Radius || Open - Printable Version
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Radius || Open - danixiewrites - 11-17-2014
>>Point. Breathing would be good.
She hadn't considered that; one more in a litany of reasons Sascha was grateful to have him on her side. Any other gig, she would've dived headfirst into the chute and dealt with the consequences later. The datathief scampered after the humanoid shell Voltaire inhabited, her feet freezing on the bare floor. She waited while he inspected their route for what felt an eternity, though in all likelihood it was seconds. There in the hallway she felt exposed, moreso than she'd been in the monitored room, since the open vent would be in line of sight to anyone who turned the corner.
An elevator? Curiosity flitted through her anxiety for an instant before she jolted into action.
Not bothering to type a response to his green light, Sascha scrambled into the intake with one hand on the grill and one blind hand feeling for the drop, yanking the cover tight before moving ahead a few feet. She muffled a curse as the drop found her, blind and trusting and desperately fighting the urge to claw at the walls. Banging away at the inside of their hiding place would be an invitation; at least she'd recovered enough presence of mind to remember how stealth worked. Slowly, her skillset would work its way past her fear until she was back in her element--she hoped--and with any luck at all she'd head toward autopilot: run, blend, hack, and dig.
Her toes connected with chill plastic. Palming the walls and settling the arches of her feet firmly on what she hoped were his shoulders, she grinned suddenly. Green letters gleamed across her display in the darkness.
>>Ah! I see. Gooooing down? =^.^=
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
COR 11 wasn't really sure what to make of the robed figure leaving the now-opaque tube and heading for the spot at the bar he'd made his own earlier. What he did know, however, was that the longer he remained out in the open like this, the more likely he was to get picked up on the sensors, or to simply be noticed by Coan. He had to get out of the the public space as quickly and covertly as possible, and he actually knew he had an opening. Or at least, he suspected he did. It was a gamble, perhaps, to put so much risk on whether a stripper who had just brought herself to orgasm in front of an entire club full of people would be willing to take him up to a room for a fuck, but it was his best option at the moment, so he got up, fingering the credit chit in the pocket of his jacket as he approached her, and finally forcing his way into a seat next to her, sitting facing her at a slight angle, and toying with an empty glass that had been left on the bar.
"So, I wanna take you upstairs. Give you a good time, y'know? Enjoy your company. You in?"
It was a lame start, he figured, but he supposed there was an endearing quality to his earnestness. Even when it was ever-so-slightly dishonest. He wasn't, after all, thinking of fucking her right now, despite his desire to do so being undeniable. Much as he wanted to, he had bigger problems. One of which was the inevitable discovery of his presence here if he stuck around on this floor.
He needed a room to crash in. Maybe she could provide. But it all rode on whether or not she said yes to his question, and whether she did actually join him upstairs. He found himself gently biting his lower lip, thoughts conflicted about how to treat this woman. Whether to trust her or not, especially. But most important was simply getting out of the public space. Once she took a good look at him, it would be clear enough that he wasn't human, that he was an android. But he was an unfamiliar model. A unique robot. Something unusual. And even as his eyes went from blue to green to indicate his recognition of her as a friendly, he hoped it wasn't some kind of mistake. That she wouldn't recognize his make and model. That she wouldn't be affiliated with Coan. The thought made his unoccupied hand clench a bit, and he had to focus to get it to loosen.
It would come.
Radius || Open - Kat - 11-17-2014
<img style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;" src="http://i.imgur.com/FYpuFlo.png" style="avatar]"Did you enjoy the show?"
Her voice didn't fit her stage presence, a stark contrast that whispered sweet and low before he spoke. Before she really had time to see him. When he began with his spiel, the Lepi shifted her maroon orbs towards his portrait to make out his expression. He wasn't as tall as she was, more humanoid than not, but synthetic. To what extent, she couldn't say for sure. She wasn't all that familiar with synthetics outside of the few who worked around the club, and even that lot weren't anything the dancer spent much time mulling over. As if she had time... "And I want a penthouse with wine fountains and gold encrusted bedding. It's awful to want, isn't it?"
