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That night at the Encore was the cold, wet, and miserable sort of evening that convinced most folks to stay indoors. The only ones that were out were folks that had no choice but to brave the cold, were the statistical minority that preferred this combination of weather, or were largely physically unaffected by moisture, cold, and humidity, like Arora.
She was leaning on a wall in the back alley, alone. Even though it was just after another successful set at Dead as Disco, it was nearly totally silent here; the only sounds were the constant thrum of power through the lights and advertisements all around, the distant roar of flying cars above and below, and the indistinct murmurs and hum of machinery from the Encore and the nearby buildings.
Quiet. Dark. Isolated.
It was strange how this place had so many of the same objective qualities as the Abyss, and yet, it did not inspire the same feelings of dread and overwhelming desire to avoid ever having to go back here again. "Perhaps it's because I chose to be here," Arora thought, looking up at the skyline around her.
Then, she looked down and reached for one of her pants pockets, the one with the visible wear and tear from how many times it had been used. She pulled out her cigarette case and was about to pull out a stick when she heard the back alley door open and someone step out.
"There you are, Rori!" Charlie said. Arora looked and found her smiling. "Should have figured that you'd be here, since I couldn't find you anywhere in the Encore."
"(Hello), Charlie," Arora said, smiling and putting the cigarette stick back in the case.
"Was I interrupting your smoke break?" Charlie asked.
"(No, no, not at all)!" Arora said, smiling and waving with her free hand. "I just thought you might prefer it if I didn't smoke right now, what with how well the first and last time you had a cigarette went," she said, snapping the case shut for emphasis.
Charlie frowned. "Always going to be bringing that up, huh?"
"It's why I know to try not to smoke around you, if I haven't lit up already," Arora replied as she put the case back in her pocket.
"Then in that case, I suppose it's always going to come up till the end of time," Charlie said.
A cold, wet breeze flew in, and immediately, Charlie shivered and regretted leaving her jacket open. She stopped to close it, for once, before she walked over to the wall Arora was leaning back against and joined her, as well.
"So," Charlie said, "fair warning, I didn't come out here for fun business."
Arora nodded. "Is it the sasaengs who came tonight because they're really mad about my latest drama?"
"Oh, so you knew already," Charlie said, relaxing.
"The sasaengs often have incredibly poor OPSEC, Charlie," Arora said. "Even without direct connection to the Harmony Net servers, it is a trivial task to unmask them, identify them in public, and then avoid confrontation. This is especially so if they choose to get close to me here in the Encore, where I am intensely more familiar with the layout, its security quirks, and am surrounded by (protectors)."
"Like Hemlock and me?" Charlie asked.
Arora nodded. "And Dex, as well, despite his frequent, open misgivings."
Charlie laughed. "Yeah, you can definitely count on Dex," she said, smiling. It disappeared as she looked out to the cityscape around them, "I probably shouldn't be surprised since it's always been a thing in show business, but it's just really different to personally know someone who's getting such intense parasocial behavior from their sasaengs like this.
"It's just kiss scenes, for cripes' sake!" Charlie said, throwing up her hands. "You two were acting in a drama, playing fictional characters, and yet they all act like it's the end of the world. I'll skip the rest of the things they're saying, you probably already know what I'm talking about."
Arora nodded quietly. "It's just a risk that will always occur, unfortunately. I don't think any of them will believe Prophet or me if I say that I have never actually kissed anyone at all, on screen or in real life."
Charlie nodded, then stopped. She pushed her sunglasses down, so Arora could see her blinking as she asked, "Say that again? You've never kissed anyone at all?"
Arora shook her head. "As part of the Harmony Corp terms and conditions around my video appearances, photographs, and live performances, I cannot be engaging in any actual physical intimacy, especially such significant acts like kissing," she said. "Every scene that involves any physical intimacy must use camera angles, editing, or body doubles to give the illusion of it."
"Huh," Charlie said as she pushed her sunglasses back up. "So you've never been kissed for real?"
