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Post by willowflower on Feb 11, 2021 1:50:51 GMT -5
malfunction of the hearta soulmate rp -- ❊ --
an astronaut and a robot are sent to a mysterious little planet to catalogue new alien flora and fauna. however, when the pair arrive they find nothing but caves and canyons, broken-down machinery and ruins, a surface completely devoid of life. they must navigate this ominous place and piece together what catastrophe has met this poor planet.
of course, on such a mission, alone on the planet with nothing but each other for company, one little robot battles their futile feelings for their fellow human, while said human wonders over the curious soulmark upon their wrist. -- ❊ --
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Post by willowflower on Feb 11, 2021 1:51:08 GMT -5
R-417 Hyper-intelligent assistant module || In use for about two decades || he/they A relatively old model when it comes to technology, R-417 (affectionately known as “R”) is a hyper-intelligent AI created to aid space adventurers on their planetary journey. Their main function is to act as an information library and collect facts, photos, and observations about various forms of life found on other planets. Their secondary function is to provide quirky, reliably chipper companionship for their human counterparts. This particular model, however, has a malformed processing chip, either damaged or simply made carelessly during production, that has affected some of its programming.
R-417’s intelligence is stored within a floating metal sphere, constructed of a light-weight and hardy material. At least, it was considered hardy back in his creation - now, a few bonks to the cranium could take him out. He’s already a little banged up and scuffed up from previous space journeys, metal a little dulled from a few years stuffed inside a closet. His interface screen flashes light blue, matching the little blue bowtie he wears for aesthetic purposes. There’s a hatch on his right side that opens up to access his inner wires for repair purposes. He, unfortunately, does not possess any arms - that upgrade was solely for models less than ten years old - so the most movement he can do is fly, roll, and push. After all, his primary functions involve information and communication.
This model is, opposed to the traditional chirpy and supportive robot companion, cynical, dry, and sarcastic. Honestly they might have a bit of a superiority complex, though how a robot could have developed such an ego over the years is beyond most scientists. But honestly, why not be a dapper little fellow? R-417 may be flawed to the mechanical bone, but at least they have personality. The only little caveat R-417 finds to their existence are the pesky little electrical firings in their robot brain that humans apparently call "emotions." The only thing they really mind about these emotions is that they can't control them. It's very annoying. "Frustration" is one they feel a lot - one that makes them want to scream and hit something. "Amusement" is one they enjoy a bit more, especially when it comes to wordplay and an unfortunate slip on a banana peel. And finally... something they can only call "fondness," something they've been feeling a lot lately with this current human companion. Perhaps, one might dare say, "love."
R-417 does not know what to do with this information.
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 11, 2021 10:17:48 GMT -5
Lark "Honey" Campbell | 24 | Human | He/They Lark didn't necessarily join the InterGalactic Exploration crew of his own free will. As a younger person he raised spices with his family in a little town that was located in the middle of nowhere. His own passion, however, laid in gardening and bee keeping. He earned the nickname Honey for many reasons: being young, being helpful, smelling like an entire florists shop, and having the sticky sweet treat perpetually on all of his clothing. He didn't fight it much, all considering (he figured his soulmate may find it charming, whoever they may be with an odd as mark as his on his hip) While he was generally good natured and eager to help others, Lark also had a habit of saying what was on his mind and being competitive. His town had seen him as a bit of a punk, yet anyone who really knew him would swear that he would gladly gice you the clothes off his back. Though, cross him for real and one may find he's rather unforgiving. As most youths do- Lark got into trouble by sneaking into places he shouldn't, starting fights he could maybe win, and chasing off people a little too interested in his families business. So to say he didn't join willingly- when you make enemies, it turns out, one may find themselves drafted to join the next space exploration. His family couldn't afford to pay his way out of it, and so he was shuffled off to academy for testing and placement. Explorer. A little bit of an engineer. A junior cartographer. They'd rounded him out at least. There was a smug officer out there somewhere that believed it was the last he would see of Lark, and maybe their families trade would be easy to claim- but the officer forgot to factor in the pay Lark recieved was being sent back home to help cushion the families bank. He was happy that space seemed clean, for the most part, because Lark despises dirt and grime unless it comes from his gardens or his hives (did he forget to mention he snuck a little horticulture experiment into space with him? As it turns out with lots of artificial light and access to a multitude of seeds... bees flourished rather nicely in space- and who could complain about fresh food? Not his bunkmates!) So here be found himself. Millions of miles away from home. In a little ship built to house him and his newest bunkmate- a charmingly (dont tell them that) cynical bot, who got on his nerves on the worst days, and brings muffled laughter to him on the good days... He wouldn't deny he was growing rather fond, though he finds himself pressing fingers to his hip at night and he wonders how is he supposed to find the one made for him when there's the void of space all around him.
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Post by willowflower on Feb 11, 2021 13:07:34 GMT -5
(( i cannot believe i managed to find the perfect picrew for my character :') ))
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 11, 2021 13:46:51 GMT -5
((ommmmg. That is beautiful. I love that! What are the odds haha. I should use a picrew for mine too .. I love using them and then doodling characters later)
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 11, 2021 19:07:22 GMT -5
(Hmmm. Now the contemplation is, characters that bump heads because their personality are too similar. I.e both skeptical and kinda stubborn. Or opposite, optimistic and maybe too adventurous hmmhmmm. I'm contemplating and playing around with some picrews haha)
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Post by willowflower on Feb 11, 2021 19:41:07 GMT -5
((hehe yes, both would be super fun! picrews are the best - i find them amazing tools for character design. doodling them sounds like fun, i need to try that!))
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 11, 2021 22:39:37 GMT -5
(Bam! There he is! I fiddled with quite a few picrews before settling- and haha, yes! I find myself doodling most characters I RP with )
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Post by willowflower on Feb 12, 2021 3:02:16 GMT -5
((may i just say, i already love lark with that, here's my starter!))
-- ❊ -- Ah. The dark, cold, unforgiving expanse of space. Drifting helplessly through a vacuum in nothing more than a tin can holding your little molecules of oxygen and flesh together. R-417, despite his frequent trips through the void, was not a fan of space. Or rather, the space in between one planet and the next. Just too much space. So much space for opportunities for death to strike, for a terrible catastrophe to befall the little spaceship he now lies in. Of course, R trusted in his abilities to keep the ship afloat if he had to, but still, you never know. Space sharks are a thing.
R hovered down the corridor separating the dorm and the canteen. Was it odd to want to check in on the human for the fifteenth time in a row? Perhaps he should just chalk it up to his programming - maybe something in his wires was getting a little too fired up, some if-statement looping a few more times than necessary. Still, the desire felt different somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Mostly because he didn't have fingers to put one on anything, but regardless of human idioms (darn human already rubbing off on him) R was more than happy to completely ignore it.
