Vigil VII: Strife Amidst the Clouds

[Rebonack]

[Shrubomancy]

Apparently the animals think the Doc is pretty creepy, too.

But then there's all this talk of a data drive and Lapis is pretty sure it isn't just a data drive.

Data drives are just books.

Really big books better at holding lots of stuff than a codex is, but still just books.

Books can't think. They can't be afraid, either. Lapis is quite sure what she's holding isn't a book, it's a mind.

"It's a machine mind, though, not a book," Lapis interjects at all this talk of looking or not looking at the drive. "I asked him about his story and he seemed scared because his ideas are coming apart."

Lapis isn't sure if she's explaining that very well.

"I can reinforce his meaning for him Commander Cessie but things have been all snarled up since I asked for his story earlier it's probably faeries," she continues. Normally her ability to perform an invocation should have been safe by now but things are STILL all twisty! If Lapis finds out that some mean faerie is playing a mean trick on her then she'll bite him for sure.

[Zefir]

[Training Area]

Mia has been in her lab for some days now. There were no problems she was called for other then the airplane problem, but she was able to check the ships from her lab and none seemed to be malfunctioning. She didn't look futher into it since a personal project soaked up her whole attention. When she comes out of the lab Mia looks like you would guess someone would look after days at a workplace. Oil, dust and ashe covers her clothes and skin. Her hair is bound together but it looks like she didn't shower the whole time. She clearly needs a bath, but not now. She has to run the test. It's not life depending, but she is to deep in teh project to make a break.

So Mia heads for the training grounds looking for one of the dools there. Around her right arm is a big glove that is as big as her waist and it appears to be as heavy as it looks from how Mia drags it behind herself on the way. When standing in front of the doll she presses a few buttons hidden on the glove. Suddendly it lifts up. It appears like the weight of the glove turned to zero. Mia moves her arm around to check if all works fine. After a few nods she faces the doll. The doll is fastened to the ground by an iron rod, making it unmovable.

Mia grabs the bottom of the rod with the glove and tries to tear it out. With a it of suprise she pulls out the iron rod with the foundation it was put in. She looks at the result with a very suprised expression. Then she puts the doll back into the hole she just made and right when she wanted to let loos the glove drops back down as if it suddendly got it's weight back, dragging Mia to the ground. Now she is also covered in dirt, which doesn't seem to bother her much. Without any expression she drags the glove back to her lab, caught in thoughts what went wrong and what she can improve.

[Vahnavoi]

Felicity's Lab

"Well, yes. But they'd already spread around the world, and nobody's entirely sure why. The main hypothosis for their spread was somebody carrying a crate or two of fertile seeds on an aeroplane as they tried to steal them and defect from their homeland to a rival nation, getting shot down in the process. The seeds are these things." Felicity pulls out a seed that looks like a triple-lobed sycamore seed. Dispersed high enough in the atmosphere, they could easily spread very far indeed.

The holographic girl peers at the seed curiously. "That sounds very suspicuous", she says. "Makes it sound like these plants were mismanaged not simply out of incompetence, but of fair bit of malice. Humans on Earth you speak of may have been heading towards self-destruction even before these things were introduced to their environment. I... think I've heard of something similar happening? I'm not sure. My memory is spotty. I think I have observed many different humankinds on many different Earths, but the details escape me."

[Ironsmith]

Felicity's Lab

"Well, yes. But they'd already spread around the world, and nobody's entirely sure why. The main hypothosis for their spread was somebody carrying a crate or two of fertile seeds on an aeroplane as they tried to steal them and defect from their homeland to a rival nation, getting shot down in the process. The seeds are these things." Felicity pulls out a seed that looks like a triple-lobed sycamore seed. Dispersed high enough in the atmosphere, they could easily spread very far indeed.

The holographic girl peers at the seed curiously. "That sounds very suspicuous", she says. "Makes it sound like these plants were mismanaged not simply out of incompetence, but of fair bit of malice. Humans on Earth you speak of may have been heading towards self-destruction even before these things were introduced to their environment. I... think I've heard of something similar happening? I'm not sure. My memory is spotty. I think I have observed many different humankinds on many different Earths, but the details escape me."

[Felicity's Lab]

"It's not all that bad." Eun adds hastily. "There have been a number of advancements in technology that started out as a way to get an edge over a presumed enemy. Up to and including computing technology used to break encryptions and win a race to get to the moon." She straightens. "Just because something starts out for bad reasons doesn't mean it has to be forever terrible."

[Shrubomancy]

"You mentioned our names specifically according to Lapis and it's not like we demand sensitive medical data from our members anyway so why was it important it was hidden from us specifically?" Cessie continues, before adding. "And we're not going to look through that data drive." But she doesn't request Lapis to return it either.

Instead she glances at the girl and nods. "Yes, I've heard about them. The therapeutic animals wasn't it? Always seemed like a project more fitting for HALO to me."

[Shrubomancy]

Apparently the animals think the Doc is pretty creepy, too.

But then there's all this talk of a data drive and Lapis is pretty sure it isn't just a data drive.

Data drives are just books.

Really big books better at holding lots of stuff than a codex is, but still just books.

Books can't think. They can't be afraid, either. Lapis is quite sure what she's holding isn't a book, it's a mind.

