TEXT₀₀₃ || (current time: 3:11 AM)

[eltneg]

[it's in the wee hours of the morning that the post is tentatively made.]

Is it common for the beacons to be behaving abnormally? Is this some sort of update?

It's currently projecting images without being prompted to and I am unable to find a way to disable it. If anyone has any information regarding this error, please consult me. Thank you.

[

Comments

action. 3:23am.

[airfoils]

[allelujah wakes to blood.

or in actuality, what first stirs him awake is the soft whirring and clicking of something mechanic at work. it doesn't take much in the still environment-he's been propped in one of smaller chairs for a few hours now, arms crossed, dozing with the network device idle in his lap. the picture around him is indistinct and dusty at first, pale free-floating forms materializing out of the swath of darkness. asteroids. or what was left of them. the stars follow after, pinpoints of burning blue winking in and out through the debris.

what fully wakes allelujah is the unforgiving crunch of metal and the sudden lurch the room makes, followed by the orange spray of something short-circuiting. then he realizes the blood. bright spheres of it drifting lazily

action.

[eltneg]

[the moment the bedroom door hisses open, everything distorts. slates of holographic glass soundlessly flood into the wreckage of Kyrios, paneling along the cracked glass and short-circuited controls. the destroyed cockpit of the mobile suit, too, bleeds into the hibernating walls of Veda. the spherical room is seared with long burn marks, like fingernail scratches- it's characteristic to the damage caused by a high-density particle beam. gaping wounds where multiple assaults managed to pierce through the reinforced metal warp the walls.

the unexpected change in the synthetic image takes him by surprise, his fluttering heart lodging somewhere in his throat as his nerves are pulled taught like a bowstring. a few, bewildered seconds tick by before his darting eyes find Alellujah, haloed by the red light of imitation furnaces.

the metaphoric wire snaps and Tieria visibly winds down.] Allelujah.

action.

[airfoils]

[allelujah anchors himself in the doorway, not having expected it to open on its own. even more so, he's surprised at the sudden distortion and molding of what looked like two unrelated holograms. kyrios and-? ... it was almost nauseating, watching the images crawl and bleed into one another. allelujah keeps steeled, following that illuminated path of wreckage along the curve of paneling until the crisp snap of tieria's voice commands his attention.

it always did sound like he was being scolded.

unaware of tieria's network post or the fact that the images were products of the beacons, he still doesn't venture further inside unprompted. even when a resounding crush of metal booms through the room behind him; it was a wonder how nothing actually shook with noise of that caliber.]

My mistake-[uttered distractedly]-just what is this?

action.

[eltneg]

[Allelujah's hologram spits fire, a spray of sparks raining down like fireworks behind the meister. blue electricity from the malfunctioning mobile suit crackles through the air, webbing across the walls of the terminal. despite knowing better, Tieria half expects to feel the pressure of the room change as he watches an HRL mobile suit pry open the wrecked cockpit of Kyrios. but of course, it doesn't.] The beacons...

[he glances pointedly at the small orb nestled on the corner of the bed.] It's a projection- just a hologram. But I'm not sure how to disable it.

action.

[airfoils]

[he closes his eyes at the massive exhalation of pressure as kyrios is picked open like a toy.]

Maybe there isn't a way. [is what allelujah intones, stepping into the doorway and punching his fist into the control pad to his left, causing it to close. all at once the vivid image crawls back and away until it's nothing more than a flickering halo of light framing the door. the sound is still present, indefinite and pounding unkindly against the walls.

refocusing, allelujah seems to consider the hologram tieria was faced with in the absence of his own. it's unfamiliar to him.]

action.

[eltneg]

[Tieria is quietly grateful when the door closes, bringing the image of Veda back to normalcy. being a spectator to the images Allelujah's beacon was displaying was frightening enough as it was, he can't even begin to fathom what it must have been like to experience it first hand.]

It's Veda's terminal. [he explains despite being unprompted, recognizing the curiosity in Allelujah's face.]

action.

[airfoils]

Veda's? [surprise piqued by the sudden explanation, allelujah turns his attention carefully to the quiet screens laid out against the spherical shape of the room. the meaning of what this was to tieria isn't lost on him, and the way he'd been able to recognize what his own beacon displayed-he half-smiles.]

