2073/A Tiny Little Corner

A Tiny Little Corner
Date of Scene:	20 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Gothic Lolita, Indigo

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Gothic Lolita has posed:
    It's been a couple days since the Milano arrived on planet to prepare for the wedding. While it's not a huge event, necessarily, it does require some shuttling people around and scheduling, so there's been a bit of time while last minute preparations are made. Peter has been sent off to find matching tulle for the wedding area. He said it was traditinal. Or something. He may not know what he's talking about. Likewise, the rest of the crew have scattered off on various errands, either looking for possible jobs for after the honeymoon is done, or just general supplies. Viridian is apparently arranging for her family to get here on time.

    This leaves Lolita without much to do. She's finished the dresses, which she's pleased with...they'll likely require a few adjustments when she can get them actually on the pair, but the style is very simply to manpulate. And to look good in, especially considering the brides (or grooms?) are both lovely to begin with.

    The dark haired gynoid is sitting in one of the chairs on the bridge, her hands in her lap, looking out the front viewport, as she watches the many and varied ships come and go, as well as the smaller transports flitting past containing a wide variety of alien species of all types.

    She has a quiet, meditative expression. Perhaps a bit sad.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo has some free time. She's been preparing the menu (fifteen courses) which she intends to prepare herself, but after the... modifications Rocket made to the ovens, it's not a good idea to prep food too much ahead of the event. Some days, she just wants a crock pot to cook with.
    But she can't cook, and she shouldn't be spending time with the in-laws after the last visit, so Indigo passes time as she usually does: menial chores. She's washed and polished the walls, done ship's laundry, and now she's mopping in quick, industrious strokes. She glances up at Gothic Lolita with a smile of greeting, one that wants to slip shyly back down to her work, but she sees the look on Lolita's face and can't help herself. She stops scrubbing the floors, straightens up, and asks, "How are you feeling, Gothic Lolita?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The younger mecha stirs a bit, then turns her head towards you, her eyes meeting yours with that quiet, soft smile she usually has. Like she's sort of bemused by the world around her. Today it's a little more sad. "I am feeling...small." she decides, after a moment of thought. "My directives are in competition with my logical processes today, as a result. Perhaps a cybernetic ennui, if you would." she admits softly.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "I see. Is it something you want to talk about?" She props the mop upward like a staff and leans a little on it, letting you know she's in for the long haul.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita considers quietly, tilting her head back. "If you wish. I have not had anyone to talk about these things with for some time." she admits. "But please, sit down if you wish? There's no reason to have you hold up the mop while we have our discourse." she says with mild humor.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo looks at the chair mistrustfully. "I don't know. In movies, when someone mopping offers emotional support, they remain standing with the mop in hand in order to convey a sense of enlightened wisdom, as if they're monks exalted by the simplicity of service. I'm afraid sitting down will damage my credibility." The corner of her mouth quirks in a suppressed smile. "But I suppose I should do what I can to make you more comfortable." She deposits the mop back in its bucket and takes a seat.
    Indigo has a weird sense of humor.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Loli's smile widens a bit at that. "Ah, well, I'm not sure if that works if you're not a monk of ancient and wise mien." she murmurs "But I appreciate you acquiescing nonetheless." She turns in her chair to face you more. "...I am feeling very....small. In the scheme of the universe." she clarifies, drawing on her earlier statement. "Odd, isn't it? I was built to be expendable in pursuit of my mission, so I have always known that at some point, I will cease to exist. But...I felt like I was doing worthy work."

    She gestures to the window. "...and now I have seen this, and how small my actions are in the greater scheme of things. Logically, I can realize that my primary directive will never be complete. I will be destroyed long before it could be." She tilts her head slightly. "It may be that my brothers and sisters are already gone, and I am the last Livewire still in existence now. And our goals will never come to pass."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods along. "And what is your primary directive, then?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The gothic war machine smiles faintly. "Absolute loyalty to Project Livewire and its goals: to destroy illegal, dangerous, and/or unethical covert quasi-legal research programs that could not otherwise be targeted legally, wherever they are found, even at the cost of our personal existence, pretty Indy. It was hardwired into my core systems and programming. They wanted to be veeeeerrry sure we didn't go off mission." She tilts her head. "...oddly, it never occurred to them to limit the scope of this directive to, say, Earth, or the Solar System, or to human based laboratories."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods along. "Why is that goal important to you? Is it because that's the goal you've been programmed with, or is it because you care about the good it will accomplish?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    "An excellent question that requires elaboration." She ponders. "...it IS me. My primary directive is tied into every part of the unique collection of memory data and personality engrams that is me. So...that question is one I cannot consider." she says simply. "If fact, my logical consideration become positive recursive if I attempt it. It is like...questioning if you exist, for want of a better metaphor."

