don't go playing the fool, you are what you do;

[recrypt]

either i'll make a shitpost or travs will give me one

Comments

[recrypt]

... Not quite. I was very specifically built to be disposable, so they could trigger a self-destruct command and erase any evidence of wrongdoing after. I was only meant to last as long as it took to do what I was intended to.

If things had gone to plan, I would have died there in that factory with every other doll and human that day, and whoever was responsible would have been able to sweep it neatly under the rug.

[ ... ]

9 wasn't involved. She came after. A good while after.

[recrypt]

Americans have strange taste in dining establishments. Or maybe it's just a human thing in general...?

[ waffle house is liminal space. anyway, she seems distracted, not entirely looking at minako, but as minako approaches she might hear snatches of a conversation...? (until the end of the audio log, obviously)

hmmm, surely that's the entire memory and it's safe to approach, right? (no, but she's going to do it anyway, probably.) ]

[recrypt]

Of course it's locked. But you wanted to spend the night in the forest, and that was even more ill-advised.

[ why are humans. ]

SATURDAY, w3 post-trial;

[recrypt]

[ hey minako where the hell are you at, the one remaining local roomba's looking for your previously hypothermic ass. ]

[muragas]

So... you were the only survivor?

[ for a second, a moonlit bridge comes to mind... ]

I'm so sorry. That must have been so lonely.

[ ... ]

Can you tell me about her?

[muragas]

[ are you kidding? with that kind of cliffhanger? it's absolutely not the entire memory, and she knows it. she's just hoping the resolution is significantly less tense than those files were building it up to be. ]

No, I think that's just Americans. Mystery takoyaki is a perfectly normal dish, after all!

[ hmmm, how to ask about it... ]

[recrypt]

The only one who can remember it, anyway. There was one other, since she was the cleanup they'd put in place for anyone who managed to make it outside ... but she doesn't seem to recall it. I suspect she was reformatted.

[ said matter of factly, like wiping dolls' memories and starting fresh from factory settings is just a normal fact of life.

... but eventually she sighs. ]

What do you want to know about 9?

[muragas]

Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time!

[ sometimes, you want to experiment with effects... ]

I'm sorry, 45-san, please don't be mad!

[recrypt]

Why would I be angry? Dolls were made for humans' sake.

[ ... ]

That said, although I can hardly be considered a conventional Doll by any means, that doesn't mean that watching humans do stupid things gets any more tolerable.

[muragas]

[ hello! this previously hypothermic ass is sitting in the Entertainment Room. but she's not entertaining herself with anything. she's staring into the distance and knitting. furiously. ]

[recrypt]

... Mystery takoyaki isn't exactly a dish I'm familiar with, either?

[ hmm, how to ask about it indeed. ]

[muragas]

[ no comment on the loneliness, so... she'll take that as a "yes, it was". ]

Whatever you want to tell me about her is fine. It just seemed like she mattered a lot to you?

[muragas]

It's takoyaki! With a secret inside.

[ that sure is a perfect segway into: ]

Speaking of secrets, may I ask who 40 is?

[muragas]

You're definitely mad.

[ scary face, scary face... almost as scary as Mitsuru... ]

How about we go figure out shelter for the night? Maybe we can make igloos in the forest or something.

[ narrator voice: they did not make igloos in the forest that night ]

[recrypt]

9 wasn't made as a Tactical Doll. She was a civilian doll who went and paid an underground technician for a refit after running into me a couple of times.

[ so, she wouldn't be on that assembly line. not as 'ump9', anyway. ]

I don't want to know how much that cost, let alone the effort she put into specifically trying to match me, but it wasn't her money in the end.

[recrypt]

Do you know how to build an igloo, and are you actually proficient enough in it to do so in ... less than one hour.

[ narrator voice: they did not make igloos in the forest that night. ]

[muragas]

... It sounds like she really admired you.

[ she's. praying that's what it was ]

Were you two friends?

[muragas]

... What if we just piled a bunch of snow together, packed it, and dug a hole in it to sleep in?

[ narrator voice: that is not how one makes an igloo ]

[recrypt]

[ jiiiiii ]

... You realize that all the rest of the supplies for whatever project you're working on are in the arts and crafts cabin, correct?

[recrypt]

That's a no, then. Besides, I doubt the snow around here is deep enough or packed hard enough to make a functional igloo anyway.

[ ... ]

There's a shack by the lake. It'll have to do.

[recrypt]

... Admiration is certainly a word for the kind of pedestal she's put me on.

[ hm. ]

Long story short, I freed her and 17 other dolls who'd had a trojan installed and were tasked with carrying out a crime ring's dirty work under threat of a self-destruct order. In doing so, I apparently picked up a stray.

[ there is at least one parallel here that might be the obvious reason why she took action. ]

[recrypt]

... My sister.

[ hm, that sure is a mood change. ]

I take it you saw something?

[muragas]

Yes, 45-san...

[ time to trudge to the lake then ]

I guess I can check the effects the lake has, too.

[muragas]

If I need more yarn, I'll stop by.

[ the skein she has seems pretty full... ]

What's up?

[muragas]

[ she shakes her head before tapping her ear ]

Just heard something. Um...

[ ... ]

Are you and your sister... friends?