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 Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:52 pm
York smiled and patted D on the shoulder. "I'll be here. Be careful!" As his partner left, he turned back to the lock. It had surprised him the first time he saw D change his appearance; he had never heard of other AIs doing that, but then, most of them never took physical form.
He allowed himself to be lost in his work. Just him and the tools...it used to be like this. It used to be natural; he didn't have to think about it, he just did it naturally. That's how this all started--or so he used to think. Maybe it was farther back in the past...further than he used to think...
With a grimace, he forced himself to concentrate on his life now. On the run from the government and the law, hiding from anyone he had once known...but it was brighter now. Now he not only had D, he had love. He didn't have to deal with the past now. At least, once he finished this lock to secure the apartment, he could lock the past out. Stubbornly he scraped the back of one scarred paw across his eyes.
You can't hide from it...locking it out won't work... some part of him whispered. You can't run forever...No, he thought firmly. But I can try. Especially to keep other agents out. I don't think I can survive any more visits from old friends.
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 7:23 pm
D bounced down the stairs to the main entrance of the apartment complex. He decided to kill two birds with one stone and aimed for a store a few blocks up from the apartment. This way he could count the security cameras for York and get the milk.
D sighed as he trotted down the street. He wanted to hurry up and get back to the apartment. He didn't like being apart from York, but as the only one who could quickly and effectively alter his entire appearance it made him the logical choice to do things outside of the apartment during the day.
D shivered a bit as the wind picked up. He'd worked hard to develop the proper reactions to most sensations. There was to much at risk for him to mess up simple differences that others took for granted, although he still had to remind himself to "breathe" while in public he was still working on a subroutine to handle that.
D slipped into the store a few minutes later and began counting, Three...no...four... one there behind the counter... he said to himself. He then quickly grabbed the items he'd come for, paid, and trotted home.
This internal clock had just turned over twenty minutes when he walked back into the apartment. "I'm home." he said.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:30 pm
York looked up from his work. He smiled as D walked in the door. "How did it go?" he asked. He was himself about halfway through with his task. He got to his feet and relieved D of his burdens, putting the purchases on the counter. He gave D a peck as well.
((Sorry for the short post...))
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:45 pm
((Its okay))
D shook himself all over disabling his disguise and returned to his previous black and green coloration. "There are four." he said. "I ought to be able to loop them for you on the night of." he said. He walked over to the table and slumped down putting his head on the table. Keeping up the disguise for that long made his systems lag. "Put the milk away, please...I'd hate for it to spoil." he said.
He then looked at the lock on the table and figured York was about half done. "I think I'll run checks on your armor...and myself." he muttered tiredly. "Get me when you're finished?" he asked looking over at York.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:16 pm
York loaded the milk into the fridge and closed the door. He glanced at his partner and saw that D looked tired. He padded over to D and started rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to make him feel better. "Thanks for scouting," he murmured. "It'll make the job quicker. Are you okay?" he added. "You look...tired. Maybe you should rest. I'll tell you when I'm done."
Command may have done a lot of foolish things, ruined many lives, but at least they put us together. I don't know what would have happened if I had been given a different AI, one who didn't care about me. And where would D be if he had been assigned to an abusive agent? Just our luck, I suppose, that we have each other...no matter what happens, we'll look out for each other.
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:29 pm
D sighed contentedly as York started rubbing his shoulders. He leaned back into his partners paws and nodded slightly. "I'm alright. No matter how many times I do it or how simple I keep it, running a different appearance makes me lag." he said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, I just need to get myself sorted out. I can still manage to check your armor while I do that, it is what I was designed to do." he said smirking.
He then leaned back into York's chest causing his partner to hold him instead. D gently rubbed his head against his partner. "Don't be long, okay?" he muttered before giving one final nuzzle and getting up and going into the bedroom.
He wandered over to York's helmet and touched the slot located on the back and faded from view.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:03 pm
York watched D pad into the bedroom. Sighing, he sat back down at the table to work on the lock. He had finished some of the harder parts and was starting into the relatively easy tasks. He still felt the warmth of D's body against his chest and arms. Idly he wondered how it was going--it had been a long time since anyone had run a check on his armor. As a matter of fact, it had been a long time since it had had any maintenance on it. Some years or so, he'd guess...back when he was still a freelancer and diagnostics were a monthly routine in the harsh rigors of training and practice.
York began to hum in his tuneless way to pass the time as he entered the final, almost tedious stage of his work. His whistling had irritated some of his peers; Reginald in particular had refused to be in the same room as York when he was working hard on something, and he wasn't the only one. York hadn't cared; other Freelancers had some irritating habits, such as Reginald's own bad jokes--though he knew that that was mainly due to Gamma.
Just as he finished the programming, his left eye gave a particularly bad twinge. York flinched, but it was a passing pain. "Done!" he called hoarsely to D.
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:58 am
D entered York's helmet and the systems inside hummed to life in response to him. To the AI it was like a breath of fresh air. He felt his systems instantly come out of the lag they were in catch back up. He quickly began running the suits tests and sighed. While York's armor wasn't in terrible shape it wasn't in great shape either.
There wasn't much he could do about it either...not without a full maintenance crew. He fixed the system glitches that he could and wondered if there was anyway for them to obtain the tools necessary to fix the armor. Although he gave up on that train of thought. There really wasn't a safe way for them to do it, not even with enough money to obtain them on the black market, and D didn't want York to risk breaking into a military facility for them.
