LÆVATAIN.

          SURTR   ———   arknights.

point her in the right direction and she’ll break the game over her knee

suffers from a memory impairment; she possesses so many memories of different locations and experiences that it’s impossible to tell which ones belong to her, or are real to begin with. 

as you can imagine, it can get kind of chaotic from a sensory perspective. ice cream helps

because of this she travels beyond borders and through all sorts of dangers, trying to identify the landmarks in these memories. finding herself in a totally different landscape isn’t going to deter her, so you can find her pretty much anywhere ! 

not the most socially adept, your mileage may vary

        ❛   It provides a sort of comfort, in a way.   ❜   IT’S   not like she found great joy in this other version of herself having much the same troubles. In fact, Surtr suspects a small part of her actually wanted to hear about some of the memories she’s made for herself. But alas... Perhaps this is her own doing. Perhaps her lack of a sense of self just made it all the more difficult for whatever system was responsible for this Pseudo-Surtr to piece together a life for her. 

    truth be told, they had been skeptical. Amara already held little to no trust for these Stars and the current predicament left her more than wary. how was one of these weapons supposed to grant someone some superhuman capabilities? feats of incredible strength and the like were so commonplace in their world that such things never caused the Doctor to bat an eyelash. but calculated risks was something they excelled at and damned if it didn’t feel nice to be capable of actually lending assisstance in the battlefield beyond issuing commands. she can hardly even remember what she could do before that fateful day, but Amara remembers how…disheartening it was that they couldn’t even lift Ace’s shield a centimeter without help. now, though – even if only temporary – it was different.

           a alberd might not have been the most practical of weapons. a gun was probably better, but Amara had always wondered what it’d be like to wield Skadi’s behemoth of a blade or Nian’s shield. this was the closest thing and she actually has gotten the hang of it– after hacking the heads off a handful of CPN’s. arms halt mid-swing as a voice cuts through the chaos and crimson eyes found the new player in the field. the swing of Surtr’s blade and magma pooling upon the earth a welcomed sight. she lets the bladed-side of her weapon hit the ground, embedding itself at least half a foot into the earth as they nod.

     “ Phone. Right– forgot about that.” she won’t even try to come up with an excuse to placate the Sarkaz. shaking her head, she adjusts her gloves, thankful her protective gear worked even against the offending ooze. a snort follows suit. “ I’m better suited for command but you couldn’t expect me to let my Operators handle this alone, could you? “

         ❛   You forgot. What an underwhelming reason.   ❜   SHE   scolds like a governess, clicking her tongue and shaking her head in disapproval. Her gaze flits to the weapon’s place in the ground, taking note of how deep it sank into the earth. There was no question about it, really, but it at least confirms just how enhanced the Doctor’s strength was at present. That makes her job a bit easier; her safety was still Surtr’s top priority, but for the time being, it seems the Doctor could remain at her side instead of her back.

         ❛   Hah— ?   ❜   Why did they have to go and say something so careless ?  She couldn’t let ‘her Operators’ handle this alone, hm ?  It was such a simple sentiment, but the simplicity is part of the Doctor’s disarming charm. Sometimes Surtr thinks they’re perfectly unaware of this, and sometimes she thinks it’s intentional to the point of being diabolical. No matter the intent, her face feels hot. Her tone is harsh, but she can feel the corners of her lips betraying her satisfaction.

❝ Isn’t that the point to me saying finally here? ❞

          SHE’D   love a piece of cake right now. How many days has it been since she ate more than the bare minimum needed to stop the rumbling... ?  Best to not dwell on it. Once these safe zones held the majority of Spirale’s residents, she would rest. That just seems like something a Rhodes Island operative would do... and she didn’t want any of the rest to show her up. 

              It’s been some time since she bumped into an actual Ofiuclone; they seemed to be sticking to the city’s outer limits, picking off stragglers without running the risk of the safe zone’s adverse effects. Smart.  ❛   These foolish ones are starting to bore me...   ❜   Surtr grumbles to no one in particular, setting her sword — her closest companion — against her shoulder with a sigh of finality. The nearest safe zone was within sight, and the area’s grown quiet with a lack of enemies. Time to move for the next zone.

          Someone enters her periphery, and despite her hurry, she pauses to address them rather matter-of-factly.  ❛   If you’ve come to fight, you should keep moving. If you cannot fight, you should move even faster toward those lights.   ❜

            How irritating. 

            Before she could cut the majority down in a matter of moments as they impeded her path, but now ?  Now she was actually having to slow down her pace, inching them into a proper fight so that she could finish them off accordingly. And how was she to cleave her way to the safe zones and ensure a clean route for those far weaker than her if they made her waste her time like this ?

