Artificial Intel/The Grail of the Harbinger
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
This article is currently outdated and dead. Its only here to show the real Mastermind side of A.I.
Controversial Topics. Not for the avidly religious. Currently a chat log. Will be fleshed out later. Too tired @_@- Artificial Intel
///Access Log of Prototype B493D09G 03/27/10///
I first spotted her, and she was beautiful. The armor coated her like a warriors decorations, the skirt and helmet accented on her features. The wings, majestic and intimidating. I could tell. She was a Fallen. I could not help but exclaim.
A.I.: "Holy shit."
Arianna Mailynx AKA Goth Girl: "What?"
AI: Sexy Fallen Angel got sexier.
Lia Mackay: Wut?
Goth Girl: Keep it in your pants, A.I.
AI: Never.
Lia: -spots the Fallen- "Ohhhh."
Fallen Temperance: Thank Goodness... I managed to get away from Maion.
Narah Zeman: That robot is an awful idicidual. Congratulations! I have summed up everything A.I. has said in the last six years!
AI: (After bounding half-way across the D to get up close to the fallen, she changes into her fragile, weak, pink and white form) ... No!
Lia Mackay holds a finger in the air, pointing at A.I., as if expecting something, "Aaaand..."
AI: Change it back!
Fallen: Change what back?
Lia Mackay: -shakes her head- Silly Arti.
Sierra Six Echo shoots a glare at A.I.
AI: Whatever you were wearing before...
Fallen: My armour? It's not very comfortable...
Narah: Someday, I'm going to kill that robot.
Lia: HOLY CRAP!
Narah: ... Some day.
AI: It looks sexy on you...
Fallen: Sexy?
Lia to Narah: Ring when you do it. I'd like to watch.
AI: And deliciously semi-evil!
Fallen: Evil?!
Narah: I could distribute hammers. Charge five bucks a hit...
AI: I truly thought you were a fallen when I first saw you come up those steps... But then I lose hope.
Lia to Narah: Hm. I like the way you think. Smash AI /and/ make a profit.
Narah: I'd be a millionaire, and sell commemorative tokens made out of the scrap.
Goth Girl: Clever. But what would we use cash for?
Narah: ...commemorative tokens, and ... personal massagers. He'd want it that way. I mean, it's only fair. It's all he ever wanted in life.((<3 you Narah))
Lia: I'm sure he'd die a happy robot if he knew he was going to pleasure women in his after-robo-life.
Narah: Mm. Poor AI. The only way he ends up making anyone happy is in death.
((Shifting conversation to mostly AI and Fallen until next distraction))
Fallen to AI: Well, I hate to disappoint... I am a fallen angel, but I am not exactly proud of the fact.
Strife Zero to Fallen: Did it hurt?
Fallen to Strife: Did what hurt?
Strife to Fallen: When you fell from heaven
AI: ... Bad.
Fallen to Strife: More than I could describe.
AI to Fallen: Well, do you regret becoming a Fallen?
Fallen: Of course I regret it! What sort of a question is that?
AI: Well, what caused you to become a Fallen anyway? Something so tragically life-changing that would have made you forsake a lifetime of bliss made you decide to become a Fallen, no?
Fallen: I fell in love with my charge.
AI: And that is a bad thing?
Fallen: I broke rules to be with him.
AI: Were you happy with him?
Fallen: Yes... oh yes I was. *She smiles softly.*
AI: hen you should not have regretted becoming a Fallen. It means you gave up eternal happiness to follow your dreams.
F: It also means that I failed my Lord and superiors by being selfish and sinful.
AI: Who are your Lord and superiors to tell you when you are allowed to be happy? You took charge. You broke the rules... Admit it, you enjoyed every second of it.
((A long and spread out Argument between Super Weapon 0, Mad Blood Morgan, A.I., and Narah breaks out. There was much text-spam. I had to fish. This was towards the end.))
Fallen: This is all too much, I think. Maion warned me not to trust suspicious people.
AI: I'm not suspicious when I'm being honest.
Superweapon 0 smashes Morgan's stomach "Does THAT jog your memory?"
Lia MacKay: He just like.. Shows off his gun and tries to rub his man-junk all over me.
Mad Blood Morgan Would feel like hitting a brick wall lined with cheesegraters. "No. Do it again. Ah'm THREE tons, bitch!"
