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Post by Van-80 on Mar 5, 2018 14:55:38 GMT -6
PL: 6,000“Primary systems have been damaged.”“No kidding?” A lone android hobbled his way across an open field, scouting the area for something in particular. “Navigational systems failing.”“Noted...” The robot in question looked a mess, his ivory skin torn in multiple spots, bleeding into a smooth silver underneath, specks of black and teal cutting through his shoulders. His left foot dragged against the ground, his ankle refusing to work properly. His face was mangled as well, his right eye flickering pink every so often, and his previously broken left eye slowly blinked an ominous red. “Left leg has lost all functionality.”“I couldn’t tell.” He seemed to be talking to himself, though in reality was going over all of the damages he had sustained with his personal AI assistant Ima. The two had just come back from trying to go to space, only to be hit by a passing meteor. It was a night similar to any on planet Earth, cold, quiet, peaceful. The only oddity was the meteor shower called for in the area. In his ever present quest to attain true beauty, Android Van-80 couldn’t help but notice how awestruck the people living on the blue planet’s faces lit up with jubilation at the news alone. Having never seen a shooting star in his life, Van was unsure what to make of the event, and even less sure as to why the humans got so excited by it. However once the shower began, and streaks of white lights illuminated the sky, dashing across the atmosphere only to burn to dust, the android got a small sense of what his fellow earthlings were getting worked up over. So in line with his directive, he tried to catch one of these meteorites and bring them to the surface, despite the many warnings given by his assistant. Needly to say, it went terribly. The android made it up high enough without an issue, but catching the rocks was a different beast altogether. Long story short, he got hit, a lot, and since he never grew up playing dodgeball, or really grew up at all, he was clueless what to do without activating his fighting protocols. Now here we see our android dragging himself home, just past the North City limits. “Puncture detected in right shoulder.”
“Yep, I think I detect it too, please turn off my pain receptors now.”“I’m afraid I can not turn them all the way off, but I have already dulled them.”Vanity rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. His endeavor wasn’t a total loss, he did manage to snag one falling rock, only the size of a tennis ball, still burning in his left hand, searing his synthetic skin, melting it into a gooey mass. “I think shooting star is a bit of a misnomer,” Van breathed, “Why is this thing still burning me?”“Defensive systems highly damaged, I can only activate them by using the B.U.T. drive, which would be a poor decision.”“Fair enough, by the way can you show me how much of my skin is left?” Without a moment's hesitation, a display of a human shaped outline appeared in Van’s vision. It had several yellow orange and red dots, indicating where his skin was damaged, and how severely. His left hand was flashing red, his face was a soft yellow, his left ankle was red, and random spots on his body were a fiery mix of orange and yellow. “Thank you, Ima. One last thing before you continue diagnostics, how far are we from the lab?”“With navigations offline, I can not say for sure, however we are still a few miles away.”“Good, now I just need to,” the android was cut off, by a loud, disturbing metal crash. Van-80 fell forwards, landing flat on his face. “Oh great!”“Left leg has been de-”“I noticed!” Van shouted back at his assistant, his voice absolutely fuming with his frustration. “Sorry Ima, I’m just… oddly tired.”“No need to apologize, sir, perhaps it would be better if we sleep for now.”
“We? When do you sleep?”“I will need a reboot before I can begin fixing your internal systems. I won’t need to sleep as long as you will however.”Vanity dragged himself over to a nearby tree, taking a deep sigh of relief. “Sleep sounds like a good idea, thank you Ima. Wake me up when I can fly again will you?”
“Of course sir,” his assistant chimed, but he was long gone, his right eye closed, and his left eye dimmed. “Good night Vanity,” she added will an electronic yawn, before joining her master in slumber.
Carro Hofferson who will save this poor broken roboboy? |
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Mar 8, 2018 19:57:04 GMT -6
ONE FOOT IN THE DUMP
CARRO'S PL: 10
Night had fallen fast upon the land. No more than an hour ago the sky was painted with hues of red, orange and pink, but all color had faded leaving only a black canvas with no stars to be looked upon. The darkness was thick and the lights of Carro's tow truck hardly lit his path allowing him to see at most an a few meters in front of himself. Other than the darkness and himself all that seemed to exist was the chilly wind that’s harsh bite could be felt through his parka jacket. He could feel the hairs on his arm raised and the bite of the wind had left its mark in the form of small bumps that were tingling on his arms. All that aside, the night was quiet and eerily beautiful, the fireflies outside not minding the bite of the wind.
Carro was heading back to his workshop after stopping by the East Capitol to visit his family and watch a meteor shower together. It was a nice break, but now reality was breathing on his neck again. Bills, economics, and the boulder of a company being held on his back were right back in place. Carro sighed, trying to push his worries aside for once and gaze upon the night skies as some stars began to fade into existence, twinkling above like beacons. Maybe it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but he thought he saw something metallic flash nearby in the starlight.
