[Social] A Complete And Thorough Report

[Natalie Denisov]

A strange silhouette walks past the windows of the dorm common room. At first it looks like Natalie, except she has eight arms and is dressed like she's someone's personal assistant down to the grey jacket and pencil skirt. She's currently managing two tablet-like devices, typing on both of them as she taps her chin in thought with another hand.

((Open))

[Will Stanton]

Will walked behind her by 15 or 20 paces, having caught her out of the corner of his eye as he was running around, making sure everyone was getting reacclimated to their powers. Being A Strange Thing (tm), Will watched to see just what it was Visnu-Natalie was doing.

[Natalie Denisov]

She seems to be making notes on one tablet and maintaining some sort of running tally on another. After a moment, she pauses and taps something on her headset, "Yes, thank you, Guardian. Inform Intercept that dorm connectivity is back up to 67%, but there are bottlenecks. She can prioritize with Caretaker." She sighs and rolls her eyes, "I am fine. Please moderate your concern."

[Will Stanton]

"Some new imaginary friends?" Will asked, after observing Natalie talking to herself for a moment.

[Natalie Denisov]

She turns around, her typing ceasing, "I do not think they fit the definition of imaginary, though you might argue their physical existence, I suppose. You must be Will. Intercept, I'm sorry, Natalie, speaks highly of you."

[Will Stanton]

"You're...not Natalie?" Will said, cocking his head to the side. "Then introductions are in order. I am, indeed Will -- and to whom do I have the pleasure?"

[Natalie Denisov]

"I am Clarion. I'm templated off Natalie. I handle communications for the crystal computer," she says with a smile and a nod, holding out her hand to him.

[Will Stanton]

"And a more pleasant crystal computer attaché I have yet to meet," Will said, extending his hand to shake it.

"You say 'templated off Natalie'. Is she..." he trailed off.

[Natalie Denisov]

"Oh, she's the new core of the crystal computer. And fine, happy even, according to her. She's insisting we all spend some time out and about familiarizing ourselves with campus outside the system."

[Will Stanton]

"You won't mind if I eventually go check that with Natalie myself, do you? My experience with, erm, branches of the Starlight Citadel are mostly, but not exclusively, positive."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I completely understand your concern and I don't mind at all," Clarion says, "Without Natalie, the rest of us wouldn't exist as we do and as the core, she's very important to us, so we want to make sure she's taken care of."

[Will Stanton]

"So, you're an...aspect of her? Or are you more...

Excuse me, I'm just trying to understand the relationship here. Back home, there was a Caretaker who we communicated with, but it was...more of a singular entity? Who would pop in and let us know when there were issues.

And had somewhat of a snooty disposition, to boot..." he added, sotto voice.

[Natalie Denisov]

"We're connected to her, but provided by the Citadel at her request. I understand there was a previous Caretaker unit installed, but..." She shrugs, "There were issues and Natalie imprisoned him and he's presumed destroyed when the system was damaged by a darkforce creature."

[Will Stanton]

"....Yikes. Sounds like the Citadel needs to work on their quality control.


...Not that I'm saying anything about you! You seem very...efficient so far. What is it you're doing?"

[Natalie Denisov]

"No offense taken. I'm making use of my required 'out' time by attempting to determine if there are network improvements that could be made to the dormitory building. Natalie did not specify what I had to do with my 'out' time, so I decided I should try to use it constructively."

[Will Stanton]

"Network improvements? A, uh, 'big brother is always watching' sort of scenario?"

[Natalie Denisov]

"Oh, no. Natalie would never allow it, even if Guardian would love the coverage for her purposes. We're here to serve, assist, and protect. And better network service would certainly serve the student population, don't you think?"

[Will Stanton]

Will nodded. "There certainly are some wi-fi dead spots around, especially when you deal with some of the subterranean areas of campus. And I'm always keen on improvements, so, uh, keep up the good work, I suppose!

