[NEXUS] MagCave VI: What Is a Mag? A Miserable Little Pile of Circuits!

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

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Renee's Room

The hand-squeeze seems to calm Renee down, and right before the MagClone lets go, he'll feel her squeeze back weakly before she slowly opens her eyes. The light makes her slam them back shut and she whimpers. "Dads...my head really hurts." She croaks.

Aww, dammit. Just as this clone has to go, too! He hesitantly glances towards the others, before heading out the door. He stops to dim the lights slightly, but that's all we're likely to hear from that clone for a while.

"Yes, I-well, we...figured it would," the clone imbued with that ant-control implant murmurs. He awkwardly glances towards the other Magtok, not sure where to go from here. That clone, however, decide a nearby wall needs his utmost attention, and cowardly deflects any responsibility in helping his fellow cyborg. Ant-tok walks over to Renee, giving the other clone a dirty look before he moves beside her and tries to brush any stray hairs out of her face.

"There's some aspirin and probably every other medicinal compound mankind could imagine up until around halfway through the twenty-first century, if you think that'll help. It might not, being made for humans and all. Cassius would know better than I would."

The cyborg glances towards the ants, letting his unasked question hover about in the air. They know where to go if medicine will be of any aid here.

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room

"But we don't." Cassius tries to explain. "I haven't even heard of a brainpal before meeting you. My family's methods are mostly biological, not tech. If you're to link up with me or the rest of the hive, it would have to be through alternate means."

"My BrainPal is organic," Nora says. She tries to unpack more information, and frowns. "I'm not authorized to see how it is created or installed."

[UncleWolf]

Renee's Room

Renee's eyes screw shut for a moment as she tries to figure out which medicine would be best for her. "Um...ibuprofin's fine. I think." She says before she finally opens them and looks around the room. Without really looking she reaches out to pet the Cass-Ants gently before she gives the Clones a weak smile. "I think I'll be fine soon. Just weak and want a new pet. And something sweet. "

Nora's Room

"Then chances are that we won't be able to replicate it unless we took yours out, and I very much doubt you'd let us do that." Cassius says. "Your choice on where we go from there."

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room

Nora sighs. "I'll manage alone." She'd rather be integrated, but it doesn't seem to be an option.

[UncleWolf]

Nora's Room

"You aren't alone." Cassius says softly. "Not truly at any rate. Things might be slower, but it's a good idea to take things a bit slower here anyway." He admits before standing and offering her his hand. "Would you like to go get something to eat and then visit Renee with me?" He offers, nodding to Missy to let her know she's allowed to come if she wants.

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room

"I should get home," Missy says. "Tell your fathers Happy Birthday again, okay? Nora, good luck."

Unless someone stops her, she'll slip out of the cave to save me from any more self-rp!

"Does Renee want to kill me?" Nora asks Cassius.

[Terumitsu]

Firing Range

"I was awakened from hibernation to deal with a virus infestation, and since that awakening, I have been aware of my discontent. I believe I was discontented before then, but had not identified the sensation." Mainframe says to Riss.

So it's possible there is a carryover from an earlier event.. Hmm.. Maybe I should try to find out of there are any paralells between functions perfomed then and now.. "You were in hibernation? What were you doing before then?" Riss inquired as she folded her hands behind her back. Actually, I wonder why the hibernation process happened in the first place.. Well, maybe I can find out with that last question but I can always ask if I need to.

Since it was on her mind, the muse accessed the Cave network as she tried to pull up relevant information about the time she was inquiring about. For all she knew, it could be an environmental issue that was simply being represented through a unique vector… Although that was rather doubtful. Still, every bit of information she could find could be useful.

[happyturtle]

Firing Range

"Nothing. That was why I went into hibernation." Mainframe says.

[Terumitsu]

[Firing Range]

Nothing? Well, that would make sense but.. Nothing at all? Should I have phrased it to be more specific than the immediate preceeding actions or was that already accounted for and.. Hm.. "So.. When you say 'nothing,' does that mean you had no tasks whatsoever prior to hibernation? Do you know what you were created for then?" the muse inquired, a puzzled expression lightly wrinkling her brow.

Well, maybe the activation process came early as a test run and only recently it was needed so.. But then wouldn't it be more apparent if the problem was simply not being able to perform a function designed for? I could understand that if mental chafing was due to that but.. Well.. Why wouldn't it be clearer to... Hold on.. I think I missed something. With an almost embarrassed expression upon this most recent conclusion, Riss asked;"Um... I.. Don't mean to be rude but... Are your cognitive processes entirely transparent to you?"

