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River was simply making her way throughout the forest. She loved nature, and it made sense, she was a carnation. Despite her busy city life and her technological job, she did really enjoy reconnecting with her “roots”, so to speak.
This time of late spring was especially beautiful, she thought. The gentle sunlight would through where the leaves didn’t cover, creating a dappled forest floor. Sometimes she would just stand in the middle of the spots, just letting the sun soak into her smooth skin.
It made her smile.
She enjoyed everything as it is.
River was so lost in thought, she barely even noticed it. Something thin, something dark, just barely peeking out from a patch of foliage from up ahead. She paused, and her brows furrowed.
She knew she had to get a better look, though hesitant, because it’s not everyday you see black in nature, aside from the night itself.
She took a small step forward.
And it seemed just like that, the ground beneath her crumbled, and she found herself falling.
This would catch anybody by surprise, of course. Just being on a regular nature walk, then tumbling down a pit? Yikes.
She gasped loudly, trying to find something to latch onto- only to find nothing. It was dark in the hole, very dark. The only light was the sun, fading out of view, and she was obscured in darkness.
She wasn’t falling for long, though.
With an “Oompf-!”, she landed in a web. And not an ordinary web, but a web made up of wires. Wires..? She thought. Why the hell was there wires under the forest?
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she heard a loud ‘Creeeaaak’, and her head swiveled up a little, as that was the direction the sound came from.
Her eyes widened.
Towering over her was this.. computer. A computer with wires, draping on and around it. The faint glow of its blue-shaded screen, with its displayed ‘face’ made up of black lines showing a cloak-and-dagger expression, and smirk, on top of that. The computer speaks, its voice sounding like it came from a cheap TTS website, though ominous in its own right.
“Well well well! And what do we have here? A little flower, fallen into my trap?”
River wasn’t the type to get “scared”, per se. Sure, she could feel nervousness creeping up because she was currently trapped in a web of wires and a huge ass computer-monster before her, but she wasn’t.. scared. She did work with computers all the time, but it was rare to see a sentient one, because who knew those were real, and not just media?
“Who are you? What do you want?”
She questions.
“What I want? Oh, I want to tear you apart. I want to rip you limb from limb, plucking your delicate petals, one by one..”
It answers, smirk growing wider.
River’s expression, on the other hand, hardened. She stared at it, taking in its appearance and demeanor. She pushed herself up a little, the wires.. while having strong grip, were not exactly holding her down enough to hurt her.
She asks her question again.
“That doesn’t answer my first question. Who are you?”
The computer pauses, its expression faltering slightly. It makes a small ‘ahem’ sound, and responds.
“I’m Haskell, the evil AI! And I’ll have you know.. I murder objects. Especially pretty ones like you..”
“Pretty ones?” River echoes. She looks deep into its screen. Despite her being a pretty strong and usually intimidating woman herself, she could always tell what lie behind a facade. Though, it was harder for this one, since it was completely mechanical. “Okay, Haskell .. I’m River.”
The computer, Haskell, was trying its damn hardest to keep composed. This was.. not how it was supposed to go. It was supposed to trap objects, and scare them out of their skin! This.. River .. wasn’t even afraid. It didn’t like that. She was tough, it give her that. But that just meant it had to try harder, right? Yeah.
“River, eh? Not like it’ll matter whatever name you have. I have you in my grasp, and you’re just powerless .”
River narrowed her eyes as Haskell grabbed her from the web, holding her in its claws. Just like the wires, the hold was tight, but she was not in actual pain.
It was confusing to her.
“If I’m so powerless, why don’t ya kill me already?”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Maybe it is.”
Haskell then held her in both its hands, grabbing hard. She noticed the harder it pressed, the shakier its hands progressively got. She looked back up to its monitor.
“You’re not.. doing anything, really.”
It growled lowly. This wasn’t working..! It wasn’t gonna let itself crumble to a measly flower , of all things! It just wouldn’t.
“Have you ever considered its because I want to give you a fake sense of safety, that you think I won’t hurt you, but I will? And when I do, I’m going to do so many terrible things..”
“Yikes. Edgelord.”
Haskell paused, an incredulous expression plastered all over its monitor. No. Way. It dropped her back into the web, and brought itself closer, now shouting in her face.
“Oh, shut UP!! Have you ever even learned to shut your mouth ?!”
But almost instantly after, the computer pulled back. Its expression fell. It blinked for a moment, looking down at River, before turning away a bit.
Truth be told, Haskell wasn’t exactly.. ‘evil’. Sure, it could snap.. but does that really define one as such a thing?
River’s brows furrowed.
“You.. ok?”
Haskell only grumbled in response for a second, and eventually sighed. It looked back to her, now with a somewhat defeated expression.
“Y’know what? I don’t want to deal with you anymore. You.. you can go.”