NETWORK post, backdated to the 15th

[failedpromise]

Who: Cortana
Username: Chosewell
Warnings: Cybersecurity bullshit, high likeliness for supernaturally fueled paranoia

Just a little PSA:

If you're getting weird, hurtful, or distressing messages from you friends, don't panic. No one's account has been hijacked, and no one is secretly plotting against you.

Someone is spoofing accounts, however. For those of you who didn't pay attention in cybersecurities class, that means someone can make it seem as though they're someone else. Anyone else.

Unfortunately, whoever it is is really good at hiding their identity, so I don't actually know who the real culprit is yet.

(Says the AI who impersonated Manji for laughs, to a bunch of people who are supernaturally predisposed to paranoia right now.

...This isn't gonna be disastrous at all.)

Comments

[failedpromise]

(She just made the ugliest snortlaugh sound.)

It might not work as well here but you're basically immortal, right? Still, you might miss out on the opportunity to get a pay bonus for taking a picture.

(...Provided he's figured out how to take pictures.)

[canofmanji]

picture??.??????..????. [That would be a no.] you can paint with these things?

[failedpromise]

You can, but what I'm talking about is a lot faster than painting. Do you need me to show you?

[canofmanji]

is it going to be an issue with how these things seem to have gone nuts?

[failedpromise]

(And see, here is where Cortana should have probably thought hey, I can't interface with the network directly, maybe I should be careful that this doesn't affect me too. Because what she really types here is "as long as we don't meet up anywhere near dogtown, there shouldn't be any problems with anything that isn't a network post" and that's very much not what gets sent.)

The camera feature doesn't use the network, so it's unlikely. We could meet up outside Dogtown?

[canofmanji]

sure. i dont have a problem with that. [He's not afraid of Dogtown even though he really should be.] ill head over now.

[failedpromise]

(...Huh? She hadn't actually suggested a-oh Hell.

She doesn't respond-if she's right about what just happened she might as well not risk things getting jumbled further-but she does show up outside Dogtown. Considering that this is a rather large area, it may take a few minutes for them to find each other.)

[canofmanji]

[It shouldn't take them too long to find each other. Manji does tend to stick out with his one eye and one arm. He's wearing a long skirt and a large dark green T-shirt he's picked up from somewhere. Or perhaps it's the large sword that he's carrying in a sash belt. If he was going to be near Dogtown he doesn't plan on being near without a weapon.]

Weird choice of place to meet up. [He says casually as he approaches her.]

[failedpromise]

(Cortana looks to be a bit ...on edge when he approaches her, impatient and wary.

She sighs.)

Yeah, well, looks like whatever is screwing with the messages on the network got me too. What I actually meant to say was "anywhere but Dogto-"

(And well, that's when he'll find out why Dogtown is a bad place for machines right now, because the siren creature's effect hits and every piece of tech in the area starts blaring alarms. That includes Cortana, who starts screaming uncontrollablly at an absolutely ear splitting pitch and volume, and whose form begins to flicker between her human illusion and her real appearance.)

[canofmanji]

[Manji jumps back a couple steps in shock. Unsure how how he should react. Was it something he did? Except he didn't do anything. Something he said? Did he really say something that wrong?]

Whoa, hey, calm down. You're okay. We can leave. [He presses his one hand against one of his ears, but it really does nothing to dampen the noise.] Come on, let's go.

[failedpromise]

(Oh of all the...

Her expression is one of bone deep annoyance as she stuffs her hand into her mouth to muffle the noise.

Obviously, she can't speak right now so she makes a "lead the way" sort of gesture with her free hand.)

[canofmanji]

[Manji glances briefly towards Dogtown. She said it messed something up, didn't she?] Come on. [He will try to pull her away from it. Not really sure where to go, so long as it was away from there.] Can you still walk? [He looks back to make sure she can still move.]

[failedpromise]

(She does her best to nod with her hand stuffed into her mouth-this is really unpleasant-and walks after him. Yeah she's moving just fine, she just can't stop screaming-

And then it stops.

