<div style="text-align: center"><b>Kenji Avery – White</b><br/>
Mid-June, 2022<br/>
Early Afternoon, Operations Room/Blockhouse<br/>
Theme song: <a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FTQWstnLAxBA&amp;hash=5d3d4073caa503d729620b6086ec5a15" href="https://youtu.be/TQWstnLAxBA" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Traffic Light </a>- Daughtry<br/>
Present: the family<br/>
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<span style="font-size: 22px">The Reunion</span>​</div><hr class="bbc-hr bbc-hr--2"/><div class="bbImageWrapper bbImageAligned--left js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/attachments/kenji-2-jpg.135987/" title="Kenji 2.jpg">
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</div>Kenji had been pleasantly surprised when Emmy barked "No smoking," to Chris, and then the quick flight of pen and actions afterwards – it had been comical. He chuckled to himself, tilting his face down as he crossed his arms over his chest and considered that they were all just kids at heart. Kids in adults' bodies; maybe that was all they would ever be, but this group of misfits were his.<br/><br/>And despite it all, he had missed them. Maybe that meant that he loved them for more than what they offered him. He loved them because they were his family and his friends, and that was one thing he hoped would never change.<br/><br/>Emmy stood up and took charge of the meeting then, and like the others, Kenji's attention was on her. She looked much more mature than her scant eighteen years. Maybe she was like Kyla Clark in<i>Where the Crawdads Sing; </i>forced to raise herself she had grown up mature, poised, and confident, though naturally withdrawn from the others. Now that Kenji looked at her, he realized she had similar features to that character. He closed his mouth when he realized he had been staring and told himself not to project preconceived expectations at anyone. She was his sister, but she had grown up tremendously in the last few years.<br/><br/>He glanced at the others as Emmy thanked them all for coming and then said that she hoped they would empathize with why.<br/><br/><i>"And if not... fuck it," </i>Emmy said.<i> <br/>
</i><br/>Kenji brought a fist to his lips and chortled, not expecting<i>that</i>from their little drama princes. "Sorry," he said, managing to put a chagrined look on his face. He tried to look serious as she continued, and it helped that the next tidbits of information were concerning. Sure, Addy could go for days without sleep or 'help' others to do the same, but Emmy? Kenji couldn't imagine what kind of stress she was putting herself under. He raised an eyebrow and looked across the room at Addy, wondering if she was thinking the same thing that he was.<br/><br/>Two days ago was the same day that she came to see him. He felt a pang of guilt, wondering if he should have come to her right away. Did he wait too long, or was the siblings' mutual arrival here on the same day some kind of cosmic destiny?<br/><br/>His eyes snapped to the manila folder she smacked on the table. The red "Restricted" words burned into his mind.<br/><br/><i>"What was she doing with <b>that</b>?" </i>he thought, glancing over to Chris, Terry, and Idris, wondering if any of the older kids had known about this prior. Jerking his eyes back to Emmy he wondered what she meant by<i>"the contents of the folder synced with The Matrix's pulse awakening again,"</i>like – what the fuck did that actually mean?<br/><br/>Of course Terry got the folder first. Kenji rolled his eyes. In doing so he wound up looking at the other two 'babies' in the family: Alissa and Iris. No one was a 'baby' any longer. They were all adults, or at least adult bodies housing damaged childhood hearts.<br/><br/>Emmy's voice broke through his musings<i>. "But no worries, I've already uploaded everything into the system. Here it is."<br/>
</i><br/>Kenji's eyes followed the hologram to begin reading the words that were, for all intents and purposes, no longer restricted. As he quickly took in the contents he felt a surge of anxiety at their Mother's (presumed) words:<i>"…and will under <b>no circumstances</b> be logged in <b>any </b>of the CoU's databases, logs, systems, servers, networks, or archives."<br/>
