Who: Charlotte Emily, Church/Epsilon, and Lavernius Tucker When: Late Monday Evening Where: The Freelancers Base (The New House) What: Awkward exchangs are awkward Warnings: Language, awkward AIs, sexual situations Status: Completed GDoc!
The move had been relatively painless. Charlie had done her best to be helpful and accepted any that had been offered. She didn’t bring up the blackout or the procedure they had all been present for not too long ago.
In fact, Charlie hadn’t talked much about it with anyone aside from the brief conversation with Church. Even then, she didn’t really talk. They were merely statements that she was fine and thankful that someone understood.
Since moving, Charlie had kept to herself. She went through the motions of work, eating - which seemed to always get strange looks from Tucker - and then disappearing into her room. It had become much like her college dorm had looked when she was living with Jessica. Filled with parts of this and that, and projects that kept Charlie’s mind busy, it was her safe space.
Tinkering away at something or other, Charlie stilled before letting out a heavy sigh. “You know you can’t really sneak into my system anymore, right?”
***
Well yeah, I helped to rebuild them so I know the safety protocols. And that’s probably not the answer you wanted to hear right? Church was still able to talk right into her implants but he wasn’t planning on staying in there today. He just didn’t have any way to get her attention without dragging in one of the Freelancers in the building if he didn’t do it this way. By the way, we made some holo projectors so if you want to grab one and stick it in here I can use that instead of hopping in all the time. Which would be good because it’s even more crowded in here than it used to be.
***
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but Charlie didn’t give a verbal answer. She had a feeling it wasn’t necessary.
“I’ve seen them.” The projectors, of course. Charlie had begun to pick one up after they had settled before setting it aside. She had meant to go back to it, but it had become an afterthought.
“I’ll grab one tomorrow after work or something.”
***
Well it’s good to know that Carolina and Wash aren’t the only ones that bury themselves in work to not think about things. At least that means I know what to expect. What was it with people? Church really didn’t want to necessarily do things the way Tucker did...although he was capable of some serious thought now...but Jesus people in this house were really good at avoiding shit.
Church was too of course he just didn’t do it in the get buried in a project or train until you couldn’t stand up sort of way.
You know you can come out of your room once in a while right?
***
“Yes. I know. I know I can. It’s just…” Weird. Charlie was using that word a lot. More than she had ever used it in her lifetime.
“I hate the feeling of everyone looking at me like they’re just waiting for something to happen.” They probably weren’t. It was possible that it was all in Charlie’s head but she tended to have her own issues with paranoia.
“Not to mention the fact that Tucker just stares at me when I eat anything.”
***
Church just chuckled inside her head when she mentioned Tucker staring at her. Sometimes it took him a while to process something and an AI that ate was going to be one of them. He’ll get over it. He’s just kind of a dumbass. I mean I used to eat before Caboose killed me with Sheila and he kept offering me beer even though he knew I was a hologram.
Let’s put it this way, Carolina will only let you hide for a certain amount of time before she’ll make you come out so you might want to pick your time.
***
“Sheila as in the tank sitting out back?” she asked in a somewhat quieter voice. Charlie wasn’t sure whether knowing that made her feel better or not. “Why did I agree to this again?”
Her tone made it obvious she was teasing...but not by much. Her friends back home had given her some of the same looks when they found out about Elizabeth.
“Is that you’re not so subtle way of telling me to go get one now?” Letting out a puff of air, Charlie pushed the project to the side. It wasn’t quite Theodore-level, but it was clear that she had raided a thrift store to find something. “Fine. I’m going. I can’t promise that I’ll be eager to chat if anyone is roaming around, though.” How many times could you tell someone that you were okay? Probably once if you really meant it.
***
Yes, Sheila the tank sitting outside now. Caboose killed me a few times...he kind of has the all time team killing record. If he ever shows up here never let him help with anything. It always ends with me dead somehow. She might have been kind of teasing but remembering how many times he...well Alpha...that still got confusing...got killed by Caboose always made him kind of cranky.
Way to pick up the clues. Go get a projector and it might buy you a few days. They’d deal with chatting with people if it came up.
***
Charlie flinched when Church mentioned him dying. AI hologram or not, Charlie didn’t need anyone else she cared about dying.
Leaving the safety of her room, Charlie made a face when she noticed a certain individual rummaging the fridge. If she was quiet, maybe she could sneak by before Tucker noticed. Unfortunately, Charlie was not the stealthy sort. She could hold her own against terrifying animatronics.
Connecting her elbow with a wall was something else entirely.
Leaning out of the fridge, Tucker made a face. “We’re out of the yellow cheese in case you’re looking for that.”