Glass rose to be sipped at, savored, her face refusing to truly meet the android's while he was so close. There was a shift in the way she presented herself, and one could only tell when they were this close, asking things this personal. She smelled like sex, her hair a disheveled tuft jutting out every which way between and surrounding those rabbit-like antennae, which her free hand had tried to tame back to an orderly position. It was futile to try, the sweat and steam of the act had destroyed any hopes for styled hair, which is likely why Dax refrained from growing out her pale filaments any more than the playful crop job she sported currently. Just enough to tug intimately, but not enough for a bitch to grab hold of in the middle of a fight. On rare occasion, those happened, but she was better safe than sorry.
"What do you need me for anyway? Can you even have sex?"
Not bothering to be coy with her questions, Daxet's tongue ran along her bottom lip while she studied his appearance through the corner of her eye. For a moment, she could have sworn he looked like someone she knew, but with a factory face, maybe that was more common than not. It would be rude to spring that sort of question towards her company, no matter what sort of answer she was working out in her head to fill the gap in information. With long legs crossed at the thigh, she used her elbow against the counter to re-position, content to meet him half away so their private affair involved each party's knees touching. If she didn't get a few shots in her system, she was going to freak out over how close he was, so Dax snapped her fingers for the serving bot.
"3." And the bot took off as simple as that, returning with her three shots of tequila, a wedge of lime, and a personalized packet of salt. The rest was ignored as she did the shots one after another, hammering them down when finished so the bot could whisk the empty vessels away.
"Isn't it my job to give you a good time?" Offhandedly, the Lepi mused with a half smile, her mind still too clear for her own good. If she was smart, she would light up on the way to whatever weird romp she was walking face first into accepting. She stuck a hand out, with long fingers and clean nails decorated with small jewels, and clasped her digits expectantly towards her palm. "How many credits are you giving me? Will they cover a room as well?"
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
He blinked at the first question she'd asked, somewhat baffled, then nodding gently, pausing partway in, and reconsidering. He nodded, still, though with a little more reluctance this time before he watched her in earnest as she went on to ask what he could even need her for anyway. If he could even have sex. Something in his head clicked, and he nodded again, this time speaking up to answer her question more directly.
"Well uh. why don't you come and find out?"
Maybe a little deceptive, perhaps. He expected she would get from that sentiment was different in a few ways from what he meant by it. It wasn't as though he couldn't have sex, he absolutely could, and if he knew anything from the memories he'd been given, he was actually rather good. But that wasn't his purpose in talking to the Lepi, and although it made him a little annoyed that his objective didn't involve making love to her until she forgot herself in her pleasure, he had some things to hammer out before the thought was even an option. So he watched her as she took down the shots and asked him what her job was. At this, he could only shrug. It wasn't really his interest to answer that sort of question. To try and pin her down on details about what he thought or how he came up with whatever cheese he'd chosen to open with. So when she opened her hand and offered it, expecting payment he quickly grabbed the chit from his pocket and set it on her hand.
"Everything left on it. Should be, uh, quite a lot. More than enough for a room for a few nights, I'd guess. Can we, uh, hurry up and get outta here, though? Not a fan of crowds...."
Possibly the most sketchy thing he'd said all night, if he had to imagine, but he really didn't need the chit much more, now that he was inside. All of his finances from here on out could be easily enough managed through work or service. Theft if things got down to it. But most importantly, he needed to at least get enough time to let the heat on his tail cool off and forget about him. Let the alerts die, so to speak. Taking this lovely woman up to a room was the perfect thing to do that with, and since she seemed willing enough, he was hopeful.
Radius || Open - Kat - 11-17-2014
<img style="avatar" src="http://i.imgur.com/FYpuFlo.png" style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;]Dax initially thought of Paskar.
Then, following the breadcrumbs, she thought of her first worries involving Paskar. Possessiveness. Clingy-ness. Worrying and fretting about what her job entailed. She wasn't even dating him, but there was a flash of concern across her face when she thought about what she was agreeing to. Dax may have dwelt on the issue longer is the stranger hadn't pitched more cheese her way, stealing a very small grin that tugged at the edge of her glossed lips. "I'll take your word for it-" Rising to her full height, the Lepi was taller than most of the standing individuals near them. Not so tall that she seemed disproportionate, her curves wrapped that alien skeletal structure like a glove, with accentuating curves and swells of ripe flesh. Nothing about the Lepi was classically unattractive, save maybe for her flattened nose, though even that had a strange allure to it.