"It's a machine mind, though, not a book," Lapis interjects at all this talk of looking or not looking at the drive. "I asked him about his story and he seemed scared because his ideas are coming apart."

Lapis isn't sure if she's explaining that very well.

"I can reinforce his meaning for him Commander Cessie but things have been all snarled up since I asked for his story earlier it's probably faeries," she continues. Normally her ability to perform an invocation should have been safe by now but things are STILL all twisty! If Lapis finds out that some mean faerie is playing a mean trick on her then she'll bite him for sure.

[Shrubomancy]

"So I have been told." Dr. Khafir replies stiffly as she steps up to the cage, standing behind Lapis and (ugh) putting a hand on the little seraph's shoulder. "Lapis is halfway correct. What she holds in her hand may well be called a mind, and in a pinch may be used as one, but would perhaps be better understood as a proxy." She straightens, her fingers drumming into Lapis's shoulder. "My other patient could not be present for a physical examination, and so sent me the relevant data instead, which includes a deep neural scan. I cannot divulge the identity of this patient, as it bears repeating, due to confidentiality agreements." She gives Lapis's shoulder a little squeeze. "You are standing between a sick person and treatment. Is that a position you want to be in, Lapis?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Shrubomancy]

Cessie could tell how much the doctor hated putting her hand on Lapis. So why was she even doing it in the first place? Was this her attempt to be 'friendly'? It wasn't working out in that case. Just came out as even more off-putting.

"I can't help but notice that you're not answering my questions, Khafir." Cessie remarks, trying to keep the cold out of her voice as Khafir only seemed to be digging herself deeper into whatever mess she had gotten involved with. "Unless this patient of yours is dying I think they can do without that for the duration of this conversation. If you truly cared about their health you should do as you promised and clarify what you're doing. All I've heard so far is spite that we dared to address you at all. Which is quite daring for someone in your current position."

[Rebonack]

[Shrubomancy]

Lapis feels really uneasy with Miss Khafir touching her.

It definitely feels insincere. Someone just going through the motions of what they think they're supposed to do. And while Lapis is by no means a typical child she can still pick up on social cues. Empyreans aren't emotionless things like some celestials seem to be. They're creatures of intensity and conviction. And someone being so devoid of emotion is just weird.

So the girl scoot away uncomfortably while eyeing Miss Khafir suspiciously.

"Answer the Commander's questions first," Lapis demands.

She's not going to allow herself to get wrangled into emotional manipulation that easily.

Her Purpose is too clear to her.

Lapis' job is to expose infiltrators and people plotting plots within VIGIL. She's holding leverage and she isn't going to relinquish it.

That, and something about what Miss Khafir is saying feels off to her. If the box is just data then it shouldn't be able to feel. Data is Logos while emotions flow from Pneuma, everyone knows that.

[Ironsmith]

[Shrubomancy]

Cessie could tell how much the doctor hated putting her hand on Lapis. So why was she even doing it in the first place? Was this her attempt to be 'friendly'? It wasn't working out in that case. Just came out as even more off-putting.

"I can't help but notice that you're not answering my questions, Khafir." Cessie remarks, trying to keep the cold out of her voice as Khafir only seemed to be digging herself deeper into whatever mess she had gotten involved with. "Unless this patient of yours is dying I think they can do without that for the duration of this conversation. If you truly cared about their health you should do as you promised and clarify what you're doing. All I've heard so far is spite that we dared to address you at all. Which is quite daring for someone in your current position."

[Shrubomancy]

Lapis feels really uneasy with Miss Khafir touching her.

It definitely feels insincere. Someone just going through the motions of what they think they're supposed to do. And while Lapis is by no means a typical child she can still pick up on social cues. Empyreans aren't emotionless things like some celestials seem to be. They're creatures of intensity and conviction. And someone being so devoid of emotion is just weird.

So the girl scoot away uncomfortably while eyeing Miss Khafir suspiciously.

"Answer the Commander's questions first," Lapis demands.

She's not going to allow herself to get wrangled into emotional manipulation that easily.

Her Purpose is too clear to her.

Lapis' job is to expose infiltrators and people plotting plots within VIGIL. She's holding leverage and she isn't going to relinquish it.

That, and something about what Miss Khafir is saying feels off to her. If the box is just data then it shouldn't be able to feel. Data is Logos while emotions flow from Pneuma, everyone knows that.

[Shrubomancy]

Cessie's declaration of "unless the patient is dying" earns a rather pointed look from Dr. Khafir, made all the more intense by the fact that her third eye was turned on her, as well. "I can't be certain he isn't." The clairvoyant replies in an eerily cool voice.

"...But to answer your question, since it seems I have little choice in the matter, I can not say for sure what Mrs. Quire's motives for discretion are, as she has not told me in any certain terms. All I can do is speculate." Dr. Khafir folds her hands in front of her as she prepares to recite her theory. "The nature of the medical problem is, as you may have guessed, rather sensitive. On our home world, it would have earned her and my other patient quite a bit of scorn, and soon after, unjust discrimination. Understandably, she would not want this information leaking out to anyone who could make decisions about personnel." She gives Cessie another pointed glare.

