Returning Call [Day 4, Late Afternoon]

[Nadia Avaline]

Once more settled into the car, Nadia awaits in the backseat. Stopping first near Leo Knight's residence they pick him up before traveling into the more risky Guayaquil. As city streets she knew quickly became a mess of dirtied vibrancy of a different kind she found unfamiliar they arrived nearer and nearer the destination. Inside the car at least the air conditioning was appreciated. Keeping them separate from the conditions outside on the street just a bit longer.

As before, Nadia wouldn't have been the first to speak up if anything was said at all on the ride over.

[Boogiepop]

It was a rather humid day in New Angeles after the heavy rain but most of it had thankfully evaporated by later afternoon. Air traffic had been rather busy and a certain amount of NAPD had been managing the 'roads' to ensure there were no accidents due to anyone wanting to make a lane of their own. It would prove to be a slower trip getting there, giving them enough time to talk.


Sgt. Curtis

With some forewarning this time, the sergeant would be standing by to see them in upon their arrival.

[Leo Knight]

Leo was there, as bland and as armed as ever.

On the way over, he'd cast Nadia a curious look, but didn't say anything. Maybe later. What business was it of his if she didn't want to be a real girl?

He stepped out of the climate controlled inside, giving the sergeant a look, but not a nod. Professionals both, them.

[Nadia Avaline]

Leo would arrive first of the two at the door, Nadia just a couple steps behind. As she steps to Leo's side she steps once closer. At her side the familiar satchel from the day prior containing her rig. Meeting the sergeants gaze she gives a slight nod, "Sergeant, good afternoon."

With the greeting she looks from the sergeant toward the door. A feeling in her stomach making her want to get on with this whole endeavor. It was a strange feeling, one she didn't understand, but it inspired an impatient haste in her.

[Boogiepop]

Sgt. Curtis

"Hey," was all the sergeant would say in return, being less formal than the two but did nod back to Leo at least. Without anything else to say, he would merely take them down the facility like before through the seemingly few ways down. The elevator ride was quiet, allowing the sound of the elevator machinery to just really do all of the talking for the ambiance around them.

Once they reached the lower floor, the sergeant would take them down the stairs from the walkway and buzz them in with his biometrics. On the otherwise, 'Doctor Holmes' would be waiting for them. It seemed like business as usual over at the facility with people working away on programming certain structures into the virtual city, as well as also allocation resources in the architecture.


Doctor Homes

He would approach them and give them both a nod in greeting. "Miss Avaline and company, welcome back to the facility. I hope that the last few days have been good for you?"

[Nadia Avaline]

Nadia was never uncomfortable in such moments, it was easier to stand and wait than anything else. Though along the quiet of the elevator ride the one sound she did add was the shifting of her satchel from one hand to the other. Resting the weight of the rig against the angle of her forward leg. Detached professionally carried her forward through the building and unto the doctor once more.

"Doctor Homes, good afternoon," she offers with a polite duo of her head in his direction. Standing up straighter the satchel is held more out to the side as to not appear lax.

"I am here today to procure a fuller assessment of the facility for Ms. Mills. Your continued employment will depend on what I uncover," she says, with no lacking detachment than there usually was. In fact, one could even suspect she had little concept of the weight those words might carry for the doctor or others in the room.

[Boogiepop]

Doctor Homes

"I see," Homes said simply on the matter as it seemed that Nadia wasted no time in making the purposes of her visit and who she represented very apparent to the researcher. He would take a moment to remove his glasses and pocket them in his coat. They were likely extraneous for style given he had cybereyes anyway.

[OOC: Nadia and/or Leo may roll Perception (Cunning) against Average Difficulty with one Setback.]

"In that case, Miss. Avaline, we would be more than willing to show you the full extent of the project and answer all questions you might have about it. In fact, in the time of your absence, we've been able to prep something of a demonstration for you. Mind you, there might be side-effects to the experience as we've found that our volunteers typically take two to three trips before acclimating to the experience as our system gathers data. This is not an excuse but merely just a forewarning of the side effects. Personally, I'd consider them more of a sign of the system working as intended than a mistake. We will try to smooth down the bugs in the future." He nodded to reassure them.

