( If Cubia's really learning from humans, he wonders if it's inevitable, too, that Cubia would fall victim to human flaws... Is that something they can use? )
No. I'm leaving Fragment. I remember everything I'd forgotten; I remember the world outside. Fragment is a more fantastic place. And the world outside isn't particularly kind. But I don't need it to be, either.
If there is one thing Cubia may have ever been honest about, and even this I doubt, it's that he believes he's doing something that will make him happy. His grandest plan is self-satisfaction. "Salvation" for us is either a byproduct, or the tool by which he will find joy, whether as companions or rats to torture. If he could find his happiness alone, he would have already.
Is this your satisfaction, too? Did you get what you paid for, 0koto?
[He was asked a question, so he'll answer that, first.]
Not quite yet. After all, I still haven't gotten what I came to Fragment to achieve. It doesn't seem as though that's going to happen... I've made peace with that, though.
So I've decided on another goal, one that I think I might be able to achieve.
[Well, unfortunately, being that she isn't here and he likely isn't going to be able to escape from this place....... It's better to accomplish something than nothing. Matoba can negotiate when he has to; and that means trading one victory for another.]
[If Mithrun can help him achieve that victory.......]
Fragment is a failure, and so is that thing. We need to prevent it from escaping to the outside by any means necessary.
Does the caged labrat not yearn to run free? It isn't as if he was ever truthful about his plans, what little I knew; he never trusted me in the first place, and merely intended to use me as a pawn.
But that has come to roost, I'm afraid.
[Is he still just a pawn? Surely. But Lily gave him a function, and he had performed it. This decision was the result of the data he had collected.]
[Even if he can't win, he can at least he can make it sting.]
If you want anything more, you know how I operate, Mithrun.
( Speculation, then. But it's not unfounded, or unlikely. Fragment seemed grand to them, but to an AI that could read its code beginning to end... there was no particular reason to be content with its confines. )
You're going to tell me what kind of information you want.
Unless it's something you'll trade for that memory of Hien's.
This doesn't make what information Matoba can offer worthless; Mithrun knows that even as Macha, he had some few useful things that for wrenched out of him. But it does mean Matoba's too far gone to know he's being used; at least, that's how Mithrun sees it. )
Fine. But you're going to tell me your name, too.
What kind of data do you want?
( He's not happy about feeding data to Cubia through 0koto, but he hasn't fully graduated from that same fallacious thinking he would've chimed Matoba for - that accomplishing, or learning, something better than nothing. Hypocrisy isn't easy to cure. )
[Haha, of course. The aggression was always so endearing. He considers what he might tell Mithrun- what he'd be willing to trade away this early in exchange for his data.]
[Well. Depends on how good the data is, doesn't it?]
You've forgotten? I guess that makes sense. Macha is dead, after all.
Call me Magus. In the virtual world, there is no true creation, no true survival, and Cubia can only destroy. Nothing can propagate in this barren place.
Come to the @ home of Telophoroi. I want to observe further. But if you're just going to get in my way, don't bother.
( He doesn't recall the identity of each phase, but he does recall each duty by name, at least. Propagation... Frankly, Macha had considered his task difficult, given how many happy couples there were in Fragment (for some reason); procreation and preservation, though? That seemed like a fool's errand. Unless...?(??????)
He can't be sure if it's that simple, but he has enough information to work with to consider if it's worth the trade. And, ultimately... yeah. The principle of indirectly feeding Cubia at all aside, Mithrun doesn't care too much about what he might be trading here for the chance to gain something relevant.
Besides, maybe he'll have the opportunity to kill Matoba after he goes mum. )
I'll be there. If you want to verify that which you've been tasked to observed is impossible, I don't have particular reason to deny you. Not as long as the trade is fair.
[Mithrun could go either way as ally or enemy, he thinks. He's difficult and fickle; his actions are too weighted towards his biases. He won't go along with a plan even if Matoba has the same practical intentions as he does, simply because of his grudge towards those tainted by Lily's influence.]
[Fair enough. But he doesn't intend to allow him to interfere.]
Despite what you seem to feel about my dealings outside of you, I have only ever intended to be fair towards you, Mithrun.
Nothing has changed, either before, or after,that failure's intervention.
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no subject
No. I'm leaving Fragment. I remember everything I'd forgotten; I remember the world outside. Fragment is a more fantastic place. And the world outside isn't particularly kind. But I don't need it to be, either.
If there is one thing Cubia may have ever been honest about, and even this I doubt, it's that he believes he's doing something that will make him happy. His grandest plan is self-satisfaction. "Salvation" for us is either a byproduct, or the tool by which he will find joy, whether as companions or rats to torture. If he could find his happiness alone, he would have already.
Is this your satisfaction, too? Did you get what you paid for, 0koto?
no subject
Not quite yet. After all, I still haven't gotten what I came to Fragment to achieve. It doesn't seem as though that's going to happen... I've made peace with that, though.
So I've decided on another goal, one that I think I might be able to achieve.
Do you want to know it?
no subject
His answer is succinct and expectant, like he's looking for elaboration on Matoba's part: )
Yes.
no subject
[If Mithrun can help him achieve that victory.......]
Fragment is a failure, and so is that thing. We need to prevent it from escaping to the outside by any means necessary.
You intend to take revenge on him, don't you?
no subject
I do. I'm going to destroy him, throughly.
Is that his goal? To escape Fragment as a whole? To what, reality, or the general expanse of all VR and internet?
no subject
But that has come to roost, I'm afraid.
[Is he still just a pawn? Surely. But Lily gave him a function, and he had performed it. This decision was the result of the data he had collected.]
[Even if he can't win, he can at least he can make it sting.]
If you want anything more, you know how I operate, Mithrun.
no subject
You're going to tell me what kind of information you want.
Unless it's something you'll trade for that memory of Hien's.
no subject
[Maybe at one time, it would have meant something. At a time when he could use it, or at a time when it would have meant something to him. Not now.]
I don't want your information.
I want your data.
no subject
Hell.
This doesn't make what information Matoba can offer worthless; Mithrun knows that even as Macha, he had some few useful things that for wrenched out of him. But it does mean Matoba's too far gone to know he's being used; at least, that's how Mithrun sees it. )
Fine. But you're going to tell me your name, too.
What kind of data do you want?
( He's not happy about feeding data to Cubia through 0koto, but he hasn't fully graduated from that same fallacious thinking he would've chimed Matoba for - that accomplishing, or learning, something better than nothing. Hypocrisy isn't easy to cure. )
no subject
[Well. Depends on how good the data is, doesn't it?]
You've forgotten? I guess that makes sense. Macha is dead, after all.
Call me Magus. In the virtual world, there is no true creation, no true survival, and Cubia can only destroy. Nothing can propagate in this barren place.
Come to the @ home of Telophoroi. I want to observe further. But if you're just going to get in my way, don't bother.
no subject
He can't be sure if it's that simple, but he has enough information to work with to consider if it's worth the trade. And, ultimately... yeah. The principle of indirectly feeding Cubia at all aside, Mithrun doesn't care too much about what he might be trading here for the chance to gain something relevant.
Besides, maybe he'll have the opportunity to kill Matoba after he goes mum. )
I'll be there. If you want to verify that which you've been tasked to observed is impossible, I don't have particular reason to deny you. Not as long as the trade is fair.
no subject
[Fair enough. But he doesn't intend to allow him to interfere.]
Despite what you seem to feel about my dealings outside of you, I have only ever intended to be fair towards you, Mithrun.
Nothing has changed, either before, or after, that failure's intervention.
I'll be waiting.