The Leaky Servo

She seemed human, the woman who had come to greet them. Corin felt that the word seemed might be doing a lot of work, there, but then again, she had also heard the same phrase applied to her sister, usually after she'd slaughtered everything in her path.

Silah was human, in Corin's mind, but she sometimes wondered about everyone else - and she was wondering what this woman was, in her own mind. She didn't seem that old, either, maybe Corin or Silah's age. The inside of the Leaky Servo seemed more like a scrap heap than anything else, a mishmash of spare parts and spare people, with tables jammed in amongst cables and bits of machinery she couldn't guess at the nature of.

"I pray we remain together. And everyone else prays my sister remains with us as well." Silah was answering the woman's question - Corin hadn't heard her ask one, but maybe she had just been distracted. Apparently she wasn't being silent any more, but she was being a little bit self-deprecatory, or perhaps it was merely meant as a jest. Usually it came off as the latter, but Corin knew her sister well enough to be aware that there was something of the former in there as well, always. Silah knew what she was, and what she had done - she just didn't think about it much, because either she was doing it or she was thinking about the gods' absence.

If they were with her all the time, now, though, what was she going to be like? Would she still be Corin's same sister? Could you miss someone who was standing only a meter away?

Corin already knew the answer to that one - she had known it for twenty years. She looked around again, more as an excuse to find something else to think about, and returned her attention to the woman. "What is this place? I expected to find more souls in here. Or... at least, more people..."
 
Leaky Servo Interior: Corin and Silah View Render

"I understand," Xilunexus replied solemnly to Silah. Her tone was warm but carried no hint of patronizing. The AI hologram flickered for a moment, and the space around—all except for her kind smile—blurred for a moment.

"This is the Leaky Servo," Xilunexus said as she turned her attention towards Corin after answering Silah's question. "This is a place where refreshment, respite, and recuperation is freely available to all those who find themselves passing through Nexus City, whether residents, willing expatriates, or any variety of displacement-experienced entity(ies)."

The hologram's smile deepened as the 'skin' around its eyes crinkled further. Xilunexus had no doubt that things like parenthetical modifiers were audible when she stressed them enough. At least, so Alaxel posited. She discounted the aside that 'all organics love it when you use slower and louder audio waveforms for your emphasis identifier,' which let her know there was at least a kernel of wisdom in the remainder.

"There are currently 78,758 patrons within the boundaries of the Leaky Servo," Xilunexus added cheerily. "Privacy is a default here, although many do choose to engage in public spaces. You simply need to open yourself to the idea, and a path to one of the shared spaces will present itself if you desire?" Her statement dipped into a question as the outline of the idea of a hallway began to form behind the representation of Xilunexus.


  • I understand," Xilunexus replied solemnly to Silah. Her tone was warm but carried no hint of patronizing. The AI hologram flickered for a moment, and the space around—all except for her kind smile—blurred for a moment.

  • "This is the Leaky Servo," Xilunexus said as she turned her attention towards Corin after answering Silah's question. "This is a place where refreshment, respite, and recuperation is freely available to all those who find themselves passing through Nexus City, whether residents, willing expatriates, or any variety of displacement-experienced entity(ies)."

  • The hologram's smile deepened as the 'skin' around its eyes crinkled further. Xilunexus had no doubt that things like parenthetical modifiers were audible when she stressed them enough. At least, so Alaxel posited. She discounted the aside that 'all organics love it when you use slower and louder audio waveforms for your emphasis identifier,' which let her know there was at least a kernel of wisdom in the remainder.

  • "There are currently 78,758 patrons within the boundaries of the Leaky Servo," Xilunexus added cheerily. "Privacy is a default here, although many do choose to engage in public spaces. You simply need to open yourself to the idea, and a path to one of the shared spaces will present itself if you desire?" Her statement dipped into a question as the outline of the idea of a hallway began to form behind the representation of Xilunexus.
Hidden content
You need to be in at least one of the following groups to see this content: HTML Learners
 
Last edited:
Sierra flexed her mechanical arm. The cleaning from earlier was clearly felt; the action was a lot smoother throughout its travel. It felt like there were another couple of grains of stubborn sand in there, but she could live with it for now.

"Just the whiskey, thank you. This was not an... elective surgery. Not to mention, the nanites in my blood keep me in good condition. Makes it a pain in the ass to get drunk in the first place."

She smirked a bit as she spoke, made sure her collar was popped when she alluded to her injury, and settled into her seat.

"Oh and yeah, make it a double, please."

As the proprietor prepared the drink, Sierra took stock of the new characters in the room. There were the odd sisters. The first seemed as mechanical as... Xelo... Xila... Fuck it: X. The first seemed as mechanical as X herself. The second was clearly a companion to the first. Handler? The older of the two seemed resolved, but her eyes scared Sierra.

Continuing to scan, Misaki's eyes landed on the young lady (Young? She is probably older than I am.) that walked past her to the bar. She definitely looks like an out-of-towner. Wonder if she has any cool trinkets from home?

The rogue continued to size up Gabi as a mark, watching and waiting for a time to make her move.
 
This was a very strange place - and this was a very strange person, as well. Corin mentally let a little more weight settle on that seemed from before, wondering how much the seeming could bear before it broke. She supposed, like most things, it depended on how much other support it had.

There was a hallway now, and Corin was fairly certain there hadn't been one before - not that it had been hidden, that it hadn't been. She didn't know why her mind was precisely so insistent on this, but maybe it was just an effect of all of this strangeness. She took a step towards it and the others, then realized that Silah hadn't moved, still staring at the seemingly human woman, who was smiling at her with the sort of kindness that came before. It was different from the kindnesses that came after. Those were warier, more pitying, if they came at all.

