I just updated the informational tabs, but also in addition to that, back-added a "System Status" segment to the end of each existing update aside from the prologue. This should help me both with the timekeeping, and generally keeping track of the changes in KT's state as things go on, instead of information being lost/overwritten every time I update the main status threadmark. May fiddle with the formatting as things go on, if there are other important variables I neglected to think of at this stage, but hopefully it's serviceable enough.
 
I haven't been up to saying much the last couple days, but I really need to say this anyways: The fight scene this update was really damn cool. It's especially cool that our protagonist thinks way faster than she fights, and the speed she fights at is way faster than humans do.
 
Gonna close votes on Friday, to try and get back on the weekend-update schedule, so a bit of an extension on the voting period this time.

I haven't been up to saying much the last couple days, but I really need to say this anyways: The fight scene this update was really damn cool. It's especially cool that our protagonist thinks way faster than she fights, and the speed she fights at is way faster than humans do.
Thank you! It was honestly really relieving to see this, since I was really worried about this update being weaker than the first few, so that was like, maybe I didn't need to agonize over it so much ^^;

Though yeah, despite my fears about the repetitive "prose" and slow pacing, I am having fun with the like, level of granularity this style is forcing me to consider everything with; how KT plans/intuits through stuff, and how best for her to make use of things like her momentum and tools (very few of those at the moment, but still) to get the most out of each action. Intentionally missing that second punch to create enough upward movement to set up her kickoff was a cool moment to figure out, and I look forward to writing more of that sort of thing in future fights. : D
 
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Mook_1 Armor: Grey Camo Fatigues, Black Ballistic Vest, Black Ballistic Skirt. Grey Tactical Helmet with Tinted Visor, Black Gas Mask.
Very generic army men here. I suppose Katie is a known outlier, but I assumed the future would be more... futuristic.

> Motor Group (E_1, E_2) Action: Digitigrade Reconfiguration
> Motor Group (F_1) Action: Unlock Shock Absorber
This is interesting. Can all androids do this?

Voice is still frozen up.
If anything happens to her...

//…I know this won't work, but here goes nothing.

> Activate SCARS - SCABS Slot B

The Violet-White Star-Sun… hazy, blurred, distant… my sixth sense. Not sight or sound or… yet if it would… watching the moon from the sea floor… listening for chimes a mile away… straining.

Tendrils, shining of void, stretch forth… seeking conduit, heir, outlet grounding… cannot reach… lashing, retreating.
Warning: Minor %%@[?]%??.? Damage Risk - Eldritch Drive
Warning: Loneliness Overflow Risk
Error Detected: %%#<&>%5 - Unidentifiable

> Dismiss Error
Error Detected: Memory Encoding Partially Compromised
-Causal Error Could Not Be Identified

{SubCon}> Dismiss Error
I must admit, this scene brought my interest up considerably. Whether it is strictly "magic" or not, or a sufficiently science fiction equivalent, either way it speaks to more interesting concepts on the horizon, that I hope will be explored more in due time.

Voice appears confused.
(Possible_Speedbump recovers awareness. Voice appears dizzy.)
Also interesting that she seemed least-affected by this at first, but moreso over time while the humans are recovering.

[X] Fortify ("We can take better cover and be ready, make them come to us.")

Since this room appears to be where we were repaired over the course of the past several decades, I would prefer to fend off our enemies instead of fleeing; there may still be useful equipment here. Furthermore, without the chance to speak to the group, we still have no idea what awaits us outside, aside from danger. Having a consistent safe haven to work from strikes me as a better plan.
 
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Very generic army men here. I suppose Katie is a known outlier, but I assumed the future would be more... futuristic.
I'm trying to sorta ride the line between Cool Futuristic Craziness and still being relatively grounded, and this is a case where Generic Army Men are still just kinda the most practical or efficient way of having an army. Though there is probably some more dramatic stuff waiting in the wings. >: 3

This is interesting. Can all androids do this?
The shock absorbers in their arms and legs are a standard feature for all androids. (Typically the ones in the legs are unlocked and in the arms are locked, by default, but the option to switch that quickly as needed is available for actions like kicking or catching a fall.)

The switch to a digitigrade mode, though, is a KT original. XD
(Her and a handful of others, technically.)

