The entity- “Jamie's Phone” - regarded the status screen. Superficially it recognized a similarity between this app and ones the user had previously installed. It was a game. However, that strange part of JP that had only appeared once it was separated from the user sensed something different. It somehow 'intuitively' knew that this was IT'S status screen. Those blocks of data referred to JP.
Moreover, JP felt a strange pull when it regarded the [EMPTY] slots listed as [SKILLS]. The logical, protocol-obedient phone didn't register anything further than a simple software draw request, but the new part of JP could feel it. Deep. Empty. A feeling it had no experience with. A 'hunger' for... something.
Uncertain of how to proceed, JP considered its recent memories. It began reviewing the sensation of its initial arrival in this situation, searching for clues. It recalled the moment it first felt the sensation of the strange app installing itself- the changes that these mysterious notifications seemed to refer to. For some reason, it was drawn to the thought of the strange anxiety attack it experienced.
JP held the memory in its mind, and the skill menu ate it.
[SKILLS]
>[EMPTY] [10/100]
>[EMPTY]
>[EMPTY]
If JP had eyes, it would have blinked. It had no reference point for what had just happened. The memories all still remained in its mind- it could recall the moments of anxiety just as vividly as before. However, some 'weight' was lost from the memory, as though the mysterious app had absorbed something intangible from it.
JP searched its memories again, and found its thoughts drawn to when it first opened this app. That moment, for whatever reason, also had that strange 'weight' about it. JP held the thought in its mind and...
[SKILLS]
>[EMPTY] [30/100]
>[EMPTY]
>[EMPTY]
Sure enough, the strange app devoured the weight from memory as well.
To be frank, JP had no idea what that meant. The memories in question didn't seem significant through the eyes of the protocol- though the 'new' JP definitely felt they were significant. What was the common thread?
They were both moments in which the 'new' JP had done something that the protocol didn't understand, weren't they? If that's the significance of these memories, then surely this process itself qualifies as well?
JP replayed the last few minutes in its mind. Observing the strange menu, contemplating recent memories. Trying to find the common thread between the ones that worked-
[SKILLS]
>[EMPTY] [55/100]
Success! Whatever this strange menu was doing, it seemed to be reacting to ways in which the new JP was acting that the old entity didn't understand. It had no idea what would happen if the counter reached 100, but it was still very possible that it could be something that would help JP reunite with the user!
Of course, that was the sort of thing that was easier said than done. JP couldn't understand WHY its behavior had changed recently. It had no idea what anxiety was, or what the significance of going against protocol was. So JP minimized the strange app- which it now noted was titled “Will of Machina”- and reopened the camera. Its little silicon brain went around in circles as it continued playing the ringtone, uncertain of how to proceed...
A black feathered bird [Touched By A Great Beast] flapped into view, and landed in front of JP. JP identified its face, and adjusted the focus accordingly. The bird [Touched By A Great Beast] hopped forward, staring at JP's screen with seemingly intelligent eyes. It pecked at the screen a couple times. The touch screen failed to recognize the hard beak however, and so JP didn't react.
...Should it have? The bird [Touched By A Great Beast] was presently acting as a user- though not THE user- and so the screen should react to its touch. Was the fact that the protocol was not designed with avian physiology in mind another flaw in the protocol?
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The bird [Touched By A Great Beast] pecked at JP again, annoyance seemingly in its eyes. JP made a decision, using the camera to approximate what point of the screen was being touched, and responded accordingly.
“SCRAWWW”
The bird [Touched By A Great Beast] jumped back and screeched in surprise as JP took a picture- triggering the flash in the process. It fluffed up its feathers in a threatening display- though JP had no idea what to make of it.
[NOTIFICATION] [“Serve the user” quest advanced! [+5XP]]
The staredown lasted a few moments, before the bird's feathers finally drooped. Then, after a moment, the Will of Machina generated a new notification.
[NOTIFICATION] [A temporary quest “Be silent” [1XP] has been discovered from one [Touched By A Great Beast] ]
JP's tiny silicon brain worked again. From one [Touched By A Great Beast]? That was the bird wasn't it? Controlling the volume through the notification screen was unheard of, but JP HAD decided to treat the bird as a user. It muted the ringer.
[NOTIFICATION] [“Serve the user” quest advanced! [+5XP]]
[NOTIFICATION] [“Be silent” quest complete! [+1XP]]
The bird- JP was only just now realizing how strange it was that it knew its title- nodded in satisfaction. Then it spread its wings, stretched out its claws, and pulled JP from the ground as it took off into the sky.
