animus_network | 001 ☠ Video/Possible Action?

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001 ☠ Video/Possible Action?

[He's been staring and prodding at the terminal for the longest time, wanting to at least have a basic grasp of its function before fiddling too much with it, though as of right this moment, Barbossa will fully admit (privately) that he really doesn't understand it. Witchery, devilry, some sort of voodoo...He's not entirely sure, and really, given the circumstances, he doesn't really care. What matters is that he's pretty sure it's for communication. And communicate he will.

There are far more important things afoot, thanks to the letter he's tucked haphazardly into the sash around his waist, because in it, the worst is delivered. He cares not for the world, but his ship...That's enough to make his blood boil.

But none of that shows on his face - for now. He's already raged privately, before deciding it is, plainly and simply, false. Instead, he looks more than a little amused at the circumstances, as he taps thoughtfully at the screen with one long, black nail.]

So, it do seem me home managed to get itself blown apart like a dinghy hit with chain shot. Funny, that. [He doesn't believe a word of it, and it's evident in his tone, and the quirk of his mouth.] Ye'd figure there'd be a tad more warning. Trumpets. Horsemen. Jack Sparrow running away from the scene of the crime. Alas, can't say as I remember a speck of any of that.

So what be the truth of it, aye? Did our saviors rapture us from our dying homes, convinced of our purity and contriteness? Be we the lambs before the slaughter? [Hilarious.] Nay, there be more to it than that. And since it seems ye have me at a disadvantage, I'd be thankful for some...Insight.

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Do as we do. [Seems simple enough to him, and he shrugs, because as far as he sees it, it's just another order of business.] When a pirate wants to get his ship as close as he can to the one he's marked, he runs up false colors. If they fly the Union Jack, so do we.

Y'see?

[As Barbossa spoke, an idea entered Tohko's head. Would it be possible? They didn't have the technology levels here for it..but maybe someone else here was more experienced with it..and maybe there were some shapshifters here..

She nodded, still thinking, but..smiling.]

..I understand, and I think you've given me an idea. I have no idea if it'll work or not, or whether it's even feasible..but it's worth a shot.

[Well, at least the humiliation of being threatened (hysterically) by a teenaged girl has accomplished something. What, he's not sure, but something.]

As long as it be a solid idea, it be worth trying. [He has no idea how you've taken what he's said, and he doesn't want to know. Really.]

[At that, she nodded.]

It should be. My first version of it probably won't be feasible, but my second draft of it should be. Thanks..this really could help, if I find someone who can be a part of it.

[He has the feeling he's supposed to be volunteering his services here, but like it or not, he's mostly not inclined. After all, he's not entirely in the habit of handing over the reigns, especially to a girl, and especially to a girl that hasn't even hit womanhood yet.

Besides, just because he's offered that doesn't mean he's signed on to the account. Not yet, anyway.

But, against his better judgement.]

And just what are ye meaning by that. Surely there be those in this place with the stomach for as such.

[Tohko will be eighteen in a few days, thank you very much.

..But even that won't change her personality or the way others see her. Not that she really minded.]

It's not the stomach I'm worried about. People here treat death as an inconvenience at best. What I'm worried about are is finding people with the head for my idea.

..If we could somehow swap our souls for the drones, even for just a few hours, we would have the perfect cover. If we could get ahold of them in some way, we wouldn't have to worry about getting through the elevator.

Of course, we would have to start something that would pull the drones up before messing with them. Otherwise, there would be no reason to expect any drones to go down to the basement..but that shouldn't be to hard. The hard part is messing with them properly.

Edited 2013-03-10 19:06 (UTC)

Ye'd be willing to soul swap with...These...Things. [He has no idea what a drone is, and really, this is sounding like the dumbest plan ever, now with extra risk! The idea in itself is intriguing, but seeing as he doesn't know of the things she's talking about, and well...Soul swapping, from what he's heard, never ends well...]

Ye do realize there be great potential for something of that nature to go horribly, terribly wrong, aye, lass? That you'd be spitting in the faces of the gods to do such a thing. [He's not a superstitious soul by any means, but damn.]

[For better or worse, Tohko just keeps on smiling as she speaks.]

I admit, the idea does sound odd, but think about it: most of the drones here have colorless collars. It must not take must to keep their soul in there, so swapping them is plausible.

However, you are right. There are a million things that could go wrong. I'm not going to force anyone to participate in the swapping if they don't want to. However, it it works, if it will help, then I'll try it and do it.

