[ Outside Rose's Home - Daniel's Car ]
"Wow... Love, people are going wild with speculation over Lecia's accident now," Mary says, staring at her phone in the backseat of Daniel's car. In the front, her uncle and boyfriend turn their ears towards her, lifting their gazes from their respective views.
Daniel hums. "Not surprising. It's already been a day, and even the police are stumped."
"This could be a good thing though," Marlin adds. "The greater the attention, the more careful the Order would have to be. Her disappearance was not in their plans."
"Yet, we're the ones who have to hide," Mary groans, pursing her lips before sighing. She slumps against the seat. "It just feels strange to leave everything immediately."
Marlin shuts his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mary."
"Stop it already, uncle. I'm just venting." Mary looks past her window to Rose's house. "I just hope we can somehow make this pass quickly."
Marlin and Daniel glance at each other. Neither wanted to spill their pessimism, so the former clears his throat. "Well, changing the subject here, can I hear more about Rachel, Daniel?"
Said artist blinks. "Huh?"
"If we're going to be sticking with each other, it would help to know. She's... understandably wary about me. I don't have memories synced like you guys to know her as well."
That being said, Marlin's glad Viviane and Anne's intrusion on his head hasn't weighed on him further. As far as he knows, Rachel hasn't synced with anyone either.
"Right... Rachel." Daniel breathes in. "She's a friend of my mother, and I guess you could say she's been there for me all my life as well. Back when my mom was alive, they worked together as scientists at the observatory to the East of here. If you look up her name and Keystone, you'll find plenty of articles and journals written by her."
"I see... My condolences about your mother, by the way. Mary did mention that about you."
"It is what it is." Daniel looks away for a second. "I wish I could say I'm over it, but... I'm somehow finding ways to be reminded of her."
Behind, Mary smiles weakly.
Marlin nods. "It's not easy to lose your parent so early." He cocks his head. "Although, I did notice Rachel seem to be quite close with Anne. She only learned about everything yesterday, right?"
"Well, uh... you see, Rachel got to visit Anne and I a few times before her true nature had to be revealed."
"Everyone was hiding something from the other, huh." Marlin rubs his chin, narrowing his eyes. For a few moments, he goes back and forth in his head before sighing. "Listen, Daniel, I'm just going to be frank here: Is there... more between you, Anne, and Viviane?"
Mary and Daniel stiffen. The latter coughs. "I have no idea why you'd think that."
Marlin shrugs. "I've noticed the way they look at you seems more protective than I'd expect. Plus, you four shared all the memories together, so..."
"..."
Daniel shuts his eyes while Mary keeps her lips sealed.
"Look, no need to tell me if you don't want to," Marlin continues lightly. "Soon, you guys will know everything about me too once you sync: How I wronged my wife... all the years I laid to waste studying a book that I didn't have to do... my obsession with the pies at Charlie's Bakery for a month..."
Mary groans. "Okay, uncle, we get it. You're bitter and feel its unfair. Also, I specifically remember those pies down the corner! You don't need to be ashamed about that."
Marlin shakes his head, eyes blank. "Mary, you don't understand how bad I was."
Silence fills.
"Oh, fuck it," Daniel gives, dropping his head with a sigh. "You're going to find out sooner or later anyway. I don't even know what's the point of withholding now when we're all in deep."
"Huh?" Mary widens her eyes. "You...you're going to tell him?!"
Marlin swallows, but before he can listen, he raises a hand. "Wait, maybe don't tell me. It's not like you're in a relationship with all of them."
Daniel opens his mouth, then closes.
The uncle stares blankly by the artist's beady reaction. He slowly turns to his niece behind, but she glances away. Blinking a few times, he returns forward, gazing past the neighborhood in front.
"...Seriously?"
Without looking at the uncle, Daniel lowers his head. "Y...yeah."
"...How? Like, holy shit... I get you two are hosting alien creatures here, but they're basically a bunch of goo, right?"
"Uh..."
Marlin digs his fingers into his hand, the idea unable to sit in his head. "What the actual fuck! I figured all you had to deal with is two versions of my niece!"
Daniel coughs. "I'm... not going into details, but I do love them all." Yet, he sweats, unable to look the bald man in the eyes. "Honestly, though... one thing led to another, you... could... say."
"Dear god... You know, if I were Mary's father..."
"...I'd be fucked," Daniel finishes.
Mary clears her throat, leaning forward to support her fellow artist. "Uncle, I want to reiterate that it was my decision to get back together with him, even with all of this. However, there's also been many, many things out of our control. It is true we share feelings with each other, but these remnants have latched, literally, onto many people throughout history."
"Well, you two could have tried to set boundaries while you hide them from the world."
"B...Boundaries?" Mary scoffs, placing a hand to her chest. "Uncle, I have literally joined with Viviane and Anne. It is the most amazing... I mean, most difficult thing to avoid when getting to learn about them."
"..."
Daniel buries his face into his hands. "Your niece didn't help."
Marlin shuts his eyes. "That's not surprising, either."
══════════ ∴ ══════════
[ Inside "Rosy" Memories ]
Splick!
Inside Rose's home, the flood of memories is instant for Anne as she attaches to Rose.
"If you look at the primary sources, the fall of Constantinople wasn't an end. It was a migration of intellect! Can you imagine being there, Levy? Watching the scholars flee with nothing but scrolls in their arms?"
"Rose, the Q3 EBITDA projections are off by four basis points. Check the pivot table in tab seven. Now."
"A History degree is lovely, sweetheart, truly. But your father and I just want you to be... stable. You can always read your books on the weekend."
