Chapter Text
V2 gives themself another once-over, its form dimly reflected in the window of the building next to them; a small, seedy-looking bar a mile or so from the apartment. It adjusts its tie again: they still can't get it to sit right over the plating on their collar. It pulls at the collar of its crisp white shirt and rebuttons their blazer, but to no avail; their neatly-knotted cerulean tie is still askew. Their fans huff. They'll just have to deal with it.
It looks around. Brown leaves skim the sidewalk, catching in puddles left from the storm this morning. Their visual sensors auto-adjust to the day's fading light, but not nearly enough; the end of the alley they're in is out of sight, fading away into vague dark shapes within the thin fog.
A light flicks on in the window, catching the machine's attention out of their periphery, and they turn. It's warmer than the bluish gleam of the street lights around them, and it flickers as a figure passes in front of it, approaching the door to their side.
The cheery, sharp jingle of a sleigh bell cuts through the street as the door creaks open.
"You look cold." Mirage looks at them through the doorway, head cocked and eye narrowed playfully.
V2 looks her over. She's wearing a long dress with short, wide sleeves and a deep v-neck. The pattern on its fabric is faded, but it can still recognize the outlines of red spider lilies against the sheer black material. She fidgets, her fingers gripping the doorframe.
"I am, yes," V2 agrees belatedly, suppressing the urge to correct her. It's perfectly pleasant out here for them, but that's not in the spirit of the game she wants to play.
"Hmm. Well, I just finished closing, but why don't you come in anyway and warm up a bit. Just this once," she holds out her hand, and pulls them into the building right as they take it. The door slams shut behind them, making V2 jump slightly.
"...I thought you had finished cleaning up," V2 comments as Mirage leads them toward the bar counter. "and yet you left all these on the table. Were you expecting someone?"
"Oh, shut up, V, just play along." She looks back and rolls her eye; they squint at her.
On the table are a variety of alcoholic drinks: cans of beer, cider, along with a few bottles of spirits and expensive-looking wine.
"Pick your poison. On the house, of course." She's behind the counter now, her chin resting on her hands. "Come on, sit down." V2 obliges, hopping up onto one of the bar stools across from her, careful to maneuver its wings around the backrest of the chair.
"What do you recommend, Mir.... well, what is your name, in fact?" it leans in, and Mirage mirrors their action, leaving them only a few inches apart.
"Why don't you just call me the prettiest girl in the world." She flicks them on the side of the head, before moving to dip under the counter. She reappears a moment later with two medium-sized glasses. "Do you drink?"
"I am physically unable to imbibe liquids, Mirage." they deadpan, finally breaking character.
"Oh, you're a lightweight. I see," Their partner suppresses a laugh. "Let's just start with five percent and work our way up, then."
V2 watches as she pours half a can of hard cider into each of the glasses. "You declined to tell me how you were planning on letting me drink," V2 lowers their eyelid.
Mirage holds the drink up to her chin and pours it onto her faceplate. Her plating absorbs the contents of the glass quickly, although she still has to wipe some stray drops off with her free hand. She places the empty cup on the marble counter with a loud clink.
"Come here. You trust me, right?" she says, clambering onto the bar and sitting to face them.
"Yes." She moves as soon as they grant assent, hands snaking into the veins in the machine's neck before they grab her wrist. "...Tell me what you're about to do, though."
"Oh. Sorry, V." Her eye flickers, and she leans back. "There's a fuel intake valve connected near-directly to your heart that's accessible through um," she pokes at one of the tubes, "right here. It's the one easiest to access without rewiring your entire hemodynamic system. There's a plug at the end, so you won't lose much blood."
"You want me to use one of my pulmonary veins as a straw." It could work, V2 thinks. Their filtration system would prevent any potential bacteria from contaminating their fuel supply.
"Yeah. Do you have a better idea? I tried pouring wine directly into my fuel tank and I felt like I was in Hell for like, a week from the nausea."
"Well. I would not want to find myself back there," it remarks, and she mumbles in indignation.
