A cry for help

[thespaceopera]

[a distress call has been tracked across the void, finally leading back to the source. a hulking crippled ship, teeming with hostile alien life, now lies before you.

what do you do? do you dive in or hang back? are you here to learn, play, build, or observe?

however you choose to proceed, your audience is out there somewhere, watching.]


ooc: here is a good ol' themed mingle to get you all started! and don't feel limited by the prompts and what they describe--they're just there as idea-starters, so feel free to go anywhere and do anything.

have fun!

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Comments

[recopy]

[YOU NEVER KNOW ZHAS, MAYBE ONE DAY YOU WILL....but either way, that mystery might just end up having to solve itself for now. And besides, this nickname business could clear up things both ways anyhow--or at least, it might, if they're able to figure this bit out. Maybe still easier said than done.

It's Megaman's turn to tilt his head again as Zhas attempts to explain. The listing of adjectives is unexpected, and the first one--once it parses--has him straightening a bit with a slight huff.]

Wait, hey, I'm not that small though! ...Am I? [LOOK HE'S KNOWN SHORTER PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE THIS SEEMS UNWARRANTED...but then again he's known a lot of taller people too....ah well. He rubs at the back of his neck with a bit of a frown, and then catches himself. Whoops, right--but he decides to opt out of signing that in favor noticing another smaller error between adjectives there. He thinks he can see where Zhas is going with this! Just...

'Not boy.' Well, not--not quite, anyway. Semantics. But it feels prudent to mention, now he thinks about it... 'Program.' Pause. 'Robot.' Yeah, there we go. Mulling over this response a bit more, though...he points to Zhas in turn, eventually. 'Can choose short name for me?' It seems like the path of least resistance, really. Megaman never was the terribly creative one--thinking outside the box in any way is generally Lan's job, and making up names for yourself kind of feels like it should fall into that category. This way Zhas might have something to call him, too, since he's still pretty sure his first introduction didn't go over well at all...]

[theboogieman]

[he's pretty small... Zhas has met smaller, of course, but that doesn't stop him from feeling rather looming when he stands near him. Megaman might have caught him smirking, just a little, after he complained about it. ...maybe he reads lips really well?

either way, that look vanishes as soon as more signs appear for him to read. he understands "program", and with a little bit of thinking, he remembers "robot". which... forget the name thing, for a second. hold the phone. he waves his hands flat to cut off the end of their "talk", quickly getting to the important part, here.

'You are a robot?'

this time he's perfectly sure he understood him--this is just human incredulity.]

[recopy]

[Maybe he did catch that smirk!! Well, sort of...the face paint and the poor lighting of the area makes it a bit trickier to say for sure. But even if he had, it quickly turns out that Megaman wouldn't have had time to try calling that out anyway. Or even follow up on his recent question, for that matter, as Zhas seems to forego name puzzling entirely in favor of being...okay, yeah, that's a pretty incredulous expression.

In retrospect, he probably should have expected this! But habit is hard to break, and sometimes Megaman forgets that not everyone has a casual take on programs like him. Or robots, for that matter. As seen here...and the reaction has him pausing a moment, suddenly looking a bit uncertain. He's....he's pretty sure this isn't a negative reaction? But still...

'Yes.' Hands hover, unsure how to clarify, and he ends up shrugging slightly again. All disconcertingly human gestures for a robot to be making, probably, though that's a sticking point Megaman hasn't realized yet. 'Live in computers. Got robot body here.' Another pause. 'Sorry. Did not mean surprise.'

He doesn't try to hide it, really! He just forgets that maybe it isn't as obvious to others as it is to him...]

[theboogieman]

[Zhas has a slight advantage here, compared to many others in the Fleet... in that he is at least from a modern planet Earth. sure, he was raised in a castle with a bunch of old-timey vampires, and has lived a majority of his life nestled in old stories about knights and monsters and the ancient days of vampiric lore--but he at least he still knows what the internet is. he's seen a couple of movies. he has a cell phone, somewhere. an intelligent computer program that's been put into a robot body by Atroma for ease of communication is really not that hard a jump for him to make.

it sounds stupid, but he believes it.

so, since this person isn't really human, Zhas immediately drops all of the pretense of proper human social interaction and decides to investigate, instead. part curious, part skeptical, part voracity for a concept he can pick apart. he drops into a crouch, leans in very close to his face, and peers into his eyes with a new interest.

interesting. he pokes his shoulder once, only to change his tactic and knock on his shoulder with his knuckles. he starts looking him over for things that make him look not-human. that whole name thing is going to have to wait for a couple of minutes longer.]

