thebastion | One-sided altercations

Entry tags:

dropped: erek king

One-sided altercations

Who: Erek and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 273
Where: Skyway
What: Erek continues his quest to acquire enough shards to FILL THE BASTION WITH DOGS. He runs into trouble, and he both can't and won't fight back. You can find him when he's searching or when he's been ambushed
Format: Prose somewhat preferred, but I'll match!
Warnings: He may not actually approve of rescue attempts.

It still doen't sit right with Erek, asking anyone else to fight in his defense. It's just too close to the limits of his programming against violence. If he asks someone along to help should an altercation happen, that makes him responsible for any ensuing violence. Tobias sometimes gets scouting requests, but that's all.

He may encounter others and keep them company for awhile, but eventually, Erek winds on his own today. He usually stays hidden when there aren't other people around. This time, though, keeping a low profile doesn't seem to have been quite as effective a deterrent to trouble. His presence has been noticed, whether through the scent of metal or the fact that grass moves and is squashed flat without anyone visible on it.

At first it's just a few squirts, and Erek stands and takes the blows with no hesitation. Then he ses a Gasfella coming, and with it, a much higher chance of being knocked off the edge. Erek drops to the ground, fingers digging in. If he just lays here, presumably they'll lose interest after awhile. At the moment, more creatures are arriving, but none of them seem to have weapons or natural abilities that would do him real harm. It doesn't hurt, and he isn't even being dented. He's not waiting for help, just for the situation to change. If nothing changes, he'll probably make a run for it eventually.

Erek's hologram of near invisibility flickers with every particularly significant blow, revealing the android body underneath.

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"I can't, Tobias! You know why. I can ask you to scout, but when it's my decision to come out here, asking anyone along in even a defensive capacity means that any violence committed by or against them is my responsibility."

He was back on his feet, but distractions wouldn't last long. Erek needed to get out of there fast. "As long as I don't get thrown off the edge, I'll be fine."

Just like Tobias knew Erek's reasons for not requesting help, he knew Erek's reasons for trying to get his hands on shards. The incident today changed nothing, except perhaps the level of caution and care Erek would take with his holograms and force fields in future. Maybe he'd ask Colin for help improving his emitter, too.

<... Sorry. I just... worry. And I know you can't. ... Sorry.>

He didn't want to be mad at Erek or have Erek be mad at him in return. It was just frustrating, trying to work around his programming. <I've got some shards I can give to you, if you want.>

There's a pause, where he'd sigh if he could, before he 'speaks' again. <You've been doing okay otherwise?>

"It's alright, Tobias. I'm not angry. I won't turn down the offer, as long as it's not just because you're sorry." Erek takes off running, hoping the creatures can't keep up. Tobias, with the advantage of wings, should be able to follow without much difficulty, especially as Erek is being careful with regard to waiting for the ground to shift into place. Better too slow and caught again than too fast and falling.

"I've been fine. I'd be better with some dogs around, hence the outing."

<It's not.>

He drifts along almost lazily, watching the ground shift under Erek. He has to admit it's a lot easier to deal with the Skyway with wings. Not that it's not also work - the ground doesn't warm up if it's not out, so he still has to work to gain altitude. He swoops own and cuts his speed by stretching out his wings, landing on top of a ruined building nearby.

<I don't think it takes too much to make animals... I don't know exact numbers, though.>

"I assumed it wasn't." Tobias wasn't so petty.

Erek glances back over a shoulder more out of habit than because it's necessary. He has a scout along now, and Erek trusts Tobias to give him warning before any of the creatures catch up. He isn't putting distance between them as quickly as he wants, Erek notes. If he had a human hologram, he would grimace. This ground is just so inconvenient.

"I haven't looked up the exact amount yet because I was torn on what to ask for first." More Chee is probably lowest on the list of priorities. He is a surviving legacy of Pemalite technology even if he is alone in it. Saving their spirits, their souls, takes priority. Erek is still afraid to ask for Pemalites themselves. It's been thousands of years since he had hope. Crushing that would be devastating. He knows that it's illogical, but he'll bring dogs to the Bastion before daring to ask for Pemalites.

<Yeah, understandable. You've got plenty of time.>

He keeps an eye on the surrounding area, but they're pretty clear for right now. <I was thinking of getting some more books. I kind of want to read some of my old favorites again, but I didn't want to ask anyone else for help since... well, nothing says that the books I get will be readable to anyone not from our world. It seemed kind of selfish to use someone else's shards for those.>

"Mmm." Call him pessimistic, but Erek feels like there's not enough. What if something happens to his one chance to revive his creators? Dogs first, yes, but he needs more shards as quickly as possible.

