📚Rorschach test

Suika is called for a mysterious, important meeting.

Characters: Suika, Dove, Magus

Warnings: N/A

Wordcount: 1,178

Vibe: uh oh.

gonna b real with yall this is just glorified exposition and i cant entirely rememver why i wrote but but [whips and nae naes]

this is nightmare diaries arc, aka 1 yr after violet detector

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Tapping her foot, Suika waited in the rented-out meeting room of the public library. She didn’t quite think it was very ‘discreet’, but it was probably the most unassuming that someone could get for a low cost.

Considering the recent twist of events, she’d have to settle for unassuming.

Thankfully, her wait wouldn’t be too long – the mystery individuals were right on time. Two women wearing black suits, though the formal facade of one was entirely broken by a rainbow-hued magician’s hat.

The more serious looking woman without the hat was quick to pull up a chair.

“You’re Ibaraki-Douji, correct?”

“How formal. Yes, I am. I can only assume you’re the Hawk?”

Suika was used to working in codenames – it was important to keep one’s true identity only known to those they were sure they could trust, after all. Still, the woman she was speaking to didn’t mention her partner at all.

“Who… is that?” Suika asked, giving a vague gesture in the direction of the woman with the magician’s hat.

“Oh..! Geez, I didn’t think of a fun code name, did I? Was I supposed to have one?” she replied with a smile.

“I ain’t got nothing to hide! Call me Magus!”

The Hawk just sighed.

“Magus is my… assistant. She’s often better at communicating and negotiating.” she said, shaking her head.

“For all effective purposes, you’re free to just call me Dove at this point. I haven’t used the Hawk as an alias in forever, so it doesn’t feel as natural.”

“Well, I appreciate you two being so forwards.” Suika nodded.

“Let’s not waste any more time, and pick up where we left off. How much do you know?”

“Admittedly… not a lot.” Dove responded, shaking her head.

“I was figuring we could more… bring our experiences to the table, and use them to connect the dots.”

“…Normally that kind of answer would piss me off.” Suika groaned.

“But… I feel like it’s all that can be done.”

The night prior, Suika received a mysterious phonecall to the landline number belonging to her temporary housing in the area. It wasn’t unheard of, and was usually just someone looking for the previous tenants.

But this caller… requested Suika specifically, by her alias.

It’d been a week since the ‘farmhouse incident’ that Suika’s niece and a friend were involved in. She had assumed it was just a potent anomalous incident, and she wasn’t wrong – but it wasn’t truly the farmhouse she needed to worry about.

The entire reason Suika had left the Underdeck was because a ‘covert operation’ by the area’s government required a skilled occultist. Why they didn’t grab Oracle, an occultist in Suika’s locale who was arguably more skilled, was a mystery – but Suika enjoyed the ego boost, at least.

This ‘covert operation’ turned out to be… a thinly veiled sting operation, headed by the mysterious new co-ambassador of the Craterlands, Id. From Suika’s point of view, it really felt like Id wanted to ‘reveal’ certain practices by the government of the Deoxian empire, in order to trigger an all-out spacial war.

…It seemed almost uncharacteristic. The Craterlands was always known as a peace-pushing area, often being a mediator. But Id’s offer for Suika’s work was too good to pass up.

Fast forwarding to the farmhouse incident, Suika’s niece came into contact with Id. More importantly, though – Tonantzintla, an anomaly with practically omnipresent power, did as well.

And the only thing Tonantzintla could talk about upon returning home was how they needed to run. That there was something wrong with Id, something that was beyond even their comprehension. That they were scared.

Suika trusted Tonantzintla’s word, and put in a request for resignation on the operation – receiving the call from who would end up being Dove the following night.

“Tonantzintla…” Dove hummed.

“Do you know exactly how powerful of an anomaly they are? For frame of reference…”

“How does three thousand years old and able to create life from nothing but their own energy sound?” Suika replied, shifting into a more comfortable position after her exposition.

“…Right. I think I understand.” Dove nodded along.

“I suppose my own side of the story isn’t nearly as engaging, but…”

Dove gave a deep sigh, as Magus sat by with an intent look. Between the two of them, they filled in Dove’s story…

Dove, as a child, was witness to many unethical experiments involving theories of anomalies, divine energy, and unreality. In the end, she became an anomaly herself, doomed to a cycle of eternal death and rebirth – until it was broken 14 years ago.

Many of those involved in the experiments were reduced to shadowy, unstable, and dangerous entities – haunting visions that still plagued Dove.

So… when she was watching the news with her family one night, and the strange new co-ambassador of the Craterlands appeared as one of those entities… it was like a wound had reopened.

“And the creepiest thing is – Id only looked like that for her.” Magus nodded.

“Id just looked like a normal humanform hybrid for me and the kids. But for something to be so existentially unstable with them that it twists their visage to Dove, even though a broadcast…”

“Wait, wait. Hold on.” Suika interrupted.

“You two have a family?”

“It’s not really important to the issue at hand. Just because we’re together doesn’t mean we can’t work together, suddenly.” Dove sighed.

“Right. Sorry.” Suika apologized.

“Continue.”

“I think it’s safe to say that whatever is going on with Id is… of deep gravity, at best. But knowing that they’re planning on instigating conflict, a spacial war even… it doesn’t look good.” Dove said grimly.

“Did they ever seem to give a reason for their choices?”

“Specifically, they didn’t seem to like how solid the allyship between the Deoxian empire and the Lunar Capital has been.” Suika responded.

“The way they said it… they wanted to reveal the empire’s skeletons in the closet and sever that trust, which they theorized would cause the empire to retaliate.”

“Why the Lunar Capital, though?” Dove asked, confused.

“While their technology may be incredible, none of it is invested in defence. Knowing the powerhouse that the empire is, they’d be wiped off the map. And for what? They’re not even connected to the rest of-”

“Lunaires.” Magus interrupted, her tone filled with horrified realization.

“The Lunar Capital may not be connected to the central circuit… but it’s the only place connected to Lunaires.”

“You’re… not implying that…” Suika mumbled in response, only for her words to be cut off by a knock on the door.

“…Are we over the time already?”

“I’ll grab it!” Magus said with a nod.

Magus opened the door, and quickly froze.

The air of the room quickly became heavy with dread as Dove and Suika locked eyes with the visitor as well.

“Hello there!” they said with their usual unbreaking smile.

“I heard you were talking about me?”

And suddenly, Suika realized why Oracle must’ve refused the offer.

For Oracle was too smart to walk into such an obvious trap.