"Here, I'll ring you up and get the chit on file." Gliding along, one may have wondered how such a creature could move so fluidly in four inch heels, but Dax didn't seem at all bothered by her shoes. Swiping the credit chit over the clear part of the counter, the area she stood within lit up and gave her access to the display panel for lodging and board. Tacking a few commands against the glass, her painted nails caught the neon light, drawing attention to the detail each acrylic had canvased over their surface. It was a labor of love if there ever was. Dax finished with a quiet grunt, a sound humans likely didn't have the vocal range to make, and motioned for the android to follow as she clacked away against the lighted floors. Her heels were soft, inaudible while they directed those plump hips, which sashayed and swayed tantalizingly from the bar to the elevator.
Reaching the lift, he was given a moment to follow suit, but would soon after find himself being vertically driven towards the floor in question. Dax hadn't picked anything too high up, settling on a free room on the seventh level, where no one was currently booked. The last thing she needed was a lecture from someone she knew in the club, because as far as policy went, it was still frowned upon to sleep with customers. Dax wasn't much of a rebel in most regards, but when it came to quick credits, Sagh could fuck himself. To even qualify to dance in Radius, she had been forced to deal with his meaty paws and rough teeth; that meant he didn't get to make the shots on who she fucked otherwise.
Same with Paskar, no matter what sort of strange rendezvous the two had a few nights ago.
Dax didn't speak much on the trip, only giving a knowing smile if he looked her way, waiting for him to get cold feet. Did his kind ever get nervous over sexual matters? Were they programmed for anxiety? The elevator stopped with a muted ding, freeing the two to continue moving, which meant more ass shaking from the Lepi, though it wasn't intentional. After being in the business this long, one walked the way they were trained to walk. His room was near the lift, and she scanned a small keycard to open it to them, though soon set the card off on the nearest side table so she didn't accidentally walk off with it when she left.
"Do you mind if I smoke?" Dax didn't wait to hear his answer, pulling out a short spliff from her robe pocket with the matches it was tangled in. Placing it between her lips, she struck the match quickly and waved it out when she was done, walking the spent stick to the toilet, over which she sucked down a long drag of her vice. "So, where do we start?" Still in the bathroom, the Lepi stared blankly at her reflection while she waited, trails of the electric blue smoke filling the small lavatory.
She had never been with a robot before.
Radius || Open - yinepuhotep - 11-17-2014
"That would be pretty cool," Elsie said, nodding. "Of course, the poor guy would have to learn how to tend bar, first. The geniuses who run this place all abandoned him on the bar, when it was obvious he only knows the recipes he makes at home, and no one even bothered to teach him where everything is behind the bar. If it wasn't for his personality, they'd have done better just leaving the robotenders in charge."
She shook her head and chuckled, remembering the chaos when she'd arrived. "He did the best he could with what they gave him, but seriously, his people do not do well with 'the best he could'. They are either your superior or they are mud. There is no in-between for them. At least, that's what I've noticed when I've dealt with them in the past."
She gave the other woman a thoughtful look. Something about her seemed eternally frustrated, like she'd rather be ANYWHERE other than on this miserable rock. Not that Elsie could blame her. Unless you were one of the executives, living in the colony was certain to be an exercise in continuous crushing dehumanization. She'd rather experience explosive decompression and be done with it than live under that kind of misery.
"Eh, no one's naturally good with strangers," Elsie said, giving her an encouraging smile. "Some people just appear that way, because they've been practicing since they were kids. Kind of like how I seem to be a natural pilot, but that's just because I've been practicing since I was old enough to pick up the joystick in a flight simulator game." She smiled and shrugged, like it was no big deal. "What brings me to the Radius? It's the most well-known, and least disturbing, choice that's in my budget for groundside. I'm a specialized free trader. I deal in small packages that are valuable enough to justify my price. My ship is fast, agile, and small enough to not be noticed, most of the time, so it's perfect for when you want something - or yourself - to get from one colony to another without going through the Alliance's red tape and outrageous fees. So, I made a delivery here, decided to park myself for a while and see if I can pick up any jobs. How about you? What gets you stuck in a place like this, instead of somewhere you'd much rather be?"
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
As COR 11 followed her, his adaptive subconscious recognized their height difference and began to take steps to rectify the potential strangeness. What started as a six-foot android was, by the end of the journey to the room itself, about an inch taller than her, and with a similar frame. The growth had been smooth, the ceramic substance that acted as his skin simply opening to allow more of him to the surface before resealing silently. The entire process took only a few minutes, and by the end, he was left with a new view of the world, even if it was only because he was a bit higher up. Still, the android settled into the room easily enough, taking a seat on the bed and watching her move to the bathroom.
