compnetwork | Second Echo

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Second Echo

[Video]

[The COMP video shows Meetra in the same 'meditative' position on her bed that she took the first time she posted here, but with her expression far more grave...even a little afraid. She takes a deep breath before speaking.]

For the last day or two, I've felt...I don't know what I've felt. All I can call it is a disturbance in the Force, as if some great danger were right around the corner. I don't want to alarm anyone, but please be careful. If anyone needs any help or protection, I've awoken my Persona and I can fight, so don't hesitate to call me for help. Until then, I'll just be...in my room...meditating on what the threat could be. I really haven't felt something like this in years...

[It's clear to anyone with enough practice in reading tones of voice that "disturbance in the Force" or not, she's really afraid of something, but doesn't seem to have noticed it. Feel free to call her out on that. Also, any action tags will need to get through a deadbolted apartment door.]

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Are you okay, Meetra?

[Have a concerned sixteen year old peering at you through the COMP.]

There are a lot of other people freaking out lately...

I'm not 'freaking out'. Jedi don't freak out.

[A pause.]

It's possible that many people here can feel what's coming, though, especially if we're all connected through Personas.

[Rune's face twisted up into an almost comical expression.]

Hey, uh... Meetra? That right there? That was a freak out.

[She let out a breath.]

Do you think our Personas would know what's going on?

[She doesn't like the sound of that... she really doesn't want to talk to hers.]

[She...can't really argue with that assessment, but at least has the grace to look embarrassed.]

Logically, they shouldn't know anything we don't, but since they're part of our subconscious, they might "know" something we're not consciously aware of...

[It's okay, man; of all the people in the multiverse, she definitely understands what it's like to have a heroic BSOD.]

Yeah... and I guess the types that can support others are the better ones to know what's going on...

[Urgh...]

Maybe. I haven't asked Vima anything, but even the real Vima Sunrider wasn't a really...reflective person, for a Jedi. If you think your Persona might be able to help...

N-no! A Persona like mine couldn't help anybody!

[...now who's freaking out?]

Rune...what is your Persona, exactly?

[...hurk.]

I-it's nothing important.

It sounds like it's probably important. I've locked this conversation to just the two of us, so you can tell me.

...I-I don't wanna talk about it...

~~[Looks like your influence isn't high enough. Jedi Mind Trick?]~~

~~[Nah, surely there will be more Influence gains from the next planet. I mean event.]~~

That's alright. It's your mind.

I'll try meditating on my Persona and see if she knows anything.

Y-yeah, sure. Go for it.

[ The space marine knocks. How he knew where she lived we'll leave to the magic of his superhuman sense of smell. ]

Surik, something is wrong.

[ He booms. ]

Something feels wrong.

[Okay, the fact that she jumped at a knock on her door is definitely not normal. Meetra takes a few seconds to center herself again before answering the door. The fact that she's holding her lightsaber is simply normal caution.]

No need to yell, Cerberus. Do you want to come in?

I came to warn you. [ His face suggests more concern than normal. He's not his phlegmatic self this evening. ]

Something half-formed and dark seems to be reaching out for us. I have seen things like this before. I expect many shall die before this is entirely finished.

[Just the fact that she could see his face was strange enough. She'd gotten used to him as a giant tin can.]

I feel it too. I won't let the people here die, though. No matter how scared I feel.

.... Is this fear? I have been unable to feel fear for 200 years. It is conditioned out of us through indoctrination, and the genetic alterations we undergo dampen it as well.

[ He looks at her, expression darkening. ]

I have always found fear repulsive to me.

Fear is a part of being human...or any living thing. Eradicating or ignoring fear is an easy way to die.

The only problem with fear is letting it master you, the same as any other emotion.

Fear destroys rationality. Even controlling it still causes the short-circuiting of your brain, destroying reason. There was a reason none of the Legiones Astartes know fear. Not for war, but because we could better make decisions regarding the path of the Imperium without fear clouding our eyes. We would always make the right choice, even if it was the harder one.

[ He face grows more disgusted, eyes darting around in his sockets. The green-armored ghost has appeared once more behind them both, watching over Garviel, a strange mirror to him, though slightly taller, and with a more amused expression than the dour space marine ever allows him to make. ]

He is here again, isn't he?

You treat fear as your enemy and then you ignore it. How's that rational?

[She looks over his shoulder at his Persona.]

Supposedly, they come out at moments of strong emotion or times of great need. So yes, he'll be here again for a while, I'm sure.

We don't ignore it.

We -destroy- it. We cut it out of ourselves like cancer, and crush it with our will.

You can't destroy something that's a part of yourself. Block it out, sever it from your mind, but it will always exist.

Only as a concept.

You're telling me someone as...indoctrinated as you are isn't prepared to fight concepts?

The Astartes themselves are a conceptual weapon. You tell me.

I...

...

I'm getting too angry. This isn't natural, or right.

Consider the circumstances under which beings like me were created. Humanity had been sundered for thousands of years by storms that made interstellar travel impossible. We were surrounded by hostile aliens preying on us. We couldn't even unify Terra without a massive civil war.

The Legions were created to represent the noblest qualities of honor, bravery, strength and intellect which we could bring to the galaxy, and we cast fear out, because if we were to know fear, we could never complete the task of the Crusade, which was to free humanity from the fear and superstitions of Old Night, and unite it under the banner of the Imperium.

Unless you mean the imposition of fear upon us, and the terror that seems even now to be igniting itself in my very marrow. That isn't natural or right and I.... am actually angry myself. I don't like that an external force has this level of control over me.

I too have felt this. I cannot say what it is, but something feels wrong.

I guess this is affecting even people without the ability to feel the future through the Force...unless you're another Jedi who was brought here. You kind of look the part.

What is a Jedi?

Well, I suppose that answers my question. It would take a long time to explain the idea in a meaningful way, though.

So I'm not alone. I thought maybe I had a demon hanging around the place, but...

I thought so. It feels unnatural. I've felt natural and unnatural fears, and this feels wrong. I'm not sure why.

Unnatural fear? I don't...well, it could be that. If it's strong enough to affect me even through my training, though, I think it's worth worrying about what's causing it.

I agree. Except every time I think about doing it MYSELF, I freak out a bit and have to breathe into a paper sack or something. Whatever it is, it's potent as hell.

It is...I've spent my whole life mastering fear and other negative emotions, and it still affects me.

[ Snake is damn good at deciphering voices, so he tries to speak in a reassuring tone. It's obvious Meetra is on edge and there's no reason to worry her further, but he can't help but feel she's onto something. Too many people are freaking out for it to be a simple bad feeling. ]

Perhaps you're having trouble adjusting to life here. Homesick isn't quite the word I'd use, but it might be something similar...

[ He scratches his chin. ]

If you'd like someone to talk to, I'm always prepared to listen.

I appreciate that, Snake.

It's not the anxiety of moving around, or at least I don't think so. I've felt that enough that I'd hope I'd recognize it. It's more like foreboding. Not quite a premonition, but there's definitely something dangerous out there...

Did this feeling come to you suddenly, or has it worsened over the last few days?

[ He tries his best to sound encouraging and open as he speaks. ]

It's been getting gradually worse for the last...day? Two? I'm not sure.

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