Week 62, end of week: Cybernetics 102

Coraline was once again waiting on Hugo in the Oracle cybernetics lab. Fortunately it had been nearly a full week since the group's night out so the former plastic surgeon was feeling much better. Lying down on the table was a deactivated Y&S Centaur ME6. Coraline had arranged a number of hybrid tools beside it, the C.&R. ends pointed towards the unmoving robot. The ex EI agent was wore a black one piece outfit with a depiction of a skeleton and had overlain it with surgical scrubs. On table-trays nearby were blueprints and specs of the robot and Coraline was standing on the same side as the Viric lance and tapped away at her phone.

Hugo came in as the week before, arms full of food, grinning at Coraline as he entered. He seemed more sedate than normal, his smile somewhat forced, but he seemed chipper enough as he dumped the armful of greasy food on an empty chair and smiled at her. "Robot today, then?" He looked and sounded more tired than usual, his movements delayed somewhat. He immediately began to unwrap and eat a burger while he waited for a reply.

"Hugo, darling, hi! Yes, we'll be taking apart our friend here today. I'm afraid the model isn't particularly useful for stealth but the components will be very useful for building one that is. Not sure what I'm going to do with the droid core though the poor dear." The plague doctor flashed a winning smile at Hugo as he entered and then talked excitedly. Coraline held up her hand as she saw the food in the nuke's huge arms, forming an O with her thumb and index finger. She nodded over to the side before bouncing over to meet her friend. The tiny cyberneticist took several bags from him before standing on tip toe to kiss the huge agent on the cheek. Coraline followed suit and began eating a bag of fries and stole several glances at Hugo's arms and legs. No obvious damage, internal or otherwise mmm.

"Never done that before." He tried to smile, but something about him... tightened as he was kissed, though it only took him a second to relax. He ate with vigor, not seeming as talkative, either. He didn't seem to notice her eyeballing, and was content to eat in silence for a few minutes, at least. "Could be useful."

Coraline stood in awkward silence for a moment, nibbling at her food distractedly. Then she smiled nervously before injecting a burst of enthusiasm into proceedings. "Well, I certainly hope so honey. I might have a design or two in mind, oh but we should get started. You know once we've finished, I'm calling right side to start, which leaves you with left." The plague doctor peeled open several other bags and started eating from each of them to bide for more time. "Thank you for bringing food again darling, it is good of you, how has your week been, by the way?" Coraline Carnell; master of subtlety and also proper speech.

"Not great." He paused, finishing up a handful of food before moving over to the robot, ready to follow Coraline's lead. This wasn't much of a reply, and he seemed to notice after a moment. "Tamba's the worst. And... The rest of the week wasn't great, either. Nnng." With a grunt, he wheeled over one of the trays of tools, but it was a distracted motion more than anything else. As an afterthought, he pulled Una off of his back and set her reverently on the counter on the side of the room.

Coraline nodded to Una as she was placed down, a little absently. The plague doctor knew exactly what the ex WF agent meant when he said Tamba was the worst. "You can say that again lovely, lucky me I got to shoot my EMP cannon until I felt better. Sorry to hear it about the rest of your week though Hugo. When I read the mission debrief I was impressed you were all up to it the morning after. Ah...." The former plastic surgeon chewed on her lip, searching for something else that she could say. Seeing that the nuke had gotten started, Coraline set to work on dissecting the Centaur unit's arm. "Still, it was a nice night, wasn't it?" She smiled widely up at her friend, trusting that she was on safe ground with those recollections, at least.

Hugo looked down at the robot, seeming crestfallen. He focused his eyes on the metal of its outside, and ran his finger down the varapace of the bot. "Wasn't too bad. Had some boredom for the actual mission. Took the edge off. And.. Mmn, yeah, the night was nice." There was something weird about the way he said "night", enunciating it much more clearly than his normal southern Feddy drawl.