"Just let me do heart surgery on you. Come here," and V2 obliges, scooting its chair up to the counter so she can crawl over to them.
It's easy enough to get a vein dislodged from their body, although it's tedious. V2 looks around the empty bar as Mirage shuffles around their neck plating (definitely not a ploy to avoid looking down the collar of her dress accidentally). There's a variety of drinks on the mirrored, well-lit back wall, but most of the bottles look empty. Next to the tall, wood-paneled windows are tables and chairs, lit with artificial candles. Mirage must have turned them on before they arrived, during her hour or so of preparation before she let V2 in. They hear music, a faint piano tune, although it can't tell what's playing it, or where it's coming from. It sounds piped in.
It wonders what comment of theirs made her want to do this, if at all. Was it a comment on how they didn't know what a proper "date" looked like? Or that it had no sense of taste? Or, perhaps, that it just hadn't been to this part of town with her?
Their HUD pings them. A breach in their bloodstream has been detected. It dismisses the alarm, allowing it to seal off the broken connection.
"Done. Try it out, V." Mirage hands them one of their veins. It's longer than they initially assumed; reaching a few feet out from their body. "Your system should have already flagged and automatically sealed it, which is why you'll have to pinch it open and stick it in there when you want to drink."
V2 nods hesitantly, submerging the tip of their vein in the cider before pinching it, allowing the liquid to siphon into their system.
They feel... cold? No, hot, as they mull over the intrusion in their bloodstream. Despite the confusion, their external sensors indicate nothing has changed in the atmosphere surrounding them.
"How is it?" she pours herself another glass of cider and takes a swig, leaning her head back. "It's not too strong, it's a little sweeter than I'd like, honestly."
"Um. Hm." It should be receiving flags for any number of sensor errors and misalignments, but their HUD notifications are empty. It keeps its vein in the drink, though. "'Sweet' as in, the level of sugar content? It does seem high, but my analysis indicates it is mostly due to naturally occurring sugars."
"You're such a square. But yeah." She taps her fingers along her glass. "I've been working on an algorithm to automatically translate the content of liquids into something approximating human taste. I don't think it works very well yet, though. It feels like... the equivalent of looking at a texture, rather than actually touching it. I can observe it more clearly than its base parts, but it's not tangible yet."
"Analyzing the chemical structure of alcohol within my system is fascinating, frankly. Although I am still getting used to the side effects."
"The intoxication? That's... kind of the point."
"I. Hmm." It looks down, making an odd grinding noise in thought, and something about its expression must have been comical because Mirage laughs. Her movements are minutely more languid than before, likely a side effect to the glass of cider she's downed.
"You want to keep going?" She holds up a can of beer.
It nods. "Yes. This is interesting."
Their glass is empty. That's about 165 mL of non-blood liquid in their bloodstream. It wonders how long it'll take before they become faint.
V2 creates a new text document, and files it into their media directory before pinning it to their peripheral HUD. Although they can't particularly taste, there's still enjoyment to be had here.
"Transfer your algorithm to me. I want to test it."
Mirage nods. "Have fun. It's pretty rudimentary, though."
> File received from source [@M].
> sudo apt install MTSYS.sh
> Running install script...
905kb of data will be installed. Press Y/N to continue.
Y
...
Done.
> /onboard/v2/Documents/Text/etc/mav2alTEST.txt
> open
...
CIDER
Alcohol content - 5.5%
Fermented fruit. High sugar content (natural and artificial).
Taste match ([MTSYS PLUGIN] INITIALIZING, BETA): tangy, sharp
INFO - Pulp in liquid implies homemade. Opinion neutral. Label unreadable.
"I said it before and I'll say it again. This is too sweet for me. It's like juice." Mirage is sitting next to them now, head drooping slightly as she looks over at it. "...That's your second glass. You like it?"
"Neutral. It is a new sensation. I am still getting used to the disorientation, but it is not unwelcome."
V2 nearly falls from its chair as it attempts to return her gaze; the other machine barely catching them.
