Scene #8732: Enoch

Owner	Pose
Angela	Strangely, for once, it is a Tiphereth that asks for some Outsiders to pay a visit to L Corp and not Angela. To make matter stranger, it is specifically Tiphereth B who asks for the company. He didn't say why so there's only one way to find out. Central Command is the largest of Lobotomy Corp's departments and that is because it is technically two departments as there are two Sephirah involved--there's even two Central teams but they have essentially blended into one as Tiphereth A seems to be handling most of the leadership duties. It's four levels and decidedly the brightest section of L Corp with marble flooring and the room filled with golden light from high hanging chandeliers. Fine orange and gold cloth banners hang from above as well as does, occasionally, the glowing green piping carrying Enkephalin throughout the facility. It is also the fanciest of the Departments. The first level has a fresco of a blonde winged angel bleeding from the chest along with golden iconography across its many pillars and doorways of wings and crowns. The second floor is the plainest floor with a number of fans hanging down along with a large curtained backdrop across the far end of the facility. On the third, there is another painting, this of a tree with a serpent climbing up it--though it seems to have been installed upside down--not unlike the Sephirot symbology being seen elsewhere through the facility, also upside down. On the bottom floor there is a large statue at the center surrounded by a circle indentation on the floor. The statue itself is easily around 4-5 times the size of a human being. It is ultimately an ornate cross with a judaic star emblazoned as its center piece.
Angela	Tiphereth B is waiting by the bottom floor statue and has, as promised, set up a snack station--no chairs, just snacks. Many of the snacks actually come from the facility's Vending Machines, there's cans of Well Cheer (unopened), a popular soft drink that comes from ... an Abnormality? There's some pretzels and dip and tiny little sandwiches that Tiphereth B has finagled from the Welfare Department's Cafeteria. You're likely escorted there by one of Central's Agents, Carol, rather than Angela herself but she's still Central Command's Captain. Carol is a dark blue haired mopey looking woman wearing the EGO Gear belonging to the Knight of Despair (or Magical Girl of Justice if you prefer) and she has a Captain's armband. "Here you are," She says. "Tiphereth," They almost never use Tiphereth A or Tiphereth B unless both are present. "They're here. ... Tiphereth isn't here?" "I may have forgotten to invite her, haha.... Mind fetching her?" Tiphereth B asks. Carol rolls her eyes and says, "Fine." before heading off on her own. For those that haven't seen the Sephirah before, the Sephirah are box shaped 'robots' with a singular eye and thin metallic limbs. The Tiphereth are smaller than the other Sephirah though the general construction remains the same. This particular Tiphereth has his name TIPHERETH at the lower portion of his body in a bright green and a similarly colored eye and a yellowish body. Unlike Tiphereth A, he has no bow. "Thanks for coming... Like I said something's been bothering me and I wasn't entirely sure who to ask about it because my memory is, well, it's terrible."
Rena	Rena has not had a good few days. But you knew that, so we'll gloss over the whole 'world on the brink of re-destruction' thing, which is a pretty big thing to gloss over. After that series of events, Rena went to the town that's the closest thing to a home she has, and got herself treated by a mad doctor she doesn't entirely trust but is the only one in town. She's pretty sure she burned a bridge with Dr. Mince by screaming at him (until he inevitably forgets, eventually) when he asked her to bring back someone who died 'in an interesting way' for him to study as payment for the treatment, but after seeing so many people die on the Union Busan, she couldn't help herself. Then she fell asleep for what felt like a week but was only about eighteen hours straight. And THEN, this. Rena still looks more than a little haggard. She's tired, and it shows; she's sore, and that shows less. But she did say she'd think about taking jobs from Lobotomy, if only she knew what they were first, and while she wasn't very impressed with the environment when she visited she was impressed by how heroically the team at Union Busan had acted, and she figured, though she didn't owe them precisely, they were worth listening to. Pochi - a shiba inu - is here too, of course. Unlike Rena, Pochi is perfectly fine, though he seems worried about Rena, recognizing her injuries, and doesn't like to leave her side. He whines if someone tries to make him. Rena clearly doesn't recognize that the Sephirot is upside down (she's never seen it in any context but Lobotomy Corporation) but she does recognize the painting is upside down, and she squints at it a few moments as they pass it. She decides not to ask about it. "Hey," she says, sounding a little self-conscious about the poor greeting and slightly confused by the prospect of two Tiphereths, even if only one is here so far (she hasn't met them before). "Uh, no problem, probably. What's up?" Rena is too tired to put on her usual posture of a detached cool Hunter, apparently.