As for the gods..oh well. There is no Heaven and Hell here. Angels, demons, and Enoch are, but no god or devil. If the gods want to attack me later for doing something that could save all of our skins, then so be it. I don't really care about them right now.

[Thanks, Tohko, because you've given him something to chew on. Something he figures might have a lot to do with a lot, but he'll just...Keep that to himself for now (possibly forever), until the opportune moment.

But he can't resist asking just one little question, because it has been gnawing at him since he came to with the accursed thing around his neck, ruining what usually was a carefully crafted image.]

These collars, lass. [He reaches up to touch his own, before stopping, knowing full well tugging at it does no good, as he's already done his best to pry it off.] They all be different in their colors, as ye know. What be the meaning of such things.

[Not that such behavior was new to Tohko. After all, she had dealt with chessmasters in the Tower before, and Wilhelm was worse than any chessmastery normal humans could cook up.

In her opinion, anyway.]

There are a few theories running around about them. The best one, in my opinion, is that they keep your soul in your body and from rejecting it. Like you would take care of an organ transplant, if you're aware of those.

As for why some have lighter colors and others don't..darker colors indicate a stronger liquid to keep the soul in the body. You'll see that with beings of the collective unconscious, angels, that sort of things.

However, lighter colors mean that the liquid to keep in your soul is pretty weak. There's not much needed to keep you in.

[Well, that, at least, is something he's mostly assumed right, after finding out his body was built from...

Well. If that was even true. There's a mental note made to check for tattoos when he's able, to see if he's even been put together right, if that's the honest truth. Not that he's still convinced it is. After all, wouldn't it make more sense to make him whole? Rather than leave him with...Well, that damned wooden peg? He thinks so.

But then, there's not much he's seen so far that does make sense.]

That explains quite a bit, then. Though, I do wonder... [He trails off, leaving that for thinking on later, as well.] If that be true, lass, then this really is a prison. Ye do realize it, aye? If they're having to use something to keep up hemmed up in these meat shells, then like as not, we're not even supposed to be here. It be not as easy as all that to get a soul and keep it.

[At that, Tohko sighed. Not because the idea of people with such powers bothered her..but because she knew what Ruana did, how she felt about this whole operation..and that it would be difficult to explain, much less have other people understand.]

You're right. We never should have been brought here, at least, not without a choice.

[Even Wilhelm was better than that.]

And I know it's not easy to pull a soul out of a body unless you have the right abilities or tools.

As for this being a prison..you are right. However, due to our universes being destroyed and the weird mentality of Ruana, she thinks that this is a good rescue operation and that we're all in her debt. She's wrong, of course, especially once you learn how our universes were destroyed, but that's how she views the whole thing.

Aye? [Really, kid, this is either going to end up as information overload, a crash course in Dealing With Other Worlds™ in the worst possible way, or Barbossa's introduction to tinfoil, and hats made from tinfoil. Either way, he takes pause at that, tilting his head in thought.]

Ye say that, but I'm sure you understand I'll be needing to know just how me home was otherwise ended. At least, what that story on how it was done from this Ruana. [Which is a name to mark, and mark well. For future reference.] i get the feeling ye know quite a bit more than you've been willing to share thus far.

[Implied: You have pieces I don't, and I'll be taking those now.]

[While the thought of him making tin pirate hats is amusing, even that won't stop Ruana and her motley crew. Have another sigh though, Barbossa.]

..If you get that feeling, then it's just because the pieces I've been working towards haven't come up yet. As for how Ruana destroyed your universe..it was due to her simply observing it. We're not quite sure how her observation kills universes, but my guess is..that her consciousness was simply too big for the universe to handle, or her powers were too great. She overloaded the universes and fried them, if that makes any sense.

[He hopes she realizes how incredibly...Dumb that sounds. And he's heard some dumb things in his day. But he'll take it, because it's a scrap of information and he's not sure if it is or isn't relevant yet. It will all come together, he's sure.]

Aye, it makes sense, in that I understand the words you do be saying. What don't make sense is their meaning. Surely ye realize this whole things feels like a night terror, lass. Nothing more, nothing less. [It's a little bullheadedly said, but true, in his opinion.] I'll nary deny being here, but I won't say it don't feel unreal, either.

[She knows how weird it sounds too, Barbossa, but, after dealing with Wilhelm and his Testaments, the idea isn't that far-fetched to her.]

I know that it all sounds and feels like something out of a horror story, but trust me, this is reality, not fiction, even though fiction might help this situation.

