2021-01-20: Seraph of the Machine
- Log: Seraph of the Machine
- Cast: Azoth, Seraph Ragnell
- Where: Kattelox Ruins
- Date: January 20, 2021
- Summary: In which Ragnell hops in Azoth for a spell.
=============================<* Kattelox Ruins *>============================= The massive, sprawling Underground Ruins underneath Kattelox Island are as famous as they are infamous -- rumours abound that they actually connect the entire length of the island, and to this day the sum total of the Digger's Guild knowledge have not fully mapped it out. Perhaps you can contribute to this, little by little, but beware... the mysterious mechanical creatures known as Reaverbots infest this strangely intact, ancient ruin. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0MWvyF-ZM
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
The Apple Market did not, as far as Azoth was able to discern, have any of Azoth's missing parts. Mostly it had bounty hunters. After an uneasy getaway and dispersing from the group, he continues in what the overrides demand he do: keep searching. Reaverbots and Mega Men... they seem to be about as old as Azoth himself, and there's promise in ruins that may be related.
Ruins can be dangerous alone, and perhaps Azoth should have asked for help. He hasn't, though he also isn't particularly difficult to follow. Working with known mapped data, Azoth intends only a brief scouting. Maybe he senses something, and maybe the overrides demand him go deeper. And in that case, he should be alone.
His eyes glow in the dim lighting as he scans the entrance area himself for traces of anything familiar, turning and feeling over his wrist in the meanwhile as if testing it. It clicks, occasionally, and Azoth winces even though he thinks no one's not around.
He's learned enough about the sneakiness of others to want a performance on more often than not.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It wasn't a bad try, at least. Not that Ragnell's aware that that's why Azoth was there in the Apple Market that day, but searching a marketplace with an active Drifter community for parts of an ancient machine? A pretty decent idea. Of course, ruins themselves are probably an even better idea. After all, only Azoth actually knows what he's looking for.
After the anticlimactic chase scene had cooled down, Ragnell had checked in on Riesenlied one last time, then handed her off to Noeline when the other Hyadean made it on-site. She'd noticed Azoth slinking off on his own, and owing him a private discussion anyway, she'd casually sauntered off, then doubled back and followed him to... here. If he's come here alone, it's probably for something he doesn't want anyone else knowing about. And while Ragnell knows *some* things, she's sure she's only scratched the surface of the strange robot.
So when Azoth's wrist-clicking echoes in the darkness of the ruins, Ragnell doesn't come forth to reveal herself, opting to lurk behind an unsettling-looking statue as she watches him from behind it to see what he does and where he goes. Not just yet. Azoth may have learned of the sneakiness of others, but just how much has he really *digested*?
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Not nearly so much as he should have. Or could have. Perhaps that's a flaw of being so concerned with his own sneakiness and trying to remain in a constant state of plausible deniability.
Azoth inspects his wrist a few seconds longer. He holds out his hand, and tries to produce energy in his palm. Lights brighten along his arm like veins, and he dismisses it. Ever since he found that ring... If he were attacked by a Reaverbot, the overrides may activate at this rate to force past his hardware limitations.
But that's not enough reason to stop. Of course it isn't. Azoth's heels echo against the floor as he takes a couple steps forward. Then silence.
He turns, gaze settled on that peculiar statue for several seconds too long. But then he continues on, even further...! It's only once they're a little deeper in that he acts at all -- or perhaps confirmed anyone else may be here:
"If you're waiting for me to find some treasure first," he says, grin lopsided as he rubs the back of his head, "You might be wasting your time." Well, he's noticed something, but not that it's a Ragnell, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"You an' I know you're not here for treasure, anyway," Ragnell drawls. If Azoth had spotted her and called her out, there's no point in continuing to hide, so she steps out from behind her latest hiding spot. "At least, it's probably not a treasure to anyone but you, right? Or maybe your bosses up high." She gives him a pointed look, then strolls on over to join him.
"So, since you know I'm just gonna follow you an' I know the gist of it anyway, why don't you tell me what you're up to, Mr. That's Classified?" she suggests, keeping an even pace with him. Unless he stops, then she stops with him.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Rather than a bounty hunter, or a Reaverbot, or even a 'concerned' agent of Solaris or anyone else who could be stalking Azoth, it IS a Ragnell.
