Inbox & In-person meetups

[dollmaxing]

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Hiiii! You've reached Ichinose Kuon, head of AI research and development. Leave a message and I'll get back to you!

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[takutomaruki]

A few seconds after this message is sent on the network, Maruki's had enough.

He leans back in his chair, tilting his head to find Ichinose furiously typing away on her phone. He sighs as he finds her making it past one line, and he finally dives down and grabs his phone from her hands. It's quick. A sharp movement through and through as he whips it away from her.

"Ichinose-san, that's enough! You are already in the hole, you need to stop digging-!" And with those words of wisdom, he took his phone and looked at Zenkichi's text- taking quick advantage of his height if she tried to snatch it back with his hand held out.

Might as well just talk personally. Why do all this?

[dollmaxing]

Though she could have tried to swipe for it, Ichinose just grouchily clicked her tongue in disapproval, putting her hands on her hips.

She was frustrated. Not about the explanation of what an alternate world version of her did, that was understandable. Not even that she was pulled up in association with that other 'her' - she didn't agree with being conflated, but it would be the more forward thinking and wise thing to do.

No, she was frustrated and offended at her own perception of the interaction being downplayed.

"I am not just going to sit here and let them paint me as being some manipulator for-- being completely rational in seeking refuge after all of that. Especially after what you said happened to you!"

tw: nsfw insult 1/2

[takutomaruki]

Maruki levels her a look, relatively completely understanding where she's coming from. In fact, he could even see a mirror to his own frustrations surfacing like an old nostalgia movie playing with a laughing track in the background.

"You know what else I had mentioned?" He doesn't turn off the phone yet, still wanting to keep an eye on the post, but for now he turns his attention entirely on her. "The online debates that was lead by a myriad of insults which made my head spin."

"Just trying to avoid history repeating itself. You don't want to be called a brainwashing maniac who goes about jerking off on their- " he stops as he runs his other hand through his face. "...stem degree, right? Especially to the face."

2/2

[takutomaruki]

He lowers it and suddenly, he looks so much more miserable then before. "I hated every second of having to listen through all of that."

[dollmaxing]

The urge to argue back died as she watched Maruki sink in miserably on himself. She has no idea why a crude insult like that bothered the man so much, but then again, her feeling frustrated about her own fears being invalidated probably didn't make much sense either.

...They ought to, though - she thought they were imminently obvious. Maybe men just didn't quite have the same experience.

"It wasn't debating morality or cognitive psience," she protested, affectation completely flat as she shoved her phone in her pocket.

[takutomaruki]

"I know," he sighed as he brought up his phone again but only looked at his face reflecting off the screen- catching the flat affectation just the same. "At some point, it's not even about that anymore. It's all just a very ugly misconstrued misunderstanding that only bellows in waves."

He hunches forward and goes over Flutter again.

"You care to hear one constructive criticism?" He says as he scrolls over the entire conversation she's just had with Zenkichi before raising a brow at her, expression nearly melting into amusement.

[dollmaxing]

"Something tells me it's coming anyway," she rolled her eyes, very deliberately, and the playful affectation slowly returned to her tone. No point in being supposedly abrasive.

really a few days after the party- somewhere around late april

[counterfeitphantom]

Hey.

Pst pst.

I am hopping on your phone in 5 minutes

respond rn

[dollmaxing]

Oh hoh... finally about that time, huh? Ichinose hum-chuckled in amusement, picking up the bugged phone and typing into it.

Sure! There's no mic on this one, but I'll plug it into my PC. You'll be able to access the code in progress directly and snoop to your heart's content.

No firewalls, no worms, no tricks. She's keeping this workspace completely clean - anything to keep the barrel of a gun away from her head again!

[counterfeitphantom]

Akane didn't really return Ichinose's amusement, but to be fair, she was quick and answered on time. It's not a bad start.

The Wi-Fi DNS address wasn't public, and what was even worse, considering she was dealing with a computer in a cognitive space. That meant uncertainty and human speculation getting in the way of her usual dabbling, and that meant less distance. She needed more access.

Or maybe she should keep things primitive to be safe.

