2024-06-10: Tear Down The Sky
- Log: Tear Down The Sky
- Cast: Lily Keil, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Abandoned Fort, Kislev-Aveh Front
- Date: June 10, 2024 (506 PC Filgaian)
- Summary: Seraph Ragnell and Lily Keil meet to discuss their mutual friend, Azoth, and what to do about Solaris's hold on him. Secrets are shared. Heavy secrets for Azoth and Lily both are in this log.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
After tending to herself and then her friends, Lily counseled everyone to get away from Scraphaven--they would only make the place a target for Solaris by staying in a weakened state. She took her own advice; taking off on her motorcycle, she went closer to the warfront, where she knew the best hiding places, and told Ragnell where she was going. If the Seraph wanted to talk to her, tht was just fine.
So now she sits in the ruins of an abandoned fort, focusing. Dog stands vigil for her as she sits cross-legged on the ground, fireballs floating around her in rapid spins.
It won't stop her noticing an approach, though. It is evening now, and the warmth of her flames keeps out the desert chill.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
The Seraph *does* want to talk to her. So the fact that Lily reaches out to Ragnell first to share where she's going is just fine by her. It saves her the time of tracking Lily down.
She doesn't bother to mask her approach towards the whorling fireballs in the abandoned fort, which make spotting her easy; this is, theoretically, going to be a mostly friendly chat. Mostly, since the topic *is* Azoth and there is a lot going on there for both of them, apparently.
She comes to a stop in the doorway--or closest approximation thereof--of the ruins, glancing down at Dog, then over at Lily. "Howdy," she says simply. "Dr. Sharon, I presume?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily figured this would make it easier--and she knew no soldiers were likely to come by this way. If it were a bandit instead...
Well, she could use the exercise.
But it isn't; there is a doorway to the ruins, and Ragnell is standing in it. Lily opens her eyes and the fireballs shrink into nothing all at once.
Dog doesn't bark; she looks curiously up at Ragnell instead, apparently sensing no hostility for now. Lily rises to her feet. "Hello," she greets in return. "That's right. My name back then was Sharon Wyatt. ...I answer to it now, mostly to Azoth."
Everybody else calls her 'Lily'.
"...This is where it would be polite to engage in some small talk, but I think we'd both rather get to business. You had questions about what I know about Azoth and how; I have questions about your relationship with Azoth."
"You're a friend, right? At least, you seem concerned with his freedom and opposed to Solaris."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell laughs at the idea of being 'polite' and engaging in 'small talk.' She doesn't necessarily mind chit-chatting, but the idea of doing it out of politeness is just damn funny. "Yeah, that's right," she says about what questions she's got. Her mouth quirks to one side when Lily continues. Then, with an air of concession, she repeats, "Yeah, that's right."
It's not something she tries to advertise too much, to keep others (mostly Solarians) from getting any funny ideas of taking advantage. But it's hardly a secret either, and it's certainly not something she's ashamed of, so she's got no reason to lie about it.
"Solaris fuckin' sucks. I hate them," she adds, strolling over to approach the rest of the way--or most of it, anyway. She idly offers a gloved hand for Dog to sniff--is there anything there for her to sniff?--and adds, "I believe strongly in folks bein' able to choose for themselves, whatever the consequences end up bein'. O' course, sometimes those consequences are real unpleasant--even deadly. But that's part o' bein' free to choose." Her quirk of a smile fades. "So I really, *really* hate what Solaris's done to 'im. If you got some insight in how he can regain his freedom, I'd be all ears."
She pauses a beat. Then she adds, "O' course, I'm also *real* interested in how you managed to end up in this era. Time travel? Some kinda high-techno stasis pod? Plain ol' magic? Or somethin' else entirely?"
(Ragnell, as a being of elemental force, of course sees magic as "plain old" magic.)
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is aware of manners and etiquette, and as a rule she actually cares about being polite with Seraphim--a quirk of her Nisan faith and its focus on 'angels'. But the matter at hand is more important than politeness. So, Lily nods, when Ragnell makes that concession.
"Good," Lily says. "I do, too. I've been fighting them for... seven years," she says. "Longer, if I count fighting their puppet-state Aveh." Not long for a Seraph, but a whille for Lily's apparent age. "...I agree with you there, on choice. Even if sometimes my 'choice' will be to fight against that choice of theirs--it's theirs to make." A pause. "...I have some. But it's guesswork; I don't know exactly what Solaris has done to him. They don't exactly let me see his code."
"Heh." The qestion is... complicated, but Lily will give it a shot. It's dangerous information to get out, but... for Azoth, she'll risk it.
Dog, in the meantime, sniffs Ragnell, and seems satisfied, sitting back on her haunches and barking just the once in greeting. "Her name's Dog," Lily points out, before she elaborates on herself.
