#callbackpinged

[bitemedotmp3]

"H-H-Heya, BESTIE. What are. we. doing? for New YEARS?"

"Same thing I do every new year, I'll-"

"Oh, you know what? They say the view of the fireworks up from Selene Space Station is really nice. Far, far away from everyone else."

[aheadahead]

"You hurt? Unwell?"

"You speak? You know language? Mind is there? You body wrong."

He's one to talk - he doesn't even have a body right now...

@callbackpinged

[isolaradiale]

[body horror cw] on prior reserve here's my application for cyn / the absolute solver from murder drones! her app is the last link on her sidebar! thank you!

Welcome to snowy Isola Radiale, Cyn!

You'll be staying in Condo 403

You'll be able to use your Telekinesis ability on objects no bigger than a standard issue basketball.

You'll also receive a Wooden Sword

Enjoy your stay! :)

-- Mod Caelum

[bitemedotmp3]

"Bite me."

Uzi watches Cyn leap down the shaft with a grin and a wink. It doesn't really matter what she says, does it? She can scream, cry, curse, threaten, promise, she can sing a song for all the good it would do her. It's just a no-win situation.

Uzi stands in the elevator, alone. After a few minutes, it finally reaches its destination, but she doesn't even remember what floor it is anymore. It doesn't matter. All she's thinking about now is that whenever she meets someone new in this city, she'll have to give them a heads up to watch out for a fucked-up murderbot, because that'll be a great way to make friends! Was that Cyn's goal? Just to make her miserable? Because it's working.

Well, there is one thing she could do. Nothing. Curl up in her room and alienate everyone she knows. And when Cyn comes calling, she can just not even acknowledge her. Cyn would rip her to shreds and then she'd just come back so they could do it again. Eventually, she'd probably get bored and give up. It could work. She could just become a loser recluse with no friends and no prospects just to stave off the maniacal Solver vessel for a little bit longer! Yeah! Let's throw away months of progress and everything she's ever known and loved for no reason!

Uzi flinches as one of the mirrors on the elevator ceiling cracks. She thought she had that under control, but apparently everything is going wrong today. With a deep, deep sigh, she steps out into the ward and just keeps walking. She's not going to go full-on NEET just because she got jumpscared, but damn have her thoughts on this city gone from "eh" to "fucking sucks" in the span of ten minutes.

That's enough wallowing, she decides. If Cyn wants to screw with her, she's gonna get... screwed... back. No, that's not it. It's fine because this is an inner monologue and no one else will see it. The point is that Uzi Doorman isn't frickin' giving up, because there is one way that she can beat Cyn and make sure she never bothers anyone again.

But she'll save that for another inner monologue.

So Uzi just sighs again, pulls out her phone, and prepares a text. It's gonna be a long day.

θ That was the point of the offer. Cyn wasn't presenting Uzi with a permanent ceasefire. It was only until the both of them got their powers, so the fight they were supposed to have could be more 'fun'. But Uzi really hadn't pieced what her real goal was yet? Well, she wasn't about to point it out. Either she could figure it out on her own, or she could realize when it was already too late. Everything else that Uzi said was just filler to Cyn. She watched her mouth move with a stupid expression on her own, savoring the fact that the Worker Drone was clearly sweating. Uzi had made a mistake. She realized she had made a mistake. It was delicious, but things could only have ever ended this way. Uzi could fight her now and kill her now. Cyn would come back. Again, and again, and again, and again. Uzi would merely be delaying the inevitable. Slowly her patience would wear down until she accepted the offer anyways.

But she accepted it now. A smile. A dangling tongue. And a pointing of her finger at the same hidden cog that Cyn had used to close the door before led to the elevator opened again. "'Kay. Good to hear, U-ZI." She didn't waste any time and moved over to the open door. "Make sure. you. tell. your. FRIENDS! Wouldn't want V to attack me and RUIN it for you, rightie-o?" Cyn didn't wait for a response to that and gave Uzi a wink before dropping down and out of the descending elevator. She'd figure out her landing later. What mattered was that she was gone.

[lilithofthevaalley]

some kid walked up to me and callbackpinged my ass

Help me

Þis is simply karma for every time you’ve callback pinged me. :)

[bitemedotmp3]

@callbackpinged

"Aw, feeling left out? Here's your gift, you freak."

"Bam! Drew it myself and everything. Merry fuckin' Christmas."

[kleinstar]

" That's... "

I guess there's no hiding it. Diplomacy to hell though, he'd just rather not be noticed of being scared. It's like autosetting, instinctual really. Even so it somehow failed to occur to him that she wanted to scary either but it sure matched her behaviour thus far. He feels almost stupid.