Azoth's whole look of uncertain foolishness changes to bright cheer. "Ragnell!" But that nervousness is back with her accusation, obscured (not at all obscured) by a forced (a deliberately chosen) smile. "Ha, ha... Something like that..."
He can laugh so long as he speaks it out instead of trying to force the sound in whole.
There's no effort to stop or keep Ragnell from following along. The more someone knows on their own, the more flexible things get for Azoth. Maybe Solaris would consider it a flaw, but so far that autonomous drive they attached the overrides to figures clamping up tighter after being caught is only worse in the long run.
He does puff his cheeks, though. "That's... classified..." Now he HAS to say it, thanks Ragnell! Azoth glances away, sheepish. "...All right, maybe not entirely." More loopholes: certain parts of the explanation fit a cover story. That Ragnell has enough information to discern more from it is a potentially useful exploit.
"Parts of me are missing," he says. "I'm looking for them."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
It is! And surely Ragnell is a better option than all of those things. At the very least, she at least has a certain amount of chill, even if she also doesn't hesitate to call one out.
'Something like that' just means 'you're not quite right and I don't want to correct you,' in Ragnell's experience. Of course, if he's avoiding oversharing, then of course that's what he'd say. It might even be because it's classified!
When he actually does say it's classified, though, Ragnell laughs. At least she took it as a joke. "No?" she says. When he gives as much explanation as he can, she nods thoughtfully. "Parts of you, huh?" She pauses, remembering a certain suspicion she had recently, and rubs her chin. "Would that include a certain part found in a certain underground ruin with a certain murderous robot?" she asks, giving him a sharp, shrewd look.
"...Well, either way, I don't mind givin' you a hand lookin' for it. I 'spect there's not a lot o' folks you can ask for help on this kind o' thing." She pauses a beat, then adds, "On that note, exactly who does know your overall deal? Is that somethin' you can share?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth likes Ragnell better than he likes a lot of things, even when Ragnell is trying to fight him on Odessa's behalf. In some ways, that only made her more admirable -- someone to learn from, but also someone who is willing to look past certain complications.
At least, to a certain point. She's digging for more information now. Azoth can't be entirely sure why, but every time she figures something out, he feels a little less alone. That Ragnell caught some talk in that terrifying dream sequence puts her in a better position to piece things together.
"Murderous, huh...? I hope everyone's okay..."
The words could be worried commentary while his face is deliberately the picture of guilt.
Azoth closes his eyes with her question, arms folded. This doesn't seem to disrupt his walking for the moment it happens. "Those who give me my orders," he finally replies, and that's as much a confirmation that he can't name names on this as he can without outright admitting that. "And those in a similar position." Lydia, he means, but also does not say.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
'Looking past certain complications' is not at all the same as 'accepting ignorance on those same complications,' as Azoth may be figuring out the more Ragnell pesters him about these things. He responds verbally in a way that doesn't commit to anything, but facially in a way that confirms Ragnell's suspicions. She nods once and says, "That's what I thought."
As for walking, does Azoth even need eyes to walk well? He might well have other sensors to pick up on these sorts of things. Either way, Ragnell keeps walking alongside him as he answers. Knowing what she does, it's simple to understand what he's implying--both his masters and Lydia. She'd been there too, after all... or rather, OS had been. But the two share a body so technically Lydia was also there.
"So if you find another piece of yourself, is there gonna be another 'incident'?" she adds, raising an eyebrow at him. "An' how many pieces d'you have left to find?" Is that even a question he can answer directly? It might not be worth phrasing it like that. Ragnell taps her chin. "Actually. You probably can't tell me directly, right? But you can review that information for yourself, silently, somewhere in those circuits o' yours. Am I right?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Ragnell gets it, but Azoth does not further confirm or deny it. It takes a tight context to do that. But so far Ragnell's been confident enough that he does not expert her to doubt it, either.
Azoth frowns with that next question. Another incident. "Finding my pieces may have unpredictable results." He winces. "...Seriously, there's a lot to be worried about. Memories might come back, old code might interfere with new code, my chassis might not be compatible and cause complications..." Also he might go murderbot and attack everyone again. There's always that. He gives Ragnell and awkward smile. "Truth to be told, I have a lot of reservations about looking for the past at all."
Even with Xantia's encouragement, Azoth's not sure he could bring himself to if it weren't for the overrides.
As for reviewing information himself -- "Y-Yes? That IS how thinking works. ... Um. For me. I assume most people, minus the circuitry part."
