MOOD: Sus as F***, and yet? ACTION: Squad up! Admiring the door prize. Is it a Digi-Pet or a Tamagotchi?
‘The Reasoner’, Cryolites whisper tucked under a wisp of breath as the boom of awakened…life? Life. Buzzed about, all around. Spoke in tired languages he both did and did not know of. He didn’t particularly enjoy being addressed as a being with as much in common with a human as a lukewarm, microwaved hot-dog, but? For all that the ‘machine’ seemed persnickety about it’s privacy hatches and secret port holes. No chainsaws had popped free of the walls yet, no cords slunk down to snap round their throats. No one had suddenly died via lazer or asphyxiation.
The poor ship even sounded tired.
The – Velenians was it? Hard to judge their mood for all that he only caught snippets of the purple haired medics words. How kind of that one to have translated…something about their world? Coming to the conclusion that everyone in space knew of each other. Which was fascinating in its own right! He’d have to take that tidbit home…
But then, of course, the other shoe dropped and Cryolite was suddenly very grateful for Andesine’s name – Chryocollas closeness – because then if anything happened? There were people alive who knew his name enough to relay it back home…maybe…if they were in a hospitable mood? If they all survived this visit.
Was hard to know which ways things swayed when dealing with other people sometimes.
"It's truly - - something. A sight to behold." Cryolite spoke up, ceased twirling his sash-tails and biding his time to admire the pixelated being with far less reverie than the Reasoner had; though there was something to be said for low-res cubes and the cuteness inherent with that kind of simplicity. It required a bit more imagination than he had...but...he could lie, couldn't he? Surely the machine that seemed barely able to blink itself into being without great strain wouldn't guess at that sort of subtlety. "If you could give us a moment to deliberate? Names hold quite the importance on Earth, as I'm sure you know."
To the room he shot a look, raised eyebrow that screamed <********' for the Velencians sake, even as one thin nailed digit beckoned Andesine and Chrysocolla closer still -- and then?
Daekiex
amorremxanet
Sweenys_xRevenge
Find all the good things!
cibariuxm
Velencian Aliem Friends and Cute Cats!
of course the rest! and everyone if anyone wants to play fourth!
MOOD: She's never had a pet or a Tamagotchi before, this is a lot of responsibility?? ACTION: Discussing names with Nega Squad
Oh, Chrysocolla did not like the ship talking. It would've been okay if it had an energy signature - something she could sense, something real, something with weight - but there was nothing. And now she was being put on the spot, which wasn't as bad, but she didn't like it either.
"I don't have any ideas," she said under her breath, "so I guess something inoffensive? Some kind of normal pet name...?"
And there was a Mauvian in here too, now, and a Dark Mirror -- neither of them looked like they were immediately going to be trouble? But she was going to keep an eye on them, anyway.
MOOD: Frustrated. Very stressed. ACTION: Venting to all who will listen.
Vyn liked to think he was, for the most part, fairly even tempered.
He certainly felt things. A lot. He got sad. He got angry. He got annoyed. He got frustrated. He questioned himself. He questioned his peers. He questioned his superiors. But he was practical. He could suppress the worst of it. He was very adept at putting on a friendly face, at following orders, at keeping the worst of his emotions to himself. That was as it should be, he thought. No one deserved to be ranted at. He could keep his cool, and if he occasionally sighed or clenched his hands or took a few moments to himself to cry, that was fine, because at least then he wasn’t subjecting other people to his negative moods.
But here, in this ship that felt so ominous, Vyn was quickly losing his patience.
“How do names hold importance on Earth when you look upon your newborn young and call them things like Greg?” Vyn snapped at the small collection of Negaverse senshi and officers — agitated, distressed, in his element but out of his comfort zone. He didn’t like this ship. He didn’t like this world. He didn’t like that they’d all been abandoned here. “You give your pets names like Cooper. Why? Because you like to coop them up?”
He kept his blaster raised because he didn’t trust their surroundings, but he pointed it at various pieces of the ship more than his fellow abductees.
