here we go again...

[bulletbiter]

Who: Everyone
Where: Aimintas
When: Day 56
Open/Closed: OTA

[ Feel free to use this entry as a mingle for whatever your characters will be up to during the bigger Uvi attack! You can find details about it in this weekly update post.

(This post is forward dated by a few hours as I temporarily forgot how timezones work... please forgive me.) ]

Comments

[alphonse]

[Despite the circumstances, he manages to sound the tiniest bit amused.]

I guess it's impossible to tell in both our cases. I'm fourteen.

[9S looks about the same; older is a careful word choice born from years of operating around height sensitivity.

The question is: do androids age or is 9S' appearance completely by design?]

How about you?

[deem]

I was first rolled out four years ago...although not in this body, specifically.

[He's gone through quite a few in that span of time. What remains is his personality data. There were some units that were deployed earlier than him, of course, but YoRHa hasn't existed for a very long time.

Of course even if it had, he wouldn't change one bit physically]

That'd technically make you the older one, right?

[alphonse]

Four years?!

[His voice rises almost comedically in pitch, and he actually stops for a second, too stunned to really hear the question. He'd known on some level that it was a possibility, but... wow. Does that mean 9S has never known any life outside of being a soldier? And if he's changed bodies then that sacrifice talk from earlier must have been self-experience... (Well. Now Al definitely feels bad about arguing with the guy when they first met.)]

You're um... mature for your age.

[He manages, finally. He has about a thousand questions, but 9S is fortunately spared by another noise up just ahead of them. From behind a makeshift hiding spot in the wreckage, a terrified looking Elto child crawls out to peer at them.]

[deem]

I've been more or less like this since my first activation.

[Give or take a lot of painful experiences, anyway. In terms of mental maturity he doesn't think that they really change very much in that respect. They're never children, nor are they capable of producing them. That sort of thing is limited to their creators, and he's never really minded it. How strange that difference seems when actually discussing it...

But with the emergence of a civilian, 9S supposes comparisons will have to wait. His strides are quick, if only because they have no way of knowing when trouble might spring up, and it'd be best if they could collect this little Palai and go]

Looks like we'd better see this guy to safety.

[alphonse]

[Curiosity isn't the priority right now, but still, that's fascinating. Maybe by the time he's able to ask more about it he'll have thought of a tactful way to broach the subject.

For now, Al kneels in front of the little Elto and murmurs reassurances. It's lucky for him that any face not attached to an Uvi is probably a comforting sight today. He's about to pick the kid up, but he stops and gives 9S a long look instead.]

You're a lot faster than me.

[He's not particularly happy to say it--capable as 9S is, he doesn't like the idea of anyone being out here on their own. But between the speed and the loud clanking that accompanies Al's every step--potentially signaling their presence to enemies--he has to admit he's not the most efficient option for a sensitive escort mission.]

If we stick together, I'll probably slow you down.

[deem]

[9S is hard-pressed to argue that point. As impossibly agile as Alphonse is, the armor that serves as his body is quite bulky and generates noise. The Uvi seem capable of picking up on their presence easily even without the added sound. Still, he hesitates where he stands]

Maybe so, but...would you be alright on your own?

[The numbers with which they're faced are a concern. At the same time, if either of them is carrying a Palai child, that'd render them useless in a fight. He'd be as much a liability in a fight as Alphonse might be outside of one, where getting the Elto is safety is concerned.

Not that he likes admitting that to himself. He knows how frightening it can be to press on alone]

[alphonse]

I'll be fine. [And then, jokingly:] Armor's not very hard to put back together.

[That the only person capable of doing so is worlds away is a technicality he won't mention. The last thing he needs is for anyone to waste time worrying about him, especially not when the sounds of fighting are drawing closer. Any planning has to be done fast.]

Once you get moving, I'll try and create a distraction. Alchemists are good at being flashy.

[deem]

[9S wants to ask if Alphonse can actually put himself back together, if he fell apart like that. Somehow, he suspects the guy would be no more able than he would, if he were to lose several limbs. Not for lack of trying, of course, stubborn as androids are...

But the concern makes him hesitant, all the same.

He understands the reasoning though, so after a few tense moments, he relents with a sigh]

I'll check on you after I drop this guy off then.

[Said with a tap to his temple as indication. Telepathy's a bit intrusive, and really weird, but handy at times]