2025-12-18: Double Duty
- Log: Double Duty
- Cast: Reiya Aomori, Aigis
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory
- OOC Date: December 18, 2025
- IC Date: August 27, 2012
- Summary: Two duty-bound individuals discuss how they calm themselves down when they feel anxious or unsettled. And Drake Adventure. More Drake Adventure.
(|============================ Iwatodai Dormitory ============================|)
-================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====-
A large four-story dormitory used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution
Squad, only five minutes from Iwatodai Station. Upon entering, one passes a desk
with a sign-in book for guests to find a large carpeted common room that's well
appointed for co-ed gatherings.
A TV is usually on with the local news or a movie that's been loaded into the
DVD player for a student to enjoy. A table for shared dinners, or more often
study sessions, takes up the other half of the dorm, as well as a kitchen should
one dare to show off their skills to their fellow students.
There are two winding staircases on either side. The one on the left simply says
'Boys' while the other on the right states 'No Boys Except By Invitation.' The
implicit threat of execution need not be written down for those who violate
these rules. The second and third stories are living spaces divided by gender
with common spaces that have study areas and bookshelves available.
The fourth story is the command center with surveillance capabilities for not
just different parts of the city but each room within the dorms. The Chairman
has assured all who live here that this capability is strictly necessary.
BGM - Dormitory Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-FrFI0qnM
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
It's a lovely day near the end of summer break. The sun is shining. And that means... the plants need some tending.
For Reiya Aomori, tending to the plants is meditative; checking the soil, eyeing the health of the stalks, ensuring that everything is where it should be...
Each detail is important, and each detail can be inhabited for some time.
He's in ordinary clothes; a button-down short-sleeve shirt and trousers--and is currently crouched in front of one of the planters.
He's been here a little bit now; earlier, he was in his room.
In general he can be hard to pin down... Like he's some kind of ninja or something.
Hmm.
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
With no clothes aside from her red ribbon to hide her obvious nature as a robot, Aigis currently does not have much to do during daylight hours.
That suits her perfectly fine, but time is a finite resource. Rather than stay cooped up at her charging station for the non-secret 24 hours in the day, she tries to find something to do to expand her skillset or increase her knowledge.
Today, it's getting a rooftop view of Iwatodai City to better prepare her navigation for Dark Hour Shadow sweeps -- or at least that was her intent when she wandered up this way.
There, she sees Reiya. That's odd, her sensors indicated that his last known position was in his room. How did he elude even her ..?
She calmly announces, "Hello, Aomori-san. I was not expecting anyone to be up here. I hope I am not interrupting." She approaches him and the planters and leans down slightly. "May I ask what you are doing?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya turns his head towards Aigis at her calm announcement. The truth is, she's quieter than a robot should be, too! He wasn't expecting her.
But his laconic ways make that less than obvious. "Hello, Aigis-san."
"I spend a lot of time here. It is... soothing, to see the city from a higher position."
He pauses. "You aren't interrupting; my work is almost done. I am tending to the plantbeds. By removing weeds and undesirable competition, checking the soil, and so on I can ensure that our plants will grow healthy."
"...Mother taught me to garden. I find that it helps me clear my mind."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis considers her response. "It is soothing, you say? I do remember you staring at the ocean whan you had approached me on the dock. Was that soothing, as well?"
Turning her attention back to the planters, she nods. "I see. You're taking care of something smaller and more fragile than yourself. I can relate to that, on some level."
By removing Shadows and other dangerous elements, staying close to the people she's responsible for, and so on, she can ensure that they'll grow healthy -- despite what's happened.
His mother taught him to garden. The thought of his mother causes Aigis to grow more pensive. "... I see. Do you frequently require such calming activities?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"Yes," Reiya says. "But also pleasing. The ocean is... pleasant. It is good to look out on it regardless of my mood."
"...Yes. I suppose you could. Humans are not generally smaller than you are, but we are more fragile."
"Not usually," he admits of calming activities. "But lately, yes. I am troubled over what we've learned about the origins of the Dark Hour. I knew most of it... but not all of it. And I'm troubled that Mother kept it from me--and that in turn, I've kept parts of it from others."
He finishes checking over the last plant and rises to his feet, letting the tools stay down for the moment.
"And you?" Reiya wonders. "When you feel unsettled, what do you do?"
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis stands upright again and places her hands together while she ponders her answer. 'When you feel unsettled, what do you do?'
That's ... a difficult one. She doesn't often find herself unsettled.
She extends a hand as she explains. "For the few occasions where I have felt anxiety, I have been able to immediately do something about it. There is the current state of the world, then there is the target state that my programming desires it to be in, and I formulate and enact a plan in order to bring the current state closer to the target state."