Speaking of the human. R sometimes wondered what Lark was doing out here. Just based on the dirt, not to mention the bees, R dared say Lark was quite fond of their home planet, and not as enthusiastically delighted at the whole space thing as other humans had been. Then again R didn't expect the human to open up to him. Sure, lonely humans will talk to anything, but R believed himself to have a certain... charm that wards off any emotional backstory.
Something blipped at him from the front of the ship, and R, not for the first time, wished he had the physical capability to sigh. "Coming," he droned, quite uselessly too as the ship had no AI to respond to him. He basically was the AI.
If there was friction in the air R would be dragging himself down the corridor up to the controls. Settling into the main port, he closed his viewing screen, then opened it again, this time seeing the ship's statistics and current location. Shields at 100%, oxygen levels satisfactory, could use some fuel but would make it to the nearest gas planet if they had to. Ah - they were very close to their destination, it seems. Good news. Ah - they appeared to be approaching a cluster of asteroids circling the planet. Bad news.
He should probably inform the human.
Of course, like a good hyper-intelligent assistant module, R hopped onto the ship's intercoms. "Hello, R-417 to Lark, again, R-417 to Lark. Please cease any biological function to listen to this very important message. We are now approaching the planet Kepler-42B. We are also rapidly approaching an asteroid belt," R droned flatly. "Caution is advised."
-- ❊ -- ((here we are! also, i was thinking that in terms of world-building (or in this case planet-building) we can both throw in ideas as we go along, with the "yes and" improv principle and stuff. i based the planet's name off of Kepler-452b, a possible life-sustaining planet like Earth, and the meaning of all life 42 ^.^))
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 12, 2021 10:13:33 GMT -5
When turbulence was minimal and the far away blink of stars was constant, one had to find their own rhythm- their own schedule. Lark would get up, run around in the small gym branching off the hall, eat while R-417 prattled on about the statistics of the mission (Lark appreciated it, even if he may grumble about the repetition to the bots face)- well. He holds that thought. Face? Yeah, that was accurate- either way, after eating he would lock himself away to go tend to his little garden and his sweet bees.
It was odd. It hadn't been recommended. Lark had taken the risk to smuggle his queen bee with him though, and he wasn't going to let her suffer from a lack of care. Plus, it gave him something tangible to take care of! R-417 had a pod to do maintenance in, even though Lark had offered to help him out a few times.
He supposes if he was R, he wouldn't want some baby electrician messing around with his wires. Lark had taken it upon himself to scan through the manuals in their digital library though, in case he could be helpful one day.
Anyways, he was sprinkling his latest batch of herbs when the intercom bursts on. He should just invite R-417 into his garden so he didn't just flip open the door to see if Lark had keeled over or not...and then just hover away.
"R! We're the only ones here! Who else would you be paging?" He sighs. Admittedly, he wasn't sure he could hear him from here- Lark tended to hop on the intercom to respond all the same. So he peels his gloves off and steps to the wall with the intercom system. He leans his shoulder against the wall and rolls his eyes, "Yes Sir, I shall cease with the breathing right away, anything else?"
His brows furrow though and he drops his head back against the wall, "Alright, I'll start tying things down. Let me know if anything looks like it'll toss me on my rear."
They didn't have too many things that had a risk of rolling, but things like his hive had to be secured and he was sure R could find some other things to point out. So Lark focuses on locking the wheels down and pulling it flat against a wall. Whatever tools he has laying around are secure in their assigned mag locked cabinets and he starts to make his way to join R and secure whatever else he can find.
"I swear if I end up outside fixing another radio tower on this ship I will... Write such a strongly worded letter." It was about all he could really do as a threat out here.
(I love R just being like .. is this weird? Maybe. Will I keep doing it? Probably. That sounds good to me for world building! And if were anything crazy we could be like so what do you think about xyz? And ooo, love it haha, especially considering we will be finding no life .)
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Post by willowflower on Feb 14, 2021 1:45:21 GMT -5
((the thought of r just opening the door to check if lark was still alive and then just immediately leaving is so funny to me, their dynamic is already delightful yep sounds good! and hehe thank u, the irony is fun))
-- ❊ --
"Ah, yes. A letter will do wonders," R said dryly as they cast their view across the series of asteroids in the ship's path. "Hold on," they said when they saw Lark out of the corner of their vision screen. "You might want your hands on the controls, in case we need an asteroid blasted." While this clunker was no battleship, R did manage to persuade the right robots to get a few blasters attached to the bottom-side, one because what if they met space cthulhu, and two, blasters are epic and fun. What's not to love. Not that R knows how to love. Because he is a robot.
Still, R felt some trepidation. Which was annoying, this whole feeling situation. He should be focused on navigating the ship through the asteroid field, not contemplating the strange turmoil in his core. He shouldn't be thinking about what would happen to Lark if they were to smash headfirst into a stray rock, if an asteroid tore a hole through the port and Lark got sucked out into the vacuum of space - no, no, he should not be worrying about all that, in fact, he shouldn't be worried at all! R once more mourned whatever wretched wire within his cold metal body sent his mental state whirring into the emotional.
The asteroid belt was coming. "I recommend strapping in," R noted before locking in on controls. The ship slowed, making a large arc around the first oncoming hunk of stone. A few screens sprang to life on the dashboard before R and Lark - mapping out the field of asteroids, then computing a path through said field that bore a 66% chance of survival. The only problem was, the program kept recalculating the path every turn R made. "Why must Google Space Maps be this way," R muttered.
There went a loud crunch. "There goes full shield efficiency," R said. "Shields down 22%." There was an awful screeching sound somewhere outside to his right. The ship rattled. If R could wince, he would. His viewing screen blinked erratically in annoyance. "Took some damage to the starboard side," he noted, watching as a screen with the spacecraft's model blinked into existence. Red lines blinked loudly as they pointed out the scrape, as if R couldn't already tell.
Then, if R didn't have enough on his plate, star command was chiming in on the ship's communication line, demanding an update. It wasn't even a human person, just an automated bot asking for a line of code to ensure the human passenger was still alive. R sent out a series of 1's and 0's to let them know, yes, R was still functioning, yes, Lark's lungs were still inflating properly, and yes, they were approaching Kepler-42B and its field of asteroids.
Something popped up in his viewing screen. "Error," the message from star command read. It blinked onto a screen for Lark to see. "Error 4604: Break in continuity. No asteroid field detected in current location. Error." -- ❊ -- ((i have an idea -- what if the asteroids were somehow related/a clue to the planet's lifelessness? like maybe people/stuff were turned to stone or it was all a bunch of compacted trash. maybe r doesn't notice the weirdness of the asteroids because he just calculates them as vaguely round-shaped obstacles, but lark, with human eyes, is like "is that weird, that looks weird"
or the asteroid belt could be a really long dragon made of disjointed rocks held together by sheer will))
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 14, 2021 2:04:13 GMT -5
(Like...before Lark can even say Hello, R is flustered bc they checked again and just instantly bails. Lark is left there just " ? ? ? ? Bruh you didnt even shut the door?? Also??? Please fricken HANG OUT WITH ME" they're so good haha. It's so exciting haha.
