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Architect's Workshop (Girls' Frontline design quest)

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[X] I'd try to lure them into one place and then blow them up! Yes! More explosions!

[x] I'd defend myself
 
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[X] I'd have someone protect me

It sounds the most in character. Ish. I'm not that familiar with the characters anyway.
 
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    • Scheduled vote count started by Solark on Feb 11, 2024 at 4:57 PM, finished with 24 posts and 23 votes.
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    • Solark said:
    "I'm sure you would have preferred to go with a more... explosive solution. But you paid attention to the context and recognized that I needed those trucks intact, or it would've been Destroyer out there instead."

    Doh! You can't tell them you did it because you thought can ears were cute, can you?

    "O-Of course! Hahaha... haha..."
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    Hooray, we avoided a potential pitfall! By complete accident of course, but still!

    Pajama party? This is the nicest, warmest, most whole portrayal of Sangvis Ferri I've seen so far, including my own stuff. It does help that we're seeing them through a non-adverserial lens.

    can't wait for Ouroboros to walk in, punch Architect in the face, and strongarm her into a project to upgrade the Brute Dolls
     
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    Chapter 11
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    • [x] I'd have someone protect me
    "I'd have someone protect me."— you shrug. Intruder squints at you, and you perceive a momentary OGAS traffic surge from her.

    "...I see."

    You catch a glimpse of a predatory grin on her elegant visage before it relaxes back into a friendly smile. She's too quick to figure things out, and if not for Scarecrow's puzzled expression, you'd have thought you've been simply too obvious. Meanwhile Scarecrow turns to you and opens her mouth, but Intruder gently touches her knee. Scarecrow pauses, then deflates.

    "Whatever you do, just don't let them capture you."

    "Sure, but why? Are those civil T-Dolls that scary?"

    "T-Doll, no. Humans are."

    You knit your eyebrows. "How come?"

    Scarecrow's expression turns grim, her eyes looking through the bed with a thousand-yard stare. "I came across it accidentally. It was supposed to be a regular intel gathering at one of G&K logistic hubs, when a civilian guest suddenly arrived. Expensive car, bodyguards. They were expecting him. Got him into the nicest building, set up a perimeter, and then ordered one of the T-Dolls to surrender her firearm and go inside."

    Scarecrow brings her knees under her chin and hugs her legs.

    Sexual abuse, torture, mind control, memory alteration
    Click here to jump to the safe part

    "About three and a half hours later the guest left, and the T-Doll... when her comrades carried her out of the building, she was no longer herself. She was a broken, sobbing husk, unable to move or talk. Not sure if it was pity or an attempt to calm her down, but they gave her handgun back to her... and she blew her digital brains out without a moment's hesitation."

    She pauses, collecting her thoughts.

    "It was distressing, so I dug deeper. It was neither an accident nor a one-off happening. There are different kinds of sick bastards out there, with... peculiar tastes and hobbies. Sexual assaults of all flavors is just the tip of the iceberg. Beating, maiming, tearing from limb to limb, cutting with knives and saws, gauging eyes out..." Scarecrow's voice trembles. "They appreciate the durability of T-Dolls, because T-Dolls continue screaming for longer than any human possibly can."

    You note her distress giving way to anger.

    "But bodies is not the only thing they're after. Some enjoy breaking digiminds. They keep their pray alive for weeks and even month, torturing them, slowly plunging them into despair, depriving them of all hope, always keeping them alive and conscious. And when the mind finally collapses, they just restore it from the backup and go for a new round, finding faster, more cruel and efficient methods. Some deviants are even more sophisticated. They pretend to be a friend, and then enjoy watching the trust replaced with disbelieve and finally horror. Or they have the victim's friends hold her down while they do all sort of things..."

    "Hang on..."— you hold up a hand, having found a single thing you could reasonably question. "Why would friends hold her down? Even a civ-spec T-Doll should have no trouble kicking the human ass instead!"

    "Asimov's directive."— Intruder is hugging her pillow. "Apparently G&K T-Dolls are unable to disobey orders from a certain group of humans."

    Scarecrow nods. "This. It's what I can't stand about them. One moment they are laughing together, and next her eyes are empty as she's holding her friend down while a psychopath mutilates her."

    "This is insane." You shake your head. "Why Kruggies are doing it to their own troops?"

    "Because it pays well. After they simply write off destroyed Dolls as KIA. In their reports it's us, crazy Ringleaders, who dismember their soldiers."

    "They do it for... money? Sell out their troops to some rich perverts, just like that?"

    "That's humans for you." Scarecrow doesn't hide her disgust. "I'm not sure who is worse— the buyers or the sellers."

    "Do you think it's their commander's doing?"— asks Intruder.

    "The top brass is involved for sure, but I haven't got any names. They are bold, but not careless."

    "Can we leak this information? Make someone investigate it and hopefully shut it down?"— you ask. Scarecrow shakes her head.

