thedifferencebetween | Ryslig Inbox

I can't believe that movie survived into the future.

NOPE

BETTER

This is gonna take me a few minutes though, so have a seat and chillax.

['It' takes about ten minutes; that's how long it takes Harley, still new to this Nephilim business, to leave Defiance Haus and fly on shaky wings to Castle Jack. She can boost her speed when no one's looking up; but every so often someone down below will glance up to see what that noise is, and Harley's jerked back into a more reasonable speed.

Not that she cares. Flying is frogging great.

Jack can see her approach from the direction of Bavan; wobbling a little in the air, but still managing steady flaps of pastel pink-and-blue swan wings coming out of her shoulders. She has to back-beat a little when she gets close to the railing, and she stumbles the landing, but she manages in the end.]

Hey Handsome. What do you think?

[Nephilim!Harley isn't quite six inches tall; and she's all pale human skin again, with a silver halo hovering over her head and small, delicately spiraling horns emerging from her hair. Both temples have an extra eye on them, all four fixed on Jack and blinking in unison. From behind her, a white tail with a puff of fur on the end swishes into view, waving flirtily at Jack.

Apart from the obvious, the only other new thing about Harley is her clothes. A coat belts over her frame, and her shorts have leggings on under. For once, Harley's got skin that actually cares about the cold.]

Jack has no idea what he's in for. No amount of trying to guess is getting him anywhere, so he's just sitting on a ridiculously opulent stone and metal seat, waiting for...whatever he's waiting for.

He never would have guessed, he realizes, as he actually starts paying attention to the shape moving through the sky towards him. She didn't...yup, she did.

"It's different!" He stands up with a quiet hydraulic whirring, looking her up and down. It's a little eerie, he can't deny that, the whole multiple eyes thing always makes him think of the Vault Guardian on Elpis. But he's pretty sure Harley's not about to vomit acid on him or poison him with toxic space gas, so he'll get over it. And the wings and horns and halo are pretty damn sweet. "Good look on ya, though!"

And the outfit...yeah, he's digging that.

"Did you and Slade have a bet on or something?" He's got to ask, since he was just getting all up in Slade's robo-ness the other day.

"You already met up with Sladebot, huh?" There's no acid or space gas; just a halo twinkle and a grin. There are beads of sweat on Harley's nose, and she's still breathing a little hard from the flying. Cardio's definitely not been her concern lately.

"Sort of- maybe more of a dare? It's complicated." She's nearly as tall as he is, now; and when Harley comes closer, tugging him in by his shirt, her tail curves around to slap him on the ass. "Now he gets to deal with recursive if-then statements, and I get to eat doughnuts, fly around, and soak in a Jacuzzi." She presses a kiss to his mouth, soft and slow. "I'm glad you like the look."

"Oh yeah, dude decides to hit me up for a rundown on bots after he's already switched himself." Rookie move, in Jack's opinion. Always know as much as you can about what you're about to get into, saves a whole lot of hassle!

Harley definitely got the better end of this deal, in his opinion. There's loads of info on nephs, and a lot of general standards across the whole species. It's easy to know what you're signing up for, and for most people probably has way more perks than sim. But whatever, they wanna play wacky species swap, that's on them, he doesn't care that much.

"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in, still a mechanical metal marvel over here." But his hands go to her hips. "Flying though....yeah, that's pretty awesome. I could do that back when I was a demon one time. Oh, and when my old sugar baby turned me into a dragon for a couple hours - that was friggin amazing!"

"He did that?" For a moment Harley's still, half a grin on her face; then she shakes her head a little. "Probably just being competitive. Trying to win or whatever." That sounded about right.

"I bet you made one halibut of a demon. Or a dragon, but I'll be honest; I'm less interested in boning a dragon." Her wings fluff up a little when she leans in, letting her arms slip up to wind around his shoulders. "Forked tongue- big scary wings- general aura of menace. Count me in." Her tail comes up, winding around his arm in a loose grip. "Not that you can't rock an aura of menace already, when you want to. It's really hot."

"I was pretty cool looking! Horns and everything. And awesome looking scales! Plus yeah, I was a literal dragon that time, not a gargoyle. First Felfri trip." Not the kind of thing anyone actually wants to bone, and Jack's pretty sure it's physically impossible anyway.

"But we're talking about me - I can rock whatever the hell I end up as. But demon did have a certain inherent air of menace...when I was a lich, too. That wasn't as fun, but it had some neat perks."

He's been here through two different wacky ass times where people swap what they are, plus that....other thing. He's not sure exactly what he'd been that time or just what had happened, but that's monster life.

"I think I'm pretty happy being a bot, all things considered. But I sure wouldn't mind being a demon...maybe I outta have another go at it, one of these months." Accompanied by the robotic equivalent of a wink as he steps in closer, closing the remaining distance between them.