"...The Azoth was deadliest when people tried to use its arcane enhancement module. The magic was too much for the pilots. I'm hopeful that Solaris will find the same thing. ...But until they do, it's going to be very dangerous."
"As for me... the simple fact is that I don't entirely know. I was found as a girl by a Kislevi soldier, when I was five or so. He raised me to be a soldier and his weapon. I have... unusual magical abilities, we'll say. I eventually got out on my own, as a Drifter and a mercenary. At the time, I was 'Lily Keil'--that's how I grew up. And I still answer to that name, as well. I learned more about my history and who I used to be, learned that Zeboim is my first language, until Asgard activated a code that awakened my memories as Sharon."
r"...Accurately, I can't be sure I am the same person. She was older than I am; my body is if nothing else altered. But I have her memories, which is good enough for this purpose."
"...So I'm effectively both women. I don't remember dying, so I may well be her. But even if I'm not, I remember. I have a full life's worth, just about, of memories in the Zeboim era."
"...Even if I could get access to Azoth, I'm not sure I could repair him myself; no one could understand the 'song' of the Azoth's code. But I'd be willing to try."
Dog barks again once, to punctuate the statement.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell quirks a smirk when Lily says sometimes she'll choose to fight someone else's choice. "Exactly. Freedom goes all ways." That smile fades, and her eyebrows go up, when Lily talks about how Solaris doesn't let her see his code, though. She hums quietly, but doesn't offer her thoughts just yet. She does rub Dog's head, though. "Fancy name," she jokes.
An arcane enhancement module. Hmmm. "I'm guessin' that's one o' his many missin' pieces?" But then Lily goes into her past and who 'Sharon' is. Ragnell hunkers down into cross-legged set and leans her chin on one hand. "That's a hell of a story. But there's all kinds in this world an' the next, and the next after that. Funny that you just happened to know Azoth--I guess I should say 'the' Azoth?--way back when. Guess that's the sort o' coincidence you'd call 'fate.'"
She rubs her chin as Lily goes on. The 'song' of Azoth's code... She hums a familiar tune. Then she drops her hand and looks Lily in the eye. "His code's basically a huge mess of overrides that force him to act the way Solaris wants him to. They're a hot mess, literally; because they're so inefficient, they're constantly causin' him to overheat an' causin' him pain. For a while, I was helpin' him cool down by jettisonin' that extra heat through lightnin', then after a trip to the Ice Shrine, actually coolin' him with cold.
"Anyway, these days the one makin' the most use o' those overrides is a piece o' work Solarian named Erica Axton, but the one who originally coded them in is a bunny lady named Ovelia Metalspeaker. You mighta heard o' her," she jokes, smiling. It soon fades. "She told Azoth that she put these overrides in because his core data is locked an' can't be edited directly, but that's a lie. There's nothin' in his code that stops anyone from rewritin' the whole fuckin' thing." She raises a finger to her lips as she meets Lily's eyes. "No one knows that but you, me, an' a certain scientist from Nede. So keep that under your hat." Ragnell tips the brim of her cowboy hat, the edge of her lips quirking up at her own joke.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Don't misunderstand, though. I ain't keepin' this from Azoth for shits an' giggles. He found out the same time I did from that scientist I mentioned, but he asked to have that data deleted. He was terrified that he wouldn't be able to keep it from th' likes of Erica or Loren or whomever, an' they'd go in an' just rewrite him wholesale. I'm keepin' this secret because he asked me to, before he had himself forget." Ragnell frowns, though there's no hostility in it. "I'm tellin' *you* as a gesture o' trust--because you're someone who can do somethin' constructive with that information."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily nods in agreement--Ragnell sees it. That doesn't surprise her, though. And Dog, at the joke, barks once more, happily.
"Yes," Lily says. "Though I believe he found it in Scraphaven. That's the piece he was after there."
Then, a shrug. "Not entirely coincidence. The Azoth was famous; I didn't mention how many people tried to control it, or that it was originally made under duress. And Dr. Wyatt was a roboticist, specializing in artificial intelligence. So it was sort of my field." A pause. "...But I have seen 'fate' now and then, and maybe this is it."
A huge mess of overrides... Lilly nods, thoughtfully. "I see. That explains... Well, how much pain he's in." She doesn't like that much. "I see..." That's a way to help.
"Hmmm..." Lily nods--and remembers to give a distant laugh at the joke, though it too fades. "I see. That's..."
Concerning, given her expression.
"Then no one else will know," Lily confirms. But she could do something for it.
"...That's similar to the reason I didn't tell him what I remembered before," Lily admits. "I thought it might... Well, destroy him, frankly. I'm not sure what all those overrides do. But I decided it was worth the risk, to try to free him--that he'd be willing to take that risk, from everything he told me. That he wanted to know, and I shouldn't keep it from him."
