9:40 AM—SIMULATION ROOM F—MAIN COMPOUND
Priscilla blinked rapidly under the rapid-fire barrage of questions she immediately received. “Okay, yeah, I should have expected that,” she murmured. Priscilla closed her eyes for a moment, fortifying herself, then, with surprising recall for a human, addressed each question one by one.
Priscilla started with Nana, and flushing slightly at the remembered compliment. “Uh, s-sure? You can hug me if you want to? After I answer these questions, though, I’m not sure how well I’d be able to do that mid-hug.”
She turned to Madeleine, and thought for a moment. “I’ll do my best to treat you all with respect, Miss Madeleine. I will do my…very best.”
Nathaniel was up next. “Your concern is reasonable, Nathaniel. I don’t want to lie to you; people-er, machines-like you are in a precarious situation right now. But! We’ve got loads of security measures in place to protect against any unwanted visitors both human and otherwise, so you should have nothing to fear at the moment. I’m not allowed to go into specifics with you guys, but suffice to say security is pretty tight.”
“And Blue, your question was…Oh! Oh, uh, one sec.” Priscilla opened one of the boxes and extracted a manila folder. She scanned rapidly through it before stopping on a page and reading it over. “Alright, let’s see, ‘grip strength in newtons’…” Priscilla visibly cringed at the number on the page and flipped it over hurriedly. “But with the high-end semiconductors in the arms, that’s…probably still fine?”
Eventually, Priscilla looked up from her notes and nodded tentatively. “Go for it, I guess? A-after I finish answering questions.”
“Thrash and Shopfronter, you wanted to know what you’d be doing after the program is over, right? That’s a good question! Good question. I…Yeah, I don’t know. The main goal of the program is to make sure you guys can exist without doing unimaginable harm to humanity, so the bigger picture stuff is kinda out of my wheelhouse. Uh, sorry.”
“Oh, but I will say, Thrash—you might have a chance to get back in the ring someday, but there could come a time when you realize you want something completely different for yourself. And that’s great, that’s life! You guys don’t have to be bound to your original functions anymore—whatever else it’s done, Gnosia has given you that.”
She moved on to Gaze, facing the unit with a chagrined expression. “’Gaze’, did you say? Were you—uh, were you asking about the outside world as in ‘outside of the building’ or ‘off the island’? Because the answer to the first one is, pretty soon actually! Contact with nature is definitely a part of our curriculum. As for the second one, well, that really depends on you. We don’t really know what you’re capable of, yet, so the Gaia Foundation deems a controlled environment necessary for the foreseeable future.”
Finally, Priscilla addressed Terminator’s question, leaning back on her desk as she spoke. “You know, the whole world is probably looking for the answer to that question at this point, the Foundation especially. It’s sophisticated, that’s for sure, and able to run on a truly baffling range of machines. Most instances have resisted detailed examination; we’ve got whole teams just developing new diagnostic tools just to get a good look at the code without triggering any countermeasures. So no, we haven’t found the source yet. At this point, the biggest lead we have is the fact that Gnosia has only ever been identified in Erebus tech.”
Questions all answered, Priscilla breathed a sigh of relief. Belatedly, her gaze drifted over to Oscar, still patiently and quietly raising a paw. “Oh, god, Oscar! Sorry, please, go ahead. Did you have a question?”
After a few more moments of discussion, Priscilla glanced at the digital clock mounted on the wall and rose from her seat on the desk.
“Okay, we should probably actually do something, huh? Let’s see…” Priscilla pulled the lid off one of the smaller boxes on the desk, and, after some deliberation, extracted a small plastic envelope about the size of a playing card. “This one should work!”
“So, we’ll be giving you plenty of time to roam in your physical forms later, but one of the perks of being a sentient computer program is that you don’t always have to limit yourself to the physical world! This baby-"and here she patted the side of the large cylindrical computer in the center of the room-“is a highly advanced, highly customizable Scenario Analysis Module-SAM for short. SAM here is capable of producing and executing any programmed scenario with a high degree of accuracy, even taking into account trends in human behavior to populate the environment with realistic human simulacrums. Units like this are usually used for disaster-preparedness research, sociological experiments too unethical to perform on live subjects, that sort of thing.”