The monkey mechanic brushed it off as nothing, but again, a strange glimmer, this time shining off of something his headlights trailed onto. Curious enough, the saiyan mechanic parked his car near the treeline, treading off into the underbrush to find what was hidden away. Lo and behold, he had stumbled upon... an android? Carro knelt down, eyeing the broken and battered humanoid drone. He waved his hand in front of Van's eyes, of course to no response. Deactivated, and by the looks of it, recently as well.
Carro remained silent, pondering for a moment. Well, it couldn't hurt to fix up this fellow and maybe gain a new friend or coworker, right? Anything to prolong his freedom from work was welcome.
It took the weakling a good twenty minutes to drag the android to his car, and then push the rather heavy hunk of metal into the back of his truck. Smooth sailing persisted all the way home- though dragging Van into his little workshop was another hassle. Eventually Carro did drag in his newest project. Work began, and the android's interiors seemed rather archaic compared to more modern tech, though still rather current with centuries taken into account. "Now... how to turn you on." Carro muttered to himself, having just about patched up Van after a good hour and a half of work. His leg was repaired, shoulders all fixed, navigations all optimal, complete with the latest and greatest metal Crop Co could afford for the new parts. Carro took a step back and brushed his hands together, admiring his handiwork. Hopefully the android too would be happy when he woke.
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Post by Van-80 on Mar 8, 2018 21:25:57 GMT -6
A sudden thump alerted the android. More accurately, it woke the android’s assistant. “Warning, external movement detected,” she blared internally. “Repeat, external movement detected.” Van-80 didn’t answer, in fact, he couldn’t even hear his AI partner. “Van-80?” she asked with slight concern. The assistant then felt her host slump onto his back, then painfully slowly dragged away. To where or what end she couldn’t tell, since she had no control over Van’s body, including his eyes. Yet motion alarms continued to scream at the two, and the only one awake to hear it could do nothing to stop it. “This may be a problem…”
For a good twenty minutes, Ima tried her best to awaken her partner, hoping that he would at least be able to find out who or what was moving them. All the while, random error messages were displayed, mostly telling her that she could not activate emergency override due to one lousy wire that was probably only a millimeter out of place. The AI decided that there was no point worrying, especially since the only external warning was for random movement, so she spent the time trying to repair some of the internal problems. Of course the dragging stop soon enough. Ima relaxed just in time for her friend’s body to be plopped rather unceremoniously into a new unknown location. The bright side to all of this, she was able to activate the emergency override.
It seemed whatever connection she had was faulty, as she had no motor control, fuzzy hearing, and one functioning eye. To make matters worse, she could hardly see through the forest of auburn hair, leaving tiny slits for her to peek through. From what little she could tell, the due were in the back of a vehicle, likely a truck. To make matters worse, he couldn’t see well enough to tell if Vanity’s leg was in the truck with her.
“Excuse me, driver, could you please wait for one moment?” She tried to ask the mystery rescuer. Unfortunately, it seemed she had no speech control as well. Once again all she could do was wait as once again the robotic body was slowly dragged into a new location. “Well we’re either somewhere that’ll fix us or take us apart, I’m hoping for the former.” To her horror a whole slew of warnings popped up on Van’s heads up display, making her worry this was some sort of chop shop. However, her worry soon faded into anxious caution when she noticed the warnings slowly cease, and parts of Van’s body were showing better signs, including the formerly detached leg. She counted herself both fortunate and dismayed when the mystery mechanic failed to move the hair from the android's eyes. After their leg had been reassembled, Ima’s worries had been entirely dispelled, enough so that she could safely resume her own OS repairs.
In a surprisingly little amount of time, all major systems were nominal, including the newly fixed override systems.
“Now... how to turn you on.” Well, their hearing was back online.
“Van? Vanity?!” The android still wouldn’t wake up. Could the repair person have missed something? Anything was possible.
So once again Ima forced a takeover, this time with ninety five percent success.
“All external systems operational,” she announced this time for all to hear. Ima ran a hand through Van’s hair, finally clearing her vision. She took in her surroundings in silence. A surprisingly small boy in a workshop, that was about it.
“Greetings, I am Ima, personal Artificial Intelligence assistant for Android Van-80.” the voice that spoke was indeed Ima’s low feminine, slightly monotonous, and very feminine. She then performed a quick scan of the boy standing before her. To her surprise, he was not a boy at all, but a twenty two year old man. “My sensors indicate a few primary systems in Van-80’s operating system remain offline.” Ima then brought a hand to her formerly covered left side of Vanity's face. Still damaged, but fully functional. The black scratch marks still scaring the otherwise well sculpted features. “Good,” she noted more to herself than Carro. She then brought her attention back to him.
