The Secret's Aftermath

[gantzgun74]

[You don't have to worry about that, I think Kosumu's the only one in that room that can actually sense Fujin's energy. Metal probably could if he was more magic based then technology based, but Climber? Even though he RUNS on energy he doesn't know how to sense it.]

Metal momentarily looked over at Fujin, before he turned his head away. In his visor, this emoticon '' could plainly be seen. "Trust me Fujin... When I first started out... I honestly wished I was in the same situation as you."

There was possible confusion at this, but Climber hoping to be helpful, after helping Kosumu to his bed, turned to Fujin and Metal. "You see, originally, Metal was created by this scientist with a specific purpose in mind." He thought a moment... "I think it was to help people somehow..."

One who knew Metal wouldn't have found this comment all that funny, even though Climber's blatant misunderstanding of his original programming was humorous in a small way.

"Yeah... Help them meet the angel of death faster." Metal said with great regret, catching Fujin's attention with great surprise. "My original programming..." He motioned to his metallic body, shaking his head all the while. "See this body Fujin? It isn't original... My original program was to kill the person that I was created to look like." He let out an almost metallic huff as he sat down on a nearby bed. "I was created a murderer."

From where he lay, Kosumu looked at Metal with sympathy and regret. And Climber? The poor mannequin looked regretfully over at the robot. "Oh... Metal... I'm... I'm so sorry, I..."

"No don't worry Climber." Metal said quickly before shaking his head. "I suppose getting this off my chest, metallic and chrome as it is, will help things..." He looked up at the girl with a regretful look. "Besides... I have already started my tale..." He heaved a sigh.

"My life started quite unlike others; As you can see, I am a robot, no human is born like I was. In my world there was a hero, a blue hedgehog that could move as fast as the speed of sound, if not faster. And his name is Sonic." He thought a quick moment, "My creator, Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik, an evil scientist, created me in Sonic's image in the hopes that I will be able to do what his other creations fail to do; finally defeat him, destroy him if at all possible. That was my programming... Back then, I was a heartless machine, I cared about nothing but accomplishing my mission." He shook his head once more. "Fortunately Sonic bested me just like he bested all of Robotnik's other creations. Unfortunately however, I was so deadset on trying to fulfill my programming that I persistently continued to rechallenge him. He defeated me every single time..."

He held his head, as if the frustration was getting to him even now. "It drove me mad, knowing he could best me every single time I challenged him, and in time, I truely went mad. And then, in the insanity, I actually came to a stunning revelation."

All was silent for a moment...

"And that was?" Climber asked with a raised eyebrow.

Metal now had a small emoticon in his visor; '' "I hated Sonic."

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"But... Isn't... Bad thing?" Came Kosumu's voice from his bed.

[The story will be finished after a round of responses.]

[nutcase17133]

Looking up, Nutcase said, "Yes and no, actually. It's bade because hate is something people could do without. At the same time, sometimes hate is well-deserved. Like the hatred people have for Eggman for example. He took countless lives. Most of which were made into souless, robotic parodies of themselves after the madman put them in this horrid machine called a Roboticizer. It can turn flesh and bone into metal, and everything else in one's body into wires and computer circuts."

Clown Man then said, "In Metal's case, we learned that for Metal to feel hate ment he had to feel and process other emotions and states of mind. Most robots aren't capable of such things."

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Archie comic canon, then? Cause in Japanese canon, Eggman merely put the animals INTO robots)

Fujin listened, her eyes getting a little watery as she did so. This was a terrible story, the fact that anyone could be so heartless a to create a life whose only purpose was destruction was beyond terrible. She felt her heartstrings being pulled as Metal finished the story, but jerked back when he told her that he hated this "Sonic" character. She shook her head and turned away, trying to find the words.

She heard Clown Man speaking and took a few moments to calm herself down after he finished. She wanted to word this carefully, "If what you say is correct," she was looking at Clown Man, "Then is it not possible for those feelings to change? I can not speak for this "Sonic" as I have never met him, but perhaps if you tried talking to him? If he is the opponent of this evil sounding Eggman, than it is quite possible he is a decent person. One should never abandon hope of peace. There are always those willing to fight for it, correct? Perchance you should try to help this Sonic if you ever meet him again."

She suddenly stood up and walked over to Kosumu, sitting on the side of his bed, "Do not worry. It is as he said," she gestured to Clown Man, "With the ability to hate must come the ability to love," she turned to the group so everyone could hear her, "I am sure it is there somewhere and that you will be happier if you find it. You have the ability to work with your memories and overcome your shortcomings..."

She paused. It hadn't really occured to her, but what if she had been a terrible person? What if she had done awful things and just couldn't remember them. She looked away from the main group and set about helping Kosumu tuck himself in. She really did seem like she had experience as a caretaker of sorts, be it a mother or older sister. Her apparent age indicated it would be of an older sister... the smile she gave Kosumu was very warm.

[gantzgun74]

Kosumu smiled innocently back up at Fujin... Older sister or mother, mattered not. This girl reminded him SO much of his mother, in all of her times of love.

