[CLOSED]

[maevelous]

WHO: Teddy Flood, Maeve Millay, and Tony Stark
WHERE: Stark HQ
WHEN: Early February
WHAT: Teddy gets an upgrade.
WARNINGS: Westworld spoilers.

[ Maeve isn't particularly conversational as she leads Teddy through the streets of De Chima, but she walks with a purpose -- brisk, focused, and intent to get them there as quick as possible. Any moment of delay was a vital moment where a fight could break out and Teddy would be left defenseless.

She steps inside the building and heads to Tony's office, being the first to step in after their presence is announced and the doors are opened. And it's only once Teddy is safely inside that Maeve gestures between the two men. ]

You've spoken already, but now is your chance to truly get to know one another.

[ Pulling up Teddy's information on her tablet, she slid it in Tony's direction so he could do his quick eye skimming thing. ]

Theodore is running into a few problems defending himself against a threat from home. I told him you would be able to do something about it. It must be a simple matter for you to remove those pesky restrictions, correct?

Comments

[shootsharp]

[ Non-conversational is just fine, and Teddy keeps pace with a certain amount of reliable, dogged obedience. Letting his feet carry him in Maeve's wake while his mind has enough to go over. Head down and manner sedate, it's almost a relief to be following someone's lead, 'stead of needing to carve out of his own path in unfamiliar territory, again and again.

He doesn't exactly understand why he's here. He doesn't really need to.

In spite of being here for enough time to acclimate, Teddy still looks like he stepped off the dusty set of a Western, more like a low key extra than the main star. At introductions, he nods to the other man, curious, twice-bitten wary. Talk of restrictions is lost on him, unheard, incomprehensible. ]

Friend of Maeve's is a friend of mine, [ sounds a little like he has a sense of humour, more dry and uneasy than warm.

And just this shy of protective for the madame he's shadowed in here. ]

[liverletdie]

Teddy. Nice to see you again.

[ It's easy, and friendly, but his eyebrows furrow at the way he doesn't even recognize the words she's saying. No talk of how it's annoying, no explanation. It's like the man doesn't even know he's a machine, but then...

He can see the tablet without Maeve actually handing it to him, and that's all he really needs to know, isn't it? He can read that just as clearly as anything else, and it's with a tilt of his head that he starts to skim the data, and review the contents. ]

Think some...awareness should go into this too? The blocks are easy enough to find, but... [ The fact that he didn't really pick up on what they were doing felt... somewhat wrong. ]

[maevelous]

[ Maeve glances at Teddy uncertainly. She would love for him to come into awareness. She would love for him to see the truth. And while it would probably be a simple matter for Tony to infuse Teddy with that awareness, would it be organic? In Maeve's eyes, the only way Teddy would truly accept what he was is if he came into it on his own. ]

He has the capacity to understand it. And I'm certain as time goes on, he will. But I'm not so sure he would be able to accept it without coming to terms on his own. The way I had.

[ Conversation likely to go right over Teddy's head. It's sad, in a way. And she looks back at her counterpart with sympathy. But before they get into tinkering with Teddy, there is one thing Maeve has to do first. She approaches her counterpart and looks him in the eye. ]

Analysis. What happened exactly during your fight with this Man in Black.

[shootsharp]

[ Teddy's obliviousness is an impressive bedrock on which the rest of him is settled. His expression conveys some interest in what Maeve and Tony are saying, but there's no ignition, no spark of recognition, standing casual with his thumbs in his belt and waiting for a cue of some kind.

As Maeve approaches, his attention switches to her, but as soon as she says the magic word, his focus goes vague. His posture adopts an affect that is neutral from character.

His voice isn't a monotone, and he doesn't lose the accent, but he still sounds a little detached as he reports; ]

He and another guest, Dr Chilton, were riding together. The man in black pulled his gun on Chilton and I pulled mine on him. I remembered the day he killed Dolores, and I shot him, but it didn't land a mark.

