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WHO: The Major and you!
WHERE: Heropa and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Any time during February
WHAT: The Major messing around and crimefighting. Choose your own adventure.
WARNINGS: Possible violence.

A – A park in Heropa

Thanks to her efforts during the blackout, the Major has a new toy courtesy of the government—-a fancy drone equipped with a camera. It darts around the trees and bushes with surprising agility, clearly piloted by an expert. The drone finally comes to rest in front of its apparent pilot, though the Major doesn’t have any kind of remote control that’s apparent.

She’s not practicing with it to hone her flight skills—-she’s confident enough in those. Rather, the software she’d created to allow her to remotely control it using just her cyber-brain could use some fine-tuning. In any case, if you’re at the park, you might find the drone spying on you.

B – A seedy bar in Maurtia Falls

The Major sits at the bar, sipping a clearly watered-down drink. It’s the kind of place with a fog of smoke hanging just below the ceiling, a pool table, and numerous rough-looking characters. A regular hive of scum and villainy, she thinks to herself as she swishes the liquid in her glass around and busies herself hacking the cell phones of everyone in the building.

Maybe you’re drawn to have a drink with her because she looks so out of place among the gangsters and thugs that inhabit the bar. Or maybe you’ll stop in for some good old-fashioned face-smashing, because with such a group of questionable characters, it’s practically a powder keg waiting to blow, and it’s just a matter of time before a fight breaks out.

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After Jacob's appeal to the network for help with his house's security system, the Major really had no choice but to spring into action. After all, it's her area of expertise, and Jacob is her friend. It's not long before she arrives at his place, a metal briefcase full of tools and gadgets at her side.

"I heard you could use a security upgrade."

Thanks to the Major's swift response, repairs have just started when she arrives, and Maurtia Falls #001 still looks like a disaster room when she arrives. Jacob himself answers the door wearing a black tank top, dust and sweat on his arms. He looks like he's been at work for a while.

"Major," he greets her, holding the door open for her to come inside. "Great timing. Most of the debris is pretty much cleared away now- you'll have a clear space to work. Thanks again for doing this."

She glances around at the disaster area that is Jacob's home as she steps inside. Makes her wonder what it looked like before they got to work.

"What happened here, anyway? It looks like you had a home invasion by a tornado."

Jacob grimaces. "No tornado. Just a couple serial killers with way too much creativity." And skill at setting up booby traps in a hurry without being detected. Jacob will say this much for the 417, they're good at what they do.

"If you think this is bad, wait until you see the second floor," he says. "That's where the bomb went off." It's also where Jacob got electrocuted by a rigged light switch, alongside some other nasty surprises.

"At least the house took the brunt of the damage, at least." That is to say, she's glad Jacob made it through the ordeal no worse for wear, apparently.

She squats down and opens her briefcase, revealing a plethora of high-tech gadgets. "I suppose I can make sure that if anyone tries that again, they'll live to regret it."

Jacob stands over the briefcase as she opens it, looking down, and let's out a long, low whistle at what he sees inside. He doesn't even recognize half the gear the Major is packing, and the stuff he does recognize looks badass.

"Looks like you came prepared," he says. "I feel sorry for anyone that tries to break into your place. What kind of gadgets are you thinking of installing?"

She pulls out something that looks kind of like a strip of tape with a diode in it. "The idea is to make anyone who even thinks about breaking in regret it. This goes around your windows, and if anyone tries to apply enough force to break it, they'll get a nasty shock and a blinding flash."

"Nice." Jacob looks appreciative as he takes the strip in his hands and feels the material, examining the diode with the eye of a weapons expert.

"The windows definitely need more securing," he says as he hands the strip back to her. "This will help. Can I ask how you got your hands on it, or do I not want to know?"

The Major sips from a cup of steaming tea in a small, cozy tea shop in Maurtia Falls as she waits for her guest to arrive. She'd chosen the location because it specialized in both Asian and European varieties of tea, and it's a place she visits often, though not often enough to be a regular. Her signature purple hair certainly sticks out from the crowd, and her corner table isn't hard to locate.

As she swirls the teacup thoughtfully in her hands, she ponders the meeting that's about to take place. Maeve is an interesting person, and definitely someone she'd like to get to know better. Normally, an Import from an anachronistic setting like the Wild West wouldn't really catch her eye. But the woman seems to understand things that she shouldn't. And that's a mystery she'd like to unravel over a cup of tea.