[Shadowcaller]

[Shrubomancy]

Khafir had told her next to nothing about this patient until this point so she wasn't sure why the doctor though she had earned such a look. All she had suggested was that they had some condition they considered completely confidential but never the reason why.

"To the point that you choose conduct a scheme involving disguises to hide it? Or was that a part of something else? Since you should have already have informed her that while members are required to report their medical conditions to you or the other doctors you aren't required to tell us, the commanders, anything unless you feel the absolute need to due to the patient confidentiality you keep throwing in my face. If you had explained this at the start this conversation would have been a lot less unpleasant but now your own actions are endangering your patients confidentiality as you seem more concerned with hiding information I already told you I wasn't going to look at rather than explaining what's going on." The sorceress takes a deep breath, already having had more than enough of Khafir's attitude. "So let's see if we can take things down a notch. Be pleasant to one another. What was the purpose of these disguises exactly, doctor Khafir?"

[Rebonack]

[Shrubomancy]

Lapis is mostly just going to stay quiet here. It isn't her job to figure out what to do with box. Or what the rules are about confidentiality. Or any of those things.

Her job is just to sniff out people who are trying to be sneaky.

And there was definitely some sneakery going on.

She's still listening to the conversation, yes. But she's mostly looking out for threats now. Where the yellow cloud person is. If anything seems like it is about to be threatening to herself or Commander Cessie.

Even if Lapis was wrong about this being a potential threat she has STILL found a hole in VIGIL security. Delivery personnel will probably need more than just a visual check to make sure that they are who they appear to be.

[Earl of Purple]

Felicity's Lab

"There's a lot of Earths where humans destroyed themselves, or tried to do so. Nuclear war, bio-engineered plagues, pulling the Moon out of orbit with giant graviton beams... Sometimes I think the species has a collective death wish, which is odd because I'm human and I don't want humanity to die out." But Felicity isn't from any of those Earths, so maybe it's not all humans that want to destroy themselves, just some group timelines become obsessed with the idea and try to make it a reality. Although Felicity isn't technically from Earth at all; she was born in Inside.

[Vahnavoi]

[Felicity's lab]

The holographic girl rubs her chin. "A collective deathwish sounds somehow familiar... but I suppose there's another explanation, where single persons naively trying to do what's best for themselves end up committing to behaviours that, when everyone does them, cause bad things. There might be a specific word for that, I just don't know it yet." She looks at Eun hopefully.

[Ironsmith]

[Shrubomancy]

Khafir had told her next to nothing about this patient until this point so she wasn't sure why the doctor though she had earned such a look. All she had suggested was that they had some condition they considered completely confidential but never the reason why.

"To the point that you choose conduct a scheme involving disguises to hide it? Or was that a part of something else? Since you should have already have informed her that while members are required to report their medical conditions to you or the other doctors you aren't required to tell us, the commanders, anything unless you feel the absolute need to due to the patient confidentiality you keep throwing in my face. If you had explained this at the start this conversation would have been a lot less unpleasant but now your own actions are endangering your patients confidentiality as you seem more concerned with hiding information I already told you I wasn't going to look at rather than explaining what's going on." The sorceress takes a deep breath, already having had more than enough of Khafir's attitude. "So let's see if we can take things down a notch. Be pleasant to one another. What was the purpose of these disguises exactly, doctor Khafir?"

[Shrubomancy]

Lapis is mostly just going to stay quiet here. It isn't her job to figure out what to do with box. Or what the rules are about confidentiality. Or any of those things.

Her job is just to sniff out people who are trying to be sneaky.

And there was definitely some sneakery going on.

She's still listening to the conversation, yes. But she's mostly looking out for threats now. Where the yellow cloud person is. If anything seems like it is about to be threatening to herself or Commander Cessie.

Even if Lapis was wrong about this being a potential threat she has STILL found a hole in VIGIL security. Delivery personnel will probably need more than just a visual check to make sure that they are who they appear to be.

[Shrubomancy]

"Yes." Dr. Khafir replies bluntly. "Obfuscating the contents of these records was deemed insufficient. The purpose of our 'scheme', as you call it, was to obfuscate that the records existed in the first place. VIGIL does not frequently employ my services as a medical professional; were medical files to suddenly appear in our system with my name attached, it would be quite conspicuous." She crosses her arms and lets out a forced sigh. "Almost as conspicuous as inadvertently tripping local anti-infiltration measures. The disguise was meant to facilitate bringing the records into VIGIL without creating a trail pertaining to their arrival. The plan was to ship them in alongside something mundane... triffid clippings, in this case. They would arrive in the lab, I would remove the records, and the shipment would be labeled as brought to the wrong location as a result of human error. A simple smuggling operation, and nothing more."

"Despite the degree of suspicion with which you are obliged to treat this sort of thing, I assure you, Commander, there is no danger to VIGIL or its members within those records. You have my word." She rigidly extends her hand toward Cessie, slightly lower than before, going for a handshake instead of a handoff. "Trust me."

Felicity's Lab

"There's a lot of Earths where humans destroyed themselves, or tried to do so. Nuclear war, bio-engineered plagues, pulling the Moon out of orbit with giant graviton beams... Sometimes I think the species has a collective death wish, which is odd because I'm human and I don't want humanity to die out." But Felicity isn't from any of those Earths, so maybe it's not all humans that want to destroy themselves, just some group timelines become obsessed with the idea and try to make it a reality. Although Felicity isn't technically from Earth at all; she was born in Inside.

