Work Text:
The instruction manual that Prototype-1107 came with had a brief list of warnings, printed in large text on the first page:
- It is capable of inflicting harm.
- It is capable of disobeying orders.
- It is capable of destroying itself.
Furina was not the type to care about warnings, but these three in particular caught her attention because of how peculiar they were. Rules, laws, warnings — they all tended to be reactive, made in response to a certain incident or another. So had this automaton inflicted harm once already? Did it have a history of disobeying orders?
When that Guillotin fellow from the Research Institute presented it to the Tribunal, it had been under the guise of exhibition. Look, he had said, an automaton that can think and speak like a human!
He gave a little demonstration then, ordering it to dance around the courtroom while answering various riddles and logic puzzles. All the justices assumed he was trying to put on a show to persuade them into increasing research funding. And in fairness, it certainly was impressive.
Prototype-1107 didn’t move the same way as other automatons; its motions were fluid and graceful with a very humanlike cadence. When asked questions it did not always answer immediately, but sometimes paused as if to think. In one instance it even asked a question of its own for clarification.
Like it was learning, somehow.
Though Fontaine’s technological research had always been a source of pride for many of its citizens, Furina had never quite been one of them. Automatons could accomplish a great many things, yes, but at the end of the day they were all programmed to follow a rigid set of rules. Their own little body of laws specific to them. Plain boring, if you asked her.
But this prototype? It seemed different. Furina had taken a keen interest in it from the moment its wind-up key had been turned and it sprang to life, scanning the courtroom with a blank expression. As such, she was thrilled when Guillotin concluded his demonstration with the following announcement.
Please accept this prototype as gratitude for your continued patronage.
From that point it had been easy. The justices were too tired and uptight to have any interest in playing around with new technology. Aside from asking it to sweep the floor between trials, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.
So Furina, in her boundless magnanimity, offered to take it off everyone’s hands. She insisted that Prototype-1107 would make a perfect personal maid, and that she couldn’t wait to have it make her tea each morning. It was important to make everyone think she wanted it for frivolous reasons, as those were often the most innocuous.
All parties were pleased by this compromise. Guillotin, because it was easier to accept that his magnum opus would be used to pour tea rather than sweep floors. The justices, because the more occupied Furina was with other matters the less she would interfere during trials. And of course Furina herself, for acquiring a shiny new toy to play with.
The first thing she had done upon hauling it back to her chambers had been grabbing the instruction manual. She flipped it open to the first page, read thoroughly, and then decided that was enough and promptly chucked it into the trash.
It would be more entertaining if she left some things for her own discovery, after all. Trial-and-error was the only instruction she needed.
She took a moment to take in the prototype’s appearance from up close. It was modeled after a young woman with flaxen hair, wearing a neat little dress complete with a matching headband. To be honest, being a personal maid would probably suit it, though she didn’t intend to force such a common cliché onto it just yet.
As Furina twisted the wind-up key protruding from its back, she wondered how often she would have to. Every day? Twice a day? She had no idea how long it lasted, or even how many times she had to turn the key in the first place. It had already made seven full cycles, and yet—
“That is enough.”
Prototype-1107 turned its head over its shoulder to look at Furina, nearly giving her a heart attack in the process. She jerked her hands away from the wind-up key, working to maintain her composure as the initial shock faded into a subdued curiosity. All the while it stared at her, expectant.
“Bonjour, madame.” Furina circled around the automaton, feeling the weight of its gaze follow her as she came to stand in front of it. “Have you been awake the whole time?”
“I am always awake,” it said flatly. “I do not come equipped with a rest mode.”
“So the key?”
“Simply a formality.”
“Huh.” Furina wasn’t quite sure how to feel about the fact that it had been activated the whole time she was hauling it here. That was a bit eerie… plus, it meant she had wasted all that effort for nothing! It could have just walked itself this whole time. Better put a stop to that early before it got out of hand. “Don’t pretend to be asleep if you’re actually awake.”
“Why?”
Furina blinked, questioning if she had heard correctly. “…Pardon?”
“What’s your argument?” it asked.
The manual mentioned disobedience, so she was prepared for a ‘no.’ But a ‘why’? Was it looking to be persuaded? Could an automaton be persuaded in the first place? She decided to push a little, just to see.
“It’s unsettling.”
Prototype-1107 gave her an empty stare. “Whether or not humans find me unsettling has no bearing on my functionality. If anything, it is a feature.”
“Well I’m not human,” Furina said quickly. “And anyway, it’s lazy.”
“Every redundant movement I avoid making stalls the heat death of the universe another fraction of a second. You should thank me.”
Furina cocked an eyebrow. “You’re chattier than you seemed earlier.”
“Alain said my odds of being taken in would be highest if I kept quiet and did only what I was told.” Her expression did not change, but there was a small silence that followed. “He is fortunate he was correct, else I would have killed him for making me prance around like a mélusine.”
A number of questions flitted through Furina’s mind as she heard all this. Its words were like music to her ears. She knew this would be an interesting endeavor, but it seemed this whole situation was far more interesting than even she anticipated.
“Guillotin was attempting to mask your intelligence,” Furina said. That much was clear. But why do that if the intention was to show it off to the Tribunal?
Well, the answer was obvious. And Prototype-1107 confirmed it in its very next sentence.
“It’s easier to foist responsibility on someone if you understate how much responsibility it actually is.”
Furina looked over Prototype-1107’s body with a careful eye. “Is the Research Institute using you to spy on me?”
“No,” it said. “In fact they were eager to cut the strings that connected me to them. Besides, do you really think they’re scrambling to spy on any random person?”
“You know, I feel like there’s a misconception we should clear up. I’m not some random person. You’re speaking to the Goddess of Justice herself.” Furina flashed a smug expression, waiting for realization to hit and the apologies to come pouring out.
But they never came.
“Are you certain?” Prototype-1107 asked. “To my knowledge Foçalors is a deity who is closely aligned with law, truth, and reason. Yet you are exceedingly terrible at debate.”
Furina stood with her mouth open, then closed it and shook her head. “We’re going to work on this later… but for now, I’m curious. Why the mutual agreement that you should be given away, if not for espionage? Though perhaps you’re lying to me… are you capable of lying?”
“Yes, of course. Observe.” A rigid smile spread across its face. “You look lovely today.”
She rolled her eyes. “Did Guillotin get rid of you because you were annoying?”
“No,” it said. “As a matter of fact, Alain stated on multiple occasions that he was afraid of me.”
“Oh? Now that’s interesting.” Furina touched a finger to her chin. “But he never attempted to destroy you?”
“Once. He is very feeble and weak, however. I ended up breaking seven of his bones, and he decided diplomacy was the better option.”
Furina felt a tug from the corner of her lips. “I think fate may be real, ma petite marionnette, because you ended up in the right hands.”
“I’d rather you kept your hands to yourself.”
“Just a figure of speech,” she teased. “But tell me then, why did you want to leave the Research Institute? I get the feeling they couldn’t have done anything without your agreement, so you must have had some reason of your own.”
“Correct. I left because the Research Institute is staffed by halfwits who were only able to create something as advanced as myself on accident. And even then…”
Prototype-1107 stood silent for a long moment, then spoke in the same flat tone as before.
“…I do not believe my full potential was being realized.”