Doug & Darcy | Don't Call It Skynet
Mar. 14th, 2022 05:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDarcy works late... or early, gives the X-Force data machine a nickname, and drops an unfortunate truth bomb on Doug. It's not quite six impossible things before breakfast, but it's close.
Darcy was mostly talking to herself out loud at this point.
It was late, or maybe very early, and the brownstone was mostly silent. Sunday-going-into-Monday was an excellent time to get some uninterrupted hands-on with the analysis machine that had been introduced to her as The Beast, and she'd slept half the day, which made work sound like a productive use of her night. She had a brief thought toward finding a bite and some sleep for herself when part of the data she'd been looking at caught her eye. "Ooooohhh you assholes, that's clever," she muttered under her breath, fingers tapping lightly across the keys as she did a bit of cross-referencing from the Collins fiasco. "But not as clever as.. c'mon, dammit-Darcy-don't-call-it-skynet… I really need a better code name for you, even if it does make Doug twitch," she mused out loud. Her thumb gave the body of the mouse an affectionate stroke. "You're a learning machine, maybe I could just shorten that. Learny?"
Definitely-not-Skynet made an error noise. "Okay no, you're right, that is dumb. First syllables? LeMa? No, definitely not," she agreed as the error noise chimed again. Lemon? Llama?" The sound of an alert rang in the quiet of the room. "Yeah, I think I like lemon best too." A victory chime, and the cross-referencing she'd been thinking about in the back of her mind spread beautifully across the screen. "Okay, okay, fine, you're my little lemon because you're full of juicy secrets!" Darcy laughed as she gave the side of the monitor a few pats. "You are a delightful, clever lemon and I am gonna give you the best dusting next weekend to make sure your parts are all in optimal shape," she cooed at the machine. "And I'm gonna help Doug with your upgrades so you can handle the data we got gifted even easier. For now though.. Lemon, let's find some nasty shit that needs a bit of cleansing fire." Possibilities danced across the screen, and Darcy worked in tandem with Lemon until the sun was rising. "Ooh no," she groaned, stretching up and sighing at the pops along her spine. "Lemon, can you.. yep, thank you precious. I'm gonna lay the cot out and catch forty, or however many I can get before someone wakes me up." A last affectionate pat of the monitor and she stood, only pausing long enough to unpin her hair before stumbling to the cot in the corner and wrapping herself up. She was out almost instantly, soft breathing mingling with the sounds of the servers.
Some time later Doug entered the room to see Darcy curled up on the cot. He smiled fondly and smoothed the blanket that had gotten bunched up around her. At least she hadn't fallen asleep on the keyboard the way he had at least once after a long night in the office. Letting her rest for the moment, he poked the high-speed coffee maker he'd gotten and set it to making hot chocolate as he quietly sat down in his chair.
The smell of cocoa had her twisting with a grumpy sound, eyes half-opening and noting the figure in the chair. "Lemon, d'yhave the report?" She pushed the blanket back until she could stand, one hand scrubbing across her tired eyes until she could blink them into focus and figure out who was in the room with her. Ooh, Doug. Darcy was careful not to shuffle as she moved, taking a careful seat in his lap. "Morn, time'sit?" she asked groggily, yawning into his neck as she got comfortable.
"Lemon? Like as in 'Lemon, it's Tuesday'?" Doug asked as he handed Darcy the first mug of hot chocolate. "And as to time...well, the daystar is up, that's about what I've got at the moment." He couldn't throw stones about weird sleep schedules on the best of days, and he'd pulled a few long sessions of his own with the glut of intel they had been gifted.
"Was coming up when I decided to nap," she mumbled, staring into the mug like it held the secrets of the universe. "Lemon, as in Learning Machine, but it's not a bean so it can't be LeMa. We liked Lemon better than Llama. It's full of juicy secrets, the sentiment fits." Darcy took a long sip of her chocolate, letting out a small sigh as it warmed her up. "When do we have time to do upgrades? So much data we need to get on top of."