"Silah?" Corin could hear voices down the hallway, and occasionally catch a glimpse of a figure, but she wasn't willing to go without her sister, and her sister still seemed focused on this stranger.

"You are... not the god we're looking for." A pronouncement, after a while. Corin wished she could say that she didn't know what Silah meant by it, but she was afraid that she did. She looked over at the woman one more time, wondering if she dared change seeming to seeing.

Probably not. She had enough to handle already. "Come on. If there's seventy-thousand-some people in there, maybe one of them has some ideas for us." Corin turned again to the seeming-woman, and gave her a slight incline of her head, respectful. "Thank you."

It was always a good idea to be appreciative of powerful beings, after all, especially those who were powerful enough to seem human.

Corin made sure Silah was with her, stepping aside to let her go in front, as usual, and watching her from behind as they traversed the hallway into - presumably - a more open area where there would be other people. She tried not to notice that Silah was humming again, and when that failed, she tried not to let it bother her. "Hmm-mmm-mmmno wonder you didn't like this place."

"What?"

"It looks like the inside of an abandoned hospital, or an abandoned workshop, or an abandoned office."

"What?" Usually Corin was the one who was holding up the conversational weight, but this time she'd gotten thrown. She looked around, then looked at her sister. "What do you see, then?"

"Oh, a little bit of everything." A break, although it wasn't silent, because of the humming. "All at once, somewhat. Like... hmm...mmm~mm, hm? Oh. Like one of those pictures, the ones that are one thing until you realize that they're something else, and always have been."

Corin attempted to process this, and wasn't sure she had done it properly, except... there was an image that came to mind after all, something about vases and faces and negative spaces. "Ah. Well. Don't walk into anything that hasn't been there and always has been."

Silah's laughter was soft, and remarkably - seemingly human.
 
It took the space cadet a few minutes to realize there hadn’t even been anyone at the counter when she spoke. For fuck’s sake, Gab. Pay attention to your surroundings. God, Renee would be so disappointed. Not like that was anything unusual. Her older sister was often disappointed in her poor situational awareness. Which honestly, was fair. That was of course how she managed to get her dumbass captured after all. Well, that was neither here nor there and even though Renee irked her, she still wanted to find her.

“Hmm..?” Looking around, the brunette tried to figure out who was speaking to her as far as she could tell, no one was nearby. The bird flying down from the rafters caught her attention and she couldn’t help but hiss at the displeasing memory the action invoked.

“Fucking rafters…” Gabrielle mumbled those two words, attempting to remain fairly friendly and not rude. She blinked more than twice when the bird somehow became a woman, albeit a short one. But, honestly, somehow it felt familiar. She was pretty used to strange things back at Gambits. Beaming happily when the drinks she asked for were displayed on a silver tray in front of her, she took them both.

“Thank you, you have no idea how much I need these.” Tossing back the pickle shot, the slender female cocked her head at the questions and frowned deeply.

“I was told by someone that coming here would lead to my sister. I thought it was a portal back to my world… and back to my bar. But alas… he lied. I guess you could say I was displaced recently. I honestly am not even sure what happened. It’s like part of my mind went blank and then I was here.” As she spoke, she started to sip on the ruby relaxer, quite enjoying the taste.

“Where is this place anyway? Or maybe the question is, what is this place? The Nexus? Are there ways to get back to my world?” Her fingers traced along the rim of the glass while doing her best to stay stoic. While waiting for her answers, she gazed around the vicinity, brown eyes seemingly glowing a bit purple in the light. The model took in the other patrons, knowing she’d be doing the same at her father’s bar.
 
Sierra sipped her drink and watched as the brunette engaged with her own version of the same bartender. "This place never gets old, I'll tell you that," she muttered almost soundlessly.

"And neither do the people." Her eyes were drawn to a shape under the model's clothing. She's packing heat?! Did not expect that.

Just as this evaluation was starting to get interesting, the woman started looking around. The rogue reached again for her drink in order to act casual but instead bumped the rim, sloshing out a little booze. Thankfully she caught it in time before it fully fell over, but she realized that instead of blending in, she had likely just drawn attention to herself.

It's alright, Misaki. Sure, she'll notice you. But there's no way she can know you were planning to rob her, or that you were even watching her. You're just a drunk idiot right now. She'll never know the difference.

"Shit," she said flatly as she blushed and averted her eyes, and then took a sip of what was left of her whiskey before she started to wipe up the mess with a handkerchief.
 
Corin supposed she wasn't really surprised that there was a bar here. It seemed like the sort of place to have one, although she did wonder if maybe if she had thought it seemed like the place to have a pleasant little tea house, it would have been that instead. Or perhaps it had more to do with the others here, and whether they thought there should be a bar. She wondered if they would have rather had a tea house as well, and thought that she would probably never ask them.

Some of them seemed to have managed to order drinks, and Corin wondered what the range of offerings was here as far as that went. Probably anything she could imagine, but her imagination on that account was not particularly vivid. That might have been fortunate. She chivvied her sister towards one of the barstools, close enough to the other patrons that they could talk if they needed to, or wanted to.

There didn't seem to be a posted menu, although Corin was fairly certain she wouldn't have known what half of the items on it were anyway. She flagged the tender, briefly. "Can I get... hm. A sweet white wine of some variety, maybe something local. And tea for my sister. She doesn't drink." The Wardens were, in fact, prohibited from it. Corin thought this was less a matter of religious fervor and more to do with the idea that the Wardens were enough to handle without any mind-altering substances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top