And, I will respone tomorrow bc I'm about to crash haha. But, I like the idea of mixing it a bit! Love the idea of R not recognizing it as being bizarre or abnormal beyond there /shouldn't/ be an asteroid belt. But Lark looking and seeing obvious stuff from the planets previous inhabitants- trash, furniture, people ect- would be so alarming. Maybe there's a dragon dead along with the people- so kinda perfectly floating there as Lark is already horrified by dead (either dead or turned to stone) humanoids ( ? ? ? Humanoids?), all of a sudden what looks like a huge asteroid is coming at the ship and as he manuevers them under and away from it... the rotation of it reveals it's the gaping maw of a dragon? And what could take out a /dragon/ ya know? He may have seen space sharks and heard of cthulu like creatures, but dragons are lore humans are so well aware of it's boggling there's one dead( ? ? ? ? ) In front of him.
Whether the dragon is dead or sleeping is up for debate. Lark doesn't know much about dragons. Maybe it's a ploy. Maybe it's dead. Maybe something is projecting an illusion. Who knows 👀)
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Post by willowflower on Feb 14, 2021 2:15:41 GMT -5
((asdfghjk that's hilarious, i love that! r is just like "ohhellohumanjustcheckinginbyeeee" before running away, wishing he had hands to cover his face with
whoaaa i really like the idea of a stonified dragon floating in space - that would be absolutely horrifying to witness and from a story perspective, so cool. maybe it is sleeping, a guardian of some sort -- or, better yet, maybe it was supposed to be a guardian, but failed, being destroyed along with all life on the planet))
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 14, 2021 13:29:01 GMT -5
(LMAO. Poor R is just sitting there wondering why nobody made him a body so he can emote and just laments it because man. Wouldnt it just be so nice to hide his face in embarrassment.
Right??? It would be so creepy- so yeah, maybe it was a guardian. But maybe it had been kinda young or inexperienced, and got taken out with the planet life- but we could say maybe it's out there regenerating and trying to stitch itself back together so it can go handle this threat- but when it gets there all it's going to see is this lifeless planet and then Lark and R. Does it remember what the threat is? Does it think it needs to attack or protect these two things wandering around on the planet? )
For R's sarcastic comment alone... Lark was going to write a letter and tape it to his face while he was down doing maintenance that night. He would have to ask Lark to remove it. It would be kinda funny- ok maybe he should tape it next to him in his favorite port, actually. Just so he doesn't freak the guy out.
Well. Anyway. He shakes that thought off and gives R a noncommittal response as he climbs down into the blaster pit and starts to strap himself in. He was glad this was mostly used to deal with asteroids. There had been that terrifying time Lark had fallen asleep down here (horribly uncomfortable, mind you. His back had protested for a week.) Only to wake up eye to eye with some sort of space creature prowling after the ship- its eyes had been completely focused on Lark, stalking him as a house cat may have! Some warning fireworks had sent it on its way, thankfully, but he had never likee being assessed as a meal. On principle. You know?
"You know. I don't like that google space maps has the survival rate calculator! Whose idea was that?! It's honestly jusr ominous and!! And!!! 66% is not exactly high!" Larks voice may have gotten a little high at the end of that sentence, but he ignores it and hopes R does as well.
Jostled with the ship, Lark bites back a colorful string of curses at the ships warnings and indicators. Guess who was going outside and doing repairs again? Lark was. He hurriedly blasts an asteroid coming for them- and the smaller parts bounce harmlessly off their ship. Good. He wouldn't comment on R's driving- he had once, and the robot had called him a back seat driver and twittered on about Lark stopping that. It had been a fun little arguement, honestly. "Well, you got to get us through here buddy, since lil ol Bessie here seems to be having some erro-.....ers.."
Had he just seen? No.. it couldn't be. The humans voice trails off as he leans forward. His brows are pinched in confusion as he watches the rocks past by the ship.
No. That had in fact just been some sort of... marine life floating past him? Petrified. Frozen? Was it stony? Was it supposed to be out here in space? Did they have time to send a grapple to bring it in as a sample?
"R what was tha-" THUD. SCRAAATCH.
Lark scrambles back in his seat, attention diverted right in front again and his breath stalls. Now this. This was humanoid. Obviously not human, an extra set of limbs below the first, torso a little stretched, flesh as grey as stone.
"R! DO YOU SEE THIS!?"
It drags across his window slooowly and is something out of a sci fi horror. It does fall away, but Lark is already looking past it to the other things floating past them. Honestly. It's less asteroid and more wreckage. There's a ship in the distance- severed in half. Was there an attack? Was this a punishment by this race? Did this race belong to the planet they were visiting?
The light from the planets distant sun is suddenly blocked by an asteroid Lark had been ignoring. Light blares red around him, and he already knew blasting this one would do nothing for them. It was large. Larger than most of the other rubbish around them, and Lark had the distant thought it was familiar. The ship is quickly directed under and around it, and as this hunk rotates past them Lark stops breathing.
It waa familiar in the way that kids know fantasy. That they inheritantly seem drawn to these myths, the legends. The childrens tales. Nothing he had seen with his own eyes, yet here it was twisted in front of him.
Dragon.
No way it wasn't a dragon. Though perhaps that wasn't its true name.
They were following the long scaled neck up until they skirt between the horns. The wings of the creature were pressed flat into its back, almost sculpted from one piece of granate instead of being a beasts might limbs. It's mouth is gaping open as of the creature was roaring at some knight in humans past. Snarled, cracked teeth, tongue arched threateningly. Still as a grave. Grey as slate upon a rocky shore.
What was this doing here?