Of course, there could be some piece to the story that I'm missing right now which will help things make sense later..but for right now, that's all I know about the cause of our universes destruction.

[You'd better start believing in ghost stories, etc. It really is kind of like a bad dream, and it's a damn shame he's too practical to try to convince himself of that.

But he gives her a somewhat skeptical look.]

I'm fairly sure there be quite a bit missing to the story, lass. It's like a book with the middle ripped out. Ye know the beginning, ye know the end. What happens in the interim is a mystery, unless ye find yourself another copy.

[Have a grin in return, Barbossa.]

Oh, there's quite a bit missing to this story. Someone has ripped out some of the pages, and a few will probably never be recovered. And there's no second copy, I'm afraid. The story was never reprinted.

However, I'm sure we'll find whatever missing pages we can soon enough. And if we don't..we'll just have to write the middle ourselves. I'm sure that's been done with a lot of book restorations sometimes. Besides, we don't know how this story will end yet.

Nay, lass, this is the ending. But the epilogue still has yet to be written. [And he doesn't ask for happily ever after; his luck doesn't run that way, and he knows it. He'd settle for sailing off into the sunset.]

But those missing pages, whatever can be salvaged, needs to be done. I'll not sit here idle, the play pretty of mad things.

[Have a puzzled look, Barbossa.]

..Then don't sit there idle. Help people, and yourself, salvage the missing pages and re-write the middle. However, what makes you think that this is the ending, with only the epilogue left to write?

[Help people. That's funny. But it always seems to work out that way, anyway. Either way, he doesn't think she'll take the idea that Barbossa does what's best for Barbossa very well at all, and as absolutely hysterical and surreal as the entire situation is, there's no reason to stir the pot too hard.

He says nothing for a long moment, instead folding his arms and side-eyeing her.]

Not every book ends with happily ever after, lass. Sometimes it's just not in the hand ye've been given, despite what ye might have liked for yourself. And the epilogue can be where all the pieces have come together, fit nicely, and a better situation for yourself can be shaped.

[He pauses.] And I never said there wouldn't be a sequel.

[Actually, Tohko had met people like that before, and while she didn't approve of that sort of mindset, she wasn't the type to smack people for it.

However, at his comments, she sighed, even though she didn't stop smiling.]

I'm the book girl. I know not every story has a happy ending. The Little Prince, for instance, can be looked at as having a bad ending, and things didn't work out in The Great Gatsby either.

However, since we don't know what part of the story we're in exactly, it's best to keep on going and working towards a happy ending, even if it may never come. After all, if that happens, we can at least have a wonderful sad ending, assuming there isn't an epilogue or a sequel.

..But it is true that you didn't mention a sequel. I wonder what that might be like, if it even exists?

[The stories, books...Whatever they are mean nothing to him, despite being a somewhat voracious reader of whatever he can get his hands on usually (after all, he's so loquacious for a reason), but he supposes he understands her meaning. And perhaps it's on him, for assuming because she's female, that she would be expecting that fairy tale ending.

But he says nothing of that. And for the moment refuses to think what he wants his own sequel to be. Flight and fancy is all, and that has no place except for the dark hours of the night when a body wonders how things went so wrong as to end them where they are.]

The only way to know, lass, is to do it. Talking of it is all well and good, but then ye might find your hopes fly with the gulls only to come crashing to earth when ye least expect it. Better to stay practical. Focus on the task ye've been given.

Edited 2013-03-14 23:11 (UTC)

[Tohko, being a book girl, read all sorts of tales, even if they were horrible, and thus, had been exposed to a wide variety of endings. And she had met a real-life Oba Yozo, so she had some experience under her belt with actual bad endings for people.

Tohko had no sequel in mind for herself. This story was already so rich and delicious that there was no was she could think about a second meal-life, story-right now.]

Oh, I will. I have no intention of letting Dax's final wish go ignored, and I have no intention of letting others shove me away either. I'll work hard..but talking does sometimes help. After all, talking with you gave me an interesting idea for later.

And that be the best attitude to have. [He guesses, anyway. His usual mode of operation is smile and nod when his ideas get vetoed and then go ahead and do them anyway, and damn the consequences.

Then again, he's known to play fast and loose with everyone's lives, his own included.]

Best not to get lost in tavern yarns and what-ifs at the best of times, at any rate. And especially not in the bad. For meself...I've had better days.

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[Action] sorry for my slowness ;u;

[Action] Don't worry about it! It's alright!~

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