@sea-m0nster Started Following Stxr-bxster

@sea-m0nster​ started following stxr-bxster

“...Hehe. Feesh.”

Seems that Krigg’s braincells were left at the door today. But, come on- cool piscine alien with an actual sense of gear tastefulness. Wouldn’t you be vibing a bit too?

video game fruits!! 🍓

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 made a short, quiet hiss when she put in the clamps, but he kept perfectly still.

“I’m impressed by your fighting spirit.” He commented. “I feel a strong sense of Justice in you as well.”

“But… allow me to clarify what Evil Energy is: it’s a form of Living Energy that feeds on the evil thoughts, impulses, and actions of sentient beings. It multiplies rapidly and infects the minds of any thinking creatures that are exposed to it. It’s an extremely dangerous substance that has brought entire worlds to ruin… The robot who tried to destroy your ship was using it as a power source.” Duo explained. “He was most likely going to try and corrupt you, but greatly underestimated your defenses.”

Krigg felt somewhat glad she’d been busy leaning back over the wound, trying to figure out the best start to start fixing the internal mechanisms, because the mere mention of her having anything like a sense of Justice was enough for her expression to sour. The only indication of her displeasure was the light tensing of her antennae from their resting arc, and the long appendages pressing tightly together until they crossed inwards.

“Hm. Thank you.” She tried not to sound too dry, managing somewhat. The mention of a quality that shiny and noble being applied to her didn’t sit right with her on a fundamental level. A sense of right and wrong - yeah, she had one of those! A well honed one!

But justice implied all sorts of selfless-ish acts, the kind of ooey-gooey stuff that got people very injured, if not dead, because things rarely went so well as to let that persist in the universe. And she mostly went after the guy he’d scrapped with out of anger and spite - what’d HE know about that?

...Breathe, Krigg, breathe. Don’t get grumpy about it. The small alien un-crossed her antennae, keeping them pricked up towards Duo to let him know her attention was on him, despite her having started rummaging through her toolbox to pull out a small, handheld welding stylus and a stick of binding material.

“Alright, going to try and reconnect what I can see clearly. Hoping your self-repair can handle the rest - wouldn’t see you going around without one.” She mentionned, leaning over the wound once more to begin working on plugging cracks and mending broken mechanisms.

At least the detailed description of what evil energy was took her mind off the subject matter. Krigg gave a grimace as he explained himself, antennae going briefly flat. “Geez. And I almost got in contact with... that? I’ve heard of energy sources with weird lifelike behaviors across the universe, but nothing that malicious. Nevermind my plans of studying that guy’s leftovers - thanks for keeping him off of me. But how are you not getting all... corrupted an’ crud from straight up touching that nasty stuff?”

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.”

@heliotropez started following stxr-bxster

“Oh this some uncanny valley type shit.”

As a rule of thumb, any one specie in the universe would someday find another that had taken the exact same shortcuts to deal with the exact same issues during its path to evolution. Weird similarities-but-not-quite-canny-ones across the universe were nothing unusual - it was a statistical certainty that you’d be able to draw comparisons between things from two different ends of the milky way.

So yeah, maybe it was rude to say your coworker’s face looked like that of an angry glurk. You could be right though!

But just because something was LIKELY, didn’t mean being faced with that situation was PLEASANT. Especially when the situation was, give or take a few crumbs, comfortably more than twice her height.