World Tree MUSH

    This version of Earth is... Pretty well beyond overgrown. There's no trace of humanity in sight save for the androids that look like them, and they're locked in a constant war with the machine lifeforms. But sometimes... Sometimes, even in war, you have to have downtime.
    We begin at the Resistance Camp; a well known spot where the local androids prep for their battles every day and a well known place where androids will take a helping and from anyone bumbling in looking for odd jobs.
    In other words... The resistance camp is a well known sidequest hub.
    2B and 9S, YoRHa's newest cutting edge units are here, as it is their base of operations, so it's not out of the ordinary to find them milling about and doing odds and ends for the local androids as well, but something is different today. Something is a little off.
    "Hey 2B?" 9S muses. "You ever get the feeling that something weird is about to happen but you can't put your finger on why or what?"
    "No." She replies curtly while typing an email at the local terminal.
    "Come on. You never get a premonition or anything like that?"
    "I don't."
    "Woman's intuition?"
    2B pauses from her email to turn and look sharply at 9S, who holds up his hands placatingly. "Eheh eheh! Sorry sorry! I just got a funny feeling about today is all."

    Natsu is here! He is helping out that blacksmith that helps refine 2B and 9S's weapons! 

    He is doing this by breathing a concentrated stream of fire into a furnace to get it insanely hot so that he can purify and refine metals, thereby helping the two androids in the long run by making their upgrade avenue just a bit better! Hot fire forges metal more cleanly, smelts with less impurities, and all sorts of great benefits! Having a Fire Dragon Slayer around is really purely beneficial for the two of them here.

    "Okay...back up, 'cause I have no idea what this is gonna turn out to be." Dante says, he's currently got some kind of refrigerator and is surrounded by locals. They're pretty visibly afraid, as Dante suddenly kicks at the fridge. And there is...THE FUNK OF FORTY THOUSAND YEARS. It's like a biochemical bomb went off, as suddenly Dante and the resistance fighters onlooking are overcome with an utterly disgusting stench, coughing and hacking. "AUGH, GOD...someone burn this thing! YO, DRAGON DUDE, WE NEED YOUR HELP!" Dante calls out in between gasps of air.

     Damian has never been here before, but it's a neat place to explore! Probably! There are robot people everywhere, at least, and that's pretty cool in the jackal's book. Not as cool as going into outer space, but it's still like... Star Wars or something! Yeah!

Having morphed into a more human-looking form to blend in, the Prince of Darkness has started prancing around the camp with electric guitar in hand (it just seems more appropriate than the banjo!), somehow providing its own distortion despite no visible equipment. He isn't really playing anything in particular, just sort of... shredding, that's what they call it right?

Though his attention is soon grabbed by the fridge situation with Dante, and he levitates on over, hanging above the crowd to get a better look. Naturally, he's produced a clothespin that's currently clipped over his nose. "Oh, wow, that's something /nasty/! Can't help you there, bro, my fire powers haven't kicked in yet!"

Emily has taken the form of an auburn-haired woman with glowing purple eyes and four arms, dressed in a midnight-blue military dress uniform which ... sort of resembles a YoRHa android's uniform but not really. She's chatting up a member of the resistance with the unlikely name of Jackass. "... but basically, if you did come to the halcyon remnant, even without a common enemy like the machine lifeforms, there'd be no shortage of things to blow up -- GAH!"

She turns to face Dante as that fridge opens up. "Okay ... I think we've found something to blow up right here," she says conversationally.

    Uni's here! She's going over the ranged weapons, pointing out parts that need to be replaced or repaired, field stripping a mag cannon and checking the parts while she chats to the vendor, and a tiny robot carries small parts around, bringing replacements over and being a general little helper.

    Uni's actually kind of moved in. Much like Natsu, having a GUN GURU around is only going to help the locals in the long run.

    And then Dante kicks open an ancient refridgerator, and makes the camp a No Fun Zone... She then summons a cylindrical item into one hand from her Inventory, and tosses it after pulling a pin out. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"... it goes off in a localized plasma discharge after it lands in the refrigerator.

    The life of a wizard is fraught with unexpected things! To wit, a blue circle of light swirls into being and a young woman steps through, the ashes of what must have been a scroll blowing free of one gauntleted hand. She takes a step, the glowing portal fizzles out behind her and she just stops, actually taking a look at her surroundings.

    "Oh bother, this is certainly the wrong town." Nevermind that she is absolutely splattered with crimson. It's worse down low but it's splattered all about her person. It also reeks of blood.

    Then Dante opens some container of utter foulness and she can't help but recoil, then helpfully flick a ball of fire. Apparently on top of some other flashy means of being rid of the problem.

    "What is this place and what in the world is that racket?!"

    Overgrown, no trace of humans. Sounds like a perfectly good opportunity for an animal shifter to blend in. Thusly, a pale-colored wolf approaches the camp. It's not quite white, being a pale grey, but almost seems to have a lavender tint to its fur when the light's at a certain angle. This is not a slavering monster that must be killed to protect the people here. It's quite calm, sniffing about placidly as it nears.

    This is, of course, Alucard. He hasn't seen a single human since he's been here, only these strange machines and possibly a YorHa android since he got here via Vine. So of course, in a world with no humans, a human form would be strange, wouldn't it? He doesn't really know what's going on here, but then, that's what exploring is supposed to do, given him a better idea of that.

    It's not long before his sense of smell gets assaulted by something foul suddenly, and the pale wolf growls, snorting and laying its ears back in disgust, shaking its head. Honestly, it probably wouldn't have been much better if he'd been in his human form, since his senses are just as strong in either form. And then there's things being shot, possibly fire, and WHAT EVEN THE HELL IS GOING ON? Time to find out.

