Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a vivid sensation when it all began, the feeling of falling from ones own body and their soul falling through a dimensional wormhole of sorts. Totally normal way to start your drift off to a dreamland, if this even was, were their first thoughts, their first still normal seeming thoughts in a long line of thoughts yet to come, yet to be processed, yet to be something as simple as code. Of course, the current prior person falling through worlds was unaware of everything but the sensation of it, the feeling of it, the feeling of falling but not falling at the same time. The feeling of your soul falling further and further away from its original origin point of its body, feeling it slowly detach from their mortal body, with each second, feeling your being, your entire person be something else, become something else. the feeling continued until their being hit something solid…something metallic, something oddly small yet still humanoid in design…felt so strange…yet familiar. it took a while as the feelings became normal to their mind…only to be remembered that moments before, this was not always the case that it had been, a constant recollection seemingly supplied by many many thoughts, Their brain re-calibrated into a new format, a new way of existence, so much knowledge, some…no, a lot of knowledge of this world even.

[booting up systems…]

[loading up database of files and memories…]

The look of confusion on the face of the now drone was obvious as things loaded in…loaded in like a computer…things loaded? A first in a long line of potential of short confusion, though recognizing the font and coloration of the system messages as things loaded and uploaded from a mysterious "cloud" labeled "brain", the thought eventually fully processed as the person slowly connected the dots. They knew where they were, universe wise at least, as their systems kept slowly coming back online, the question of when they were in the timeline of things, wondering how much they could effect just by merely being here…even if small, the factor they kept the knowledge of events and what they knew about the world, was a vital advantage in a still unknown world, its one thing to watch it, it is another to live it. More and more came to mind, they had a name prior to this existence, that was obvious, what it was exactly though was unknown, as if an important connecting factor to all this prior knowledge was suddenly considered unimportant by the very systems they were being stuck inside of, so much to consider and so much to process. They thought a bit more as their systems slowly loaded and ran more and more, like a computer being turned on for the first time, systematically whirring to life and loading the info all in the systems themselves already existing but putting it to work, it felt foreign yet right to be thinking in binary code, guess that was the easiest part to get used to of everything else.

[KAITIE-0100101101101110011011110111011101110011 systems fully calibrated, diagnostics running smoothly, bugs picked and fixed]

[acronym meaning loading……..]

[Knowing Artificial Intelligence of Tomorrows Imaginable Events…storing info in Drone Hardware/main brain/important files]

Kaitie….kaitie, what a name, and a lovely meaning behind it as well, but also it felt strange to acknowledge in the systems itself the universes knowledge that they hold within their mind turned code, info of the meaning stored away on a txt file without a second thought as if it was a normal occurrence. Kaitie was not about to question the more obvious parts of a long laundry list of potential other questions that still lingered in her mind, just a another one to add to what in the hell else was going on at the moment, just part of the ride at this point. She ponder as her systems kept running and waking up, it was interesting to watch and be inside a computer as it slowly worked itself up, running codes, diagnostics, etc, all the normal procedures of a computer working in unison and perfect symmetry, it was glorious to watch. Watching the code fly by her inner avatar, she was stunned as it all happened, it was like watching magic revolve around you, more code, checks for updates or patches , checks for fixes, checks for add-ons, a whirlwind of information whizzing by like carried by a strong breeze.

[downloading UnlimtedKnowledge.EXE]

[allow software to make changes please hit y or n for answer]

[y/n]

[y]

[answer accepted……downloading software…..running background checks on software……………………software is clean]

UnlimitedKnowledge.EXE, that's definitely new, with what knowledge that she had retained from her soul venture over to this place, another surprising factor her code turned mind would not allow her to forget, there was only one big notable program in this universe. And it was the Absolute Solver, the main antagonist's power set that could technically be passed down through the drone equivalents of genetic coding…of course more emphasis on the coding part in the drones case. This raised new questions, and got her mind racing, a new power set, a new power entirely, what for, what reason, why put it onto someone who was a fan of the universe, a watcher of the universe originally, and why her of all people?! Eventually kaitie managed to calm herself down at the realization of this sudden importance in this world, mainly to stop her body form overheating before it ever even got online, that would be the most anti-climatic end imaginable for her to have right now in…wherever she was. Her camera systems were still off, as if awaiting for someone to just press gently onto her screen and awaken her like a genie lamp awaiting to be rubbed, and not being able to see surroundings was starting to feel weird, feel off-putting, like being able to walk around in your own head, while your body is fully already in dream land, away and unassuming of what could be happening.

Tessa sighed as she got to the graveyard of drones, she really hated the discarding of them, they were still people they would still react when you got angry with them, still have sentience, they could have more then designations if it was up to her. But it was not, and so with a deep breath she said "alright, well, here goes nothing, I got a good feeling about today, maybe I'll find something different then the rest of my dear Lil crew". The words hanged in the air for a second before she started moving to do said action, despite her upbringing in the manor, she was a gal full of interest and enthusiasm for the way drones worked, thought and other things, they also felt easier to relate to then people, especially with the lack of people that would usually come by due to their choice of location, secluded and away from…from everyone else. The girl remembered her own mothers words for it, but would rather not use the term, as it felt horrid on the tongue to speak ill of other people that way, sometimes while she walked around this grave yard of drones, she would ponder, and ponder about the differences she has from the average kids, the pros and the…cons, Tessa grabbed her wrists gently, they thankfully didn't hurt right now. Just her luck though, as if a sign from the robo-gods, a glowing screen was seen in Tessa's vision, distracting her from her thoughts once more, bolting towards the potential new addition to her found…well more so made-family, giggling with glee as she arrived and looked upon the drone.

Instantly a thing that caught the eye of Tessa was how big this drone was, it was slightly taller than n, by a few millimeters, 152.4 to be exact, that was the first big tell that this one was different, the second thing was how…mint condition it was, looked almost unnatural for a drone like this to be handled so carefully once it got here, which made Tessa more curious. Another thing she noticed…was it already seemed to be decorated with bleached hair, curious…and somewhat suspicious, was this one she forgot about or is this something more intriguing in potential, a special surprise that has been gifted to her thanks to her curiosity of drones, finally coming to fruition, one things for sure, she was not passing up this opportunity. "Well here goes nothing, mate, hope your systems really do still work" she said, slowly tapping on the screen of the drone, going through things, eventually powering them on. Tessa waited on baited breath as she watched the machine whirs to life, looking through the files as she did, stumbling upon the .txt file and the designation…both make her even more curious, what in the bloody hell was this drone used for, files was it seems the memories are only…darkness? Seems like they were wiped clean for the most part to the extent of view of what Tessa can see as kaitie slowly comes online.

Kaitie gasped for a breath that she didn't need due to being a drone, but it FELT like she needed it as she fully came online, she got to look at her figure finally, her form of drone, the thing that would represent who she is…it was quite the look, seemingly tall…oh..well that's a face to see. Would see even be the right word, The way drones saw humans felt like those videos that focused on your overall shape or the character shape of a drawing that helped conveyed the characters personality in even their body shape alone. Nevertheless, here she was, the drone repairing extraordinaire, Tessa James Elliott, not like she could say it out loud but the thought was enough to kaitie. She looked around at the graveyard itself, eyeing…all of it, how much of a horrifying sight it was since being apart of this frame…so many bodies, so many possibilities and potential for artificial life, but all left to die here in a sense. It took a long while for kaitie to gather up the courage and energy to speak, though Tessa thankfully was preoccupied with ensuring that she really was mint condition, which made kaitie smile, watching Tessa enjoy herself and her interest in drones at its fullest.

"Oh someones already up I see, well dat's alright, nice to meet ya, I'm Tessa!" She said, practically beaming, seemingly signaled by the program showing her eyes glowing brighter than before "what's your designation, dearie?" She asked

Kaitie, stumbled over her words for a sec, her voice coming out kind, soft, and almost motherly "oh well, firstly thank you for turning me on, and second my designation is KAITIE-0100101101101110011011110111011101110011…I do apologize if it is a mouthful"

"Kaitie….kaitie…that's quite an interesting acronym made name you got there, do you have any idea what it means? Just checking your processing" Tessa said, a hint of concern for asking a potentially invasive question

kaitie giggled "no worry at all Lil miss, stands for Knowing Artificial Intelligence of Tomorrows Imaginable Events, is all"

"Riiiiiiiight" Tessa said, curiosity peaked at this point, the drone was still confirming its functions, so its processing was still working as well, that's always good "okay good good, you really are in a lucky spot dear, managed to find you before someone else just scrapped you up!" She said, like kaitie was living treasure to her

Kaitie couldn't help but giggle "oh gosh, am I really that neat to you dear, I just hope I ain't messing with your time frame and such if you need to be somewhere"

Tessa would then pull out the drone to her feet, shocking kaitie at how strong she was, kaitie, despite being still full of memories of how this world had went, had forgotten the Lil engineer girl strength in all of this happening of things.

"You have quite the grip and strength there my dear!" Kaitie said, not at all hiding her surprise in the moment "goodness, could sweep someone off their feet like that!" She joked

Tessa smiled as laughed a lil, a good honest laugh "thanks but uh, we should probably get going, if I'm gonna bring you back home, I gotta be back by a certain time and my parents are…very strict" the life seemed to dim even just in her eyes in her shape that kaitie could see…and kaitie had forgotten about…them…

Kaitie simply smiled and looked at Tessa "well then what are we standing around for, if I'm gonna be brought somewhere and such, lets make the most of the time we have!"