Briefly, he spared a glance toward Aliez, Andreiya, and Neryn, as if to say, Tell me I’m not wrong to be a bit bothered by everything.
“My apologies,” he said to the room at large, staring around as if trying to figure out which part of the ship he should be addressing. The Cameras? The Cybercritter? “We were brought to this world against our will and subsequently abandoned. We’ve been led to believe you wished to speak with us. Please tell us what you want with us so that we might continue our efforts to find a way back to where we came from.”
MOOD: Frustrated, anxious with increasing dread ACTION: Speaking to the ship and then to the other Vanguardians
Aliez spared a glance to Neryn, grateful that they decided to move closer. It was good that they were sticking together, because Aliez couldn’t trust the Negaverse any more than he could trust the White Moon, or the other Senshi in dark colors. He would have to check their records to see if anyone knew what type of Senshi they were. There were so many.
He waited with bated breath as the ship -- The Reasoner as it called itself -- responded to Vyn.
It had been to Velenia? How? It was well over a thousand years ago, before what was known as the Fall of the Silver Millenium.
And then… the ship presented something that appeared to be pixels on a screen. Whatever this cybercritter was, it made the hair raise on the back of Aliez’s neck with increased agitation.
While those from the Negaverse debated the name of this cybercritter, he couldn’t help but be grateful for Vyn when he spoke up. He agreed with him and nodded when he spared a glance in his direction.
“I do not want to believe that this is a sentient being that you are enslaving as a pet that you wish to have named, or that you are mocking us,” Aliez spoke as well, making a broad gesture to everything around them.
“But we have seen the other lifeforms that welcomed us to this world. Our people are advanced in our knowledge of technology as well--...”
Aliez paused, but kept his ComTech recording.
Sentient lifeforms… supposedly sentient lifeforms of a robotic nature. Unable to maintain this world.
A heavy sense of dread rested on Aliez’s shoulders. If the ship wasn’t mocking them. If this was as advanced as their technology could produce.
“I think it would be wise that we leave. The sooner the better. We should find the others and stay together,” he said softly to Vyn, Andreiya, and Neryn. He couldn’t speak louder for the others’ benefit, but he had a horrible feeling and it was growing worse the longer they stayed on that ship.
MOOD: Nervous, wary, still curious ACTION: Proposing a name, and explaining something of other Earth names. The Mauvian laughed brightly, listening to the agents fumbling about and then the... strange alien people getting weirdly upset about Earth names.
"Greg is short for Gregory!" She chirped as she danced about on her toes, looking for away to slip past the others and get closer to the screen. "And Cooper is a job! It means someone who makes barrels. Humans like to name things after other things, usually people, but sometimes places and things. Or just because they like the way the name sounds."
Finding an opening, she ducked under an arm and sidled up to the bright screen, cooing as she tucked her curled hands against her chest.
"Oh, what a cute little thing! The Reasoner never said it was a pet, or that it was sentient, but I think its just perfect anyway, sentient or not. It does need a good name though... something as full of potential as it is!" She said as she bent over, her silver tail curling behind her.
"What about Alexander?" Ash glanced over her shoulder at the others, green eyes bright and seemingly innocent. "Humans had a man they called 'Alexander the Great', and there was a fabulous library called the Library of Alexandria, which is a wonder of the past. You could make it short and cute then with nicknames like 'Alex' or 'Al'."
She waved fingers at the aliens. "Humans like to give things nicknames, you know. To show affection."
The whole situation was more than a little ridiculous, of course, and she wasn't unaware of that fact. The slowly moving pixel image was unlikely to be sentient, or anything more than what it appeared to be... but if she could soothe tensions in here even a little bit, all to the better. She wanted time with the ship and all the humanoids were really cramping her style... humanoids that were fighting would be even worse.
MOOD: Frustrated/Anxious/Panicked ACTION: Speaking to Ash, Standing with Vanguardians
Andreiya half turned to the Mauvian and looked at her with something not unlike betrayal. Mauvians were not of Earth either, not really. They might not have had any on Velencya, but he thought he should respect them for their technical cleverness and their importance to unlocking all of a starseed’s potential.