"Nice? Honey what... oh, I don't mean to pry. Forget I said anything. I'm glad the uh, the mission went well. And helped, if only a little, right?" The petite cyberneticist rubbed her hand against her temple and grimaced down at the robot between them. Coraline breathed out slowly and clearly decided that she should be helping Hugo feel better rather than bring up things he felt bad about. "So I learnt a new trick this week. Reckon it'll help a lot against agents, don't suppose you'd be interested in seeing it. Darling?" The ex EI agent wiggled her hips a little and her whole expression spoke of a secret she was 'dying' to share. [[pass L&A by 4]]

"Oh? What did you learn?" Despite tensing up at her kiss earlier, Hugo seemed still slightly flirty, grinning back at Coraline's delighted wiggling. He tapped the robot as if to ask about the robot, but didn't press it. As down as he seemed, there were only so many reactions a bouncy little Coraline could bring forth. He smiled a little wryly. "I get this feeling you're gonna tell me anyway."

"Well, mayyyybe- okay so you know me. I would just show you but I'm afraid there's not much to see. Which you know, will probably be useful when we actually need it but is something of a let down atm. So you know the cannon in my arm? Turns out if you hold the trigger down half way, you half charge the capacitors. So you can then fire a shot at one and a half times output and it doesn't even use up more ammo! You're impressed, I know you are." Coraline flicked her hair smugly, clearly fishing for compliments. The plague doctor smiled delighted to be gossiping and picked up the robots arm. She got to work taking apart the outer casing, glancing up every so often without actually looking at Hugo.

Hugo raised a brow, helping to remove what needed to be removed from the robot. "I am impressed... ...But you're gonna kill me, I actually heard that trick before. Never done it, mind you, encantadora, but heard it could be done." His voice was still thicker, sadder than normal, but he smiled indulgently at Coraline. "Takes a special had to do it, though. Impressive. So with a normal gun, you can knock out.. what, a car on average?"

Coraline did pout in response to Hugo's assertion and while she did look mildly put out, the plague doctor couldn't keep the smile entirely away from her lips. "Very special, thank you. With a normal cannon, averages at around a car or another EMP cannon yes. And mine isn't normal, it's a part of me so is not even like there is a trigger for me to hold down. And I can do it, so there." The plague doctor insisted brattily and seemed to realise it a moment later. She coloured slightly and sighed at herself before shrugging. "Although I must admit, a higher quality base gun would you know, help a lot." Coraline conceded without malice. Suddenly she was very busy taking the arm apart and isolating a particular weapon.

"I can get you one of those, unless you already have a Fed gun." Hugo shrugged as he held various pieces of robot. "Oh, you know, my ex-friends AMS won't talk to me, but I have a few other connections. Lots of agents in my life growing up, you know." As the robot came apart, so did Hugo's general good mood, though it didn't seem to be the tiny little cyberneticist's fault.

"That would be... incredibly generous Hugo, darling and I would like it very much. Not sure how on earth I could repay you though." Coraline looked up at Hugo's face as she said this but the former WF agent seemed distracted. She had wanted to say that she didn't know so much, really since there had been no agents where she grew up. But now didn't seem the time. The plague doctor's face dropped a little and she sighed again. Coraline struggled internally for a moment before speaking again. "Hugo, honey? I know that I said that I wouldn't pry but, you-you seem a little down. I wouldn't ask but I've never really worried about you before. And you said the night was nice, like the um like the morning wasn't. Unless I've missed my guess... Hugo."

"...Silvia doesn't remember the night out." The words came out in a painful little gush, and he sighed heavily after he said them. And there. He finally said them to someone else. "I.. I don't know who else knows. She remembers us, the three of us dancing and you, you kissing, but not anything after it. But you should know about it, especially after what you said to her." He frowned, not making eye contact. The fragile shell of what seemed like normal, cheerful Hugo was crumbling, leaving behind someone who seemed utterly crestfallen. "I, I told her what you said. About you liking her and all. She should know, after you were moved enough to say it, and mean it. But... I don't know." Another pause. His hands grabbed part of the outer casing, and realizing how he felt, the massive agent removed his hands to not rend the metal in his emotional state. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I mean, it was just booze and tamba. How could she forget? How could she forget?"

Coraline's face grew longer as she listened intently to Hugo's unhappy story. As he spoke about the plague doctor's affection for Silvia and how he had to make sure she knew, Coraline moved to take his hand in hers. She came up short as the other agent let go of the droid between them and place his hands where she couldn't get them. The former plastic surgeon settled for awkwardly patting his arm in thanks. "Thank you Hugo, it means a lot to me that you would make sure she knew after... after she forgot. H-Hugo, honey?" The ex EI agent placed her hand over her mouth as though afraid of what would come out, looking very sombre.