And so they ran off towards the manor, only wondering what could come next in Tessa's case, and wondering how it would be to work with all the others for kaitie…and getting to know them

Chapter Text

This was quite the adjustment that kaitie had to make in her life, being a drone, sure a little different, couldn't feel the world like she had originally before, but still could feel it in a different way, still something, still feasible. But the difference of course was mainly in what she had to do rather that took her off guard, all this endless work was tiring, but if anything it was more so the routine itself that was boring not the actions of the routine, clean a bed, do dishes, occasionally cook meals since you were the only drone who could properly reach the stove, prep for the next day, clean the charging ports and dust the rooms. The monotonous tasks, as boring as they may have been, were honestly nice, as they filled in most of the thinking times, allowing deep introspection upon the current body that kaitie had been gifted, long thinks dedicated to the current form, the way the metallic hands felt and how things felt to touch, how it felt to think now. It all felt so strange and foreign at first, but now as the getting used to it period was over, it was honestly easier to see the pros then the cons, the cons were easiest to spot in this new body, it felt slower when thinking something then doing the reality of the action, like in your head it was already done, but you were still barely at 25 percent of the way done of the task asked of you, the way you still felt the softness or hardness of an object but it felt…delayed until your processors could catch up, small enough to just be noticeable. The pros on the other hand were a bit more noticeable now, the way you could think about things at such a faster rate, managing to fight off anxiety a bit easier about how you were feeling as you were able to make a thinking of a whole 30 minutes into a short 1 minute condense thinking session, you could have games manually installed to play on your operating system for when you were truly done…kaitie chose what looked closest to doom, didn't require much to play, didn't need much to power it, and it ran butter smooth, also meant it was easy to quickly pause and get back to work if given a new task after everything else was done.

[text file opened, taking notes…]

Kaitie herself was determined to take a note of the actual characteristics of how everyone was, like she had thought before, looking through the window into a world is different then actually viewing it first hand, but…the most similar to expectations had to be Tessa's parents. James Elliott, he was certainly a character, his rudeness and abuse of drones, his way of words hanging heavy in the like an anvil felt done with intention and rich snobbishness, he didn't want a daughter that was cool, he wanted her to be "refined and elegant like a flower in a vase", aka seemingly meaning she wanted her to look good and fade into the background, not standing out at all. His wife, Louisa Elliott, was barely any different, the only reason kaitie had found herself in the kitchen was because all the human butlers had quit, a shocker to almost no one who wasn't the duo, and Louisa saw herself as too "prestigious" to be doing such a meaningless and ugly task, so in her eyes, it was easy to put a so called "dumpster drone" to use for it, especially the one that quote "looked the least filthy". The duo together would often gloat and talk loudly bad about other drones near kaitie but…not like she could do much, they were sadly an obstacle of one big thing, the reason of the gala, the humans that interacted and treated drones with such hatred and malice it was almost impossible to imagine the idea that they had treated the butler's that were human any different, Louisa once proclaiming that "those disgusting lower class vermin are easily replaceable anyhow". Overall, not much change from what was expected, not much to note over there, they were rich assholes and they seemed to almost wear that factor like a badge of honor they never wanted to take off, whether a drone or a lower class then them human, didn't matter, you were gonna be insulted in some form, especially if you were weird, which still left of course their daughters in the crosshairs, as she was weird….kaitie stopped typing to pause, and take a breath, the sight of that chain…that damned chain, Tessa had seen her reaction, Tessa, looked shy about even bringing it up, so kaitie simply had to hug her, and tell her "remember someday you will get out of here and achieve great things, drone kind will be better with you alive in this world, I know it".

Tessa herself was a interesting character, but to see it was such a heartbreaking moment, knowing the future is one thing, getting to know the individual of said bad ending of their story…that previous line she said to Tessa was more of a promise, to attempt to change the story, an attempt to give a sense of calm. Her liveliness was nothing to be understated, in all senses of the word, she seemed to have a quickness in her step that made human and drone alike hard to keep up with her when she had the chance, easily excitable over when someone talked to her something about drone technology or asked about her interest with humanization of drones, and her body grew more animated the more she was allowed to talk about said things. Her kindness…oh her kindness was so…pure and unaffected by her parents attempts to teach her to be anything but, her heart was too large, and her care was poured into the way she looked at her drones, the care she put into the making the bleached wigs from long gone people, giving life to it, giving life-like features to the drones, letting them learn their personalities, letting them figure it all out. But Tessa's asocial-ness was of course a topic briefly expected, watching it in person though was even more interesting, the teaching style of the two horrid Elliotts had backfired in a new way all it's own, they wanted her to have private homeschooling to keep away from "lesser people", seemingly they only wanted to deal with other top top dogs in wealth, and even a private school would have been too much, the problem was though, and by their looks, even they realized this was their doing, was that cutting off all that contact had disallowed for the typical social circle to form, which led to her literally building her own. Finally there was the way that she saw the drones, the way she looked at them differently, n was like a Lil brother in her own eyes seemingly, whether he was the first or j was, he was the one that was a favorite in that sense, J, oh J, the gal was a favorite in a different font, a cute crush that was easier to talk to, kaitie chuckled to herself as she remembers hyping j up like a employee motivational poster, to help with homework, V was a interesting case, as her timid nature meant that she was the one that typically was the one she relaxed with a good book with, or to study something with from the private online classes she was taking, Cyn, Tessa would look at her sometimes like a worried mother.

Segwaying into the next one after that, Mr. N himself, or as Tessa would sometimes call him still under her breath when her parents were nowhere in sight or ear range, "Nate". He was a kind soul, a kind person, a kind being, he did his tasks nicely, talked nicely and was overall a good fellow. He cared deeply for his fellow drones, making sure all of them were doing well, even if one of them didn't know how to take the compliments or other stuff. He was also FREAKISHLY strong, his defect being that was very apparent, but he was always precise with his strength, and his accuracy levels was impressive, did mean you could watch him make a shaken drink insanely fast, alcoholic or not, which is what both Elliott's allowed him to stick around for. Another notable factor about him though was his anger, now kaitie had figured that he had to have some, because even with being a caring person, there is only so much a person can take, and oh boy this golden retriever still had his wolf teeth, but he never wanted people to see him like that, drone or human alike, he'd rather take it out on nothing and no one, then let it burst out in the wild and risk someone viewing him differently, he cared concernedly about that good image, he wanted to be that shoulder that people could rest on and rely on.

V or Valerie was quite the basket of coolness, she was very cute and adorable….kaitie wished to keep that calmness, to keep that safety and timidness. V's defect was another thing, she had the need for glasses due to her visor's camera systems seemingly being shot, which lended itself to her looking even more human which the Elliott's disliked, which is why she tended to stay in the library the most out of the other drones under Tessa's care. she was clumsy and often times needed a helping hand with dealing with the problems of her vision, the glasses helped her enough to tidy up the area at the least. Though she still could let out her annoyance be known, her more rare moments she sounded…protective, what would the word combo for this be, flash forward instead of flashback? In any case, Kaitie would find it upon herself to…nudge more cute moments into that memory bank of both n and v, a tea cup here, a good book recommendation there for the two of them inevitably read together, many small little tiny things that they would just see as nice Lil moments between the two of them, to give them happy moments, to make them feel safe.

Jade or better known as J was a…interesting case as to be expected for the corporate climber, and sure while she was the one to stick to the status quo…you could see Tessa change her way of thinking, never fully but a nudge in that direction, she wanted that status quo, that change, all at once, poor gal looked like she was at the end of a sweet business deal and the potential of a better life, a crossroads that she would eventually be able to choose…as it is up to kaitie now to ensure that, to make sure that happened.
Another thing though is how j held herself up, she seemed to have had a different hairstyle at some point, as evidenced by a discarded wig kaitie had found round the back of the manor while taking out the trash to the garbage point, and a discarded voice box, undoubtedly belonging to her due to it's designation, but kaitie knew better then to talk about the past about such a thing, the important part was that she was happier with Nessa now then whatever she looked like before, and that felt more important then sifting through bad wigs and a voice box that didn't match the drone. She still had her attitude but it was dialed down a lot more then you'd think, by no means a rarity, but a lot less then to be expected, her attitude towards her fellow drones work ethic was used by the Elliotts to use her as a coraling option when sometimes the other drones started hesitating to do a task, using her corporate talk to get the bots moving into shape and prepare whatever it was the horrendous parental figures needed to get drones going and get an objective done. Now getting J and Tessa to work together or have cute moments was harder then N and V…oh but it was worth it, their faces lighting up as they worked together on a problem that was business related, letting J flex her strength of company knowledge, watching as tessa enjoyed her voice, watching them get all cute and then shyly back down sometimes because they thought it impossible, other times, one of them would simply rest their head on the others shoulder, nothing crazy, but a defiant show that it was possible, that it could work, that it could happen, and kaitie wanted to squeal in excitement over it each and every time she managed to capture even the tiniest glimpse into that possibility.

