Shini walks through the streets of Windrell, completely unsure of where she was going. She knew that Gouhoushu was maybe north, but she was just making that up. She didn't want to ask for directions, not because she was too prideful to. She was, to be clear, too prideful to ask for directions, but the real reason was that people in Windrell did not really like her. People in general did not really like her, but moreso in Windrell. Normally, this is because she is very rat-like: dirty, and scrounging the city for food, scurrying around, annoying actual residents. At home- in Windrell- her reputation is more that of somebody who never really fit in, or to continue the rat metaphor, a human sized rat who got into physical and verbal fights with the inhabitants. The intellectual crowd saw her as too blunt and crass, the gangs saw her as too sharp and pretty annoying, and she saw herself as right. Both groups confused her lack of social interaction for being high and mighty, and so they looked down on her. What little interaction she had was mostly negative for everyone involved. Conversations with the academics usually led to screaming matches, and run-ins with the gangs usually led to violence. The exchange with the local street tough as she exited the tunnels was not a one-off, and was likely the best outcome for all parties involved. Her banishment from Windrell was not a forced procedure. The only person mandating this exile was Shini herself. After a particularly rough scrap, Shini realized that no good was coming from her existence in town. Her strength would be useful in the case of some sort of attack, but this is not the sort of problem that plagues Grelan cities. Most security is good enough to not rely on vigilante gladiators, and Windrell takes the cake when it comes to security. She also wasn't helping to provide any intellectual advances either. She was smart, but not smart enough to do anything productive with it. She believed that she was only causing trouble, threatening those who thought they were strong, and perplexing- in a bad way- those who thought they were smart. It was a lose-lose-lose. The situation, in her eyes, was grim, but the lose-lose-lose model only took into account three parties, all of which had a strong distaste for Shini. It failed to take account those who did not mind Shini. There were, admittedly, few people who cared for her here. Nevertheless, a voice escaped from one of the alleys, calling to her:
"Hey," she tries not to acknowledge it, "hey, hey, Shini." This caught her attention, as no one in the city outside of Robahg had ever addressed her by name in a normal tone. If someone were to address her, it was usually by saying something like, "annoying lady," or whatever new epithet was in, or by just throwing mud at her. "Hey, over here," the voice called her back to reality.
"Who's that? What do you want?" Shini asked from a hopefully safe distance, gripping her sword tightly.
Some sort of blue person steps out from the alleyway. They seem shy, "I just- well I just noticed that you were in town, and I was excited to see you." Do I know this person? Shini thought to herself. She was certainly thrown for a loop, as she had never anticipated anything like this. She was sure that her face was reflecting her shock, so she contracted it into a more normal look. "What are you doing with your face?" The blue person asks.
Blast! Shini thinks to herself again. She had been foiled, "No," she says on accident, and immediately turns to walk away.
"No?" The blue person asks. Shini nods, "O- okay," she continues walking away at a brisk pace, "wait, I wanted to tell you how much I admired you. How much I-" Shini continued walking. She didn't really care for that. It sounded like it would be very uncomfortable for her. "Okay, that's fine, you don't want to hear that," Shini caught the blue person, now walking alongside her, out of the corner of her eye, "wow, so you're just gonna side eye me like that," Shini ignores her, "wowwww-" they both round the corner, and stop as they bump into something large.
A large, broad, and very large man stands in their way. He's over 7 feet large with a stomach about 4 feet broad. Shini immediately knows who this is, and turns to leave, "Hm? Well would you," she starts storming away, "look at that," the man starts walking after Shini, but stops after a few steps. "We missed you at the funeral, metalbrain."