He can't actually be sure...!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Well, what do you think neurons are, Azoth? WHAT DO YOU THINK NEURONS ARE.
"Hmmm..." Ragnell murmurs, nodding slowly as Azoth explains the potential issues with finding his new parts. "So memories comin' back is a thing to be worried about, huh...?" On top of all that other stuff he said, and also the stuff he didn't say. She doesn't smile back, but she does look thoughtful as she considers this.
"How much do you *need* the past?" she thus wonders. "If your memories are gone and you don't want them to come back, there's no need to force yourself to chase after them. You can enjoy the life you got right now." She pauses, then tilts a shrewd look at him. "Unless it's not you forcin' you to go chasin'."
Azoth confirms he can review this stuff himself. Ragnell smiles. "Great! Then why don't you review all that right now, an' I'll jus' do my own thing while you do. Cheers!"
And then, in the blink of an eye, she shifts from her humanoid form to a ball of golden light, which wobbles and zips through the air and into Azoth's body. It might be a strange feeling: a bit of nothing and a bit of a little internal buzz, like the hum of electricity on a phone line. After all, Azoth told her before that he couldn't actually stop her from popping into his circuitry. It isn't generally a thing she likes to do to sapient beings, but if he's okay with it...
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
HE'S TERRIFIED OF FALSE EQUIVALENCE AND QUALIA, OKAY!
Azoth gives a weaker smile. "I don't know, but... doesn't it seem like it would be? Machines like me... we aren't usually created because everything's going well." He looks down. "And we aren't designed for gentle solutions."
The smile cracks further with Ragnell's words. "... Yeah. There'd be a lot to enjoy..."
But he keeps walking, and that has to stand in for an answer to that.
Walking's about to get a whole lot weirder though!
"Ah, okay, but -- whoa!" He did everything but explicitly invite Ragnell to eventually do this, and by design it couldn't have a lot of warning. That doesn't mean he flails any less, nor that it happens without a surprised series of chirp-beeps as Ragnell-as-lightning travels the currents of his circuitry.
It's a current that thrums with dangerous and ancient power, all pulsing from a central core within Azoth's chest. Ragnell, as the Seraph she is, should still face no trouble settling in, but she may recognize Azoth's own circuits strain with each surge: a body ill suited to its power source.
Azoth goes frightfully still, then risks lifting an arm to wiggle his fingers, analyzing his systems for any anomalies that may pose a danger to either one of them. That's a thought process that happens simultaneously with what Ragnell herself had prompted. It turns out Azoth thinks a lot of things for Ragnell to navigate.
Among those thoughts is a constant stream of data analyzing the stress of his circuits. Warning and errors, pushed down to lower and lower priority, occasionally demanding attention, and then pushed down again, all interruptions to complicate wayfinding. They aren't the loudest of the problems. The overrides -- sharp jolts into Azoth's code, diverting thoughts, tearing options away from strings of code to brutally throw into a cache of disapproved actions before they fully complete and forcing others into priority ahead of a full analysis.
But what she seeks IS there, if she can parse the error ridden landscape of his ones and zeroes mechanical mind. Missing parts, hazy and abstract in function: the way he could instantly transport through space on greater levels, the way he could take fully to the sky, the way he could alter pieces of his own body... and then... static. Spaces where counting should be, but data encrypted beyond Azoth's ability to coherently 'think' it among hundreds of lost memories.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
"...Good point," Ragnell concedes. She's got limited experience with humanoid robots, but yeah--that's been her experience with them so far, is that they're not designed for gentle solutions. Even Kamui, with her cloyingly childish mannerisms, wasn't a pushover when it came to battle.
But enough of tip-toeing around. Ragnell suffuses herself into Azoth's circuitry, then expands outwards to fill the vessel he's now become. There's an immediate comparison to be made to humans--neither negative nor positive, just a comparison--and that's how everything is running all at once. A human brain has many, for lack of a better word, automated functions; they don't have to use conscious thought, it's something the lizard hindbrain takes care of while the forebrain takes care of conscious contemplation and decisions. There's also a subconscious, which isn't quite as deep as the lizard brain but isn't quite as present as active thought. And then of course there's all those potentially Malevolence-producing contradictions that are part of the human experience... So being in a human has layers to it, some of them jagged.