[Felicity's lab]

The holographic girl rubs her chin. "A collective deathwish sounds somehow familiar... but I suppose there's another explanation, where single persons naively trying to do what's best for themselves end up committing to behaviours that, when everyone does them, cause bad things. There might be a specific word for that, I just don't know it yet." She looks at Eun hopefully.

[Felicity's Lab]

"Not a word, exactly." Eun shrugs. "But collective action problems of that nature aren't exactly a new development. Tragedy of the commons. Even when we aren't dealing with someone trying to play supervillain, our economics in the pre-global era suffered from an ultimately detrimental lack of coordination, to say nothing of our present-day conflict with the Terahns. As an example." She shakes her head. "I don't think that's a trait unique to humans, either. Most of our problems come down to logical conundrums; even if we were all perfectly logical computers, which we clearly aren't, we would still have problems with war and epidemics and such."

[Earl of Purple]

Felicity's Lab

"And some of the problems which beset us are ones where the logical choice isn't the ethical one, although... I didn't spend a lot of time thinking of ethics when I was in Skyside with Professor Payne. Or logic, really." Logic doesn't really play a part in what kind of power somebody might get from their dose of serum, after all, and the only ethics Professor Payne follows are the ethics of money, experimentation and enjoyment.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Library]

Anika raises a hand as if she was a student in a class. Dutifully waiting for Cass to gesture for her or call her name. Resorting to even waving her hand if Cass didn't do it right away.

"Okay, uh, question..." She speaks as soon as the mage has pointed her out. "Can I call your demons 'cemons'? Since you start with an C and it probably would make me less confused."

[Library]

Cass opens his mouth, slightly dumbfounded. Then closes it again. Takes a thought. Tries not to break out into a fit of laughter. Doesn't succeed very well, though. But at least he manages to keep it to a snicker - it wouldn't do to draw over that intimidating head librarian over, after all.
"No I... I think it's better if you don't." Cemons. "A more neutral term might be spirits, daemons, or if you're referring to ones bound to a mage, maybe just 'familiars'? It's not always accurate, since a mage might employ a number of spirits for specific tasks without bonding them as a familiar, but it'll cover you most of the time."

Cass smiles, amused. Cemons. Heh.

[Vahnavoi]

[Felicity's lab]

"If a person feels there's a conflict between what is logical and what is a good thing to do, that implies their beliefs are incoherent or that they have been following two incompatible sets of beliefs. There probably is a word for doing one thing while claiming to stand for another, but I don't know it either", the hologram muses. "For contrast, the tragedy in, ah, that tragedy of commons thing is that everyone involved can have congruent beliefs - everyone wants the same things, but lack the ability to see that if everyone acts in the same way to get those things, everyone will be deprived of them. Even thinking machines can get caught in that trap, it's true, if the bad thing exists far enough that they can't see it before it happens. Beyond their predictive... horizon? Does that make sense?"

[Ironsmith]

Felicity's Lab

"And some of the problems which beset us are ones where the logical choice isn't the ethical one, although... I didn't spend a lot of time thinking of ethics when I was in Skyside with Professor Payne. Or logic, really." Logic doesn't really play a part in what kind of power somebody might get from their dose of serum, after all, and the only ethics Professor Payne follows are the ethics of money, experimentation and enjoyment.

[Felicity's lab]

"If a person feels there's a conflict between what is logical and what is a good thing to do, that implies their beliefs are incoherent or that they have been following two incompatible sets of beliefs. There probably is a word for doing one thing while claiming to stand for another, but I don't know it either", the hologram muses. "For contrast, the tragedy in, ah, that tragedy of commons thing is that everyone involved can have congruent beliefs - everyone wants the same things, but lack the ability to see that if everyone acts in the same way to get those things, everyone will be deprived of them. Even thinking machines can get caught in that trap, it's true, if the bad thing exists far enough that they can't see it before it happens. Beyond their predictive... horizon? Does that make sense?"

[Felicity's Lab]

"'Hypocrite'. The word you're looking for is 'hypocrite'." Eun inserts. "And... well, yes and no. We see that sort of problem in economics all the time." She taps her finger to her chin as she tries to figure out how to describe this to LB2. "Think about this. Let's say Felicity and I share a box of donuts tomorrow. We both like donuts, so we each want to get as many as possible. If we both just work toward that goal of eating as many donuts as we can, we're going to run out quickly. And neither of us can stop to enjoy it, because if we do, we'll come out with fewer donuts. We're both also painfully aware of the eventuality of an empty donut box; it's not just a thing that will happen if we don't change our ways, it's what drives us to behave competitively in the first place; the possibility of scarcity and eventually depletion incentivizes us to get what we want now before it's gone and we're stuck with whatever we did manage to get. The end result is overconsumption on both our parts, as an alternative to being left with less than we'd really want."

Eun gives Felicity a little smile. "But Felicity and I are friends. We both value the other's happiness, trust the other, and are willing to talk things out. So if we were to split a dozen donuts, we could compromise on how to split them... such as, say, 'six each, three today and three tomorrow'. By cooperating and coordinating, we can make that box of donuts last longer and be more enjoyable in the meantime."