We were beset by bandits, attacking all three of us. Chilton escaped in the fray. I tried shooting them down, but it didn't work. All the same, in the end, it was just me and the man in black left. I asked him who he was. He said he already told me, and don't I remember. I said I did, and unhorsed 'im. I had him under me, knife to his throat.

[ There's a pause, here, as if trying to describe what comes next is in conflict with the natural order of things. ]

I asked him why he did it, why he killed her. He said it was the same reason he should kill me. 'Cause she didn't pull the trigger. He took my gun, emptied it. I tried to kill him, then. I couldn't. He said I'm brainwashed. They changed out my ammunition. Gutted my agency. That I couldn't kill him if my life depended on it. He was right.

So I let him up.

[liverletdie]

You let him up because you couldn't kill him? Instead of tying him up and taking him to the authorities?

[ Interesting.

Honestly, it wasn't interesting, it was horrifying in the simplicity. When she said it, he read it across the screen -- eyes darting in time with a tablet he wasn't looking at, data streaming before his eyes while he superimposed it with what Maeve had. A lot of his stats were...different. Strength, of course, was fine, honesty, loyalty... the makings of a perfect companion.

And he'd called them "guests", which was what sounded like Maeve's story just a bit.

Damn. Someone had really done a number on these guys, and he was torn between being impressed and horrified all at the same time. ]

So it sounds like we have a problem... here. [ He stopped, and the tablet scrolled back up. Controls to prevent guest harm. ] I assume we don't want to fiddle with his moral center, do we? Seems like a bad idea, that.

[maevelous]

[ Maeve's expression is one of concern. This man in black definitely knows what they are. He's someone from home. A guest, sounds like. How much did he remember about them that they did not recall about him?

She blinks out of her daze, looking back at Tony after his comment and follow up question. ]

We don't want to change who he is. We just want to give him a fighting chance in this world. Can't have him going around only ever able to defend himself against fellow AI.

[ A glance at Teddy. ]

As you were, Theodore. [ She releases him from analysis. ] If you could remember more about this Man in Black -- if we could help to uncover those memories of him, would you want to remember?

[ A very important question. Maeve isn't even sure if Tony can find their stored memories and restore them. She doesn't know if having all of those erased memories will only serve to glitch Teddy out. But she has to see if it's something Teddy wants before she asks Tony to go unlocking doors that had been otherwise closed off to him. ]

[shootsharp]

[ At Tony's question, whether rhetorical or not, even Theodore in analysis mode has nothing to say. That's right -- he didn't tie him up, drag him to the sheriff's office or something like that, and maybe not even because he couldn't. The memory is this shy of corrupted, diverged into strange patterns by virtue of far too much improvisation.

By rights, he should have died. But the man in black didn't kill him either.

As you were. Teddy's posture relaxes back into something more human, a blink like he's clearing his head, a redirection of focus. There is a questioning twinge at his brow at Maeve's question, glancing past her at Tony. He should ask, on the topic of memories in need of uncovering at all: how's that?

Except he knows, a little, what she means. Fragments of memory. A split second of the man in black, unhatted, by fireside. Another of Dolores, alive, at night, her feet kicking in her skirts.

There's a twitch from him, breaking from the beginnings of reverie. ]

Yeah, [ he says. ] I would.

[liverletdie]

Yes, I suppose that would change him a bit, huh?

[ His lips curl into a smile, and he watched the way the AI changed, the way his focus changed, and then suddenly he was back to looking more human.

Fascinating. The work was beautiful, really. If it hadn't been for the way Maeve described her world, what they did to them, he would have said the work was brilliant, but even he -- capitalist and industrialist that he was -- couldn't stand the thought of that happening. It was disrespectful to the natural creation of life, even digital life. ]

Alright. So let's start with that, and while you work on recollection, we'll tweak with the rest of you.

