xp_logs | Doug & Darcy | So Your Girlfriend's a Technopath...

xp_darcy posting in

(backdated) After taking some time to make peace with the other new manifestation of her powers, Darcy fills Doug in. It goes much better than she expects, and they end up doing some minor exploration with the help of his nanites.

Darcy paced anxiously as she waited for Doug to make his way to her room, a strand of hair being twirled and tugged on as she tried to pre-think for every possibility.

The mixed drink Gabe made her for the holidays was on the coffee table, two small glasses already poured and a bottle of water beside them. Pillows, blankets... she'd tried not to prepare exclusively for the worst-case scenarios that had been plaguing her since Jubilee pointed out the AIs lack of mic and the follow-up emails with Ange and Kevin, but her brain was trying to spiral now that she'd gotten the nerve to tell Doug, and her couch and bed were visible examples of her need for a comforting space. Her lips twisted in a bitter smile as she had the fleeting thought that Laurie would've been able to calm her almost instantly.

A knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts, and her hand flew to cover her chest as her heart tried to rabbit out of her throat. She smoothed her face, took a deep breath, and moved to the door, opening it with an attempt at an easy smile.

Doug could definitely read some kind of turmoil in Darcy's body language behind the attempted smile, but figured whatever it was she wanted to talk about probably accounted for the nervousness. He certainly wouldn't be crass enough to call attention to it, and he made sure to keep his own body language supportive and gentle. "Hey you," he greeted her with a soft smile.

"Hey honey." Darcy debated with herself as she stepped back, letting the door close quietly behind Doug. She pulled him into a slow kiss, hands gently cradling his face as it deepened to something intense and just a bit filthy.

When they finally broke for air she pressed her face into his neck, arms slipping around his back in a tight, clinging hug as she savored the moment. If this went poorly–and she was terrified it was going to go poorly–at least she'd have this last bit of selfishness to remember. Eventually she let go enough to step back, still reluctant to stop touching. "I poured us drinks," she murmured, fingers tangling with his as they moved to the couch and got seated. "And ah... I have something to tell you, and it might require more drinks than I actually have in here, but it's a start, at least? I don't think it's bad news, necessarily, but I'm not sure how much you're going to like it, either."

Ah. News that she was sure he wouldn't react well to, and the specter of Laurie still looming large over both of them. "I promise to do my best not to react too harshly," he told Darcy, squeezing her hand as he said it. "And whatever it is, we can figure it out together." He couldn't think of much Darcy could say or do that would be a dealbreaker. Then again, right up until shit had absolutely hit the fan, he would have said the same to Laurie. But he was determined not to pile -more- trauma on Darcy.

Did she just drop the information, or did she ask leading questions? Darcy still wasn't sure which method would be kindest, but perhaps it'd be easier to just tell Doug, and let him ask any questions that might come up, or fill in the gaps as she needed. "I was showing Jubilee some data recently, and was very surprised to hear that Lemon doesn't have voice input, since I've been giving it verbal commands and getting responses for a few weeks now. A few weeks that I've noticed, at least, during those late nights and early mornings. Since I've usually got music in during the day if I'm using it, I wrongfully assumed I didn't hear other people talking to it because one-sided chatter can be obnoxious."

She looked down at her lap while she talked, letting out a shuddering sigh as she tried not to lose her nerve. "It's not just talking. I didn't get confirmation that day, but some additional testing... as long as I'm touching Lemon, it can... I'm not sure if it's anticipating based on past behavior or reading my mind, maybe both, but it can pull up my queries and then sort the data in the way I prefer. Sort of a very intelligent, actually useful Clippy," she added with a small laugh. "But as far as I can tell it's the actual input thoughts I'm having, not... personality, really? Although it did beep out 'silly' at me a few times when I started asking questions about it being able to anticipate what I'm going to ask next. Which... fair, it is a learning machine. Baby AI. Of course it can anticipate a user's likely next steps after a decent amount of use."

Doug could put the pieces together quite rapidly. Technopathy. And his blood did run cold for a moment with memories of past trauma. But this was -Darcy-, and he trusted her, and she was clearly terrified of him taking this poorly. And this was why he'd been in therapy for so long - so that his instinctive trauma reactions wouldn't cause problems. "I had meant to ask you about that before I got distracted by your boobs," he admitted with a wry shake of his head at himself. "Makes a lot of sense, really, if you think about your previous power, and the thing with your taser when the nanites invaded." Electricity, and a shifting of her persuasiveness to affect technology, there was definitely a line of causality there.

"My boobs are that distracting, hm?" Darcy squeezed his fingers, leaning forward to grab one of the glasses. She took a slow sip, slumping into Doug's side with a sigh as tension fled her body. "You're taking this much better than I expected," she said as she slowly rotated the glass in her hands. "I'm not complaining, mind." The adrenaline crash was going to suck, but that was her brain's fault, not his.

"I didn't think about the causality, really. I was much more concerned with adjusting my worldview a little and stressing a lot. But it does make sense when you lay it out like that."

"Your boobs are -absolutely- that distracting, sweetie," Doug told Darcy with an expression that said 'do I even have to explain this'. "And that's one of the reasons you keep me around, right? To lay things out when you're in the middle of stressing a lot." He smiled, knowing she did the same for him.

