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Who: Cortana and ...you!
When: Throughout September
Where: ADI apartments + various locations around town
Summary: Cortana runs some tests in preparation for her plan to transfer herself to a robotic body + supernatural music interfering with errand running
Warnings: Fainting spell + possible mention of nightmares in the last prompt. Will warn for anything else that comes up.

A) There's a roomba wandering the apartment buildings.

It can be most often found in the hallways of building A, but that doesn't mean it never shows up in the others. At first glance it might seem ordinary, but there's a sort of purposefulness to its movements that an ordinary roomba would lack. It's not mindlessly covering as much ground as possible in an attempt to properly clean the floors; in fact, it doesn't appear to be cleaning anything at all. It moves in a straight, or at least mostly straight, line down the hallway, occasionally bumping into obstacles (primitive sensors suck) but does a remarkably good job of navigating around them ...at least until it bumps into your feet.

...Hey, Cortana recognizes those feet! Or at least, she thinks she does. Roombas can sort of see the floor under and in front of them but they don't see very well and Cortana is trying to limit herself to the abilities of the system she's currently inhabiting. She gently bumps against the feet in question before doing a little circle around you, whoever you are. Hi friend!

B) Apparently Cortana got a package in the mail. It's a pretty big one too, the box doing a pretty good job of blocking her view as she tries to carry it to her apartment. She's stumbling around a bit awkwardly as she tries to avoid tripping or bumping into anything. It's probably kind of funny to watch, honestly.

...You might want to get out of her way though, lest she bump into or trip over you.

C) There's a strange robot wandering the apartment buildings again. This time it's a more advanced design, modular, with several possible configurations:

A wheeled robot is driving through the hallways. It's a bit faster and more maneuverable than a roomba, but it's still a bit clunky in comparison to a human-and it absolutely cannot handle stairs. Which is why one might find Cortana in her normal hologram body carrying the thing between floors.
This time the robot is still in a wheeled configuration, but it's also equipped with an arm. It's a bit awkward, and even slower and clunkier than the first version, having to fold the arm up in order to move without tipping over, but it has one ability in particular that is proving to be invaluable: it can operate the elevator.
This version doesn't have wheels (or an arm), but stubby little legs! Cute! ...And also very slow and awkward. Still, it can move around outside without immediately getting stuck, so Cortana has taken it outside and is now 'joyriding' on the lawn.
No new configuration here, Cortana just managed to send her temporary body tumbling down the stairs by accident and a bunch of those oh so convenient modular parts popped right off and scattered over the floor. Her bound flash drive took a bit of a hit too-her hologram's nose is distinctly bloody and there's a lot of grumbling, pained noises, and swearing as she picks up the mess she made.

D) Oh hey! Cortana is actually out doing something other than playing with her new robots for once.

Or at least, she was.

Caught in the rain while on her way back from running some errand or other, she's taking shelter under a tree when the music reaches her ears. It's nice-the audio receptors on the robot bodies just aren't as good, when they even have them, roombas can't hear unless you hack them to do so-and she'll spend several minutes just listening, and listening...

She's not stressed, but transferring between systems and forms as much as she's been doing takes power, and she's been cutting back on the whole 'scaring people into practicing proper cybersecurity' teaching tactic, so she's been running low...

Yeah she's out. One moment she's got her eyes closed and an expression of peace on her face, the next she collapses bonelessly into the mud.

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Cortana blinks, taking a few seconds to calm. "Sure."

She's shaky when Eda puts her down, almost stumbling. "Thanks." She seems just a bit disoriented. She's soaked from the rain, but doesn't really seem to bother her. If she even notices.

Eda starts to put a hand out but keeps it to herself when Cortana is able to balance after all.

"Yeah, no trouble I guess--seemed like a bad idea to just leave you there. And... maybe not the best idea to be out here right now." They're getting close to the ADI compound, and while Eda is tempted to investigate the music now that she's able to think more clearly, getting out of range for the moment is probably the more reasonable plan.