She hadn't said much during the trip, and he didn't mind that. The cameras were still on, after all, though he'd be finally freed of them once in the privacy of the room, he assumed. Once there, he did a quick once-over, hoping to find that they were, in a truer sense, alone. Without the hubbub of the main area of Radius, everything he said was at risk of being recorded, and while he wasn't interested in being the type to watch his mouth, as long as Coan was in the picture and the police were on their side, he would have to become the type.
Still, she asked whether he cared if she smoked, and his first reaction was to answer, but she lit up anyway, even before he could, and he simply smirked and laid back on the bed, leaving space for her if she chose to. She was still in the bathroom when she spoke next, and those green lit eyes glanced in her direction before settling back on the ceiling.
"Honestly, I gotta tell ya, I just needed an excuse to get outta there, really. If you wanna fuck, I'm fine with that, but it's your call. I'm happy enough with a room and some platonic company."
He sighed softly, bringing one foot up to rest near his knee.
"It's just... sorry, I shouldn't vent, but seriously, fuck. How hard could it possibly be to hide from a single goddamn company in this big-ass universe?"
He grumbled unintelligibly for a moment, then rolled onto his side to face the rest of the room, his bottom arm lifting to run through the mostly-synthetic neon-blue hair that had sprouted in a naturally-growing mohawk from his scalp.
"Look, you don't hafta stick around if you don't wanna. I'd like it if you did, though. Could use the company."
At this point, her show was mostly forgotten, his mind having made its way back his birth, his indoctrination. His programming. To the events that had ended up bringing him here. To the things he had done to secure his freedom for a few minutes. Just long enough to shake his tail, even if only temporarily. He wondered if they would find him because of that credit chit. Whether she would get in trouble for having it. He hoped not. It was a temp chit anyway, not like it was actually bound to an account with a name on it. But maybe they could track its ownership or something. He rose to a sit and rested his face on his hands, rubbing at his eyes as he sat there, thinking and trying to work out the answer to the slew of problems bubbling around in his artificial head. If only he could just bury himself in a woman and forget, but that just wasn't how things worked, was it? It took something surprising to jar him from such a gripping issue. Something his programming would identify as unusual.
"What's your name, at least?"
Maybe that would be something he could cling to as he danced through these issues.
Radius || Open - Kat - 11-17-2014
<img style="avatar" src="http://i.imgur.com/FYpuFlo.png" style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;]"Oh?"
Gently brushing the ends of her lashes to keep them from clumping, Dax didn't know what he meant. In accordance with what she knew of androids and humanoid robots, she asked teasingly, "Too many pretty faces throw their digits around?" Through the reflection of the mirror, she caught him smirk, and met it with one of her own veiled by the foreign haze. It smelled of berries and mint and something else, though Dax had been a recreational user for almost as many years as she had been working at the club, so she didn't notice the subtle undertones anymore. "You poor thing." Puckering her lips, she blew a kiss before returning to her cosmetics, which would be grazed over with practiced fingertips mindful of their nail extensions. It didn't take more than a moment, but it was long enough to notice his shift in attitude, even as he sprawled on the bed in mock waiting.
Dax had noticed the height difference when they were in transit, but that was another thing she didn't think he would appreciate being prodded about, so she kept her intentions purely business oriented. Or, she had planned to until she was asked if she just wanted to spend time with him, to which a genuine giggle escaped her. It wasn't a malicious sound, instead one of endearment, like his request was flattering without the intention of being so. "You want to spend time with me." That much wasn't a question so much as it was her trying to recite the message. No one really spent time with Dax. Even Paskar had a life that practically avoided Dax, and he was her only real confidante. At least, he had been until she lost her shit...
Again.
One wouldn't gather a sense of insecurity from the Lepi as she moved to the door and leaned against the shaped metal of the door frame, arms pseudo folded with one hand cocked out, twiddling the blunt with a pinch of her finger tips. "Nobody wants to spend time with me." Dragging red eyes over the synthetic, Dax scrutinized and squinted, taking in the details she may have overlooked when they were headed upstairs. His features were pleasant, clean, probably newer. Not exactly who she had mistaken him for in passing, but very close. She didn't know the manufacturer name off the top of her head, though asking was just one more question she deemed 'too rude' to ask. Instead, the creature closed the gap between their two persons and took a seat on the corner of the bed, content not to snuggle up with him if he was panicking. By how he spoke, she sensed something similar to panic.