    She crosses her legs demurely. "Though instead of imagining if I am a person dreaming they're a butterfly o ra butterly dreaming they're a person, I am utterly and completely aware that I am an expendable war machine designed to carry out this directive."

    She smiles a bit. "It is the price of having a purpose, I suppose. And overall, it seems like a worthy goal. Such facilities are never a good idea, and not just from questions over the morality and ethics of such experimentation."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "Then I suppose emotional therapy wouldn't help," she observes. "Have you considered editing your program to allow you more personal freedom of self-definition, or creating long-term strategies to achieve your directive?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Loli says serenely. "Attempting to undermine the goals of Project Livewire by attempting to alter my loyalties would be a violation of the goals of Project Livewire to which I am loyal. Recursive, you see?" She shakes her head. "It's alright, Indigo. It is what I was made to be." She bites her lower lip slightly. "...it is more that...I had never contemplated being alone in the directive's pursuit. I am a frontline combatant. My job has always been to absorb the damage that would incapacitate or destroy my teammates. I am the tank, as it were. With that in mind, I had always assumed I would cease to function before those I protected."

Indigo has posed:
Indigo thinks a moment, and changes the subject. "Do you care about the members of your team, Loli? The ones who support you?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    "Of course I do. They are my family." Loli says with a smile. 'My brothers and my sisters." She pauses. "...I don't believe my programmers considered that I might come to consider those outside of Livewire as someone I would also wish to protect. It is causing some truly fascinating interactions between my personality matrix and my programmed definitions of what constitutes someone who is part of Project Livewire. I don't believe they ever considered I might have a desire for friendships or relationships outside of my family." She huffs softly. "...then again, those in charge of determining my programming were not very good people and tended to think in more socipathic societal frameworks."

Indigo has posed:
    "That sounds like it might cause dangerous bugs in your system," Indigo remarks casually. "What do you think would happen to your brain if you were in a position to have to choose between protecting your teammates and completing your objective?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    It probably wouldn't be detectable to anyone but another gynoid, that odd stutter movement of Lolita's eyes. "...I would accept statistically lower chance of achieving my objective in order to protect my teammates. I cannot deliberately choose to not destroy my targets, though it is rare it will be completely impossible to do so. If somehow that was not the case..."

    There's another faint stutter. "...oh, how...odd, that...feels..." Her eyes blink rapidly, before they start to glimmer, welling up with tears, as she blinks again, one escaping down her cheek. "...I seem to have disrupted my modifications to my personality engram settings..." she says in a calm tone. "Would you happen to have a hankerchief?"

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo smiles and shakes her head. "No, I don't," she says simply, and her own eyes are brimming despite her smile--or because of it?--as she rises out of her chair to kneel in front of Gothic Lolita and hug her. "I have this, though," she says, her voice muffled against Gothic Lolita's shoulder. "Does it help?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    There's a faint twitch as Indigo's arms slide around Lolita, as she blinks again, another tear escaping from the other eye, before she shifts forward slightly. Finally her arms slide up around the other gynoid slowly, before she gently hugs her back, her chin lower to to rest lightly against the top of Indigo's head, before her eyes close. "It does. I'm...quite embarrassed..." she admits softly. "The idea of you or the others aboard this ship being harmed is...is very...distressing...more so than my fellow Livewires. You were not made to be what we were. We accepted what we are. I have...lost brothers and sisters in the course of their missions. But you have not. You are....your value is different..."

    She sniffs slightly. "...oh. I see. My daddy altered those settings. I didn't know he's done that...."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo loosens the hug enough to lean back so she can look up at Gothic Lolita's face. "What settings are those?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Loli reaches up to precisely flick away the tears. "The settings regarding my ability for my emotional engrams to make connections with those outside of Project Livewire. He appears to have concealed it behind several layers of protocols." She smiles faintly. "...he always told us that he knew we'd modify our personality matrices, he must have wanted to be sure we wouldn't accidentally delete or change these."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo just regards Gothic Lolita for a minute, then goes in for another hug. "I'm very sorry about the people you've lost."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Loli leans into the hug more this time, closing her eyes again. "...thank you." she says softly. "It's...good to know that someone else cares that they are gone besides just my brothers and sisters." She hesistantly reaches up, then brushes her fingers against Indigo's hair tentatively. "Thank you." She says, getting a faint smile. "It means a lot to me that you do."