Maeve had debated getting some modern clothing and fitting into the setting a bit more. But she also had a feeling if she was too fast to conform, her story about being from the past would lose some credibility. So upon getting some new clothes here, she opted for a slightly more stylish version of her typical. It makes her stick out all the more -- like someone in a Halloween costume parading into this tea shop. But she's used to eyes being on her, so it doesn't bother her all that much as she approaches the Major.

"In our conversation, I failed to ask you whether Motoko is fine to call you or if you would prefer something else? People go by all sorts of names and titles here, it's hard to keep track of them all." She sets her bag down on the seat across from the Major, settling into it afterward with a smile. "I hope you managed during the blackout all right."

Edited (swapped out the link) 2017-02-25 05:31 (UTC)

Maeve's attire is certainly eye-catching, but the Major isn't exactly one to opt for sensible clothing, either. She smiles very slightly and sets down her cut before leaning back in her seat.

"I go by Motoko with friends, but professional acquaintances tend to call me by my former rank: Major," she replies, leaving it open for Maeve to decide which category she fits in. "It was certainly inconvenient, but I managed. I imagine you adapted to it better than most."

They are quite a head turning pair! Even in this slightly more secluded booth.

Maeve's nose scrunches a bit in distaste at the title. Major. "Well. Motoko it is, then. I'm sure we'll be fast friends you and I. Do people truly call you that? It's so formal."

One leg crosses over the other and she laughs after the comment. "Well, I am used to that sort of living. It was no more difficult than usual. Save for having to deal with my living situation. My housemates are dreadfully noisy. Are you stuck in imPort housing with others?"

"Believe it or not, I was a squad leader for a police unit back home. I didn't force them to call me it, but everyone did." The name just fit, apparently. And she'd be lying if she said she didn't almost prefer it to her real name.

She smiles a bit, imagining the shenanigans other Imports could probably get up to and glad she didn't have to deal with it on a daily basis. "Thankfully, I have my own house. I guess I'm too much of a private person to ever consider having housemates."

"That is highly fortunate." She confesses, finding that she would probably prefer to keep to herself and her own devices if she had the choice coming in. Unfortunately, someone found it amusing to house her with a bunch of children instead. And she just doesn't have the funds to find her own place away from that.

"Though it can be a bit lonely. I do hope you have friends coming by to pay you a visit every now and then. Perhaps someone more than a friend. You are a very lovely woman."

As Maeve's tea arrives, she takes a bit of cream and sugar, stirring both of them into the steaming liquid.

"I have friends, but nothing more," she says, not reacting visibly to Maeve's compliment other than peering into her teacup thoughtfully for a moment. She's hot and she knows it. But she tends to keep people at a distance, and she can count on one hand those in her life who ever approached being someone more than a friend. More casual relationships, though, were another matter.

"You're welcome to stop by, if your housemates become more than you can handle." Whoever called the shots had a sick sense of humor about most things, from jobs to housing. "Just let me know you're coming first."

"I may very well take you up on that offer." It takes a great deal to become more than Maeve can handle, but every now and then she enjoys her peace and quiet like the next person. Cradling her tea cup in both hands, she gently blows the steam from the surface.

"You seem to be a woman who values her independence. And that's something I more than support you on." Raising her cup as though proposing a toast, Maeve takes a sip and then sets it on the table. There's a moment of thought. And then she asks quite abruptly.

"Do you know anything about Doctor Chilton?"

She raises her cup to the toast as well, just in time for a waitress to bring a platter of crackers and pastries. Motoko nods her thanks, but does not partake in the snacks, curiously enough.

She raises an eyebrow slightly at the abrupt change of topic. "Just the name and a vague impression from the network. I already have one too many narcissistic psychologists in my life." Crane's enough to keep anyone's hands full, and she can barely stand his demeanor. "I take it you've met him."

"I met him in terms of speaking to him. His reputation seems to be fairly pristine, even if he does have an air of arrogance surrounding him." Maeve idly says, expecting Motoko to correct her if she's wrong -- if there was something she had missed in her superficial research surrounding the man.

The only way to dig to the root of the problem is through word of mouth when one can keep paperwork and records clean. And she had to know what sort of foe she was facing when it came to springing Teddy out of his facility.

"If you're looking for information about him, I don't really have any. Unless you want me to hack into his computer." That is to say, she doesn't know anything now, but she could probably find something out if she put her mind to it.

Maeve has to laugh. Oh, Motoko is good at reading motivations. Perhaps as good as Maeve is at it. "I'm merely curious, that's all. You needn't bother yourself with all that."

