Scene #8498: Is This What You Call A Muse?

Owner	Pose
Angela	It is not a secret that Angela enjoys reading. Angela has a wallflower personality and is generally happy stuffing herself in between bookshelves, sticking her nose in a book. You might think someone like that wouldn't mind being trapped in a facility with plenty of reading material but no escape. But it is a secret that Angela is also an aspiring writer. She is actually embarrassed that she has a passion at all. It is a vulnerability to let someone know you enjoy something but its even more so if its an activity that, by its very nature, opens the heart up and lets someone take a peek. Someone could use that, couldn't they? They could take what you love and mock it, crush it, tell you it is terrible work or--worse--that it is forgettable. She is seated at her desk in her office. The normally horrifyingly bright monitors have dulled--a sign that she has no plans to speak to a manager today. A trash bin set for the incinerator is full of crumpled up wads of paper. She has offered to Petra that she can drop by the office whenever she'd like and it's after shift hours, but Angela is pretty much lost in trying to get something going on paper. On one side of the desk there's a few books and magazines that have a various number of bookmarks in each designating where Angela is at in each. The top book seems to be a kind of travel almanac for District O that Angela has been using to familiarize herself. All these books are stacked on what look like the mysterious remains of wrapping paper. She taps a yellow duck-headed pen (the ink is black) against the desk, frowning in costernation. The latest page seems to be a list but every line has been CENSO--well, they've been very thoroughly crossed out.
Petra Soroka	It is also a secret that Petra is an aspiring and occasionally successful writer. Not for the same reasons-- Petra is very openly passionate about things, and though she closes her heart off as much as she can, she's never really been good at hiding her excitement for something. No, Petra's writing is a secret because it is dangerous. Petra slips into Angela's office after finishing her assigned works for the day, still wearing her androgynous black suit with a red tie. In her hair is the green and orange heart hairpin from Fragment of the Universe, and her arms and neck are still wrapped in gauze, though at some point she stopped wearing her bomber jacket inside the facility. She takes a small bite out of her vending machine sandwich-- a horrifying culinary staple that originated in the Training Department, consisting of chips and cheese between bread, all sourced from the break room vending machines-- and knocks a knuckle gently on the door to alert Angela, once she's already inside. "Hey, Angela. You had something you wanted to talk about?" Petra glances down at the pen and presses her fingers to her mouth with a tiny gasp. "Oh my god, that pen is so cute, is that-- do you use a duck pen to do your work?"
Angela	Angela being anything other than a cold enforcer of company will is dangerous but with every passing day it is harder for her to simply stay safe--particularly after she went unprompted to the King of Greed and ripped an EGO set out of her body. Thsi might explain why she's not wearing it at the moment but is instead back in her suit and labcoat like usual. When Petra steps in Angela fumbles with the pen and it clatters to the floor and by the time she picks it back up, Petra has made it inside and can get a good look at the Duck headed pen Angela attempts to salvage her dignity by coughing into her fist. "My last pen ran out of ink and so I borrowed Malkuth's for the time being." Angela says too quickly. "This is...not work, it is... just a passing interest of mine. I thought since I enjoy reading I might try my hand at writing something, that is all." She frowns a little at the vending machine sandwich now that she knows what it means to consume a food item. "Please, think nothing of it." Her head tilts slightly away indicating extreme embarassment.
Petra Soroka	"No, no, it's adorable, Angela." Petra giggles at Angela's blatant attempts to explain away the Pen. "I would've thought you'd use computers instead of pen and paper, since, you know, everything; do you just enjoy writing physically instead?" "Writing..." Petra pouts and nods thoughtfully. "What... kinds of stuff do you want to write? I mean, from your interests in books, it kind of seems like you're into everything, so are you still figuring that out?" Petra takes another crunchy bite of her sandwich, pausing for a little bit to chew and think. "It's normal to do that, though. Be confused and try stuff out. I did too, back when I... experimented with writing, but I haven't really done it at all since, becoming, an Elite." Petra assumes there's no way this is what Angela called her in to talk about, but it's a pleasant, if somewhat dangerous topic, so she's happy waiting.
Angela	Angela DID have a couple questions to ask of Petra, both--in a way--Kale related but she's pretty distracted from that in the short term. Petra is giggling which tells Angela that she absolutely hasn't tricked OR convinced Petra of the duckypen's 'true' owner--perhaps if she sneaks the duckypen to Malkuth in some way... ''Do you just enjoy writing physically instead'' "I...do enjoy the feel of paper but it is more a matter of speed. A computer does not force me to slow down to nearly the extent of pen and paper and I often put down words I do not wish to put down, whereas by the time I've written down what I wished to with a pen I had plenty of time to come to a conclusion." She look at the crossed out list on her desk. "At least, I had thought that would be the case. As it so happened, once I've seen the words on the page I still manage to have second thoughts. I've been trying my hand at poetry, I know one day I wish to write about the City but I cannot really do that until I've...actually experienced it. I know it it s a bit of a dour topic, of course." Petra reassures her that it's normal to struggle and experiment. ''Back when I... experimented with writing'' Angela's eyebrows shoot up, momentarily setting aside which she wished to ask Petra about. "You write, Petra?" Angela quirks her head. "Or rather, you used to?" She thinks for a moment. "What did you write about?" Her eyes are smiling with excitement.