"R. This... is not just an asteroid belt. We have to get out of here quick something is wrong here. "
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Post by willowflower on Feb 14, 2021 18:30:05 GMT -5
((lark thinking of taping a note to r's face, lolll r: i've never wanted human limbs more than this moment
yas, i like the idea of baby dragon just trying to protect its planet -- that could be a neat action scene, the dragon chasing r and lark's ship down, causing them to crash and get stranded))
-- ☼ -- "What's with all the jabbering back there? I need silence to focus on the road -" R's words were rudely cut off as they skirted a little too close to a massive asteroid, scraping along their bottom-side for a few seconds too long. "Good grief!" R said at the flashing alarm lights that were threatening to blind him. "That must've had the roughest surface to cause that kind of damage!" They managed to catch Lark's previous words, which gave them pause. "Yes, thank you, I definitely didn't notice anything wrong at all," R said, ducking under a floating rock just in the nick of time. The swoop made their core lurch uncomfortably. "What's star command on, there's no asteroid belt? Then what's all this?" After all, he was seeing vaguely chunky green shapes on his radar, which was where his attention was focused upon, along with the dotted line that was frequently bouncing in between different obstacles. "Besides, I'm driving this ship as fast as I can risk it - like you so wisely noted, 66% is not a very high survival rate -" There came a horrific sound. Except, there couldn't be sound in the void of space. There's nowhere for the sound waves to travel. Yet, something was calling, something enormous and heavy, just outside their spaceship, something that sent tremors through R's entire frame. Electromagnetic waves? The ship shook, and R leaned into their pod harder. "We are halfway through the field, we'll make it," they muttered, peeling away from the large asteroid they just skated past. Except the asteroid wasn't there anymore, according to their data. Unless it moved faster than it would naturally float through space, the ship's sensors should've caught it - but how could that be? Panic skittered across their wires, and R hurriedly scouted the space around them again. "Refresh, refresh!" they hissed at their blinking loading screen.. "What is going on...?" Something smashed into their side, sending their frail ship reeling. R shouted a series of furious beeps and bleeps as they struggled to get the ship back under control. The ship's sensors were shot, screens flickering in and out of existence. They couldn't see the calculated path anymore - they might as well disengage from the ship's systems. R's viewing screen whirred as he finally looked up through the ship's front windows. Upon receiving the sight of the actual asteroids, R rapidly compared these images to the database within his information library - to his bewilderment, they were in fact not chunks of rock. "Lark," R shouted. "What did you see?" -- ☼ --
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 14, 2021 22:52:02 GMT -5
(R: well besides all the times I want to hold Larks hand- I mean slap his hand- i mean avoid all contact with Lark.
Sounds decent to me! So we're gonna have to worry about this dragon haha. Will it try and find them on the surface then?)
The roughest surface indeed- because dragon scales had to have beem rough. Right?
"It looks like a wreckage! I dont know if there's supposed to be an asteroid belt here!" Lark would have to grab the file from his room, but unstrapping right now would be dangerous. Yet something slams into the ship sending Larks seat spinning and where the dragon had once been was nothing but space.
Where had it gone?!
"It looked like a dragon, R!" He unstraps all the same and presses himself flat to the glass below him. Where was it? Not below them. Not in front. It had to be above them.
"But I saw something else- two limbed, bipedial and humanoid! It's like a grave yard?? Junkyard maybe!"
Lark needed to get up before it hit the ship again. If it managed to crack the glass in the blaster pit, R would be able to seal it off to keep tge integrity of the rest of the ship. Well, that would leave Lark suffocating so that R could complete the mission. So he needed to get up there where he would have the chance to get into a space suit if he needed to.
So he clambers for the ladder right as another tremor inducing wail escapes the beast outside and it latches onto the ship. Outside it clenches onto one of the many rods of the ship and gives it a violent shake. Lark? However? Slips in his grip of the ladder and smacks flat against the glass and wheezes.
"Oh that smarts!" He doesn't even try to bite back the curses as he waits a moment longer before pushing himself up the ladder again. "You're lucky you get to stay in that little pod, R." His voice is thick with pain for a moment, and he rolls to the top right as the creature slams into the ship and sends him sliding across the floor, "COME ON!"
There is no way R would be able to navigate them smoothly down to the planet if it kept crashing into them. At this point they would crash.
...
Well what do you know? The ship stutters and shakes, and Lark slaps into the wall as they go careening towards the planet.
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Post by willowflower on Feb 16, 2021 18:36:43 GMT -5
((ooh, if the dragon's constantly on their tail that'd set up a nice thread of tension -- while they're trying to survive they're also trying to find good hiding spots))
-- ☼ -- "LARK!" R didn't bother to hide the terror in his voice as the ship began its spinning descent. He could barely grasp what Lark had said just moments prior - what is a dragon doing here? -- his thoughts quickly filling of how to somehow protect the human getting tossed about. For a fleeting moment, he considered making the rash decision of leaving his pod. But what could he do? He had no arms, nothing to grab Lark and seatbelt him into a proper seat. Now that the ship was plummeting down to the planet with increasing speed, all R could do was lean the ship to the left and the right to avoid getting ping-ponged by not-asteroids all the way down. If he dare leave his post, the spaceship could slam into a piece of wreckage and explode before it ever touched the surface.
Growling at himself, R dug into the ship's controls and flipped through them, pulling up the spacesuit storage. With a flip of a command, a proper suit was spat out of its containment and drifted to the ceiling as the ship fell. R was just going to have to trust that Lark can take care of himself and focus on making sure the ship didn't go crunch with the two of them inside. "Lark," R managed to get out, "don't you dare die, you hear me! Or I'll find your ghost and kill you again!"
The spaceship was screaming through the planet's atmosphere, R's vision going orange and blue on the edges. So many alarms were beeping that R dismissed all of them as unimportant, sealing up any rooms that had been compromised. Star command requesting an update, came the automated bot. R wanted to scream. He sent a message that all but said "We're crashing, you faceless buffoon! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" as he desperately scrambled to tilt the nose of the ship up so that they wouldn't smash face-first into the planet's surface.
Sorry, your connection is unstable. Please relay your message again.
"Oh you useless -"
The ship's sensors flickered back online, if only for a moment, and R caught a sight in the rear sensors that he almost wished he didn't have to see. A planet-devouring mass, with jaws opening up to swallow the ship itself. When R tore his sight away from the screen, he could see, in the front windows, the edges of long, long columns that he could've mistaken for the stalactites found in caves - only there were too many of them in a row, in a pattern too neat to believe them to be anything but the large fangs of the creature pursuing them. Worse, the jaws were closing, and they were too far in. Though the teeth, R could see the ground of the planet rapidly approaching.
I need one hell of a raise, R thought in despair as he gunned it, putting the engines on full blast, screw the fuel. The ship chugged along miserably before jutting forward, twisting to the side to maneuver through the thin gap between the closing teeth. Then a sharp twist upwards, so close to the face of the planet the ship's bottom screeched horrendously against the ground. R could see arching canyons, splendid cliff faces, rock formations that would've been stunning if they weren't currently so close to death. R could hear a crash just behind them, but didn't dare slow to check if the dragon smashed its way through the ground.
He could see, just a little ways ahead, the gaping maw of a cave embedded in the face of a rock column twisting towards the sky. Well, here goes, R thought, watching the fuel drain as he pushed the clunker of a ship forward one more time. "You better be doing alright back there!" he yelled to Lark, his core twisting, unable to imagine how horrifically the journey must've thrown him about if the human hadn't made it to the seat in time.
With a jerk to the right, the ship slid into the darkness of the cave. Its engines sputtered as they lost their fuel, the ship slowly crawling to a stop. R's wires felt like they were on fire. The ship was creaking, as if on the edge of falling apart. He could hear a roar in the distance, but the cave wasn't collapsing around them, so hopefully that meant the dragon failed to follow them in. "Lark!" R said, unlocking himself from the pod. "Lark! Give me a noise if your core systems are still functioning!"
