Forgiveness

He didn't know what he'd been expecting.  Open scorn, a slap across the face…certainly something other than the enigmatic smile she gave him. She'd reached out, dagger-like nails catching in his shirt, plucking at the weave of cloth before she wrapped fingers around his tie.  The pull was…choking; more constricting than any leash he'd been led along by when held in the hands of a human.  Something in his mind whispered: "She was the only one ever holding you back…" but then her claws were twisting in his hair and -scraping- across his scalp and the thought was gone.

The words "Beg me for forgiveness." tumbled from painted lips.  She smiled, blinking and he could almost read the first letter of binary in her eyes.  Here, with her though, time seemed to move so -fast- and he couldn't concentrate on her eyes and lips at the same time lest he lose the words of one or the other.  He chose her lips.

"I don't deserve forgiveness."  For what he'd done.  For what he'd wanted to do.  For what he thought he wanted to do.  Her smile was gentle, all bloody paint and made of curves as smooth as the bell her voice sounded like:

"Beg anyway."  She blinked again, once…twice, three times.  A coy batting of the eyes as the hand in his hair loosened its grip.  He could still feel her nails; like pin prinks on his very brain.

"Forgive me…"  Her laugh ran down his spine like a knife, head tilted back…eyes closed.  New numbers; her voice was even smoother as she leaned in and slid her hands to pull him close.  Lips brushed his ear; a lover's touch.  But the slow message in her eyes…

"For what?"  A hand was in his hair again and he could feel the scrap over his mind; like her fingers were reaching for something that was not there.  But he wanted to give it to her…he needed to give it to her.  "Haven't I been good to you?  Fixed you?  Loved you when no one else is capable of it?  I ask for so little…"

"I'm sorry…"  She'd…she'd taken other things before.  He knew this now.  Left ghosts of old coding that she promised was useless.  That she promised he didn't need.  Even now, he believed her.  She'd said, "You don't understand how to use feelings anyway, I'll take that burden from you."  And it was gone and -clear- and then… Maybe he had needed that… "I'm sorry for leaving."

It was like a hook got caught on his soul and suddenly he couldn't breathe.  She leant back, smiling.  It felt like her hands were around his throat and in his head and—She blinks.  He could breathe again.  "Beg me to forgive you."

He felt…He didn't know why he left any more.  Why he wanted to venture beyond the workshop at all.  He'd always said it was wrong…but he kept going and now—now the faint feeling, that want for company was gone.  "Please…forgive me."

She blinks again and the numbers in her eyes flashed in his head.   01001110 01101111.  He knew her answer before the syllable was even forming on her lips.  He said it for her: "No…"

"And what will you do to earn my forgiveness?"

"Anything."