That melt into spring [Open]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouchi stood by the blue-green waters of Faron Spring, eyes tracing the old, intricate patterns that covered the surfaces of the rocks nearby. The weather in this part of the City was a little cooler than usual, but he felt no discomfort; it was still well within his operational tolerances.

As he waited there, almost entirely still, a light rain began to fall from the sky. Artificial rain, of course, for an artificial city, but it was cool against his face and good for the plants. Zouichi closed his eyes for a moment; when he reopened them, the rain was still there... but it was accompanied by something else. Silvery numeric annotations swam through his vision, attached to each drop of water, too fast and too numerous for an untrained observer to make sense of. Speed calculations, trajectory and force projections. Each droplet of rain was a variable, a world of controlled chaos.

Some disappeared into the soft grass; others dropped onto the surface of the spring, sending up a cascade of secondary equations as it cast ripples across the surface of the water.

When it was time for battle, these same quicksilver calculations would help guide him in action: they'd show him the best way to destroy, the swiftest way to kill. But for now, there was no need to bend them to that purpose. Instead, he watched as they fell like phantoms through the sky.

Comments

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Jr. didn't like rain. He simply preferred the warmth of the summer, where you could relax on the beach and close your eyes or go jumping into the waters to refresh yourself. Sakura loved the beach. He and Gaignun and Albedo had promised to go to a real one, once, though Jr. and Gaignun had been the only two who made it to that point when they set up their private one on the Foundation. Of course, part of running a planet-emulating space colony meant emulating the weather, too, so they had been working on a rain system. He remembered showing it off to his friend and scaring the crap out of Shion; an unseen and accidental side effect.

Jr. was so glad that Shion was here, on that note. Someone smart and capable and someone from home. He was okay trudging on by himself (the voice in the back of his head always trying to tell him that he should be used to it was still there, but thankfully not so much as it had been once before), but he had to admit there was a comfort there.

He raised an eyebrow when he spotted Zouichi just sort of ... standing there watching the rain. "You like the rain?" he asked.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi had been so far away that he hadn't even heard Jr. come up behind him. He smiled in apology; he hadn't meant to ignore Jr.'s presence. "I guess you could say that. What do Realians from your world see when they look at things?"

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Jr. stared at him. Why was he asking him something like that, all of a sudden?

"What do they see?" he asked, giving Zouichi a clear enough look that said why are you asking me this. "What do you mean see?" He had a couple of guesses, but...

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

There was a reason, Jr.!

"I mean do they see like humans do? Or do they experience a form of augmented reality? Information overlays, targeting reticles, that sort of thing."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

So it was something like that.

"... you know, I'm not entirely sure. I've never asked the 100-Series such in-depth questions before." He thought. He remembered him and the others speaking to one on the Durandal once, who couldn't seem to comprehend something like the beauty of a view from the giant spaceship. But then there was MOMO, who sometimes gushed over something being oh so pretty or cute.

"I've known a couple who seemed to have a hard time figuring that stuff out. But then I've also seen a lot of them who appreciate things the same as anybody else does. I think it might be a mix of both? I'm not really sure. Shion knows about Realians a lot more in-depth than I do, you can always ask her."

He beamed up at Zouichi. "She's here now, by the way! She just woke up with everyone else."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi blinked in surprise for a moment, then smiled. "So one of your friends is here, huh? Congratulations. Guess I should have asked for descriptions; I might've talked to her and not realized it at all."

The news that one of Jr.'s friends was here didn't bother him; he wasn't particularly eager to see anyone from his world outside of the pods. But he was genuinely happy for Jr.

"So she's some kind of expert on Realians?"

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Yup! And it's about time, too. Now the rest of them just need to get their lazy butts up out of those pods. You'll probably meet her soon enough!"

He nodded. "Yeah. KOS-MOS is sort of her pride and joy, but I remember her mentioning that she always liked working with Realians, too. But, why are you asking something like that? Is something up?"

It almost sounded like some kind of IDENTITY DILEMMA. He was used to Realians and such having those.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Well. I'm looking forward to it, then. Who's KOS-MOS?"

Zouichi shook his head at Jr.'s question; he'd gone through most of his IDENTITY DILEMMA when he was younger (P.S. don't pretend you don't have any, Jr.). "I see things like that. Most of the times it's only relevant when I'm fighting... I can see how fast projectile fire is coming, angles, acceleration, that kind of thing. It's useful... but in situations like this, it's also quite beautiful. That's what I was looking at."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"KOS-MOS? She's a special anti-Gnosis battle android. Shion's one of her creators. I wonder if we'll ever see her here..." He wondered. Would she count as a weapon and be in the hangar or weapons and possessions? He wouldn't be thinking that if he knew more than he did, but he didn't. So he wondered.

(he totally doesn't okay that's a lie) "That's useful," he admitted. He didn't have any of that, even if he was 'blessed' with powers and a little more physical and mental enhancement. If he had to guess what it felt like, he imagined doing everything in the Asher. Reading target estimates and scanning enemies. "Beautiful?" he asked. "You mean the rain?"