It's not a perfect metaphor. But hopefully it's enough to demonstrate the point.

[Shadowcaller]

[Shrubomancy]

((Will post here tomorrow.))

[Library]

Cass was seemingly having a hard time not laughing so Anika smiles but she isn't sure what Cass is finding to be so funny.
"But familiars are usually demons though and daemons sounds just as bad." Anika remarks as she scratches her head. "Oh, what about 'shadows'? Like, the dark side of people except its more like extreme emotion." She suggests now that her cemon idea was shut down.

[5a Violista]

[Skyship: Probably an infiltration]

On one of the cargo ships, approaching the airship gantry, there's a cat. Female, Russian Blue.

It's Harley. She's been stuck as a cat for a while now.
She feels like she's almost mostly figured out how this form works, so. Hopefully this will be a good experience.
Also she was feeling like her skills were getting a little rusty.
Besides. Secretly entering Vigil is pretty exciting. And, given how many dangerous situations she gets into, she's probably enjoying the adrenaline of doing it, too. Besides, she realized she had never actually checked out Vigil's library in the (two? three?) times she's done this before.
Plus, it's also a decent excuse to leave her baby with the baby's father.

She's pretty sure as long as she doesn't somehow run into Wenomir, everything's going to go perfectly. (She's pretty sure he's psychic or something. And not, like, psychic like the actual psychic people who can read minds and move things with their minds, but even more so. In a more real and more dangerous way. Also, she kinda sorta teased him the last time they met, at that one party, so that's not really something she's looking forward to.)

As the cargo ship slows, and she hears the crewmembers start shouting instructions, the cat gets up, stretches, gets out from under a tarp, and moves to the edge of the ship. Before it fully stops, she jumps off the ship and into the airship hanger. Okay, first thing she needs to do is get from here (the underside of the island) to the surface.

Because a cat just standing there would get noticed, she darts over to some cargo crate, and hides behind it.

Going up through the interior of the island base...would be the logical route. After all, she decently knows the hallways through the island interior already. However, when it comes to doors, she'll be hopelessly stuck and dependent on somebody opening the doors for her, or hoping they left them open. Not a particularly good option if she wants to remain stealthy.
No, clearly if she wants to be some kind of cat burglar, she's got to go unnoticed the whole time. In other words, her only option is to climb up the outside of the island,

Darting from box to cart to pump and so on, she makes her way across the hanger to its edge, so that she can start the (admittedly, perilous and windy) climb.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Library]

"That works," says Cass, giving Anika an encouraging smile. "I suppose I should appreciate your discretion on this matter. I know there are probably some people here who might get the wrong idea from my studies, when you well know I mean this place no harm, nor anywhere else for that matter."

Cass looks away for a moment, apprehensively toying with the page of his book. "It's just knowledge that I'm after. Besides, I have Wenomir to look after me in case I start to go astray. And Geneviève, I suppose."

[Rebonack]

[Airship Gantry]

As the cat is busy sneaking about she may overhear a nearby conversation.

"Hello Mister Florence! Did you get them for me?" comes the voice of what sounds like a young girl.

"Hey there Lapis, sure did. Got them right here, fresh from the nursery," one of the airship workers replies. He hands a smallish cardboard box off to the girl.

From the looks of it?

It's a mixed carton full of little paper packets which are in turn full of flower seeds.

Lapis takes the box in both hands and beams. "Thanks Mister Florence! Once they get big I'll put a bouquet together for you you'll love it!"

The older man laughs. "Your last one was a hit with the wife. Keep up the good work, kiddo."

"I will! Bye!" she says before turning on her heels and running back toward the entrance to the island's innards because she's a child and children run everywhere unless an adult yells at them to stop running everywhere. Even then, that usually only slows them down for a few minutes at most.

But!

She stops.

Motion out of the corner of her eye catches her attention.

The motion of something being sneaky.

Lapis carefully stows her box of seeds away in her inventory and slips off outways for a better view.

Oh!

Oh.

It's just a kitty. Is that one of Miss Eun's kitties? She's got so many Lapis has trouble telling them all apart.

A child abruptly starts existing near Harley and tries to scoop her up in her arms.

"What are you doing down here, kitty? This isn't a safe place for kitties what if you fall?"

[5a Violista]

[Airship Gantry]

Gasp!
It's Harley's only weakness:
a child.


Before that happened, the only thing that conversation told her when she overheard it was: she didn't really have to worry about either of them finding a cat slinking about because they both seemed busy. Whoch was originally a relief, because it meant she didn't have to pay as much attention to those two and could focus her caution at other dockworkers.

Which is how the cat ended up in this position, getting picked up by a child. She didn't even see how the kid approached her! Goes to show how she was paying less attention than she thought.

On the plus side, the child apparently is just treating her like a normal cat...which is good.
However, because this is a child and not an adult, there's not really anything she can do to get away.

In order to keep up appearances that she's just a normal cat and to draw attention away from how her front paws are ever-so-slightly different from a normal cat's, the cat makes a meowing sound.
And doesn't answer the child's questions.

