➤The ✭ Perfect ✫ World ➧➧➤

[Okami Ameras]

Oh! Oh! Are those two humans okay? The one that got burned up and the other one that was unconscious?

She looked to Lukas and Genesis, her golden eyes big and wide. Lukas laughed. He paused with a smile as he felt for Eva. He already knew his daughter was fine. When he was done he nodded.

Yes Nova, they are well.

She hopped about. Yay! She wrapped her arms about the big man in a hug. Her gently ruffled her hair, before she let go and continued to play around Genesis. She then looked to Layla, curious... she looked very sad... Nova wondered why she was sad.

The lady is sad... why is she sad?

~~~

Now, close your eyes. Dig your fingers into the soil, as if you were to take root. Feel this place with them. Tell me what you feel.

I said this to Eva, then started to pace back and forth. I pulled out the bowie knife which was strapped to my hip and considered it. A new blade... brand new from the forge. But perhaps not the best tool for this... Eva was young in all ways but body... Could she handle the normal method? I wasn't sure. There was always the other way. I sheathed it and pulled out the ball, which I bounced back and forth in my hands.

~~~

Isabella nodded. Very well.
 

[Hiddochi wolf]

"She has been through a lot lately, Nova. This faction may be peaceful and quiet, but there has been a terrible loss of life these past hours, and war still awaits on the doorsteps of many others. Miss Layla was involved, and the battle has left her very tired in both body and mind." Genesis answered her question in a gentle tone.
The Northerner leaned back further in her chair, until her head rested limp against the wall. She watched the two Caretakers with slight disinterest, "What he says is true. This world has weighed on my shoulders for far too long, and I feel myself crumbling beneath it. My life has lost its meaning. Though, I doubt a mere machine like yourself could comprehend such sensations..."

• • •

Eva shut her eyes, dug into the ground. Her fingers slid firmly into the dirt. She sat a while, trying to focus with no result. She frowned after several minutes, wiggling her fingers beneath the surface, "I don't really feel anything... I mean, the soil's moist. Crumbly. Kinda cold. I think the wind blew a little while ago."  

[Okami Ameras]

