[So, here's Nue. Here's Nue looking really uncomfortable about something. She takes a few seconds and a couple of false starts to manage it, but she does eventually blurt out:]

So, my g— girlfriend made me some chocolates for Valentine's Day. I didn't know anything about Valentine's Day when it happened, so I didn't get anything for her, and she told me I could give her something on White Day instead.

[Alright. There. That's the worst of it out of the way. Now, she just has to ask...]

So, does... Does anyone else in this place know about White Day? She told me that I could make her whatever I wanted, but I don't know anything about it, so I'm not sure if she meant anything anything or if there are some rules I'm supposed to follow. She made me chocolate, so I kind of wanted to do the same for her, but I don't know anything about doing that, either.

[Admitting all this out loud seems to frustrate her, and she frowns for a second, huffing. She folds her arms over her chest before she decides to just wrap up this trainwreck of a post as quickly and painlessly as possible.]

So, I mean... If there's anyone who'd be willing to help me at all, I'd really appreciate it.

[Reeve is onscreen. The engineer looks as though she's been pulling all-nighters (which she has), but is also very pleased with herself (which she is). This is no accidental transmission, but Reeve's attention does seem a bit-- divided. She glances periodically offscreen.]

Hello there, everyone! Reeve Tuesti, here. I suppose I could call this transmission a Public Service Announcement, that's how it's meant to be considered, anyhow.

I know I've been rather scarce lately, but I've been absorbed in a little project. Not to say I haven't had support-- Jessica has been a great help, as has Sephiroth, of course. I'm sure at times they wondered if the effort would bear any fruit, I know I had my moments! But in the end, I'm happy to say that it did.

[Cait, put that down, please.]

You see, at home I had this special friend. Quite special, since he's the only one of this kind. I made him myself. I dabble in robotics-- for pleasure, really, but I've had some successes, and the greatest of those is Cait. Cait Sith (Cat Shee) is an artificial life form, who pretends to listen to me when it suits him, but has his own ideas as well as a head full of mine. Here, of course, things are a little different.

One moment--

[Reeve leans out of frame briefly. When she reappears, she's in the midst of giving her creation a hand up onto her desk. Said creation comes in at just over 3 feet in height and looks to be a bright-eyed, rather fae-looking black and white cat. Standing upright on its hind-legs. Wearing a crown-- and a cape.

The strange cat peers into the screen, but doesn't speak. Yet.]

So! Cait. My Cait at home is quite the rogue, and this Cait doesn't seem all that much different in that regard-- she does like her joke! But she is female, which is a change, and she doesn't have some of the other Cait's-- offensive abilities. She's a much more basic AI then the other Cait, but then again, she is quite a bit more-- magical. Or so it seems. So there's that. Nature of the materials, I suppose! I do have input into her behavior, but she learns and is independent to the limited degree this place will allow. Those limits are currently being tested.

Cait's a social animal, and I'm sure you'll see her around. When you do, it would be best to remember that she's a bit of a trickster-- aren't you Cait?
[In reply, Cait makes a bow to the screen-- followed by an exaggerated wink.

Reeve smiles, proud and a bit mischievous herself.]

Oh, and ask her to tell your fortune, it's her specialty.

[Cait comes in close to the screen, her lamp-like eyes shining. When she finally speaks, her voice is clear and on the edge of being too loud. It is also oddly accented with what would sound to those who could identify it to be an overblown, comic Scottish lilt.]

Oh, aye! It'll be very special, you can be sure!

[Reeve can be heard chuckling in the background. Cait, being a cat of mystery, makes her exit-- with a sweep of red cape, she's gone. For now. Reeve herself remains.]

[Tsukasa had been recording herself at the moment to show off her COMP's newly-unlocked fusion app. Her plan had been to bind a lower level demon to her Jack Frost to expand her magical abilities but, being nothing ever works in this place as it should, a very odd substitution had been made in the fusion formula without her knowledge. Several seconds later, a flash of dark energy fills the vine's view almost entirely, a sure sign that something was certainly amiss. After the eruption of demonic power dies down, Tsukasa can be laid out on the ground in front of her COMP, having been leveled by the explosion herself. However, her usual garb of a black sweater and jeans has been replaced by a strange blue gown with a snowflake motif. While her head phones has taken on a shape of a blue hat that may be familiar to those who know Tsukasa's demons well.

Though it takes a few moments for Tsukasa to regain consciousness, she seems no worse for wear. Save for her odd new attire.]

What the hee-ck happened to me?





[ooc: Tsukasa as accidentally fused herself with her Jack Frost. So she'll be cold to the touch and using Jack's usual Hee Ho speech pattern.]

[In the Vine's mirror is the visage of a goddess, more composed and focused than the first time the network had seen her. She poised to make an impression, now dressed in her favored bronzed armor and her great avian wings fanning out from her back to cast shadows on gleaming metal. Her expression may be calm, but her gold eye betray an ever burning ferocity that should not be underestimated.]

Mortals of the Gardens.

[She doesn't mean it in a derogatory way, as it is simply how she sees the shorter lived species.]

I do not know what faith you follow. I do not know who you name as your protectors, your saviors, or your rulers. I do not know of the realms you come from. We are from different versions of the same existence. This much I understand, and this much I appreciate.

What I cannot comprehend is why you would deny the truths of the universe that extend beyond the barriers of time and space.

You would deny me, you would dismiss all that I am. I am not perfect. I am not your specific vision of celestial life. I have no illusions of such. Yet my power is real, and my purpose is grand and ever continuing.

I am a goddess.

I know what I am. Why would you think yourself so learned that you may tell me otherwise? Why do you suppose yourselves higher than I, when all you have achieved in your short lives is to quarrel with and suppress one another? Why do you assume I lie when I have nothing to gain from you?

I would offer you proof, and you would dismiss it, wrapped within your cocoons of rusted logic and skewed perceptions of the world around you. You would call for me, and I would answer, yet once your victory has been won you would assume all the glory for yourself. What am I to do with such narrow-minded beings?

I do not assume I will ever understand you, mortals. I only admit, that even I, can be dazzled by your unexplainable ways.

[Her wings flap restlessly. She is not used to this, having to deal directly with nonbelievers and skeptics.]

[Sephiroth is seated at a table, outside, one of the ornamental tables that one can find here and there within the Gardens, among the flowers, an idyllic spot. On the table is a curious chess set, which was Sephiroth's gift for the Winter Holiday. She is regarding it thoughtfully, alone but for the tendril of Vine coiled companionably around her wrist.

She's been quiet of late, but she's starting to feel more--what is it that she feels? Sociable? Restless?

Sephiroth has been here almost a year now, and she and the Vine are old friends. She's spent a great deal of time bonding with the plant, fascinated by it.]

I used to play chess often as a child. My favorite was the variant in which one can view one's own pieces, but not the pieces of one's opponent. It took three boards and a referee to play--one for each player, and one for the referee to view, to see how the pieces stood together. War chess, it's called. Like a general, one only sees and guides the movements of one's own troops. As in war, there is no perfect information, unlike in standard games of chess.

[She'd never lost. She picks up one of the monster-shaped pieces, turning it in her hand.]

This is like the sets we used. I wonder, does anyone else like to play? Ordinary chess will do.

[Video]

[As the vine's leaf opens up, it shows a closed eye filling the entire mirror. The eyelid lifts, revealing more eyes within eyes within eyes. The mirror becomes like a window to a dimension of eyes, teeth, and blood, all swirling around each other in impossible ways.

A voice carefully selected to be unnatural in a creepy way speaks:]

I look forward to playing with you again.