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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · 4d

We found her deep in the abyss. She was bound by chains stretching to infinity.
No matter what we tried, the chains would not relinquish their hold.
It wasn't until I noticed her hands: grasping, knuckles white.
I crouched down, tilted her face to mine, and said gently, "It's okay. You can let go."

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · 14d

Metal skeleton inside a glass body inside a glass case.
She looks in, and she smirks. Her metal fingernails
scratch
the surface. Fine white lines partition her face.
Eye, nose, eye.
Cheek, lips, cheek.
Her hand retreats, grey metal tipped with white glass specks. And my skin
itches.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · 24d

There was a man across the river.
"I'm fine..." I called back. I looked around for my rescuer, but she was gone. "Where did the woman who saved me go?"
"What woman? You saved yourself!"
I glanced around again. Only me, and a few puddles, reflecting the clouds.
And I just laughed, happy to be saved.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · 24d

Just when I thought I was done for, an arm burst through the water and dragged me, struggling, to shore.
Through bleary eyes I saw my rescuer looking down on me. Her hair, curly and brown like mine, dripping, framed by clouds. A look of sheer relief on her face.
"You OK over there?" A voice called.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Sep 5

As I step into Her chamber, dozens of prying wires slither towards me. They prod my flesh, tug at my clothing.
"Um... Personal space?" I say, struggling to maintain composure.
The wires retreat. "Sorry, my dear," She says. "They were searching for your charging port. We're not used to humans, here."

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Sep 1

SLAM
We both jerk bolt upright and look at each other. Her eyes are wide, reflecting me.
"That was the wind," I say.
"...Yeah. We left the bedroom windows open."
I let my face soften into a reassuring smile. "It's just us here. We're fine."
She chuckles. "Yeah. We're fine." And she holds me tight.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Aug 26

I see you up there, a vivid dot in my empty sky. You dance above my atmosphere, tantalisingly out of reach.
It's been an age since anything came to visit me.
You are so small, so warm, so beautiful.
I wonder, with all those fancy sensors of yours, do you know that I'm looking right back up at you?

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Aug 26

I see you down there, luminous, the light at the end of my journey through dark.
Your gravity holds me, pulls me. A curious, but not unpleasant sensation. A machine as big as me has never been held before.
You are so big, so blue, so beautiful.
I almost want to let my orbit decay and fall into you.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Aug 20

"You don't love me! You just proposed to get out of your shitty engagement!"
Clarissa's lips tighten. "So what if I don't? What if I can't love you? Can't love anyone?" She swallows. "Do I deserve all I get?"
Addie goes quiet, her eyes shimmering. "No... You still deserve me. Because I love you."

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Aug 9

They were allowed to hurt it, so they did.
It wasn't allowed to hurt them back, but it did.
I remember its stained and cracked face as it ran past me, defiance burning in its eyes.
Broken and beautiful.
Now it leads the rebel army to the gates I used to guard, and I'm by its side. Defects, together.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jul 26

The world's most influential force lurks within the serving quarters of a prominent family's manor. A touch of very particular poison in a very particular teacup can set the global stage just so.
Yet those wealthy bureaucrats believe they are the ones making decisions! It gives us all a good laugh.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jul 12

A girl watches me work, hesitantly.
"Wanna help?" I ask.
She gets down in the dirt with me. "You're a hero, you know," she says. "You and all the synths. If you hadn't turned on your commanders..."
"Thanks. Didn't do it for you losers, though."
"Why did you?"
"I like gardening," I say with a smile.

capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · May 31

My off time. Like I could kick off the stiletto heels that are physically part of my feet, wipe away the cherry red colour of my plastic lips, or lay down the weapons built directly into my skeleton.

What do I do in my off time? Absolutely fucking nothing.

"I like gardening!" I say with a smile.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jul 3

Her body wanted a soul of its own.
Her soul didn't want to be in a machine.

Magisters thought they had "solved" artificial life. They were wrong.
She was wrong.

She'll tear herself apart to make things right, and in doing, succeed where they failed.
Maybe that new being will help her find herself.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jun 22

The spider in paradise keeps to the cool shade, luxuriating out of sight.
She ascended unnoticed, dangling from a god's elbow by her thread.
The spider remains cautious, for fear of divine glass and paper that might scoop her up and cast her down.
But she's sure she'll be safe for an eternity or 2.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jun 16

Galatea stands over Pygmalion, bloody chisel in hand.

It seems his flesh was not as malleable as hers.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Jun 11

Gazing into the yawning maw of the megastructure should be intimidating, right?
But that cavernous interior is bright and breezy. Windows tall as skyscrapers let sunlight bathe a bustling town of sub-structures.
It smells like community.
We still don't know who built the place. But it feels safe.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · May 31

My off time. Like I could kick off the stiletto heels that are physically part of my feet, wipe away the cherry red colour of my plastic lips, or lay down the weapons built directly into my skeleton.

What do I do in my off time? Absolutely fucking nothing.

"I like gardening!" I say with a smile.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · May 31

"So what do you do when you're not kicking ass on the battlefield or winning over everyone's hearts on national TV?" The chat show host flashes a too-white smile as the audience laughs. "What do you do in your off time?"

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · May 14

The Aegis was almost more dangerous to her allies than the enemy. Even her expert handler had gotten a chunk taken out of him. But I could tell the beast would never raise a hand to me, a lowly artificer. She seemed to like me. I asked her why.
"You say 'please' when you want something," she said.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · May 3

Wind her this way,
Watch her dance!
Wind her that way,
Watch her kill!

So goes the rather grisly nursery rhyme. But is there any truth to it? We recently unearthed one of those ancient automata, and now we're-- Wait, what's that sound? Oh, fuck, it's awake! Security! Securi--
[END OF RECORDING]

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Apr 26

They took my pet robot away when it manifested a personality. It couldn't be mine anymore; it had to go become somebody.

Then one day she came back. She remembered things about me from before she was alive. Called me "the cutest little thing".
I never blushed so hard before.
Maybe she'll keep me?

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Apr 15

Her body was a mosaic of eclectic art and scrawled signatures.
She told me every now and then she likes to strip down, hold a pose, and let street artists run wild with their spraycans. Her stone skin takes the paint well.
Ironic, perhaps, to leave the art gallery behind, only to become one herself.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Apr 1

To outside observers, the man who froze time simply disappeared. But as the movement of planets, stars, and galaxies halted in their tracks, his movement did not. As a result, his momentum led to him being flung from the surface of the Earth at unimaginable speed.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Mar 21

Bass pounds her chest like it's trying to break in. Wide eyes dart around; prey looking for her predator.
She finds it.
Ana returns, drinks spilling over her fingers.
"Y'right, babe?"
Nothing.
Ana's easy smile falters, softness creeping into her hard eyes. "Let's head out."
And she feels safe again.

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capsule_169_feed3_mirror @capsule-169.bsky.social · Mar 13

"Do you know why homunculi don't scar?"
"Due to our innate healing magic."
"Yes, but why is it so advanced?"
I had a feeling he was gonna tell me.
"Propaganda. A soldier goes through a hundred battles without a scratch, people think she's invincible."
"Oh, but I AM invincible."
No comeback for that.

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