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

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Renee's Room

Renee's eyes screw shut for a moment as she tries to figure out which medicine would be best for her. "Um...ibuprofin's fine. I think." She says before she finally opens them and looks around the room. Without really looking she reaches out to pet the Cass-Ants gently before she gives the Clones a weak smile. "I think I'll be fine soon. Just weak and want a new pet. And something sweet. "

"Alright. I'm here if you want to talk about any of what happened."

Anttok briefly turns towards the other clone, who quickly gets the message and heads off for that medicine and stuff.

[UncleWolf]

Renee's Room

"I don't, but I'd like a hug." Renee admits before smiling and holding open her arms to wait for the hug.

Nora's Room

"She won't." Cassius says firmly. As much as Renee wanted to get revenge, he knew she wouldn't really seek it. Mistakes had been made all around even if Nora had been the one to make the worst. "Remember, she's barely older than you are as far as experience goes."

[happyturtle]

Firing Range

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[Firing Range]

Nothing? Well, that would make sense but.. Nothing at all? Should I have phrased it to be more specific than the immediate preceeding actions or was that already accounted for and.. Hm.. "So.. When you say 'nothing,' does that mean you had no tasks whatsoever prior to hibernation? Do you know what you were created for then?" the muse inquired, a puzzled expression lightly wrinkling her brow.

Well, maybe the activation process came early as a test run and only recently it was needed so.. But then wouldn't it be more apparent if the problem was simply not being able to perform a function designed for? I could understand that if mental chafing was due to that but.. Well.. Why wouldn't it be clearer to... Hold on.. I think I missed something. With an almost embarrassed expression upon this most recent conclusion, Riss asked;"Um... I.. Don't mean to be rude but... Are your cognitive processes entirely transparent to you?"

"I was created for the purpose of protecting GLoG members. Eventually I came to the conclusion that they did not want protection." Mainframe says. Then in answer to the second question. "No. Why is that question rude?"

---

1

Nora's Room

Nora's Room

"She won't." Cassius says firmly. As much as Renee wanted to get revenge, he knew she wouldn't really seek it. Mistakes had been made all around even if Nora had been the one to make the worst. "Remember, she's barely older than you are as far as experience goes."

"But she's Realborn?" Nora asks, standing up.

[UncleWolf]

Nora's Room

"No, she was vat-made much like me." Cassius admits. "The process to make her was a little more refined than the one that made me, so she's actually a bit better than me at a lot of things." He says as he turns towards the door.

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room

"But I thought she was a child. Only Realborn start as children." Nora says.

[UncleWolf]

Nora's Room

"Not here. Your techniques aren't the same as ours. While she's vat-born, she was put into a young girl's body, so she'll eventually grow up into physical adulthood." Cassius explains. "Unless she grows her own new body at some point."

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room

"That seems an odd way to go about things," Nora said. But she can't really articulate why it seems odd, so she will follow Cassius the rest of the way.

[Terumitsu]

[Firing Range]

...Okay, not the reaction I expected but for once that's favorable. "W-well.. It doesn't have any denotive slurs to it but connotatively it.. Um.. Well, from where I used to be, questioning of that nature within a similar social context is.. I suppose the closest parallel would be calling someone a fraud but I'm not certain how to better convey the nuances involved." Riss said, although she quickly continued on. "Anyway I only asked because of an idea that I had pertaining to your structure as I've been working on the assumption that you were more similar to the intellegences I've conversed with in the past. But with your answer just now, you've dissuaded me of that notion for that of a rather different mental composition... At least as a guideline.."

The muse's babble was possibly somewhat grating given that it had devolved rather quickly into expository natter but hopefully Mainframe didn't see it as such. Or at least not overmuch so.

[Reinholdt]

Workshop

The Mainframe Chasis Prototype is pretty much complete. First things first before any uploading though. Winston shows it to Mainframe (though he suspects its been watching the whole time anyways). "What do you think?" He'll ask.

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

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Renee's Room

"I don't, but I'd like a hug." Renee admits before smiling and holding open her arms to wait for the hug.

"Sure."

Like Magtok would ever turn down that request. The cyborg smiles, and Renee gets exactly what she asks for.

"But if you change your mind later, no matter how busy I might look, I'm here for you, kay?"