This is so meta

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I see. A battle android... does she have an advanced AI? A personality?" KOS-MOS sounded a lot like himself; he hoped that the people who had created her had given the benefit of treating her as a person, rather than a weapon.

Zouichi nodded at Jr.'s assessment. "It is. Here, though, it's not quite as utilitarian. And the rain is pretty, too, but... I wish I could show you. It's like watching two sets of rain; the real thing, and the numbers on top of it."

He paused, looking at Jr. "Actually, maybe I can. If the Sensoriums can deal with my battle data, I'm sure it can reproduce this, too."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Jr. nodded. "She does. She works with us, after all, so she needs a personality to interact with others. She can be a bit rigid and anti-social sometimes, all the same!" He said that fondly, though. And oh Zouichi, you were going to love how Shion treated her if you ever found that out. "But that's what makes her KOS-MOS."

He tried to grasp a better understanding of what Zouichi was attempting to explain. "Numbers...?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi almost laughed. "Bad interpersonal skills? She sounds like one of my sisters." Come to think of it, he didn't know if Nishu was alive or dead. But if anyone could have survived that situation, it was her...

"It's like..." This was more difficult to explain than he'd anticipated. "Data. Raw data, displayed for each raindrop. Separately, it describes everything I might need to know about a droplet of water. However, when I step back and try to take it in at once, it's harder to distinguish the individual sets. It's like watching rain made up of data."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

The way Zouichi said that ... it made Jr. laugh, too. "When you put it that way ... I guess it sounds like mine, too." Citrine was so not a people person. Unless it came to daddy douchest. "KOS-MOS is a little more talkative than she was a year ago, at any rate." When Jr. wasn't thinking too hard on it, he tended to slip into speaking like his universe still existed. "So I guess you can say she's working on it."

Hr crossed his arms. Though it was ... interesting, talking about the rain like they were, it still didn't do much for his personal opinion of it. "I think I get what you're saying ... so if you don't make yourself focus on wanting to read the data on them, you just more or less see them like we do?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Jr. probably wasn't the only one who talked like their world was still around. "I see... it would be nice to meet her, if she ever wakes up. I'm working on the whole interpersonal relations thing, too. Perhaps we can give each other pointers."

Zouichi paused; it was difficult to explain to Jr. after all. "Hmm... maybe the best way to describe it is as an overlay. I see the world just like you do: trees, grass, birds. But there are data displays and projections that are superimposed over them. I can turn them off, but if I don't, it's like seeing two worlds at the same time."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

That made Jr. look a little nervous. Mainly because Zouichi's meeting with Jr. was a nice polite one with no fighting. Even though Jr. wondered sometimes. Citrine's words always stuck with him, after he had felt bad for her, accepting her role as nothing more than a tool and a weapon, that she was the one who pitied him. Still, he laughed. "That'd be ... interesting."

"Hmm..." He nodded. "Maybe you can show me how it looks in the Sensoriums sometime. Stacy's always been pretty good at projecting exactly what a person wants to have around them."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi nodded. "Certainly. It's much easier to show you than explain in words."

He glanced at Jr. "If you're ever around podpop when I'm not, just look for people who look like me. Sort of pale, dark hair and eyes, with itchy trigger fingers. That pretty much describes most of my family. The Synthetic Human side, anyway."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Pale, dark hair and eyes?" Really Zouichi. "There are tons of people like that in the universe! But if they look like they're ready to point a weapon at someone at a moment's notice, I'll make sure to double check."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but..." Synthetic Humans have that savoir faire, Jr. You know.

"Come to think of it, what does your family look like? I'll keep a look out for them, too."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

A light, playful smirk. "Like uh. Like me, only bigger."

Did you expect something different from a clone? "You can probably see the resemblance for my sister straight away, too." He would have mentioned the production numbers. But no screw that constant reminder. Also Albedo and Citrine wore outfits that covered their own, anyway.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He raised an eyebrow. "I guess that makes sense." The clones on Galilee had basically looked like blonde copies of Jr., after all.

You never know. Maybe U.R.T.V.s worked like in Metal Gear Solid, and there was an Old Jr. somewhere.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. How are you getting along with Howard?"

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" That was a random question. But they did square away the whole friends and family thing. "Oh. We're getting along okay."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi hesitated for a moment. "I was just a little worried, since he doesn't... have a lot of friends on board. I thought he might get a little territorial."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Ha! Nah, I get what you mean." Howard could be a little ... Howardy. But Jr. was used to people who could be like that. It wasn't as if Howard seemed bad to him as much as he seemed ... troubled. There was a big difference between the two. "But I think things are mostly cool. What can I say! I'm a charmer sometimes."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? A holdover from your Foundation days? I imagine that talent might come in quite handy."

"But I'm glad you've been getting along. Maybe we can all go out and play cards or something."

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I don't have all of Gaignun's special charm methods," especially because part of Gaignun's was a special power of his. "But I've always done things my own way, just as endearing!"

He smirked. "He seemed to like the idea of the Game Room! You still remember those poker lessons I gave you, right?"