Her hands cup her tea and she looks down into it. A pause. A moment's hesitation. And then, given the nature of their conversation the first time -- Maeve decides to make a confession. "I'm not human. I'm not entirely sure what we are officially. Artificial Intelligence, I suppose. But I have given thought of talking to a human psychiatrist to make sense of the whole thing. I wondered if perhaps he would be a viable option."

A bit of a lie, but it's done to brush aside her interest in Chilton with an understandable explanation. More than that, it's done in hopes that Motoko could point her in the right direction of someone who could be a good ally to her and Teddy. Someone they could perhaps talk to about their robot woes. She seems to have known a few AI in her time here. And she's good with computers, so she must have an understanding of it!

Motoko lifts the teacup to her lips but pauses as Maeve makes her confession. She doesn't look particularly surprised--it takes a lot to shock her, and if anything, this reveal makes the pieces fall into place regarding Maeve.

"We're probably not as different as you might think," she says, placing her cup back on the table without taking a sip. "At least in terms of trying to discover who and what you are. This body may look natural, but it's a prosthesis. I have a human brain, but I've been inside a synthetic body since I was a child."

The situation isn't entirely comparable, but it does present some of the same struggles. Growing up as a first-generation cyborg and watching others grow and change while she switched out mechanical bodies every few years... she'd doubted her humanity many times. And she'd come to realize over the years that there was more to being human than just having flesh and blood.

Now that? That surprises Maeve. And it's a delightful surprise. Her eyes widen with interest as she's able to regard Motoko in a new light. Curiously, she finds herself reaching out to thread fingers with the other woman -- to get a feel of her prosthetic body and to see if it felt any different than her own. Which her own was highly comparable to that of a human's.

"How is that possible?" She looks from Motoko's hand to her forehead as though she could see the very brain within. "I did not think that a mind -- that of a human's, at least -- could be transferred. They aren't nearly as capable of such things." In fact, they were lesser beings in Maeve's eyes. Who wanted to be human when you could be far greater than humanity?

She offers her hand freely, which doesn't feel appreciably different from a human's, though perhaps with a hint of strength that a normal person wouldn't possess. Maeve's hand is also impressively lifelike. Her own world was just now reaching the point of biomechanical androids that could pass for human in almost every respect.

"Our worlds differ in that respect, then. My brain is augmented with cybernetics and encased in a metal shell, making it a stand-alone unit, more or less." It introduced questions about how much of you was actually you when all that was left from your original body was a fist-sized clump of gray matter.

"How did you discover what you are, if you don't mind me asking?" Given her situation, it didn't seem like she was briefed on her particular existence by her creator.

Maeve doesn't let go of that hand. Not right away. There's something vulnerable on her face -- something sympathetic, and she isn't quite sure why she's sympathetic. It doesn't seem as though Motoko is unhappy. But Maeve could at least call her body her own. It almost reminds her of the new assignments -- when they replace characters in her world with others. Except it's still Motoko's mind.

Complicated doesn't even begin to describe it. Slowly, the hand removes itself from the other woman's. "I died. And I woke up when a few programmers were in the process of repairing my body. That was the start of it, really." She pauses a moment to sip her tea.

"Do you still feel things the same as you remember? Even in your new body? Or has the sensation been lost to you as you are now?"

Shelke was seated on a bench in the park, bundled up in a blue sweater and maroon jeans, with a tablet in her lap as she browsed the internet. Or appeared to browse the internet, at least. Occasionally she'd touch the screen, and starting with her hand, she would shimmer for a moment, her body flickering faintly like a half-connected signal, before solidifying again. Each time she drew her hand back, her gaze would be distant, faintly glowing blue eyes focused for several seconds before she seemed to 'snap' back into her surroundings.

This was probably what caused her to miss the drone floating nearby until it was only a few feet above her. The sound of the motor drew her attention, and she turned to peer up at it, eyes narrowed. Hm.

The odd shimmering definitely caught the Major's eye, or the drone's in this case. Did she have the ability to directly interface with the tablet? It was worth investigating. The drone hovers in front of her for a few moments before zipping off over her head and landing in the Major's outstretched hand.

"I didn't mean to pry. You seem pretty absorbed in what you're doing."

Shelke was about to either make a grab for the drone or disappear, she hadn't decided, when it floated away and over to...a tall, purple haired woman. Hm. While she might look nine, the expression she regarded Motoko with as she approached would certainly give the impression of her being older.

"I was testing a theory," she explained after a careful moment of thinking it over. "How are you controlling the drone?"

She'd noticed the lack of controller, after all.

Motoko generally tried to avoid kids, to be honest. However, this one had piqued her curiosity a bit. She walked over to the bench and placed her drone down next to Shelke before tapping a finger against her temple.