"I don't mind. You bought the time anyway, so I might as well hang out." Wiggling her eyebrows playfully, the Lepi added, "Plus, it keeps me off my feet for a while. Double shift- I'm happy to be out of the fish bowl."
His room wasn't much to look at. The bed was large enough for two, but definitely individuals shorter than Dax. There was a table on the opposite side of the room, closer to the bathroom door, and a night stand to either side of the mattress. Limbering her arms and back, the Lepi stretched lithely, another plume of bright smoke billowing out while she groaned with pleasure. Nothing felt better than unwinding after a shift. Hours of dancing hurt, and it hurt more to move confined in an air tight container with stage lights focused on you. She would take any reprieve she could find so long as it paid, and according to the android, he paid well to shoot the shit.
"Name? Wow, this is third date stuff." Mindful of the robe she wore, Dax against folded her legs at the knee and used her free hand to prop herself against the mattress in a lazy backwards lean. "My full name is Daxet Poulounous Phine, but uh, no one calls me that. Dax." Cautiously, she offered him the blunt, unsure what the proper etiquette for this sort of thing would be. "Just Dax. You?"
Whether he took the spliff or not didn't stop her next question, which broke the ice to some extent, but only because he had brought it up. "Do you owe Coan money? Loan sharks?"
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
"Dax."
He muttered the name to himself, locking it in as he let the fact that she had chosen to join him for now wash over him. It was such a nice thing to have going for him right now, this company. A chance to get some weight off his mind, to voice his concerns. Hell, even if she was Coan, he could just set another fire, make another exit, right? She offered him the smoke, and he took it, pondering it a moment before sticking it between his lips and taking a steady inhale. He didn't exactly have the systems necessary to make the chemicals in it work on him, but he was a sophisticated thing, and when they were detected in his system, he quickly began to feel it. He blinked a few times before offering it back to her, exhaling a thick cloud that still contained all those things that she'd inhaled herself.
"COR 11. But, uh, you can call me whatever you want, I guess."
She had asked him if he'd owned Coan money? If only....
"Naw. Worse, I guess. I'm a demonstration droid for a new line they're cooking up. Service bots for any lifestyle, any preference kinda thing. Pretty standard stuff for a service bot, except a few details. Things they think'll change the game completely. I'm worth a lot to them, and they want me back. Trouble is... stuff they were doing to me back there ain't exactly stuff I wanna keep doing. So now, I guess, I'm a stolen droid and a fugitive."
He chuckled sheepishly, one hand going to rest on the back of his neck as he cast a glance over at her.
"Not gonna turn me in, are ya?"
Another smirk, then his hands folded behind his head and he collapsed backward at the waist to lie down on the bed, his legs hanging off and his feet resting on the floor. Honestly, it felt good to get this stuff out there. Maybe at some point he'd be able to talk about what he'd gone through for them. For their purposes. But for now, he was content to just chill with a hot stripper, talk about his problems, and enjoy her company.
And it struck him that she seemed to enjoy his company, though whether it was an act or not eluded him. He wasn't really built for that kind of deception detection. Nah, mostly, he was just gonna have to ride face value to its conclusion, and despite his muddled thoughts and his struggle to get away from thinking about the problems he had, she was here for him, it seemed, and it was a thing that was greatly appreciated by him. He smiled. Even if he was basically fucked, it was nice to have this moment. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to lose this kind of life.
Radius || Open - Kat - 11-17-2014
<img style="avatar" src="http://i.imgur.com/FYpuFlo.png" style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;]Watching how he smoked broadened her smile, but she turned away when it seemed too much to give so openly, accepting the shortening vice when it was passed back. The room was bright with the smoke, a fluorescent blue smog that glittered while it floated, akin to some sort of extraterrestrial dream cloud. Dax got high as often as she could when within club boundaries because the whole place made her nervous and fidgety, and there was nothing attractive about trying to straddle a pole when you were inhibited by fear. Drugs did as much good to a wounded sense of self worth as any man had, but they didn't try and argue their points, nor did they demand any of her already limited free time. It wasn't something she cared to admit, but Dax would choose a joint over a conversation ninety nine percent of the time. Luckily for the android at her side, this was a chat she would file under the elusive one percent.