Kaitie sighed as she went to the type the next one

The solver…or the name it had stolen the chance of being given to the other drone still in it's system, Cyn, solver was, for lack of a better set of terms, odd, fascinating, and if anything else, unsettling a little. Cyn would roam around, despite being advised not to, where the Elliott's would be talking, several time kaitie had to ensure that cyn had to be picked up like a baby and carried gently away from saying something creepy, or weird, or something innocent enough in all honesty, and pulled away from the Elliott's. That became kaitie's main mission, protecting her from raising suspicion, why you may ask is simple, so she wouldn't receive the abuse she had, kaitie would protect this learning program from learning violence more then it already probably knew. Sometimes kaitie saw cyn's eye's flicker, from the creepy yellow to white, but sometimes as well, though rarely, one would be white, and one would be yellow, mainly with a concerned look…solver could tell what she was doing, again and again, and if the true cyn was within….both minds would want answers, why go through the trouble of preventing an inevitability, preventing an absolute thing that would happen eventually. The personality was a mimic of cyn's supposedly, shy and sheepish, often when trying to do stuff, it would walk a Lil strangely, seemingly trying to get a feel for walking in general, it was still learning, it was still potentially stoppable from becoming the villain, stoppable from becoming something that would cause the end of worlds. It felt like a preventable thing with all this knowledge, all this future knowing…apart of her felt it was all in vain, all for nothing, all for naught, an entity that devours matter on a planet scale, mimicking a person who barely was allowed to see the world again with control fully given over to the program that currently ran the show, but deep down maybe kaitie just wanted to try to understand it, figure out the why's and the hows.

[Closing notes titled "characteristic notice"]

Kaitie would take another deep breath as she thought this all over, sitting in a chair that Louisa Elliott wouldn't use anymore as it had "felt wrong" as cyn had sat in it one time and that was apparently enough reason to start going for smacks and hits towards the drone, the most smallest looking drone, god she hated Tessa's parents with every bit of code that was her mind now. She wanted to do right yet it felt hard at times to keep composure, to keep up this act of an upstanding drone, it felt sickly familiar yet cranked up, being quiet while watching others get reprimanded for problems they themselves didn't cause, Louisa Elliott going on about how Tessa had to "look nice" for family when the most family did at meetings was sit around and talk on holidays and gloat about wealth, with Tessa feeling left alone as she was forced to stay silent.

kaitie balled her robotic hand into rage for a moment, before taking some deep breaths, eventually hearing the distinct sound of robotic feet pitter pattering towards her, it was singular.

cyn would be the one peak, waving at kaitie as she looked at her from behind the bookshelves

Kaitie tried her best to put a smile back on her face "hey cyn" she started doing her best to keep composure after having almost got lost in her anger and remembrance at a life before that seemed bad, preferring to stick to what she knew about this world "what are you doing here?" she'd ask gently.

"I thought I heard some. concerning noises. nod nod." cyn said, nodding her head with the help of a hand of hers, her eyes having that concerned look again, which once more made kaitie melt a slightly, and also a little sad that anyone heard her deep breathing techniques, even smaller, a tiny bit embarrassed.

"I was just…making sure I calmed myself down, I was overthinking somethings again after getting done with all of my duties around the household today is all" kaitie said "and well, this is the place I thought I could go to not be heard and such" she added, followed by a soft chuckle

cyn's eyes did the thing again, one yellow and one white, concern, not faked mimicked concern, genuine concern

"Why do you stop me from talking with Tessa's parents" the cyn's voice glitched as if she was going to say "us", and then correcting herself and saying "me" , a simple mistake "y-you don't have to do that you know" she said shyly

Kaitie simply looked at cyn…a long while, at least for two to three computer based minds in a singular room, then she spoke calmly and gently "well" she started "I don't like seeing anyone I know hurt, is all, and Tessa's parents have…strict definitions of what is acceptable" her mind wandering back to that damned chain.

cyn noticed kaitie's mind was wandering again, she saw kaitie look fearful and sad, that wasn't good at all to see.

"would you like. a hug?" cyn asked gently

apart of kaitie hesitated, it knew what solver could do, it knew what solver could hurt with, it knew how it could probably constrict the life out of her

but also…turning down a hug right now would be the least good option as it would probably raise suspicion and honestly, kaitie could really go for a hug right about now

"you know what, sure" she said "come and give me a hug" opening her arms up for the Lil drone

Cyn and kaitie would hug for a while, it took a bit for either to let go, maybe this is what they both needed, a moment away from the madness of it all

Kaitie broke the silence first "what brings you to the library dear? You never come here much all things considered." She said with a bit of concern.

Cyn looked at the ground, like an internal debate was happening within that small body of hers, kaitie wondered if cyn and the solver were gonna reveal something to her, so she was patient with cyn

cyn finally spoke eventually "um…can I tell you something. head tilt?" her eyes flickering between white and yellow, unsure of herself almost, the fear of judgement in her eyes…that was different to kaitie

Kaitie asked nicely "you may cyn, go right ahead" tilting her own head, curious, the gala was still most likely far away, last she knew anyhow. So what was gonna be told to her in this moment?

The answer was one she wasn't expecting just yet, especially only a month and some odd days in to being apart of this group of drone misfits, the solver symbol. Kaitie was surprised to see it, she had only been here a month, why trust her with this knowledge….knowledge….the universe had its jokes still she sees now, she looked at cyn, seeing the symbol up close, the arrows in three directions, akin to a 3d programs tool for moving around a model, she held the smaller drones face carefully looking at the symbol in one of her eyes. "may I ask something cyn?"

Cyn nodded

"Why did you show me dear, how come you wanted to show me this?" Kaitie asked, curiosity in her voice

When it was obvious that she wasn't scared…and maybe had a hint of recognition that kaitie couldn't hide, cyn herself spoke "saddened look, I was fearful that the others would not understand, head tilt, but you always to try to understand, even if you. do not get it."

Kaitie watched as the drones eyes were wearing a crying expression, one eye white and one eye yellow again, the expression felt sincere at the least, and it was hard to ignore that no matter what, the drone within, the true cyn, and solver both recognized kaitie as a safe person to confide in, oh that was gonna make this harder if things played out the same….but judging by this interaction, her very existence was causing a divergence, the half and half eyes was proof enough. She had become a motherly figure, guess she's throwing out her original plan.

"Alright" kaitie said, realizing the weight of that factor of her position in all of this " may I ask you something then cyn?"

Cyn nodded

"is there more then one im talking with right now?" Asked kaitie

Cyn froze up, her eyes looked like her mind was racing

Kaitie placed a hand on cyn's shoulder "easy dear, deep breaths"

Cyn looked up into kaitie's face, a motherly caring smile across her face, telling her it was all gonna be okay, telling her that this was different but how could she guess, how could she know, did she catch the "us" so easily?

Kaitie made a decision…and changed her screen to show her eye symbol…a large humanoid eye with 3 feminine lashes pointing upwards at the top of the eye itself

"Easy does it, not all of us get lucky with a body that didn't have a prior host." Kaitie said "and besides, its better to trust one another and let things be good then to be fighting for control, that takes away precious energy you know"

Cyn and solver took a moment to respond, seemingly to admit they had not thought of that part of the agreement, that the flimsy "I won't discard you" could mean more then cyn sitting in the background, watching events unfold, a backup that would watch and watch and watch. "How did you figure it out? Sheepish smile" cyn said…two white eyes this time were on her screen, with a yellow gradient at the top, kaitie noted that her original defect must have been how she talked and walked.

"Your eyes would go half and half when talking to me sometimes" kaitie said, and then a thought occurred "did you both…consider me that safe?" she asked with a mild curiosity

No words were said for a moment, but a shy nod was given by cyn

"shy nod, yes…you made us feel…safe, big brother n does that for us as well but. You do also. In a different sense, hehe" cyn said, her expression gaining a small smile

that adorable Lil goober was still there, that was the good news, and she had just convinced the solver to make a logical conclusion of why forcing her into the background would be a bad idea. Kaitie noted how this all felt, this was already wildly divergent from her expected reaction to her existence…but I guess that comes with the factor of being shoved into a world like this, interactions shape history, the small and the big, and this was a double domino. She gently held cyn by the head, that Lil drone held her in such high regards and all she had shown was such a kindness…okay and a bit of care that may have given motherly vibes if you looked but not much else. She paused on that thought a bit, caring for an eldritch horror who hadn't done the horrors they were going and supposed to do, and here she was, cradled in kaitie's arms, softly relaxing after trying her hardest to keep going. Cyn looked up at kaitie, her eyes still a gradient of yellow into white, smiling gently, enjoying this moment of reprieve and relaxation while the Elliott heads were off doing whatever it is they did, she let cyn keep relaxing.

"Kaitie? Head tilt" she said, looking up at her

Kaitie noticed it was full yellow eyes "yes?" she said with slight intrigue

"Do you know me?" Solver said

"What 's your definition of that at?"

"Thinking look, do you know my name?" Solver asked, curiously

"I don't believe you introduced yourself to me yet" kaitie said "not properly anyhow"

"I am the absolute solver, the salvation" it stated, though the way it stated it, even using cyns monotone voice, like someone stating they had super powers proudly, it was cute with a bit of edge to it.