[Earl of Purple]

Felicity's Lab

"Logic has long been the weapon of eugenicists trying to convince others to kill those they consider lesser. Killing somebody for what they are is not ethical." Unless, maybe, what they are is 'a eugenicist'. "You can kill somebody for what they're doing, or perhaps what they have done. But not for who or what they are." That may be morality rather than ethics, but Felicity's not too clear on the distinction.

[Rebonack]

[Airship Gantry]

Lapis really wasn't expecting the cat to answer her questions.

That isn't why you ask cats questions.

You ask cats questions because you're making friends with the kitty!

If a cat actually answered your question with something other than 'meow' that would be really weird.

Now, it should be noted that Lapis will recognize a few odd things about this cat. Mostly that the cat has a bunch of mass shuffled of elsewhere! Which is a pretty unusual thing for a cat to do. Unless-

"You're a weird kitty. I guess you must be one of Miss Eun's kitties, right?" Lapis asks as she heads off toward the door to the base with the cat still in her arms. "We'll get you back to Miss Eun and the other kitties, you'll be much happier there than our here with the airships."

Though, granted, there are probably more rats for a kitty to chase down here.

So!

Unless something very unusual happens Lapis will make her way to-

[Eun's Lab]

This time she isn't just going to appear in there since Lapis has learned that scares Miss Eun.

Instead she's going to knock on the door.

"Miss Eun one of your kitties got out she was down by the airship gantry!"

[Vahnavoi]

[Felicity's lab]

The holographic girl is mostly nodding along to Eun's metaphor before Felicity's sudden outburst. The girl turns towards Felicity and stares at her in confusion. "I do not understand your use of words", the girl says after a moment of silence. "Being is acting and acting is being." She looks and points at the triffids. "Those plants eat humans, therefore they are human-eaters. Any human valuing their safety would be right to kill them to prevent themselves from being eaten, because what they have done informs what they are, and what they are informs what they will do. Since different beings have different abilities and inclinations to act, promoting or eliminating some ways of acting promotes or eliminates some ways of being."

The little robot drives closer to the plants and the hologram bends to, seemingly, touch them. The girl closes her hands around the stalk of a triffid, appearing to choke the life out of it, but of course the plant is unharmed as she lacks physical substance. She keeps up the performance for a few seconds, before standing straight again and turning back to Felicity. "I do not know what these "eugenecists" would value so that it would make them consider another person their lesser - but given stuff like that serum-thingy you're working on, there is such big difference in what people can or may be able to do, and hence a big difference in who and what they can be, that such a judgement could be made by uncountable incongruent views of good and bad. I would guess that, given to enough people, that serum would eventually create people even you would want to kill just for who and what they are."

[Shadowcaller]

[Shrubomancy]

"Yes." Dr. Khafir replies bluntly. "Obfuscating the contents of these records was deemed insufficient. The purpose of our 'scheme', as you call it, was to obfuscate that the records existed in the first place. VIGIL does not frequently employ my services as a medical professional; were medical files to suddenly appear in our system with my name attached, it would be quite conspicuous." She crosses her arms and lets out a forced sigh. "Almost as conspicuous as inadvertently tripping local anti-infiltration measures. The disguise was meant to facilitate bringing the records into VIGIL without creating a trail pertaining to their arrival. The plan was to ship them in alongside something mundane... triffid clippings, in this case. They would arrive in the lab, I would remove the records, and the shipment would be labeled as brought to the wrong location as a result of human error. A simple smuggling operation, and nothing more."

"Despite the degree of suspicion with which you are obliged to treat this sort of thing, I assure you, Commander, there is no danger to VIGIL or its members within those records. You have my word." She rigidly extends her hand toward Cessie, slightly lower than before, going for a handshake instead of a handoff. "Trust me."

[Library]

"That works," says Cass, giving Anika an encouraging smile. "I suppose I should appreciate your discretion on this matter. I know there are probably some people here who might get the wrong idea from my studies, when you well know I mean this place no harm, nor anywhere else for that matter."

Cass looks away for a moment, apprehensively toying with the page of his book. "It's just knowledge that I'm after. Besides, I have Wenomir to look after me in case I start to go astray. And Geneviève, I suppose."

[Shrubomancy]

"Would you then mind if I had another doctor, with the same obligations as you, had a look at it before I turn it back over to you then? We can do it right away as to not cause more distress for your patient. But I'm afraid that I also need have someone look over this databank." She gestures at the device Lapis is still holding. "I know its a hassle but I need to take all of this seriously considering the nature of our organization or I wouldn't do my own job as a commander. I can see that you're taking your own job very seriously so I hope you can understand that."

She then goes for that handshake. Though, in case its relevant, Cessie is wearing a pair of enchanted gloves.

[Library]

"Of course I trust you, Cass. You're my friend." Anika declares, having no doubts of the mage's good intentions. "But are these, ah, shadows so dangerous as you need Wenomir to look out for you? Like me, I don't think he knows all that much about them. Or at least he never mentioned them to me." A beat. "And whose Geniv- Geneivive again?"

[Rebonack]

[Shrubomancy]

There's talk of giving the box to someone to read it.

Since it might have bad things in it.

But Lapis is pretty sure it doesn't have any bad things in it; it's just a machine mind.

Though she guesses sometimes minds can have bad things in them. Poisonous ideas that cause people to believe that bad things are actually good things.

