Rebel Girl

[animusnpcs]

Characters: Aria (R-037), open
Setting: infirmary all week
Format: action preferred
Summary: Aria is open to speak to the residents of the Tower, if they would like to.
Warnings: potential horror event warnings; for now nothing though
Note: Please specify the date you are visiting Aria in your subject header.

[The infirmary swarms with retrieval units and worker units, all of whom have chipped collars. Most of them seem busy with one task or another, but a few are free enough to direct anyone who asks to speak to Aria to the woman in question. She's converted one of the examination rooms into something of an office, albeit a sparse one. She looks nervous and a little tired, but excited all the same. Her office is guarded by four retrieval units--attacking her here would be a bad idea, even setting aside the fact that Aria is a retrieval unit herself.

She seems happy to see anyone who walks in, though.]

Comments

[animusnpcs]

He's dead. We can't actually revive the dead here. [The subject seems painful for Aria, and any cheer she might have had vanishes with the topic, but she presses on. Still, her voice cracks a little.] She ate his soul. Or--most of his soul. And without anything to hold what was left of it down, it vanished.

[midgarhorizon]

...So in some way, he's still around. We just got to find that part.

[That's seriously not comforting though, and Reno's face turns a little grim.]

He left behind files, right? Information he wanted to tell us? Do you have any maps of downstairs or know where to get the files?

[animusnpcs]

We have a few maps, but they're not complete. We don't retain much knowledge of what we did when we were sleeping units, so we've had to explore from scratch. We try to stay away from Jason, so his areas aren't as well-mapped as some of the others, for example.

As for files, I believe those were handed over already.

[midgarhorizon]

[Oh, they were, were they? He's got a bone to pick with Zelda.]

There's nothing else down there? [Sighing, he drops the subject, running a hand through his hair, wincing when he hits that gash from the boxes earlier. Running out of questions, and he's really too tired to think of anything else...]

's better than nothing. Could I get a couple of copies of those maps?

[animusnpcs]

After Dax died, his area was checked thoroughly for information. You could all look again, of course, if you got back down there, but I don't know if you'll find anything.

I can have some copies made, sure.

[midgarhorizon]

Thanks.

[Aria... is really weird, he thinks. She almost acts human, but she's a retrieval unit. Did that mean the units were souls trapped in film bodies, or were they manufactured?]

So, what the hell are ya, exactly? And why are you doin' this for us? I just get this feeling like Ruana and the others down there are a bunch of psychopathic kids, playin' with pets or something, and then there's Dax, and you.

[animusnpcs]

Well, I'm a retrieval unit. Technically, a retrieval unit who hasn't received regular maintenance. In order for a retrieval unit to move and interact, an artificial soul is necessary.

If you don't maintain the retrieval unit properly, the soul can change. We're the result of that. [She taps her chipped collar.]

[midgarhorizon]

[WHOA BACK THE TRAIN RIGHT THE FUCK UP.]

Artificial soul? That's possible?

[Artificial bodies... artificial souls... gee, ain't his mind going in nice places today.]

Y'mean they can manufacture souls down there?

[animusnpcs]

I'm--not sure. [She chews on her bottom lip.] Originally, the artificial soul was more like--a computer. It's programmed for certain tasks and follows those commands. Retrieval units can learn based on what they're exposed to, but regular maintenance refreshes the programming.

We don't get programming refreshing, so we keep learning. I say we're alive, but I don't know if we're alive in the same way you are.

[midgarhorizon]

[Folding his arms, he shakes his head.]

I don't know 'bout you, Aria, but... back on my world, when your body is dead, you're dead. It's because our souls go back to the Planet as part of the natural cycle of life there. So right now, t'me, I'm a ghost in an artificial body some alien tyrant decided to stuff me in because it amused them. I'm probably not any more alive than you are.

[animusnpcs]

Your soul is organic, though. ...Of course, we've always defined souls based on life, so maybe we're biased since we don't really know any other world.

[midgarhorizon]

What's organics got to do with anything? I've seen some really weird shit pass through here with a soul. One of 'em was an android.

[animusnpcs]

It's different from our souls, I guess is what I mean. Yours can't be reprogrammed and modified like ours.

[midgarhorizon]

...Doesn't stop him from tryin'. But I guess I don't see much difference in us.

[Back on topic.]

Anyway, about Jason. Any details you could give me about formin' a defense against him? I want my unit to be ready when he makes his move.

[animusnpcs]

It depends on how he goes about it. Usually he uses retrieval units to help him, and we could block them if necessary, but if he uses those plague doctors... Aside from that, overwhelming force or disabling his abilities, really.

[midgarhorizon]

What the hell are those things? Just me and a couple others with orange seem to be able to hit 'em.

[If he plans on bringing those things, and there's no point in thinking otherwise with that rift on floor twenty-three, they'd need details.]

Wait- how do ya disable his abilities?

[animusnpcs]

You would need to manipulate the barriers in his mind--the barrier between having abilities and not having abilities, I think.

[It's a very reality altering concept of barriers.]

[midgarhorizon]

[He's a bit stumped on that one. All right. Maybe one of the others can figure something like that out...]

So what are these plague doctors? Y'know anything about them? Any way the other colors could attack 'em?

[animusnpcs]

They're something of Jason's, but aside from that we don't really know anything about them. Well, we know they're good at carting off any of us that they can get their hands on.

[midgarhorizon]

Great, an unknown.

[Rubbing the bridge of his nose just a little right there.]

Thanks for the talk, Aria, but I'd better get my collar checked and get back out there.