[Nexus] AMEN XLIV: Beware Falling Flowers

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Says Kal to Zefir, not really listening.
"And... uh, no. I have a boss, and I do what she wants most of the time but I don't let her 'boss me around'.

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

".... You're sleeping with her, aren't you?"

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Hey, I only slept with her once."
...
"Or maybe it was twice?"
...
"And it probably would have ended up being three times if Decker hadn't interrupted the interview."
...
"But the point is that is was a bunch of rare, one-off occasions, and not a regular habit as you seem to be implying!"

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"I'm sure Her Painfulness is very proud of you," Jeanne says.

[Zefir]

Somewhere Unfortunate

Zefir just shrugs. It seems like Kal and he can't really like each other.

As call mentions that he isn't boss around and then counts on his relationship with Illphi Zefir can't avoid to laugh for a moment.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Woah, no need to bring my grandmother into this." Says Kal.
"What's so bad about sex anyway?" He asks, casually flipping the V-sign at Zefir as he does so.

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"She's my grandmother too," Jeanne says. Technically great-grandmother, but close enough. "Sex is like chocolate. Too much of it and it makes you sick. If I ever have another truffle, I'll probably throw up."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"We're devils." Says Kal. "We don't get sick."
...
I think he might be missing the point somewhere along the line.

[Reinholdt]

Somewhere Unfortunate

I don't remember Kal ever curtaining with Ilpholin.
Granted, Kal could be just saying that for any number of reasons.

"I'll be happy to make you throw up!" Stu eagerly offers.

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

Ilpholin raises an eyebrow. "But what? If there's a reason you won't be able to contribute your experience to AMEN, I need to know it."

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

Roxanne twiddles her fingers uneasily as the interrogation continues. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned anything about this. Maybe bringing this subject up was a major mistake. If her words come out wrong, she runs the risk of offending Ilphy, but...

Harumph! She needs to devise a technique by which she can express her opinions on the topic without being abrasive about it.

"Well, uh, my lifestyle has been highly regimented up until now, and even with such a newfound degree of freedom, still I'm tempted to ask permission to speak freely when discussing issues which may spur conflict and spurn friendliness."

Well, that's enough of a disclaimer and more than enough stalling for Roxanne to be able to doubt her diction in. Best just spit out what she has to say now and be done with it.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but the members of your organization are more divided than they are united and..."

"It is aggravating and so very stupid that they act like prepubescent ankle-biters half of the time with their petty squabbles and such. I mean, how many of the members are self-absorbed, egotistical megalomaniacs that deem themselves the 'gift of whatever silly deity they worship unto evil?' How many of them fallaciously argue that their way is the best way and furthermore the only way to accomplish a given task?"

Woah! The Hatteress is strategically employing air quotes and everything! This has really gotten her all riled up!

"I'd have no problem at all with any of that if it weren't for the simple reality that they aren't even able to defend their base from invading Remnant mooks. I know that you've brought about as many changes as you've been able in such a short time period without overhauling everything that AMEN was in the past and you aren't responsible for that hideous screwup, but I'm sick and tired of belonging to an organization that nobody fears anymore! They think we're a joke because many members in the past have had these bloated superiority complexes or haven't cared about the org enough to work together as a group to fend off the enemy. That needs to change. We're meant to be a team for Pete's sake and-"

Regain your composure, Roxanne. Stop complaining and just deal with it. There's no need to gesture so much when casually conversing with another. This isn't a pep talk before a battle or anything.

"We need to do something that will demonstrate to the whole Nexus that we're foes not to be trifled with. We deserve respect. Happy endings aren't assured in this life for anyone, and..."

"Um... We just..."

And Roxanne is losing her nerve yet again.

"I can't work with people who treat their comrades with irreverence and are no good at keeping us from shame or restoring us to our rightful place in the Nexus."

-------
[Main Room]

Clarissa is milling about within this chamber, lounging on the couch and idly watching tv! Oooo! Tv! What exact tv program is she watching? Truth be told, even she isn't aware...

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

Ilpholin waits until Roxanne has it all out of her system.
"Hatteress, there is a key thing you failed to mention."

"It takes two to squabble." Ilpholin has found that those who complain about it the most tend to be some of the most likely instigators. And if anyone's being self-absorbed, and arguing that her way is the best way and only way...