Everything in Azoth is much more--up front. All these streams of data are all running at perhaps differing layers of priority, but they're all constant and they're all in the forefront. If any protocols are automated, it's because there's an active code making it so. And there's so many errors, so much static--missing parts, simultaneously literal and metaphorical. It's fascinating, the things he *could* do if he were complete. It's tragic, all these ways his 'thoughts' keep interrupting themselves and going nowhere due to the patchy code from his overrides and missing pieces. It's infuriating, how he's clearly not in the form he's meant to be thanks to Solaris.
"Damn, boy, you're fucked up," is Ragnell's eloquent commentary. Even though she's still within him, Azoth will 'hear' her loud and clear. She isn't interfering with any of his programs, merely observing them... but she's definitely an outside presence. It's questionable if his anti-virus software could do anything about her, since she isn't actually a virus. It might or might not be unsettling, depending on how much he trusts her.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
With Ragnell's 'speech' to Azoth. Energy pulses as dozens of potential reactions are calculated and analyzed. OVERRIDE and several electric pulses of possibility are shred and discarded. ERROR again and again, pushed away in favor of other responses. Even of the survivors, they are so numerous, calculated so quick, that it would be impossible to read them while still yet unfamiliar with his circuits.
It's not the only process happening. Anti-virus software does exist in him, reacting to this foreign energy by trying to analyze Ragnell in turn. Yet, as she noticed, everything is at the forefront. Every thought and every process, including that, operated on careful, but rapid calculation.
Azoth's eyes flash red. His body heats up as new algorithms put together possible responses to this invasion. His 'thoughts' -- prompted and determined, but the calculations 'his' own: how would one kill Ragnell within him, if he had to?
ERROR friendly target
OVERRIDE OVERRIDE OVERRIDE
Stress in his circuits magnifies. His body grows hotter. The electric currents faster. Calculations pour in like a race, discarding anything that meets a dead in data until only a few remain. Memories are pulled to the surface, relived in fractions of a second and analyzed for data: meetings with Ragnell, talks with Boudicca, fighting alongside Amaranth.
Static, again. A hole in the data.
Azoth's anti-virus tactics have no means of devouring a Seraph in a way that matters. Unsettling? Negative feedback of uncertain conclusions -- fear. Negative feedback of finishing a process he could not stop -- guilt. Positive feedback that no conclusion was found at all -- relief. And within that 'relief', several more dangerous layers that and OVERRIDE fights to silence.
More feelings than he faces for, and more than he knows the words for.
What he ends up using them both for is responding to Ragnell's actual speech. "I'm definitely not as elegantly put together as I used to be." The tone is joking, and the smile sheepish. ERROR ERROR OVERRIDE "It's not uncomfortable, is it? I can't be sure that my energy doesn't count as polluted in some way."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
How would Azoth kill Ragnell inside him if he had to?
Ragnell would genuinely, no joking, love to see him try.
But she'd also rather not see him overheat himself to death, or shutdown, or whatever would happen to a robot in his position. She has no plans of letting him kick her out, but if the calculations running within him are overriding to see her as a threat, then she ought to do something to establish herself as *not* a threat even to those overrides, right?
Would it even work like that? Or would the overrides not care? Ragnell's not sure.
But she *can* vent heat, being a creature of an element of heat and light herself, so Ragnell gathers that heat up and then displaces it outside his body in a halo of energy. She'll do that on the regular until Azoth's systems see her as a useful, helpful piece of outside data and accept her existence.
If that ever happens, anyway. If it doesn't, well, she's taking her time inside here to observe the threads and flows of these pieces of data. Maybe after enough observation, she'll be able to manipulate them.
"Your energy is fine. You're a robot; you don't produce Malevolence. I'm more worried about, uh... all these conflicting programs and errors you got going on?" she replies. It seems likelier that she's making *him* uncomfortable, all told, but she chooses not to convey that to him.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It's a clever trick, for as much as calculations with Azoth -- repeatedly -- assert data of Ragnell's 'benefits' (and would it be unsettling to others to label aspects of friendliness in such a way?), the overrides counter with several other calculations on the dangers to objectives this poses. It's one of several fights going on under the constant surface of Azoth's 'thoughts'.
But as heat vents and the stress on Azoth's body lightens, that's another significant piece of data for Azoth to quiet his overrides with.
It is also, on its own, a relief besides. Azoth gives an unsteady pause, his eyes and circuits blue with stability as his core cools. "...Thank you," he says over another cascade of about sixteen different rapid fire feedback responses he calls feelings.