Doug rubbed at the corner of his eye by the temple. "You all are bound and determined to anthropomorphize the computer, huh?" He was well aware of his own irrational phobias and issues, but still. "If Lemon decides to Skynet, I'm blaming Jubilee." It was said with as much amusement and joking as he could manage given the subject matter. "I'm not mad, just...actual intelligent systems make me tetchy."
Darcy gave him a deadpan look over the top of her cocoa, then shut her eyes and took a long swallow. "Too early for this," she muttered, gently setting the mug on the desk before turning her attention back to Doug. "Sweetie. Lemon is a learning machine. The way Kevin explained it to me, the more we interact with it, the better Lemon gets at making analytical leaps. That... honey, the idea of it not being an intelligent system.. I think that sailed a long time ago." She cupped the side of his face affectionately, eyes worried as she dropped that truth. "But Lemon has a good creator and wasn't designed to do something with overly broad parameters like saving the world. Just to help us do our jobs a little better, more efficiently, and find information we might've missed to give us a better picture. I'm sorry if you didn't want to acknowledge that, but I'm not going to treat Lemon less intelligently just because you're in the room."
She was right. It was definitely too early for truth bombs of that caliber. Doug sighed heavily. "Intellectually I know you're probably right. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily the biggest fan of the concept, though." Giving any sort of technology a name and personality just hit different when you'd been digested by one, after all. "I just prefer them on the more limited side, and about the intelligence of a smart puppy," he admitted, waving his arm. "And trust me, I still have my worries about that as well." But the alternatives were almost universally worse, and he had chosen all of the current ones with eyes wide open and being as honest as he could with himself about the potential effects. "Not like I can change any of it just by being stubborn, I guess."
"I know, love. But once we do the upgrades I don't think you'll be able to ignore it anymore. Better to start adapting now, start figuring out what we need to do to keep everyone safe." She pressed their foreheads together gently, thumb rubbing just under his ear. "You can shelve it for a few hours though, since you gave me the first mug of chocolate goodness. Wake up a bit, help me figure out what parts we're ordering, save the intelligence crisis for later?"
"Nothing like a 'congratulations, you played yourself' first thing in the morning to keep you humble," Doug murmured. He sat down and leaned against the cot. "But yeah, we should make a list, see what we can get from vendors, what we'll have to get through...other channels."
Darcy draped herself around his shoulders. "I really do think it will turn out okay," she murmured back, lips brushing against his ear. "I trust you to be responsible with tech. I trust Ange to recognize if you're getting close to a line you wouldn't forgive yourself for crossing, and either pulling you back or getting help to do it." She gave the side of his head a gentle kiss, then leaned back. "So uh.. okay, I guess the first question for the list is whole box purchases for a Beowulf cluster, or individual upgrade components? I know we've got limited space, so how big do we think we need to go here?"
Doug made a thoughtful noise as he leaned into Darcy. "As a rule, I prefer to get components individually. Out-of-the-box solutions aren't usually what we're after, plus if you get components from a bunch of different places, it's less traceable that way." And institutional paranoia was a hard habit to kick, especially when it was usually justified in his line of work.
"Works for me, you know what we need best. I'm here to be extra hands. I would say moral support, but I keep flunking that one with you." Darcy looked at her phone, wincing at the time. "Why are you here so early this morning? Wait, am I interrupting your work? Shit."
"Nah, was mostly coming to make sure you hadn't worked through the entire night," Doug admitted. "Maybe sneak some cuddles, make you a warm drink to be a good boyfriend, that sort of thing. So more or less exactly what just happened, a-plus, no notes."
"Minus the part where I ah.. definitely did work through the night?" Darcy's voice was sheepish. Sneaking some cuddles sounded great though, especially if it meant she could get another REM cycle in. "I could be persuaded to offset that with some more napping time, if bribed with cuddles?" She nuzzled the back of his neck, then raised her voice slightly. "Lemon, save report as data set two, then compile and save data set three, thank you." She got an affirmative beep in response, and settled back on the cot. "Sneaky time!"
