lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴

At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment.

Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply.

The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it.

► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling.

► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

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"That's my model type. We're made to scout enemy lines and hack into anything that's technological. We're not supposed to be able to fight."

He's clearly capable of it, though. However graceful his movements may seem, it really is nothing compared to the likes of an actual combat unit.

"But you're human, right? I don't think we should fight..."

It feels like it would be... wrong to fight a human. He's supposed to defend them, not attack them!

"Seems like you're pretty able to. Nothing wrong with ... uh, doing more than your ... type." Model type. Like a machine? Machines don't look like people though, so that's not likely. Maybe a cyborg, like on television.

That would be reasonably cool. "Being able to do things you're not 'supposed' to can help out if your real opponents aren't expecting it."

He'd never encountered a cyborg, maybe that's why 9S spiritual energy felt a little different.

For a moment, Ichigo looks distinctly amused - but it doesn't last long, it seems his default expression is rather serious.

"I'm human. And it's not a real serious fight, don't worry. I'm tougher than I look. You won't be able to do to me what you did to that dummy." Does he sound a touch smug? If so, it's probably deliberate, to see if he might be able to prickle up a bit of pride in the android. Some hint of being willing to prove him wrong.

Serious fighting was for serious foes. Everything else was practice, or for fun.

9S can't help but look a little skeptical. He cut off Taako's hand with that sword! Somehow, he doesn't think a human would survive proper application of his sword to their body.

Not that he would use his sword if he did fight this guy; plenty of practice weapons he could adapt for use.

If he were a combat unit, he might've fallen for that bait. But he isn't. Besides, that's not really the issue here.

"It's not that I'm worried about. There's practice weapons around, anyway." He would have to wrap a piece of metal around one of them to make it work with his NFCS, but it's doable. "It's..." How should he put it...? "I'm an android, modelled after my human creators. I was made to serve humans... so it doesn't feel right to attack you."

He's pretty sure it'd be a huge android faux pas if he actually hurt a human.

That draws a moment's pause, and the gaze Ichigo turns on 9S is very thoughtful.

It probably doesn't bode well.

"Are you programmed? If you are, how strict is that programming to regulate your behavior and decisions?"

Because he just found a huge honkin' gap in the potential safety of the Carnival and ... well while it wasn't his job he knew he could at least probably patch it up a little. Or give it a try anyway.

"Of course I am. I'm mechanical, not biological like you. But since us androids are modelled after our human creators, we have feelings, emotions, and free will."

He says it all with more than a little hint of pride. Sure, he has nothing but the utmost respect for humans, but he never felt any desire to actually be one. He's quite comfortable as a mechanical being.

Shrugging, he continues, "It just feels wrong to attack the people I was created to serve. It'd be like... uh," 9S tries to find an example that this guy could kind of understand, "fighting your family, I guess."

That's a terrible example, because Ichigo fights with parts of his family all the time, and sometimes this meant dropkicks to the face out of nowhere. He didn't much like it but he has long since come to sort of accept and always expect it.

"That's something humans actually do a lot of," he says, looking and sounding a little amused. "Real fighting, or just for practice. Most of the time we're not aiming to actually cause serious harm, but the practice makes serious harm less likely over time."

He doubted the free will thing. At least, some measure of it, 'must protect creator species!' definitely sounded programmed in, not a choice. "But aside from that... I'm gonna suggest you work to overcome that as soon as possible if you really do have free will."

Ominous. It's possible 9S could make all his own choices, but it was also possible he ..couldn't and simply was programmed to think he could. "There's a lot of humans out there, and not all of them are good. If you feel strange even doing a bit of sparring, that's going to run into problems when it comes to protecting yourself or humans from other humans." Ichigo's hunt for a practice weapon he felt would hold up for mor e than a single swing begins. "And unless your programmers plugged in what to expect when fighting a human whether you want to or not.. you're going to be at a huge disadvantage."

"Better to get used to it when it's play, and not serious."

What? Really? Humans fight their family all the time? This seems to run counter to everything he knows about human families! Though, Strange did say he was on bad terms with his...

Man, this guy is really insistent, isn't he? 9S makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat before saying, "Fiiine. If you want to fight so badly, I'll fight you."

He'll prove to this guy that he can do his part in defending the other Carnival members against a human opponent if it comes down to it.

"Pod, get me one of the practice weapons."

While Pod 153 hovers over to where the practice weapons are stored, 9S reaches back into his bag, pulling out a thin bit of wire cabling from it. Normally he'd use that for some emergency repairs, but it will function just as well for allowing him to connect his NFCS to one of the wooden weapons.

