Being Human |
Summary: | Cora's had a bad week, and Syd is up for listening to her. Note that I kinda forgot Cora was interested in Koga too OOCly, so I've modified this log in an attempt to patch continuity. |
Date: | 2019.01.27 |
Related: | None |
NPCs: | {$npc} |
Scene Runner: | {$runner} |
Location
Metis/Prometheus Upstairs
Effectively this is the common area of the dorms. There is a large screen TV, with a hi-tech entertainment system and surround sound. There is a collection of couches and other comfortable chairs and tables all grouped in an assortment of conversation spaces, along with a bookcase or two, not that many teens read books anymore. They are there for the ones that still do. The walls and floor are done in tasteful neutral colors though there is a splash of green or yellow, in the curtains or the furnishings.
Scene
Cora's dressed comfortably today, very much. But beyond that she's just curled up on one of the chairs, sort of sitting on the side of her hip and legs curled up. She's resting her head against the chair back and just staring into space. She's got her tablet on her lap, but she's not really looking at it.
Sydney wanders downstairs looking annoyed. Not quite at the "Hulk Smash" level, but annoyed nonetheless. She's carrying her ipad and her keyboard, and what looks like (and is) a sandbag. It probably becomes clearer why, when she sets the bag on the floor and sits on it. Kind of like a mini-beanbag chair that doesn't squash flat under her mass. "Hey.
Cora holds up her hand, "Hey." She says, her tone weaker than usual. She shifts around a bit where she's laying, at least to be sitting up more straight. Though that's not doing too much more. She looks over curiously at what Syd has there. "Having a good weekend?" She still sounds a little distant.
Sydney shrugs. "Computer problems. Basically, Netflix doesn't support Raspberry Pi, and all the hacks that you used to be able to do to get it don't work. I mean I have an account… they asked me my date of birth, and I told them, right?" She sighs. "I'm supposed to have one of those udoo bolt things coming, but it's delayed.
Sydney looks at Cora. "You ok?
"Did you try that new hack from the article on…" Insert fancy hacker website here. "…that might work." Cora says all of this in that same tone, but oddly not even needing to think about it long. "Or maybe find Cid, he's great those sorts of things." A little shrug as she lets out a sigh. "Just hoping nothing more goes wrong. I sorta… the last week's just sucked. One of those I couldn't do anything right."
Sydney looks over at Cora and jots down what she said. "Uhh… no…. I didn't. I never heard of that one. She scootches her sandbag closer to Cora. "Sounds like what you've got going on is kinda more important than binge-watching "Breaking Bad." Could you… elaborate?
Cora curls up a bit tighter, shifting to hug her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. "I just… I seem to make things worse. I was talking to Kaylee for some help with the whole Buddy issue, and… he overheard and took it the wrong way so now he hates me. And then I had homeworks I needed to do and couldn't hang out with Bronwyn and now she hates me. And then I messed up something Dr. Ricci had me doing so she's not happy and someone's in trouble." Her voice keeps getting just a bit higher as she goes on.
Sydney sighs gently. "Buddy can be touchy, but I doubts he hates you. I doubt he hates anyone who hasn't hit him with a cattle prod. I don't know Bron that well, really. Dr. Ricci is… well… patient, anyway. We're kind of stuck right now. I'm not making much progress getting better, but I'm not having a lot of problems right now either. Just struggling like mad to keep my head above the water schoolwork-wise." Syd offers an arm, apparently including a hug. "You don't have to be perfect. I mean shit… if we knew how to do everything right, why would we even need to be in school, right?"
"Apparently Buddy's in a lot of trouble now too." Cora says softly. "The… ones who held him captive are free now. I don't know if they escaped or were released or whatever. But apparently that's made him start to go feral." Then there's a hug being offered, and she blinks a few times, hesitates, and then accepts it. "This week I think it was just the homework that kept me grounded, at least then I wasn't stuck thinking about the rest."
The steel girl is warm and surprisingly soft. She squeezes Cora gently. "Nobody tells me nothin' around here. Someone comes after him, let me know, and I'll go after them. They'll think an angry bear is a huge improvement after that."
"The problem is?" Cora begins, "Buddy's still missing. Some of us were looking, but couldn't find him. Dr. Ricci included. He's terrified about the people coming for him again." Another little sigh. "And Math class still sucks too. I don't like numbers." She adds, with a sardonic little laugh.
Sydney clutches Cora a little tighter. Not too tight, but still. She's concerned. "Fuck. That's a problem. I have no idea how to find him if he doesn't want to be found. I mean, we'd need someone with a dog-like nose or something. What if we tried to find the guys who hurt him? They at least live in the human world, right? If Buddy wants to hide, he can turn into a Canada goose and blend in so you'd never notice. But if he wants revenge… he might be looking for them.