"I wish it were all possible." Metal decided to finish, looking away. "You are right, when I finally noticed that I did INDEED hate Sonic, I found a book that I read to look up human emotions. In it, I found a certain phrase; 'Love and hate are two sides of the same coin'. And I used that phrase to slowly discover my capability to feel other emotions." He shook his head, "But despite all of this soul searching however, one fact will remain."

Climber turned back to Metal, giving him a curious look. "Does this have to do with what you told me before? About you're original programming?"

"Indeed, Climber." He nodded in response. "You see, no matter how much I want it to be different..." He sighs. "My original programming?" He then motioned at his chest. "It's STILL there. No matter how much I want to completely change, I will continue to hate Sonic, and Temptation will strike at me every chance it finds, telling me to forget these emotions, and return to my original programming; kill Sonic." The emoticon in his visors changed into this 'T_T' "When I discovered these emotions, I only merely sealed the programming away, in favor of life, but no matter what I do, it will still be there." He looked away shamefully "I cannot change that..."

"But... You good."

Everyone turned to see Kosumu, all snug in his bed, looking at Metal with a sympathetic face. "You... Have evil inside... No-one doesn't... Have this... If you... evil or not... depends on choice..." He smiled at the robot. "You good, Metal... You good... Despite being... Made evil..."

Everyone stared at the innocent little boy for a while...

"T-thank you Kosumu..." This emoticon appeared in Metal's visor '<' "Thank you so much..."

Kosumu only smiled warmly at the robot...

Before his eyes fluttered closed, and, with a small warm smile on his face, he fell asleep.

Climber smiled himself at the little boy, "Heh... He reminds me of those little kids that used to visit the amusement park I worked at."

[nutcase17133]

Looking at Metal, Nutcase said "Still, we need to remove or delete that program. Even if sealed away, it can be dangerous. What if it seizes control when you least expect it? We could all end up killed by a freak accident."

Kosumo looked like he was about to say something, but Nutcase stopped him saying, "I know that everyone must have a dark side to them. But that rule only really applies to flesh and blood creatures. A robot has no real soul to speak of. They also don't die. They can be brought back, providing they aren't heavily damaged. There are some exceptions to that rule though..."

Nutcase thought back to his robot pals Tom Servo and Crow. They were mischevious to a fault, and acted like little kids despite their adult-sounding voices and their adult-level intelligence.

Pushing the thought aside, Nutcase continued saying, "But Metal is a case of a robot without a soul. He was built originally to destroy and kill. He's choosing to live his own life now, which means he has probobly started getting a soul of his own. Still, souls can be corrupted. And that program will forever be a risk if left in his head. We gotta find someone to help take care of it. I'm guessing Gantz was trying to find a way to help you on that before this unpleasentness began, right?"

[mugenginga]

Fujin smiled gently towards Kosumu when she realized he was asleep before she stood up. She walked back over to the group and sat down a bit away from the largest chunk of people. She seemed to be thinking about things.

"I suppose it is a case of not understanding the concept of a soulless being," she stated, "But it would seem you have an idea as to how to take care of this programming. I am of the opinion you should pursue it."

(OOC: Oh, btw, that overly wordy way she speaks? Trying to make her sound really really polite and noble, which comes across as stuffy to many people. If you could "hear" her tone of voice, you'd realize she isn't stuffy at all.

Even if she can't remember, she WAS a princess after all. XD)

[gantzgun74]

"Well, I'm pretty sure that WAS what Gantz wanted to do, but considering the circumstances, it's obvious he couldn't get around to it."

Climber lowered his head a little before turning to Fujin. With all of this info being thrown around, it did make him a bit curious. "Hey, Miss Fujin?" With the girls attention on him, the mannequin continued. "How did you run into Kosumu, anyways? I've been a bit curious about that."

[mugenginga]

Fujin looked up and looked a little concerned. She was obviously thinking carefully, but she finally opened her mouth, "I am not entirely sure. I was quite fuzzy upon awaking, but I believe he was carrying me through the air. The first clear memory I can recall was in a moss filled cave in this arctic environment."

She took a breath before continuing, her eyes showing she was tyring to grasp at something. Her failure was indicated as she shook her head, "It was somehow nostalgic, although without my memories I can not say why," she gestured to herself, "I do not even know my real name. Kosumu gave me the one I am using. He told me it means woman. It is better to have a name than not, but without knowing even that much I have nowhere to begin to search for my origins."

(OOC: Since at least some of the characters in the RP know Japanese, I should say the other translations since her name uses pronunciation and not kanji. It can also mean wife, battle formation, or rather uncommonly, cruel/heartless. The heartless translation may not be known as its quite rare, at least according to the dictionary I use.)

[gantzgun74]

[Thankfully, while Metal so far is the smartest member of that entire party, he has yet to read up on the Japanese Language yet.]

The Climber smiled slightly, shrugging bashfully. "I wish I could help."

"We'll help anyways." Both members turned to Metal, whom gave them both a small look. "Gantz told me that he and his friends almost exist to help others. They are heroes in that respects." He lifted his hand up and offered it to Fujin. "And even though Gantz isn't here, we'll do what it takes to help those that need it." He tilted his mechanical head. "In the meantime, how about you go on to bed and get some sleep? You'll likely need it."