Doug blinked and was about to say something when Darcy dragged him onto the edge of the cot and pulled his head down to rest on her chest. The half-formed thought popped like a soap bubble and he nuzzled in closer.
"I swear your face is a boob-seeking missile," she joked. "Are you really that concerned about how much I've been working? It's just I'm trying not to hog Lemon, so sometimes I stay late or come in early. When we're really in the groove it's easy for late to become early."
"Have you considered that maybe your boobs are a face-luring zone?" Doug muttered from where his head lay against Darcy, and then a chuckle rumbled through his chest. "Just so long as long mostly sleepless nights don't become the rule rather than the exception," he decided. "I mean, I've certainly done a few myself."
"This isn't even as bad as working for Jane was, and my sleep.. well. I went from school and Jane to politics to the mansion, and well. Science and law school and "normal" sleep, not really a thing." She broke off with a laugh, rubbing her cheek against the top of Doug's head before continuing. "My sleep's not great and Dr. Stearne's suggested some meds, but.." she trailed off, nose crinkling. "I've already told Ange this, but I don't really trust myself with medications that replicate what Laurie did to me, even the parts I asked for. I'm doing the best I can right now without relying on outside things, and I'm trying not to go more than a full 24 hours without stopping to at least get a few REM cycles."
Doug rubbed his hand soothingly along Darcy's back, a comforting reminder of his support. "As long as you're doing your best, that's really all anyone can ask." And he certainly knew how difficult it could be navigating trauma reactions and getting back to something approximating a steady state.
Darcy tried and failed to stifle a yawn, relaxing in Doug's hold. "Can't be reliant," she started to reply, before breaking into another yawn. It wasn't a confession she'd make more alert, but she was still so tired, and he was warm and comfortable and mostly safe.
"I know, darlin." Doug also knew how pushing yourself too far could lead to messy breakdowns. But Darcy was at least going to therapy, which is more than he could say regarding his past experience. "But I've got you right now, so get some rest." He could keep watch, let her set down at least a little bit of the weight she was carrying.
"Th' best," she mumbled, giving him a squeeze as she felt herself drifting off. "Parts later, Lemon can make a list."
Darcy was mostly talking to herself out loud at this point.
It was late, or maybe very early, and the brownstone was mostly silent. Sunday-going-into-Monday was an excellent time to get some uninterrupted hands-on with the analysis machine that had been introduced to her as The Beast, and she'd slept half the day, which made work sound like a productive use of her night. She had a brief thought toward finding a bite and some sleep for herself when part of the data she'd been looking at caught her eye. "Ooooohhh you assholes, that's clever," she muttered under her breath, fingers tapping lightly across the keys as she did a bit of cross-referencing from the Collins fiasco. "But not as clever as.. c'mon, dammit-Darcy-don't-call-it-skynet… I really need a better code name for you, even if it does make Doug twitch," she mused out loud. Her thumb gave the body of the mouse an affectionate stroke. "You're a learning machine, maybe I could just shorten that. Learny?"
Definitely-not-Skynet made an error noise. "Okay no, you're right, that is dumb. First syllables? LeMa? No, definitely not," she agreed as the error noise chimed again. Lemon? Llama?" The sound of an alert rang in the quiet of the room. "Yeah, I think I like lemon best too." A victory chime, and the cross-referencing she'd been thinking about in the back of her mind spread beautifully across the screen. "Okay, okay, fine, you're my little lemon because you're full of juicy secrets!" Darcy laughed as she gave the side of the monitor a few pats. "You are a delightful, clever lemon and I am gonna give you the best dusting next weekend to make sure your parts are all in optimal shape," she cooed at the machine. "And I'm gonna help Doug with your upgrades so you can handle the data we got gifted even easier. For now though.. Lemon, let's find some nasty shit that needs a bit of cleansing fire." Possibilities danced across the screen, and Darcy worked in tandem with Lemon until the sun was rising. "Ooh no," she groaned, stretching up and sighing at the pops along her spine. "Lemon, can you.. yep, thank you precious. I'm gonna lay the cot out and catch forty, or however many I can get before someone wakes me up." A last affectionate pat of the monitor and she stood, only pausing long enough to unpin her hair before stumbling to the cot in the corner and wrapping herself up. She was out almost instantly, soft breathing mingling with the sounds of the servers.