***
There was just such a long history of Caboose causing damage Church didn’t even think about it. He’d died as Alpha, and he remembered fracturing himself to run the Meta’s suit for Tucker so he didn’t even think about it anymore.
Oh good, he’s going to be all Tucker. Yay. Charlie would be able to hear the eyeroll in Church’s voice. Hang on. There was every chance in the world that this was going to cause yelling but Church skipped over to Tucker’s implants. Hey buddy. Why you being so weird about Charlie and the groceries?
***
Whoa. Whoa. The look on Tucker’s face went through a myriad of emotions before settling on irritation mixed with surprise.
Opening his mouth to talk, he shut it quickly. Maybe he could talk to Church through this implant thing, too.
What are you talking about? I’m just letting her know. Does it matter, though? She’s a robot, dude! They don’t eat! There was a pause and Tucker continued. Why are you in my head anyway?
***
Well that had been an interesting thing to ride out. Usually when he onboaded with Tucker Carolina gave him the actual AI memory chip to insert in his helmet instead of Church just hopping in. It was better to do it this way, he didn’t have to worry about his ‘home movie’ folders when he did it this way.
She eats. She’s not a robot like we’re used to. It wasn’t like Lopez ate after all but Charlie was really a lot like a human. They’d been elbow deep in her fixing things and seen it first hand.
And I’m in your head because we’ve built a lot of hologram generators but haven’t TURNED THEM ON in all the rooms yet. We should get on that.
***
Whoa! Okay! Don’t yell at me! There are other people in this house who can do that shit, too. I got a kid to worry about, remember?
Oh yes. Tucker used that excuse as much as he could having Link as a ward.
So, what? Were you going to keep her company while she ate? That’s a weird ass date, man. He looked over to where Charlie was standing awkwardly before she continued on to find the projectors.
“So. Fucking. Weird.”
***
Sure the kid that can probably take care of himself better than you can take care of yourself. Great excuse there Tucker. Church would be facepalming if he was a hologram as it was the intent was definitely there in his thoughts.
It’s not a date, she’s not my girlfriend. We’re just out here to get a holo projector.
***
“Hey. Keep it to yourself what you’re out here looking for. There are just some things I don’t need to know.” Tucker popped some chips into his mouth, crunching loudly in the process.
“Okay, look. You wanna hang out with your girlfriend? What’s that thing you can do? Just do it, okay? But I’m telling you, Church. If I end up with anal probes or other weird AI shit going on, it’s not gonna be cool.”
Tucker did kind of owe the guy or at least most of the Blues did.
***
She’s not my...wait. You were impregnated by an alien parasitic baby and you’re drawing a line when it comes to anal probes? And by the way just what do you think AI are into? Church was amazed at the way Tucker’s mind worked. And he was also amazed at how loud crunching potato chips sounded from inside someone else’s head.
Besides I don’t think I can hold it that long, it gives me a headache. Although taking over you has got to be about a million times better than being in Grif.
***
“Okay, stop. I definitely don’t need to hear about you being inside Grif and shit. And I have my priorities. If something is going up my ass, I’d like to know about it than having it be a surprise.” There was a pause. “Not that anything is going up my ass! Fuck. Just do it, okay? Don’t make her pregnant, either. I got enough kids to worry about.”
The last statement got a strange look from Charlie, who had come back with a projector in hand. Tucker having kids was still the craziest thing in the world and that was a statement considering everything Charlie had seen.
“Found one.”
***
I told you the Temple of Procreation was a bad idea. Church wasn’t even considering activities that would lead to more little Tuckers around. No one needed that. And Charlie was getting used to Tucker if it was only the last part about the kids that got her to look at him like that. Considering he’d started with being inside Grif and went sharply downhill from there and he hadn’t been talking all that quietly. Fine, you asked for it.
Church went from just riding the neural implants to taking control of them and overriding the control of the body. Omega was really good at that but he didn’t want to rely on the memories of the rage fragment to do better at it. “Okay haven’t had a human body in a while. So. Weird.” He lifted Tucker’s hands to look at them and flexed the fingers. “Hey Charlie.”
***
“...Hey?” She looked confused, of course. Tucker wasn’t entirely cordial with his greetings. Especially with her. It was rare that he actually used her name, too. Watching with keen interest as he seemed to be acclimating himself with his hands, Charlie nearly dropped the projector after a moment.
“Church? Wait. Are you?” The projector was set on the counter for the moment as Charlie moved over to where “Tucker” was standing.
She didn’t wait for more than a second before Charlie was hugging him tightly. She didn’t even think twice with it being Tucker.
