Her eye slits dimly glow green as she looks down at the boy and examines him. "I am Violet." Even her speech is accompanied by mechanical noises.
Violet looks at the others present. An old man, a teenage girl. All of their clothes are strange. Had fashion changed so much since she last left the castle?
"What is this place?"
"Well, doesn't sound so bad, I guess, if you can find them. I hope everything works out for you." Wilhelm knows it sounds weak and insincere, but he doesn't really get what's going on. "And, uh, don't die."
Bianca smirks.
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!"In case you didn't notice, I don't have a nose. A pity. The olfactory senses are difficult to replicate. The range is simply... complex. The fact that I don't even know what cotton candy is means I would have a hard time simulating its scent." Violet strokes the area where a nose would be on her face, and her eyes become a brighter shade of green, almost neon. "Has something gone wrong with my optical simulators, or is your hair supposed to be that color?"
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!<...it can't be...?>
Kokabiel took a last look around the greenhouse and said, <my apologies, but... something has just caught my attention. Farewell. If I am needed, Samira, you know how to contact me.> It offered a polite bow and vanished in a puff of black smoke.
Samira shook her head and said, "doesn't sound like my husband's in trouble. I'm guessing it found something interesting." Then she turned to Marcus. "Don't die. Yes, a common blessing among people like us, it seems."
Amu said, "I dunno. I prefer 'be free' myself. The dyin' ain't so bad, the living can be worse."
Samira shook her head and muttered, with light sarcasm, "ah, yes, the legendary Uelane cheer and optimism shows itself again."
Zacharias nodded and said, "a pleasure to meet you, Violet. Now... wait for it..." Kokabiel appeared on the roof of the house in a puff of smoke. Zacharias said, "thought so."
Kokabiel watched Violet intently, analyzing her carefully.
Zacharias turned back to Violet, and offered a hand, hoping she'd understand the gesture. "Zacharias Hosseini, at your service."
edited 21st May '12 3:58:00 PM by KillerClowns
Eli grinned and nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Kokabiel's not actually a birdeh. It's just a thing with powers that looks like a birdeh. And it likes people."
"My name's Daisuke Maki."* He turned back to his sleeping kitty. "Ran! Wake up!" Her ear twisted towards Daisuke and she opened her eyes groggily. He looked at her, then at Violet, the cat way to say 'look over there', and she followed suit. The Japanese bobtail's only response was a yawn and meow.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Violet shakes hands with Zacharias, but quickly turns back to Tina. "Intriguing."
She sheds her silk robe and a door in her chest opens up, revealing shelves of beakers, bottles, test tubes in racks, and other scientific equipment. "Would you mind putting a few strands of your hair in a vial? But please sterilize your hands with the small blue bottle on the top shelf at the very right. My right, I mean."
The vulture's appearance makes her flinch. Her first thought is of the House of Geier, but remembers that her old enemies are long dead. Still, not exactly a beautiful bird. She would like it gone.
Kokabiel would find that Violet seems very much like a normal Vesper, but if it cared to explore further, it would encounter an Elder Manifestation's presence.
"So... where have I found myself?"
The Manifestation with Violet is Marianne, if anyone remembers her (she's very different now, by the way), but she's calling herself something else at the moment.
edited 21st May '12 4:27:37 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!"Well, I've already got used to my current hair color." Tina says to Violet. "But if you want me to, sure!" Tina then cuts out three strands of her hair, and gives them to Violet.
Even though it doesn't say, she sterilized her hands.
edited 21st May '12 4:28:10 PM by DiurnalBrocolli
Just floating around..."Thank you."
The tip of one of Violet's fingers comes off at the first joint, hanging by a few wires, and a small pair of tweezers come out and grab the hairs. Violet's other hand takes out a vial from her chest. The tweezers carefully place the hairs in the vial and retract. The wires pull the fingertip back to its normal position. Violet corks the vial and places it in a different rack, along with some others that are filled with liquids of various colors. The door in her chest closes.
"I'm sure studying them will be fascinating."
Wilhelm shrugs. "I didn't really get the impression that Kokabiel, uh, sincerely likes people, but I guess it's only if people don't bother him all that much."
edited 21st May '12 9:06:56 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Daisuke watched her with a fascination that almost made him seem more like a child than an abused, precocious child soldier.
