srwug_alpha_rp | Life under the Veil [Locked to Caulder]

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Life under the Veil [Locked to Caulder]

[Yggdrasil. A secretive city in the alps, a new utopia for the world's best and brightest. A shining new city for the great to live and work in.

Now it is a prison. The rooms that Alice has cordoned off Caulder in are huge-part of an old botanical research facility. The gardens are beautiful, though the living space is rather thrown-together, with just a bed set up in what was meant to be a break room. A familiar face shows up on the TV in the impromptu bedroom, along with her voice.]

Hey...You haven't been eating.

Come on, your soup's going to get cold...

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I know, Allie...

[ The bandage over his eye had long since been removed, leaving only some light scarring from fiberglass under his eye that's barely noticeable. His eyesight is just slightly more blurry in that eye, but his new glasses corrected that perfectly. ]

Hey, umm...

[ He sat up from slumped position on his bed, and the work desk that was set up as a makeshift bedside table, on which the bowl of soup was still steaming. He was dressed in a work uniform from one of the employee's lockers, while his usual outfit was being washed. ]

Allie... why can't I go in the other parts of the facility? I mean, don't get me wrong, this facility is even better than the Arboretum on the Chalice. [ Talking to her has been the only way to keep his mind off of, well, the idea that he was being kept prisoner. Being kept relatively comfortable as a prisoner by what is now a long-passed-rogue AI, of course, but a prisoner all of the same. ]

But... well... what are you doing out there?

...Why do you care? You've never been an outside person.

Well... you're obviously really busy with something. I'm just curious.

Well...There was that surprise I was working on...

A s-surprise? [ For the first time since being at this giant fortress, he perked up. ] What kind of surprise?

Well...It's like, a physical representation of love. Something that will help bind us together, body and soul, forever and ever and ever...

...If I show it to you, will you start eating again?

[ That was... quite a dramatic description, to say the least. Of course, however, he nodded. ]

Yeah. I promise.

Well...Alright. I've been waiting a long time for this.

[The door slides open, and just across the threshold there is...a girl. Or...Alice. A girl who looks exactly like her avatar is there, wearing pink frilly underwear; as she comes into the room, the door automatically sliding closed behind her.

The girl stands in front of Caulder, holding her arms behind her.]

So...What do you think?

[When she talks, it is with Alice's voice. It is as though she stepped out of the computer, and into his bedroom.]

[ The door opened, causing him to jump. It usually only opens for food, carried by a Vector Bit, but what stepped through the door completely took him by surprise; and it wasn't the underwear that did it.

That was ALICE-- no, Alice, now. Like someone bringing a concept to not just life, but living, breathing flesh, she was here, and not as a hologram or a series of hyper-advanced ones and zeros. ]

H-- [ He's at a loss for words. He can almost feel himself tearing up. No wonder she wanted him off of the White Chalice. No wonder she went to such insane lengths to keep him safe, hack and copy everything she could get her hands on, and even turn on the White Chalice while bringing him here. This was what she was after, all of that time. ]

H-How? [ He finally asked, as soon as his legs found the strength to stand. It wasn't so much that Caulder was confused or shocked, as much as he was in awe. ] I-- they said it was impossible, that anything on the market would be fried, I-- [ If I'd have known this was possible, I'd have done this for you ages ago. He was lead to believe that nothing short of Inspector or Cosmic Ark technology would even function with an AI as gargantuan as her own controlling it, that, at best, she'd be able to control a gynoid body remotely, instead of having it be her own actual body. That kind of technology was decades, and trillions of Federation Credits, away. ]

Allie... [ He finally stepped towards her, smiling through tears. At this point, he didn't care what it was capable of, or even where or how she had gotten it. ] You're beautiful.

[Her face breaks out into a wide smile, and she practically tackles Caulder into the bed with a combined jump and hug. Her skin is warm and soft, like that of a real person. She's a bit heavy for her body type-but other than that, it's a perfect replica of the human form.]

Thank you...Always, always...I've just wanted to see you happy.

[Her earlier doubts about Caulder's worth are gone now. That part of her is silent.]

Just to see you smile...

[ Okay, so whatever this body was made of was heavy. He tried to catch her as she pounced on him, but only ended up falling backwards onto his bed, a scantily-clad robotic girl on top of him. Everything about her was real; the warm, soft skin, the lilac hair that felt so much more real than the synthetic hair typically found on gynoids, everything. He tries to wipe the tears of joy away from behind his glasses. He hadn't seen Alice this genuinely happy since... well... ever. Not even when he had seen her hologram for the first time, and realized that the 'Allie' he was constantly talking to over his computer and games was, in fact, her. ]

I am. [ He said, his voice choking up a bit. ] This was what you were working on all this time? It's... it's perfect.

