weartearrust: (Default)
Wear, tear, and rust. ([personal profile] weartearrust) wrote2024-07-10 05:31 am

IC Inbox.

"This is Angeal. You know what to do."
cactusy: (I hope she does)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-08 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
When it's a new arrival, it's usually because they think they can fight their way out; the Admiral's crap at intake and never brings anybody up to speed before throwing them in the deep end.

When it's somebody who's been here a while - it's usually because they're pissed off, and they aren't thinking about the long-term; they just want to make people hurt.
cactusy: (good‚ just bleed all over the place)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-11 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmm.

[She doesn't respond immediately, which is common for her - a lot of talking isn't a big strength of hers, no matter how much she's come to see the value of it in wardening. She runs her fingers along a row of book spines, the way someone would if they were searching the stacks, but her eyes are still on Angeal.]

Sounds a little like... I haven't told you about Samaritan, have I.
cactusy: (oh‚ sorry; I was thinking about cake)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-12 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, I did tell you you could ask.

[She says, lightly.]

I suck at personal chit-chat, so it's probably the only way you're going to get much intel on me. But, uh-- Samaritan. You know what artificial superintelligences are?
cactusy: (you only need two emotions)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-12 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
No such thing as too many responsible hands patrolling the ship, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't think "survivors" are gonna be a thing here.

[It's hard to survive getting hoisted up on a hook.]

Check in with Valentine for intel, then come with me; we can watch each other's backs.
cactusy: (I'm waiting for someone)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-12 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
Way beyond. Think being able to track and keep up with every single human on the planet simultaneously.

[She scans the titles of the books in the stack she's carrying, then preemptively pulls down another virology book for him, adding it to his pile.]

People build them, so in theory, people control them.

[That "in theory" is carrying a lot of weight right now, though.]
nimbuster: (hope?...maybe)

audio - some nebulous time after the breach

[personal profile] nimbuster 2025-02-13 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Cloud was not originally going to include Angeal on this little tour of weird personal announcements, but he remembers Angeal's attempts at helpfully meddling, and back then he'd said some things that make Cloud think he might like to know the, uh...developments. And considering circumstances, he also thinks Angeal is one of the least likely to have a problem with those developments. So...]

Hey, Angeal. You got a minute? Got something I want to tell you. Figured it's the kind of thing you'd want to know.
nimbuster: (i'm not alone)

[personal profile] nimbuster 2025-02-13 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Well...you asked me once if Sephiroth's, uh, less than casual interest was mutual. Turns out it is, so...we're making that official.
nimbuster: (pained smirk)

[personal profile] nimbuster 2025-02-13 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[Cloud chuckles quietly, a little shyness in it.]

That's what the Enclosure's for. But I got a feeling Aerith will have plenty of suggestions.
nimbuster: (hope?...maybe)

[personal profile] nimbuster 2025-02-13 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Go for it.

[And Cloud listens carefully to the advice. He has a few questions about what Angeal's said, but he's going to hold off until he knows the man is finished.]

And...?
Edited 2025-02-13 20:40 (UTC)
nimbuster: (maybe I do have a future)

[personal profile] nimbuster 2025-02-15 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
[The first ever. Well, technically true, but also technically not, as Cloud now knows. The first was the other version of him who was here before, and that started during a breach. But Cloud also knows that it's him Sephiroth is - was always - focused on, thinking of, and for the purposes of what Angeal's saying, it might not really matter anyway.

Build a life with, huh? Angeal's not the first to pose the question that way, although Zack didn't put it in quite those terms. Cloud told Zack yes, he could see a way forward with the person Sephiroth is now, and that hasn't changed. He knows there are important questions they'll need to answer once they've both graduated - once they both have lives to build - but he feels pretty confident that he's not going to change his mind. Frankly, he has a hard time imagining a life without Sephiroth in it.

Maybe that's part of why he felt so unsatisfied, so listless, after Meteorfall was over and the rebuilding began. Even when Sephiroth was the enemy...he was always there.

Angeal's words resonate with thoughts Cloud's had before. It's why he asked the Admiral for something Sephiroth had always wanted, back during the holidays. It's why he took Sephiroth riding with him for their first actual date. And it's why he keeps hounding Sephiroth about having opinions of his own, wanting things for himself.

And more selfishly...Sephiroth is the only one who makes Cloud feel truly wanted. Needed. If he can do what Angeal's describing, help Sephiroth find wonder and joy and dreams again, live up to the way Sephiroth sees him - then he wants to, more than anything. He wants to be worthy of the limitless trust that Sephiroth seems to put in him like no one else does anymore.]


...I will. I've been trying, but the Barge is... [A pause.] No. No buts. I'll try harder. As hard as I can. I'm not going to let Sephiroth down. I promise.
cactusy: (good‚ just bleed all over the place)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-17 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm, more like the people who started out in control if it gave over that control willingly. They figured humans had messed up the planet badly enough while we were in charge that we should give the AIs a crack at it.

[She pulls another virology book of the shelf, but upon closer inspection, this one seems to be solely about disease transmission in an alien species that she's never even heard of, let alone seen on the Barge. She slides it back into place.]

Turns out that those methods weren't so different from Shinra's. Your whole thing kinda reminds me of an unholy cross between Samaritan's idea of a new world order, and the work I used to do for the government.
cactusy: (I have had five donuts today)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-02-24 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
[Shaw shoots him a pair of fingerguns; that, along with other, similar possibilities, had indeed been a big concern.]

We never let it get far enough to find out whether it would do more harm or more good - we took it out before it amassed that much power.

[She jerks her chin at the book in his hands.]

You looking at fiction too?
cactusy: (I'm waiting for someone)

[personal profile] cactusy 2025-03-02 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Indeed it does not. Sorry, Angeal; apparently, the fact that the library contains multitudes has its downsides. There's a hell of a lot of stuff here to sift through.]

We got lucky. For one thing, we got in on the fight early on; it wasn't anywhere near as entrenched as the AI system last month.

[the SOPHIA system from the breach, she means.]

And for another thing - we had a different AI on our side. One that was just as smart and just as powerful, but that respected human autonomy above everything else.

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