The Last Voyages: IC Inbox

[worthallthis]

There is no voice message here. Better hope you got the right box.

Comments

[gamjam]

It's really great to meet you. Steve says that we might get along with each other. I asked him if maybe you wanted to learn a board game with me, because even though we've got a full group going now, there's always room to make more.

[worthallthis]

[Yep, Rogers' fault. At least this time he's got no real urge to punch him over it. He pauses, tries to come with a mental image of that, and fails.]

I don't know what a board game is.

[gamjam]

[Gortys nods, and comes a little closer to the stranger]

Well, uh. Let's see. It's like a game, but it's on a board, and usually there's cards and dice and things to move around. Oh! I could show you? I taught everyone I know how to play Bunkers and Badasses.

[worthallthis]

[There's another pause, mostly while his brain parses "bunkers and badasses" and tries to gauge just his utterly ridiculous that name is. But showing seems the most efficient method, here, since he's not even really sure what "dice" are (it sounds familiar, but nothing's coming to mind, goddamn sieve-brain) so he says,]

Sure. Where is it at.

[gamjam]

Over in my cabin. Oh, but maybe we should use yours - mine is kind of small...

[worthallthis]

[He's going to take that at face value: she is very small, so maybe all aspects of her cabin will be, as well. Crouching in a room with ceilings at Gortys-height would be awkward.

On the other hand, someone in his cabin. That makes him twitchy. On the other other hand, robot. That might make him less twitchy than a person.]

Okay. Third level, room fifteen.

[gamjam]

Great! Hey, uh, but you might need to be around to help me with the elevator buttons. Hope that's okay!

[worthallthis]

[Opens mouth, shuts mouth, goes maybe a little bit paler. He doesn't use the elevator, but of course a little round, rolling robot won't be able to use the stairs.

He can suck it up. He can. It's only a couple of floors. So he says,]

Okay.

[And he'll let her lead the way to said elevator.]

[gamjam]

[Gortys makes her way inside the elevator, then turns around to wait patiently for the Asset]

Thank you.

[worthallthis]

[It takes him a moment of standing outside the open doors before he can make himself follow her in. It's an enclosed space, not as well-lit as he'd like, and it sounds so mechanical. It's... very unpleasant. He holds very still by the row of buttons, and asks very, very calmly,]

What floor is your room.

[Need to get the game first, right?]

[gamjam]

Oh, that one.

[She points to the bottom level. Sorry, Bucky, you're in for the long hall]

Are you okay?

[worthallthis]

Fine. I'm fine.

[He is not fine. He hits the button and continues holding very still.]

Small places are. Hard.

[Especially when they move and make noise. Jesus, he cannot do anything like an actual person, can he.]

[gamjam]

They are?

[asks Gortys, who looks up with both confusion and sincerity.]

Why is that, exactly? Sorry if it's a private question.

[worthallthis]

I don't know. I don't remember. Programming, maybe.

[Did HYDRA just... program him to hate small spaces? What the fuck purpose would that serve? That seems like it would be counter-productive, he's sure he's had missions where he had to get through small spaces.]

[gamjam]

Oh.

I didn't know humans could be programmed to think things like robots could.

[worthallthis]

[Technically it's intensive conditioning more than actual programming, but, well, he doesn't have the terminology for it, and the techs mostly treated him like a robot, anyway.

He shrugs awkwardly.]

I was. There's rules. Protocols. T. Trigger words.

[gamjam]

Oh.

[She says, taking this all in matter-of-factly. After a few seconds, she nudges a little closer to bump against Bucky's leg without saying anything. She is a little concerned for him.

When the doors buzz she comes out of the elevator and rolls over to her room]

It's in here. Do you want to wait out in the hall?

[worthallthis]

[The bump makes him twitch a little, but mostly in surprise. Touch from a little rolling metal robot isn't as bad as from a fleshy-type person.

He steps out of the elevator immediately when the doors open, and does in fact wait out in the hall. It's wide and open and safe, and he needs to get his heart rate back under control before the next elevator ride.]

I'll wait right here.

[Though he might peer into her room curiously from his hallway vantage point.]

[gamjam]

You got it.

[Gortys nudges the door; it's fairly obvious that her own body is her warden item, and it opens obligingly for her.

Inside is Fiona and Sasha's old caravan, and Gortys' first and so far only 'home'. She's spent longer on the ship than she has being alive in her own world by now, and it shows.

The caravan-cabin is small, barely fitting the three full-grown people it must have carried at some point. There's an old dresser, and a game table that Gortys immediately goes to. Guns line the walls; some from Fiona and Sasha but still others that Gortys probably collected herself over the months spent here.

There's a door on the other side of the caravan which leads to a bathroom she never had a need to use.]

Gotcha!

[she calls out, withdrawing the board game from where it had been stashed protectively underneath one of the sofa seats.]

[worthallthis]

[It's an interesting little room. Definitely small, but not actually much smaller than his own cell-like cabin. The guns actually surprise him (and he itches a little to have one on his person, at the sight; the hidden knife is good, but it's no gun). So does the fact that the game was hiding under a cushion.]

We could just stay here. If you'd rather.

[Let him put off the elevator a little while longer.]

It's not that small.

[gamjam]

Oh, yeah?

[she asks, turning around. Gortys hides her treasures like a five year old might; under the bed and in couch cushions. She shrugs, not really minding it. The place is a bit cluttered, sure, especially for a robot. But maybe not so much for a sentimental girl.

There's even a kitchenette with a stovetop where Sasha would make meals for everyone. Gortys can't use that either, and it's too tall for her but she looks up over at it]

I think there's some food and stuff in the cabinet there if you wanna come in. Unless you eat electricity, like I do.

[worthallthis]

No, I don't eat electricity.

[The idea is cute. And makes sense for how a robot would explain charging up.]

It's fine. I ate earlier. Where should I sit so you can show me the game.

[He doesn't want to sit on something that might also have a treasure stashed inside it. He is very heavy.]

[gamjam]

Uhhh.....huh. oh! I know! up there!

[she points to where the table is set up, and hands up the box to him before climbing up to sit in the breakfast nook herself]

Just let me know if you start getting uncomfortable, okay? I'm a learning robot so I don't know until you tell me, and then I can watch for signs in later conversations!

[worthallthis]

[Well, that seems like she's selling herself a little short.]

You noticed in the elevator.

[He does come to sit, though, the chair looks safe enough. He sets the box on the table and, after a glance at her for permission, lifts the lid curiously to see what's inside.]

[gamjam]

[she quiets down a little, somewhat disheartened when Bucky points that out]

...Yeah, but that might've been a glitch in the system. See, I'm starting to think more like a human and it's kind of freaking me out.

[The box contains a cardboard set-up with pop-up 3-D castles and bunkers, six various people in different poses and levels of ferociousness, and graph paper.

lots and lots of graph paper]