⌨ seven - backdated to after 'The Dormouse'

[tookthepill]

[ 1 ]



[ Something is very obviously bothering him. He's staring at the screen in the lounge, instead of playing video games and trying to beat Cynthia and Gainer's high scores, as usual. His tablet is sitting in his lap, already on its screensaver due to him being idle. He's just... staring off into space, a glass of hot coffee in his lap.

Talk to him? ]

[ 2 ]



[ Later that evening, he's looking a little bit better. He's in the hangar, looking up between the tablet, and the Zeta Plus as the repairs were already under way, paid for by him, personally. ]

I wonder if I should start looking into a new mech to pilot...

[ He wonders aloud. ALICE's tank wouldn't have been practical in space. ]

Comments

1

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"Are you alright?" Matthew asks, passing by and noticing his glumness.

"You seem maudlin, for someone who has won a great battle."

[tookthepill]

[ A heavy sigh. ]

Well... yeah, we did win, but... [ Was Allie really going to kill all of those people? He didn't thinks she was programmed to be so brutal, and she wasn't the type of AI to prioritize 'logical indifference.' ]

I guess there was just a lot going on in that mission, you know?

1

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

Hey...You doing alright?

[tookthepill]

[ He nearly jumped when he heard her voice, but quickly regained his composure and tried to make it look like he was just daydreaming, and she woke him up from it. ]

Oh, um... hi Allie. [ A deep breath. ] Yeah... I'm fine. I'm just... thinking.

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

Oh, really? Whatcha thinking about?

[tookthepill]

Oh, you know... just... the mission. [ A beat. Then he forces himself to smile. ] We did great out there, didn't we?

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

Aw, you really think so?

[tookthepill]

[ She must have had her reasons, right? Maybe she thought, in some way, killing all of those people would protect him. He tries to relax a bit, and nods. ]

Yeah. I guess piloting a mech for real is something business school doesn't prepare you for, you know?

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

I guess not.

Say...are you sure you're alright?

[tookthepill]

Yeah... I'll be okay.

[ He tries to smile wider. ]

Maybe we should try to beat Gainer's score again, just to take my mind off it.

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

Hah! That sounds like fun.

Just...if there's anything that's bothering you, be sure to tell me, okay? I'm here for you, even if nobody else is.

[tookthepill]

I--... of course, Allie. I know you are. You always have been.

[ And with that, he reaches for the controller. She should already still be on the console's hard drive. ]

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

[The game goes as normal, which is a really, really close race between the two of them-neither able to gain a real decisive advantage over the other.]

...You don't like it when I kill people, do you.

[tookthepill]

[ He fell behind in the race just after she asked that question. Caulder had to burn a nitrous just to catch up. ]

It's not that... I killed a few people too, you know. It's not like we have much of a choice on the battlefield... [ He pauses, swerving around a corner. ] It's just that I thought you weren't supposed to kill people who surrender.

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

It's usually considered poor form, but though they have similar rules of honor and whatnot, the Clans never signed the Geneva conventions.

More importantly though, the Jade Falcon ideology is incompatible with a free earth. They will return, and attempt the same thing as they did last time.

[tookthepill]

[ He can't argue with that. She can access almost any form of data she could ever want in a matter of nanoseconds, she'd know things like that. ]

What did you find when you looked through their databanks? Were they planning to do something else?

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

There was that garbled transmission we got, but no, not really.

[tookthepill]

Well... I know you wouldn't want to do something like that without a reason.

[ At least, he hopes that's the case. ]

Just warn me next time, okay?

[girlfriend_dot_exe]

...I can't promise that.

[tookthepill]

[ He can't really blame her. He's aware that protecting him was her primary directive programmed into her from the earliest phases of her development, so it won't always be possible. ]

... I understand, Allie.