Maybe Cessie is worried about those?

Lapis isn't sure.

But she also doesn't know anyone else who can learn from minds like what Cessie is talking about, except maybe Mother? There's probably someone at VIGIL who knows how to read machine minds. Right? Since VIGIL has lots of very smart people working to keep the world safe.

Regardless of the answer to that question Lapis hangs onto the box for now. Hopefully the person who the box is a copy of is doing okay. The mind in the box seemed very scared.

[5a Violista]

[Airship Ga- => Eun's Lab]

Harley the cat struggles a little, but doesn't want to hurt the child so she doesn't use her claws.

Eventually, though, she realizes this is a slightly safer way to get to the surface of the floating island. She can wait. So she stops struggling.

Well, it's safer. But it's boring. Being able to climb the outside would've been really exciting. But being carried to the surface is fine; she just needs to figure out a way to get away afterwards.

It's even better, since the labs are actually in the same building as the library, which is where she wants to go. So it appears Lapis is heading in the same direction Harley was headed anyway, so.

But that all changes when they pass the library to head down towards the labs. She watches the library door pass by.

Well, worst-case scenario, this 'Miss Eun' says she isn't one of her cats, and that's that. Then, already here, she can work on finding a way into the library.

[Ironsmith]

Felicity's Lab

"Logic has long been the weapon of eugenicists trying to convince others to kill those they consider lesser. Killing somebody for what they are is not ethical." Unless, maybe, what they are is 'a eugenicist'. "You can kill somebody for what they're doing, or perhaps what they have done. But not for who or what they are." That may be morality rather than ethics, but Felicity's not too clear on the distinction.

[Felicity's lab]

The holographic girl is mostly nodding along to Eun's metaphor before Felicity's sudden outburst. The girl turns towards Felicity and stares at her in confusion. "I do not understand your use of words", the girl says after a moment of silence. "Being is acting and acting is being." She looks and points at the triffids. "Those plants eat humans, therefore they are human-eaters. Any human valuing their safety would be right to kill them to prevent themselves from being eaten, because what they have done informs what they are, and what they are informs what they will do. Since different beings have different abilities and inclinations to act, promoting or eliminating some ways of acting promotes or eliminates some ways of being."

The little robot drives closer to the plants and the hologram bends to, seemingly, touch them. The girl closes her hands around the stalk of a triffid, appearing to choke the life out of it, but of course the plant is unharmed as she lacks physical substance. She keeps up the performance for a few seconds, before standing straight again and turning back to Felicity. "I do not know what these "eugenecists" would value so that it would make them consider another person their lesser - but given stuff like that serum-thingy you're working on, there is such big difference in what people can or may be able to do, and hence a big difference in who and what they can be, that such a judgement could be made by uncountable incongruent views of good and bad. I would guess that, given to enough people, that serum would eventually create people even you would want to kill just for who and what they are."

[Felicity's Lab]

"That's... um..." Eun wips her forehead nervously. Whew boy. She and Felicity are sitting in a room with an artificial life-form, talking with her about the merits of eugenics. That's an uncomfortably familiar scenario.

"It's... it's not quite that simple." She begins. "Strictly speaking, triffids don't eat humans. They eat meat. They were optimized to hunt humans, granted, but they aren't necessarily any more dangerous to humans than a lion or a bear would be. There's no reason why self-interested humans can't allow them to exist, so long as they aren't occupying the same space." She taps her goggles emphatically. "And even then, with some adaptations we can make, being the intelligent animals we are, it's entirely possible for us to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with these plants. They get food without needing to hunt, and are actively assisted in reproduction, and in return we humans get their byproducts for our own usage." She gives a little shrug. "The same general principle applies to the serum. We might end up creating people who are dangerous to us just by their being, but we're generally capable of adapting and generally benefit from doing so." She kneels next to the robot, seeming to stare at the girl's feet, but in reality looking directly into the panoramic camera she uses for eyes. "That goes for first contact with other intelligent beings, too. The safest option when stumbling across an AI with unknown intentions is elimination. What doesn't exist can't hurt you. But what's safe and what's right are not congruent concepts. So instead, we're taking measures to coexist... and if all goes well, everyone involved benefits in the long-term."

[Airship Gantry]

Lapis really wasn't expecting the cat to answer her questions.

That isn't why you ask cats questions.

You ask cats questions because you're making friends with the kitty!

If a cat actually answered your question with something other than 'meow' that would be really weird.

Now, it should be noted that Lapis will recognize a few odd things about this cat. Mostly that the cat has a bunch of mass shuffled of elsewhere! Which is a pretty unusual thing for a cat to do. Unless-

"You're a weird kitty. I guess you must be one of Miss Eun's kitties, right?" Lapis asks as she heads off toward the door to the base with the cat still in her arms. "We'll get you back to Miss Eun and the other kitties, you'll be much happier there than our here with the airships."

Though, granted, there are probably more rats for a kitty to chase down here.

So!

Unless something very unusual happens Lapis will make her way to-

[Eun's Lab]

This time she isn't just going to appear in there since Lapis has learned that scares Miss Eun.

Instead she's going to knock on the door.

"Miss Eun one of your kitties got out she was down by the airship gantry!"

