003 — handwritten [graph paper]

[argents]

[ July 1st.

This time, Banagher's number is copied down on graph paper. What appears isn't anything handwritten, but a rough technical sketch. An empty jumpseat of some kind, crowned by three screens and what looks like an impossibly advanced panoramic HUD. The rest is left sparsely detailed — no buttons, concrete controls, or clues as to what this cockpit (what else could it be?) belongs to. Save for the odd one-on-one occasion, he's been tight-lipped about what exactly has splashed itself uninvited across his memories, never knowing for sure what to trust when it came to himself. Never quite believing he could have been this... thing's pilot.

Off to the side, around some messy notes, is a scrawled out line of text in another language: À mon seul désir. There's a poetic ring to it, nearly romantic.

It's odd, placed next to a piece of technology so futuristic. ]

It's weird. I had to wrack my brain to remember this thing enough to put it on paper, even if I can't forget it. [ A pause, possibly to tap his pencil. ] If you asked any kid when they were younger what they wanted for their birthday, a giant robot probably ranked pretty high, right? Not so much when you're 18, though. When things like this aren't even supposed to be real...

[ Let alone crazy brain powers. At least he was getting used to those. And more importantly: ]

...it could have come with a better name.

[ Which he is hoping like hell wasn't his doing. ]

Comments

[acequeen]

Oh, relax! We both know they're gross and dangerous.

[Jokes don't translate well in handwriting, oops.]

[argents]

You probably could have heard my heart from a mile away just now!

[ SURE, GO AHEAD, HE DIDN'T NEED IT OR ANYTHING. ]

You'd be really surprised at the kinds of things people say on here and mean it, that's all.

[acequeen]

I don't think my hearing is that top-notch, though.

[LIGHTEN UP, BANANA.]

I can believe that. People can be cruel and say crappy things for the hell of it.

[argents]

I don't think it needed to be!

[ A sad face pens itself in. HUFF. ]

Someone once told me that was a kind of defense mechanism, or something. Throwing others off like that.

[acequeen]

[She snorts out loud at the description. Not audible from the feed, naturally.]

People like that go in two categories: they either don't want to let themselves get close to others, so they act like jerks to push them away. Or they're naturally that way on purpose.

[argents]

[ Idle star-shaped swirls ink across the page. ]

I don't really get it. But without a precedent, it's probably easier to act that way.

[acequeen]

[Congrats, now you have a tiny robot on page!]

Try not to think too much about it. They exist whether you like it or not.

[argents]

[ Zzt! Now a lightning bolt. ]

That's pretty blunt.

[acequeen]

[And there is a sword right next to the robot she just drew.]

What can I say? I don't like to sugarcoat things.

[argents]

[ Thunder sword? Thunder sword. This robot could kick some serious booty. ]

You don't have to or anything. I guess people being cruel just isn't something I think I'll ever get used to.

[acequeen]

[Wings? Yes, let's add petal-like wings. She'd draw some cartoon-esque explosions at the back of the robot+thunder sword, too, but it's fine as is!]

I don't know. You might as well start soon if I were you, and I say all this from experience.

[argents]

[ And it shall be christened STORM CRUSHER in his best comic book lettering. ]

That's one thing I can't exactly promise I'll do. But thanks.

[acequeen]

... Storm Crusher?

[It's funny how they can have a serious conversation and outrageous doodling going on at once. She writes a quick "LOL" somewhere underneath the drawings.]

[argents]

Don't think it has a nice ring to it?

[ ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, AS THE SAYING GOES

at least it's not LORD STORM CRUSHER KNIGHT OF THE SKIES or something. ]

[acequeen]

It's passable. Guess the name must stay.

[YEAH... no long names for robots plz]

[argents]

The Unicorn.

[ Is what finally appears, given a noticeable pause. Instead of near their superior robot, it's written next to the initial sketch. ]

I didn't name it though. I don't think.

[acequeen]

So, that's the robot you were thinking about initially, huh?

[What kind of name is Unicorn?? The random ink blots make a comeback as she's mulling over.]

You weren't kidding about the name. It could've been much better.

[argents]

[ Preserving masculinity is down to a dangerously low odd, but there's no turning back now. ]

I think it's tied to this [ A quick arrow loops around to indicate the line of French he'd written. ] Somehow. Whoever created this thing was a real romanticist. Like I said though, it's a puzzle that's full of holes right now.

[acequeen]

Well, I'll say. It's kind of a mystery for sure, both the name and the phrase.

[For a moment, Regina hesitates as she lets two more ink blots appear, but the longer they discuss about robots, the more she thinks about certain, unknown models — the kinds she thought about right on the day of the mine excavation. Without any time to spare, she starts sketching another robot, time a lot less cartoon-y and more humanoid. Like this, only inky without the colors, and yes it actually comes with wheels attached.]

I actually saw this once, back when we met that sage.

[Another robot appears, also sketchy.]

This one, too. Do these look familiar to you by any chance?

[argents]

[ That gives him a start. ]

You've seen them too.

[ Granted, it wasn't exactly the same. But similar enough, which he demonstrates with a sketch of his own. He's always had a knack when it came to the drafting part of his engineering classes, so it doesn't take long for a decent-looking sketch to emerge. First something that looks like a jet plane, then a hasty humanoid sketch beside that. ]

Right when everything went wrong in the mines, I remembered this. It's different from the Unicorn, somehow.

[ Idly, he pencils in some of the lines with blue, though the movement is a little rigid now. ]

They're not the same as yours, but

They're similar.

[acequeen]

They really do.

[Eerie resemblances, but his sketches are so much better than hers. Poo.]

Different models for sure. For example, yours doesn't have those wheels attached to the ankles like mine does. Still, I can't help but wonder as to why we know these things.

[argents]

[ Hey Storm Crusher there is a grade A piece of robot and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise. ]

This blue one

[ His pencil taps once, twice. ]

It's a weapon. I can't think of any reason why I'd need to know that. Or want to. But in my memories, it was definitely a weapon.

[acequeen]

[Okay point. Storm Crusher >>>>>>> all the robots, Y/Y? Nonetheless, her interest is piqued.]

A weapon? Then what does it exactly do? Shoot lasers from the palm of its hands? Crush tanks by stepping on them?

[More taps.]

For the ones I've seen in my head, they had guns attached to their hands, as though they are accessories to them.

[So long as she doesn't think about what they did to the people in her visions. Too bloody for her taste.]

[argents]

Right here [ Previously absent, the rifle-looking appendage on the jet plane gets sketched in. ] It was like a laser, or something. It

[ It still makes him a little sick to even recall, but he remembered it for a reason, right? ]

It killed a lot of people like it was nothing. They were there one minute and then

[ The last line edges off somewhat erratically. Gone the next. ]

I was really scared in the mines. But because I remembered that, how senseless it all was, I reacted. I never wanted to see something like that happen again.

[acequeen]

[So Banagher saw it as well, the deaths of people by a damn robot of all creations. Just the fact makes Regina feel like she has a tight knot in her stomach.]

I'm sorry.

[What else can she say other than she'd saw the deaths, too? He seems to be in a state of distress as is, and there's no way she'll contribute to more of it.]