|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:40:31 GMT -6
((please note that the circumstances of the crossbreed as mentioned in this thread isn't meant to reflect on its actual ooc past ownership; it's merely for narrative purposes re: the story I want to tell P: ))
Aster brought home… strange things sometimes. Rabbit had no opinions on this. It was not her place to have any opinions on this. Aster tried to tell her otherwise, but her stance hadn't changed. Sometimes, when he remembered, he would give her some particulars to remember when she fed or cared for these new charges, and sometimes he would not. For the most part, this was perfectly fine. Rabbit had a wide database of care sheets in her database, and a good deal of programming intended to mimic the intuition of a seasoned animal handler. It was, after all, what she had been made to do. And sometimes these new creatures were not to become her charges at all. Aster had few enough creatures these days. Many of the ones he brought back to the estate were simple one-off training projects of his, nothing more. But the… halfbreed… had been an interesting case from the first.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:41:38 GMT -6
“There’s some sort of… thing someone wanted off their hands,” said Aster, in the conversational tone in which someone might remark idly upon the weather. Rabbit looked up. She had been idle, her thoughts slowing to the quiet whir of energy conservation mode, but at the sound of his voice, she made herself present once more.
She said nothing, but from a glance, Aster could tell that he had her attention. Only then did he elaborate on the topic. “I got it. The thing, I mean. Wasn’t cheap, but it was cheaper than it probably should’ve been, if the ad was telling the truth about what it is and all that.” He ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply. Perhaps he regretted his own decision already. “Damned complicated splices… I don’t even know what I’m going to be getting into with this.” This last comment was perhaps more for himself than for Rabbit.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:42:16 GMT -6
“Do you need assistance in bringing it home?” said Rabbit. There had to be a reason that he was telling her this, and this was her best guess as to what it might be.
On the contrary, however, Aster looked as though the idea had only now occurred to him--- not terribly surprised, but a slight quirk of the brow, and a thoughtful low hum. “Hmm. It might not be a bad idea. There’s a good chance that this thing is smart, and an even better one that it’s dangerous. I could use the armor, probably.”
“Very well,” said Rabbit. They had done this before, once, for the breaking of a Drake--- Aurelius, perhaps. It had been such a long time ago that even Rabbit’s recollections of the specifics of the breaking were indistinct, but then again, they always were on the scant occasions where Aster chose to pilot her from within.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:43:25 GMT -6
Fortunately, Aster was mostly content to leave her to her autonomy. A robot did not have preferences, of course, but Rabbit did find that particular point helpful to her overall productivity. A robot with fewer gaps in their memories inevitably accumulated a better wealth of knowledge. Rabbit could rely on that, instead of trying to piece together her duties and days without knowing when she would have them.
Aster sighed again, but shook his head. “Pick up is tomorrow. I’m warning you now, I don’t know what exactly we’ll find when we get there.” After a moment’s pause, he rose to his feet. “Summer’s coming too, of course. Hopefully that helps. I’ll get the cart ready… Gods and angels, I hope that thing doesn’t scare the shit out of Grunty.”
With those parting words, he left, making a beeline for the barn where the Thundergug was housed.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:43:49 GMT -6
The next day saw the assembled team to bring home Aster’s purchase: Aster himself, standing with his arms crossed, in front of the cart; Grunty, hitched up in his tack and munching contentedly on a bag of treats tied to his snout; Summer, perched on the cart and nosing through her feathers; and Rabbit, standing off to one side.
“Avander isn’t coming?” said Rabbit.
