From Sirio's diary
What do I do now? What do I do now? What do I do now?
Techna: Hey Sirio, what happened?
Sirio: This time I really made a mess, that's what!
So I told Techna everything they had missed since when I left the art gallery to spend the night with Maki. I'm sure they had to focus quite a bit to follow my messy story, I was speaking so fast to merge and skip words, but somehow they seemed to have grasped at least the general meaning of what I was trying to say.
Techna: I think the chances of her seeing you glow AND her knowing what it means are less than 5%. You should still be more careful, though. And stay away from her, possibly.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Well, yes, overall I agreed with what Techna said. The fact that the police didn't reach out to us yet probably meant I had been lucky that night, but by keeping on that farce for too long the risks of someone noticing would have been very high.
On the other hand, however, in those few hours my alias Simon had left behind a shameful amount of unfinished stuff. Above all, Maki really looked concerned about me when seeing me leaving so abruptly, I had to give her an explanation somehow, isn't it? So...
Sirio: I have at least to give her some explanations, I think.
Techna: This literally means to be looking for troubles, you know?
Maki: Ehy, Simon, hi!
Maki: Are you doing better today?
Sirio: (anxious) Well, yes, but... I think I have to explain, I…
Maki: Don't worry, there is no need to make such a fuss about it! I'm sure you had a good reason for leaving so suddenly, you don't have to justify yourself.
The colours around her looked so different from the previous night, she seemed fully focused on her work again. And she was probably right, too, I really needed to calm down a bit. Glowing during the day was usually less noticeable than at night, but I still had to be careful about it.
Maki: Back to the serious businesses, yesterday you promised to show me your painting style, isn't it? If you'd like to paint something, we have a few easels upstairs, with brushes, colours and everything. You can borrow them for as long as you need to!
Sirio: But… But do you really want me to paint here?
Maki: Yes. Tell me when you finish, if it really is something new I might even decide to add it to the next exhibition!
Sirio: …
Techna: Are you serious? The more you remain, the worst it will get...
Sirio: I know... But I don't think I could leave now, either.
Also, for once, I had a clear picture in mind about what I wanted to paint, and how to represent it. It was the most striking colour scheme I'd seen since when we arrived in Sim City, if not even that could impress her then I didn't stand a chance.
Maki: (surprised) Oh. I admit that I was expecting something rather different, that's for sure.
Maki: Does it represent anyone in particular?
Sirio: (vague) … It's about someone I met recently.
Maki: Uhm…
She was completely absorbed in contemplating the picture, in all its details. She didn't realize it, but the colours around her swirled just in the same way as I had painted them.
Maki: You certainly have a strange way of seeing people, Simon.
----------------------------------------------
Every time I left the art gallery, I repeated to myself that Techna was right. Each time I returned back to that place with a disguise on the harder would have been to return back, and the higher were the chances to trigger a disaster. But I didn't want to disappear without any good explanation either, and I hadn't been able to find the right thing to say yet.
Maki: I don't know if and when I may get the chance to organize another exhibition, but I think your paintings could fit quite well next to these, you know Simon?
Sirio: What kind of job do you do exactly, when you're not busy with exhibitions?
Maki: I review art on blogs, mainly.
Sirio: Oh.
She was absorbed in discussing the paintings and their arrangement, when we heard her name called out loud from the other end of the room.
The atmosphere had suddenly changed, as well as the colours I could see around Maki. That gloomy halo that never quite left her suddenly took over everything else, was this what she was afraid of?
??? : Why do you insist on ignoring my messages? What are you doing?
Maki: Hotaru, do you want to understand that we divorced? DI-VOR-CED, it's not that hard!
Hotaru: You have no right to do this to me, you can't take Lily away too!
Maki: Well, the lawyers didn't seem to agree on that at all, you know?
I had no idea about what was happening, but two things were clear to me. The first was that Maki was trying to appear much braver than how she actually felt, but I could clearly sense her fear and her pain. Even clearer to me, however, was the anger and impatience of that guy, Hotaru. How far was he willing to go, just to get what he wanted? From what I was sensing, I wasn't sure I could rule out the worst…
Was I supposed to do something? But what could I ever do, against an angry brute of that size?
Sirio: (cautious) I'm sorry, but I'm quite sure there is some more diplomatic way of talking about this, like...
Hotaru: Don't interfere, you mollusc!
My intervention seemed to have gained some time, as he took a few moments to elaborate on what could have been my role in that matter, I guess. However, in insight, I suspect to have just made things even worse.
Hotaru: (angry) Maki, don't tell me you've already replaced me? I can disintegrate the ones like him, you know?
At that point, what I could perceive from that man was definitively scary, and I was resigning to the idea of getting punched straight in my face.
Or at least this is what I thought just before remembering about the defence module uncle Steve installed in Techna.
Hotaru: What do you want now, scrap metal?
Techna: *Defence module activated*
Hotaru: What the...
Hotaru: (confused) … you'll hear from my lawyer soon, rest assured!
Both Maki and I had just stared at the scene, stunned by what was happening. Techna is always so rational, that was the first and only time I saw one of my uncle's modules overriding their AI to make them act in that way.
In the meanwhile Hotaru staggered away, and Maki turned towards us to say:
Maki: … Your robot is really strong, you know?
Sirio: They're not “my robot”, their name is Techna.
Maki: Oh. Then I guess I have you to thank, Techna. Assuming Hotaru doesn't decide to sue us for this, I mean.
That day, I left the art gallery with yet another proof about how living in Sim City was way, but way more complicated than I suspected back home, that's for sure.
Also, I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow to find a way to close that disguise parenthesis, this story is really lasting for too long...
Techna is amazing. I love them. Techna shocking Hotaru shocked me, haha, but it was justified. Before that incident, I loved how Techna was monitoring Sirio's interactions with Maki. I still hope Maki can eventually learn the truth about "Simon" and include his work in her exhibition or gallery... I like how they interact and how he sees colors around her. It's sweet how he understands her moods.
ReplyDelete