Shop Straightening Shenanigans

[shadearchivist]

Characters: Ienzo, Namine, and open
Content: Cleaning up the spirit painting shop and tea shop. Also shenanigans. Possibly booze.
Location (including world): 4th District, Traverse Town
Time of Day: EVENING (really, morning as far as the "day" goes)
Warnings: Kia is trying to lull us into complacency with comedy elements. :3


Ienzo had set his coat aside and folded it up neatly. The furniture was in well-ordered heaps outside the shop, but everything needed to be cleaned and painted before actually bringing things inside. He didn't even want to consider what they'd have to do to make the upstairs comfortable and livable. He reminded himself that he'd have to mention the apartments on the upper levels; people might be pleased to find a place to live that wasn't the hotel.

The ground floor was large and mostly open, though the space could be conveniently divided so that each business would have its own area. It did have back room space, fortunately enough, so that they didn't have to think too much about creating their own back areas. One of the back areas currently had several crates, one of which Ienzo suspected that several of the adults would prefer to get into sometime soon, given the general stress levels. Still, that would be a question for when they were open for business.

Ienzo took up a broom and headed towards the back to begin sweeping things out.

Comments

[4letters4ninja]

Ziva walked through the 4th District, heading towards where Ienzo had mentioned the shop was. Although, the piles of furniture gave it away, honestly. Taking the stairs on the left, she really didn't feel like taking down any Nightmares at that moment. Fluffy followed behind her, diving once in a while at her back, trying to grab the braid that hung there.

"You are never going to catch it." She said, flicking her head just as he tried, causing him to crash into her shoulder blades. "Now behave." She said right as she walked into the empty room, Fluffy settling on her shoulder for the moment.

"Ah, anyone here?"

[colorbymemory]

After helping move the furniture downstairs, Namine had retreated upstairs to what would be her room to work on sketches for decorating ideas. It was interesting to draw laying on the floor rather than sitting at a table, and her dress was going to be dusty, but that wasn't the major issue of the moment. Of more concern was the limited number of colors and sheets of paper to work with. She'd need to buy more soon.

She was just putting the finishing touches on a drawing when Batty squeaked and flew down from his perch on a windowsill to tug at her hair before swooping out of the room. Curious as to what brought on the reaction, she stood, dusted herself off, and hurried to investigate--but not before he swooped back in to chitter at her as if wondering why she was so slow, then lead her downstairs.

Once there, she saw the reason for Batty's excitement. He rushed to greet Fluffy, and she smiled at their other visitor. "Hello, Ziva."

[dork_of_keys]

Sora arrived just behind Ziva. Jelly Bean bounced right over to the other two Spirits to say hi.

"Hey. I'm not late am I?"

[defrostedpride]

Even, persistently anonymous Pricklemane in tow, arrived not quite on Sora's heels. It would be foolish in the extreme to speculate that he had deliberately hung back to avoid encountering Sora at the door. In the extreme.

He regarded the space with a disdainful eye that said more about his shortness of sleep than about his actual opinion. He did, however, bestir himself to say, "Good morning, Naminé."

[shadearchivist]

Ienzo headed into the main space. "Good morning, everyone." It was good to see a few people here; they might expect some more, but this wasn't too small a crew for cleaning the building. "Thank you for coming."

[skysmirror]

Xion hurried in after some of the others, Barkley happily trotting at her heels. While he joined in the round of greetings going on among the Spirits, Xion was more concerned with the others. "Good morning. Sorry I'm late. "

[allfunandgamesuntil]

York was exploring the fourth district a bit more; it was just a good idea. He had been practicing fighting along with Sparky; it was good to know what your partner could do. They were plowing through nightmares pretty well, so when he caught sight of a group of people meeting up, he figured he could take the time to check it out.

Sparky trotted into the building first, and York headed in after him. "Hey. We having a party in here today?"

[colorbymemory]

"Good morning, everyone. Ah, nobody's late, so that's okay." Namine had just gotten done greeting the others and trying to reassure those who were worried about being late when another spirit and their owner arrived. "Hello, York. It's not really a party...everyone said they'd help Ienzo and me clean up."

[unrecovered]

Wash slipped in the door behind York with Fang swooping in behind him, just in time to hear Namine say nobody was late. Well, that was good to hear. "Oh, good," he spoke up, stepping forward and clapping a hand on York's shoulder, his grin audible in his voice. "York loves to do this sort of thing. He really likes the jobs with heavy lifting. Isn't that right, York?"

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"Hey, I just know that I can leave all the fiddly dusting jobs to you," York replied, grinning back at Wash. He glanced around. "I think I know everyone here..." At least, he was fairly sure he'd seen all of them on the communicators at some point, if not their names.

[dork_of_keys]

Sora had met everyone present and been saying hello as people arrived, but at that comment, he realized he hadn't introduced himself to York (even though they'd spoken to each other) and had only gotten his name from listening to public conversations over the communicator.

"Huh, we sort of met? I'm Sora."

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"Yeah, we chatted a bit." York nodded to Sora.