Well. If you were a Senshi.
He wasn’t. But Caedus was. Or, could have been. Of course there was a little voice in the back of his head that thought he should be on good terms with them in case they could help. Just in case there was another way to save Velencya that wouldn’t have ended in bloodshed.
Except, he felt betrayed.
On this horrible ship that made him feel small and inferior and threatened, where he felt isolated and trapped, she thought it more prudent to name a cyber critter.
There was a weight in the pit of his stomach. His brows had furrowed. He had goosebumps.
The ship had given them only the vaguest of answers. They had been encouraged to come to it, it wanted to speak to them.
Not for this, it only wanted the Negaverse for this.
So what did it want them for?
He didn’t care about names. He wanted to know why they were here. He wanted to know what this ship was, he wanted to know why he felt so uneasy, he wanted to know why someone had put so much effort into keeping it alive, he wanted to know why it spoke in their language, he wanted to know so much, but he did not care to know human naming mechanics, and it probably showed on his face.
He looked almost helplessly at Neryn, and the other two Corporals next to him, and then back to the screen.
Why did a spaceship care about how humans named its dancing pixels? Why was she fawning over the vessel that made him cold and nervous. Why was she waving her finger at them?
“We have names too, you know,” he said after a second, because finally it all bubbled over and he knew it was foolish, but he didn't know what was going on. “Just because we aren’t humans doesn’t mean our names don’t have meanings. It doesn’t mean we don’t have nicknames. Why is this important?”
Worry had bled into his voice, it was too much emotion. He was getting too frantic. He didn’t want to be in here in the first place, but it was important that they were here, right? They were supposed to be here?
He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and he didn’t know where to look. He had to reel it in. The ship was so excited about its little digital creature, and if it was alive like the rest of the robots, he didn’t want to upset it. Didn’t want to hurt its feelings.
Didn’t want to hurt any of their feelings.
But most of them didn’t seem to care about hurting theirs. Maybe he was still just shaken from the Squire from earlier.
He pursed his lips together tightly and hoped there wasn’t enough light to bring attention to the heat on his cheeks. He wanted to know the answers to Vyn’s questions, he really did. But Aliez might have been right, too. Maybe it would have been best to get out of here.
Before he had more emotions than he could deal with.
MOOD: Pensively Optimistic ACTION: *Eheming* at everyone, while side-eying the *Ship*
Cryolite noted Chrysy’s vote of *‘whatever gets us out of this’* with a secretive nod, shared the sentiment wholly as his gaze slanted towards Andesine and he whispered – “Andesine, if you come up with anything better..” because suddenly there were quite a few voices sounding less than pleased. All that edge was grating for how cloistered they were in the echoey place; half-alive humming metal and swaying lengths of cord that seemed to reverb as things pitched above polite whispers and into tones full of unease.
Save the sweet little Mau, but Syrus’d always had a bias for cats and their kind. “Thank you – Mau – We’ll put Alexander on the board as a possibility,” he didn’t dislike it, and it was the first thing lobbed up that felt like it had a chance. Though maybe they’d try at Alex instead? Just in case the pixelated blob’s greatness had a character limit for how long it could be. “You know, if any of you have suggestions? We’re not turning them down,” twisting on one black heel and staring up at the platinum blond velencian who seemed too close to trigger happy for him to want to try the patience of. “We can try at diplomacy, part of which means being amenable to our host's request –” some hisst laid into those last syllables, a hint of sourness and 'get with it', because Syrus too wanted off the rock. He didn’t know what had the Velencians bodysuits all twisted up, but he did know it wouldn’t do well to be rude to the being who could’ve played some responsibility in holding them there — or – in getting them free.
The Reasoner, sentient or otherwise, was still a ship. Even if the vessel was clearly grounded, there was always a possibility of getting coms out if they were polite enough about it…
Having a message sent home….
