{action}

[guidance]

base:

[waking up, Fi finds herself definitely not in water. everything about the situation registers on her systems as new, and yet corresponding to the dream that was so fresh in memory. curious. strange. worthy of investigation - instinctively, she knows that to sit and wait idly is not the best course of action. there will be time for rest later.

so she begins to look around, beginning from the second floor, leaving the Sea Equipment room with the drone that had greeted her following behind after they exchange telepathic pleasantries and "Miss Fi" states her intentions. nowhere that anyone else can go is off limits in her investigation. Fi floats, gliding in the air gracefully, taking in locations and what the rooms seem to be purposed for. all for the sake of data. all for the sake of understanding and building a complete map as soon as possible. poking her head into everything, she can't be anything else other than another new arrival.

Fi doesn't greet others first, but she pauses and will remain a respectful distance away from them when she sees them, looking and observing who they are and what they seem like to her. sorry to those that find the looks that are halfway to staring more unsettling than polite. she wants the lay of the land before anything else, including names.]

water:

[of course, the base is not the only place to go. the world outside is far greater in scale and still calls to her to come and see without stopping. a wetsuit is not even a thought for her, and she drifts through the water as she is, a streak of blue that doesn't so much swim as simply travel through the water. but her work is interrupted by those of the aquatic species that come to satisfy their own curiosity, the more bold or friendly sorts coming closer and causing her to halt and acknowledge them.

for them, she drifts a little, lets them come closer or turns so that the edges of her cape fan out, as interested in them as they are her. the concept of some of them being dangerous is there, but she wants to know. wants to see them, record them, take in the data about them if it's allowed. in a way, she looks like she's having fun, as though they're innocently trying to communicate instead of a mutual moment of trying to understand what the other species is about.

there are different types - rabbitrays, some are called, gasopods another, or hoverfish another group, so URSULA's logs will say when she looks at them later. so much to learn. so much to see.]

wildcard.

[Fi is pretty much anywhere and everywhere right now, so if you have a scene in mind you want, go for it! cave exploring, floating in the dreamscape, whatever's wished.]

Comments

[guidance]

Protective gear is unnecessary for me. However, if you would like me to leave, I can certainly do so.

[the telepathy that comes back is factual, almost immediate like a conversation would be. unless Valentine tells her to leave again, Fi continues in her observations of this section of the base - she touches and disturbs nothing, she is only looking, even coming closer in her scanning of the room, calculating what it is used for.]

[inject]

[ Valentine turned around and - raised her brows. She'd seen weirder things than Fi before, but it didn't mean she wasn't surprising to see. She struck a very elegant figure, and looked both manufactured and entirely... well, spiritual.

Like a remote parasite. ]

Decontaminate yourself and you can come as close as you like.

[ She turned around, but her body thrummed with tension - like she was waiting to see what Fi might do. ]

[guidance]

[her tension was noted, but Fi said nothing in regards to it, instead going off to where she and the drone can be decontaminated. it will press the buttons needed, and then she returns to peer at what Valentine is doing. innocent, absent of any bloodlust or danger.]

What is it that you are working on?

[inject]

[ She wondered if she'd be able to test this... woman? It would be interesting to see if she resonated with Theonic energy. ]

I'm examining the culture pots that we've been growing the Disease that was contracted here.

[ The 'Jellyshroom Sickness.' She jerked her head in the direction of a free datapad. ]

There are details on there.

[ She was still thrumming with repressed energy, trying to make herself aware of Fi's movements and motions without outright looking at her. She really was quite fascinating. ]

[guidance]

[all you would have to do is ask, Valentine. Fi's amiable enough about things.

being directed towards the datapad, she glides over to it, accessing the information not with button presses but with thought, asking the technology to tell her what she wished. the information flows directly to her then, being recorded and stored as it is written.

all of her motions, Valentine will note, have the same supernatural grace. a fluidity that belongs to a spirit rather than something truly flesh and blood, and no attempts to hide it.]

I see. Are you working with more experimentation on it, or progressing on the cure?

[inject]

[ She had to admit most of the parasites she'd studied were a lot more primal in nature than this. The only one that came close was that one that looked like a cello. Samson, Leviathan, and the often-heard-of Sekhmet were considerably more bestial. There was a similar sort of grace in the Buer Drive, but even then that had the ragged elegance of a machine.

Fi really was fascinating to watch. ]

Can't it be both? At this point I've come to a wall with a cure, but we can manage the illness currently. I don't intend to let it stay that way.

[guidance]

A sound answer.

[from management to eradication. that is the conclusion she reaches in her mind - though the information said it was not deadly, it was still inadvisable to contract it. it's something she'll have to think over to gain more insight on.

but to the other point, she turns around, and even if she can't stare into Valentine's eyes, her look is almost sharp.]

