@eclairwolf@tech.lgbt_Shit._ No hiding it now. Possibilities flicker by in the mech's mind - processors designed for optimizing tactical maneuvers plays every possible sequence of responses back, collating probabilities, coming up with numbers she doesn't like. What could she even say? Sure, Sarah is one of the few people to treat her as an equal, and moreover, as a _friend,_ but this is a bridge too far, right? All those nights they'd spent together watching the stars go by, watching pirated holos together in the cockpit – surely Sarah doesn't feel the same way about them, right? Surely, she'd–
"Hey, Elie, it's okay," Sarah responds, stroking the side of the viz projector. Any good pilot learns to read their AI's unspoken feelings – divining the subtle shifts in hue of cockpit buttons and changes in the sounds of the life support systems – and Sarah is among the best. "It's alright, you can tell me," she says, sweet and gentle.