"I rigged up some software so I can fly it by thought."

Her glowing eyes turned towards the drone, sizing up the little machine then back to the woman. "You are connected to to it." It was the first time any real emotion had entered her voice, the edges there of curiosity really. Hmm.

Without much warning, she reached out to touch the drone with her bare hand. For a second, if Motoko was connected to it, there would be a sudden, brief feeling of Shelke being there. In the machine. In anything connected to it. And even her tablet was there, like a sudden wifi network linking all four. And then she drew her hand back with a start, and the connection was gone.

She just frowned at it though, or at a space just above it, trying to process that. Oops?

The Major's eyes widened slightly as the connection was made. The sensation wasn't so much unusual--she was certainly used to linking to others for communication back home--as it was unexpected. Two minds and two devices (though if Shelke was particularly observant, she might sense a fifth in Motoko's spare body that she controlled remotely) briefly linked together before the connection was severed. It would be almost disconcerting, if she wasn't confident in the barriers that shield her mind from unwanted intrusion.

It certainly answered her question about what the girl's capabilities. Though how she was able to do it was another matter.

"So, you can interface with technology too. Is it through touch?" she asked, pointing toward the girl's tablet.

Shelke didn't answer for several seconds, her hand dropping down to rest in her lap again, because it had certainly been a bit of a shock to her. She'd interfaced with plenty of machines and networks, but not really a person, not...not like that.

Finally she answered. "I'm not sure." She said, and was a bit surprised at her own honesty. But whatever she'd felt from the woman had been...something. "I used to need an entire rig to do it. Here it's...different." She drew in a slow breath.

"And I have only recently had enough time to experiment with it."

"You're the first person I've met here that could directly connect to my cyber-brain." And that she seemed so inexperienced with the ability was a bit... troubling. The Major had numerous lines of defense to prevent unwanted access of the private sectors of her mind. If the connection went both ways, that could present a problem for the girl.

She kept her concerns to herself for now. Best not to alarm here, and she might not even face the same risks as a cyber-brain user. "Well, if you want more practice, I might be able to help you. Interfacing with computer systems is one of my specialties."

"It is one of mine also," Shelke said, which might indicating why she was frowning at the entire process. "I just have not adapted to this new...method, yet." Finally she looked up again, and her voice was fairly neutral really.

"Before, I would have to wear a interface helmet and be directly linked into the system through my synaptic network. Here..." As if to demonstrate, she placed her hand on the tablet, and again she seemed to...shimmer. "I almost feel like I am being drawn into the system when I connect to it."

Which was a bit terrifying, though she certainly wasn't going to admit it.

It sounded disconcerting. The Major had experienced something similar when her prosthetic body had been destroyed and she found herself drifting in the net.

"You might just need more experience. I know back home, people who get cyberized can feel a disconnect between their physical and digital selves."

She watched as the girl touched the tablet again. The shimmering made her wonder if some physical change was actually taking place in her body when she performed the connection. "Still, I'd proceed cautiously. You don't want to get lost in cyberspace."

"I know how to be careful," was there a little bit of indignation in her voice? Maybe. (yes) But she knew it was only half-true. When she'd been given a Deepground assignment, she had known how to proceed cautiously because she could work within the restrictions of what she had to accomplish.

Left to her own devices, her curiosity seemed to be getting the better of her. But she was hardly going to admit that. Still.

"...Can that even happen? Getting...'lost' in cyberspace?" Another odd thing, really. The internet as a worldwide network and not a small, contained Shinra system was taking some adjustment.

She knew not to continue with the warnings, then--even if she had a hard time believing that someone of this girl's apparent age did know how to be careful. Kids always thought they were invincible. Though she hardly seemed to be your run-of-the-mill kid.

The Major nodded solemnly. "I've seen similar things happen. I ran into some people once that had become so enraptured by a virtual life they were living that they never returned to their physical bodies."

"I suppose I can see how it would be possible," she conceded, thinking it over. For someone like her, body weakened by defect, a life inside the internet, away from...all of that. She could understand it. Even if she didn't think she could ever accept it.

"I imagine what they do is a little less...direct...than it feels like I should be doing." She added though, her fingers half an inch or so above the tablet. It was as though she could just...reach into it. Fall into it. She could feel it like that, like a hole, or a...door.

For people with a certain disconnect from their physical bodies like the Major, it held a certain appeal. Though she still had things she wanted to accomplish before bidding the physical world goodbye.