"Now I understand as a squad leader you have trouble accepting anything less than full unity and accepting orders without question. But AMEN is an organization, not a team. Our flexibility is our strength, not our weakness."

"I've heard a small number of complaints about solidarity and member disagreements. Yet since taking office, there has been no active examples. There's been no incidents of member on member violence. In fact, I've sent out two separate teams on missions, one of which has been highly successful. The other just left, a group composed of people I know don't like each other. There were no complaints, no fights, and I remain optimistic that they will prove you wrong and accomplish their tasks with minimal infighting."

"And the reason for that is simple. They agree with what they're doing and it keeps them busy and important." Deadtime is the most terrible fate after all.

"In sum, no. I don't find your complaints fully justified, especially since it stems from a hit to your pride from an attack that occurred years ago." Or maybe months ago. It was a long time though.

"That is not to say nothing will be done. There's still much to do. Change doesn't happen overnight. But in order to best understand where your skills will be best placed to improve AMEN, we need to continue the interview and discuss you."

"If you have any immediate, solid suggestions beyond something needs to change, I'll be happy to hear them afterwords. In the meantime, however, tell me about your military training. How long did you study?"

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"Oh certainly we can get sick. I was on 'torture the damned souls' duty once, and ended up being assigned to the emetophiliacs. Worst year of my life." She gives Stu a kick. Not that he'll feel it since it's the power suit. "Go to Hell. Literally. Ask for Zabrigael. She'll take care of you."

[ThirdEmperor]

Yeesh. The tricky questions just don't let up around here, do they? Removing that silly hat of his to scratch at the back of his hair, the Cat Burglar takes a moment to ponder before answering.

"Well... I think some kind of stated goal might help, maybe? Not, like, 'take over the Nexus' or something nebulous like that, something kind of medium term that people could work towards with visible results. That would probably improve cohesion, morale, as well as support the image that the new AMEN is an AMEN that gets things done."

"Er, a communications network too. That would help, I mean. Probably. I know a guy who could set us up with some micro-transponders, if you want."

Reposting this.

[Reinholdt]

Ilpholin's Office

"Acquire, Manage, Expand, and Neutralize. Those are our stated goals as of the last big meeting that AMEN had and everyone went to." Except the Cat Burglar.

Granted, the goal is still nebulous, but it is designed to be nebulous for a reason. Gordon had a very specific goal and it created more schisms than group solidarity. The people here don't agree on things and they never will, so trying to force them to isn't such a great idea. Even Cat Burglar doesn't seem entirely sure on what the exact goal should be, though his idea certainly isn't wrong in and of itself.

But aside from all that...
"A communications network would be very helpful. I know in particular a village that needs one, above and beyond just this place. Get with Magtok or Mister Squiggles or someone else who likes that stuff and work to get me a solid com network plan so we can put it together and enact it." Congrats Cat Burglar! You've earned yourself an assignment!

Reposting reply.

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

It is indeed truth that two people are requisite for argumentation and being at ends with one another. However, observation of something does not necessarily imply the partaking of said thing, else no sane person would dare watch tv lest they too be abducted by ninja-zombies, or so Roxanne would reply were that implication less roundabout and more aggressive than it already is.

The Hatteress slumps back into her chair, enduring Ilphy's reasonably cordial criticism of her point. She candidly relaxes, muscles untensing under layer upon layer of armor. Her forced, formal mannerisms recede, leaving behind a warmer more personable personality in their wake, one that exudes self-confidence, inner strength, and dependability.

Roxanne smiles softly, the burden and slight that has stained her view of AMEN suddenly gone like the billowing smoke of a snuffed out flame in a heavy wind.

Oh sure, Ilphy sounds pretty laid back on her stance about something Roxanne is adamantly vocal about as, from her perspective, it potentially impacts the security and sanctity of the base, but that's simply a matter clashing upbringings and focuses when it comes to such issues. That's all easily overlooked in Roxanne's mind as long as Ilpholin can live up to her hopes and rally the members behind a given cause.

"I'm happy to hear that you've turned the lot of them to other more constructive projects that don't involve wanton destruction of our own property. I'm even happier that you allowed me to say my piece on that long dead misadventure. That the enemy we repugn could expugn our home has distressed me for some time."

'S not easy to sleep knowing that one is obviously outnumbered and that the enemy knows of and is capable of storming one's base of operations through the most well-guarded doors without any degree of trickery on their part.

