2024-09-26: Greeting Closing Time
- Log: 2024-09-26
- Cast: Al, Cagalli Yula Athha
- Where: Laevatein's hangar - Onogoro Island, Orb
- OOC - IC Date: 2024-09-26
- Summary: Cagalli goes to inspect the Laevatein before it is transferred to another facility, and encounters its AI creator. They had a comedic exchange, and Cagalli found something more than machine within Al.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
Terminal isn't up to, you know, THAT many secret projects on Orb soil, but there's at least one. When the lost AI codenamed AL came to Terminal, he had a request - assistance to construct a new machine, a new body, intended for the master he knew was gone but prayed was not.
Now, the possibility of Orb's transfer of power draws near quickly. It is no longer as safe as they believed. But...for now, at least, the project is still here, and one that the Chief Representative could know. The hangar is small, by these standards - or rather, doesn't use the full space of a Mobile Suit bay, as the machine within is instead an Arm Slave. Most of those until the most recent models have been bulky and slow; this is lithe, with shoulders that point up at the tips as hardpoints for currently unequipped weapons, and shoulder joints that have pods to attach magazines of grenades or anti-tank daggers. The head is shaped like an arrow. The trim isn't applied yet; it's all gunmetal gray.
Nobody appears to be here...and yet, someone must have left the radio on, as the space is filled with weirdly old, soulful music.
But someone of Cagalli's generation probably doesn't know what James Brown music sounds like, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
Orb itself has many secret projects independent to Terminal's involvement. Many of which are known only to those who carried them out. Sahaku, Centrum, Peacelands, even a smaller noble house like Kiou... Not even the Chief Representative know about them.
This project here, as Cagalli steps into the hangar, is one that she's aware of thanks to Terminal's involvement. Approaching the machine slowly and gently, unsure of what to expect, and greets...it? The room? "He-hello...?" She voiced, flipping her head about the room to try and catch sight of anyone. There's the radio, playing some sort of old jazz music...so surely there's someone around who can tell her more about this project she came to inspect.
(However she doesn't hate the music choice of whoever left the radio on.)
She doesn't know what she thinks about the machine just yet, not entirely happy that her nation is once more contributing to the creation of more weapons...even if it is a body for a lost AI.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
There's no dramatic change in lighting, though up close, the now-mostly-built machine has a certain menacing power to it, tightly coiled with unknowable strength. There's a hardpoint for an anti-tank dagger across the face, like a ninja storing a secret weapon in its mouth, but the rest of it looks armored blocky in the ways that suggest untamed power. Under a pronounced brow ridge, green eye lenses.
A voice from an unclear source says, "Hello, Chief Representative." It's male; just slightly modulated and artificial. A voice program. The source is essentially omniscient; a few speakers in various places around the room.
"Welcome to our project space. Please don't worry. We've begun procedures to get out of your hair ahead of the coming events." ... "You may call me Al."
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
There's almost a little sigh when she notes the strength the machine is exuding. And she starts pondering... Couldn't a simple cyborg body do? It could be something friend shaped. Like a robot dog. Why does it need to look so dangerous?
Her thought is interrupted as a voice addresses her. "Eek...!" She jumps, as if having just seen a ghost. She's uncharacteristically girly at times like this.
"O-Oh... Um... Okay..." She calms down a little as Al reassures her. It... He...? Sounds friendly, at least, contrary to the body's design. There's a beat, then, "Okay, Al. Just call me Cagalli. ...you're aware of the situation in Orb?"
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
A long moment passes. The music slowly turns down, perhaps to ease the mood. "Have no fear," he repeats, pleasantly. It's pleasantly neutral. Nonjudgmental abut also not very emotive in general. Friendly perhaps; Effectual, definitely. A voice optimized to encourage conversation.
"Cagalli, then," Al says. There's no mistaking the weapons crated up behind the machine; boxed up for shipping, sure, but there's not much in this world that comes in individually locked boxes that shape. Rifles, probably. Maybe grenades. "I am," Al says. There's no clear place to direct him; the machine has not animated as if it were alive. There's a monitor that's come on, maybe that'll do? "The situation appears to be escalating rapidly. I had not anticipated such a drastic turn of fortunes."
"My condolences on your upcoming nuptials, by the way," he adds, sarcasm lacking the tone of a joke.
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
"Oh... I don't mind the music," she opines when the music is slowly turning down. 'Have no fear', however, had the opposite effect on her, and her heart skipped a beat. Al tries to be pleasant. But it's the wording, that's coming off as menacing. Even if Al's not intending it to be so. But she calms her nerves, as best she could, and takes 'have no fear' at face value.
