smash_logs | [Open Log] Ch-Ch-Cherry Blossoms

[Open Log] Ch-Ch-Cherry Blossoms

Who: You!
What: Cherry Blossom Festival
When: April 10th - 18th
Where: All over town & campus. Wherever you find a cherry tree. Probably even up there on that mystery island for whatever reason, if you're so inclined.
Rating: Flower power.

Pink is everywhere. No matter where you look, you're sure to see the signs of soft pink and white blossoms. There's a fresh spark of life filling the air and just beckoning for everyone to come outside and enjoy the sweet scents of spring. Well, except for you, people with springtime allergies. They just want to make you miserable. But perhaps for everyone else, it was a wonderful amazing time to be had.

There are wonderful spots for picnicking! Frolic inducing atmosphere and the space to do it! Every so often you will see vendors selling treats for the event! Cosplayers taking advantage of their natural environments for photo ops! Hot date spots! Blossoms! Sparkles! Everywhere! Even when it rains.

This log is completely open! You can do whatever you'd like with whomever you'd like whenever you'd like. Just start up a thread and go!

Have fun! Don't forget to add your character to the entry tags! ♥

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It made sense, Harpuia supposed, to be curious, especially since robots seemed to be so few around here compared to back home. "The term 'reploid' doesn't refer to our humanoid qualities, first of all. In fact, many of us are based on animals instead for ease of construction. The name comes from the fact that our programming template is replicated from Master X, the first known robot to exhibit complete autonomy and self-awareness unconstrained by the limits of programming."

A topic, truth be told, that Harpuia could certainly have gone on about for much longer. There may have been a note of pride in his voice when he spoke of X, but who could possibly blame him?

"Energen crystal is the most common power source, not just for reploids, but for Cyber-Elves and most of society's needs. It's become so valuable in recent years that it's come to be treated as currency, due mostly to the ongoing energy crisis. As for the rest of your questions... I'm happy to satisfy a curious mind, but they're rather broad. There are quite a few things reploids are built to do. I'm afraid we could be here all day if I tried to cover the full range of reploidkind."

(Not that he would have minded, probably. Competent and keen as Fefnir and Leviathan were, they didn't have the patience for Harpuia's brand of intellectual discussion. This wasn't the kind of thing he got to do very often.)

"I suppose I could start with myself in particular, if that would suffice as an example."

"Huh. 'Master X'? So what, this one guy made a bunch of duplicates based off his own brain? Is he the leader of some kind of vast army, or what? Maybe he conquered the world you came from..." For some mysterious reason, Pyrrhon's mind immediately went to a scenario with robot armies taking over the world. Whyever could that be?

"And where do you find these crystals? Are they a natural resource where you come from? Or perhaps synthesized from something else..." He'd never heard of any kind of energen crystals before. It's certainly not what the Aurum run off of. But, if it's a more efficient power source, he figures he should probably know.

"Please, by all means! Tell Pyrrhon all about yourself."

"Master X was a powerful leader, but he was not a conqueror. He watched over Neo Arcadia as a benevolent protector," Harpuia was quick to correct Pyrrhon on that front. Even if X and Neo Arcadia might no longer be around, he was nothing if not loyal to protecting Master X and the place he had built. How anyone could possibly assume the father of all reploids to be a warlike figure seemed remarkably foolish to him -- but then, Pyrrhon couldn't have known any better, could he?

"Energen is a natural resource, mined from the ground like any other resource. Attempts to synthesize it were largely unsuccessful, or there would have been much more to go around. It's easy to recharge when used as a reploid power source, though. I run off energen crystals as well, for example, but I expect that I could survive here almost indefinitely without needing to replace them."

A bit of a chilling thought if he lingered on it for too long -- for all he knew, he would be stuck here forever. He brushed the idea aside, not wanting to dwell on that. "As for myself, my name is Harpuia. I'm a custom model meant largely for aerial tasks. Originally, I was meant to aid in terraforming through climate control, but I was repurposed into a combat model. As such, my abilities include flight and localized manipulation of wind and lightning."

