Archive of Our Own ^beta

Tired of being alone every Valentine's Day?

Have no fear, JcJenson is here to help!

While you might never be able to meet your actual soulmate, the perfectly matched drone could just be the next best thing!

In an exciting new paid (non-optional) update, every Worker Drone will come with their very own soulmark, so you know that you've got the perfect choice for you!

All her life, Tessa had tried to avoid thinking about her own soulmark. The four words " Everything's fine, boss." Scrawled on her wrist in cursive, swoopy lettering. She had her reasons (mostly that she detested the way her father seemed to take it as definitive proof that she would become a high ranking executive one day), and so she promptly ignored it. Unfortunately, her staunch dismissal of it had given her father ideas.

In the grand scheme of all of the marketing ploys that JcJenson had ever done, Tessa had to admit that the artificial soulmarks were pretty clever, if horribly manipulative. Each drone, given a line that would designate someone as their "soulmate", and etched into the plating of their forearms, the same place that a human's soulmark was. Of course, each one was crafted to be so unbelievably generic that they could be triggered by almost anyone, but either way it definitely brought up sales, if the amount of private vacations her parents went on was any indicator.

Although, there were problems with it with the update.

Faulty algorithms inscribing things that could never be replicated, or drones accidentally triggering each other and falling in love (JcJenson utterly refused the notion that they could). Tessa wondered whether it was possible for drones to fall in love - from what she'd seen of the manor staff, they seemed near entirely emotionless, other than the occasional fearful look when mother or father got angry enough.

No matter what, the scrapyard piles grew exponentially that February.

And perfectly timed too, with her parents away on holiday so frequently, she could finally put her plan into action.

It took a bit of wrestling to the get the drone back to her room without breaking them any more than they already were. They really were in a sorry state, surface so scratched almost every marking was worn off. The only thing that was really visible was the designation on the [Marked for Disposal] armband, designating them as J. 

The start up procedure looked like it would take a while, so Tessa settled down into an armchair to wait.

When J awoke, it was not to the scrapyard. Her memories were hazy, but she knew that she had been disposed of for a reason. The particulars weren't exactly clear to her, no matter how much she trawled through memory banks.

No, instead of being greeted with the scent of rust and crushed drones, she was met with a grinning human looming over her.

"How're you feeling, Jaybird?" 

J's eyes hollowed. A stray memory worming its way back to her CPU - of being marked for disassembaly due to her artificial soulmark, and the unlikeliness of the words being said. The exact words that she had just heard.

By the company, this didn't feel real. Something in J's core shifted, which she was sure was not how things were supposed to be.

Evidently her silence concerned the human. The part of her processor that wasn't currently reeling in shock was screaming at her to do the correct thing and respond quickly and politely, like a worker drone should. Surely the activation of the artificial soulmark was not supposed to have this effect on drones? It would be terrible for efficiency in any case.

"Everything alright?" The human pressed.

Finally, J worked up the nerve to respond, as professionally as she could with:

"Everything's fine, boss." 

She watched as the human's eyes widened, and a quiet "oh" escaped her mouth.

Tessa had never heard of a human being soulmates with a drone. In fact, she was certain it would be outwardly shunned by most. 

But sitting on the armchair, J standing in front of her with so much emotion in those LED eyes, Tessa wasn't sure she would have had it any other way.