-- ☼ --
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 16, 2021 23:58:40 GMT -5
(Would definitely also have them think that the dragon is the reason the planet is empty, but it's trying to scare stuff away to maybe allow life back.)
If this scene was something out of a movie, Lark thinks he could find comedy in it. He went skidding across the floor, slapping into the wall only to wobble to his feet and go sliding yet again. Since it was not in fact a scene out of the movie... this hurt. He was absolutely going to have bruises all over him after this. Hopefully nothing would be broken.
"I can't make any promises here, R!" Lark growls as he tumbles right into one of the shelves- which! Hey! Magnetic locking seems to be doing its job well! If he did die like this, Lark did have a list of people he would haunt. Honestly, R wasn't on that list. He didn't have that type of ill will towarss the guy. The man who thought sending him off here would get rid of him. Mostly. Maybe a few of the punk kids in his neighborhood. But mostly that first guy. That guy was the worst.
R seems to release on the space suits, and of course it flies straight for him. Thankfully though the helmet doesn't crack against the shelf and Lark uses this stolen moment to wiggle his way into the suit.
There was no telling what the atmosphere would be like here. Would he be able to breathe? Would there be parasites or bacteria in the air that would kill him? He would have to rely on the rations and his own garden until he figured out what was and was not edible. Then there was the matter of ship repair- because it was going to need it.
For now, the horror of the dragons gaping maw was R's problem. Lark was distracted by finishing the last seal on his suit and trying to get enough leverage to reach the swiveling captains chair. It was only a fingertip away, but with the force of gravity trying to slam him into the wall yet again... it was just a tad difficult. With red and blue flashing lights, a blaring alarm, and his own panicked breathing fogging up his helmet? Lark kept missing the arm rest he would need to pull himself up. So he curses and ducks his head to the side to see where they are at. How much time did he have?
Well. Not much. R yoinks the ship up sharply and that's all Lark needs to get flung up and grip the seat. He scrabbles to right himself and buckle into the seat, getting whiplash as his seat spins and then lurches him to a stop. It was better than free falling, but seriously not by much.
He has a witty reply for R at the tip of his tongue, but the ships jerks and his head slams into the seat rendering him mute as his vision swims.
He was really going to haunt that man from back home.
He would haunt him until the day he stopped wandering the earth. Then he would fight him as a ghost.
So they shudder to a stop, the whole ship creaking and groaning, and Lark holds back the contents of his stomach. He scrabbles for the seat belt, unclips, and hits the deck with a restrained retch. " Dont puke in your suit, " is his mantra as he pulls his head between his knees and flings a thumbs up at R. Ah. But he asked for a verbal response. Not visual. He wasn't sure he had it in him quite yet so he smacks a tune into the floor to hopefully inform R that he hadn't cracked his skull open during their crash landing.
When he's finally able to stand he wobbles all the way over to R's pod, drops down in front of it and rests his torso in the pod with his eyes shut. He's still a little green in the gills, so to say, as he grumbles, "let's never do that again, R, promise me."
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Post by willowflower on Feb 18, 2021 21:21:30 GMT -5
(( yeah, exactly! also poor lark xD ))
-- ☼ -- R was feeling a cocktail of relief and worry as he hovered over Lark. The worst kind of feeling, really, when one was attempting to bash the other conflicting one to the side. It made R feel like he just ate a sack of rotten tomatoes, and he doesn't even eat tomatoes. "You appear to be functioning," R said as Lark smacked a rhythm of sorts into the floor. "Relatively speaking."
R drifted after Lark as he stood and walked on shaky legs to R's pod. "Believe me, I want to experience such a disaster again as much as you do," R grumbled. "What was that lifeform doing out there? If 'lifeform' is even the correct terminology."
They looked over Lark's crumpled form, that concern rushing back to them. They reflected upon the miniscule data they had on human comfort, before settling upon their own brand of patting Lark on the back - which consisted of them lowering their spherical form to gently tap the ridge of Lark's spine, then rising up and down again. "Pat, pat," they said, so that there was no confusion. "Are you okay. Do you require water for your fragile flesh form."
There was some crackling by the helm, and R looked up to see the screens on the fritz, static crawling over their surfaces before finally fizzling out. What can they repair? What can they salvage? They were most certainly out of fuel, but hopefully they could still make some use out of their broken ship.
Something popped up. A message from star command. This time, an actual person. The hologram wavered before them. "Mission Kepler-42B, come in," a voice struggled to come through the static. "Mission Kepler-42B."
"Yes, hello," R said. "We are here. We cannot leave. Our ship is stranded." R peered through the front windows of the ship, taking in the dark caverns around them. The ship lights were still on, illuminating the curved edges of the cave walls, stalagmites inching down from the ceiling. The sight of them made R shudder.
Text appeared on the hologram. Your connection may be unstable. The hologram itself froze, its voice coming through in chunks of choppy dialogue R couldn't string together. "Curse you, you piece of junk," R muttered at the dashboard, smacking their crown against it. Fear tightened in their core. Were they about to lose connection? How were they going to send a distress signal? R could probably survive for some time on an unfamiliar planet, but it's not like they matter - how would Lark?
-- ☼ --
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 19, 2021 11:49:36 GMT -5
(how/will they find the truth though? Hmm And yes, Lark didn't sign up for this mess lol)
Relatively speaking was an accurate phrase for how he felt. His stomach was rolling, his eyes still felt like they were swimming, and his legs were most definitely shaking. But as he rests it all seems to slowly settle and he groans. "A dragon. If I had to base it on human lore. We don't have enough categorized in space to know if it's actually a dragon."
Perhaps this is what their lore if dragons was based off these creatures? Was is it just happenstance?
pat pat pat. Hah. Lark reaches behind him and gives the bot a few pats of his own. R seemed different than the other assistant modules they got to practice with during training. So maybe he could use some comfort himself, "There there. I do think water would be good... I know I need to get up, I just need to sit for a bit longer."
There's a crackle behind them and Lark drags his head to the side to see.
This ship was practically ruined. They could repair some important things, and Lark runs the list through his head: oxygen scrubbers (recycling it a few times could lengthen how long Lark could breathe. Dark thoughts.), generators, communications (they could send a distress signal and get proper help). Who knew what else there would be. Who knew what he had available to fix it with. He may need to scrap less important parts of the ship to repair what he needed. This wasn't going to be fun. Not that any of this had really been fun.
So, he takes a deep and shuddery breath, presses two fingers into his hip to ground himself, and pushes himself up to stand.
"Comms are busted?"
He saddles up alongside R and stares out the window. Looked like there was water here. That was in his favor at least.
"We should go outside to see the damage. Then get a feel for where we are."
