoped Diarmuid's person was still in the tower, as horrid as that might be to wish upon someone]

Yes. I understand completely. Is there a specific place you would like us to meet?

[Honestly, he is glad Shion has suggested meeting elsewhere. Diarmuid much prefers talking face-to-face, but since he is the one who contacted Shion out of the blue, he didn't think it was his place to suggest it.]

I am in the library at the moment, but my shift is practically finished if you wish to meet me elsewhere.

I have no problems with the library if that is where you are comfortable. I am good friends with Tohko who also spends a lot of time there, so it is a place I enjoy visiting.

However, if you would like to pick another place, I am fine with that as well. The meadow is a popular meeting spot as are the lounges.

I know Tohko, she is a very kind and helpful person. I will wait for you here if you wish.

[Diarmuid smiles kindly.]

She is. A very strong and brave girl. I am honored to have her friendship.

I will meet you in the library shortly. Currently, I am up on the dorm levels, but fortunately for me, my abilities make it so I can move around the Tower fairly quickly. More than likely, it will be me waiting for you. I will see you soon.

[He bows to the monitor before ending the feed and making his way to the Library. Only minutes later he will arrive and settle at one of the tables to wait for Shion to finish his shift.]

[Shion didn't seem to confused by that and went over to him once he finished stacking books] Do you have darkness corridors? Or some similar way to travel?

Darkness Corridors?

[Diarmuid gives Shion a confused look.]

I would guess not since I have no idea what they are. One of my skills is that I am extremely fast--faster than a normal human can see if I pull my full power to work. It doesn't take me long to move from one end of the Tower to the other. It's part of the reason I can actually patrol the Tower bottom to top more than once some days.

Shion made note of the colour of his collar, and then turned to a piece of paper from the lightly bound stack he had and began to write some notes. You do not consider yourself human?

Darkness corridors are as they sound, corridors made of darkness that can link two places, it is magic used by those who can use key shaped blades. Xion uses them quite a bit.

Ah...they are a specific kind of magic. That would be why I am unfamiliar with them.

[Diarmuid nods at Shion before trying to explain the what exactly he is.]

I was born human and I would say my soul is still human, but it is hard to call yourself a 'normal' human when you were brought back from the dead by magic and are kept in the world by more magic.

I am what is called a Servant on my world. You see, back home if a person does great enough deeds during their lives, when they die their soul is recorded on something called the Throne of Heroes. That way, the soul can be called back to help fight should the world ever be in great danger. When I was called here, I was just finishing my part in a war that I had been called to fight in.

Does that make sense so far?

[Shion flicked through a few more pages, if Diarmuid was to look at the notes he would see that this one was titled Servants and already had quite a few notes.]

Yes, Archer is a servant too though I am not sure if his world differs from yours. I did not know of the Throne of Heroes though, he doesn't really... explain things to me.

[Diarmuid does notice the notes and can't help but wonder if Shion is a researcher like Waver is.]

If the Archer you speak of is a blond man who thinks far too much of himself, then yes, while he is also a Servant like me, he is from a different world than I am. His war is not the same as mine. It is the same as the one my roommate is in though.

[He smiles, amused.]

Archer doesn't explain much to anyone. It is how he is. However, in this case it is probably not so much him not telling you as him not knowing. None of us are exactly sure what the Throne of Heroes is. We just know what it does. It is where we all rest when we are not actively at work in the world, and it is what records our souls once we die the first time and are chosen.

Yes [He smiles slightly at that description] He is my roommate. [He nodded, understanding that some things were not known, even if it frustrated him.] Records your souls?

You...have my sympathy. I hope he doesn't cause you too much trouble.

[For a moment, Diarmuid tries to imagine what it would be like to room with Archer, but then stops and shakes his head. It would probably end up in his death and if not his, then certainly his brother's considering the history between the two.]

I am not sure how, but yes, it records them. The soul is kept on the Throne and whenever it is needed back on Earth, an exact copy is made and sent down. The real soul never leaves the Throne because there is too much danger of something happening to change it and that they can't allow.

He's nice. [Shion blinked, he liked Archer.] Would you know if now... if your soul is a copy or if it is real or does it feel the same?

[Diarmuid's expression falls and he shakes his head again.]

I...don't know. When this all started, I was a copy. Of that there is no doubt. Only a copy would be allowed to keep memory of their time on Earth and I remember very well the war I was summoned into.

[He laughs bitterly.]

I remember very well, but when the world ended, I was on the way back to the Throne. To be blunt, I had been killed. I should have been erased and my energy reunited with the real soul of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne that remained on the Throne. How much of that happened...I don't know and there really is no way to know. If any part of me is the real soul, something obviously when wrong while I was being returned, because I should not remember what I remember.

So either they snatched the copy when they tried to save you, or... since I would think they would know the difference between a soul and a copy of one... perhaps only half the process was completed.

[He wrote this down as he spoke, his handwriting was messy, especially as he tried to write fast enough to keep up with his thoughts.] Then again since we do not know what constitutes a soul here, or what they would class as one I have no idea.

Video; Preparing for the Worst, Hoping...

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