"It's not just a spreadsheet! It's a cage made of 12-point font. Help me, Levy, help me! I'm drowning in cell references. I'm literally drowning in IF/THEN statements!"
"You know...I think I was meant to be a librarian in Alexandria. I would have died in the fire, but at least I would have died holding something that mattered."
"Rose, don't try to sound cool. You know well you'd be screaming your head off."
"If you want to leave this group, then by all means. Just know that I'm not here to be afraid. Yes, this book I dug up from my time at Stonehenge could be utter bullshit, but it is still part of history. I thought...well, I thought that you would have at least understood that."
"Miss Lane? Miss Lane!"
"Ah?"
Anne opens her eyes unexpectedly.
The world of memories had settled, morphing into a lecture hall full of empty chairs and spotless table rows. Oddly, she stands as herself, dumbfounded in the aisle as the environment permeates with gray.
She can't think about that, though.
'She has a fiancé?!'
Memories of Rose's struggles, love, and studies all came crashing down. Apparently, she's been engaged to her boyfriend named Levy, whom she met in Keystone through a dating app two years ago. Further, he would be coming back after a business trip tomorrow.
'She didn't mention that... Well, there was no reason to, I guess.'
"Miss Lane," a familiar, deep voice cuts from the center podium. "Are you alright?"
The slime's brows deepen. 'That sounds like... Victor?'
Holding that thought, Anne's gaze draws to the front stage, but the former council member isn't anywhere to be seen. Frowning, she shifts her gaze left, then right.
"Y-yes, I'm fine professor!"
Anne stiffens. Rose's voice chirps from her left, but as Anne turns her head again, she finds nothing to the disembodied voice.
Victor chuckles, recapturing the slime mother's attention. "You seemed a little dazed there out of everyone, so I got worried. If nothing else, allow me to start a little off-topic."
Clack, clack, clack!
"Whaaaaaa..." Anne draws, eyes opening wider. She watches as lines of chalk streak itself on a green board in front, presumably by Victor as a professor. Regardless of how, her mind spins by the ghostly memory she's trapped to.
'Is this setting because of him?'
She didn't want to believe it, but it would seem her elder slime sister was right. They know Victor was a former council member of the Order, and had already shown the ability to manipulate people's memories.
Nico was about to do something similar in front of Viviane.
So, it stands that if Rose and Layna were students of Victor, they and others could have been affected by the flames at some point, resulting in... whatever this is.
'But... why?'
Anne resumes her review of collective memories against the noise of the chalk. Unlike with Marlin, the memories weren't gated off the bat by something similar to the chamber Viviane created a millennium ago. Now, the slime mother holds an overwhelming wealth of history, adding to her current knowledge of astronomy from Amy.
Except, there seems to be pieces of university missing. As far as the memory that follows this lecture hall moment, she can't even recall it.
Clack!
Anne's refocuses to the front again as the ghostly streaks on the board finish, revealing one word...
STONEHENGE.
"What's the relationship of this to the pyramids we know?" Victor's voice follows.
"Both involved people dragging stones?" a male voice offers.
"Sure."
"They were constructed around the same time?" another raised.
"As far as the Great Pyramid of Giza, yes."
The invisible student crowd slips back into silence.
Anne blinks for a bit before cocking her head. "Burials?"
She's quickly making use of Rose's understanding, but more silence follows.
After some time, Victor snorts to the class as if he hadn't heard her. "The other aspect is regarding the dead. Granted, we don't know much about those buried at Stonehenge, but it's possible they were highly respected individuals, similar to how the Egyptian royalty were revered."
"Um, professor?"
Anne turns toward the direction of Rose's voice, already imagining her raising a hand.
"Yes?"
"Do you think there's an angle of reincarnation?"
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"Well... we know the bodies were preserved as mummies so that they may be returned to by the spirits. I know those buried at Stonehenge are just bones, but what if a similar belief was held?"
"...It's entirely possible, although it's only speculation. We don't have much evidence to understand the beliefs of the neolithic people living in Britain."
Clack, clack, clack!
"Anyway, I leave that as a thought experiment to understand the people of the time," Victor continues, now writing down, "REBIRTH". "Thanks to Miss Lane here, I can segway into the real topic I want to discuss: the concept of rebirth. Something that our fellow mummies are still waiting for to this day."
A few students chuckle, their mirth fading away.
...
That's it.
Anne expects more lecture, but after waiting for a minute, her forehead creases.
"Hello?"
Only her voice bounces back.
She twists her lips back and forth, but eventually musters herself forward to the platform. Her eyes take in concept written on the board.
"Rebirth, huh."
In what she can only describe as a half-baked memory, her stationing within probably isn't a mistake. Could Victor have expected someone, even a remnant like her, to dive into his student's mind?
Perhaps this is a message.
'A pretty late one.' Anne snorts. 'If it's about our nature, then it's more than obvious by now. Viviane and I are... changing beings. We'll inherit people, assume them, and become... something new, I guess.'
So, what exactly is Victor trying to say here?
She shakes her head. 'I need to get out of here.'
It's enough to understand that Rose was affected by Victor or some related magic user. In her scan around to move on, she doesn't see any violet fire maintaining the area. Her eyes eventually draw to the exit door.
Faint wisps of cloud spill out from underneath.
"Is that..."
She swallows her next thought. Stepping carefully, she comes face to face with the door. Lingering with uncertainty, her hand draws to the handle and pulls it open.
A burst of wind trails past her.
Then, her pupils contract.
"...Fuck."