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Really? Nines can do that? I've met him! We're friends. He helped me figure out what to do for you, actually.
[Geir is surprised to hear that -- he thinks of 9S as someone who understands technology rather than plants. he's still very much looking forward to the non-biological lights that his new friend promised him, but he dutifully notes down in his mental checklist that he might be able to help with finding out new information about plants, too.]
Of course I'm pretty excited! I worked hard on this. And here we go...
[with that, they emerge into a small clearing with a stream running through it. there are two notable things about the scene: one, the swift silver fish that occasionally leap up from the water, and two, the three boulders wedged carefully into something like a comfortable, 2B-sized seat in a shaded curve of the waterway. simply put, it's a personal fishing spot -- and not one that looks like anyone else has found it yet.]
Ta-da!
[Geir is surprised to hear that -- he thinks of 9S as someone who understands technology rather than plants. he's still very much looking forward to the non-biological lights that his new friend promised him, but he dutifully notes down in his mental checklist that he might be able to help with finding out new information about plants, too.]
Of course I'm pretty excited! I worked hard on this. And here we go...
[with that, they emerge into a small clearing with a stream running through it. there are two notable things about the scene: one, the swift silver fish that occasionally leap up from the water, and two, the three boulders wedged carefully into something like a comfortable, 2B-sized seat in a shaded curve of the waterway. simply put, it's a personal fishing spot -- and not one that looks like anyone else has found it yet.]
Ta-da!
[And just as moments ago 9S had appreciated 2B's ability to cut right to the heart of a matter, now he finds himself wishing it were otherwise. There's nothing for it, and the question is enough to cut off any further meandering statements he might've otherwise uttered. Now he's left wondering how to answer that question.
If he where wholeheartedly honest, he'd say it was since his reactivation. But when has 9S been wholeheartedly honest, when it came to matters like this? The answer is as simple as it is stark: he never has. And so he concludes, too easily, that he'll supply what he needs to but not the whole of it]
Since I found myself in that Aimintas place.
[Since his reactivation, but this he doesn't say. He already knew 2B's role in his life far before that, and didn't need a full and complete memory to tell him as much. Now, of course, he has it anyway. The confirmation of his theories is there in his personal data, as though it was never gone to begin with.
But it's not what she asked. 2B didn't ask him how long he'd suspected what he knows now — she asked what he remembered. And with a subject that fills him with such dread, and leaves her so still she could be in maintenance, he'll only volunteer so much]
Didn't seem like the sort of thing you just...mention one day.
If he where wholeheartedly honest, he'd say it was since his reactivation. But when has 9S been wholeheartedly honest, when it came to matters like this? The answer is as simple as it is stark: he never has. And so he concludes, too easily, that he'll supply what he needs to but not the whole of it]
Since I found myself in that Aimintas place.
[Since his reactivation, but this he doesn't say. He already knew 2B's role in his life far before that, and didn't need a full and complete memory to tell him as much. Now, of course, he has it anyway. The confirmation of his theories is there in his personal data, as though it was never gone to begin with.
But it's not what she asked. 2B didn't ask him how long he'd suspected what he knows now — she asked what he remembered. And with a subject that fills him with such dread, and leaves her so still she could be in maintenance, he'll only volunteer so much]
Didn't seem like the sort of thing you just...mention one day.
[9S can guess well enough just why 2B is shocked. Although he was made to forget over and over again, she never had that luxury. She was fully aware all along of the cyclical nature of their relationship, meeting and parting, over and over again. It always ended in violence, as it necessarily had to. And for once remembering all of those times, 9S can look back on the way that weight compounded, steadily weighing 2B down more and more.
It isn't a wonder at all then that she can't understand why he feels the way he does, now that for once his memory is equal to her own. Not just one lifetime or another, but all of it. And that thought is sufficient to force him to look her way, though he remains unsure whether it's better to do so or not]
Like memories of pure light. That's the message you left for me, isn't it?