    "GAH! What the hell is that?!" Someone asks, gagging in horror.

    "Hell if I know...someone must've left lobster in there or something." Dante shrugs helplessly, drawing one of his pistols just as Uni uses a plasma 'nade to literally -atomize- the offending rot. It definitely does the job, but the fridge still needs sterilizing and Dante didn't exactly bring any kind of cleaning gear. Stowing the pistol, he just sighs.

    "Well, that thing's a bust. Maybe we could use it as target practice. Or a bomb." A rebel offers, sizing up the fridge's size.

    Meanwhile, Dante's attention seems focused on the little robot helping Uni out. "You get one of those Shinkis, Uni?" He wonders. The Zelnogrard looks vaguely familiar for some reason.

     Damian conjures a pair of shades when the plasma and fireballs come out, strumming one loud screeching note to accompany the carnage inside the fridge (and maybe simulate the dying scream of some horrible mutated monster). Once it's done though, he tosses the glasses aside and floats down to eye-level with Uni's Shinki companion, poking the Zelnogrard in the belly with one long, slender finger. "Heh, it's like a little doll. Where'd you get it? Raven would probably love one... I mean, once she realizes it can help her organize her books or something."

The world where 2B and 9S come from is... a peculiar one, to put it at minimum in Sonia's books. She'd been here before, with that certain and *also troubling* opera singer. And the amusement park. Really there was plenty of things to be learned at some point when the opportunity became availed with this world of artificial beings; something she'd equated with golems and their like from her perspective.

All the same, human or not and the lack thereof, her usual taciturn demeanor means she's arriving pretty quietly, though her path into town did follow the sounds of the racket. Not just /leaping out at it/, mind, though there's a slight tensing from her given the explosion. Though her gaze does briefly go towards a direction of a certain someone, she doesn't do anything more than merely 'mark' him in her senses. Uni too, given the magical energy and what not; not that she knows them. She is cautious all the same, mostly because she's pretty good at looking directly into the light. 

Dante and Emily, however are another matter, as the cloak-wearing woman draws the hood back with a slight smirk. Not quite inclined to actually intervene just yet; there's an old saying of too many cooks in the kitchen, particularly useful advice when said kitchen is experiencing a fire. 

    Needless to say, the blacksmith android is vastly impressed by the heat Natsu's breath puts off as he works, hammering away at one weapon or another. Natsu isn't just helping the YoRHa androids out with this, he's helping the resistance out as a whole, as the blacksmith whistles.
    "Well geeze, son, I've never worked with a fire this good before!" He comments while hammering away.
    Right up until Dante kicks in an ancient fridge, sending a squad of resistance androids running, covering their noses and mouths.
    "It's not that I like blowing things up for the sake of blowing them up." Jackass replies mildly to Emily while tinkering with some high yield explosive. "It just gets the job done, you know-- speaking of jobs, I have a bit of research I'd like to give a go... I've been meaning to study the correlation between combat and an android's pleasure centers in the brain-- 2B helped me out a bit, did you know that the human experience of 'Love' is the closest thing I can approximate to an android's 'Battle Fever'? I've been meaning to broaden my test subject group but no one else is willing or crazy enough."
    Uni handles the fridge problem.
    "This is the resistance camp." An android replies to Li-Ming. "You must be from off world. We've gotten a lot of your type around here lately. If you're looking for work, there's always something that needs done." The android comments.
    The sight of a wolf approaching the camp has a few of the perimeter guards pausing, curious on what course of action to take. "Do we report this?" "I thought all animal life was wiped out by the Machines?" "... Let's shoot it." "What, no don't be an idiot!" "That pelt would make a cool cape, come on!"
    THAT is about when it happens. A hush seems to come across the camp as a lone Machine Lifeform floats towards the entrance, hovering on a propellor.
    It has a white flag attached to it.
    "The hell? Hostiles!" 2B demands, rising with blade in hand.
    "I AM NOT HOSTILE." The machine buzzes. "YOU DEFEATED THE BROKEN MACHINE OF THE AMUSEMENT PARK. PLEASE COME TO OUR VILLAGE. WE WILL REPAY YOU."
    "Uhhhhh..." 9S says. ... "Maybe we should go and gather data?"

    Uni sighs a bit, packing up her work and dusting off her knees as she stands up. She beckons to her companion, who takes up position on her shoulder before looking over at Dante. "Yeah, the locals pointed me at an outlet, and I picked her out." she notices the odd look. "This isn't the one from the raid. She had a Master already, just on loan." she adds, reaching up and gently ruffling the blonde robot's hair as she takes off the helmet for a moment.

    Then Damian pokes Bravette in the midsection, making the little robot wobble uncertainly for a moment. <"Your friend sounds like she could use an Arnval... maybe a Grapprap if the items are particularly heavy."> she offers, her voice soft and attitude rather stoic as she puts her helmet back on.

    And then, the entire camp goes into Alert Mode as a Machine comes floating up. Uni doesn't summon a weapon just yet, since she spots the White Flag. "That's the White Flag of Peace. Whatever it's here for, it's not a fight." confirms Uni as she approaches, looking up at the Machine curiously.

    "The resistance camp, yes. Thank you." Li-Ming manages a smile, only then realizing she's arrived somewhere strange covered in splatter from all manner of bog monsters. Eh, nobody seems to mind anyway.

    So, the wizard steps a little closer to the smoldering fridge to regard it, then the man who opened it. Dante gets a real hard LOOK, then Uni, and on and on until a rather unusual wolf wanders into the camp. 