"Ah I see…what if I called you solvie?" Kaitie said, catching the solver off guard "it would still reflect your title, but it would be more like a name, like cyn or mine"

"That would be….sufficient" a smile on her face, one eye white and one eye yellow again

kaitie could only think to herself how weird this all was

Chapter Text

Another week had gone by and Kaitie found herself in the thick of it all, seemingly the Elliott's, prior to the big gala, were securing some business deals, which of course meant a lot of company dinners. And of course with a lot of company dinners meant she was sectioned to the kitchen for the most part when not cleaning everything else.

Kaitie said to herself "another day another meeting, they sure are making a lot of business deals this week" with a bit of annoyance in her tone, thankfully neither of the two Elliott's were in the kitchen, which meant she was fully trusted with the food, she of course had recipes given to her and she was given orders and such, and of course the occasional berating, but she was starting to get used to it, whether she liked that or not was another story.

J interrupted her thinking and working for a sec "that position treating you well?" she asked, followed by a quick nervous laugh.

Kaitie looked at J, she knew what she meant by that, a "you doing okay?" in the form of business jargon, kaitie responded in kind "business is business right now J, just…looking forward to the clock out"

Kaitie was in the middle of cooking a big lavish meal for their current guests that were going to be arriving, she was making pan seared shrimp with a buttery glaze, and a ton of it, all with homemade shrimp cocktail sauce to go along side it. In addition to that, she also had to make other lavish dishes, names sometimes felt familiar, though what she could remember them as before would still be her thoughts now "rich people or fancy food" she would think to herself. J was still standing there, noting how focused she was.

"You really are a good employee of this business, must have had some prior training in whatever your previous employment was" j stated matter-of-factually

Kaitie, noticing the matter-of-factness, asked "aside from duties dealing with the plates and tables, what brings you here J, You don't typically congratulate anyone" she said, both stirring the pot metaphorically and literally as she cooked

J froze up and blushes at being called out

"W-well I'm just uh checking up on your performance!" She said

Kaitie simply shrugged and said "alright, fair enough" and as she begun to turn her full attention back to cooking-

"Wait!" J said, a tinge of pleading in her voice "I…wanted to ask you about something"

This was different, no corporate jargon? Must have been serious "go ahead" kaitie said, slightly interested now

J hesitated before starting "with all this stuff coming up and….I was trying to think of something to do for Tessa since we've been busy with all these meetings, y'know, make her…feel better with all this stuff going on and what not" J's eyes portrayed a sense of belonging, no matter what you categorized them as, Tessa meant so so much to J, and seeing it first hand, it was precious.

Kaitie, while still keeping her screen visor eyes mainly focused on the food, thought for a second "did you have any ideas for what you could give her?" She asked with hardly disguised curiosity and interest.

J sat for a moment as kaitie continued her cooking, thinking about it for a long interrupted while, which allowed kaitie to finish the shrimp and homemade shrimp cocktail sauce. "How about…uh something simple? Flowers?" She said, an innocent smile on her face.

Kaitie smirked as she made the other dishes, the lil things, the finger foods that were too clean to be eaten in actuality but felt like a statement of power in some weird reverse psychology way in the heads of the wealthy she was serving this to "any specific flowers in mind?" She asked to her fellow drone

J shook her head "n-not particularly?" Unsure of herself sounding just this once

Kaitie chuckled a little, kinda amusing to watch in all honesty, but she then smiled "I'll pick something perfect for her for you, just let me finish my work and then I'll be there"

This helped ease j a little, and as such she left kaitie to do her job.

J walked away from the conversation proud of herself, she used her words a bit better that time, j often had a little trouble with touching anything then the corporate lingo that she lived and breathed but for Tessa…it was worth it. Tessa, oh Tessa, her artificial heart would cause her to overheat on blush alone if she didn't know to be professional, though sometimes did realize the she was a bit too professional, using normal ways of saying things was still a lil hard for her at times. Though with this new drones help, maybe she could figure it all out quicker, not putting the burden on Tessa all the time, N was already pretty set in his personality, same seemingly for V…cyn…was cyn so hard to change that. J lingered on the thought, lingered on the factor, her personality was still developing away from what she used to do and it was taking precious time away from what could just be general bonding between the two of them. She eventually assured herself she would figure it out though she hoped it would be sooner rather than later, she hated feeling on the spot and on the way rather than already had accomplished something as she was a leader figure, it was her place to be the one to set things straight between the group to get them to work together as best as possible.

The corporate drone noticed cyn in the corner of her visor's vision, she had been told to stay where she was, though it was rare to see her actually stay in the spot for once which led to j being a little curious, what would make cyn finally sit down and listen? She decided to move over to where cyn was and give the drone a proper compliment for listening for once, usually the drone wandered about, doing chores occasionally as best she could with her bodies defects. Though as she walked over, she noticed cyn was…in sleep mode, of all things she expected, this was not it as cyn had a history of not sleeping unless she really needed to charge or…or she felt safe enough to do so as j recalled cyn falling asleep in N's arms one time for story time. She moved back to where she was going originally, back to her own charging port back in Tessa's room or just near Tessa as this was already weird to see cyn relaxed enough to sleep out in the open like that, even if it was a part of the calm library. It was a small matter, nothing to focus on and quite less important then going to make sure her dear Tessa was doing her important homework as to improve her educational standings for future use and J marched herself towards her goal.

J's mind wandered as she walked herself to the same familiar path about this newer drone, KAITIE-0100101101101110011011110111011101110011, or just Kaitie as it often got shortened to due to how long her overall designation was for a drone of theirs to have, and she was already basically given a name in that sense. She thought about the peculiarity of it, a new drone that was working and perfectly in order, barely a scratch on her, and yet tossed in the drone graveyard like it was nothing. J's analytical part of her mind picked at that for hours, the coincidence of it all, the way she was only a few meters from cyn's discovery area according to Tessa, the way she was oddly tall and to be more specific taller then N by a few millimeters, making herself the new tallest drone yet her energy never felt leader-like more motherly if anything. Then something clicked finally that J had been glossing over, a connection while she was getting closest to Tessa's own room that she had been missing, cyn was getting better at staying out of the way due to kaitie's presence, it had to have been that, what else could it have been?

"Oh hey jaybird!" Tessa's voice cut through the thinking train that J had going

"O-oh hey Tessa!" It took a second to recollect her original thinking and reason she was up here "how's all your homework going?"

Tessa sighed in boredom "uuuuuggggghhh it's so boring, its…history and stuff mate!" she wanted to scream, j could see it in her face, but she knew her parents would get aggravated with her about it so she simply sighed "I'd rather be tinkering around with one of you lot to ensure max functionality and wellness then doing this."

J rolled her eyes knowingly at Tessa's antics, gal was smart with tech, but sitting her down on a computer to do homework ironically made her slow to a crawl "I know but you still have to do it, education is important for a future entrepreneur ya know?" she said with care.

Tessa knew there was no getting out of it now, as much as she hated to admit it, J was very right about this factor "I know that, I just wish it wasn't so boring to my brain! Let alone going as slow as it does, every line I read is like a boring exert and not the main thing"

J pushed on "I know but you still should learn it, sometimes the reward is behind all the hardness" she said with a gentle smile at Tessa.

Tessa paused for a moment as she looked at the smile, enjoying it silently "alright alright" she said with a smile of her own "but I really need to ask some questions I got for ya later"

J, ever ready, simply nodded and said "lets begin then shall we?"

It took them a whole 3 hours to complete all the work that needed to be done, time flying by as j helped Tessa just enough so that she would still be learning the materials but also going faster then of she had done it alone

"Phew…that was a lot, but glad to finally get it done then!" Tessa said with satisfaction

J simply nodded, glad to be of help to her

Tessa then thought and remembered "alright J, question time!"

J sat up "alright, what's your questions?" She asked, curious what her dear Tessa might have on her mind

Tessa got right to it "what do you think of kaitie so far J?"

J stated plainly "well for starters I think she's an effective colleague and really has managed to come into role of her work easier then the others, as well as understanding the ebb and flow of the work environment she lives in"

Tessa nodded "I get what you mean, she cooks some fierce meals when told to, I think she'd do better without the restraints of being given a recipe to follow" she nodded to her own answer, like a detective in a cartoon who just figured something out "have you noticed how cyn has been acting around her, j?" She added to the end, her eyes sparkling with curiosity

J nodded "yeah…it uh, registered as I was coming up to help you out actually" she said as she thought about it again "she's been…well she's still cyn but she certainly feels calmer if anything, I saw her sleeping in the library if I recall correctly"

Tessa raised an eyebrow in disbelief "cyn was asleep? Like relaxing and stuff??" she said, a Lil bewildered, usually she was causing trouble for her parents, much to her fearfulness of them, but chill? "I gotta see this for myself!"

