Shall I put on my p-p-p-poker face?

[getrightbackup]

Characters: Aigis and anyone~
Setting/Location: The Beast's Castle, in a storage room
Date & Time: Day 6, evening
Warnings: Extreme derpiness and curiosity ahead; use caution.
Summary: Fie to food and showers, Aigis is terribly excited to find a good costume to wear to the masquerade! What else will she find along the way?

Comments

[getrightbackup]

Aigis was busy looking pleased with herself, staring into a mirror that had been lying around near the mask. She poked at a few of the fake spider's legs, smiling as they bounced around. It was certainly an interesting find, and one that would likely get her noticed by many people at the masquerade. And the more people she could meet, the better! Everyone she'd met so far had been so helpful, and already she'd learned some wonderful things. Imagine how much more she could discover with that many people gathered in one room?

As she put the mirror down, she noted that someone was behind her, but she didn't make a move to turn around right away. After giving a cursory scan of the presence, she went unnaturally still. Another scan didn't reveal a human, so she finally turned to face her guest, her eyes taking in every detail. This was a model unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

This was amazing! And at the same time...a little unnerving. It was hard to settle on any one emotion, truthfully, because she hadn't seen someone even remotely like her in such a long time.

"Greetings," she replied somewhat hesitantly, the juxtaposition of her surprised look and the mask a rather strange sight. "You are not." A pause. "You are...like me." It was a thought spoken aloud, something she hardly registered. It was almost too hard to believe, but there was the proof standing in front of her.

[kickasspacifist]

"I haven't run into any others since I got here, before you. It's a pleasant surprise to realize I'm not alone here after all." He paused a moment, watching her reaction. She seemed surprised -- and not just surprised to find someone else here, as he was; no, her reaction reminded him of something else entirely.

Reminded him of the way he'd reacted when he and Dr. Cain had finished building their first reploid. He'd known it was possible, he'd known it was coming, but in those first few minutes when they activated him, X had still been almost unable to believe it -- it had been difficult to process the fact that he was no longer a complete oddity, a single thinking robot in a world of humans. That he was no longer alone.

Was she having that same moment of revelation, he wondered?

Either way, it was a question that would keep, at least for the next few minutes. As glad as he might be to find another robot here, it was still no excuse to stop being polite. "Sorry if I startled you. My name is X."

[getrightbackup]

"Not alone..." Aigis held her chest as she let that sink in, because that had a lot of meaning for her. She was the last of her kind, and the only one still functioning--or rather, "living"--so she most definitely knew "alone." Still, could she say that she was truly alone? There were her friends, of course, but would they ever know how it felt to be a robot? To look at others and see everything she couldn't have, like hands that weren't cold and hard or a beating heart? Maybe she was alone. But the more she thought about it, the more she got confused. It was all so complicated.

She shook her head, seeming to snap out of a daze. Despite her inner turmoil, she smiled amiably. "You didn't startle me. Rather, discovering someone like me was a surprise. It is a pleasure to meet you, X-san. I am Aigis."

Her smile widened. Already, she was starting to feel better. The prospect of making a new friend, especially a robot friend, was too exciting to ignore. "Would you like to search for masquerade items with me? There are many interesting things in the rooms of this castle. See?" As if it weren't obvious enough already, she pointed to her mask.

[kickasspacifist]

"Sure, I'd be glad to." He took a look around the room -- he hadn't really paid much attention to it yet, having been distracted by her. It wasn't really much different from some of the storage areas back at Hunter HQ, aside from the (very) different contents.

(Which might say something unpleasant about the engineering department's organizational skills, really. Maybe he should take that up with Douglas when he got back...whenever that would be.)

"Were you part of the group that was locked up here earlier?"

[getrightbackup]

"I was," Aigis confirmed with a small nod, then picked up what looked to be a ruffled collar. It was really interesting how different all the things she found were so unlike Japanese attire. Perhaps there were things like this back home? She would have to look more into that once she returned.

After she put the collar down, she glanced over at X, finding herself unable to focus on her search much longer. He was distracting her, though it was no fault of his own. She found herself suddenly feeling like...it was so difficult to describe. Like his presence was overwhelming, and perhaps she wasn't worthy of it? She couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"X-san..." she began, looking unsure of herself as she pulled her mask off. Meeting another robot, especially one that wasn't built by the Kirijo Group, had her feeling so odd. "I would like to know more about you. I apologize if it seems too forward, but I have not met another of my kind for quite some time. I did not think it was...possible."

[kickasspacifist]

"There's no need to apologize. I'm actually rather curious about where you come from, myself," X admitted. She wasn't from his era -- that much was obvious by what little she'd already said.

"It sounds like we're uncommon, in your home. But in my time we're quite numerous."

[getrightbackup]

That made her blink. She put the mask down and turned to face him completely. She had yet to consider that he was from a different time than her, or even a different place, but the idea that robots were common somewhere? Aigis hardly dared to believe it. But to hear him include her like that--calling the two of them 'we'--she felt like she belonged for once.

She stared down at the floor, mulling everything over. "I see." Another emotion she couldn't quite understand came in to join the previous one. A feeling of resentment. Perhaps it was jealousy? Blinking that feeling away, she continued, looking somewhat sad as she did. "Where I live, I am the last Anti-Shadow Emergency Control Weapon, and the only one that remains active. The rest were destroyed. It has been this way for ten years." Aigis went silent for a moment, then tried to cover her sadness up with a little smile. "My home is Earth, by the way. What's yours?"

[kickasspacifist]

"I'm also from Earth. Not your era, though, presumably; it was 2173 before I got here." He frowned thoughtfully. "The...last?"

