maidforcombat | Deerington IC Contact

Wait... what just happened?

[She tried to set her down, but oh right. She was being hugged. This wasn't right. She held her at the waist and looked at the girl for a moment. she hadn't reacted the way you would normally and the ohms felt... she knew her ohms. She knew them well. That wasn't the ohms of a human body. That was conductive.]

Uh, ok. So... no judgment, but let me ask you something kind of important. Are you human, or something else? Because... uh... you're really conductive.

And I kinda want to ask if you're shielded right now.

[Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no.

And this was going so well! She thought she finally made a new friend who wouldn't have to know what she is. Someone that treats her like a normal person and not... something else. The girl's normally bubbly smile melts away as her eyes list towards the wall behind Larxene.]

I-I do not know what you are talking about. I am a normal girl, just like all the other normal girls who live in this town.

...[Hic.]

[She laughed and leaned in, grinning at her with a mischievous light. She'd never seen her like this and it was a little cute. Reaching up, she tapped her on the lips and made a shushing noise.]

Tut. I'm a Nobody. Just because I look human doesn't mean I am one. There's nothing wrong about being different. I like different. [Tap tap.]

But... if you've got metal in you, I control electricity. I should know. I don't actually want to hurt you, Penny.

[Pause. Oh...]

Don't worry. If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't.

[She... likes different? And she's not a human, either? Penny isn't entirely sure what a Nobody is, but there's enough context to decide that despite her appearance, Larxene isn't quite like other people either. Then again, she kind of always felt that was the case. Wonder why that is...

Still, the combination of being discovered, and her embarrassment, and how close they are, and Larxene's implied acceptance, and her finger on her lips... her head is spinning, and for maybe the first time in their short friendship, the girl's cheeks burn bright red.]

If you promise not to tell anyone, then I trust you.

[She'll just wait for Larxene to pull her finger away from her lips.]

I am a one-of-a-kind android designed of armed combat. I am the first of my kind to project an Aura, the manifestation of one's soul in my world.

[So she's a real person, okay? Not just some hunk of metal and code.]

Those rocket boots you speak of? They are my legs.

Oh! So you're a humanoid robot with a soul of your own? Ok, that makes absolutely perfect sense. Maaan, I know a guy back home who would absolutely flip to meet you.

...

And I would never, ever, ever, tell him about you because Vexen is a freak, and I don't want him anywhere near you. Your secret's 100% safe with me.

[She made a zipping motion on her lips to show the promise. Oh hell no was she ever telling Vexen. He'd want to dissect her to figure it all out, and he was so annoying to boot.]

I... I think that kind of makes sense. [Tap. Tap.] You're... still figuring out who you are as a person, right? Like you're still kind of new to all this, aren't you?

I mean, if that's so... we have a little in common.

[It still astounds her how nonchalant people of this world are about realizing they are talking to a robot. With the amount of people back home who treat her like a mindless machine, she had come to expect that mentality as the norm. Even those who believe her to be more than that still tend to treat her differently. It was kind of nice to share some kind of solidarity with someone else.]

Y-yes. I have spent my whole life within the Atlas military, and have had very little personal freedom until recently. I have never been able to move about on my own like this until coming to Deerington, as odd as that may sound.

[She finally steps away from her friend, hands dropping to her lap so that she can look down at her palms.]

I am still very much getting used to being my own girl and making my own decisions. It can be very daunting, I am not sure how other people are able to do it like it is nothing.

[People having false bodies that their souls dwelled inside that were so human that the nobody became human were a creation of Vexen. The master of cloning was so good at it that honestly, the idea of an android with a soul wasn't hard to buy. Not anymore.]

Ok... yeah, yeah this is making more sense now. I've been... I've seriously been confused for a bit. I mean, hahah, ok, so it's different. I... how do I even begin?

[She breathed in and out, watching the girl move around her home a little, swallowing.]

A nobody's what's left over when a human, a somebody gets corrupted by darkness and turns into a Heartless, a sorta monster. The Nobody's a shell. We usually don't remember anything except vaguely and we're pretty much emotionally dead. We go through the motions. Pretend to be human. It's all a game for us.

But, when we die, we get put back together and... I died back home again, so I got sort of put back together and sent back here. But it's actually a whole lot messier than that. When you met me, I wasn't myself. I was hopped up on this weird stuff called ADAM. Made me want to protect kids, and I think... it kind of made me protective of you too? Except me. The Nobody me?

I'm not ... Not usually a nice person, Penny. Or at least, Larxene isn't, and that's very confusing right now.

[It takes... a moment for Penny to parse all of that information, and even then she's not sure she understands. Not entirely, at least. But as her eyebrows knit together and she tries to connect the dots, she starts to speak aloud.]

So you were human once... but was corrupted by darkness, then became a Nobody, which is not human?