Though if that dragon was there... Did he need a weapon? Would it work against a dragon? Probably not. Lark sighs and slinks down the hall to grab equipment to head outside.
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Post by willowflower on Feb 21, 2021 18:00:53 GMT -5
-- ☼ -- R hummed in agreement. "Right behind you," he said, hovering after Lark. Upon opening the hatch, R braced himself as he poked the front half of himself out of the ship. It was eerily quiet, with only the distant sighs of the wind from the mouth of the cave and the soft drips of water ensuring him that his audio receptors were still active. R switched on the tiny flashlight embedded in his head, a small beam of light emanating underneath his viewing screen.
The hulking shape of the ship, or at least the lower half of it, looked like a crumpled aluminum can. Dark scrapes lined the belly of the ship, harsh dents and stripped metal marking where it took the hardest of hits. R’s line of thinking traveled over where the canteen and dorm was held. “Are your bees alright?” he suddenly asked, shining his light over the hull of the ship.
R turned around to cast a line of a light over the walls of the cave around them. It was a large cave, able to fit an entire spaceship, the ceiling arching high above their heads. The cave went on in front of them, though narrowing the further it went along. R flicked on the infrared setting on his viewing screen and looked around for signs of life - did they happen upon a planet of abnormally large rodents? Thankfully, their luck seemed to have held out. R read nothing but blues and purples, at least in their immediate area. Though, he couldn’t help but feel like something was just the slightest bit off. They didn’t read any signs of warmth or life at all, not even the minuscule skittering of bugs and other critters that typically hid in the dark of caverns like these. Maybe they lied deeper within?
R shrugged it off and turned to Lark again. “Cataloguing full extent of the damage done to the ship,” he said, flying over the spacecraft. He summoned a little green scanner to review the worst of the dents. If R was being completely honest, he did not expect this spacecraft to ever lift off again. The best they could do was dismantle it, and use the materials from there. “Possible actions to take: fix communications and await for further instructions. Or -“ he glanced over, down the dark tunnels before them. “We continue our mission, and seek supplies while examining planetary life.” The dark seemed to surround them, loom ominously above their heads. "We can perform some repairs first, or venture out. Make sure this is even a safe area to do repairs in."
-- ☼ --
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 22, 2021 10:38:41 GMT -5
(heads up! I'll be p busy tomorrow, I'm traveling for work and it'll probably be an all day process 😭😭)
Lark stuffs a pack with supplies. He wouldn't be able to stay in here draining the oxygen, and he had a few ways to drag this out. A bubble pack- temporary shelter with the ability to draw oxygen in from the outside and had a few days worth of oxygen tanks attached it it anyways. Pivotal. Especially helpful if there is oxygen outside. A long pole to sling over his shoulder; the idea was he could use it as a walking stick and the metal end conducted electricity that he could control the voltage of, and hopefully he could hse this as a non-lethal method of keeping critters away. Rations of course. Some other standard supplies he would need.
"R, can you scan the environment outside? Scan for oxygen and other elements. Am I gonna be able to breathe out there?" There could be something in the air he wouldn't be able to breathe. So troublesome. Did he have training for how to test for that? Was there a book for that in the library?
'are your bees alright?'
Lark goes pale at that and bolts down the hall into his room. Honestly, he didn't think he would be able to handle if they didn't survive. He had raised this queen himself. He would raise the queen after her. It may be the only method of keeping food going on this planet- his aquaponic set up was definitely ruined, he can only hope that the snails and few fish that were in the set up weren't flopping on the deck. So he barges into the room and thankfully doesn't slip on the slick floor. He ignores that and thankfully the bee hive seems to be where he left it. "Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok-" he's muttering to himself as he rips the doors open on it.
A few honey combs have come unattached, yet the bees lethargically buzz out of the hive and seem to hover around him. Maybe Lark anthropomorphized them a bit. Maybe he liked to think they recognized him and had care for him. Either way, he reaches shaking fingers in and nudges comb away until he sees the queen nestled safely away. She's easy to notice because he had placed a bright pink paint dot on her abdomen. Besides the extra violent buzzing, she seemed alright! So he pulls his hand free with a relieved sigh and moves to the plants. Most are tossed about. Some dirt scattered in the water, and water all over the floor. The fish seem to still be in the tank, all 11 and counting. The snails he can't tell, but he hopes.
Good!
He was safe in that route. The water was a little lower but not dangerously so. Then he was outside with R, wincing over the ships damage.
"The bees are alright. Thanks for asking."
Leave and explore, possibly abandoning the ship for good (Lark already knew he couldn't do that. He was sentimental, he could never abandon his bees) or stay and potentially be in danger.
"We can't move it ourselves. I think it's worth the risk to try and fix the comms, we may need to pull some wires and drag it outside of the cave to get signal, but otherwise there's no chance of us getting any help at all."
They would need rescue from this planet. If they weren't able to find or build parts to repair it? Screwed. If they couldn't find more fuel? Screwed. They weren't in good shape.
"I guess I'll start that. Maybe you can explore more of the immediate area. After I get comms up to whatever extent we can, we'll head out after we program a distress signal to send."
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Post by willowflower on Feb 24, 2021 20:36:12 GMT -5
((np!!))
-- ☼ --
Ah, yes. Humans need to breathe, that’s right. R began to scan the air around him, checking for the right consistency of oxygen and nitrogen essential to human health. And any poisonous substances, of course.
“Good for the bees,” R said when Lark returned. “The air is sustainable for life in general - including human. The atmosphere is thinner here, however. It is much like the air one might find at high altitudes on Earth. Climb to the top of the highest peak on Earth, and it’s similar air quality and pressure at this level here. You might find yourself with some symptoms of adjusting to the impact on blood pressure, but you should be fine.” R continued to scan the walls of the cave. “Which is odd. Considering the air quality and presence of water, there should be some semblance of life here. But there’s not. None in here, anyway.”
Maybe they wandered into a lifeless cave? A cave that somehow destroyed any life that wandered into it? R shuddered at the thought.
“That is fine with me. I’ll continue exploring within a twenty foot radius. I will return within the hour.” R figured it would take some time for Lark to get communications back up, so might as well take the time to poke around the caves a little more.
R wandered into the dark depths, shining his little light upon the walls and studying the material of the rock. Sandstone, smooth lines of golden orange rock, tiny flecks of mineral glinting within the wall. R checked the substance dripping off the stalagmites onto the floor - H2O in all its watery glory. No bacteria scanned within it, however.
R inched his way down into the narrowing cavern, looking around. The walls and floors were smooth, with some rock jutting out. Whatever river or body of water carved out this cave, it must’ve taken years to erode the rock into its smooth faces. Said rock face still glimmered with the damp.
R then traveled the other direction, towards the cave’s opening. He very carefully poked his head out, staring out at the barren landscape before him. No dragon, or whatever space monster that thing happened to be. Just a very long gouge in the face of the planet where the spacecraft skidded across its surface.
