c.chun ➤ 001 ➤ text

[arkproject]

Hi, everyone. I'm Catherine!

I've been talking to a few people about our mission, and I've been thinking... Do we have any ideas for how to restructure the government that don't require full-scale fighting? Like, if we could gather evidence of the corruption and expose it to the public, through, say... cyber espionage? It would at least give us more information, even if we don't go that route.

Reconnaissance is a good first step!

I'm not an expert in this, but I figure one of you is. So I want your thoughts! Or if you have experience hacking and want to teach me. It sounds like it would be easier to sneak in and put a physical receiver into one of their central systems, but in the spirit of keeping our options open, I might as well learn.

Even if doing it the manual way is going to be very slow.

Comments

[justbeingknife]

Yeah, I can imagine. Be nice to change channels or order pizza with yer mind.

[ That, in fact, was what was so nice about the jewelcomms! No typing. Or in Majima's case, no hunting and pecking, since no one had ever paid him for his WPM rating. ]

So can ya taste things again?

[arkproject]

You know, I wasn't able to do that where I was before, but that's a good point. I have a lot of things to look forward to if I can figure this out again!

Oh... no, not really. Eating isn't a good idea. I can handle some liquids, so I've been trying things out around the city. It's pretty fun.

[justbeingknife]

Yeah, nothin' like having your own body.

Anyway, sorry I can't help ya with the hacking thing. Bruiser, y'know how it goes.

[arkproject]

Simon was a good chauffeur, but I've been enjoying moving under my own power, that's for sure.

That's okay! I'm sure there'll be plenty of times I could use the help. I heard most places we've gone in the past haven't been as advanced as Drakstaden. I should probably start hoarding things now.

[justbeingknife]

Come again? A chauffeur?

Anyway, yeah. Sounds like a good idea. What I did last mission, since I heard ya can't get Japanese food at HQ.

[arkproject]

Oh, before I had my own body, I was stuck in an Omnitool-- like a PDA? Simon took me around and plugged me in to various terminals.

Wait, are we really stuck with Western food? All the time? Not that I can eat anymore, but it's the principle!

[justbeingknife]

Sounds stiflin'. Bodies might be pretty inconvenient sometimes, but if I had to hang around with someone 24/7 -- no matter who it was -- I'd flip.

There's stuff that's sorta like it, but not to anyone who grew up in Tokyo. Ha! I bet that's what Americans say that about our burgers, come to think of it.

[arkproject]

I wasn't activated while I wasn't plugged in, so it was even more confusing than that... Like a very long, exhausting day you kept losing time on. Simon wasn't too bad, though.

[ Although, honestly, they had both more or less flipped by the end there. Unsurprisingly. ]

Probably. I ate some pretty crappy food for years before my scan was taken. I guess there's a few advantages to being fully human, even if you have to deal with sad imitation food. Maybe I can at least find bubble tea, sometime...

[justbeingknife]

At least ya got along.

[ And it sounded like they still... got along? Which was important! ]

Bubble tea? Never heard of it. What, they add carbonation to the normal stuff now?

[arkproject]

Yeah... We got pretty lucky!

You've never heard of it?? No, no, it's milk tea with tapioca pearls in it. Usually fruit-flavored black tea. It was crazy in Taiwan. When I left, I didn't realize I'd probably never have it again!

[justbeingknife]

Tea with tapioca? Must've been after my time.

[ Just a little too far in the past to have been hit by the bubble tea craze, unfortunately. Maybe one day. ]

So if ya did find a place that makes it, your new body'd handle it okay? That's somethin', at least.

[arkproject]

If I find any, I'll buy you one! You have to try it at least once.

Um... maybe. I'm still trying that out. Plus, I have vague memories of how things are supposed to taste, but I don't know if my current senses will translate them properly-- I mean, similar to how a biological human would perceive them. It's actually pretty complicated.