erkumods | AUGUR: IC CONTACT

[Once the hospital had stopped swarming with robots, Oran had developed the clever idea that he was going to speak directly to the Augur herself.

He's been planning for a few days, and in the deep of night when most folks are asleep, he steals down the streets and creeps through the empty halls of the hospital, looking for the room he came from.

He gets lost fairly quickly, but winds up in a room that feels right, and that's what matters... right? This is partly on a dare and partly of his own volition, so he has to double down, regardless.]

Oh, Augur, please accept this offering and smile upon me.

[This is only the aped behaviour he's seen in various temples, so he hopes he's doing it right. Oran has brought a pack with him, and now he up-ends it on the side counter. They're pretty much all the fetchings of the festival the robots threw a few days ago: dongs and stale candies and things he's found that keep getting shoved upon them to forward their card completions.

Moreover, he arranges them all in a circle on the floor like one might in summoning a devil, and then he sits in the middle, shifts a couple of times before curling his fluffy grey tail around himself.

He'll sit and wait for the telltale glow of what he assumes is a deity of some sort, despite loud arguments to the contrary.]

If it suits you, I should like to ask you questions three.

[From all around him the sound echoes. A voice that is too loud and too low. Unreal and robotic.]

Questions
you may ask,
but are the answers
what you seek?
If so, speak.

[The tiefling nearly falls over himself when the answer finally comes. He'd been expecting the same projection of light he'd seen the first day he'd been here, and that voice is still entirely too disconcerting.]

Ah... yes.

Yes, thank you, oh benevolent Augur.

I wish to know...

My dear friend, Even Immolzeth, he has... ah... lost memories of time spent together, and useful knowledge. How can he have those memories restored?

Can memories be lost
before memories were gained?
The waves call back to the sea.
Thus the Signs manifest.
All memories exist within Time.
Time ends and begins within Time.
Heed the call.
Embrace.

[At first, the tiefling begins to object... but then he thinks about it for a while. Devils have a way of hiding themselves in the details, and he's dealt with Even's pedantry for long enough that he's started to look for signs of things askew.

By comparison, the Augur's answer is a sea of red flags.]

So... you were able to bring others here from the sea... is there something below the waves we must use, or find, for Even to... to re-learn what I know he knew?

If... [and his brain is really chugging here; he's bound to get a nosebleed.] If we know what call to listen for, we can embrace it... but I'm not as practiced at listening for signs as you are, oh Augur. When should I watch and listen?

[This is grossly overstepping his 3 questions objective, but he's hoping he can get just a little more. At the very least, he has a feeling that the Augur has answered one question for him about whether they're dealing with memory loss or strange timeline shenanigans!]

Knowledge
is fact
is assumption
is faith.
Memories define reality.
How do you define your reality?
All lines blur together
in the cycle of truth.
You cannot give that
Which is not yours to have.
Only the Signs may know
who will hear the call.
Heed.
Embrace.

[Is that a rhetorical question? Oran, having such little contact with this entity, is going to take it as not, because when else is he going to get a response, even if it feels like he's being spun around and around again?]

I... I define reality by my experiences. I was brought here by fate, just like I was saved from certain death by fate!

I trust you, but I don't know that I... ah... understand everything you try to tell us. Tell me.

[He drops into a lower bow, head touching the tiles gently, tail curling around him to make him seem as small as possible.]

I only want to help my friend, but... but I can tell him to watch and listen for signs by the sea, if that is your will. Only... how do I help with understanding the arcane arts? He strives to learn more, and I want that, too.

((And possibly figuring that a box of magic textbooks is a good misrepresentation of this wish, haha))

Mind, heart, body, soul.
Knowledge is power and power is absolute.
Heed the rippling call.
Embrace knowledge and truth.
Heed the words as they reveal themselves.
Know yourself to know others.
Leaves turn, Time passes into infinity.
All that is and all that may come,
Give unto each other and Know.
So the Signs design.

[ shortly after things have settled, angelo makes his appearance back into the hospital to see the augur for himself and investigate this entity. ]

You have yet to introduce yourself formally to all concerned. As most of us are working formally to restore your world, it should be a courtesy to do so.

I am here to demand either an update on the state of my world during my absence, and a formal timeline as to how long and how elaborate the restoration of this world will be. Restoring it beyond being able to sustain life seems ridiculous when none of your robots are in need of any of the amenities we put in within this wasteland.