Also interesting that she seemed least-affected by this at first, but moreso over time while the humans are recovering.
Ah, the dizziness was actually more from being pulled along so quickly by KT, not because of the eldritch flashbang. I was trying to inject some levity (imagined her with cartoonish spiral eyes and stars whirling around her head lol) but I guess it didn't quite land ^.^;
 
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Sorry about the silence lately, my own machine is showing its age and making getting much of anything done, much less writing, a massive pain in the ass. Gonna try and squeeze in what progress I can, but until I can fix up what's wrong or finish transferring over to the replacement computer, things are gonna be a bit slow yet.
 
Sorry about the silence lately, my own machine is showing its age and making getting much of anything done, much less writing, a massive pain in the ass. Gonna try and squeeze in what progress I can, but until I can fix up what's wrong or finish transferring over to the replacement computer, things are gonna be a bit slow yet.

Glad to hear from you! I hope everything will be OK and wishing you the best!
 
KT-40A Design Reference New
It took a lot longer than I expected, but things are finally moving again. Partially.

Upfront, I'll admit I still don't know how soon the next update proper will be; I have it planned out well in my head, but actually writing it has been fighting me hard - The Command Prompt style, it turns out, is a bit of a double-edged sword in some ways, and I've been considering whether it might make more sense to move back to traditional prose or a mix of the two, or whether to stick it out with this despite the downsides. (Though having a bunch of other unrelated issues offline to take care of first hasn't helped either.) I'll figure something out soon; just not there quite yet.

But on the positive side, today I have finally got through something else I've been stuck on for a while. So I would like to present you all, with a proper and accurate design reference for KT-40A!



(Since this is a pencil sketch and still kinda rough in some ways, I may try to make a cleaner and more detailed digital version at some point. Still, this should hopefully be good enough for the time being. I'm sorry for how long this has taken, but I hope that this helps make up for things a bit!)
 
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a very cool story so far! (intrigued by all the extra hardware options from the error report...) the specific format is an initial hard adjustment but definitely rewards going back once you've gotten a better grip on it. the hints of worldbuilding and the way the processes showcase emotional reactions are really striking! (I definitely see how the format might be more trouble than its worth for some types of scenes)
 
Interlude: Voice On The Mountain 013 New
Date And Time: Unknown
Location: Unknown

Voice knew she was dreaming.

Her chronometer was blank, her wireless receiver had not even the faintest whisper of a signal, her memory archive files were full of temporarily cached nonsense, and while she had left the facility on a handful of occasions, she had never in her waking life been in a place like this. Yet it was a place that had appeared in her dreams twelve times before, and so it stood to reason this was another instance of that.

How she had come to keep revisiting a place she had never seen, she wasn't sure; maybe a result of some travel brochure seen while her neural network was still in the early stages of wiring itself, or maybe just another mystery of the heartcrystal. Stranger still was the lack of control; in normal lucid dreams, she found amusement in calling electric sheep to mind, but the mountain was different. Even if she was aware she was dreaming, here she could not affect it the same way, simply take in the atmosphere. Either way, she wasn't inclined to complain when these dreams were always so gorgeous.

She sat cross-legged in a gentle snowdrift, cloak splayed out all around her, the bottom edges pointing like arrows to the surrounding rocks. It was difficult to accurately judge the size of the space, when the measurements always seemed to change when she wasn't looking; but it was consistently somewhere between a small valley and a large hollow, a looming barrier of cliffs protectively enclosing the basin on all sides. A terrible storm raged all around, the sky turned grey from the sheer volume of snow rushing past high overhead; but down here, all was serene and comfortable, only occasional snowflakes drifting wearily down from the wind-torn skies to rest beside her. Sheltered, safe from the outside world, she sat and indulged in her simulated sensations and the peace of the moment.

Sight - white snow and black rocks, stark yet beautiful. The viridian metalflake speckles in her silicone contrasting with her barren surroundings.

Hearing - the low howling of the wind, passing over the gully like someone blowing across the rim of a cup. The distant rumbling of thunder, joined by flashes of light muted by the blizzard. The soft pattering of accumulating snow.

Touch - the softness of her dress, the softness of the snow compressed beneath her legs like a cushion, and the comfortable weight of her cloak on her shoulders. Her balance was perfect, her poise as prim as ever.

Temperature - her readouts insisted it must be frigid, yet somehow she didn't feel uncomfortable, nor did the expected warning messages come. Another reason she knew this to be a dream; the heat radiating from her circuits should have melted it all, and the snowmelt would then leak in through her seams and short those circuits in turn, yet she knew herself to be completely safe.

