[center][h1]Homuran Resources[/h1] [i]By Industrious Evoker, the Prime Astalonian[/i][/center] A quick message to whoever’s reading this -- Gosh, after last night’s talk with Ryder I decided to follow her advice and try my hand at working on a hobby. I still don’t like the way she assumes things about me, but… Whatever, you know? So I guess I’m hoping that you can read Prime Astalonian… Otherwise, uh, how would you even be reading this bit in the first place? [center][b]I[/b][/center] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz_RKaGMGds&ab_channel=RileyElla-Topic]The seas posed no obstacle[/url]. Propelling ourselves to our maximum speeds, the three of us whizzed past a group of dolphins and towards the massive machine peeking over the horizon. Night served as cover from watchful eyes, and the water and wild waves of the sea served to muffle the sounds of our approach from sharp ears. Like the well oiled machines that we were, we deftly made our way to one of the Colossus’ legs and launched ourselves out of the water and at one of the many openings along it, transforming mid air into our more versatile Homuran forms and finally landing onto a large metallic cog at the lip of our entry point. Linked as we were, there was no need to exchange looks or words even as I sensed something unexpected. [i]Change of plans. Sensing active consciousness at original target location. I will be heading to position 718-B.[/i] [i]Understood, Evoker. All else proceeds as planned.[/i] With only the faintest sounds of grinding metal, we split up and headed to our objectives. It was going to be my first time retrieving goods by myself so I was a bit nervous, and being on a team with Night Terror and Nocturnal did NOT help my nerves either. I could sense my surroundings better than ever, and my body was oiled and maintained to perfection. Still, I could not help the clinking and clanking of my feet as I ran and stepped on the occasional exposed bit of metal inside of the Colossus. With the help of my new echolocation systems, I eventually arrived at position 718-B. It was time to get to work. [i]In position. Redirecting Vitae to motor systems. Keep your sensors on me, Night Terror.[/i] [center][b]II[/b][/center] The God-light was beginning to awaken. That meant that it was time to finish up. At the time, I was on my way to grab our last two Homurans of the night. [i]Second active consciousness sighted. It’s interacting with the first.[/i] Upon reaching position 718-B, I grabbed the nearest two out of their respective alcoves and prepared to run back-- Only to stumble and drop them as the Colossus suddenly jerked around. A strange feeling enveloped my core and spread throughout all my Vitae conduits. As the movement died down, I became aware of a distant whisper trying to reach me. [i].. Turn… off…[/i] I shook my head. I ran a diagnostic of my systems and wrestled back control of my Vitae. [i]TURN THAT ALARM OFF, EVOKER.[/i] The message came in so strongly that my core overloaded--A spark inside of my head caused a mini explosion upon coming into contact with one of my main Vitae conduits, and white smoke billowed out of the cracks along my skull. Suddenly, I couldn’t hear the others anymore. I did, however, notice the incredibly loud alarm coming straight from my body. I turned it off as quickly as I could. Upon realizing that my Link had completely burned out, I redirected some Vitae back to my sensory systems. The two active consciousnesses were approaching my location, fast. With my systems as overloaded as they were I knew that trying to run away would only lead them directly to me, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I looked for a small, dark crack in the walls and hid there, hoping the two Homurans wouldn’t find me. [center][b]III[/b][/center] “I apologized, isn’t that enough? You’re acting like I did something wrong when I was just having fun, Fear. Come on! Don’t be like that!” The closer the Homurans came, the more desperate my calculations became. I didn’t want to be caught, not by monsters that had the ability to hijack the Boss’ Colossi. Had I been made of flesh and blood, I’m sure I would’ve been shaking like a newborn kitten. “You’re just imagining something is wrong. I didn’t hear anything.” The first voice continued, and it seemed they stood at the entrance to the hall. For some reason, they stopped. Then I remembered the two Sleeping Homurans that I’d dropped just moments before. “You were saying.” The second voice said, and walked towards the two fallen bodies, stepping into sight. I shifted my form, preparing for contact. The conscious Homuran had red hair tied back in a long sort of ponytail and wore a similarly red garb. The first voice then approached. “I said I was sorry, but how did this happen? They were secure in their…” A pair of red eyes suddenly peered into the hollow at me. I wasted no time. The grinding of metal echoed throughout the Hall as I shot up the walls of the narrow hollow and jumped over the head of