[A small, wry grin in return before he takes a breath and sits back against the swing, rocking it.
Okay, maybe it's not so bad sitting here.
And so, between bites and answering any questions Ilsa might have in-between, Eustace slowly and concisely recounts the gap between their timelines. Of how his reports of all the events were taken and modified or even taken by the higher ups. How while Zeta and Beatrix primarily took care of Cassius, he was left to monitor him to judge whether he would remain a threat to the Sky Realm, and his eventual determination that despite his own personal biases at first, Cassius had begun to change and adapt to the skies.
Then came the point where there was an obvious suspicious shift in HQ. The reports of a dangerous glass crunching woman capable of using wires. The sudden increase and incessant badgering about Cassius. And then it all made clear when a man named Isaac appeared, revealing himself to be a descendant of the moondwellers and ordered to take Cassius back to the moon. He had a small robot named Raybury.
At this point it gets complicated, as there were so many different new players and revelations, and they were all interconnected to make it difficult to pick a starting point. CENTCOM taking Cassius back by force; Ilsa's own part in investigating everything at headquarters and keeping an eye on Cassius until they were able to return; the attack at headquarters using facsimile automagods; Ilsa joining Heisenberg to charge into CENTCOM only for more chaos and revelations to be made once they finally join up.
Grace, another descendant of the moon who furthered the Foe's agenda. It was then revealed that she worked with Heisenberg, who was also part of the Foe. This led to revealing Yatima, an original moondweller that had been supported by Alandus, whose personality and memories are actually within Raybury, hooked up to CENTCOM, the origins of Society, how it was originally created by the moondwellers who had been left in the Sky Realm and they worked to prepare the skydwellers for the inevitable return, knowing how powerful those on the moon were. It explains the high tech used within the organization and the knowledge about their seal weapons.
This leads to a large confrontation against Yatima who had been augmented by automagod technology and they all had to fight. Raybury would take a piece of her core, and due to the heavy injuries sustained by the fight, Cassius needed to return to the moon to be repaired. Isaac and Raybury accompanied him. With Society and all weapon contractors with a bounty on their heads for their weapons, they scattered and laid low until Ronan was able to reorganize and an even greater threat came to be.
Another whirlwind of events as Isaac had sent a distress signal to the Sky Realm, warning of Central Axis on the moon preparing to launch an attack on the Sky Realm as well as Cassius's own life in danger. Two operations were then put in place—first to rescue to Cassius, and second to stop whatever the moon is planning. To do this they needed to build their own ship, which was headed by Mahira, and using the automagods. Vaseraga had Grynoth, Gran took control of Pyet-A, and they had Arianensa from before, but not its core. This would be later discovered to be in Grace's possession, and after several battles, Rhen is able to defeat her before handing the weapon over to Gwynne, a recruit Ilsa chose to be the next contractor and the one for this mission.
In the process they had to fight off Otherworldly Beings who are also involved in this mess, and with their ability to possess the memories of the deceased, they are capable of cloning themselves to appear as other individuals. As he had also had to personally deal with one posing as his younger brother, that was why he had been so hostile to Ilsa earlier.
Eventually they are able to send up a ship with the automagods and the trio remote piloting them back in their headquarters. However it's not so easy as they had to fight against the Omega-3, powerful warriors under Central Axis. In the end, only Cassius was sent to return, but it turns out he was a clone. Isaac, the real Cassius, and Raybury were still on the moon and they worked to to disrupt the launch of the largest automagod the moon has, Diaspora. Originally the size of the moon, only a small fraction was able to be released... But even that was enough to threaten the Sky Realm. With the moon trio left to figure out how to get home on their own, the Society team had to figure out how to counteract Diaspora.
And that led to needing Eustace to awaken Flamek, something he'll admit had been very difficult. He was only able to after finding Heisenberg and learning the truth of what happened to his home town. Once he was able to finally open up and accept the help and trust in others did Flamek finally respond to him.
As Diaspora neared, Ilsa took charge to create a base of operations. However their plans go awry when they see a pod entering the Sky Realm. It has Isaac and Cassius, as Raybury had stayed behind with Yatima whom had managed to be reformed through the same process that made Diaspora and helped launch them off the moon. But attached to it was Dex, the remaining Omega-3 member. The group split off, with Vaseraga staying behind to fight him and protect the base while Gran, Zeta, Beatrix, and Eustace go to where Diaspora is set to land so they can engage. Hearing Ilsa's side having difficulty, Eustace leaves the others to stall Diaspora as he returns to help.
With Vaseraga saved and Dex defeated, Eustace makes his way back in time to finish off Diaspora with Flamek's awakened powers. Thanks to the constant barrage of overheated lightning, it is unable to repair and regenerate until it becomes a molten mess. Soon after Isaac and Cassius make a dramatic landing and Cassius is able to trick Diaspora into thinking the mission is complete and self-destruct.
After that, they spent a long time recovering. Society is still a mess, and the moon is no longer an immediate threat, but now they have Otherworldly Beings to watch for.
And once he's finally finished, whatever food is left has gone cold, the sun once high in the sky now lower as it turns into mid afternoon. He knows Ilsa has a lot more questions aside from the ones he had to answer during it all. And speaking about all of it...
