A new Month, a new Test drive! Happy Early April.

[rubycitymods]

Thinking of apping a character but not sure they'll fit in the city walls?

Have no fear, a meme for you is here.


Directions:

Post with your character with their name and canon on top!

Choose a location and prompt or wait for someone else to tag.

If you'd like, leave contact info for people to get in contact for plotting and other such shenans.

Tag around! Make friends. Don't be afraid to chat OOC while tagging.



Locations:

1. Train Station: New arrival, or waiting to welcome people? Either way, the train comes in, but you still can't ride it out.

2. Cathedral: Looking for redemption? Just doing a little sight-seeing? Or just getting a little shelter?

3. The Clocktower: You can see the whole city from here!

4. The Black Stallion Saloon: You were told the burgers were great here-- but maybe you just came for the beer.

5. The Library: You came to do a little research, but it looks like all of the information's just out of your reach. Though, you can always find a way to pass the time here.

6. The Coffee Joint: A lovely place to have a chat and a bite to eat.

7. Le Cafe Anglais: A Parisian-British fusion that's as charming as it sounds and serves the best tea around.


Scenarios

1. Just walked in: You intended to get here, and you made your way in; but now someone's caught your eye and you'd like to have a chat.

2. Been here all day: You've been sitting around minding the time. Maybe you didn't notice them at first or maybe you were just working up the courage to talk-- either way, they know you're here and you know it too.

3. Bad weather: You're here because you've gotten rained in. This wasn't your choice, but at least it's dry-- right?

4. Wild card: Got something better in mind? Well screw these prompts, try it out yourself!


Have fun, guys!

Comments

if i bring her in they will absolutely have to become friends

[rayya]

[ Tali steps off the wall and lowers her pistol. it is just a girl. she sounds alright, too; with that strange shuttle, this looks like such an old civilisation that she'd worried whoever was left might be a little unhinged. ]

My name is Tali'Zorah vas... Normandy nar Rayya. [ her new official name, she guesses. she's still getting used to it. ] Can you tell me where—

[ she had been absently running a scan with her omni-tool while she spoke, to check the girl for the usual things; biotics, disease, weaponry. her omni-tool reads something that is distinctly not living, and Tali's pistol goes straight back up. she takes careful steps around the girl, poised for a fight rather than mere caution this time. EDI is one thing, but this synthetic is so— so human. the body is complex, it has distinct personality, it's almost a perfect mimic of a human girl. that's not right. who made this robot? didn't anyone learn anything from their stupidity with the geth? ]

You're a synthetic! What kind of AI are you?!

Yes yes i would love this. THis is a wonderful thing.

[unit031]

[ Oh there she is and wow this person is not human. Neat! Labrys looks interested and eager to reply until--

Oh jeez. That's a gun. Labrys immediately hoists her axe from her back, holding it out in a defensive position. ]

Hey now lady! Calm down! [ Labrys drops the axe a little. She'll use it if she has to but--- ] I'm a Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. Not that I think that means anything to you...

[rayya]

... No. It doesn't.

[ Labrys' reactions are so emotional that Tali is reluctant to have to think about putting a bullet between her eyes, but there is no way she's not keeping her gun on an armed AI. Keelah, why does this have to happen now? she can handle herself in a fight, sure, but she would really like Shepard here for this. should she... should she just shoot while she has a chance? Shepard always tries to talk first, but - but who talks to an AI? ]

Who made you? What are you doing here?

[unit031]

Uh, well, this is more things that don't mean anything to you but; I was created by the Kirijo group which is a privately funded company? And uh. I'm here because I'm forced to? Like you?

[ Labrys jerks her head in the direction of the train, which is quietly rolling away. ]

Sorry but uh-- we've all been kidnapped. It pretty much sucks.

[ To put it frankly. ]

[rayya]

Privately funded by who? Who is in the company? Quarians are the only race who have ever made fully functional AI like this, and we haven't tried again! We wouldn't! Was it humans?!

[ where she is and how she got here is important, but she can't ignore this AI matter. the quarians are struggling enough with the geth right now, politically as well as in their military. not to mention the Reapers. they don't need new, even more complex AI to deal with on top of all that. can't the galaxy ever catch a break? ]

[unit031]

Well, I mean, I dunno. [ Labrys looks baffled. It wasn't like she'd ever been given financial records before. ] Somebody? Look, lady, I've never even heard of a Quarian before. I was made by humans, sure, but listen, I don't think we're on the same page. Thinks work differently here. We're probably from different worlds! Or. Universes or whatever.

[ She's not convincing, I'm very sorry.

But wait-- ]

--And hey, I'm a person! It's not "like this" it's "like you". Get it right.

[rayya]

An AI isn't a person, it's a synthetic! [ she jabs her gun forwards to emphasise her words, and it doesn't sound like her mind is going to be changed. it also sounds like something of a sore spot for her. ]

Of course we're from different "worlds", but people normally don't say it like that. You were probably made in a lab somewhere, and who knows how long you've been on this colony. I come from a flotilla, because my people were driven off our homeworld by AIs. [ if she could give Labrys a pointed look through her helmet, she would. ] It's obvious that things would work differently between them. It does not change what you are.

[unit031]

[ Labrys rears slightly. Ok what. No. Oh my god. Labrys's face is disbelieving, incredulous, and all together alarmed. ]

Excuse you?

[ In a quick motion, Labrys slams the business head of her axe into the ground, the handle sticking up into the air within easy reach. Her hands now free, she places them on her hips, leaning in. Maybe not the most defensive position ever, but she's got bigger fish to fry. ]

I am very much a person! I'm sorry what happened with your homeworld, but I'm telling you this, sister, AI's are different where I come from! It's 2013 for chrissakes, we don't even have sophisticated space flight travel! I have emotions, thoughts, freedom of speech, and the ability to be hurt by the words of others. I got a soul!

