voidtreckerexpress | BACKDATED: Egret 17-20

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BACKDATED: Egret 17-20

Who: SXT-2 and open
What: SXT-2 is dealing with her issues with some good ol' delinquency.
Where: Stores cabin and Sleeper 5A
When: BACKDATED to just after mission 1, Egret 17-20
Warning: Possibly mild wound descriptions?

Stores L2
[Occasionally, about a few hours every day or so, there is a rattling and rustling on the second floor of the Stores carriage. SXT-2, with battered feathers poking out of her orange team sweater, has wedged herself in the highest corner possible and stays there making unhappy chirping noises. The issue is most obvious in the illogically organic parts that's taken root in her head and back- chunks of the plumage is gone and the gaps are shedding powdery debris. She's been dinged up from the previous mission, basically, and unlike other things she doesn't have a way to naturally repair damage.

She would also much rather have stayed in the system with its decent network and is a little unhappy about being herded back here, but that's secondary. Either way, SXT-2 is dealing with her issues with some good old delinquency- so she's holing up here, and carefully scratching out a part of the train wall for parts. Whatever upholstery or metal panels she loosens, she slides into the damaged parts of her feathers- seeming to act on some half-formed preening instinct.]

Sleeper 5A
[This exact same thing happens in Cabin 5A. In fact she usually moves to the stores after the others kick her out of 5A, presumably. It can’t be easy to relax with a monster-under-the-bed situation.... but over the bed. ]

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[Nita has made... some progress, recovering her energy from the mission. But her observation skills are not at her highest when she needs to poke around in Storage for some supplies.

Her intuition, however, is still going strongly. Once she senses there is something up there she freezes, before looking up slowly.]

... Hey. You need anything from up there?

That isn't there already, I mean.

[Maybe it would be a better idea to just leave this be.]

[While she can follow when someone’s talking right at her, distinguishing human words from the general background feedback- especially in a room full of humming machines on a moving train- is an humongous effort that SXT-2 doesn’t keep up with when she doesn’t think she needs to.

The sounds continue without pause. If Nita goes up the stairs, she’ll see that SXT-2 actually hasn’t noticed that someone’s around.]

[Nita's going to have to get closer, if the lack of further movement is anything to go by.

... Sometimes, she really regrets her own tendencies.]

Hello?

[She repeats, heading up to the second floor of the Stores carriage- and fights the urge to freeze.]

Uh, you need more metal? I think I can get you some that doesn't come directly from the train, if you want.

[The feeling is mutual? She puffs at the sense of someone else in the room, squinting into the dim light. Thankfully enough she seems to realise that there's no imminent danger. The sounds she makes are more bemused, like an animal sizing up the situation, if the animal sounded like microphone feedback.]

-͞-҉͝ ̀̕[҉̷͘̕͡ What? Oh- English, she's talking English. ]̴̴̨́ ̴̸͏̴̀-̶̡͏-͏̛

-͞-҉͝ ̀̕[҉̷͘̕͡ Need to start thinking in English. Irritating... ]̴̴̨́ ̴̸͏̴̀-̶̡͏-͏̛

[Note that the above is not a specific translation- the sounds are more like animal vocalisations than a proper language, so there's only so much the Speech can understand. SXT-2 spends another moment, more or less frozen in place and letting her brain boot up, before getting off the washing machine and into Human Interaction mode.

Well, she tries. It’s not a graceful landing.]

Okay. Sorry for the delay, how can I help you? [...] What did you say earlier?

Edited 2020-04-27 09:16 (UTC)

[Oh, the irony. And here Nita'd gotten used to dealing with SXT-2 in 'robot' mode as it were.

She can't understand all of what the 'droid starts out saying, but she gets the gist and makes a sympathetic expression.

She lets SXT-2 talk next.]

I was asking if you wanted other ways to gather metal-

[She gestures with a hand at the torn part of the wall.]

Since I'm not sure if that will get replenished come platform day.