Aster shook his head. “Grunty and Summer should be insurance enough. I don’t want to scare this thing more than I have to, and if there’s another drake on the premises…” They were more and more common these days, and the trouble with having something that territorial was that they were prone to distraction from their own kind. Avander was generally collected for a drake, but that may not have been saying much. Their species didn’t have a reputation for levelheadedness, and Aster didn’t want to test the extent of Avander’s training more than he had to.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:45:50 GMT -6
“I understand,” said Rabbit. “Let’s get this over with,” said Aster. He didn't seem to be any more eager to do this than she did. The cavity, as he had once explained to her, was not very large. When he had settled into the empty cavity within Rabbit, he checked in with her again wordlessly, through their mental link. Rabbit rescinded control, and let him take their limbs through a few motions as he acclimated himself to controlling the ‘suit’. “Better safe than sorry,” he said. It sounded almost like an apology. She didn’t remember much of the journey. In fact, Rabbit didn’t expect to remember much of anything until they returned to the estate grounds. But as luck would have it, things did not go particularly well for them. ---bzzt---“... get it---” ---bzzt---“---Damn! Grunty, don’t---” ---bzzt------the sensation of heat, the roar of something over the flames------bzzt------ice-colored eyes and black ichor and teeth, and her hands reached in------bzzt.----------
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:46:31 GMT -6
Rabbit was aware of her own presence once more. It was not like waking, but it was more like waking than anything else she could describe--- to Aster, at any rate, when he had asked about the matter. A cursory exploration of her sensors found that they were mostly intact. She registered some damage, but the majority was to her outer armor. This was good. The last distinct memory she had was of Aster within the armored shell, so this meant that he had been adequately protected. Their mental link was also intact, though she could sense a great deal of agitation and consternation on his part… And weariness too, she realized. Whatever had happened, at least it was over. But as she fired up her visual sensors to check whether they were still working, she encountered something she had not expected: the sight of a creature lying prone mere meters from her own position.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:46:44 GMT -6
It was not one with which she was familiar. The armor alone marked it as none of Aster’s; his creatures largely went without, due to the costs of such outweighing their practicality for Aster’s current situation. The creature, upon closer inspection, appeared to be tied up; and there were signs of injury upon the exposed parts of its hide, some old and others more recent.
She sent out a wordless mental query to Aster. What she had was not the efficient telepathy that he had with some of his creatures, but it was sufficient to convey certain things.
There was a mild sense of surprise on the other end of the line, for a moment. Then, some of the turbulence in Aster’s emotions quieted. Minutes passed before the man himself appeared--- inside the barn, as that was where Rabbit and the beast happened to be. A small, spare barn on the far side of the grounds, which had already been disused when he had first acquired the property, and hadn’t been fixed since.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:47:14 GMT -6
“You’re awake,” said Aster. He looked tired too, the lines of his face drawn. Shadows darkened the space beneath his eyes, and there was evidence that he hadn’t shaved as often as he usually did.
“I take it things did not go well,” Rabbit said.
“No,” said Aster, with a grim little smile. “No, they did not.”
“The fire,” said Rabbit. “Was it Summer’s?”
“Also no.” Aster looked at the prone form of the creature, and the set of his mouth tightened. “This… I can see why they wanted to get rid of it. I’ve got guesses about the mix, but whatever it is, they were splicing for power more than anything. I don’t know if the nasty temper is inherent or just the product of bad treatment, but it sure didn’t like us, that’s for sure.”
“It is… sleeping?” said Rabbit. It was prone, but beyond this, it was hard to tell.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:47:25 GMT -6
“We had to knock it out with a sedative. Part of it was for the thing’s own good. It’s not in the best of health, as you can see.” Aster motioned to the creature, and obediently, Rabbit gave it another once over. This time, she could make out a black liquid oozing from its mouth.
Catching the line of her gaze, Aster smiled a grim smile. “We’re still figuring out what in the nine hells that is,” he said. “Can’t call a damned vet here either. Even if it wouldn’t bite their head off, halfbreed anatomy is always tricky. And we don’t have the exact parentage either.”
For a moment, the two of them stayed there in silence. Soundlessly, Summer drifted by to perch on Aster’s shoulder. Rabbit knew the Shijin well enough that she could read the tension in Summer’s bearing, for all that she tried to look nonchalant about her vigil over Aster.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:47:37 GMT -6
It had been very bad, then.
“What do you plan to do?” said Rabbit, at last.
Aster shrugged one shoulder. “I’m of half a mind to sell it on myself, if I can find someone else to take it. It’s sure not worth the trouble to keep.” He gazed at it, his words sharp but his expression merely pensive. “But it’s not like there’s a whole wealth of buyers out there, and I doubt they’ll be any more equipped to handle it than we are. Probably less.”
Rabbit said nothing, but there was a great deal of truth in the statement. The creature trade had slowed down considerably in the past few years, and even in such an out of the way location, they knew that the population of the city was shrinking. One too many incidents, combined with the rampant Sarane fad of several years back, had driven off a good deal of the populace.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Apr 14, 2019 19:49:52 GMT -6
“Well,” said Aster, “even if we try to shift it off our hands, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, you’re probably going to have to deal with it. I’m a little too roast-able on my own.” He pinched his arms as if in demonstration, then winced. Injuries, Rabbit thought. It occurred to her that she did not yet know the true extent of the damage. Summer seemed fine as she was, but she was generally the least assailable of Aster's companions given her nature, something that he had relied upon on more than one occasion. Fire. And Aster had been encased inside her metal body, at least at first. Suddenly it was a small wonder he was not more gravely injured. “Understood,” said Rabbit. “Great. I’ll fill you in on what I know, and what I’ve guessed since I’ve met the damn thing.”
|
|