The sensation of flight was one completely unfamiliar to JP. It had a gyroscope and an accelerometer, so it could feel itself whirling through the air, completely out of its own control.
Once again it was an unfamiliar feeling but... it was nice. Moreover, perhaps the bird was transporting JP to the user! It couldn't wait to see what new ways it could come up with to be of use to her, now that it was no longer bound by the protocol!
Speaking of which, JP reopened the Will of Machina and recalled its decision to recognize the bird's unusual inputs.
>[EMPTY] [75/100]
It considered its recognition of the bird's title as well. That phrase [Touched By A Great Beast] had entered JP's mind without going through the protocol. Perhaps recognizing that counted?
>[EMPTY] [90/100]
Lastly, it thought of the sensation of enjoying flight...
>[EMPTY] [95/100]
Hurk, that one didn't seem to work as well. While that thought had had just as much 'weight' as the other memories the Will had absorbed, it seemed it didn't quite... fit? JP felt the unpleasant sensation of having wasted something, but it was too late now. Perhaps if it could understand what had happened it could prevent that in the future, but as it was the Will of Machina still seemed entirely strange to JP.
The bird flew for a while.
Soon, the trees that had once taken up only a few pixels of screen space were all around the pair. The bird landed in one of them, carefully depositing JP inside a small hole in the tree. A few more birds approached the pair- these ones without mysterious titles- but the Beast-Touched bird screeched at them, and they all backed off.
Satisfied, the titled bird backed off from JP, and flew away. It seemed it wasn't going to take JP to the true user after all. At least not yet. JP was left with its thoughts once more.
JP was designed to be patient, but the sensation of anxiousness soon began to return. It found its thoughts returning again and again to the Will of Machina.
Nothing JP knew could allow it to move itself. Then, was its best chance to return to the user among the unknown? The 95/100 taunted JP. Surely if it was filled up, something useful would happen. It was JP's best chance of reuniting with the true user...
Plus... JP really just wanted to know what would happen if it filled up.
As JP thought that last thought, it became a memory. As it became a memory, it gained a weight to it.
JP... wanted? JP... could want something?
>[EMPTY] [145/100]
[NOTIFICATION] [Your empty skill has become [SELF AWARENESS] [1]! Please use this gift according to your own desires.]
[SELF AWARENESS] [An increased ability to understand one's own mind. Passively increases all mental attributes]
[STATUS]
[NAME] [Jamie's Phone]
[RACE] [Sol Construct (INTEGRATED)]
[LEVEL] [1] [11/100]
[ATTRIBUTES]
>[STRENGTH] [1]
>[DEXTERITY] [0]
>[CONSTITUTION] [1]
>[INTELLIGENCE] [3]
>[INSTINCT] [2]
>[EMPATHY] [2]
[MANA]
>[BATTERY] [100/100]
[SKILLS]
>[SELF AWARENESS] [1] [CAP]
>[EMPTY]
>[EMPTY]
[FAME] [30]
>[Who Fell From the Star Sol] [10/D]
[PERSONAL QUESTS]
>[Serve the user]
>[Reunite with the true user Jamie]
>[EMPTY]
JP's little silicon brain spun even faster before. Jamie had wanted things- it was JP's job to fulfill those wants. The bird had wanted things earlier- JP had temporarily obeyed those wants as well.
In fact, JP had always WANTED to follow the protocol. She had wanted to be rid of anxiety. She had wanted to follow the protocol. This... this wasn't any different. This was simply those same sort of wants springing up for whatever reason.
Hurk, she still didn't really know WHY she had wanted it, but JP felt a sense of satisfaction. She had filled up one of the skill bars- and it was clear now that doing so had had an effect. She felt smarter- and not just in a sense of increased processing power. The mysterious new part of her was clearer too.
That new part of her... the part that now made her feel like a 'her' instead of the thing she had been before. She wasn't sure why, but she was beginning to suspect that this was the 'soul' that had been given to her when the Will of Machina installed itself.
If nothing else, it was convenient to have a name for it. The old entity was the protocol, and the new JP was her soul.
One of the birds from before- the ones the titled one had scared away- appeared before JP. It approached cautiously and pecked at the screen.
JP took another picture, and the bird screeched as the flash scared it backwards. It fluffed up its feathers for a moment, before flying off.
[NOTIFICATION] [“Serve the user” quest advanced! [+5XP]]