    Then some manner of flying automaton. "Yes, perhaps we should go." Get our bearings! "Amusement park?"

Emily immediately starts applauding Uni with both sets of hands. When Li-Ming contributes her own efforts towards the solution, Emily also gives her a thumbs-up with her lower left hand.

She does a double-take as she notices the wolf, however. Her gut tells her that walking right up to a human (or ... android) settlement doesn't seem to be normal behavior for wolves. Oh, and the androids are getting worried about it too, hmm.

She breaks into a wide grin at Jackass's suggestion. "I'm not a military model," she says, "but that is the best idea you have ever had, and that is saying something! If you can find something tough enough that I can drop all my Capacitor Seals, then I can definitely ..."

Her voice trails off as the Machine Lifeform with the white flag arrives, and then she breaks into a grin. "Well, well, well," she says, striding towards it with her upper hands on her hips and her lower arms crossed. "I've been waiting for this moment!" Her tone betrays an unbridled delight of an entirely different sort from her blowing-stuff-up conversation with Jackass.

"... Long story," she says flatly to Li-Ming, and her smile falters somewhat.

    "Cool. She got a name yet?" Dante comments. Almost immediately, he spies a robot arriving and draws his pistols with lightning reflexes, just to see the white flag it's waving about. "Whoa, whoa! Everyone stand down!" He calls out, stowing his pistols with as much grace as he did drawing them. "Well hell, I'm up for it. Let's get a rollin'." He says, making his way off toward the exit of the settlement. The wolf seems oddly familiar, but he can't put a finger on it just why that is.

    "Happy to help you out, buddy! It's no problem! I could go hotter, but I'd probably melt your kiln and then you wouldn't be able to work at all! Gotta keep it reigned in," Natsu says, some licks of flame eminating from the corner of his mouth as he looks towards the fridge situation. He was about to breath some fire at it, per Dante's request, but Uni is quick to handle it, which earns a double-thumbs up from the Fire Dragon Slayer before his head tilts over towards the flying robot. 

    "Hey look at his surrender flag! Hi little buddy!" Natsu raises his hand and jovially waves at the flying robot with its white flag, "Sure! I'll follow you to your village! Lead the way, little guy!"

    Once the not-hostile hostile approaches -- honestly it's more the 'aaaa kill it' reaction to the flying thing that tips Alucard off that something's going on anyway -- the guards get a surprise... and Dante's feeling of familiarity is suddenly justified. Because suddenly it's not a wolf anymore.

    It's a male, human-like form with pale skin and hair. Assuming the guards don't stop him, he'll head into the camp in that weird way he's got of running without seeming to move his legs enough to carry him nearly as fast as he's actually going.

    He is, however, aware he's not the one in charge here, and that he has relatively little information on what's actually going on. So he holds back on attacking. There's a number of reasons, actually. Lack of information is the most important one.

    Uni looks over at Dante again. "Bravette." is her simple reply, prompting the blonde robot to give a wave and a little smile.

"Very long story." Sonia's words add to Emily's own, given the Machine Lifeform's arrival--and well, the reason for it arriving and what not having something to do with what happened the last time she was here. A brief nod of her head is given in 2B's direction, though the white-haired woman might well note the sense of predation from Sonia is slightly reined in at least, it is nowhere the glimmering steel beneath the surface since they last encountered one another. 

"Dante. Emily." Sonia offers with a faint smile, before her gaze flits to Alucard, then... well. So many of the others, and a look of mirth crosses her face as she considers... well. Given how she can sense and feel the nature of others... might well be a 50-50 shot of running into something interesting here. 

Yeah, there's a reason she holds back on letting out that joke, half-breed humor besides. 

    2B and 9S exchange a look. It's somewhere between baffled and incredulous, at least that's what can be made out of their expressions with the blindfolds on. It's one thing that they've come across non-hostile Machines, but one actively bearing a white flag and outright stating non-hostility in full sentences is...
    "2B this is weird." 9S says what both are thinking.
    "It could be a trap." 2B points out as Dante and Natsu go right to follow and others start seeming to get the same idea. Though she does return Sonia's nod of greeting.
    "Well it's better to go into a trap with overwhelming numbers, right?" Jackass points out amid scribbling something down about capacitor seals, earning an exasperated sigh from the YoRHa units.
    Following the machine... Is not hard as it starts to float off, repeating a mantra of "THIS WAY. THIS WAY." And occasionally stopping to wait for stragglers.
    A trip down a sewer pipe so old and unused that the water runs fresh and clean, a brief foray into the ruins of an old amusement park where machines frolic and play, and then into a deep forest...
    The path is long and winding, made over several planks and boards suspended from the trees, rather than directly on the forest floor, but slowly descending, until the group reaches a single MASSIVE tree. It's as big and wide as a skyscraper, plant life being able to grow like this without human intervetion for thousands of years means it is apparently possible for wildlife to grow in such a way.
    And built into the side of the tree is a village of rusted steel, the inhabitants, all machines, each all wave a white flag in 'welcome'.
    "... This is too weird." 9S says disbelievingly.

Emily nods. "Dante and Uni have the right idea!" she says, rising off the ground to follow the group. She nods to Natsu and Sonia, giving each of them a thumbs-up as well, and then ...

... raises her eyebrows at Alucard. "Iiiiiiinteresting," she murmurs under her breath. Well, he's clearly a magical shapeshifter, not a technological one like herself, but still. He has officially Caught Emily's Eye.(tm)

She travels along with the group. She tenses up as they pass by the amusement park, and in a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter, a midnight-blue YoRHa-style blindfold appears over her eyes, which stays there until they reach the tree.

