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I’ve killed mutations. One was an android. I couldn’t leave them that way. It’s worse than the virus.

I don’t know when it happened. ~~They were afrai~~

[ she feels their pain. their fear. if her emotions weren’t already troublesome, amplified by a paleblood’s empathy was—

she doesn’t know. she deletes her heartfelt words. she keeps them to herself, where they should always be. sharing with others has already done enough damage. ]

I was careless to get too close.

[ physically is easier to interpret, here. it’s both, in reality. physically and emotionally.

she wants to shut it off. ]

[dammit, 2B, you said you'd be careful.]

Did you get infected by something?
What's the breach?

[ it might be easier to show; 2B sends a photo of her left hand bare, no gloves. a patch of something black and crusty stains it like a plague. ]

It’s growing.
If the same thing were to happen to me, I just wanted you to know

[ there’s no period there for a reason; she hasn’t finished. she changes her tune. ]

please terminate me if my self destruct is compromised.

Ah, shit.
Okay, listen. I don't know how this infection specifically works,
But I know this guy, Viktor. He's a mechanic. Maybe you've run into him already?
I go to him to check on my insides, and trust me, whatever's happening with you, he's seen worse.

You won't need to be terminated, 2B. He's good at what he does.
You gotta stop jumping right to that.

I'll just return with a new chassis and my memory backed up, won't I? It's the most sensible choice if there're no other options.

[ a mechanic— one that she actually trusts, though. it takes 2B a moment; she's mostly self-maintaining. but in the case of actual repairs . . . ]

If you're telling me there's this one, I'll take it.

Listen, I'll kick your ass about being so ready to blow yourself up later.
Right now all you gotta know is that people -- humans, like me, we tend to take it pretty seriously when our friends die. Even if we know you'll come back. And there's no actual guarantee that you'll come back, either, is the thing. Sometimes people go into the water and never return.
So for the love of god, try to handle stuff without thinking that you can self-destruct your way out of any bad situations. It's never the only option.

Anyway. I don't actually know where Viktor lives these days -- you missed some SHIT, Tubes, let me tell you -- but you should still be able to track him down on the network.
Look up username V and you should find him.

Edited 2022-08-10 18:11 (UTC)

[ the possibility of not returning is a different beast. 2B has priorities, but it wasn't as if she wanted to cease existing in every single one. au contraire! humans came first, simple as that. but did she want to live among them? a quiet thing within her yells: yes.

friend, she says. were they friends? it didn't matter, anna was saying so. of course she knew dying was horrid— every time she'd have to go through one with 9S was . . . crippling. ]

I know what that is.
Thank you, for the disclosure.

[ . . . also? ]

I wouldn't let you kick my ass.

Yeah?
Usually ass kickings aren't done by permission.
You ever feel like testing that, I'd be glad to do some sparring with you. ;)

[ well, since android stats do rise and there are practice machine beat-ups— she'd maybe accept this bit of human culture. there's just one thing she can't quite parse out. ]

Are you glitching, Anna?

[ well, what was the sudden semi-colon-parentheses??? ]

Huh?

[oh her god. anna laughs after a moment, the sound bright and reserved for only her ears.]

It's called an emoticon, Tubes. Or emoji, or emote -- specifically over text it's an emoticon, there's a whole bunch of nuances, it's not important.
It's just little ways to use punctuation to make your intent clear.
Like that was a little winking face. Turn your head to the side and you should see it.

[ while no one is looking, she turns her head to, indeed, see it. she doesn't see it for a while. too simple. until pod tells her to simplify the detailed structure of a human face to two eyes and a mouth.

she kind of sees it. but why on earth would a human wink? oh, yes. ]

Your intent is to aim for me, then.

Be a pretty quick sparring match if I aimed for someone else.

[but she thinks 2B's got it. see, she's adjusting perfectly fine!]

Listen, I'm just saying, you might know how A2 fights.
But you don't know jack or shit about how Anna Amarande fights, and I've been in this body way longer than A2's been sharing it.
I just might surprise you.

[ at least no one can see her smiling when it's text— ]

Surprise me, then.
;|

Okay, Tubes, one thing to be careful about.
If you say something like "surprise me" and follow it up with a wink, there's even odds the person you're talking to is gonna think you want to fuck them.
And I'm not saying I wouldn't be, like, a little bit down for it, but I KNOW it's not what you meant to get across.
The wink's a powerful little emoticon. Just be careful with it.

[ woah, there. woah there!! did anna just say she'd be kinda dtf her sort of clone??? ]

What does aim have to do with human mating rituals?

[who else would know what she likes better than herself? well, kainé would, but—]

Oh, that wasn't a metaphor? Huh.
No, it's like... it's a flirty thing, too. Closing one eye real quick and then opening it again.
It's not like lining up a shot.
But I mean, as far as I'm concerned every time I wink it just looks like I'm blinking, so maybe I'm not the authority on winks anymore.

I'll leave that to you guys.

[ haha, romance!! with humans!! nope!! ~~unless~~, ]

Oh, we're no better at it than you are.
We just have centuries of experience fucking it up.

Centuries and still no evolution, Anna?

I mean, people are horny for jpegs and robots now if that counts as evolution.

Excuse me?

[ anna ]

Oh, there's a whole ton of people who make horny fanart of glorified jpegs these days.
Listen, I didn't say it was good evolution, I just said it was evolution. Couldn't do that in the 90s.

[ no wonder humanity went extinct ]

Evolution implies something imperative for species survival.

But for once, I’m glad I don’t know what you’re talking about.

[ please don’t explain jpegs or horny ]

All right, all right. I'll spare you the explanation for now.
Go talk with Viktor, yeah? Hope I could take your mind off some of the bad stuff for a bit.

I'm on my way there.[ . . . ] Thank you, Anna.

[ it's uncertain if she's thanking her for the advice, for the chat, or both. 2B probably wouldn't specify either (it was for both). ]

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