kenoslogs | 2024 catch-all

[ ... Ship avatar.

Amos blinks, once. It really isn't that much to take in, this being only a fraction of technology he's unfamiliar with. He can connect the dots easily enough. ]

Huh. Yeah, it's gonna be just you, sorry. I haven't been on my ship in... shit. Gotta be over two years by now. Goddamn. [ His voice is a little filled with wonder at that. Not everything he's learned about Demeisen so far, but just how long it's been for him. ] Roci didn't have an avatar, though. That one's new to me.

[ Congrats, Demeisen! You're new. And interesting. ]

Well, if you ever find yourself in a bit of trouble I was a ship mechanic, so I might be able to help you out there. [ Could he operate on Demeisen if it came to it?? He doesn't know. Seems plausible enough though. ] Otherwise it's a whole lot of magic shit... rules are probably different here from what you're used to.

[ Case in point: the cornerstone, where they have now arrived. ]

We're going to Highstorm; just do what I do and follow me.

[ At which point he touches it and is gone, just like that — though he fully expects Demeisen to be right behind him. ]

[Amos is right for caring about his own shit instead of Demeisen’s weirdness. That’s not important.]

[It makes plenty of sense to Demeisen that Amos’s ship didn’t have an avatar, and not only because he’d literally just said he didn’t know androids were real. Civ like that, only just starting to explore other star systems, probably didn’t have AIs to boast about. No need for a ship avatar when the ship itself wasn’t even smart to begin with.

But Amos’s offer makes him bark out a laugh, full-throated and incredulously amused.]

May as well attempt brain surgery after taking a fucking first-aid class. For pets.

[Which is to say, Amos wouldn’t even know what he was looking at, much less how to fix any issues. So, no, he’s not interested in letting a “ship mechanic”—grief, what an antiquated term—operate on him. But at least he got a good chortle out of it, and that’s something.

He doesn’t quite follow after Amos immediately. Demeisen spends a few moments inspecting the cornerstone after he watches the other man use it, trying to understand exactly what this thing does and how it’s meant to be activated. Ultimately, though, he isn’t figuring out shit without his full range of systems being online, and the intervening minutes between his waking beneath the Tree and now have not allowed him to make any progress on getting them up and running. Eventually, he’ll just need to touch it and follow wherever Amos has gone, still naked and covered in sap and dirt.]

[ While waiting for Demeisen in Highstorm, Amos has been busy pondering what, exactly, he meant. Wouldn't brain surgery on an android be the same thing as digging through a ship's guts? Isn't it all mechanical anyway? Yeah, there's some shit he doesn't know — whatever the fuck was going on with the protomolecule and its builders, for one thing — but that would trend more towards the realm of magic, which he's had the chance to learn while here.

Huh. Weird.

He's still thinking it over — could he magically build the Roci, somehow? Or something with flight control, at least? — when Demeisen suddenly appears.

Amos blinks; oh. There you are. What took you so long? And looks Demeisen up and down again, now that they're in a much colder environment, and he still looks like, well. Someone who just crawled out of the ground. ]

Are you sure you aren't cold?

[ First-aid for pets... Well, he knows enough to be able to put a coat on a dog. Maybe now that Demeisen is here, in the cold and the snow, he'll have a different opinion. ]

[Demeisen looks human—mostly, even if in sort of a misshapen, alien way—but he isn’t one, and one of the salient ways this makes itself obvious is his reaction to appearing in Highstorm’s streets, barefoot and naked in the snow in sub-zero temperatures. That reaction being… no reaction. He looks exactly as he did among the roots of the Tree of Life, unbothered by concerns like cold or even modesty. Though his flesh looks real enough for one to quite reasonably expect it to pimple from the chill, his skin remains completely smooth.]

Quite.

[He turns to look at the cornerstone he’s appeared next to, observing first its own unique shape, and then the surroundings where they’ve found themselves. The lack of crowds is probably for the best, given that even Amos is skeptical of whether Demeisen should be walking around naked in this weather. Though maybe walking around naked at all is also an issue. He’s still trying to suss out the local feel.

After a moment of looking around, he nods.]

Quaint. Wasn’t expecting this. [He waggles his fingers in the directions of the twin moons and the shifted constellations.] We really are in a different place entirely.

[ Amos quirks an eyebrow as he looks Demeisen up and down, like he still doesn't entirely believe him — at least until he's forced to admit that he has to, considering the guy's complete lack of reaction to the cold. He isn't even shivering or anything, and doesn't seem the type to play bullshit tough guy, so he really... must not be cold.