Guine
Kyuseisha no Hikari
a-disgruntled-dragon
Daekie
amorremanet
cibarium
Sunshine Alouette
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 1:19 pm
THE REASONER ╬▓▀▞⬚▒✜ (NPC)
MOOD: Amicable ACTION: Trying to be a good host
Cameras tucked into the dark corners of the corridors kept watch on every move made by Logos. It was unintimidated by the flesh-beings, and did not protest when the black-clad senshi broke off from the group to wander elsewhere. When she tried a half-closed door, the ship's voice addressed her from a speaker in the hallway. "MANY YEARS IT HAS BEEN S▒NCE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS WERE PERFORMED HERE," it said, with an apologetic tone. "TH▒S VESSEL REGRETS THE ERROR. YOU MAY PROCEED, WITH DUE RESPECT TO YOUR PRIVACY."
The door creaked and shuddered open, revealing a strangely-designed but serviceable bathroom. As promised by the ship, there were no cameras inside.
Meanwhile, in the command center, it deliberated carefully over Vyn's inquiry, some aging processor or data-reader of some kind clicking and whirring rapidly. "THAT YOU ARE HERE AGAINST YOUR W▒LL IS A NOVEL DATA POINT," it admitted. "THIS SHALL BE PROCESSED IN THE DATASTREAM. RESOLVING THIS ISSUE SEEMS FAVORABLE." Some lights flickered, brightened, and dimmed back to their original state, as it proceeded to the next question.
"YOU HAVE TRAVERSED THE D▒STANCE BETWEEN THE CRASH SITE AND THE SITE OF CELEBRATION. WHILE THIS D▒STANCE IS OVERALL FAVORABLE..." Cameras twitched between faces, earnestly. "IT IS UNSUITABLE TO BE EMPTY, WHEN ONE IS DESIGNED TO SHELTER AND CARRY OTHERS. YOUR PRESENCE WAS REQUESTED SO THAT I MAY PARTICIPATE IN THIS BLESSED DAY."
Translation: the ship is an introvert and doesn't like parties, but still gets lonely and wanted to meet the prophesied beings.
With a momentary focus on Aliez, it graciously responded, "EXIT AT YOUR LEISURE IF YOU MUST, VELENIAN, BUT IT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY FOR YOU TO DEPART IN THIS MOMENT. YOU WOULD MISS THE NAMING OF THE CYBERCR▒TTER."
MOOD: Unimpressed. Offended. Annoyed. ACTION: Offering the name “Greg,” since the humans and their Mauvian friend find it so inoffensive. Speaking to the Reasoner.
Thus far, over nearly a year on Earth, Vyn had learned the following about humans, not from secondhand data, but from experience: That they were manipulative, more so than the Commodore, who concealed, or spoke the truth but expected that others wouldn’t read between the lines. That they were naive (see their aforementioned inability to read between the lines). That they were without empathy, cruel to their own kind as well as to others. That they screamed of traitors but had proven themselves to be no better. That they could not even be depended upon to care for and nourish their own world, much less whatever they might happen to find in the vast reaches of space. That they thought themselves and their ways superior to all, despite not possessing the evidence or modeling the behavior to prove it. That they were fractured, combative, unable to follow simple orders to not kill someone else, no matter which side of the divide they found themselves on. That they were reckless and unimaginative, and waltzed into their first meeting with a spacecraft once capable of going further than their own moon or a neighboring planet as if they were entirely unconcerned about the dangers space beyond their limited understanding of it could hold.
The humans, and the Mauvian, too — they treated Vyn, Andreiya, Aliez, and Neryn as if they were children, as if they were not at least a century older, with more experience in space and with advanced technology (not that a screen with a pixelated, two-frame animation was particularly advanced, but the point still stood), and more rigorous training than anything the Negaverse had ever provided the soldiers it plucked willy nilly from obscurity. They lectured and belittled, so comfortable in their own perceived superiority that they either couldn’t remember or didn’t care that the Vanguard, the Velencians, had more reasons to be wary of anything living in space, organic or inorganic, than simple caution or childhood fears.