Kind of nice to have someone in charge who is aware of the concepts of privacy, at the very least."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I feel like the Citadel may be a little concerned with the concept of an independently minded Mastermind system, but as this dimension lacks a Captain Britain, perhaps it is for the best that the system is more independent and aware of the situation the inhabitants face."

[Will Stanton]

"So, Natalie is serving as the...substitute Captain, sort of? Makes sense, I suppose -- you need to have the, er, human touch somewhere in the mix.

...No offense, again; I'm bad at this."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I suppose one could see it as a substitute, though there really is no substitute for the Captain. No offense to the X-Men, of course. Although I believe Natalie plans to argue that the X-Men are a good substitute. If she would quit delaying my scheduled appointment for her to have a 'sit-down' with the Citadel that is."

[Will Stanton]

"She may be stalling for time because the X-Men are something of a mess at the moment, after what Lippencott did to the program here.

Or she could be scared."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I'm not sure which would be the case," she says, tapping her chin in thought again. "She plays her cards close is, I believe, the phrase. Even being connected to her, she tends to compartmentalize."

[Will Stanton]

"That's Natalie for you," Will chuckled, ruefully. "I mean, I'm the pot calling the kettle black here, but she tends to bottle up her feelings, because she worries about hurting people, I think. She walked out on dinner with me once, and then told me to stick away, just because she had a crush on me and I didn't return the feelings."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I will keep that in mind. She seems to be quite happy with Shari though, so maybe she's transferred anxiety elsewhere?"

[Will Stanton]

"Possibly! And I'm happy she's happy, and she was never....really comfortable as flesh and blood, a feeling I can understand. I'm just saying, cards close to her chest defines her on a very deep level."

[Natalie Denisov]

"Based on old data I have accessed, she does seem to be happier as the Mastermind system, but obviously you are welcome to verify that personally. I can even call her here if you like."

[Will Stanton]

"Oh, I wouldn't want to disrupt her as she's getting used to this," Will demurred.

"She can appear in the dorms? How.... Oh, the holoemitters, of course. "

[Natalie Denisov]

"Any of us can appear wherever we're needed on campus... or we will be able to once the crystal network is fully repaired. There's still some connections that we're assessing. And the Headmistress wants us to stay out of some systems, which Natalie has agreed to, much to Guardian's consternation."

[Will Stanton]

"Only on campus, though?"

[Natalie Denisov]

She nods, "Only on campus. Aside from technical hurdles, incursions outside its bounds are what we would need a Captain Britain for, or in our case, the X-Men."

[Will Stanton]

"Hrm. We'll have to make sure Natalie doesn't get wanderlust. The old caretaker I think got...bored, might be the right way to put it? Would come grab the X-Men at all hours of the day or night just to point something out, regardless of what I...er, we..were doing."

[Natalie Denisov]

"Idle hands, yes, I could see how that might happen. My apologies for your poor experience with your Mastermind system. We will obviously endeavor to be better."

[Will Stanton]

Will waved his hand at that. "Poor is the wrong word for it. Idiosyncratic might be a better way of phrasing it. Never quite understood interpersonal dynamics. Hence why you need a Captain Britain, I suppose."

[Natalie Denisov]

"Interpersonal dynamics is one of the areas that helps in, yes. I somehow think Natalie may not be fully versed on that."

[Will Stanton]

"You don't say," Will said, deadpan.

[Natalie Denisov]

"I don't mean to indicate that she isn't lovely and she's adapted quickly to the system, which has helped greatly in getting things repaired as much as they have been."

[Will Stanton]

"I get that. Finding somewhere where you belong is big. Finding a purpose is huge. And, honestly, I think Natalie was always more comfortable in the world of ones and zeroes than out in the world of flesh and blood. She's very lucky."

[Natalie Denisov]

"She just needs to not 'disappear' as it were," Clarion says, "I know you offered. Can you recommend others who might assist in that?"

[Will Stanton]

"If you're looking for someone to keep someone busy and engaged, my daughter fits that to a tee. Though, some might argue that that might just cause people to go back and hide in their boxes; she can be a handful and a half."