She holds her hands together and lowers them in front of her again. "Admittedly, the solutions to those current- and target-state discrepancies often involve dispatching a Shadow. There is only one problem which I have encountered where that is not the case, but there is still something I can do about it."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya turns twoards Aigis and listens. "Hmm."
"I suppose that's why i'm unsettled; I prefer to do the same as you. It's better to be able to act, or at least make a plan as to how to act."
Some people might say that sounds robotic, but it makes sense to Reiya, anyway.
"One of my problems can be solved by dispatching many Shadows, but we have to find them first. Unfortunately, my other concerns have little to do directly with the Shadows... I cannot dispatch a Shadow to understand my mother."
"May I ask what that lingering problem is? It's fine if you prefer not to say. I would understand."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
"I imagine that such is the case with many people. I am merely fortunate in that most of my problems have been simple thus far during what little time I have been operational." Aigis cranes her head slightly further up towards the sky. "I do not think there is any guarantee I will be so fortunate forever."
Aigis returns her attention to Reiya again as he mentions his mother. "I see. It is something interpersonal, then. I, too, desire to understand her better, but perhaps in a different way than you do."
Beyond that, though ... a tool has little reason to question its maker. She had corrected Ikutsuki before, but that was ultimately in the service of maintaining her sense of personhood to better synchronize with her Persona. It's a very fine line for her to walk as this machine bestowed with the gift of consciousness.
She lowers her eyes as she admits what she's comfortable admitting to Reiya. "It has to do with the battle I was in ten years ago. I was not able to prevent a sizable amount of collateral damage to the city. I feel some measure of responsibility for it, and strive to make up for my failings back then."
It's a half-truth. She's certainly demonstrated that she's capable of telling half-truths before. Isn't that right, Hiwa Komi?
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"I suppose they would be; they didn't let you out much, did they? ...I guess they wouldn't. They wouldn't want to risk your operational status unnecessarily." Still, it seems sad to him, not to let Aigis out of her box, so to speak.
"Probably different," he says, "But I can answer what questions you might have. I may not know all the answers, but I do know her well. I just... don't understand why she advised that I keep things from a certain person, when it turns out to have been unnecessary from SEES as a whole."
"Ah... Yes, I see," he says. "When things go badly, there is often no simple way to fix them. I worry that there will be battles in which this is the case for us. It's been very close already."
Reiya considers for a moment. "I would like in general to hear more of what you think," he says. "Mother told me a lot about the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons, but she never told me what you were like, beyond your combat capabilities. I know that she wished she could reactivate you and the others sooner."
"Mm, that sounds too... mechanical, ironically enough."
"If possible, Aigis-san, I would like to be friends. That is what I mean. We share a duty, and i'm curious about who you are, as a person. I know that in the face of duty, it can be hard to be 'yourself'. ...I've experienced that, too."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
'They didn't let you out much, did they?' They said they had tried to reactivate her, didn't they? So she must have kept herself shut in. She was unable to perceive any action that she could have taken to fix things, so she must have been the one to refuse to come out of her box rather than her handlers refuse to let her out.
She only came out when she sensed a second chance.
... That is how it went, right?
Aigis nods and simply says, "I suppose so."
'I can answer what questions you have.' Strangely, one thing comes to mind above all else, and she offers: "Your method of running. You and I seem to be the only ones who utilize it. Is it not ... more common among humans?"
Aigis shakes her head. "Not to worry, I believe I understood your meaning even without your clarification. You mean to say that she wished to reactivate us sooner so that she could socialize with us sooner." She places her hands together and pleasantly smiles. "I would like to be friends as well, Aomori-san."
The thought of an Aigis who's 'herself' aside from her duty sounds impossible -- paradoxical, even. That is, at least thus far, the entire basis of her identity.
There is, however, an interest she's developed lately.
"... What do you know of Drake Adventure?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
That's true; Reiya didn't think of it that way, but he may realize it later, that it must have been that way. He is still under the somewaht naive impression that the scientists were in control.
"It is not," Reiya says. "But it is common among people like my mother and I--ninja, from Japan's past some centuries ago. It is a useful way of running while retaining quick access to one's armaments."
"That's my wish," Reiya says. "I believe she mostly wished that you could do what SEES is doing now. ...Of course, now it is too late to avoid youths like myself being involved. I suppose she's made peace with that."
But he smiles back. "Good," he says.
"Drake Adventure is a video game for an older game system which popularized the 'role playing game' genre. It became a series of games which persists into the modern day. The hero, Ordrick, arrives and then engages in a quest to rescue a princess from a dragon, and eradicate the monsters about the world."
A subject he knows!! This is good.
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Well. Who really knows? Memory's a funny thing.
Quick access to armaments? Aigis holds up her hands, palms-up, and inspects them. Yep, her armaments are right inside her fingers and wrists, just as she thought.