"Sooo... boiling rain, huh? You're from the same place as Hunter?" A pause. "Or the Golden Guard, apparently." She makes an expression that's somewhere between amused and 'I can't believe he actually calls himself that'. She's still pretty shaky.

"Probably not, yeah. I'm not even supposed to be able to pass out." She shivers. Thanks entities.

Eda can't help snorting at Cortana's expression in regards to Hunter's title. It really is pretentious, even if the boy didn't pick it himself.

"Yeah, I'm from the same place as that little nerd," she agrees. The comment sounds more affectionate than actually malicious.

"You're not? Well, this is... some kind of bard magic I think." Which apparently works on Cortana regardless, which might be good to know.

They arrive at a gate, and Eda either doesn't think to warn Cortana that she's about to look different than usual, or decides it would be more fun to get a reaction.

"I really hate magic." She sounds so tired when she says that.

As for the form change, well, Cortana's a little shit too, so she really shouldn't be as surprised by this as she is. Not that this stops her from blinking and staring for a just noticeable amount of time before hiding it behind her usual confidence, eyes glinting with curiosity.

"So, what's with the new look?" Cortana of course, is pretty and blue again now that's she's back at ADI. Still wearing clothes, though a bit of glow does show through the fabric.

While that attitude is kind of understandable at the moment, it still strikes a nerve. Eda's expression darkens just a little, but whatever she's about to say is cut off by Cortana's reaction.

Eda folds her arms and flares her wings out a bit, raising an eyebrow as she waits for Cortana to say something. Not that she minds the staring.

"I got a new barber," she quips. "Thanks for noticing."

She looks at Eda appraisingly, drawing it out and making a show of things.

"Hmmm..." she smirks. "I wasn't aware that a barber could give you wings. Can you fly?"

She stands a little taller, and it's pretty clear she enjoys attention in this form--as long as it's not humans panicking unnecessarily at any rate.

"Yeah, I can fly like the damn wind. But... trying to keep these guys off my case for now," Eda grumbles, her expression briefly irritated. It's not using magic, by her standards at any rate, but their rules seem to include anything a human can't do and right now she's guessing that she's still on thin ice.

And Cortana is amused enough by her reaction that she'll continue to make a show of giving her that attention.

Also, she's not seen anyone like Eda before and that's fascinating.

"Yeah they don't seem to like it too much when I change size or interface with their systems." Also not magic, but somehow her ordinary AI abilities are bad while her new (and definitely magical) Human ones are fine.

Eda wrinkles her nose slightly, but moves on quickly enough. She'd rather not focus on her thoughts about the ADI too hard, right now. Though she doesn't move on from the topic entirely.

"And they don't like me changing shape. So I guess you're all stuck dealing with how hot I am. Sorry 'bout that." Eda does not sound sorry in the slightest. She might not be glad to be staying this way overall, but she doesn't have to admit that. If nothing else, she really does look great.

"I think I can get used to it."

She's not really all that into the monster look, but she's definitely more into it than the could possibly be her mom's age look. She grins.

"Oh you can, hm?" Eda leans down to grin at her in a way that mostly just emphasizes the fact she has to lean down a good distance. The teeth she shows off are all exceptionally sharp.

While she isn't particularly interested in Cortana, the AI is cute and it's fun to flirt and it's fun to get reactions.

She raises an eyebrow. Something that ought to be very noticeable as she stares Eda right in the eye.

You don't scare her, buddy.

"Huh. You're actually a few inches taller than the Chief." Her voice is overwhelmingly nonchalant - about the equivalent of a human pretending to check their nails.

To be fair, Eda wasn't going for actual fear. That leaves a bad taste in her mouth right now, and probably will for the forseeable future. Even aside from potentially feeding the entities. On the other hand, it's still slightly more nonchalant than she wanted. Oh well.

"The... who?" Yeah, she has no idea what Cortana's talking about. She raises an eyebrow as she stops leaning in.