[ His fingers drifted to take the pad from Maeve, although his eyes darted fast -- faster than a human's should, and he started to work through the data, his mouth half-open, his fingers flying, and he slowly started to work with the datablockers -- like recovering deleted files before the system had a chance to overwrite them. ]

[maevelous]

[ Maeve allowed Tony the device, nodding once at him. Seems as though he's already one step ahead of her on it. She's not sure how they narrow down this Man in Black in Teddy's memories considering there are many men who dress all in black. But perhaps if she keeps him talking about it, Tony will be able to pick up key words and threads of reveries that he would be able to unlock. ]

The last you recall of him back home, he killed Dolores. Do you remember anything else before that, though? Have you had any other encounters with him?

[ A pause and a glance toward Tony curiously. ]

-- Are you able to get a visual on our memories? The way we see them and can replay them in our minds with perfect clarity?

[shootsharp]

[ Teddy goes to shake his head, no, he never met him before that sunburned day of blood and dust, but the movement doesn't really gain momentum beyond a twitch. Because there it is, that little sliver of recollection that had gotten in under his skin at the words: you couldn't kill me if your life depended on it. ]

Somethin'--

[ It doesn't feel fixed in time, but he recognise it anyway. Night time, the glow from within the ranch shining up the front yard. The smell of gunpowder, and the ground hard under his knees as he watches the man in black walk passed him. Brief eye contact with Dolores, where she is kneeling by her pa, before the man in black reaches a gloved hand to collect her by the back of her dress, and start to drag.

In Tony's office, Teddy feels, vividly, the surge of desperate anger, and the sound of his pistol dragged up out of his holster is a hiss and click of leather and metal.

At least he doesn't fire. Stops himself. ]

--more like a dream.

[liverletdie]

Likely --

[ His fingers don't dance, but he focused on the pad, his eyes dancing, moving, hazy and unfocused as he dug deep into the code in that surreal, eerie way, the visuals springing to life in his vision, and his vision alone where he could watch the ones and zeroes, hexadecimal and other coding languages -- easily deciphered when you figured out the patterns -- manifested into a visual language that one would need to have the right kind of brain to even comprehend, let alone see -- ]

Calm down there, cowboy --

[ He raised a hand to try and lower the gun. ]

Next time, let's disarm you before we try that. [ His eyes danced as he tried to figure out what was bothering him about the vision. ]

There's more, but it's gone. Like a wiped drive. [ A slight shudder. He'd forgotten, but the flood of memories from his future self had reminded him of what was to come for him. ] It will take a lot to recover that kind of data.

[maevelous]

[ Maeve recognizes what's happening the second Teddy raises the gun, the second Teddy's eyes are elsewhere. He's gone. He's in a memory. Likely, the gun he has on him isn't full of real bullets, but that doesn't mean they won't damage things in the office. She places her hand on Teddy's arm in order to pull him back. Annnd there he is. ]

Our memories at times -- particularly the traumatic ones -- we tend to see them in perfect clarity. We'll be here one moment, and the next...we're off in a distant vision, acting on muscle memories.

[ Her hand traces Teddy's arm, one part sensual and one part comforting. ]

But you did good, Theodore. You don't have to remember anything else. I think Tony got what he needed from it.

[ Her eyes drift to Tony to confirm just that. She can't tell what he's doing or what he's seeing. But he's speaking as though he has access to the memories -- as though he can see what was erased and deleted. ]

Perhaps a mess you can untangle if I leave the tablet with you. Theodore doesn't have to be present, necessarily, for you to search through his coding. Is the first part done, though? Can he defend himself against a human threat?

[shootsharp]

[ ooc ; christ, sorry guys, i never saw maeve's last tag in my inbox! ]

[ Teddy's eyeline drops to Maeve's hand on his arm, a hard blink as his sense of when and where catches up with him. He eases his finger off the trigger at her assurance, an inhale swelling his chest as he allows himself to be comforted, in spite of only dimly grasping the forces at place around him. The weapon is smoothly slotted back into leather sheath.

Hands up to demonstrate their emptiness, then. Apologies, ladies and gents. ]