Bot Seeks Bot For The End Of The World

[megabuster]

Who: Rock, Zero, anyone who wants to show up
What: Standing on the roof staring dramatically is the natural state of robots
Where: Whatever tall rooftop managed to survive the Colossus
When: Wednesday, November 11



It felt like all hope was gone, or vanishing fast. The moon got closer to the ground every day, and even now it hung ominously in the sky. Time was running out. And Rock felt like perhaps this time, it was the end... He stood on the roof, watching the sky, hands clenching and unclenching as he tried to think of something, ANYTHING, he could do that would help. He was so distracted he wouldn't notice if anyone decided to come join him.

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[will_be_god]

Did someone say staring at the sky?


Cyrus had been wandering the area, hoping to regain a sense of motivation. Well, hope was the wrong word. He believed it necessary. The fate of all things was in his hands, after all, and if he had insufficient drive to save it...

The sky had always fascinated him, as far back as he could remember. The distance, the utter smallness against it, the uncertainty of perception...

Oh, someone else was there.

[megabuster]

The last time the two of them talked, it was... unpleasant to say the least. He abhorred what Cyrus meant to do in pursuit of his goals, and made that very clear. He wasn't exactly in the mood to debate him again. So when he realized that Cyrus had arrived, he thought about turning and leaving. But for some reason, he hesitated. He glanced at Cyrus, then again at the moon.

[will_be_god]

But Cyrus said nothing. Certainly he saw the other person, but it didn't matter.

Rather, he said nothing to anyone but himself.

"...this land will fall. That is a near certainty. They would rather perish than follow into salvation." His voice was barely above a whisper, and would be nearly silent to anyone who didnt have some sort of super, possibly robotic, hearing. "...but I cannot lead them. I must accept that. Perhaps it is my failure."

[megabuster]

Those... were words Rock didn't expect to hear. And he even had the robotic hearing to let him hear them.

"...What changed?" Rock asked. "You didn't sound like that earlier."

[will_be_god]

Oh, someone else was there. Cyrus turned.

Heh. Even the robot could process emotion.

"I have looked at things entirely logically. I have failed too many times. While I believe that my plan has been entirely correct and is capable of success, it cannot be accomplished by my hand."

There was no regret, no sorrow to his voice, and no liberation either. Simply distance.

[awakeningwill]

Was it possible to miss the heavy clanking of another's robot's footsteps? If so, then Rock may have been surprised when he suddenly noticed Zero standing beside him.

He understood the emotions going through Rock right now - they were the same ones that X often felt, after all. But he wasn't X, and as for Zero himself, well... he wasn't quite the same Zero he used to be either. What would he normally be telling X right now?

Well, maybe it didn't have to be as complicated as that. What did Zero want to say?

"...It's going to be okay."

[megabuster]

It was possible to miss the heavy clanking footfalls of another robot when one's attention was focused on the clouds, rather than his surroundings. So Rock jumped a bit when he heard Zero's voice next to him, peeling his eyes from the moon and towards his friend. "Zero! S-sorry, I didn't notice you," he said sheepishly.

He sighed, glancing up again. "I hope so," he said. He remembered the conversation he had with Harpuia earlier, and the conclusions he had drawn. "It feels like... like someone is playing a game with us," he said, rubbing his own arm. "Like this is all just a test, or something. But I don't know what to do... I don't know what I SHOULD do..."

Hopefully, he looked to Zero again. "Have you ever faced something like this? Something, well... apocalyptic, and come out on top? I've faced a few end of the world scenarios, but this is the first time I've felt so useless..."

[awakeningwill]

"Something apocalyptic falling from the sky... at least twice. But nothing as large as a moon," Zero muttered. He went quiet as he glanced up at the massive shape descending upon them as well, with an expression still steeled in stoicism. If he was afraid, then he wasn't showing it. It was hard to really feel angry, if he was being honest - there was no villain behind this all, unless you could call the earth itself your enemy.

"Eurasia. Ragnarok... either one of those would've wiped out humanity on impact. I was helpless on my own," he continued. "It was only with the help of everyone that we put together our resources to stop the collision."

[megabuster]

Rock listened, and nodded. "I haven't faced anything like that myself... Every time I faced something apocalyptic, it had a face. Someone I could fight and defeat to save everyone."

"Do you think we could do it again?" Rock asked. "With all of us pooling our resources?"

[awakeningwill]

"Not every problem can be solved that way," he said with an air of experience.

"But we've found the door. We know the keys we likely need to open it. It's more than nothing," said Zero. While he wasn't sure about his ability to be reassuring, he knew those statements to be pure fact, so he could speak them with confidence.

[drawin_on_trees]

"Oh. Hi."

Skull Kid didn't expect to find anybody up here. He had kind of wanted to be alone, but now that his roommate was in the alone spot, he felt like maybe talking to somebody would be better.