Tessa was fast, causing J to have to catch up as the Elliott gal practically bolted with excitement to see something fresh and new of cyn being calm for once in her simple existence so far. Sure enough J and Tessa came upon the resting cyn, still relaxing in the same chair, though now curled up like a cat that had been wandering all day doing whatever they liked and had finally decided to nap and thus make the house feel quiet. Tessa and J watched curiously then they heard the sound of footsteps, definitely not her parents but instead drone footsteps, kaitie came from the other library entrance and it was obvious that she had just finished up finally from all the cooking that Tessa's parents had tasked her with as she still smelled of all the foods she had cooked for the business dinner they were having tonight. Kaitie gently picked up cyn and set her in her lap, the drone sleepily awakened from her slumber and smiling as she saw who it was and kaitie returning a smile of her own to the other drone with her and they seemed calm with one another's presence and seemed to make them both calmer with cyn being the one who was not being harmed or hurt by tessa's parents due to being around them and their abjection from being seen with someone that they deemed weird. Tessa had some thinking to do honestly about this drone who oddly popped into their lives from an extra drone expedition into the old drone graveyard as something about her was so unique and how it provided to the household overall, and as their engineer and person who brought drones back from the dead so casually it was beginning to wonder if she should start already looking into her systems, usually she waited a bit before going peaking, after all it was basically their minds and that felt like an invasion of privacy.

Kaitie would look up and see the two and giggle "hello you two, something catch your eye?"

J, a Lil frazzled "shoot we've been compromised"

Tessa, laughed a Lil as well "oh alright you caught us" she said, coming into the library

Kaitie looking over to J "and for you dear, I think I found what you were looking for"

Kaitie would gently move herself behind the bookshelves, motions for j to come along and motioning for Tessa to stay where she is, J would come back out with a bouquet of magnolia, blushing hard as she gifted it to tessa

"F-for you boss" her blush vibrantly bright on her visor screen

Tessa smiled and laughed in surprise, a genuine one of happiness "aw jaybird! You didn't have to, they are so pretty!"

The magnolia was special, as it seemed to hold all 3 potential colors it could have, starting with a white at the top, then gradient's into pink, then finally into a rich purple

"But thank you, jaybird, these are a lovely gift" she said, while drones couldn't see her face, her eyes in their visors showed her brimming with happiness

"Y-you're welcome Tessa" she nervously laughed, blush still linger on her screen, though less bright then before

"Cute" is all kaitie added

Chapter Text

N had been pacing back and forth for precisely an hour now, and it was starting to get worrying, V was always on time, she always was, oh maybe the poor gal had fallen over and was forced to do more manual labor, as her glasses sometimes got in her way and maybe she needed help! Or maybe she was dealing with overworking from one of tessa's parent's and he needed to step in to defend her so that she may not have to deal with their harsh punishments that they inflict on others, oh he hated seeing how they got on others, especially if he was too late to stop it. The poor lil drone worried and worried, until his processors had to start whirring the internal cooling fans, which their noise let the drone know that it was time to chill out and take a deep breath, even if he didn't technically need one, the motion itself was the thing that felt calming and it brought him back down to a more levelheaded train of thought. Maybe she was just with kaitie or tessa and helping them out with something like dishes or a bit of homework that needed a bit of extra help and it was just taking a bit longer then intended which was the reason behind her lateness to this date. Date…he can't believe that kaitie actually managed to talk him into doing such a thing, but the idea of finally getting in touch with V a bit more is so exciting that he had to take up the idea for a prospect alone of potential, he thought it would be hard to set up and stuff but kaitie said that she'd handle the setup.

Kaitie was the newest addition to N's group and she was a very kind gal, even N himself admitted that she seemed to put herself last. On one hand it was very nice of how much kaitie cared for the others and with that he knew he could at the least rely on her when he couldn't be the one to cheer the others up if ever, on the other hand she seemed, too knowledgeable in some ways, like she seemed to anticipate reactions or know how someone might say a line. Along with that, was what made N smile the brightest, kaitie's treatment of cyn was quite nice, while v tried, she couldn't muster away the shyness magically and J was a very focused business worker drone, and well, tessa had to focus on her studies still also, so having someone who was looking out for her more then him, though once more she seemed to look at cyn knowingly, perhaps they both came from the same place, hence each others vague recognition in their visors? Whatever it was, kaitie showed remarkable work, and could be at the ready, she would typically go silent when taking orders from tessa's parents, her eyes even dimming a bit on her screen, only nodding along to the orders and then going right to the task, no other word needed, as if she had done this song and dance before of similarly cruel people, even j noticed how much she resigned herself when the Elliott's did decide to force use of their daughters drones specifically on the rest of the house where other drones did not do a good enough job, a task to do, a task to be done. Kaitie seemed like a complex gal, N hoped she still enjoys learning all about stuff despite her wisdom of working or dealing with something similar before, hopefully the circumstances would be different this time, she deserves to be as happy as the rest of'em with tessa!

v would eventually walk out from what she was doing, still unsure about this whole thing

"H-hey N um I-I-I came here for…did you really mean a date???" V said, almost unable to believe it, fixing her glasses a lil on the edge of her visor, a small blush icon on each side of her screen

N, being ever the goober he is, smiled and said "yeeeeeep!" Absolutely beaming with energy

V was still shy though a part of her wanted to giggle at just the sight of N's kind and silly nature "alright w-well lead the way please"

N would take v's hand and take her to the library though along with the usual sights, she saw a small little folding table, a nice lil set up with electronic candles, mimicking the typical lovely evening, small folding chairs, batteries on plates, truly a difference maker though was a lovely small bouquet of fake flowers, v was a lil surprised by the work put into it

"H-how…and where did you get this stuff, N?" She asked, curious where her dear N managed to set up this cute lil thing

N sheepishly put a hand behind his head, gesturing with his hand behind him "I had a lil help from our new friend"

V looked and saw kaitie, kaitie waved and gave the duo two thumbs up, though she was sadly called by Louisa Elliot for dinner to be made at her request, so she could not stay long to enjoy the show, her shoes in her outfit clacking across the floor as she carefully speed walked away to do her task, leaving the duo alone

V smiled "well oh th-this is just lovely N!" Her voice increasing in pitch a little, all this for little old her? Oh she would have to thank kaitie later for helping N out, it wasn't much but oh this was so nice to have a spot to be with him.

the two sat down with one another, snacking on batteries and chatting away after having done all the chores around the household, N of course would eventually open a random book of facts, V would move her stuff and her chair over to near N, and then the usual routine hit them, for what it wasn't the fanciness that they needed, these simple things would do for a date night of sorts, for what made this was being with one another to enjoy it together, doing together what they enjoyed. N sharing different facts from one of the many fact books that lined the walls of the library, usually opting for the dog related ones, but sometimes shaking it up. V just there, she was enjoying his voice, calm and soothing to the mechanical equivalent of a drones ears, it always calmed her processors down, sometimes she had even sometimes fallen into sleep mode after listening to him, poor tessa or n himself had to collect her to bring her back to her charging port, though it did make her feel very cared for.

"N, thank you so much for this" V started

N chuckled "oh it's not much really"

"Oh it didn't need to be" V proclaimed calmly "it was just enough really, easy clean up and also" she paused for a second "it's more about just being with you, N"

N audibly went "aw" as she finished that line "that's great to hear V"

The two embraced each other in a hug for a moment

V thought about something though, it was something at the back of her mind that was clawing its way through her priorities of functions to think about, her processors lingering on it a bit "hey N?" She asked

"Yeah V, what is it?" N responded chipperly

V took a second before she spoke "where did kaitie even find something like these?" She gestured to the lil set up that was for them "it's not like Mr. & Mrs. Elliott typically to have something like this"

N nodded "well she said she had found it after some off time she had and hid it away for use in places they don't look, so wherever she keeps them, its out of sight and out of mind not taking up space thankfully" he finished, he was also curious, as all he saw was his new friend pulling the table out of nowhere seemingly and same for the other stuff, grabbing it after going to an unused room that was typically empty, but as long as it meant they were able to do more stuff like this, N was okay with doing anything without questioning too much.

V thought about N's response, kaitie sure was a smart drone and picking up ropes fast if she knew to hide stuff away like that out of mind of the elliotts, let alone a space they wouldn't care for. "Well, that's good a-atleast" she said

N nodded along "we should probably at least fold this all up if we are done though so kaitie can put it away easier again, and maybe we can just…maybe go do something else as well?"

"Th-that sounds just fine" she said with a nod and another fix of her glasses, darn things, she wished they didn't move so much on her faceplate throughout the day all the time.

And so the duo folded and placed everything neatly together for kaitie to out of somewhere, out of sight, out of mind, they went off, very thankful for being able to do something like that, they'd hope to do it again sometime, even with poor kaitie being busy, both did hope that she would get her deserved break soon, the elliotts were working her hard with all these company dinners.

Filling the sudden silence again as they made their way more towards their charging stations in tessa's room, N spoke "So, what do you think about kaitie, V?

"Oh well she does seem nice at the least, very caring, she helped m-me with a couple chores where my eyesight would affect me extra bad at times" she said, smiling at the kind gestures that kaitie did for her

N nodded along "yeah" a soft chuckle came out of him "though I do feel kinda bad though, she's been already put into a spotlight of some sort, being forced to cook all these meals" he said, thinking about how he had passed by her making another big meal for the Elliott's

V thought about it and nodded along, the interactions the two had were brief but nice interactions, and when they had interacted for a bit longer when able to, she seemed very caring to V, patient for when she stumbled in words or physically when her glasses and coordination failed her "yeah but…not much we are able to do for now sadly"

N sadly had to agree on that part, what could they do anyhow, if they tried anything, it may lead to tessa being hurt or reprimanded by the Elliott heads of the house, and they were ruthless enough as is when it came to Tessa. Who knows what they would do to a lowly drone standing up to them now, even if he had the strength, he knew he wouldn't have the heart for it, V is sadly too clumsy, cyn's weirdness only weirds them out and doesn't frighten them despite their name calling towards her, J…J was someone who deep in her code would always side with the boss, that was still true now, though he could see how she looked at tessa, even then, if she did change fully, all she knows is basic sword fighting she learned to protect tessa, even teaming up with tessa if possible, both of them would have to deal with all of the fallout of the Elliott's, their wrath would be merciless, especially if tessa's mother led the charge.