A benevolent protector that just happens to have robot armies based off his own design and who has people calling him master? Pyrrhon can't think of any situation where this guy ISN'T some kind of dictator, with the info he's been provided. He's not going to say anything more on the matter, though. This green one either genuinely believes that or was programmed to, and questioning him on it doesn't seem like the best way to earn his trust and get information out of him.

Especially now that they're getting into the information Pyrrhon's most interested in hearing. "Combat, eh? I take it that you're a hero like Zero, then, though hopefully you won't deny it as much as he did. Pyrrhon's always been a supporter of standing strong in the face of injustice and evil! That kind of stuff has always resonated pretty strongly with Pyrrhon's heroic spirit! So, I hope you won't take it the wrong way if Pyrrhon asks for some more specifics on your combat capabilities, hm? Maybe let Pyrrhon see one of those energy sword thingy's you've got there?" At least, he's pretty sure that's what those things in his holsters are. They look like the same thing that Zero pulled out against him.

Talk of morals and injustice may have resonated strongly with someone as rigidly principled as Harpuia, but he chose to leave that first half alone. Glory and heroics had not been the purpose of his creation, and while there was perhaps the tiniest little bit of private thrill in the idea of living up to the heroic ideal he held Master X to, Harpuia already knew far too well the price that came from indulging in arrogance. He certainly had no place speaking of heroes when he had failed in his duty in so many ways.

Instead, he reached over his shoulder, pulling one of his beam sabers free of its holster. "You're remarkably observant to notice them," he commented, stepping back and activating the weapon. Most people unfamiliar with reploids, he assumed, would not have guessed the jets on his back served double duty as weapon holsters. "As most of my hardware was built around accommodating my flight systems, the weight and size of long-range weaponry would have meant compromising mobility, so I rely primarily on lightweight close-range sabers instead. These are capable of limited-range projectiles with potent cutting capabilities, so they shouldn't be swung lightly."

Having said that, he backed up a step and activated the sword briefly, only long enough to display the size of its radiantly pink light-blade. He had no particular intention of actually demonstrating a Sonic Boom or letting the saber leave his hand; he meant exactly what he said about his weapons not being swung lightly. The blade blinked out of existence just as abruptly as it had been bared, leaving only the naked hilt. "Am I to take it that beam saber technology has already been invented here? This sort of weaponry is common where I come from, in the very least."

"One of Pyrrhon's many, many talents. Identifying threats and weaknesses at a glance has been an essential skill in Pyrrhon's past battles!" He may also have been spending a long time watching Harpuia and trying to learn as much about his design as he could before approaching.

He watches the display with interest, curious just how strong the blade actually is. "In this city, I don't know for sure, but it doesn't look like it. There's some similar looking things back home, but I guarantee they don't work the same way, unless that thing was created through divine means. At least, I don't think they work that way... You'd probably have to ask Dyntos. He's the one that's God of the Forge, after all. Not very likely to tell you anything, though. He, like most Gods other than Pyrrhon, is VERY full of himself and looks down on everyone else."

"But, no, Pyrrhon recognized it because it looks very similar to the one that Zero pulled out. I did mention the completely unfounded threats against me, didn't I?"

Gods...? This guy was supposedly of divine origin? Hm. A concept Harpuia found a little hard to swallow, but if he was to believe that anything was possible here, then that could have included alleged gods, surely. Even so, Harpuia was hard-pressed to believe in all-powerful beings, even with one right in front of him. Call it pride on his part, but he was perhaps a little curious about this Dyntos' work -- and about his own ability to understand the inner workings of so-called divine creations.

A thought for another day, perhaps. Harpuia sheathed his deactivated saber, reluctant to keep it out in the presence of a civilian. While Pyrrhon probably wasn't a human, organic life was a far too fragile thing to be careless about.

"You did," Harpuia said, "but I find it a little odd. Zero is a warrior, but I wouldn't call him short-tempered. What did you say to him to provoke him like that?"