Some time later Doug entered the room to see Darcy curled up on the cot. He smiled fondly and smoothed the blanket that had gotten bunched up around her. At least she hadn't fallen asleep on the keyboard the way he had at least once after a long night in the office. Letting her rest for the moment, he poked the high-speed coffee maker he'd gotten and set it to making hot chocolate as he quietly sat down in his chair.
The smell of cocoa had her twisting with a grumpy sound, eyes half-opening and noting the figure in the chair. "Lemon, d'yhave the report?" She pushed the blanket back until she could stand, one hand scrubbing across her tired eyes until she could blink them into focus and figure out who was in the room with her. Ooh, Doug. Darcy was careful not to shuffle as she moved, taking a careful seat in his lap. "Morn, time'sit?" she asked groggily, yawning into his neck as she got comfortable.
"Lemon? Like as in 'Lemon, it's Tuesday'?" Doug asked as he handed Darcy the first mug of hot chocolate. "And as to time...well, the daystar is up, that's about what I've got at the moment." He couldn't throw stones about weird sleep schedules on the best of days, and he'd pulled a few long sessions of his own with the glut of intel they had been gifted.
"Was coming up when I decided to nap," she mumbled, staring into the mug like it held the secrets of the universe. "Lemon, as in Learning Machine, but it's not a bean so it can't be LeMa. We liked Lemon better than Llama. It's full of juicy secrets, the sentiment fits." Darcy took a long sip of her chocolate, letting out a small sigh as it warmed her up. "When do we have time to do upgrades? So much data we need to get on top of."
Doug rubbed at the corner of his eye by the temple. "You all are bound and determined to anthropomorphize the computer, huh?" He was well aware of his own irrational phobias and issues, but still. "If Lemon decides to Skynet, I'm blaming Jubilee." It was said with as much amusement and joking as he could manage given the subject matter. "I'm not mad, just...actual intelligent systems make me tetchy."
Darcy gave him a deadpan look over the top of her cocoa, then shut her eyes and took a long swallow. "Too early for this," she muttered, gently setting the mug on the desk before turning her attention back to Doug. "Sweetie. Lemon is a learning machine. The way Kevin explained it to me, the more we interact with it, the better Lemon gets at making analytical leaps. That... honey, the idea of it not being an intelligent system.. I think that sailed a long time ago." She cupped the side of his face affectionately, eyes worried as she dropped that truth. "But Lemon has a good creator and wasn't designed to do something with overly broad parameters like saving the world. Just to help us do our jobs a little better, more efficiently, and find information we might've missed to give us a better picture. I'm sorry if you didn't want to acknowledge that, but I'm not going to treat Lemon less intelligently just because you're in the room."
She was right. It was definitely too early for truth bombs of that caliber. Doug sighed heavily. "Intellectually I know you're probably right. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily the biggest fan of the concept, though." Giving any sort of technology a name and personality just hit different when you'd been digested by one, after all. "I just prefer them on the more limited side, and about the intelligence of a smart puppy," he admitted, waving his arm. "And trust me, I still have my worries about that as well." But the alternatives were almost universally worse, and he had chosen all of the current ones with eyes wide open and being as honest as he could with himself about the potential effects. "Not like I can change any of it just by being stubborn, I guess."
"I know, love. But once we do the upgrades I don't think you'll be able to ignore it anymore. Better to start adapting now, start figuring out what we need to do to keep everyone safe." She pressed their foreheads together gently, thumb rubbing just under his ear. "You can shelve it for a few hours though, since you gave me the first mug of chocolate goodness. Wake up a bit, help me figure out what parts we're ordering, save the intelligence crisis for later?"