SPOILERS FOR SOCIETY EVENTS GOD THIS WAS LONG AND ROUGH WHEEZE
Okay, maybe it's not so bad sitting here.
And so, between bites and answering any questions Ilsa might have in-between, Eustace slowly and concisely recounts the gap between their timelines. Of how his reports of all the events were taken and modified or even taken by the higher ups. How while Zeta and Beatrix primarily took care of Cassius, he was left to monitor him to judge whether he would remain a threat to the Sky Realm, and his eventual determination that despite his own personal biases at first, Cassius had begun to change and adapt to the skies.
Then came the point where there was an obvious suspicious shift in HQ. The reports of a dangerous glass crunching woman capable of using wires. The sudden increase and incessant badgering about Cassius. And then it all made clear when a man named Isaac appeared, revealing himself to be a descendant of the moondwellers and ordered to take Cassius back to the moon. He had a small robot named Raybury.
At this point it gets complicated, as there were so many different new players and revelations, and they were all interconnected to make it difficult to pick a starting point. CENTCOM taking Cassius back by force; Ilsa's own part in investigating everything at headquarters and keeping an eye on Cassius until they were able to return; the attack at headquarters using facsimile automagods; Ilsa joining Heisenberg to charge into CENTCOM only for more chaos and revelations to be made once they finally join up.
Grace, another descendant of the moon who furthered the Foe's agenda. It was then revealed that she worked with Heisenberg, who was also part of the Foe. This led to revealing Yatima, an original moondweller that had been supported by Alandus, whose personality and memories are actually within Raybury, hooked up to CENTCOM, the origins of Society, how it was originally created by the moondwellers who had been left in the Sky Realm and they worked to prepare the skydwellers for the inevitable return, knowing how powerful those on the moon were. It explains the high tech used within the organization and the knowledge about their seal weapons.
This leads to a large confrontation against Yatima who had been augmented by automagod technology and they all had to fight. Raybury would take a piece of her core, and due to the heavy injuries sustained by the fight, Cassius needed to return to the moon to be repaired. Isaac and Raybury accompanied him. With Society and all weapon contractors with a bounty on their heads for their weapons, they scattered and laid low until Ronan was able to reorganize and an even greater threat came to be.
Another whirlwind of events as Isaac had sent a distress signal to the Sky Realm, warning of Central Axis on the moon preparing to launch an attack on the Sky Realm as well as Cassius's own life in danger. Two operations were then put in place—first to rescue to Cassius, and second to stop whatever the moon is planning. To do this they needed to build their own ship, which was headed by Mahira, and using the automagods. Vaseraga had Grynoth, Gran took control of Pyet-A, and they had Arianensa from before, but not its core. This would be later discovered to be in Grace's possession, and after several battles, Rhen is able to defeat her before handing the weapon over to Gwynne, a recruit Ilsa chose to be the next contractor and the one for this mission.
In the process they had to fight off Otherworldly Beings who are also involved in this mess, and with their ability to possess the memories of the deceased, they are capable of cloning themselves to appear as other individuals. As he had also had to personally deal with one posing as his younger brother, that was why he had been so hostile to Ilsa earlier.
Eventually they are able to send up a ship with the automagods and the trio remote piloting them back in their headquarters. However it's not so easy as they had to fight against the Omega-3, powerful warriors under Central Axis. In the end, only Cassius was sent to return, but it turns out he was a clone. Isaac, the real Cassius, and Raybury were still on the moon and they worked to to disrupt the launch of the largest automagod the moon has, Diaspora. Originally the size of the moon, only a small fraction was able to be released... But even that was enough to threaten the Sky Realm. With the moon trio left to figure out how to get home on their own, the Society team had to figure out how to counteract Diaspora.
And that led to needing Eustace to awaken Flamek, something he'll admit had been very difficult. He was only able to after finding Heisenberg and learning the truth of what happened to his home town. Once he was able to finally open up and accept the help and trust in others did Flamek finally respond to him.
As Diaspora neared, Ilsa took charge to create a base of operations. However their plans go awry when they see a pod entering the Sky Realm. It has Isaac and Cassius, as Raybury had stayed behind with Yatima whom had managed to be reformed through the same process that made Diaspora and helped launch them off the moon. But attached to it was Dex, the remaining Omega-3 member. The group split off, with Vaseraga staying behind to fight him and protect the base while Gran, Zeta, Beatrix, and Eustace go to where Diaspora is set to land so they can engage. Hearing Ilsa's side having difficulty, Eustace leaves the others to stall Diaspora as he returns to help.
With Vaseraga saved and Dex defeated, Eustace makes his way back in time to finish off Diaspora with Flamek's awakened powers. Thanks to the constant barrage of overheated lightning, it is unable to repair and regenerate until it becomes a molten mess. Soon after Isaac and Cassius make a dramatic landing and Cassius is able to trick Diaspora into thinking the mission is complete and self-destruct.
After that, they spent a long time recovering. Society is still a mess, and the moon is no longer an immediate threat, but now they have Otherworldly Beings to watch for.
And once he's finally finished, whatever food is left has gone cold, the sun once high in the sky now lower as it turns into mid afternoon. He knows Ilsa has a lot more questions aside from the ones he had to answer during it all. And speaking about all of it...
He realizes just how much they had been through.]