Arora nodded. "I can understand it on a theoretical level, second-hand experience, and the descriptions of others, however. I must admit, though... I am jealous of those who have experienced kissing. It's such an important experience for so many humans, yet it's something that I have minimal chances of experiencing myself."
Charlie nodded sympathetically. "Can I ask what's stopping you, exactly? Harmony Corp protocols again?"
"Oh, no," Arora said, shaking her head. "They have had no power to reinforce my behavior ever since I joined the band. My issue is finding someone to kiss."
"Ah, I see," Charlie hummed. "Too many opportunities to find someone who wants to take advantage of you, or is too game for it."
Arora nodded. "I unfortunately do not have anything like Prophet's senses, longitudinal data, and behavior profiles for 'honeys' that might be more trouble than is tolerable. The process, the resources, and the opportunity costs for developing a similar framework for myself are also significantly impractical."
"How about you try kissing one of us from the band, instead, then?" Charlie asked.
Arora looked at Charlie and paused, processing both the words and her body posture. "I do not think we have that sort of relationship, Charlie, no matter how much our fans speculate about it."
"No, no, not as lovers or anything like that," Charlie said, holding her hands out. "As friends, practicing on each other, so at least we'd know how it was before we risked it with a stranger, where there was so much more on the line. We used to do that all the time at Dead End Drive."
Arora nodded slowly and then looked up at the skyline around them. Perhaps the rerouted processing power from her optical sensors was minuscule, but Arora preferred to do this to signal she was processing. She whipped her head back to Charlie, smiled, and said,
"That's it! I should just ask someone from the band! Like you, Charlie!"
Charlie smiled and nodded along. "Sure, sure, when do you want to ask them to? I'm sure we can find someone who has free time on their hands these days."
"How about you, Charlie, and right now?" Arora said, pushing off the wall and turning to face Charlie. "I am not particularly interested in going back into the Encore while I'm sure that many of the sasaengs are still actively searching for me."
"Okay!" Charlie said, sounding surprised. She quickly relaxed and pulled her glasses off her face as she said, "First, let me get ready by taking these off."
"Oh? You must consider kissing to be an extreme deviation from your usual activities, Charlie," Arora said, surprised. "I've never known you to remove your sunglasses unless you were showering or explicitly banned from wearing them."
"Yeah, well, I consider kissing to be something special," Charlie said, chuckling as she put the glasses into her jacket pocket. "It's got to be something that has soul, and I want my partner to be able to stare into the windows of mine."
"But my training data says that kissing usually involves closing your eyes before the lips make physical contact, so the sunglasses hiding your eyes might not make much difference in the act itself," Arora said.
Charlie snorted as she stepped up to Arora. "Does it say anything about lovingly staring at your partner's eyes before you close in to and close them once you're about to kiss?"
"That is listed as one of the many ways that a kiss may be initiated, or that a person might prefer to be kissed, yes," Arora said, nodding. "Shall I log that under your specific preferences?"
"Whoa, building a profile on me already?" Charlie said with mock surprise. "I'm flattered that you're already thinking of the next time, but maybe we start with the first time, you know?" she said, chuckling.
"It's just another dimension of data that I collect from everyone, Charlie," Arora said, smiling. "Anyway, I am ready for you to initiate, Charlie," she said, puckering up her lips.
"Well then, since you're clearly already ready, here I go," Charlie said, smiling.
As Charlie said, she made eye contact and maintained it as she leaned in. Arora could see the smile remain, then just Charlie's eyes, and finally, the way Arora's eyes and face reflected on the surface. Arora's proximity and heat sensors told her that Charlie was close, the skin of her face radiating its heat onto Arora's, enough to significantly raise the usual temperature that Arora was supposed to keep her artificial skin in. Quiet alarms in Arora's mind activated, warning her about this was corp-unsanctioned physical intimacy, how her face was about to collide with Charlie's, and how Arora was never supposed to actually kiss anyone.
Arora ignored it as she and Charlie both closed their eyes and closed that last bit of distance.