</i><br/>"Fuck…<b>Emmy!</b>" He snapped his eyes at her.<br/><br/>He could have been saying<i>"Fuck…Emmy," </i>because the information was so amazing, or he could have been saying that because she did<i>exactly what Mother told her not to do!</i>She couldn't follow directions if they were tattooed on the insides of her eyelids. Kenji inhaled and broke contact with the youngest to continue reading. What was done, was done. If their system was hacked they could all just bend over and grab the lube.<br/><br/>The dossier continued to go on explaining how dangerous it would be if the information fell into the wrong hands by being, oh…he didn't know...uploaded to the system, perhaps?<br/><br/>Then Mother described the Other, and his skin prickled. The tiny hairs on his body stood on end as other dimensions were mentioned and Mother wrote of the entities of power (the Matrix? Were there more?). The Other was mentioned in a way that made it seem sentient, powerful, and evil. He hated sentient, powerful, and evil.<br/><br/>Still, when Kenji read that Mother had believed that she prepared them in<i>"every facet of life" </i>including<u>emotional</u>, he couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh, this one almost derisive. He couldn't believe she had thought she had prepared them well. Maybe she thought that she would prepare them well enough that by the time any other eyes read this it would be true, but seriously? They were all so broken that a team of psychologists and theologians could not fix them.<br/><br/><i>"To lance the head of the dragon after it spews its flames, is lunacy."<br/>
</i><br/>Kenji reread that line twice, then a third time. It felt familiar. He continued to read, learning that Mother had confronted an enemy on her own. Was she talking about taking care of the dragon as if it was herself, or as if it was the Other? He frowned, his analytical mind picking apart the pieces of her ramblings.<br/><br/>Because, honestly, it was beginning to sound a lot like the ramblings of a crazy person. She put the Other someplace 'safe,' someplace unknown. As he considered this he wondered if the shooter wasn't a shooter at all, but the Other itself. Maybe that was why they both disappeared; maybe Mother spirited them somewhere and locked them in an other-dimensional prison, eternally battling and forever locked away.<br/><br/>Maybe she used a teleport device.<br/><br/>Or maybe, just maybe, Mother could teleport herself and the Other to the Safehouse.<br/><br/>Cold chills ran up his arms and back, collected at the nape of his neck, and wormed its way into his brain. What if Mother wasn't dead…<br/><br/>Despite the seriousness of his thoughts Mother's hubris brought a wry smile to his lips. She was not modest in the least about how she saw herself.<i>"What an ego,"</i>he thought.<i>"But maybe it's just that she calls things as they are." </i>She<u>had </u>been a well-respected doctorate with multiple degrees. She was (or had been) the leader of an elite team that was more than a fighting force. They were a family. She was, most certainly, much more than the world could ever know.<br/><br/><i>"So for all time I will remain the dark figure among a community's shadow, and for all time The Other will remain a fire that never burned."<br/>
</i><br/>He considered that Mother might be telling them she is in hiding, and the Other in a prison, contained somehow, in the Safehouse. But what was her contingency? Looking at Emmy he couldn't fathom that it was their youngest. She had stayed here the whole time, kept the place tidy, and been present when the Matrix awakened. Maybe there was more to her than he had thought.<br/><br/>Kenji realized he was thinking of the Matrix as a living thing, something that tuned into Emmy and woke when the time was right. Perhaps it was.<br/><br/>The flower references made him think of Chris (Mr. Plantboy), and Emmy, Mother's youngest and most precious flower. Mother was always using plant metaphors and similes to explain her ideas. In this way the dossier was very much in her voice. Unfortunately, she seemed overly optimistic. Kenji felt like they would be encountering the darkness much too soon. Especially now that the document had been logged into their system.<br/><br/>As the dossier looped back to the beginning, he exhaled and unfolded his arms. This was as clear as mud.<br/><br/>Emmy began to explain that she had searched the network far and wide for key words, and Kenji closed his eyes. She had used key words, perhaps from a VPN routed randomly around the world, but if they had any enemies those enemies would have been clever enough to have picked up those patterns. She practically sent a beacon into the internet saying<i>"Hey, I'm here! Look over here!"</i><br/><br/>He loved his sister, but he wondered if she was a little too naïve.<br/><br/>Emmy started with Terry and asked a specific question, and Kenji realized she was doing what mother did; giving them each a turn to input what they thought before opening a discussion on the matter. That, at least, was smart. Emmy was using Mother's tactics to bring them all together in a familiar manner.<br/><br/>He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, waiting as Terry was asked the first question. His turn would come and once they had all given Emmy/Mother (that sounded weird) their input they could all figure this out and what to do next.