"Nothing like a 'congratulations, you played yourself' first thing in the morning to keep you humble," Doug murmured. He sat down and leaned against the cot. "But yeah, we should make a list, see what we can get from vendors, what we'll have to get through...other channels."
Darcy draped herself around his shoulders. "I really do think it will turn out okay," she murmured back, lips brushing against his ear. "I trust you to be responsible with tech. I trust Ange to recognize if you're getting close to a line you wouldn't forgive yourself for crossing, and either pulling you back or getting help to do it." She gave the side of his head a gentle kiss, then leaned back. "So uh.. okay, I guess the first question for the list is whole box purchases for a Beowulf cluster, or individual upgrade components? I know we've got limited space, so how big do we think we need to go here?"
Doug made a thoughtful noise as he leaned into Darcy. "As a rule, I prefer to get components individually. Out-of-the-box solutions aren't usually what we're after, plus if you get components from a bunch of different places, it's less traceable that way." And institutional paranoia was a hard habit to kick, especially when it was usually justified in his line of work.
"Works for me, you know what we need best. I'm here to be extra hands. I would say moral support, but I keep flunking that one with you." Darcy looked at her phone, wincing at the time. "Why are you here so early this morning? Wait, am I interrupting your work? Shit."
"Nah, was mostly coming to make sure you hadn't worked through the entire night," Doug admitted. "Maybe sneak some cuddles, make you a warm drink to be a good boyfriend, that sort of thing. So more or less exactly what just happened, a-plus, no notes."
"Minus the part where I ah.. definitely did work through the night?" Darcy's voice was sheepish. Sneaking some cuddles sounded great though, especially if it meant she could get another REM cycle in. "I could be persuaded to offset that with some more napping time, if bribed with cuddles?" She nuzzled the back of his neck, then raised her voice slightly. "Lemon, save report as data set two, then compile and save data set three, thank you." She got an affirmative beep in response, and settled back on the cot. "Sneaky time!"
Doug blinked and was about to say something when Darcy dragged him onto the edge of the cot and pulled his head down to rest on her chest. The half-formed thought popped like a soap bubble and he nuzzled in closer.
"I swear your face is a boob-seeking missile," she joked. "Are you really that concerned about how much I've been working? It's just I'm trying not to hog Lemon, so sometimes I stay late or come in early. When we're really in the groove it's easy for late to become early."
"Have you considered that maybe your boobs are a face-luring zone?" Doug muttered from where his head lay against Darcy, and then a chuckle rumbled through his chest. "Just so long as long mostly sleepless nights don't become the rule rather than the exception," he decided. "I mean, I've certainly done a few myself."
"This isn't even as bad as working for Jane was, and my sleep.. well. I went from school and Jane to politics to the mansion, and well. Science and law school and "normal" sleep, not really a thing." She broke off with a laugh, rubbing her cheek against the top of Doug's head before continuing. "My sleep's not great and Dr. Stearne's suggested some meds, but.." she trailed off, nose crinkling. "I've already told Ange this, but I don't really trust myself with medications that replicate what Laurie did to me, even the parts I asked for. I'm doing the best I can right now without relying on outside things, and I'm trying not to go more than a full 24 hours without stopping to at least get a few REM cycles."
Doug rubbed his hand soothingly along Darcy's back, a comforting reminder of his support. "As long as you're doing your best, that's really all anyone can ask." And he certainly knew how difficult it could be navigating trauma reactions and getting back to something approximating a steady state.
Darcy tried and failed to stifle a yawn, relaxing in Doug's hold. "Can't be reliant," she started to reply, before breaking into another yawn. It wasn't a confession she'd make more alert, but she was still so tired, and he was warm and comfortable and mostly safe.
"I know, darlin." Doug also knew how pushing yourself too far could lead to messy breakdowns. But Darcy was at least going to therapy, which is more than he could say regarding his past experience. "But I've got you right now, so get some rest." He could keep watch, let her set down at least a little bit of the weight she was carrying.
"Th' best," she mumbled, giving him a squeeze as she felt herself drifting off. "Parts later, Lemon can make a list."