"While the agency I served would officially impugn my involvement in any and all involvement with the military prior to three months of age, I am well-aware of the shady dealings surrounding my birth and induction into the armed forces of my great state. Before we were weaned, some of us citizens of the company would be selected for the prestigious and, more often than not, involuntary honor of being bred specifically for military service. Often parents had scruples about this practice, but those who spoke out against them were silenced in short order. As I am a Kiroshandian, the people in charge of this atrocity figured that I'd be a natural born killer and therefore be a prime candidate for their beloved training program. I was confiscated from my mother as soon as I was birthed. They reported to her that I was dead due to unidentified 'complications' throughout the birthing process. I read she died a week after of unknown causes."

"For my entire life I've been conditioned to be the leanest, meanest killer of them all. From that first fateful day they laid their bloodsoaked hands upon me, I've been inundated with everything that they thought would psychologically desensitize me to violence. They went so far as to try to make me addicted to it. They started with colors and moved to toys, each object or experience given to me, especially eating at a young age, geared toward tempering me into the bane of life. I lived in an 18' by 16' by 8' cell without contact with a single sapient creature other than the two approved trainers assigned to me until I was about 6. When I was released so that I could join the special recruits at the academy on my birthday, they'd abet me to take a knife to the few who dared bully me day in and day out. Before my first day out of the cell was up, I'd known what it was like to gut someone with impunity in front of hundreds of terrified onlookers."

"So the answer to your query depends on how you view conditioning versus training."

Roxanne casually crosses her legs and glances over at the wall. She doesn't seem to mind that, in essence, her free will was torn away from her.

"You've no doubt killed someone before. Did you feel remorse or anything like that after?"

Roxanne questions, genuinely interested in how killing affects normal people. Of course, Ilphy isn't at all your typical demon-drow, but The Hatteress isn't aware of that just yet.

[Zefir]

Front Entrance

Zefir, who just seems to be here and likely not attacked by a pantherbot until now, looks down. Then at the bot. He wasn't here when they where set as guards and therefor he doesn't know them. Actually Zefir wears a cape and is much over human size. his hands are scaled and his shoes look like a bit to small for his feet. A grey ape is covering the body (which are the wings) and a hood saves his face.

"I wonder why Ilphi set these things up."

Doesn't seem like he wants to help.

Somewhere Unfortunate -> [Main Room]

Zefir doesn't see what Kal did so he don't reacts to it. He heads for his room and will after some time leave it to go back to the Main Room. He heads over for Clarissa.

"Hey."

Description is in the quote. It is near impossible to detect that this is Zefir, due to his appearance. His voice also sounds much deeper.

[Ashen Lilies]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"Oh certainly we can get sick. I was on 'torture the damned souls' duty once, and ended up being assigned to the emetophiliacs. Worst year of my life." She gives Stu a kick. Not that he'll feel it since it's the power suit. "Go to Hell. Literally. Ask for Zabrigael. She'll take care of you."

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Yeah, but that's just gross." Says Kal, merrily continuing to miss the point and letting himself get out-argued by his younger cousin. He attempts to adjust his seating a little, casually pushing Stu's petals into the floor with his hand as he does so.

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

"Only if I was caught." Ilpholin replies with a flat tone.

"Though as far as I'm aware military is more than just killing. Though I could be wrong about your world, but you did mention command and strategy." These are the things Ilpholin is interested in. She's already awash in killers. Another one, no matter how well trained/conditioned, isn't of particular interest.

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Emotiphil? Ewww. She should have a doctor look at tha- OH GEEZE OWW!" Stu flails as best as he can as Kal grinds his petals into the floor.

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"So what do you do around here besides screw the boss? Anything fun?" Jeanne asks.

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

"But of course."

The Hatteress sighs. She didn't expect that the leader of this organization would be willing to admit that she didn't condone cold-blooded murder even if that were truth. She doesn't seem as though she'd be as adamantly opposed to the tactics of inexorable death outlined under the general type of strategy fitting under the label of Sherman's Total Warfare. From Roxanne's most fundamental impression of Ilpholin, she predicts that she'll prove more pliant than her former commanders ever could possibly be.