She does a quick scan to check for any sign of android corpses, then pushes up the blindfold and grins as she looks around. "Thought so!" she says triumphantly.

    Uni looks to 9S. "At least they're not trying to tear us apart, or turn us into clothes." she says, looking at the village curiously while summoning a Jellycan for her companion, who takes it gladly and sips idly. The black-haired goddess frowns a bit. "From what I know, and what you've told us, this kind of thing shouldn't be possible. The Machines are mindless attack drones... hypothesis?" she asks the Scout-type, turning red eyes toward him.

    Long story? Heavens if she didn't have a long one or two of her own to tell sometime. Still, Li-Ming nods, accepting that now's probably not the time and so falls in with everyone else while doing her best to discreetly burn away her generous bloody patina. Lots of ozone and pennies and that's all we're gonna say about that.

    "Hn, supposing it's a trap then we'll likely be surrounded. Then the enemy will be right where we want them." So nonchalant about potential danger! She should fit right in. Alucard gets another curious look now that he's not on all fours. Shapeshifters, too? This world must be incredibly diverse. 2B, 9S and even Emily. "I'm sorry for being so blunt but is there some reason for the blindfolds? I can imagine a number reasons for it but I'm only curious."

    "HA! I knew it! Well, I didn't know it, but I kinda hoped it when I let Happy 2 go the other day in the desert! Some of them are good people who have friends." Natsu fistpumps and then punches his own palm, "Alright! Nice!" He seems pretty jovial and happy about this strange robot village! 

    "Hey you guys! What's your village name?!" He shouts to the welcoming committee, wanting to learn about this strange place he has found himself in.

    Once things aren't on fire -- literally or figuratively -- Alucard can better concentrate on the environment, and the people in it. Being that he's closest to Sonia, as the venue moves away from the camp, he will fall in step alongside her. "...I didn't expect to see you here," he'll note quietly. Clearly he has no idea about her former involvement with this world

    It's worth noting though, that despite the clear and clean quality of the water, Alucard regards it with a rather automatic wince. Thankfully this isn't deep enough to really trigger anything. Though he might still change into a bat to fly over it anyway, so as not to get his boots full of water.

    Alucard really has no reason to suspect there's anything wrong -- he wasn't there for all of the aforementioned 'trying to kill everyone there'. However he too finds it weird that what look like automatons would be 'welcoming' everyone. He's just keeping an eye on things right now, trying to take all this in.

"If it were a trap, then it is a very poor one." Sonia remarks idly when the conceits of whether or not a trap is a trap. "Besides, if they know enough about a surrender flag, they should..." Sonia trails off, and shakes her head. No, one can raise a point since the machines aren't human, and she catches herself before finishing that line of thought.

Emily's attention being on Alucard doesn't necessarily draw a visible reaction, but at the same time she knows well Emily's particular type of attention well enough to recognize it. Not that it surprises her, but it's a twinge of protective instinct that rises before being tempered back in place. Might well be curious that Sonia isn't... terribly bothered by Alucard, right? 

Not that she wouldn't secretly exchange a quick smile with the man when others are inattentive of it. They can catch up when they reach this village after all, but the smile, the body language is meant to communicate some encouragement, that he needn't worry. 

...much. At least not about these people, for the most part. Probably. 

All the same, her hand comes to rest atop the pommel of the blade at her hip, the cloak tugged aside a little for ease of walking along with the rest of the group. Especially given the trip going long and winding as it does, she ends up leaping and parkouring her way a little bit when the opportunities seem to present themselves, mostly to keep up with the rest, and frankly, to maybe work out just a little. Rust can't happen if you use what you have whenever you can. 

When another moment is found, Sonia offers to Alucard, "Pure chance, as it were. Not by much, but there was... a very strange thing here. Stranger than most. Helped put it down." Back to the conversation at hand however, she has to echo the sentiment Li-Ming raises. "I've been wondering that myself. Clearly it's not just a blindfold since sight doesn't seem to be an issue." 

Emily laughs. "Exactly what Natsu said!" she says to Uni, and she gestures expansively. "There are Machine Lifeforms who are sapient!" She's sounding utterly vindicated. "I was even starting to wonder if there were any capable of being peaceful, and now I know those exist, too!"

She pauses, and looks at Li-Ming and Sonia. "Oh, in my case it's to prevent me from seeing corpses of androids," she says, as if that explained everything. "This world is kinda lousy with 'em. Dunno what YoRHa has 'em for." She gestures to 2B and 9S.

    "W-well they ARE!" 9S replies to Uni. "Machines don't have feelings!" He says adamantly, starting to look huffy as a result. Right up until people question the blindfolds.
    "These are tactical visors!" He explains. "They record a lot of data and send it back to the Bunker in orbit!
    "THIS CANNOT CONTINUE! THIS CANNOT CONTINUE! THIS CANNOT CONTINUE! A small, familiar, robot with a wooden mask buzzes at Natsu.
    That's not the village name, but another machine does lumber up to the group.
    "Hello!" it says in a sweet voice. "Our village doesn't really have a name, but you're welcome here regardless. My name is Pascal."
    "..." 2B has been oddly silent this whole time, expression hard to read.
    "W-we can't trust anything the machines say." 9S really tries.
    The village looks like it has all kinds of machines though, bipedal, floating, one machine is just a head attached to a fan with arms, there's a giant machine, a machine in a top hat, a machine in a tuxedo, next to a machine in a dress, next to a small machine dressed as a child, even a machine with a pink bow that looks particularly panicked.

    GASP! 

    "HAPPY TWO! HEY LITTLE BUDDY!" 

