lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH

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⇨ WISMUTH

Who: Everyone!
When: S2:D6-D11
Where: Wismuth and the Carnival Grounds
What: The carnival enjoys a few days in Wismuth, a coastal city on this planet's version of the American east. However, there are a few things very unique about this version of the planet...
Warnings: The usual, wholesome fun.

PILLAR OF CREATION↴

Upon arriving, things in Wismuth will seem pretty peaceful. It's a massive city, with no shortage of things going on, but things like violent crime and homelessness are at an all time low. You can wander the streets without much scrutiny, presumed to just be tourists, and most people here come across as helpful and friendly.

► VIBRANCY: The main thing that sets this planet apart is its vibrancy - AKA, the raw creative energy its filled with, flowing from its status as a Pillar of Creation. There is no literal pillar, but Wismuth and its planet is a place where Creation's energy comes through strongest. As a result, everything here feels somehow more real, more intense in a way that's hard to put a finger on. Life is abundant, and its bleeds through in every sensation.

► ATTRACTIONS: There are plenty of things to see while going around the city. First and foremost, there is a lovely beach area bordering the ocean, and a number of tourist aimed attractions built around it. There are giant malls, movie theaters, live stage performances, museums and all kinds of other points of cultural interest. Anything you can do in a big city you can do here, but better.

► ALLOWANCES: The Ringmaster will be giving everyone a reasonable amount of local currency for a few days on the town. You can't make any massive acquisitions with it, but it's more than enough to eat out, see some shows, go to the beach, and whatever you like. You can feel free to pick up some casual supplies, like mundane clothing and souvenirs. There will be more given out later, after the performance week.

► PERFORMANCE: Performance week is starting early this time, after only a couple days of exploration. When the carnival has already been on vacation for a month, the Ringmaster figures they may as well get right to it, and then do more touring afterwards. Members of the local populace will find themselves in the carnival once performances begin, dazzled by the other worldly sights. Magic doesn't seem to exist here, despite the fact that it will flow easier for people bringing it from other worlds.

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"An... egg?" he asks, saying it carefully, like a person who has been told something that sounds completely stupid but doesn't actually want to say that.

He understands that avian eggs are calcium carbinate casings that house their embryotic forms when they reproduce. He also understands they're also delicious to eat.

But what does that have to do with backing himself up? He has to be missing something, here.

"...Like the eggs used in the cookhouse?"

"Not a chicken egg." His mouth quirks up in a small, amused smile. "It's a spell the Ringmaster can do so you come back to life if you die. Once. Because usually when people die that's... it."

He gestures vaguely. That explanation flopped quickly. "But I don't think it's easy, otherwise she'd probably use it for everyone."

They get in too much damn trouble, after all. It's incredible it isn't more fatal.

"Right... She had to prepare a spell for the people under the Prince's thrall at the Manor..."

Magic isn't really his area of expertise.

But based on the results of what happened to Rita when she came back, her body was injured. And she remembered the circumstances of her death... which he hadn't realised until he discovered Lambert had lied to him.

"I guess it's kind of like that. But it's more complicated without the infrastructure for it." 9S steps off the dance machine. Wouldn't want to hog it when they're not using it right now. "And because the storage is inefficient, I won't be able to backup everything. If I was successfully restored," which he has doubts about, "I'll probably be missing a lot of memories."

Really, he'd have more luck if he could make a server, but...

Yuya follows him off the game, leaving the second song for whoever else decides to jump on.

He'll never be happy when he hears the hunt mentioned, but at least this time his expression doesn't sour quite so much--although his gaze drifts away for a moment. "Yeah, like that. Since its magic, it'd probably still work on you! And then you wouldn't lose any memories, but, uh--"

He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. "Obviously it's a lot better if you don't die." But he knows that's not always a choice for them.

Well, it's a bit too late for that. How many times has he died already? He'll never know.

9S lets out an awkward laugh. "Yeah."

He can't afford to die.

"But it doesn't hurt to have a backup, just in case." His gaze flickers to the screens of the DDR machines, watching them go through their idle animation loop. "I, uh, know humans can't normally come back after they've died. But I think it makes your lives more valuable."

Yuya stuffs his hands in his pockets. "I think everyone's life is valuable."

Granted, that's usually 'human lives' because Yuya comes from a world populated with only humans. But also, there's value in the monster spirits, and value in the gems, and in androids like 9S. He can't see something with so much emotion and not think it deserves at least that much respect.

"But I guess... since we only live once, what we decide to do matters more to us." Yuya's an anomaly, and other people don't get another chance to make different choices like he did. And he's probably not the one who deserved it... but he's the one who got it, and he's going to see his life through until the end.

He glances over to 9S, raising a brow. "As long as your maintained, you'd live forever, right?"

9S can't help but smile a little at that. He knows humans can be unbelievably cruel, but the depth of their kindness also knows no bounds.

"Theoretically, yes."

As long as he's maintained, that's the problem. Rita's the only one who does his maintenance right now. But eventually, if he decided to follow her to her world, she would come to the end of her life. He's not sure he'd want to be around after that.

"I'm sure the Resistance androids have lived a lot longer than I have." He's never asked. "YoRHa like me are newer, but we're, uh. More disposable."

Yuya makes a bit of a face at 'disposable'. He knows 9S doesn't exactly mean it like he can be thrown away--it's probably just that, because his body is newer, it's easier to replace. More modern. That's how electronics and machines were like in his world, after all.

But it's a choice of words that puts a bit of a sour taste in his mouth. "Who are the resistance androids?"

It's just a fact. An unfortunate one that didn't bother him until more recently.

"They're older models who operate from Earth. Overall, they're a much larger organisation, but they're disparate and scattered over the Earth's surface."

