It was… rather amusing that she thought he was being kind. Really, he had just been making things easier for himself–it was coincidence that she benefited from it. Nevertheless, he decided to refrain from correcting her.
If she wanted to believe he was kind, then who was he to burst her bubble?
Blues paused a moment at her question, carefully considering his options. He could always tell her they were simply colleagues, but then that could bring up what he did, which would not be preferable.
“Well…” He began, pushing himself off the wall, “I suppose you could say we ran into each other.” It was vague, and a lie, but what else could he say?
He decided to change the topic, so to avoid any further questioning. Perhaps that was suspicious, but he was always suspicious. It was only natural that he played his role of the morally-grey mystery robot, right?
“What is your name, child?” He didn’t miss the identification on her wallet, of course, but he didn’t want her to know that. The point was to seem less observant than he was, as not to be threatening.
“Like, literally or…?”
Hopefully that’d make him snort a bit. She’d feel a little accomplished with that, she liked making people laugh.
Her name? Oh! Right, her name.
“My name’s Rebecca. I’m just a trainee still but…”
She had been making strides in her stealth training, and no one but Blues had actually noticed her. Her dream was to get into the 00th unit at some point.
Though she didn’t mind him calling her ‘child’. After all, she had been modeled after a 12 year old. Even with her physical upgrade, she still looked around 13-14, and it was intentional.
Whatever question the child had, even if it was considered ‘rude,’ Blues wouldn’t be offended by it. He disliked human standards to begin with; they got offended over things that in his opinion, should be commonplace to ask.
His eyes followed her over to the vending machine, watching as she pulled out her purse to pay. A hint of a smirk played on his lips as he spoke, bemused.
“You don’t have to pay. It’s already set to give you whatever you want.” If she were to look at the screen, it read that the maximum amount of money had already been inserted, and that all she needed to do was select her item.
The prototype casually leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest as he watched for a reaction. It would likely play out in one of two ways: either the girl would assume he’d paid for her and be grateful, or she’d realized that he’d cheated the system and get angry.
It didn’t really matter to him. Perhaps he’d get an interesting, unexpected reaction? That would certainly be entertaining.
Rebecca blinked and then looked up at Blues, looking at him like he somehow grew a second head. Then she looked at the screen, her little ponytail swinging a bit.
He had paid for her? She hadn’t seen him put any zenny in, and wireless transfers were dangerous! So how had he…? But a phrase she had learned when she had still be a newbuilt was ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’. If someone wanted to be kind, she’d damn well be grateful.
So she smiled brightly and snapped her purse closed again, putting it back in her pocket. The ID on the little outside pocket had read ‘Rebecca’, along with her ID number, and if Blues looked up her file, it would read that she had been built on base as well as her service record.
“Thank you, Blues.”
She looked through the list of e-tanks and spotted the type she took, it was one of the cheapest ones on the list. She tapped the selection, tapping it once more to confirm. A second later, it clunked down and she took it from the dispenser.
Then she cracked her’s open and sipped at it, looking quite happy before turning back to Blues, smile still bright as the sun. She probably would remind him of X in a way with that smile.
“You’re very kind. Thank you so much.”
She looked down at her tank before sipping at it again, then looked back up, curiosity sparking in those vibrant blue eyes.
“Is it okay if I ask how you and X met?”
Ah yes, there was her curiosity, just like her father’s. Cautious but not very restrained when they wanted to ask questions.
Blues found the girl’s shyness somewhat endearing. He never understood why humans made child models–since they could not age–but nevertheless tried to treat such units with kindness.
This one was no exception.
“Ah… yes. I suppose you could say I am,” he responded, putting on what he remembered to be a polite smile. Using human mannerisms was… annoying, but it seemed to be the only thing the reploids knew.
The slip was not missed, but the DLN chose not to bring attention to it. It was obvious that she didn’t want him to know she was one of X’s children, and he didn’t want to push her too far out of her comfort zone.
“You can call me Blues.”
So if this person was friends with her Dad, X must trust him. Vibrant sapphire eyes flicked up to the sunglasses the other was wearing, and familiar curiosity sparked in the younger’s eyes. She looked quite like her Dad with an expression like that.
But she refrained from asking, as she felt her question was probably a little rude.
“It’s nice to meet you, Blues. I’m sorry if what I was doing made you uncomfortable…”
Because now that she thought about it, it probably did and that made her more embarrassed.
Oh! Right, she should probably get a can from the machine. Her feet tapped quietly on the floor, showing that she had actually been making an effort to be silent, and she went up to the machine, pulling her little blue purse from out of her pocket, so she could decide on what to get.
Blues was… admittedly very tired. He’d heard there was a vending machine that sold E-tanks, which would help bring up his efficiency by at least a few percentage points. He was about to put money in, when he realized that he had no idea what kind of currency they used in this century.
All he had was a few American dollars and a handful of yen, which were mixed in with other types of coins from varying countries. He decided he didn’t want to try them, as they might be valuable if those countries didn’t exist anymore.
Thus, he simply tilted his head and began wirelessly hacking the machine. It was rather simple–all it took was a few moments of decrypting and slightly modifying the code to give him unlimited credit.
As he was waiting for the mechanism to release what he wanted, he noticed a slight signal–which he had at some point recognized as the presence a reploid had–behind him. He turned, expecting it to be some hunter wanting the vending machine.
“Mm?” There was someone hiding around the corner. Strange. “You can come out. I’m almost done here, if you’re wanting at this.” He pulls the tank out of the tray it was finally presented on, cracking it open and taking a sip.
He was still entirely ready to jump into action should this person be an attacker, but he kept up the careful facade of being completely relaxed.
Rebecca made a very distinctive squeak before revealing her face and looking a bit sheepish.
“A-Ah, no, I’m…”
She had been curious, and her face went a bit pink. How to word this…?
“I, uh, was just curious. I’ve never seen you around here before, but you’re friends with D- X?”
She hoped that accidental slip hadn’t been obvious. Probably to anyone else it wouldn’t have been.
Rebecca had spotted the man in the trench coat down the hallway, involuntarily letting out a squeak before diving behind a wall. Who was the guy who seemed to be really friendly with X? Someone from Cain Labs? What would he be doing in Headquarters though?
She peeked out from behind the wall to look at him, before squinting vibrant blue eyes. He looked a bit like Rock actually, mostly in the hair. The mess was a bit distinctive
Was he related to Rock? Maybe the same creator?
Wait, did he see her? She hid behind the wall a bit more, but she couldn’t exactly keep her bangs from peeking out with her…
Back in the Game 