Well, this wasn't what he'd planned to do with his day, but it seemed like a pretty solid thing to be involved in. Might as well make the best of it and pitch in.

[colorbymemory]

Well, it seemed that everyone had at least introduced themselves, and the group was definitely big enough to take care of everything that needed to be done.

"Maybe we should start, then? We might want to make smaller groups, and each work on a different area."

Fortunately, she knew enough to know that Wash and York had been joking when the mentioned tasks that the other preferred.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

Delta appeared next to Ziva out of thin air. "Greetings. You appeared to be observing me. Do you have a question you would like to ask?"

York's getting buzzed could be slightly disorienting to Delta; it would be better if Delta had something else to concentrate on. He trusted York to know better than to become too inebriated, particularly with strangers around, but there was no need to stay with him and suffer.

[4letters4ninja]

Ziva had been standing near the wall again, leaning on her broom and watching the antics as they started. She didn't plan on doing any drinking tonight, and was just planning on keeping any 'bar brawls' from getting out of hand. A voice came from beside her, and she glanced over to see Delta, jumping slightly. She hadn't expected to see him there.

"I apologize." She said with a sheepish smile on her face. "I should not have been staring, I am... just not sure exactly what you are?" To the point, yes, but the easiest way to say it anyway.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"I am Delta. I am an artificial intelligence fragment assigned to Agent York as part of Project Freelancer." That was a basic summary, at any rate. It was uncertain what information would be helpful, given that they were on the cutting edge of AI implantation research.

[4letters4ninja]

Agent York? That was the guy in the yellow armor, right? She remembered Wash saying something about him earlier that she had overheard. Or, it had something to do with a 'york'. He had apparently gone for the alcohol.

"Project Freelancer? What is that?" She'd watched movies dealing with artificial intelligence, so she followed that enough, but that was something she'd never heard of.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"Project Freelancer was an attempt to pair highly skilled soldiers with AI in order to improve their skills in battle. Humanity is at a distinct technological disadvantage in the current conflict, and therefore there are many research avenues geared towards finding a solution. Artificial intelligences are commonly used in order to run ships, vehicles, or city or planetwide computer systems. Project Freelancer sought to use a smart AI for the purpose of running specialized equipment and offering tactical support." Delta fell silent to wait for a response. Hopefully that was not too much information all at once.

[4letters4ninja]

Her eyebrow raised as she listened to his explanation. It took a minute, and her having to think like McGee normally would, to partially comprehend what Delta was saying. She'd probably get it more later, when she had more time to figure it out, but maybe not.

"Ok, still processing all that, but it is a lot to comprehend." She'd admit it. "Considering there is not a 'current conflict' like what you are describing, unless I am missing something." And she could be. But, not admitting that part.

"But, how does it...you...this whole thing work?" Yeah, she sounded really smart. And Fluffy's snickering coming from where he was perched nearby didn't help.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"The Human-Covenant War began in the year 2525 and is currently ongoing," Delta offered helpfully. He paused; he didn't usually have to explain the situation to people who were unfamiliar with the basic setting of the war.

"What you are seeing right now is a hologram. My actual consciousne..." Delta paused for a long moment. "I live in a chip that is in York's head. His armor makes this hologram so I can talk to people."

[4letters4ninja]

Ziva's thought process stopped on the year he stated for a moment. 2525? That was a bit over 500 years after the last time she looked at a calendar. It couldn't be that the were actually from... yeah, she wasn't going to entertain that thought right at the moment.

Confirm the facts, speculate later.

"You said 2525, right?" Yeah, way to sound brilliant.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"Yes. The initial contact with the Covenant coincided with the beginning of the war." He and York hadn't really kept up with the war recently; they'd had too much to concentrate on on a personal level.

[4letters4ninja]

Yep. 2525. That wasn't the year she was used to hearing. And she had a feeling that Delta didn't outright lie unless there was a good reason to. Especially about something as simple as a year. She was getting a headache. And something else was bothering her.

"And wait, you also said something about a chip in his head, did you not?" If Delta's wondering: No, it's not making sense. At all.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

"Yes. I am currently contained in a chip that resides in a port on the back of York's neck. I am able to move to other forms of storage if the need arises. Agent Washington and Agent North have the ability to interface with a chip as well. Agent North's AI is Theta, and Agent Washington does not carry an AI at this point in time." The surgery was both proven and safe; certainly there had been concerns at first, but it appeared to be stable medical technology at this point.

[4letters4ninja]

If McGee were here, he'd probably be able to explain a bit more about what was going on. Or, he'd be having a geek freak out over the fact that he was talking to an AI hologram. Either one was a viable option. Ziva could only wish she could understand more (although it was kinda cool to be talking to Delta, even she could admit that).

"So, wait, did Wash have an AI at one time?" She glanced over at the other people for a moment, before shifting her attention back to Delta. She hadn't met Agent North yet, and was wondering they had come in. But, there were still only two sets of armor, and she was assuming there would be a third, if he did.