The Tin Man (Invite)

A good day for a stroll in the park. The sun was shining, the breeze rolled through, and everyone was out enjoying the good weather. The heat wave that had plagued most of the world was dying down, but the temperature was still above the norm.

Saizomaru made his way through the park, glancing around at everyone having a good time. Children played in the fields in their own imaginary games, or had a ball for themselves to kick around to each other. Families were sitting on the grass on their checkered blankets, enjoying a family picnic. Others were letting their dogs have a run around and throwing small tennis balls and Frisbees for them to catch.

The android was the odd one out, plainly.

He caught sight of a mature woman, probably no older than her early thirties, sitting alone on a nearby lawn chair under a tree near the path. Pausing for a moment, Saizomaru wondered why she was here and on her own. He smiled and made his way towards her. She could probably do with a bit of company.

"Hey there, ma'am," he greeted in a friendly manner, giving her a wave with a metal hand. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked as he gestured the tree to his side with a thumb. Before she could answer he had already hopped up into the tree, lounging on one of the thick, low branches that was only a few meters from the ground.

"Good weather today, right?" he called down to her. "You here to enjoy the sunshine?"

The android chuckled. He thought that she was the kind of lady who enjoyed relaxing in the outdoors regardless of where she was—park, forest, beach, mountains, it probably didn't matter to her. He felt a sort of kindred bond that they shared in their enjoyment of enjoying the world. "Beach, huh? Sounds nice," he responded as he let one leg hang over the side of the branch. "Just chillin out by the sea in a swim suit, catching some rays to get a nice tan for the ladies—or guys, in your case. Maybe. Shouldn't presume, should I, eh?"

The man smiled as she agreed on the glory of the day's weather. Certainly beat the ninety degrees heat that they had some few days ago. He looked down at her as she asked about himself. "Me? Just chillin' out. Taking in the sights. Having a bit of a walkabout."

He let his arm hang by his side in view of the saiyan woman. "And I'm not wearing armor." The make his point known, the metal segments began to shift and protrude inches away from the rest of his arm. The artificial muscles separated in clumps of strands as they were pulled away by the segmented plates, revealing only the metal, skeletal structure of his arm. He left it as it was for a few moments, making sure that Kohlra understood what she was looking at. He then lifted his arm back up, muscle and metal returning to their positions.

"I mean, it's cool to have sometimes," he spoke. "Coolant keeps the body temperature regulated, so I don't have to worry about getting a heat stroke or anything." He looked down at her, remembering that she had asked him about himself. "What about you?" he asked, reciprocating the query. "Doing anything else besides enjoying the weather? Having a bit of lunch too?" He gestured at the bag of McBaos next to her.

The android hummed as he looked down at her, taking a good look at her appearance. "Oh, come on, now," he spoke in a cheerful manner, "you don't look a day past thirty. I bet you'd look good on a beach towel." he smirked as he pushed himself off from the back of the tree trunk, turning to face her with his legs dangling over the side of the branch. "And there's plenty of guys out there who don't mind ladies with a kid. You'll be alright."

He hummed with a slight chuckle behind his lips. "Eh, 'Tin Man' is a bit on the nose, don'tchya think? You can call me Sai like everyone else does. Plus it's one less word for you to worry about." He looked down at his hand before raising it to run two fingers along his cheek. "Mostly machine, yeah. Only parts that are still human is my head—and even that hasn't been left untouched from cybernetics. Gotta admit though, the lack of needing food and sleep gives me more hours in the day to get stuff done."

It might have been awkward for people to divulge their personal information to complete strangers, but Saizomaru didn't mind in the least. He felt it was a good way to connect with people by opening himself up to them—literally and figuratively.

But he sat still as the woman mentioned a name that he had recognized. "Tarch?" he repeated. "Little saiyan kid? Blue eyes, black hair, has a monkey tail? Wears a blue jacket?" He chuckled. "Small world after all, right? I've met him a couple of times. Good kid. Likes his games."

The android gave a gentle sigh as he smiled a little back at her. "Sorry to disappoint you," he replied apologetically, "but I'm not good with kids. Not entirely sure how to be a parent—especially for someone else's kid. You can find a whole lot better than me."

Saizomaru tutted as he lounged back against the tree. "A'ight, fine. You can call me 'Tin'. Try not to get used to it, though." It wasn't a name he especially liked—he didn't want to be reminded that he was practically a robot. It made him feel less than what he was.

Her question made him more so. There was a silence between the two as Saizomaru hesitated to respond. "A lot," he finally responded. "A mission got botched. I was taken captive. I was butchered until I was only a head in a jar, then I was fitted with this body. I was saved by my squad before anything else could be done to me. Since then…" He raised his arm, glancing down at it. His fingers curled into a loose fist, then relaxed. "I've been like this."

He told more than what he wanted. But now he had the chance to listen to her story. His attention never left the woman as she spoke each word, framing a scene for the android in his mind's eye. She was on hard times—something that the android had experienced for years in his own right. He may not have understood her situation perfectly, but he understood her pain.

He looked down, noticing that she had her hands on her face. For a moment he reflected upon how he had felt—how she now felt. He had no one to comfort him in his days of black, but maybe he could comfort her.

He dropped from the branch onto his feet, boots silently landing upon the grass. He stood behind her, back leaned against the trunk of the tree, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The only mistakes in this world is not solving your regrets," he spoke softly to her. "That's what my father always says. He was a tough man, too. I never had much affection from him either… But he's still my father."