Petra Soroka	Petra is not fooled about the owner of the ducky pen, and is visibly overjoyed at that new knowledge. "I kind of... thought the speed would be the reason you'd use a computer, honestly. I didn't expect you to want to be forced to go slower." Petra does some quick math in her head. If it takes ten seconds to write something down for her, that's ten thousand subjective seconds, and to put that into minutes is... okay, to get a rough idea, divide it by one hundred, then multiply by two, since there's sixty seconds in a minute, and that's... It's not quick at all. Petra stands there silently computing for a couple subjective hours before continuing. "Oh, but anyways, have you felt how nice it is to write on really good quality paper? Not the cheap shit we use for all of our paperwork? You wouldn't think it makes a difference, but it does." "Especially if you're writing poetry." Petra nods approvingly. "That's like, the hardest kind of writing, since you have to be so, like, precise with it. So every detail matters." "You know, I could take you around tours of the City in the Eggpack if you want. I know it isn't the same, but..." Petra freezes mid-bite at Angela's last question. "W-well. Y-you know. I was y-young, so I didn't really-- I mean, I wrote about a-anything, and it's not like I was a-- was a professional, so it's not really i-important." Angela's excitement is met with a wince, and Petra tries to move the topic away from questioning about her definitely wholesome writing hobby. "S-so, did you, have a thing you wanted to talk about? I-I'm happy to just talk, of course, but if you had a, work thing, or something..."
Angela	Angela says, "If I wished to be quick about it but...It is an activity I enjoy doing. Why wouldn't I wish to spend more time doing it?" She quirks her head to the side curiously. "Alternately, I can finish writing something quickly and then be stuck doing nothing at all in the intervening time." Petra mentions the matter of quality paper. "Ah, does it?" Angela's eyes slant towards the top right drawer of her desk where a giftwrapped object is presently sitting--Angela ultimately had to ask the Control Team to help with the bike but Angela had wanted something just from her specifically--but now she is thinking if...she needs to very quickly make a replacement item. She hadn't really thought of paper quality while making the book. "Do you find it easier to write on quality paper?" Maybe that's the problem she's been having, Angela thinks in the moment, the wrong kind of paper... ''I could take you around tours of the City in the Eggpack...'' Angela frowns morosely. "Unfortunately...it is best that I am not seen within the City. I am---not a type of being that is supposed to exist within the City. Considering Binah was able to fight with Gebura on a relatively equitable level--it would put you in danger as well. More danger than the work you are engaged in. And the Dame Commander said I was not to allow you to be 'broken'." She pauses a moment, then brings her fist up to her mouth. "Ah, though, of course I would not wish such harm to fall upon you for its own sake--and perhaps you could handle an Arbiter quite well--but it is simply too risky at this point in time--and it would likely impede my escape." Petra freezes mid-bite. As mentioned, freezing mid-bite in front of Angela means that she gets to see you mid-bite for quite some time. It'd be slow anyway but making it even slower just makes it that much more exponentially obvious. "...Ah, yes, I wished to ask you if you minded Mr. Hearthward's presence at your party. He asked if it would be private. I had no objection myself, but since it is an event for you I felt I should put the question to you." That's the first question she wished to ask. It's... ...Still not work related. And neither is what Angela says next. "You seem to know a great deal about writing. I would love to see your work." Angela says. "If you have anything you've written that is not too...private? You've done poetry before, by the sound of it..."
Petra Soroka	Petra considers arguing more on the topic of writing speed. On one hand, she imagines the experience of watching every word she tries to write slowly come out on paper over the course of multiple minutes, and is pretty certain that she'd go insane, much less that she'd lose her train of thought and find it impossible to write. On the other hand-- it's Angela, and she has like thousands of years to get used to that feeling. "I mean, I do-- did most of my writing on the computer. But it's like, noticeable, and I can appreciate higher quality things, you know?" Petra doesn't mean to, but she ends up sounding a little defensive. "It's not, like, necessary, but it's one of those things that if it just feels one percent better to do, that might be enough to get you out of your writers block." "You don't really... look? Like an AI?" On the topic of touring the City, Petra notices Angela's frown and her mind immediately starts trying to craft solutions, though Angela's use of Lilian's words trips her up. "I-I-I-I mean, that's not really-- I wouldn't use that word, for-- y-you shouldn't repeat that, I think-- she was, sort of--" Petra blushes, dull grey, and finishes lamely, "Joking." "But, um, it's not like the screen needs to show you? We can just make it look like a video call with any human, that won't, like, make your eyes or arms not work. If you want to do it, I'll make it happen. It'll be easy." "Hmmm. Hearthward...." Petra stops to think, genuinely unsure about whether she's okay with him at her party. Is she even okay with any of them being at her party?-- Besides the obvious, of course, it's not like she wants to or lets herself be particularly close to any of them. In the end, she settles for a non-answer that technically gives Kale permission without her having to say she wants him there. "It's your facility and Woz is the one organizing, so if neither of you have issues, then it's whatever." "Everything I've written is... well. I mean, I was, like, a kid before I left to be an Elite. So it's all, you know, before that." Petra will die before she mentions the one thing she wrote that was after becoming an Elite. "And I didn't write poetry, myself. I wrote, like... stories. Short stories. I had a, friend, who-- she wrote poetry some, and s-song lyrics, I guess."
