three's company, too | [ psl ]

[androit]

WHO Felix Bakar (ambibionic), Will Vega, Junior Edition (androit), Ash Starmer 2.0 (subroutined)
WHAT Some people don't care enough for their belongings, even the sentient ones. Junior and Felix are gonna fix a few of those shortcomings for their new... acquisition.
WHEN 2106. Junior is 26, Felix is 28, Ash is ??? clone?
WHERE Local shopping center. Mall. Thing.
WHY We don't have to explain ourselves to you

It had been a while in coming and some struggle with financing, but eventually (finally), Junior and Felix had managed to "relieve" Ash of his duty at the company where he had been "employed". (Owned was more like it, and Junior tried not to think about what it meant to save one synth from his fate while leaving the rest there in continued disservice to their individuality.) The two of them owed Ash a lot, not the least of which being their current relationship status. It was a bit convoluted all told, but the fact of the matter was, once Junior understood what was happening with the business, he couldn't just leave it alone.

So, not only did they have a synthetic clone under joint possession between them but it had become rapidly apparent that Ash had no possessions to his name. Two sets of clothing. That was all he was released to them with and it definitely wasn't enough, no matter that he didn't sweat or otherwise dirty them at the same speed or in the same way as breathing humans did. Now they were at the mall, and Junior was hoping to get out of it with minimal attention. It was how he always operated in too big of an open space, much more happy to focus on the people he came with than anything else external.

"All right, where first?" he asked to the both of them. Ash's accent was foreign but there was no way of telling whether that was natural or programmed, so he wasn't going to assume he might not be familiar with the area. "I haven't actually been to this mall for a while... Has anything changed?"

Comments

[androit]

Junior watched, enthralled and more than a little entertained, while Ash put on his show. It wasn't going to win awards or supplant any day jobs but it was a good effort and definitely drew proper attention to his body besides. Ignore the line of invisible tension that went through him at the belt snapping so close; he knew it didn't mean anything, but his instincts begged to differ. He grinned and shook his head in agreement for the last part. "No, now you're getting into advanced techniques," he said easily.

When the show appeared to be over, he clapped. It wasn't a sarcastic thing, but genuinely playful instead. He eyed the finished product from top bottom, not quite sure what he thought of the ensemble. "I'm not sure the colors really work."

[ambibionic]

Felix was definitely entertained by Ash's little show. Sure, it wasn't the best, but he was enthusiastic and trying and Felix couldn't be mean about that. He wasn't that mean of a person to make fun of a synth for their failings at skills that their personality didn't have. It made them more human and Felix liked that since he knew Junior would definitely enjoy it.

"Maybe I'll show you the ropes on the more advanced techniques if you ever feel up to it." Teaching him was something he could do, connect with the synth that seemed more real than Felix felt like most of the time. "I have to agree. The belt and the shirt, definitely not complimentary."

[subroutined]

"You'd do that?" No one had ever offered to 'show him the ropes' before. Either they'd ignored the things he couldn't do, or punished him for it, or they'd downloaded some kind of patch to upgrade his software. Aside from Martha teaching him bits and pieces of how the Real Ash used to behave, he'd never learned anything the human way.

He looked down at himself, frowning. He rather liked the belt, and the shirt was comfortable. But maybe they were right, and the two didn't work well together. Whatever that meant. He surveyed the piles of clothing they'd bought. "What would you choose instead?" he asked, genuinely wanting to correct the error of his judgment.

[androit]

"Something less bright," Junior said. He had no way to really explain how colors and fashion worked to someone who had never grown up and internalized it as the times continued on and changed. There was a lot of culture behind it, but pretty much any culture would say such a vibrant red with a soft baby blue on black simply didn't work. He shifted once more to get up and check out the piles for himself, looking through what they had already gotten.

He eventually pulled out a belt of a dark, rich brown and held it up for Ash to look at. "This?" he suggested. "It doesn't clash, anyway." That was about the extent of his ability to really explain it without starting to potentially bullshit or show how much he didn't know. Words and him didn't get along on things he did know how to talk about. Looking back to the pile, he picked up another shirt, something closer to cream-colored, and turned back to Felix with a questioning look.

[ambibionic]

"If I suggest, it means I'm willing to give it a go," he said with a smile and he watched as Junior stood up to try and explain how colors worked and he only allowed it for a minute before standing up himself and motioning with a hand to let Junior know that he was going to take over for him. Let the man who knows what he's talking about teach the synth or he'll become even more of a fashion disaster.

"I know you like that belt, so let's keep that and put you in something that will make that the focus of your outfit. First rule of creating is outfit is find one piece you like and building around. Will, I know we bought him a black shirt, can you find it for me?" Felix stood in front of Ash, studying him for a long moment before reaching out and tapping his chest lightly. He might not be able to feel with his arms, but he did know how to control himself to not injure people. "Make the belt the only bright color you wear and attention will focus on it, which I recommend if you want to distract Will greatly. The shirt will have to go with a different outfit, probably lighter pants so there's not such a contrast between top and bottom."

[subroutined]

It quickly became obvious to Ash that Felix was the expert in this field. His advice about building an outfit around a single item made sense, and, well... Ash did like that belt. He nodded, not wanting to move away once Felix had initiated contact, and so he stood stock still while Junior was made to fetch the black shirt they had bought. "It's in the pile on the left," he supplied.

To Felix, he asked, as he started undoing the buttons on the blue shirt, "Lighter pants like khakis, then? For this shirt."

[androit]

That was the easier solution by far. With Ash's instruction, Junior retrieved said shirt and held it out in the folded square he'd left it for either of them to take. He was way more than happy that the comment about his distraction when uncommented on. Not that he was embarrassed about his interest but... well no, it was just funny in the silly way. Unable to totally disprove Felix's point, he glanced down to the belt and tilted his head before turning back to look at the both of them to see if it had been noticed. Ash was definitely hiding a very fun piece of equipment down there, it was true.

Clearing his throat, he took a step away from the fashion talk as if it would save him from any more teasing comments. That said, he could tell they were going to be at it for a while. "You have anything for drinks?" he asked Felix. Hard to tell with how much he was out of town, especially now that Junior understood how much more frequent it was than Felix always said. Even if Ash couldn't drink himself, it might be nice to give them a little something to relax the atmosphere even more. Make it casual.