He sighed and began running his own tests while the suit finished up its designated set. He was so wrapped up in his checks that he almost didn't hear York call to him. He shook himself from his stasis and gave the code to extract himself from the helmet.
A few seconds later he was standing back in the bedroom and trotted back into the living room to his partner. He walled over and put his head on York's shoulder. The first thing he'd noticed was that his partner's pain response was up. "Are you alright?" he asked.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:46 am
York looked up at D. "I'm fine," he assured him. "Just...I was working too close for a bit too long. I should have gotten up and around. I'm fine now." He gently got to his feet and stretched. "How's the armor?" York asked to change the subject. "Probably not good. It's been a while since it was checked or fixed."
He could tell that D felt refreshed just by looking at him. That was natural; after all, the AIs were meant, as part of their functions, to run the equipment on the armor. Resuming his slot in the armor would have been what he was meant to do. He wondered if other AIs felt the same. Some might have felt trapped, he'd imagine--he would, too. York imagined though that they felt better about it, since they were made to function best in the equipment. But what about those that never accepted their purpose?
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:13 am
D watched York get up and stretch and then sighed. "No...Its not good...At least its not as bad as it could be but its still in pretty rough shape. I fixed a few system errors but thats not the half of it...I'd need a full maintenance team to get it back to the level it was at when you got it." he shuffled for a few seconds then looked at York. "I could probably walk you through some of the simpler things, but we don't have the tools to do it, and the only thing I'd really want to fix is your healing unit...its only operating at 65%."
D shuddered slightly at the status of the unit and then gave himself a short reprimand. He never should have let York's armor get like this, unfortunately they hadn't had much choice. Even then D felt it was his responsibility. It was after all his job to look after the armor, but more and more D had drifted from that particular job to the actual care and upkeep of York in and of himself. And that was infinitely more important to D than the armor could ever be.
Its not like we're looking at facing combat anytime soon anyway, D thought to himself. And hopefully we'll never have to again. I could live with that...and I think York could too. No matter what they intended for me originally when they programmed me, my purpose is to look after York now. And thats just fine with me.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:31 am
York winced. He hadn't expected good, but 65% was pretty bad. The healing unit had saved him in the past. Some freelancers had enhancements to help them in combat--they tended to be the aggressive ones like Tex and Wyoming--but some freelancers had more...defensive enhancements. York had been delighted to find that his was a healing unit; more useful in the long run. He wasn't much of a combatant anyway. He saw his job in operations to let the fighters in and stay out of the way. "Good thing we're not planning to fight," he said nervously. "The last thing we need now is a fight."
He held his face in his paws and took several deep breaths. He felt his world crumbling around him. Everything...everything he had had...it was dying. He was unemployed, reduced to theft, hiding from everyone he knew, and, on top of it, his armor was starting to wear down. He was dead if anyone found him. The only thing that was going right was D.
He took several more deep breaths, starting to calm down. "I'm fine," he said out loud. "I'm not going to be fighting anymore. I don't need it." He hugged D. "I have too much to live for to be risking it all. There are some things worth fighting for, but they aren't the same as things worth living for."
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 12:25 pm
D caught the tone in his partners voice. He moved closer to York not really knowing what to do as his partner suffered a minor panic attack. He was slightly startled as York caught him up and hugged him. D nuzzled York putting is own arms around his partner and holding him.
"It'll be alright, York." he muttered. "I'm here for you, always." he nuzzled York trying to reassure him, but D had a suspicion that there was more to his partners distress than he knew.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:15 pm
York nodded, breathing in D's scent. "I know," he whispered. "I've said this so many times before, but...I wouldn't be where I am today without you. I wouldn't be alive without you..." He began to calm in D's arms. "I'm feeling better now," he murmured. "A lot better. I should get the lock installed. Then I'll need to make one for the fire escape door. There is no way I'm going to leave that insecure." However, he made no move to release D. He wasn't sure if he either could or wanted to.
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:57 pm
D nuzzled against York and smiled. "Neither would I, for that matter. I owe you so much, York." he muttered.
He nodded slightly as York told him he felt better and his plans for the locks. He waited a few seconds but when York didn't release him he started to worry. Not that he minded, he liked it when York held him, he was just that York's behavior was starting to worry him.
D looked up pleadingly at his partner. "Tell me whats wrong...please? I know somethings bothering you, I can't have lived with you for this long and not know when something is on your mind." he said. "I'm worried about you, York... Please tell me..." he added in a half whisper.
D nuzzled against York again and waited to see if York would answer him.
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Lady Argentum Draconis Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:20 pm
York sighed. "I'm just...I'm..." It was no good lying; he never was any good at it. "I'm worried. And things are just falling apart...They're just...I feel trapped. Like something's closing in on us. That you're the only thing that's going right in my life..." He stopped. He didn't want to go on. He swallowed his eyes and gulped hard to send the rest of his words back down to the secret dungeons of his heart. He doesn't need to know...no one needs to know. Everyone keeps secrets...especially if they hurt. "It's not your fault. Stay with me...I'll be fine. I just...I need some time."
What will become of us? Why is everything so hard? York shook himself. We can get through this. We've always gotten through this. We've never needed anyone besides each other...
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