[Airship Ga- => Eun's Lab]

Harley the cat struggles a little, but doesn't want to hurt the child so she doesn't use her claws.

Eventually, though, she realizes this is a slightly safer way to get to the surface of the floating island. She can wait. So she stops struggling.

Well, it's safer. But it's boring. Being able to climb the outside would've been really exciting. But being carried to the surface is fine; she just needs to figure out a way to get away afterwards.

It's even better, since the labs are actually in the same building as the library, which is where she wants to go. So it appears Lapis is heading in the same direction Harley was headed anyway, so.

But that all changes when they pass the library to head down towards the labs. She watches the library door pass by.

Well, worst-case scenario, this 'Miss Eun' says she isn't one of her cats, and that's that. Then, already here, she can work on finding a way into the library.

[Eun's Lab]

When Lapis goes to knock, she's going to hear a startled squeal from the inside of the lab. Not an "oh gosh you scared me" human squeal, something a little more animalistic. This is going to be followed by the rapid muttering of several words Lapis shouldn't be hearing yet, followed at last by Eun opening the door a crack, such that she's still mostly hidden behind it. She has a scarf wrapped around the lower part of her face, covering everything from the nose down.

The corners of her eyes press up as she gives Lapis an embarrassed smile under the scarf. "Oh, hi!" She greets, looking over the half-elf child and the cat in her arms. "Did you say that's one of mine?" She asks, nervously adjusting her glasses. "Um... sorry, I don't think so. None of my cats look like that." She reaches out and gives Harley a friendly scratch behind the ears. "What were you doing out on the gantry, little guy?" She croons. "That's a good way to get hurt, yeah!"

[Shrubomancy]

"Would you then mind if I had another doctor, with the same obligations as you, had a look at it before I turn it back over to you then? We can do it right away as to not cause more distress for your patient. But I'm afraid that I also need have someone look over this databank." She gestures at the device Lapis is still holding. "I know its a hassle but I need to take all of this seriously considering the nature of our organization or I wouldn't do my own job as a commander. I can see that you're taking your own job very seriously so I hope you can understand that."

She then goes for that handshake. Though, in case its relevant, Cessie is wearing a pair of enchanted gloves.

[Shrubomancy]

There's talk of giving the box to someone to read it.

Since it might have bad things in it.

But Lapis is pretty sure it doesn't have any bad things in it; it's just a machine mind.

Though she guesses sometimes minds can have bad things in them. Poisonous ideas that cause people to believe that bad things are actually good things.

Maybe Cessie is worried about those?

Lapis isn't sure.

But she also doesn't know anyone else who can learn from minds like what Cessie is talking about, except maybe Mother? There's probably someone at VIGIL who knows how to read machine minds. Right? Since VIGIL has lots of very smart people working to keep the world safe.

Regardless of the answer to that question Lapis hangs onto the box for now. Hopefully the person who the box is a copy of is doing okay. The mind in the box seemed very scared.

[Shrubomancy]

Khafir pulls her hand back slightly, quietly indicating she has an objection to that plan of action. "...With all due respect, commander." She begins. "I don't believe you quite realize what you're asking. That drive contains several petabytes of information. It could take years to properly analyze without the appropriate tools, which I do not believe VIGIL has access to... with the exception of those I myself can provide. My patient does not have that kind of time."

"However, I would be willing to cooperate on a joint operation, between myself and another doctor." She adds quickly. "You will have another set of eyes watching my actions at all times. You would not have to, as the saying goes, 'take my word for it', where the drive is concerned. Would that be sufficiently secure?"

[Rebonack]

[Eun's Lab]

"She was being sneaky looking for mice and rats and things I think," Lapis reasons. "She must have come up on an airship and then got stuck?"

Lapis believes that's a pretty good explanation.

But Miss Eun's comment about this kitty not being HER kitty is troubling.

Troubling enough to cause Lapis to frown a little!

"She isn't?" the girl asks, looking down at the cat in her arms. "But she's got a bunch of extra mass all curled up outways like your kitties do. That's why they can get bigger or smaller like those other weird animals."

Lapis holds Harley out in front of herself so she can examine the cat eye-to-eye. "What are your secrets, Miss Kitty? Did you escape from Miss Sara's lab?"

She's expecting another 'meow' here.

"Do you want to keep this kitty, Miss Eun? The animals at Miss Sara's lab seemed like they wanted to be friends with people but Miss Sara wasn't letting them," she confides in Eun. "Or... I guess I could just take the kitty to work with me. She can probably help me chase birds."

Kitties are notoriously skilled at bird-chasing.

A beat.

"Miss Eun how come you're wearing a thing over your face are you sick?" the girl prods, sounding a little worried about the well-being of her friend.

[Shadowcaller]

[Shrubomancy]

Khafir's first question causes Cessie to pause. "Well, the person I had in mind uses 'magic' to analyze technology. Though I can't actually say if she'd be able to do it in an instant or within a reasonable timeframe." She didn't know much about how Mia's magic worked honestly.

"But... surely you don't need all the data in here? Can't you copy what you need before Mia takes a look at it? I'm pretty sure its standard practice to have backup copies of patient files anyway. Otherwise I suppose I have to agree. I'll have another doctor come over here as soon as possible."