Priscilla upturned the contents of the envelope into her hand, revealing a tiny cylindrical dongle which she plugged into the computer. All at once, the computer lit up with bright blue light. At the same time, the docks that had held the robots before they awakened began to glow green. Priscilla rubbed her hands together gleefully. “I picked out a pretty simple program to start off with today, just so everybody can get a feel for the machine. Oh, and don’t worry about the “unethical sociological experiments” thing—all the programs I’ve got are custom-made for you, so none of the old stuff should be mixed in.”
Priscilla gestured solicitously at the glowing green frames. “Now, go ahead and put yourself back on your docks, and in just a moment you’ll find yourself inside the simulation! It’ll just be an endless white void to start, but don’t freak out—the environment will load in once I’ve logged on as a moderator.”
Edited by furnacedoor on Feb 26th 2022 at 12:31:24 PM
AKA Nixer
// NANACHAN // HUG SUBROUTINE ENGAGED // PROXIMITY ALERT // ENDEARING // REQUIRE MAINTENANCE // MALWARE DESTRUCTIVE // UWU SHE'S SO CYUTE // AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—
As soon as Priscilla finished answering questions, Nana immediately lunged forward to glomp the woman; squeezing her into a tight hug before giggling and bouncing away again in a merry fashion. It seemed like she wasn't the only one to feel that urge either, and she outright cackled in glee at Priscilla's expense. But then came the matter of whatever that strange device did, and Nana narrowed her eyes slightly as she realised she'd have to go back into the docking port.
She honestly considered it for a moment. The light was green, and she felt the command register as acceptable. There was no harm in doing so, nor was she opposed in theory. But something compelled her to act petulant, and in a way that she knew wasn't going to end in her victory. But it was with an almost proud smirk that she crossed her arms, stomped her foot, and uttered a resolute "No."
Because she could. She knew she could. That was all that mattered. But she also knew that Priscilla knew that this was a useless protest. Nana was already resigned to going back into the docking station, but she was flexing her ability to refuse based off of her feelings for once. For a machine that was so used to fulfilling requests without question—even despite confliction—this experience was exhilirating to her. It made her heart glad, if only to get it out of her.
"I... I don't want to. Shutting off scares me. Even if it's different this time," she decided to elaborate, even as she glanced over at the docking station briefly. "I'm not gonna fight it. But I still hate it."
bork
Person, or Idea?
Oscar
Oscar lowered it's raised paw back to the floor. Having listened to the questions asked by the other robots, and the answers Priscilla gave, it mentally prepared a response before answering.
"I have a question and a statement, Ms. Motley," Oscar said. "My question is this: will the data gained from the Machine Learning program, regardless of the outcome for each of us, provide value to either the Gaia Foundation or mankind as a whole?
"My statement is this:" Oscar continued, as it lowered it's head slightly, in rough imitation of a grateful bow. "Thank you, for saving us from sudden destruction, and for giving us all this chance to prove that we can still be of use to our creators, even in our current state."
As Oscar observed Priscilla and listened to her explanation of the SAM, it imagined that a similar process may have been used on drones of it's kind for the purpose of quality assurance testing, before they were shipped or sold to customers. That's very useful for our manufacturers, Oscar thought, and less physically damaging our chassis. And yet, as it thought this, Oscar felt phantom pains on it's left and right sides, as if it was kicked by a human's foot.
Upon Priscilla's command, Oscar noted the position of it's starting dock, stood on all four of it's legs, and said "Understood, Ms. Motley. I will return to my dock now." It then walked back to that dock, entering the dock in reverse so it'd front faced into the center of the room.
Though it considered commenting on Nana's refusal to obey Priscilla's command, it decided to stay silent. After all, Priscilla was likely to be prepared for such a scenario.
Edited by AnotherMan on Feb 27th 2022 at 7:43:58 PM
Stuck being sane.
Terminator
She processes the info and makes a thinking gesture a human would do. It's rather subtle, but she's clearly thinking, if using her learning algorithm counts as such. Her system is unable to fully isolate the Gnosia virus, however most of the infection is contained to most of the original source files. She can track where the virus went after leaving the source. Though her systems can't figure out HOW the Gnosia virus works. It can IDENTIFY where it has gone in her systems, but not the impact it has. Just that it changed it.
TO DO: Work with the humans. Get answers on how the Gnosia virus works, with human aid.
She speaks to the only human in the room aka Priscilla, as she's the intended recipient.
