[h3]Sergeant John Dusk[/h3]

[quote=@Badarby]
[b]Saeyeon Kim[/b]
"Saeyeon Kim of the UN convoy missions, formerly of Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command," she said. "I'll join you guys as well in visiting the town."
[/quote]

Dusk’s eyes shifted when he heard it.

“Republic of Korea Army…”

He gave a small nod in her direction, “Good to know I’m not the only one out here.”

Then came the noise of someone or rather something else. Dusk turned, brow tightening slightly as the… thing started moving.

He watched it push itself up, limbs adjusting, no head—just that hollow space venting cold air like it was nothing.

Then it started talking.

[quote=@Lugubrious]
“Whoo-whee, it’s hotter than hell out here,” she declared in a rather loopy, off-kilter, synthetic Southern accent. Proudly she rapped her knuckles against her alloy chest. “Good thing I got my own air-conditionin’! Don’t any of y’all go reachin’ down into my donation box to cool off, though, not if ya want your hand back!” A puff of cold air from deep within her gullet approximated a sigh as she looked around at the desolate territory, her hands perched on her hips. “Course, if my power runs low I’ll be sweatin’ like a whore in church right quick, hehheh! Don’t s’pose any o’ y’all got a battery pack to spare? Or a head, for that matter? I sure need me one o’ them!”

For the first time, it occurred to the android to pay some attention to her fellow castaways. A few of them, some already acquainted, had already grouped together in the hopes of reaching a nearby town. Some dhasath…or were they humans? A mix of the two, maybe? To a robot, they all looked alike. She was much more interested in that space suit, which struck her as oddly but unidentifiably familiar, especially once she happened to catch a lucky peek of the skull and swirling gasses within the suit’s helmet.

“Molybdenum?” She repeated, a smile in her voice. “Wow, what a wacky word! Like, the element? Molybdenum. Pretty dang fun to say, but it ain’t exactly practical. What if I see a li’l scorpion or somethin’ fixin’ to jab yer heel? By the time I belt out the whole word, the varmint’s already done poisoned you! How about Moly? Or maybe just Denum? Though I guess those ain’t jeans you’re wearin,’ hehheh!”

For a moment paused, as though spacing out now that she’d gotten off topic. “Uh…what was that about sharp stuff? You afraid of gettin’ yerself punctured, balloon man? Big gassy guy? Well, don’t you worry none, I’d never pop a Moly no matter how funny it’d be! Heheh…” Though if there was any cash rattling around in that suit with those bones, that might be a different story.

When the robot actually managed to focus, she realized that the prisoners were introducing themselves. She didn’t actually internalize any of their boring human names, but it sounded fun, so she stepped forward to do so next. She seemed to carry herself without any self-awareness whatever about how badly she stuck out among all the rugged, fleshy, storied refugees of the starry frontier. “Howdy, y’all! I been called lots o’ stuff, like Thief, Stealer, Slag, Rustbucket, Sumbitch, and so on. But I like Bandit best. I was made for minin’, but these days the ‘mining’ I do is makin’ other folks’ stuff ‘mine’, hehhehheh!”

After quickly checking inside her storage compartment, though, Bandit’s face fell, metaphorically speaking at least. “Daww, consarn it all! Those rat bastards musta taken all my cash! I ain’t got so much as a doggone penny to my name…” Bandit groaned, her arms hanging so low they almost brushed the ground, but after another moment she straightened up. “Well, guess that settles it. I’m stickin’ with y’all for now. Wherever we’re headin’, they gotta have batteries there. And money. And heads!” Clearing her throat, she lowered her voice somewhat. “Still, uh, takin’ donations, by the way. Just sayin’.”
[/quote]

That accent, that… attitude. Dusk blinked rapidly as he looked at the thing.

“…You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

For a brief second, he just stood there, staring at it like his brain was trying to catch up.

A headless robot with a southern drawl talking about batteries and… heads.

“…Yeah,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head slightly.

“Either I took a harder hit back there than I thought…”

His eyes stayed on the machine a moment longer, "or this is just how things are out here.”

He exhaled through his nose, letting it go.