Darcy gave Doug's knee a light flick of fingers at the reply, but she relaxed more as he continued to talk. "It might be somewhere below 'will eat the joke hot sauce and laugh about it' but above 'free extra tech support' on the list," she teased. It was nice to have his perspective sometimes. Mainly when she hadn't already lost the battle to her brain deciding it was time to doomsday prep for the potential end of their relationship. Again. She wished she could pinpoint why her mind went directly to doom with every worry despite being shown otherwise. That was maybe a question for Dr. Stearne. Ugh, and probably homework answering a whole bunch of terribly uncomfortable questions once she did bring it up. It'd be useful to know, though.

"And obviously the distraction is part of my appeal."

Doug leaned against Darcy, cuddling into her and nudging his nose against her cheek in a comforting gesture. "Far from the only part, though," he told her with a smile. Her magnificent chest was certainly a very appealing feature, but her appeal to Doug was just as much how comfortable he could be around her, the closeness they shared.

"I'd hope not, but go on." Darcy turned just enough to kiss Doug's cheek, then pulled her phone out and scrolled to the email she'd sent Ange and Kevin, tilting the screen so he could read it. "Ange had a suggestion for the technopathy if you're game for it? Well, you and the friendos. Also an explanation for why I've been talking to the coffee pot in the server room... and the toaster in the break room that likes to burn the edges of everything... and the apology to the copier and reception area phone." She giggled a little as a thought crossed her mind, then shared. "Why is Darcy acting weird? Because she's trying to make friends."

Doug considered it, then nodded. "I'm fine with you...making friends with the friendos. I mean, more than you already are." There was a sort of background feeling of relaxation and contentment that tended to come from the nanites when he was around Darcy. He figured they were picking up on his own feelings for her, but maybe there was something else there.

"They're okay with it too?" Darcy asked, twisting around the couch until they were curled up more comfortably instead of sitting side by side. "I mean, I'd hope they liked me well enough, even without all the weirdness. Wouldn't want to be on their bad side."

Doug's focus turned visibly inwards, as he assessed the state of the nanites inside him. "Wouldn't surprise me if they like you better some days," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Maybe Skynet isn't what I need to worry about with Lemon, more 'you're not my real dad, I want to go live with mom' teenage rebellion."

"United front for the children," Darcy replied. "Dare you to say that in front of Lemon, they'll probably flash or beep something rude at you. They're very fond of Dad-Creator, even when he's being silly. Probably as fond as the nanites and I are of user douglasaaronramseycypher." She traced a finger down his arm, giving the swarm a hopelessly fond smile as a cluster of them trailed after her finger. "Hey friendos, having fun playing chase?" The fuzzy feeling she'd been getting resolved into something, but it was like trying to work through static to interpret the image. "Huh, there's.. something, behind the fuzzy?"

Doug wriggled a bit, the playful amusement of his nanites spilling over to his emotional state ever so slightly. "They like playing with you," he told Darcy with a fond smile. It was nice to know that they were in agreement and harmony together - one of the things Doug worried about at times was what might happen when he found himself in conflict with them.

"They're not the only ones that like playing with me," Darcy bantered back, giving Doug a waggle of her eyebrows and a sly smirk. "They're hard to read. It's like hm.. trying to tune one of those old radio alarms with just a spin dial? The frequency's..." she trailed off, letting their forearms and hands press together as she got an idea. "Just boost the signal, dumbass," she muttered mostly to herself, giving his fingers a squeeze as she focused. "Maybe I should try pictures instead."

"That might work," Doug replied, considering the implications. "I mean, a lot of what I tend to get from them isn't so much full language as...impressions. Concepts. So it's less them saying 'naniteswarm enjoys presence of user darcylewis' and just...a sort of warm cozy feeling." He grinned at her. "I mean, I always feel that way when you're around, but getting that feeling from a place that's not my own emotional state."

"Warm and cozy is not going to be the only impression they get from me if you keep teasing." Darcy's lips brushed lightly over Doug's neck before she paused, blowing a quick raspberry and laughing at his expression before focusing on the impression she wanted to send. Going with how she already felt made the most sense, and she slowly formed the image in her mind, a chibi Darcy hugging and being hugged by Doug and a tiny swarm of golden retrievers. She wrapped the image in what she was feeling, amazement and warmth tinged with a bit of playfulness, then projected the combination as well as she could, curious about what bits might make it through.

A noticeable ripple passed through Doug's arm. "Oh, they're very happy now," Doug reported, very aware of their increased activity. The copper traceries among the black background dipped and swirled around like fireflies zipping through a night sky. He rested against Darcy, leaving his nanite arm resting across her lap where she could see and touch it.

"I tried... mm, picture of all of us hugging with how I feel about the possibility added?" Darcy watched the copper lines move, grinning brightly down at them in awe-tinged relief. The teasing had brought something else to mind, however. "I dunno if she's talked to you about it yet, but Ange would like to draw us. Add me to her collection, get an updated one of you, and us together. I'm good with it happening if it won't be awkward for you."

Doug didn't immediately respond - at least not verbally. A very obvious shift of his hips to accommodate a noticeable bulge made it clear how he felt about the subject. "That's how you know Angie likes you," he said, trying his best to be a bit playful. "She offers to draw you naked."

Darcy's cheeks pinked as Doug shifted. "So not awkward at all then," she teased. "I suggested my scarves and getting the nanites riled up on the ~aesthetic~... and now I'm wondering if I could convince them to look like my starry night scarf. Or one of the ones that's just big abstract splashes of color." She tipped her head back against his shoulder, grinning unrepentantly. "Sorry not sorry for any images I coax the friendos into in private."

"I know better than to think I could ever stop you," Doug said with an amused shake of his head.