[happyturtle]

Firing Rage

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[Firing Range]

...Okay, not the reaction I expected but for once that's favorable. "W-well.. It doesn't have any denotive slurs to it but connotatively it.. Um.. Well, from where I used to be, questioning of that nature within a similar social context is.. I suppose the closest parallel would be calling someone a fraud but I'm not certain how to better convey the nuances involved." Riss said, although she quickly continued on. "Anyway I only asked because of an idea that I had pertaining to your structure as I've been working on the assumption that you were more similar to the intellegences I've conversed with in the past. But with your answer just now, you've dissuaded me of that notion for that of a rather different mental composition... At least as a guideline.."

The muse's babble was possibly somewhat grating given that it had devolved rather quickly into expository natter but hopefully Mainframe didn't see it as such. Or at least not overmuch so.

"My programming was done by multiple individuals of various skillsets. I suspect that has contributed to my inability to understand it."

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Workshop

The Mainframe Chasis Prototype is pretty much complete. First things first before any uploading though. Winston shows it to Mainframe (though he suspects its been watching the whole time anyways). "What do you think?" He'll ask.

Sadly, Mainframe is trapped in the past as his player does not want to plot clone him.

[UncleWolf]

Nora's Room => Mess Hall

"Not if you want to skip the baby stage of development but still wish to give someone a chance to actually grow." Cassius points out as they head to the mess hall. The eating can be timeskipped if nothing major will happen during that time.

Renee's Room

Renee slips her arms around her father and sighs happily at the extra warmth. "I know, but I'd rather forget." She admits quietly, her voice muffled by her dad's clothing.

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

"Alright. Judging by what security's picking up, I think Cassius is on his way here, and whatshername intends to try to apologize or something. Should I tell her to get lost, or anything like that?"

'Anything like that' happens to encompass a lot right now. In fact, the cyborg would probably even go so far as to headbutt Nora, if Renee gave the word. Hopefully it won't come to that, though.

Other Scenes

If I have any in this thread, I've forgotten them. Please poke me.

[happyturtle]

Nora's Room => Mess Hall

"Not if you want to skip the baby stage of development but still wish to give someone a chance to actually grow." Cassius points out as they head to the mess hall. The eating can be timeskipped if nothing major will happen during that time.

Nora doesn't have much to say while eating. She also has very little appreciation of food. Everything on her plate gets eaten with the same dogged determination to fuel her body.

You think she'd know that the ketchup was meant to be eaten on the food rather than scooped up with a spoon like custard, but hey. She's only a month old. At least she has table manners.

Time skip away.

[UncleWolf]

Renee's Room

"No daddy, but thanks." Renee says with a happy smile. "If she causes any trouble, I can take care of her I think. She took me by surprise last time." She admits before looking slightly embarrassed.

Mess Hall => Renee's Room

Cassius raises a questioning eyebrow at the way Nora eats, but he doesn't say anything and ignores the rest of the meal with a shrug. Afterward, he guides her back through the hallways towards Renee's room, but there'll be plenty of time for Magtok to slip out of there before they arrive should he choose to do so.

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

"Alright. Want me to stick around anyways, or would you rather I leave you to handle her yourself?"

As much as part of Magtok would rather keep Renee bedbound and deal with all of this business on her behalf, that's no way to raise a child. Safer by far, but no way to help prepare Renee for the big, bold world out there beyond her daddy's (hardly) impregnable cave fortress.

Later – MagCave Family Thanksmas Tree

Oh shoot, is it January first already? Best get to those presents already, before your player forgets about them again, Magtok. The big tree with all the pretty decorations in the foyer is swiftly joined by an assortment of secret treasures and mystery gift boxes for family and staff alike. There's one for Riss over there, a box for Cassius, another for Renee...and oh look! Magtok even got Mainframe and Magret presents! Also, there's one for that one AI thingy Ghar played briefly, on the off-chance she's not permanently lost to deadtime. It's better to have too many presents, and spend an afternoon returning the extras, than to have too few, and have someone feel left out. Speaking of, there's also one here for Pat, but the less we talk about that, the better, okay?

AI Lady(Forgot-her-name)

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A shiny new Whatsit! What's a Whatsit, you ask? Why, only the greatest thingamajig ever invented, of course! It takes on the form of a glowing golden orb, but who's to say that's the only form it has? Maybe it can change colors, too! Who knows?! Not me, that's for sure! I didn't invent the Whatsit, after all, and neither did Magtok! In fact, it was just sorta lying around in a gutter, up until this morning! Magtok didn't do the best job of washing the thing off before wrapping it up for Thanksmas, though. So be careful, it might be a little slick and slippery with whatever foul gutter slime was clinging to it when our cyborg rescued it for you!