Normally, Harley doesn't mind being short. There's something about someone tall enough to loom over you- it makes a girl feel delicate and fragile, even if she's about as fragile as granite. But as a Nephilim, she's pushing six feet; and being close enough in height to just lean in and kiss someone is pretty nice, too. So she does- letting her lips brush against his soft, easy. By the time she pulls away, her halo is considerably brighter.

"You're always horny. Maybe you should. You want to make me fall, baby?" Her teeth catch against the corner of her lip. "You know- if you ever do feel like checking out some new options- remember that thing you got me in Felfri? Well, uh- they said we could take whatever we were wearing back with us, so I might've- you know. Worn it back."

Edited (Almost forgot the pun) 2021-01-12 02:48 (UTC)

"Oh did you? Smart woman!"

Now that's quite the incentive. The only real drawback to the sim life is missing out on certain fleshy pleasures. He's got another big purchase lined up, once he's got the coins, but...it's something to keep in mind.

"Too bad I'm not a demon now, huh? How hot would that be! Devil on angel action...But I think you already fell, baby." He chuckles, sliding his hands around her back and being careful of the wings. "Not that I'm complaining - the sinners are way more fun!"

And god she does look good, ignoring the extra eyes. He'll get used to them. He got used to friggin spider parts when he was with Lu, some extra eyes is nothing.

"And they got way more experience anyway."

"I absolutely did." Her grin is all mischief.

"Oh, I had my fall years back, now; it's what earned me this permanent lack of a tan." Her wings shiver, when his hands stray near where they come out of her back, and Harley's breath catches. "But- but, uh- we can always pretend." She lets her eyes go big and wide and innocent, and gives him a good shocked gasp. "Why Mr. Jack! You want to do what to me?" Her hand comes up over her mouth. "Why I never, in all my days! But- oh, why does it feel so good?"

She manages about five seconds before she starts to giggle.

"No, but- honestly? It's nice to get a break from being a machine." She pulls out of his arms, catching his hand instead, and tugs him toward the edge of the balcony. It's windy up this high, and cold as all hadar; but the view is worth it, even in January. "Between maintenance days, having a machine me who thinks she's people in my head, and- other stuff- sometimes I'd almost prefer a different shape. Even if I had to be a meat eater- or in this case, live with a frakking swear filter."

God, she's just so fun! Jack laughs at the act, appreciating the effort. He can't begin to imagine Harley as innocent....but she probably couldn't imagine him that way, either.

He follows her to the railing, the wind and cold not bothering him too much. If anything, he feels better when it's colder. Or maybe he just isn't built to handle heat well, he's not entirely sure yet. It's hard investigating his own insides.

"They all got their drawbacks babe. Me? I couldn't do the meat eating thing. Just...nope. I've always been proud to be able to say there's certain things I've never done, and eating human flesh is one of'em. But like I've said, it's a while thing where I come from. It sucks for the asshats who gotta do it, but I'm not gonna judge them for it, the only other option is starve. But I get ya on the having a break. There's some stuff that gets old. On the other hand...there's ways to manage the shit inside your head."

It's not something Jack really talks about, only Slade knows much of anything about it, but he's got his own weird robot brain stuff.

Her nose wrinkles a little, and she gives another shiver, tucking closer against his shoulder. Maybe Jack isn't warm; but he's still someone to snuggle up against. One of her wings stretches out across his back, nudging him in closer.

"Oh all right, I guess even cannibalism is a little much just to be a flesh girl again. Even I've got lines I don't cross. Not many, but they're there."

It's easy to look up at him, now; he's only got a few inches on her. She doesn't even have to get up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek (which she does, since it's right there.)

"Is there? Because- I'll be honest, Handsome, I've been trying. I've had machine me digging into the code on some of the- less desirable things I've got in my head these days. She can't get rid of them, can't even make changes. Which leaves me stuck with-"

Her eyes slide away from him, out toward the view; and one shoulder lifts, a little, trying to make it seem casual. "You know. Stuff."

"Mmm-mmm." Jack shakes his head, recognizing Harley's line of thought all too well. "Don't do that, I made the same mistake at first. That voice in your head? That...that thing that seems like some whole other personality or something hanging out in there....it's not. It's you. It's your brain. It's just you with all the...all the human stuff taken away. The more you try and keep it separate, the more you Other it, the harder it is to control. You gotta work with it."

Not against it. Against it...against it is bad. So friggin bad, holy shit.

"I dunno how it works with you, I dunno if you can like...communicate directly or whatever, but I've learned that when that voice pipes up...listen to it. Hear it out. Even if it's telling you something you don't wanna hear. You just gotta counter it with logic, computers are all about logic. And you figure out what triggers....the other stuff. It's probably gonna have some kind of set off button, figure out what that is so you can avoid it. I know what sets me off, so I been working real hard to keep that from happening, and I don't have many....incidents anymore."