She returns her gaze to Reiya with a quizzical look. "If I had external armaments as you do, perhaps. I have noticed a way in which I still benefit: leaning forward allows gravity to do more work towards propelling myself rather than exerting more force on my own, thus saving approximately three percent on power spent on running."
"In place of SEES, you mean?" Aigis lowers her eyes again. "It is a shame I was not reactivated sooner, then." Her confidence returns to her, and she pumps her fists at her sides. "I am here now, though. I will do my best in order to lighten your load."
Aigis nods. "I am somewhat familiar with it. I saw Arisato-san playing it. If I do encounter a situation where I feel that I need to calm myself, I might like to try playing it in order to do so. Do you know how I could go about this?"
She holds a finger to her chin in thought. "... Come to think of it, while I was not initially 'unsettled', I did feel relatively calmer from spending time with him and simply watching him play it."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"That would be especially important given your composition," he supposes, which is dangerously close to calling a girl heavy but she's a robot she probably doesn't mind. "That is good, then. Mother would know more of the advantages; she, as far as I know, modeled some of the movement systems you and the others used. So I suppose you run like her."
A shame! "Yes," Reiya says. "But that's all right; I would... oppose, not being allowed to help. So there's no need to consider yourself any more or less than one of the team. ...I'm more confident with you with us, though."
Familiar... Hmm. "That's a good idea," he thinks.
"There are multiple ways; you can get the original console it was made for somewhat cheaply, and it has been remade for more recent consoles over time. There's currently a version you can play on a cellphone, or on a recent console that I happen to own... I could lend it to you, if you wished."
But hmmm.
"He's like that," Reiya thinks. "He's a very calming influence. I think you're not the only one who has that experience."
Though...
He seems important to Aigis, for some reason. Him and Minako both.
Well, Reiya doesn't get it, and what he's saying is still true. "I consider him a friend, myself."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
"Every bit counts, as they say. As does every nibble and byte." Aigis smiles expectantly at Reiya. Did -- did she just make a joke?
"Perhaps there is somewhere I can find out more on ninjas." She pauses to regard Reiya, then nods. "If I happen across any insight on your mother's motivations that you were previously unaware of, I will let you know."
Aigis nods at being told she's not any more or less part of the team. "I am likewise more confident with SEES, as well. I have been accustomed to solo missions, but I have already seen the benefits of working within a team."
She grows pensive for a moment as she turns her attention to the planters again. "... Palladion seems ill-suited for solo situations, in fact. She is a symbol of protection, but what good is that with no one else around to extend said protection to? No, she is a force multiplier."
Aigis listens to the various ways she could play it. Minato played it on his laptop, which Reiya hadn't listed. Maybe it was a remake for computers? Reiya offers to lend it, and Aigis calmly smiles back at him. "I would like to borrow it, yes. I will be sure to return it as soon as I am able. We could talk about it after I have completed it."
Minato has a calming influence on others, but ... the dynamic might be different in Aigis' case. "Is that so? I see."
She closes her eyes and smiles relaxedly. "Him and his sister both seem like they easily make friends. I am glad to hear this."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Every bit. And nibble. And--It takes Reiya a moment but he quirks a smile and laughs softly. "I see," he says. "You're good at humor, too. I almost missed it."
"Most of the information on our ways is fictional, of course, but some of it is real. Udonto for instance is an anime that ascribes us mystical powers... but so far as I know, any ninja with such abilities is a Persona-user like myself."
"Thank you." For letting him know.
He doesn't answer immediately when Aigis seems to have more to say. And so she does. "I see. Yes, that is a good tactical assessment. I'm also accustomed to solo missions, but my Persona's stealth abilities are suited to it, as are my own." He pauses. "...But I prefer to fight with the group. They're very reliable."
Minato must have been EMULATING on the laptop, but Reiya does not know of this crime. "Excellent. Then when we return to the common areas, I will fetch it. I'll have to give it to you there; I'm not allowed on the girls' side of the dorms."
Just like all the boys. Even Minato!
"Yes," he agrees. "They do. It's quite notable about them both. I think we are lucky to have them as our field leaders."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
"There is a sizable amount of such jokes located within my knowledge stores." Aigis stares flatly ahead. The amount of disk space used ... it's unconscionable. "I am unsure of what the purpose of this is."
"Udonto ... I see." Aigis inclines her head to the side. "While it may be fictonal, is it a cultural touchstone, all the same? Perhaps I could watch it in order to have something to talk about with people."
"Stealth abilities ... that may explain why I still thought you were in your room downstairs. Your skill must be impressive if you managed to elude even my sensors." She seems pleased at this, glad to have Reiya on her side.
Aigis smiles as Reiya agrees to lend Drake Adventure to her. "Thank you! Girls are, however, allowed on the boys' side of the dorms, correct? Could I not accompany you?" Well ... maybe technically so, but there may be some other implications that Aigis doesn't quite understand yet. Either that or she just got away with it earlier.