[rayya]

[ the most shocking part of that - aside from the battle axe being slammed down, which very nearly makes Tali pull the trigger - is that it sounds so... real. AI might have complex thoughts, but they don't have emotions; there's nothing in them to simulate feelings or personality, no programming in them that tells them how, no reason for them to even desire such a thing. the geth wanted purpose, wanted to know the reason for their existence, but a soul? is going on here? surely humans couldn't have made something so-- wait, did the AI say 2013? ]

Okay. Either your programming is way off, or whatever is going on here is even weirder than I thought. [ and finding herself on an old shuttle in a colony with no communications and no idea how or when she got here is already really weird. ] Your tech must be up to date if your translator can understand me, but for your contextual knowledge to be that out...

[ she shakes her head and adjusts her pistol. ] It's 2185. Humans made their - what do they call it, First Contact? It was a while ago.

[unit031]

My programming has its flaws, but my date ain't wrong. People get pulled from different points in time a lot. I got friends who are still from 2006 or even later than that. Some people don't even use that method of dating stuff, it's weird.

[ She huffs and leans back into a normal standing position, hands still on her hips. ]

I told ya, people come from different worlds. It's like an alternate dimension then, you feel me?

...also everything translates immediately due to magic mumbo jumbo. As far as I know, the only language I can speak is Japanese but everybody else speaks English or somethin'.

[ kanyeshrug. Jamjar's, what're y'gonna do? ]

[rayya]

Right. Like I'm going to believe that.

[ this is going nowhere. she can't just stand here arguing with an AI, she needs to find out where she is and how to get back to the ship. but she can't turn her back on this synthetic, because there's no way she can trust it not to stab her in the back. if an AI really does have emotions, a personality, humanity... can she really just shoot it in cold blood? ugh. why did things have to get complicated? ]

Look, it's pointless to argue about this. You have no proof, and I'm definitely not going to trust an AI. If you really are trying to help me, can you just tell me what planet this is? I'll restore communications myself.

[unit031]

--Uh. Well. That's a great question.

[ Really, it is. What planet is this? Well. It isn't one. That's a whole....thing. Really. Words; how does one describe the floating rock they're currently inhabiting? ]

We're not....on one.

[ Labrys looks a little perturbed by the idea herself. ]

It's complicated. If you walk out to the outer edge which is I guess a couple days hike from here it's just-- nothin'. Void, I guess.

[rayya]

[ behind her visor, Tali's expression is utterly unimpressed. she would cross her arms to emphasize it, if it weren't absolutely vital for her to have a ready weapon between herself and a sophisticated AI. ]

Well, if this isn't a planet, then it must be a space station. What system are we in? Surely you at least know that much.

[unit031]

[ It's Labrys's turn for an unimpressed look. ]

I don't know. Nobody knows. Things are weird here, okay? We all arrive on the train and then we can't leave and to make matters worse, we got basically nothin' in terms of technology. Do you know how hard it is to keep up with your maintenance when all you got is a screwdriver and hope? We don't even know where we are!

[ She looks frustrated. This has bothered her a lot and she's done everything in her power to figure it out, but the library has nothing on it. She should know, she read it all. ]

I'm sorry. You're stuck. We all are.

[rayya]

[ she shakes her head. ]

That can't be true. None of it can! No one has the technology to just take people from moving ships, not even the Reapers. I...

[ she doesn't believe it, doesn't want to believe it, but the panic is setting in anyway. she needs to go and look around, see everything for herself, because surely there is something for a quarian to salvage, something that could break through whatever signal jammer is interfering with her communications, but-- damn it. as reluctant as she is to take her pistol off Labrys for even a second, she starts fiddling with her omni-tool, trying to get a connection. the distress is starting to come through in her voice. ]

Normandy. Come in, Normandy! Damn it, Shepard, I have a situation here!

[unit031]

[ Labrys feels conflicted watching the display. Sure, the woman had been pointing a gun at her for the past few minutes and saying that she wasn't a person and all that but-- well. Labrys had dealt with that before. She couldn't help but wring her hands a little, despite the fact that she couldn't feel it. ]

Look, miss, I'm sorry. Maybe one of your friends will show up, y'never know. That happens! My friend showed up at the same time I did! [ She droops slightly. ] He disappeared though. Went back home, I guess.

[rayya]

Disappeared?

[ there are two possibilities here. either the AI is lying through its teeth, in which case that will come to light soon and Tali will blow its head off with a shotgun if she has to - or the AI knows at least something about what is going on here, and it can be relied on for information if nothing else, at least until she can call the Normandy and ask Shepard for a decision.

cooperating with a full synthetic? after that big argument about the geth on the Rayya? the Fleet would have her head for this. ]

... I think I'm going to need a lot more information than that. [ she may have already made the decision to play nice(r) for now, but it's a lot harder to actually holster her pistol, and she does so with great reluctance. ] I'm not comfortable with letting you out of my sight just yet. But if I can get some proof that you are what you say you are - that this place is what you say - then I'll... stand down.

[ she points a finger at Labrys. ] But if you turn on me, then I won't hesitate to kill you.

[unit031]

If you want, I can find you somebody better with words? Or who might know more than me?

[ There were a few people she knew who could probably fit that bill. And...they weren't robots so Tali would probably...listen.... to them....

Okay that hurt.

But she had bigger fish to fry, she could be frustrated about it later. ]

Gotcha. Not that I was plannin' on doin' that anyway, but--

[ Labrys hoists her axe up, collapsing the handle and putting it back in its holster on her back. ]

--okay. You ready?