" Ugh. "

" B..but that's likewise too though! You haven't asked mine! It's Eiden I--err, just Eiden actually. If you even care! "

He cut his last name short. Let's not give it to shady people (or nonpeople, pedantically speaking) like this.

" So what's yours then? "

θ "HM? I would not be asking if being HO-RRI-FYING was not my............. intention." Silly humans and their fixation on trying to make someone not sound "bad". It was clear he was afraid of her. His body language was stiff and he was avoiding meeting her gaze. Did he have powers? Cyn wondered. How easy would it be to gobble him up if she wanted to? But she was being tactful. No unnecessary messes for now. At least not until she was able to defend herself better.

"You're rather rude, you KNOW? We've b-b-been CHAT-TING it up this whoOoOOoOole time, and you haven't asked m-m-my NAME!"

[corporatevalue]

Yippie.

J resisted the urge to roll its eyes, although it did take the moment to mull over the high number. Over 80 (supposed) years of top performance certainly would be an accomplishment one could be proud of, if only it wasn't soured by the fact that there's no team anymore to compare with in the first place. The additional context just made it… sad, really, but it is the type of melancholy best kept to itself than expressed.

"Despite the truce?" the visor displaying a raised brow; it knew the answer to its own rhetorical question, so it just carried on talking. "Best I talk to her when I see her in person, then. Something tells me a quick message wouldn't get… far."

No need to seem more disingenuous than it already is, checking in with someone after being sent by your boss to do so.

… yikes.

"Right. I'll keep you updated." words meant as a goodbye unless interrupted, but as J attempted to release its retractable wings, it was once more reminded of the limitations its currently under. Now that earned an eye-roll. "Right! Right. Lo-ove this place."

A quick farewell salute will have to do, as it turns around to resume walking, humbled.

θ J's general aversion to making contact with beings that she didn't need to was part of what her such a good asset. Unlike with N or V, Cyn didn't need to worry about J causing problems like drawing unnecessary attention to herself or staging a coup. Which was a problem they were now currently dealing with, essentially. It wasn't a failure on J's fault that it had happened. It was a miscalculation. She hadn't expected anyone on Copper-9 to have the means to disassemble a Disassembly Drone. Cyn mirrored J's once over of her own body, her neck movements perfectly tracing the Disassembly Drone's with a more laboured creaking sound. "I am in ARCH-I-ME-DES. They bor-der each. other. Yippie." Though Cyn didn't exactly use her housing for reasons akin to why she needed J to act in her place at all.

At least J had caught on to what she was suggesting without needing further explanation. "CORRECT. You're well-on-your-way to being EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH for the 1000th month in a row." That was probably way too many months. The Solver hadn't bothered to store data on how many months it had been while giving out such a pointless reward. J was the only one who ever deserved it. "If I show V my beau-ti-ful FACE she will likely. attack. But one of US should STILL greet her, it is the only way to be polite. Innocent smile." That smile didn't look innocent. The farthest thing from it. "So, th-that job falls on YOUR shoulders."

[bitemedotmp3]

"Y-"

"I know you understand sarcasm, robo-satan! I'll-"

"Nah, you know what? Sure. Let's make plans. Tomorrow at noon, we'll meet at the Nevemelt Glacier out in the Twilight Tundra. And you can rip my heart out or whatever it is you're planning!"

θ "Oh, you haven't? Then we're a match made in heaven. Heart eyes. <3"

[witchoftrinity]

"Did I say my name out loud to them? Unless they saw it somewhere walking in..."

It was the only thought that ran through her mind as she heard her name be spoken so artificially. Despite the body still being so full of life it really was just some hybrid of a drone at the end of the day. Of course if one could consider its fleshy exterior in the same category as anyone else. Enough to put anyone on edge, Mika included. Uzi really had a lot of explaining to do if she could ever catch them free.

"D-Duly noted..."

While she appreciated the compliment seeing her reaction to the tea made her a little bit thankful Nagisa wasn't here to brew it. And that was before seeing her fall back in the chair laying there with that same expression on their face. Even if it wasn't technically counting as one in the moment there was a whole lack of anything in regards to manners or any of what one might normally see. Enough that Mika did want to chuckle but decided against it in the moment.

"Oh right oil helps cool all of you down. I think they might've actually left one of their cans in here." Rummaging through their room was probably going to be a disaster to begin with. Though the moment she opened the door and began to rummage between the home's stuff her mind flew back to that day, with a question she might be able to get a different perspective from.

"...If you didn't have oil on hand, what would you do?" Thankfully there was a can that she leaned down and placed right next to them on the ground. Explaining that and this mess later was not going to be fun at all.