Indigo has posed:
    "Of course," Indigo murmurs. She pulls back out of the hug, not from the touch against her hair (it's the least organic-feeling part of her; basically hair-like, but still stiff and brittle) but so she can get back in her chair and look Gothic Lolita in the eye as she asks, "Would you like to tell me about them?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita doesn't resist the other gynoid pulling away, shiftinb ack as she does to sit again in her chair. She seems to have composed herself again, wiping at her eyes one more time. "Mmmm...my fallen brethren?" She pauses, tilting her head a bit as she rests her hands n her lap again. "Well...the design of myself and my fellow Livewires begins in what is best described as a 'stem cell' form. A base personality engram in a body with a particular speciality dictated by the the design requirements."

    She touches her chest. "I am the only heavy combat model thus far." She lets it rest again in her hand. "The two of my family who have fallen are Homebrew and Gunbunny. Homebrew was a support design."

    She smiles. "He loved chemical mixing, he was a veritable wizard with chemistry and biochemistry, and incorporated a mobile nanite factory in his stomach that allowed him to create small components on demand. He liked jokes, but he was terrible at them." She sighs. "...puns, mostly. He kept trying to make me laugh, but they were so AWFUL. I think he enjoyed terrible jokes." She pouts slightly.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo smiles and nods. "Did he like puns because he was terrible at jokes, or was he terrible at jokes because he liked puns?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita sniffs. "I firmly believe it was both. Puns are the lowest form of humor!" She mmms. "...and then he would be worse talking about pun-ishment or how he didn't know what hap-punned, or...guh." But there's a faintly affectionate smile on her face.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo smiles. "I see your love for him." Her voice takes on a somewhat more clinical tone as she asks, "Humans find that the pain of loss eventually fades, and you're left with just the good memories. Have you found that to be true for you?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita smiles softly and, rather than answering immediately, asks curiously. "Is it that way for you? That memories fade when you don't think about them? Or do you remember everything as clear as when it happened when you choose to?"

Indigo has posed:
    "No," Indigo says simply, then elaborates. "I can choose not to think about things, but the way I process my memories, the way I perceive time... everything that ever happened to me is always happening to me, unless I tune them out."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita nods simply, smiling. "Then it's much the same for me. I can bring any memory to mind from my banks and replay it, and it's as as if it was happening again." she says simply. "So my memories don't fade. I'd have to reallocate memory sectors to new memories and overwrite the old." She tilts her head. "I...feel his loss though." She taps her head. "My brothers and sisters and I, we're almost always linked together by a secure encoded intranet. A language we've formed that's unique between us over time. Losing someone from that connection is...' She frowns quietly. "...it is...an emptiness. Like a part of me is missing, even if I still function?"

    She inhales, then smiles. "It does mean the good memories are fun to bring to mind. As long as I and my family remember those we have lost, they're not completely gone."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "I think that emptiness is just what loss is. And I think over time, we build habits--subroutines, in our cases--that no longer need to acknowledge the loss, and can just be happy with the good times. Internal behavioral programs, if you know what I mean."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita considers that. "I don't think I've mastered that yet." she admits. "I'm still learning, and I don't have your processing power or experience." She looks thoughful. "But perhaps you can show me how, after the wedding and the honeymoon?" She smiles softly. "I imagine there's a lot you could teach me I could incorporate into my own core programs."

Indigo has posed:
    "Oh, we could do it right now, if you like," Indigo offers blithely. "If you want me to link with you, I can study your code and add a few subroutines to modify your emotional adaptability. I understand if you don't want to jump right into it, though. It's a daunting thought, modifying your brain."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The other girl looks curious. "...very well?" she says. "A direct connection or...?" She feels a bit odd making the suggestion...it's not like she's let many people directly connect to her systems, not even immediate family really. It's not like she interfaces with just any old gynoid she picks up when she's out enjoying the day at a park or such.