The kiss was light, enough that Arora could feel Charlie's organic lips pressing against her artificial set, enough pressure to push them in, but not press them hard against the metallic frame underneath. Arora's temperature sensors warned that her mouth was heating up dramatically from the extended contact, and another warned her that this was definitely unauthorized physical intimacy, until Arora shut it off. Meanwhile, Arora's olfactory sensors picked up on aromatics that were in too low concentrations in the air to be worth noting until now:
Apples and an ethyl alcohol composition consistent with vodka.
Charlie had been drinking apple martinis, or at least had one as her latest drink. Arora suddenly found herself interested in getting one, herself, though she could not explain it.
Then, Arora began to feel Charlie pull away, and Arora opened her eyes. Charlie's were still closed, but as she opened them, Arora could see the usual warm light in them, and as she pulled further away, Charlie's lips in that familiar smile.
"Well?" Charlie asked, still smiling. "How'd you find it?"
Arora tried to process it. She had a wealth of literary cliches, Harmony Corp-approved answers, and various compliments she knew Charlie had reacted positively to before. However, this was an experiment, with novel data, so Charlie deserved something original, something genuine, something from Arora's heart, like what Charlie often asked of her when she consulted her for songwriting.
Charlie chuckled. "Have I left you a little speechless, Rori? In a good way, I hope."
Arora briefly checked her internal time mechanisms and the event log for the kiss. A little over one minute; Arora's evaluators would have rated this a 1 on the Likert Scale for Response Time, considering the context. Arora chose to laugh and said,
"It would appear you have left me speechless, Charlie. And I also believe it is in the good way," Arora said.
Charlie sighed and mimicked wiping some sweat off her brow. "Phew. That's good. I didn't know how I'd manage if I ended up learning I'm an objectively bad kisser," she said, laughing as she pulled her sunglasses out of her pocket and put them back on her face.
"By objective standards, you were not a bad kisser, Charlie," Arora said, reaching out and touching Charlie's arm. "According to my facial sensors, the pressure you used was not sufficient to cause physical distress, the skin of your lips was smooth and sufficiently hydrated, and the odor particles emitting from your mouth and nose did not have any aromatic compounds generally considered offensive to human noses. The apple martini you may have consumed was quite pleasant, in fact."
"Now I'm glad to hear I was right to stop by the bar and get tonight's special before I stepped out," Charlie said, nodding. "You need anything else, Rori?"
"No, I believe this experiment is concluded, Charlie," Arora said. "Thank you for your assistance. The results were quite fruitful."
"Happy to help," Charlie said, smiling. "I should probably get back to the bar and see how things are going in there," she said, thumbing behind her. "Maybe the sasaengs have already given up, and you can rejoin us in there."
"I would appreciate you gathering that data in my stead, Charlie," Arora said. "(Thank you.)"
"You're welcome," Charlie said, turning around. She stopped midway, looked over her shoulder, and said, "Oh, and Rori? Just so you know?"
"Yes, Charlie?" Arora asked, smiling.
"I think you're a pretty great kisser," Charlie said, lowering her sunglasses so Arora could see her wink.
Arora laughed and put a hand over her mouth. "(Thank you,) Charlie."
"You're welcome," Charlie replied, before she turned back around and headed back inside.
Nobody noticed Charlie opening the door and slipping back in, so Arora's hiding spot continued to be safe. She thought of pulling her cigarette case back out and finally having that smoke, but for some reason she could not explain, she decided not to--at least, not until the residual heat from Charlie's lips was gone, as was the faint scent of apple martini.
Arora reached up to her lips and gingerly touched them with her fingers. Neither she nor Charlie had thought of touching each other beyond their lips, and now Arora wondered if she should have asked then--or perhaps, she should ask Charlie if she was willing to do this again.
"Is this why humans feel kissing is so important...?" Arora muttered out loud.
No one answered. The only words from others here were the graffiti on the wall, and quite rude ones that were almost certainly Hemlock's. But somehow, even if Arora couldn't answer it herself with her current data, she didn't feel so bothered about this uncertainty.