Aliez was correct, but they ignored or dismissed his concerns. Andreiya asked a relevant question, but so far they ignored that, too.
They could leave, together, as Aliez suggested. They had no purpose here. Whatever this cybercritter was, it meant nothing to the Vanguard. Vyn doubted the issue of them having been brought here against their will would be resolved in a favorable manner. The technology here was more advanced than anything on Earth, but it was old and decrepit — barely functional, by the looks of it. This was a distraction. It was meaningless. They had more important matters to be attending to — on Earth, and on Velencya.
The Reasoner called them Velenians, but they had not been Velenians for hundreds of years.
“Call it Greg, then,” Vyn said, when the Corrupt Senshi (Cryolite) left the door open for more suggestions.
Vyn scowled at all those not of the Vanguard — as much as Vyn’s customarily pouty, sweet face could scowl at anything.
“Short for Gregory, like the Mauvian said, which itself is a form of Gregorius,” he continued, trying for snide but falling somewhere near sulky, “which came from Gregorios, which was derived from Gregoros. If you think I haven’t done my research, you are mistaken. It means ‘watchful’ and ‘alert.’ Unfortunately, that doesn’t make the name appealing, but if the suggestion will end this ridiculous stand off…”
Vyn huffed hard enough that his bangs rustled over his forehead. “Reasoner, forgive us for not sharing your enthusiasm for this cybercritter. We are far from home, as you yourself said. The experience has not been pleasant. You are the first being we have encountered who knows our homeland. Are you able to disclose your origins?”
MOOD: Flustered and frustrated. ACTION: Nothing, in an attempt at not offering another opportunity to be mocked.
Aliez wished they were back home. Not here. Not Earth. Humans were petty and cruel. Mauvians were proving no better. They were mocking them, treating them as children. They offered their fake smiles and feigned politeness when they cared for no one but themselves and their own desires and what they wanted.
His face felt hot. Emotions were not becoming of a Vanguardian.
But for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t because he was upset. It was because he was getting angry.
Whatever mocking friendliness was being offered came across as nothing but patronizing. Why did the robot outside of the ship tell them the Reasoner wanted to meet them if it was going to dismiss them rather than explain why it wanted to talk to them in the first place. It seemed as though it only wanted them to witness its naming ceremony.
But once again they were ignored. Unless Vyn was coming with them, Aliez didn’t want to leave him to find out answers on his own. If they were ever going to get answers.
MOOD: Still rattled, but calming down now that she's doing something. ACTION: Searching for some kind of control panel in the "bathroom"
Logos was braced herself when she heard the ship speaking to her. Certain that she'd been found out and would be rerouted back to the display room. Potentially with violence.
She relaxed, however, when the ship mentioned biological functions and revealed a rather crude looking bathroom. "Due respect to privacy" eased her further, confirming that no cameras would follow her in to do her... business. She nodded, muttered a small thank you, and entered the room. It was... strange. Nothing like any bathroom Logos had seen or visited elsewhere. However, she supposed, those bathroom were created by humans for other humans. So even the strangest of bathrooms generally looked the same on earth.
And if Logos actually needed to relieve herself, this would be a problem.
However, once the door shut behind her, Logos began searching the walls for some kind of panel that she could access.
MOOD: Nervous, wary, still curious ACTION: Responding to angry comments, asking Reasoner about the trial
Turning from the screen, Ash gave the alien with the frustrated voice a wide eyed look and a bright smile.
"Of course you do, Darling! What is your name? I never got to hear it. I'm sure its a perfectly wonderful name. I'd like to know all of your names." She glossed right over the fact that she had never said they didn't have names, or that their names didn't have meaning. She wasn't sure where that had come from. It was possible they were as nervous as she was, and of course people were not at their best when they were upset. "I'm Ash!"
When the next alien produce truly prodigious knowledge of the history of the name 'Greg', Ash was all big eyes again, her hands pressed palms together as she listened. The end of her tail still twitched, brushing against the backs of her legs.
