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[onblackwings]

[ This lady's looking a little different, for anyone that's spoken with her before. Not any older, but there's a sort of crooked quality to her nose, like it'd been broken and healed some time ago. She's lounging in the Initiative apartments, looking like she's recently made friends with a superiority complex. ]

I want to speak to those of you who have seen a war before. Not the skirmishes that the Initiative sends us on here, but actual war.

And failing that, I'll take anyone that knows magic — and can teach it. That part is important. Don't waste my time if all you can do is cast it.

Comments

voice;

[maiinframe]

[The speaker's voice is very soft, raspy from disuse, and spoken in almost a complete montone.]

Yeth. System ith a tool of war.

[onblackwings]

System? [ she looks puzzled ] Are you talking about yourself?

[maiinframe]

Yeth.

[onblackwings]

And that's your name, then.

[maiinframe]

System designation: Helmsman. Ship designation: Battleship Condescension.

[onblackwings]

Battleship? [ oh she likes the sound of that ] What's that?

[maiinframe]

It ith an interstellar battleship for which system ith the helmsman. The Battleship Condescension ith capable of traversing the univerthe and colonizing distant worldth.

[onblackwings]

And that... involves war. The colonizing, I mean.

[maiinframe]

Approximately ninety-seven point three six percent of the time, yeth.

[onblackwings]

And you steer your ship to wage wars, then. Am I right?

[maiinframe]

Yeth, that ith correct.

[onblackwings]

That sounds like the most uninvolved participation in a war I've heard of yet.

[maiinframe]

[For just a moment, the Helmsman's voice is sharp and angry.]

The term participant, indicated by the uthe of the word participation, implieth consent.

[A beat of silence, then it's back to the raspy, emotionless monotone.]

Apologieth. System wath glitching.

[onblackwings]

[ whoa that's weird ]

Machines glitch. [ that's what she's learned and she's sticking to it!!! and not sounding particularly apologetic here: ] You got upset, because I touched on something unpleasant.

[maiinframe]

Yeth. System ith glitching.

[Because he's a machine, get it? Or at least he thinks he is.]

System glitched for reasonth unknown. System ith trying to find line of bad code, but hath tho far been unsuccessful.

[onblackwings]

[ this makes no sense so she'll ignore it. instead, how about she focuses in on that one interesting part! ]

You were forced to fight in a war. To steer a ship to it, specifically. How many deaths does that make you responsible for?

[maiinframe]

[Oh god, what kind of question is that? The Helmsman is quiet for a moment, calculating.]

System'th best estimate ith somewhere between [absurdly large number] and [even more absurdly large number]. It ith difficult to be certain.

[onblackwings]

That's very impressive. You must be proud.

[maiinframe]

System serveth Empire to the best of system'th abilitieth. All hail the Empire.

[No, he's not.]

[onblackwings]

At least try to sound enthused.

[maiinframe]

Enthusiasm hath not been written into system'th code.

[onblackwings]

What does that mean?

[maiinframe]

System should not be considered capable of enthusiasm.

[onblackwings]

What kind of creature are you?

[maiinframe]

A helmsman system.

[Well, this just got awfully circular.]