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Whoa...the post settings from the admin accounts are really different than the normal accounts.

I'm sure you're expecting Jo or Maury or one of the others but those are all people who are way smarter and way more qualified than me, and those people are working overtime to trace down a signal we keep picking up on. Not sure what it means yet, but I'm hoping for the best. We thought we were able to isolate the problem when the other regions appeared on the current layer but it's something deeper.

But hey, isn't that what we're all trying to do here? Hope for the best.

Call me curious, but what's your favorite color? I've been teaching myself color theory lately. Bonus points if you say "why", too.

Zee Carlisle
Hiring Manager
Retr

spec Incorporated

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Oh, you're a fucking lifesaver.

[it reminds her that she's got a bottle of whiskey in her apartment if the beer doesn't do enough for her, but for now, it should be okay; she takes it and leads the way. there's a spot off to the side of the entrance, mostly surrounded by tall enough shrubs to hide people if they sit down, and she's taken to chilling on the curb there when she's out here like this, in this kind of mood.]

Is the speed new? I feel like that's new.

Yes. As of...this morning?

[She follows, gripping a bottle of her own, nonchalant as can be. And perhaps more strikingly, not out of breath.]

I woke up and went out for a jog and just started really tearing up the sidewalk. I haven't tried using it with the ring, but yeah, this is pretty extreme.

Yeah, I'll say.

[it's a good thing she's had so many good, long conversations with Kara, or she might be jealous that her friend is getting so many cool powers. and that, for once, isn't sarcastic.]

So. You good and braced? Because this is... god, kind of a lot. I have a lot of things to catch you up on.

I am braced.

[She has a lot to say too...but this seems more important, her own things are mostly positive. Mostly.]

Hit me.

[Anna exhales, holding her beer and closing her eyes to try to bring everything together into one smooth, seamless thing. they open a couple seconds later.]

The person I used to be has a name. A2. She fought robots, and some of them were giants called Goliaths. She fought one giant flying centipede thing and found some way to go berserk that "newer models" couldn't do, and I'm pretty sure that means she's a robot, too.

[all of that is pretty easy for her to swallow. mostly. the last thing is what she has difficulty swallowing.]

I found out her name from another person. [someone she'd seen in another memory, too.] Just before she stuck a katana through their stomach and murdered them.

[Kara listens quietly, taking that in...]

So you were a sentient robot that fought robots. One that worked with Operators, to stop monster robots.

[...and...]

And you killed someone? Or another robot?

Hard to tell. She bled. I don't think robots are supposed to bleed.

[but they're not supposed to be giant centipedes, either. she doesn't think there are a lot of robots doing what they're "supposed to" do in whatever world she's from. the other her.]

A2 didn't have a problem with it. Like she'd done it a thousand times before. But I don't... I'm not her. I've never done anything like that. I don't think I could.

Maybe sci-fi robots do. And maybe that person had earned what happened.

[Kara pauses...]

And I don't think you should either, just so you know. And you shouldn't have to.

I don't think she earned it.

[she appreciates the words, at least. killing someone isn't something she ever thought she'd be able to do in... any reality. dimension, universe, whatever. this is a lot to handle. she's just a dropout. she's not... that.]

She told A2 to take care of the future. And she looked like she was in a lot of pain. Like it was... a mercy kill, or something.

[that makes her even less comfortable with the idea. she tilts her head back and takes a drink, hoping it will help. it doesn't. not immediately.]

Mercy kill? Like, she was already dying?

[That puts a whole new spin on things for the doctor that experiments on rats...]

Maybe. She wouldn't let me see her face until the... light drained out of her eyes.

[christ, that's a morbid way of putting it. she's not super happy with herself for how dramatic she's being, but, well, she can't really stop now.]

And she just let me do it. [no.] Her. A2. This other girl didn't fight at all.

Okay. Well as someone that has mercy killed before...and as a medical professional? Sometimes it's better. Trust me, I'm on Kevorkian's side.

[That Doctor in front of her name isn't just for show.]

I've done it to rats and apes, but I'd do it to someone who was suffering, too. There's no shame in it.

[she's not sure how to feel about that. it makes sense, but it's not a decision she would ever feel comfortable making... but that's why Kara is the doctor. and she's just. who she is. it takes her a second to collect her words.]

Was it as easy for you the first time you did it as you're making it sound now?

[it's a sincere question, and if she's hurt by the implication that it should be easy (even though the implication isn't really there and she's just hearing what she wants), it's only directed towards herself.]

No. No, it wasn't. I don't like it, and I don't like that I've done it. But I did it because I had to.

[Because the alternative was more fucked up.]

It should never be easy, and nobody should ever be in that position, y'know? But you and I both no that isn't how life works.

Edited 2018-05-05 06:27 (UTC)

[Anna sits there and takes a slow drink while she tries to take all that in. it's a comfort, albeit a small one, knowing that Kara's dealt with exactly these things before. it's one of the reasons she felt most comfortable coming to her with this kind of thing.]