"You're in a dream. This is a random traditional house from the country where I grew up. But stay away from that pond over there. Somebody dumped fertilizer into the water."
Ran hopped off of the deck, intrigued by Violet's little whirring noises and shiny body. She pawed at the fallen cloak, then began to circle around the automaton, watching her with eyes as curious and blue as one of her kittens. She felt like a kitten, in fact, discovering something new.
edited 21st May '12 4:39:25 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."<A transorganic? A curious design, though...> it stopped as its senses probed further. <...another of those over-fattened rephaim? Just when I thought this day was going to get pleasant.>
To Violet, it said, <greetings, transorganic. I am Kokabiel, Angel of Entropy. I have no desire to quarrel with you, but I must ask that you keep your pet on a tight leash. I have already had to dispatch one of its kind.> Then, speaking to Violet alone, it added, <I will confess this was merely because I found the organic it was guarding... distasteful, but I would prefer it be believed that my quarrel was with the rephaite itself, and its very existence. Not that I particularly liked enduring the chatter of such a being.>
Zacharias shook his head and said, "uh... what 'pet' is Kokabiel talking about? I don't see anything..."
Samira looked over at Wilhelm and said, "it finds us humans... fascinating, I guess. But I'm not sure exactly how it finds us fascinating. Sometimes I think it genuinely has an attachment to certain humans. And sometimes I think it's more like an entomologist, as likely to study a bug by pinning it in a box as watching it live." She shook her head in disgust.
Violet's eyes flash white before returning to neon green. "I have not dreamed for nearly a thousand years. That was the last time I needed sleep. My descendant must have finished my new vessel and is attempting to transfer me to it, and has shut me down to prevent memory loss."
She watches Ran for a moment, slightly amused, before continuing. "Even machines break down. The best machines wear out much more slowly than bodies, I must say, but still, it's annoying. And that also means I will soon say goodbye to the pet that the vulture speaks of. She doesn't like to appear physically. It also bothers her that I chose to assign a gender to her. It bothers her slightly less that I gave her a name, Fiona."
Gave my brother a harsh lesson, did you? I like you already. Fiona sneers to Kokabiel. My proper title is The Executioner.
edited 21st May '12 7:06:04 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Eli huffed in offense. "You shouldn't be doing that to bugs, anyways."
"So, your descendants have to make new bodies for you? Do you know who's making your new one? Do you know what it looks like? I'm sure it looks cool!"
Daisuke can't help himself. Well... she was probably more magical than technological, but it was like meeting his childhood hero. An automaton! And one that wasn't just a figment of his imagination! The nostalgia starts to come back and he hears the theme song play in his head again.
Kokoro hazumu, lalala, kagaku no ko! Minna no tomodachi! Tetsuwan Atomu! *
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Zacharias said, "ah. I see. A thousand years spent awake. That must be... hmm..."he considered. "It would drive me insane. Well, actually, a thousand years spent alive would drive me insane. It only took two hundred, I hear, to do that to my world's only human... humanoid immortal." Then he studied Violet further, with a thoughtful expression. "But... you seem like a woman of science, and many scientists I know consider sleep a nuisance and would love the time to see experiments through. So I hope your time awake has not been unpleasant for you. And... if it has, and my comments offend you, I apologize."
Kokabiel glared at the Executioner. <Listen closely. You seem like less of a waste of transmundane energy than most of your kin, so let me offer you a simple agreement. When I say I find your kind's existence unpleasant, understand I mean this literally. The very core and root of what you are disgusts me.> It paused, making sure its words sank in, then, more civilly, continued, <however, you have given me no reason to dislike you beyond that — and indeed, have shown an effort to be nearly civil. Unusual for your breed. Furthermore, the being to whom you are linked is both pleasant and intriguing, and I'm sure she has some use for you. So thus: do not speak to me unless you absolutely must, and in turn, I shall not harass you, nor shall I do harm upon the one to whom you are linked.>
Then it turned its attention to Violet's words. <A thousand years is a long time. If I extrapolate from the design of your current form... calculate in the magic... hmm... no, that always muddles with the calculations, doesn't it?> It paused to consider. <I'll simply ask, then. What improvements have your descendants made upon your current design in the millennium they've had to progress?>
edited 21st May '12 6:29:13 PM by KillerClowns
Very well. I prefer doing to talking anyway. The Executioner sulkily retreats.