"Is that a name you're stuck with?" Licking her lips, Dax paused to mull it over, reciting the words as they had said to her. "COR 11." It was a formal title at best, but if he didn't have anything else he went by, she wasn't about to petition he make up something else. Absently, one of her antennae twitched while she stared into the space between the bed and the wall. This was a time for listening, for information gathering passively, and the more he mentioned, the more Dax seemed to drift into a melancholic silence. If his story was at all true, and she doubted he would lie about these details, she was now harboring a fugitive. This meant one of two things. The first was, no matter what, she couldn't be tied to the android in any fashion on film. Of course, that much had already happened, so she was fucked on that account. Secondly, she was now forced into a position she had no idea how to fill.
Dax (to her knowledge) had never aided a fugitive.
"So..." She began slowly, straightening her posture so she could turn where she sat to look down where he lounged, her expression deadpan. "Lemme go over the important points of what you just said. I have, unknowingly, helped a criminal evade the law." She could feel the hand pinching her spliff shake, and quickly sucked down another draw of the vibrant drug. "Now I'm technically in possession of stolen property, which by the way, paid me to possess it." Dax was doing her best to stay calm, but despite her efforts, her body stiffened without much warning and a wave of fear washed over her. Part of the Lepi wanted to strangle her companion with the wrath of a woman already struggling to survive, but there was also a sense of familiarity to leaving a situation like his behind.
Once she had run, and hide, and fend for herself against the odds. She never looked back. Not then, not ever.
"N-no." Dax finally replied, shaking her platinum quills in the fashion of defeat. "Even if I wanted to, what would I say? 'Sorry I was holding on to your super secret tech. Please don't punish me to the full extent of the law.' I mean, no one would believe me..." Meeting his eyes with her own, they were peculiar orbs of blood colored irises, floating in their milky sclera pools. They expressed more than she cared for them to, a range reading from pity to panic, and anything else that could be gleaned from her wide eyed stare. Dax found her figure crumpling next to the synthetic's, taking up the other side of the bed so she could half curl into a ball. The last of her blunt was still burning forgotten in her grip, and her robe was spilling open to show peaks of her breasts from a side view, but she didn't seem to notice. Besides, he had seen everything already. What was one more nipple flash in the grand scheme of things?
"...What are you going to do?"
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
His eyes tracked the ceiling as she asked him if he was stuck with the name. Honestly, he couldn't imagine keeping it, but it was one of those things. It was like when kids had pets and wanted to just name it 'Dog' or whatever. It might as well have been "Android 11" as far as he cared. It was an awful name, and one he couldn't quite figure out how to rid himself of it. So when she asked if he was stuck with it, he shrugged just a bit. He tried to come up with something he'd be okay with being called, but everything just came up blank. Like he was trying to pull information from a book that wasn't on the shelf anymore. Like he was reading from a blank sheet of paper. It was frustrating, but he knew the feeling. It meant they didn't want him doing that.
"I mean, if you've got a better idea of what to call me, I'll take it. I... uh... I'm having a hard time coming up with another name for myself, so I guess you're welcome to if you like."
Still, the idea of being named did give him a sense of belonging which he wasn't sure he deserved. After all, he was still a fugitive, and much less than a person, if the nagging insistence in his mind was worth listening to. Still he heard the bedsheets shift as she changed her position some, and looked over at her, meeting her gaze, then breaking it as she went over her reading of the situation. The way she said it, he felt awful. Like he'd forced her into all this. He didn't think he'd have caused quite that much damage just by getting her up here with him, but now all he could do was be honest with her. Give her at least some insight into what she could do to avoid some kind of punishment over his existence and her involvement.
But then she continued, and he realized things were a bit different. She didn't seem... mad, exactly. More just disappointed or sad or something. His finger twitched as he felt himself want to comfort her in some way. To pat her shoulder or something. He resisted the temptation for a moment as she curled up facing him, then asked him what he planned to do. The question struck him, and for a moment, he found himself just staring back at her, wide eyed and baffled.
"Uh... I guess I... Well, I was gonna try and let things die down a bit. Least get the cops off my back. Then, I dunno. Run away? Destroy Coan? I just... I don't want to be a slave."
