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[gorobo]

Hello there! It looks like I'm currently unavailable, so please call back later, or leave a voicemail after the tone. If it is truly urgent, please message me at (XXX) - XXX - XXXX.
Thank you, and have a nice day!

You have this number, so feel free to leave a message. 

(OOC: Inbox is open for messages, calls, and general interactions. Just specify which one it is!)

Comments

during Christmas week

[rosemaudite]

We have a few days to more easily raid Yakushima for useful maintenance parts. I'd do it myself, but you have a much better idea (which is to say, any) of what would be good to have on hand.

[gorobo]

That would be useful. I can always use some spares. I'll be going ASAP, then.

[rosemaudite]

If you'd like company, I can go with you.

[gorobo]

[Does he? Not really, but...]

I won't stop you if you come.

[rosemaudite]

I am interested in seeing the place, but I can do that on my own time. If you don't want company, I won't insist.

[gorobo]

And I said, I won't stop you.

[... maybe having Rose around wouldn't be so bad.]

[rosemaudite]

Falcon. What would you like?

[She's not going to shove her way into the outing if he doesn't want company. That's just courtesy.]

[gorobo]

[Ugh, does he really have to say it?

... No. Fuck that.]

I'll be fine on my own.

[rosemaudite]

Fair enough. Let me know if you change your mind.

[What this means in practice, since Haru knows how to translate Goro-speak into more normal communication, is that she's going to spend a lot of time puttering around Yakushima of her own accord. That way, if something goes wrong, she'll be close at hand.]

[gorobo]

[Falcon doesn't reply to her message. Instead, he takes stock of what he might need at home, figures out what Lyssi might need or is still missing, and sets out on his own. In no time at all, he arrives at Yakushima, and it's...

... God. He loathes this place, but at the same time it's surprisingly nostalgic. He should probably just head straight to the facility, in and out, but... instead he finds himself wandering, mapping out the path him and his mother took to escape. He doesn't know why. But, when he arrives at the dock they used to escape-

He... killed people here. Ended their lives in order to protect his mom, before she issued her most important command to him.

No matter what you do, no matter what they do, Goro... don't harm humans. I made you to help humanity, so please, regardless of what happens, that's what I want you to do.

His face scrunches up, fists clenching. Some fucking help to humanity he turned out to be.

He doesn't know why, but he finds himself unable to move on from the docks for a long time.]

[rosemaudite]

[It is as much of a true coincidence that Haru gets to the same place at more or less the same time as it can be. Since Falcon officially didn't ask for back up, she had no way of knowing what day he'd choose to explore the island, nor where he'd go once he got there.

But here she is anyway.]

It's a lovely view, I'll give it that.

[gorobo]

[Falcon's frustration rises when he realizes Rose is here.]

I told you I'd be fine on my own.

[But then, it's Rose, so, definitely not the worst person to run into. She knew he was coming, but he didn't exactly say when he was coming. With even more frustration, he realizes it was a coincidence.

He makes a small, robotic noise of annoyance, before forcing himself to reel it in. Rose is one of the few people he doesn't mind.]

... It's nostalgic, but I don't know if it's in a good way, [he eventually says, still glaring] I don't know why I even bothered looking around.

[rosemaudite]

You did. And I said I wanted to see the place while it was more accessible. No one else knows it's available, unless they stumbled across the door on their own.

[If someone else does turn up, Haru would even help chase them away, unless they were here on their own spare-parts errands.]

Sometimes nostalgia hurts. I would assume you had some good memories here with your mother, even if most of it was painful.

[gorobo]

... They were my first memories, obviously.

[His voice is quiet. He- as loathsome as his time here ended up being, it's still the place he was made. The place where mother brought him to life.

... God. How disgustingly sentimental. He sneers.]

I'm going to get the spare parts now. See you later.

[And just like that, he's off.]

[rosemaudite]

Do you need backup?

[If he says no, or doesn't answer, she's going to stay right here regardless.]

[gorobo]

[He doesn't pause while leaving.]

No. I'm fine on my own.

[rosemaudite]

[Sure he is.

Haru doesn't follow him, but neither does she leave the dock. If he needs backup after all, he knows she's there and how to reach her, but she won't push. Falcon deserves to have his autonomy respected.

Even to her perception, this place is heavy with memory.]

[gorobo]

[The facility is rife with memories.

It has been so long, but he still knows his way around. Certainly, some things have changed; some machines are decidedly more modern than what he remembers, but... it's the same place, without a doubt. The place he was made, the place he first came online. The place he and mother escaped, and never once looked back on.

It's a little dizzying to be here. There are cognitions around, but they barely pay attention to him, thankfully, fully absorbed in their work. Whatever that may be, in this realm.

... Is he imagining things, or does he recognize some of their faces? He- he has perfect memory, and he doesn't know these people, but somehow, they're... familiar.

It's their eyes. It's in their expressions. Something about them makes Falcon shudder. He tries to ignore it. He's here on a mission.

In the end, it doesn't take him very long to find the spare parts department, and-

Oh.

This is...

It shouldn't be surprising. He was taken here, after all, when he lost. He- he shouldn't be surprised, he knew this, but-

Knowing that 'spare parts' includes the least damaged bits of his dead sisters, some of them still mostly intact externally, isn't the same as seeing it for himself, after so long. He's frozen in place, staring out into the room.

It's almost like staring out into a sea of corpses. Arms and legs and whole torsos and- he- he needs to get going, he needs-

But even so, he stands there, unmoving, looking out over his sisters' destroyed bodies for a very long time.]

...

[By the time he returns to the docks, the sun has set. He's carrying multiple bags, each of them filled with parts and little doodads. Most prominently, however, is Robin Hood hovering behind him, carrying a container of sorts. Falcon looks far more drained than he should.

He grunts when he notices Rose.]

You're still here?

[His voice is subdued.]

[rosemaudite]

[This is one of those situations where 'should' doesn't mean a damned thing. Falcon just completed an extremely emotionally taxing errand, after all.]

If you changed your mind, I thought it prudent to be nearby.

[gorobo]

[Ugh. Ugh. The emotional toll of it all has a far greater impact than he'd like, and it's... a surprising struggle to keep Robin stable. He manages it, of course. He won't be weak, no more. He just has to take the spare parts and charging unit for Lyssi home.]

Yeah, well, I'm done now. You can go... actually enjoy yourself. Have a look around the island, the flora and fauna are rather unique.

[Deflecting, because that's what he's good at.]

[rosemaudite]

It's a bit dark for that by now, isn't it?

[Besides, while it is lovely scenery, that's not why she's here.]

[gorobo]

[UGH.]

That's- you shouldn't have spent the entire day waiting here. And I mean- look.

[He gestures towards the more tourist-y side of the island.]

I'm sure you'll find something interesting worth doing or seeing over there.

[rosemaudite]

Is it so hard to believe I came here to support you, not to be a tourist?

[gorobo]

...

[No, he believes it. It's just...]

You shouldn't have bothered.

[rosemaudite]

Hardly the worst thing I've done for a friend.