"I didn't think that I would need a descendant to build another body for me," Violet says to Daisuke. "I always assumed that I would be doing it myself. It's a very daunting task, not one that I'd trust to just anyone. The brain alone took me almost seventy years. While working on everything else at the same time, I admit, but that's no small number. But Cyrus is gifted, and he has help. For one thing, he's building on what I've already done." She chuckles, which is accompanied by very rapid clicking that makes her head vibrate. "I'm not exaggerating when I say I was responsible for my city's golden age. My other descendant tells me that even the history books say so."
With a quiet buzz that might be a sigh, she continues, "There's another problem. Except for the modifications I've made, this body is the original one I built a thousand years ago. I was arrogant, and overlooked even glaring imperfections in the design with the excuse that I had no other choices. Similar issues have been overlooked by myself and other engineers in my time for the same reasons. 'The world is still working, so these problems can't be that bad. We'll figure out how to brush these up later,' we said.
"Clockwork has always been a complicated way of doing things, and yet we still use it. Why? Because it works, and as was discovered when my husband's people were banished to earth, oil and coal are tedious, to say the least. On the other hand, every clockwork engineer has a different way of doing things, a different idea of how the gears and belts and cogs should be arranged to do their job. I have been cut off from new developments. These developments shaped the way every generation approaches their work. And while I have made my own innovations, I am still only one person. The only thing Cyrus really has to offer is simplicity. I'll be filled with less junk, and will be able to do more than I ever could before. He's been going through my notes, and has made progress on those as well. Thinking will require less energy. I will be able to process a greater range of sound. I can turn my right arm into a cannon that blasts lightning. Little things like that."
She tilts her head at Zacharias. "It helps when you have things to do. There's maintaining my body. The pursuit of science is never complete. Oh, and gardening. I learned within five years that letting plants in a place overrunning with abandoned chemical experiments grow wild is a terrible idea."
edited 21st May '12 8:50:17 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!How could she brush something like that off?!
"You'll get to shoot lighting out of your hand?! That's awesome!"
Ran completely ignored her owner's excitement, and brushed her paw on Violet's leg. She felt cool. And smooth. It was nice on her paw pads. Her little tail wagged, almost like a dog's.
Unlike other tailless breeds such as the Manx, a Japanese bobtail has all of its tail vertebrae- they're just tiny, so any attempt at moving its tail like how a normal cat does is just going to look like it's wagging its tail like a dog.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth.""Indeed. I look forward to trying that out. He has one of his own that he hauls around, and it's been quite useful to him. I can already generate lightning, though, just... differently." Violet makes sparks fly from her fingers. "I keep a clockwork rose bush inside me at all times. At least I don't have to stuff the petals into hidden pockets in my petticoats like most women do." With a few clanks, her chest opens up again. This time, a potted rose bush with blue petals sits inside. Some of the petals are turning brown and curling at the edges.
"The advantage of using a cannon that generates lightning and then lets you use magic to direct however you wish rather than using magic for the entire process is that it conserves energy. The disadvantage is the more you rely on machines, the more likely you'll need to duck behind some rubble in a fight and try to fix something before you can keep going. No one likes broken machines. They just get in the way."
I hope Violet isn't engaging in too much Technobabble. It's pretty much what she lives for, after all.
Bianca thought a little about what Amu said about dying and being free. "Amu, dying cancels out your chances of someday becoming free. Wouldn't it be better to live and keep trying? As long as it's reasonably possible, of course, to better the situation."
edited 21st May '12 9:04:29 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!Amu's face curled into a snarl as he turned to Bianca. "Let me explain my enemy. Know this: my name is not Amu. Amu is a title. The Red King took my name." He pointed to his arm. To the "nine" tattooed upon it. "For two years, this was my name. He tried to destroy my name. But still I remember it. It is..." he took a deep breath. "My name is..." He inhaled once more, fighting back tears. "My name is..."
He gave one last shudder, then said, "even now, I can't say it. I fear it. And the Red King will do worse to me — to all of us — if we fail. I would rather live free than die, but those are my only two options."
Samira gaped. "Why..." she asked, "what's the point of doing something like that?"
Amu shook his head, ignoring the tears streaming down his face. "Superstition. Madness. Most Alasu worship their various gods." He scoffed. "Violet, bloody things. But the Red King and his acolytes believe there is a demon, something they call the Eyes and Teeth, and that it feeds upon pain. So they've sworn to annihilate pain from the world to destroy it." Samira's eyebrow raised at the irony. "And they believe the Self is the root of all pain. So... the Red King seeks to annihilate the very concept of Self. And I was one of his... test subjects."