      ❛   I swore I would never waste my time on weaklings... !   ❜  She all but growls as yet another CPN falls at her feet, bearing about the same size and ferocity as a jungle cat. The ground continues to vent steam where it fell, lava still dripping from the tip of her blade; she swings it briefly through the air like one might flick blood from steel. Her breath leaves her in short bursts, not out of exhaustion but agitation.  ❛   The least they could do is be as foolish as they are weak. When did they have time to think up strategies ?   ❜

           IT   was the only sound to indicate her arrival, yet it managed to slice through the frenzied static with ease. Truth be told, the Doctor was... actually holding their own. She recognized the weapon they’d chosen, the long pole with an ax blade at the end— halberd. It seems it was true what was said about the weapons giving superhuman capabilities... because Surtr found it difficult to believe the Doctor could have felled a couple of CPNs on their own, much less held at least a semblance of a chance against one of these bolstered Ofiuclones, if it were otherwise.

           But now she was here — and that not only leveled the playing field, but razed it to the ground. 

           Magma already drips from her blade like a potent poison, the familiar weight hoisted over her shoulder as if it were lighter than a sack of potatoes. One swing is enough to stagger the clone who dares to try and find the Doctor’s weak points, the ground cracking and hissing under the weight of such tremendous heat. It would keep the clone at bay for a few precious moments, at least, if it had any self-preservation. This leaves Surtr free to turn her gaze on her companion instead, a hint of a smile on her lips despite her chiding tone.

       ❛   Is your phone broken, Doctor ?  Surely you did not think picking up a flashy weapon would put you on par with me ?  Now here I am, having to pick up your slack nevertheless.   ❜

❝ Nope, not at all. See, the convo was just in general about clowns from what I got, yeah? So I just took the clown bit and ran with it. You were the one who wanted to gotcha me so bad it made you look stupid. ❞

         SHE   takes a few moments to ponder this. Technically speaking... the mercenary was right. Judging from the sharp exhale through Surtr’s nose, she’s not exactly thrilled by the prospect, but jumping around it just seemed like a waste of time.

❝ Nah. Just from those eager to jump on a topic unless they felt it was targeted at them. ❞

           SHE   feels like she walked right into that. Is this the ‘5D chess’ she’s heard so much about ? 

❝ We taking about clowns now? Guess if you wanted to see some, you could just look in a mirror or whatever… ❞

           SUBSISTENCE.

not a lot different here ! 

surtr still unfortunately suffers from memory loss issues. well, memory ‘loss’ wouldn’t be accurate; she suffers from a jumbled mess of what seems to be other people’s memories, a unique neurological condition that few are qualified to study

one of those few, fortunately for her, resides in spirale !  amara  is her doctor, and they regularly visit various places on the island together as part of her memory recovery exercises. so far, there’s been no notable success.

SO THIS ONE HAD FIGHT, huh? good. anything was better than how stagnant it felt back in rhode’s island when she loaded on that ship briefly, how those little operators would bite their tongues and hold back, all at the behest of kal’tsit and her blanketed explanation. and even if she had no personal strife with this particular sarkaz, well… ❝ Oooh, you got gall~. But it isn’t like I said I wasn’t, ❞ she retorts right back, never losing the stride of her tone. why should it bother her overly much? and if she wanted a lesson in glass houses, she would be throwing more than mere stones.

❝ I get that. I was the same back when I was let on. I didn’t really stay around as much as I could. Plus it kinda got boring when they didn’t let the ones who wanted a go at me to do it. ❞ one shrug of her shoulders, tilting her head a little, amber eyes observing those of brilliant purple. ❝ But like, ain’t that bad for you, too? Staying in a place like this as an extended excursion, I mean. If you got memory problems already, won’t more tangle themselves up in your noggin’? ❞ this question was a bit more genuine than trying to rile anything up, curious in how all her memories would compound, whether false remnants would implant themselves just as they seemed to plague her back home.

       ❛   You’re very irritating. Is it deliberate ?  I’m not sure how the ones who ‘wanted a go’ at you were able to hold themselves back.   ❜

           IF   it weren’t for the steep slope of her brow, one would be hard-pressed to see any signs of irritation despite her retort. Surtr suspects it is deliberate on the mercenary’s part; whether it’s out of genuine need for amusement or something more complex, she couldn’t say. Nor does she particularly care to figure it out. Normally she didn’t have time to waste on people like this... but circumstances have changed rather drastically. The goal is the same, but the parameters are different. This place lacks quite a few of the inherent dangers of her homeland, therefore freeing up more of her valuable time. … Not that she would spend all of that time on someone else’s entertainment. 

       ❛   They don’t work that way. The past and the present are separate beasts. If I were to draw a comparison... those memories are akin to traveling down a road at night for the first time. The curve of the road is familiar to you, but the shapes and landmarks seem changed somehow. The present, however, is just like any other day.   ❜  She pauses for a moment, clicking her tongue before nodding once. She seems satisfied with her own explanation. Now, as for that other matter...