[For a good few seconds SXT-2 just stares. This isn’t a topic that’s come up in conversation.... ever, and so she has no reference as to how to reply. So she stares, and chirrups in a way Nita might understand to be confusion.]

You would like a- “gather metal”? I didn’t catch the second part, sorry.

[Nita shakes her head.]

I was just asking if I could do something for you, that's all.

[Not even as a favor, so it's DOUBLY confusing!]

Since you definitely look like you need something. Or needed it, anyway.

-͞-҉͝ ̀̕[҉̷͘̕͡ there’s damage, I’m not sure how to fix it- ]̴̴̨́ ̴̸͏̴̀-̶̡͏-͏̛ -but you’re not a technician, I know you’re just “joking”. I no longer fall for that sort of thing! -͞-҉͝ ̀̕[҉̷͘̕͡ krr krr, caw caw ]̴̴̨́ ̴̸͏̴̀-̶̡͏-͏̛

I'm not going to say I'm a technician.

[That comes first. Honesty comes first.]

But is there anyone on the train you think could qualify? You shouldn't have to be stuck with, well, scraps!

[Nita shakes her head.]

Not if there's a better option.

[If there's any indignance in Nita's voice, SXT-2 seems to have missed it- she replies perfectly chipperly, if a little irritated, as if talking about poor weather.]

There are no licensed technicians on this train. Licensing doesn't even appear to be a thing here.

[Oh. Well, then.]

And you're... not allowed to have anyone look at you, without that license, right?

[She just wants to be sure on this one.]

Not sure how people would be implementing licensing procedures on a train, anyhow.

You’re getting itt̴͏̀t̵̨̀.[Somewhat approvingly.]

[A vague preening instinct seems to push through her robot-ing at this point, and SXT-2 begins to paw at her feathered body parts as she continues. While her synthetic hands are probably marred with dings and scratches as well, she only really has a sense to tend to her semi-organic parts- adjusting vaguely the feathers and the shards of material that she’s stuck in there like some sort of splint or scaffold.]

To clarify, are you using “allowed” as a loaded word? I’m not entirely clear on the inflection. Essentially, humans who are not marked as technicians are not marked as technicians.

Edited 2020-05-06 14:40 (UTC)

[The preening is... oddly cute?

Nita's not going to say that, though.]

Not intentionally, anyway.

So, without that option, you''d prefer being left alone here for now?

[It's not quite fully inflected as a question.]

[See, this is why English is such a problem! Are you asking a question or not? Do you need her response or not?]

.... is that a question? Yes, I agree with that statement. Most people state otherwise.

[Nita snorts.]

That's their problem.

[But, while she's not entirely content with not being able to help, she'll leave SXT-2 alone if that's the best option here.]

Good luck, ah, restructuring?, then. Or-

[Nita nods back up at the area with broken metal.]

Whatever that was.

.... could you repeat that? There's a problem- this is a question?

[Nita shakes her head.]

Just fumbling over phrasing. 'Good luck' wouldn't mean all that much to you by itself, I'm pretty sure.

‘Good luck’ is used when one or more people are working on a task or tasks. I'm a little smarter than average~

[Nita just gives SXT-2 a wry look... but she nods, all the same.]

See you around, then.

[ Alice normally already has trouble sleeping. And when sleep does come, it's way too often in the shape of a nightmare.

But still, it's not very appreciated to have a monster-over-the-bed situation here. And while Alice doesn't really think of SXT-2 as a monster - she's seen way too many odd beings for that, they're just normal to her now - she still doesn't really know how to feel about the other. Something about her makes Alice so wary. So after lying there and trying really hard to sleep for a while even with the sound of the constant scratching against metal above her head, Alice just.. gives up on trying to sleep.

She stands up, looking very much not pleased. Even as she's holding a plush rabbit under her arm. ]

What are you doing. [ It almost doesn't even sound like a question anymore with how annoyed she sounds.. ]

[The sounds continue for a moment, bemused clicks and chirps, before a figure leans out from the top bunk and the dim blue light of her processors comes on behind the feathers on her head.]