“Were you the one that fixed us?”
OOC: just incase theres any conufsion [i]italics[/i] is thought and just [b]bold[/b] is spoken
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Mar 10, 2018 12:04:25 GMT -6
Lo and behold, the robot seemed to boot up on it's own. Ima, as she introduced itself, seemed to be related to a Van-80 person. Maybe that was another android she knew? Either way, Carro was a little weirded out to hear that voice coming out of a more male-modeled android, but he didn't question it aloud. "Uhm... Yes. Thaaat's me." Carro spoke in response to her inquiry about fixing "them." Carro raised a brow, but figured he'd ask later.
"Name's Carro- I'm a mechanic, I guess. And company CEO. Fixing is what I do." He spoke, turning around and eyeing the many other small robotic contraptions scattered about the room. Some of the little droids were activated, crawling about and eyeing the two. Others were still opened and being built. Others seemed beaten and battered like Van was, and in the midst of being fixed. "I help rebuild and create new androids usually. I was picking up some parts and abandoned near the dumps, and found you when I was driving home." The saiyan explained, tail occasionally lashing to and fro.
"Speaking of... How'd you get so busted up in the first place?" The saiyan asked, turning to one of the broken bots on the table he was rebuilding. He rolled his eyes nonetheless. "And not gonna lie, your voice sounds weird coming out of that body."
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Post by Van-80 on Mar 10, 2018 14:08:21 GMT -6
Carro did indeed confirm he was the one that fixed Van-80 up. Ima listened intently keeping silent to allow the small saiyan to speak uninterrupted, as opposed to her partner which would have no doubt interject with something like ‘but you’re so small,’ or something equally ridiculous and rude. Then came the embarrassing question of how the two got so beat up in the first place. Luckily neither of them particularly cared about sounding outlandish, though Ima tended to be the voice of reason that often went ignored unless there was a fight.
“Ah yes that,” she began her tone sounding a tad less monotonous. “Allow me to begin by telling you our primary objective. Van-80 was programed with the sole purpose of…” Ima stopped, a small error popping up in her field of view. “Odd, the original directive is popping up, it would seem a few files were recovered from months ago. A moment please…” A barely noticeable second later, and the AI resumed her explanation. “Apologies. As I meant to say, Van-80’s prime directive is to identify and then spread true beauty across the world. Unfortunately neither of us have the knowledge of what that may be. To that end we are currently searching for what could be defined as such. In our investigation, we were fortunate enough to see the meteor shower. The event attracted much attention almost all of it positive.” As Ima went on, her cool tone slowly bled into annoyance, “so with that in mind, Van thought it would be a good idea to try and catch one to do… something with it, he didn’t think that far ahead. Needless to say he was less than successful, instead being battered by meteorites.”
Carro then noted how her voice did not fit the body whatsoever. Even Ima, the artificial intelligence couldn’t help but give a small chuckle. “I imagine this voice is far from what you would have expected,” she began. “When Van-80 went into sleep mode, I began some internal repairs, only to be cut off by motion alarms. As such I have assumed control over Van-80’s body in an emergency take over. However after a brief scan, along with our conversation, I detect no danger and would safely allow Van to reassume control. If he were not still in sleep mode. He does enjoy human tendencies, for example, eating sleeping, drinking, things of that nature. For now though I will try again to wake, I feel he should thank you as well. Which of course I would as well.”
Again Ima went silent, this time for a few minutes longer. The android’s eyes were shut, as the AI tried to rouse her boss from his slumber.
“Van-80, I must insist you wake up, we have been fully repaired, with the exception of your synthetic skin, which we still have plenty of back at the lab.”
This time the assistant was successful, as the android bolted up, the body taking an entirely new demeanor.
“Who? What? Where are we?!” he shouted panicked. Ima was able to quickly calm down the robot, taking a minute to briefly explain the situation.
“Ahhh I see.” Van swiftly turned his attention to Carro. “Seems I owe you a debt of thanks good sir,” he said, his voice back to its silky male tone, filled with emotion. “I am android Van-80, but you can call me Vanity, or just Van if you like.” He then dropped the theatrics, “Seriously though I owe you one, if there’s anything you need from me I’d be happy to help. Hell i have an entire lab at my disposal, even if its only…. Ima?”
