04-29-2023, 09:28 PM
Xomaxtli Hill estate, Huenya
Nelichē tossed and turned all night. After she’d spoken to Yauhmi, she’d managed to reconcile somewhat with Riley. The other Aurora was still wary of her, which was fair given the circumstances. The problem, of course, for each of the Auroras who remained in Huenya was their divided loyalties. It was an unfortunate but guaranteed side effect of the decision to leave Kerlile.
She had, of course, returned when the Hunt took place, unlike the rest of her (pre-war) Xiomera-assigned compatriots who now resided in Huenya. She’d never formally cut her ties with Kerlile, nor had she sworn loyalty otherwise. In many ways, that made this whole ordeal harder for her. She was, technically, still supposed to be loyal to Kerlile. And yet here she was, disobeying orders.
As much as she hated the Robinson Auroras and thought them traitors, she had to admire their ability to go through life with dual loyalties from absurdly young ages. She’d only faced this problem for a couple years and it was already ripping her apart from inside. Every night she went out drinking, and if she’d been in Lauchenoiria she’d have been in prison for any number of drug-related offences.
“Why did you have to ask me to kill her!?” Nelichē shouted aloud eventually, though it was very unlikely the Council of Kerlile could hear her. She wouldn’t kill Riley, no. But in breaking her loyalty to the Council, she could feel that she was breaking her own heart.
*
Grapevale, Kerlile
Janet Ashton, aka Aurora Jade, had spent the last couple of years in a mental health facility in Kerlile. An actual one, not a euphemism. After she’d been returned to the Matriarchy covered in bruises and convinced she was about to be tortured further or executed, the Council had decided she needed assistance. It had taken its time for her to believe she was safe, but she’d finally recovered.
More or less.
The torture had not been the worst thing. No, that was reserved for her having to live with the knowledge that she’d broken, and talked. It was not fear of pain that destroyed her, it was her guilt over her betrayal. It had taken a long, long time for her to forgive herself. She still hadn’t fully; upon discharge from the psychiatric hospital, she’d sighed up for voluntary classes to learn how to be a better Kerlian. As if her lack of loyalty was the problem.
Still, it was better than where she’d been upon her return: alternating between begging for mercy, and begging them to kill her in punishment. Now, she could at least act like a normal human being for a short while. She was still volatile, and on five different psychiatric medications, but she was given an apartment in a government-owned housing block; she attended her patriotism classes, and was trying to build up a life. If she could.
Kerrie Lee, aka Aurora Janet (ironically), a Lauchenoiria-assigned who’d been traded back to Kerlile six months before Janet, and who’d been in the same class as her in the Aurora Centre, tried to help her out. Kerrie still worked for the Kerlian Intelligence Service, though now as a cryptography expert and hacker rather than an undercover agent. Her own interrogation, at the hands of the rogue Gabriel Fleming, had left her with a couple permanent physical scars, but far fewer mental ones.
They were the only two from their class who had survived. After the Programme was decommissioned, the KIS had attempted to ascertain what happened to the ones who’d vanished. Aurora Jacqueline, aka Alina Kaufer, was Shuell-assigned. Everyone assumed they’d never see her again. All they knew of her fate was that she wasn’t the one in the video… and so she’d probably broken.
Aurora Jane, aka Marita Vogel, had been sent to Iustos. For a long time, her fate was equally unknown, until an unlikely source revealed that she’d been captured and handed off to Shuell also; after having had one of her legs amputated following a gunshot wound. Learning the likely fates-worse-than-death of her two friends from training, Janet Ashton’s fate had no longer seemed quite as bad in comparison.
Nelichē tossed and turned all night. After she’d spoken to Yauhmi, she’d managed to reconcile somewhat with Riley. The other Aurora was still wary of her, which was fair given the circumstances. The problem, of course, for each of the Auroras who remained in Huenya was their divided loyalties. It was an unfortunate but guaranteed side effect of the decision to leave Kerlile.
She had, of course, returned when the Hunt took place, unlike the rest of her (pre-war) Xiomera-assigned compatriots who now resided in Huenya. She’d never formally cut her ties with Kerlile, nor had she sworn loyalty otherwise. In many ways, that made this whole ordeal harder for her. She was, technically, still supposed to be loyal to Kerlile. And yet here she was, disobeying orders.
As much as she hated the Robinson Auroras and thought them traitors, she had to admire their ability to go through life with dual loyalties from absurdly young ages. She’d only faced this problem for a couple years and it was already ripping her apart from inside. Every night she went out drinking, and if she’d been in Lauchenoiria she’d have been in prison for any number of drug-related offences.
“Why did you have to ask me to kill her!?” Nelichē shouted aloud eventually, though it was very unlikely the Council of Kerlile could hear her. She wouldn’t kill Riley, no. But in breaking her loyalty to the Council, she could feel that she was breaking her own heart.
*
Grapevale, Kerlile
Janet Ashton, aka Aurora Jade, had spent the last couple of years in a mental health facility in Kerlile. An actual one, not a euphemism. After she’d been returned to the Matriarchy covered in bruises and convinced she was about to be tortured further or executed, the Council had decided she needed assistance. It had taken its time for her to believe she was safe, but she’d finally recovered.
More or less.
The torture had not been the worst thing. No, that was reserved for her having to live with the knowledge that she’d broken, and talked. It was not fear of pain that destroyed her, it was her guilt over her betrayal. It had taken a long, long time for her to forgive herself. She still hadn’t fully; upon discharge from the psychiatric hospital, she’d sighed up for voluntary classes to learn how to be a better Kerlian. As if her lack of loyalty was the problem.
Still, it was better than where she’d been upon her return: alternating between begging for mercy, and begging them to kill her in punishment. Now, she could at least act like a normal human being for a short while. She was still volatile, and on five different psychiatric medications, but she was given an apartment in a government-owned housing block; she attended her patriotism classes, and was trying to build up a life. If she could.
Kerrie Lee, aka Aurora Janet (ironically), a Lauchenoiria-assigned who’d been traded back to Kerlile six months before Janet, and who’d been in the same class as her in the Aurora Centre, tried to help her out. Kerrie still worked for the Kerlian Intelligence Service, though now as a cryptography expert and hacker rather than an undercover agent. Her own interrogation, at the hands of the rogue Gabriel Fleming, had left her with a couple permanent physical scars, but far fewer mental ones.
They were the only two from their class who had survived. After the Programme was decommissioned, the KIS had attempted to ascertain what happened to the ones who’d vanished. Aurora Jacqueline, aka Alina Kaufer, was Shuell-assigned. Everyone assumed they’d never see her again. All they knew of her fate was that she wasn’t the one in the video… and so she’d probably broken.
Aurora Jane, aka Marita Vogel, had been sent to Iustos. For a long time, her fate was equally unknown, until an unlikely source revealed that she’d been captured and handed off to Shuell also; after having had one of her legs amputated following a gunshot wound. Learning the likely fates-worse-than-death of her two friends from training, Janet Ashton’s fate had no longer seemed quite as bad in comparison.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax