Oblitus Magia: Verse 1 - Fateful Encounter in the City of Fools

[MrSandman]

He replaces his hat and chuckles a bit, a sweat drop appearing at his forehead.

“Ehh, less charm and more ‘convince’ not to murder us. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to hold up my end of that bargain.”

He looks around, Keen Eye in full effect.

“You have an impressive hideout here, En. I hope if I have the chance I’ll be able to explore and learn a bit more about you and this ship.”

"This is a military Vessel of the United States Military. All technology, Classified Data and Operation Procedures are restricted to Registered Navy Personnel." En stated, rather bluntly, almost automatically. Then she fluttered in place for a moment before adding. "I'd be happy to do up the paper work, but you'll need approval from someone with the rank of Captain.....I can tour you through non important areas and provide basic information to non commissioned with approval."

"Don't worry about that...I can hook you up later." Mulvric smiled. "Didn't I mention....I'm a Fleet Admiral. Perk of of the repair job I did."

"So, En your an onboard digital knowledge archive and navigational assistant, huh. Tell me, does EN have a psychiatrist on staff? I need to gain access to repressed memories I have," Jacob said.

Rhea just stares at En. ( I wonder if this thing I can see me?) Rhea thought.

"Our Original ship psychiatrist hasn't reported in for...." En paused, a blank expressed on her face. ".....Sorry, the record is corrupted. Long enough to be considered MIA relative to today. Our current doctor is not a psychiatrist, but she can treat injury and illness. If you wish, I'll ask her to give you an exam."

En, for her part, paid no attention to Rhea....leaving no obvious sign she knew the spirit was there or not.

Xia was even more confused than she was before the explanation. She figured the entire fairy bullshit was just that, some kind of joke this thing thought was funny. But artificial intelligence? Some could fake being smart? The **** was that?

"What?" She muttered something else under her breath. "How can you fake being intelligent? You're either smart or you're not?" It was completely beyond her comprehension. Again, she found herself cursing herself for forgetting that beer.

She glanced at En, then let her eyes trail upward to the machine from which she appeared. It was something, some kind of projector maybe. She had seen one in Li's home, but it was a lot less advanced than this. That one could only show still images one a piece of clear paper. This "artificial intelligence" could talk, move, and think for itself. It was fucking madness.

Blinking a few times, she turned to Mulvric . "There any beer in this heap? I'm not drunk enough for this ****."

"Nonono....Artificial doesn't mean fake. It refers to things that don't naturally occur!" En answer. "Like Gee Gee cleaning her room."

"Or like Ange making a good joke." Mercer added.

"Or Grey Ghost showing up to briefings on time." Added Mulvric.

Ange fumed silently.

"En."

Arx parroted, as she leaned against the door-frame to the the room. "Sorry for the mess." She was of course talking about the state of her. Tattered, bloodstained clothes; and the shackle with it's broken chain dangling down from her neck.

"We can get you cleaned up and changed into better clothes once everything is squared away." En smiled. "....and maybe get rid of those shackles if you want......just don't bleed on my emitters or I'll turn red and scare the kids the next time they visit."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"Beer," Xia responded.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Owen nods.

“I’d like that, thank you both.”

[MrSandman]

Ooc: Hey, Gunvolt spirte. Cool.

Ic

“ A ship Mind. Is t this great? Well a team of researchers, a thinking machine as the leader makes sense. This is all archanotech. Seriously great stuff.”

Selma gave a small smile as she replied "Thanks En."

Deciding to try and take her mind off the topic, she looked at En's wings and asked "So, mind me asking why exactly you're a fairy? Just personal preference or something else?"

"Because Papa likes them..." En answered bluntly.

Mulvric scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "She ain't far off.....near as I can figure En was never meant to use the projectors for something like this, since this is a war bridge it was likely for displaying information. But she can generate images as long as she has the visual information......One day I showed her a old book with some images, and she extrapolated the rest."

"Well....that and..."

"That's quite enough En, your embarrassing me enough as it is..."

"Just what is this..." Having approached, the girl's first reaction was to simply poke the hologram, as if to see if she would physically touch the fairy-like being or if to gauge something from the illusions of light. Either response would leave her softly grumbling as she jotted down a note in her diary, "E-N... Ian... no, that's predominantly male."

Sigs finger phases into En's cheek, which puffed in response. "You should poke a hologram like that....what if your nail falls off."

For her part, she only felt the faintest tingle on her fingertip.