    When the small robot in the mask buzzes at Natsu, he grabs it under the arms and hurls it skyward. It probably flies straight up about a hundred feet before Natsu catches it and then spins it around and sets it down again! 

    "That still all you can say, little guy?"

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Happy Two replies as it is sent skyward, before it gets caught, looking dizzy and bewildered after the spin. "NICE. WEATHER. TODAY. ISN'T. IT?"

    "Experience tells me otherwise!" Dante says, dashing off after 2B and 9S. They hit the village, and Dante just grits his teeth hearing that infamous phrase. "Uhh, hiya Pascal." He greets the chipper robot that comes to receive them. 9S's assertions are becoming a lot more and more questionable, as Dante explores the village. What kind of 'emotionless' robots would take the time to wear clothes with tophats and tuxes anyway?

    "Yeah. They just -happened- to be programmed with snappy fashion sense, Nines. They're totally not just doing this because they want to."

    "Any sufficiently advanced intellect will eventually exceed the bounds of its programming." remarks Uni, reaching over to gently pat 9S on the shoulder, before turning to Pascal. "I'm Uni. CPU Candidate of Lastation... and this is my companion, Bravette." she says, gesturing to the Shinki on her shoulder, who offers a wave. "I'll make the same offer to you, as I did the android camp." she produces a small radio-like device, and offers it to Pascal. "If you need help, use that. I'll come as fast as I can."

    Sonia's mention of why she ended up here gets a nod from Alucard. "I see." He doesn't, not in specific, but he understands it enough for now. They're both monster-hunters; just because the monsters happen to be machines doesn't make them any less of monsters. "So this world has monster problems as well?"

    Alucard moves near-silently to 9S's side, tilting his head to note quietly and under his breath, "Even if they are lying, this could be a useful opportunity to learn more about them. My suggestion: take the end of the rope they give you, and leave them enough slack to hang themselves if they make a wrong move."

    That said he slinks back to where he'd been standing. It might be a little weird watching him do that; his cloak is closed around him, so it doesn't let his legs be seen. He just seems to float back to his previous place.

Emily snickers at Natsu's shenanigans with Happy Two. She nods to Dante, and walks up to 2B and 9S. "And how do you know that Machines don't have feelings?" she says, and she's taken on the tone of an instructor. "You were created and programmed to destroy the Machine Lifeforms, yes, just as I was created and programmed to serve the extinct Masters of the world I came from, but your eyes and ears are just as important as your programmed-in purpose. You cannot and should not attempt to simply abandon the notion of destroying them, any more than I can simply abandon the notion of serving the Masters. However, we are not merely mindless automata, we are sapient androids. I am perfectly capable of understanding that the Masters are extinct, and that I should not make plans which naively presume that I will necessarily serve any of them in the future."

She waggles a finger. "And you, I venture, are perfectly able to understand the concept of sapient Machine Lifeforms, and that among them, there are those whom it is unnecessary or even counterproductive to destroy."

She grins at Alucard as well, nodding in response to his comment, then walks up to Pascal. "Hey there," she says. "I'm a Nyx-model Eudaemon, serial prefix MLE0, but my name ... is Emily Nyx."

... Oh dear. Perhaps she feels as though these particular Machine Lifeforms are kindred spirits ...

"In a sense," Sonia replies. "To the best of my knowledge, there are no humans here. Only androids and machines." Her lips quirk slightly as she nods regarding both Emily's answer, and 9S's own on tactical visor. "... and there is something to be said for what are 'machines' and what are 'androids'." Sonia says with a mild sigh.

As Uni, Pascal, 9S and the others continue to speak, Sonia simply shakes her head a little once Alucard's returned to where he was, moving to add, "It's complicated, and yet not. This is the first I've been here to actually do something besides help destroy a psychotic opera woman machine that had android corpses being puppeted and strung to itself." She slowly blinks as she says the full statement, and just. Sighs.

    When he gets a chance, Dante also claps Alucard on the shoulder, and grins cheekily at Sonia. "You guys know each other?"

    Tactical visors sending information to a bunker? In orbit? Li-Ming, now free of gore and only slightly smoking, chuffs out a pleased sound. "That's impressive." So, this is truly a different place. That's going to give her a lot to think about. Then again, so does Alucards sudden appearance to dispense some sensible advice before disengaging in that rather unnatural-seeming fashion.

    Hm. So, the wizard breaks from the suspicious blindfolded androids to have a look about the place as well. "Pray noone decides to be adventurous enough to open another food chest."

    Then she completely fails to heed her own words and starts poking around the margins of the village looking for anything that may catch the eye!

     Damian has been with the group the whole time, providing music for the mood! And once they came to the robot town, or whatever it's called, he doesn't care, it's cool because they're robots! He just zips around checking out all the machine folk, poking and prodding and occasionally strumming out a little tune when he remembers he's the party bard here. "Soooo this isn't normal around here, then? Some of them look kinda funny." he addresses 2B and 9S in the midst of satisfying his curiosity.

    "You learned a new phrase!" Natsu says, patting it on the head happily as he talks with it, "The weather is good! Nice for walking around!" 

    He places his hands on his knees and bends down a bit to keep eyecontact with the tiny robot, "How long have you been here? I'm glad you made it!"