Angela	Angela mulls at Petra's advice. "I'll give it a try again. If nothing else, perhaps it will get me started. There is no reason to just stick to one method as you say." She lets the topic rest for a moment because matters of a City visit. Angela can't deny that she isn't curious but by the same token she can't say that it is particularly safe either. Even in the best case scenario, she's seen some of the crazy people out there--because they ended up as employees to L Corp. ''You don't really... look? Like an AI?'' "That is part of the problem according to Benjamin. I suppose I cannot confirm it for certain, but I look too similarly to a human being." She points to her pale face which is just a bit too pale. "And my skin seems to signify to the people of the City I am an artificial construct, at least under close inspection." Petra informs her that she shouldn't--repeat it, she thinks? Angela quirks her head again. It's hard to get a good read on Petra's hesitation here but she thinks back to how Petra reacted to how she felt about being referred to as a fellow AI and Angel closes her eyes for a moment. Maybe she sort of wishes... "I understand." Angela says. "I will not repeat the joke." She folds her fingers together. Petra does have a point about not needing to show her face around. Angela has to be particularly careful about her own world in a way that she doesn't have to be about other worlds. And she is a little... Frightened ...of a world that does seem to hate her specifically. "I suppose that so long as my face is not visible and only my voice is in the output, it may be doable..." Petra speaks to the matter of Kale Hearthward. Her fingers run across the page. She doesn't want Petra to feel uncomfortable at her own party. Sometimes Petra says things without saying them directly and Angela decides--what's the harm? If they cause Petra trouble at her birthday party, she will be in the best position to dispose of them. "Understood." She says after reflecting on the matter. "Since he was polite enough to ask, I will leave it at that." Petra will DIE before she mentions the one thing she wrote AFTER becoming an Elite but... Angela smiles. "Oh, you had a friend? Are you still close?" She seems to like the idea of Petra having a special writer friend who--writes songs!! "I suppose you are rather busy now, but perhaps some day when I feel a bit more confident, we could..." She gets a little embarrassed and grips the duckypen a little tightly and she brings it up like it might cover her face (she has no book for that). "Ah that is..."
Petra Soroka	"And my skin seems to signify to the people of the City I am an artificial construct, at least under close inspection." Petra snorts, though it only comes out as a smoothly derisive hum. "What, because you're pale? If that was enough for people to think you're an AI, then people would look at me and-- ah. Wait, I forgot." "I will not repeat the joke." It's not really a joke, per se, and Petra feels a little bad lying to Angela. But really, how else would she explain whatever the fuck Lilian is doing to her? Isn't that phrasing-- 'doing to her'-- suspect too? It's all so confusing and stressful and Petra has no idea how to handle it even though the way Lilian talks in public is innocuous enough and it's actually Petra who-- Petra stands there blushing grey for a little bit, trapped in some kind of thought loop when Angela refers to it as a joke. "Since he was polite enough to ask, I will leave it at that." He's still forced to, so don't take that as if it means much. Petra is in agreement with Angela's internal thought process, but won't make a fuss about Kale right now. "Oh, you had a friend?" "I-I've had lots of friends." God, why do I keep thinking about her lately? It's been a year-- over a year. I'm not going back. Petra's expression shifts right past being frustrated, through angry, and then settles on sullen. "And some of them I don't talk to anymore." Petra's thoughts grind to a rough, stumbling halt on that unhappy note. She blankly watches Angela hold up the ducky pen, the bright yellow cartoon shape seeming to make her more confused than anything. "We could..." Petra's face flickers, a tremor shuddering through those heavy thoughts at the suggestion of sitting and writing together. "... Oh. Y-yeah, maybe when-- maybe someday, Angela. I'd really--" Petra reaches for something honest, barely having the energy to get the last words out, "Like to see your writing sometime, too."
Angela	Angela, of course, has no idea Kale is forced to be polite to Petra. She'd probably be kind of disturbed by that, honestly, and it's a coin toss if it'd be because someone forced him to be or because he needed to be forced. "Ah." Angela knows, of course, that humans tend to have a lot of friends. Angela finds mantaining three friendships difficult enough as it is but it comes a lot more naturally to humans, she figures. ''Some of them I don't talk to anymore.'' "Ah... I am sorry. I know what it is like to lose a friend. It is an unpleasant experience, I imagine so even in the most ideal circumstances." The yellow ducky looks back at Petra. It provides no salvation. Angela does smile a little, even though she was not exactly able to finish the thought she wanted to. Petra seems to be having a rough go of it. "Ah... I understand. I apologize if I've touched a sore sport. I just needed to ask about Hearthward--thank you for the talk."