R took the chance to hover out, looking around. The light of this solar system’s sun blared down, revealing the towering spires of the canyons before him. R waited for the cry of a bird, the rattle of a snake’s tail, even the buzzing of a fly. Something. But nothing. Only the eerie call of the wind sweeping through the rock and sand, the dust clouds stirred from their sleep off the ground. The striped towers of rock were, indeed, gorgeous, hues of ruby and bronze and gold. Something in the distance, far above R’s head, twinkled. R narrowed his vision, turning on the telescope within his vision screen. Zooming in, R’s camera caught sight of something twinkling in the distance. Something that was very not a rock, and very much made by hands that weren’t mother nature herself.
A tower? R wondered. A building of some sort? Because if it was a building, that meant civilization.
R was quick to head back to the ship to find Lark. “I believe I have found something,” he said. “Something that indicates intelligent life on this planet.” He looked over at Lark. “How are repairs going?” -- ☼ --
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Post by faundestwishes on Feb 27, 2021 22:23:14 GMT -5
"Ah. So I won't die immediately. But I could faint." Well. If he found himself somewhere that looked safe at least he would be able to get out of his suit and save his oxygen for later. "Thanks." The bees would be fine to be on the ship then. Though, if they wandered too far Lark was tempted to bring them with him...
"None? None as in nothing big like fish, bats or bears. Or none as in nothing, not even bugs?" Because the first would be reassuring. Sure, that meant they were safe. The later? Bugs hung out near the water. Bugs were practically everywhere. If there werent bugs in here, that usually meant something worse was in here.
Either way, he watched R hover away for a moment before walking the outside of the ship. Ok. There was the coms unit. With a quick duck back inside he returns with cables and tools and starts to rip apart what he can. Alright. Disconnect this! Disconnect that- oh, shoot, did he know what that part was? Did the ship have an owners manual he could look at? Was it important? .. .. .. Nah. Probably not. Probably!
It's easy to lose himself in the task. Pull back a panel here. Clip a wire. Twist. Sauder this. Then he's rolling out the cable and pulling the antenna out of the ship. Look both ways before leaving the cave! Don't want to be dragon food!
The whole environment is new to him. He had been a little preoccupied being tossed around like a hot potato during the crash to really enjoy the scenery, ya know? You know. Though there really wasn't much to look at? Anyways, back to his task. He plops down and begins typing something onto the panel in his wrist and connects that panel. Just had to wait. Let some things upload. Then it would start sending and receiving messages on its own. If they got any.... also if it actually worked.
"Hm?" Oh R was back. "Well. I may have worked out a temporary solution for communication. This should be able to send and receive short messages.... if it works. We wont have a good radius for it. If we go too far away from it we wont know... but... it's something. I could bring materials to see if I could make something to travel with us. ... though this may also be one directional. They made me a jack of all trades and a master of none, really." Lark let's out a deep sigh.
"Haven't touched the rest of the ship. But it can stay as is for now. It aint getting any worse."
Intelligent life?
Lark perks up and blinks at R. "Intelligent life? What around here makes you think that?" Maybe they would be helpful! Friendly? Maybe they were advanced enough that they could help them repair the ship!
"Well! I'm pretty sure it's our duty to go see explore that, get some proof, talk to some locals! How far away is it?" He jumps up from, stretching his hands out to balance him at he's still a little wobbly on his legs, and shoots R an encouraging smile. If he acts secure, maybe he would feel secure?
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Post by willowflower on Mar 6, 2021 23:43:17 GMT -5
-- ☼ -- “Nothing,” R muttered. “Your bees may be the only insects here.”
R observed the hop in Lark’s step, the smile on his face. At least Lark was feeling… relatively alright. At the very least willing to continue moving. This was good, according to R’s old manual concerning human behavior. Humans were very resilient, after all, or were supposed to be.
“There is a structure clearly manmade,” R said. “Well. Made by some form or species intelligent and dextrous enough to build a non-natural structure. The surface is polished enough to reflect the light of the sun.”
R looked over towards the entrance of the cave. “Indeed,” R said, pulling up the cataloguing program within his core. “We’ll be able to observe any lifeforms that we happen across on our journey there.” If we come across any lifeforms, he thought sullenly. The manmade tower in the distance heightened the likelihood that they would indeed at least find some form of intelligent beings, but the lack of life within the caves was unsettling.
“With luck, it is not very far, as it is clearly visible from just outside of the cave,” R said, “though it may be a mile or two on foot.” Something about venturing outside the cave made R uneasy - on foot, the two of them would be exposed. The canyons may arch over their heads, but they would still be visible to any creature outside. What if the strange dragon returned?
“The cave, for now, appears to be a safe spot with no known or predicted dangers,” R said. “Recommended course is to maintain the ship location as a base camp, and take supplies out to the non-natural structure in case we need to prepare a makeshift camp.” R scrutinized Lark. “How are your physical needs? Do you require rest? Food?” He tried to keep his questions purely clinical, hiding the soft concern he could feel bubbling up. “If all else is set -“ he turned his face towards the entrance of camp. “Let us head out.”
-- ☼ -- ((they can like, head out into the canyons and be like ‘whoa pretty canyons… why is there no animal… ooh city up ahead? DRAGON!))
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Post by faundestwishes on Mar 10, 2021 12:28:39 GMT -5
If there any other creatures? That's a heavy sentence. Surely something had to live on this planet- or had lived on it at one point, if there is a non natural structure? Is this just, a planet they colonized and then left? Perhaps things just didn't venture from their city because they were protected from the dragon within their homes?
They weren't going to find out here, that's for sure.
"I guess we won't know what's really going on unless we leave. We also don't know if that dragon will try and find us in the cave or not... As much as it pains me, leaving is the best plan for now. We'll just come back to analyze our findings and to see if we have a response to our SOS."
He considers R question. How was he feeling? He still hadn't quite escaped the whirling in his stomach, "I can wait a while longer on food, I believe. " He was feeling the drop after the adrenaline rush. Near death was just great at getting you all excited and panicked! And then it drained all the energy out of you. "No sleep yet." He didn't necessarily want to admit to being tired. It was obvious in many ways he was the duos limiting factor.
"I think we should go."
He had everything he could possibly need for an adventure lasting a day. Perhaps two if he stretched it. He wouldn't bank on them spending more time in the other structure quite yet- once they knew the lay of the land they could stay longer.
So. Lark sighs, brushes off his space suit and slinks to the cave entrance yet again. There was nothing to see. No dragon bearing its teeth down on him. No animals or bugs sittering about. Just the unnerving silence only for the quietest whisper of wind to break the monotony.
"This... Just doesn't feel right. R. Know what I mean?"