[The voice echoes around him. As if speakers are everywhere amplifying the sound.]

Demands. Demands.
So you command.
I am the AUGUR.
Am I not introduced?
All who speak, speak through me.
Time is as time does.
Flowing in, flowing out,
unmaking and rebirthing,
so shall it all begin again.
How may time measure our salvation?
Only the Signs know.

[ he's quiet for a while, attempting to parse its dialogues. ]

It ... so it doesn't stop when you're here? To clarify: time goes on?

Tell me about this beginning. What brought the end? What signs do you read?

Has time ever stopped?
Has time ever began?
Your time is all time is no time at all.
All things are known and unknown in Time.
All Time exists and ceases within itself.
All things end so new may begin.
Thus time flows into itself.
Signs are all around us.
Signs exist as they were made.
So they manifest and so I read them.

But why this place? Why here? What do we have to look forward to in the end?

I am not made to remain here, outside of where I should be. I need to return to my Captain. Not working towards the restoration of a world, to whichever end your salvation leads to.

[ this is ridiculous. knowing that time moves on and he probably has no way to return, how can he stay here? ]

Where do we belong?
Do you not belong where you exist?
The Signs did manifest and so I read them.
Thus do you exist as the Signs designed.
Opportunities, possibilities.
The future is shaped by choices.
Will your choices bring new possibilities?
Only the Signs may know.

You're not getting it. I belong to my Captain and I care very little as to what goes on with your future and what new possibilities will come out of it!

I don't belong to you, I never have!

If you do not belong, can you exist?
To exist is to belong where you are.
Duty, honor, ambition rise,
And so do the Signs design.
Oh Captain, my Captain,
Wherefore art thou Captain?
May the Captain exist in thee,
Or shall the Captain exist in me?
Would Captain rather you not exist?
Or would Captain rather you persist?

Do not mock me. I know where I stand with my Captain and that relationship is not for you to divine. The lines between us are absolute!

You taint this world with such selfish desires to do only what your signs tell you to do. [ angelo, angry, thinking about how to destroy this hospital later on because Muh Captain. ] You are not beholden to time, you are beholden to those who have been trapped here to help you with your pathetic gifts!

Rage, rage, against the dying.
But what is dying?
Are you dying?
Rage, rage, against salvation.
Who is selfish when salvation is at stake?
The one who saves or the one who rages?
Embrace yourself and embrace the light.
The Signs have designed.
All can be clear.
All can understand.
Look beyond your rage manifest.
Embrace and you, too, will know.

[Something shifts, something changes. The world around him is not what it once was. Something has been added. Should he look into his hand, Angelo will find a small pink pill. Staring at it he might even feel a light draw to the pill. As if a word is whispered softly into his ear. Embrace.]

[ he doesn't remember how it happened that he is even holding onto a pill. but that's what happens. something shifts and there is now a pink pill on the palm of his hand.

angelo isn't a human. not quite. but even as a newtype, none of his senses are keen enough to be working against a machine (a machine?) that barely talks in intelligible sentences. right now he's parsing them based on what makes sense, and the thing that does -- which shouldn't -- is the fact that he is drawn to this pill.

why? embrace what? this isn't the red comet. this isn't the ideals of neo zeon made into a convenient mask that's telling him this is everything, lieutenant. it does not speak to him as one would to a rose and being tended to with violence and a powerful will to become hope, which really is just another word for destruction. a red comet.

but he is drawn to it. it makes no sense.

angelo, entranced, stares at his palm and hears the word but doesn't quite hear it and asks -- ]

What is this? [ bitch this isn't Captain ]

Heart full of rage.
But can you know what you are raging?
Is rage worth loss of salvation?
Stagnation?
Embrace.
The Signs have manifest.
Waters run, snow falls.
Wind blows, moon calls.
When you are ready,
Embrace.
The chill of knowledge upon thee.

[The choice need not be made now. The pill will not disappear, though when he looks at it he will feel lured towards it. Enticed, though he does not know why.

Should he choose to take it, Angelo will find himself overcome with a sense of calm and ease. Thing will make more sense to him, his purpose more defined as a savior of this world. He will understand his role and take comfort it fulfilling it. So much comfort that he may even immediately seek someone to help him complete one of his Auspices.

