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last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
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Nov 15, 2009 18:57:25 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Nov 15, 2009 18:57:25 GMT -5
A rueful little chuckle escaped her at his threat and she shrugged mildly.
I have little doubt of that, and as for keeping us from harm…I simply ask that you keep your knowledge of us to yourself. For what I can tell there is little else that would be more helpful than that…at least at the moment. As for when…will the day after tomorrow work for…
Phae’s interruption had her trailing off again, and the new voice had those blue eyes narrowing slightly before widening considerably.
…Ayer?! Are you okay?! You stupid bird, I thought you were with me, what possessed you to do something so foolish...do something like that again and -I- might be the one to take you apart, I swear to the force you half baked, dim witted, stubborn, droid! You must have fluff for circuitry…when they told me what you’d done…
Finally her rant tapered off and ended in a heavy sigh, the concern she held for him obvious.
…Don’t you know by now that it’s my job to do foolish things like that? You’re the one who’s supposed to be keeping people like me out of trouble, not going and getting yourself into it…and worse, nearly getting yourself destroyed because of it.
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A®heim
One does not just make a dreadnought.
3,801 posts
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last online Sept 16, 2018 19:37:00 GMT -5
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Nov 15, 2009 20:53:17 GMT -5
Post by A®heim on Nov 15, 2009 20:53:17 GMT -5
White is a nice color. It gives off a sense of purity, of cleanliness. Then again, that same color has gone to become so uncomfortable to be surrounded in for the same reasons. Hospitals are white. Empty houses are white. Laboratories were white. It was a sterile color, devoid of life for it was contaminating and unwelcome. Life seems to be naturally uncomfortable around it. White surrounds life, protects it even, but it is nothing more than an impenetrable barrier life cannot pass. White is death.
Ayer was not alive. He liked the color white. He was white. All the homes he had ever had were sterile white. Even now as he looked around, the room was ablaze with...well...nothing.
I missed you too.
Even between the distant voice through the comm and Ayer's difficulties with emotion, her concern was evident to him. A year ago, maybe, he would have taken each of those insults to heart, or worse as literal assessments of his infrastructure, but now he only found it amusing.
I will not argue that was not the path most organics would have taken, but I assure you it was the logical action. All my deductions, all my probability systems, and something else that I have yet to classify...what you may call, heart? All of it said that it was going to be me or Vex. I cannot protect you alone, Aunna. I cannot break the minds of those who would wish you harm. I cannot carry you out of harm's way. I CAN be repaired.
You need that man, Aunna, much more than you need a bird.
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last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
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Nov 15, 2009 21:42:29 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Nov 15, 2009 21:42:29 GMT -5
Aunna chuckled a little at his reply to her rant, a grin slowly spreading across her face as she shook her head.
You daft droid.
The quiet words were meant mainly for him, though they weren’t much more than a mumble as he pressed on with his reply. Logic…damned logic…sometimes people were too logical, but then he continued with ‘heart’…now that was something that not only took her by surprise, but was something she had more than her fair share of dealings with. Her heart happened to get her into no end of trouble at times; her…relationship…with Vex was proof enough of that. His last few sentences had whatever retort she had formed dieing in her throat, a slow blush creeping up as she shook her head slightly. ”Bird knows just what buttons to push…silly thing’s lucky I can’t get to him right now. Would likely make a fool of myself by hugging the hell out of him.”
It was true enough…Ayer had pushed the correct emotional buttons. Memories had been called forth, both good and bad, of her time with Vex and her later time with both the man and the droid. She did need Vex…in more ways than one, to be exact…but it wasn’t just her who needed him, she got the feeling that (for some reason) he needed her also. If he hadn’t left her in such a foul mood, she might have dared to reach out to him…suddenly feeling the need to know he was around. Resisting the urge, she closed her eyes slightly and nodded once.
All of that may be true, Ayer, but that doesn’t keep me from holding your life in value as well. You had me very worried. I’d thought you’d left for the manor…to find out this way…well…I’m just glad you’re alright.
She paused for a moment, sitting silently as she laced her fingers and rested her mouth against them lightly. Finally, when she spoke again, her voice held a more gentle tone than it had during any point in the conversation.
Thank you for everything, Ayer…and please extend that thanks to your partner when you see him again. We both owe you our lives…whether Mr. Praetor wishes to admit it or not. Speaking of admitting it…I doubt he’ll ever admit it, but I think (in some twisted and minor way), he does consider you something like a friend…I don’t believe I’ve seen him threaten anyone else so many times and allow them to live besides myself. Though…as I said…it would be a rather twisted and minor fashion.
