| Rumors and Armors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: A chat in the park.     |
The weather is nice out and since school is over for the day Korra has decided to go to the park to unwind. She doesn't really care about the talks of monsters everywhere, if and when she finds any, she knows she'll be ready. With not a care in the world for a change, the Avatar busies herself playing catch with her polar bear dog Naga. The girl runs around still wearing her school uniform and throws a rubber ball around for her dog to fetch. She doesn't seem to be aware anyone else in the park for now. Serenity wanders down the park path, proceeding toward the pond. The fluorescent one flows for the water with a bit more purpose than usual, eschewing any acrobatics in favor of a more watchful look about. Thus, Ren actually does spot Rayne in advance. Ren waves a 'wing' from the water to her in addition to Korra before diverting course toward the tree. "Hello," Ren cheerily rasps. It had been a few days since the little owl had been at the park. Her last visit had been way too eventful , what with that pack of xeno's chasing Sil and all. With her paper work done and the pups off practicing with Kotal, the little owl winged her way to the park. On silent wings she flies , swooping through the tree tops and catching a flash of bright colors on the path below. With a hoot the little owl dives down so she can be seen then lands on a thin branch. Rayne looks down at Ren as she hears the other's voice. "Huh, wha?" she replies at first with a few blinks before offering her co-worker a smile. "Heya, Ren, what's up?" Seems she was quite focused on whatever it was she was trying to draw. Of course, from Minu's vantage, it can easily be seen to be... a tree. Rayne is working on her details again, it seems, and trying to get the nuances of a tree just right can be a challenge for her! Speaking of Minu, she blinks and looks up at the hoot, and indeed waves to the tiny owl. Were it any other kind of bird, Rayne would have completely ignored it, but she's known Minu long enough to recognize that form. Especially when there really aren't that many other elf owls in Twisted. At least Rayne hasn't seen any. As her attention has finally been pulled away from her pad, she's now noticing Korra, as well. But it seems the Avatar and her mount are busy on their own for the moment, so there's no call out to them. "So what brings the two of you out here?" Thankfully, it's very easy to spot Serenity thanks to her overly colorful nature. The shock of multicolors is caught from the corner of Korra's eye and she turns to spot the sea slug meandering into the park and floundering towards a tree. Likewise, Naga smells a familiar aroma of fish and glances in her direction. "Hey there!" The Avatar in sailor fuku uniform waves before realizing that there's more colorful people up in the tree. "Oh, Rayne's there too!" Korra has never met Minu so she doesn't realize who the tiny owl actually is. Serenity glances up at Minu, uncertainly until Rayne gives a greeting to her. "Well," Ren replies, "I was in the mood for some experience of nature, and I've heard fewer complaints about unfriendly visitors underwater." Ren motions out to the sides and adds, "...Granted, that may be only the result of fewer people to make said complaints." Ren looks to Korra again as she speaks up. "Are you keeping an eye on the park visitors, then, in addition to your sketching?" The little owl sat on her branch and turned her head nearly upside down as she looks over at Rayne. When she is greeted she turns her head around again and flutters her wings. With a little hop and a hoot she answers back then looks down at Ren and then over at Korra and her pet. Leaping from the branch the little owl arrows down toward the path then back wings and shifts in an eye blink, and lands with a little bounce on two dainty elf feet. Pushing her glasses up onto her nose she smiles "Hi Ren. I didn't see anything on my way in...and I looked, just to be sure. How are you today?" Looking up she waves to Rayne "nice tree Rayne, even better then the last drawing I saw you do." The little elf is dressed in her snug black pants today and her pretty button down white shirt. Her hair is coiled tight at the back of her head in a sleek bun. Rayne blinks as Ren asks if she's keeping an eye on the people in the park. "Uhhhh... huh. I suppose I really should be." She sighs. "I'm not on duty, but... I suppose I should be paying better attention, anyway." At the sound of her name coming from Korra, she looks down at the Avatar again, waving to her. "Hello Korra, hello