9S folds his arms and leans against the railing at the back of the DDR machine.

"They're not as good as fighting as we are but they've survived for this long." They lived on the surface of the planet in close proximity to the machines. It's more dangerous for them. "I guess they had to since they don't have backups the way YoRHa do."

Yuya nods, not intimately familiar with war and rankings and any of that. But he thinks he's following along.

"So you work with them? To fight the, uh," he pauses, trying to remember what 9S told him before they entered the arcade. "The machines?"

The tone he says it in, it's clear he has no perception of exactly what the machines are. Cars are machines. 9S is technically a machine. 'The machines' sounds like something he'd see in an anime. What exactly are they?

9S nods. "Yeah, the machine lifeforms."

It's hard to believe that he won't see another one ever again. After spending so much of his life fighting them -- it was his purpose -- it's so weird to realise that with him deciding not to return to Earth, he'll never see another machine again.

"We call them lifeforms, but they're more like... that roomba. They have rudimentary AI so they can perform their function, but they're not like us. The machines don't have feelings."

"What are you fighting them for? Was there some huge robot uprising against humans or something?"

He assumes it's against humans, since 9S is fighting for them. And he doesn't know a lot about them, so they probably aren't fighting side by side? Where are the humans. Hm.

9S shakes his head.

"The machine lifeforms were made by the aliens that invaded Earth. They wiped out most of the remaining humans... as well as their own alien creators."

What kind of living being would do that?

"They just fight and fight and fight. Earth's overrun with them, so it's our job to eradicate them so the humans on the moon can go back to their homes."

A lot of living beings, unfortunately, humans included. Although that explains why 9S doesn't know much about them--if he's on earth, and they're on the moon, travel's probably not easy.

"They live on the moon? They didn't try and colonize Mars?" Wasn't that the one that space scientists thought people were going to live on one day? Or was it Venus (it was not Venus)?

It's not a very serious question, however, because there's something to 9S's phrasing that confuses him "If they're like roombas, why do you call them 'lifeforms'? What's that mean?"

"Mars? Why Mars?"

The bewilderment on his face is genuine. Mars is further away from Earth compared to the moon.

"They're called lifeforms because they have a biological component in their cores. They're not all metal. Just mostly metal."

Yuya shrugs, because he doesn't honestly remember why it was Mars.

"So what's the not metal part?" He perks up, openly curious and leaning a little closer. Is it a heart? A brain? A spirit? Stuffing something organic into a robot doesn't seem very practical, but spirits can find their way in human made things--whose to say they can't do the same in alien made things?

"All machines have some kind of core that's made of circuitry and biological matter. You can think of it as their brain. If that part is rendered non-functional, the machine stops working."

Which is generally the goal when it comes to dealing with machines.

"There's a lot of energy stored in them, too. Makes them easy to overload and blow up."

So it's a brain. Kind of? That's vague enough to only confuse Yuya even further. "And that works better than making them all metal?"

He is pretty sure robots are typically all metal. metal lasts longer, and has... whatever it is that makes computers and stuff work. "What about you? Are you all metal or do you have something organic too?"

9S shrugs. "There isn't any logic to their decisions. Maybe it doesn't make them work better. I'm not going to complain if they're making imperfect models of themselves."

As for himself... "I'm metal and a good dose of silicon. If you want to know the specifics, you're out of luck. My blueprints are on the Bunker back home."

The machines make themselves? Did they always do that, or...

The machine conversation is only getting more confusing as Yuya tries to make actual sense of it, and not just relate it to some sci-fi movie, and he ultimately decides he's not going to figure it out anyway. And he definitely wouldn't be ableto grasp 9S's blueprints, but he can understand at least one part of it.

"That's your skin, right?" He pulls against his own cheeks for emphasis. At least, it seems like the part mostly likely to be silicon? So that it'd be soft, but... well, he hasn't actually touched 9S to see. Maybe he's not soft at all.

"Yep."

If Yuya had seen 9S at all after the whole deal with the Prince, he would've seen that his legs and -- if he had his gloves off, which is rare -- hands were burned, metal frame exposed to the outside air.

"Rita was able to make a pretty close copy of it while we were on break. See?"

He sticks out a leg, his shorts and socks leaving his knee exposed. There's no sign of the burns, the places where there had been exposed metal are now covered in synthetic skin. Where Rita's copy and his normal synthetic skin meet is impossible to differentiate; his nanomachines fully integrated the two.

"I bet you can't tell the difference."

Yuya looks down, and then crouches to knee level so he can look, chin resting on his hand as he peers at 9S's leg.

When he looks closely, he can see that the skin looks too clean to be human... it's very lifelike, but something still not quite porous enough to be actual flesh. But if there's supposed to be any seams or tone differences, Yuya can't see them. He shakes his head. "Rita fixed it? It's really good! I can't see where it was messed up."

She really is some sort of prodigy, isn't she? Yuya's not sensitive about his intelligence, so he can just be awed that synthetics and machinery are apparently another specialty of hers, like magic and spirits.

"Right? She didn't even need any of my blueprints!"

9S lowers his leg.

"Anyway, I guess I should pay for our game, huh?" Sigh. 9S fishes in his pockets for the money the Ringmaster gave him. "What other games do you think would be fun?"

Yuya quickly springs back to his feet with a smile. While 9S is paying his dues, Yuya taps his chin as he moves his gaze across the arcade. Ideally it's something the both of them can play, right?

"Maybe that one?" He points an aisle down, looking at 9S over his shoulder until he follows. It's some co-op dungeon crawler with a joystick and some buttons for each player, a little more expensive than the other games due to being longer and more complex.

"Here, we can split the cost!" He digs out a couple coins, holding them up between his fingers and waving them in the air.

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⇨ WISMUTH

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