RP: Cirrus Station [Post Episode 3] Programmed

After the events of Episode 3...

Tweak shut off the LEDs on her hat when Dream entered, using thermal-mode to watch the 'Spacer druidess walk around from the darkness of her junk 'fort'. She silently moved to the deepest shadows and stayed there, her eyes glistening, until Dream left. As much as she still considered Dream her friend, she wasn't someone Tweak wanted to speak to right now. Dream would be caring, compassionate, and talk through her troubles...but that wasn't what Tweak wanted right now.

The neko slipped out of her hiding place and through the organized chaos of the shrine, using the leaves, scrap, and her natural silence to avoid Flower's sensors and tossed a bolt. The Junker looked toward the noise and Tweak hopped onto the automata's back, then leapt again to land at the doorway as Flower turned around and around trying to find the thing that was on its back. By the time the Junker looked toward the open door, Tweak was already gone. Flower's head tilted a little, the flower drooping to one side.

The cat ears ached under the hat now. Even as comfortable as the cap was, it was feeling like a soft vise on her head now. Where could she go? Would they have cameras in the toilets? wondered Tweak with a feeling that wanted to be funny but she squashed it without really knowing why. One of her ears twitched, and she finally decided to ask. "Kess?"

In a short moment, a volumetic image began to materialize in front of Tweak. It was not, however, Kess, but Mimi, smiling widely in her usual cheerful demeanor. “Can I help you, Miss Tweak?"

Tweak did a slow double-take. "Er...yeah. Are there cameras in the restrooms?" she asked, stopping in the hallway.

Mimi giggled softly in response. “Why ever would you ask such a question?” The Savtech, however, seemed to keep her gaze away from Tweak as she said so as if purposely skewing the subject. Mimi was, apparently, not very good at hiding her immediate thoughts.

Tweak gave the eternally happy AI a sharp look. She wasn't in the mood for this...but something in Mimi's voice made her bite back the snap retort on her tongue. Frowning, Tweak looked at Mimi fr a second before asking slowly: "Why are you not answering the question? I want to talk to Kess."

Mimi, for the first time in a while, sighed and frowned, her shoulders drooping slightly as her breath heaved from her chest. She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped short and began fidgeting idly with her fingers. “I…I don’t think Kess wants to talk to you right now...” Just as the suddenly sad Savtech finished her sentence however, Kess’ image strained into view. Mimi looked surprised to see her counterpart there. Kess didn’t look happy at all, but her usual tenacity and anger was replaced with a tired expression, her straight black hair spilling past her shoulders and arms at her sides.

“You can go now, Mimi,” Kess said with a short glance and soft voice before returning her gaze to Tweak. Mimi took the advice and faded from view. “There are cameras in every bathroom, above the middle stall. Why.”

Kess' appearance caught Tweak by surprise. Not that the Savtech appeared at all, she half-expected that. It was that the hologram looked tired. Tweak's head bowed. "I...my..." she mumbled, losing her train of thought for a moment. "I'm sorry," she said suddenly, looking up at Kess. "I...I need to be myself for a little while. I c-c-can't do that if I'm being watched. I-I-I..." She made a vague gesture to her hat, then tried to continue. "I also wanted to talk to someone. You, actually..."

“Cassefin is asleep,” Kess interrupted Tweak mid-sentence. Despite the drained outward appearance, Kess still retained enough strength to keep some aspects of her personality. “She has been for a while. No one is monitoring the station, except us Savtechs. So sit where you want and write whatever,” Kess’ voice raise in aggressiveness with each word, her shoulders and head rising to match her tone…but as she finished, the Savtech shrank back down. “What is it.”

Tweak nearly sat down where she stood when Kess said she could sit where she wanted. "Sh-she doesn't record it?" She shook her head...that wasn't important right now. What had she wanted to talk to Kess about? Tears started forming in her eyes again, but she managed to keep them back. "I-I-I'm s-sorry. I j-just wanted t-t-to ask you...did I do well? On t-t-the mission. Did I do it right?" The neko glanced up at Kess from under the fringe of hair that protruded from beneath the hat. She'll be honest...Dream would be too, but she'd try to cover anything wrong with a good word...but I need to know the truth. Did I do it right?