The word was out there now, wasn't it? The fear he had, that despite the personality reset he would no doubt undergo if he were to return, he would end up a slave, as he'd been intended. Now, he still had his quirks. He didn't think he had the willpower to resist any command she made of him, and he felt a compulsion to serve her, but at least he had chosen her. Not the other way around. That counted for something right?
"Uh... I'm sorry I put you in this position, Dax."
Gingerly, a hand crept forward and tugged her robe back into place a bit, keeping her modest, despite his interest in seeing more of her body. It couldn't possibly be said that he needed to do this, or even that he wanted to, it was simply an action he'd taken. And as he thought about going back to Coan, and about this woman before him, he began to realize what it was that made him so angry about Coan in the first place. But that was a sentiment for another time.
"I guess... I owe you?"
Radius || Open - megs - 11-17-2014
<img style="avatar" src="http://i.imgur.com/llHPSai.png" style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;]Dusky red brows climbed her forehead. Had she been less benevolent things would likely have taken a negative turn. There was an implication, though possibly unintentional, that she was a woman who could be bought. Her smile remained perfectly in place she pushed her hair away from her face with clawed fingers through her bangs. Amber colored hues darted around the venue, as more people began to fill the room, as if she was searching for something. Someone.
"While, I must say your offer sounds intriguing. I am afraid, I am spending this brief trip all work and no play. I have another show soon." She allowed red-painted lips to fall into a well-practiced pout, an index finger idly trailed circles around the rim of her empty glass. "That aside, I was supposed to be meeting someone down here, but it seems I've been stood up."
Radius || Open - Kat - 11-17-2014
[/img]"http://i.imgur.com/FYpuFlo.png" style="avatar" style="max-width:25%;float:left;margin:0 18px;]"I don't know."
If ever there was a vague response, it was this one, as it could pertain to any of the things they had covered. Dax didn't know how to name another being, born or created, as that wasn't something she had experience doing. Aside from Poplar, who despite being her closest family member, was a lop ear bunny she had received from an old coworker as a gag gift. "Maybe Taet..." Her voice was a whisper, barely audible, with a hint of remorse behind it. One of her long forgotten sibling's had been Taet, but they no longer breathed, and likely had no use for the name. She hoped it was put to good use in the moment, but couldn't fully dedicate a christening to her now adopted robot. Free hand moved to his cheek and stroked it gently, slowly, just admiring the craftsmanship of the ceramics beneath her warm finger tips. It was invasive and selfish, but she didn't seem to let that stop her from tracing feather light digits along the details of his portrait, trying to memorized the curve of his lips and the strength of his chin.
"You don't have to be a slave." She breathed in a way only he could hear, meant for no potential listeners, be they cameras or recording devices or divine beings hanging in the fabric of the cosmic veil. "I won't let you be a slave." Her expression didn't fit her facial traits, hardening for determination sake, which wasn't something a Lepi woman could properly show. Beneath all the strong will and dedication to their unified cause, Dax was still Dax, and the situation scared her. If it weren't for the alien hashish, the dancer likely would have flipped her shit and hightailed as far as she could from the walking train wreck in her company, but with a pacified demeanor and a mind full of fog, that didn't seem the be the outcome of his honesty. Her lips moved to form more words, but before they could be said, the cherry of the stoge reached her hand.
"Ah!-" Dax hissed and jumped to her feet, quick to dash the spent butt into the ashtray on the nightstand. Without thinking about it, the wounded ring finger would be brought to her mouth and sucked at, though this by no means alleviated the pain. It just gave her an excuse no to speak anymore. Dax was under no illusion she had gotten herself in to trouble, and it was either the extra money that did her in, or divine intervention. The Lepi were a race who followed the spirits, but Dax hadn't spent enough time on Leprica to know anything about the blessings of the wraiths, or what ancestral memories were passed through the generations. Her life was neon, flashbulb, drug addled stupors; rarely mixed with strangers in strange beds. Even now, in this time of need, she was staring down at a body she had never claimed or been claimed by, under the pretense of sex.
Even if they didn't have sex, it was already assumed they had. He paid for it, and her dirty little side business wasn't the best kept secret on the lunar colony. "Just a matter of time, I guess. Always thought I'd get robbed walking home, and that'd be the end of my life. Real simple stick up, followed by a bullet." In a morbid change of tone, Dax smiled serenely and spread her arms wide for emphasis, clearly inebriated for her pick-me-up cocktail with chasers. "Look at me! Tell me I don't fucking deserve this shit luck." Half chuckling at first, it turned into a sob, which she halted with a sharp inhale. Dax faced herself towards the window so he couldn't see the tears in her eyes, but the ghost of crying wasn't avoidable, and her body shook with her silent sobbing.
