driftfleet | video / action for the marsiva | first cent

Who: Penny and whoever
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: The Marsiva
When: Now-ish

[ The video feed turns on to show a red-headed teenage girl just kind of. Sitting up in one of the hospitality deck cots. Her eyes are open, but she's not moving at all. Even breathing, if you're observant enough to notice that sort of thing.

That's because she's still in the process of booting up. A robot like Penny isn't meant to be hard shut-down unless she's getting tuned up, so the process takes a bit. The self-diagnostics don't know what's going on - how is the body fine when it clearly shouldn't be?

Still, after a few moments she does come online.

That's when she seems to snap awake, her eyes widening. ] What- [ She scrambles backwards, falling off of the cot, dragging the sheets with her. She lands with an audible THUD that might suggest she's heavier than her size would indicate.

Eloquent first impression.

Penny peeks up from behind the cot, glancing around, a confused expression on her face. Her databanks don't know where this place is, nor can it even place the architecture. And her sensors pick up SPACE from behind those windows to the side. ] Where is this? [ She's been repaired, but by who? And... HOW? And brought here...?

Is she....? No, this is far too real.

Penny picks herself up, taking another look around. ]

Hello? Is anybody there?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Her enthusiasm is kind of refreshing. It's different when it's coming from another artificial being. He smiles despite himself, a bit soft. ]

A secret? [ Well.... ]

Well, I've got bad news and good news - this is a public post that anyone can read, which is the bad. But the good news is that nobody cares if you're a robot, so you'll do fine.

[ ........Oh.

OH. ]

How do I delete posts off of the network?

I don't think you can delete them. They're just kind of there.

[ He feels like he should say something to try and reassure her, at least. ]

Nobody will mind, though. We've got aliens on board and people who can literally cast magic. Also, I've been here for months, so they've had plenty of time to get used to it.

That is not good, not good at all. That is a very important secret. [ Freaking out? A little bit. ]

I don't think it really applies if you're in a whole new place. [ He doesn't mention the conversation he can see going up above there because that is definitely not his business like whoa. ] It's not like there's anyone here to tell you what to do.

[ He assumes that there'd be some kind of punishment waiting for her wherever she came from, if she told. ]

No... No, no. People, people wouldn't understand.

You understand. You're like me. I don't even know how you're like me, but... [ Penny was the first and only one like her, that's why she was so excited that space had more.

Ruby had understood, yes, but... she was special. Blake, Yang? They won't understand. ]

You were all alone where you came from, weren't you. [ It's not hard to read between the lines. He feels bad about that. Being alone in the world must be pretty hard, especially if you've been raised like this kid apparently has. ] Where I come from, people like us are common. AIs and humans grow up together, like siblings.

Trust me, humans and robots, or AIs, or whatever - they're not that different. Just act as you normally do and people will gloss over it eventually. Humans are useful that way.

[ Penny SQUINTS at the feed, but...

He seems more experienced than her. And if he's telling the truth about where he's from... ]

Are you sure? Are you very, positively sure?

Sure. [ Though humans can be weird, or mistrusting, or just plain mean...they're mean to each other, too. ] I'm not going to lie about something like this.

...You'll meet people who don't like you for all kinds of reasons, but that's just how people are. You can't please everyone, so don't waste your energy. [ He feels like Megaman should be making this kind of speech, but Megaman's not here, so it's just him. ] You'll learn, though. So I'll try not to overload you with too much information at first.

[ He's acting kind of brotherly?? God, what is this. It's surreal. But he feels bad for Penny. He can't even fathom living in a world where he'd be the only netnavi ever. ]

[ Give Penny a moment to take all of this in. ] That all sounds like very good advice. Thank you.

[ . . . ]

Oh! I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Penny.

[ Not used to being thanked...his expression flickers like he's uncertain. Because he is. It passes quickly, though. ]

Penny? Okay. I'll remember that.

My name's Elecman. My ship's the SS Caprine. If you want to drop by to ask questions or something, I guess you can do that once you get off the Marsiva.

[ There's a high chance Penny will be shuffled to another ship that doesn't contain either her friends or him, so he figures he should at least extend the offer. ]

[ If she finds the name Elecman odd, she doesn't show it. (Honestly she's heard weirder.)

She gives him a salute. ] SS Caprine, got it.

...Are there a lot of ships out there?

[ He's a little surprised she doesn't find it odd - she's not from his world, after all - but he doesn't show it.

He seems a bit puzzled by the salute, though. He lets that show, but obviously decides not to ask about it. ] There's 17 in the fleet so far. Not counting the one you're on, the Marsiva - that's where all new people show up. [ He's gotten used to this by now. If he thinks of it as a vacation where he doesn't have to worry, then it's easier to bear, but man. He hopes Jack isn't getting into trouble. ]

We're having a capacity problem, which is kind of annoying. Most of the ships are over capacity, or they've hit their cap. [ It's not really too inconvenient for him, but it might be for other people. He doesn't concern himself with that, though. ] If we weren't docked at a station right now, all the humans would be complaining.

Edited 2016-02-10 09:40 (UTC)

"Over capacity?" Even with seventeen whole ships?

Does that mean they [ GASP ] would be potentially unsafe in the event of a fire!?

[ ....Penny, there is more to this than a fire marshal's maximum occupancy.

Please don't try to follow her train of thought, that is the path of pain. ]

If you have a fire in space, I think over-capacity's the least of the problems, personally.

It's more about having enough space for the humans to sleep, and stuff like that. The ships are pretty small as is, without adding more onto the load.

Oh. Then it is a good thing I do not need to sleep! Only charge.

[ How the hell was Penny planning on keeping this robot thing a secret? ]

video / action for the marsiva | first cent | RWBY spoilers

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