[9S doesn't wait for confirmation — doesn't need to. Those words are burned into his memory as surely as anything ever was. As much as they pained him when he first heard them, as much as they made him ache as though he'd been hollowed out from within, he carried them with him]
The thing is, I consider the world a very dark place without you.
[And he was consumed only with fulfilling the objective they supposedly had, and avenging her. After that...it didn't matter if he had a soul or not, it didn't matter if there was nowhere for him to go after he ceased to function. He had been determined to join her in death all the same.
Because that was preferable to being alone.
Because that was preferable to being without her.
The simple truth was that without 2B, 9S felt alone no matter who was around him, or reached out to him, or tried to reel him back from the dark path he had started down. A2 had tried, though he doesn't really understand her reasons, save that he supposes it had something to do with 2B's wishes. She had said her name, in the end. Devola and Popola had likewise reached out to him, and even 4S. But none of them could change the simple fact that the brightest part of his life, despite the role he knew she must have in it, had been snuffed out]
It isn't a wonder at all then that she can't understand why he feels the way he does, now that for once his memory is equal to her own. Not just one lifetime or another, but all of it. And that thought is sufficient to force him to look her way, though he remains unsure whether it's better to do so or not]
Like memories of pure light. That's the message you left for me, isn't it?
[9S doesn't wait for confirmation — doesn't need to. Those words are burned into his memory as surely as anything ever was. As much as they pained him when he first heard them, as much as they made him ache as though he'd been hollowed out from within, he carried them with him]
The thing is, I consider the world a very dark place without you.
[And he was consumed only with fulfilling the objective they supposedly had, and avenging her. After that...it didn't matter if he had a soul or not, it didn't matter if there was nowhere for him to go after he ceased to function. He had been determined to join her in death all the same.
Because that was preferable to being alone.
Because that was preferable to being without her.
The simple truth was that without 2B, 9S felt alone no matter who was around him, or reached out to him, or tried to reel him back from the dark path he had started down. A2 had tried, though he doesn't really understand her reasons, save that he supposes it had something to do with 2B's wishes. She had said her name, in the end. Devola and Popola had likewise reached out to him, and even 4S. But none of them could change the simple fact that the brightest part of his life, despite the role he knew she must have in it, had been snuffed out]
I'll ask him.
[he barely has time to finish that part of the conversation before 2B sees the fishing spot and he's able to sit back and watch her reaction. Geir preens, very obviously, sitting up straighter and puffing out his chest a bit. he even unfolds and refolds his wings in bashful satisfaction. his gambit worked just as planned, mwahahahaha!]
Oh, it was nothing. We found this stream, and I'd heard you liked fishing from Nines, so...!
[bullshit it was nothing. he's so pleased with himself.]
Me'n'Vern haven't told anyone else about the fish yet, so you can share it or not. Whatever you like.
[he barely has time to finish that part of the conversation before 2B sees the fishing spot and he's able to sit back and watch her reaction. Geir preens, very obviously, sitting up straighter and puffing out his chest a bit. he even unfolds and refolds his wings in bashful satisfaction. his gambit worked just as planned, mwahahahaha!]
Oh, it was nothing. We found this stream, and I'd heard you liked fishing from Nines, so...!
[bullshit it was nothing. he's so pleased with himself.]
Me'n'Vern haven't told anyone else about the fish yet, so you can share it or not. Whatever you like.
[9S understands what 2B is suggesting, or at least he thinks so. He was free of the limitations YoRHa had imposed upon him, free of a cycle of death and restriction that had defined his short and violent life. And yet free of these confining factors, free of his increasingly unwilling executioner, what did 9S have? So much of his identity, so much of his sense of purpose, was tied to YoRHa, and the lie they were created to unknowingly perpetuate.
Divested of that purpose, his new purpose had become supporting 2B. And 9S was satisfied with that much, despite the role he was certain she had in his life. There is no denying he felt betrayed and hurt, suspecting that she had killed him time and again and that his memory was tampered with, but in the end...
In the end he still wanted simply to love her. And Adam had seen that contradiction within him, resenting and loving someone at the same time, mocked and derided him for it, echoing some of the thoughts he already directed at himself for the same.
