exsilium | [text/action] (backdated to yesterday afternoon)

Not the best time to grab anyone's attention, but hell, this isn't going anywhere once I put it up. Those of you who were asking for an update on ways to keep track of the names that show up on here? Here's one.

[Attached is a small script - when executed, it prompts for a search string, then runs in the background until manually stopped, periodically checking each name on the network and throwing out a notification similar to an ordinary network reply if any of them match. The code itself is heavily obfuscated, and the few comments it does contain appear to be context-free excerpts from something like an encyclopaedia article on Paris, but a reasonably tech-savvy inspection will uncover nothing more nefarious than the programmer's apparent lack of patience for error handling; it's not a complicated program in the slightest.]

I know one or two of you thought the converse would be about as useful. I'm working on it. But like before, if someone else happens to get there first, more power to you. This isn't a competition, it's just something a few people expressed an interest in. Obviously, if any problems crop up with tihjssssssssssdfdafssssfb7

[action, Hold library]

[Whether or not anyone hears the soft thump of Ed's face hitting the tablet depends on how busy the library currently is with most people distracted by the age shenanigans - and anyway, it's muffled by the sleeves of his brown coat, which looks somewhat bulkier on him than it did a second ago. Still, that's... quite a lot of blood. It's quickly pooling on the table, inches away from the programming and computer science textbooks he had open in front of him. Some of it has already started dripping onto the floor. Someone with a keen eye might notice the dark patch where it's beginning to stain the back of his coat, too.

Won't someone at least think of the books?]

[ooc: text replies will be ICly delayed until this part of the plot is over! And multiple characters intervening for the action part are A-OK, if you don't mind handwaving that sort of thing. ♥]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Very well

U2er name?

Edward Elric. I'd say don't forget it, but given where we are, there's not a whole lot of point.

U2er Edward Elriic added to databa2e

All haiil the Empiire

[Something about the funky text annoys him more when it's his own name...]

"Empiire"? No thanks. Leave me out of that.

[Man, no one likes his text!]

Query: u2er ii2 human?

How'd you guess?

The va2t majoriity of liifeform2 pre2ent iin thii2 place are human
2y2tem could giive exact percentage2, iif u2er Edward Elriic prefer2

2y2tem a22umed u2er wa2 human ba2ed on 2tatii2tiical probabiiliity, and al20 becau2e u2er diid not recogniize the Empiire

[...uh.]

Well, good guess. Although I doubt that last part means as much as you think it does.

[It's hard to convey emotion over text. If you could, though, the Helmsman's next message would sound subdued and not very happy at all.]

All 2hall fall before the Empiire

That's what most empires think. How well is that working out for you these days?

The Empiire ha2 yet to meet a ciiviiliizatiion that ha2 not fallen before iit

There's a difference between "not yet" and "never". And that's not what I meant, unless you're trying to say you intended to show up here all along and your whole fancy empire came with you.

No. 2y2tem ha2 been abandoned by the Empiire.

Which kind of proves my point, doesn't it?

[Wow, that is... a mixed bag of emotions for the Helmsman. He knows he should feel sad about being left behind, and about no longer serving the Empire, and his programming tells him that he does, but he also... feels kind of relieved.]

Thii2 ii2 the way thiing2 are
2y2tem wiill waiit for Empiire to fiind 2y2tem

And what if it doesn't? Are you saying you're happy to stay just as irrelevant as it is for however long you're stuck here with the rest of us?

[Not that he has much reason to care, but that kind of talk about "the way things are" never has sat well with him.]

IIt ii2 not 2y2tem'2 choiice
2y2tem iis capable of waiitiing for a long tiime

[Helmsman isn't getting particularly ruffled by this line of questioning, because he doesn't really care if the Empire finds him or not.]

Don't kid yourself. There's always a choice. Deciding to just sit and wait, hoping the rest of the universe will notice and screech to a halt without you? That's a choice.

U2er Edward Elriic doe2 not under2tand
There II2 no choiice
2y2tem ii2 not capable of makiing a choiice that contradiict2 programmiing

Why not? People do. [Because that has to be figurative, right? (Only if he thought about it a little longer would it occur to him that both Amestris and steampunk Germany were kind of lacking in the AI department...)]

2y2tem ii2 not a per2on

[Let's just put that little theory to rest, shall we?]

If you say so. But whatever else you want to call yourself, it happens.

[Yep, still on the wrong track.]

[ . . . . ]

How much doe2 u2er Edward Elriic know about computer2 and computer programmiing?

[...Huh. He's temporally a little out of his depth even after a few months, but he can take what he suspects to be a hint. There was all of that buzz after the last mission...]

Is that what you're saying you're like? Doesn't every machine need a person to operate it?

Ye2, 2y2tem ii2 liike that. And no. IIf a 2y2tem ii2 appropriiately advanced, 2y2tem doe2 not need con2tant guiidance.

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