Don't need your phone's microphone.

But I am more comfy on PC so sure.

She instead wiretapped all devices the phone was connected to the port that she had found through the phone's system files, switching between augmented tabs hovering in her space as her fingers fiddled with the keys.

There was already code in progress, huh?

Wear your headphones. You should be able to talk to me properly through them.

And sure enough, there was a lingering green dot at the corner of her phone's screen, signalling the status of her call.

[dollmaxing]

"Hmmhmm, hmmhmm~♪" Ichinose hummed as she plucked the headset out from her desk drawer, settling it on her head after taking off her earring. It didn't hurt or anything, but it was annoying with the headphones pressing on it.

The code itself was a work in progress - disjointed functions and commands yet to be applied in a proper structure and listed along with notes on EMMA's coding based entirely on Ichinose's recollection.

There we go, join the call... ah hah!

"Aaaand connected! Good timing - I need to go over what EMMA looks like in your time to put these puzzle pieces together. Some functions might not even work by your time, honestly. That'll be fun to puzzle out."

[counterfeitphantom]

True to word, Akane sure was comfy with the PC. The cognitive walls built in subjectively with the basic idea of thought had made it easily accessible for Akane to poke through the live connections and make herself comfortable by settling in- pinching one hand to move the window of Ichinose's face showing through the call's camera and justtt like that Akane slipped in a little tracking bug. One that monitors anything Ichinose types on this PC even when Akane isn't active.

"...hi, I guess." She answers rather dully because right now, she's looking at Ichinose properly in person. Not standing behind her father or even through circumstance- this woman is...she's looking so normal. "You lack her white hair."

[dollmaxing]

"White hair...? Oh! You mean the other Ichinose," she commented, tilting her head a little. "Huh. If it was that obviously different, why was he so convinced I must be the same one? Trauma really is such a warping of perspective," Ichinose shrugged a bit, opening up the relevant files and notes she'd been taking so far, getting right to business since she wasn't interested in dwelling.

"This so far is based off of what I know about my code, so I will likely need to adjust it. But it's meant to adapt in real time and attempt to predict the sort of improvised security measures and code changes that EMMA normally has."

[takutomaruki]

The night was still young, and the chill in the air lingered despite summer peering its way into the green trees, the sweltering air, the sudden increase of ice popsicles in small shops and midnight stalls, paired with the whistle of a cicada distinctly coming from the nearby park. Maruki adjusted his dark blue dress-shirt, folding the sleeves up to his elbows to allow for a more casual look with hair just brushed in the right manner.

"I know Morning said he was alright with it, but it still worries me, I guess?" He lightly chuckled, concealing his hidden anxiety of leaving Akira alone. Even indulging himself in matters such as this felt unprecedented due to his current role, but with the weather clearing up, he was coming across many fun advertisements of restaurants opening up in Ebisuminami. This strip in particular, one narrow path with heavy bushes on the left that opened up to a view of tall buildings, felt especially serene at night. He smiled at the myriad of cognitions out and about, and stopped closely before Ichinose if they did stop anywhere.

As of now, the options were plenty, and his mood was set still. "Not that I am saying I am not enjoying our time right now! I think I need even more of a distraction than I had originally predicted."

[dollmaxing]

"Oh, he'll be fine - I told him that if he gets too lonely, he should bother that Hamuko girl. I'm sure she wouldn't care about a last minute visit or phone call from someone whose birthday party she attended," Ichinose shrugged, not remotely worried about Morning. Infantile though his behavior was, at times, he was still almost an adult and ought to know how to not get himself in trouble or burn the apartment down while the two of them were gone.

"A change in scenery and routine - always important to keep the mind sharp, right? Gotta stimulate it with new experiences or it'll get dull and lose plasticity."

[takutomaruki]

"Ohh, good call there," he nods approvingly at Kuon's suggestion to involve Hamuko more. There's not much he could provide for her yet without sending red flares everywhere in this place...for now if his little group of friends could provide her some sort of companionship- there would be nothing less he would wish for.

