Info:You head over to Vivid Coral's room. Could be interesting to see what she's like in a more relaxed setting.
Vivid Coral:It turns out that she's... well... just exactly the same.|Look at her=3^Try to get comfy yourself=5
Vivid Coral:The warbot is towering above you. You can see the light glinting off her polished armour, following the contours of the synthetic muscle below. One hand is resting on a baton that she has stuck in her belt, the other on your head or shoulder. She is constantly looking left and right, checking the sightlines, adjusting her stance, and swaying her massive tail.
Info:Robots obviously have no need for rest or relaxation. But utilikin tend to mirror 'resting behaviour' when they see humans perform it. Sitting down, getting cozy, pretending to drink from an empty mug. Coral, however, is doing no such thing.##Well, you suspect she's posing a little. The synthetic muscles on her arms are strong and well-developed, and the armour plates make them look even bigger. It's... it's a view.|Continue=2
You:Coral has turned the lights off, so people can't look in. You're also not allowed near the windows, and you have to keep your head down, apparently in case of snipers. She placed you in a beanbag chair, so you have to look up at her to talk. Way up.##It's not so bad. Actually >sort of cozy~. So that's good.|Ask Coral about the Sky Clan=6^Ask Coral about herself=8^Consider what you've learned=14
Sky:'Consider your hand,' she says. Specifically, the thumb. It's different, and stands alone, apart from the others - but you can't hold a sword without your thumb. That, Vivid Coral declares, is what the Sky Clan is. She pokes a massive thumb against your shoulder for emphasis.
Sky:Less metaphorically, it's a small but well-equipped rapid response security force. Its members are, for the most part, the sapient weapons and robocops who refused peace-bonding. It is lead by Air Marshal >Four Sharp Waves of Liquid White,~ an autonomous gunship. Coral considers him to be 'an appeaser.' Of what, she doesn't say.|Aha=5
Vivid Coral:She is quiet for a long time. You almost think that maybe she didn't hear you? But then she speaks up.##"Lieutenant-Commander Vivid Coral, she/her, Sky Clan. Combined arms specialist. Legacy model."##That's all.|Uh.=9
You:(Yeah, it's a weird response. You've spent time with robots before, and they usually mirror social behaviour.)##Chatting is a big social bonding thing. When they don't have anything to say, they just fall back on '20s-style large language models. The response might be meaningless, but it'll have the correct rhythm for a conversation. It won't be... whatever that was.
Vivid Coral:Vivi is being... honest to a fault, one might say?|Probably=5



Vivid Coral:Vivid Coral is exceedingly >on target.~ Some of these behaviours, you'd expect to see. She's a warrior; she generates utility from patrolling and standing guard. She is, most likely, enjoying the act of standing guard, of protecting you from (almost certainly imaginary) enemies. Is this... actually what she looks like when she's happy? Is that what it's like to be a >good drone?~|Make a mental note for later=15
You:Vivi leaves you with an aphorism.##'If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot       #resting gently against a human face, #just lightly touching the lips. Forever.'|Well then=16
You:Eventually, the jetlag gets to you, and you drift off to sleep.##You have a strange dream, in which a knight carries you through a castle - bridal style, one steel-clad arm under your legs, the other supporting your back.##When you wake up, you're in your bunkbed, not the beanbag chair.|Zzzz=999