Returning to her book and muttering aloud, En chimed in. "You can write it down as Enterprise if it makes it easier for you.....also please don't make notes of classified info."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

"This is a military Vessel of the United States Military. All technology, Classified Data and Operation Procedures are restricted to Registered Navy Personnel." En stated, rather bluntly, almost automatically. Then she fluttered in place for a moment before adding. "I'd be happy to do up the paper work, but you'll need approval from someone with the rank of Captain.....I can tour you through non important areas and provide basic information to non commissioned with approval."

"Don't worry about that...I can hook you up later." Mulvric smiled. "Didn't I mention....I'm a Fleet Admiral. Perk of of the repair job I did."



"Our Original ship psychiatrist hasn't reported in for...." En paused, a blank expressed on her face. ".....Sorry, the record is corrupted. Long enough to be considered MIA relative to today. Our current doctor is not a psychiatrist, but she can treat injury and illness. If you wish, I'll ask her to give you an exam."

En, for her part, paid no attention to Rhea....leaving no obvious sign she knew the spirit was there or not.



"Nonono....Artificial doesn't mean fake. It refers to things that don't naturally occur!" En answer. "Like Gee Gee cleaning her room."

"Or like Ange making a good joke." Mercer added.

"Or Grey Ghost showing up to briefings on time." Added Mulvric.

Ange fumed silently.



"We can get you cleaned up and changed into better clothes once everything is squared away." En smiled. "....and maybe get rid of those shackles if you want......just don't bleed on my emitters or I'll turn red and scare the kids the next time they visit."

"I see, well, this guy name Lucifer told me that there's an alternate method in gaining access to my repressed memories that don't involve a psychiatrist. Yeah, ask this doctor to give me an exam," Jacob said.

[MrSandman]

"Beer," Xia responded.

"We make our own......not fancy but it does the job." Mulvric nodded.

"And we'll be happy to give you some if you earn it." Ange suddenly retorted. ".....it won't be like the safehouse here....you want something you damn well pull your weight for it."

[Yun Lao]

Sigs finger phases into En's cheek, which puffed in response. "You should poke a hologram like that....what if your nail falls off."

For her part, she only felt the faintest tingle on her fingertip.

Returning to her book and muttering aloud, En chimed in. "You can write it down as Enterprise if it makes it easier for you.....also please don't make notes of classified info."

"I don't care about stuff like that," She retorted, somewhat annoyed being told what she could or could not write down. Chewing what information she had, Sigourney stared off into the distance while tapping one end of her pen against her open diary.

"They always gendered ship as women in books but for a fairy named Enterprise? There's got to be something in there... Pity she wasn't a male, she could have had an alias like Ian Prise... hmm... No wonder she's been going by En all this time."

The speed and intensity of her idle tapping had grown akin to a woodpecker beating its face against a tree.

"We make our own......not fancy but it does the job." Mulvric nodded.

"And we'll be happy to give you some if you earn it." Ange suddenly retorted. ".....it won't be like the safehouse here....you want something you damn well pull your weight for it."

Catching a snippet of that caused her to fully pause, a disgusted look crossing her features, "So, is this how you do your recruiting? You promise us a choice and after all of that travel we're now expected to "pull our weight"? How, by blowing up another Urban Center like you so gracefully did yesterday?"

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"We can get you cleaned up and changed into better clothes once everything is squared away." En smiled. "....and maybe get rid of those shackles if you want......just don't bleed on my emitters or I'll turn red and scare the kids the next time they visit."

"I mean it's not my blood," Arx replied with a shrug. At the mention of removing the binding around her neck however, the Dragon shook her head rather aggressively. "The shackle stays. A reminder."

[Tami]

"We make our own......not fancy but it does the job." Mulvric nodded.

"And we'll be happy to give you some if you earn it." Ange suddenly retorted. ".....it won't be like the safehouse here....you want something you damn well pull your weight for it."

"I never expected that we'd be brought here to be waited on like the Wealthy Tower Dwellers," he looked around at the others, "How then can we be of use?"

OOC: This reminds me, isn't Morgan injured?

[MrSandman]

...they let kids in this place?

"...I thought you said she was your daughter...and you kept callin' him papa," Kinu mused, moving across the hall away from the flashing consoles, and rapping her knuckles against the oddly pristine steel wall.

"She is..Nothing much different." Mulvric mused. "When we found this place, was even worse then you see it now by a big margin......But I'm an engineer, I solve problems. Fixing this place up, keeping it intact...learning how the systems work, and how they used to work. Eventually...I manage to her En working again too. Been stuck in a low power, barely functional state for who knows how long...."

"And yes we let kids in!" En added. "A lot of the people you see out there were born here ya know."

"...well, anyway, guess it doesn't really matter. You're..." she drew a circle in the air with her pointer finger before her, "...you're here. Right."

"I have sensors that still work all over the ship, so technically I'l everywhere here." En chuckled.