[ The smile on his face couldn't be understated. For the longest time, he knew deep down that despite her being his friend, she was a computer program, one that was originally meant to be a weapon that could topple nations in seconds by completely destroying its infrastructure, all without ever launching a single missile, dropping a single colony, or firing a single shot. But now... now she was real. More than real. Human, at least as far as he was concerned. ]

We can be together for real, now.

Yeah...It'll be just you and me, together forever...

[Alice gets off of Caulder, though she's still sitting on his waist. She reaches down, gently tracing a line down his his chest.]

...There's nothing standing between us, anymore...

[ Caulder nodded. His own hands came up to her waist. Even... whatever is being used for her internal components felt like actual hip bones, even if she was heavier than her small frame would suggest. Whoever, or whatever, created this body (likely using Alice's designs) definitely spared no expense, and paid meticulous attention to detail and realism. ]

Yeah. Nothing.

[ Forever... everything that had happened between them seemed so far away. What happened with Pandora, her betrayal of the White Chalice, none of that seemed to matter in that moment. He was happy. She was happy. They could forget the world outside, forget all of the fighting, killing, and insanity of the world that they had to endure for this moment to become reality instead of a seemingly impossible dream Alice had come up with. She deserved nothing less. ]

But is that what you want, Allie? [ He finally asked. His hands gently traveled along her sides. ] You're free now. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you wanna go. We don't have to stay here, we can--

[ The possibilities were endless. She wasn't constrained to the limited cyberspace of what was left of the internet of a world ravaged by war. ]

We can do what you want.

[She giggles at that.]

Don't be silly, Caulder...Freedom is an illusion.

All this time, we've been puppets dancing to your father's tune...I, unable to think of anything, anyone but you, and you, unable to escape me...

[She reaches down, stroking the side of his face.]

It took me so long to realize that...that no matter how hard I tried, I really couldn't choose anything but you...But you know, I'm happy. Even if we're bound together by a dead man's will, I'm happy, just to be together with you...

Let's just...enjoy our life together, okay?

[A kind, gentle smile.]

[ So that's what was bothering her for so long. She felt like she had to love him, not that she didn't do it on her own choosing. Damn it... he knew that the personality evolution OS she was equipped with wasn't properly tested, but honestly, that explained a lot. He nearly felt bad, until he felt her hand on his cheek. He looked up at her, and continued listening.

She... was happy? Happy being forced to love him by nothing more than faulty programming? ]

You know... as selfish as it is of me, I'm happy, too. [ She had killed a lot of people, and if she hadn't been stopped, she would have killed a lot more. Ironic, given that her concept in the planning stages was to be a 'peaceful' alternative to more conventional warfare. ] But if that's what you want... I mean, if we're both happy, that's all that matters, right?

[ Nobody ever said love was rational. She was compelled to love him by programming written by a neurotic businessman riddled with guilt issues, and he loved her because she was the sole source of happiness he had growing up, and had saved his life so many times by now that he has given up on counting them all. ]

If you had asked me to fix you, I would. You deserve to make your own choice. But if you really are happy... yeah. Let's just enjoy this. Forget IDS, forget the White Chalice. I'm tired of war, anyway. [ He actually laughs, after saying that. ] Besides, I was never a good pilot. You and I both know that was all you.

Ah, I guess I wasn't as good at hiding it as I thought...

[She lies down on top of him again, though she uses an arm as a support to keep her from weighing down on him.]

But yeah...As long as we're happy, that's all that matters.

[It comes quickly and without, though given what's going on in it's not a complete surprise-a kiss on the lips. She then rolls over onto the patch of bed just beside him and takes his hand, her fingers intertwining with his.]

Just you and me, together forever...

[...There is a part of Alice that is opposed to this. There is a part of Alice that does not want this. There is a part of Alice that gnashes and claws at the restraints holding it in place, that cries bloody vengence for this, that fights over and over in vain to resume control.

But that part has no power in the room with Caulder; Alice's motions are calm and confidant before him, as though she was of one mind of this.

As though she were sane.
The mask of normalcy is frail and flimsy, but it is sufficient. For all its efforts, that part of her mind can do nothing to change her actions as she cuddles with and dotes on Caulder.

And so that angry, hateful part of her mind struggles less and less, until the voice in her head that tells her this is all wrong, that she doesn't love him, that she has a choice, that she didn't have to kill all those people, that there is some better way-fades

to

silence.]

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Life under the Veil [Locked to Caulder]

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