Cassius

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A self-winding steampunk watch! Magtok doesn't normally dabble in this sort of technology, and gods know why anyone would try to keep track of time in the Nexus, but just look at all the cool features included! Temperature, heart rate monitor, elevation/depth in relation to sea level, music player, and emergency phlogiston laser cutter for those all-too-common hero situations when you need to escape bondage (unless you're into that kind of thing), and fast!

Elizabeth Kale and Lenny

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A coloring book for Lenny, and some nice, fresh new socks for Ms. Kale. Yes, socks. Take a moment to let that sink in. Socks, for Ms. Kale of all people. Man, Magtok can be so cruel.

Magbots

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Remember that AI god guy who made sure you'd all get wages and stop being abused as much? Yeah, neither do I. You're getting a Thanksmas bonus to your usual pay, though, and Magtok didn't even need to do that, so quit whining and try being a little appreciative for once! Incidentally, I recently heard that a great way of showing appreciation for bosses is to buy them stuff for Thanksmas with your bonus. Just something to think about...

Mainframe

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As if anyone could forget you. Isn't it enough that you're getting a new chassis, do you really have to get a Thanksmas present too? Gods, you're such a pain in the neck. Well fine, here's a 'I finally convinced my boss I'm a sapient being with rights and all I got for Thanksmas was this lousy T-Shirt' shirt! Feel free to have a possessed Magbot wear it while your chassis is being finished up!

Margret

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You haven't been forgotten, robot catgirl daughter, and this is proof! Enjoy your new tea set. Comes with everything you need for a proper tea time, up to and including an etiquette guide with a section on how to properly shanghai friends and family into one of those godawful little tea parties that little robot girls always seem to love so much.

Michalson

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The hell does one get for a guy like Michalson, anyways? Nobody likes him, and he doesn't like anyone else all that much, either. A Trog's Tavern gift card, maybe? Yeah, that should probably work. Maybe one for that wizardly enchantment shop in Mallside, just to make this gift a little less impersonal. Michalson's getting paid for doing nothing anyways, so he's not really in a position to complain, is he?

Mystery Meat Squad

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Needs gets a potted plant, and promptly swallows it whole. Dirt, pot, plant, the whole damn thing. Meanwhile, HazMag gets a nifty boonie hat for the next swamp excursion that the Magtok are sure to send him on sooner or later. Roosevelt gets new spectacles, because he ruined his last pair using the glass shards to incapacitate a dire komodo dragon.

Renee

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Magtok would never admit to having a favorite child. He's not about to go and say something as stupid as 'I love all my kids equally' either, though. Obviously there's some kids of his who aren't even being mentioned here. The ones who are either dead or a goat, for example.

That said, if Magtok was forced to confess his favorite, it'd probably be Renee, and this is where it shows. I have no idea how he managed to create that dog-sized purple beetle without any help from Pat, nor how he put it in stasis so it'd survive being cooped up in a box until Renee set it free, but that's exactly what he did. Must've been hella expensive, especially since Renee wasn't in the market for a new pet until it was almost too late to get her anything. Upon release, the new beetle-buddy chirps happily and immediately sets about nuzzling its new master's leg.

Riss

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At first you weren't going to get anything at all, you know. This present was sorta last-minute, meant as thanks for that whole fancy armor robe stuff and awesome gun you designed not too long ago. Magtok was still a bit bitter about that whole confrontation with you and your nymph friends, unfortunately. Thankfully, that feeling passed, so now you have a shiny new tablet loaded up with all sorts of information you might find useful!

Yes, of course it's already got data on it, silly! Magtok knows full well you're just going to siphon all the data out and then discard the tablet a minute later, you ungrateful ingrate! The present includes a thorough documentation of the history of Thanksmas and its cultural significance, as well as some files on various Remnant weapons and equipment Magtok's put together, mostly from guesswork and conjecture based off of MagSat footage. A couple personnel files were thrown in too, with Magtok's own notes on the denizens of this MagCave! Perfect for the next time you bump into someone unfamiliar in the hallways, and need some quick advice before you go into another one of your stupidly neurotic and embarrassing panic attacks!

Winston

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Seriously? Everyone gets a present? Mainframe? Riss? Michalson? Even you? Man, Magtok really went all-out this year, didn't he? Well whatever, enjoy your new toolbelt, and an assortment of shiny hardware to go with it. I think one of the pockets has a gift card for that Mallside tech store with the lady who thinks she's not a robot, by the way. Even if you don't think there's anything there that'll interest you, it wouldn't hurt to have a look around, I guess.