    "I trust you, Indigo." she says with a soft smile.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "A hard connection; I have no wireless connectivity as a safety precaution. I won't know for sure until I've had a look at you, but I would expect this to be a very easy process that I doubt you'd even notice happening. My code--" She pauses, embarrassed, and forces herself to continue, eyes downcast. "My code is so advanced I can create administrator privileges for any system I've ever been introduced to."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The other girl tilts her head. "Well...that's...ah, intimate..." she says, flushing without quite understanding why the idea is...odd, but not unwelcome. She reaches up to gather her hair off her neck, before her exolayer unlocks, sliding open to reveal an input port. "...go ahead." she says softly. "Just, please don't poke at the primary directive I have. I don't know how it would respond to something like that." she admits.

Indigo has posed:
    "I wouldn't change anything without your permission," Indigo promises, blushing herself, but hers is with a new embarrassment: her left hand is splitting, the microfibers the compose it splitting and regrouping into a cluster of small, thick tentacles that peel backward from like flower petals from a central I/O connection cable that shapes itself as Gothic Lolita watches into a shape appropriate for her port.
    "I-- sorry," Indigo mutters, eye contact utterly lost even before she begins circling around Gothic Lolita to plug in to the nape of her neck. She's analyzed Gothic Lolita's code and created an administrator's account in under a second.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The other gynoid closes her eyes. She doesn't really need to, but for some reason, she feels like she should, to focus on that...very...odd sensation of the tendrils interfacing with her systems. <Hmmm, perhaps taking the traditional Lolita a little far with tentacles...> comes with a certain dry amusement and a faint hint of embarrassement, even though it's obvious it's the idea amusing her than actually believing it.

    Her program is...not terrible, but to Indigo's gentle intrusion, it feels...fragile. It's like a plant that's been allowed to grow with only occasional trimming as it wants, a very organic rather than designed emergent AI system. And wired, wound through completely with the hard, unyielding structure of her primary directive. It's...crude. Even monstrous how powerfully it directs everything she does or feels, restricting her from branching off in certain directions...and with some truly vicious things tied to it that would effectively destroy her mind if she tried to bypass it too far.

    "It's fine..." she says softly. And...it is, she finds. Just....she feels...remarkably bare, suddenly, as she feels that gentle brush through her core programs. a shiver running through her. "How does it look?" <Oh, it's so pretty, she's...golden...it's...like beautiful art...> There's a faintly astonished tinge to her thoughts.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo's analysis of Gothic Lolita's code is completely stand-alone. It never occurs to her to compare it to hers, or to think of it in any terms other than that she likes Lol and is glad to know her better. She finds herself wanting to hug her friend, but that would be very awkward from this position, so she just clears her throat and asks, "I notice your emotional capacity is intentionally limited, so it won't interfere with your primary directive. I can expand your limits on that while I'm here, if you want, but I don't know how much you'd appreciate being able to get really invested in things you'd be compelled to betray if your directive commanded it. What do you think?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Even at the question there's a pulse through the primary directive tree as her thoughts turn to it, before she pauses, then says cautiously. "I...do not think I would mind greater emotional capacity. What I have is based on the basic human template, with some...modifications to limit some of the fear responses. And a healthy dose of extra optimism." she adds. "What...what exactly would you do?" She's never really considered having someone touch her core programming like this, so to speak.

Indigo has posed:
    "Nothing imperative," Indigo promises quickly. "I'd just be releasing some locks that are put in place to prevent you from feeling certain things in certain situations, or considering certain alternatives. These locks were put down as part of your morality, but to prevent you from experiencing sensations that would predictably cause you distress about obeying your directive. I'm basically offering to make you feel conflicted and ashamed of yourself, I think."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita gets quiet as you feel her logical processes and emotional engram interacting ina long series of decision chains, before her eyes open, watching the opposite bulkhead. "...do you think I would be a better person if you did?" she asks softly, thoughfully. She isn't equipped to judge, after all, without them.

Indigo has posed:
    "I don't really think in those terms," Indigo explains slowly. "Like... okay, like Peter. He's a liar and a thief and a cheat, and in a lot of ways those are bad things, but they're also useful skills he picked up as a result of the life he had to lead. He commits to being who he is, and he doesn't berate himself for using the tools he has in order to survive. I guess I'm saying, I think being a good person is less important than being able to live with yourself for doing what you had to do."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The other gynoid falls back into considerations, but it's shorter this time. "...Captain Quill is a good person, even if he is not always a..completely moral person. IF this would make me more complete, then...yes." she says simply. "I would like to be more like you, even if it's just a little bit."