"...But with that in mind, I might be able to counter his overrides, if I can get access. But that's much easier said than done. And even then, it's a 'maybe.' ...And he'd have to trust me with his code."
Shehe looks to the distance. "...I understand him, I think, in a way most people don't. I know what it is, to create artificial intelligence--the responsibility that entails. ...And I know what it is to be a 'weapon'."
"I wouldn't leave him in Solaris's hands regardless. They represent everything in this world I oppose. But for his sake, I'd risk a lot."
"...Back then, I didn't care beyond the curiousity. Beyond the interesting puzzle he represented. But I gather I wasn't a very nice person. ...I guess terminal disease will do that for you."
She taps her arm, and a little magic pulses; just a single flame at her fingertip, her bare arms lighting up with circuitry. "I might be able to interface with him, but maybe not. My own 'enhhancements' hold the disease that ravaged Dr. Wyatt at bay."
"I'm telling you that because you're trusting me with Azoth's secret."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"Mmm. Makes sense. He an' I've been out o' touch lately--been hard to keep track ever since Solaris got their filthy hands back on 'im after Nede. Used to be easier, but..." Ragnell shrugs. "Once you part ways for a bit an' they're in the thick of enemy territory, it gets harder to get back in touch." Maybe she could've popped back inside him during that run-in the other day, but not while everyone was watching. *Especially* not while Loren was watching and could potentially put two and two together.
At least Lily--Sharon, whichever--understands the gravity of the situation. Ragnell felt the need to reiterate her point, but seeing that look on her face, she's not going to belabor it. She doesn't know Lily *well*, but her reputation precedes her. (Much as Ragnell's no doubt precedes *her*.)
"Pretty reasonable concern. He's always gettin' torn in all sorts o' directions. He's always sufferin', an' there's only so much any of us can do. But I think you made the right call, tellin' 'im about this," Ragnell replies. "It's information about 'imself that isn't gonna do Solaris much good one way or another. Hell, it might even help. 'Every human who ever tried to tame 'im' is pretty dauntin'. Then again, knowin' Solaris, they might take it as a fuckin' *challenge*. Who knows."
She nods slowly. Getting access is of course a tall order. Ragnell can get access pretty easily *if* she can get close to him, and that's harder to do these days, as she already explained. Lily would be a lot easier--as would be convincing Azoth to trust her. But then, it seemed to Ragnell like he already trusted her at least a little. When Lily says she understands him... Ragnell doesn't chime in. The things she mentions are things outside of Ragnell's purview, even with the training and learning she's been doing on code and software over the past several years. She still has never actually *made* an A.I., and she is emphatically no one's weapon unless she chooses to be. But... she thinks she gets where Lily's coming from, even if she doesn't know exactly how she feels.
She snorts at the mention of not being a nice person. "Nice is overrated. Give me principled any day. Someone with a strong internal code, you know where you stand with them, but someone who's *nice* might tell you any ol' thing that they think you wanna hear." She grins. "'Course, I'm jus' sayin' that 'cuz I ain't nice, either."
If for a different reason than terminal illness. But that's a separate matter. She looks down at Lily's arm when she pulses a touch of magic into it; her red eyes light with curiosity at the circuitry--and the possibility that it might interface with Azoth. "That so. Then lemme try somethin'."
She reaches out to, assuming Lily doesn't stop her, tap that arm and send a touch of her own magic coursing through--to make sense of that circuitry and 'see' it for herself. It won't harm her, either way; Ragnell might not *act* like it, but she knows well how to control her power. And what is electricity but a controlled form of lightning, after all?
%T"How'd that feel?" she says afterwards.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"The fact that you can stay in touch with him at all is something notable," Lily points out. "I guess your invisbility to humans makes a big difference."
Lily does understand that much, at least. Ragnell's reputation does precede her... but Lily doesn't object to someone with a dangerous reputation. She's a mercenary, after all.
"...Glad you think so." She'd have done it either way, but it's nice to receive reassurance in a dangerous situation like that. "That's what I was thinking; it wouldn't help them to know, but it might help him to remember. And I think he did remember some." A pause. "They might. They almost kept their hands on me, once. I don't aim to let that happen again."
"Heh. Fair enough. I'd rather be more direct myself. There are people I need to protect... and that's all. Azoth, if I can manage it, will be one of them."
Curiosity is good; Lily is a scientist at heart, so she doesn't stop Ragnell at all. The electricity slips through her, and it arcs up through the circuitry, lighting up the patterns which otherwise disappear when magic no longer courses through them."
Ragnell can feel that the machinery is not simple. It's more like countless tiny machines, nanommachinery if she's familiar with the term. And each is powerful, absorbing some of the strength of the lightning within hungrily, but not so forcefully that they draw any additional power against her will.
