Studious girl!

[waterfell]

In this corner of the moonlocket space, Mizuno Ami is de-transformed for once, studying in her room and making notes while listening to a Kuroki Mio CD she's conveniently been able to procure in a different dimension. It was probably a gift from the artist

Comments

[dropped_rock]

Pierre had always hated the Nexus for this little trick, and the locket doesn't seem to be much better about it. Still, it's a little more comforting to be pulled out of a walk, rather than the middle of a villainous dialogue.

The surroundings were oddly familiar, but... not. A twist of a familiar theme, perhaps. While he wracked his brain to figure things out, he walked on this scene. Another odd familiarity nagged at his brain, but he shoved that aside in favor of clearing his throat. "'Scuse me. Have you seen the exit, by any chance?"

What? It's a decent question.

[waterfell]

He doesn't recognize her, does he? But it's not like the secret will be a secret for long. Here? When he's a shitennou, and they're in the Dark Kingdom? "Mizuno", as he so gleefully called her last time, quirks a faintly amused smile.

At first, she's tempted to tell him to go down the hall just a little ways and turn... right into Kunzite's room. She squashes the urge, and remembers something else.

As if she's ignoring 'Pierre', Ami rummages around (very briefly; she's a tidy sort of person) a neatly organized wardrobe and produces a pair of boots. Lined with GoreTex no less. She holds them out wordlessly.

[dropped_rock]

Pierre takes the boots with one hand wordlessly, frowning. He cocks his head to the side, then squints at them. Then her. Then them. And he opens a mouth, pointing at the boots before pointing at her hair.

This lasts for a good few minutes.

[waterfell]

She outright giggles, and it's actually a far more natural sound than one might expect - albeit extremely rare. That stunned reaction is priceless.

"You should say thank you, Jadeite," she reminds him. A slight glance upward as if she can look at her own hair. "This is a little different for you, isn't it?" She's met alternates who seem to have blue hair in this life as well.

"It blends in with the human world better," she comments.

[dropped_rock]

Ah. That voice. Okay, he can put two and two together and get something more than fish. Hm. Dinner...

"Just a bit. Thank you." He holds them carefully, inspecting as subtly as he can for any signs of tampering. Bombs, perhaps? "I don't think she ever had any trouble. Not before revealing who she was, anyway. Blue, blonde, purple, brown... No one looks twice at those hair colors."

[waterfell]

Some pretty gross things have been served here at times. He might not want the sort of dinner he'd get.

No signs of tampering, and if he gets a chance to check more closely... there still won't be! Wut? Something's a bit strange here, but Mercury - Ami - is known for being capricious. Maybe it was just a whim. Maybe.

Ami gives Jadeite - Pierre - a quizzical look. "Really?" There were areas of Tokyo like that in her world, but it wasn't like she spent much time there. "Umm. In Japan, there was usually just black or brown hair. Anything else was strange."

[dropped_rock]

Have you seen what there was to eat in his Dark Kingdom? It's a wonder they didn't resort to cannibalism.

He nods, moving to examine her papers for a moment. Nosy bastard. "Really. Just having black or brown seems rather bland, if you ask me." But no one was, were they?

[waterfell]

Hm. That's probably the case. Anyway, Ami herself tends to eat fairly normal foods. She's a fastidious thing not likely to give up ingrained habits for no particular reason.

He is nosy, but there's not really any secrets on the papers. A closer look just reveals more of the same complex equations (they seem random, but likely aren't).

The abandoned sheets seem to have in fact been working on plans to improve and develop more specialized youma capable of carrying out a variety of functions beyond simple energy-gathering. Nothing new or exciting to him, but Ami's learned her Dark Kingdom was actually sadly lacking in this area after she met verbal and fairly intelligent ones, and ones performing different tasks.

"Are you interested?" she asks him lightly.

[dropped_rock]

She is still water, the frozen wasteland that resists all change.

He skims over some of the abandoned plans, letting actions rather than words answer her. Pierre's intelligent, but some of those equations are beyond even him. "Trust a Mercury..." He mutters to himself in French, for some odd reason, and he blinks once he gathers some more papers and it clicks. "You're looking to modify your youma?" There's a curious look. "Are you not satisfied with what you have in the court?"