"From the age of six on up, I've been trained in mixed unit tactics. I showed promise in logistics, front line command, communications, and artillery command early on according to the aptitude tests administered to us. We'd spend nearly every single one of our waking moments in virtual reality chambers where we'd constantly relive the most decisive battles of our history. From the ages 6-10 we were faceless enlisted grunts dotting the scorched battlegrounds of such battles and skirmishes of biblical significance as Stalingrad and the Ten Moons of Kashirr. From 10-12 we were company officers dealing with remiss staff and lack of support in those same historic battles, commanding the underclassmen who had replaced us as the expendable enlisted whose lives we gambled with daily in our game with the reaper. From 12-14 we took on the role of generals, the implementing large-scale tactics to from distant and long removed locales, sending plans and contingencies for our forces to relay from our posts back in the homeland. When we were unconscious, asleep or simply knocked out, data was streamed into our heads. We'd be roused by gunfire or fanfare to find our minds swimming with thoughts that were not our own. Even in our sleep, we were under someone else's tutelage. Our dreams were no longer our own."

A childhood stolen or a childhood well-spent. Guess that evaluation is all in the eyes of the beholder.

"From 14 until now, it has all been real hands on experience planning campaigns and taking down extremists."

And every night when she goes to bed, more thoughts that are not her own find their way to her. Sometimes she wonders whether she actually left that virtual reality chamber or not...

-------
[Main Room]

Clarissa glances up at this scaly stranger with wide-eyes. She'd never seen him hanging around here before. She hadn't smelled him around either, and he did smell kind of nice, so she'd have remembered if she had.

Perhaps he's a new member that she hasn't met yet? Or maybe he's a really, really old, elderly, and frail member they dug up in one of the more disused isolated broom closets of AMEN.

"Um, am I supposed to know you from someplace?"

Clarissa questions, tilting her head askew and refusing to budge from her dominant position on the couch.

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

"So, after all this conditioning or training or what have you, you still want to follow the life they set out for you? You don't have any regrets about the situation? Don't desire a different life?" Ilpholin asks.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Um... not that I've been involved in. I kind of quit and then came back, so I ended up missing all of the missions being handed out after the last regime change." Says Kal. He stops torturing Stu for the moment, but remains sitting on his back.

[happyturtle]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"Huh. Maybe I should go to one of those tavern places where quests get handed out to adventurers. Do you think I'd make a good adventurer?" Jeanne asks.

[Ashen Lilies]

Somewhere Unfortunate

"Huh. Maybe I should go to one of those tavern places where quests get handed out to adventurers. Do you think I'd make a good adventurer?" Jeanne asks.

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Um... I don't know much about adventuring, actually. Sounded too dangerous to me. You know, mucking about in caves and getting chased by giant rolling boulders or demon faced monkeys for tiny gold coins and big boxes that melt your face off when you open them."
Fighting hordes of ravenous demons and elven super-soldiers is far safer.

[happyturtle]

"Still sounds better than sex," Jeanne says.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Somewhere Unfortunate]

"Only if you've been having sex with Luxora."
RANDOM OFF THE CUFF BURN ABOUT SOME DEVIL THAT I MADE UP ON THE SPOT!!!111!11!
"Hey Stu, you should try her out some time. You two are just right for each other." He taps Stu lightly on the back of the... flower.

[Zefir]

[Main Room]

Clarissa glances up at this scaly stranger with wide-eyes. She'd never seen him hanging around here before. She hadn't smelled him around either, and he did smell kind of nice, so she'd have remembered if she had.

Perhaps he's a new member that she hasn't met yet? Or maybe he's a really, really old, elderly, and frail member they dug up in one of the more disused isolated broom closets of AMEN.

"Um, am I supposed to know you from someplace?"

Clarissa questions, tilting her head askew and refusing to budge from her dominant position on the couch.

[Main Room]

Oh yeah the body thing. Actually he didn't thought he is that undetectable. Well Zefir you should look into a mirror.

"May be you remember the cold shiver I caused on your tail a while back."

Well that should do it, since Zefir is sure she would ask for anything to prove his identity.

[Murkus]

A trio of NO's finest arrives here. The human psion in the center, Ordo Ventrii, looks to be a bit troubled even approaching this place. He looks to his companions - an Elf named Ashley and Jit, a man in a strange suit - before giving the door a knock.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

Oooh! A chance to do something productive, without actually necessitating interaction with those horrid coworkers and inferior mouth-breathing monkey people hanging out in the main room! Magtok eagerly telewarps himself just in front of the door, swinging it open with a nasty little smile to greet NO's finest lady and gentlemen.