What̀̀͞?̷͏̀

I don't-ḱŗ͘r̷̢k̶͟͞r͜͢r̴̡ ̨͡͞I̸̸͢ ̴̨d̨͜o̵ń'̛t̶͢͠- understand your question.

[ She opens her mouth, looking like she's about to say something, but seems to think better of what she was about to say and instead just sighs.

Right. Most people here act in such a normal way that it takes a moment to shift mental gears enough back to Wonderland style interactions. ]

You're acting strange.

[ ... ]

Stranger than usually, anyway. [ The usual strange is only slightly strange by Alice standards, after all. But this difference is noticable even to her. ] And - perhaps more importantly - people are trying to sleep here.

[You know, the Wonderland mindset actually seems to work. SXT-2 does nothing for a moment, but the words finally sink in.]

So I am “acting strange”. Oka͜y̧.͢ ̡

[She lets out a slight grating sound, in a burst like a cough or a hiccough.]

Question- what should I do when people are trying to sleep? I’ve never been around sleeping people. I don’t have a protocol for when they do that.

Be quiet. Or at the very least not this loud.

[ SXT-2 seems strangely forward all of a sudden. But that might actually be a good thing? Alice can work with this. Although she can't imagine why someone would.. make(?) something like SXT-2 and then not teach her what to do when people are sleeping. That's just common courtesy! ]

Humans can't sleep when there are loud sounds nearby. Some can't even tolerate soft ones.

Edited 2020-04-26 19:51 (UTC)

[She’s a bit of a poster-child for inventor irresponsibility and how much that sucks. For everyone that has to deal with her, particularly. SXT-2 models and re-models the problem in her processor, she really tries, but there are quite a few steps between “there are loud sounds in this room” and “there are much less loud sounds in this room” and computers are kind of stupid. She doesn’t know what parts of her make sound. Why would she, that’s the manufacturer’s problem. ]

I’m not sure what you want me to do, exactly. I haven’t used my voicebox in the last 2 hours, that’s the only thing on me with a volume control.

[ Any normal person would probably first ask whether SXT-2 is not aware that there are other things that makes sound - or the sound of which you can control - other than just talking.

Alice knows asking rational questions like that is a waste of time if SXT-2 is as much as the Wonderland residents as she has seemed so far, and thus quickly skips over it in favour of keeping this practical. ]

If you can't sleep, the least you can do is just sit there quietly. [ It's.. not the nicest or most polite thing to ask from someone, but it's late. And Alice's manners are generally not great. ] Or go do whatever it is you are doing somewhere else-- What are you doing, anyway?

[ Curiosity can't help but always peek a way through when it comes to Alice, no matter how slight.. ]

For your information, I am-

[She sounds like it’s obvious when she starts, but she can’t find the words for it and ends up staring into the darkness.]

I- I’m not sure.

[....]

But I can go somewhere else.

[ Honestly, she ought to just tell SXT-2 to go somewhere else then and maybe go back at it in the morning when the rest of them have left the room anyway.

But no matter how uncaring she tries to look, it's always just a little too hard for Alice to surpress the part of her that so desperately tries to help everyone around her. So instead she asks: ]

How aren't you sure of what you're doing?

[It’s amusing, how that question proves the human’s fundamental misunderstanding of how she works- and also the human assumption that things are always experienced the way they experience it. From her perspective, this has been a normal for a while.]

How? I’m never sure what I’m doing. [SXT-2 replies, then begins her exceptionally ungraceful climb down from the top bunk. It’s like, no-hand-eye-coordination levels of bad.]

Every day I have to figure out what you humans are doing and guess what I should do about it. Humans have too much variation-

[The end cuts off into a thud as she falls the last stretch onto the ground and pieces of debris comes off her wings. It’s like damaging brittle plaster.]

[ Halfway through what SXT-2 is saying, Alice is already taking a step backwards when she sees the sheer way the other is attempting to climb down to the ground. She can already feel how this is going to end.

