maskormenace | action || later audio

ACTION: Maurtia Falls
[Bad enough he wake up surrounded by soldiers again. Bad enough he wake up in a body that isn't his own, missing memories. No one shot at him this time, but it's a small comfort. Very small. As the soldiers are quick to deposit him in a big city.]

[And... surround him with people. Too many people. Way, way too many people.]

[He's not completely comfortable with this strange body yet, so when the young man with mismatched eyes -- one red, one green -- goes sprinting away from the porter, he ends up stumbling a few times. Once he even falls flat on his face.]

[If anyone's around to offer assistance, he just stares wildly at them, startled, awkward.]

[If they don't persist, he takes off running again, somewhere, anywhere away from all these people. Maybe if he runs far enough, Shadowmaru will return and make this nightmare end. He'd been trying to do the right thing -- he'd made a promise, he intended to keep it. Why is he being punished like this?]

[He'll eventually, if un-accosted, seek shelter in a park. Probably under a tree.]

AUDIO;
[Later on, after settling somewhat into realizing this won't change any time soon -- that he really is stuck here, Kagerou sets about poking at his comm device. He doesn't activate the video feed -- no, he's not comfortable with that yet. He just wants to figure out what's happening here.]

[He's almost talking to himself as he speaks.]

I don't understand this...

[That's all there is for a few moments. As if he's trying to determine the right thing to say.]

Why me? I'm nothing like a... like a "Hero". I've never helped a human being. And why should I? None of you have ever done anything for me.

Why should I be a "hero"?

Why should I do anything for human beings?

Whoever decided this -- whoever brought me to this place. You shouldn't have.

[He ends the call abruptly, right there.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tetsuo. [No family name to go with that.]

[God dammit, come up with more to say,don't just sit there staring!!]

So, anyway...

[This stalling tactic lasts for a bit and goes nowhere - wait for him to fish for a probably stupid topic, or take pity?]

[Hey, that's fine, he doesn't have a family name either.]

... yes?

[He'll just wait. And stare. Because hell if Kagerou knows how to have a conversation with anyone who is Not Shadowmaru.]

[Who let these two have a conversation. Usually Tetsuo either doesn't or lets his actions do the talking.

Shiiit... what do you even say to a robot that doesn't sound absolutely stupid. He's not at a complete loss for words this often, but sometimes.. Rubbing one hand through his hair in a final stalling tactic, he tries to salvage this before the crickets set in.]

You said "super AI".

[There we go, back to the topic that really matters.]

Yes. What about it?

[Someone should really be here to socially babysit these losers. Because Kagerou is just as terrible.]

[... Albeit more capable of sitting still to stare at the screen.]

What's the difference between that and AI?

Those with Super AI are said to have personalities. Feelings.

Memories.

'Are said to'? You're a Super AI, you gonna tell me you don't have that stuff?

I'm a prototype.

Those who are perfected models have perfected chips. Doesn't that make more sense?

Yeah. Sure it does. [But as someone messed with himself.... he can't let this go] So what?

And the perfected models are the ones worth preserving.

If... everyone's Super AI was as they said it was, was as valuable as they claimed, they wouldn't want to erase it.

Would they?

...

What the...

[He's hearing a few other conversations alongside. Questions asked late at night - a clone talking about human nature. Kaneda..on the government's role in his life. It's not that he cares about people, but that this is just a little too easy to project into.

It's been a long time since he's been angry on someone else's behalf.]

Some bastard try to erase you!?

[The expression on his face doesn't change. It stays flat and focused. A mask. His tone changes though, as if he's reciting something he's had to say a hundred times before.]

I'm nothing more than a prototype. When I completed my function, they intended to wipe my memories, erase me.

To kill me.

And when I objected, they called me a criminal, and sent the authorities to capture me.