"Hey, don't call her that!" The blue person shouts. Their voice grows slightly more faint as Shini rounds another corner, "At least, I think don't call her that." Shini walks further down the alley, and spots the perfect hiding spot. So she walks slightly further from there, and into the second best hiding spot, an abandoned building near the edge of town. It used to be the home of the bean emporium, the Mecca of beans. It was run out of business by the anti-legume coalition a while back. Shini quietly closed the door behind her, and slid to the ground. She placed her head between her knees and finally let her tears go. Given her persona and general presence, one would assume that a crying Shini is uncommon. This is not true, however, as she often does cry, just not in front of others. This is because she is ashamed and embarrassed of her own emotions. She doesn't really understand that, though. She's not really there yet. Everything had just been so overstimulating, so overwhelming for her, and she never really was able to have a moment of solitude. Sure, when she took a shower, she was alone, but not quite at peace enough to focus on her more troubling emotions. Shini remarked how it was ironic that one needed peace to think about troubling things in life. How profound, she thought. As she patted herself on the back, she bolted forward upon hearing the sound of shattering glass above her. She turned and saw a green liquid sizzling through the rusty metal door. She turned again to see the origin of said liquid, a frazzled woman, with a similarly frazzled tower of tangled hair, wearing goggles and a chunky protective suit. Chunky as in rectangular, as the "sleeves" and body of the suit seemed to be made of pure steel rectangles.
"Excuse me," the lady spoke, laboriously popping her goggles onto her forehead, "Oh- are you crying?" She tilts her head and goes still.
Shini wipes her nose and looks away, "No, I'm- that's not- what are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here, in the Mecca of beans?"
"I thought it was empty."
"Well me too, but it would appear I'm just a dumb idiot."
Shini was confused by the sudden self deprication, "What?"
"It was a jab at myself, just humour."
"Oh, yeah, got it."
"Sorry for throwing acid at you," Shini hears a beep as the metal suit pops off of the lady, and folds itself into one cube, "you seem nice."
Shini was flattered to be apologized to, "Not really."
"What you just said didn't really make any sense," Shini nods, "My name is Calamity," she steps forward, extending a hand, but she trips over the cube. She hops to her feet, and does not acknowledge the fact that she tripped, "I've recently broken off from some of my more straight colleagues at the university," she winks, "and have set up here in order to research." Shini looks around at the hobbled lab. Hobbled wasn't necessarily the best word, as it was surprisingly organized, but there was an air of hodgepodgery to it. No beakers, burners or really any official science equipment. Instead, placed in metal holders, were misshapen glass containers, with matching, misshapen measurement labels. "I haven't quite figured out glass blowing, but determining volume is a little easier."
"Even the volume of a," Shini spots a wiggly looking flask, "that shape?"
"A jumbim," Shini blinks, not sure if that was a real shape or not, or if Calamity was even talking to her, "It gets the job done," Calamity smiles. She sighs, and crumples into a soft looking chair near her workstation, "Oh, who am I kidding. It sucks. This equipment, this building," she digs her cheek into her hand. Shini takes note of the chair, the fluffy, white texture seemed utterly appealing to sit on, "who knew striking it out on your own would be difficult."
"Can I sit in that chair?" She points to Calamity's chair.
"You mean with me?"
Shini really just wanted to sit in the chair. It didn't really matter to her if there was someone in it, "I guess." Calamity scoots to one side, giving Shini enough room to plop down, "Thanks," Calamity nods, "Why did you leave? And why did you wink at me?"
"I left because several of the scientists I worked with blew. And not glass, nor me," she spun the chair 90 degrees to left, and went to put her feet up. However, the table she expected to put her feet onto was thrown across the room by Shini's sword as they rotated. Her legs hit the ground, and she let out a yelp, "What- where did the table go?" Shini explained the sword situation. The table lay, mostly destroyed, all the way across the room, "Well, that's my bad I guess." She grabbed a new table, and dragged it in front of the chair, finally sitting down and placing her feet atop it. "They believe that, because they have already discovered so many great things, that they can just be done now. That they can just coast on their previous discoveries."
"What's the problem with that?"
"Well, it's just lazy. And it's a waste."
If Shini had done something great, she would probably coast off of that for a while. Even still, "I get that. But isn't it their decision?"
"Yeah. What's your point?"
"I kinda don't get what your point is."
Calamity rolls her eyes, "They all have such great minds," she stops, reconsidering, "well, they've done great things, but a lot of them hold beliefs hold them back from being considered great minds. They could keep going, and help so many others and themselves," Calamity sighs, and turns her attention back to Shini, "Or even just make cool shit, like I'm doing now," she gestures to the shapes she made up. Shini listens intently, guided by the immense comfort of the chair, "There were only really two types of people who I worked with: the dumb ones and the done ones."