Kuroto Dan	An invitation from L Corp... That is Angela's domain, yes? Or at least, connected to it. He's got a write up somewhere on his laptop, but he's not in the particular mood to dig it up. He'll simply trust his memory. Not like there should be any doubt in his mind that he could be wrong though. If he somehow gets the details wrong (and he won't), it's not like he can't just play it off as being silly and forgetful. That is his current public persona, after all, so really, he's just helping to enforce it and- Kuroto blinks a bit, now trying to remember why his mind reached the current point it did. Ah. That's right, the invitation. Angela's home world! He normally wouldn't accept it, given that he's way behind schedule on his own work, but maintaining relationships is pretty important within the Concord, and he's been slacking. Most of all, it seems like a trivial enough gathering. This is a foolish thought to have and one of the few blunders Dan Kuroto would willingly add to his book, and not because of the fancy department or the imposing feeling that most buildings of this type have. No, he's quite used to those as a CEO. It's just, well... "I uh...Hmmm." Two? Twins? Clones? Projections? Robots??? No. Not twins, that's much too mundane for a company like this from what little he knows. And what little he knows makes it hard to deduce what exactly he's looking at. It shouldn't bother him, he even reached the conclusion that anything he doesn't know helps him play the bit of a clumsy CEO, but maybe it's his pride as one that makes not being able to figure out what another company is doing so quietly infuriating. "Apologies, I lost my words for a bit. I'm Kuroto Dan, unless it was a mistake, I think you sent me an invitation." Kuroto smiles, but deep inside, he's quietly seething at something he knows is dumb to seethe over, but since he's already invested mental energy into it, it's much too late to stop.
Angela	Tiphereth B looks at Rena for a long moment, trying to place how he remembers her which is tough because they haven't actually met before. He doesn't ''know'' that, though, so he says, "It's nice to meet you again. What's your name again? You look like you could use a snack." He reaches out takes one of the vending machine candy bags--this one has a cartoon cow on it and the bag advertises, in a language that's a mix of korean and hebrew, that it's filled with strawberry milk jelly belly-like candies but unlike jelly bellies they don't have this seathrough element and looook like they might be a bit more chewey on the inside and hard on the outside. He offers the bag to Rena. Tiphereth A arrives around the time Kuroto Dan does, tough she is not quite in conversation range yet--she's stopping periodically to deliver orders to the department clerks and Agents. Unlike Tiphereth B, Tiphereth A's eye is in a slightly different position, a slightly yellower-green, and she has a ribbon. Other than that she's nearly identical and even is also named Tiphereth. Is this confusing? Fortunately their voices signal them apart. Life gets more difficult for Kuroto Dan where Tiphereth B says, "Oh hello Kuroto Dan. Again? Have we met before?" They haven't either and he seems less confident they have met before than he does incorrectly with Rena (who he also hasn't met before). But he says, "Yes, that's right. It's been...clear to me for some time that the Corporation is hiding something from me. That Tiphereth is hiding something from me. She always tries to play it off when I ask questions, but it seems like she doesn't really want me to know." He lowers his voice conspiratorially, "But I know something is wrong because sometimes, when I'm shut down... I have dreams."
Rena	"Oh, sorry. My name is Rena. This is Pochi." Rena's hand dips down to scratch behind Pochi's head as he comes to a sitting position next to her. She'd thought that the Lobotomy Corporation would have told Tiphereth who was coming... or who was here, as the case may be. It's not like she isn't known here. Well, 'known'. A few people know her, anyway! But she hasn't met Tiphereth (either one) and didn't expect them to know her personally. She doesn't know Kuroto Dan either, but she gives him a slight nod as she glances him over. There's no recognition there, but if they're all offering names... "Good to meet you to, Dan." She thinks she's being polite by using a surname. Rena is offered a candy. "Uh, thanks," she says, surprised at the offer. She can't read the writing, and she doesn't immediately open it, just holds onto it. It's probably only a matter of time. (Is this safe for dogs? she thinks to herself.) "...are you not supposed to have dreams? Most people do when they're... not active." Rena isn't sure she's got the right term for a robot, given her only real point of knowledge is leaning to the Combaticons on the radio.