"That is quite amazing, knowing all of that about a name! You've obviously put a lot of work into learning about Earth names.... And I'd like to know where the ship came from too. We're all stuck here, and while the robots seem quite helpful, no one's really been able to answer why. They're all so different in design and function... I suspect they're even from different planets." She said as she turned back towards the monitor, small ears perking. "Reasoner, can you also explain what this trial is, that the other robots mentioned?"
At least the negaverse officers weren't showing any signs of aggression... they'd been the ones she'd been most worried about. While she tried very hard not to show it, she never really took all of her attention from them, tracking where they stood and what they were doing.
MOOD: Mad ACTION: Speaking to Ash/Speaking to the Vanguardians
She was mocking him. Andreiya was absolutely, positively certain of it.
She said she knew about names. Said she wanted to know his. Said she understood nicknames. She called him Darling.
After she spent so much time telling them how a human picked a name, how they used nicknames–as if humans were exclusively the only species in the universe who did this. And she was a Mauvian! She was another species! She had chosen a name, just like a ‘human’ would have. And a nickname. Just like a human.
He was older than her. Older than every human in this room, he guessed.
It didn’t matter. He was always going to be just a foolish little alien to them. A traitor. An enemy.
He hadn’t come here with anything more than curiosity and alarm, and now he was upset.
He didn’t know how many times he had to say that he didn’t care about names right now. He wasn’t going to beg to know why it was important. He wasn’t going to beg for answers.
“Do not condescend me,” he said, suddenly cold. “I am not your darling. My name is perfect, because Velenians like to name things after other things, usually people, but sometimes places and things. Or just because they like the way the name sounds. And I have nicknames too, a**. Do not wag your fingers at me ever again. I am tired of trying to be nice when you are all so rude.”
He turned to the Vanguardians. “I do not care about any of this. I am done. I would like to leave. The robots have not been helpful and I do not care about naming critters. I do not think we will get any help from anyone, or anything, here.”
MOOD: “Kind of annoyed, but like, in a way where she doesn’t want to get herself, Cryolite, or Chrysocolla killed.” ACTION: Suggesting a name for the cyber-critter.
“Mn. It’d help if we could see what kind of pet it actually is,” Andesine mused, looking away from Chrysocolla and Cryolite to frown at the……glorified Tamagotchi or whatever the Hell this ‘Reasoner’ had decided to shove in their faces. “Names that people like might end up being different for a cat, dog, chinchilla, axolotl, and so on.”
Not that she would’ve known. Andesine had never had gotten to name the family pets while growing up (when she’d been younger, her older siblings had claimed the right to do so by virtue of seniority, and when she’d gotten older, her younger siblings had snatched the name-giving rights by virtue of being the babies and therefore special). None of the apartments she’d lived in as an adult had been pet-friendly. Sure would’ve helped if she could’ve remembered offhand any of the girls she’d seen for however long who’d had pets, much less what the pets’ names were……
It also would have helped if the aliens had taken it upon themselves to shut up so the Negaverse representatives could discuss anything and make a decision, but what did Andesine know. Maybe manners and courtesy just worked differently on their planet, and anyway, they weren’t the ones who’d been invited to name the thing. Much like it apparently was for the Order Cat, the alien probably found it easy to act like none of this carried any weight when they weren’t the ones who had to make the actual decision, without knowing whether or not the Reasoner was going to use said decision to justify something nefarious.
“I don’t know, how about ‘Mimi Dolittle’?” Andesine shrugged, glancing back at the cyber-critter and wrinkling her nose. Didn’t seem like the thing really had a gender, and why should it have, if it didn’t want one? Why did it all have to be masculine names like Cooper? About the only non-masculine Cooper that came to mind was Betty out of Archie Comics, and that was hardly a resounding endorsement of the name. “It’s from a book I like, and it’s a much better name than Greg, or Alexander.”
The fact that it came from a supporting character in a sapphic pastiche of the James Bond series was probably irrelevant. “Mimi Dolittle” was, undeniably in Andesine’s opinion, a perfectly adorable name.