But the same reason he struggled to reconcile those emotions is the same reason he doesn't want to exist without her]
You were always my world, 2B.
[9S remembers distinctly what it is to be alone. He didn't need a reminder in the form of her death and consequent absence from his life. In the past he had chosen to end himself rather than her, to perpetuate (selfishly) the cycle of meeting her and dying at her ever more grudging hands. Because each of those deaths still came with the promise of meeting her again]
It was enough for me, just being at your side. We might not have families, the way humans do, but I... [He trails off, line of sight sinking to the sand] To me, that's what you are.
[So what was left for him without a purpose, without a home, and without her?]
Divested of that purpose, his new purpose had become supporting 2B. And 9S was satisfied with that much, despite the role he was certain she had in his life. There is no denying he felt betrayed and hurt, suspecting that she had killed him time and again and that his memory was tampered with, but in the end...
In the end he still wanted simply to love her. And Adam had seen that contradiction within him, resenting and loving someone at the same time, mocked and derided him for it, echoing some of the thoughts he already directed at himself for the same.
But the same reason he struggled to reconcile those emotions is the same reason he doesn't want to exist without her]
You were always my world, 2B.
[9S remembers distinctly what it is to be alone. He didn't need a reminder in the form of her death and consequent absence from his life. In the past he had chosen to end himself rather than her, to perpetuate (selfishly) the cycle of meeting her and dying at her ever more grudging hands. Because each of those deaths still came with the promise of meeting her again]
It was enough for me, just being at your side. We might not have families, the way humans do, but I... [He trails off, line of sight sinking to the sand] To me, that's what you are.
[So what was left for him without a purpose, without a home, and without her?]
2B.
[ a genuine smile. it's been awhile, since he saw her last.
and so much has happened in that short span of time. so much he can't wrap his head around it all. ]
Sit with me?
[ jude crouches down in the sand, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin atop them. ]
... So much has happened. There's so much I want to talk to you about, I have no idea where to start.
[ a genuine smile. it's been awhile, since he saw her last.
and so much has happened in that short span of time. so much he can't wrap his head around it all. ]
Sit with me?
[ jude crouches down in the sand, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin atop them. ]
... So much has happened. There's so much I want to talk to you about, I have no idea where to start.
Okay.
[ he takes a deep, shaky breath, visibly nervous. ]
I...
[ a brief moment passes, and then, jude just... blurts it out. ]
I don't know if 9S spoke to you about it, but some... things happened, and... I ended up confessing to him. L-Like. Feelings. I have feelings for him, and after a lot of talking and misunderstandings, we're... um. Well. We're trying the whole relationship thing out. So. That's happening!
[ he's kind of, sort of, maybe, probably stumbling over his words, if only because he doesn't have the slightest idea how 2b will react. jude respects her. he admires her. he cares about her opinion, and this is such a delicate matter. ]
I just— I just thought you should know. You know 9S better than I do, and I'm doing everything I can to take things slow. He's already stuck on the idea of an android being together with a human in the first place, and...
[ jude doesn't even realize his cheeks are burning red. ]
Y-Yeah. He said I could drop by whenever I want to, so... I hope I won't be intruding on anything.
[ jude keeps his gaze averted, blushing to the tips of his ears. he didn't think it'd be quite this hard to confess to 2b. it might have been harder than confessing to 9s. ]
[ he takes a deep, shaky breath, visibly nervous. ]
I...
[ a brief moment passes, and then, jude just... blurts it out. ]
I don't know if 9S spoke to you about it, but some... things happened, and... I ended up confessing to him. L-Like. Feelings. I have feelings for him, and after a lot of talking and misunderstandings, we're... um. Well. We're trying the whole relationship thing out. So. That's happening!
[ he's kind of, sort of, maybe, probably stumbling over his words, if only because he doesn't have the slightest idea how 2b will react. jude respects her. he admires her. he cares about her opinion, and this is such a delicate matter. ]
I just— I just thought you should know. You know 9S better than I do, and I'm doing everything I can to take things slow. He's already stuck on the idea of an android being together with a human in the first place, and...