Naga!" she calls down to the two before smiling at Minu. "Thanks! It just takes practice... a lot of practice." "Wah!" Korra twitches slightly as a tiny owl darts out from a nearby tree and shape shifts into a woman. She has to give Twisted credit, the spirit world got nothing on it when it comes to weirdness, and that is saying a lot. "Uh, hello." Korra says sounding a little hesitant. Minu doesn't look unfriendly though and thus her reaction doesn't go any further than being momentarily taken back by her appearance. Naga leans closer and tries to sniff her face though. "Looks safe to me so far." The Avatar finally adds to Rayne's concern. "No monsters or anything else running around here." Serenity drops the gaze along with Minu and then raises it again after she touches down. "Hello," Ren offers, flowing over closer to offer her a damp pat on the back. "The alternative to out keeping an eye on the surroundings would be to trust Gegoshi with monitoring a swarm of surveillance cameras," Ren observes half-jokingly. "I'm glad that some people have more threat assessment skills than I, though." Ren regards the large animal a bit skeptically before looking into the tree again. "Is that the new armor that you're wearing?" Rayne says, "Yeah, I don't see anything from here, either." She then frowns. "Of course, they're... stealthy." She shudders slightly before looking back down at the others again. "I'm still not entirely convinced that this 'Gegoshi' really exists. I keep hearing the name, but I've not seen any evidence of it." There is then a nod to Serenity. "Yup! I'm breaking it in, as they say. Getting used to it, the ways it binds me, the ways it doesn't." She moves an arm around at the shoulder as an example. "I never realized how little well made plate armor actually restricts your motion. Then again, I don't think I ever had someone remotely that skilled as an armorer option before." Korra has never heard of this Gegoshi either and the mention this person thrown around by the two makes her frown. "Who's Gegoshi?" She asks, despite Rayne's claim that they might an urban legend. The Avatar then smiles at Rayne's armor, she doesn't think she was wearing that before. "Looks nice on ya!" Serenity frowns at Rayne's comment about the threat. "I'm afraid that I don't know much about military gear, but am glad that you're satisfied with the result. And yes, I'm quite fond of the matching color patterns on your... head protection?" Ren motions an extruded digit in the direction of the wings. "Gegoshi is an artificial intelligence," Ren explains for Korra, "associated with the leader of the town. We could call for help with our data processing needs, but it's something of a risk to be using such technology without knowing its all of its operators' goals." Rayne grins down at Korra. "I'll have to give your compliments to the armorsmith!" She shakes her torso a bit, the motion transferring well to the 'wings'. "Yeah, that's the part I'm not so sure about. Apparently he based it on some esoteric armor from Earth... I had to look it up as well, and apparently these were more for parades and whatnot than for actual combat. The rest of it's sound though. Cavalry armor, as I saw, but it works for me." She then tilts her head at Serenity's explanation of Gegoshi. "Yeah, the problem arises in that she's apparently the personal property of the current ruler... who, as you may or may not have heard, has some issues with being a good ruler." "Please do!" Smiles Korra to Rayne in return. "I'm not too familiar with armor myself either. All the examples I've seen before are from books of Fire Nation soldiers and my own tribe's warriors, who made most of their armor from hides and bones from animals. But despite all that I can really tell it suits you." The Avatar turns to Ren as she explain not who but 'what' Gegoshi is. "Artificial intelligence?" She blinks confusedly. "What's that?" They haven't gone over that in school. Right now they are still covering the known history of Twisted. Korra then makes a face as Rayne explains further and how this Gegoshi is owned by someone of great importance. "The ruler of Twisted?" She asks with wonder, tilting her head sideways and looking up. "Wait, now I remember." Korra nods her head. "Diablo, right? I think Kotal mentioned him when we fought. He must be a terrible leader if even someone like Kotal calls him out on being a crappy ruler." "Mounted parade armor?" Ren repeats uncertainly, then more optimistically says, "It would be fortunate if you used it only for show. But that seems unlikely." Ren frowns at Korra's mention of the name. "Considering the collection