"Done?"
"As in stopped. The coasters, so to speak They didn't care for innovation or really doing anything."
Shini understood both sides, "What's the problem with that?"
"There wouldn't be a problem if they just wanted to leave and retire, but they just sat around, getting paid and taking up space. It prevented a lot of great minds from gaining a valuable opportunity."
Shini could also understand that. It must've been frustrating to stagnate. She was fine doing it, but she was weird, and, she's now realizing, very detached from the real world, "Couldn't you have just stayed there, though, and tolerated them? Why did you really have to leave?"
"Most of them think that only the people with the best genetics should live. And they hate gay people, which is what I've been alluding to," Shini now fully understood where Calamity was coming from, "among other groups people. It was hard for me to comprehend the fact that these people who were so intelligent were so stupid." If Shini hadn't had a chance to really acknowledge it before, she noticed now that chair was extremely comfy, even with only half of it available.
"Did you make this chair?" Calamity looks at her with possibly disdain, "I'm sorry, I really was listening, I just-"
"Yes," Calamity rubs her temples, "And it's the most comfortable goddamn thing in the world."
"Right? I was just thinking-"
"But yes!" Calamity sticks her finger up, shocking Shini. She stands up, still holding her finger out, "They hate gays!"
"I know, I heard you," Calamity turns to Shini, finger still up, "I never really liked them," Calamity tilts her head and squints, "It's good to have a reason not to now," she continues to tilt her head, "The scientists, sorry," Calamity tilts her head the other way, not yet satisfied, "I've hit I few of them."
She smiles, her head adjusting to a normal position, "I've heard of you fights with some of the staff. Legendary stuff, indeed."
"It's honest work," Shini says proudly.
"You didn't have a reason before?" Shini shakes her head. "I think it's rather good of you, to challenge the people I don't like."
"If you say so.""
Calamity picks up her cube, and pets it like a cat, "I remember specifically your argument with Gerald about-"
Shini taps her sword on the ground, "Yep. So do I."
"Right, it was quite sensitive," Calamity coughs, "Anyway, I'm glad to meet you, but I'm afraid I don't have any mud to throw at you."
"Oh, no, I don't actually like when people do that," Calamity is slightly shocked, "My name is Shini."
"Oh? Dear, I'm so sorry," she scratches her head, "So is everyone-"
"I think it's a joke, but I'm not really sure. It's not my name though."
"Huh," Calamity sits with that for a moment, "You'll have to excuse me, this is a lot to take in."
"Take your time," Shini spends the moments of silence enjoying the chair, unable to get over how soft it is. After a solid two minutes, Calamity clears her throat, "Done?"
"Yes, I am. I think I should be used to it now," Shini nods, "You are quite strong, yes?"
"Yeah."
"Could I ask for a favor? It would put most other people in grave danger."
"Yeah," Shini was completely on board. Calamity beams, and walks to a door in the back. She types an elaborate passcode, and looks over her shoulder before sliding a door that looks to be made of cardboard out of the way. It didn't seem like the door was connected to the keypad at all. She leaves and walks down a hallway out of sight. Shini remains in the chair. She bounces a little. It's firm, yet soft. Supple, with a good bounce that gives on the way down. It was a wonderful experience. Calamity could be heard down the hall, cursing and struggling with some kind of clunky, metal object. Shini tested out several sitting positions in the meantime. Cal shuffled through the doorway, and Shini turned to face her. She was panting, and supporting herself using a metal robot, about a foot taller than her. It's head looked like a human skull, with a Mohawk of sharp metal spikes, "This my robot," she struggles out through breaths.
"Ok."
"Take care of it?"
"What do you mean?"
Calamity clicks a button, and the robot shouts, "Inflict!", and chucks some kind of rock at Shini. She rolls out of the chair, avoiding the attack. She gets up to one knee, bracing for an attack. After a very tense moment, the robot throws its hands up and growls in anguish, "Defeat.."
"He's been pretty ornery, so I wanted to run some field tests, but," the robot swings in a hurricane motion, knocking calamity into the wall, "I made it too strong for me to keep an eye on." The robot stops spinning, and stares straight at Shini.