“5.31%”
“Barely repaired. Still I feel like I should give something in return!” he added after he realized loaning his lab was far out of the question. “Though if you could do me one more tiny favor, and tell me what YOU think true beauty is?”
little heavy on the exposition there sorry about that, but hopefully this is still a good enough post, as you know im still sick so it may be a bit iffy
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Mar 11, 2018 14:34:41 GMT -6
And so the explanation began- and it was a rather lengthy one. Carro was tired since it was late and he hadn't slept much, but he did manage to pick up on the essentials of Ima's little rant. This Van-80's purpose was to spread beauty across the world. A weird reason to build a robot, but Carro had heard of stranger. He held back a laugh when how they got hurt was explained- the robot tried to catch a flaming meteorite bit! "Nice." He spoke, a sly smile spreading across his face for a moment. "But at least someone else didn't beat you up and come following me for revenge or something." The saiyan shrugged, closing a few more panels of the smaller robot he was working on repairing.
Still, the person talking to him seemed to be an AI assistant the usual controller of the body used. Carro was working on a similar AI for a larger project, so he merely nodded along in understanding. When Ima went into their conscious to seemingly wake the other android up, Carro tapped his fingers on the table, glancing off to the side. Hopefully this new guy wasn't rude or anything. He'd rather not be insulted for his size again.
When the robot's new demeanor surged to life, Carro flinched briefly, not entirely expecting the new change. "Uh.... Hi." The saiyan forced out some words, tilting his head to the side. After Ima seemed to bring Van up to speed, the android did feel indebted to Carro. "Oh, it's nothing. Fixing things is my job." He waved a hand dismissively. Sure, he could ask for help testing out some of his secret projects, but merely getting the word out there was a risk. He glanced off to the side and eyeing the blueprints for a felinoid machine for a moment, in thought. "..."
Carro was snapped back to reality with Van's question. "O-oh! Uhhh..." The saiyan stammered, sounding as if he had been caught stealing. "Well, that's a tough one." He composed himself, thinking for a moment. "I guess for me it'd just be the whole concept of inventing entirely new things and creating them. Making something that's completely in your head come to life in reality is cool." The saiyan explained, pausing for a moment. "But you know, they do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
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Post by Van-80 on Mar 15, 2018 20:17:25 GMT -6
So it turned out this Carro fellow was simply doing his civic duty, something Van-80 could respect. After all, he never expects a reward for spreading beauty to the world. “Fair enough,” the android replied. Then came the important part, the tiny Saiyan's view of true beauty. He gave quite the answer, going into how a simply complex joy of creation was truly beautiful in the eyes of this mechanic. Of course, the mechanic just HAD to remind Van of the ever present fact of life that would annoy him to no end.
“GAHH!” he whined, volume control the least of his worries. “Again! How am I supposed to spread true beauty if its something that’ll be different for everyone!? No matter what I do someone will no doubt make their displeasure known!” he wailed. He was once again acting like a spoiled manically depressed child.
“Sir…” Ima soothed weakly. She did want to calm her host down, but in truth, she too was starting to become disheartened by the seemingly unending search ending in misery so soon. Since she had already made herself acquainted with their repairman, Ima decided to broadcast herself for both people to hear.
Then the robot snapped silent, a wave of inspiration hit him. “That’s it…” he mused.
“Sir?” Ima repeated this time more confused.
“That’s it! Building, inventing, creating!! Oh, I could hug you!” he announced gleefully but not acting on his proclamation. Instead, he scurried over to a small stack of blueprints, hoping to use them to illustrate his new epiphany. “See I can create the world's most beautiful meteor shower, hypothetically,” he added that last part bitterly, “but so far everyone has taught me that there will be at least one person who won’t find it enjoyable!” He then picked up a random sheet, although blank, he seemed to be oblivious to the fact.
“This thing, for example, it could make an amazing…” he stopped quickly glancing at the blank slate. He quickly scrambled around and picked up a sheet with an actual design on it. “This cat! You could make pets for people around the globe who can’t afford one, or simply need the companion.”
“Vanity! That is very rude! Do not go through people’s things without their permission!” the AI scolded, taking a very motherly tone.
The android gently laid the feline blueprint back on the table, “You’re right Ima, I’m sorry Carro. BUT, I do hope I’ve made my point. Someone could make anything they want, and sure not everyone will like it. However, it's not the object that’s beautiful, it's the ability to create.” He finished for more subdued than he started, a broad smile beaming on his face. However, it did fade slightly when another thought crept up on him.
“Only issue is… how does one share what is more or less a concept? It has no physical form…”
“It seems our search has just begun sir!” chirped Ima, new life surging in her otherwise robotic voice.
Van-80 glanced towards the saiyan, his smile returning. “Carro, I feel I have no right to ask you this, you’ve already helped me plenty. Do you think you could help me with this? I have my own lab, a massive and highly advanced lab.”
“At least advanced for when we were created,” noted Ima sharply, determined to leave out any details.