At Tobias's worry, Erek pauses before answering, though his legs don't slow at all. "The language barrier only exists in writing," he says thoughtfully. "Audiobooks. Or get them in hard copy but make sure people know they have someone to read to them if they're interested. I could probably rig something with my programming, make audio recordings of books I've read when I'm not otherwise busy. I bet Colin or I could come up with some means of transmitting the audio other than me having to stand there and read aloud."

<... That's a good idea. I don't usually think about audiobooks. I prefer actually reading it, but with how I am that might not be the better option.>

He takes off and drifts after Erek again, flapping occasionally. <It's a little weird how much this place messes with your idea of normal. I was thinking about that recently. Like... I'm taking foreign language lessons from a giant dragon and it doesn't even really count as weird for me anymore.>

Nodding, Erek agreed, "A lot of people do prefer hard copies. I'll figure out a way to produce audiobooks if I need to, though, for you or for anyone who can't read the language. The stories are still good."

He laughed at the last part of what Tobias said, though. "Most people would think us pretty strange on earth, too, Tobias." I mean, look at them: a canine-esque android and a hawk who was once a human and can still shift his form. Neither is going to win any 'average human' awards in the near future.

<Yeah, I know. But I kind of adjusted to my 'new normal'. It's like when there's something on the floor. If it stays there for a long time you just stop noticing it.>

Not that he can't notice that he's a bird, but the point still stands.

"This is just another new normal. You're adjusting to it the same way you adjusted to the last one."

Erek would really like to make some changes to this new normal. He isn't doing so well at accepting it as is, what with the lack of canines and other Chee. Then again, he felt the same way when he lost the Pemalites. Their absence would always be an empty space in his life, but he did make a new life. Many of them.

<I know. But it takes time. At least I don't have to worry about other birds on my territory here.>

It's kind of a joke, but not really. Owls and falcons are assholes and no one understands.

It seems a little odd, to be having this conversation while on the run from creatures on the Skyway, but then, neither Erek nor Tobias needs interrupt their breathing to speak. One because he speaks mind-to-mind, the other because he does not breathe in the first place.

He asks, "How often was that a problem at home?" And Erek makes a mental note to discourage the acquiring of other birds of prey for the bastion, should anyone mention considering it.

"Seems like we've got plenty of time here to get used to things." Erek is still not necessarily okay with that. Loss of a second home planet, and of the rest of his people. He has tenuous hope here for the Pemalites, hope that he can't bring himself to voice, let alone trust. But that doesn't negate the loss.

Tobias isn't too concerned about the creatures on the Skyway, to be fair. He can always morph away any damage as long as he's not outright killed.

<Sometimes. The area I had wasn't very big, but I had to muscle some other birds out of the way. And even then I didn't really 'own' it during the night, since that's when owls come out and hawks don't have great low-light vision. ... Better than humans, but not great for a bird.>

Not enough to really hunt reliably, at least. And Tobias is trying to hold out hope... but hope is hard when you've just been trying to survive day to day for so long like he has. Either here or at home, there's nothing to do between missions but try to distract yourself and not think about the odds.

Erek is likewise not especially concerned. The only damage they're dealing that he can't take would be throwing him bodily off the Skyway. He'll lie down again if more Gasfellas appear.
"Well, I'm usually all for biodiversity, but I think we can manage fine without other birds of prey here." Tobias is Erek's favorite bird of prey anyway. Most of the others aren't particularly friendly. Some of the bigger ones even attack small dogs.

The nothing to do between missions issue is one that Erek hopes is mitigated somewhat here in the Bastion. At least Tobias can have conversations with anyone, can maybe even read some books, can take language lessons from a dragon. There's a little more of a life for him outside of surveillance and battle here, but Erek wishes he had that at home, where the rest of their friends were. It shouldn't take the loss of a world for Tobias to be able to come out into the open. But then, Erek can't talk. It's not as if he was out of hiding back on Earth either.

<Yeah, I think so too. We don't want to put too many species here anyway since there's so little land. We've got enough trouble feeding ourselves sometimes. We don't need to start introducing an entire ecosystem, too.>

He does miss home, though. He misses the people, most of all. One day they'll find them. They just have to keep looking.

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One-sided altercations

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This tag made me laugh, but then I took forever to replyyyyy.

It's okay!

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