Look, you try for impressive and intimidating, and Cortana is going to do her level best to disappoint you.

"A friend from home. One of my only friends actually. We worked as a team: he carried me around before I gained a physical body." Cortana smiles with fond nostalgia.

"That sounds... awful, actually." Eda doesn't like the idea of having to depend on anyone for that sort of thing. She supposes having a friend to do it would be better than not, though.

"Wait, you didn't used to have all this--" she just kind of gestures to Cortana as a whole, "going on?" She still doesn't really know all the details about what Cortana is, even if she's followed some of it.

"It wasn't all bad." She's smiling still, but there's a touch of sadness there, of yearning, that might suggest that it was, in fact, worse in at least some ways. To be so incredibly close to someone and yet unable to touch them? To hold them?

It was horrible. Just not for the reasons Eda is thinking.

Eda's question amuses her, though. She looks down at herself, and then back up with a grin. "Oh, I've always looked this good." She might posing just slightly. With all the work she put into designing this form, she might as well show it off. "It's just before, neither you nor anyone else could touch."

Hey Eda, imagine being this smoking hot and yet terminally unable to get laid, or even kissed. What an absolute fucking injustice.

Edited 2022-12-02 02:38 (UTC)

Eda doesn't miss that expression, but she isn't really in the mood to pry. After all, it's not like she's fond of opening up to people she hasn't known for long herself.

So instead she just laughs a little as she watches Cortana pose, and makes a little point of looking her up and down. "...Been making up for lost time?" she teases. It does sound like a nightmare.

"You know, I really ought to work on that..." Is she joking? Is she serious? Who knows.

...Okay she's probably partially serious in the sense of she should be more platonically physically affectionate with friends, and serious in the sense that she hasn't done any non-platonic stuff yet, but... hmmm...

You know, now she's thinking about it.

"Wait, have you not?" Eda can't help a little snort at that, not especially derisive but definitely amused.

"I mean, I know I would..." she says. Then again if she was new to being able to touch people at all she might just be an awkward disaster. She's an awkward disaster enough of the time anyway, even if she's better at hiding it than she used to be. But Cortana doesn't need to know that.

And well, Cortana does not quite turn entirely pink but she's very suddenly having trouble meeting Eda's eyes. Lol, someone's not quite as confident as they play at being.

"If you didn't notice, that doesn't seem to be most people's priority right now." And then she tries to cover her embarrassmentup with a bluff/challenge. "Why, you interested?"

Edited 2022-12-07 03:58 (UTC)

And Eda takes that little flustered reaction as some kind of a win. The next part just gets a shrug--maybe not most people's, but she knows there are a few workplace romances going on, and a few bars around Gloucester where she doubts it would be impossible to find short-term company.

"Wasn't what I meant..." she points out, but makes a point of looking like she's thinking about it. "But I wouldn't turn you down." Is she expecting this to go anywhere or is she just calling Cortana's bluff? Who knows!

Given that short-term company could potentially die if they aren't either a part of ADI or a cult, she hasn't been too interested.

...She hasn't been super interested anyway, actually, despite enjoying touch and finding people attractive.

Oh she's absolutely not backing down though.

"Really." There's a challenge in her voice now. She looks a little like she's squaring up for a fight. "Or is that something you say to all the girls?"

Eda can't help be a little amused by the attitude, but then again she's not backing down either. They're both going to die on this stupid hill, pretending to be less awkward than they are, possibly while making out. It's fine. This is fine.

"Nah, just the cute ones," she says, clicking her cheek and throwing in a wink for good measure. "Or the badass ones. Same goes for non-girls." She's pretty picky when it comes to actual romance, but not so much when it comes to just finding people attractive in a general sense.

"Well I suppose I do fit the first two descriptors..." Someone sure is modest. And also 100% daring Eda to go for it.

This is stupid, but there's a challenge and now she's curious. Might as well.

(She will totally regret this later.)