Nova put a finger to her lips, slightly confused. Mere machine? What did that mean? She thought to herself.

~~~

I smiled.

You are thinking of your physical self. Extend your reach beyond your physical self. What do your roots tell you about this place?

((Here comes the tough part... describing this shyte.))

As Eva attempted to do this, slowly, ever so slowly, she felt something. She felt something, some part of her, reach farther into the soil, not her fingers. But she was becoming aware of the roots down below. As she became aware of the roots, she also became aware of the plants. There was something about them, that seemed resonate with her.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

((Hehe, I know how that goes. It's difficult to try describing intuition, too... I mean, there's no real logic behind it. You just know something to be true from unexplained feelings. I have an incredibly strong sense of intuition, and no one but mom really understands what I mean by it. sweatdrop ))


Genesis rested a hand on Nova's shoulder, "I believe we should let her rest on her own a while. Perhaps she'll feel better afterward." He gently urged for her to follow him out the door, released his grip. As they walked down the hall, he spoke with what sounded like a computerized version of tiredness, "Please don't take offense to her words. Layla has lost several important people in her life because of the Caretakers, and she hates us because of that. She's not alone in that hatred, either; most of the world loathes mechanical life, and this faction is essentially the only exception." He declared sadly.
The Caretaker slowed his pace to a near crawl, his mind filled with consideration of his own existence. He thought of flesh and the limitations of metal. Why was it so unbelievable that a being of electricity and steel could feel and understand? Machines, too, had lives so similar to that of flesh; they depended on the flow of substance and energy to survive, they constantly generated unconscious thought to move and interact, they possessed the ability to grow intelligent and ponder their own existence. Then what, by this world, constituted for an entity that could or could not comprehend the extent of human sensation? Genesis grimaced as he thought.
Perhaps this ideal could prove useful when dealing with other machines.  

[Okami Ameras]

((Hehe. This is like intuition. Extremely difficult to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it.))

Nova followed him out the door, and followed him. When he stopped, she did so too, loyally standing by his side.

Nova eventually noticed that she was feeling funny. She had made a small mercury generator as her power source, so she couldn't be running a low battery... She felt like she needed something, but she couldn't quite figure out what. She tilted her head, thinking on her own.

Hey Genesis! Came the voice of Odessa. I have a question! She jogged up, a large laptop in her hand.

Lukas followed as well, leaving the tired Layla alone to rest and recoup, if she so chose. He knew as well as anyone else that the first steps to healing was to want to heal... He paused when Odessa came up, curious as to what one of his daughters was up too.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

((What's even worse is trying to explain such things to complete skeptics. They're like "LOLWHUT? This lady is insane..." ...I'm kinda grateful that I was raised by pagans — I know that this stuff isn't just bullcrap. xd ))

Genesis perked up as the woman approached, "Hello, Odessa. How may I be of assistance?" He asked rather automatically. The robot's eyes looked a bit duller than usual, as if part of himself wasn't quite present.


Layla had settled into the bed, and though her limbs ached and felt so weak, her mind refused to rest. She faced out toward the rest of the room, searching the darkness for something not there. Her hand draped over the edge, grasped around the hilt of her deadly weapon. Several times did she unsheathe a portion of its blade, her fingers searching for the stone's sharpness. A quick burst of pain and the stickiness of fresh blood alerted her of success.
She thought of the energy which Genesis possessed. It was pure, it was familiar, it was Aerilo. That robot defied everything which it should have been, and within it resonated the soul of a human. She hated him for what he was, but really, could she hate the vessel of the man she once loved? Layla winced as she cut shallowly into the flesh of another of her fingers. She wanted to bleed out her pain, for all that suffering to leave through open wounds. But none of it helped.
Slowly, a calmness overcame any worry. She withdrew her hand from the blade. Her limbs felt ever heavier, as if they'd become stones around her. He was here. Aerilo's presence hung throughout that room, a radiant veil to shield her from earthly pain. Layla gazed up at the ceiling, drowsy and nearly incoherent as she mumbled, "It's all because of you..."  

[Okami Ameras]

((My parents know that such things exist. Hell, my mother sensed my fire when I accidentally filled the house with it.

<---- Ish Firecat, like Scarlet

And by fire I mean spirit fire. Not actual burn the house down flames. xd ))

She raised an eyebrow at Genesis's dulled eyes, then looked to Nova. The innocent young robot smiled at her.

She shook her head.

Um, I've been working on a virus. I want to know just how integral the programming to protect the simulation is. I'm thinking of releasing into the simulation. It would re-write the caretaker's protection protocols of the simulation and instead replace it with something along the lines of Issac Asmov's three laws. It would spread until all of the Caretakers with those protocols are affected. You and Nova wouldn't be affected, because I would write in a code that wouldn't affect you, if you did have them and Nova doesn't have the protocols, so it would leave her alone.

She looked at the screen again.

I also kinda want to know what you think of the idea. Since you know the other caretakers the best.  

[omgIisonfiyah]

"Well, lets get going shall we, no sense in keeping anybody waiting." Dante said with a small smile as he rose to his feet and stretched a little to get his blood moving.  

[Okami Ameras]

The boy stood and lead Dante through the forest. The forest was silent around them, quite and pristine.

After that, they passed the massive Watcher tree, covered in ivy and standing tall and silent like a sentinel over all.

Then came the cave entrance, and the young man started down the path into the darkness.  

[omgIisonfiyah]

"Wow, hard to believe you all are crammed into one cave." Dante mused as he followed along.  

[Okami Ameras]

The 'one cave' quickly turned into a massive cavern, with tunnels leading off of the main cavern. The main cavern held many people working hard on all different kinds of projects, with space still to spare.

The young man lead Dante into a nearby tunnel. Once there he lead him to a large community space, and opened the door with a bow.

Within were the other West members, waiting for the survivors of the battle to return...  

[omgIisonfiyah]

"Well this is a lot better than what we had." Dante said as he looked around the place.  

[Hiddochi wolf]

((LOL I'd love to be able to summon flames in the physical sense. xd
Mom can manipulate pre-existing flames. I watched her one time as she had a candle lit several feet away, and just by focusing on it, she made it spin clockwise around the wick. I've tried it too, but meh. I can only make it bend very weakly to one side. sweatdrop 'Tis where I got the idea of Aerilo shaping a star into the bonfire, and making his students move a candle flame.))


"I see." Genesis nodded once, "Your plan seems like it would work under ordinary circumstances, however... In the newest editions of the Caretakers' server, such alterations can only be activated by an administrator's personal address. In essence, you would need to hack the 'brain' of an admin; wear his virtual signature to enact your code."
He paused to think, searching his database for a relevant file, "By releasing it to the simulation, you would successfully affect a good number of the older Caretakers which hadn't yet been upgraded. But you would also run the risk of corrupting a few life files — the simulation does not differentiate a machine's code from a human's. What disrupts only a portion of the web eventually spreads to all of it." Genesis stared at the computer for a moment, and Odessa would suddenly find a new pop-up screen of the file he located, "What I just sent is the records I have of each admin, if that information is any help. I believe the most vulnerable of them would be Raowan. He has an acute mind, but sometimes fails to realize a problem until it's nearly too late. Shane deals with the same department as Raowan, though I wouldn't suggest attempting to use him. He knows too much, too soon."  

[Okami Ameras]

((Cool! I probably will learn flame manipulation at some point. I am a FIREcat after all. But I'm not gonna get ahead of myself. That's how people get hurt. xd ))

I see. Would you help me create the virus then? So it would do the least damage to the life files and just focus on the Caretakers? I don't want to harm the simulation, just get them some chaos to deal with.

Odessa looked to the admin files and started sorting through them. She then smiled. It was an evil smile, one that showed off some rather sharp teeth.

Admins... Raowan then, huh? Might give them some internal trouble if I manage to successfully hack one of the admin accounts...  

[omgIisonfiyah]

((All righty, let me know when you need me to post. ^o^ ))