    "Nobody would bother to listen. We're just a malfunctioning inconvenience, remember? And I don't have undeniable proof for an anonymous report either. They have this angle covered."

    "Well, technically it's none of our business anyway..."

    "Here's the problem. Some of the sickos are getting tired of civil T-Dolls. They now want someone new, more durable, stronger-willed." Scarecrow looks you in the eyes. "They want a Ringleader."

    Oh. Suddenly Scarecrow's stance makes much more sense to you. You should've known she wasn't just being dramatic with her explosives rig. Like Intruder, she has her own fears and deals with them in the most practical way available to her. Those two are prepared in their own respective ways, but are you? Intruder notices your anxiety.

    "I wouldn't worry too much just yet, dear. G&K sells their T-Dolls out because it's easy. They might attempt to capture us alive if they have a chance, but I doubt they're going to launch a dedicated Ringleader abduction operation."

    "Depends on how much the bastards a willing to pay for it."— Scarecrow still looks grim. "It won't be difficult to justify such incursion."

    "Willingness to do so doesn't give them the ability."— parries Intruder. "We're dug in tight, and zero hour is approaching. Would you risk your forces here?"

    "I wouldn't."— Scarecrow grimaces. "But I also wouldn't sell my subordinates like that. What if they go for a covert-ops approach? Send a small team of elites with whatever justification? Quiet in, quiet out, no shots fired."

    "Would any of us go with them willingly though?"

    "No, Intruder. But they are resourceful. I'd rather not write off the possibility completely." Scarecrow shift her gaze at you. "What do you say, Architect? Got a way to incapacitate a Ringleader?"

    You don't like this, but consider the problem nevertheless. Ringleaders are tough, but far from invulnerable. There are several feasible approaches, and it's mostly a matter of solution's portability and the extent of the damage they're ready to accept. You sigh.

    "I'm afraid it's not impossible." Then you give your guests a reassuring smile. "For me, that is. Good thing I'm on your side, right?"

    Intruder returns the smile. "You sure this pretty head of yours isn't going to warrant an abduction mission of its own?"

    You're about to retort, but Scarecrow is the first to speak. "If it's not impossible, they might be able to do it too. Just be careful, both of you."

    You receive a short data package from Intruder, sync with her and you two reply in unison:

    "Yeees, mom Scarecrow!"

    Laughter echoes through your bedroom, dissolving the grim mood. Practical jokes are easy when you're a Ringleader! You don't touch the subject for the rest of the evening, wrapping yourself in the warmth and comfort of having your friends nearby. When the dawn breaks, you feel refreshed and energized despite not having had any downtime.


    Day two begins with Scarecrow, having changed into her regular getup with the signature half-mask, requesting access to your guinea pigs group to roll out her own update. Intruder is nowhere to be seen, but shows up from the direction of your firing range by the time the updates are merged. You haven't heard any gunshots, what was she up to? Anyway, you explain what's done so far, and she volunteers to start testing it right away. With that you all go about your respective tasks.

    Finally, cat ears! Intruder's collection of those is not very big, but doesn't like variety. Colors, sizes and fluffiness levels are there for every taste and hardware requirements! You grab a pair and carefully study the shape. The focusing ability seems far from what you need, but as you knead and twist the fluffy ear with your fingers, you're able to shape it closer to the ideal. Not bad! Now it's a matter of figuring out the ideal shape within the formfactor constraints and integrating apertures along with artificial muscles into the fabric layers.

    The shape part is straightforward: your workshop possesses enough total computing power to simply brute-force it with high-precision simulations. Considering the ears size in relation to the wavelength, you don't get that much signal gain, but gain isn't you objective. Instead you concentrate on isolation, separation and focusing, designing the transceivers do be as insensitive as possible to anything outside of the focus beam.

    Radio waves are insufferable: they refuse to bounce off when you want them to, and do so when you don't plan for it. They propagate as they please and don't excite the small antennas you're able to fit into the formfactor. They interfere, destroy each other, disrupting the signal.

    Yet you push on. You twist the antennas into coils, giving them more length in the same package size, and take advantage of resonance. You utilize interference to overlap the signals from several transmitters, getting more power and focus out of what's been a hindrance. You fiddle with reactance, introduce active impedance matching, experiment with reflective arrays and microstrips. No hurdle is too great for you, no assumption is too crazy. Your computers hum like a beehive, chewing through increasingly complex models and simulations. Your precision assembly lines work overtime, crafting their finest artifacts yet. You orchestrate, direct, combine and tear apart, analyze, improve and iterate, shaping you entire being into a tool to tackle the problem.

    And radio waves give in.

    You're holding the solution in your hands. It's no longer a pair of cat ears with built-in transceivers— it's a marvel of engineering that looks like a pair of cat ears. Every part down to individual hair strands serves a purpose, coming together as a system to achieve what has never been achieved before. Now you're going to connect artificial muscles—

    "Congratulations!"