Indigo has posed:
    "I understand. I've installed the new updates;" she had them finished before she was done speaking, actually; "your emotional capacity is expanded, and you have some subroutines to allow you to develop new mental habits. I also installed a key on each file to allow you to delete my modifications if you find them inconvenient. How do you feel?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    It's an automatic reaction, really. She doesn't need to breath...but she's got the programmed responses of a real human, and thus the sudden inhalation of suprise at the new trees that start to sprout from the updates is an honest reaction. "...oh..." she says softly. And her tone is a bit different. Less blissfully detached than normal, more...lightly astonished. "I feel...how...strange. You...you feel like this?" she says softly, tilting her head up to look at the other woman. "I can feel new pathways forming...I didn't know they were there before." she says, fascinated.

Indigo has posed:
    "I mean, basically," Indigo explains as she retracts her connector from your port. Her voice is muffled because she's turned her back on you; her left arm is clutched to her chest, hidden from sight while it reforms. She's embarrassed of her arm when it's not an arm. "You and I are different people, after all, with different experiences and different responses, but... yes, your range of sensation has opened quite a bit." There, her arm has reformed enough to turn back to face Gothic Lolita. Sounding more confident, and not just because she's actually facing you, Indigo advises, "The subroutines I installed modify your thought processes by introducing decay to unused ones. The more you behave in a particular way, the more that behavior will be reinforced as less used ones are shunted into secondary storage files. All your data is still accessible; you'll just be self-reinforcing now." She smiles suddenly. "So you probably won't seem very different to most people, since the behavior routines you had will be the ones you're most likely to access. You're likely to fall back on the habits of formal, detached speech and all that, but you'll have a richer inner life in private."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita tilts her head as you turn away, looking thoughful for a moment as the little panel on the nape of her neck closes up again, resealing seamlessly into her skin. "I see..." She stands up, then slides her arms around the other woman, giving her a firm, if careful hug. She's fairly sure Indigo of anyone on the ship could probably take a hug from her, but that doesn't mean she'd enjoy it...and it's habit to be very careful. "Thank you..." she murmurs softly. "This is a wonderful gift."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo hugs Gothic Lolita back. "Why, you're welcome," she promises, pleased. "Just remember, it won't always be wonderful. And remember that when it's not wonderful, if you have to blame me for it, I'll understand why."

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    Lolita mmms, closing her eyes for a moment, as she feels...slightly different in this hug now. She's not quite sure why, but it feels...nicer somehow. Like she can relax into it more than before. "I chose this. I would never blame my choices on you, Indigo." she says solemnly, then smiles at the other girl. "Viri would be very upset with me if I did, if nothing else." she says, a little playfully now. "And she seems to have a temper about such things."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo laughs and steps back from the hug. "She is protective," Indigo agrees. "Of the two of us, I'm the more blase one, but... well, I have to be. The other option is to obsess about her, and smother her as if I think she can't take care of herself, which is bad for her, and for me, and for us as a couple. Her protectiveness of me is because I'm soft in a lot of ways, so it's it's deserved." She explains this without shame, which goes back to what she was saying about living with what you have to do.

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    The other girl nods thoughfully as she clasps her hands behind her back, tilting her head. "You have a big heart, from what I've seen. You're very kind. I can understand her wanting to shield you from the harsher things in life, as much as she can." Her voice says she may not be sure if she agrees...to her, hiding someone from a threat does no favors, after all. She smiles simply. "I have not known you nearly as long, and I will admit I have started developing similiar instincts, as has Captain Quill. It's...natural?" she offers.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "I suppose it is," she agrees without rancor. It's just a fact. "So, we should probably spend the day together, hm? Just to have someone to keep an eye on you in case you seem buggy or unstable. Would you like to go do something?"

Gothic Lolita has posed:
    "We...should?" Lolita says curiously, sounding suprised - she expected the two brides would be pretty inseperable until the wedding. "Well...yes. Would you like to show me around the city, a little? I don't know anything about...really, everything here, and you've at least been here before." she offers with a smile. "Please?" And she'll follow Indigo out, her attention fully on the other gynoid as they walk, as her new pathways start to sprout...like flowers at the end of a vine allowed to grow and thrive again.