"Dr. Ricci thinks he's more terrified than anything." Cora says worriedly. In the way of a fourteen year old who's empathy level is turned up past 11. She hugs back more too. "And he thinks everyone here hates him too, because of what he overheard. It was one of those came in at the wrong time and everything sounded bad moments. I was so stupid. I never should've talked about it with Kaylee. I was just annoyed at how Buddy keeps doing things as an animal which aren't right for a human to do, like he touched my waist in the pool when he was a dolphin and I didn't like it."
Syd looks at Cora with a puzzled expression. "Your waist? What's wrong with someone touching your waist? And be glad he didn't do it the dolphin way. I'm told they sometimes use their genitals when they're curious what something feels like. And males are prehensile." Sydney Turner, fount of useless trivia. Especially on that topic. "Like I said, I cut him a lot of slack. He hasn't sniffed my butt or anything, but even if he did… I mean is he doing it to be creepy, or is it just the dog thing? I can't see Buddy having much in the way of ulterior motives… or is my sensitivity to creepy just broken, at this point?"
The other things Syd says leaves the poor girl looking more horrified! Cora, now definitely more corrupted! Then she ends up leaning back then, looking up to the ceiling. "I just… didn't like it. And it surprised me. But I know he didn't mean it. He just… shouldn't." She tries to explain. "He needs to stop hiding behind being an animal to excuse things. He's human, even then."
Sydney looks down. "He doesn't do it to excuse things. He does it because it's his experience. Being human isn't something you're born knowing how to do. It's something you work at. I mean… I'll use myself as an example. I look human, more or less. Right? But whether I am or not is a fair question. I mean, I'm an undifferentiated mound of thick, non-Newtonian fluid by nature, made up of basically stem cells fused with nanomachines. I could flush myself down the toilet if I really wanted to, although it'd be super-bad for the pipes. I work at being human. Some of it is subconscious… If I let myself become inhuman, I lose what's left of the girl I was when I was remade, and that feels like death to me. Some of it is because I want to have friends and be able to understand them, and all that. And I don't know. What if I stopped? Would I be human? Would I be… a machine? an alien life form? would all the rules of being human still apply to me? That's where I see Buddy. He stopped being human. It hurt too much.
Cora looks down too, sighing and just looknig ashamed. "See? Even when I try to justify I make things worse and come off like I'm an awful person." She sniffles. "So yeah, I'm hope someone finds him soon, and helps. I know I pissed him off and I feel awful about it. But I even seemed to make him madder when I apologized before he ran off."
Syd sighs. That wasn't what she was trying to do at all. She begins again. "Bottom line is you don't like being touched that personally. I'm just trying to understand why you feel that way. I guess… I mean it was different in 1982, but I guess now… yeah… you do get to decide what is an appropriate touch and what isn't." She looks at Cora, her expression becoming a little more determined. "We. Get to decide," she says more firmly. So I see what you're saying, now that I think about it. You're right. And I was wrong. I'm sorry. I was just pointing out that Buddy might not be as human as you think anymore, and that I don't think you have to be afraid of his motives, but… it's not about that, is it?"
"No," Cora says dejectedly. "It's not. It's that I can't help him. I know I didn't like it, but I never thought he meant it badly either." She raises her hands to rub at her temples. "I mean, I… I like, I'm not used to being touched much anyways. It's just.." Another little sigh. "Things were just going so well until last week."
Sydney nods, thinking carefully before speaking (for a change). "This… well I mean it's normal, really. Things are going along fine, and then all of a sudden something gets misunderstood and there's all kinds of sturm and drang… or you try to go beyond who you've always been, and screw it up… or you fall for someone… and then start noticing all the other attractive people around… I mean… talk about being human…
Cora sulks a bit more then too, "Ugh… that too. I found out Koga's seeing someone as well." She squeaks out sheepishly. "See? Things got so bad I almost forgot about that." She covers her mouth to stifle a yawn then too.
Sydney siiighs. "Oh man." Syd closes her eyes. Did she know Cora was interested in Koga too? Erica certainly made it clear she was. "That sucks," is all the steel girl manages to get out. "Do you know who?" Syd knows…
"Erica, I think it was. That was the night other stuff happened too, so I'm a bit hazy on it. Just… another bad thing." She just shakes her head. "So yeah, that was my week. Hopefully things get better." Another little yawn. "I should probably get to bed soon." Cora says then.
You say, "We should totally have a sleepover or something. I mean… you're just getting to know people, I like having company and my roomie's never around when I am… maybe get some wine or something, watch trashy romance movies and like that… I used to hear girls in my classes back in the day talking about that, and I never actually did it, but it sounded like fun."
"That might be fun, yeah." Cora says, "I'd be worried about the wine though. I don't wanna get in trouble." She actually sounds terrified of the whole getting in trouble thing. But she's standing up then, grabbing her tablet. "Hopefully see you tomorrow. If not, hope classes go well this week." She tries to smile, but even by her typically weak smile's standards, it's weak.