011✖; (video)

[circumitus]

[From the get-go, almost anyone who knows Rey might immediately sense that something's... off, about her. For one thing, she's activated the video feed, which she just about never does. Second, she carries herself oddly than usual these days. More rigid, her jaw tight. Third, there is a stone cold expression that might startle the faintest of hearts if they're so unfortunate to wake up to this face.]

"Greetings."

[When she speaks, it's even more obvious that she isn't right. Rey is not the 'greetings' type, and her tone is different as well. Her r's roll and her voice is lower. Not that she had a high-pitched voice before, it's just -- different. Those from Earth might even be able to recognize it as a distinctive Russian inflection.]

"I skip pretenses and keep this brief: It would seem our successor designated 'just Rey' has tampered with our memory core. Up here." [As 'Rey' says this, she taps the corner of her head as if to emphasize her point.] "Present designation is Operative Safronov. Is not my desire to be here. This area of operation is successor's purview. Not mine. She messed up brain. I fix it. Is what I do.

"Do not seek us. Not now. Have only vague estimate for damage. Safety could be compromised."

[She pauses, then adds:] "Looking for successor designated 'just Rey's contacts." [i.e. friends? What those are.] "Might help. Might not. I make no promise.

"Apologies for those inconvenienced by this asshole."

[On that rather blunt note, 'Rey' -- or, rather, Safronov, reaches for her device and the screen goes black. Now that she's made her point clear, she wants to minimize any chance of people seeing and discovering her current position.]

[ooc: A quick clarification -- Rey has recently jacked into her own brain to try and fudge some memories, and fudged up herself instead. This will not be a permanent thing. More info here.]

Comments

[circumitus]

[Heavy sigh.]

Figures. Probably Sheridan's influence. She always was soft. [Mutters:] Gregory must have thought that one to be big joke.

[All of this probably sounds like confusing nonsense to Nick, who Rey had kept vague in regards to her previous selves.]

[synthedick]

[Confusing nonsense is definitely one way to put it. He recognizes the one name, but not the other, and wonders just how much about Rey he doesn't know. Some things are just hard to talk about, even with family.

He can deal with that later, Nick chides inwardly, assuming he ever sees the Rey he knows -- and loves -- again.]

Someone here disappeared a few months back. Someone close to her. Some things went unsaid, and some things just plain went south. It's been eating away at her ever since. She said she could alter memories, and since things weren't getting better...

[He trails off, fighting down that feeling in the pit of his synthetic gut. He shouldn't have let her go through with this. He should've done something else, said something, figured out a way to help her. Now, she might be just as gone as Maketh, her body inhabited by someone who isn't her, this entire idea backfiring both literally and figuratively.

Some family he turned out to be.]

[circumitus]

I see.

[This is why Safronov never bothered with emotional attachments. Being one of the few who understood the limitations of her lifespan, thanks to Gregory, recognizing the inevitability of her cyclic ends is natural. If her successor is self-aware like her, then she should have known better -- but Saf keeps that little bit to herself, considering who she's talking to. Better to not rile up the intel.]

By "disappeared" you mean they left the way they came in? [She knows that much at least.] Read that guide after waking. Your handiwork?

[The name attached to the welcome guide and the one on this user ID she's speaking to now match up, at least.]

[synthedick]

Yeah, that's mine. The fella who wrote the first one disappeared, too. Back out the way they came in, as you said.

[Which beats the gods leaving them dead, in most cases.]

[circumitus]

Sounds like there is high turnover rate here.

[All the more reason why her successor should have known better, if she knew this. Anything else is practically opening herself up for hurt.]

That all she intended to alter? Nothing else?

[synthedick]

Here's hoping.

[Nick doesn't want to think about what else she'd erase if she could. Things haven't always been perfect in Hadriel, but he's a strong believer in experiences making people who they are -- both good and bad. Would he even exist without the latter, after all?]

[circumitus]

...

[Welp! That sure is encouraging...]

Very well.

You should understand that memories cannot be removed. Only "locked away" with encryptions. Suppressed. This is why there were many of us. Gregory took issue with them knowing truths and so they were reset every few years. [Judging from the way Safronov speaks, however, she sounds like a special case.]

One other thing: There is chance that I fix her problem and problem comes back. Maybe worse. Maybe better. This has happened few times with precursors. They were not meant to remember. Then they did.

[synthedick]

And what happens if it comes back? Or if something else comes back with it?

[He hopes he gets a better answer than he did when he asked Rey what they'd do if something went wrong.]

[circumitus]

Having some misplaced memories should be not the same as discovering everything you know and are is fabricated. The precursors acted in defiance of Gregory's tampering. I can only hazard theories now. If this is truly what she wants then she won't be like the precursors. She already is different from them. We both are.

[Safronov is loathe to use the word "hope", but that's all they've got going right now.

[synthedick]

[That answer doesn't make Nick feel much better, but he'll take what he can get.]

All right. Just... let me know if there's anything else I can do. You're right that she's different. She's one-of-a-kind.

[And judging by his tone, she means a lot to him.]