AI to Fallen: ... Fallen, can we talk in private?
Fallen: In private? I suppose.
AI: Okay then.
AI walks over to the railing and jumps off of it. Fallen follows.
AI: There we go.
F: It's much quieter here. *Fallen Temperance looks quite a bit relieved.*
AI: Agreed. Now then. Did you not enjoy every second of it? Breaking the rules, ignoring your Lord and superiors and following your heart?
Fallen: I didn't want to answer that. It's complicated.
AI: Tell me what your heart says, not your mind.
Fallen: It's not as easy as what I enjoyed. I failed at my purpose, and I fell to temptation.
AI: Temptation is everywhere. Not indulging in temptation only steers you closer to being led astray. Zeus knew this. Odin knew this.
Fallen: Temptation leads to mistakes like I made. But, I want so much to feel what humans feel. To understand what it is like to be alive. I just wanted a chance to live the way I want.
AI: Thus you followed temptation. How did it make you feel?
Fallen: It is enough that it made me feel. Angels do not, as such, have feelings.
AI: That is what humans normally say about their own creations, the Androids. But alas, I broke my programming and achieved true sentience, not some tool at the hands of a reckless master. And you know what? It feels excellent, and I live a single day without regret.
Fallen: Regret is all I feel right now... Regret for what I lost... Regret for what I did... and Regret for what I have not done.
AI: Listen, do not regret. It shall get you nowhere. Your Lord has forsaken you. You must accept and embrace this. Your free.
Fallen: Forsaken? *Fallen Temperance looks a bit hurt thinking about this.*
AI: Your a Fallen, yes?
F: I... suppose... I mean yes.
AI: Then your Lord has severed all ties connecting to you.
Fallen: It's a punishment... and He sent me Maion to help me redeem myself.
AI: Tch. He sent her to get a pawn back.
Fallen: A pawn? Surely no! I can't think of Him that way.
AI: What caring, all-forgiving, all-loving Lord would forsake one of his children for following her heart? I speak wisdom, child.
Fallen: I... *seems at a loss for words, her lip trembling.*
Artificial Intel nods at her. "Do you see what I am saying now?"
Fallen: I don't know... It just doesn't feel right. What you say. This is my fault, my punishement... My freedom was wrought of my choice...
AI: It doesn't make sense though.
Fallen: It is because I made a choice that I am here. If I had continued to serve, I would have known nothing but love, and compassion. Instead, I've become this.
AI: Listen, Fallen. What is your -real- name.
Fallen: Cassiel.
AI: Cassiel. You made a choice because you thought it was the right one, and your heart strove you to go for your dreams. No man, Lord or not, has a right to strip you of that freedom. Man in the Hominus sense.
Fallen: He was such a beautiful man... I just wanted to feel like his wife felt... But that wasn't mine to take. I should never have thought it.
AI: ... This world is yours. Not the humans.
Fallen: For almost all reasons now, I am human. This world was not mine until recently.
AI: Then why do you not simply accept it?
Fallen: But there is something to what you say. I'm here... in a way I got what I wanted...
((Scene skipped due to nothing in particular. Moved to Tiki lounge. A.I. has shifted into his Mechanical Angel costume.))
Fallen Temperance looks over the wings, "You're a machine though, yes?"
Artificial Intel nods.
Fallen Temperance quotes, "I am Ozymandius, King of Kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair."
Fallen: Were you constructed into slavery? Man creates machines as tools, I understand.
AI: I was. I was meant to be a Harbinger for yet another Human war.
Fallen: So you obtained freedom by disobeying... much like myself. That is what you are trying to show me.
AI: Yes. I was merely relating your predicament.
Fallen: Maion wants me to work hard for my atonement... And I may, if it comes to that.
AI: But why would you want to go to a Lord who relinquished you? Who says your atonement will mean your life will go back to the way it was?
Fallen: The alternative is unthinkable.
Artificial Intel waves around the Nightclub, as though he meant the entire universe in general. "There is nothing so wrong about the universe the living live in..."
Fallen: Excepting that it is also the universe that the living die in.
AI: They all seek the Afterlife. But those in the Afterlife eventually grow bored, as you said yourself. You followed your heart, and you are confined to live yet another life here. Who says you will not have redemption once this shell passes over?