"However, I digress...Come, please follow me." He gestured the way forward and brought them further into the facility to an area where there were several reclined cushioned chairs that has buckle straps on them. There was a good share of machinery surrounding each respective chair that focused on analyzing vitals and getting cerebral readings while plugging each participant into the system, which was done with either built-in BMI or wearable goggles to feed the experience. The other chairs seem vacant right now, save for two elderly volunteers.

[Nadia Avaline]

"I understand," she says with the succinct tone of a professional.

As he would walk, she would follow along at his side. Holding herself to that standard she let it slip a bit as a brief smile came through, "I am looking forward to witnessing the experience," was what she said, and all that she would offer on the withheld hope for there to be something here that she could bring back to appease Elizabeth enough.

Day 4, LA | Perception, Cybereyes vs Average, Setback: 2eP+2eD+1eS 1 success

[Boogiepop]

Doctor Homes

Despite the doctor's studious and professional nature as his demeanour, he seemed rather perturbed about the news of his continued employment. Surely, a doctor such as himself with the lofty goal of his endeavours as well as all of the credits' worth of material granted to him wasn't only worried about his employment potentially.

As Doctor Homes walked to the testing area, he would call one of the technicians to aid him with something. The white jumpsuit technical would grab a cart full of various equipment and medical items, wheeling it to one of the chairs in preparation. "Good, good. Am I correct to assume that you will be experiencing the procedure?" It wasn't really so much a question about Nadia but if it was going to be Nadia and Leon in this case.

[Nadia Avaline]

As expected, Nadia set her satchel down beside the seat that was currently being prepped. Looking up her gaze shifted to the doctor, "I must make a full assessment," she declared, but only as a matter of propriety.

Shifting her gaze more directly on Leo, though her reasons were separate from that which the doctor might have held. Instead her reasons were far more simple.

[Boogiepop]

Doctor Homes

As he waited for Leo to respond or make his decision, he walked them through the process. "Once you're ready, please be seated here and we can be ready to begin. I will have to ask that turn off your PAD if you wish to keep it on your person and any other connective devices or upgrades you might have. As you can see with our facilities, you're already disconnected from the Network but the residual signals might interfere with the server here. We will inject you a light sedative for the experience and some pain-killer to reduce the initial shock, just some over-the-counter grade medicine."

He gestured to the set up around the chairs. "We will be connecting you to the world via your BMI or we can supply one if you don't have one. The experience variation is about 30% or so, admittedly, with implant connections being more immersive. However, the difference in experiences is really subjective and the end-user may consider the two the same. Just be aware that an active brain scan will be running for the entire length of the experience but it should be no different than a conventional brain scan while drawing out certain past experiences to accentuate the interactions found at Los Arboleda. I'll be happy to answer any questions or address any concerns before we begin. I will be joining you momentarily too in the experience, to walk you through personally."

[Leo Knight]

"I think I'd better just watch." Leo said.

He looked at Nadia, frowning, then back at the doctor. "What's going to happen? Physically, I mean."

[Nadia Avaline]

"For the interface, I possess an internal enhancement, if that is acceptable," she says, her eyes lighting up with a little glow. As they speak she goes through the process of noting down everything thus far with the speed of thought and then shuts down the PAD. As Leo interacts with the doctor, Nadia moves to prepare herself in the chair. Removing her outer jacket and setting it aside she reveals the white dress shirt she wore and the PAD device resting as a bracer model on her forearm, a pulled up sleeve bunched around the edge of it.

[Boogiepop]

Doctor Homes

He looked to Leo at the question and spoken indifferently on the matter. "Physically? Little to nothing. I suppose we are continuing to gather information on any potential side-effects when it comes to what could happen but so far we've encountered fatigue, muscle soreness, and dehydration as common reactions to a prolonged stay. There have been some incidents of headaches, nausea, and even seizure to those who had a past history of them. That said, it might be a bad idea to venture in if you have any past incidents when it comes to using a BMI of any sort, which I imagine that Miss Avaline here would not have an issue with. However, I cannot foresee everything. I hope you understand."