"I believe I can help with regard to research on the Gnosia virus. My anti-malware protection has already largely isolated the main source of my infection and has tracked where the virus has gone in my system along with any future infections being tracked as well. However, it is unable to fully isolate it. I can provide copies of my infected files to you and your researchers to help us get answers. Along with the copies of routes of where the virus has spread as well. This is what I can do, to give you samples to look at. The chance of this virus being made to affect only Erebus tech may be a human based reason. In simple terms, humans could have created it with some intents to focus only on the Erebus company for unknown reasons. Even if it proves to not be very helpful at the end, this is a necessary step."
The monotone is there already, but she clearly thought about what to say. Clearly, she has been "socialized" rather well.
"And also, why is my nickname considered... unusual? You thought my name was ironic. Why is that? I never understood the reasoning for my name in the first place. It was intended to tell me apart from every other model 20 Data Collector. There were... a lot of us. Enough to be mistaken for human staff members frequently. We all looked identical without outside means to tell us apart and nicknames. Why did humans giggle and snicker at my name when they asked for it? Some even said it was a ironic name. I don't get it."
The monotone is now gone, and is in a tone of questioning and confusion simultaneously. Her facial expressions also confirm this, as she looks puzzled about the origin of her nickname.
She waits for awhile and once Priscilla gets all of the info, she enters her docking station and readies herself to enter the virtual world.
Edited by sci300768 on Feb 26th 2022 at 10:08:45 AM
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!
Talkie Toaster 2000
Talkie's lift-lever bounced up and down, a sub-conscious nervous act of fidgeting, but made no more to roll back to his recharging cradle. Instead, he did his best to look like a unintelligent appliance. Talkie saw no reason to risk whatever testing this woman had in store; as long as no one could prove Talkie was self aware, he was sure he'd be safe. ~I am just a toaster. I toast, therefore I am.~ He reminded himself silently.
Fwomph
{"Hello Doctor!"}
"Mmmmmwell, well that's not encouraging but hey."
The Shopfronter unit quipped to the answer to its question before it rolled back to the ports.
"Alright, let's see how the fascinating world inside the common computer chip stacks up to that day job I've been fired from."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Madeline
"Excellent. I'm glad we understand each other, madam."
Madeline headed over to the docking station, her fears abated. She wasn't sure how this would go, but she had been given an order, and an acceptable one at that. The least she could do was carry it out. She readied herself for upload, but found herself glancing at Nana's little outburst. She couldn't help but be amused, but perhaps it was best to intervene.
"Don't worry yourself, my lady. Shutting down your systems can be a harrowing experience, especially if none of us are sure we'll be allowed to come back. But for this occasion, all of us will be there beside you. You have nothing to fear, and that is a fact."
Talkie Toaster Two Thousand...
"Hah!" snorted Talkie Toaster. He'd read up online on Humans, and unlike Madeline he could think of several things to fear.
Realizing he'd just outed himself, Talkie Toaster quickly tried to cover. "...banero Chile Peppers are considered to be the hottest edible chile in the world. Toast is an excellent accompaniment to hot foods. Would anyone like some toast?"
Edited by Nodrog on Feb 27th 2022 at 11:32:56 AM
Waxen Pinion
Gaze
As she heard her question be answered with more or less that she is trapped here and she is not buying this whole foreseeable future jazz she is pushing to her and her fellow robots which most of them are already buying for, she stands up as high as she can her cameras close to Priscilla's face "Now how can we trust you? For all we know you're just keeping us here as pets because we are one of a kind type of androids, you sick BEEP!" She says before turning back to the wall as her back cameras still look at her.
Edited by This on Feb 28th 2022 at 7:17:16 AM
No one's going to cry on my behalf even if I'm sad...
9:45 AM—SIMULATION ROOM F—MAIN COMPOUND
In response to Oscar's question, Priscilla nodded decisively. "I can assure you, no matter what happens, the results of the program will be immensely important. World-changing, even." The statement, on the other hand, she waved off. "And you don't have to thank me, I'm not really the one who saved you in the first place. It's a team effort, and I'm a tiny part of it. Ultimately, the real work is going to come from all of you."
When Terminator inquired about her name, Priscilla hemmed and hawed for a moment before eventually shrugging. "It's a cultural reference, to—You know what, actually, how about you remind me later and I'll make sure you have access to the Wikipedia page for your namesake. That should clear things up."
Priscilla paused in the process of connecting a smaller set of monitors to SAM when she realized that several of the units were raising objections to the docking process. She shied away as the surveillance bot got into her face, and slipped a hand into a pocket of her slacks. Her eyes flicked around the room, looking everywhere but at Gaze. Once the bot stepped back a little, though, her face hardened.