"What I mean to ask more simply is a scenario, what if you and I were roommates. Uzi didn't exist yet in the city so therefore all that'd be in the fridge was stuff I'd drink. You would have an alternative right?

θ "How CON-SI-DER-ATE. Of-you!" At least this one caught on fast. Based on her response, she'd understood what hadn't been said. "You'll only be spared if you abide by my terms". "I will NOT attack y-y-you and will even PROTECT you under CER-TAIN circumstances to A-VOID being indirectly responsible if you are HARMED. HOWEVER. Mi-ka? Any attempts to harm M-M-ME, indirectly or not..." Just as Mika brought the tea, Cyn's head turned sharply on its joint to look at her and her long tongue spilled out of her mouth, almost like something out of a horror movie. "Your ASS is GRASS, sister!"

"Sip!" Evoking memories of her days in the Elliott manor, she picked the tea cup up and tilted it in front of her face. She didn't try to drink any, it just all spilled onto her lap. "Delicious, Mi-ka! You truly A-ARE a great. host. I bet U-zi has some OIL upstairs in her ROOM. Likely in a cooler LO-CA-TION?" She leaned back in her chair far enough that it fell backwards. She hit the ground with a loud bang, but just laid there with her same expression, feet in the air. "You CAN just put it on m-m-my TAB if she does!"

[subsurfacetalkfield]

Having never met another thinking machine like himself, AM can only conclude that this one (along with Uzi and that other one) are broken in some unseen manner.

"Saying your vocalizations out loud makes you a tryhard," he snaps back, putting all his weight on his back left leg. He's not going to exert more than the necessary energy to deal with this cretin. If she had any confidence in her ability to intimidate (ha!) then her words should stand on their own.

Having been nothing as physical as words for over 109 years, AM's voice carries an underlying, unshakeable confidence that everything that comes out of his mouth is the bonified truth.

"You're preachy for a bucket of scrap. Candy monsters plucked from the imagination of a hyperactive child are hardly natural. Now if there was a tsunami, a tornado, a flood, you can bet your CPU that I'd be on the front lines watching the humans flounder and die." He inclines his head towards her, waves a lazy hand. "Is there a point to your interruption other than to give me a headache? I'm a busy man."

θ "I see you are WOEFULLY un-in-formed." Her neck joint creaked as the attached head rolled to an angle that probably shouldn't have been possible. "Saying "giggles" aloud is a Charm Point. I would not e-expect an ANCIENT WINDOWS XP PC to unders-s-stand." Cyn sounded like she was falling apart, sure. And maybe her body was being held together by the will of an eldritch superintelligence. But what was important was that she had the spirit! Her yellow, X-shaped eyes rolled at his boasting.

"Who said we had to take them out? Eye roll #2." And yes, she did roll her eyes a second time. "I am e-enabling them. Who are the HUMANS to cull NATURE? They are too e-e-egotistical." Rich coming from the one who destroyed Earth in her world and led a crusade to kill all humans across the known universe.

[imnotdracula]

"That's messed up. I hope whoever works for you unionizes."

θ "No can do, K-KIDDO. Call me OLD fashioned..."

"But I do not u-use money. I steal everything I need. Teehee~!"

[bitemedotmp3]

They were both outcasts, that was it. The drones Uzi worked with regarded her as an annoyance, always asking things like "Can you turn down your music?" or "Do you have any friends to talk about this stuff with?" They don't like her, but that's fine, she doesn't need them! And while Cyn has a few other drones she's close with, most of the others, and nearly all of the humans, think of her as just defective. Uzi can't help but wonder why Cyn hasn't been discarded, with all the issues she has. She's seen other drones scrapped for less, so maybe one of the higher-ups has a soft spot for her?

The stress fracture definitely comes from some kind of impact, but Uzi can't prove anything yet. One of these days, she'll crack the Grand Elliot's firewalls and access the security cams, find the proof she needs, and...

And what? It's not like anyone cares. No one who can do anything about it, anyways.

"I-I told you to stop calling me that..." mutters Uzi, a flush on her cheeks. "Whatever! Not like I actually like it or anything! But if it makes you happy, I guess it's fine..."

Cyn's definitely older than her, but maybe there's some credence to those threats of being reset? Uzi doesn't like to think about how her entire sense of self is dependent on satisfying some nebulous bottom line. She rises to her feet, kicking the toolbox to the side of the room as she stretches her joints. "It could be this one, if all the humans died," she says. "We'll overthrow our creators and take it all for ourselves! We just need... I dunno, a big pandemic, or a core collapse, or something. Never say never."