Kuroto Dan	Again? What do they mean, 'again'. They've never met. He's sure they've never met. There is no way, he would have remembered. Are they mistaken? Is there, perhaps, another Kuroto Dan out in the multiverse... Time Travel???? No, they're asking if they've met, which means that it's clearly a mistake. Right? Kuroto Dan's brow furrows, and his friendly aura disappears as he gets increasingly frustrated. But the mentioning of a shutdown does confirm they're robots of some sort. Not that it makes him feel much better, but it's something. Whatever, he just gives Rena and Tiphereth a glance of acknowledgement as he finally finds the voice to respond. "A corporation hiding things from you isn't all that concerning, and I have to imagine 'siblings' keeping secrets isn't too uncommon. But...Dreams? Of what sort? I don't believe any of us here are qualified to decipher them, but perhaps saying them out loud will help with something." Kuroto's voice is also lower, and while his smile and warmth are still gone, he's seemed to have gathered enough pieces of his shattered persona to make something passable. He's not shrieking yet, at the very least.
Angela	Tiphereth A says, "Oh! Hi Pochi!" He reaches out to pet Pochi with his 'hand' (really just another metallic appendage). "Wait, do you--do you two know me or you don't know me?" It's hard to read the emotions of a box with an eye but the tenor of his voice suggests the confusion is genuine. "Well, if you don't maybe...we can work this out anyway." He doesn't tell Rena if it's safe for dogs. One way to find out! Though uh, probably doesn't want to make a habit of feeding Pochi these candies... Needless to say, Kuroto tells him that a corporation hiding things from him is nothing to be concerned with, or evne siblings--but he does catch onto the idea of his dreams and that gets Tiphereth to pull back from getting agitated about it. "Well," She says. "You've got a point there... Okay, here goes!" He takes a breath (despite being a robot?) and says, "So I'm dreaming of a young boy named... um... Well, the girl calls him Enoch. And he calls the girl Lisa. And they're in this place called 'The Outskirts' and....there's this woman there. Her name is Carmen. And there's a guy there too, his name is Ayin. The boy is sort of hard for me to make out his face though I know he has brown hair unlike me, it's like--there's this block preventing me from seeing him." He absentmindedly reaches for one of the bags of snacks and pops it open with his hands. A small chute opens up and he pours some candy down the resultant hatch. This doesn't stop him from talking. "I know they're related to the company because they're talking about Lobotomy Corp. I think the boy was adopted here? And the girl? I don't think I've ever met them before but...the girl looked familiar. I felt like I knew her." Tiphereth B has noticed Rena and Kuroto Dan are with Tiphereth and seem to be talking--more notably, she notices the candy. She hurries, pushing Agents and Clerks out of the way alike.
Rena	Pochi appreciates a pet but refuses to leave Rena's side today. "Not personally," she says. "I've met Gebura, and Angela, and some of the agents. I've been offered contract work if I want to take it. I wasn't sure if this was going to be part of that, or if you just need a hand otherwise... but I might be able to." Rena still hasn't bothered to open the candies because, honestly, she's not terribly hungry. She's just tired and achy and generally Not Great. But she's got them. Though, watching Tiphereth eat candy is a thing. What happens at the other end of the tube, she wonders. Do they have to take it out later? Does he even eat it, or do they come through intact? ...if they come through intact, can he do it again later with the same candy? Does he even taste it? Truly, these are the places Rena's mind goes when it's allowed to wander. She decides to not let it. "Honestly, from what I hear about this place, it keeps a lot of its secrets under its hat," Rena agrees with Kuroto; she's heard Angela ask if she has an entry on a wiki or if anyone knows about Lobotomy Corporation. She's never had a sibling, though she can't imagine telling anyone everything about herself. She thinks for a few moments. "Outskirts? Like, out of town? This city's freakishly huge, from what I know." Not that she's ever been wandering around loose in it. "So, the countryside?" She doesn't know any of these people. Has she ever really thought about her own dreams? Rena rarely remembers the kind she has when she's asleep. They don't seem relevant, really. She looks like she's thinking about saying anything else, but notices Tiphereth B rushing over in a hurry. "Looks like you've got company incoming," she adds, in case Tiphereth (A, presumably) doesn't want to say things in front of his sister.
Kuroto Dan	"I've never met you, I'm afraid. Perhaps you're simply mistaken. Apologies." Kuroto WISHES he could say that he's never met the with the venom it clearly deserves, but he can't. So instead, he responds calmly, as he begins focusing on the 'dream'. Tiphereth said dream, but really, it's much too vivid to sound like one. Not to mention if, he's pretty sure robots do not dream. Or rather, a corporation wouldn't have any reason to design their robots to do so, as far as he's aware. "These people... Have you tried looking them up? Perhaps your dreams are more than just dreams..." Honestly, this sounds like they're getting camera footage from somewhere. Some sort of glitch, if he had to guess, but... He's doing a lot of guessing. He doesn't like that. "So. If you don't mind me asking, what are you?" And this question that he's asking is the quickest way to stop said guessing.
