expiationnet | voice; un: ushiromiya

[ There's only a voice feed without video to go along with it - but even without her face being visible, the edge of fatigue to Ange's voice is pretty obvious. Aside from that, her voice is pretty much the usual same monotone-- just with that little extra to it. ]

In case anyone came to the apothecary often-- Claude obviously isn't here anymore to run it. I have all of his notes, so I figure I might as well run it. I mean, at this point I'm apparently here until the heat death of the universe while I have to watch everyone I care about disappear, so might as well, right.

[ Sorry, the apothecary now apparently comes with a Hot Topic attitude. At least it explains where the fatigue in the girl's voice might be coming from. ]

So stop by while I undergo my own special kind of torture in this place, I guess. There's a lot to go through and figure out, so if you had some sort of special deal with Claude, make sure to let me know. Or I might find it somewhere in his notes in three months or so, so letting me know is likely faster.

[ It sounds like she might be looking at all of it right now, in fact. There's the sound of slight paper rustling in the background. ]

Or let me know if you can help with this. I haven't exactly done any of this apothecary business stuff before. I mean, Claude clearly didn't even consider the optics of leaving a place like this to a witch. That's just stereotyping, you know? So rude.

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Yeah.

[ Casual. Apparently it's a pretty normal concept to the girl, since she's saying it as easily as someone else might talk about more "normal" occupations.. ]

Why? Are you looking for one?

No. [He is not looking for witches. AbsoLUTEly not. What was this place? HERESY.]

To which Chaos god have you pledged your soul? [Based on the snake daemons on the beach, his money is on Slaanesh.]

.. what?

[ The answer comes so quickly - and it sounds weirdly genuine too, like the girl really is confused for a moment at that question. It'd be one thing if he had just said 'god', but.. ]

What is a Chaos god even supposed to be? They sound dumb. Honestly, any sort of being that asks for your soul is usually dumb.

A god. Of Chaos? [He sounds confused because literally who doesn't know this.

But. At least she gets it. ]

Everyone who has pledged to a Chaos god would agree it was a poor bargain. Only, they did not realize it until too late.

These snake people are clearly Chaos spawn. [For example. Sure they might look happy but that's obviously just fake. ]

Okay.

[ A slight pause after that 'okay', that sounds like she's gathering something in her mind. Ange mostly has to think about how to word this, especially since he's speaking of all of this like it's something extremely natural. ]

I'm pretty sure that the Chaos gods of your world have no influence on this place, just so you know. They might not even exist in most other places. I certainly hadn't heard of them before now, unless it's just a different word for a concept I also know.

[This is all extremely natural. To Gadriel.]

Are you certain of that? Half-serpents devoted to a life of pleasure is just a coincidence. [He's not buying that. ] The Warp transects all realities. Why not here?

Why don't you start with explaining to me what this Warp is?

[ It's said a little dryly - perhaps because she wants to convey she has absolutely no idea what that is supposed to be. ]

If that is meant to transect all realities, then how come we haven't heard of anything like that here?

[Hoo boy, grab a snack. ] The Warp, in ancient, ancient history, was the sea of souls, where all souls of all beings went when they died. But then three Chaos gods were formed, due to the nature of sentient beings. Anger, arrogance, and disease. They turned the peace of the sea of souls into an awful place, of suffering and perversion. It bleeds into our world in different places, where its Chaos can spill through, to corrupt and take more souls for itself.

[That's the short version and he hasn't even gotten to Slaanesh yet.]

Many baselines have not yet heard of it. Ignorance of reality does not make it untrue. [Sorry, but he's a religious warrior and this is his creed and he's gonna believe it till the end of time.]

[ Ange does quietly listen to all of this, but-- yeah, she can't help but think about how religious all of this sounds. It obviously doesn't sound like any religion she has heard of where she comes from, but there's similar elements. The belief in a soul, in a place they all go after you die.. And just gods in general, even though these aren't exactly like some of the good gods other people believe in.

Unfortunately, with how skeptical Ange is by nature, she doesn't really believe much of this story. But she also knows better than to mention that in a way that's that direct. People who believe in this sort of stuff will stick to it anyway, and they often aren't all that interested in philosophical concepts. In her experience, anyway. ]

So what you're saying is that you have no physical evidence that it exists here too, right? It's more an assumption by default, since you've always lived with it.

[HERESY. It is heretical to doubt!]

I do, though. I have been in the Immaterium itself, and fought a sorcerer of one of the Chaos gods himself. The Archenemy thrives when people deny its power.

No, I mean-- here. In this place.

[ She'll at least have him have his beliefs about stuff back home! Who knows what could exist there, after all. Not like she's ever been to.. whatever weird world he's from, apparently. ]

It's not like you've been in the Immaterium here, right? [ At least Ange does manage to repeat the word the right way, despite never having heard of it before this conversation. ]

From what I have been told [And boy howdy does he hate having to rely on strangers for information] We are in a simulation created by an Abomi--an AI, as you call it.

But the...AI itself is the stuff of Chaos. [So, same difference. AI is evil, Chaos is evil, AI = Chaos.]

[ There's a slight pause, but then-- ]

I get it.

[ Granted, it sounds like she gets what he's trying to say, but what Ange actually means is that she thinks he's one of those religious people that will attribute everything they come across to religion.. So, sure. She'll let him believe that. ]

Those other people were right about that information though, yes. And it doesn't seem like much can do something to get us out of here. Even my magic can't do a thing.

[That's what 10k years of psychoindoctrination will get you: indoctrinated!]

What needs to be done is the destruction of the AI. Which cannot be done by sorcery. [Just saying! Also he didn't stumble over 'Abominable Intelligence' this time. He's learning!]

[ If only it could be done through sorcery.. Ange would be out of here so fast! :( ]

Some people tried tackling the problem using technological mumbo jumbo that I didn't really understand, but it doesn't seem like that has gotten us anywhere either. [ .. She pauses, then sighs a little. ] Not to mention that most of them are gone at this point.

Has anyone tried finding the base cogitator and destroying it? [Why do sorcery when you can punch the offending AI into paste? ]

Is that what happens to those who try to destroy this system?

Maybe. I'm still trying to figure it out if it's totally random, or if this place is purposefully picking people to disappear from this place, over to.. wherever people go once they disappear here, really.

[ That's the easier question to answer. And though Ange is very much worried about what happens to the people who disappear, it doesn't show in her tone - it's very flat, almost entirely emotionless as she speaks. ]

For your other question though.. What's a 'cogitator' supposed to be? [ Oh, gosh, is this more technical mumbo jumbo.. ]

I can see arguments either way. [On the one hand, he literally was no one special. There were thousands, tens of thousands, of other Astartes, of greater renown. On the other, was he a representative of his kind? Was he alone being judged, or the entire Adeptus Astartes? ] I find their 'reason' suspicious as well.

A cogitator is a repurposed human skull used to power electrical communications.

voice; un: ushiromiya

absolutely don't feel bad!! <3

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cw warhammer desecration of corpses I guess?