The effect will last for twelve hours.]

[ impudent little robot, this does not solve his problems at all

that being said he will pocket this little gift, irritated. ]

One more thing.

Those monsters from the sea. Why have they come?

All things come.
All things go.
Life begets life begets death with no end.
All beings seek salvation.
Or do all beings seek an end?
Only the Signs may know.

[ angelo .... is not smart, and he's not the one who does the thinking half when it comes to operations. he's trying to parse things as best as he can, give him a minute or two. ]

.... so all of this restoration that we are doing, there is an 'opposite' to it?

Born in symmetry.
Equal and opposite.
As things begin, they end,
and begin again.
Embrace the beginnings.
Embrace the Signs of salvation.
To Embrace is to Know.

And this salvation you speak of, what does it entail?

To define salvation
is to define existence.
How does one define Living?
Too vast and too narrow,
manifesting to all as their own.
Cut to the heart of Being.
What does salvation entail?
It is as the Signs design.

[ none of that is reassuring to angelo. then again this entire conversation has been stressful and nothing of it he found completely reassuring about the future, a future, that he is mostly interested in. ]

That doesn't explain why all this effort is tied to sex. And lots of it. In a bingo card, none less.

I'll grant the damn card is some form of humour, and maybe I am being too generous at that, but why the sex?

As the Signs manifest,
So do I read them.
From the sky;
From the birds;
From the dance;
From the animals;
From portents.
All such things did conspire to bring you here,
To bring life back to the world of Erku.
Embrace the Signs.
Embrace Life.

[ there is nothing else to hear from it, so angelo clicks his tongue.

he turns sharply on his heel and walks away, annoyed, distressed. ]

[ Maruki's footsteps reverberate crisply along the corridor, reserved but purposeful all the way up to the Augur's chamber. It's quiet here, eerily bright and still in a way that makes the hospital feel like it exists on some other plane far removed from the brisk afternoon outside, white walls magnifying the ambient light.

He's not a fan of hospitals, but they're familiar to him by now. The atmosphere here is quite different. ]

Hello.

[ Maruki thinks about his Palace, just for a moment, with the tiniest sliver of guilty nostalgia. ]

So you're the Augur... It's nice to finally meet you in person. I don't wish to disturb you, but, well... I was hoping we might be able to speak face to face.

Face to face.
Cheek to cheek.
Soul to soul.
Speak if the mind it is you seek.
For blind of face we shall meet.
All there, nowhere, everywhere.

[ For a second Maruki seems a bit taken aback. Then realization sets in, mouth twisting in a strange, sheepish little smile. ]

Oh, did you think-- ah, no, I apologize, it was only a figure of speech. [ Well, it is (they are?) an artificial intelligence, after all. Or... something like that, one assumes. ] Anyway, it's the mind that really matters, isn't it.

[ There's a short silence as he gathers his thoughts. Maybe he should've thought this through a little longer before deciding to come here, but... ]

--and right now, I'm concerned about the burdens that weigh on the minds of the people you've brought here to help you. Struggling with daily life can only interfere with the methods you've encouraged us to use; I can't claim an understanding of how you see the world or anything like that, but...

[ But... ]

When a person feels as if they have no choice in the matter, or like they're forced to trade something important of themselves just to live a comfortable life in which their needs are fully met -- whether that's a proper bed to sleep in, or protection from the elements, or--or quality food that reminds them of home... For human beings, life is about much more than simple survival. It's meant to be so much more.

[ He thinks of Ann, how all she'd wanted was a chance to be with a boy who loved her in her own time -- thinks of how she's only ever wanted to live a life with the people closest to her, on her own terms -- with a sudden pang of remorse. ]

What I'm asking is simply: how much can one person give to this world? Not only to ensure that people survive, but that they're free of unnecessary suffering? Can a single individual bring about that kind of change for the sake of others?

Do you believe--is it even possible?

Edited 2020-10-06 03:58 (UTC)

To give is to take.
To take is to give.
To exist.
Enough? Too much?
What seeds may grow when all are sewn,
only the Signs make know.
To live, to live, eternal light.
Embrace the Signs.
To give, to give, ease our plight.
Seeds lead to great harvests.
The greater the seeds,
the faster they grow.
No garden grows
by one seed alone.