[megabuster]

Rock wasn't expecting Skull Kid to be here... He'd never taken his roommate as the type who liked to stand on rooftops to be alone. But he wasn't going to turn him away. "Oh, hey... Didn't expect you. What's up...?"

[drawin_on_trees]

Skull Kid scuffled his feet on the ground a little. "Iunno. Didn't wanna just sit in the room and stuff. Wanted to find a place to go and think about stuff."

[megabuster]

"Oh? What's on your mind?" Rock asked, hoping he was being helpful and not prying.

[drawin_on_trees]

"Um..." Skull Kid found himself not wanting to clam up for once. After confessing everything to Gordon and not having his life ruined immediately, talking to people didn't seem quite so scary anymore.

"I'm kinda scared is all."

[fightingfeffers]

...Was that Rock up there on the roof? Standing dramatically on the edge, staring up at the moon hanging overhead. Yeah, that's definitely him.

Fefnir's pretty sure he can guess what he's thinking about. Which means he might need someone to talk to. Which... isn't something that Fefnir's really cut out for, but. Right about now, in a situation like, this, it's all he can do.

Might as well head up to the roof, then. He's not going to take the stairs or anything- it's a lot easier to just jump up there in a single bound, and then step towards him. "Hey. You worried about what's going to happen?"

[megabuster]

Rock didn't expect Fefnir to show up. Fefnir was one of the last people he'd expect to come and do some reflection like this... But he wasn't going to turn away a friend.

"Hi, Fefnir... A little, yeah," he replied. "I just hate feeling like there's so little I can do about it..."

[fightingfeffers]

"Yeah. I know the feeling." Fefnir joins Rock in turning up to the sky, just... glaring up at the moon. "In a situation like this, though, fighters like us... There's nothing we CAN do about it. This isn't an enemy our weapons can do anything against."

Rock was a fighter, after all. He might not have the same passion for it that Fefnir does, but he still made the choice to stand up and protect people. It was something they had in common, which is why he has a good idea of how Rock's feeling about this. So it might be something he can help with.

[megabuster]

Rock nodded in agreement. As much as he may not have wanted to admit it, Fefnir was right. Rock was so used to solving problems in battle, that shamefully, he was at a loss here. "I guess not," he said in response.

He looked up at Fefnir. "Have you ever... faced something like this? Something that just seemed hopeless?"

[fightingfeffers]

Fefnir thinks about it for a bit, before responding. He's faced plenty of foes, some of them incredibly strong, like Zero or Omega. None of them seemed like things that couldn't be taken down, though. Really, there's only one thing that comes to mind.

"Yeah, sort of. It wasn't a fight or anything, but yeah. I used to be tasked with trying to clean up the earth and making it livable again. When trying to make a dead world bloom didn't exactly work out, though, I was converted into a combat reploid. Later, humanity just settled for synthetic plants and forests instead, and found other ways to get food, and sustain themselves."

"This isn't quite the same thing, but still. It's what we're fighting, and protecting people for. So they can find solutions to the problems we can't solve with our weapons." And, well, because he loves to fight, but he's trying to cheer the kid up here. And besides, that's probably in line with why the kid's doing it, and it sounds like something Harpuia might've said too.

[tempus_fixit]

[Lucca... is not a robot, despite all allusions to the contrary with that helmet of hers. However, that didn't stop her from gravitating to the highest point in the school herself to stare up at the moon.]

[She certainly wasn't alone; maybe it's a human fascination with looming oblivion, that made them stare as if hoping it would realize the atrocity it's about to commit, and head back of its own accord.]

[Who can say? In any case, if she's going to be preoccupied with celestial doom, she'd rather be up there. With Rock and his friends.]

[megabuster]

[Robot or not, Rock was always happy to see her. He smiled at her, and when she approached, he gave her a mighty hug.]

Hey, Lucca... How are you holding up?

[His thoughts were so often of other people. What would become of his family? Were his friends holding up okay? How was Lucca doing? This was no different. But just being able to hold her like this... It made him feel even a little bit better.]

[tempus_fixit]

[She stands here for a second, and then hugs back just as mightily.]

Yeah... m' okay. What about you?

[Technically Rock would probably survive the impact, somehow. But that wasn't what she really meant.]

[megabuster]

[Rock didn't exactly want to let go of her, and ended up continuing to hug her, head on her shoulder.]

I'm okay... Just worrying. But that's not really anything new, I guess...

[He laughed a bit.]

[tempus_fixit]

Yeah. You're a real worrybot. [She adds with a small chuckle of her own. She doesn't let go for a while; she knows how to cast protection spells all over the place, and yet they wouldn't give her the sense of safety that she feels while they're in each others' arms.]

... ...Hey, Rock? I was, I was wondering something.