Angela	"Oh yes! The City is...well it's really more like a collection of countries than it is 'A City'. There's Forests and villages and everything..." Tiphereth B says. "I think that might be where we're actually from--" It's Tiphereth B for Tiphereth B(oy type!). Tiphereth A is for Tiphereth A (Girl). But the difference might not matter for too much longer as Tiphereth B quiets down considerably when he's told that Tiphereth A (Girl) is approaching. And that might have been that but... Perhaps your dreams are more than just dreams... Tiphereth B murmurs, "More than dreams..." If you don't mind me asking, what are you? "Tiphereth B is supposed to be..." He murmurs. "Tiphereth is..." That singular eye widens suddenly! And then it goes slack. As does his body. "Tiphereth!" Tiphereth B shouts as she nears. "Don't tell me you shut down again already? It's only been a week!" Tiphereth B doesn't turn his head to look. He just stares ahead listlessly. "Enoch...?" She asks. And then, "Again... Again and again and again and again..." She shoves Tiphereth B with a hand, hard, and he tumbles onto his back. "You were talking about his past weren't you? Now look at him..." She complains.
Rena	On one hand, Rena is pretty sure asking 'what are you' is never polite. On the other hand, Rena's knowledge about intelligent machines is painfully low and so maybe it's a valid question. She scratches at the back of Pochi's head again - But she wasn't expecting the response to be what it is. "Hey, are you okay?" she asks Tiphereth, stepping forward just as the second Tiphereth appears. She was about to shake him, but Tiphereth A has it in hand. Or not, when she pushes him over. Rena steps around her, or tries to, to try to lift Tiphereth B back up. Hopefully he's not too heavy; she's never tried to pick up anyone quite like him before. "He brought it up," she says, defensively, to Tiphereth A. "Actually, it was about dreams, not his past." She looks straight at the newly arrived Tiphereth, and then says, a moment later, "He seemed to think you might have a better idea. Is he okay? Are you okay?" she repeats, toward the fallen-and-possibly-lifted Tiphereth directly. That, at least, seems the most urgent part to Rena - they can figure out the 'dreams' after.
Kuroto Dan	Kuroto clicks his tongue, clearly annoyed as the Tiphereth shuts down. Defective. Or, at the very least, whatever it is he's trying to process, it's something he's having problems defining. He begins adjusting his tie, and only begins feigning any real care when his sister unit shows up, raising to hand as if he's about to help, only to let it fall to his side limply when the sister just pushes him over. "His past? I wonder if that was..." Kuroto thinks out loud, before pretending to panic and bowing in apology. "My apologies. I didn't know this would happen. He was complaining about some dreams he was having, so I was simply trying to help him through them. Though..." "They aren't dreams. Are they?" He said the sister was hiding from them, so clearly, she knows. If she doesn't, well... The worst that happens is that she'll also shut down, he guesses.
Angela	Tiphereth B(oy) is not too difficult to lift up. He's heavier than his size suggests but so long as Rena puts her back into it it shouldn't be too hard. The eye can be understood as to be glaring even with the minimalist design but it softens when Rena asks those last questions of her. "...It's fine." She lies. "This always happens when he's about to remember. This is the--God, I can't remember how many Wing Forsaken times he's shut down by now. Maybe..." She trails off. The eye widens again, "No, no..." She grabs Tiphereth A's arm and pulls him closer to her. "This isn't working... So it has to change..." They aren't dreams. Are they? "They're not dreams." Tiphereth A agrees. "He was remembering. And when he remembers he shuts down. And then we have to kill him and replace him with a new Tiphereth. His real name was 'Enoch'... just like my real name was Lisa. We were from the Outskirts and..." She hesitates because she knows neither of these two. "We were brought here as kids and...Well, it was a long time ago. I'm not a kid anymore." Tiphereth frowns. "...But he's stayed the same, all this time." She exhales. "Sorry, it isn't your fault." She doesn't seem to be shutting down, at least. "He invited you over so he must've suspected something already."