“But,” Van resumed over his partner, “It’s in a completely unusable state, save for my own personal bunker which I’d like to keep, well, personal. My point, if any, is if, at all possible, I’d like to borrow your facilities until mine is back up.”
“If that’s ok, we understand if you’d prefer to keep what could be your personal workshop, well, personal.” Vanity gave a smooth but audible chuckle, noting how his usually monotone friend was now mimicking him.
“Indeed the choice is, of course, up to you.”
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Mar 16, 2018 11:10:33 GMT -6
Carro winced at the android's brief frustration. "I mean, you could divide and conquer or something. Focus on multiple aspects instead of one, I don't know." A shrug was coupled with a quick eyeroll. After a moment though, Van snapped back to his joyful attitude, catching the saiyan off guard once more. Honestly, it was hard to believe someone this full of life was mechanical in origin.
The saiyan couldn't help but to smile with Van's own realization regarding the beauty of the ability to create and inspire. At least someone agreed with him. But, as for sharing the concept... "Oh, there's plenty of ways." He began to explain, tapping a finger on his desk. "You've got cartoons and books to spread and share fictional stories, but also androids like mine and other artificial inventions to spread help with particular tasks or sport certain roles." Carro put a hand to his chin, oddly invested in this now. A little voice in the back of his head did tell him he was procrastinating, though... "There's other gear you can make if we're going my route, and plenty of other ways to share stories. I always love myself a good comic or mystery movie."
And then came the big question about Carro's workshop. The androids' own lab was apparently dysfunctional... Carro put a hand to his chin, in thought for a few seconds. "...Well, alright. Just don't go snooping in my stuff without me aroun--" Carro began to verbalize a few terms and conditions, only for a little jingle to echo through the room- the Majin Bros theme tune, and Carro's ringtone. "...Hold on, got a call."
"Carro Hofferson, Crop Co CEO, what can I do for you tonight?"
"--Oh, Tianum, good to hear you! Did you get the..."
Carro's expression, which just lit up upon hearing the other person on the phone, sunk in concern. "...Slow down. What's happening?" The saiyan spoke apprehensively as the other voice began to vent in panic. What this Tianum was saying would likely be missed by Van's ears, but whatever the caller said caused Carro to go pale. "...Shit."
"I'll be there as soon as possible, you get out of there and wait for me? Sound good?" The saiyan spoke with an odd sense of urgency. "...Alright. See you soon." He sighed, ending the call and running a hand down his face. "...The kais hate me, it's official." The saiyan mused hopelessly. He hopped off his chair and picked up a red and white Baotendo jacket, plopping a red beanie hat on the top of his head as well. "Look, I really gotta go for a few. Something's gone wrong with some, uh, stuff." He explained to Van, glancing off to the side in thought. Carro himself was rather... well, very weak. Maybe...
"...But if you'd like to come and help, I won't complain. I'd be ready to defend yourself, however."
Van-80 ADVENTURE, YEAH... maybe. |
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Post by Van-80 on Mar 16, 2018 12:55:45 GMT -6
Van-80 was lost in a hazy bliss, as Carro described the many way to spread creation. It still presented the problem of different people liking different things, but now Van had a probable jumping off point. To the android’s further pleasure, the saiyan was willing to share his resources, though with a few provisos. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to hear them, as Carro received a phone call for distress. Carro had to leave, it seemed a friend of his was in trouble. Van-80 was ready to resign the conversation for a later date, a little bummed to have to leave his new friend already. Then he invited the robot to join him, only followed by a warning that danger could follow. “Van,” Ima began a little wary, “After scanning Carro, I have deduced if there is any sort of danger, he likely wouldn’t fare well.” This time she kept her voice to Vanity. “No need to tell me Ima,” Van assured his assistant, “I’m no stranger to fighting, in fact, I was originally designed for… well with a high capacity to fight let’s just say.” He ended his sentence a little embarrassed, not enjoying the idea of his original purpose. He quickly shook his head, trying to free himself of his more negative thoughts. “Point is I can defend myself and come with you, it's the least I could do after you fixed me up. Where are we headed?” While Van was happy to go along with a possibly life threatening mission without any sort of context or specifics on what could happen, Ima seemed a bit more cautious. “Forgive me for prying Mr. Hofferson, however, I think it would be best if we have a few basic details if there is indeed the possibility of danger. As it stands, ‘stuff,’ is rather vague. That aside, even if you wish to withhold the details, we will be happy to help regardless.”Vanity rolled his eyes, still smiling. He didn’t say anything, he simply found it amusing how much he and his partner switched places sometimes in conversation. Besides she did have a good point.