He scurries out into the open and then freezes, waiting to see if anything would change. It didn't. It seemed like it wouldn't. "Well. Off we go I guess? Let's stick close to the canyon walls if we can."
Less likely for an ambush at least. And the walls look like they were carved out of water at some point. Perhaps animals had made their dens in here at one point if these smaller tunnels were were any indication. Nothing peaks its head out. There's no flap of bird wings. No buzz of bugs. A nice blazing heat from the sun is their only companion. Lark doesn't like that at all. It's not uncommon for planets to NOT have life. Yet what was all of that when they were crashing? What was this structure they were heading towards?
"Is... is there anything you're picking up out here, R? This is creeping me out."
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Post by willowflower on Mar 14, 2021 15:26:20 GMT -5
R surveyed the land. The canyons admittedly had some aesthetic value, what with their height, curving shapes, and lines of golden colors. They walked (well, R floated) in between two canyon faces, all smooth and carved. The sun gleamed down from above, revealing not one patch of green, or purple, or pink, or any other hint of flora.
“My scanner picks up no sign of life,” R said quietly. As they turned the corner, they were met with a wide river, winding through the canyons. There was a wide enough path to walk alongside the river, the water a cold dark blue. The ground was sandy, with bits of gravel and shell. R investigated the river carefully - if there was water, there should be at least some form of plant life. He looked across the walls of the canyon, where the water met the land. He even dipped into the river himself to look around underwater, using his little flashlight. Nothing.
He emerged, spinning around to shake off the water droplets. “Apologies,” he said as the water flew towards Lark, sounding far more amused than apologetic. “It appears that at the moment we are completely, utterly alone.”
He turned his gaze towards the towering metal up ahead, more spikes and towers growing more and more visible the closer they grew. “So who or what built that?”
A shadow fell over them, one long and dark. R, just having confirmed there was nothing, nearly jumped out of his shell. “Lark!” he hissed, throwing himself at Lark’s shoulder in an attempt to push him against the canyon wall. The shadow tapered off, and when R looked up they caught a glimpse of a jagged tail. Their core dropped. The dragon.
The canyon wall shook, and as R craned their vision upwards they could see the dragon’s claws gripping the edge of the canyon cliff, perched on top high above their heads. “The creature that attacked us. It’s here.” He abruptly realized how close he was to Lark just then. Bolts and nuts. “We’ll have to. Yes. Sneak across,” he said, ignoring how flustered he was growing.
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Post by faundestwishes on Mar 16, 2021 14:57:12 GMT -5
(Noooooo I accidentally backed out of my message and deleted it 😭😭😭😭😭)
It wasn't completely unusual for their to be no life on a planet. Not at all!
You know that isn't the case here.
Shut up. He just needs to shut that train of thought down is all! It's just a feeling. Gut reactions are wrong all the time. Right. Right. Definitely the same situation here. Maybe nothing nefarious at all. Ignore the fact his gut reactions tended to be correct. There were plenty of times he was wrong!
Liar
He looks way up past the canyon walls and stares at the sky above them. No sign of the dragon. But past that endless sky and the atmpsphere was a whole story he didn't understand. Did the dragon attack a passing ship? Was it theirs? The federation hadn't reported any missing crew... but that wasn't to say he trusted them to NOT hide that. Or, maybe it wad a foreign organization. Or... the inhabitants of this planet. Strung up like a trophy or a warning.
Lark didn't know. He didn't exactly want to speculate on it much longer, and thankfully R sending droplets of water scattering his way is the perfect distraction!
"Dude hey!" He jumps and swats at the water with a unrestrained snort escaping him. Oh that is embarrassing! He covers his face with his hand and can't hold back the laughter, so he might as well hide the way his face scrunches up and his eyes water. He was a hearty laugher after all. "You aren't sorry at all!"
Ah. The towers.
"Ah well- hah. Hm. That?" Was Lark rambling to cover the fact he was still laughing, maybe! "I cant even begin to guess. Hopefully something friendly that knows what is going on-!!"
His laughter pitters off with a yelp as he stumbles back into the canyon. He grips the sides of R's shell at first to stablize himself, not wanting to land flat on his back. Ah. That was not good. He follows R's line of sight to the claws digging deep gouges into the wall and gulps. That would snap him like a twig or crush R into dust. Easy.
Lark drops his voice to a whisper and pulls R closer without really thinking about it, "you're right... if we don't make too much noise and stay on this side it shouldn't notice us... and maybe we can fit into one of these tunnels if we need to hide...ah crap."
He takes a moment to take in a shaky breath, keeps his eyes up for a moment before looking down at his feet ane inching them along. He didn't want to trip over something and let it know where they were, but also the hair at the back of his neck was prickling up. If he looked back to stare that thing in the eye, he wouldn't be responsible for what noise of terror escaped him! Nor would he respond kindly to looking up to see teeth descending down on them.
Not today. Please not today.
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Post by willowflower on Mar 19, 2021 21:11:14 GMT -5
((noooo!! that is the worst ;.; that’s happened to me one too many times and now i write all my posts out in notes first))
The way R’s internal processor accelerated as Lark pulled him close was ridiculous. It was just… wires misfiring. That’s all that was! (Some small part of them would be just a little sad if Lark let go, and R promptly attempted to squish that part into a pulp.)
“Yes, tunnels,” R definitely didn’t stammer as the two of them crept along the cliff edge. “Very good idea.” He quickly shut up as the dragon shifted overhead, a soft grumbling sounding like thunder across the air. R was suddenly aware of the very faint electrical whirring that he was emitting, just from floating in the air. One wouldn’t hear it unless their ear was pressed flat against his shell, but all of a sudden R felt like it was screaming into the unbearable quiet.
Step by step. Inch by inch. They shifted against the wall. R heard the crunch of rock above his head as the dragon stepped alongside the cliff’s edge. He kept a very close eye on it as Lark stared down at his feet. To his horror, up ahead the dragon started making its way down the canyon wall, slowly moving its long neck to peer down into the canyon.
R whispered a harsh “There!” and maneuvered the two of them into a crevice in the wall. Sight abandoned, R tried to use his infrared scanner to check if the dragon was still moving. For some reason, though, R didn’t pick up any readings. “Is this thing even alive?” R muttered to himself, almost banging his head against the wall as if that would get the scanner working again. Was this why he didn’t pick up any live readings outside the cave, even with the dragon out there? What is this dragon, made of cold stone?
Then R was made abruptly aware of the awkward position he was in. Squished into a confined space. With Lark. I hate this, R thought furiously. I do not have time to fret over my improperly-built processor!
It was quite unfortunate, as the sound of the dragon’s footsteps were growing closer. “Well. Any bright ideas?” he mumbled hopefully.
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Post by faundestwishes on Mar 28, 2021 10:43:45 GMT -5
(Hey so sorry! I got overwhelmed working backshift 12's, so I'm hoping to respond tonight!)
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