You were here then?

action.

[eltneg]

There was an unused terminal within the laboratory where we were residing for the time being. After being informed of its existence, I went to see it for myself. For nostalgia's sake, I suppose.

But it was completely unresponsive. As to be expected. [which would explain why the projection was of a clearly dormant Veda. at the time of Tieria's entry, it had failed to recognize the innovade and had refused him access to any of its wide spectrum of data.]

action.

[airfoils]

[though he was talking about something that wasn't technically alive ... even tieria had to have things he missed.]

It seems a little useless to bring us here only to-[a rather loud squeal of metal on metal, followed by a crack compels him to take a few steps out of the proximity of the door. it also spurs his previous musing straight into a wall. eyebrows knitting, he settles on a quiet:]

I wonder how long it'll go on for.

action.

[eltneg]

[Tieria, too, flinches. the recording was disturbingly... authentic. it was almost baffling that the walls didn't rattle, despite the sound roaring through the room in stereo.

he extends a hand and pats the bed sympathetically, beckoning Allelujah over.]

Sit. [he commands.] My recording will remain the same through the duration of its playback. Nothing of interest occurred here. There will be no surprises.

action.

[airfoils]

[idling, allelujah looks just on the verge of politely refusing. the unkind crackling of electricity seems to make him think better of his alternative, so he crosses the room and perches himself on a corner at the head of the bed. visibly unnerved, he keeps one foot planted on the floor. it wasn't easy reliving an experience still so close to him, and doubly, sharing a very vivid failure with someone like tieria. it had taken a lot from both them. keeping his thoughts reserved for himself, he settles on staring vaguely at where the dormant panels of veda's terminal mask the door.]

Did this wake you up? [he asks quietly to the thunder of the imitation generators outside.]

action.

[eltneg]

[he shakes his head in response before glancing down at the unresponsive NEXUS cradled in his hands.] I had yet to fall asleep when the beacons began displaying this abnormal behavior.

[after a moment-] Yours was not disruptive until approximately twenty minutes into the recording. It was relatively silent up until that point.

action.

[airfoils]

I see. [allelujah glances at the device encased in tieria's delicate fingers. he realizes he must have dropped his own after the initial shock of the beacon display and forgotten it in the living room.]

It's alright. [said very simply.] Sleeping isn't something that's easy here. [his own roundabout confession. in fact, he probably wouldn't have been able to tell for those silent twenty minutes if the images were from an outside source or just a nightmare echoing around in his head. it seemed no matter what he did, he'd be seeing the same things, and none of them what he wanted.]

action.

[eltneg]

[Allelujah is preaching to the choir, but Tieria doesn't stop him. a small, selfish part of him is quietly glad he's not the only one having troubles sleeping- but that thought is quickly silenced by the bigger, logical part of him.] I've already cycled through all the typical methods practiced to help one sleep. I briefly considered paying a visit to the infirmary for medication to aid me, but decided against it. There are those who have a greater need for such resources than I.

[he glances up.] You've been sleeping in the armchair. That can't be comfortable, Allelujah.

action.

[airfoils]

[he'd kept quiet, opting to listen rather that put forth anything of his own-for what was supposed to be an effort to protect the last of humanity, SPHERE was sorely lacking. though maybe he understood the kind of desperation that accompanied a last stand. he hadn't wanted to stay in the infirmary for similar reasons after all, so he and tieria were on the same ground.

it's not until tieria directly addresses him that allelujah looks up and away from the door to meet his gaze.]

And you have the bed? [it's a docile question, actually curious, though what his faint tone implies is clear. the armchair not being comfortable was a decent excuse. what was tieria's?]

action.

[eltneg]

[yet to Tieria it almost sounds like an accusation. his eyes widen before narrowing in a haughty stare, brows pinching together in the middle.] Yes. I have the bed. It was originally meant to be Lockon's but he refused to accept it and instead took up residence on the couch.

However, he fails to realize I am of smaller stature than he is and the couch is ill-suited for his height. He would be more comfortable here.

The same extends to you, Allelujah Haptism. There are mere centimeters in difference between you and Lockon. You should be sleeping here. Not I.