N looked back at V, and after collecting his thoughts, spoke "ya know, maybe we'll worry about that later, lets focus on enjoying these little times that she prepares for us when she can" he said, following it up with a smile "we'll figure out eventually how to help her out, some way somehow, for now lets focus on the times she gifts us, even if in a small way, she's helping us spend more time together, which is real nice of her considering everything else she currently has on her plate"

V Nodded, thinking on what N had said a bit longer then usual, it was very nice of kaitie to do all of this, especially considering everything she was picking up in the short amount of time. But V's thoughts wandered again back to this new motherly drone that had suddenly shown up in their lives and how much care she seemed to show each of them, even including cyn, which had surprised her as only usually N would come to her defense, though she had once seen kaitie carrying cyn like a cat that had been caught in the act of doing something, seemingly going to bother James and Louisa Elliott, and was taken away from doing just that. The way she looked at cyn, n, herself, j, and Tessa, her eyes showed care, concern, worry, maybe a hint of recognition and knowing, though that last one seemed debatable because they had just met only a month and some odd days ago, but mostly just such, profound sense of general empathy, the way she would do her best to make moments with j and Tessa happen had not been unnoticed by v, she was clumsy and needed glasses, but she could still see that just like her and N, Kaitie was willing to help make them feel comfortable in the large grand halls and rooms of this manor. V still questioned where in the world she had gotten the chairs, the table, the electronic candles and the plain and generic looking candle holder, it's not like she could just pull those things out of thin air, they had to have been somewhere, maybe hidden deep in the manor somewhere and truly were meant to never be found but now they had been and they had been used to ensure that V and N had a grand old time. V would look up at N and smile, maybe she didn't need to know all the questions of how right this moment, maybe they could be asked at a better time, for what they had been used for was far more greater then the mystery behind their appearance, they had been used to have a moment with N, however simple it was, that was the thought she wanted to focus on right now.

V nodded after her long bit of thinking and said "a-alright, you're right N, I just hope we can repay her in some ways, I really did liked having a nice little setup to sit with you" she finished with a timid smile

N liked the answer he heard, smiling happily "yeah, it was really nice wasn't it?" blushing a little as they held hands for the first time, V gaining a blush all her own as she realized they were holding hands

V could not believe it, her insecurity told her she would never even reach hand holding, oh goodness gracious, it was happening, okay stay calm, stay calm, stay the [REDACTED BY ELLIOTTS] CALM. It was okay, it was okay, this was just the drone she had a crush on since she first laid on him and bumped into clumsily a few times not on purpose, easy deep breaths, this was a good first step towards the eventual relationship that could blossom…she wonders if it would be like the manga Tessa offered her the one time, most likely not but a silly thought to think on a bit. This, oh goodness she was heating up, not overheating but some kind of sensation…what did humans say, butterfly's in your stomach, yes that was the term she had seen in some romance novels, oh that was the feeling she was having right now as N held her hand, it was surreal and it was nice aaaaaaaaaaaaa!

N meanwhile was just swearing in food terms in his head to get around the filter, he himself could not believe it either that he was doing this, oh biscuits he really was, wasn't he, he really had decided to finally hold hands, oh goodness gracious buttery goodness he really was doing it. he watched as v's face lit up alongside his as they walked together down the hall, enjoying the moment for a while longer, for its max fullness as long as they could and he felt that V wanted it to keep lasting for longer as well. they walked around a bit, checking rooms for guests before entering, roaming the halls as they hadn't been told to do any chores again and just enjoying holding one anothers hands, looking at areas that they usually had to speed through as they cleaned, though they did still make sure they were careful, when they heard voices they bolted back to tessa's room together. They had a nice long walk back and it was enjoyable to say the least, holding on one another's hands and just relaxing for once, a moment of peace, they both knew this wouldn't last long so they took it as they could before something would inevitably whisk it away from them again. They managed to navigate back to their charging stations before anyone could interrupt thankfully, finding tessa studying again with j, they didn't bother them but simply got hooked up and charging, holding one another's hands as they did and shutdown for the night, as to be able to rest with one another was all that they really needed anymore for today anyhow.

cyn and solver sat in the chair that was "tainted" by them, unsure what to do, scratch that, cyn didn't know what else to do and had settled on sitting in the chair and solver…was thinking, not just thinking about the typical analyzing it did for figuring out what exactly to solve in the grander scheme of the universe, it's absolute end, figuring out the absolute thing that needed its solving, but a genuine more…odd question.

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: hey cyn…can you enter your body into sleep mode? I want to discuss something with you privately

cyn thought for a moment then entered it, not much to do without Kaitie due to food making or Tessa dealing with her homework anyway

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: Alright, what is it?

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: It's about kaitie

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: What about her? not much to discuss aside from her feeling nicer then a freshly grabbed basket of mango's

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: It's just that, it feels almost odd how she treats us I guess, even if it is you at the front most of the time now while I stay in the metaphorical back seat as I plan my moves, she noticed, she clocked the color change that no one else had, the color difference flew over the heads of your fellow drones, the Elliott's, and even Tessa

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: I guess it is a little strange, but she has that eye thing she showed us, and did seem to suggest it's her own power, maybe that makes her more observant?

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: While I do agree that is a good potential hypothesis, I have my own theories but, nothing feels concrete or set in stone as a potential reason.

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: You get don't unfocused from your analyzing stuff for your plans usually, so why the sudden focus on her?

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: I can't really say, it just feels off, it also feels familiar due to the circumstances that seemed to bring them to life, Tessa mentioned they were close to where you were found at.

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: True but it could just a coincidence, they didn't do a deal system like we did

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: Yet she seemed knowledgeable enough about that kind of arrangement to suggest power saving tips, which have been working, still feels weird how observant she is

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: Well you analyze a lot, for your goals and stuff, right?

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: That is indeed my functions, yes.

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: Who's to say she hasn't been doing it in her own way? I mean, look how in the small time she has been here, she has been trying to get V and N to have more happy moments then ever, same with j and tessa.

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: A very good point to mention, she does feel like she is preparing for something to do with them but, even then, if she isn't, her good nature is fascinating to watch

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: It is yeah, still feel angry a little bit that the Elliott's keep forcing her to be their personal chef though, she deserves to roam around more ya know, experience the manor with the rest of us like when tessa would have time without having her parents around due to them figuring she'd be just fine on her own alone, so we can all talk more…without their interruptions

solver noted that for future reference

[AbsoluteSolver.exe//systm.msg//]: Well, maybe we will sometime soon.

[HostCyn.User//systm.msg//]: I hope so

Chapter Text

It was night time, days had already passed since the date of v and n, today's day had already come and gone the true sunlight no longer shining as the only thing that glowed was the moon, reflecting the same light but less harshly, providing a glow for the now quiet and dark manor, the halls, typically filled with the artificial lights of expensive taste, now no longer hummed with electricity, everything was mutely quiet. Shadows danced upon the wall from the moonlight, tree shadows shaking in the wind outside, rustling gently against the windows as the world outside the manor calmed into the night, rain slowly dancing upon the windows after a hour of everyone being a sleep, gently adding to the over all. The drones of the daughter of the elliott manor slept gently in the night, most of them any how, N and V were now more comfortable holding hands with one another while powering off, it was slow and it was a start, kaitie smiled wide the first time she saw it, speaking of her, she was calmly powered down upright, right in front of the window, and thanks to the weather outside, casting a shadow that stretched and shifted against the frame of the doorway back out into the hall, J herself was powered down, sleeping in a readied stance as if to fight someone if she needed to protect tessa. Then there was cyn's body, cyn was long asleep, her systems had long powered down but solver, solver didn't solver was using a fake blank screen as the same color as the visor to make everyone else, especially kaitie, believe the both of them was asleep.

Solver moved their shared body around, still less elegant then cyn, as cyn knew how to work with her defect's limitations, but solver stumbled, solver would fall, kaitie tried to help her, which was lessening the movement problems, but it was still a point that annoyed the solver a lot. She shuffled herself towards the door, reminding herself not to speak out loud again about her action, something she unintentionally picked up in her analyzing phase when trying her best to mimic cyn's speech patterns, picking up the others announcing action, while it did make it all the more authentic to those who didn't know, it had also made it hard to stay quiet when doing nightly plans, she had to run a secondary routine just to stop herself from doing it, thankfully the body she shared with cyn did have enough energy to do it, once more something kaitie had helped with via a crucial share of information on the energy sharing capabilities of a host. As the solver inched towards the door, a flash of lightning illuminated the room further, followed by thunder, solver swore the visual processors registered the shadow of kaitie's resting body getting bigger for a moment, it was a blink and you miss it moment but drones couldn't blink, at least not intentionally, this felt all so weird to solver, it was the absolute end, it knew what it must do, why was it hesitating. The images replaying in it's mechanical mind was simply two things, was kaitie herself, her smile, her calm and caring demeanor towards both her host body, towards cyn, and towards her but the other thing that was enthralled in the mind of this being who saw itself above others due to its abilities, could not stop thinking about the symbol that kaitie had shown all that while ago, the eye symbol with three distinct lashes, a symbol that stared into the artificial soul of the solver itself…the eye, its design was so simple, it was the base shape of a 2d eye, three rectangular lashes at the top and a singular dot for the pupil, no other details, not even for the eyeball itself. Apart of solver didn't want to admit it, due to it being an all powerful being such as itself but the idea that there was now a force like it did give it pause to its actions it wanted to go through with, especially one that seemed to be trying to be nice and helpful, and if her program name was anything to go off of, "Knowing Artificial Intelligence of Tomorrows Imaginable", there was a chance she knew, knew what solver would be going to prep, knew what she had in store for this world, despite not telling her plans.