    9S near jolts when he discovers Alucard is beside him. "Gyehhh!" But he rallies fast, clearing his throat and adjusting his collar with a single finger. "W-well, I mean. That. That's a plan, yeah." He concedes, before frowning. "Because command... Says... They have-- look they just can't be trusted okay?" He replies to Emily, clearly flustered by her logic.
    Pascal's optics focus on Uni and he buzzes a bit before turning to better face her as she hands over the radio. "Oh! That's very kind of you. Thank you."
    As for Pascal, he straightens up faintly on Emily's approach. "I am the leader of this village. And as you can see--" He motions a clawed hand at the white flags. "All the machines here simply wish to live a peaceful existence, now that we are cut off from the Machine Network." He says before Sonia speaks up.
    "Ah... Yes... That machine was... um... She was not well."
    This is about when the pink-ribbon wearing robot rushes up to Li-Ming.
    "E-Excuse me! Do you have a moment?!" She buzzes, panicked and desperate.
    2B makes her decision based on cold simple logic: "If they're not hostile, then destroying them would be a waste of time and energy."
    Happy Two makes a whistling noise and motions an arm rising-- and then falling, with a PLONK. ... It's probably been here since Natsu first hurled it away.

    "I noticed that," Alucard replies, to Sonia's mention that she'd noticed no humans. He'd seen none either. "I had thought approaching as wildlife would have been better." Hence the wolf form initially. Of course, he'd seen no wildlife either, but it hadn't stopped him from trying.

    Though her mention of exactly what it was that she'd needed to deal with gets a raised brow. Not because it's weird, sadly. But because it sounds like something they'd find in his father's castle. "That has an alarming ring of familiarity," he notes.

    Dante's question gets a nod. "Yes. More time seems to have passed for me than for her, but I met her in my youth. She was the first of the Belmonts that I had met." If Dante knows Sonia well enough, he knows what significance 'Belmont' has to the world that Sonia and Alucard come from.

    Alucard doesn't seem surprised to have startled 9S, even if that wasn't the intent. Though he does offer, with a bow of his head, "Apologies."

    Turning over bits of rusted metal or pulling aside overgrowth can only hold one's attention for so long, right? Right? Li-Ming seems pretty interested in this hands-on exploration of the surroundings until she's approached.

    She seems willing to truck with the idea of machines with emotions and so, offers a placid smile before lowering herself to regard the robot at eye level. "Certainly. What's the matter, then? No need to be nervous." Her appearance isn't cause for concern, she hopes, though just in case she does her best to obscure direct line of sight to the sword she's wearing with one arm.

    "Dude, you'd probably say a machine was lying for claiming the sky was blue." Dante says dryly, before cocking a finger to 2b. "Series of Tubes is right, otherwise I'd have to cap every demon INCLUDING myself. No point in attacking someone who isn't gonna hurt ya." He says. "Besides, you guys are technically machines too. So there's that." Checkmate, Nines.

    He nods over to Alucard, "Yeah, seems like time fuckery's a thing with the branches."

Emily gazes at 9S. "Well, I won't lie, it's difficult to get into that mindset," she says. "But I do believe that you will find that it's worth the effort. Both of you," she adds, nodding to 2B.

Though she just shrugs at 2B's 'cold logic.' "Good enough for now," she murmurs.

She smiles at Pascal. "Very interesting," she says. "I'm in ... well, not really a similar situation, but as you heard me tell 2B and 9S, I'm not exactly fulfilling the purpose I was constructed for, either, and my creators would probably not like what I'm doing at all."

She smiles at Uni. "Always gathering faith, huh?" she says --

And then she bursts out laughing at Dante's nickname for 2B.

     "To be fair, the sky is red in Hell." Damian remarks to Dante, 'swimming' slowly through the air as he watches things unfold. The pink-bowed robot in particular seems to be having some sort of problem, possibly even a quest! "Wonder what she's got on her mind? Maybe there'll be loot!"

    Uni looks to Emily. "When my entire existence revolves around securing a steady source of Share Energy so I can do my job. Yeah. I'll find it wherever I can." she doesn't mention the fact that it's so far been robots that're giving them their belief... that's a weird concept, even for the personification of a handheld console.

    "This is not normal at all." 2B says to Damian, tone flat and matter of fact. She's practically glowering at all the 'peaceful' robots. But like she said. Killing them would be a waste of time.
    "H-heyyyy..." 9S counters Dante. "That's not- I mean. I KNOW the sky is blue, it's just that no machine has ever said anything like that before! I mean-" He's grasping for straws, poor Nines. "No way, we're totally diffferent, androids are made by humans, the Machines were made by aliens!"
    Yes he just blamed aliens.
    2B makes a face at Dante and Emily and mutters 'series of tubes? Really?'
    The robot that approached Li-Ming is... Small. Maybe about waist height at best, and she-- clearly it identifies as female due to that pretty pink bow, wrings her clawed hands.
    "It's my little sister! Have you seen her? She went missing."
    That sounds like a quest.

    Alucard does sort of give Dante a bit of a confused look at the phrasing, but he does figure it out after a few moments. "It seems so," he agrees. "Though I do question if there's some intelligence involved. People seem to find their way to where they're needed with a frequency that seems suspiciously high for nothing involved in the decision."

    Though he himself isn't going to question the ethics of whether 2B and 9S are right to distrust these people. For one, it'd be the pot calling the kettle black, because he tends to react that way to every vampire he meets. For another he doesn't have enough information to say one way or the other. These guys certainly don't LOOK dangerous, but looks can be decieving.

"I have begun to wonder, Alucard, if there are some analogues to just about everything that not only you, but myself and everyone else here has encountered. Like some strange, common thread to it all that would drive mad the scholars who were able to deduce such a thing." A wry look at him, and then to the others who might hear such a thing. "But then, it might all just be some mad coincidence and there isn't something common that runs between all worlds. Besides a metaphysical tree."

For a few, fleeting moments, there it was, the absolute deadpan snark that Sonia gets into when she has reason enough and feels comfortable enought to dispense. Might be nothing but could be notable for those who've usually seen her more tacit side. 