Eldritch - she was completely alone, yet as always in these dreams of the mountain, she sensed... something. Another presence ambigously nearby when she didn't seek it, yet vanishing the moment she tried to triangulate it. It had been a little bit unnerving the first few times, if she were honest with herself, but nothing scary had ever come of it. By now, it had become something strangely comforting, another quirk of the mountain. Feeling the presence brushing by, she closed her eyes and smiled peacefully.

Taste - a single snowflake landed on her outstretched tongue, yet it too paradoxically failed to melt. Instead of the expected sensation of water, her gustatory sensors were met with the cool, yet sharply sweet taste of menthol.

Smell - Something acrid, smoky. An undercurrent of iron and rust...

Voice frowned, eyes snapping open. This was different.

The blizzard overhead had grown darker, more turbulent, and now more snow was falling into the valley from those clouds. No, not snow... it was ash. This was very different.

Standing up on suddenly-shaky legs, she scanned her surroundings for any signs of what was wrong. She found nothing; only the despairing sight of the pure white snowdrifts being slowly painted over with dark grey. Even the strange presence seemed to have vanished, leaving her lonely and scared.

"H... hello?" Her question was met with a boom of thunder that shook the ground; she collapsed to her knees as a streak of lightning hit the cliffside ahead.

In the deafening silence that followed, a single sharp crack rang out, echoing through the narrow space. Then the rock face crumbled.

Suddenly, for the first time since she had begun dreaming of the mountain, she felt truly cold. Error messages and shutdown warnings blared in her consciousness, yet she barely noticed them, staring in dumbfounded fear at the gap, the tall, narrow ravine that now cut through the cliffs.

When the blizzard came howling through that gap, she could only let herself be swept away by the rush of snow and ashes.



Gasping sharply, Voice left sleep mode. Her eyes opened to the familiar plexiglass screen of her personal storage unit, and beyond that, the comfortable surroundings of her quarters; yet it took her several moments to calm down and dismiss all of the false error reports.

Unplugging herself with shaky servos, she checked her system clock; it was still an hour before her scheduled waking time. Maybe she would get ready early, then distract herself with an episode of some terrible soap opera from last decade. Seeing Jason dig himself deeper trying to balance dating both Vicky and Skybus479-K without them knowing about each other was sure to take her mind off of the worrying dream.

She did that, and the episode was as unintentionally funny as she had hoped for and more; by the time she was behind her desk in the department lobby and plugged into the speaker system, she had forgotten all about the dream. It was a good, normal day for the first several hours, too.

Then near the end, an unmarked military truck with an oversized snowplow bolted onto the front end came, crashing through the facility's main surface gate, and all hell came pouring through after it.
 
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I'm finally making actual headway on the next update. Might still be a couple days, but finishing that sketch really seems to have dislodged the block I was having, whoo! In the meantime, have this experiment with normal prose. XD

a very cool story so far! (intrigued by all the extra hardware options from the error report...) the specific format is an initial hard adjustment but definitely rewards going back once you've gotten a better grip on it. the hints of worldbuilding and the way the processes showcase emotional reactions are really striking! (I definitely see how the format might be more trouble than its worth for some types of scenes)
Thank you! I'm glad it plays well despite the initial adjustment, makes keeping that approach up feel more worth it. ^w^ And yeah, I'm having fun dripping in the worldbuilding and hints about KT's backstory - even if I'm not going out of my way to hide stuff, it is the sort of thing that I kinda have to take care to pace out decently, lol.
 
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Glad to hear that words are coming through again! Writers block stinks.

This was a very fun change of pace! It's always neat to get a window into a character that we don't usually, and perhaps especially so given how forfeit the format is. Getting some insight into what sort of stuff the eldritch aspect of the characters can do is very tantalizing.

Also, I really love the music!
 
Glad to hear that words are coming through again! Writers block stinks.

This was a very fun change of pace! It's always neat to get a window into a character that we don't usually, and perhaps especially so given how forfeit the format is. Getting some insight into what sort of stuff the eldritch aspect of the characters can do is very tantalizing.

Also, I really love the music!
It really does ><;

Thanks! While she'll obviously get a lot of attention in the quest proper, I still felt like I wanted to develop Voice a bit more outside of KT's perspective, and set up some stuff. Might have more of these interludes in the future, too, but first I gotta get back on a consistent track with the main story xD

And yeah, even if the Eldritch Drive making active use of that is unique to KT, (just as soon as she can get it working again) heartcrystals being tied to that stuff means all synthetics have some level of weirdness going on, even if much much subtler. :3

It's a long-time classic to me, found it back in 09 I think? It's been part of a few different story playlists, but it's nice to finally get to use it here.
 
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