"...Tingly," Lily comments. "You have an interesting magical signature. Did it show you anything? Being what they are, I don't have the tools to examine my machinery... And I'm not that interested in letting Shevat do it. I don't trust them that much."
"...But in addition to keeping me healthy, they boost my magic. A lot. So maybe the reclamation of his arcane module might make a difference, too."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell smirks. "Sure does. 'Specially to folk who don't have a lick o' spirituality." Being strong with magic and being spiritual are two separate things, after all.
"I think he did too. For good or ill," she adds, smile fading again. Letting irony toll in her voice, she gestures with one hand as she continues, "But, hell. He's sufferin' 24/7 anyway; what's a little more anguish?" She leans her cheek on that hand. "...Sounds like he an' Xantia promised to remember anyway, so. Even if he hates it, it's what he wants."
That, too, is the essence of free will. Sometimes you choose the things that feel bad but are necessary for the person you want to be.
For now, though, Ragnell sense that pulse of energy through and reads the information she gets back. She doesn't know much about nanotechnology, beyond what's been mentioned during her time spying on Solaris, but she can feel it for herself here. It's a fascinating feeling--especially that way it sucks in her power. Not more than she puts in, sure, but still, possessing Lily would be a *very* bad idea, she concludes--not that she was in any rush to try.
"Whatever you got goin' on in here is one hell of a machine... or millions of hells of a machine, I oughta say. Feels like if every brick in a house was actively doin' somethin' instead o' just bein' a brick. Can't say I've ever encountered anything like it before. It's interesting. But it's also power-hungry. Don't think I'd care to mess around with it too much. I s'pect they boost your magic by sappin' it out of whatever power you happen to run into. Doesn't seem like it's actively drainin' anything beyond that, though. As for Azoth's arcane module, I guess it depends on if it's built the same way or not. I'll have to track 'im down an' ask how that's goin'."
She gives Lily a considering look. "...An' I'll ask him how he feels about you muckin' around in his code while I'm at it. Discreetly. We have to tiptoe 'round his overrides either way."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"And that's most of Solaris. They wouldn't know fortitude if it bit them, the ones living in that city of theirs."
Good or ill... "True enough. Pain is pain. I think he can endure it, if it ends up having meaning--if we can free him. That's my understanding too, though, him and Xantia. They have a lot of promises to each other."
"...And I'm helping her remember, too. For better or worse."
"Nanomachines... I suspected, but that confirms it," she says. "Zeboim-era technology, but advanced even for that period. With them, I never get sick, and I heal from any injury. I regrew an eye once." That was... an experience. "That would make sense, though. Maybe I can find a way to investigate further..."
She shakes her hea. "Well, anyway. Azoth. Yes, please do. If he doesn't want to risk it, I won't try. It's entirely up to him. I figure if I can 'communicate' with him, either through a console or through a direct interface, then I might be able to make a difference."
"Contact me when you can. In the mmeantime, I'll stick with my own ways of fighting Solaris."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Ragnell cackles. "I know that's right!" She winks, a certain viciousness in her toothy grin. "Be fun to bring that floatin' city crashin' down, wouldn't it?"
But for right now, their priority is helping Azoth. If they destroyed Solaris while he's still under their sway, that would just destroy him too. One thing at a time. Ragnell gives Lily a thoughtful look when she mentions she's helping Xantia out too. "Huh. How've we never had a real pow-wow before now?" But she waves it off. "Well, it is what it is."
'Nanomachines.' Ragnell rubs her chin. "Huh. I've heard o' that... Never encountered it before now, though. Advanced even for the Zeboim era, huh? I believe that. This is really somethin' else you got there." Never getting sick, regenerating even fiddly body parts like eyeballs... Ragnell's starting to get an idea of how she could have reconnected to her past self this way--and how she got a 'code' from Asgard.
"Well, I'd love to poke around at it more, but I'll leave it at that for now," she says, rolling up onto her heels and standing--but not before giving Dog another head-pat. "I'll get on that now. Once I got a hold o' him, you'll hear from me." She raises a pair of fingers in farewell. "See ya 'round."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Yes," Lily agrees simply. 'Fun' is a word for it--satisfying is another. ...But some of her friends remind her there are people there, people innocent of Solaris's crimes. For now, that's been enough... But it may not be forever.
"I'm not very sociable," Lily says, and it may be an understatement but it could be the explanation. Indeed, it is what it is.
"It is. Paired with my magical abilities.. Maybe I was never suited for a 'normal life' in the first place. I don't mind that much."
But, they leave it there, and Ragnell stands. Dog likes Ragnell, and if she can, she will lick her gloved hand. "Good," Lily says. "I appreciate it."
"...I'll see you around."
She moves back to her meditations, for the moment. Dog will watch out for her.
After Ragnell's left a while, only then will Lily get back on her motorcycle and go.