He's just all out there instead. Alright then. Amos offers one more pointed look — is it at Demeisen's long legs, or just above them? — before meeting his eyes again, catching that nod. Following his fingers to look up at the night sky. Back at Demeisen, question written on his features. ]

Well, yeah. We were at the Tree of Life. Now we're in Highstorm. [ Obviously? Keep up. ] What were you expecting?

[ He'd said there was a teleportation network... ]

[Amos’s pointed look at Demeisen’s fully exposed junk—also unaffected by the cold, it would seem—either flies right past the avatar’s awareness, or he just chooses not to worry about it. After all, if the other man isn’t concerned enough about it to say something, it must not really be that important. A little awkwardness is considerably more than it would take to put a dent in Demeisen’s confidence.

As for what he was expecting, he considers this for only a brief moment before giving a small nod, as though to himself.]

Fewer lunar bodies.

[There hadn’t been any moons or suns in the vicinity of the Tree, after all. Even if they were going to end up somewhere else, he hadn’t expected the distances at play to be that significant.

Well, that’s a puzzle for later.]

Anyway. There a dispensary of some sort for supplying the newly-arrived?

[Amos had mentioned baths and food and drink, but he hadn’t mentioned where any of these things were to be found, at least not specifically. Also if Demeisen needs money to acquire any of that stuff, there are going to be some issues.]

[ Well, if Demeisen is fine, then so is he. Amos gives him a single nod, clapping him on the shoulder as he turns to head in the direction of the manor, expecting Demeisen to be right behind him. ]

Yeah, Yima's'll have everything you need. Food, shelter... clothes, if that's a thing you want at any point. [ He still doesn't get it, but he doesn't get Demeisen's physiology either, so maybe this is just. a thing where he comes from. ] I mean, she gets it, you know? Your universe dies and you don't got anything with you. Pretty much anybody'd need a helping hand, so that's what she offers. S'how I got back on my feet.

[ A pause, as the manor comes into view; not only is it not too far away, but it also does kind of dominate the skyline a bit. Amos turns to look back at Demeisen. ]

Helps if you decide to stick around, though. I mean, you get back on your feet, but it helps to stay on them.

[ You should probably join up while you're at it, buddy — all with an amicable tone. ]

[Demeisen does indeed follow right along when Amos heads off, walking beside him instead of behind, as he sees no reason not to. If they see any passersby on their way to the manor, any stares are bound to be met with complete nonchalance—though he does still make note of them, to file the reactions away.]

Food, no.

[How many times does he need to say he isn’t biological? What’s he going to do with food—incinerate it in one of his reactors?]

Clothes won’t go amiss, though. [Though he has no real attachment to this body’s appearance, and thus no shame about it being ogled, he’s assuming that public nudity in such a cold environment will earn him some rather pointed looks. If he wants to blend in with the locals, he can’t keep walking around naked. But there is one matter he needs to attend to first:] After I shower off the dirt, at least.

[He says this with a little twist of his mouth; washing is something he’s never had to do before. It’s a little annoying to have to bother with it now, given the relevant systems in this body seem to still be offline.]

Stick around in what capacity? I’m not really a “sign up for the duration” kind of guy.

[Or any kind of guy, technically, despite certain very obvious anatomical features. Nonetheless.]

[ Amos ignores the odd passerby who does, indeed, do a double take to look at Demeisen, the all of him out there as the two of them walk through the snow together. Yeah. What're you gonna do?

At least Demeisen is starting to seem open to the concept of clothing. (The food part, Amos ignores. Food is great. Everyone should have some.) That, and — okay, at least the guy isn't a total freak, because, ] Didn't know if the dirt was bothering you. Yeah, you can wash off at Yima's. One of the best feelings in the world after you've been where you just were, right? There're bathhouses to soak in up north, too.

[ Spoken like a biological creature who has not always had access to the glory that is simply submerging oneself in water. Bathhouses don't quite meet the same reverence in his voice as Yima does, but it's close.

Which, considering, he shoots Demeisen a look. ]

You're probably going to want to sign up for the duration, though. I mean — there ain't exactly anywhere else to go. It's the end of all universes; you're going to need to stay somewhere.

[ Technically he could go to Springstar, or camp out in Alenroux or Kowloon, but... nah. Highstorm's got everything covered, right here. ]

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