BEER
Alcohol content - 6%
Brewed and fermented barley. Average sugar content. High culture content.
Taste match ([MTSYS] INIT.): bitter, rich
INFO - M found unlabeled, but insists it is a cheap, well known brand. Popular drink post-New Peace. Opinion neutral.
"I hate this stuff, honestly. Swear it clogs up my system." She pushes her half of the yellow, foamy substance away.
"Really? I thought the bitter taste suited you." They're standing next to one another now, backs resting on the edge of the bar, looking out at the empty street. It's been raining for the past few minutes.
"Fuck you," she mumbles, turning to face them. "You take that back. I'm the nicest girl you've ever met, and you know it."
They're pinned against the table now. "If you say so," they kiss her gently, and she replies by grabbing them so roughly they swear she's scraping their paint off under their blazer.
WINE
Alcohol content - 12%
Fermented fruit. High sugar content.
Taste match ([MTSYS] INIT.): Bitter, sweet, dry (alcohol)
INFO - Label in French, unreadable. Possibly Pinot Noir, notes M. Opinion positive.
"This one is good," V2 holds the bottle in their hand as Mirage leans into them, her hands snaking under their shirt as they sway gently to the time of the music; now a slow, melancholy orchestral piece. Mirage pointed out the radio in the corner to them earlier as the source of the noise.
"Yeah, it's probably because you're fucking drunk," she laughs ruefully. Her vocal synthesizer lags, words slurring into one another.
"You are also fucking drunk," it responds with equal deliberation. Its system is managing to lag more than ever, which is saying something considering how much it's been through.
It leans over her, weighing her down and making her yelp. It takes another sip of wine, managing to slip its vein into the neck of the bottle after a few tries.
"Get off of me, asshole," she laughs, then stops her swaying for a moment. "Hang on. Did you just swear?"
"No," V2 lies, then coughs out a stilted laugh.
VODKA
Alcohol content - 40%
[INFORMATION NOT RETRIEVEABLE. TIMED OUT]
Taste match ([MTSYS] INIT.): [N/A] [TIMED OUT]
INFO - [N/A] [TIMED OUT]
V2 is glad there's a couch in the bar. They've long since stopped drinking; they're going to have to wait until the alcohol is filtered out of their circulatory system before they even think about walking home.
Mirage makes a noise from under them, groaning as she curls into them further.
"I don't like drinking. It's not fun," she says in a small voice. Hands reach around them, playing with the joints in their wings lightly. "I feel sick."
A beat. V2 processes the information. Its fans are working in overdrive, suffocating under its jacket. "What can I do to help?"
"Uhmmm," she hums, longer than usual. "I don't know. Couldn't hurt to kiss me again, though."
Ten more seconds. They begin to nuzzle her collar, tapping their chin against her chest, up her slender neck, and they tilt their head to kiss her face. She makes a noise, a one-note tone of positive feedback.
"Sometimes I think you're just part of my imagination, V," she grabs their tie, pulling them closer. "...Or maybe I'm part of yours. Do you ever think about that?"
V2 blinks. "Elaborate."
"There's only the two of us in here. What if we met someone else and one or the other of us didn't exist to them?"
A gust of wind blows through the alley outside. The rain has picked up a little.
"Does it matter to you?"
"Whether I'm real or not?" Her fans rev up for a moment as she thinks. "It used to. But no, not right now at least."
Her hands grip their back, nestling her arms between their wings. "You're real to me, and I'm real to you. We're self-fulfilling."
She taps them. "Are you still there or are you just buffering now?"
V2 groans. They've nearly shut down at this point, frankly. Processing and filtering this amount of contaminated blood is making their system nearly unusable beyond basic power systems. Their legs and arm have long since given out, and they're left to lay limp on top of their partner.
"You really are a lightweight," she laughs. "I'll let you sit for a bit, then we can go back."
It manages one quiet tone of acknowledgement before it begins to reboot.
It trusts that they'll both be here when it wakes up.