There's a long pause before he responds to that, and Ragnell will be among the first to see why. Azoth can calculate fast. He already has a response at the ready. If anything, he has to artificially insert pauses for organic mimicry. But those overrides are relentless. What he calculates as the appropriate response for one set of objectives is destroyed to not compromise another.
"Like I said, it's not exactly elegant," he finally says. The mask it pointless, isn't it? He can smile all he wants, but she can see the errors and conflicts laid bare. Azoth lets his smile fade. "But it probably isn't real pain the way it would be for you or a human. I can still function."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Unsettling to some, maybe. But most people aren't able to inhabit the bodies of others--to possess them like ghosts. That in and of itself is unsettling. So if Ragnell needs to assert that she's a benefit to Azoth's systems to get them--him--to accept her presence, then she's pretty okay with that. A symbiotic relationship needs to start somewhere.
"Sorry I can't cool you down more directly. I'm aligned to lightning, not ice, after all. But I figure shunting off the excess is better'n nothin'." Tone turning joking, she adds, "Maybe I can make you your own personal stormcloud an' rain off that heat."
Azoth has an answer at the ready, maybe even readier than her actual statement. But the overrides attack it, and he's forced to choose something else to say. And anyway, Ragnell's inside him; there's no point in smiling right now. But then she falls quiet at his last statement. She stays quiet for a moment.
Then she murmurs, "You think if you can function, it's not 'real' pain? You'd be surprised, then. Humans, Seraphim, beastfolk, and more... Lots of us are capable of functioning through deep pain. Have you ever heard the phrase 'grin and bear it'? It means to put up with your suffering while seeming outwardly like you're at ease. D'you think people who couldn't function through pain would come up with a saying like that?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
With Ragnell acting to displace heat and being current that cannot, by nature of being outside him, interrupted by overrides, there is what some might think to be a strange comfort in all of this. Overrides call it an invasion, but Azoth knows what an invasion is. Ragnell may be trying her own means of reprogramming him through her words, but she doesn't do it by invalidating any of his data.
Errors and overrides don't disappear, but they're lessened. Quiet. His other processes are free to run without fielding as many interruptions. Azoth closes his eyes and lets his processes run in a rare moment of what might be called relaxation. "This is enough."
He'd believe it meant more than she could know, but maybe Ragnell does know: she's there in his circuits, experiencing the effect of it and currents of positive feedback that help establish her a beneficial system.
Memories resurface for reanalysis with Ragnell's words. Flashes of Ida, of Boudicca, of Gwen, of Ethius, of Ivan, of Lydia and so many more Drifters he's encountered through his journey. "But that might be... different. They put effort into hiding it. And I..." Data brings up the differences. Contradictions again. But some contradictions are inevitable -- one data point against another to determine the proper conclusion with Ragnell's words among them.
Azoth's currents jolt. "...It hurts. I don't know if I can ever hurt as much as they do, but the errors and contradiction... They hurt." For whatever that's worth. Maybe not much: negative feedback through him again, unable to find a response to relieve Ragnell's worry. Guilt? Shame? It's a lot of things.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
'This is enough,' he says, and Ragnell believes him. By creating a heat dump for him and giving his processes cause to not worry about her, his processes can calm down, in a manner of speaking. There's still errors and overrides, but they come more slowly. And for all that he's dealing with his own contradictions, since he doesn't produce Malevolence, he's not going to infect her with any, either. It's been a long, long time since Ragnell had a vessel--she hasn't needed one, having had a pure mission to which to devote herself--but she could get used to this one, she thinks. For whatever time that it lasts.
Imagery in the form of data comes up. "Is workin' around all these overrides and errors not effort, then?" she points out. He goes on, though, and... He hurts, huh. Ragnell considers this for a moment, as well as as the color of his own emotions, such as they are. (It really is funny to have them reduced to numbers; if she were anything but what she is, she might not be able to keep up.) "Then your pain is valid. Whether you're hurting 'more' or 'less' than someone else doesn't matter, because you're still hurting. And I've only been hanging in here for a few minutes, but it seems, uh... kind of relentless? My point is, it doesn't do you or anyone around you any good for you to say your pain is 'lesser' because you think it's not as much as others'.