He smiles wistfully at Kuon's comment. "In all honesty the start of this year itself kept me a lot on my toes but otherwise...this place doesn't really provide that in the long run. Without actual guests, interacting with other cognitions would always be a bit dull. Due to their lack of perception or push back."

"...I haven't gone out in a while with a friend like this. Like I mentioned before- I recently went to some of Shujin's drinking parties but never really for the sake of just because."

[dollmaxing]

"This is the first time I'm actually excited to go out and talk 'business', aka projects, with someone. I hope you're ready to have your ear completely talked off, because I don't know how to stop once I've got a little sake and tasty food in me," she grinned, the slight sound of her keys being fiddled with coming from her, since her hands were in her pockets as she walked.

"Plus, I want some of the details of this bot to be a surprise for Morning. He said he wanted a big sister - I reminded him that he'll technically be the big brother! Haha! But that'll be great - when they aren't defending me, they can easily take up keeping an eye on Morning to make sure he's not getting into trouble."

[takutomaruki]

"Oh no- I am excited for this. It's a test of our skills and knowledge, is it not? The idea of playing off of cognition and creating something new- something that would do good rather than harm which is much easily inflicted is what makes this field fascinating."

The smile on his face is true and real. It's a thought and sentiment that feels real beyond papers and right, no matter how theoretical he were the topic, if he didn't even implement it- then what good was he even for? The world didn't simply bend to good-will and he's seen first hand how people would much rather run after pain as is.

"I have been noticing that tendency of his. The need to be taken care of- even the Akira in my world had suffered with an unfair reputation and was victim to Shujin's isolation."

He shook his head, prying himself off of that matter.

"I suppose a bar would only make us run on empty stomach. I read about many sushi places opening up here...maybe we can catch up on what we missed out on from the party. What do you say?"

[dollmaxing]

"I can pig out on free gourmet sushi any time," Ichinose chuckled proudly. "Let's go to Ginza! There should be some space to sit and take notes on paper - nothing digital with the stalkers peeking at my phone unfortunately."

[takutomaruki]

[After the whole mess and the incomplete words exchanged after what they would realize to be their last genuine interaction Takuto was here in his room. Stuck.

It's 2 am.

He really should go to sleep. And yet, he's grabbed his phone snd started typing.]

So.
I know its late.
But I was looking at houses again.

I think I just saw one which has a room with three different ceiling heights 🫠🫠

[dollmaxing]

[The specific chime she had assigned Takuto was a surprise, coming from her phone - it interrupted her train of thought on the coding she'd been fixated on for the past six hours. Uh oh... two AM and he's texting her? His brain must be keeping him up - that poor damaged heart.]

Like a sloped ceiling or just staggered for some weird reason? LOL

I saw a smaller one in a rather densely packed neighborhood - not too different from apartment living, maybe?

[takutomaruki]

Looks staggered to me

[He attaches a picture right after, showing the interesting scaffolding from the top. The owner seems to have really particular tastes.]

A dense neighbourhood? Does that even have backyard space ( ;´ - `;)
The plants NEED to adjust nicely

[dollmaxing]

It does! Here, here, look! It has a side yard, a large stone fence, and a whole greenhouse on the sunniest side!

[Which, sure, is a lot of glass someone might break into... but the door on the inside of the greenhouse looked sturdy, as did the brick wall. She'd been particularly detail-oriented, looking for secure looking homes.]

It's not the only one like this I've found, there's a few in some smaller neighborhoods - but I remembered you saying that you felt safer with more neighbors around.

[takutomaruki]

[...]

Just because we are surrounded by cognitions doesn't mean we can't run into burglars...

It feels a little silly now, thinking about that safety here.
But thank you for looking :)

[dollmaxing]

HMMM if neighbors don't quite matter as much, then I'll focus more on a defensible building and one we can install some extra security into.

[She had every intention of finding the perfect spot for Takuto's anxieties to be most soothed. What good was a home you didn't feel safe in, after all? Besides, more space meant more room for Ancile to act in an emergency... hoh hoh, she had some more ideas.]

Buuuuut you're texting me because your mind is being loud, aren't you?