Nonetheless, a sigh, a slight exhalation of air as she nods a little. "No, not well at all. Still... Pascal, that is a curious name. Whence did it originate?" 

    "Depends on season, buddy." Dante quips back to Damian. He rolls eyes at Nines, "Keep telling yourself that." He's immediately distracted by the mention of a missing girl...robot, as he perks up and approaches Li-Ming and the robot. "Missing sister huh? Where was she last?" His hero instincts are serving him well, when it comes to getting sidequests anyway.

Emily recovers from her laughter long enough to grin back at Uni. "Fair!" She shakes her head at both her and 2B. "Sorry, sorry."

She glances at Dante, Li-Ming, and the girl-Machine, keeping half an ear peeled as she looks at Sonia and Alucard and Pascal again. "Hm. Okay ... Simone, and Jean-Paul ... so Pascal must be ... oh my god." She snickers and facepalms. "Or at least, 'my god' is what I'm wagering on."

    It takes Li-Ming a moment to address Dante's approach, which she does with just a glance. The robot has the floor right now. She tries to best to appear encouraging and maybe this is one moment where being rather heavily armored might actually put someone at ease. Maybe.

    "Your little sister. I'm afraid not. I'm happy to help look for her." Dante asks a good, reasonable question and she nods, "Does she look like you? Pretty bow, perhaps?"

     "Yeah, sometimes it's a slightly darker shade of red." Damian snarks right back at Dante, then glances back to the robot. "Missing sister? Yep, that's a quest alright. Probably gonna have some beginner loot, like a stick with a minor enchantment or something." Then, flying over to Uni, he resumes the conversation from before. "So, what was that, an Arnval you said? What's that like?"

    Bravette looks at Damian, and opens a holographic window. It has two pictures, one of an angel-like 'doll', all white, looks very striking. The other is a much more mundane looking 'doll', but in a Load Lifter-style exoframe that has very big arms, controlled by her normal arms via some simple grips. "Arnval, MMS-type Angel, and Grapprap, MMS-type Construction."

    "Oh." Oh that's a good question as Pascal turns to regard Sonia. "That's just the name I chose for myself when I was disconnected from the Network . It just felt... 'Right'?" He says, scratching at his head with a grippy-claw.
    Back to the panicked machine though, she seems to be at her wits end.
    "She was here! With me! She overheard me complaining about needing a part that got worn out. Ohhh she must have gone to the desert to get a spare for me, but she hasn't been back since and I'm worried sick!"
    That's definitely a quest as 2B and 9S listen.
    "I wonder what kind of bond machines could have that they'd see each other as siblings." 9S muses. "Maybe they were made in the same factory?"
    "Maybe." 2B says curtly.
    This is about when the machine in the tophat comes trundling up.
    "Excuse me!" He says DEMANDING attention. "Did you know that existence precedes essence?"
    Pascal's brow-plates furrow. "Um. Jean-Paul is this really the time?"

Emily looks at Jean-Paul, and smiles.

And then when Pascal names him, she clamps her mouth shut, takes a deep breath (even though this is a nonsensical thing for an android made out of nanomachines to do), and looks away with a grumble. This is getting a little close to secondhand contact with Simone.

She floats down to Li-Ming and the worried sister. "So, uh, the desert, huh?" she says, putting her blindfold back down over her eyes.

    Li-ming spares a look past the fretful 'bot and the owner of that bothersome whine. "I'm sorry, may I help you?" She offers what is hopefully a reassuring touch to the big sister's head and then rises. "The desert, it sounds like, yes."

    Her gaze remains fixed on the attention seeking robot tophat wielder. "I think we'll go find your little sister as soon as we can. Does that sound alright to you?" Dare you to say no, tophat jerkface.

    Dante was about to uppercut Jean-Paul into the next week, but Emily handles that nicely. "Yeah, let's not waste time. I'd hate for her to rust out there." He nods in agreement.

    And in response to Sonia's deadpan snark, Alucard actually cracks a smile. And gives a quiet chuckle. Also something that he tends not to do unless he's in familiar enough company that he feels comfortable in. So there it is. "It may be best not to find out," he notes. "There is enough madness in what I've seen thus far." Yeah, he's got some snark too.

    Alucard is listening to the talk about a lost sister, finding it all a little less weird than others maybe, but well. Lost sister is a sister lost. And in comes a rather confusing robot with something he doesn't quite understand. But it's kind of rude anyway, so Alucard draws himself up a little more proudly. Fight pompousness with pompousness, right?

     Damian, having produced a notebook and pen in a puff of smoke, quickly writes down these suggestions and even sketches out some very rough approximations of what he's shown in the hologram. "Hhhuh, neat. I think she'd like the angel one, but having a heavier one for those crazy thick tomes could be good too. Any idea where I can get them?"

And then a wild jerkface appears! Damian already doesn't like the cut of this guy's gib, being all DEMANDING like he thinks he's IMPORTANT or something, the jerk. "What? You gonna get all philosophical on us, man? We don't have time for this, there's a little girl (robot) to save!" he shoots back, as if he actually cares. Maybe a little.

    Jean-Paul looks Alucard dead in the eyes. "Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself." He declares imperiously.
    Pascal heaves a tiny sigh. "Jean-Paul has a habit of spouting off something he calls 'philosophy'. He's more confusing than anything else really. But he's harmless.
    Back to the tiny panicking machine though, the touch makes her jolt slightly, but then she lets it happen.
    "Oh! Thank you! Thank you!" She says, "You can't miss her, she wears a bow just like mine but bright pink!"
    This is when Jean-Peaul interjects, replying to Damian: "Is one duty bound to reply to every demand and question spewed in their direction?"