[Strange, it sounds almost familiar.]

That's why you said you were a bad person, right? Because of the corruption?

[Oh wait, she said she died again. But, back in her world? And it put her back together again?]

And now, you are a human again? But does this mean that you are not really Larxene anymore?

Ok. Let's... let's go in order. You're close. First, there was Elrena. I remember her, but... I'm not actually her. I'm Larxene, and I'm a Nobody still, but ... I guess there's more room to breathe on the emotions, because I absolutely feel them right now. Really confusing ones.

[She pinched the bridge of her nose. Off topic.]

Elrena... cared about a guy. Laurium. Nice guy. Too suave for his own good. He agreed to let himself be turned into a Heartless. Experiment for a guy we trusted. She went with him. That's when she became me.

Larxene, me... I'm a sadist. I have fun watching people in pain and discomfort. Kind of like a kid with a magnifying glass and an anthill. Most nobody's? We're all pretty awful and we revel in it. Just different versions, and I had fun hurting people. So I did it a lot.

Then Sora killed me... and I was Elrena, until she and Lauriam did it again, and I was Larxene again. More hijinx. More working for Xenohart and then one day I was here. As Larxene.

And here's where it gets really weird. [She breathed.] Before I died a second time here, lost my memories on that boat. Screwed me up, made me think I was someone else, and right after I took ADAM, and it messed me up more, so I was Larxene again, but a Larxene that wanted to protect every kid I saw, including the young at heart. [She pointed at her.]

And then I died, and I forgot Larxene for two whole months, so I was kinda Elrena, but not. Right up until last wee, when I remembered, and then I remembered everything from home, including dying again because Sora's just better than me. So. I remember Elrena. Larxene. Adam-hopped up Larxene, crazy Larxene on the boat who thought she was just some roustabout bum... and it's all jumbled up in my head.

And... you... just keep coming back.

[This is all so much to take in. The poor girl has already started trying to compartmentalize the different aspects of her friend in order to properly understand just what it is that's happened to her friend.]

You really need to stop dying.

[That's, like, priority number one here. Please stay safe and stop picking fights with people who will kill you. Clearly whether it is back home or here in Deerington, it does a lot of weird and terrible things to you.]

But... I knew I had to come back. You do not want to admit it, but the Larxene I know is a nice person, who cares about me and has wanted to protect me on more than one occasion. When we first started talking, you struck me as someone lonely and confused, maybe even a little scared. I felt that I understood your pain, but maybe that was just me trying to find common ground when there was not any.

[Because she wanted to be a little less lonely, herself. Even if she has wonderful friends here already, more companionship is never a bad thing.]

What I do not understand is that you said that you enjoy hurting people. It makes you happy, and yet when you shocked me, you were concerned. You said you did not want to cause me harm. Why is that? What makes me special?

[She let her go through the thought process. Trust her. She was having trouble with it. she couldn't even bring herself to try her usual blithe quips these days. Her head pounded too much. Give her a few weeks and she'd have her nasty tongue back a bit, but right now? It was raw, a little unfiltered.]

Mmmm... At first? I'd say the ADAM was part of it, Penny. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'd probably have found a way to tease you, because I do that to everyone, even the folks I like.

But now... [Frown.] You confuse the hell out of me. It's like you want in my head, but not to figure me out. Just to get closer. I warn you that I'll hurt you, and you just don't leave me alone.

I... don't want to hurt you, I guess? The thought of you crying really bothers me, and I'm not sure why. And... it kind of felt like you were flirting with me, seriously. Nobody ever flirts with nobodies seriously.

So... I'm not sure, but you're definitely special?

It is like I said before, I trust you. I know that you would not willfully harm me, especially when even an accidental shock worried you. Teasing is a different matter, however, that I do not think would be so bad. Ruby and Yang tease each other all the time. I think it is a sign that they know and respect each other so much.

But if I am overstepping my boundaries, please say so. I do not want you to feel like I never leave you alone. And flirting...

[She's doing her very best to even properly define the term in her head.]

I am unsure I even know how to flirt with someone. That is sort of like teasing too, isn't it?

[She blinked. wait, did she give her permission to tease her a little? That... that actually helped her feel comfortable. Just a bit, knowing that she wouldn't mind. Maybe, though... a little care. Figure out what's ok.

But yeah, the flirting....]

Maaaan, you're asking the wrong girl. I used to tease a guy by doing it, but he didn't even notice because he was a Nobody. Colder fish than me. Look, let me ask you this.

Answer whichever way you want. I won't be upset. Do you want to be just friends, or did you want to try exploring more? Because I think we'd both be figuring out what that meant.

[Penny is playing with fire and she doesn't even know it.]

Exploring...?

[She's not entirely sure what that means. Then again, most of this conversation was about things that she didn't entirely understand. Or understand at all, honestly.]