***
“Yeah...and my voice sounds fucking weird in here.” It was his intonations and cadence but Tucker’s vocal cords. At least Tucker didn’t have an accent, he’d always sounded like a complete jackass whenever he (Alpha) had to jump into Sarge. “And whoa….um hi?”
Someone hugging him was just not usually the first thing on the agenda so Church had flinched a little when she came at him expecting something more like a punch. “I am absolutely not allowed to do this with York or Carolina. Or Wash. He had a bad AI experience.”
***
It was rather abrupt, Charlie realized after a moment, and took a step back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to --” She fell quiet, losing her train of thought. Charlie had meant to do that, had wanted to do that.
“Does it hurt?” It wasn’t the best first question to ask but Charlie was still adjusting to chatting with Church in a physical form. Although she did laugh at his opinion of Tucker’s voice. “A little, but at least what you say is worth listening to. And I won’t tell them.”
Charlie didn’t need to. She was sure Tucker would go whining to them at some point.
***
“It doesn’t really hurt, well I mean I get a headache after a while. Especially after I log off the body...you know if an AI can feel a headache. It’s complicated.” He honestly didn’t know how to explain it. Headache just covered it the best. And there were complications with wearing Tucker’s body and having someone of the female persuasion hug him. Jesus christ was that all that his body thought all the damn time?
“Nah I mean they’ll figure it out I just know I can’t get them to volunteer. I mean just because she can’t punch me as a hologram doesn’t mean Carolina won’t figure out some way to make me regret it if I try.” And he wasn’t sure how awkward it would be to be in a girl’s body and he wasn’t really champing at the bit to try it either.
***
“Fortunately for you, I've experienced plenty of headaches. So, I can relate.” To an extent of course. Was it actually a headache for her? Questions like that usually caused them.
Reaching a hand up, Charlie touched the side of Tucker's face. What did she say now? What did she do?
Clearing her throat, Charlie reached for the projector. “So, where did you want me to put this?”
***
At least this time he managed not to flinch. Tex was not the touchy feely type and that was his barometer for how he interacted with women. Usually she was angry and tended to shoot at them,. Or punch them. Or do that punch kicking thing that Grif always complained about.
“Uh, well I mean every room would be great. Carolina and York insisted we put off switches on them so if you want to put it on your room you can turn it off whenever you want.” He was possibly babbling a bit. He was going to blame that on being in Tucker’s body. That and the insane desire to say bow chicka bow wow.
***
“Right. Okay. I can do that. I don’t really mind keeping it on, though. Mine, I mean. I can adjust the other ones after I put them around the house. I’m not going to do that right now, though. Not that I don’t want to help. It’s just...you’re here and I know you said it’s difficult so, I don’t want to waste it?”
For as much as Chuch rambled, Charlie seemed to match it. While she normally seemed to go off on her thought process, this time she was thinking out loud. Considering the pros and cons of a lot of things. It was a lot, still, to take in. Church was special to her. He understood more than others and had helped her -- was still helping her.
Which was why, after that moment of consideration, Charlie was kissing Church, who was Tucker but not Tucker.
***
If the hug had been a surprise the kiss was a down right shock. Church hadn’t ever really been kissed, not the AI version of him anyway. He had memories of Allison from the director and jesus Carolina was full of memories of her and York anymore...and let’s be honest he wasn’t always gone when his hosts were doing things he just knew to stay quiet and try to keep Theta from asking questions.
But that wasn’t the same as experiencing it flesh on flesh and Tucker’s body was kind of highly tuned to anything involving women. The shock of it went straight from his lips to his toes and even as he leaned into it Church’s control snapped from the flood of sensations and suddenly he was just a passenger in Tucker’s neural implants again.
Oh shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck, Tucker stop, crap!
***
It took Tucker a minute for Church's voice to register. When he was wrapped up in a hot girl's arms and kiss? He didn't have time for anything else. At least until he heard Church yelling and realized just who the hot girl was.
Which it seemed Charlie also realized what was happening when Tucker's hand started to roam.
Pulling away, Charlie shoved Tucker back and smacked him across the face. It wasn't entirely fair to Tucker and the look on Charlie's face said so.
“Sorry! Sorry. I didn't mean--” Grabbing the projector, Charlie groaned and headed off for her room.
***
Oh jeezus that had been awkward as hell. Church fidgeted inside Tucker’s head for a moment.
Hey sorry. I’m just gonna...go now. You know…. Charlie was retreating and Church planned to go back to where he belonged and to go dark for a while so people couldn’t ask him questions.