Only a split second later she's proven right. Yikes. ]

Well, no offense, but you do seem fairly unhinged. [ IS THAT SOMETHING TO SAY WHEN POOR SXT-2 IS ALREADY ON THE FLOOR, ALICE. IS IT. ] Moreso than usually, I mean. As if something has changed.

[It’s fine. You can insult her to her face; she doesn’t seem to care, particularly.

The fucked-up android -͞-҉͝ ̀̕[҉̷͘̕͡ wails ]̴̴̨́ ̴̸͏̴̀-̶̡͏-͏̛ on the ground for a moment, reacting instinctively to the impact- well, specifically, to the damage done to her feathery organic parts. If she’s sprained an ankle or something we may never know. But eventually, she stops what she’s doing and looks up at Alice. ]

.̢̀.͜.̴̀͞.̛͜.̶̡.́͠.͞.̡͝.͡.̵͢͞.҉..̵̡.̛… “un-hinged”? I assume that’s a figure of speech. I have hinges.

[.........]

I am- not as well-functioning as I was when I was previously working.

Unhinged is.. [ She sighs, which easily could be taken as exasperation at having to explain the simplest of concepts - which, partially it is - but it's also just since Alice is aware of the irony of her in particular explaining this. ] It means about the same thing as "deranged". I suppose "not as well-functioning" gets close enough.

[ If that's the terminology SXT-2 understands.

For a moment she stares at the sad pile on the floor, and then most likely Alice starts to feel a little too cruel by just staring and offers a hand, hoping SXT-2 actually understands what to do with it. ]

At least stand up while you explain.

Synonyms, synonyms.

[SXT-2 looks up from the ground and stares at the outstretched hand. And she reaches her own hand out . . . and releases whatever she was holding into Alice’s palm, which is mostly a handful of debris. Then she works on standing up on her own, which she at least seems to know how to do. She doesn't get the point of it either.]

Yes... I'm not well-functioning. I don't know what the issue is.

[Yes, she really hasn't noticed the feathered growths sticking out of her face, listen, she wasn't programmed to look out for that sort of thing.]

[ Alice just looks so done for a moment when that debris is dropped into her hand. It looks like something straight out of the weirdest sitcom imaginable. Of course this would happen. What else did she expect. She stares at the piece for just a moment before clenching her hand around it so tightly that it almost looks like she's trying to get hurt and turning her gaze back to the other. ]

Is there no one here on this train who knows more about how you function?

[ Like the person who made SXT-2. If she was made at all? Alice honestly has no idea about her origins, and she couldn't even guess. But surely there has to be at least someone around who'd be marginally more competent in this situation than an unstable girl from the Victorian era. ]

[This is confusing. Alice’s face looks [ unhappy ], but her hands are accepting what SXT-2 assumed was a ‘give it to me’ request. SXT-2 is just going to wait for Alice to say what the problem is, if there is one.]

The people on this train are from places I have no idea about. None of them have any recognizable qualifications, or the passenger roster doesn’t show that information.

In other words, you were dragged to this place without anyone who knows how to fix you.

[ Doesn't that just make them two peas in a pod right there. Although Alice is pretty sure that there isn't anyone around even back home who would know how to fix her at this point. That, and she's trying to keep the weirdness to a minimum. She really is. ]

I don't know a thing about how you function, so I couldn't even begin to tell what's off. But I do know that sitting up there like that doesn't seem normal for you. And that it shouldn't continue.

It's usually like that.

[It seems to be having an effect? Or maybe Alice has just repeated her question enough times, and SXT-2 is finally understanding the issue.]

... I don't know what the problem is, decisions just appear without prior context. I can stop? But i̢t̕ starts again after some tim̨e̷̶͡..

[ Give her a moment to try and parse this back to normal human understanding. Or something close to it, anyway. ]

So you're saying things are happening outside of your control. [ That much was clear already, at least, considering SXT-2's earlier confusion.. But it seems that now they're both aware of it. ] Do you think it's the train influencing you in any way?

[ Because that could get really dangerous really quick. ]

No, no. This has been happening before I was brought here. As of today…. 695 days ago.