Well... I would never want to put a limit on a friendship. If our relationship were to deepen, then that is a good thing, right?

[More than a bit, but at least the fire tender didn't want it to burn them both right now.]

Yeah, you know. Trying something new, going to a place you've never been. Exploring, but in your head.

[She sighed and got up from the wall, walking towards Penny a bit and reaching out for a hand.]

Look, you've been really nice to me, despite my warnings. I'm... not asking if you want to deepen a friendship. I'm asking if you want to try romance out. I mean, it's not like Nobodies do it, ever... and I'd bet Androids don't do it ever either.

I just want to understand what you want. Just friends, or have you been asking me out on a date? Because that's the sort of thing you only do with one person usually.

So. Which one we trying... because I'm saying yes either way, ok?

[Oh. Well. That's certainly painting this discussion in more black-and-white terms. Do they want to be friends, or something more? It's not something Penny had actually thought about. Ever, really. About any of her friends. She was always so excited just to have people around her that like her for who she is. Now it seems like Larxene is maybe thinking about pushing beyond that?

It's an almost scary thought, venturing into unknown territory like that. Then again, what has coming to Deerington been but an exercise in pushing out of one's comfort zone. Still, it seemed like most of her friends were in some kind of relationship or another. Yang and Blake had their special bond, Ruby has started dating Varian...

She reaches out to take Larxene's hand out of instinct. It felt right being this close to someone else, even if her hands still tingle with electricity from their first shock.

She would need to come up with a way to avoid things like that in the future.]

This has not been what I expected this conversation to be when I first came here today.

[Now Larxene knows what Penny is, and Penny, Larxene. Two people that weren't quite human, trying to find their way in the world together. It is an interesting dynamic that she had never had the opportunity to explore before. No one else in her world is really like her. Arguably, no one in this world is either, but... Larxene may be the closest there is.]

Okay. [She nods, her usual warm smile creeping across her lips once more.] I accept your proposal. I will be your girlfriend.

[That was so analytically intact that it made her laugh a little while she took her hand and breathed in softly, reaching up with her other hand to brush at Penny's face with an affection she'd seen someone use for a girlfriend before. leaning in, she tried to give her a little peck on the cheek and sighed softy eyes closed.]

Fair warning, I have... absolutely no idea what I'm doing Penny so... be a little patient with me. I'm an old villain trying to turn over a new leaf, just a tiny bit. I'm not going to be a good person... but I'll be good for you.

[zot... AHEM]

But, seriously... we should talk about your shielding. I don't have the best control. How... how shielded are your circuits?

[Goodness, well that sure is something Penny enjoyed. Somehow she hadn't expected another girl's lips to feel so soft?]

Um...

[Penny. She asked you a question, Penny. It's time to think about electricity and not how warm her hand felt against her face.]

I-I am... designed to withstand electric shock. [Stop looking at her lips. Look her in the eyes like a normal person. Those pretty... yellow eyes.

Crap.]

A brief shock will not do any permanent damage, but I am unsure what a sustained current would do.]

[That reaction. The way that she seemed to be looking at he. The way she was freezing. Larxene swallowed and her lips quivered a little, closer, her breath very close to Penny's. Elrena'd never kissed anyone. Larxene had never kissed anyone. What was it supposed to feel like? she was... curious. That was what it was. she was curious. Would she feel anything?]

I can avoid sustained current. It's usually not much worse than a static jolt...

...

Do you want me to kiss you? I mean, we're not on a date... but... I could.

[Static she can deal with. It's not the most comfortable thing, but it won't do anything serious to her.

What's much more concerning is how close Larxene was to her now. She could feel the moisture of her breath, the warmth of her words. She... wanted to kiss her. Is that okay?]

Do... people only kiss... when they are on a date?

I think... people who are dating do it whenever they want to.

[Her forehead was resting against Pennny's and one hand now circled the small of her back while the other rested against the back of her neck. Her lips were close enough that they were practically touching, tiny little sparks running as electrons tunneled from lip to metal lip. Larxene swallowed hard again, her eyes closed.]

I kind of ... really want to. Is it bad that I want to kiss you?

...Are you sure?

[She puts one hand on Larxene's shoulder, a concerned look on her face. Not that she's making any effort to move away.]

I do not want anything bad to happen, if we are not supposed to kiss outside of a date.

I'm ... sure that I want to kiss you. Yes.

I'm also sure that I'm not going to kiss you unless you want me to kiss you too.

[There was a shallow breath. A swallow, and her eyes closed.]

And ... I don't really care what we're 'supposed' to do. I care about what you want to do. So, if you want to kiss me? Kiss me. I'm just going to close my eyes and let you choose.

Kiss me... or we wait. I'll be happy either way.

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