Zacharias said, "yes. Oil and coal are... overrated. Our world is very fond of them. Too many wars and too much pollution has come of them. Another world I know of is too young to even have any, though, but they manage."
Kokabiel said <indeed. The Mauros use clockwork like yours — albeit far less refined — and wind energy, while the ever-pragmatic Kykzavi have their beloved uranium. Oh, what fun that stuff is.> An illusory mushroom cloud blossomed on the table, and Zacharias shuddered. <But... a thousand years, and still clockwork? Why not synthetic musculature? Nanomachinery? Biotechnological engineering?>
Zacharias looked over at Kokabiel and said, "uh, I don't think she has any idea what those are..."
<Precisely my point. It's like... a tribe, perfecting their stone-knapping for a thousand years 'because it works'. Refinement is not progress. From stone spears to integrated circuits, and yes, even clockwork, every technology eventually reaches a physical limit.>
Zacharias shook his head and said, "you must excuse Kokabiel. It is a being of technology, you see, and tends to be altogether too fond of it. You forget, Kokabiel, we're still refining — say — the arch, and it has proven a fruitful endeavor." He looked Violet's current body over. "I mean, to last a thousand years, undergoing all the stress and activity a body goes through every day... that's a marvel of engineering!" His eyes widened, and he nodded. "I can certainly understand why you wouldn't abandon something so useful until you were certain the alternative was better.
edited 21st May '12 10:08:41 PM by KillerClowns
Violet chuckles again. "I am not the person to ask about that, Kokabiel. I have not spoken to a single person, other than Fiona, who doesn't really count, until a few weeks ago. You might want to meet Cyrus. Provided that you don't frighten him too badly. He's very jumpy. My hypothesis is that we have made so much progress in controlling magic that we're all right with continually refining clockwork. Abandoning one field in the pursuit of another, in other words."
She looks up into the sky, her eyes now flickering like firelight. "Things change every day, but clockwork is always with us. Is it our fondness for the familiar, what we know for sure can get things done, that keeps us bound to it, as Zacharias says? Or is it because the Elders themselves claim that nature is like clockwork, and we wish to emulate it? The last time I checked, no one was sure, and we didn't have anything else. I must remember to ask Cyrus. I'm sure it would be a fascinating discussion. Even more interesting than getting updated on politics, perhaps."
No, clockwork was really a metaphor that we used back when we mingled freely with the fleshlings because fleshlings couldn't possibly truly comprehend the way we see things. And they ran with it, Fiona says sourly.
"She never bothered to tell me that before."
I don't bother to tell you a lot of things. She quickly retreats, not wanting to find out exactly what her brother had experienced when he was at Kokabiel's mercy.
Sorry if I'm being inconsistent with the Elders' genders, but they don't give themselves one. Some will assume the same one as their current master, and others need to have one forced on them for the sake of convenience. Fiona calls the Elder "brother" because its current master, Angelus, is male. It would call her "sister."
Bianca's mouth twitches. She is seemingly unfazed by his outburst. But really, the more she hears about Amu, the more she wants to dedicate herself to helping him. "If that is the case, may you die with honor, and your soul find peace."
Wilhelm stares at the number on Amu's shoulder and scratches his own tattoo, thinking about the Republic's experiments. "Fuck."
And that's all he can really think of to say.
edited 22nd May '12 6:52:29 AM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!"I know what you're feeling," said Jonathan. "Except stick the demon in the role of the Red King and change the reason from experiments to punishment for rebellion. And what are details, anyway?" He shrugged. "We don't really need to know them, do we?"
He looked out of the greenhouse at the misty city. "I know that experiments were done on you. I don't need to know what they were. And you don't need to know what happened to-" A deep bell clanged faintly, accompanied by a sizzling reminiscent of that of a steak. Jonathan clapped a hand to his face for a second, gritting his teeth. After a moment, he drew it away and finished quietly, "...what happened to me. Although if you do ask, I'll answer."
Turning back to the group, he had a sudden brainwave. "You know, it's interesting that you accept death so readily when the Red King wants to end pain. Isn't that the whole point of death, basically? Ending pain? Maybe you're closer to the truth than he is." He frowned. "'Course, then he finds that out and tries to genocide everybody. Yay."
