Role: K-9

[becomemod]

K-9

Today, when Hung is alone, they will receive a text message from Cobalt Ox.

Hey, meet me at the arcade? We need to talk in private. Come to the back by the pinball machines.

Linger for too long, and they will find Ox's own prinny at their side, ushering them toward the The Arcade. There aren't many people in here now as the arcade has just opened for the day, so navigating to the back where the pinball machines are isn't as hectic as it would be in the evening. There they will find Cobalt Ox, who gives them a little wave before nodding their head in the direction of a nearby door labeled 'STAFF ONLY'.

This room is a storage closet full of supplies for the arcade, but there is a table and two chairs for Hung to sit down at if they choose. Once the door is closed behind them, Cobalt Ox will lean against it as they talk.

"Okay, this is going to sound kinda rude, but I promise I didn't choose the name for this. Think you can do a little extra work for me from now on?"

On their phone, Hung will find a new app available to them: K-9. In the app, they will find a set of rules that they must accept in order to continue:

RULES

1. On Fridays after investigations, the K-9 will pick one of the victims.
2. During the subsequent trial, the K-9 can choose to use their role, which will notify them of any evidence found that relates to that victim's death. The K-9 can only use their role once per trial, and it must be used at least 30 minutes or more before the end of the trial.
3. The K-9 will not know the exact amount of evidence to be found, nor will they know if they still need to find more evidence. All they will learn is if evidence that has been found at the moment they use their role is related to their chosen victim's death or not.
4. Forged evidence will still be considered as related to the case.
5. If there is only one death in a given week, then the K-9 will not be able to use their role.
6. The K-9 must keep this role a secret.

After reading the rules and accepting, Hung will be greeted with a new screen saying "SEE YOU SATURDAY!". Once they close the app, they will not be able to open it again until Saturday during the trial, nor will anyone else will be able to see or access the app or the information within.

After Hung closes out of the app, Cobalt Ox sighs and runs a hand through their hair. "With any luck you won't really have to do any work, but it's here if it's needed. We'll meet again every Friday, but if you have any questions now then I can answer them."

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Comments

[tongshi]

... in some ways, no. [ they can be resigned to the "rules," sure. they can discuss having to kill to ensure a happy ending. and they can know that there's no one, now, that can be killed without there being a butterfly effect of grief and anger.

but it's human nature to grieve and be angry. especially if the choice is taken. if someone close to you is what's taken.

he's about to add something else, when a comic book panel slips into the storage closet. surely they didn't think they'd be safe? ]

Hung.

It's been a while. I returned to Lungmen just to have another bite of your cooking. I took this hat when I escaped, because you'll look silly with it on your head. But you probably won't want it.

🞚 a night of rain 🞚

They say in Lungmen, to get by, you have to be clever and "flexible." You're not sure you can ever be the kind of flexible that they're asking for, but you'll certainly still do your best - that's what your dad would want. Maybe you'll see if Uncle Li will give you a job, maybe even your dad's old job, if you can't make it, here.

Things are already tough, living outside of a true city. But that's where you and the others find yourselves, traveling almost in a pack. At least you can all count on each other, nebulous as that trust might be in the long run for some, and they rely on you for making the meals - you have value and use here, even if you're reluctant to do some of the jobs that have been asked of your group.

None of them think you're cut out to be a mercenary. You agree.

She's there with you, though. Meng. You look out for everyone, of course, but she's always there to look out for you in return. You work well together, and have since the moment that you joined the group. Jobs feel easier - if still dangerous - when it's the two of you running point, and you become her shield as she lays waste to her opponents. A Liberi so small as her is a deceptive force to be reckoned with.

Especially when she starts to slip into something you have no explanation for.

Oripathy doesn't do this. Oripathy kills, slow and miserable or brutal and all at once. But it doesn't make someone lose their mind like this.

The others call her a monster. You could never. She's Meng - she's your friend. She's someone you love, someone that you've fought alongside, someone you trust. Whatever is happening to her, whatever's turning this strength into something dangerous, it doesn't make her a monster.

For a long time, it's directed at your enemies. The targets you're sent to infiltrate.

And, then... she attacks all of you. It's so sudden that you can't even predict it, but it is no less devastating in every way possible. Originium and rock shatter alike as she throws your companions around, sends one flying so hard through a spire that you're not even sure if he's made it to the other side, to the ground on a rough landing, alive. She even turns on you, her closest friend, and even you - even you, you struggle as you try to call out to her, head cracked into the hard rock ground beneath you, feeling the hands around your throat that'll surely bruise under your fur, trying to fight her off just as much as you're trying to fight for air.

You manage.

Barely.

And you have to get the worse off, the ones still alive, to Lungmen. You have to get them to a hospital. You have to leave.

You don't want to. It would mean leaving her, and doesn't she need help, too?

She tells you to, anyways, through lucid tears, looking at her hands for what she's done. Yells at you to take the others and go. To get away.

...

Meng stands on the dock as the small boat forges through the roiling waves of a storm, and you look back at her. You look back, and you refuse to look away even after she's nothing but a speck, until she's nothing but a memory, burned into your mind.