[nutcase17133]

Looking out the window, Nutcase said, "Yeah we'll need the rest before we head out to find out where Gantz went, find Mallow to lend us his telepathic abilities, and hopefully find Otto and Waly-weither o not they're the ones we know."

[mugenginga]

"That is a most admirable trait. To spend ones life at the aid of those who nee-" Fujin yawned a bit, her eyes tearing. She looked a little sheepish and embarassed, "I suppose you are right. Some sleep would do me good,"

She stood up and looked towards the room Kosumu was in. There was another bed in there. She smiled gently, "I shall be sleeping in there. I would like to keep an eye on him. Good night," she curtsied a bit before heading into the room. She quietly shut the door behind her after heading in.
-----

On the outskirts of the village, two people had just arrived. The far taller of the two, even if you took into account that the other was on a bike, had an air of intimidation about him. In all reality, he looked like some rejected design for a musclebound Drow, although he did have dark blue hair rather than white. His skin had a color comparable to a corpse and he seemed to be using a rather nasty looking scythe as a walking stick.

The pointy-eared man raised eyebrows, and the few people who were still up and about that time of night seemed to realize taking a wide berth was a good idea. He didn't seem bothered by their reactions, merely turning to the brown-haired girl on the bike. While he looked around thirty or so, her age was a lot harder to guess. If this wasn't Bonsai Village, his mother had been possessed by an angel.

And there was the issue of how to word this to the girl. As far as she was concerned, she was dreaming. But there was a chance she'd fall over if she stayed awake too long. He managed to come up with something, however, "We need to find a place to rest our legs."

The man known as Magus didn't know the girl's dreams and had no idea whether or not she slept in them. He knew some slept in their dreams, but he didn't want to approach that subject. He wanted her to snap out of her delusion and wake up. Hiding in dreams was dangerous. But his attempts at that earlier hadn't worked very well at all.

Those with the ability to sense magic would be getting a very strong feeling from Magus, and those that had sensed Fujin's power, however muted, might even note that there was a level of similarity between the magical auras of the two...

(OOC: Firebreath Fishslap owns the girl aka Madotsuki. So we need to wait for her to post before we move on.

Oh! And FF, I think this would be rather fun if not cruel to Madotsuki. I've noticed that blond girl from Yume Nikki (I forget her fan name) seems to have quite the mystical air about her AND has her hair up in a ponytail. You might want to work with that for Schala/Fujin. XDD She might have sky blue hair, but in a rahter ironic twist, her reincarnation (Kid) in the blasphemy that is Chrono Cross had blond hair.

And nothing says whatshername can't change hair color, right? XDD)

[nutcase17133]

Fair enough. This actuallly might play well with the new character posted earlier, so let's wait.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

((OOC ...I liked Chrono Cross. Granted, I never got very far in it and the battle system confused the heck out of me... >_>

And the blond girl's called Poniko. :3))

The little girl on the bike, Madotsuki, looked up at Magus, and let out a yawn before trying to pinch her cheek yet again. She sighed. "...I guess I'll just have to use the freaky beds again..." She looked up at Magus. "That house over there's still got its lights on... though it's got a big hole through the door too."

She sighed and dematerialized her bike, dissipating it into dream energy.

----------------

As it turned out, Beatrice was very much still awake. She was sewing, which she always did when she got bored. At the moment, she was repairing her outfit, and working on removing the spikes on the gloves, since she'd decided having spikes on gloves was for video game characters and Squirrel Girl.

And on that note, since it didn't look like she was getting to sleep anytime soon, she was thinking of starting to make new outfits for everyone else in the group. Especially Nutcase. Normal people didn't go around wearing straightjackets, for Flamel's sake. And Taffy had been wearing the same outfit since he graduated. It was a wonder it didn't make plants die when he walked past them.

[gantzgun74]

Back in the house, Metal and Climber sat around in the living room. Climber himself was on the couch looking 'asleep' for lack of a better term. Though how a mannequin could sleep was beyond some. In truth, Climber could, sleep in some odd shape or form, the only thing that still elluded him however was the ability to dream.

Moving past that, however, Metal was probably the only one still awake out of everyone in that place. He and Climber had agreed to guard the house while everyone slept, keeping turns on guard shifts. Since neither really slept, or, if they could, didn't need to sleep, they took turns looking after the place. As Metal's turn went on, he carefully examined each nook and cranny of the place. His senses caught the life-forces of Kosumu and Fujin still asleep in the room above him, Nutcase in the room parallel to that, Taffy's next to Nutcase's... And...

Beatrice was still awake?

"Climber?"

Climber yawned a little before turning to Metal. "What is it Metal?"

After a small moment of silence, he pointed a thumb to the cieling, "Think you can go to Beatrice's room and see what she's up to?"

The Climber nodded quickly, "Sure thing! Leave it to me." So, despite his multiple samurai robes, he got up from the couch and ran up the steps quickly yet quietly.

[nutcase17133]

[going off the record here, but since I fixed the bio of my new character, I want to introduce him next post so please wait]