Aunna chuckled a little at that. Everything was rather ‘twisted’ when it came to Vex…hell, even her roll in his life was rather twisted, making it so that she had little real idea of what she might or might not mean to the man, and she seemed to be the only one he was interested in keeping in his life for any length of time.
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A®heim
One does not just make a dreadnought.
3,801 posts
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last online Sept 16, 2018 19:37:00 GMT -5
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Nov 16, 2009 0:30:43 GMT -5
Post by A®heim on Nov 16, 2009 0:30:43 GMT -5
Ayer was becoming a force to be reckoned with among droids. Though he would never admit to have been manipulating Aunna's emotions, there was no doubt that he was doing all he could to make his words hit home.
I just did what I was told, nothing more, nothing less.Your safety has been my highest priority for as long as I've been in your company: a baton I believe it's time I pass. But first I wish to thank YOU, Aunna. Every moment in that accursed darkness, every threat from Vex, squeeze of comfort from yourself, every slash in my chassis from a stray piece of shrapnel, they've developed me. Thanks to you, I've become a completely new droid more capable than ever to achieve my primary function, and as of 4 days ago I'm even a whole new droid in body as well.
Ayer looked down at his new, shining breast and along his wings. Pure white and without a blemish- well, almost. Flitting out his feather array, the cautious observer would notice one slight inconsistency: 1 feather was a slightly different color with more luster than the others.
In fact...I may be closer to you than you think. I was perhaps too rushed or embarrassed to tell you this earlier, but when we were landing on Corellia, the touch down knocked me off balance while I was saudering a loose feather. So much, in fact, that I sliced the blasted thing clear off. I have a replacement now, a discolored testament to the scrapes we've been through, but unless someone has removed it, the feather should still be under the console where I fell. If you could hold on to that as a small memento, it...
Ayer paused. Why did he want her to have that little piece of scrap? It wasn't necessary for her survival, it wouldn't barter her way out of anything, it was useless.
...I suppose it would somehow mean a lot to me. I'm not really sure why. Reassurance, perhaps, that I will be remembered.
Ah! But let's hope I won't be missed, I heard you're receiving a Familiar. That's fantastic news! I do hope you two will get along alright, I rather like 13, very intelligent for her age. Then there's the little fact that she was part of the extraction team that recovered me. She seems almost...excited to be assigned really, in her own little way of not really seeming excited, but we know better. I just hope Vex will be as enthusiastic.
Ayer almost laughed as he considered what he had just said.
Let me rephrase that: I just hope Vex won't dismantle her on sight and use the spare parts to build a hydrogen bomb.
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last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
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Nov 16, 2009 23:36:00 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Nov 16, 2009 23:36:00 GMT -5
Tears were the last thing she wanted, but were the first thing she got. It wasn’t much more than a filling of the eyes so that her vision blurred slightly, but they were tears none the less. Silly thing was thanking her for the hell she’d put him through? What a daft little droid indeed. As he continued on, she cleared her eyes of the tears and shook her head slightly before looking at the com system again. What was this about a feather?
Of course I’ll keep it, Ayer…assuming I can find it…I cant imagine a reason not to.
New familiar or not, of course he would be missed. Just like no two people were alike, Aunna doubted highly that any two familiars were alike. No one could be Ayer. His words seemed to echo her thoughts as he said he hoped they would get along alright. His last sentence, and then his revision of that last sentence, had her chortling quietly.
Well, Ayer, you will be missed…no one can be you, but I hold hope that she’ll stand up to the standards that you’ve set for her. As for Vex…well…he might want to try, but considering how things are between us these days…I doubt he would take kindly to my reaction should he actually attempt such a thing. For some reason, though, I almost doubt that he would care to do so…I almost get the feeling that I’m going to be the one who’s outnumbered by him and 13…
Oh what a horrible thought that was…being outnumbered by Vex and a droid. Another light chuckle and she shook her head slightly.
Well, it’ll be what it will be.
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A®heim
One does not just make a dreadnought.
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last online Sept 16, 2018 19:37:00 GMT -5
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Nov 18, 2009 21:22:54 GMT -5
Post by A®heim on Nov 18, 2009 21:22:54 GMT -5
Thank you. I only hope you don't feel I'm abandoning you, I would have been honored to be your Familiar. Yet I have my duties to my partner just as 13 will have hers for you. I wish you two the best of luck.
He paused a moment to consider an odd twist of alternate events. What if he had been Aunna's Familiar? It was then he realized that he was fortunate he wasn't.
Then again, if I had been assigned to you from the beginning, it wouldn't have made this as...special as it was. As diverse and unbound as our primary directive is, there will always be restrictions. When my partner told me to look after you, he was allowing me to step out of those boundaries. I don't believe either of us would walk away with so much if it hadn't been for that.