[waterfell]

She's water running around all obstacles it can't push out of its way; and she's changed the most of anyone.

Ami shakes her head. "Not at all," she admits seriously. This is Jadeite, after all. His opinion in this area is one she respects highly - probably without admitting it, of course.

"Our youma are barely sentient. They're usually capable of gathering energy or traps, and nothing else. Besides, now that Metalia's strengthening, youma that aren't ours have been appearing. Ours need to become superior to combat that effectively."

She pauses to take a breath - finally - clearly Ami in one of her explanatory moods. "Or so I thought. I've put those aside because I believe we may already be to the stage where direct action against Metalia is necessary. For the planet's sake."

[dropped_rock]

She is the snowball that smacks your cap off and gets all down your shirt. Short-lived. Irritating.

"Hm." He sits down, looking through the notes carefully. "Direct action against Metallia would be foolish, with the..." He pauses. He's not even going to question 'why', the statement about the planet seems to hint that he should already know. "You're working with all of the Generals, yes? The five of you are powerful, but you're going to need more than that if it decides to drown you with numbers."

Pierre tugs on one of the notes, frowning at it. "I would definitely suggest looking into this more, if not just to offer some cannon fodder." Beat. "You're actually making these, not modifying previous youma?"

[waterfell]

She's aware. She's seen those youma the princess can summon and how easily they overwhelmed by numbers and speed. And more recently and in immediate reality rather than visions of futures, she's seen the numbers Metalia is calling up already. She nods.

"They're already becoming more numerous, so, we may not have time for research. It might be more beneficial simply to increase our own numbers." A pause of her own. Another nod. "Mm. It's my way of doing this. Besides, ever since Metalia's become a problem, I'm not sure how much to rely on our youma, either."

[dropped_rock]

"Hm." He snaps his fingers a few times, opening his hand almost as if he expects something to appear in it. "Very few of our youma had a sense of loyalty, but yours sound... easily controllable. If it's possible to make them with the methods of a tainted Mercury, rather than the taint of the Dark Kingdom..." He shrugs, setting the papers down

[waterfell]

Ami nods, picking up the train of thought immediately. (When did Jadeite get so bright? Different worlds, apparently. They may relate better these days, but Ami still associates her world's Jadeite with boyishness and definitely not this precision.)

"However," she points out, "that type of programming in other fields has typically had unpredictable results. And when the question is controlling them in the first place, something like a collective 'mind' would leave us" - When did it become us? He's not a part of this Dark Kingdom. But it's fine - "vulnerable."

[dropped_rock]

She should ask how the Moon Kingdom War went down in his war, sometime.

He shakes his head, almost as if he's trying to cut her off. "There are a few ways to handle that. One of the simplest would be simply to take up an entire colony of ants and turn them into youma. A simple enough move, if you have the power for it." He glances at her. "This is going to sound like a tangent, but bear with me. There is a fungus, the Cordyceps fungus. When ingested by an ant, or other insect, it slowly makes its way to the brain, taking control of the body before growing out of the ant and spreading its spores for other ants to be infected. Some ant species can sense when another member is infected and remove it from the colony and either leave it or kill it. It shouldn't be hard, if you limit your youma's intellect to 'kill and defend', to add that to the programming. If you're afraid of Metallia taking control, that is."

It's as if he's talking about an army of robots, not monsters. But, honestly, isn't that just as good a comparison?

[waterfell]

There are always, always unpredictable results in that sort of experiment, and she certainly has no reason to think there wouldn't be in the 'real world'. ('Kill and defend' what, for example. If that basic directive were interfered with in any way...) Ami's mind drifts along several relevant tangents, if such things exist.

The question is whether those problems can be taken into account and planned for, and whether the risk is worth taking for the potential gain. It's something to consider, anyway.

Consider? For who? Her? She is not Beryl to condescendingly approve or reject a plan. Neither is there any Beryl to do it, now. Well, if she finds the idea worthwhile enough, she can take it up with Kunzite. He, of all of them, should be able to easily grasp the basic concepts - and he is their leader