text, un: howe

[manifestering]

Hello
If we have not met my name is Octavian
I am an alchemist and as always I am accepting small amounts of blood for a personal project

But that is beside the point

[Just, you know, getting it out of the way that he's always on the hunt for blood samples to save, anyway—]

The point is during our mutual excursions to maintain the integrity of this world
In the ruins I was set upon by a manner of vision
Very abrupt
not entirely welcome
In the water I experienced memories that were not my own
Something about a breed of serpentine people
Where are they
?

The recollection suggested they were not always serpents but perhaps once like us
A group brought to this place and changed
Was this previously known
and
has anyone else experienced these visions
?

[ooc; totes encourage threadjacking for sharing purposes!!]

Comments

[computation]

That's the spirit!
I knew I liked you for a reason.

[computation]

Octavian, you're not having fun without me, are you? I've never vivisected a snake before.

Corrupted data could be a blind spot to her -- it's not impossible to hide from an A.I. if you hardcode it. Her systems felt separate from her somehow? How could she know but they didn't?

[manifestering]

No idea honestly
That is well outside of my wheelhouse
Perhaps Root would better understand the correlation between data and items we can perceive

The gnosia infection
?

[manifestering]

Not the best judge of what to worry about
Given my circumstances
Still I imagine that depends on you
What are you worried about
in general
?

[incorrigibles]

right. and the black marks meant corruption, then? well, guess that's something

that could mean a lot of things, couldn't it? definitely haven't heard of more black marks. reckon the whole gnosia debacle was less corruption and more something else

but shit happened to some of the people at the terminals too, yeah? so who knows

[followyourstar]

I'm... not sure. Not something as obvious as meteors falling down from the sky, that's for sure. Doesn't help that I'm something of an outlier around here too.

Guess we're both new to all this?

[skelters]

Um
Pretty quick? I think?
Is that important?

[ can't believe he'll start his career as a secretary like this ]

That must be quite an inconvenience ...

[ no, vash, you cannot suggest some weird frankenstein schemes, okay? ]

Could you ... enter something else that's not alive? [ vash, what did we just say? ] Like something still human shaped?

[laserguy]

do you know of stem club then? those guys usually seem to figure out something.

happened around july. some people got infected by gnosia, causing them to kill others, even friends. a lot of them look disfigured after a while, transformed by it. different from the corruption though, not to mention that sha-ming said it's from his world and stuff.

[manifestering]

Unquestionably so

Generally I would prefer not to
My goal is to live
However what did you have in mind
Some kind of mannequin
?

[manifestering]

Yes
Root granted me access to their private channel
I trust she will have some insight

Plenty of people kill their friends
Still
strange
Hopefully no plagues of history will join us here

[manifestering]

I was told the corruption was treated with a medication
this time
Additionally was told the gnosia incident came from an individual's home

At the terminals I sank into a pond to press a button
So
What did happen
?

[traumaticus]

on which?

[manifestering]

Mysterious communications of a nonstandard nature

[manifestering]

Neither have I
I will take more notes

From my perspective as a man without equivalent systems
It appeared she could see the marks but analysis indicated no problem
despite the obvious

[manifestering]

I should hope I have the spirit
Have you had many partners to irritate
?

[manifestering]

[The house is, at a glance, an abandoned one; more run down than the city's usual fare that the Chosen can move into themselves. It's begun a little bit to be overtaken by vines and weeds, but the front door and the windows seem to be intact, at least, if dusty.

Octavian can in fact open the door, but does he? No, he does not. Not for a full minute, anyway, almost as if he forgot he has to go do that...

But here he is, slowly creaking the door open and peering around it. Hi.]

Hello. [...] You are the volunteer.

[laserguy]

uh, not normally? i don't go around killing my friends?????

[WHAT DO YOU MEAN.....]

[computation]

Good one!
Not any I was serious about. Though I think that's starting to change.

[computation]

Thanks, you're a champ.

That does sound like corrupted data, or a deliberately altered subroutine. She might be recognizing it and then having her analysis immediately overwritten to indicate there's no issue present. Pretty sure my boss and I are about to set up something like that to keep me safe from our rival A.I. overlord.

Or we were, or are, back there.

[melnik]

"She"? Sorry, since when is this program a woman?

Well, anyway, I am in not too dissimilar a position as you. I have no choice but to leave that in someone else's hands. But I do wonder if we might be able to learn anything from the Rumpiturians, if they are indeed Chosen who changed forms.

smh

[skelters]

You said it'll inevitably fail, right? So you keep having to make new ones. Maybe something that doesn't need those things might be better ...


Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you, please don't be mad!
I just thought ... I don't really know much about this, haha, forget about it! Sorry again!!!!!!!!!!!

[sinningtree]

I can not. What I can tell you is that this Jerry everyone speaks of is a construct of the AI. It would seem Jerry was created to act as an unbiased rehabilitator, in order to prevent her own inclination to protect the Chosen from interfering with that goal.

[manifestering]

You are a strange one

Regardless
All human bodies inevitably fail
Still preferable to an unfeeling thing

[manifestering]

And she called it
Jerry

[Sorry, that's so... unremarkable.]

Well it seems a long chain of failures occurred regardless
So
Plan failed
?

[manifestering]

Not making accusations
Personal bias seeping through
I was killed by a friend