It was a sobering thought, to think of what it must be like to be the last of your kind. Not that being the first hadn't had its fair share of problems as well, of course, but...there had been positive things about being the first reploid, even if it was debatable whether they outweighed the negatives.

It was hard to think of anything positive about being the last at all.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said quietly.

[getrightbackup]

"2173..." Her eyes widened at the number he gave, and she'd had to repeat it just make sure she'd heard right. It almost took effort to keep speaking after that, but she snapped out of her shock regardless. "Um. You are correct in assuming I am not from your time; the year was 2009 before I arrived."

And what a time leap that was. X was so full of surprises, more than she ever would have thought. At that point, she finally realized what that nagging feeling had been. It was shyness. She had already unconsciously sensed that X was an amazing being, capable of things she could only dream of. Now she had definitive proof. After all, if the things she saw on television were anything to go by, the future was better than anything.

Despite the serious edge of the conversation, Aigis began to smile more, trying to make light of the situation. "It's all right. I was not awake for many of those years, so it's not like I had to suffer in solitude for a great deal of time. In addition, I did not care, nor was I aware, of such things as loneliness back then. Um...truthfully, quite a few things are still new to me. Such as wondering what it would have been like to know the others."

[kickasspacifist]

Oh, Aigis, if only you knew just how much the future really sucked.

X managed a smile as well, albeit a somewhat somber one. "I spent quite a few years in stasis before I was activated, so I never had the chance to meet my...siblings. I can sympathize."

[getrightbackup]

"Oh..." At that, she began to frown again, though she looked far more sympathetic than anything. She wished there was a way to comfort him, but she was drawing a blank on that.

"Could I hear more about you?" she asked, a sudden look of interest on her face. She briefly wondered if she'd get close to overheating today, what with all the emotions she was going through in such a short span of time. "You do not have to speak of the uncomfortable parts, if you wish."

[kickasspacifist]

"Of course," he said warmly. "I don't mind talking about the uncomfortable parts, honestly. It's..." He paused for a moment, not quite sure how to explain himself. "Not speaking of things doesn't make them less uncomfortable. Being open about it helps me maintain perspective, I think."

Even so, it was probably better to give her the short version. "When I was activated, I was the only known robot to possess complete free will and emotional capability. My creator had died a long time ago, but the scientist who discovered me was intrigued enough to try and build others, with my help. We did succeed -- it's been decades since then, and there's a large population of robots. There's also been...quite a bit of social conflict as a result, though."

Which was really just a polite way of saying and everyone's been trying to kill each other since, but he wasn't going to unload the full sob story unless she really wanted to hear that part.

[getrightbackup]

Aigis' head tilted slightly. He'd given her a lesson on emotions, even if he hadn't intended to. "So, if something is uncomfortable, I should speak of it regardless? I will keep this in mind." With a nod, she committed that to memory.

That aside, she processed everything else he'd said. It was amazing to think of a robot able to do what she was still learning right from the beginning. She found herself unable to stop wondering what it was like having other robots around, so she decided to focus on that for her next attack of curiosity. After all, robots like her weren't actually known to most of society, so she had no clue about what it'd be like if many people knew about her.

"Social conflict? Such as?" If it was an uncomfortable topic, they were supposed to talk about it! So she stared at him intently, waiting.

[kickasspacifist]

"If there's something to be gained by speaking of it, anyway. Some things are still better left alone." X half-smiled. "But the subtleties of tact can take quite a bit of time to master, and sometimes the only way to learn them is to go for it and see what happens." Hopefully he hadn't inadvertently encouraged her to tell anyone that why yes, those pants do make your butt look big! or something.

He'd halfway expected her to ask for elaboration, and he'd apparently been halfway right. "Things have been...difficult between humans and robots, on both sides," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Humans have been slow to recognize that the robots of my time are as capable of thinking and feeling as they are, and many have been reluctant to treat us with the same respect they would other humans." Most reploids would have put it a bit more rudely, or been more accusatory; X, however, didn't believe in assuming malice where ignorance was equally likely to explain their behavior.

"And some robots, for their part," he said heavily, "hold the belief that the only way to change this is through violence."

[getrightbackup]

"Then I shall go for it when possible!" Aigis gave him a wide, enthusiastic smile, pleased at what she was learning. It was highly likely that she would tell people their butts looked big if asked, or something equally tactless, but she wasn't quite the emotions master that X was.

Emotions 101 over (for the most part), Aigis was finding it difficult to believe what he'd said about human-robot relations, if only because she didn't want to. She always made it her goal to come off as perfectly friendly and non-threatening. Her weapons were reserved for Shadows only, so there was no reason to think she'd hurt anyone! She was made to protect people, after all. And she treated everyone with utmost respect, so why wouldn't they give her the same respect in return?

Her eyebrows knotted as she thought more over the complexities of X's time. One of the hardest things to comprehend was a robot hurting someone, and she found herself somehow disliking the robots that even considered violence as an answer. "With the exception of a few, the humans I have met are kind. Why would any robot want to harm them?"

[kickasspacifist]

"I don't understand it myself," X said quietly. "If I did, maybe I'd be among them. But I've never liked violence of any kind, even when I've had to resort to it to protect others."

It wasn't quite the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie, either. X did understand the reasoning that brought the Mavericks to the point of attacking humans -- he'd been around longer than any of them, after all. He'd had more than ample opportunity to see the prejudice, the flat out racism, the refusal of many humans to consider reploids as equals.

But he'd also been around to see the way humans had once lived -- not a utopian society by any means, but relatively peaceful. He'd seen the anxiety, the fear of the unknown...and he'd seen how justified some of them felt when the unknown chose to lash out at them.

It was a vicious circle, and one he feared might never be broken, even as he dedicated his life to fighting against it.