New Angeles

Leo never much cared about food. He had some things that he liked well enough, but mostly it was just a means of sustaining his body. Self-obligation. Certainly nothing to get excited about.

And so when confronted with the array of delicious items served at the breakfast bar at the Earthrise Hotel, Leo found himself almost overwhelmed. Omelet station. Pastries. Trays upon trays of dishes from all over the world. Cereal, but the fancy corporate kinds, not just the cheap ones.

When he finally sat down, it was with a bowl of plain oatmeal, and an egg white omelet, no fillings. Self-obligation.

He wouldn't be alone when he looked up. As he had gone through the motions of sitting Nadia had arrived and sat herself opposite him. There was no food set out before her, instead just one hand crossed over the other as she sat and looked to him. When he looked up she was still correcting her head to look across at him which broke any sort of mystery her sudden arrival might have gained.

"Mr. Knight," she would say, the same detachment to her tone as ever.

Leo was silent for a few moments after the greeting, stirring the oatmeal with his spoon. A stall, of course. "Ms Avaline." He returned her greeting neutrally. His already lined brow grew more lined as he furrowed it. How similar his response sounded to hers, and not through any attempt at matching.

He cleared his throat. "Have you already eaten? Everything's covered, you know." He gestured at the array of food. "You can have whatever you like."

"I do not have any preferences," she declares, looking out over what Leo had in front of himself, then off toward whatever other food was in eyesight. All told it was a slow process as she wasn't ever in a rush, which perhaps spoke more to her true nature than anyone else in the city back home. Here now though who knew what was the norm, certainly not Nadia.

"But I have already received the appropriate level of sustenance. I could not be certain of the calculations on what you have in front of you," she says, glancing back to the food in front of him. "Do you calculate your intakes before or after your meals?" she posits, looking back up to him with a strange look in her cybernetic eye, curiosity perhaps.

"Calculations?" Leo frowned, looking down at the food, then back up to her. "Oh, you mean like nutritionists do? I just eyeball it. Egg whites for the protein, oats for filler. No sugar or spice..." Well, because it was harder to detect poison then. He gave a little shake of his head.

After a moment, he frowned. "Is that what you meant? I sorta feel like I shouldn't guess, with you."

"Yes," she answers, meeting his eyes with that sense of propriety that was a little intense. Not breaking she considers a thought for a moment. Hands rested in her lap gave a certain surreal experience. An experience which certainly helped remind of the nature of whom he was speaking with, "Why do you feel you should not guess with me? Am I unclear in language?"

"Because I don't really know how it is for clones." Leo said, shrugging just a little. "I mean, the company controls my life, but it didn't always." He hesitated a moment. "Even if something always did."

Shaking his head, he went on. "But even if we're the same in some ways, in other ways, we're not. I guess I don't quite know what that's like."

He took a bite of his oatmeal. "So why do you track your, uh, sustenance levels? I know why I do it. I need to stay in shape. What about you?"

"Maintain physical health and well-being," she replies, as if part of reading from a merchants script. "For any clone, maintaining the physical form is a important step toward ensuring effective compliance and completion of any requires tasks. As a Avaline series, it is even more important considering the physical and mental exertion required of a BMI connected user of the net."

"I do not think we are all that alike. You are a human, and I am a clone," she says, a very brief smile as she glances down from him toward the food before him, thoughtfully gazing.

"Oh? So what's the difference?" Leo took one bite of oatmeal, then set the spoon down with a shrug. "Serious question. What is different between a human and a clone?" He waggled his head. "Or maybe I should ask, what's the same between the two of them? Because that's pretty important too."

Nadia listened to the question, but her detached look only became more distant as she looks past him over his shoulder. Not quite pondering it but confused at the question. It was obvious, wasn't it? One was a clone and one was a human. Eyes returned toward him as a faint glow takes to the silver iris' and then she settles, a blip on his PAD.

"I've sent you a link with all the collected information as disseminated by Jinteki," she says.

Leo's brow furrows deepened, and he made a bare instant of a motion towards his PAD. It stopped a moment later; no cybereye most of his life, but he'd had it a few years now.

A few moments, and he grimaced. "But what do you think?" He asked, looking at her. It wasn't a look with much intensity, but it was more than none.

Nadia measures him a moment, considering for near enough a quarter of a minute before breaking the silence, "Why do you ask me these things of me, Mr. Knight?"

That gave Leo pause. He sat there, frowning, spoon held unmoving in his cyberhand.

Finally, he shook his head. "I don't know. I guess... I don't know." With a nimble gesture he swapped the spoon for a fork, stabbing at the eggs.

Another moment, and he shook his head again. "I guess you remind me a bit of me, in some ways. Not a lot; there's some pretty obvious differences." He chuckled. "But we're both tools."

"That is not an inaccurate definition," she says looking from him down toward his cybernetic hand. Sitting there she observed it for a moment. Returning her gaze back up to him, the furrow of her brow coming before the question which was sure to follow.

"Was your cybernetic hand a replacement?"

"No." Leo said shortly. "It was an enhancement, to assist with the performance of my job."

After a moment, he grimaced. "I wasn't technically ordered to get it. But it was pretty clear that if I didn't, I was done. That's just how things work."

"Avaline series are all implanted with their cybernetics," she says, the metal pieces of the skulljack she was enhanced with being a bit more noticeable in that moment. "Cybernetic eyes made for quick access without delay, and a device known as a skulljack which allows me to access any system within wireless access. Avaline series are made to be the perfect system operators, and I am proud of that.." she shakes her head a little, side-tracked.

"It was a strange feeling, at first. Did you think so as well?"

Leo chuckled. "It's still a strange feeling. I can't control the strength just fine, but sometimes when I really..." He clenched his fist, then shook his head. "Just how strong it is surprises me sometimes."

He made a vague sort of gesture towards his face. "And the eye... when I get a notification, I still reach for my PAD half the time." He chuckled again, shook his head again. "Also an upgrade, not medically necessary. Just employment necessary."