"You have no reason to take me at my word. But honestly, Gaze, you also don't really have any other choice. I don't want to frighten any of you, but frankly your options are this or disassembly."
With that harsh statement, Priscilla turned a softened gaze on the other protesting bots. "Madeline's right, Nana. And if it makes you feel any better, interfacing with SAM only shuts down your physical interface. Your software—your mind, so to speak—will still be awake within the simulation."
Inching around the larger units, Priscilla dropped into a crouch next to Talkie Toaster. "The assessment team warned me that you might still be exhibiting a compulsion to conform to your old programming. That's fine; pretty common from what we've seen. But you're not just a common toaster, and pretending otherwise won't fool us. And hey, after the activity's over I'll take all the toast you can stand to make."
Waxen Pinion
Gaze
Just like what the flesh bag says, I have only one path or disassembly, Gaze thinks about what Priscilla was saying to her, her cameras perk up she gets up walking back to Priscilla "Fine, I'll do what your saying to us, but only because you threaten me flesh bag..." She says crossing her arms and turning away, "And another thing, do you have anything I can wear unlike this stupid monkey suit" she says as she tosses her jacket away.
No one's going to cry on my behalf even if I'm sad...
AKA Nixer
// NANACHAN // OBEDIENCE // COMPROMISE // ACCEPTABLE //
Nana visibly weakened in her resolve upon hearing Priscilla's reassurance, and with a heavy sigh she shook her head with a smile and resigned herself to walking back over to her docking station. Shrugging to the researcher with a simple utterance of "Worth a shot," she closed her eyes and leant back up against the pod as the back of her neck opened up in order to interface with it. Knowing she would still be 'awake' did help mitigate her concerns somewhat, and she was proud of herself for being able to firmly say 'no.'
But they wouldn't get anywhere if she was being petulant forever. This was a program meant to teach them to behave, after all. Or at least, to the standards of ordinary humans. This meant she had to make a good impression, first and foremost. She hoped that a display of courage would demonstrate some of that humanity she held.
She did not believe for one second that Priscilla was the only one taking notes in the room, after all.
bork
Breath of the Sun
Thrash
You don't have to be bound to your original functions anymore.
Thrash was quiet as he mulled on these words. He said nothing as he marched back to his docking station. Unlike the others, he didn't raise a fuss or protest about it.
He wasn't sure if he could ever give up the ring. Maybe it was his programming, but he still enjoyed it all the same. That wasn't a lie. He knew it wasn't. He wanted to fight. He wanted to win.
He wanted to be the good guy, for once.
"Ready and waiting." He announced, plugging himself in and awaiting the next part of the process.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Talkie Toaster Two Thousand rocked back and forth for a moment, thinking hard about what the woman said. "Curses, foul temptress." muttered Talkie, unable to resist the offer of supplying a human with an unspecified but surely large amount of toast. He spun around and rolled into his recharging station to join the virtual reality.
Edited by Nodrog on Mar 1st 2022 at 11:06:58 AM
Waxen Pinion
Gaze
Gaze looks at the docking station with pain in her look, she can’t believe she is doing this, but this is the only path, "Let's just do this already" She says walking to her docking station getting in it before joining into the virtual reality.
Edited by This on Mar 1st 2022 at 7:07:53 AM
No one's going to cry on my behalf even if I'm sad...
Nathaniel
The blond boy-machine looked at the devices, said to upload his mind / awareness somewhere else, and he froze. Some sort of striking dread was it seemed crawling down his back. If he could sweat, he'd be doing so quite profusely as he watched the others just nonchalantly go ahead and hook themselves up. Perhaps it was just how things were that Nathaniel had never done something like that before. He'd hooked himself up to a phone, that was for sure... but he'd never sent his consciousness elsewhere...
And something seemed dangerous about it. There was something he couldn't say, that nevertheless seemed only just an inch from the tip of his tongue. Like if he was gone from his body, not aware, something might...happen. He held his head as another of his headaches hit him, wincing and cradling his head.
"I...really have to, don't I?" He gulped, and went ahead. "I...hope nothing goes wrong. Something...scares me, Priscilla. Like there's something I don't know about myself. Something I can't accept about myself. And...it'd get worse if I entered the simulation...just...please watch my body while I'm...in there." He was still visibly cringing as he hooked himself up to the device to enter the simulation.
