Cometofjustice:

cometofjustice​:

“It’s because of the Justice Energy that courses through my veins.” He said. “It’s an opposing form of Living Energy, and the only substance in the universe capable of permanently destroying Evil Energy. It’s the source of my life, which is why I can’t be corrupted.” Duo explained.

“But… that doesn’t mean Evil-based attacks can’t harm me.” He added, looking over the numerous grey streaks burned into his armor.

“...Justice, evil... the terms are plain, but I’ll be a space kraken’s uncle before I deny it’s a little silly-sounding. Feels like the sort of thing you tell grubs to make it easier for them to understand some more complicated terms. I’d probably kick you under the table if you came at me with that kind of story at a void station pit stop.” Krigg admitted rather bluntly, switching from her welder to another tool, seemingly unphased by splitting her attention between her work and the conversation. Her antennae were still tilted upwards, moving slightly with the sound of Duo’s voice, making it hard to deny where her attention was.

“But, seeing as some beastie infused with that “Evil energy” tried to snatch me off my ship, I can’t really say it sounds THAT silly, in retrospect. I could expect there being a term more appropriate to describe those types of energy in whatever language you started out with, maybe their own word even, but not one that can be translated.” Krigg gave a small pat to the heavy armor surrounding the wound, leaning back to watch her work with a satisfied quirk of her smile before resuming working.

“...I have... so many questions about all that. I mean, if you were equipped SPECIFICALLY to hunt down evil energy, who built you? Where does it even come from? Is it the result of some eon-old conflict that just puttered off and died over a stretch of stupidly long time?” Krigg’s agitated chatter died down, almost abruptly, with a light cough. “...Maybe not the best time to ask all that. You probably hear those questions all the time.”

“Alright, that’s... most of the internal mechanisms welded back together. Gonna’ reconnect the fuel lines, and then you should be good to, er... sit still for a while.”

“Brother I would be raising all sorts of hell if I’d gotten stranded, solely to try to get off this ball of dirt. I would not be sitting here having this conversation.” Krigg’s answer was blunt and to the point, with not a hint of hesitation to her voice. There was no way of saying that in any other way, really - if she’d been stuck on earth, her main priorities would not have been dumpster diving.

Unless that somehow directly correlated to getting her back spaceborne, but she had her doubts on that ever occuring.

Krigg was not nearly asking herself as many questions on Trotters’ nature. For one, from her point of view, EVERYTHING was an alien. And from what she’d seen, the general area seemed to be home to a lot of bizarre things - this one just so happened to have enough brain matter to hold a conversation. Even if the conversation was just them throwing snark back and forth.

Krigg groaned, moving to rub her thighs. The uncomfortable posture was starting to wear on her muscles, and so she eventually decided that enough was enough, and she carefully vaulted back onto the ground, landing with a few wobbly steps forward. “Phew, that’s a bit better.” She sighed, before realizing, with something of a bitter scowl, that she now had to look UP to the strange creature.

He was short, but she remained shorter still. The curse of the teeny tiny was upon her once more. “It’s a pit stop. It’s not like I’d wanna’ LIVE here, but the food is pretty decent. Enough for me to bother coming back. Though, if you mean /here/ here, as in here, this city? Yeah, first time around the block.”

“...Which I GUESS makes you the de-factor authority of weird nonsense. Seriously though, every town around here is a hot mess.”

“First of all, ew, I’m not so sure about that.” Krigg’s face twisted into an expression of overt disgust at the thought of attempting to take a bite out of the lumpy-ish person. “Donuts are a safe food bet, but you?

’s not so much that I should, it’s that I definitely would NOT. No thanks. Nuh-uh, get away from my mouth, I don’t want you there even for testing purposes.” She groaned, before shifting on one foot to bang her heel against the edge of the garbage can for added emphasis.

“Second of all, you’re being dramatic. It’s not like I’m reaching in there blind, I know what I’m doing, thank you very much. I’m not going to cough up the cash for fresh donuts when I can just snatch some free of charge.” Krigg huffed, bumping out her chin at the strange humanoid with a disgruntled look on her face. He was trying to poke fun at her and - unfortunately, it was kind of working. She was being sassed by a walking meatball, and it was working. Ouch, there went her ego.

And then, there was the going home joke, where expression went from utterly flat, to a look of measured exhaustion of someone who’s definitely heard something one too many times. “Really. You’re going to do THAT one.” She grumbled, voice monotone, before sucking in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“First of all, I’m homeless, ya’ assuming prick.” She groaned out, voice heavy with exaustion, before droppin ger hand back, resting it on her knee and maintaining eye contact. “Second of all - what are you, border patrol? If you’re not, then I’m going to need you to get all the way off my ass. I’m not taking advice from a guy that tries to talk an alien out of eating garbage donuts.”