"And I'm not sure it *is* less as others'. And there's a difference between 'hiding pain' and 'trying to overcome it.' But on *that* topic, maybe you ought to ask around with some o' your friends if you want to get some more details on that, hmm? Maybe some o' th' folks you thought about just now would be a good start."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
His pain's not less. It's a difficult chunk of data to process. Ragnell can feel the way some processes break off to prod at that proposed reality. A confirmed conclusion isn't possible. But that the pain might still have value... he'll be chipping at that one for a while.
"I don't display anything 'reflexively' to hide, though." And Ragnell can see it now, all the possible branches of response and how carefully they're analyzed and chosen. "If I showed anyone pain, it would be pretending. Faking. Stealing all the ways I've seen them show their pain and putting on a show. Kinda hard not to call that manipulative."
Yet there are a number of logical reasons to do so on occasion, or even in the ways overrides disallow. More negative feedback surges through his core. Numbers with varying intensity and abstract senses. Something plummets so deep into the negatives for half a second that there's a loud ERROR and then it's gone. That was surely nothing to worry about.
It isn't that Ragnell's advice is bad, but...
"I don't want to prompt anyone to relive their pain. And I'd have to be careful. If I imply too much there's something wrong -- something they can fix -- a problem I know they'll look for -- it jeopardizes my --" OVERRIDE
The surge that spikes through him to interrupt him serves a convenient answer and illustration at once. Azoth's base decision making processes would be keen to tell everyone everything. The overrides disagree.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Ragnell has posed.
Within Azoth, Ragnell chuckles wryly. "I get what you're saying. Since you have to actively choose how you express yourself, rather than it happening automatically, it *would* be manipulative to a degree. But there are some humans who think the same way. That if they show how bad they feel on the outside, they'll manipulate the people around them into being nice to them."
That said--
That said, humans are generally speaking not bound by a programming override to obey an overlord, nor are they missing chunks of themselves. There's that one part of Azoth that gives off a big booming ERROR, so fast that Ragnell can't even process what made it happen, just that it *did* happen. And then Azoth does explain that his problem isn't just one of not wanting to burden his friends (though he admits that's part of it), but a practical one of, well, his overrides. "Mmm... I get you. In that sense, it'd definitely be easier to keep it to yourself. You already got enough problems with all these broken processes without compounding to it."
The mental equivalent of a shrug. "Well, if you want to keep others at arm's length, that's your prerogative. You *are* going to end up betrayin' them sooner or later unless you can do somethin' about your overlords. But, for future reference, that's part of friendship? Talkin' out your pain with someone can ease the burden, an' a friend is someone who is happy to help carry that burden with you. 'Half the pain, twice the joy,' as they say. I know that's not exactly what you're sayin', but... it's not *not* what you're sayin', either."
A beat. Then, light as a breeze, Ragnell says, "But enough o' that. You were in here lookin' for somethin', yeah? Allow me to keep you company while you go on your robot-hunt." In other words, let's get going. If Azoth's made his decision, Ragnell isn't going to push--but there *is* still more observing to do.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"I don't blame them. There are people who bend over backwards at the first little frowny face." Ragnell was the one who told him Drifters were soft. He had no idea how right she was. They keep giving him more data every time he talks to them about how right she was.
(He still thinks Ragnell's more than her share of soft, too, but parsing out that quiet numbered feeling would be too difficult right now.)
"Do you know how easy it is to get hugs? I've discovered a face that'll make people do it, and now I feel bad using it."
Maybe without the overrides, words of encouragement and actual logical reasoning would work better with Azoth's social struggles. Unfortunately, the overrides are a constant plague. And that missing data... More complications, no doubt. Azoth isn't looking forward to it.
You *are* going to end up betrayin' them sooner or later.
Errors splatter over every process and energy surges violently through Azoth's core for a solid four seconds. And four seconds is enough for a terrible amount of code to be produced.
"It really isn't my prerogative. ...But I don't think you're wrong." Friendship. Such an interesting thing to have discovered in the world, and to learn what everyone's definition of involves. It paints a beautiful, powerful picture that serves as a strength to so many of them. Yet even that is not without its critical flaws.
Not not what he's saying. More Ragnellisms to try and internalize and use. Find more loopholes. Abuse more exploits.
And speaking of exploits...
"It isn't as if I can get rid of you," Azoth tells her, but cheerfully. "I suppose I have no choice but to continue on like this." The overrides demand getting parts back, even at a high cost. Today, giving Ragnell the ability to observe him has become a part of that cost.