Taking his hand from her shoulder, he walked around to her front. Gently he wrapped his hands around her wrists, fingers lightly curled around them, before slowly taking her hands away from her face. "You can't cook? Fast and frozen foods are fine. Can't find a job? Fight for your money—there's plenty of martial arts competitions around. Don't know how to show affection? Just say to him what my father said to me, all those years ago…" He glanced down for a moment. he smiled, then looked her in the eyes before saying, "I'm proud to have you as my son."

He felt something pang in his chest. A pain where his heart had once been. The phantom pain of a broken heart made Saizomaru tense as he saw the tears in the woman's hazelnut eyes. She was so full of strength, so full of will. But everything and everyone had a breaking point.

Saizomaru smiled. It wasn't from the heart though. Right now there wasn't much of anything to smile about. No, he put on a brave face for her, to be her strength. His hands released from her wrists, instead reaching up to her cheeks. The touch was warm and gentle, whether from the temperature of his body or from the heat of her flushed cheeks was uncertain. His palms cupped around them, his thumbs wiping away the streaks of tears that ran down her face.

"No more crying," the android cooed softly, gently, as though he was talking to his own child. He pulled his hands away, placing them on the arms of her chair.

Kohlra gave the android a compliment. It had been a while—a long while—since Saizomaru had had anything good to be said about him. Very few people ever gave him any consideration of more than what he appeared to be. Fewer ever treated him as a human being.

But she did.

Standing to his feet, Saizomaru swerved around to the side of her chair, taking a seat next to her with his back leaning against the arm of her seat. "Thanks," he said in regards to not being given a bloody nose. "I'll take that as a compliment, shall I?" He chuckled as he brushed the bang of his hair from out of one side of his face.

"And I'd love to come visit." He wasn't sure what to think of all this. He had been alone for a long part of his life save for a select few people. He was an ambivalent twist of charismatic and introverted—knew how to be around people, but preferred to keep to himself. He never wanted to get involved in anyone else's life.

Maybe that was all about to change?

"Everyone should be crying over their children," replied Saizomaru softly, a small smile over his lips. He hummed as he looked out towards the large green fields of the park. He saw in the distance a whole group of kids playing games with one-another. Near the trees beyond them were the families having a picnic, enjoying the outing as parents and kids have their lunches. With a sigh he leaned his head back, resting it against the arm of the lady's chair.

"I've not got a kid," he added. He stared up at the sky, looking up at the specks of blue colours that peeked from between the leaves and branches of the tree above them. He wasn't looking up at the sky—the stars, hidden beyond the pale, was what he was looking at. The Big Dipper—the North Star, Hokuto—was something that his father had said brought fortune to their family. It was revered as the founding symbol of what lead to the creation of Mushou-Ryuu, their family legacy. It made his think of his place in the world, his familial tradition. "Every generation of my family bears a single kid—a son—to continue our legacy. I've not done that despite my age. Never really found the right lady. And now…"

He looked down at his feet. His legs. His torso. Then: "I may never do. I guess… it ends with me."

He caught himself rambling, caught himself in his own self pity, almost forgetting that he was with someone else before returning back to reality. With a chuckle he said, "Sorry. Didn't mean to go off into a rant."

A small smile formed on his mismatched lips of pale skin and black as Kohlra thanked him. Almost too graciously. He snickered. "I get the feeling that you've got some rather unsavory thoughts in your head," he teased as he looked up at her.

Again she teased him with that name. He didn't mind. He was perceptive enough to know that she meant no harm, that she treated him as a person and not a thing. "Y'know, for a saiyan, you're quite—" he reached up with a hand and gave the tip of her nose a gentle tap with the tip of his finger —nosey."

Slowly, but surely, Saizomaru would help this lady step out from the shadows of her regrets and into the light of determination. It was his goal, after all, to bring peace back to this world—one person at a time if need be.

Saizomaru hummed. Strange for a saiyan to cry. It was an awkward thought to have that there are people who find it strange to show emotion. But then again there are humans who have that mentality too, but an entire race? It seems so authoritarian. It seemed so… backward. Wrong. Even as Kohlra continued to explain her lack of affection from her parents it continued to pour disbelief over the android.

He looked down, seeing a pair of arms wrap around over his shoulders, the lady's hands placed against his chest. It made Saizomaru feel… odd. When was the last time that anyone had touched him so? A year? Two? Three? Even then it was from his mother—he expected as much.

But just like then, he felt nothing physically. How could he? He was made up of metal plates and bolts and bars, wrapped up in synthetic muscle that had no pain receptors. But even so, the gesture made him feel something inside.

With a smile he placed his own warm hands onto hers. His fingers curled and wrapped themselves around Kohlra's. He looked up at her and spoke softly, "You don't need to help out someone like me. And…" He sighed, then continued, "I have to have a child. I need to continue on our family's bloodline, if not for our sake then for the sake of our world."

He snickered at the thought of him going around trying to flirt with all these different kinds of girls. He had thought about it before when he was still human, but he was too entrenched in his work to be able to have any sort of meaningful relationship. Now that he was ninety percent titanium and fibres? What chance did he have now?

"I'm glad I got to cheer you up," he admitted with a smile. "I'm not that good at it, but at least it worked this time." He reached up and gave her another tap on the nose. "Well, I'll take strangeness as a compliment I guess."

It was odd. Saizomaru found himself better off alone than with anyone else, but… this was different. He liked being around this lady. She was only the second person he enjoyed being around next to his student.

Was he… changing?