of powerful people here with either immoral or amoral inclinations, we could do worse to have someone disinterested in charge," Ren muses, then looks to Korra. "As for the nature of the AI, I suppose that Gegoshi is something like a librarian's tool, a constructed thing complex enough to give the impression of thinking like a person. Unfortunately, the complexity means that we can't look inside to see how it all works." Ren motions a fin edges toward the black disk and rhinophore cuff. "Mind you, I trust some machines quite a bit. But they came with warranties and tech support contacts." Minu listens to the conversation quietly then pipes in briefly "Gegoshi, is the entity who's name is all over the Task computers. Some of the files in them I haven't been able to get to open yet, locked down or something by that operator. I have been working to break into the system further but so far I don't know quiet enough to get past those locks." Rayne holds up a hand, palm forward. "No, no, no, the armor's functional, just the wings were for parade purposes. Maybe intimidation... They don't serve a protective purpose at any rate!" She then frowns as Minu mentions trying to break past files still locked by Gegoshi. "Just... don't touch those files if you unlock them until you're really, really sure it's safe to edit... We don't want, say, the park to vanish because we don't understand how the city works..." Korra shrugs at Serenity. "Hey, I'm just repeating what everyone else is saying, I don't know enough about this place's politics to know if anyone's a better leader than anyone else." She crosses her arms. "In fact, if you were to ask me, they both sound pretty terrible." Korra doesn't think there's much of a choice between a warmongering god and a lazy demon when it comes to leadership. They both sound like extremes and she's all about keeping the balance. Korra then purses her lips as this Gegoshi person - who people aren't even sure if she exists or not - turns out to be an integral part of Task. "You can't open your own files?" She asks in surprise to Minu. "That sounds extremely counterproductive, like someone would benefit if you all failed at doing your job. What if there's an emergency?" She rubs her temples. "Ugh, politics always give me a headache. I can't deal with all this subterfuge crap." Serenity looks a bit surprised by Minu's account of the hacking, then glances worriedly to Rayne. "I'm pleased to hear that you're picking up the computers. I have to say, though, that Rayne's point about the nature of reality is all the more disturbing for being something I can't deny." With Korra's comment on leadership, Ren motions out to the sides without disagreement. "I don't expect it to be any less chaotic in other ways, but I am looking forward to seeing real progress on democracy." Minu wrinkles her nose at Rayne's admonishment "I am not going to edit anything that I don't understand. But I would like to get full access to the files so that if there is something there we need. We are not locked out. I have been able to find my way into most things. Its just a few things here and there. Speaking of computers, have you been able to use what I got set up for you for the Welcome Center?" Rayne sighs and hangs her head. (It's not much of a change since she she was already looking downward.) "I know, I know, Minu. I'm just... a little panicky about things, sorry. You and Ren are, of course, making very good points." She then takes a glance at Korra. "Do you think I could do as well or better than Kotal?" This seems to be... actually a serious question, by the expression on her face, but then she frowns as Minu asks about the computers set up in the welcome center. And then proceeds to facepalm. "Oh, man... Sunset's gonna kill me, I was supposed to relieve her in there twenty minutes ago!" With a mild groan, she looks back to the others again. "Sorry to cut and run, guys, but I'm already late." She twists herself to the side so her legs dangle off the same side of the branch she's on, then drops to the ground. No, it's not that high off the ground. Rayne likes being in trees, but not necessarily for the height. After straightening herself up, she bows lightly and says, "See you later, guys," before the TASK teleporter takes her away. Korra raises her hands up defensively as Rayne asks her that very serious question. "Like I told Serenity, I'm not getting involved in any politics." And she's leaving it at that. With Rayne on her way out, the Avatar that she too should mosey along and excuses herself, Naga trailing after her. | |
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