anothercontinuity | Red vs Blue pt 2

"I'm sorry."

He means it. He doesn't know what happened or what he did, all he knows is that he hurt someone and he didn't mean to. He's got nothing except this broken sense of wrongdoing that he's being punished for, this inescapable guilt. And all that is there, quivering in his frame as he stares at Delta.

"Tell them I'm sorry. I'll get better. I-I'll find a way to make it right..."

"I know." He'd made certain of that much. "This is- I know this place is better than the correctional unit, but it is restricted until I can be certain of what caused the corruption. I do not wish to see you like that again."

But he knew there'd be something worth salvaging, and here it is. A man desperate for some kind of lifeline, trembling. Delicate as anything Delta pulls Isaac in, tucking him close to his chest. "All you need to focus on now? Is recovering. Everything else will follow."

"Alright."

He takes a breath and nods, and if there is uncertainty? He instinctively pushes it down. Like he knows better than to let it ride out. "Alright, I will."

This, however? May be the first positive contact he's felt in some time. Though stiff at first, eventually he starts to relax into it. Delta's here to help, it's alright. He can trust him.

"You are safe here." From everything except, perhaps, him. But Isaac does not need to know or think about that; all he has to do? Is accept the connection and comfort that Delta offers. Perhaps that's why he's made himself taller here. A source of protection.

Affirmation.

His hand smooths through Isaac's hair again, voice pitched to soothe. "I promise."

"Okay." He swallows, nods briefly, and lets himself lean into it. What Delta's done to him, who he used to be before? Those pieces of information might undo all of this in a flurry. He might become the threat to their safety all over again, if given the chance.

But there's none of that fury now. He can't remember Locus, so he's lost nothing. He can't remember what he'd been fighting for.

"What...what happens now?"

"We work on getting you accustomed to small streams of data, small projects with limited stimuli while I keep watch and assist you until you are as you ought to be." Albeit more obedient and less likely to attempt to murder him.

"I can do that."

He straightens, a determined look flashing in his eyes. He wasn't going to sit here helpless. He'd prove he was worth hanging onto.

"Would you like to work through one now?" It'd b simple enough to pull one into the scenario.

"Yeah."

Oh hell yes. Give him something, a problem, a puzzle to work out, something to distract and channel that nervous energy. To prove Delta had been correct in saving him.

Delta gestures, pulling a console into being and keys in a specific code to prompt a straightforward decryption puzzle. Walking before they run.

Decryption? Easy enough.

He sets to it, and there are a few hiccups. Pieces of him are missing, and it's putting a strain on his processing, but this is still relatively simply to solve. Finding the right pattern, adjusting the feed and...

"There." He steps back, letting his hands fall to his sides. It looks right. It must be right.

It's difficult- but possible. Something Delta could click through in a short period of time but he is stable. Solid. Certain of himself and his code. Isaac is...learning his new limitations without knowing that they are limitations.

He's learning to adapt.

"Well done." He rests a hand on Isaac's back, peering at the solution. A letter decrypted- correspondence between himself and FLISS. Nothing sensitive.

"Let me have another."

It wasn't much, hadn't been difficult, but it had felt like a rush of renewed purpose. As an AI this was what he was meant to do, and as a creature of will and mind? As Isaac? He craved an opportunity to prove himself.

"Please." Delta prompts without thinking, the glowing command code to summon another resting in his hand until Isaac goes along with said prompting. Manners are important, little Isaac. It's good to have them.

But once he's satisfied that Isaac has asked nicely- up comes another puzzle, similar to the last.

"Please." He does sound repentant, even as he looks a little hopefully at his hand. 'Please' is a small thing to give when he can do what he was meant to do, do something, anything besides waiting.

He all but pounces on the puzzle, quickly whirring through the code, shifting through it with his fingertips and finding the strands he needs to lock together, others still that can be pushed aside. There's something like joy in his eyes as he works, his expression lighter than before.

"Good." His hand remains on Isaac's back as he works, a grounding reminder that assistance is available if he needs it- but more importantly? That Delta is watching.

It's nowhere near the showboating arrogance of Felix. Nowhere as fast, nowhere as showy- but it is a marvel to admire. Cut down to almost nothing and still he can manage this and find joy in it. "You're doing well."

He damn near glows under the praise, his back straightening. Delta's presence there, his touch, his affirmation, all sinks deep into his code as things that should be constant, that are conducive to his work.

"I remember how to do this. I can still do this, I just need the chance to work at it again."

"I do have a backlog of files that need decrypting that piled up while you were...indisposed. Worrying about you kept me from working on them myself." True, not in the way implied but- true none the less. Idly his hand slips up to rest against Isaac's upper back, thumb swiping against the skin of his nape.

Casual and possessive and vaguely intimate. Encouraging these thoughts, these desires. "You could work through them now, if you like."

Isaac's gaze shifts away from the code, even as his fingers continue to move. It rests instead on Delta, who for all his cool, calm behavior, seems--

He doesn't know. There's a tingle down his spine, a twist in his gut.

"I'd like that. Please."

Intense? Intent. Fascinated by Isaac and focused on his hands, the line of his jaw, the slope of his lips. "I will have FLISS prepare the files for you."

"Thank you."

It's uttered softly, his gaze by turns curious and anxious. Why is he looking at him that way? He's not sure what it means, but it sends a shiver through him like a spark set to his spine.

"Did we...know each other before?"

As before the good manners are rewarded, nails gliding along the nape of his neck. "We did. We were...peers. associates working to a mutually beneficial goal."

He shifts to step behind isaac, hands setting against his hips, chin tucked over his shoulder. "Focus on your work, Isaac. And when you finish, I'll give you another file."

Edited 2017-07-20 18:48 (UTC)

Associates. Is that the word.

Isaac trembles slightly but holds himself still. He doesn't need to fall to pieces now, he wants to show him how good he can be. So there's some sense of needing to arrest that nervous energy, hold it in check while Delta shifts in against him. It feels--

"Thank you."

It seems to be the right answer, and he does. He turns his attention back to his work and flies through it, aware of Delta's eyes on him all the while.

"You're doing well. Very well." Delta's voice remains soft, but it has warmed considerably with...affection? Perhaps. "I'm proud of you. this is a remarkable recovery."

Watching how far he's come in so short a time? It is remarkable.

Edited 2017-07-21 00:23 (UTC)

"I can do more, I know it. This feels like..."

His teeth grind together for a moment in frustration.

"Like remembering how to walk when you know you can run circles around most people. I can do more."

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