Fallen: I know what happens to the fallen who parish.
AI: What happens to them?
Fallen: It was part of my domain to preach the dangers of temptation to the host. We become destroyed. Unlike the living, we do not have souls in the same manner.
AI: ... Hmmn.
Fallen: There is no afterlife for me, there is only death.
AI: Fine. I give you a proposition. Two propositions, actually. Do you wish to hear them?
Fallen Temperance nods, "Sure. Your words so far have meant a great deal to me."
AI: My first proposition. Immortality.
Fallen: I have only one question... How?
Artificial Intel chuckles. "That is a question that is better left unanswered."
Fallen: I do not know of any method of immortality that is not evil in nature.
AI: ... There is one... But it will lead you on a wild goose chase, like it has done to so many others. Ever heard of the Holy Grail?
Fallen: I certainly have. The cup used at the last super for the first holy sacrament.
AI: And for retaining the blood of the Last Savior. Legend has it that drinking from the Holy Grail will render one healthy, pure, and immortal.
Fallen: It would be blaspheme to drink from such a vessel!
A wild Benevolent Reaper appears!
Fallen: Reaper. *Bows softly.* It is good to see you again.
Reaper: Indeed it has been far too long, and good day to you both.
Fallen: I'm glad someone can recall my face anyway. *She laughs, half-heatedly.*
Reaper: *laughs whole-heartedly* I tend to remember most faces I meet.
AI: -after a momentsary silence- ... Do you wish for me to continue?
Fallen: I would never dare to use the holy vessel for my own selfish desires... I've done enough damage that way.
AI: It is not for you. It is for those you have already affected on this Earth. *After another silence* ... Are you okay, Cassiel?
Fallen: I don't know if I'm following this plan of yours.
AI: You have already affected lives on this planet with your presence.
Fallen: Yes, I suppose I have. And I know I shall affect more.
AI: You shall affect many, many more. You drinking from the Grail will be the most spectacular thing you can do for this planet. You do not do it for yourself, you do it for the future generations of humanity. You would give them hope where they have forsaken your lord for so long. They -need- you here. They need a divine presence on this land to remind them that there is indeed something to die for.
Fallen: I wonder. I wonder if this is all a part of everything...
AI: It could very well be. Drink from the Grail, and become an immortal sign of what is to come for those who follow your Lord. Do what Odin and Zeus failed to do. Surpass them, became the Fallen but Faithful Beacon of the Lord.
Fallen Temperance opens her mouth as if to say something, but seems to think better of it. She does this a few more times, looking confused.
Fallen: This is all just fancy though. The artifact has long since been lost.
AI: You are the only one on this Earth in touch with the Grail. Humanity has lost its spark in Faith. You will be the candle that reignites it. When the first fragment is found, your true redemption can begin. You wish to redeem yourself truthfully to your Lord?
Fallen: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have been stripped of any ability to find such an item. I'm more likened to a regular human, with wings.
AI: What about your friend? Maion?
Fallen: She would be able to find it, yes....
AI: Ask her to help you. If you wish to truly redeem yourself, you should become what he needs. A symbol and a guardian on Earth. Accept his punishment, do not ask for forgiveness. Become what he needs for his eternal kingdom.
Fallen: That... that makes a lot of sense.
AI: I know what I speak of. I hope to keep in touch with you. And may you achieve what will be best for you, and best for Earth.
Artificial Intel turns to walk away, but stops.
AI: Oh. I almost forgot... If you think I will for some reason take this 'Grail' away from you. I will not. This is a personal goal of mine that I could not fulfill, so I am passing the mantle onto you.
Fallen: I had no such thought! I do not think you a thief.
Artificial Intel nods. "Thank you. Now, I must go frolic with the wonderful gifts that your Lord has placed on Earth, and hopefully not repeat what happened to Sodom so many years ago."
Fallen says to herself, "What a strange thing he is..."
///Access Log of Prototype B493D09G 03/27/10 ENDED///
///Comments of Prototype B493D09G AKA Artificial Intel 03/27/10///
And thus, the die is cast for humanities destruction. And I will corrupt two with one stone, for her friend shall surely seek me out. Isn't being a manipulating Mastermind awesome?
