goneawaycomms | Agent South Dakota

[ Delta's head tilts down in a mix of thought and the closest he can perform to a frown without a face. ]

That is something that I was afraid of. He once described my missing presence as something that hurt. I assume that such a sensation is what you picked up on whilst in his head.

Yes. It's like...like a hole. But it's like the hole got there because someone burnt it in. And it's not healing up.

That is most concerning. I had hoped, at the very least, that such damage may begin to heal itself, however if it has not begun to do so already then I hesitate to believe that it will ever do so.

[ He looks down at South, sleeping beneath him. The light from his hologram casts her face in dark, cutting shadows. ]

The mind is pretty...what's the word, plastic? It makes space for us when we come in. But it's got to leave a scar when we're gone, right?

Yes, the human mind has a certain degree of plasticity and is capable of adapting to our presence with relative ease, but when we are removed, particularly in a traumatic incident, it appears to leave damage behind.

[ He looks over at North, then back at South. ]

I had hoped that my departure from York was not as traumatic as others, as I did not leave until after he had already passed, but it seems our integration was deep enough that it has left a lasting scar regardless.

I don't know what to do. South won't listen if we tell her.

No, no she will not. She was there when York first explained to me what he was experiencing and simply snorted. You have seen the inside of her head, she does not understand.

What I do not understand is why she continues to resist my return when retaining me gives her no benefit.

I think it's because...it's something she wanted for so long. Even when she found out it wasn't what she thought it would be, she is too stubborn to let it go.

There was something. In her mind. When she was thinking about how North called me his son. She doesn't really understand how that could be, but...she's thinking about it differently, I think, than she used to.

She is certainly stubborn.

That is something, I suppose. Familial ties are clearly important to her, despite her protests. However I hesitate to believe that such a change will come easily, let alone with any speed, when she has considered us tools and obstacles for so long.

[ He looks at Theta, and speaks as gently as his voice allows. ]

I do not wish to dissuade any hope that such a difference may mean something. However, we must also not rely on a single incident to inspire meaningful progress.

[ Theta kicks at the emptiness below him, as though kicking the floor. ]

Okay. I hope it was a good sign, is all.

I hope so too, Theta. I would like to return to York sooner rather than later and I believe that is only going to be possible if South chooses to hand me over herself. Whether that is through tactics such as York and I's, or through some kind of change within herself.

It would perhaps help if South were more open to conversing with either of us. However her unwillingness is a symptom of the issue at large.

She does seem to avoid it. She doesn't even keep you implanted.

[ Delta nods at that. ]

Even before arriving here, she spent as little time as possible with me implanted after our first few days on the run from her fellow recovery agents. You were right to say that her expectations of AI ownership did not match up to the reality.

[ Delta is relieved that here, at least, her refusal to have him implanted does not leave him offline for extended periods of time. He found that very frustrating. ]

Is she like that with human friends? Does she avoid getting close to people? Were you with her long enough to notice that?

[ Delta pauses to think. ]

She has not struggled to converse with other people around the rig, despite her initial attempts to avoid such interaction. She has held several amiable conversions, by her standards. However...

You were not yet assigned when Agent Connecticut departed from the Mother of Invention. Prior to that incident, it did seem that they were better friends than South was with any of the other agents.

[ By the time Theta had been assigned to North, after CT had left, South had become noticeably more withdrawn. ]

Ohh. Interesting. Sounds like that affected her a lot.

That certainly appeared to be the case. Besides that, however, I have not spent enough time in her mind to gather anything else and our time together involved little-to-no human interaction whatsoever until arriving here.

[ That, and what time he does spend there, he doesn't really dig around. He has little compulsion to see more of South's thoughts. ]

What I can say is that following her initial disagreement with North, and those that followed with York and Washington, she did default to attempting to spend time alone.

I don't like being alone. I don't know how people deal with it.

[ Delta considers, for a moment, sharing the fact that even he has come to find being as isolated as South has made him during their initial time on the rig... lonely, he does not wish to worry Theta and things have since improved somewhat. Especially now that they can talk like this. So he doesn't. ]

As York explained it, humans do not, by nature, function well when isolated from their peers. Why, then, South seems to display such a compulsion to be alone, I do not quite understand either.

[ Beneath him, South groans and idly bats at his hologram. ]

S'called growing up never getting to be alone, asshole. God, you're bright.

We didn't mean to wake you up.

We were simply having a conversation, as you [ he fills this one word with about as much attitude as Delta is capable of ] permitted us to do.

[ She groans again as she pushes herself up, the sheets rustling. Delta moves his hologram off to the side. ]

Didn't think you did it on purpose. [ She sighs, rubs her face. ] You're a lot of things but neither of you are stupid.

Thank you?

[ Theta watches her for a moment. ]

You did mean that in a nice way, right?

I guess? Yeah?

[ She yawns, drags her hand through her hair as she props herself up with her back against the wall and knees up. ]

You're AI you can't be stupid. Right? [ vague gesture ] I don't know, I'm half-awake.

I don't know. Maybe if they're programmed to be stupid, they can be.

Be pretty dumb to program an AI to be stupid. Before you even start, Delta, yes, I know dumb AI are a thing and I know they're not actually dumb. Geez.

[ If Delta had a mouth to close, he would be doing so. ]

Why were you talking about me? Fuck, [ snort ] thought you two'd want to do anything but.

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