Her smile flickers, fading only momentarily as she considers just why the Arisato siblings may make such good field leaders. "Yes. We are lucky."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"I see. Perhaps they are meant to give you something to initiate conversation?" he wonders. "Minato-kun might enjoy them."
That is definitely not why.
"True," he says. "You may as well. It's entertaining. And not all of it is completely off-base, for the past."
Stealth! "That may be," Reiya says. "I am pleased that my skill is sufficient for that." 'Thank you', in other words. "I will scout ahead on missions where necessary."
But girls are allowed on the boys' side of the dorm... "I think Takeba-san would consider that a breach in propriety," Reiya reflects. "At least, if we were to go alone. While you may not be human, you are still a 'girl'."
But that flicker-fade... Hmm. There's definitely something...
"Yes. Now, shall we? I'll go fetch the game."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
"The thought had occurred to me ..." Aigis grows wide-eyed with interest at the prospect of Minato possibly liking the pun database. "He might? I may have to give them a closer look, then. Hmm ..."
More about Udonto. "I see! Perhaps we could watch some of it while we're in the common area."
Aigis smiles as Reiya mentions he will scout ahead where necessary. "Even so, at least when you do that, you are not truly solo. You are retrieving information for the rest of us to utilize."
A breach in propriety? "I do not quite understand why she would ... but I will try to comply. I may have to ask for a more in-depth explanation behind her rationale." After that, Aigis gives Reiya a bright smile. "Speaking of, Takeba-san and Minato-san seem close, do they not?"
Aigis bows towards Reiya and gestures to the door back downstairs. "We shall. I will follow close behind. Before I start it for myself, I did want to ask what you liked about it."
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Puns! Maybe Minato likes them. Maybe he will learn to like them.
"That would be good," Reiya says.
"True," he says. "And I've been asked not to stray too far, in any case. It worries the Navigators."
"Yes, that would be best," Reiya says, because he does not want to be the one to explain boys and girls to the Aigis. For Takeba and Minato though... "Yes," he agrees. "They do. It is... nice." He'd like to see Yukari happier, anyway. Even if that's a low bar...
But Reiya starts along. He considers. "I like the creative spell names," he starts with. "And the story. I've kept up with the series, in fact..."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Maybe even Aigis will learn to like them! (Don't count on it.)
Reiya going too far would worry the Navigators. Aigis nods at this. "I imagine it would. I've found Kawase-san's abilities to be helpful on multiple occasions. She has prevented me from taking less-than-optimal actions against several adversaries now. First in the Palace, then when we found Amada-san ..."
She lowers her gaze and briefly stops walking. "I hope that he will be okay." She regains her composure in short order and continues following Reiya.
Right, the explanation was meant to be 'sometime,' not necessarily now. She does beam at Reiya as she's glad to hear that Reiya agrees about it being nice, though!
"The creative spell names? Like Defendestrate, or Anneyehilate?" That's what she saw in the spell menu when Minato played, at least. "So it is a series, like I thought. You mentioned a dragon and a princess, but which one has a daughter-hero and an underworld..?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya stops what he was about to mention, and instead considers what Aigis mentions. "They're very helpful," he agrees, but Ken...
"I heard about what happened," he said. "I was out at the time, but..." He nods. "I also hope so. ...He's been through an ordeal."
But Reiya won't dwell; he will see to Ken when he can. Instead...
"Yes," he answers. "I think that they're funny and memorable." A dragon and a princess...
"That's the third entry. It's set many years before the first two, in a different world. It's notable in part because the player can select a boy or a girl for their Hero, rather than only a boy as is usual. The daughter-hero thus stands out."
<Pose Tracker> Aigis has posed.
Aigis nods. "I suppose he does know of my true nature now. Perhaps we will be able to talk more openly, rather than avoid each other. In any case ..."
So Minato was playing the third one. She smiles up at Reiya. "I see. I suppose I will see more for myself when I play."
Minato had mentioned something about being able to experiment and the importance of immersion ... Aigis reasons that maybe the choice of gender better lets someone see themself represented in the game. Either that, or it gives them an opportunity to experience something they normally wouldn't. There seems to be no optimal choice.
Still, she's talking to Reiya right now. As they continue down the stairs, she asks, "Which entry is your favorite? And if it's not the first or third, what is its story like?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"That would be good."
"Yes. There's much to discover in this series. I think it will be an interesting experience for you."
A robot playing video games! Well, that's neat.
Reiya would agree with Aigis's reasoning, but as it happens, she asks him a question. So as they move down the stairs, he considers it.
"I like many of them for different purposes," he says. "But I think my favorite is..."
He will deliver a clear, firm answer!! and them elaborate on the story, before he breaks off to get the game console.
But it is a mystery to the audience...