[recopy]

[Look don't judge him, if he'd had a say in the matter he'd still be in a computer right now too! And...not here at all, incidentally. Either way--yes, definitely stupid, but...here they are.

Still, Megaman isn't sure what he was expecting...but what he certainly didn't expect was Zhas abruptly deciding that personal space is now out the window. Zhas crouches and leans in, skull paint suddenly getting alarmingly close, and Megaman accordingly leans back about as far as his head will actually let him, looking appropriately baffled at this turn of events. (But not before Zhas is probably able to get a glimpse of the tiny glass lenses there, where the green of his eyes are set and almost invisible from a distance, subtly shifting to adjust to the change in focused distance--)

And then Zhas is moving right along to poking, and knocking--the pauldrons are definitely metal, the underlying material some kind of spandex, a bit of soft give at the knock but something harder too close beneath to quite match flesh. At that point, however, Megaman is promptly drawing a step back with hands upraised.]

Whoa, wait a minute, easy there! Why does everyone keep doing that? [Just as Zhas momentarily forgets about name puzzling, Megaman momentarily forgets he's speaking to a supposedly-deaf person in the light of this sudden and clearly unwarranted rudeness. Almost a bit defensive now, he folds his arms as the rather disconcerting scrutiny continues.] Don't--poke people, that's weird! If you don't believe me all you have to do is say so, geez...

[Honestly though, if it weren't for the eyes up close and the aforementioned poking, it'd be pretty difficult to properly pin down any distinct non-human feature that isn't simply part of the armor here. Maybe the earpieces, or the symbol crest on his chest, both entirely Navi features translated over...but one has to hand it to Atroma otherwise--their androids are apparently pretty cosmetically human.]

[theboogieman]

[Zhas will at least stop poking him once there's a proper space between them, and his investigation ends with him staring with a sort of... rapt attention. while he had a low, constant air of looming menace before, now he just seems awake and curious.

(...that's not to say he doesn't still look kind of creepy in his dark coat and his face painted like a human skull and the bit where his eyes still have that jack-o-lantern glow in the low light of the ship, but it is at least not being intentionally directed at the little robot boy anymore.)

how interesting. he wonders if Coil would have a field day, with this. his one-eyed friend has always been more into biology than robotics. he wonders if this "program" has a soul. he wonders if it's really all code, or if it's got something else in it to make it so human-like. he's already run into a person made out of wood, so this is at least not the strangest thing he's seen...

he nods, mostly to himself, and signs something. 'M', then the gesture for 'metal' near his mouth. he combines the two after that. that can be his name.]

[recopy]

[Honestly, Zhas's scrutiny was probably the most unnerving part on the whole--sure, the face paint and eyes could definitely count as creepy, but he could get used to that a lot more easily, having had no shortage of...odd-looking friends back home, creepy or not. Being stared at like he's an alien creature himself, though, that's still going to take a bit...

The poking ceases, and Megaman drops his hands to his sides. Zhas doesn't make any direct response to his words, though, and that's when Megaman remembers himself again. Right, deaf. Probably. Ah. That was pretty weird and definitely awkward, but Zhas already seems more than ready to move on as if nothing happened, and...well, a little late to object now, isn't it? Or at least, it'd probably be more effort than necessary. Zhas is gesturing again, anyway--the new signs take him a moment and some blinking to figure out, but then it clicks.]

Oh. Metal...? [He...well, he doesn't know what he expected. Only sensible, isn't that? The last bits of his earlier offended air deflate away with a small sigh and a smile despite himself. Slowly, he echoes the new combination of signs for himself--yeah, that's alright. Not nearly as cool as 'skeleton', but hey! Short and simple. That could be convenient.

'This name is good. Thank you.' He glances around even as he signs, though, as if finally remembering their surroundings for the first time. Looking back up to Zhas now: 'Sorry. I am using your time. Good luck with bug?' And he extends a hand, because a parting handshake is a polite thing to do here, right? Yes.]

yeah i'm like two weeks late so what

[theboogieman]

[he nods again when he's got it. he's pleased that he likes it. he doesn't remember getting much satisfaction out of naming things before he arrived in the Fleet, but now, putting words to things gives him a sense of order and control, however small. that kind of thing is valuable out here, between the rampant magic and the alarming amount of grey thinking.

ah, the apology... he doesn't quite understand how he's imposing, since Zhas is the one who wandered in, started trouble, and stuck around to investigate. he looks down at the extended hand, still crouched, for just a couple of seconds too long.

but he knows how it's supposed to go, so he finally returns the gesture. it's surprisingly civil. a totally normal handshake. and, since things seem good here, he reiterates with quick signs, 'thank you for trade.'

he can finally go, now. leave this poor robot boy to his tasks.]