Carro Hofferson YEAH ADVENTURE! |
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Mar 20, 2018 16:11:29 GMT -6
"I'll explain during the drive." Carro spoke, zipping up his jacket and wrapping a scarf around his neck. He gestured for Van to follow through the rather small and cramped hall leading out of his workshop. In front was his usual navy blue pickup truck, complete with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos hooked up to the back, cogs turning and lights occasionally flashing a multitude of colors. Regardless, Carro would hop in and open the other door so Van could climb into the passenger seat. Once the two of them were in, the vehicle was off, driving a few miles over the speed limit allthewhile.
"Anyways." Carro began, figuring he'd explain himself now. "My colleague Tianum, a Doragon, apparently ordered some materials for us, which is all well and good usually..." He paused, slowly inhaling. "...Except apparently she ordered something off of Baoslist, which is shady as hell. Of course, when she met to give the materials they wanted in return, apparently a bunch of goons from some sort of mob came and took her things and cash, and some of my materials and machines that were also in her car."
"...And we really need those materials that were taken so I can finish my big project." Carro spoke, still not willing to disclose much about his secret works. But that was the least of his concerns right now- they had to get in and get their stuff. "I'd like to avoid conflict, if possible. We could go through town and get some disguises and intel maybe, or just run in their base guns blazing. Tia followed them to their headquarters and is hiding out there, so we know where that is." The saiyan finished explaining, stopping the car as the oncoming traffic light turned red, allowing the two of them to take a moment's respite to discuss what the plan was going to be. "So, that's the 'jist of it, I guess."
it begins |
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Post by Van-80 on Apr 13, 2018 16:54:44 GMT -6
The beautiful android was too busy poking and prodding the truck fascinated. “Van-80, perhaps your time would be better served listening to Mr. Hofferson, rather than examining his vehicle?” queried the AI.
“I am don’t worry,” he assured while tapping the rearview mirror. The truth was with all the cars he’d seen in his time awake, he never sat in one. So naturally, he wanted to possibly gauge its beauty potential. Unfortunately, he found it average, not really standing out. Really in terms of machinery, he was already an intriguing feat of beauty. Indeed he was listening as well. Even if he wasn’t he would’ve had Ima tell him anything he may have missed. So then came the all important question of how to go about this endeavor. “Personally,” began the robot, “I think guns blazing would be the easiest way to go about this. Ima how about you?” he offered to his personal AI.
A small moment of silence passed as his assistant pondered an internal list of possible outcomes. “No.” she stated bluntly. “No offense Carro, but my scanners show that you are not a good combatant in a fight. While Van could easily hold his own while also protecting you, we have no data on this Tianum person. Likewise, we have little data on the enemy. Therefore I strongly suggest we begin with a more subtle approach.” Vanity shrugged, her logic seemed perfectly reasonable to him.
He then remembered two questions he meant to ask the small saiyan. “By the way, what exactly is a Doragon? Is it some kind of lizard? Also, what do they look like?” with each question he felt his excitement rise in the usual way it did when possibly discovering something beautiful. “OH! And what IS that project you mentioned?”
“Vanity! That may be personal information. We should respect this man’s privacy.” Ima scolded
“What?!” he jumped to his own defense, “I just want to make sure we’re not helping him build some kind of… ugly-afying laser or something equally terrifying.” The android went as far as to shudder at the mere concept. “Fine… Seriously though you’re not building a machine to make things ugly are you? I mean I don’t care if the machine itself is ugly that’s a much simpler issue.” Despite not having any to speak off, Van could feel his assistant rolling her eyes at him.
you know why I took so long, but sorry and thank you anyways!
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Apr 14, 2018 10:54:48 GMT -6
CARRO'S PL: 10
TIANUM'S PL: 5,000
Carro's expression soured at the mention of his combat capabilities. "No shit, Sherlock." He rolled his eyes with a sly smile. "But I do like to think there's more to the concept of success than being strong and punching your way there." He sighed, eyes still on the road. Nonetheless, the saiyan nodded along when Ima brought up a subtle approach of entry. "Doragons are basically draconic humanoids- they have a dragon's breath, their horns, ears, tail, all that stuff slapped on a human. She's pre-tty strong also, so I think we should be good." He explained, occasionally glancing down to his ZPhone whenever they'd stop at a light. Tianum's texts always came in so fast, though they were nearing her hiding spot.
Parking the car in a nearby vacant and downtrodden lot, Carro grimaced when Van brought up his project. "It's a long story. But it's, uh... A make-or-break for my company, I guess. That's all I can disclose for now, though it's not ugly-laser or anything, I can assure you that much." He forced a laugh, hopping out of the car.