She nodded somewhat solemnly at the girl's statement. "If you ever need someone to talk to about it, I'm around. My name's Motoko, and I can send my contact information to your device if you'd like."

Okay, so Ruby doesn't actually live in Heropa, but hey, when there's a teleporter within walking distance of the house you're staying in, there is no excuse for letting your jogging route get repetitive.

Today she's decided to hit up the park in Heropa for a change in scenery and maybe even a stop by the beach to cool down after. Sure, it's a good distance out of the way, but it's not like the locals are going to freak out if she decides to turn on the wolf-speed a bit later, and boy does a dip in the ocean sound refreshing right about now. She's been at this for a little while already and can feel herself building up a good sweat from the effort, even moving at a normal pace.

The rhythm she's gotten going is interrupted slightly though, when Ruby notices the strange little machine buzzing about, and she decides to pause for a moment, catching her breath and having a drink of water, as she watches it fly for a bit and finally come to a stop. She can't help raising an eyebrow at the woman standing next to the drone, trying to work out why she looks familiar. Have they met before? Or maybe she just remembers seeing her face on the network or something briefly. Hard to say.

Either way, if the Major catches her eye at all during this odd little exchange, Ruby will give her a smile and a slightly breathless, "Neat trick."

The Major doesn't live in Heropa either, but it's hard to argue that the weather there in February isn't better than that in Maurtia Falls. She lets the drone zip between the two of them, the camera focusing on her companion. She's unsure at this point if the woman is a native or another Import, though the subdued reaction would probably lean toward the latter.

"It's less of a trick and more of a novel application of technology," she says as it hovers around her head, following her line of sight exactly.

"Well," Ruby corrects, amused, "neat that then."

She hesitates just for a moment before approaching further, eyes going back and forth between the two of them curiously. "So how does it work? And, please, go easy on me. I mostly got C's in science."

She smiles slightly at that bit of self-deprecating honesty.

"Let's just say that my brain is something like a computer with wi-fi."

Eyebrows shooting up, Ruby lets out a small, "Huh," as she plants her hands on her hips and looks at the Major's head more thoroughly than would usually be socially acceptable.

--which she eventually realizes! And immediately looks down, expression chagrined. "You know, a year ago, I wouldn't have believed that in the slightest, but now my first instinct is just to go, 'Wow, cool!' What has this place done to me?"

The Major doesn't really mind the scrutiny--she's getting used to cyborgs being a novelty here. Her head doesn't look any different from a normal person's from the front, barring the purple hair and red eyes, but if she ever gets a glimpse of the back, she'll notice the ports on the back of her neck.

"I have a similar reaction to superheroes and magic. Believe it or not, my abilities are relatively common where I come from." Though her particular skill using them most certainly isn't.

"Yeah, my world's definitely more magic than superheroes or supercomputers," Ruby admits. She's been trying this thing recently, you see, where she is more honest about her past (...to a point, at least). "Not that I actually know how to use it myself, but still! I know people who do."

Smiling, she holds out a hand and continues, "I'm Ruby, by the way. It's nice to meet you...?"

"Motoko," she replies, gripping Ruby's hand in a perhaps surprisingly firm handshake, given the Major's appearance. "Sounds like we come from pretty diametrically opposed worlds. It's good to have different viewpoints, though. I can hack pretty much any computer, but I can't say I'd know what to do if my house was attacked by a wizard."

Which sounds ridiculous when said out loud, but has a greater than zero probability of happening in this place.

Sure, Ruby gives her a slightly curious look at the handshake thing, but strength like that definitely isn't super uncommon in her experience here, so she recovers quickly. "If he's any good at it, I'd suggest running," she adds, glibly.

"Really though, it is pretty interesting seeing people from all sorts of places end up here and encounter all this new stuff for the first time. Traveling between worlds isn't common where I come from, but it's known about and does happen occasionally. I've done it a few times myself actually."

"I can't say I have much experience with it, beyond what's happened to me here," she says with a small shrug. Still, it's a point of curiosity. The more she can learn from the people who are used to this interdimensional travel, the more she can potentially understand how and why they were brought here. "What have your experiences been like?"

"Complicated?" Ruby tries first, in summary.

After a moment, she somewhat awkwardly scratches at the back of her neck and continues, "Um, the first time it was a sort of punishment. A lady with a lot of magic power sent a bunch of people to another world to trap us and hurt us after she lost a war in our world. It took us a long time to figure out how to get back, and since then I've only done it a couple more times to avoid danger or go looking for some... estranged relatives."

That's the simplest way of explaining it she can think of for now.

Edited 2017-03-01 08:29 (UTC)

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