and I need someone to talk to apart from you

[animusnpcs]

Characters: Zo, open
Setting: floor 001
Format: brackets, party-style
Summary: Zo visits the residential levels of the Tower.
Warnings: none so far

[The elevator dings as its doors slide open--that's not an unusual occurrence, really, for a floor that not only houses one of the elevator stopping points but also the most reliable food sources. What's unusual, though, is the boy who steps out of it.

Zo enters the cafeteria, looking around as if he hasn't seen it in some time, which is true. He's followed by one retrieval unit. While she looks as blank as any retrieval unit, her collar is chipped and she wears glasses. In fact, she might be a bit familiar to some, though she will not respond (but there's something... Unusually alive about her, even so).

Though he's careful not to stray far from his bodyguard, he smiles at the floor in general.]

Um... Hi! Wow, it's been a while since I've been up here!

Comments

[prayed]

Yo.

[She gives a light grin as she sees Zo, resting one arm on the back of her chair as she twists her torso to give him her attention.]

I'm surprised they actually let you out, y'know.

[animusnpcs]

[Zo waves.] It's my turn to be in charge so I let myself out.

[prayed]

[Oho. She approves of your methods, Zo.]

Heh. Good one...ah, there's room for one more if you wanna take a seat.

[She nods towards the empty space across from her, waits a few seconds before adding,]

So, how're you liking being in charge? You ain't gonna let all the power go to your head, are you?

[animusnpcs]

[Zo hops into the seat. The retrieval unit follows behind him, but stands.]

It's harder than I thought! Last time I got the weather all wrong. But it's fun, too.

[prayed]

[She chuckles lightly. So that was an accident, huh... It's not funny, not really--accidents can't happen when you've got people's lives on the line, but it's too late for her to really be able to be mad at him.]

Fun? I dunno about that. It means you've gotta set up everything that goes on in this place yourself, right? Sounds like a real drag to me.

[animusnpcs]

But I get to pick out what food to do and I can pick weather options and I get to visit if I want! It's a lot more fun than the other months.

[prayed]

Aah, you've got me there.

[She blinks, her smile briefly giving way to a look of puzzlement.]

Come to think of it, what've they got you doing the other months?

[Yanking people from destroyed worlds, she knows, but there must be other things too, right?]

[animusnpcs]

I save people and keep everyone here and maintain barriers, mostly.

[prayed]

I thought these things were what keep us here.

[She taps her collar.]

[animusnpcs]

Nah, that's me. I don't know what the collars do really. Jason says they're for stability.

[prayed]

Ah, so you probably don't know what the collar checks are for either then, huh?

[animusnpcs]

I know you get all your fluid drained out and they put new fluid in, but I don't know why you need new fluid.

[prayed]

Mm, I see.

[Chomp.]

That's another thing, y'know. What do you think of those guys you're stuck working with?

[animusnpcs]

They're not all that bad. They're just really focused on their jobs most of the time! Ruana plays with me, though, sometimes.

[prayed]

What kind of games does she play with you? I hope they're better than the ones she treats us to.

[animusnpcs]

We have playrooms, so we play with the toys there. She doesn't play the same kind of games with me she does with you, but sometimes she takes things from the toy room to use with you.

[prayed]

Heh. Sounds nice. Think you can show it to me sometime? I wouldn't mind playing with you, y'know.