[She interrupts herself with a series of bird noises.... it sounds positive, maybe.]

Is “the train influencing you” a problem? Has the train influenced you?

I don't want to talk about that.

[ While bluntness is pretty normal for Alice, it's not as normal that she's this direct about a personal matter. After all, it's easy to interpret her saying that as her being bothered by it, which is not something she'd just want to give away to anyone. But she's figured that being direct with SXT-2 is often better than the alternative, and if there's anything Alice would like to never discuss, it's her feelings about the train. Or about things influencing her.

She shakes her head to completely dismiss it. ]

Did anything out of the ordinary occur 695 days ago? [ And more importantly, why would this train draw in a malfunctioning bird.. robot.. person.. Whatever SXT-2 is! ]

Okay.

[SXT-2’s response is chipper- she is indeed gratified someone’s telling her shit directly. She’s curious if this applies for right now or for forever, but Alice has moved on to ask her for more details, and this-

It gives her pause. It’s always given her pause. The uncertainty may be palpable in her response.]

...yes. I was shut down for an unusually long time: 19 days. My automatic restart activated after that. Afterwards, the humans I was working with- I haven’t been able to find them. :̨͜(̵͡҉ ̢̕͡:̵̧(̨͘ ̨:̵̸(̸̸͘ ̀͜:̧̡(̢͠

[ Oh. Now that is mighty suspicious. There's no way an event like that and SXT-2's odd, odd behaviour couldn't be connected in some way. And with SXT-2 being a bit more agreeable as long as Alice is direct, she doesn't really mind digging into this mystery some.

Especially if it might render her more able to sleep again at night rather than have to endure these strange noises.. ]

Was anything about your surroundings different from before after your restart? Other than the fact that you couldn't find those humans?

It was- k̷͘r͟r̕͠͠ ̶̡k͘͢r̵r ҉yz̵͡yz̡͡y͝x̶̀c̷q̛͢k̷r̷̷̴r̨. I- h̵͟h̸̕h̵͝h͢hh͢͏h̶h͝h̡͘h̶͢h̴̢h͠

[She looks down for a moment. The words aren't coming- well, they're not there at all, she doesn't have the vocabulary to say these things- and she's irritated about it.]

-many things were different. I'm not sure how. I wasn't built to sense those things. But there were no humans. Before I came to the train, I hadn't seen any humans in 259 days.

Something is wrong with you.

[ Although she doesn't really know the full extent of it. Honestly, Alice doesn't have the faintest idea how much machinery works, let alone something that seems as odd as SXT-2. But something has to be off. Especially considering those strange circumstances. ]

Perhaps someone or something messed with you while you were shut down. Maybe the same thing as what caused all those humans to disappear. [ Whatever that could be. There's too many possibilities.

And honestly, maybe Alice shouldn't be thinking about this so deeply. It's technically none of her business, other than this ruining some peace and quiet. But it's the hero complex within her playing up, causing her to try and help (even if just by thinking along) before she consciously realises it. ]

Something is wrong with me, [she repeats, seriously. SXT-2 kind of gets the meaning of this. She’s not upset, but it's quite possible for someone to assume she is- because she is unhappy about this, in a detached philosophical way. When a math formula doesn’t balance out even the numbers are unhappy about it.]

Whatever the problem is, I don’t know how to fix it. For now I can just go somewhere else as you said.

That does seem to be the best temporary solution.

[ So Alice can.. you know. Maybe actually sleep for once. It's still up in the air, considering she has a hard time sleeping even under the ideal circumstances..

There's a slight pause, some hesitation, but then she adds: ]

You should really look into whether there is someone present on the train who does know how to fix it. Or who could get it figured out. [ Of course that comes much too close to openly caring, so Alice quickly covers it up with: ] So no one will have to deal with the train falling apart thanks to you clawing at it.

[ Yes, clearly that's the only reason. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

BACKDATED: Egret 17-20

Setting this the 18th of Egret, morning

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we can end here if you'd like

That works! Thank you for the thread.

in 5A!

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