the red-haired Homuran. Mid-air, I shifted my body back into a Homuran form and landed close to the ground in the cat-like fashion that Ryder had taught me. My sensors glinted dangerously at them, following their every move. While I stared, a million different scenarios ran through my core and I rerouted my Vitae accordingly. Their faces contorted, brows furrowing and jaws tightening in a display of Homuran emotion. They were quick to respond. “Did you drop them!?!” The one that was closer shouted. My sensors must’ve flashed yellow, as I could see the colour reflected in their own. “No.” I answered, subtly shifting parts of my form to allow for faster movement. I made use of the cat posture to scratch my razor-sharp fingertips on the floor. Animals usually were deterred by shows of aggressiveness, according to Knuckle. The loud one opened her mouth, and bared her teeth, then lunged. Only to be held back by the other Homuran, making the two of them crash onto the floor. “Courage! Calm down!” Shouted the more timid one, struggling to keep the fire-haired Homuran in check. I took the opportunity to run away--Only to crash into a wall face-first. My Vitae overload had corrupted my mapping data. A projectile -- an arrow made out of the same metallic material as me -- suddenly landed between me and the Homurans. I immediately knew to cover my sensors. A massive flash of light ensued and the Homurans reeled, I felt myself being hoisted up onto someone’s shoulders. It was Night Terror. He easily held me with one of his arms around my waist even as I wildly swiped my claws at the Homurans. “Cease your Feline protocol, Evoker.” He commanded. One of the Homurans was chasing us so I just let myself go limp, keeping my sensors on the Homuran at all times. “Get back here!” she screamed as she charged into walls blindly, then resumed her haphazard chase still disoriented. “No.” I answered again, Night Terror barely staying ahead of her. I felt him squeeze my waist harder, eliciting some warnings from my internal systems. Eventually, we reached our exit point and Night Terror jumped onto our escape vehicle--Nocturnal himself, the only Prime Astalonian capable of transforming into large vehicles. As soon as we landed on Nocturnal, Night Terror threw me onto the ship’s deck like a sack of potatoes and turned to aim his bow and arrow at the exit we’d come out of. I scrambled onto my feet and held onto whatever I could find, right on time for Nocturnal to start accelerating towards our escape. It didn’t take long for the Homuran to emerge from the exit. Her red hair and eyes seemed alight with rage, and her piercing gaze directed straight at us stirred something new in the depths of my Core. A second Homuran soon emerged beside her, and watched the rise and fall of waves across the sea. They only stood there, and allowed us to escape. After we had moved so far away that I felt safe, I turned to Night Terror and felt the triangular ears on top of my head twitch. Yep, the triangular, metallic, feline-shaped ears on top of my head. “Night Terror, how do I abort the Cat protocol?” I asked him, flicking my ears and listening to the metallic clink that ensued each time. “I can’t get a hold of it.” “Sigh.” “Did you just say ‘sigh’? We don’t breathe, Night Terror, so I know that you’re just being antisocial.” “Sigh.” “Not you too, Nocturnal.” “Sigh squared.” “Abort your Oxidation protocols, geezers.” I scoffed, throwing myself down onto a corner of the deck, my knees to my chest. [center][b]IV[/b][/center] Eventually, we arrived back at our HQ. With the help of the rest of the Industrious, we quickly unloaded the Homuran seeds and I was sent to the Boss for maintenance. He didn’t even ask how the mission had gone, and he was done fixing my systems and tuning me up in less than five minutes. And obviously, as soon as I stepped out of the Boss’s workshop I was bombarded by a massive wave of messages teasing me about my Feline protocol. A couple of the cleaners even offered to let me hunt the mice infesting the Boss’ workshop, which was definitely [i]not[/i] funny and [i]not[/i] tempting. “Sigh.” I said to no one in particular, slouching slightly as I walked to my charging locker. That day, I spent all of my free time hidden away in there. [hider=Summary]A chapter out of Evoker’s personal diary. In this chapter, Evoker describes how the mission to retrieve sleeping Homurans from Homura’s Colossi went. It went well, and now Astus has a good few hundred Homurans to play with.[/hider] [hider= Vigour] Starting=8 Used 6 Vigour to create the Prime Astalonians, sapients who are constructed and/or uplifted rather than born. They’re beings made of various metals with the ability to shapeshift into various metallic forms suited for different tasks, as well as the possibility of switching around their body parts and systems for different models, all designed by Astus. There are 24 of them at the moment, but Astus may build more if he desires and has the required materials. Ending=2[/hider]