His actual sword remains embedded in the wooden post.

Not all fighting means hating the other people. Sometimes it's far from it - but he's just going to assume 9S already knows this and thus doesn't even begin to clarify. It seemed like something that'd go into a machine's programming.

"Hey, it's not for me. It's for you. Beating up on a wood post isn't going to do much." And that wood is now thoroughly MUTILATED. But he does his best to sound encouraging. "Maybe it'd help if you had a moving target."

Honestly the choice of a practice weapon isn't a bad one, Ichigo wouldn't pull Zangetsu on 9S, probably for similar reasons the fancier weapon remains stuck in the post. The one he selects seems reasonably resilient, and that's all he needs.

"...Though I'd like to know how much experience you have with humanoid targets." He'll pick up the rest as they go along, but if 9S is used to fighting DANGER WILL ROBINSON type robots, then he might not even be remotely ready for bipeds. At least 'humanoid' didn't mean 'human', it was clear he didn't do much fighting against those.

9S can't help but snort. This is for his benefit? Pah! It's not like he's a biological being who gets physically stronger with training. Besides, fighting really isn't his style.

Pod 153 returns with a wooden sword clutched in two of its clawed hands. It's a little bit shorter than 9S' katana, but it'll do. 9S starts to twine the wire cable around the wooden practice sword, ensuring it is fastened securely.

"I mostly fought machines. A lot of them are bipedal and mimic human shapes, but it's really not the same."

He's watched plenty of people train here! Humans have the a similar fluidity of motion that androids have that machines lack. Machines are still highly dangerous and their erratic motions are backed up with immense power, so they're still formidable foes.

"They tend to be strong but simplistic and usually come at you in droves. But," 9S frowns, "I've fought other androids before." And hated every moment of it.

If fighting wasn't his style he shouldn't have been obliterating target dummies with a vengeance! It leaves a distinct impression of a lot of pent up emotions, and Ichigo knows how nice it is to beat on something that doesn't splatter instantly when hit.

Like say, Ichigo himself.

Who is eyeing the wooden sword with dubious interest, he's really going to have to pull his blows. "Have you been fighting much since you arrived here? Against fairies or whatever?"

He has no use for PROPER COMBAT STANCES so he simply waits, posture suspiciously relaxed. "When you're ready, I'll give you first strike. I'm ... going to guess I do this a lot more than you do, and it'll give me a better idea of where your skill level is. I don't know about androids, but humans tend to like the exertion, some adrenaline thing I think. Think of it as a game, not serious efforts in trying to mangle someone. Just skill against skill."

"I'm a Scanner," 9S repeats emphatically. "The point is to avoid getting into fights!"

So no, he hasn't been fighting much.

Though 9S can't deny that he gets the same battle high that the combat androids receive when they engage the enemy. Jackass had said it was a lot like the human emotion of love. Ridiculous.

"Pod, halt all attacks against this human, no matter how much he attacks me."

< Affirmative >

And with that, 9S raises his hand, practice sword clutched in it. But he finds that he can't seem to find the care to raise his practice weapon against the human. What's the point of this, anyway? 9S lowers his hand and lets out an annoyed sigh.

"This is stupid. You already know I'm not a fighter. Wouldn't you enjoy it more if you fought someone who actually cared about that sort of stuff?"

The floating machine is eyed for a moment, then dismissed. If it was two on one that certainly would be a lot more interesting, but that wasn't in the cards.

He doesn't say anything to the first.. or the second right away, instead watching the practice blade rise, then fall.

"If I wanted to just go have fun, I'd be at the obstacle course again." He jerks a thumb back the way he'd come. "I've already explained what I'm doing here. A couple times. You keep saying you're not a fighter but I've already seen a little of what you can do. You're making excuses."

What if it's more than that? "I won't cause any further damage, if that's what you're worried about." No. It isn't that at all is it.

9S scoffs. No, he's not worried about that at all. Though he does say, "Good. Rita would get seriously mad at you if you meseed up all your work on me."

Fine, fine, he'll attack. This guy is such a nag! With little warning, 9S thrusts his hand forward, sending the practice sword spinning rapidly towards the stranger's chest. But at the last moment, 9S' hand turns and the spinning weapon boomerangs back to his hand before the attack has any chance of landing.

What... was that?

9S tries to play it off, casual, shrugging. "Alright, alright, so I took my first strike." No, he doesn't miss. Not like that. It was like... his body moved on its own. He snarls, with more vehemence than usual. "Come at me!"

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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