Mosaic City, located along China's coast, is quite large city sometimes called the Crossroads Between Nations due to its diverse population. While it was once a large tourist spot, the city was placed under a blockade as the military appeared claiming there was a radiation leak. The true hazard, however, is much more sinister.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 6, 2014 21:53:55 GMT -5
Sakuya fidgeted as she read that her correspondent plainly mentioned that she has encountered and fought Shadows. Now, this correspondent has no clue as to her true nature yet. So Sakuya had to keep that secret for sure. Otherwise things could get very messy, very fast. There was no reason to be hostile either. And then the question - "Are you a Persona user, then?" Sakuya had fought other users before, but she definitely wasn't one herself. But she wasn't exactly as weak as a civilian either...
Qmsg BrideKnight: Good to see that you could take care of yourself Qmsg BrideKnight: Am I a user? No, I'm not. But I can take care of myself too. I'm not... as weak as a typical human being. So to speak.
Sakuya didn't want to give herself away but she thought it might be interesting to see how the person she was chatting with reacted to her words.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Not a user? But she still managed to "deal with" shadows and claimed to be stronger than a normal human. Pyxis's first thought was back to Alisa, who also didn't have a Persona but claimed to be battle-hardened and capable of handling herself when they first met. Were it not for the fact that she had gained a Persona since then, Pyxis might have asked if BrideKnight was Alisa. But instead, it had to be someone else who had managed to survive a few battles and learned to manage despite her weaknesses.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: That's impressive Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Still Qmsg PhantasmMachine: I don't recommend fighting shadows without a Persona Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Even with one, I've only barely survived some of the fights I've been through Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Although I suppose I can't actually stop you
Discouraging that kind of recklessness was all well and good, but much like Alisa, the heart of someone who had already been through multiple battles despite that was probably already set. The best Pyxis could do was to make her own position known. And, if they ever actually met in the outer circle, then she could worry about keeping her out of danger.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 9, 2014 22:52:12 GMT -5
Qmsg BrideKnight: Don't worry about me, love, I don't need a 'Persona' to do combat with those shadows. Call it overconfidence if you will, but I'm more scared of those with a Persona than Shadows. Tend to be more in control of their actions, y'know what I mean.
Sakuya giggled to herself as she was having some modicum of fun trying to toy with her corresponded. She must have thought Sakuya was a civilian. Nope. Fortunately, Sakuya had some power to pack of her own and she was perfectly content with what she had. She didn't need the person on the other side of the monitor to patronize her, though Sakuya did find it cute someone seemed so concerned to a stranger she was talking to over the 'Internet' so to speak.
Qmsg BrideKnight: And they tend to grow faster in power than Shadows, too. Mhm.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Something about what BrideKnight just said sounded suspicious. Fighting shadows without a Persona was one thing, but to be scared of Persona-users? Why? Had she just had a bad experience with a particular Persona user that led to her being attacked by them? Or did she have some reason to be scared of Persona users in general? And if it was the latter...
That was a pretty extreme conclusion to jump to. One she'd need to meet this BrideKnight in person for to have any evidence toward beyond interpretation of her words. Pyxis wasn't going to go nearly as far as to accuse her of being a shadow just based on that. But, if such a thing as a shadow in human form was even possible, she had to admit that BrideKnight was the most likely candidate of anyone she'd encountered so far.
She thought back to her last battle, and how controlled the second shadow's actions seemed. It, too, had to have been far different than a normal shadow. Now that she'd posed the possibility to herself, she suddenly had to wonder about that one too.
Unfortunately, doing so left the memory of that fight fresh in her head when BrideKnight posted again. Suddenly, she thought back to her own weakness in that fight, and how the best effort the three of them could muster in the aftermath of fighting the shadow before it could barely do anything to it.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Do we really? Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Sometimes I wonder about that.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 10, 2014 1:59:55 GMT -5
Qmsg BrideKnight: I'm not sure what happened to you, and I don't think I'm in any position to ask, but it's when faced with regret and adversity that you people truly shine and grow. Qmsg BrideKnight: I hope I'm not setting off any red flags. I'm an individual just like you are. Don't worry about it.
Sakuya was trying to think about this 'PhantasmMachine' response. She seemed to be thinking about something that had happened in their past. Sakuya could tell. Easily. It was the emotion of doubt and regret that led to such thinking. Sakuya fed on those kinds of emotions sometimes, but only after the fallout of a relationship. It was her style. She thought and remembered back to Jaelyn, how she was able to face a dark shadow of her past. Apparently, it was her mother who she fought back then. Or rather, a past self of her mother. And it wanted to claim Jaelyn for herself. Yet, the human was able to resist and fight back strongly. To come back with the thirst for Ultimate Power.