From you I hypothesize there is a high probability that there is something you wish to ask me.

[the margin for error was simply that this woman did not like a stranger in her space, or something else. but Fi knows when she's being watched.]

[inject]

[ She raised an eyebrow. The sharp look wasn't lost on her, but she'd given and received many before. ] Do you? Is observation before questioning a crime? [ She gave a small laugh. Might as well share: ]

You remind me of a certain type of creature from my home. They are - [ godlike, spiritual, crafted ] - living weapons, to put it bluntly, bonded to a single individual. I haven't seen anything else like them here, and your similarities in appearance and aura put me in mind. So I was watching you. That's all.

[guidance]

They sound similar to myself.

[multiple ones? hm. the gods must have their purposes.]

For I am the spirit of the Goddess's sword, created by Her.

[not bonded in quite the same way, but in another. Fi has no qualms offering this information up - what could she do with it but know?]

[inject]

[ This was not the same place. The Goddess might not be the Mother, or Venus, or Aeon. Valentine controlled her leap of interest, keeping her face perfectly neutral and her voice level. ]

Then, where I am from, you would be considered a remote parasite.

[ Which meant she would have had a host. Were they here? It was unheard of for a parasite to be so functional without a host; even the remote ones went into a stasis when not bonded.

She let her gaze turn contemplative. ] How unusual... of all the people from all the worlds, I'd not come across something similar to a creature from home until just now. Pardon my interest.

[guidance]

If you have questions, you may ask them.

[blunt, but also gentle. why hold back, when the information she held was not a secret anymore with the conclusion of everything that had occurred?]

Your "remote parasites." How many are there in your world?

[for what purpose were they made?]

[inject]

[ Hey, she can appreciate blunt. And question for a question seemed fair. ]

Several. Far from common, and mostly all hidden. [ Though the types that were more obviously weapons, like Krieg or Vice Versa, were generally more accepted than, for example, Samson or Leviathan. ]

How many like you in yours?

[guidance]

Only myself.

[because to her knowledge, the other had broken. he was gone, his existence ended. therefore, he is not worth mentioning - Valentine's question was "how many are", not "how many were."

(if she was more human, maybe this would be considered a petty judgement call, to not mention him. but she categorizes it as the logical choice.)]

[inject]

[ Strictly speaking, Valentine had deliberately not used either 'are' or 'is'. The problem with using vague language, however, was that someone could decide to answer it in a way that was strictly true, too. Ah, well. She had no reason to doubt Fi, but had to admit she was a little disappointed. ]

I see. How lonely for you.

[guidance]

Loneliness is not something I was crafted to consider. I have my purpose. That is all.

[a weapon should not possess the ability to be lonely. that is something far more human than they are. loneliness, another concept she would have to analyze and consider in a block of time, to learn factually in and out and then to let it rest where it was.]

[inject]

I said that it was lonely. Not that you felt lonely.

[ Valentine honestly did not care. It was just interesting to her that only one seemed to exist. ]

For what purpose did you 'Goddess' make you?

[guidance]

To assist her chosen one in his trials and task. And so I did.

[success. neither bitter nor sweet. only the comfort of the world still existing, full of life and light.]

[inject]

[ Now that had darker connotations for Valentine. The last creature that could have said that from her world was not a remote parasite. If she weren't in better control of her reactions, her eyes would have narrowed and her lips twisted in distaste at the memory of 'Sister Agatha'. ]

And was there a particular manner in which she 'chose' someone?

[guidance]

There was only one. Only the one who would have the strength of spirit and the will to see it through. She foresaw, from a place unreachable by time, and so She made a plan. And he chose to take up this destiny before him, and so begin the journey.

[chosen, because She knew. She understood everything surrounding. it had to be him - and She had understood what She was doing.]

[inject]

[ It did nothing to stop the hairs on the back of Valentine's neck from rising. Couched in exactly those terms, she could see that being the reason for the Skullgirl. Well, maybe with the 'he' pronoun removed. ]

Well, that mystical jargon can mean many things, can't it? But I won't press. Who are we to know the wills of gods, hmm?

[ Me, she thought to herself. It was what she was planning to do once she got back. Defeat Marie, take the heart for herself, learn and attack from the inside.

And then let Carol put her down. ]

You're certainly a very sleek creature... but don't look best suited for combat. How are you made to provide support to the chosen one?

[guidance]

I was made to provide a variety of functions to aid him. And appearances do not register much in combat situations.

[this form, perhaps not the same. but...to change...]

I was his guide and his servant both.

[inject]

[ ... Hm... ]

Do you have a will of your own?

[guidance]

I am capable of making decisions and following a course of action.

[define will, Valentine. define your own.]

[inject]

[ So was Double. ]

So's the app on these communicator devices. Can you think and feel for yourself and draw conclusions based on that input?