Birthday Regrets

[failedpromise]

Who: Cortana and you
When: November 7th
Where: ADI
Summary: It's Cortana's 11th birthday! Someone thought it would be a good idea to announce this, and her age, to everyone by having a cake brought to the ADI breakroom.
Warnings: Possibly none, but age is an incredibly loaded topic for smart AI, so there's a possibility of mental illness, terminal illness, euthanization, and other fucked up topics coming up. Will warn in thread if they do.

Let it be known that Cortana had no part in this.

In fact, for the first part of the day she has no idea what's going on at all, just that a lot of people seem to be smiling and waving at her. It's not until someone says Happy birthday! followed by Are you really only 11? that she realizes what must have happened. A few panicked-to a degree that's probably surprising since it's literally just a birthday announcement-questions later and she's making a beeline for the breakroom only to find ...a big birthday cake. Yes, really. It says happy 11th birthday Cortana, or it would if part of the words hadn't already been cut away and eaten.

It's a wonderfully thoughtful gesture... but, judging by the swearing Cortana is doing, not a particularly appreciated one.

(ooc: Birthday log! Feel free to have your character stumble across Cortana freaking out over the cake as per the prompt, or you can wish her a happy birthday yourself, ask her about her age, whatever. Person who had the cake brought in is Steve Rogers.)

Comments

[worthallthis]

Winter finally looks up and pins her with a scowl. "Do you still want to?"

[failedpromise]

"I did say almost, didn't I? But no. My death won't fix anything." It would, in fact, make things worse by upsetting her friends and robbing her of all the good things she's gained here.

Millions of people have died because she wasn't willing to: she had better not waste the time given to her.

She just ...wished she'd known that would be the price of being unwilling to terminate herself. Of letting the Chief fight to save her. Of finding a 'cure' in the Domain.

"I'll be okay, Winter." She smiles, but there's sadness in her eyes.

[worthallthis]

In Winter's (admittedly limited) experience, when people say they "almost" wanted something, it usually means they did in fact want that thing. He watches her for a moment longer, brows close together with what is probably concern, then settles back a little. "Good. I don't want anything to happen to you. You're my team."

[failedpromise]

She smiles at him. "Thanks, Winter. I'll try to work on staying safe." No promises. She's not sure if she'll be able to keep them.

He still considers her a part of his team even after she's admitted to being dangerous, huh? Well, he doesn't seem to believe it, but she's surprised he hasn't even asked for details. Would he want anything to do with her if he knew?

[worthallthis]

She's never been dangerous to him. And he doesn't believe she would be. If she's going through all that effort with the robot to keep herself safe from becoming an avatar, he believes she'll be safe for everyone else here, too. That's really all there is to it.

He sets his fork down and reaches over to touch her hair, gingerly and well-telegraphed, stroking it once before letting his fingers fall. "Will your new body have hair?" he asks. "Can I still do this?"

[failedpromise]

Just because she never wanted to be a mass murdering, insane, tyrant doesn't change that for a little while, she was one.

Still, she smiles at him when he says that. "Of course ...though I won't be able to feel it as much as I do now." That hint of sadness is back. "Touch in robots is still pretty limited: while I'll be able to sense basic pressure and temperature, ADI can only afford to foot the bill for more advanced sensors in my hands." She holds her hands up, palms open, to emphasize this statement.

[worthallthis]

If we're going with past actions, Winter's a mass murderer, too. What she was in the past doesn't matter to him beyond accepting it and moving on, and making sure she has the support to not have to do it again.

"Hmm." He considers this, then puts his plate down and holds out his hand for hers, instead. "I can do that sometimes, too," he says. "It's getting easier."

[failedpromise]

True. And yet, Cortana will condemn herself for her actions while excusing Winter's.

But then, she might not know about any of this, but Winter also held back on betraying his best friend. Cortana may not have killed the Chief, but what she did do was almost worse.

...She should thank the monitor for taking him from her.

"I'm glad." Winter should be able to touch his friends without fear or hurting. She smiles, then takes his hand in hers. "I wonder ...do you like your hair being touched?"

[worthallthis]

He curls his fingers gingerly around hers. It's not her robot-hand yet, but he figures he ought to practice. "I don't know. Nobody's tried. It's soothing to brush it myself, though. When it doesn't try to eat the brush." Now that he's healthy and free and not being drugged or zapped or frozen all the time, his hair is pretty thick and would curl if it wasn't so long.

[failedpromise]

She squeezes his hand gently and looks at him for a moment, considering.

"You wanna try?"

[worthallthis]

He tilts his head thoughtfully, and says, "Sure."

Then, with the solemn kind of ultra-bland tone like he usually makes when he's telling a joke, "Should I bend down for you?"

Because he's quite a bit taller than her, and all.

[failedpromise]

Cortana grins. "If you want."

She'll give him a moment to decide. Whether he does or doesn't though, she'll reach out (or up) to touch his hair.

[worthallthis]

Because it amuses him, he does bend over a little, at the waist, to let her reach more easily.

It's odd... but not bad. His hair is loose today, so she won't have any trouble playing with it or trying to get her hands through it, beyond the occasional tangle, of which there definitely are a few.

[failedpromise]

And she's definitely going to run her fingers through his hair, provided he doesn't seem terribly uncomfortable with this. When she inevitably finds a tangle, she lets out a sound between a laugh and a sigh and gently works her way through it.