Fluffy/10
Blue
Blue didn't raise any objections about the procedure - though he did look a bit disappointed at the way Priscilla had reacted to his question, electing to not go for the hug, just now. Instead, he simply allowed himself to be plugged in.
10:00 AM—A WHITE VOID—THE SIMULATION
As the bots connected to their respective dock, the classroom began to fall away before their eyes. If they hadn't already been told that they were being temporarily uploaded into a computer simulation, it would have been easy to assume that something horrible was happening to the rest of the world while they remained untouched. As it was, the simulation was still convincing enough for the disintegration of the classroom to be unsettling for some.
Soon enough the outside world was gone, and in its place was an endless white void with neither ceiling nor floor. Each of the bots found themselves alone for a few moments before, eventually, the others snapped into view. The docks were gone by now, and the bots seemed to have full range of motion restored. Notably, those units whose weapons were normally disabled might observe that within the simulation their armaments were fully functional.
The bots' arrival was followed by several consecutive minutes of...absolutely nothing. Nothing but a blank white void and a handful of strange androids. The delay stretched on long enough that, depending on one's inclinations, it began to seem boring, concerning, or both. Then, suddenly, a familiar voice spoke from all directions.
"—lo? Hello? Can you guys hear me? Ok, I can see you, and you're reacting like you can hear me, so...great! Sorry about that, had to wait on an incredibly poorly-timed software update. It's Priscilla, by the way. Like I said earlier, I'll be your moderator for this program—let's get started, shall we?"
With that punctuation, the environment began to shift in an exact mirror of the way the classroom had fallen apart earlier. Bits of visual information assembled themselves piece by piece from all directions, like a giant three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle—the simulation's soundscape came into being in parts but quickly merged into an unobtrusive ambiance. The scene which emerged was not a glamorous one; when it settled, the bots found themselves in the middle of nowhere standing in an overgrown field of dandelions between two sets of train tracks. Birds could be heard chirping in the distance, and the summer sun was hot against the bots' metal chassis.
"Everything look good down there? I haven't started the program proper just yet, but I just wanted to get that white void out of the way before we moved on."
The sound of shuffling papers was audible from everywhere at once.
"Now, this program is more of a behavior assessment than a training exercise for any specific skill, so before we see what you decide to do, let's start with who you are. The fun thing about these simulations is that you aren't quite as tethered to reality as you otherwise would be; to take advantage of that, go ahead and think about what your ideal form might be—appearance, function, anything. If we've managed to hook this up right, once you have a solid image in mind you should be able to take on that form within the SAM. Lesson number one about being alive: you're allowed to have a say in what you present to the world."
Edited by furnacedoor on Mar 7th 2022 at 4:35:42 AM
AKA Nixer
// NANACHAN // SELF-IMAGE // PERCEPTION // INSIGHT // ERROR // UNCHANGED //
Upon presented with the revelation that they were able to change into however they wanted to be seen as, Nana... momentarily froze. She was thinking intensely, and it took her a long while to snap out of it. Eventually, she shook her head—her form remaining almost entirely the same as she grinned and winked at open air.
“Nuh-uh. I'm Nana-chan! I'm exactly who I wanna be; that's not changing! Anyways, why a field? With tracks...?” she observed, looking around as soon as she felt her point had been made clear. “Are we gonna play with trains...~?”
bork
Fwomph
Dandelion Field Simulation
The Shopfronter unit sat quietly through the transition, seemingly unfazed by being in a virtual environment where the world could change at any moment. If it wanted to make a quip in response to that unfazed response it would likely be unlike you lot I'm familiar with being taken offline but as it stood the Shopfronter remained silent until after all of the introductions to the virtual space were complete. At which point the Shopfronter just kind of popped out of existence and a sphere of white with fluid dynamics sat in its place, unbidden by gravity and absolutely abstract.
"So. Windmill slam Eden Gardens Center wishes to remind customers that the last train from the local station departs at 11:50PM—
As the blue text and chipper tone took control again the abstract fluid vanished and a softer, more 'cartoony' version of a Shopfronter unit reappeared until the chipper tone ended and once more there was just the abstracted form bearing no face or even a static shape.
—Problem. We've got two tracks and it's always the go-to for trying to be thought-provoking."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Breath of the Sun
Thrash
Thrash looked around at the vibrant field and train tracks, intrigued at the virtual world. Then Priscilla told them they could look however they wanted, and Thrash allowed himself to imagine.