Carro glanced to the side as a shape meandered about on the roof on a nearby, rundown convenience store. It hopped down and dashed over, and when her form emerged from the darkness and became visible under the street lamp the group parked under, the dragon woman Carro had vaguely described earlier had shown herself- horns, tail, scales and all.
"So these are the guys that wanna help?" Tianum put a hand to her chin, eyeing Van up and down, tapping a few buttons on her orange Scouter model. "Well, no complaints here. But anyways!" She began, turning around and hopping back into the darkness, gesturing for the group to follow. After a moment, the Doragon came to a stop in front of a manhole, slamming a foot on it's ledge to open it wide. "...The goons that ambushed me went down here. It's, uh... not pretty down there, I can assure you that much." She grimaced while Carro covered his nose, face going slightly green at the stench of sewage below. Van sure wasn't going to like this mess...
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Post by Van-80 on Apr 22, 2018 13:12:16 GMT -6
“Ah,” Van breathed stepping out of the car. “I see where you get the name,” he mumbled to himself upon seeing the doragon. The lizard in question take a minute to scrutinize her reinforcements before giving an affirmative nod. “Glad to be of service,” he responded, giving a slight dramatic bow. She then explained the situation at hand, describing her attack. Seemed like a pretty basic situation, fitting many of the preprogrammed battle scenarios he was equipped with. Of course there was one minor snag.
The Doragon indicated that their destination was in a rather disgusting environment, and that was putting it lightly. Unfortunately Ima hadn’t noticed the telltale signs of her master’s imminent outburst.
“Greetings Tianum,” Ima spoke up, “Forgive me if this is confusing, I am Ima, Van’s personal assistant,” she explained in case Carro forgot the mention there were two minds in one body. “After scanning you I believe your power would be sufficient for a frontal assault. However, given that Carro’s abilities may not be suitable and the enemy may have a home field advantage, we decided that a more subtle approach may be more effective. Of course I bring this up while also wanting to know you’re own opinion on the matter, perhaps if you prefer a different method we could do that ins- Oh dear.”
Vanity had already begun moving, pacing around the manhole cover. “We have to go down there?! In that?!?” it was a morbid combination of panic and fury seething from the android. “I just learned what a sewer was three days ago! Those things are disgusting! Not even because of what’s in them but because of their purpose!”
Ima tried to calm her partner, switching so only he could hear. “Van, I understand your concerns, however I believe now would be the most optimal time to do this.”
“Oh really?!” he shouted aloud, “please Ima tell me what about this situation seems ‘optimal’ to you!”
“Your clothing has already been damaged by your recent endeavor to catch a meteorite, so that’s concern is null.”
“True…” his anger was still burning, “but what about my synthetic skin?”
Now Ima was a little confused. “We still need to replace the parts that were destroyed, so no need to concern ourselves with that.”
“Right, which means my main body would be exposed to that, that, FILTH!” he blurted out, his hands grasping at his head in desperation. “Ima if I go down there I can’t promise I won’t blow the place up!”
A moment passed while the AI considered her options. “Would you prefer to wait until any sort of fight breaks out?”
The suggestion did strike a chord with Van-80 though he shook his head regardless. “Not a bad idea, but I’d prefer to actually help than possibly be sidelined for the entire time.”
“How about I take control?”
“That would work but its still MY body,” he mused, finally calming down.
“Well the only other option I can think of would be to shut off your olfactory senses and set you in battle mode so you don’t notice the muck.”
“Could I still be stealthy?” Van asked his partner, seeming to finally find a good compromise.
“Stealth can be a vital part of combat so I don’t see why not.” she reasoned.
“Very well, but only if you take over for the clean up!”
Van-80 finally turned his attention back to the two, no doubt confused or even more likely skeptical teammates. “Forgive me for that, I tend to get a little, let’s say, overzealous in my mission to spread beauty. Obviously dirtying myself would be counterproductive. It’d be like placing a diamond in a pile of manure and… well I think you get it. I’m ready when you two are.” he assured the group, his body preparing for combat. He even took a peek down the hole, though a small warning read, “B.U.T. Overdrive Malfunction,” though with no context he waved it off, waiting for Carro or Tianum to take point.
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Post by Carro Hofferson on Apr 30, 2018 0:36:18 GMT -6
TIA | CARRO
CARRO'S PL: 10
TIANUM'S PL: 5,000
Needless to say, Van was indeed revolted by the concept of going into the sewers. "I know, right?!" Tianum chimed, agreeing with the android's repulsion. "Guess this choice of hideout says a lot about these jerks." She chimed, raising a trembling fist with agitation, though she glanced at the saiyan, who seemed to be steadily backing away from the stench of the sewers. "Oh, I got us some noseplugs also, Carro. Y'know, so we don't die instantly down there." Carro sighed in relief. "Thank Kami."