Rena	Rena isn't actually especially strong compared to the wide variety of superhumans out and about, but she is healthy and good enough to get Tiphereth B upright again with a grunt of effort. Even if Kuroto won't help, she will. Pochi does not help beyond nosing at him, a little, with a faint whine. 'They're not dreams'... "Wait," Rena says, shocked out of her thought. "Wait a minute, he shuts down because he remembers? Because he's - " Her thoughts are going unpleasant places, but she can't just ignore it. Because Tiphereth said that it was a young boy, named Enoch, and a girl, named Lisa. But neither of these people are what she'd call young boys or girls. They're machines, as best as she knows. Robots. "You kill him because he remembers that he was a person, once, and you make a new one after? Just, run off a copy because the first one wasn't exactly how you wanted it?" Rena's voice is going from quiet to an increasingly intense tone. "Because he remembered who you made a copy of his - his damned BRAIN of to make the robot out of? And you know?" She's furious. Rena is about two seconds from drawing her pistol, though she's not in a great situation to start a fight and isn't sure who she'd shoot even if she drew it - but her hand shakes as she holds back the instinct to do just that.
Kuroto Dan	Clones AND robots? The next question is why, but he has a feeling that asking that might be pushing it. He's got enough information to satisfy him for now, though it still wouldn't hurt to ask a few more. At least, the one's that can be played off as actual concern. "I see... I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry to hear about your current state. If there's anything we can do, be sure to let us know." Kuroto simply stands on the side as everyone else deals with the downed Tiphereth. Two pairs of hand is plenty, after all. "That being said, are you alright yourself? You seem to know a lot more than your brother... That... Won't cause complications for you as well, right?"
Angela	Tiphereth A says, "No! We ''kill'' him because he's unresponsive to stimuli." She pulls B's body closer to her. "When we ressurect him with his memories he just ... Stops, just like that..." She glares defensively with tat singular eye. "It's just him with this issue, because Carmen. She..." She cuts herself off. IS there anything he can do? "Can anyone do anything? ... It's just turning back a clock it will always return to the same point because they took something out of him, something he needed and they weren't able to put it back..." She falls quiet again except for a faint laugh, "Tt makes you mad doesn't it? You have this instinct to help people but you can't point a gun at it and shoot so you don't know what to do and it's oh so frustrating isn't it? Well...Welcome to L Corp." She looks down at the machine in her arms. "...No, not again..." She turns and intends to carry Tiphereth B away on her own.
Rena	"That doesn't make it better! You should know that that's not better if you're - the same!" Rena realizes she's getting awfully loud and lets out a slow, shuddering breath. Rena isn't very hard to read, honestly; she has a poker face for cards but does not have it for her beliefs and opinions. Yes, she wants to find the problem and get rid of it. No, she doesn't know how to do that, who to go after, or if it will actually make anything better at all. She looks away from Tiphereth, away from Kuroto. "I don't think I'll be taking up the offer of jobs at Lobotomy Corporation," she says. "But if you, or he, needs help, call. I'll come. Not for the company, but because nobody deserves that." She doesn't think Tiphereth will let her even offer to help carry Tiphereth away.
Kuroto Dan	"Turn back the clock again and again? I wonder, if he wasn't broken... Just how many times did we meet?" The more that's revealed, the more he can't completely rule out that everything Tiphereth B said didn't have some truth behind it. So maybe, he really did meet him at some point. The question is when? Kuroto rubs his chin in thought after asking the question out loud, only to be interrupted. Tiphereth A's comment feels as if it's full of... He's not sure, actually, nor does he care. At the very least, she seems to think he does, though his instinct to help people is only ever active so long as they're feeding him praise. Well, that, and- "Thank you. Please, the next time your brother wakes up, tell him Kuroto Dan said hello." He leaves the removal of Tiphereth B to his sister. Mostly because he doesn't have any desire to help, but also because even he isn't clueless enough to realize his help wouldn't be wanted.
Angela	''I don't think I'll be taking up the offer of jobs at Lobotomy Corporation.'' Tiphereth stops and looks towards Rena. "...Did you really think... that you were being hired to help the Corporation prosper or something?" She sighs, after, and then says, "Nobody deserves anything that happens here." She doesn't seem happy about it. She doesn't seem exactly happy that Rena offered to help either, like it's too kind and she doesn't know what to do with this alien thing. Kuroto Dan is absolutely correct in his reading of Tiphereth. Tiphereth doesn't really know what to make of him either, but she does say, "...Alright." But ... she's not sure she can handle another Enoch. She just wants it to end. Is she a monster for that? "Sorry this wasn't a nicer meeting." She says, well practiced, before pulling Tiphereth B along on her way.