Comments | ultron_junior: Room 401, Monday Midday

ultron_junior

Room 401, Monday Midday

Oct 22, 2012 09:20

Seven-year-old Victor hadn't been able to figure out how to get music onto an iPod from a computer that didn't have iTunes, but teenage Victor faced no such problems. He borrowed Alec's iPod again and spent the morning putting songs on it -- a mix of classical, electronica, world music and rap that represented the best of his collection plus a few ( Read more... )

being a kid, 401, computer stuff, olive penderghast, alec lightwood, topher brink

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dirtiest_skank October 22 2012, 16:24:52 UTC

"You grew up," Olive noted -- seventeen year-old Olive, it should be noted -- from where she was peeking in the doorway.

dirtiest_skank October 22 2012, 22:59:22 UTC

Olive threaded her fingers through his, giving his hand a squeeze. "Okay, but do you really want to hear the weird questions I come up with? This is me. Remember how my brain works and think carefully about this."

She was only half-joking.

ultron_junior October 22 2012, 23:37:41 UTC

"Um." Victor's hesitation was also only half a joke. "Given your brain is a huge part of the reason I like you, yes? I think? It only seems fair..."

dirtiest_skank October 22 2012, 23:42:44 UTC

"How do you tell the fake memories from the real ones?" Olive was bursting with questions, but that seemed the most pertinent one, at the moment. It didn't seem fair to hit him with like, forty at once.

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 00:53:11 UTC

"Real ones are brighter," Victor said, thoughtfully, leaning back on a palm. "The fake ones are ... probably stuff that happened to real people that got averaged into some database or something, but they don't have as much weird, specific shit in them as the ones from the last couple years. But, I dunno if I'd be able to tell the difference if I hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about it."

"Besides, I know when I was made down to a couple months, so I can assume anything from much before I'm 13 is definitely a fake-out. It's just about six months where things get tricky."

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 00:58:35 UTC

Olive nodded, considering that. It made it easier, hearing him think aloud about it that way -- sort of reassured the part of her that wondered if she was dating a really cute machine. There didn't seem to be much that was artificial about artificial intelligence, when it was Victor.

She wasn't, like, over it, but this was helping.

"When did you figure out you what you are, or have you always known?"

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 01:05:29 UTC

Olive might feel differently if she ever saw him get zapped into speaking in binary, but hopefully that wouldn't happen in his bedroom.

"I didn't always know," Victor said softly. "The whole thing is an incredibly depressing story. Sure you want to hear it?"

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 01:17:38 UTC

Olive wasn't good at comfort, or hugging, or cuddling, or even dealing with...upset people at all. But that same instinct that had driven her to help out Brandon was telling her what to do here, and she scooted a little closer, drawing Victor's hand into her lap to hold with both of hers. "If you want to tell it, I'll listen, yeah."

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 01:33:06 UTC

Victor curled into Olive instinctively. He let out a slow sigh of a breath, then: "So this spaceship-looking thing crashed into my school's football field, and a bunch of people I'd never seen got out, announced they needed me, and pretty much kidnapped me. And that's what made my powers wake up."

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 01:36:54 UTC

Olive stared at him for a moment, before quietly asking, "What in the hell were you doing letting me freak out about lingerie last week when you have this?" It was mostly rhetorical, though. "Holy shit, Victor. That must've been terrifying."

She would have fled in the other direction and...lived in the woods, or something. She had no idea.

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 01:53:31 UTC

Victor shook his head. "I was more pissed off than scared," he explained. "I mean, they're kids and none of them look all that dangerous. Plus all of a sudden I had superpowers, and that's distracting."

Understatement.

"So they get me onto the ship, and their whole thing is I'm supposed to be a threat. A supervillain. Which is insane to me, you know me, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't even get detention. I had an 8:30 curfew. I'm boring. Also they're telling me my dad was evil, and my whole life my mom had told me he was a Marine who died in action. So -- obviously it's some huge mix-up, right? That was all I could think."

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 01:57:49 UTC

"You're a supervillain," Olive repeated, a little incredulous. "Um, yeah, not seeing it. No offense. You're definitely one of the biggest badasses I know, but...no." She frowned, biting her lower lip. "But...did they know something you didn't, or something?"

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 02:09:15 UTC

"Got it in one," Victor nodded, and it was only how serious the story was that kept him from looking chuffed to be called a badass. "They'd gotten ... let's call it a prediction, because the whole story is way too long ... that I was going to grow up and kill every hero on the planet, including at least one of the people in the group."

His fingers tightened on hers. "It turned out it wasn't just crazy talk."

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 02:17:16 UTC

Olive was quiet for a long moment, then offered, "...not because you wanted to, right?" She was new to the whole robot thing, but she'd seen enough movies to try -- "Programming thing, not a free will thing?"

ultron_junior October 23 2012, 02:30:04 UTC

"Whole reason I'm here," Victor said, and took a long moment before he continued. He knew what he was about to say might blow things entirely; the truth still felt important to share. "Ultron wanted to make a sleeper agent. The idea was I'd get a couple of years as a regular guy, then go to New York, get my powers, be recruited by the Avengers because (you'll love this) they need 'diversity', and ... do the whole supervillain thing."

He waved a hand vaguely, assuming she could fill in the details. He didn't want to.

"Anyhow, so while they were trying to convince me this wasn't the world's worst practical joke, my mom was calling my dad. So he came out and kidnapped her, because ... it was Manchas get kidnapped day in Los Angeles, I guess."

Bad joke. Right. He rushed to the end of the story. "Anyhow, skipping ahead, after he killed her -- after I really processed he'd done that and she wasn't, like, asleep -- I could break the programming so I wouldn't have to do ... any of that. I don't know why. Call it grace of god. Or else her ( ... )

dirtiest_skank October 23 2012, 02:44:58 UTC

Olive had absolutely no idea how to react to any of this. It was so beyond the scope of her understanding or anything she could relate to, but...she found herself wishing she knew a way to actually make it better. It was a hundred times worse than Marianne crying about her boyfriend's parents getting divorced, or Brandon begging for release from his tormentors, except she actually really cared about this -- about him -- and couldn't just...awkwardly pat Victor's back and bounce. And really, she didn't even want to -- Olive found herself mentally scrabbling around for the correct response, the right thing to say to....this. Or any response, really, other than just shrieking in sheer horror and asking him how the hell he was still sane ( ... )

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