Sagging from the sheer relief, she attempts to remove her fist from her mouth... oh Hell. She's stuck.)

[canofmanji]

Whoa! [At first Manji doesn't know what is happening. She just suddenly goes quiet and starts to sag slightly. He reaches out with his hand to gently place in on her shoulder in a sigh of support. His one eye watching her in concern as she fails to remove her hand from her mouth.] Eh? Can't you get it out? Just... I dunno, open your mouth wider and pull harder?

[failedpromise]

(She tries. She really does. Eventually, she succeeds, but not without a lot of effort and obvious frustration before finally her hand comes out with an angry noise and is followed by a stream of exceptionally vulgar swears in an exceptionally large variety of languages.)

Sorry about that. The creatures in dogtown like to steal the voice of any machine that gets too close.

(She decides to go with simpler words in her explanation in light of Manji's unfamiliarity with machines.

She sighs.)

Again, I actually meant to say anywhere but dogtown in that message I sent.

[canofmanji]

[Manji watches as she struggles to remove her own hand from her mouth. Occupationally raising his hand and half stepping forward before he drops it again. Unsure how to help, but there is still the desire to help is there. He actually looks relieved when she manages to get it out herself.]

Well, I suppose we're anywhere but dogtown now.

[failedpromise]

(She grins.)

I suppose we are. I was supposed to show you how to take pictures with the phone, right?

(She holds out her hand for the device.)

[canofmanji]

You think that's a good idea after all... [He waves a hand back towards Dogtown.] ...whatever the hell that was back there?

[failedpromise]

(She pauses, then sighs. As much as she wants to help, he's got a point.)

Given that the screaming seems to be restricted to Dogtown, it should be fine.

(She pulls out her own phone.)

How about I show you on mine?

[canofmanji]

[He nods his head.]

Yeah, sure. Maybe I can follow along on mine?

[failedpromise]

Sure.

(She enters her password and, after bringing up the home screen, holds up her phone so he can see it. Then she'll point to the camera app icon.)

See this? (She taps and opens it up. And now, of course, the phone is just showing a picture of whatever she points it at... she points it at an interesting looking tree and takes a picture. She'll give him a moment to see and copy what she did before she exits the camera app and opens the gallery. Oh, look! There's a picture of that same tree, right there in the phone!)

[canofmanji]

[Despite how standoffish and how much he acts like he's going to refuse to change, Manji does pay close attention to what she's showing him. His good eye going back and forth from the tree to her phone. Struggling to understand how this could possibly work. A perfect copy of that tree, but a picture instead of the real thing.]

Don't understand how that tiny thing did that. It's-- it's so strange.

[failedpromise]

Hm, I suppose it is.

(She taps her chin thoughtfully for a moment.)

There's a whole history of how the technology was developed - the earliest "cameras" were actually invented long before even you were born, though they didn't take lasting images, just focused light to project pictures onto screens - but unless you want me to walk you through hundreds of years of history, it's probably best to just think of the phone as a sort of unthinking brain, the camera as an eye, and the picture as something I told it to memorize for me.

(She deletes the tree image and takes another image, this time of a nearby parked car, mostly so that she can show Manji the process again. Repetition, she knows, makes for better memorization with organics.

Speaking of memory...)

Being a sort of computer myself, I also have perfect recall, though people typically can't see or interact with my memories unless I allow it.

[canofmanji]

Sounds like shadow puppets. Entertaining enough if you're a kid.

[Now having a perfect memory? He considers that for a bit and the implications of it.] I'm not sure I'd want a perfect memory. A memory where I get to pick and choose what stays? That I could appreciate.

[failedpromise]

The principle is similar enough, I suppose.

(She could talk about how photographs started as almost a reverse of that in which a bright light would bounce off of an object and back onto a plate of light sensitive material to make a pattern ...but she's pretty sure he would have asked if he wanted to know.)

To be honest, even if I could just get rid of memories I didn't like, I'm not sure I would. (What the Gravemind did to her, maybe. Everything else though... she didn't deserve to forget what she'd done.)