"Well hey there! I'm Magtok, and this is AMEN, but you knew that already, right? Of course you did! So what brings you all the way out to our little valcano lair, anyways? Business, I'm guessing. Yeah, none of you strike me as the 'just visiting to see the sights' types. The big ol' molten doom base doesn't really attract too many tourists, but every now and then we get a really daft schmuck who comes all the way out here just to gawk at things like an idiot with a enormous red bulls-eye on the back of his head. So should I get the membership forms, the robot attack panthers, or some other third thing?"

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Hatteress]

Wow! What a concise yet deep philosophical question! To answer on the most basic, superficial level would require introspection, retrospec-

"No."

It would appear as though this line of questioning doesn't particularly resonate with Roxanne. It doesn't strike a chord with her or pluck at her heartstrings. She sounds...perfectly indifferent to it.

"My life gives me no grief or woe. My course is as I want it to be. As I always have always longed for it to be. I was raised not on my mother's milk but on the blood of those who dared stand in my way. When my enemies heard my name they would tremble in fear, shiver in their boots. When my brothers and sisters in arms swept across the battlefield in a victorious charge, we'd raise a shout that shook the heavens and the very planet to its core."

It all sounds very...rehearsed. Practiced. All too natural to be genuine. Like a player on a stage in front of an audience.

Roxanne straightens up and looks as though she's about to continue before again falling back into her chair.

"That's how we were instructed to respond to those sort of questions. The old programming dies hard, as you can plainly see."

Roxanne shakes her head from left to right, a more heartfelt reply manifesting in her mind.

"I believed, at times, that what the company had done for, nay, to me was to my benefit. It was...sort of. We were the backbone of the company, my peers and I. We allowed them to spread, enabled them to grow and prosper. We kept them safe and mercilessly butchered any colony that was not affiliated with us that was within our reach down to the last child."

"They treated us well. Better than any civilian Joe Average, anyway. We were paid well. We ate well. When on leave for rest and relaxation they put us up in the most luxuriant digs you ever saw. You wanted something, you got it. It was as simple as that. Implants, games, curtains, serfs, electronics, weaponry, stims, you name it, we had access to it. But they were so very reliant on us that they just had to find a way to make us reliant on them. So we didn't turn on our 'creators' and 'benefactors.' And that's where they stepped over the line."

"They researched a stim that would, quote, boost soldiers' reflexes in combat to hereto unfathomable heights, unquote. It wasn't toxic, but it didn't do what they said it would either. What it did was get us all addicted to it. After the first dose, we'd learned that if we didn't get some of it every twenty-four hours, we'd suffer from major withdrawals, so bad that a few of my fellow soldiers died by their own hands. That destructive habit plagues me to this day."

And that's when she realized that she was being used. Conned. Taken. Played like a fiddle. For her whole life she'd been nothing but their instrument. Their weapon to be aimed and fired. An object, just like those she slew. Property. She had no one to turn to, so she made do with it.

With more than a tinge of misery in her voice, Roxanne forces herself to continue, somehow remaining courteous, calm, and strong despite her raging well of emotions. She is a very emotional person, actually, though she hides it very, very well.

"But I'm here now. They can't lay a hand on me anymore. And I left them a little...gift."

Well, that's a less than comforting thought, especially coming from someone as ruthless and cutthroat as Roxanne Kennedy.

-------
[Main Room]

Clarissa pays Maggy no heed as he hurries off, or rather materializes, to answer the door. She doesn't want to scare him any more than she already has, and she's quite certain that any sudden movements, especially advancing on him, may drive the flighty little cyborg to retreat back to his man-cave until she departs.

Anyway, Zefir receives Clarissa's full and undivided attention while he speaks. She, being the curious embodiment of Chaos and mother of death that she is, attempts to experimentally prod Zefir with three of her tails repeatedly until she is satisfied that he is not incorporeal in the least. *Prod prod prod!*

"So, uh, you're-"

Zefir's subtle hint doesn't seem to have tipped Clarissa off to his identity all that well.

"You're not that ice mage I slew last Friday, are you? Or that monster-thing I had for lunch yesterday. And you are organic, so there's no way that you're that possessed air conditioner that tried to kill me a week ago Tuesday. Unless I didn't absorb that mean-spirited ghost and send him mail him straight to the river Phlegethon. I do forget these things sometimes..."

Uh, I think she needs another clue.