(Untitled)

[veryscaryrobot]

The bar is bristling with boxes, scraps of wrapping paper, and more deliberate decorations. Cameron does a remarkable job of projecting confusion without actually moving her face in any way.

She's an advanced model.

Comments

[forced_pilgrim]

She's got a monkey on her head.

[veryscaryrobot]

After a moment's processing: "Hello."

Courtesy is important. Even to physics-defying monkeys.

[forced_pilgrim]

Monkey does not defy physics. The authoritarian relationship is inaccurate.

Sometimes, Monkey bothers to condescend to physics, but not always.

"Hello." Monkey settles in comfortably, working his various opposable thumbs carefully into her hair. He'd be hard to remove. (The hair might be easier to remove.)

[veryscaryrobot]

"Please be careful," says Cameron, as though to confirm Monkey's narration. "Hair is very difficult."

Terminators would be in trouble if monkeys were the technologically dominant species on their Earth.

[seewhatyoumean]

Being an advanced model is enough to make the girl in the rafters wave vigorously in greeting.

But she freezes mid-motion because Cameron is one of those rare people (if that's the right term) who can actually stand still. Cass is sure she would have remembered meeting such a person before.

[veryscaryrobot]

Cameron looks up.

That's all she does.

[seewhatyoumean]

The girl in the rafters is still, staring back. It's not the same stillness Cameron manages. But it's very, very still for a human.

Very watchful.

[veryscaryrobot]

Eventually ...

Cameron blinks.

"Hello."

[protecthefuture]

It's odd and strangly... well, she's not used to Christmas much anymore. Before Cameron there had been presents here and there provided for John. But that was it. After all, they'd been on the road so long that nothing normal came of it. Of anything.

"Cameron."

Single one word greeting.

[veryscaryrobot]

Cameron's head tips slightly to one side. "Sarah."

"Does the universe end on December 25th?"

[protecthefuture]

"No, the universe isn't going to end. It's Christmas. A human holiday."

[veryscaryrobot]

There's a brief pause.

"But this is the end of the universe," says Cameron.