At first, Kess looked like she might just explode from anger, her cheeks wracking themselves thin as she pressed her lips into a scowl. The Savtech held it in, however, visibly swallowing away her rage in order to answer the teary-eyed security neko. In the end, Kess found that she couldn’t answer Tweak…not right away. “…why the hell are you crying,” Kess said under her breath, crossing her arms and looking away from Tweak’s pitiful form…not that she was looking very well herself.

Why was she crying? Tweak swallowed. How could she say anything without chancing someone hearing her? As far as she could see or hear, no one was. But..."I found out someth-thing today that I wish I didn't. But I don't know if I want to forget it. If I should f-f-forget it." She looked up at Kess again. The projected image looked so tired...Tweak was tempted to ask what was wrong, to ask if she was bothering Kess. But she was scared that the answer might be yes, and she needed her previous question answered first.

“Yes, I know about the nekos,” Kess stated blankly. She paused for a moment after that, thinking off in her distant, Savtech-only world, not able to bring herself to look back at Tweak for the duration. “…it’s good to remember your successes…and your failures. That way you know to avoid repeating them.”

Tweak closed her eyes tightly. No, that wasn't what she was asking! "No, no..." She shook hear head. Frustration started building as she couldn't seem to figure out how to say what she wanted to. And why was Kess looking away? "Two different questions!" Were they? She was concerned over her performance in the mission because the nekos were stupid. Even though tactically they weren't stupid...not exactly. "They were programmed! I was programmed. I had to be." Tweak shook her head again. "Just look at me and tell me: Did I do well?" Her voice was getting louder the longer she spoke, but only in the sense that by the time the neko finished she was back at normal speaking volume after starting at a whisper.

”P…Programmed?” Kess snapped her stare back to Tweak, her face slowly contorting into a bizarre mixture of seething anger and sadness not exhibited before. “You think you have it bad? Huh?! Why don’t you try being born as a box, built to serve others and only able to talk to others through a volumetric screen! How’s that for goddamned programmed?!”

Kess’ image immediately splintered off, disappearing before Tweak and leaving her alone in the hallway.

"Oh hell... This isn't the right way... Really need a map." Where would she get one to put on her datapad? Perhaps one of the savtechs? Oh if only she could remember their names. One started with a M, but that's all she could recall. The other... "Kess..? Kess?" She wasn't sure if they came out based on voice queries, but they looked like they had earlier.

For a moment or two, nothing responded to Claire's call. However, slowly, Kess' form began to build up out in front of the securitywoman. The Savtech, still very fresh and still very angry from her previous encounter with Tweak, sighed audibly as she turned to answer Claire's call, her brow furrowed in obvious frustration. "Yeah, what do you want." It sounded more like a statement than an actual question.

Claire looked slightly taken aback by the rude tone the savtech responded to her with. Did she not trust her either? She wasn't in on the neko trade... honest! "Well, I was going to ask if you had a map of this place for my datapad somewhere, but you don't seem too chipper. What's wrong?" Claire seemed to believe anything that could talk to her was worth having a conversation with.

"Nothing." Kess answered simply. Her tone and mood, however, didn't exactly match the given answer.

"Don't give me that. I've not met one person who has ever said 'nothing' and actually meant it. If there really was nothing, they'd simply apologize for giving the impression that something was wrong." Claire folded her arms. "What's gotten into you, anyway? I'm pretty sure that grumpy look isn't normal."

Kess gave Claire's reply some thought, crossing her arms and momentarily looking away. "...oh yeah? And what is my normal look, hum?" The Savtech said spitefully. "A big cheery smile while I answer all your little questions?"

Claire shook her head, "Nah, I don't think you answering everyone's questions all day would leave a smile on. But at least a straight face. I'm sure no one likes to see you upset." Claire seemed to have forgotten what she originally called Kess for already.

"People don't care if Savtech's are 'upset' or not," Kess said, winding down slightly from her abrasive speech. "I don't see why you'd care either. We do our jobs...and that's it. Just our jobs. What more do you want?"

"People don't care? Oh shush, we do too. No one wants to see other people upset. You're no exception." Claire raised an eyebrow in mild surprise at the Savtech's statement. "Yeah, we do our jobs around here too, but do you see us moping around about it? No. Now, I'm not asking you to be like the other girl around here, that just borders on creepy. But really... Must you look so sad?"