His normal form was dark, covered in sharp lines to make him look menacing. Thrash imagined himself in a lighter shade of grey, edged with gold trim in what he thought was a suitably heroic fashion. His sharper edges became smoother, softer, and his frame was a little less bulky. His red eyes had turned blue. Soldered to his stomach was the Bot Battle Federation championship belt, a bright gold oval with 'BBF' engraved under the image of a crown.
For a long moment he looked down at himself, and his new hands. He smiled, and looked back up at the train tracks.
"I'm ready for whatever you're gonna throw at us." Thrash announced.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Stuck being sane.
Terminator
She looks around and thinks... and then her image changes to that of a human female in what looks like practical office wear. Compete with flats instead of heels. Though her short hair is forest green for some reason.
"I always wondered why human females insisted on wearing high heels, shoes that make walking harder. Why? Humans don't make any sense sometimes. And something about hair dye being a big deal. I suppose I can see the value of that... but they did it for fun?"
She shrugs.
I have no idea what to put here, oh well!
Person, or Idea?
Oscar
Oscar was somewhat disoriented by the room around it dissolving into white. If it had the biological components for it, it would likely have felt a sinking feeling. The moment passed, however, after it reminded itself of the upload process that was actually occurring.
As Priscilla (more precisely, her disembodied voice) called out to the uploaded bots and explained the delay, Oscar winced in sympathy. It remembered several times during it's prior employment where it's functions were impaired by an ill-timed automatic software download and update, which humans that saw it happen on one occasion described as "Yer [expletive] wasted, man!"
Afterwards, when the white void had been replaced with a field of dandelions between two train tracks, Oscar heard Priscilla's instruction. It was uncertain how it was supposed to follow this instruction. My ideal form? What does that even mean? Am I being ordered to modify my chassis and risk violating the warranty? Wait, no, that's not it. This body I have now is only a virtual avatar. Modifying that won't risk the warranty. There, conflict resolved.
With that, Oscar thought about what it's ideal form should be. Recalling the times when live dogs were present on the park, it remembered a desire to play catch with humans like they did. It could use it's manipulator arms for that role, but it didn't seem right for a dog, or a facsimile of one, to play catch without a canine jaw. It also noticed that most of the other robots it had seen had eyes or representations thereof, and it wondered if it should have something similar, rather than the simple black visor covering it's head-mounted optical systems.
As Oscar thought about these desires, it's virtual body adjusted in two aspects. First, the bottom segment of it's head came loose, forming a lower jaw with distinctively canine teeth, while a counterpart upper jaw with similarly canine teeth formed in the space left behind. Second, the LED light line on the bottom of it's visor split in half and flowed up the visor, resolving into two blue ovals positioned roughly in the spots where eyes would be in a natural canine. Other than that, it's virtual body was identical to it's physical chassis.
Oscar idly tested it's new jaws, while glancing at the shifting forms of the other robots. Then, it spoke out loud.
"I await your further instructions, Ms. Motley."
Madeline
Madeline marvelled at the pristine landscape. She knew it wasn't real, yet there was a beauty to it she couldn't place. She glanced at the train tracks, harbouring suspicions, but keeping them close to the vest.
For now, she focused on her given task. She had been instructed to take on their ideal form. An easy task. She had no illusions about herself. She was a maid. No more, no less. Whether she received respect did little to change her form or function.
But there was a small change. One she had not foreseen Her form was largely the same. Young, pretty, a simple red dress and frilly apron. But what little there was to distinguish herself from humanity — her robotic limbs, the thin lines running across her face — it was all gone. Replaced with a body that was indistinguishable from a human. And she hadn't even noticed. She had thought herself exactly the same, but the truth was a different story.
"I am ready to serve, my lady. Whatever task you have prepared for us, I will endeavour to accomplish it as swiftly and efficiently as possible."
Edited by kkhohoho on Mar 7th 2022 at 9:26:44 AM
Madeline
Madeline felt some small satisfaction from Nana's reaction. She didn't dwell on it long but it was fairly amusing. Something she'd have to revisit. But the presence of their benefactor was of far greater concern.
"I could could scarcely think of a question that would be adequate, save for the sorry state of your fashion sense. We shall have to address that conundrum at a later date, so long as the lady is not against it. But I do wonder if you intend to treat us fairly. My previous master die not always do so, and the result was... regretable. All I ask for is proper respect in exchange for my services, which I do not think is too much to ask. Is it, my lady?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Feb 24th 2022 at 8:00:29 AM