"Why'd you stand so close to it?"
"I forgot."
Shini turns back to the robot, and notices it staring at her sword. She glances down, then back to the robot. "No." It reaches out, pinching its hands as it walks forward. Shini pulls the sword up and away from the robot, "I said no."
"Gimme!" It shouts.
"No, you can't have it."
"Inflict!" It punches Shini in the ribs, causing a slight pain. "Inflict!" It goes again with the other hand, but Shini steps back quickly. "Darn.."
"You really did make it strong. Why'd you turn it on in here?" Shini asks as Calamity struggles to her feet. The robot slowly spots Shini, who had only moved slightly to the left as she hopped back, and starts marching forward. Shini shuffles more to the left, and the robot stops, and recalibrates to be directly facing Shini.
"The targeting is a bit rudimentary."
"Inflict!" It tears off one of the spikes off its skull, and hocks it towards Shini. She spins her sword up, and the spike flattens on the metal, "Bummer.."
Calamity looks deeply into the sword, "What is-"
"Is this what it's supposed to be doing?"
Calamity finally fully gets up, "Uh, no," Shini starts walking in a circle around the robot, who stops and turns a little bit every second, trying to catch up, "I mean the whole," she does a robot voice, "'Inflict' and being angry and whatnot. But the circle thing is how I captured it the first time. Probably would've killed me if I hadn't."
"Inflict!" It shouts, frustratedly tossing a few spikes randomly.
"Uh oh," Calamity gets in cover behind a chair, "Can you turn it off?"
"Sure," Shini hits it with her sword, and it falls to the ground, skittering around like a dreaming dog, "Oh you mean the off button," Shini spots a big red button on the way down, and presses it. Calamity moves to recover it, "Any idea why it's acting like that?"
"It's probably rejecting the body," she crouches down and fiddles with something in the robot's chest, "Rogue here," she smacks the robot, "is made up of two parts: an mirthic brain, and a robotic body. I'm guessing the consciousness isn't compatible with the body."
"What?"
"It's basically magic," she sits beside the robot and turns to Shini, "But why it's not compatible," she purses her lips and peers deeply into the robot, "I guess it just doesn't like it."
"It's capable of not liking something."
Calamity looks back at Rogue, then back to Shini, "You saw it earlier, seemed to pretty much not like anything. Pretty frustrated."
"Have you tried talking to it?"
Calamity raises an eyebrow cynically, "To the robot?"
"To the," Shini misheard the word earlier in conversation, "mythic brain. If it can dislike things, if it has a consciousness, then isn't it capable of thoughts? Hell, that would mean it has feelings."
Calamity blinks for a moment. "It really only says one or two words-" Shini steps towards the robot, and holds it down by the shoulders, "What are-"
"Turn it on."
"It'll still attack you."
Shini braces the robot's legs down with her feet, "I can take it," she turns to Calamity, "If it doesn't work you can just walk around it in circles."
Calamity thinks it over for a second, sighs, then presses the button. Immediately, Rogue begins thrashing, making a little space between it and the ground before Shini forces it back down, "Git." It's robotic voice states firmly.
"No."
"Please."
"Why?"
"Hurt."
"I'm hurting you?"
"Almost." Calamity squints, focusing intently on the conversation now. She makes notes at her desk without looking down.
"You are hurting?"
"Specific."
"There is something hurting you?" It nods, "And it's not me?"
"Correct."
"What is it that's hurting you?" A few seconds go by. Calamity returns with a camera, and starts recording them, "You can't tell me."
"Correct."
"Do you know?"
"Not," it strains, "sure."
"Why can't you tell me?"
"Personal," it struggles out. Shini racks her brain for a moment, trying to think of where to go. What is something personal too a robot? Why would that be a buffer for a being so young? "Who?" The robot gestures to Shini with its head.
"I'm Shini."
"More."
She squints at Rogue, "Personal."
"Ha." Shini smiles.
"Are you gonna hurt me if I let you up?"
There's a moment of silence, "Yes."
"Why?"
The robot's eyes light up brighter, and the colors shift for a second, "Why. Not?" It asks.
"I don't want to hurt you."
The same thing happens with the lights again, "I. Do."