"So? What could you possibly give me? Even if y-you did owe me, you don't have anything to g-give me..." Her miserable vocals trained off, replaced with the static of the radiator against the wall. This was a rather large hole to find herself tossed down, and the only person Daxet could think of seeking assistance from was the very android who caused the crisis. Hooded, the Lepi's crimson hues lowered to look over the city as if seeking an answer in the hideous swarm of space trash the colony housed. Herself included. That part wasn't in question.
"I can't let you stay here. Not with my neck on the line."
Radius || Open - bear - 11-17-2014
Taet. It was a nice name, he thought. A name he'd certainly cherish. Especially since it had come from her. He let it roll around on his tongue for a few long moments, and when she spoke again, the sound, and the words, sent a chill down his back that made him glance over at her with a combination of shock and wonder. That want to help, it was clear in her face, and it made him feel welcome. And she had been about to speak, when the little rolled drug burned her hand and she jumped up. The moment surprised Taet too, and he was quick to sit back up, watching her as she recovered from the little accident. His eyes settled on her face as she managed the wound with her mouth, then said something rather confusingly unrelated.
It took him a moment to connect it back to her understanding of their current situation, and his shoulders relaxed a bit at the thought. She seemed to be having a sad moment, and gingerly, the android rose to his feet, moving to stand behind her as she moved to face out the window. Her body language gave him a vague idea of how she was feeling at best, common sense being undermined by the programming in his head that kept dislodging that thought. She spoke again, thankfully, and it gave him a chance to change his mind again, locking into the newest set of questions. What could he give her?
"I mean, I'm still a service bot, whether or not I like it. I guess I could help out around your place. Keep things manageable. I'm good with my hands. I dunno really. I guess just try me. See what I can do."
The idea that he wasn't able to stay here hit him a little hard, and he was tempted to feel awful about it again, but he managed to ignore it. He'd paid, and it wasn't as if he wasn't going to be able to find a place to crash, at the least. Worst case, she kicked him out of Radius and he had to go literally underground to keep out of the prying eyes of Coan Robotics or whatever they were calling themselves. Still, he felt like he should do something to try and comfort her. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a gentle hug before stepping back and restoring the distance between them. He had lost any kind of sexual feeling toward her at the moment, and at this point, he saw her as he saw himself, oddly. As someone who needed help. Someone who was doing their best to make do with what they had, and maybe not quite getting what they wanted. He felt sympathy for her, and he demanded of himself that he do what he could to fix things if he was able to.
"What do you like to eat?"
A rather out of place question, maybe, but he was thinking that maybe he could cook her a meal and try to liven the mood a little. Make sure she didn't feel like garbage for helping him. Make sure she felt like there was an actual exchange going on here.
Radius || Open - thedarkwyrm - 11-17-2014
<quote author="@megs" source="/post/1577/thread" timestamp="1416240006]Dusky red brows climbed her forehead. Had she been less benevolent things would likely have taken a negative turn. There was an implication, though possibly unintentional, that she was a woman who could be bought. Her smile remained perfectly in place she pushed her hair away from her face with clawed fingers through her bangs. Amber colored hues darted around the venue, as more people began to fill the room, as if she was searching for something. Someone.
"While, I must say your offer sounds intriguing. I am afraid, I am spending this brief trip all work and no play. I have another show soon." She allowed red-painted lips to fall into a well-practiced pout, an index finger idly trailed circles around the rim of her empty glass. "That aside, I was supposed to be meeting someone down here, but it seems I've been stood up."
[/quote]He gave her a warm grin as the bartender brought them refills. "That's a shame. Maybe I'll come and see your show. If you're half as magical onstage as you are in person, it'd be a show well-worth seeing." He took a sip of his drink as her lips shifted into a pout. "I can't imagine ever standing up a woman like you. Then again, I've never had a date with someone like you, either, so I can't comment on the kind of man he is."
It was an assumption that her date was male, but one he felt fairly safe making. "My visit to this station is more for play, than work. I'm something of a mercenary, so I have time between jobs to flirt with women well out of my league."