@5mind​, From [X]

“What the... Number two? The heck you doing here?!”

Krigg hadn’t exactly been expecting company on her latest venture out into abandonned places - in that particular case, a dust-filled building whose barred windows and empty rooms marked it as soon to be past tense. She’d been expecting instead a long, quiet evening of scrounging up wiring from some of the walls, and other forgotten bits and bobs, skulking around the shadowed corners of the dead husk...

Then again, things hadn’t quite been progressing the way she’d have liked. She hadn’t even gone past the entrance hall yet!

Something about the cold, musty-smelling stale air of the building had sparked an odd feeling of caution in the small alien’s hindbrain. Some unexplainable sentiment of dread that had kept her in good view of the exit, though not enough to outright abandon her project. She liked to think she was not a superstitious person, though when she finally found a smashed computer tower, a potential source of interest, bitter disappointment soon ensued that was more a cause for consideration.

The flaky green plastic of the chips and graphic cards she’d ripped out from the cracked casing just crumbled into chunks between her fingers at the slightest squeeze. Not even worth recycling. She’d considered then and there calling it quits...

That is until Blue Two, local ai-piloted drone, decided to make its... her, entrance, stoping in from the main entrance and surprising a crouched Krigg. The small extraterrestrial blinked a few times at the unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome newcomer, readjusting her cap with a thumb.

“Huh- Guess I really picked my spot. Su’p, it’s been a while!” Krigg huffed to herself, the beginnings of a friendly smile beginning to creep onto her face, before freezing in an odd grimace as a sound echoing in the dusty, stale air made her antennae twitch.

Groaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn-

Before Krigg could open her mouth to formulate a response to the unusual, and frankly worrying sound, it morphed into a crash, bang, rumble and BOOM as part of the building’s ceiling collapsed... on top of the exit, pulling a startled chirp from the extraterrestrial. Which felt entirely un-coincidence like. She stared in livid disbelief at the pile of debris, now sitting prettily behind Blue Two’s heels, blocking the... er, only exit path she was aware of.

“Oh, son of a BI-”

cometofjustice​:

Duo felt an unpleasant sensation when she took the clamps out, but his arm didn’t hurt as much now that his tubing had been reconnected. The reduced pain allowed him a bit more mental clarity as well.

“Thank you. But… I admit there isn’t very much of a story to tell. The creators of my people disappeared so long ago that almost everything about them has been lost to time, but I have managed to piece together some of their history in my travels… According to my studies, they were once a sprawling, highly advanced spacefaring civilization that lived in perfect harmony with machines, but the invention of Justice & Evil Energy caused their entire nation to divide. The two sides then designed powerful robots using their respective energies, and waged war up until their mysterious disappearance. My people were created during this war to serve as a galactic police force, and to guard our creators’ star systems against invaders. Even after they were long gone, we continued to patrol their ancient boundaries. Although I am young, somewhere within I still know the outline of where their empire once stood…” He said, briefly gazing off in what was presumably the direction of his home. “…The fifteen-headed serpent who attacked you was also a remnant of the war. His name was Araxxus, and he was working against my efforts from the shadows. His kind were designed to oversee a variety of dark operations, but I think he may have been the last… Once I regain my strength, I’m going to gather up his remains and dispose of them in the nearest star. The secrets of this abhorrent technology must never be rediscovered…” He explained, his eyes narrowing slightly.

When Krigg would approach Duo’s wounded leg, he would remove the hand he had been using to suppress the bleeding. Liquid plasma dripped from his gloved fingertips and hit the floor with sharp hisses, causing him to flinch at the sound.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

As promised, Krigg listened to Duo’s story with quiet attention, setting briefly down her tools and sitting cross-legged on the cool cargo bay flooring with a little thump, hands folded on her lap. Faint star-shaped pupils kept minutious track of the ancient being’s subtle facial expressions, antennae perked as could be without looking ridiculous.

Despite the little alien’s idle hands soon starting to drum on her thighs, she hushed the easily irked part of her that always seemed to chide her idle hands. He needed some time to get back the fuel flow to optimum in his arm, anyways - best not prod at him and overload his circuitry with the sensations of her operating on his leg in the meanwhile. She might as well pay attention while that resolved itself.

Her own face going from unabashed curiosity, and just a sprinkling of wonder, to a light concerned frown, to a thoughtful pinch of her cheeks, she eventually scoops herself back onto her feet as the story comes to an end, and pitters ‘round the large being, tools in hand. The wound is no less messy than the first one, burning lifeblood dripping and splattering onto the metal flooring from the hand once applying pressure, eating at the protective coating with a bubble and a hiss.