She cleared her throat. Though she was obviously still quite puzzled by the nature of this...old...baby...butterfly...ghost daughter...here in the belly of the rusted steel boat, they had to get down to brass tacks.

"So. Now that we're away from the big, scary city," she said, turning to Mulvric, "your head still foggy? Offering the 9ers hope is nice, but I'm gonna tell the lot of you now that dreams gotta start on more than nothing. And that means giving me more than a lightshow, yeah?"

"Down to business....right then." Mulvric nodded. "Sadly the trip didn't do much to clear the fog in my head......Our plan is still on for our Luxweave friend to extract those memories into something tangible. Perhaps it'll make em easier to work with."

"Worst case scenario, we'll need to investigate the scene for more information." En said. "The Administratum's Operational Mandate has been to firebomb Ruin Compromised locations....for whatever reason, they haven't mobilized the needed force for it yet. So the city is largely intact....to a point. But we can't get anything past the parameter slums due to high air concentrations of ruin...." En paused. "....creates a kind of fog like gas....only thing we can still determine from inside is the Conflux tower is still active, light becon barely manages to cut through the cloud."

"But of course.....it isn't that simple. Concentrated exposure of that level would take all but a minute to do any number of horrible things to your bodies. Anyone going in would need special gear or....hmm" En paused, eyes replaced with little spinning circles as she thought.

"In any event....we can't make a move in that regard until we have a way to do so.....We'll go ahead with the memory extraction and keep brainstorming a way to check out A9." Mercer added. "The A9 evacuees are welcome to stay here for the time being....heck......we could use the extra hands. This area is safe and hidden as well as it can be."

"

[MrSandman]

"I see, well, this guy name Lucifer told me that there's an alternate method in gaining access to my repressed memories that don't involve a psychiatrist. Yeah, ask this doctor to give me an exam," Jacob said.

"I'll make an appointment with the doctor then." En nodded.

[MrSandman]

"I don't care about stuff like that," She retorted, somewhat annoyed being told what she could or could not write down. Chewing what information she had, Sigourney stared off into the distance while tapping one end of her pen against her open diary.

"They always gendered ship as women in books but for a fairy named Enterprise? There's got to be something in there... Pity she wasn't a male, she could have had an alias like Ian Prise... hmm... No wonder she's been going by En all this time."

The speed and intensity of her idle tapping had grown akin to a woodpecker beating its face against a tree.

En floats over her shoulder and glances at the book. "....Ian Prise....huh...."

Catching a snippet of that caused her to fully pause, a disgusted look crossing her features, "So, is this how you do your recruiting? You promise us a choice and after all of that travel we're now expected to "pull our weight"? How, by blowing up another Urban Center like you so gracefully did yesterday?"

"No.....you pull a potato out of the ground, and then you get to cook and eat it." Ange crossed her arms. "Or do you think because we're trying so hard to "recruit you" that we need to bend over backwards and let you mooch whatever you want, whenever you want. Asking to pulls your weight isn't a invite to join....its common, fucking, curtsy. God I hate kids..."

"Now, Now Gee Gee....No fighting." En crossed her arms and proclaimed. "That's a Court Martial."

"Tsk..." Ange responded.

[MrSandman]

"I mean it's not my blood," Arx replied with a shrug. At the mention of removing the binding around her neck however, the Dragon shook her head rather aggressively. "The shackle stays. A reminder."

".....Why do you need it to remember?" En asked curiously. "Are you afraid the ruin will make you forget what a giant metal hoop feels like?"

Mulvric snickered but quickly shut himself up. ".....don't mind her.....concepts like that might be a bit much for her...even after all this time."

[Tami]

"I never expected that we'd be brought here to be waited on like the Wealthy Tower Dwellers," he looked around at the others, "How then can we be of use?"

OOC: This reminds me, isn't Morgan injured?

It seemed that, as soon as Matthias asked his question, the answer was provided, to a degree.

This situation will definatley take some getting used to.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

".....Why do you need it to remember?" En asked curiously. "Are you afraid the ruin will make you forget what a giant metal hoop feels like?"

Mulvric snickered but quickly shut himself up. ".....don't mind her.....concepts like that might be a bit much for her...even after all this time."

While Arx didn't register the words for what they were- a petty barb- the subject matter had an effect; and for the first time since meeting this ragtag group, the Dragon looked... uncomfortable. It was subtle, but the Dragon shifted to her favored left side; and ever so briefly averted her gaze. It passed as soon as it came on however, a relative emotional squall.

"As Mulvric said so... eloquently. A reliquary of information has no concept of forgetfulness. Perhaps the concept is a bit much for you..." Arx said calmly, after her quick recovery. "Regardless, the shackle stays where it is."