Even with how much he trusts Harley - to the extent Jack ever trusts anyone - he doesn't like talking about his weaknesses and metaphorical soft spots. He doesn't like having them in the first place, but the fact they're ones so easily exploited by other people...it's not cool. It's not okay. He leans into her with a put upon sigh, following her gaze out over the impressive vista before them.

Sometimes, being a robot blows chunks.

By now, it's not the view Harley's staring at; it's Jack. He sounds like- "You too?" It's out of her mouth before she can stop it.

Yeah, okay, she knows she should have talked to Jack about this already. He's the resident expert here, maybe he'd have had answers. But the more Harley struggled with it, the more it seemed like there were no answers, so how much help could he be? And aside from that- Jack was where things were- nice. Almost normal. They could relax and she could drink or smoke, or they could have sex, or Jack could putter around doing Jack things while Harley read one of her electronics textbooks, and she didn't have to worry about competitive angels or whoever might be using the kitchen today, or even putting on makeup or pants if she didn't feel like it.

It was hard to give that up. Felt too much like rocking the boat, and why rock the boat when things are so good, and it wouldn't benefit anyone but her?

But now they're talking about it- it's out in the open, and even if neither of them have said the words- he gets it. He gets it.

"I can't- Jack, I can't. She's not me. This," Harley gestures down at herself, "Is me; bossy and brash and inclined to make jokes regardless of the appropriateness of the moment. I'm me. She thinks- she acts like I'm sweater she wears when it's cold out. She thinks I'm just a program. How- how can I work with that? How can I accept it?"

A deep breath, and then she keeps going, before he can answer. "And what if it's all the time? The- the other stuff."

"I know. And this is me! But so's that part of our brain that's a computer now." It's not something he admits often, and he doesn't even think there's anyone left now who knows. Really knows. Maybe Tim. He never told him, but...the dude isn't a total moron, and they lived together for a while.

And now Harley knows. Which...yeah, sure, she probably should, she's normally a sim. It's not like she wouldn't have figured out for herself that he's got shit going on in there, too.

"But again, it's the logic thing. You existed for decades before becoming a sim, that's an indisputable fact. Your brain, your body, all that stuff was there first. That's inarguable. I get having an emotional reaction to the brain voice, but emotional responses don't matter, that part of us doesn't do emotion. If anything it makes it easier for that part to have more control. But logic and fact...those are your weapons and tools in keeping yourself a mostly unified self!" Mostly.

"I guess it depends on exactly what stuff we're talking about. Mine...it comes and goes, it's not always active. I mean I'm gonna guess it's the whole obedience thing. That...that's pretty common."

Unfortunately common.

Weapons is what makes it make sense. Sure, that's not what Jack meant- but in Harley's mind, at least, this is still absolutely a fight. And doesn't she always try to play people's own games. It's the same for the machine who thinks she's people.

"I am trying. I mean- sort of. I don't hear her, but we've- figured out some stuff. I can leave messages for her, and turn myself off, and she'll do it- so- we're getting there."

Hang on- "Are you frogging kidding me? It's COMMON?! What kind of horseshoes is this?" There is literally nothing she can do, in the moment, but cross her arms over her chest and have a full on pout. "Other people grow fangs and tentacles, we grow a freaking compulsive disorder?? That's so- agh!"

Her halo is glowing brighter now, as her voice gets louder with each semi-swear word. Between that, and the lashing tail, and the way her wings are fluffing to try and make her look bigger- Harley is the picture of one pissed off angel.

"Mine is all the time. All the time. Any direct order, and if I don't do it, I have a forking panic attack. That's why I dared Slade to go robo in the first place, he was so sure I should be able to just- forking deal with it!"

"Holy shit, it sucks to be you!" Jack makes a whistling sound, shaking his head. "I'm...I'm real sorry about that, sweetheart. That really blows. But yeah, yeah. It's the thing we don't talk about, for obvious reasons. None of us want that getting to be common knowledge."

It's...it's a hell of a weakness. And one that's way too easily exploited. Jack wraps his arm snugly around Harley, pulling her close.

"But hey, now I know, and I can avoid telling ya directly to do something. Cuz it...yeah. I've been there, I don't like it, I don't wanna deal with it ever again." But he will. He's not stupid enough to believe he's in full control of his emotions, that he's not gonna lose his temper and snap over.

But hey, he doesn't have to deal with it all the time.

Ryslig Inbox

<GiggleGrrl> - <Action>

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, HANDSOME JACK. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 021.07.222.57 * H.Jack69 has joined 021.07.222.57 <USERNAME> First sentence of message. <BANNED USER> SCREENED MESSAGE. UNSCREEN? Y/N -- sample for when you ban someone <USERNAME> First sentence of message. <USERNAME>** First sentence of message.