    You blink, then turn look in the direction of the voice. Intruder is standing at the entrance, giving you a warm smile. Scarecrow is leaning against the wall nearby, her features hidden behind the half-mask. What brings them here?

    "Err... thanks! Am I so obvious?"

    "That's not a fault, my dear. Now, do you think you can stop here for today?"

    You almost ask why, but check the clock and your jaw drops. It's well past midnight!

    "...Yeah, I'll do that. How long have you been here? Why didn't you say anything?"

    Scarecrow pushes herself off the wall.

    "I don't think you'd do that if you were in our shoes. And with concentration like that, I doubt we had a chance anyway."

    She thumbs over her shoulder.

    "We've made a campfire in the backyard. It's nice outside, let's get some fresh air."

    You don't have any objections, and the three of you step outside. There's really a campfire going, with three folding chairs arranged around it. They're not yours, and you don't think campfires are Intruder's thing. Scarecrow then? Interesting. You take a seat, stretch your legs towards the fire, and look up into the sky.

    The night is... beautiful. With light pollution literally non-existent, myriads of stars and nebulas twinkle against jet-black horizon unhindered. No matter where you look, there's no emptiness. Even what seems like empty dark splotches at first turns out to be filled just as densely when you look closer. The scale of this spectacle makes your head spin. It's overwhelming, but strangely relaxing. Your racing thoughts calm down, giving way to tranquility and contemplative mood. You're but a tiniest spec in the endless universe, your existence, your problems and outcomes of your struggles are nothing in the everlasting vastness of macrocosm.

    Yet here you are. Why? Where are you going? What are you living for? There's no urgency or desperation to these questions, but it's the first time you're having such thoughts. Momentarily you feel something unexplainable deep inside, a fluctuation that doesn't carry any data, a knot that almost makes you gasp for breathe. The moment passes, and the magic is gone. Confused, you look at your guests. Intruder seems to be in a trance of her own, watching the fire through half-closed eyelids. Scarecrow is in the middle of adding some firewood. She isn't wearing her half-mask anymore. This is the last night you're spending with the two of them. Do you want to talk about something specific?

    [X] Asimov's directive
    [X] Rudimentary autonomous behavior of SF T-Dolls
    [X] Current project
    [X] Your thoughts from a moment ago
    [X] Nothing in particular

    Here's the first choice that won't have long-term consequences. Or maybe it will, I just haven't figured what exactly yet.
    I'm sorry for the delay, I promise I had a very good reason for it. No promises about the schedule going forward, but at least it shouldn't take that long anymore.
     
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    • [X] Rudimentary autonomous behavior of SF T-Dolls

    Welp, that's a bleak and scary world for sure...
    (Good thing we dont expect to surrender in this quest)
    EDIT: Although I wonder how much of it could be secret Mastermind propaganda to make sure her Ringleaders dont surrender...
    Anyway, I'm curious about Scarecrow's part of the project
     
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    @Solark Could you please put a brief content warning on this chapter? It's a really heavy topic, and I certainly didn't expect it from the story so far.
     
    @Solark I usually see notes something like:

    WARNING: This post contains potentially disturbing content. If you would like to avoid this content, skip to the section marked SAFE TO READ FROM HERE.

    rape, physical abuse/dismemberment, betrayal of trust, mind control, memory alteration

    ...

    SAFE TO READ FROM HERE

    Not sure those are quite the right tags for the content, but better to get something up than nothing.

    Edit: had trouble getting the in-page link right, removed it for now.
     
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    Solark said:
    My bad. How to do it properly? I've checked some other threads and didn't find anything I could use as a reference.
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    Usually it'd be something simple, like "CW: Rape, torture." at the top of the update. You can put that in a spoiler if you don't want it visually breaking up the chapter.

    Edit: That said, a more extensive warning or even trying the jump-to-here thing can be used too.
     
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    Welp, all the more reason for us to say Kruggies Delenda Est, I think. Tbh, I wonder if it'd be at all possible to unfuck the shit G&K are doing to their own T-Dolls, perhaps via some manner of virus/logic bomb/memetic agent? As a continuation of this thought, my vote goes to:

    [X] Asimov's directive

    I know it's a rough subject but it's worth investigating further if we can figure out some way to do so, in my opinion.
     
    Derpmind said:
    Usually it'd be something simple, like "CW: Rape, torture." at the top of the update. You can put that in a spoiler if you don't want it visually breaking up the chapter.

    Edit: That said, a more extensive warning or even trying the jump-to-here thing can be used too.
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    Done. Thank you for pointing it out, I'll be sure to pay attention going forward.

    TeaMug said:
    Edit: had trouble getting the in-page link right, removed it for now.
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    No worries, I figured it out!

    TeaMug said:
    rape, physical abuse/dismemberment, betrayal of trust, mind control, memory alteration
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    Man, this list makes me feel like I'm writing a third-rate smut. Can't argue though, except the "smut" part.
     
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