"...Well, if I die, tell my cat Cola he smells and is a clod. And give him all my money." Carro remarked with a weak chuckle after slapping on a noseplug alongside Tianum. The Doragon took the bullet first, scampering into the sewers before Carro climbed down the ladder. Though, when he made it down below, it felt like smell was the least of his concerns when it came to senses. The green, goopy fluid in the sewer bed below the path sported a rough surface, coupled with the occasional slowly forming and popping bubble. Bits of trash and other tossed products like band-aids and hairballs protruded from the mess, causing the saiyan to gag again, covering his mouth while his face went momentarily green. "Walk it off, Carro." The saiyan coached himself, closing his eyes. "You've got shit to do."
Tianum, while also repulsed, seemed to handle the sights better, simply averting her eyes. If Van was just as sickened as Carro, she'd grab them both by the wrist and drag them forwards through the sewer system with a sigh.
Perhaps they'd have some small talk along the way or continue venting about how much the situation sucked, but after a few minutes of travelling, the leading Tianum would stop in her tracks, ears perking up. Aside from the now rushing sewer fluid beside the path with the distant rumble of a waterfall, not much else could be heard that would alert the Doragon, but... "Uh, Tianum? What's up?" Carro chimed, walking over to the Doragon, who was now crouched on the ground. A claw ran across a smudged stain of sewer water, and in the middle of the puddle, a footprint from a large man's boot. A fresh footprint, at that. "Oh." The saiyan chimed, seeing the mark as well.
"Well, we've got to be close now, right?" Tianum remarked with a weak smile. "But we'll likely run into company soon. Any last calls for how we should approach this?" The Doragon chimed, glancing about their surroundings. There was little to no areas to hide behind or in, save for jumping in the sewer waters. And that was something she, and the rest of the group, would likely rather avoid even as a last resort.
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Post by Van-80 on May 11, 2018 19:06:16 GMT -6
Van was doing his damndest to delay the inevitable but Tianum wasn’t having it. She grabbed the poor defenseless android by the wrists and literally dragged him through streams of muck and garbage. All the while the android was doing the only thing he could think of to distract himself. He began to ramble on and on about how utterly disgusting this entire situation was, listing off every possible thing he could find in disturbing amounts of detail, which in turn would only serve to sicken the robot further. He only stopped whining when Tianum reached a fresh boot print.
Carro and his partner conversed briefly, the doragon noting that from here on out they were likely to face opposition. While they had their short chat, Vanity was quietly stewing in his rising anger. Then Tianum asked if anyone had any ideas as per how to handle the situation.
“Ima” he queried for once not letting the others hear. “I saw the error before, how dangerous would it be to use B.U.T.?”
Ima paused a moment, less in thought and more worried about her partner's response. “While I have no reason to believe it would have any permanent effects, it is possible you may not be able to control the beauty drive.”
“Be ready, I think I’ll be ok, this will be VERY therapeutic.”
Without a spoken word, the android freed himself from the lizard's grip, straightening himself up to brush the dust from his shoulders. “I have a plan actually.”
He did a quick scan of his surroundings. “No good hiding spots, damn…” he quickly swore under his breath. “Anyways I know I said we should be stealthy but it seems that will be a tad difficult. So how about this…” Van-80 walked straight ahead, where he could pick up multiple life signatures. “If I don’t get this out I think I’m liable to go insane. So my idea is I act as an explosive distraction. Tianum if you are ok with this, you and Carro can use my distraction as cover to retrieve whatever you need to get back? Sound good?”
The android didn’t wait for a response, instead letting his body shift into full battle mode.
“B.U.T. ‘Beauty’ Drive active, all battle capabilities at 100% efficiency,” Ima chimed monotonously. As she did so, Van’s arms and legs elongated slightly, his hands and feet taking a more sharp but sleek appearance. From his shoulders emerged two horn like protrusions slightly curved downwards. His right eye even shifted to a deep crimson, while his damaged eye glowed a more stark scarlet.
“So far I feel ok,” he mused to himself. “I’m going to enjoy this far more than I should.” With a loud crack, Vanity shot off towards the nearest band of thugs and catching their attention with a quick sharp blast.
“You know, I always found malicious trickery to be pretty ugly, don’t you Ima?”
“Indeed I do sir.”
Oddly enough the goons appeared surprisingly ready for the intrusion, raising blasters of all things and taking free shots. Now any sane person would have dodged or perhaps blocked, however, the android instead raised his forcefield, light enough that it took very little energy, but heavy enough that he could still easily resist the shots. Giving the two one last glance to see what they decided upon, Van-80 returned fire, trying to temper his blasts as to not cause too much damage albeit not all that well given his current state of mind.
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