Deerington IC Inbox

[eudaimonikos]

INBOX text / audio / video / action Hello, this is Michael. I can't pick up right now, please leave a message. code credit

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[phaseflex]

Only one way to find out, I guess.

[she's into getting a bunch of candy. wouldn't mind sharing it with the wastes, either. she takes the lighter back and lights her own pumpkin, watching the flame come to life. her artwork isn't anywhere near as good as michael's but shes' not bothered.

amara'd look over at what michael's doing, but she's preoccupied. a ghostly image of a woman has appeared over her own.]

...Hm.

[eudaimonikos]

...is that supposed to happen?

[Michael's own pumpkin has created the ghostly image of a woman as well! He feels like that's not supposed to happen.]

[phaseflex]

I have no idea. [amara reaches out, her fingertips hovering over the siren tattoos on maya's arm that match her own.] But I'm not surprised.

[she glances over to janet.]

Friend of yours?

[eudaimonikos]

Oh - [He turns from his inspection of the phantom.] - oh, yes! This is Janet.

[Janet waves!]

She's a Janet, sort of an artificial assistant for the afterlife. I've known her a good three hundred years or so.

[phaseflex]

Hey, Janet. [amara waves back, because she is polite. maya waves too, though she seems quite confused about the whole situation. amara seems to be pointedly avoiding her line of sight.] An AI that's actually useful? Incredible.

[a beat, then:] Unless she's going to haunt us. Then I don't care for it. Be cool, Janet.

[eudaimonikos]

That's...maybe what this is, a little bit, isn't it?

[Spooky pumpkin ghosts? Or maybe they're just projections - he puts his hand above his pumpkin, between Janet and the candle, to no apparent effect.

Also, he'd sort of expected an introduction in return? When it doesn't come, he nods towards Maya.]

Who's she?

[phaseflex]

...Yeah. [she looks back to maya, finally.] Another Siren. She's dead.

[maya looks away at that, the same way amara had. seems there's something between them over that-- though maya wouldn't blame the vault hunters for her demise. amara's own self-blame is another story entirely.]

I am sorry for your loss, [she says, nodding towards janet. this means janet is dead too, right?]

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Michael frowns contemplatively, and almost misses that second bit.]

Hm? Oh - no, no, Janet isn't dead-dead. She's just in the afterlife. Like...all the dead humans, I guess, but it's different.

[phaseflex]

Like you? Hold on-- are you an AI too?

[it's not asked judgementally; more with interest. a lot of his abilities will make sense if he's a robot!]

[eudaimonikos]

No, no. We just sort of poofed into being, when time started.

[Which explains nothing, really, but Michael accepted a while ago that there's no great secret origin for them.]

The angels made Janets first, during the whole afterlife setup. Then we ripped off their designs, made Bad Janets...Janet's a Good Place Janet, though.

[phaseflex]

Huh. Fair enough.

[that is not something amara cares to pick apart, either.]

What's the difference between her and the Bad Janets?

[eudaimonikos]

Level of rudeness, mostly. Fashion choices. And Bad Janets like to bleach their hair. It's all - I mean, they suck a little bit, but they were just programmed that way, it's mostly just superficial.

[Maybe not the answer he'd have had a few months ago, but hey, that one Bad Janet really came through for everyone!]

[phaseflex]

It seems... unnecessary to program them that way. How is this Angel Janet programmed?

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, she was always very helpful and nice. Nicer than I deserved, really. But now she's gained self-awareness and all of that, so.

[Michael shrugs. Frankly, he's a little unclear on how much effect all the reboots had, exactly, but according to Janet herself it did something.]

I don't think the programming governs too much anymore.

[phaseflex]

Huh. Guess it wouldn't.

[seems like anything is possible in the afterlife. amara falls silent for a long few moments, looking between the two images.

finally:] Do you miss her?

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael's quiet for a moment.]

...yeah. I do. She's the only person who's been with me...all the time. Through everything.

[..........]

It's barely been a year, though.

[phaseflex]

[you know, given how he presents himself, lonely is the last thing amara would've ever thought of michael. guess she's never really thought about his situation too deeply. she always assumed he had quite a few people around him, seeing how easily he integrates with them.]

Doesn't mean it can't hurt for a year. That year might feel longer than a billion if you spend it missing someone so important.

[eudaimonikos]

Mmmmh.

[Michael hasn't had friends for very long. He still hasn't really learned how to handle being without them. You'd think, after living most of his life more-or-less alone, he'd be better...

...he feels silly complaining to Amara, anyway. Amara's friend is dead. As far as humans are concerned, that's pretty much it; he can't even promise her that they'd meet again in the afterlife.]

Yeah, it sucks.

[phaseflex]

[she doesn't seem to mind, at any rate.]

I'm sorry. Maybe she'll wake up here. Maybe you'll wake up eventually. [amara shrugs a shoulder.] I think you would've liked Maya. She was quite fond of philosophy.

[eudaimonikos]

Oh, yeah?

[He doesn't really know how to talk to people about dead folks - he's usually on the other side of that particular equation - but it seems safe enough to ask.]

[phaseflex]

[amara's... had time to deal with it, as well as avenging maya's death. she still grieves, of course, on a different level to the rest of the vault hunters for finally meeting more of her siren sisters them losing them to the war.]

Yeah. I think in our current situation most Sirens have to fight, and Maya was more than capable of it. She retired to Athenas to study. [amara glances over to michael.] You know what ancient pacifistic monk planets are like. All about the spritualism and big questions.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael chuckles a little.]

Yeah, I know a few people who would've loved that. Don't know if I could do it all day long, myself.

[phaseflex]

I'd need to put the philosophy into motion. Punch some people. See what happens.

[she glances back to janet.]

What was Janet like?

[eudaimonikos]

I think I've always been a little more practical, too. Sometimes you gotta do stuff that's just not morally ideal. [shrug] Of course, there's a philosophy for that, too.

[He could go into it, if he thought Amara cared at all, but. Come on.]

She's so...incredibly competent. I've always admired her for that. [Well, maybe not "always", but Past Michael doesn't count.] She's a vessel for all the knowledge in the universe, so she's got that going, but she's also very good at fighting! Much better than I am. She cleared out a whole bar full of demons one time, practically single-handed. You'd have liked that, it was incredible!

[phaseflex]

I'm fond practitioner of punchology. [she thinks she's so funny.] I'm swooning already. Do you think she knows about this other universe stuff, then?