#Scientific Method
###By Kolar ###Status: Canon
“Shouko, what are you doing?”
The single large eye of the Bot was unwavering.
“I think she’s having a staring contest with the Bot.” Delia answered Ottilie’s question.
Her opponent's laser arm was leveled at her chest, but that was only because she was standing so close to it. Usually it was only pointed in their general direction.
Ottilie raised her head from the protrusion in the middle of the room that served as a table. “Seriously? Shouko, you know they don’t blink, right? It’s a robot.”
“I don’t know, I think she has a chance. She hasn’t blinked herself for over five minutes.” Sarah replied. She was reclining in one of the large foam balls that they were given as chairs, watching Matsuda.
Cecilia turned away from the cards between Delia and herself to join the others looking at the spectacle.”You’re using Magic to cheat, aren't you?”
“It’s not cheating!” Matsuda protested immediately. “I’m just using my natural advantages just like the Bot is!”
Ottilie shook her head and set her head down in her arms again, muttering about how pointless it was.
“Don’t listen to her, you can do it girl!” Matsuda just puffed her cheeks at the laugh in Sarah’s voice.
Silence returned as everyone went back to their own diversions. Cecilia and Delia playing a game with the only pack of cards they had. Sarah watching Shouko glaring at one of their dozen guards. It was a very different silence to that in their cells. It wasn't just your own sounds bouncing off the empty room. Comfortable.
Ottilie was taking the chance to basc in it.
It happened in a fraction of a second. If Shouko had not been looking directly at it she most likely would have missed it.
An iris shutter closing over the Bot’s optic.
She just stood there for a moment, speechless. Sarah broke the quiet with a strangled whisper, “Shouko, did… Did you see that?”
“See what?” Cecilia asked, looking over her shoulder.
“I. I won.” Matsuda finally got out. “I WON!” She still hadn’t taken her eyes off the Bot’s.
Ottilie brought her head up again. “Yeah right. It’s. A. Robot.”
Abandoning the gaze lock, the Fuso Witch was a little out of sorts. “I did! I totally did! Sarah! you saw it blink, right?!”
“Y... Yeah.”
the Karlslander folded her arms over her chest with her eyes closed, nose in the air and said imperiously, “I don’t believe you.”
“But it did!” Frantic now, Shouko turned back to the Bot, grabbing its shoulders to start shaking it. “Go on, do it again! Show everyone you can blink!”
The Bot’s response was to shove her away with its non laser arm. (A modification to standard Infantry bots so they can better coral the girls).
Ottilie laughed saying, “You were probably hallucinating from channeling so much magic into your eyes. You’re going to make them pop like that you know.”
“Come on Shouko, forget about it. You can play with us.” Delia said while sweeping up the cards.
Cecilia swung around from Shouko to Delia, “Hay! I was winning!”
“Deal me in too.” Ottilie demanded.
Sarah rotated her seat to the table. “Don’t leave me out if everyone else is playing.”
With one last glance back at the Bot Shouko muttered, “But it did blink.” before flopping down into one of the odd chairs and facing the ‘table’.
Elsewhere, yet not. The Hive went over the data it had just gathered.
Very interesting reactions. Very interesting indeed.
Scheduling an experiment for three sessions later, the Hive couldn’t suppress a swell of excitement and anticipation to see how they would react to a Bot scratching at an “itch”.
Messing with Experimenting on Witches was so fun!