"You want to? Not just you have to."
"Both."
"Calamity-" Shini says as she turns for a moment to the scientist. She sees her eyes widen, and immediately feels a stabbing and crushing pain in and across the side of her head as it snaps back. She brings her forearm up to force Rogue's head back down, then feels another sharp pain the side of her head, and two impactful jabs into her ribs. She shuts the robot off as quickly as she can, and struggles to her feet, "Damn," she loses her balance, and Calamity supports her as she falls.
"That was incredible!" Calamity says too loudly, almost directly into Shini's ear. She must've noticed a reaction from Shini, "Are you alright? You look quite concussed."
"Not so loud, or so close," Calamity walks her back to the chair, and helps her sit down. She has a hard time holding back a deep exhale as she sits down in the oh-so-comfy chair, "Thanks."
Calamity beams "I should be thanking you," She chuckles, as she walks back to her desk, "I think I just have to lower his Lust for Violence Level, or LVL."
"You mean it was that simple?"
"No, not at all. I didn't know the entire time what exactly was wrong, and there are a lot of different variables that influence his behavior. And I mean around 500 thousand different sequences." Shini had no idea how many that was nor how big a sequence was. Calamity hooks some wires to Rogue, and connects the other end to a computer. As Calamity works out whatever she's doing, Shini surveys her injuries. The lighting in the bean emporium was, unsurprisingly, not very good, so it was a little hard to tell, but she could definitely feel the pain in her ribs when she breathed. It had been a long time since she had been injured that substantially.
"Hey, what's that thing made of anyway?" Shini asks as she rubs at the wounds on her head, "It hit me pretty good."
"Metal," Calamity answers blankly as her focus is directed entirely into her computer. At least the chair was comfy, Shini thought. Calamity stares at the screen for a while, clicks something, and wheels back. The robot slowly stirs, and the lights in its eyes turn on.
"Better. Feels. Better," the robot looks at its own hands.
Calamity lets out a laugh in disbelief, "It really was so simple. Just talk to it."
"Why didn't you think of that?" Shini asks. The robot turns to face Calamity, emphasising Shini's question.
Calamity glances between them, "It wasn't exactly a scientific solution."
"It wasn't a scientific problem."
"What do you-"
"You're trying to make a conscious," Shini looks the robot up and down. It turns to her and does the same, "thing."
"And?"
"As soon as you have human consciousness, or something like it, it's not science." Shini looks around at all the equipment, and all the calculations scrawled across the walls and blackboards, "Just the consciousness part. All that stuff looks pretty technical."
Calamity sits down, looking sternly at Shini, "I still don't really understand."
"Yeah, I know," Calamity frowns, "I'm sorry, I didn't have to be rude like that."
"No, you certainly didn't." There's a pause. Rogue turns between the two, the machinery of his body humming as he moves.
"I just mean that the best way to figure out what someone wants is to ask them. Not guess, and then run a bunch of tests to see how close you were."
Calamity thinks for a moment, and Rogue inches towards Shini, "I see. I've been going about this slightly wrong."
"Not wrong, just not in the best way."
Calamity opens her mouth to say something, but just smiles faintly and nods instead, "Thanks."
"Sorry."
"It's fine," she sighs, "You don't have to elaborate fully on everything, you know. Sometimes it's worse if you try to make people feel better." Shini didn't think that she understood. She got where Cal was coming from, and knew that what she was saying made sense, but she couldn't understand why it made sense, "Look, you got pretty beat up. Do you want to stay here for a while and rest up?"
"I should be," she tries to get up, but something inside her stops working, "can't."
"Sure, yeah."
"Sorry, I forgot. Earlier I kinda got beat up. Not from the robot, I meant before that."
"Name." The robot states.
"Sorry, Rogue," Shini corrects herself. Rogue nods slowly.
Cal raises an eyebrow in suspicion, "You forgot that you got beat up?" Shini nods, "And that was enough for you to just not feel it until now?"
Shini bobs her head side to side, "More or less."
"Yee-ouch," Rogue tries to say in a cowboy accent, but fails. He turns away, and starts to quietly work on his accent.