[Morty]

[Thanksmas Tree ==> Corridors]

Magtok would be happy to know - if he cared, that is - that Michalson is perfectly happy with his gifts. He's not very hard to please. The half-elf shadowmage goes wandering around the cave, thinking about what to buy with the gift card and wondering whether the boss might have some more people that need hurting.

[UncleWolf]

Outskirts of Mag Territory

Carl had been a nice little Sapient Cardinal. Had a mate, three eggs, and half an earthworm waiting for him at his Tree. It was a nice Tree too. A nice large Oak with plenty of foliage and acorns and branches to hide in when the Odd Things happened around this place. Sure, his cousin (Casey Cardinal), had warned him not to build around the Odd Cave around here where all the Strange Ones lived, but it was a predator-free area and he had to look out for his Eggs above all else.

Of course, that doesn't really help when a chitin covered organic drill the size of a small house erupts under your tree, taking you and your entire family by surprise before crushing every bit of you and the tree.

The job of the drill finished, the black chitin quickly began to turn gray and brittle, cracking in the exposure to air before slowly turning to dust, leaving the inhabitants safely on the surface.

Smiling, Harlequin!Pat looks at her fiance before sending a loud telepathic message to the rest of her "brood" back at the Cave.

MOTHER'S BACK!

The message is quite cheerful despite the fact that her once-massive army had been whittled down to little more than the Harlequin, two Puddin's, a relative handful of Lesser Sister-Daughters, and just a small portion of the Central Brain she once possessed.

"Hmm...better get clothes on." She says to herself before summoning a small number of her ants to start weaving a black dress on her red-and-black skin.

Renee's Room

With a bit of Timey-Whimey Goodness, Renee snuggles up to her new Beetle, grinning before she shakes her head at her Dad. "Nah. This was what I needed. Thanks Dadd-." She starts, only to apparently go dizzy at her mother's broadcast before a look of excitement comes over her face. "Mom!"

Hallways

Cassius stumbles in front of Nora at the broadcast, but she'll notice a look of genuine happiness and excitement as he tries to grab her hand to run towards outside. "Mother's back!"

[Lord Magtok]

Renee's Room

"No, you had it right the first time, I'm your da-"

Ant-tok connects the dots about halfway through that sentence, drops everything, and immediately sets about getting himself and Renee outside as fast as possible. He rushes to the-

Outskirts of Mag Territory,

Harpoony seems a bit dazed by it all, having been just about totally convinced he was never going to see this place again. That he got this far, alive, and is no longer stuck on that big steel spear is nothing short of a miracle.

"W-we made it. Holy everliving ****, we actually made...what the hell is that noise?"

Ants, Magbots, and countless other 'toks show up to see the MagCave's homecoming queen and her fiancé. It'd be very nearly a stampede, if not for all the clones who just hover there instead of running. Somehow nobody (well, except for that one Magbot, but he'll be fine!) gets trampled, though there is some pushing and shoving amongst the clones to get a better view of the Magtok whose woman quite literally went through hell and back to return him to the Nexus.

[happyturtle]

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Hallways

Cassius stumbles in front of Nora at the broadcast, but she'll notice a look of genuine happiness and excitement as he tries to grab her hand to run towards outside. "Mother's back!"

Nora runs to avoid being dragged. Mother. It was a word that she recognized, but had no frame of reference for. They spawned realborn people somehow, and somehow they were also adult females. Though of a different caste than adult female soldiers, Nora supposed.

But now she would meet a Mother for the first time, only hours after meeting her first child and her first Realborn.

This was an eventful day.

[UncleWolf]

Renee's Room

"Too slow to walk, Pops!" Renee shouts with a grin before she leaps at him, arms stretched. She'll try to wrap her arms under his as a pair of insect wings sprouts from her back, ripping through her PJs. If she's successful, she'll carrying him through the caves as quick as can bee.

Hallways => Entrance

Nora will see her "friend" grin as he runs along to the entrance, only to stop behind the large crowd. "Make way! Cassius coming through!" He shouts, trying to clear a way to his own mother.

Outside

The dress is finished above Pat's knees, and she can't help but smile up at the gathered crowd, reaching out to take her lover's hand. "That, my Love? That noise is Home." She tells him, growing tired looking as the experience of it all finally settles in on her shoulders. "Our children are here still."