Nemaisare

Genesis Ex Machina

They’d made it, safely for the moment, though far from safe, but she figured it was a one step at a time situation. And maybe neither of these things they were worried about were actually dangerous. Well, to them, guns were plenty dangerous. And keeping that in mind, she had a hand wrapped around the hilt of one of her knives, though she kept it sheathed, while 03 invited their potential ally to state their position in all of this.

She was hoping she hadn’t made the wrong decision. Spooked by big guns. Though the first words the… robot spoke betrayed no hint of underlying danger. And when she followed its scan onto the street, her eyebrows drew together, a deep breath making her ready to scream. No. Ally or not, her hand tightened its grip and she knew that away from them was where she wanted to be. But with her fear at the numbers dropping from the ship came a visceral desire to rid the world of a few. If she’d had more confidence in herself and the other’s abilities, she might have given in to that urge to hunt.

The robot had a better idea.

Out the back? Glancing to the other two, she slipped cautiously towards it, letting the blond girl offer whatever gratitude she felt like, and tuning the amplifiers letting her listen in in front and behind. Nothing seemed off, so she nodded to 03, waving her forward and giving the other girl a vaguely confused look, though if she could carry the robot, then taking it with them was a good idea. They’d need a source of information. “Alright.” She spoke quietly and unsheathed her own knife, just in case. “Let’s go.”

Genesis Ex Machina

Despite being able to clearly see that this third girl could do with some comforting, she didn’t feel up to offering any. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she simply argued against there being any problem in the first place. It didn’t really work. The pods may not have kept them trapped, but this place was entirely unknown, wasn’t it? So, maybe it was just a bigger trap.

That meant she was glad when the other girl took it upon herself to offer some reassurance, or, at least, a few steadying words that didn’t sound as… angry as hers had. But she didn’t join them in a group cheering session, though she did follow the long haired girl in closing the distance, she just kept going around them both and started a cursory once over of this third pod, hopeful, but not expecting much.

Listening to their conversation, she kept quiet on the matter, but had no actual objections. Staying with them felt safer, somehow, and she had absolutely no desire to set out on her own. She had nowhere to go, anyway. And no time to think about that anymore.

The incessant hissing drawing closer easily drew her attention away from an interior much the same as the last one she’d looked at, and 02 stared with widening eyes at the approaching ship. She could see artillery on it, and the searchlights were eerie, almost visible representation of an unwelcoming gaze. She felt as if letting those fall on them, lighting them up, was a bad idea, though there was a small kernel of doubt in her own instincts, as she had yet to be able to explain any of them. Nonetheless, until they could find that explanation… Instinct it was.

“We move!” An abrupt answer to the question, words harsh as she followed her own advice. “If it can hurt us, we stay away.” For now. It seemed the best course of action if they had no other motivating force. “Come on.” Both hands reaching out as she passed the other two, 02 grabbed an arm apiece and tugged, though she didn’t hang on. She just wanted to jolt 01 out of her daze and figured she might as well include 03 while she was at it.

She only noticed the creature waving at them when she was already moving, but she didn’t set a course directly for it, unsure if that would be any smarter than standing around for the ship to start aiming at them. Getting out of sight was more important.

Genesis Ex Machina

Had a bad headache yesterday but will be getting a post out today.

Genesis Ex Machina

I want a donut.

Genesis Ex Machina

Welp, there's a thing, and if it turns out I need to not have posted, I can always flail about and ask for it to be deleted. :P

Genesis Ex Machina

Head tilting at the question, she didn’t even look up from her search, arm jammed behind some complicated tangle of pipes under the reclining seat. She only shook her head, struggling a little more to try reaching farther, but there wasn’t anything else, so she sat back with a huff. An open palmed, arms flung wide shrug of do you see anything?

“Nothing. I… think this is all… as usual. Set up-wise, I mean.” Because it didn’t seem at all usual to be caught crawling out of pods into a city she didn’t recognise, but nothing struck her as odd when she looked at it, no clues about anything going wrong or right. Only after a last, lingering stare at the interior did she finally turn to look again at her company. The other girl seemed just as confused as she was, but it felt better to at least know they wouldn’t be alone while figuring this out.

Her firm once over from top to toe revealed nothing unexpected or expected, she wasn’t sure what she was looking for in the first place, but comparing outfits, as she looked down at herself, had her remembering the mask she’d not even noticed before, and she raised an exploratory hand to follow the contours of the suit around her jaw. It fit rather well, more comfortable, or she was just used to it, than it probably should be, but-Oh.

At another voice, faint and muffled and impossible to make out clearly, she tapped a button and found herself breathing through a filter, cheeks warmed by the exhaled air, as she turned towards the source. The third pod. 01 it said on the side. Like the 03 and… she checked, 02, on the others. Did that mean there was only three of them?