Kokabiel considered this. <Odd that you haven't "picked up something on the side", as it were, but... this makes sense. If nothing else, you'd need to use the same general mechanisms as a control to your experiments. Though as to the universe being clockwork...> it stopped for a moment as it considered. <Well, I without evidence, I can't say anything definitive. Maybe yours is deterministic — I presume that was what was meant by the clockwork analogy. I envy you. My universe prefers quantum physics. What joy.>
Zacharias said, "yes. The reason the physics department gives me a headache. But that's neither here nor there." He waved gave Kokabiel a dismissive shooing motion. He then said, "I'd offer you food, but that's obviously quite useless. Although... I must ask, even though it's rude to constantly inquire about you as though you were a piece of machinery." (That by some definitions she was a piece of machinery was besides the point — Zacharias had seen no reason thus far aside from a trifling detail of physical form to regard her as anything other than human.) "You do have some sense of touch, right? It would be extremely hard to do any meaningful work without at least that sense somewhat intact — the ability to feel weight, study texture, and so forth are quite useful."
Samira repeated Bianca's words to Amu. "Indeed. May you die with honor, and your soul find peace." This blessing still applied to his twisted modern form.
Amu took a look around the greenhouse, studying each and every person. "I think a lot of us know the feeling," he said, then turned to Jonathon. "I doubt he'd up and kill everyone. Though Acolytes may use 'your pain is at an end' before tearing people to ribbons with those weapons of theirs, they do sort of want humanity to not go extinct. That's the whole point. Stopping this insane bogeyman from eating mankind."
He shrugged. "I won't ask," he said to Jonathon. "Same to you," he added to Samira, Wilhelm, and Bianca, as he took a seat. "Society like ours, you learn fast not to ask questions. Y'know how it is, right? You start asking questions ya don't really want to hear answered, next thing you know you've got someone else's nightmares serving as a dance partner to your own in your head, y'know?" He frowned apologetically, then added, "which reminds me. Sorry for giving you guys my troubles. The Xau know that you guys don't lack it already."
Samira shook her head, but for the time being, said nothing.
edited 22nd May '12 5:34:08 PM by KillerClowns
"Quantum physics? Hm. Could you give me an idea of what that's all about? I might look into it."
Violet studies her hand, eyes bright, before answering Zacharias. "It's very difficult to describe how the senses work in this body, especially touch. Sight and sound, which are basically the processing of light and vibrations respectively, are fairly straightforward. I haven't yet been able to replicate the exact way a body of flesh and blood can touch and feel. I'm aware of it when I touch things and what something feels like, but I don't really... feel. The senses work by sending feedback to the brain. Perhaps it can be said that this machine use a different code that doesn't come out quite the same. But it's not all bad."
Her chest opens up, revealing a small pile of clockworks that needed repair or improvement. She takes one, a rusty spider half the size of her palm. "142.65 grams."
Bianca considers offering to remove Amu's tattoo, but remembers that nothing she can do here will be able to help him, save for offering more words.
"Don't fret, Amu. I'm perfectly all right with listening to people's troubles," she says quietly. "I might as well get used to it. When I take over Rona, I'll have to listen to my people, and it will be my duty to help them."
Wilhelm slowly nods. "She's a good listener. Not always the best helper—"
She narrows her eyes at him.
"—but I guess listening is kind of helping, too," he says quickly. "And she's good with words."
She remembers Tamiel. You have given him many words, but they are just that... words.
Shut up. Words have power. You proved it yourself, when you were goading me on....
Was Tamiel even goading? Or was it really herself that allowed the torture to cross the line from justice (in her mind, at least) to cruelty? Bianca can't remember it very clearly. It was just a flurry of blood, screaming, yelling, more blood... ugh. She lets Wilhelm pull her into another hug, mildly surprised that her frustration is so evident that even he noticed. She didn't even realize that her fists were clenched, and slowly uncurls fer fingers with a great sigh.
edited 22nd May '12 10:30:49 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!

Daisuke leaned forward and studied her. He did that a lot, he noticed. She was a fancy automaton, kind of like those little whale gut-powered teacup holders that could propel themselves across the floor if you set a teacup on their little tray. She actually looked kinda cool! Like Astro Boy!
He smiled. "Hi, what's your name?"
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."