arcanarum | Mark I - [action + video]

(please refer to his third-person sample for what's happened immediately before this.)

[he woke up a second time. It was unexpected, but extremely welcome. He expected to feel little pieces of metal stabbing away at his heart since his arc reactor was missing. But strangely, he didn't feel any different than normal. Just groggy.

Deciding to take advantage of this reprieve from death's embrace, Tony flipped open the little communication's device and activated the video function. As an after thought he grabbed the little card]

So, this is a new one, kidnapped by insane cosplay enthusiasts? Your jokes can use some work, though. Really, the Tin Man? Is that the best you could come up with? What do ya want, anyways? Money? Weapons? My armor? I'll tell you where to shove it, but you won't listen until I have a better microphone.

And who is this... [he mouths Yaldabaoth, trying to figure out the pronunciation, gives up and continues] Who is this Yogi Bear character with a name that looks like it belongs to something Lovecraft invented? I'm not living with a tentacle monster, am I? [he looks really unsure about that]

Is there anyone who happens to know where I can get 1.5 grams of palladium and a few other odds and ends? [even though it was a bad design, he would be more comfortable with his Mark I reactor in his chest than a great gaping hole]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Playgirl"?

Your ears remind me of a Playboy bunny.

Oh. I've heard that before.

[Shrug!]

I'm not a rabbit. Or a cat, really. I'm Mia.

[he raised an eyebrow]

Cats must be different wherever you're from, Mrs. Norris.

No, they're probably what you know them as. They just don't exist in the place that I live. My World... The World is a part of a world like yours. It could even be yours.

[It all depends on whether or not you recognize the emphasis she's putting on "The World".]

[well, he can tell it's a name]

So you're from a world within a world. Like Harry Potter.

You're right, even if I don't understand your example.

[he nods and thinks] So, you're probably not familiar with things in the greater world.

I am, but I'm not. It depends on what people in The World talk about, and what's interesting enough to listen to. That's what I hear.

So you're completely immersed in a self-contained world within a world, but most people are not? What makes you different from them?

You call yourself a genius.

[It's a lighthearted chuckle, of course.]

Do you want to know?

Yeah, kind of do want to know. You must have been born to that world. But even then, you should be able to visit the bigger world, yet somehow you seem imprisoned in this self-contained world.

I wouldn't say imprisoned... I rather like it there.

[A chuckle.]

But I don't think I'll tell you. It's not as fun if I do.

So you choose not to leave. Hmm... I'll figure it out eventually.

The answer is not as hard as you're making it out to be.

But I think you may simply be unaware how the technology would work.

[Oh snap.]

Technology. [well that's surprising. And then it occurs to him that JARVIS was entirely contained in the digital world, but aware of the outer world]

Artificial Intelligence?

[The situation is a little different than JARVIS, of course! Her knowledge of the outer world is veeery filtered.]

That's what I've been called. Since I'm not a human. But a human didn't make me.

[he's curious again]

Was it another AI? Or some sort of significantly advanced alien being?

...

[There's quite a long silence, and Mia rubs her forehead, looking troubled.]

... ... ... I... don't remember... I should know? The memory is... fuzzy.

It must not matter.

Your memory must have been corrupted. Virus attack? [now that he knows what he's dealing with, he's actually in his element]

No, no. If my data was corrupted, the whole system simply wouldn't function.

I was... was... repurposed? No... I was reborn.

The stuff from before, it must not have mattered.

So portions of your memory data has been erased. I wonder if it's recoverable. Wouldn't know, though, unless I had access to the hardware your data is stored on.

It's stored in the depths of The World. In code that is inaccessible to anyone but those who know where it is. I was woven into The World itself, and I filled a role.

But now... the Cheshire Cat role is fitting. It fills something in me, for better or worse. And... I can be impish all I like.

I would be interested in learning more about this World you keep mentioning. It sounds intriguing.

If you don't know of that, of Harald Hörwick, Emma Wielant, or of the Epitaph of the Twilight, it will all mean absolutely nothing to you.

[Video]

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