"I.... before we got there, Silvia was just so so, lost. The poor girl looked about ready to have a heart attack. So, I gave her some valium and she drank much more of it than I meant for, and I mean sometimes muscle relaxants do cause memory loss. But nothing on that scale and certainly not in agents. I, I don't know how she could forget sweetie, I'm sorry." Coraline had slowly moved around the table as she spoke and now pulled the huge nuke into a gentle hug. "I, I hope she didn't forget anything important between the two of you. And if she did, well you have my condolences and sympathy, sweetie."

Hugo responded to the hug by putting an arm gently around Coraline's shoulders, and he hugged her loosely. He pulled away after only a moment, though, brows knitting. "She's an agent, there's no reason why just one drug would make her forget, right? ...Wait, why did you have a bunch of muscle relaxants with you? "

While the little agent thought of an answer, Hugo shook his head and said in a much softer voice, "And we didn't have sex or anything, so," but it wasn't exactly convincing.

Coraline stepped back and gave Hugo a look that said, really? Aloud she said, "Sweetie, I had valium because I was looking to have fun with it myself. I do tend to have various drugs on hand, just in case but valium isn't one of them. Plenty of better alternative treatments (drugs) for the same problems." The plague doctor shook her head as she walked back over to her side of the operating table. "I can't think of any reason she would forget, we'd all know if her agent upgrades were substandard, so...." The ex EI agent trailed off, sighing. A frown crinkled her brow as Coraline carefully removed the weapon system, placing it gently in a reinforced muletech by her feet. The abrupt zip of the bag being closed was followed by Coraline's voice from below the operating table, sounding oddly older. "There is plenty you can do that isn't sex that is too important to forget sweetheart."

Hugo didn't respond to any of her comments, though he sighed when even the cyberneticist said she couldn't think of a reason why Silvia would forget. He moved to help her with various pieces of the robot, watching how Coraline undid the various components. After a few long moments, he merely said, "You should talk to her about it, you know. Later. She won't want to but.. You should, for both of you."

The plague doctor looked up at Hugo and after taking stock of his expression nodded once. Her first instinct was to insist that the huge nuke follow his own advice too but from the way he said it, well Coraline got the impression he was speaking from experience. She breathed in and out through her nose before chewing on her lip a little. "Mmmm, I haven't actually spoken to anyone really, not since that night. Aside from Hui, of course. I think, I think that conversation will need to wait for the time being. After Yokohama mission, that should be a good time." At this point the petite cyberneticist seemed to be talking more to the robot, or at least herself, than Hugo. "Speaking of which, what do you think about all this cyberlin deathmatch stuff?"

"Better than war, really. And there's an appeal to huge mechs and huge guns that won't kill basically anyone. Guilt free combat with stuff I played with as toys before my parents let me have guns. Who wouldn't like giant killer robots?" Hugo managed to smile a little at that, sounding boyish despite his dour mood. He shrugged. "And it's not bad for us, right?"

"Right! No war so, no destabilisation, no ruin, no huge casualty and mass injuries. I've read about doctors that had to work in those conditions and the contagions those conditions produced. I reckon we can do without. And yes, lots of top secret projects and research for us to pilfer. I'm quite looking forward to it." Despite Coraline's enthusiastic response, her smile was perhaps a little too tight.

There was a nod and another weak little smile from Hugo. "High stress, high risk, high reward. That's what I was promised." He shrugged, less enthusiastic than his words were suggesting. He sighed deeply. "I wouldn't mind seeing the fight. It'll be a great battle... But from far away."

"Oh yeah, laying back in the worldview, in deluxe luxury class off to Varstagg, full three dimensional holoview of the fight?" Coraline purred contentedly, a low happy noise in the back of her throat. She clipped off the droid's external chest plate and began exposing the core. "I wish I was convinced we would miss the worst of the fall out for the cyberlin missions too but just as you said high risk. High reward." The plague doctor pursed her lips as she regarded the robot between them. "Coming along nicely."