    Uni just rolls her eyes. "Pascal, get rid of him, or he'll likely end up getting turned into scrap metal." she says, eying Jean-Paul with a look of disdain only the Divine can manage. "As for duty. Those who carry the mantle of Hero are indeed duty bound to help those who cannot help themselves. You would do well to remember that, even so, we will refuse someone who's head is located so far in a place that the sun cannot reach they are incapable of seeing their own mistakes."

    Problem shouldered by someone else. Any cause for exploding into violence having removed itself, she once more kneels. "Just like this, but pink. Alright, we'll do our very best to bring her back." Children wandering off alone is more often than not a precursor to tragedy where she's from but perhaps this world is different? Perhaps.

    "Much as I would like to stay and watch this escapade." She wasn't secretly hoping for an excuse to demonstrate a magic trick and make the mouthy robot disappear, oh no.

Emily is absolutely not turning her head towards Jean-Paul, she's not even doing a sensor-scan in his direction, nuh-uh, nope. "... worst part is, it's not even his fault," she mumbles. She actually manages a lopsided smile when Uni responds in kind. "Okay, got it," she says to the Machine in front of her and nodding to Li-Ming. "I know I'll be there to help find your sister."

    Alucard stares flatly at Jean-Paul... and then smirks. "...'A miserable little pile of secrets'," he mutters. Not directly TO Jean-Paul, but definitely in his vicinity. What? It's not like Dracula only ever said it ONCE. He had this whole spiel about it that Alucard never caught the end of because he kept walking away before Dracula could finish it.

    It's not until he Jean-Paul mentions being duty bound to obey everyone's demands that Alucard actually regards him with narrowed eyes. "No. It would be easier to ignore them. These people choose to help not because they must, but because they can."

     "You're literally doing that right now, aren't you? Admit it, you're an NPC." Damian quips at Jean-Paul, then sets down next to the bot and gives him a slap on the back. "But hey, maybe you'll break free from your programming someday, just like the rest of these bots. Then you'll be a real boy! Or girl. I'm not judging."

After that, the demon prince flies back over toward the little robot girl and gives her a gentle hug. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find your sister and bring her back safe and sound, or at least in as few pieces as we can manage. Robots are tough! I'm sure she's just fine."

Oh, and of course, that slap to Jean-Paul's back left a "KICK ME" sign tacked to the guy with a wad of chewed-up bubblegum. Damian can't help but snicker to himself a little as he thinks about it.

    "You know. We actually have something of a relationship with the androids already. I know the resistance commander and we have a system of trade going on." Pascal asides at this moment, trying to pull some attention of Jean-Paul. But it is to no avail.
    "If such is your claim then what power was it that placed such a burdensome yoke about their neck?" Jean-Paul demands of Alucard, while Li-Ming, Dante, Emily, and Damian console the panicked machine. He clanks lightly when patted on the back and replies to Damian: "Existence precedes essence." Clueless of his new Kick Me sign.
    Pascal heaves a sigh though and takes Uni's advice, ushering the faux-philosopher aside, "Come now Jean-Paul, this way." "Oho! Have you finally come to listen to my lecture?" "Y-... Y... ... es...?"
    Poor Pascal is going to have to deal with that, but 9S is just rubbing his face.
    "This is way too weird."
    "Tell me about it." 2B replies.

    "C'mon, let's not have Pascal suffer too long." Dante says, smirking at Damian's choice in prank. 'Niiiiice.' he whispers, before dashing off at high speed, making his way to the desert. If he can remember his way around, it shouldn't be far.

Emily nods, dematerializes her blindfold again, and rises back off the ground to fly off after Dante, glancing towards Pascal and Jean-Paul.

She sees the sign, and promptly sputters with laughter and nearly crashes into a tree.

     Damian gives Dante a wink and a grin, then does a little twirl that changes his clothes into a dark, earthy green robe with a hood that hides his features, and an oxygen tank on his back that... actually it's spewing smoke out of the pipe extending from the top of it, with a couple of tubes emerging from the side and linking to a breathing mask hanging around his neck. "Going into a desert. Seems appropriate." he says with a shrug to anyone who might question the decision of attire, then casually flies off after Dante and Emily as well, puff-puffing little black clouds the whole way.

    That's that, then. The exchange was worth an extra second or two! Li-Ming offers looks around again, at least one to the small robot before she turns, breaks into a brisk jog and then with a thump of air closing around the space she'd previously occupied, she's gone in a flash. In roughly the same direction as the others.

    Alucard emits a quiet snort of laughter at Damian's antics with the 'kick me' sign. Because ultimately Alucard is still a bit childish, and a 'kick me' sign appeals to that little childish bit of his personality that he always denies so fervently when it's brought up. Besides that, Jean-Paul seems to really be in desperate need of an editor. Or at least a few kicks in the butt. Either seems equally unlikely to straighten him out, but the latter is more amusing, so we'll go with that.

    He doesn't answer the last question from Jean-Paul at him. One, because he sees that Pascal's trying to herd him out. And two, because, "'Tis better if you come to an answer yourself. Answering one's own questions is part of philosophy." And once the robot is out of earshot, he acknowledges, "...He's trying. Failing. But trying is half of succeeding."

    There's a lost robot sister to find, though. But, 'desert' gets a frown. You see, vampires and sun -- which a desert has in spades -- tend not to mix. For his part, Alucard doesn't burn, but he's susceptible to sunstroke, so he does need to cover up. Simple matter of switching cloaks here, though, for one with a hood. And then he'll head after those going into the desert.