(That's so funny to me. I always imagine businesspeople being really up to date with the newest tech, so it's cool to see that Francis isn't like that.) She shook her head patiently. "No, it's just a machine. It recognizes your commands and then works to complete them. See, look. A.D.R.I.A.N?" Her own wristwatch lit up in response to her voice. "Yes, Poppy?" "Could you tell me the time, please?" "It is current 12:34 pm." "See? And you can have it do all kinds of stuff. Take calls for you, answer random bits of trivia, do math problems, et cetera."
(He's honestly such a child.) "So I just tell it my name and it works like that? I don't think I trust robots."
"You don't have to use it if you don't want to," Poppy said gently. "It just makes life easier, that's all. They need your name to start building a profile on you so that they can anticipate your commands with more accuracy, but like I say, it's up to you. Lots of people don't like using it."
"Honestly, technology and it' weird networks. People sharing their 'emojis' or whatever. And I've heard of some kind of drug called meh-mays? It's a bad place." He shook his head, taking his wrist watch.
"I'm not elderly! I'll figure it out on my own. Hmph." He went back at the watch. "You are no help." Spoiler: Oops I got distracted and sketched something
(Ha! I love it!) "If you really want to get it to work, you just need to get your profile set up. Trust me, things will be a lot easier after that. It's just a matter of whether you want to actually use it." In that moment, Phos turned back to Poppy and Francis, a warm grin on his face. "Ah, you must be Mr. Craw! Good to meet you." "Francis, this is Phos, one of my partners from the lab."
Francis extended a hand politely. "It's good to meet you as well, sir," he said, his eyebrows raised slightly.
The man shook his hand heartily before returning to his soup. "So, you two, tell us your story about your time in the woods. We've all been dying for information these last couple days."
Francis looked back down at his food. "Our time in the woods? It's probably not as interesting as you think, except for the part where Poppy got caught by enemy scouts," he said slowly, smiling slightly at the end of the sentence.
She frowned at him playfully, and then turned back to Phos, who raised his eyebrows. "Caught by enemy scouts? My dear Poppy, how in God's name did you manage that?" "Well, you see, I was collecting food while Mr. Craw here remained napping," she said with a side glance at Francis. "It's crazy, Phos. He is always tired."
"Alas, I admit, but honestly it's better than getting captured and attacked. That wasn't even the first time she could have died, too. I almost thought she would bleed out during the escape from hospital while the bombings were still happening."
"And he was very worried," Poppy said smoothly, spreading butter on a piece of sourdough. "Honestly, you would think that he cared about me or something." Phos said nothing, only watching their exchange with a smile.
"As unprofessional as joking about bleeding out and being captured," Poppy countered with mock seriousness. Phos cleared his throat. "So, how did you get away from the scouts?"
"Eh, you got me there," he chuckled, then continued. "I heard her scream so I went out to look for her. They had her tied up, but she was getting out of it without their knowledge. She managed to get behind one and use him as a sort shield. I saw that as an opportunity to take down the other one."
"There was only two of them? That's strange," Phos said. "I would think that there would be plenty of scouts combing those woods."
"There probably were, but we only came across two. Guess we got lucky." He shrugged, resting his head on his hand.
Phos considered it as he took another sip of his soup. "I assume that's where all your bruises came from, Poppy?" Poppy flushed, but nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, well. I thought I would be able to outrun them, but.." She trailed off, and then shrugged. "Obviously not." "Hmm. Stop by the infirmary later. I might have something to make those go away. I'm working on something..." He continued on, describing a vague new element that he had managed to create within the lab. Poppy listened closely, but she couldn't help but notice that around the dining hall, people seemed to stare at her and Francis. They were quick to look away if she caught them, but they were still there.
Francis didn't pay attention to the people around him, he mostly just watched what was in front of him, zoning out a a bit while eating his food.