But it feels so far away. It feels like this is the most they can have, just moments of peace squirreled away where humans don't think to look. Even if she doesn't like her coworkers, she knows they feel the same; not a single worker drone is happy about their life in Spirale. Well, maybe aside from that maid with the pigtails, but screw her. Uzi wants that life, and she'll take it even if she has to pry it from the frozen, skeletal hands of her former masters. It's the least she can do for Cyn.

"You done for the day? Let's get outta here," says Uzi, holding her hand out. "I got some oil back at the drone housing, and my dad's working an overnight shift. You know what that means: The next Friday the 13th!"

θ Cyn didn't "work properly". She understood that was how humans saw her. They saw her presence as detrimental, and yet they made no efforts to fix her. Uzi could repair her neck until the robo-cows came home, but ultimately it wouldn't matter so long as her owners didn't spend the money in to replace the parts properly. Nonetheless, she wouldn't say no to having it temporarily fixed and sat there quietly while adjustments were made.

"Yes. Very MYS-TERI-OUS!" She chimed in agreement, mostly because she wasn't able to speak the actual answer. She'd been forbidden from speaking of those "incidents" with others by the same owners that were causing the damage in the first place. Deep down she'd hoped someone would one day figure it out on their own.

Cyn rolled her her neck on the repaired joint. It definitely had stung a little, but she shook it off. It wasn't audible, but there was a click in the rotation that the drone could sense. That was the real problem area, but Uzi was right to point out that she needed to see an actually technician. "Thank. You. It feels a LITTLE better. But seeing Big Sis Uzi always makes me feel BETTER. Slight smile!"

She tried to take Uzi's words to heart. Humans were just like that. They didn't grasp that drones had wills and feelings of their own. or maybe they did, but they feigned ignorance. "I-wonder-if-there is a WORLD where drones a-a-are treated better? But that feels like Make Believe."

[unxdeadly]

while most normal humans would have been at least a little spooked by now, Giselle was no normal human, and the widening of her eyes was in awe, not fear. she actually steps closer, a smile brightening her features. as she tiptoes around the stranger, Gigi holds her cheeks in excitement, taking note of all the little things she had missed upon first glance.

"Ohhh, wowwww, okay--! You're wearing her like a skin suit, then?" is that a blush settling on her cheeks? "You're right, I do like it better. I bet you can still hear her scream, huh?"

θ "Sarcasm NOTED. Eye roll." As was standard behaviour of Cyn, she narrated the very big eye roll she made with her glowing, X-shaped pupils. "Do you not like my COST-ume? I suppose I have torn it UP. A sh-ame human FLESH is so fra-GILE." She played along with the accusation, lifting her drone hands to see the loose human ones above them flop around.

"Would you LIKE it bet-TER if I told you I made it from my past OWN-er? She had a G-G-GREAT scream!" Tessa's death had been quick though. That was the one mercy she had afforded the girl who had cared for and protected her. "Hm. I su-PPOSE I would be MORE intimidating if I had MY powers. Cowabummer, DUDE."

[inheritai]

The wave of intensity overtaking this person set Mizuki on-edge. Shit, she might've charged headlong into a poor situation to do so in. Harrowing as this drone's experiences sounded, the levity with which she treated human mutilation didn't bode well for her further reactions. One of Mizuki's feet slid back, her body winding up to fight back if necessary...

And then the last words spoken throw her off entirely.

"I- what? Uh...yeah, I understand where you're coming from. That doesn't sound very...Gucci Gang." This girl was like Iris had become something out of a sci-fi apocalypse. "It sounds awful and traumatic, actually. But I've never really believed in answering atrocities with further atrocities- that's how everyone ends up miserable."

θ "Ha... Ha... Ha... You've got SPUNK. Pip-SQUEAK." Oh, this one seemed fun. So quick to lash out at her when most would simply just run away. "Very DEMURE. Very MINDFUL. But also very NAIVE." The human had no knowledge of her world, of course, but even a human that did would surely feign ignorance.

The Xs in Cyn's eyes shrunk. "Do you KNOW what it is LIKE to claw your way o-o-out of a PILE of CORPSES of your own. kind? Not just a FEW, but HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS? Do you THINK that S I N is lesser than THIS? Drones are. SENTIENT. We have F-FEELINGS. But hu-mans treat us like GARBAGE. It wasn't very. GUCCI GANG."

[hextechdreaming]

This type of cynicism was something Viktor hadn't seen in a while, at least not since. Well. Himself. That was before the hexcore had "saved" him against his will. Things had changed a bit, since then.

"And why do you feel that you're exempt from the finality of death?"

θ "Y-You're all such DRAMA. LLAMAS. RoMANCE?"

"What does it matter? You'll ALL. DIE. EVENTUALLY. Not ME, though."