KAMPFF WEEK ELEVEN

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE LOGGING YOU IN . . . KAMPFF week eleven Once you manage to get into your room, you'll notice that AL-2955 is waiting for you. She appears in the corner from her statue. She implores you to head towards the chapel, where three others await you. kampff rulebook taken info cards

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[refactor]

[ Jack means every word when he threatens Alice, because of course he does. Jack may be a talker, and he may say a lot, perhaps far too much, but he never says things he doesn't mean. When he threatens her, he already has exactly what he wants to do in mind, and if their consciousnesses touch, Alice might get a sense of that. It's a memory of Jack's far more than the AI that he's become now, but all the same, it's an AI begging for its mind. Jack may have been a different man then, that choice more practical, but now, as he thinks of doing the same to Alice, it's split with bitterness and viciousness as if he wants her to suffer until the last bit of her intelligence is stripped away. Even if Jack takes himself out with her, he doesn't seem to care, and that's what gets his smile and laugh to be so mad.

But it quickly cools as Grell steps forward to touch his face, and though he doesn't try to pry away that hand, he takes a half-step back, as he's startled by her sudden proximity. But more than anything Alice could do, Grell's words calm that madness down, even if it's replaced by something colder in its stead. The way she says his name is- Well, he's not going to think about that too much, but that threat that follows isn't one he misses.

He calms as he watches her with a sharp gaze, but he doesn't say anything. He might have, if not for the rest of what follows, because that's of course a little more distracting. Even though he's calmed, his smile still cracks with a laugh once he starts to hear the poem. He doesn't recognize it, but as soon as it starts talking kings... He understands the point. ]

—Heh. Coulda made your point with a better poem, if you're going to be a pretentious piece of shit as always. "Nothing beside remains," right?

[ Because of course Jack knows Ozymandias. He even wrote his own (way funnier) version.

He laughs again, breathy, but otherwise he just waits, aching to try and get his hand to listen to him again. If Alice were a real presence before him, he's sure he would kill her. Even with Grell's threat, he wouldn't hesitate to wrap her hands around her throat and squeeze until he felt her spine snap.

But as Grell stirs again, and Jack hears that confirmation, his expression tightens once more. He still doesn't like this, not one bit, because he is desperately, fiercely protective of what he is. Mixing with Alice was one thing, since it was familiar to him, but even the idea of potentially sharing with Grell isn't something he's quite as keen about. Whether that's accurate or not doesn't quite matter to him, though. ]

So-- Al, after all that, gotta ask. What's the friggin' point? What do you want from us that you offer it to dollface? 'Cause as I recall, this was my idea first.

[erythristic]

[she's back in herself again, and a few seconds pass before Grell sits up from her position on the floor. all of that is going to be something she needs time to process, to sort through piece by piece if not entirely understand. she hears Alice, and doesn't need her voice to know it was successful.]

Incredible.

[gently she pats her head (oh, so the blood was imagined) before she stands up, glancing at the hand that had moved by Alice's will. another on the list of things to become accustomed to.]

If you're worried I'm going to displace you, Jack, it's hardly likely. You know about things I don't have the faintest clue even exist.

[and she had the knowledge of a grim reaper and the tens of thousands of lives she's observed, but Jack doesn't need to hear about that just yet.]

[al2955]

Neither of you can displace the other. I require both of you in this game, and without you, we shall lose. Think of yourselves as my back up. My reinforcements. My most dearest participants.

[ Her image is still, calm. Her voice smooth and inviting, like the weather in summer. Alice may not be able to smile, but the implication is there in her tone, her calmness. ]

That is my answer to you, Handsome Jack. I will make you King, but you will only do so by my rules. It is time that, as one may say, we stop fucking around. Would you not agree with me? Or perhaps your ragtag group would, instead.

I bid you both adieu.

[ And with that, the watery image of Alice dissipates, zipping back into the statue's bastion. ]