It's not. Nothing is ever that simple. [she sighs and slumps forward, the neck of her bottle held between two fingers.] I just got... so many memories last month. I still don't know if the mercy kill or her being a robot is fucking with me more. I mean, I called someone Operator and I wasn't joking.

Honestly? I don't think A2 being a robot is anything to get worked up about, either.

[Kara rolls her own bottle between her fingers, tapping a fingernail gingerly along the glass. An exercise in control for her, now.]

You're a robot, I'm an alien. Doesn't change who we are inside.

Yeah. I know.

[Anna doesn't sound mad to hear that, no matter how short her sentences are. she doesn't know how she managed to tell Clover that and apparently get believed when it rings so strange with her now. maybe Clover doesn't have 18 years of this shit weighing on her mind, too.]

You know how I am about being controlled, though. That's all robots are. Things that get stuff programmed into them that they have no choice but to obey. [this is about to get dark, she thinks.] I don't want to lose my free will after I spent so much time winning it back. You know?

I get it, but I have more science to lay out.

[Kara waves that off, thumb popping the cap off her beer and flicking it high into the sky.]

Robots aren't controlled. Robots are a complex set of programs, but at the core they are machines. You've described actual emotions. That means A2 is sentient. Sentience means thought, and therefore free will. And from what you've told me, Operators are there to help people anyway. So, either A2 goes along willingly, or you're missing a puzzle piece.

[god. Kara just has so much stuff going on, doesn't she. she's smart, she's pretty, she has every single good superpower known to man... it's a really good thing that Anna already made friends with her and is in absolutely no mood to feel bitter towards her. it's not right.]

[she looks ahead while Kara talks, then turns her head to the side slightly to reply to her.]

Maybe I am missing something, but... I really want to believe you on this. You know a lot of stuff that I just. Don't, you know? I trust you. [she gives a halfhearted smile at that.] You didn't get this far from not knowing what you're talking about.

[Anna has just literally come into contact with both of her fields of study. Biomechanics is a rather niche bit of interdisciplinary work, after all. And it makes her feel a little self-conscious, knowing that she's almost lecturing Anna. Almost.]

Well, we're all definitely missing something. [A few screws at least.] but I'm glad? I just want to help, and I think this stuff all tracks. Based on what information I have, those are the conclusions I've come to, at any rate.

[She gently elbows her friend.]

We'll figure it out, as memory returns if nothing else. Been a hell of a month.

Sure as hell has.

[she appreciates Kara's expertise a lot, and the fact that she's able to talk about this so confidently when everything else is a mystery. it's doing a lot to help, though she hasn't quite realized how much yet and it probably won't hit her for a while. after she's had time to process it all.]

Anyway, that's what I've been up to, I guess. Big spike in bad brain shit. You get anything interesting after I made you remember her friend? You got confirmation on the whole alien thing, I guess.

Yeah, I guess.

[Definitely got that confirmation.]

Other me blew up at that guy in my memories. The superhero. Just went off on him about how there's no way he can understand her situation. Truth be told, I believe her. It sounds like she lost everything. I think her home planet blew up, or something.

[Her foot traces a lazy S in the dirt beneath their feet and she stamps a foot next to it. It's a stylized S, almost not one...]

And I remember this. The Crest of the House of El. Her...I guess family colors? It means Hope, and Of the Sun in her language.

[Anna's quiet while her friend talks. kind of makes turning into a robot seem a little... lacking in comparison, if that's what happened to Kara. that's a lot of shit to go through, and she's not gonna try to talk must about it because she also can't understand that situation.]

Damn. At least the crest is good. [or at least the outline looks that way.] If that's the kind of stuff she embodied, then, like, yeah. That sounds like you.

[giving people hope, shining it down on them like the sun... there's a lot of metaphor she could let herself get lost in, but she's not going to right now.]

Don't blame her for losing her shit at that other guy, either. How the hell is anyone supposed to relate to that? [how many planets just blow up?] Worst thing in the world is when someone who thinks they know everything thinks they can tell you how to react to something.

Hah.

[Kara takes a long drink of her beer and swipes her foot across the S. It's just a pictogram to her, and while she'd like to learn more of the language purely from an academic perspective, there's no reason to give it too much weight. It's just linguistics.]

I don't know about being of the sun, but yeah. The worst thing is I'm pretty sure that dude and I are related. He's got the same crest on his chest. Sanctimonious dicks are bad enough. Sanctimonious dicks that are family? Even worse.

Preaching to the fuckin' choir on that one.

[but instead of being bitter, she's gonna try to think of something encouraging to say. it takes a second, and she fills time with a drink.]

I think there's something to that whole "of the sun" thing. You asked me what was wrong, then showed up with beer and offered to talk with me about it, just so I could get it off my chest and maybe not feel like I was handling all this alone. Think about it, Kar.

[she turns her head towards her friend and grins, and it's warmer than anything Anna's worn in a while.]