If that wasn't growth to Sakuya, she didn't really know what else that could constitute.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Pyxis still wondered about that. For humans, yes, that was definitely true. Human potential was limitless, as some people said. But at best, Pyxis was only human-like in mind. Did she really have that same potential?
She thought back to the match between her and BrideKnight. Her own actions, even controlling a character in a game, were those of a machine. Nearly flawless reaction times, perfect movements that didn't waste a single second, and precision beyond human capability. And yet...she had still lost. It was a close match, but human potential had still overcome her mechanical perfection.
She was trying not to dwell on that now, though. Instead, she focused on BrideKnight's next message, and ended up staring at it for several seconds. Pyxis hadn't posted anything about her suspicions, and yet she got the sudden sense that this person was trying to head her off.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: That just makes you sound more suspicious.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 10, 2014 2:31:38 GMT -5
Sakuya stretched her hands and thought about her next move. She treated this like a game.
Qmsg BrideKnight: Yeah, I guess it does. I'm sorry. Qmsg BrideKnight: To be fair though, I had half considered you to be a freakin' machine yourself with how mechanically perfect your play was back in the game. I had half a mind to think I was playing with a fully functional AI, huh?! Haha!
Sakuya launched back with a jab of her own, but to be completely honest, Sakuya probably didn't have any idea how on the mark she was with her statement. For all she knew, her opponent could just have been a really good human being with TAS-like behavior. Or it could have been a bot, just like she had initially suspected.
Qmsg BrideKnight: Man, I'm sorry. I just haven't had a conversation like this, like, ever. I think I got a bit carried away.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Well, crap. This person had hit it right on the nose. Pyxis didn't have a good comeback for that. Aside from the fact that very few AI opponents in games were actually that competent (cheating aside), she had played like a machine and it had been noticed. She had joked about it when BrideKnight first commented on it, but with a bit more information exchanged between them and Pyxis starting to get suspicious about BrideKnight's true nature, there was plenty of reason to suspect that she might be doing the same.
She was still going to play it off, though.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Don't be silly Qmsg PhantasmMachine: AI isn't advanced enough to carry on a conversation like this.
That was, of course, a complete lie, but to Pyxis's knowledge only Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons were capable of her level of conscious thought. And even then, she was a bit of an anomaly among them with how far and fast she'd developed. Heck, at one point while especially bored waiting for deployment orders, she'd gone and looked up a few chatbots. All of them had been nothing but pre-programmed response routines that only looked at the last thing entered and had no sense of context.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 10, 2014 5:48:47 GMT -5
Qmsg BrideKnight: That answer could only come from someone living under a rock, or from someone who was wilfully denying the fact that technology is rapidly advancing...
Sakuya grinned. Checkmate. Sakuya had become adaptive to the ways of the world; she had to in order to conceal herself properly in a human environment. She also had to learn to become more intellectual in order to try and get closer to women and girls who preferred smarts over brawn. Sakuya studied and studied on her own merits in order to become at least passingly knowledgeable in these fields.
Qmsg BrideKnight: Well, I guess there are primitive chatbots and that's what you might be referring to. Haha! I like you already! I'd like to see you some day. It would be an interesting experience to say the least.
Sakuya grinned more stupidly than she did earlier. She was really intrigued by this person. If they were a guy, Sakuya knew the perfect way to handle the situation, anyway...
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
This person...was surprisingly shrewd. Just how much did she know about artificial personalities, then? Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons were top secret. She knew that much. The sheer amount of panic that could be caused by the knowledge that a war machine could be blending in with society and posing as an ordinary human had to be phenomenal. So unless she worked for the organization or had met another one (the boy Alisa had mentioned before came to mind), it was doubtful she actually knew about her or her siblings. A different kind of AI? It was possible, but doubtful. The personality module that served as both her "heart" and "mind" was a black box, as admitted by the researchers. It wasn't the kind of thing that could just be replicated elsewhere.
Still, it wasn't checkmate just yet. She only knew about her own mind, not AIs that weren't tied to an artificial heart. Given her circumstances, it shouldn't have surprised anyone that she didn't know much about the subject.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Admittedly, I know very little about AI development in the last few years. Qmsg PhantasmMachine: But even if they have come that far, I can only imagine it would still be awhile longer before they were allowed to play games and waste time in chatrooms.