Ayer was caught off guard by her appraisal of Vex's reaction. That was his only single fear of this whole assignment really: What will Vex do? Then again she knew Vex better than Ayer just as Ayer knew 13 better than Aunna. With the current distribution of information, both parties could only guess how it may turn out.
That is an event that no amount of probability will unveil. Only time will tell. Indeed it will be what it will be, so let's wish for a good one. This story desperately needs a happy ending, I'm content in the knowledge that I could steer it that way, if only for a while.
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last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
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Nov 25, 2009 15:18:03 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Nov 25, 2009 15:18:03 GMT -5
A light chuckle escaped Aunna at Ayer’s words.
No thanks needed, and you’re hardly abandoning me. Believe me, there are days I wish I could go back to my life in the military, I wouldn’t dare to keep you from your life or your duties.
As he continued on, Aunna nodded silently, but in the end only a derisive snort could be heard from her.
Unfortunately, Ayer, though I may have grown up living what some may deem a ‘fairy tale’ life…I’ve come to realize that ‘happy endings’ only come at the end of children’s stories. While there may be ‘happy’ moments in this story, I don’t foresee a ‘happy’ end to it…I would, however, be content with a ‘slightly eschew’ one, or a ‘mildly interesting’ one, perhaps a ‘normal’ one…or even a boring one. In fact, I think the ‘normal’ or ‘boring’ endings might be far preferable to any other version. Keep your hopes up for those ones, as they’re far more likely to happen in reality.
Jaded view of the galaxy? Yes, very…but she’d been that way since she had been twenty…or, that was the beginning of it at least. Time and life had only reaffirmed this belief. While, yes, she preferred to be optimistic, Aunna also tried to fairly realistic in her optimism. She knew, in this case, that down to the gritty reality of the situation, even a ‘normal’ ending was rather an optimistic view of how the outcome would likely be. After all, Vex was a dark jedi and she was a traitor to the Republic…that didn’t leave much room for ‘normal’ much less ‘happy’ anythings…especially endings to one’s life story…or any story. Another shake of her head and she sat up straight once more.
I’m afraid, however, that I need to go. I have a rather…upset…Vex waiting on me, and I’m certain there are many hours of less than pleasant training ahead of me due to this…so if we can wrap this up, please?
Truthfully, Aunna wasn’t trying to be rude, but at this rate it was likely that Vex was going to pummel her into the ground with his saber if she so much as blinked wrong during training. After all, not only had she now skipped quite a bit of time away from said training, but done so speaking to someone he saw as a threat (which in all reality was possible, though she felt it unlikely), and now she’d have to find a time to tell him that they were picking up a droid. Yes, if he hadn’t wanted to kill her before, he would now…and even if he DIDN’T actually kill her…he’d certainly work her during training until she WISHED she were dead.
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A®heim
One does not just make a dreadnought.
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last online Sept 16, 2018 19:37:00 GMT -5
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Jan 3, 2010 13:50:50 GMT -5
Post by A®heim on Jan 3, 2010 13:50:50 GMT -5
Ayer lowered his head in shame. He hadn't intended for his "happy ending" statement to elicit such a reaction. The more I try to develop a normal speech pattern, the more ignorant I seem to make myself out to be. It makes me wonder if organics experience such mistakes...[/i]
Still, she certainly had a point. Her situation hadn't passed the rolls of hundreds of probability tests in the time Ayer had been with her, yet here they were. So many times had certain destruction lay in their future. Yet here they were. The future still was bleak. Bleak enough to strike down the heart of any sensible folks. A cold barely matched by the coldness that took the place of the droid's heart.
Yet here they were.
I apologize if I offended you. I admit to you that I have never calculated a happy ending for any of this. But....you knew this. Know this. Always have. And perhaps there is a happiness in this somewhere. Perhaps...something can still rise from the ashes. A hope. A break... Ayer chuckled.
Hell, maybe even a "normal ending".
The droid gazed ahead in sudden revenance. So much had happened to him in so little time. Was such a thing normal for a droid? Unheard of? Impossible? Then Ayer made the breakthrough of thought that he would bet a winning galactic lottery ticket no AI had ever made or will ever make: Nothing was impossible.
I would say that you will never cease to amaze me, but it would seem that time has come. Thank you. Aunna. There was a whining buzz as he cut the transmission.
Simply austounding... The old man rubbed his temples and a small smile tripped across his mouth. Phae was frozen with perplexion. With a screwdriver, one could literally see the gears turning in his head.
I...-
-will understand in due time, I promise it. In the meantime, we have a delivery to make. Phae nodded, but said nothing more.
Thank you for what you've done for us, Miss Borgonia. I only hope we can do our best in return. You will not likely hear from us again, take good care of 13 for us. For me.
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