Who knows?

Listening to the still faint clunking of failed gears, she stood up properly from the crouch she’d been in to investigate the pod, stepping back onto the ground and pushing her hair out of her eyes. But rather than going over to try helping, she simply leaned against the side of her own pod, glancing towards the other girl to see if she was going to go over. It wasn’t really caution, or a lack of curiousity, it was more of a trust that this third person wouldn’t be so inept as to be unable to open a door. A sort of first test like hatching out of an egg, if you couldn’t do that, you weren’t cut out for the world outside the shell.

And there, see? It opened just fine. Eventually.

Behind the mask, her smile was mostly invisible, though it did raise her cheeks a little, as she nodded at the greeting, then raised an eyebrow at that request for help. “What help?” The mask deadened her voice, but it was no difficulty to talk with it over her mouth, so she kept it there, finding it more reassuring than when her face was uncovered. “Made it out on your own, didn’t you?” No more help needed, right?

Probably wrong. Probably very, very wrong. And the blank look on the girl’s face made her fidget, shifting her shoulders against the metal supporting her and crossing her arms, then uncrossing them and taking a step closer, glancing aside to see what the first girl thought about all this. “Hey, you…” alright?

Genesis Ex Machina

It does seem like a bit much to expect a GM post after 3 posts... Well, I'll get started on a reply anyhow.

Genesis Ex Machina

@Rylonia What's our posting order meant to be like? Do we just write to each other until you have something to add, or is it always gonna be one round of us then you?

I like the chapters idea, too.

Genesis Ex Machina

Mwahahahahaha... haha? :P I got that impression a bit. But I'm far better at downgrading abilities than I am at upgrading them, so I find it difficult to make powerful characters right off the bat. I am all for them growing stronger though, should be fun, this discovering stuff. :D

Also, posted! I had some of it prewritten because excitement levels... But hopefully it works? If it needs edits, just let me know. ;)

Genesis Ex Machina

There were echoes of beaten metal drums making uneven rhythms around her when she woke up. It was dark and cold and strangely comfortable for a moment before she opened her eyes. Before she took a breath and started to cough—sudden noise bouncing off too close walls—rolled over, sat up and almost hit her head. That’s when she found her first question.

What?

The small space was as unfamiliar as the hand she raised to press against the wall, sliding her fingers lightly over smooth contours absently. Letting touch tell her what dim light and obscure shadows could not. Definitely a tight fit. So, where…? The second question was much easier to answer. Her mind stopped searching as soon as her fingers closed around the latch and, without thinking it through, forced it forward, sharp and fast and inconsiderate of the mechanisms involved. She’d found the door.

It groaned and hissed complaints, but slid jarringly out of the way, and she found herself squinting in the half-light, blinking at the chilling sensation of water on her skin, catching at her hair and rolling down her cheeks. Fracturing the yellow glow from outside. Stepping slowly out of the small space into the large, she hung onto the edge of the doorway. For balance, but also because its smooth and constant chill seemed less daunting than the wide open space she found upon following the brighter light with her eyes and looking up, up, up against the rain.

A vast, murky weight overhead. And… simple susurrations of wind and water striking metal and stone and dirt and pooling puddles and glass. It felt empty though. It looked deserted, disturbingly so, though she wasn’t sure why it bothered her. Something about the stillness unsettled her. For several breaths, all she could do was wonder why. And she stood like that, green glints shining off her shoulders, arm still stretched between her and the pod, dark hair flat to her skull and catching itself on her mask as she turned her head, looking from the pod, with its dull sheen and simple siding, to the buildings and cars she didn’t recognize. There weren’t any familiar landmarks whatsoever, but… She couldn’t think of anything that would have been familiar.

The same question, but on a much broader scale, came back to her then. Where is this? And when a new noise made her start into a spin, dropping to crouch beside the pod and stare across the street at another one just like it, new questions followed. She couldn’t recognize the person who stepped out either. Yet, unlike their surroundings, she… they, they were both more familiar, somehow. Like she was supposed to know them, and if she waited long enough, she’d be able to-to… To what? Name them? She couldn’t even name herself!

….

Couldn’t… name… herself?

“I-” Eyes wide and white as that revelation struck her out of her daze, the woman’s voice crackled unpleasantly from behind the mask, and she winced instinctively, closing her teeth against the words. A hand automatically reached up to retract the mask, but she wasn’t really thinking about that. Too busy trying to understand the rest of this situation. But there wasn’t any answer in her head, or anywhere she looked. Not outside, but, maybe-?

She disappeared back into her pod in an ungainly scramble. There had to be something, right?