Artificial intelligence was developed with a purpose. She knew that much. After spending some time talking with one of the researchers, Pyxis had learned that 'because we can' may have been a great way to interest scientists who were trying to develop something new, but it was a poor way to gain funding. And the only way a state of the art AI would be made to play games would be if they were part of the game itself, or if it was an accessory to their actual purpose. Even in Pyxis's case, her interests had apparently been of benefit to her development and to her actual purpose of fighting shadows. Her behavior was encouraged not because she liked it, but because skills she learned from playing games translated into combat skills, and because she was developing faster than her siblings and the researchers could only point to that as a reason why.
There was no good way to convey this in chat messages, though. And while Pyxis was thinking about it, BrideKnight made a comment about chatbots and expressed an interest in meeting Pyxis.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: That Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Will probably happen eventually Qmsg PhantasmMachine: People who fight shadows seem to gather sooner or later.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 10, 2014 6:35:02 GMT -5
Qmsg BrideKnight: I see. Qmsg BrideKnight: Well, you never know with these things. Times change pretty quickly.
Sakuya had taken note of her correspondent's counter-attack. It was a clear attempt at defusing the situation, and she had admitted that it was a pretty good job well done, as they had succeeded and Sakuya couldn't really come up with a comeback. Regardless, if she actually got to see them, Sakuya could be her own judge and see what this user was really like. Hopefully though it wouldn't be the being on opposing sides. After all, Sakuya was a shadow at... 'heart.'
Qmsg BrideKnight: Then I can only pray that we meet each other under favourable circumstances. I'd hate to get to see you while we were fighting. That wouldn't be very pleasant. That'd get tiring pretty fast! Haha!
Sakuya had slipped in yet another breadcrumb. She found it amusing to talk to this individual, 'PhantasmMachine.' She rarely saw people who named themselves directly using the word 'machine,' but those who did tended to be more methodical in their behavior whether they were actually intellectual or more instinctive in behavior. She would look forward to seeing her around sometime.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
'While we were fighting.' Another suspicious statement. It was something made under the assumption that they would have reason to fight each other. Given their conversation thus far, it could only mean two things. Either this person had an ongoing conflict with Persona users for personal reasons, or she had been talking to a shadow the entire time. While she could not discount the latter possibility, she sorely hoped that it was not the case. The implications of a shadow being able to convincingly pose as a human were far from pleasant, and could spell very bad things for Mosaic City.
Plus, Pyxis was getting the impression that this person was someone easy to get along with. At the very least, she didn't seem like the kind of person Pyxis would want to suddenly become an enemy.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Then let's both hope, if we do meet, that we're on the same side.
That was all she would say in response. A simple statement that would carry a lot of meaning behind it, but also leave a lot of room for interpretation. It also left open the possibility that one's intentions were more important than their base nature, but Pyxis hadn't consciously caught that part.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Mar 10, 2014 7:11:15 GMT -5
Qmsg BrideKnight: Haha, yep. But I think things will be just fine.
Sakuya cracked her knuckles and yawned, looking around her flat. Nothing suspicious. Okay, cool. Sakuya often sometimes thought someone tried to break into her flat at this time of the night, but apparently it was just her harkening back to terrible memories. Regardless, she was finally starting to get a little tired. Her mission had been accomplished and she had managed to impress the thought that Sakuya just might be a Shadow or at least someone with reason to be against Persona-users - which in part was true, given that: A.) she had forcefully slept with another young lady, B.) she got into an argument and fight with a kid who talked big, and C.) she scared the crap out of some old man who she swore might have had more under his belt than he seemed if not for the fact she triggered some bad memories of his own.
Qmsg BrideKnight: It was nice chatting with you! And I did enjoy playing with you, though! So there's that.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
BrideKnight's last message had a finality to it that suggested she was turning in for the night. Pyxis hadn't been able to confirm anything beyond her suspicions, but those suspicions were strong enough that she knew she would have to keep watch for a BrideKnight in this or other chatrooms in the future. On top of that, she would have to investigate any potential shadow presence in the city. That could wait for another time, though. For now, her energy was running low and it was about time for her to turn in as well.
Qmsg PhantasmMachine: Until next time
She left that final message with the lingering implication that there would be a next time. Whether it was by coincidence or active investigation, Pyxis would see to it.