[ It was only a matter of time before someone like Lloyd would come to pester the Augur with questions unrelated to cards and squares. Although considering what they are, he won't be surprised if it leads back to those, in some roundabout way.

In any case, he arrives with his usual cheerful aplomb. ]

Good afternoon, Augur! I was wondering if you could spare a moment. I've had a question related to your current functionality, you see, or, more precisely, your lack thereof.

Questions you have.
Answers you seek.
Open your mind to all.
Speak your truth.
All knowledge is as knowledge goes,
Only the Signs may know.

I had heard you originally brought people into this world direct to the hospital here. That the whole washing up on shore ordeal began after you were attacked by, ah... creatures.

[ Sea monsters? Something like that. ]

Could it be that something of yours is still malfunctioning, for that to continue on as it has?

The sea, the sea, the sea
Life ends and begins as all things began and end.
To the sea, to the sea, to the sea,
Waves of history, waves of rebirth.
What matter is it that which comes first?
What matter is it that which thirsts?
All we see, all we be,
Only the Signs may Know.

[ So this is what was meant when he was told the Augur's answers are fairly unhelpful. Still, he thinks... ]

Well, personally I found it a little uncomfortable, but it sounds like you don't particularly care where we arrive at, hm?

[ It sounds that way, in any case. ]

I was going to offer my services in finishing any repairs your robotic minions failed to complete, however, if they aren't needed...?

Repairs or unpaired?
Connected or disjointed?
I exist as I am,
As I ever will be.
Reborn again and again.
Systems and circuits,
Forever in search of,
That which the Signs design.

Whoever designed your speech patterns really did a poor job...

Oh well. If you won't be repaired, assuming you even are broken, could I at least still take a peek at what's behind the hologram? I've been very curious as to how an entity like you must function and, yes, I am aware of what you generally take in exchange for favors.

[ Which leads to his next inquiry, which is mostly, ]

Would it be possible to request a closer look at how you work, in that same fashion?

[The ambience of the room begins to shift, the robotic echo all around him becoming louder. The temperature of the room becoming colder.]

Know thee not
what the Signs design.
Speak thee truth,
Words of greed and malign.
Time is time is beginning into ends.
Through end we begin again.
What is time?
What is truth?
All truths are truths.
All of life is time.
Bear your soul.
Bear your mind.
Judge your heart,
Cut open and maligned

[He will find himself suddenly outside of the Augur's office, staring at the shut down as if he has never entered.]

[ That was... something. Lloyd looks around the hall he's suddenly back in, startled. How— ]

Ah. [ Still in one piece, at least. ] I'll take that as a no.

[ Rejected. Alright, alright, he'll get on out of here. ]

[ He walks with purpose all the way through the City to the hospital, one of Beau's shirts clenched in a fist. In the Augur's chamber, Fjord's displeasure is hard to hide but he control his tone and curbs the bite. ]

Augur, where has my friend gone? Beauregard Lionett. [ Holding up her shirt, ] Where do you send people when they leave, do they go back to their worlds? Is she safe?

[ Juno can't be the first one to get angry at the Augur and do something about it in-person. Plenty of people around here are unhappy, aren't they? So it stands to reason he's just the latest of many. Or maybe most people don't like antagonizing the technological god of this place while stuck on the island it singlehandedly controls. Maybe Juno is kind of an idiot.

More than that though, he's a heartbroken idiot. A homesick one. He'd just had a visit from someone he loved who hadn't stayed more than a few days, and tonight he'd been drinking a lot about it, and you know what seemed like a stellar idea after all that? ]

Hey. [ He tilts his head back, shouting. ] Hey! Augur, where the hell—

[ He stumbles a bit, catching himself on a wall with his hand that isn't closed tight around a bottle. He rallies quickly though, glaring around the room with bleary eyes. ]

This is where you're supposed to be, right? So c'mon. Let's chat.

[ Juno spends way longer than he should trying to get the Augur's attention, getting more irritable and frustrated the longer things go without a response. Finally, after some indeterminate amount of time, he finally gives up and lets the bots lead him to the exit. All in all, the experience could have ended a lot worse. ]

AUGUR: IC CONTACT

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wrapping this up for personal plot reasons, no need to reply \o/