re: that ending. (MAJOR campaign spoilers)

[choselucky117]

Pacing around like a caged lion won't help, you know. How close we were doesn't matter. What's done is done, and there's no undoing this one. I did what I had to do. You know that, and I'd do it all over again if I had to.

But you're right. I wish it had gone differently. I wanted it to. I wanted to see his plans work out. To...stay with him, like old times again. But wishes aren't going to turn back the clock, Mun. You have to move on. [she sighs.] We all do. There's still work to do, remember? Get to it.

[ooc: due to the material used, most of her icons are major spoilers as well. Let me know if you'd prefer I don't use those and I shall keep to her spoiler-free pair~]

Comments

[the_gamesmaster]

[Hey there, AI. You kind of look like Quorra so maybe Flynn can help fix you?]

Hey there.

[choselucky117]

[Only if he's good at fixing programming from five hundred years in his future...granted at this point she'd be willing to try.]

Hello. Can I help you? [she needs to do something with herself and helping random people probably works.]

[the_gamesmaster]

[Hey, he's open to suggestion. He invented the Digital Frontier and Wi-fi even before colour monitors had been invented.]

Name's Flynn. I couldn't help wondering if you need some kind of help. Are you.... a program?

[choselucky117]

[he's definitely ahead of his time, then. Perhaps...

nod. Flynn. Human. Male...and that's where the similarities end.] UNSC AI Cortana. I'm not sure how much you could help, though. Most of my programming was destroyed. [she says most, but it's more likely that it all was. Her housing certainly didn't make it.]

[the_gamesmaster]

UNSC AI Cortana, hm? How about I call you Cortana? AIs always have long names given to them by their creators. I've alwas stuck with short names for my programs. [He smirked. CLU was pretty short.]

So, what seems to be causing you trouble?

[sierra_117]

Cortana.

[He looks at her in quiet contemplation for a few seconds. He realizes the way he spoke her name tells her everything she needs to know. Still...]

I'm sorry.

[choselucky117]

[There he is. She shakes her head.]

For what? Surviving when I didn't? [a soft smile crosses her face.] Don't tell me you're blaming yourself for that.

[sierra_117]

For making you a promise I wasn't able to keep.

[He doesn't answer her question regarding blame. She knows. It's just who he is.]

[choselucky117]

[She knows that's just who he is. She knows he's blaming himself for this, at least on some level, and her smile fades away.]

John. [one word. So much she has to tell him...and none of it's going to matter, is it?] I know you would have kept it if you could have, but we just ran out of time. There's some things that not even you can do.

[sierra_117]

I know.

[He looks at her, growing quiet again like he is most of the time. He does know. Unfortunately that doesn't really make it any better.]

[choselucky117]

[It doesn't make it better. She knows that, too. She wishes it hadn't come to what it did, really. If only for his sake.]

John, don't...[she reaches out to touch him, if he'll let her.] Don't let this eat away at you. You did everything you could have done, and that's what matters. You know that, right?

[sierra_117]

[He continues watching her as she reaches out, touching him. Moving his own hand up, he hesitantly places it on her cheek. It comes off as a little stiff, but affectionate.]

I'll try not to, and I do.

[choselucky117]

[A little stiff, but she knows what it really means. She's going to miss him. So much. Of all the ways it had to end...]

I'll hold you to that. [soft smile, and she puts her other hand over his.] Try and keep your head down for me, okay? I like it better when you're in one piece.

[sierra_117]

I'll try. It won't as easy without you watching my six.

[choselucky117]

Then we'll just have to hope your luck holds out. [a half second pause, then:] Or your swiftness, or your strength, or your bravery...or was that stubbornness? [smirk.] It's hard to tell sometimes once you've set your mind on something.

[sierra_117]

Having a partner helps too.

[choselucky117]

I know. [and the smirk fades. She was trying to keep the mood light, but there's something she needs to say, too.] I'm sorry. For leaving you without one like that.

[Maybe it had been one of her rampant processes who said it aloud, but she'd promised she wouldn't leave him. He's not the only one with broken promises.]

[sierra_117]

I understand.

[He knows that if she hadn't done what she did, neither of them would've been going home. If he was better at this he'd probably say something like part of her would always be with him, corny as it sounds.]

[choselucky117]

I know you do.

[Corny's not his style, but she'd have appreciated the meaning behind the words anyway. She really hopes he'll find someone else to watch his back, even if it wouldn't be her anymore...though perhaps that part of her really is still in there. No way to tell, so she clears her throat and tries to get her emotional processes back under control.]

So. Your mun planning on taking you somewhere special after all this?

[sierra_117]

I'm a fairly new 'muse', so he doesn't have any plans for me yet. He says he wants to "get a feel for me" first. Says he wants to do me justice.

[choselucky117]

[nod. She knows how that goes, but...] If it means anything, he's doing pretty good so far. These people always worry too much.

[lonestar_noble]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. You picked a real winner with Chief. Me? ...That's debatable. I highly doubt Chief will do something as radical as mine did.

[choselucky117]

[headtilt. Spartan, clearly, but that voice...it's not familiar. Who might you be, she wonders. Time to find an IFF tag.]

Yours?

[lonestar_noble]

Yeah. Scientist like Halsey. Doctor Leonard Church. Mad an AI based on his mind to test armor abilities managed by an AI, but only got clearance for one AI, so he tortured his until it fragmented. Apparently, one of those AI fragments was based on his memories of me.

Long story. The UNSC is still looking for Project Freelancer's facilities, I hear.