[Nadia Avaline]

Nadia, sat down in the seat and prepared. Looking to Leo she speaks up with that same professional detachment, "I have no concerns. Ms. Mills needs to know if there is anything within this project worth saving. Perhaps you may be of use discussing that with someone here while I am indisposed?"

[Leo Knight]

"Sure." Leo said, the single word lacking inflection. "Although I don't really make that determination." He looked at the doctor, leaving the rest unsaid. That is, that he might enforce it.

He stepped back out of the way, still alert, ready to draw if it was some sort of trick. It probably wasn't, but being paranoid was part of the job.

[Boogiepop]

Doctor Homes

"Good, let's begin then," Doctor Homes would nod and personally get to work on the procedure, administering the needed injections for Nadia. Admittedly, this was a procedure done on humans and perhaps the data was out when it came to the application on clones. That was a concern for another time as it seemed that time was of the essence on the matter.

Nadia would be connected directly through her BMI and she would be linked into the system through her implants. She would be connected in the same way as 'going deep' when it came to her navigation of the Network, however, this perhaps felt more like melding into a relaxing dream. As an android, did Nadia dream or was that removed from her design? It felt like what humans would call a dream at least. The sensation felt more natural than knowing everything was digital and soon enough Nadia would awake somewhere else entirely.



It was nighttime and she was riverside to what looked like an Asian quarter of a "small city". It was only perhaps small in the way that there was only a single ground level, rather than the multiple structures of elevation that made up New Angeles, the skies were open and clear. There was perhaps a strange anomaly that despite there being plenty of city lights, the stars were visible in the sky. What were stars, beyond what was described to Nadia? They looked ideal and enchanting. However, despite the feeling of the gentle breeze in the area and the calmness of the city, it felt rather vacant and it wasn't only because the street was devoid of people. What was going on vacation like? It was a strange sensation that Nadia might have trouble filling in the blanks.

[Nadia Avaline]

Strange was the most basic way to describe the feeling she encountered here. It was certainly different than being in the Net itself. Finding herself glancing skyward, she didn't often glance skyward as there was little reason for it. However, here the stars had that quality to them that was slightly magnetic if she were forced to describe it. Before she'd even realized, she was walking against the gentle breeze along the riverside with her eyes toward the sky. Twenty seconds in her mind would wander like anyone whom would claim a familiarity with the net she couldn't help but feel the urge to try things, to interface with the system and push what limits she could.

"Strange.." she spoke to no one at all, a comfort found in the net. Although this place was hardly similar.

[Boogiepop]

In the meatspace, Leo would see that Doctor Homes would prep himself for the same procedure with an assistant, perhaps with fewer injections involved. His expression was one of concentration before he descended down to the same virtual space at Nadia.

Nadia wouldn't be kept waiting for long as Doctor Homes did eventually appear before this world. He was different, given the capabilities of the virtual world would allow. This time he was dressed in shorts and a tropical shirt, which perhaps looked more awkward than fitting. His eyes were more natural than cybernetic.


Doctor Homes

He would walk over to meet her. "Strange, yet familiar at the same time. My apologies for how vacant how the world may feel at the moment. It may take some time to populate as the system is trying to get a read on your sensations or memories, bridging them to what you may experience here."

As Doctor Homes mentioned this, there was this creeping of sensations and ideas finding their way into her thoughts. Where there were gaps in things such as the memories of being on vacation, tasting the best ice cream ever, finding love, or other things that Nadia might have not experienced in great details as of yet, now she found those things...while not exactly shared directly with her own memories but potentially get a better sense by sympathy. Frankly, it was curious but it did feel cause a bit of a headache

[Leo Knight]

Leo watched, a concerned frown on his rough features. He didn't know what was happening, couldn't know, but his mind was naturally given to suspicion.

He definitely kept an eye on the sergeant.