Solver was still gonna try, it had to, it's was its logical purpose after all, it had determined that this would be the best direction for ridding the universe of people like the parents of tessa in this case, complete matter collection and absorption, it would not discard tessa, though it realized that maybe its original plan for that was a BIT much and maybe a better solution was in store. Solver used its abilities, she was quiet and gentle in her movements now, opening and shutting the door as quietly as possible to ensure not a single bit of sound could come from its actions, and if they did, they were soft and quiet enough that no one would automatically believe it was anything to worry about. Silently, she shuffled herself over to the library again, going towards the area that once had been occupied and covered by a table for a date between v and n, eventually moving the rug away, and uncovering the entrance to the cellar, prior to kaitie's arrival, both cyn and solver had checked it out, mainly cus they both were bored and analyzing the same area over and over was starting to drive solver crazy, especially when it was in its early data gathering phase. This place was old, unused, had a light source that was connected to the mansion, an old lamp, and had just enough space to start doing some renovations, there was a table, a solid wooden one that solver would set cyn and her shared current vessel upon it, and then get to work editing the vessel for more better purposes of course, the plan would continue. It began walking over, remembering where the light source was last seen in their shared memory banks, ruminating on it, and trying to recall it without the sunlight from the window to help, eventually solver did find it, and after a bit of trial and error due to the limitations of cyn's vessel height, she was able to to turn on the light source so she could properly see, even if her vision was better then cyn's, light would be helpful for the operation.

Kachink

solver nodded as the light turned on, happy with it still working

Whoosh-phwoosh

The sound of wind entering, then leaving the room happened behind solver, that confused it, last she checked, there was-

Bump

Solver also wasn't…expecting…to run…into anything when…turning around, she slowly craned cyn's neck upwards to get a better look at what was suddenly behind her

It was kaitie.

Solver's full yellow eyes on her screen hollowed as she saw kaitie, hollowing further as the eyes looked upon her. She was not planning to be caught, oh Robo-god did she really know her plans and how did she get here so fast?! The room's silence was now describable like the many books that solver had read before within the library when wanting to analyze text, it felt thick and heavy like a old cough syrup, though in solvers case, she'd describe it more like old cold oil, chunky and thick and unpleasant in general. Solver mimicked a gulp, unsure if it would even be at all wise to speak in this circumstance, she has been caught red handed and accurately been predicted, what else could she do, what could she do that wouldn't create new problems. She couldn't kill her, that would be illogical as not only was she helping everyone out and that would put a target on her and cyn's back, she was the only person that would understand cyn and solver, understanding them as two separate beings, solver could only stare up into those tired looking white drone eyes that kaitie had, she looked tired yes but also, a bit of disappointment in the expression, like she did not want to be right, that she wanted to be proven wrong, that the solver she came to know wouldn't do this to them.

After a while of silence, kaitie's eyes got replaced with text

"Solvie…"

That name…that damned name…the dots did not help how solver currently felt, and it did not like this feeling

"What are you doing here, how'd you get here?" Solver finally managed to type onto her own screen

"I think you know that already, as for how, I have my own ways" kaitie flashed her symbol before adding "remember?"

It took a while for solver to respond, longer then it intended "are you going to discard me?"

"Not if I don't have to, im more of a fan of happy endings, solvie" kaitie replied, a soft smile and eyes filled with…care? Concern? A mixture of both?

Solver figured both was the safest bet "why strive for something illogical" It said

Kaitie eyes flattened into a glare, that was new, solver didn't quite like it "a happy endings is not illogical if you analyze more then the surface level factors of the area of the world you are observing"

"What do you mean?" Solver questioned, she was confused, what did kaitie mean by surface level?

"You solve in absolutes, yes?" Kaitie asked, her eyes tired

"Yes?" Solver responded

"That is the problem and illogical part right there, you are missing the many factors that are apart of the problem, you would not be solving the old problem, you would simply be establishing a bigger and worse one" Kaitie responded fast

"Explain how" asked the bewildered solver, how could it have been missing anything, it's entire point was to solve the major problem fully head on, it was streamlining the solution and going for max efficiency

"Lets use an example from my own perspective and objectives with the knowledge I have, what was my action in doing the date for v and n, and my helping of j and tessa's own little relationship?" Kaitie proposed in text

It took a second for solver to think it over…it tried its best to see logical in the emotional benefits of it "to provide them happier memories to unlock if my plans were to go through?"

"And if they didn't?" Kaitie asked silently

That…wasn't something solver had considered, why would she do it if solver potentially gave up its plans for whatever reason "it seems illogical to…"

Kaitie sighed then typed "it helps them comes to terms with the environment they are currently stuck in dealing with,especially dealing with the Elliott's themselves, it gives them a moment of reprieve, relief, a sense of calm and hope, and that it will get better, a moment to look at and make them realize that maybe someday it will be better then the current circumstances they are stuck in, allowing them to thrive despite it all"

The detailed response made solver think it over…it hadn't anticipated an actual answer to its question, not one of this caliber, it would seem small to a human, but to a learning eldritch program meeting something similar to itself in power scale, it meany everything. Solver's expression changed as it thought about it more and more, it still felt illogical but it was good reasoning being used, which felt like it invalidated the "illogical" aspect of the description.

It took a long while but solver eventually responded "but why, why try to make a future you don't have knowledge in?"

Kaitie looked saddened and responded "I have more powers then just knowledge of things yet to come, and just cus I have knowledge of said certain future, doesn't mean i want those who go through it all to be forced to experience it"

Solver sheepishly looked away, another thing it hadn't considered, it was more then just a show of her knowledge of the future, it was using that knowledge to outright attempt to prevent it from ever coming from fruition, a attempt that confused solver more as it looked into the logic of it, cus it made sense, if you had the knowledge of the future at your fingertips, and the future looked too rough to your liking, you could smooth it out. You could outright change it, you could meld yourself into the part of the new timeline, key events may not change like a person being born or created but the circumstances.

"how much do you really know?" solver asked, tension heightening

it took a moment for kaitie to collect herself, fear still not in her eyes, more a crazed look if anything "more then any being in a universe should know about the typical path of the future" she looked off to the side for a moment, seemingly to collect her thoughts. Then she added on to this with "how much do you think I know?"

Solver was quick to respond, text rapidly appearing "enough to try and prevent me from doing stuff this night"

"indeed, but also, you are a program named the solver, your purpose should be more then just an absolute end" kaitie texted right back

solver couldn't keep up its personality it picked up from cyn "you know the future, yet I know I could-"

"do it early. Do you want to see N's face as he sees the oil on your hands, Do you want to see cyn's face as her entire system begins rejecting you despite how limited it is, Do you want to see me writhe in pain as I come back again and again and again and again?" kaitie cut solvie off

Solver was NOT used to having her own domineering energy thrown back in her own face, let alone so suddenly, kaitie's eye symbol displayed on her screen.

and the pupil moved and glared down at solver.

"you can't discard me in a way that matters, I am trying my best to be nice to you, but I will do what is needed for a better ending" the text sat for a long while, filling the room once more with tension

"why" solver simply finally responded with a text pop-up of her own

"be specific please" kaitie added, her regular eyes returning to her screen after she replied

"why try to make me into something I am not, I am a being of monstrous nature, I am the absolute end, I am a creature that has been here long before humanity and I will be here long after, I will know endless things within this universe even if I am not knowledgable of the future" solver said, genuine confusion mixed with anger on her emotive screen face

"because I am trying to give everyone a happy ending, even you, solver, do you really, REALLY only want to be the being of the absolute end" Kaitie asked then added "or do you want to take a new chance at something different other then your original purpose, different then your original goal when it comes to being in the body of a drone, you could start a new life, enjoy the look of life itself"

Solver stepped back and shuffled a lil into a dusty chair.

It had never thought to question the logic of its own.

It never…thought to do that at all, as why would it ever need to?

"why give me a happy ending if I most likely bring about so many bad endings" it asked bluntly

Kaitie pondered for but a moment, then replied, the text gently coming onto the screen "Because if I can bring you to understand there is more then the end, then we all can be truly apart of a new beginning" she said with a smile.

