august catch-all (open + closed prompts in comments)

[grice]

Who: falco grice, 2B & friends!
What: a log with closed prompts and open prompts soon to come for the duration of august !feel free to reach out on my plotting comments, liberos or owlie#3609 if you'd like to plot something specific! i will definitely do personalized tls!
When: august!
Where: corners of trench!

Content Warnings: mentions of gore, body horror, will add as they come

Comments

[givetheslip]

Some of us are doing exactly that.

[Sort of. She hasn't actually offered any of her gathered supplies to Altaïr, but she's taking them back to where they're staying, and he could theoretically make use of them if he needed to. Which is not to say that Maria would like it if he did.]

In small groups. You can't expect so many strangers to—

[?!]

What is that?

[robussy]

[ she would do it, but— it seems pod is already looking between them through its single lenses, almost expectantly. with a gesture of her hand for pod to continue, the hovering square begins to deliver: Hello. I am Pod-042. I am a support unit for YoRHa unit Number 2 Type B. a pause. I am pleased to meet your acquaintance. ]

I am 2B.

[ since the name is different to pick out compared to human names. ]

[givetheslip]

[The speech of the little...thing is mostly gobbledygook to Maria. The girl's name she parses as something akin to "tooby" — a foreign name, strange-sounding to her ears, but not the first in that regard.]

I'm...Maria.

[The hesitation comes from distraction, not uncertainty.]

What does that do?

[robussy]

[ I am a support unit for YoRHa unit Number— it starts again, since maria has asked a question and perhaps it wasn't clear? but 2B interrupts. ]

It helps me. With communication, intel, long-range combat, and height-based locomotion. [ that would've been odd to her, if she hadn't been told that time worked strangely in trench. sleepers came from anywhere, at any time. ] . . . Do you know what a "robot" is?

[ CORRECTION: I am a Pod support system, it's an example, 2B mutters. ]

[givetheslip]

I see.

[She doesn't really. Not well enough, anyway, but she's just prideful enough not to admit that so easily.]

I haven't heard the word before, no.

[robussy]

It's older human technology, where I'm from. [ of course that only means . . . maria is older than that "old" tech. ] They were . . . Mechanical units, similar to Pod.

[ CLARIFICATION: I was created by androids, and my technology is far more advanced than ROBOTS, pod adds! ]

[givetheslip]

I suspect you and I have exceedingly different definitions of old technology.

[It's said slightly defensively. Maria has never thought of herself as old before.]

There's nothing like this thing where I came from. Not even close.

[robussy]

[ she’s starting to think the same thing— or, even more, maria comes from a time too far back in the archives for her to take much interest. ]

What would you describe as technology?

[givetheslip]

I suppose...mechanicals? Trebuchets, firepots, siege engines...that sort of thing.

[This is perhaps conveying the particular sort of experiences Maria has had.]

I've seen an artifact that can do more, but I don't trust it.

[robussy]

Why is that?

[ an artifact that couldn’t be trusted has piqued her to be something alien, mechanical. the a bloodhound on the hunt, she smelt a stench and did not like it. ]

[givetheslip]

Why does it matter? It's not here.

[It's absolutely here, but Maria has no compunctions about lying. No one needs to get their hands on the Apple of Eden.]

[robussy]

[ the answer here was "curiosity", but that stuns 2B. there she went again, with her what is and whys. she corrects herself now with the best: ]

Then it does not matter. [ even if she must shove down the question still at the back of her mind, left unanswered. ] Do require any further assistence?

[givetheslip]

[Maria is relieved she doesn't press the issue, though she doesn't have any problem being rude and cutting off the line of inquiry by force if necessary. It's simpler this way.]

I do not. [...oh, right.] Thank you.

[robussy]

[ 2B nods in acknowledgement to that, pausing a smidge awkwardly herself, but soon following up with: ]

It was— Honorable. Talking to you.

[ she doesn’t know how else to convey “good”. she’ll take her leave though, with her heels clicking behind her and pod following after.

Until next time, Maria, it says. ]

[givetheslip]

[Honorable. Few have said that to her before. Maria can't help but smile a small smile, despite herself.]

Farewell for now.