[ jude doesn't even realize his cheeks are burning red. ]
Y-Yeah. He said I could drop by whenever I want to, so... I hope I won't be intruding on anything.
[ jude keeps his gaze averted, blushing to the tips of his ears. he didn't think it'd be quite this hard to confess to 2b. it might have been harder than confessing to 9s. ]
[ jude's shoulders sag as he breathes out what might actually be the biggest sigh of relief in his life.
her words are so kind, so caring, but there's a protectiveness behind them that can't be mistaken. jude takes it to heart, and when he speaks again, this time he looks at her. really looks at her. he needs her to know how serious he is about this.
he nods, resolute. ]
Right.
All I want to do is make him as happy as he makes me. Even if things don't work out... even if he changes his mind... I still want to be by his side. He has so much to give, so much more than he realizes, and I want to be there to support him through both the good and the bad.
[ and then poor jude tosses an arm over his eyes, hiding his face again. ]
I really, really like him, 2B. So much.
her words are so kind, so caring, but there's a protectiveness behind them that can't be mistaken. jude takes it to heart, and when he speaks again, this time he looks at her. really looks at her. he needs her to know how serious he is about this.
he nods, resolute. ]
Right.
All I want to do is make him as happy as he makes me. Even if things don't work out... even if he changes his mind... I still want to be by his side. He has so much to give, so much more than he realizes, and I want to be there to support him through both the good and the bad.
[ and then poor jude tosses an arm over his eyes, hiding his face again. ]
I really, really like him, 2B. So much.
Edited 2017-10-31 11:04 (UTC)
Thank you, 2B. I promise I'll take good care of him.
[ jude smiles, a soft, tender, radiant thing. he didn't know what to expect from 2b, but he thinks he should have. he should have expected her to be happy. what was he so nervous about, again? 2b is both their friend, and he knows that all she wants is to see 9s happy, too. they have the same goal.
that's why... he doesn't want to steer the conversation in another direction entirely. he doesn't. he wants to bask in this happiness forever, but there's something else he needs to talk about, and it's just as important. jude steels himself. ]
But... this isn't the only thing I needed to talk to you about. There's something 9S said that's been troubling me. Something he let slip. He didn't mean to tell me, and I'm pretty sure he's just pretending he never did, but...
At the most inopportune moments, it just comes flooding back to me. And I don't know how I'm supposed to bring it up with him.
[ jude smiles, a soft, tender, radiant thing. he didn't know what to expect from 2b, but he thinks he should have. he should have expected her to be happy. what was he so nervous about, again? 2b is both their friend, and he knows that all she wants is to see 9s happy, too. they have the same goal.
that's why... he doesn't want to steer the conversation in another direction entirely. he doesn't. he wants to bask in this happiness forever, but there's something else he needs to talk about, and it's just as important. jude steels himself. ]
But... this isn't the only thing I needed to talk to you about. There's something 9S said that's been troubling me. Something he let slip. He didn't mean to tell me, and I'm pretty sure he's just pretending he never did, but...
At the most inopportune moments, it just comes flooding back to me. And I don't know how I'm supposed to bring it up with him.
9S, he... he said something about dying. Specifically, the fact that he's died more times than I can imagine.
"You don't know how many times I died because of something like that."
Those were his exact words.
[ they might as well be burned into his memory. ]
2B, I don't...
[ jude inhales, shoulders trembling. it's a stark contrast from the mood barely minutes ago. ]
I don't understand what he meant, by that, and I know bringing it back up will only upset him.
"You don't know how many times I died because of something like that."
Those were his exact words.
[ they might as well be burned into his memory. ]
2B, I don't...
[ jude inhales, shoulders trembling. it's a stark contrast from the mood barely minutes ago. ]
I don't understand what he meant, by that, and I know bringing it back up will only upset him.
Edited 2017-10-31 12:54 (UTC)
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