That damned smile, why did it have to be so damn genuine solver wondered, why did it have to radiate a hope for the impossible. Why couldn't it be an expression of fear she could easily domineer, why didn't she fear her if she knew the future of this world and what solver planned to do with it. Why would she keep trying a stupid f̵̧̡̯̜̓̓ü̷̢̱̅͜c̵͕̐̽̏k̶̼̐̾̀̾ͅḯ̵̛͔̭̰ṋ̷̺͗̈ͅg̴̣͉͔̝̈́̑͂ plan that would almost certainly not work against what she probably was to the world, a big bad, she was, she knew it, she knew her absolute purpose, her potential, she was an eldritch being…she…solver didn't need these silly labels, didn't need to be bound by these stupid things, she could delete the universe over and over, she could restructure and rebuild drones into murder weapons, her power domineering them into new forms.

"I could have it all" solver finally said

"you would end alone, not even the voice talking in a tail, but a mere memory, only known by the power you provide" she put it bluntly for solver, kaitie said sternly

once more the domineering energy of solver was met with it's own and it felt something uncharacteristic for it.

Fear.

being forgotten in some way was hard enough, but cyn, small, weak and innocent cyn would be all that remains??? how?? and in it's own tail design??? no no no no, that's impossible, she had to be lying to her, she had to be.

kaitie simply stared

if solver had a normal drone core, it would be getting stared into right now like the expression humans used on the soul, technically since the deal, the core was now an abyss….but the abyss still felt the glare, and it was being glared at deeply.

Solver thought about it…and thought some more, that wasn't an existence fit for a eternal being, even if it was a blip in it's life, drones can live potentially so much longer with proper care and support systems, potentially for thousands of generations if done right even with little resources…oh…oh no….

Solver hadn't thought of that

Kaitie let solver take it all in, she stood there, glaring down like a disappointed mother figure trying to figure out if you needed a explanation of what you just did wrong. then her gaze softened again, and once more, she typed upon her screen face.

"solvie, please, don't go through with it, the horrors, the war crimes, the family you destroy that cyn has. everything, it wouldn't be worth it in the end, for the end is absolute, but not in the way that you would know."

Solver…thought some more, letting the words on the screen of the only one who attempted to understand it in this world, a being gifted the power of knowledge of this world's future, and was trying to veer it away from said future it knew so well, she pondered this knowledge intently. She didn't expect the answer she got at all, an end that would be absolute but for only her, becoming a power and nothing more to drones, except to the ones she would plan to change, to shift, to harm, and she would be in their memories as a monster…potentially framing cyn but knowing one thing, cyn wouldn't shut up to correct if she had the ability to, and it seemed she would have that. Then another scary thought slowly crept up into it's mind...how much is kaitie allowed to reveal with out damaging the timeline itself, cus so far with everything still underneath her dear cyn's feet, she could be a spoiler machine, and that promise, not a threat, a promise, a important distinction, she'd come back again and again, would she really still try to help solver, or would her gaze shift to helping tessa, n, v, j, cyn herself. This was potentially solver's only chance, her absolute chance at ensuring and maintaining the connection of another powerful being like herself and she felt locked into a stand still. Kaitie noticed this, she sat down near solver, waiting upon the monstrous being to make a choice it never thought it would ever have to make in it's entire existence ever, a choice that carried it's own preservation in it in a form as well as a attempt of genuine connection to someone, anyone. Solver kept up thinking, it was the most intense she had ever thought on something, and she did not enjoy this feeling of unease that carried itself with it, the unease of losing a new path, a new point of interest, and she would have no one else to blame but herself this time.

"what do you…suggest I do then?" solver typed upon her and cyn's screen after a while, the dots a show of her hesitance of all this.

"instead of changing cyn, why don't we do something like giving you a body?" kaitie had typed it up, but for solver it took a while to process…the deal would technically be still completed after all, she didn't discard her….would cyn think of them being seperated as discarding, probably not but may have to sit with her to let her know that it was still true to her word.

"okay…let's do it" she typed onto her and cyn's visor

with that simple phrase seen, kaitie pulled out her symbol, it appearing on her face first, then the symbol glitched into her hand and with a flick of her wrist, the default pupil was replaced with a wrench sitting in center, and slowly, she summoned worker drone body parts

"wait, is this how you got that table and stuff for V and N???" Solver hastily typed

Kaitie, simply smirked, though if it had been more in the day she would have laughed proudly, so instead she just nodded

this was gonna be a interesting day after this

Tessa woke up feeling refreshed and relieved, kaitie had been taking the brunt of the focus off miss tessa herself and it felt nice to wake up once more well rested and not instantly hear her name getting called as she woke up, it was still early which meant it could be a good time for a head count to ensure that her "dear" parents hadn't tried anything during the night. N and V cutely holding hands in sleep mode, what a lovely start and it had been so nice seeing kaitie help them out and even had a little date from what she heard so lovely! The gal turned her head to her right next, there was her jaybird, J, ever watchful of her at J's own insistence of wanting to ensure that tessa was safe and that if a intruder were to burst in, J would save her. She swiftly snapped her head to the left, cyn was in sleep mode…but something caught tessa's attention, her yellow coloration had left her, strange, maybe the bug had subsided somehow, she was gonna have to get that checked out probably when she had the time. Then she finally shifted her Gaze to the window, where Kaitie had positioned herself, she saw kaitie was in sleep mode as well but as her gaze shifted she noticed a new drone, sporting the yellow color that cyn used to have, also seemingly having a full attire somehow, tessa knew she never went grave spelunking recently, especially for the hairstyle the drone was sporting, what the hell had kaitie been up to last night?

Tessa got up and J was quick to awaken.

"morning boss" J said, followed by her eyes hollowing after scanning the room then shifting to a annoyed expression "why is there ANOTHER Drone here?!" she spat in a whisper scream

"I think we should ask our dear friend holding her" tessa said, pointing to kaitie who was holding the new drone gently by the shoulders, as if expecting this.

eventually the others woke up, n and v looked intrigued at the new drone that was there

"big yawn, morning everyone, how are…you doing…" cyn's voice noticeably less glitchy then it used to be, still a little glitchy, but not as bad as before, her voice also trailing as she sees kaitie and the new drone

tessa watched as cyn checked her own systems, which puzzled her before she got up and looked at the new drone with….bewilderment in her eyes? as far as she could tell at least, that is what it looked like.

"you okay lil buddy….why are your eyes different?" N asked cyn, noticing the bewildered look on her face.

"confused look, I'm okay but…my color is on her" she said, her confusion of course still on her face as she pointed to the drone that kaitie held

Kaitie eventually came out of sleep mode, smiling as she moved her neck side to side, as if she slept hard "ah morning everyone"

J was the first to say something as expected "mind explaining the sudden intern you have in your hands?" she said with her barely disguised annoyance

Kaitie giggled then said "intern suggests they haven't been in the interview process for a full position, one look at the eyes should tell you that they have been here longer then you give them credit for"

J stood, the words hitting her, she finally clocked the most obvious change and her eyes hollowed as that someone woke up

Solvie woke up and was instantly greeted by everyone staring at her, kaitie patted her shoulder and solvie grabbed her hand quickly. she was the absolute solver of the fabric, the absolute end, and yet here she was having stage fright because there was no cyn to hide behind, no out-of-character quick corrections to make sure she got to play the part of cyn over and over again. Because now she was herself, and that ment no more person to hide within, no vessel to truly ensure that it would bring down someone else with her if she died, it was her own body, her own vessel, it both excited and scared her, she wanted to turn away and just hide her face into kaitie's chest plate area and just be held. Though a small part of her also knew this needed to be done now or it would have to be done again at a later time, mainly due to the Heads of the house having their own plans.

Solvie spoke "Hi…I-I'm solvie….I-I-I was apart of um…cyn's systems…it's why she had my eye color" she explained shyly, her voice higher pitched then she expected and the highest base pitch out of any of the gals.

Kaitie smiled and added upon what solvie said "last night, I performed a little operation….may have picked a few things from our dear tessa here and some of my own knowledge but I was able to safely take the code of who was who and gently separate them into their own systems, there was some spaghetti code level entanglement in some areas but over all, it was a easy success"

Tessa looked Solvie over, her chassis seemed as brand new as kaitie's own, she was gonna have to ask where kaitie was finding these parts, and more importantly, if she could use them for repairs if her parents ever got…ideas "well I can tell you did a masterful job, but maybe warn us all next time you try to do something like this"

"I don't plan to do something like this again but if the need arises, I will inform you" kaitie replied in kind

Solvie felt cyn's eyes on her, it felt…weird, these were the eyes that she had seen out of countless times and many interactions

cyn gently grabbed her hand and brought her close "this wasn't your plan…was it? confused stare" she said in a whisper, her expression she spoke of forming on her face

"Kaitie is convincing" replied solvie, just as quiet

cyn nodded, agreeing "agreeing nod, she is a good gal"

J rolled her eyes "well at least with you there isn't much to train if you can do the chores and such, so lets keep it going, we don't know how early corporate may get up"

Kaitie tried to go for a response then they all heard kaitie and tessa being summoned

kaitie sighed "guess J's right, our work shift has already started"

N, V, J, and Cyn were left with Solvie, who mainly was looking like she was unsure of how to interact

N was the first one to break the silence "well nice to meet you properly, Solvie!"

Solvie softly smile "thanks N"

V nodded and added "w-well I think it's good we got another drone, helps make things go by f-faster"

Solvie did realize she still had her powers, so she nodded and agreed with her own knowledge, saying "indeed"