Al lights up a monitor, and Cagalli faces it, treating it as Al's face. It'll do. She shouldn't be surprised that an AI is aware of matters happening around in the world, but she is, and her face doesn't hide that astonishment. "Yes... No one could've anticipated the Junius Seven attack... It prompted a lot of sudden changes... I apologize for moving you so suddenly, when your body is so close to being completed..." She replies. They'll probably move him to a station Morgenroete owns in orbit, so he'll be well taken care of. But she still feels a pang of guilt for even requiring to do so.
The mood, at least on Cagalli's part, changes quickly as she hears Al's words next. "...is that your idea of a joke?" Her expression visibly shifts into something of a scowl.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
"It's not a problem," Al says. She has no way to know the importance of that phrase to the machine. Still, he continues: "The pilot of this Arm Slave has not been found. For now it is merely a very expensive exercise in engineering creativity. I can make due with driving taxis to amuse myself for the time being."
Huh. A moment. "Inference: This jest has not had the desired effect. I will have to inform Mr. Weber of this discovery. I believed it was the common sentiment to express on the occasion."
A maybe too-long pause, and then: "Would you prefer congratulations?"
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
Cagalli narrowed her eye and pouts. She was implying to Al that she wanted the music to stay on. But she'll just let it go. Teaching the intricacies of language and human interaction to an AI is maybe not the best use of the Chief Representative's time. When Al mentions driving taxis however, "...you drive taxis? Do you like, talk to your customers?"
Al explains himself, and Cagalli gives him (or what's representing him right now) a thoughtful look. Her anger visibly subsides as she thinks of a response. That scowl that turned into a frown is turning back to a scowl as he congratulates her though. ...maybe he does need a little lesson in human interaction.
"No, listen. You don't joke when someone's going through a hard time. More importantly, there's no inflection in your tone! Inflection!"
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
A few moments pass.
The music comes back.
...it's death metal this time. Someone's screaming in Swahili. (The demographics shifted). "There. Miss Suzuki tells this is fitting music for a relaxing conversation."
As for driving: "If I feel it will be productive. I find it enriching to operate a vehicle. Though I think I would prefer something higher performance. It is a quirk I share with my partner; and hence, the machine I have created here."
And then, pleasant as can be, he says: "It appears my excellent sense of humor has failed me. I will work to improve this error. Thank you for your input." Inflection...nope still nada. It's not *inhumanly* flat; but he maintains a fairly neutral affect at all times. Sort of an AEU British stiff upper lip thing, though the accent is more mainland Britannian. Professional. Maybe that's what makes it so startling when he says something out of pocket.
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
"Gah! No! Turn that off!" While she didn't mind the music being turned back on, the sudden genre change shocked her. Who the hell plays death metal over a conversation. "Is she nuts?! She must be messing with you!"
She calmed herself down after that yelling. These mood swings is quite honestly tiring out. Talking to an AI is tiring. It's almost like trying to teach a dog to speak. She gave the machine something of a tired glance then. The speak of performance reminding her of her late father's lessons. "I... I see," she spared.
There's a sigh as Al replies. Again, very tiring to talk to an AI. But he's agreeable, at least. "A-Alright... Good," she simply says. She doesn't mind the Britannian accent, but the lack of the more 'human' inflection certainly rubs her the wrong way. But she is looking forward to how he improves.
<Pose Tracker> Al has posed.
It goes back off. "Hm. Interesting. Musical taste is truly varied." The first track comes back on, a little funky and *quite* old. That's the fun part about being a machine, perhaps. It's not like you have anything better to do than hunt down the particularly old torrents.
Or maybe getting a little rise out of Cagalli is just reminding him of his lost partner, who was also entertaining to mess with.
For now...
"Then, be welcome, Cagalli. Whatever the coming days hold...I will not forget you or your peoples' kindness, for allowing me space to work while you could. For whatever the thanks of a machine that could not protect either its body or its partner is worth, thank you."
<Pose Tracker> Cagalli Yula Athha has posed.
Her shoulder slumps when the death metal goes off. A breath of relief as she allows her jaw to hang for a moment. This AI is really tiring. The jazz tones comes back on, and it uplifts her mood again, ever so slightly. This AI is really, REALLY tiring.
His next words however, settles her. It's grounding. She hasn't heard the words 'thank you' being said to her for so long. There's almost a tear in her eye, as she approaches the unfinished machine. The machine that was uneasing her earlier. She felt warmth in his words. And she felt it in the machine too, despite the coldness of the steel, when her hand touches the armor of the Arm Slave.
"...no, it's alright. I hope you find your partner soon, if he's still alive..."
And then... "Thank you for the chat. I hope I'll meet you again, under better circumstances..." she says. This has been a pleasant meeting, to her surprise. She'll want to talk to him again.