 

[becomemod]

[Oh. That...

Ox puts her phone away and goes to give Hung a big hug.]

I'm sorry. That was rough for you, wasn't it?

[tongshi]

[ it keeps coming back to choices, and the loss that can come with them, doesn't it?

hung is getting tired of seeing this memory over and over again - it's the one that has been torn out of his chest the most, but maybe because it's the one thing that he just would never talk about openly. still, he accepts the hug, draping his arm around her and tucking his face down into her shoulder. ]

... she was my friend. And I didn't get to say goodbye.

[becomemod]

I get that. It's tough, I know. It gets a little better with time, until some rude weekly effect makes you remember it all at once.

[She peers up at him with sad eyes. She wants to help, but she doesn't know how.]

What do you do, to help yourself feel better?

[tongshi]

Ha, yeah. This one's been really popular with the effect, unfortunately, but I'm trying to just...

[ coast through it. grit his teeth and bear it. he's not sure, really, but he still is trying. ]

Cook for people. Or throw myself into work. Harder to think about things when you're focused, or making other people happy, right?

[becomemod]

It is, yeah. Just make sure to spend some time doing what makes you happy too, okay?

[But she is going to accidentally touch a comic panel whoops!]

---

You had been arguing with the boy in front of you- a guy in your class, but a year older, who got held back because of poor attendance- when abruptly he stops and looks at his wristwatch. "It's time."

Suddenly the tv nearby blasts the familiar 'breaking news' sound before opening up to the news anchor. "We interrupt the regular programming for a special news bulletin. A man has taken a young girl hostage in the middle of a conflict. Because of the danger, residents of the neighborhood should stay indoors."

The news shows a picture of the kidnapped girl. You know her. She's the sweet little girl who gave you the compact mirror in your pocket right now. You feel a sense of dread sink in. You haven't checked any mirrors lately, but you're sure you know what you will see if you look.

The boy is looking at a couple photographs in one part of his notebook. Then he turns it so you can see two pictures, depicting this little girl's death by falling. "The game starts."

He closes the notebook. "Her time of death is 3:10. Right now it's past 2. In a little less than an hour, she'll be killed."

Your temper flares up then. "This is a life or death situation! Calling this a game is ridiculous!" You feel tempted to punch him again.

His words stop your anger though. "What is ridiculous?"

The question baffles you, and you stand there for a moment in confusion. So the boy continues speaking. "You're the one who said 'the future can't be changed'. Right now, in this moment, that's the same as saying the girl will die."

He's holding the notebook in one hand, squeezing it slightly. "I'm different though. I will break the future of every prediction in this notebook."

At that moment a cop takes notice of them and approaches, yelling. "Hey you kids! It's dangerous here, get inside!"

Instead, the boy punches the cop and knocks him out. The he grabs the cop's bike. "No matter what I have to do, I will change the future!"

He goes to pedal off, but you catch the back of his bike. He looks back to you. Your hand is shaking a bit as you as you try to find your words. "Can you really...can you really change the future?"

The boy just smiles. "If you don't give up, then the future is what you make of it."

You don't know why this moves you. You thought you had shut off your heart towards thoughts of changing the future. You thought you had turned your back on your visions, accepting that the future can't be changed.

But this boy sounds so determined...What does he know that you don't?

So you hop on the back of the stolen bike and tell him one thing: "Let's go."

He grins, and off the two of you go.

Soon you're at the building, and he tells you to wait here while he handles things. As you wait you can see and hear the boy's success. Somehow he knocks down the man and takes back the girl without anyone getting hurt. But the girl didn't die by a knife or a gun, right? The boy's pictures had shown her dying by a fall. So the prediction isn't truly broken, is it?

You look down to the closed compact mirror in your hands. You had been avoiding mirrors for years now, afraid of the visions you could not change. But if he has the same curse and can stop the visions, then wouldn't that be the same for you?

Carefully, with a bit of hesitation, you open the compact and peer into the mirror. In a flash, your mind is transported to a future not far from now, where the robber has gotten up and pointed his gun at the boy. You see it all in clear detail. The shot will miss the boy, but it will strike the girl and kill her.

This isn't the future that the boy saw in his prediction pictures. He doesn't know.

You don't know what's come over yourself, it's like your body is moving on its own. But you run over to a cop, grab his megaphone, and shove him out of the way as you leap up on top of a police car. Holding the megaphone to your mouth, you shout, "BE CAREFUL! THE CRIMINAL HAS A GUN!"

The boy hears you, and he pulls the girl with him as he dodges away. Soon after the criminal is arrested and the day is saved.

Your hands are shaking, and it's all you can do to stay on your feet right now. It's like your world view has been shaken at its core. You had always thought that nothing good would come of your visions, that the future calamities and deaths you saw were set in stone. But that's not the truth, as you found out today. And you already know that this one incident is the start to something way bigger than yourself.

The future really can be changed.

How many people had you let die because you believed you could do nothing?

How are you going to atone for all of those deaths?

And most importantly, what are you going to do now that you've found someone with the same power as you?