...Well, no sense in lying about it, when this guy could very easily find out the story from Zero. That'd just make him look even worse if he got caught in a lie like that. "Pyrrhon... sorta asked to take him apart. Which Pyrrhon maintains, wasn't that big a deal! I didn't realize at the time that self-aware robots were a thing, and that he'd even have the capacity to object! Really, a simple 'no' would have sufficed as an answer."

Harpuia took a step back, hackles raised at the mere suggestion. Of course someone unfamiliar with reploids might not understand the free will they possessed, but the idea was still a chilling one. No being in their right mind would see much appeal in being dissected, mechanical or not.

"Of course that's a big deal! That's a horribly insensitive question at best, and a threat at worst." He stood up straighter; the air of a commander came naturally to Harpuia after years of practice at the role, and even if it came across as haughty now, it came to him now. "I hope you have no intention of doing anything that invasive. You can't be faulted for ignorance, but now that you know better, don't forget that we are not the same thing as mindless machines."

"Of course Pyrrhon gets that! I even apologized afterwards, but he still barely says a word to me. Or, maybe he's just like that with everyone."

"I mean, yeah, I thought at the time that a being without a soul wouldn't object, but I obviously get that that isn't the case now! If it were, then I wouldn't be having this pleasant conversation with you, would I?"

Man, Pyrrhon wants to dispense with the conversation and take this guy apart.

He was, for the record, very much like that with everyone, but Harpuia didn't bother to say so.

"I suppose not." The phrase without a soul grated harshly, but Harpuia let it slide. Even in a place where reploids had existed for centuries, the phrase was bandied around by flesh-and-blood beings, and few were willing to be dissuaded from that belief. It was hardly a debate Harpuia wanted to waste energy on.

All the same, it was beginning to leave a bad taste in his mouth, so to speak. That sort of casual disregard for reploid autonomy had lead ugly places during Harpuia's lifespan -- mostly at the hands of Dr. Weil. "Was there anything else you wanted to know, or should I be going?"

It's a bit hard for Pyrrhon to not notice that Harpuia took offense to the soulless bit. He sounds quite a bit colder than he had a moment ago, and is suddenly eager to put the conversation to an end and leave.

"I suppose that's all for now, but Pyrrhon just wants you to know really quick, the 'not having a soul' thing wasn't a criticism or anything. It's just a fact! Pyrrhon's a god, after all. A soul isn't just some nebulous concept you have to believe in for me, I've actually seen them. Pyrrhon's also seen them get eaten- pretty nasty business, all things considered."

Okay, sure. Souls were real. More concepts that seemed a shade unrealistic on the surface, but who was Harpuia to make judgment calls about the metaphysical remnant of human life? He still wasn't entirely certain he liked the idea of being excluded from that category by default, but if Pyrrhon was going to claim to be speaking from a factual standpoint, then it couldn't do harm to try and understand the reasoning behind it.

"...Fine. If I accept that a soul can be a tangible object, then let me ask: what makes you so sure a reploid couldn't leave one behind? It sounds like we aren't exactly native to your world."

"Because a soul is a piece of life! Or, organic life, anyway. It's just something that's in humans and... maybe animals I think. Once again, it's something that's not Pyrrhon's domain. If you want the full story you should probably ask Hades. Or, maybe Thanatos. Medusa? I dunno, SOMEONE in the Underworld. Pyrrhon's not actually sure what a soul even does, but he knows it's not something that can be made by a human and put into a robot, though- nor do I really know why it'd be necessary, since a robot wouldn't NEED a soul to function, or think, or feel, or. Whatever it is a soul makes happen."

"You would be surprised how many individuals might think otherwise." Certainly, it was old ground in the society Harpuia had been born into, but after centuries of reploid-induced warfare, it wasn't all that surprising that tensions would have run high.

"Forgive me if I seem impatient with the concept. It's one that mechanical lifeforms seem to inevitably run into. I'm not resentful of humanity for the differences between us and them, but I wish they would understand our subservience is born of willing sacrifice, not of a shortcoming or deficiency in a mechanical heart."

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[Open Log] Ch-Ch-Cherry Blossoms

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