It doesn't take far for Jason: Out of the Bridge, the corridor branches, dividing the officers' cabins (with the captain's cabin in the middle and slightly up). It's a left turn, heading back, that leads them to the cabin that has been commandeered for Tracer. Inari lets go of Jason's arm, and raises a paw to bang on the door.
"Come in," comes a voice from inside.
Jason's brow goes up. "You aren't just trying to mess with my head with those illusion powers, right?" he asks Inari as he reaches for the doorknob.
Inari looks unamused. Jason checks the door. It's locked.
"Of course it is," Jason grumbles. "The door is locked. Can you unlock it, please?" he calls out.
A loud sigh is audible from inside, along with the creaking of the bunk. A moment later, there is a rattling at the door, some low grumbling, and then the door is open. "It was not locked a moment ago," she says. She looks curiously and skeptically at the fox, then more favorably at Jason. "What is it?"
Jason peers at the woman through the doorway. "Tracy?" he has to ask. "Not Tracer. Tracy, uhm. Holly's daughter?" Wow, he suddenly realizes just how lame he sounds.
"I am Tracer of House Trudeau," the retro-gothy girl says with all apparent seriousness. Shifting tone slightly, she says, "Out of character: Player is away from control. Automation activated." Then she shifts back to her normal expression.
"Wow, this is strange and slightly disturbing. Stranger than those we rescued on the ship," Jason mutters to himself. He leans from side to side as he peers at the strange goth girl. Eventually, he actually enters the room. And in not one of his brighter moments, curiosity gets the better of him and pulls out an extensible 'probe from his small pouch; kind of like a collapsible antenna, really. He then actually pokes the figure of Tracer with it.
Tracer frowns. "That was uncalled for."
"Responds to external stimulus," Jason mutters. "What is your current ... Oh fine, I'll say it. No one else is here... Oh great Tracer, what is thy current quest?" he asks, stands tall, and puffs up.
Inari comments, "In-game, you're supposed to be able to identify who's a VPC or a VNPC. A VPC isn't allowed to pretend to be a VNPC, and a VNPC has to respond and identify its true state if you inquire ... er ... out of character. It's a safeguard so people don't feel like they're being mentally messed with."
"I don't appreciate your sarcasm," Auto-Tracer replies. "I am currently traveling with my long-lost mother, whom I thought to have died while giving birth to me, as my father was a wretched vampire."
"So, this is somewhat in violation to the normal game protocols," Jason comments to Inari. To Tracer, he quickly says, "No offense intended. I just feel, well, silly doing this."
"If you feel silly," Auto-Tracer says, humorlessly, "then you may find some other pastime. You have interrupted my composition." She gestures to the fold-down desk, where a quill rests at the inkwell, and some parchment is clipped down, with a blotter nearby.
Jason goes over to look at what she is composing. "Now I'm getting worried," Jason admits to Inari. "Will there come a point where the player and the shell won't separate anymore?"
The night falls in a heavy, suffocating cloak, entwined are we.
The god for which you sacrifice yourself,
Flares once, then dies,
Crushed by the abyss.
All hope must surely perish.
Your soul thrives no more.
How could you abandon me?
Angels surround us, crying,
'Save us from ourselves!'
Auto-Tracer stands to the side, eyeing Jason as if to gauge his reaction of her work so far.
Inari looks over the poetry, scrutinizing it. "She started this while Akiko was here. That is, the stand-in Tracer, not Holly's daughter, the player."
Jason actually sits in the chair as he reads over the parchment repeatedly. "This shouldn't be possible. At all. This is creativity," he thinks, over and over, "It's not just some linking of words from a dictionary and applying grammar ... it's real feeling." He twirls the probe in his fingers for a bit before asking, "You let anger consume too much. This line about abandonment ... if I couple that to what you said about your father and your mother ... are you angry with her for leaving you with him?"
"My father abandoned me as well, seduced by the Vampire Queen," Auto-Tracer says, expression curling into a sneer of contempt. "Though he might be immortal, freedom from the cycle of life and death has nonetheless freed him from the bounds of lust. He is but a pet, a puppet, for one greater than he."
Inari leans over to whisper, "It's Akiko's fault, you might say. On a whim, she started asking her questions - tried to make small talk ... and when she got a response, she kept at it. It just got worse."
"Does this Queen have a name?" Jason asks, fully expecting what the answer will be. "Its no one's fault," he whispers back to Inari. "This is ... I don't even know how to explain it. But then, I don't know how to explain you, either. You're ... more than just some simulation too."
"Vampire Queen Sasha," Auto-Tracer says, "though I have heretofore been unable to track her down, nor even to find of anyone who has heard of her. She is secretive, and it is likely but one of many of her names."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Jason admits to himself. "What would you do when you find her?" he asks.
"Slay her, of course," Auto-Tracer says, matter-of-factly. "It is the only way to free my father from her sway. And then I shall slay him as well, knowing that only then will he be able to die in full realization of the sins he has committed against my mother - and against me."
Inari winces. "She's staying with her father in the Real World, is that not right? I can only hope some of this is just fabrication for the sake of roleplay, and not a translation of her real feelings."
"And will you then ... feel better? Will these shadows that threaten to devour your heart then fade?" Jason asks. His reply to Inari's comment in a pained look, indicating she said what he was thinking.
"The pain will never fade," Auto-Tracer says, with a melancholy sigh. "But the anger of a righteous heart, even one marked by tainted blood, can give me solace - a reprieve from the sorrow of a childhood denied, of this half-mortal life. When that flame of anger is extinguished, who knows what shall give me purpose then? But I cannot look that far: For now, I can only focus on what is before me now. And that is my quest - and the unexpected reunion with my mother thought dead."
"Well, bit of advice, Tracer of House Trundeau. In your quest to defeat the beast, make sure that you do not become it. I have to wonder, did the Vampire Queen ever write things such as this?" Jason says as he waves towards the parchment on the desk, then stands. "And, I wonder, if not the answer to your quest lies in forgiveness, not vengeance. Things to think about, anyway. I hope you fine some enjoyment on our ship during your stay."
Auto-Tracer frowns at what she might be defensively taking as some sort of criticism of her intent; she curtseys nonetheless. "We appreciate your hospitality."
Inari goes back to the door to the room, taking this as the cue to leave ... and finds the door locked. "Hmm. Hands. Hands would be useful right now." She paws uselessly at the latch.
"You do have the half-form," Jason points out to Inari as he heads towards the door, "But here, I'll just try to unlock it ... without help." As he passes by Auto-Tracer, he pats her shoulder, noting, "Welcome aboard."
"It takes a bit of effort now," Inari says, casting a glance back to Tracer. "I'm not sure just why." The door latch opens, as there is no keyhole to deal with (thank goodness), even though Jason does discover that the keyring has come to his hand unbidden nonetheless. (Fortunately, there are no explosions.)
Once the door is open, it sounds like there's still a conference going on, on the bridge.
"Back to the bridge for us," Jason tells Inari, actually pats the back of her neck, and heads towards the bridge.