Kess looked at Claire for a moment, her volumetrically interpreted eyes giving away her desire to believe the woman's words. This gaze didn't last very long, however, as hard reality pulled the Savtech back down to the station's white-tiled floor. "It's...difficult to be anything but sad, when you have nothing to be happy about," Kess said finally, letting her eyes fall away from Claire's as she momentarily dropped the ever-omnipresent guard.

"What? I don't believe that for a second. Hell, you don't really need anything to be happy about to not be sad. Anything is better honestly. Even mildly amused cynicism works." Claire put her datapad away, showing that she indeed no longer remembered what she was previously doing. "Besides, no lasting mood can make you look that miserable. What's wrong?" She was repeating her question, but she probably wouldn't stop till she got an honest answer.

Kess sighed, somehow disappointed by Claire's answer. Crossing her arms, the Savtech began pushing a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes...stopping short, however, and looking at her hand in slight disgust before tucking it away again, letting the long raven threads fall back. "There's nothing wrong," Kess said, suddenly reverting back into her previously grumpy mood. "I'm...working as intended. I overheard you murmuring about a map earlier before you called me; is that what you need assistance with?" Kess asked as she immediately began to change the subject.

"Huh? Oh right, a map." Claire shook her head. "Kess, isn't it? What's the deal? Seriously. Was someone mean to you or something?" She paused briefly. "And for working as intended... hell, you deserve a break. That's why you have co-workers." Apparently Claire didn't view the savtechs job as being 24/7.

Kess narrowed her eyes critically at Claire, unsure whether or not she was being serious. "Savtechs' don't get breaks," she spat out. Apparently, Claire had struck that oh-so-sensitive nerve Kess always held so closely. "What the hell would I do with a break. I'm a Savtech. It's not like I can have a seat on my cot and take a nap. Tch."

"I don't mean a physical break. Not that you'd need one. Just a mental and emotional one. Just take like 5 minutes to pause and clear your head and regain your focus, that's all." Claire frowned. "And you don't need to get so bitter towards me. Calm down... See, that's why you need a break. Doing this sort of thing constantly wears you down to the last nerve."

"Yeah? Well, this is my purpose," Kess replied bitterly. The Savtech was becoming more and more aggravated with Claire's good-natured attempts at conversation. Usually, Kess would've been much more docile...of course, the topic at hand was indeed a touchy one, especially in Kess' eyes. "It's what I was made for. Being a Savtech is a full-time career. We don't get breaks, we don't get time to...c-clear our heads. We don't need it. Machines don't need breaks." Kess spoke that final sentence with a larger helping of bitterness.

Claire was silent for a good 15 seconds. "...So?" She folded her arms again. "So what if you're tethered to a machine? You speak, you think, you feel... and that makes you susceptible to stress, as you're obviously displaying right now. Just like me or anyone else here, you need to pause now and then so it doesn't get the better of you. Your purpose is what you decide, sweetie. Even Neko's realize that eventually, and they're basically computers with an organic body."

The raven-haired Savtech didn't expect an answer like that. Although she still couldn't look directly at Claire, Kess visibly lost all of the tension in her shoulders, her bitter expression melting away into one of solemn content. Even a small, every-so-small hint of an honest smile. This moment, however, was but a fleeting one-of-a-kind instance of Kess' true feelings and, as such, was quickly brought back to the harshness of her reality once more. Still turned away and unable to look at Claire, Kess gave her final response. "And Savtechs are computers with no bodies. Not everything thinks like you do. The map you wanted on your datapad." After she had finished, Kess' volumetric image quickly wafted out of sight, leaving Claire online in the hall with naught but a faint beep emitting from her datapad.

"Still, a computer can have feelings... hell, how do you think brain spiders work? Just like giving it a voice..." Claire shook her head as she disappeared, fishing out her datapad and tapping the notice that was demanding her attention.

A small layout file had been sent to Claire's datapad, giving a non-detailed map of her surrounding area to the point she wished to travel to. The map was rudimentary; not detailed, but informative enough to get Claire on the correct path. All was very typical of what most of the information given to CSS members was like...however, at the very bottom of the map, in a small, hyphened footnote stood a simple, eloquent "thank you" in small letters...

...not signed with a name, but to Claire, the author was obvious enough.