Cal has a hard time seeing if Shini is serious or not. She stares at her for a few seconds, squinting with her mouth slightly ajar. A confused look comes across Shini's face, followed by a strange and relatively ugly face. Rogue finally nails the accent, and turns back, catching the face. "Why are you doing that?"
Shini waits for Rogue to respond. It turns to Cal, then back to Shini, and points. Her face returns to normal, "Who? Me?"
"Yes. Your face was all weird." Rogue nods in agreement.
"That happens when I get nervous. I start thinking about what I'm doing with my face."
"You're being serious?"
Shini had been serious about everything she had said, but still felt the need to clarify, "About what?"
"Well, everything really, but mostly your injuries."
"Yeah, I wouldn't lie to say that I had been hurt more than I appear."
"I would."
Shini didn't really know how to respond. She couldn't remember if she had mentioned how comfy the chair was. "Okay."
Cal wheels out closer to Shini, sitting across the table. "Do you want me to take a look at your injuries? I'm not just a scientist, but a doctor too."
"I don't know," she trails off and looks away.
"Shy." Rogue points out. Shini lunges at Rogue, who flinches.
"I promise it'll be nothing but business. Have you seen a doctor for them already?"
"Yes." She hadn't. You know this.
"What'd they say?"
"I don't remember," she says too quickly, and closes her eyes.
"Lie."
Shini snaps, "Well we'll never know, since you're not a lie detector."
Cal scratches her cheek, "It does actually have a lie detector."
"Ha," the robot lunges at Shini, but goes too hard and falls.
"Oh dear," Cal glances at Rogue.
"He's fine."
"Ha. Ha."
"See," he slowly starts getting up, "he's even learned to laugh at himself."
Cal keeps a careful eye on him as he stands, "He's advancing quite rapidly if that's the case," she turns back to Shini, "but he's more likely laughing at you," Shini doubts that, and her face reflects that sentiment, "I promise there's nothing to be embarrassed about. It'd be nothing more than a routine check up."
"I'm not embarrassed," Shini believes, "I promise I'll be fine with a nights rest."
"How so?" Cal crosses her legs, "Are you just going to forget about your injuries again?"
"Yes," Shini scratches her head, "I don't see what the issue is."
"They're not going to go away, and you'll just make them worse."
"They'll heal eventually," Shini yawns, "they always do in the end."
"You do this often?" Shini nods, "Right, this seems very normal to you."
"Haven't been to a doctor in a long time."
"That is not something to brag about."
"I'm not," she curls up more in the chair, "bragging, I just haven't. You're supposed to be honest with doctors."
"Then be totally honest with me, Shini," being addressed by her own name was still odd, "do you need me to treat your injuries?"
"No."
"Do you want me to?"
There's a longer pause. Shini does not know what sexual tension is, but she feels a something tense, and assumes that she's being threatened, "No." She states slowly, pulling her sword in front of her. Rogue gives a thumbs down, and makes a sad trombone noise. Cal and Shini turn to Rogue in shock, "That was really good," Shini notes.
"He is developing humor," Cal adds, "That is most interesting." After staring at Rogue for a moment, he turns away, "And shyness too?" He turns fully away, "Aww. Adorable," she sighs, and stands up, patting her thighs, "Well, as they say: 'Welp'," she walks to the door, "It's getting late, so feel free to rest here if you'd like."
"Really?"
"It's the least I could do, after my robot beat you up."
"It wasn't that bad."
"Can you move?" Shini is silent.
"No." Rogue answers.
She ignores him, "Are you sure you're okay with me staying here?"
"Of course," Cal states confidently, "unless I shouldn't be."
"I won't do anything bad." Cal peers at Shini for a second, conveying some suspicion, "I just shouldn't have said anything."
"Right," she points to the door, which still has a deep hole actively being carved by the acid, "I'm not too worried, anyway," and she walks away. Rogue stands in the middle of the room, and hesitates towards the door. He stops, and glances back at Shini, and hesitates towards her.
"No, just," she sighs, "You can go with Calamity."
He fist pumps, "Daddy-O," Shini is confused by this phrase as he waddles excitedly out of the room. With no active stimulus in the room, Shini immediately falls asleep. She thinks that it's probably night time, so it's appropriate for her to sleep now.