“Don’t mention it. Rather that flooring be burnt than you fixing this with one hand.” She huffs, almost a laugh, at the ancient being’s surprisingly sheepish apology, inspecting the wound. No severed cables, but scratched and punctured ones, and she’ll need to patch them up and bring back the clamps, which she does with a light pat on his armor as warning.

“Remind me NOT to ask how old you are, I’ve got a feeling the answer would scare me a little. Organic beings operate on rather tiny timetables on the scope of the universe..” She continues to muse, half-laughing and humming to herself as patches of flexible material are applied to the torn, frayed cables, providing temporary band-aids. “...I’m surprised that anyone would even CONSIDER using robots like that Araxxus guy for anything, really. Making artificial life is one thing - making it INTENTIONALLY cruel is a recipe for disaster. Then again... that thing packs more punch for its size than most anything around. Clearly, there’s something tempting about that kind of energy source.”

“...Doesn’t that feel off, though? Working from a framework made by people who no longer exist, for a purpose they can’t benefit from? Even if that purpose looks like it’s changed somewhat.”

cometofjustice​:

Duo had almost raised his left arm to catch the coin-like object, but the soreness sharply reminded him to keep still. He curiously peered over his breastplate at the device as he listened to Krigg explain its purpose.

“Alright.” He said with a nod.

Just as she was about to leave, Duo remembered that he had something more to say.

“Krigg-” He spoke up. “…Thank you.”

Krigg froze in the middle of her departure with one foot up in the air, comically enough, before shooting a small look of surprise over her shoulder. She slowly placed her foot back down, shuffling to face the ancient being, only for a sheepish grin to creep up onto her face, skin darkening subtly. She reached up to nervously paw at the skin behind her neck, antennae rubbing together.

“Bah, it’s nothin’ much.” She chuckles nervously, tone dismissive as her free hand is waved into the air for emphasis. “You saved my bones, it’s only fair I return the favor. ‘sides, between travellers, it’s common courtesy to help one another when you can. Survival in the void doesn’t hold onto much - every bit of aid counts.”

“ ‘sides. I’m not the superstitious type that thinks it’s conducive to souls drifting forever in limbo, but it’s not right to leave injured people out voidside. Your life shouldn’t end in the cold dead space between stars... even if I don’t think you were anywhere close to kicking the bucket.” Krigg added after a pause, snappily turning around and pittering away from view, affixing her own end of the radio to the collar of her jacket.

A minute or two later, a voice crackled from Duo’s own receptor. “Yep, works just fine!“

This time, it was Krigg’s turn to open her mouth with an offended chitter, brows furrowed at the accusations that she herself might have been less than sober for talking to... to... Yeah no, there was no flattering or simple term to describe the being standing in front of her. Suspiciously lumpy tusked creature, maybe?! She wasn’t sure what they were, and she didn’t really want to know what kind of mistery mosh pile was going on under all the clothes!

“Hey! I’ll let you know, those donuts are PERFECTLY edible, just part of the unsold batches people throw away! These don’t even ferment, anyways!” Krigg objected loudly as she hopped around the can lid, legs still folded in a crouch making her look like an unusually loud bird. And brandishing a donut with a few bites taken out of it where he could see it, for the sake of proof. “What, you thought I was scarfing down trash?!”

“I mean, on a technicality...” Krigg looked back at her donut with a bummed out frown. As long as someone threw it away in a garbage can, by the law of every dictionary ever printed, it WAS garbage. She angrily crammed the rest of the pastry in her mouth to shut down that train of thought, pointing a vengeful finger his way. “And yeah, you’re not less weird-looking than me! Whatever!”

“...I was going somewhere with this.” Krigg grumbled, halted in her tracks by a lack of point she was making.

To be completely fair, Trotters wasn’t the only person involved to be guilty of looking at someone with a particularly ridiculous expression. The tiny green creature perched precariously on the edge of an open garbage can at the back of the bakery had a very “deer in the headlights” look to her, exaggerated by her wide orange eyes, staring unblinkingly back at the...

Krigg’s gaping mouth slowly closed, a stray flick of her long tongue over the corner of her mouth mopping up some of the sugar sprinking that had been deposited there by her last bite out of the garbage donut. To be fair, she had no idea WHAT was staring at her, exactly. Wasn’t human though, she was sure of that much, despite it enjoying a canned drink and having a grasp on how to dress itself, sort of. That disguise was not convincing, unless standing exactly fifty meters away in a dark alleyway.

Well, the very least, it looked shocked enough that there MAYBE was a way for her to get out of that situation without having to stew in her remarkable ability to break the prime directive. Stars blast that delicious sugary treat for making her attention to her surroundings lapse!

“Go home, brother. You’re too drunk for this.” Krigg hasarded, trying her best to sound matter-of-fact.