2019-04-28: A Man that is Mega
- Log: A Man that is Mega
- Cast: Kamui, Dash Caskett, Acacia Saitani
- Where: Luca
- Date: 28th April 2019
- Summary: ... Mega Man!! What does that mean? Mui only knows.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui has had a pretty emotional couple of days, between being made to remember sad memories of someone she doesn't even remember when she was talking to Xiumei... and then buying cake for her and making her cry tears of joy because it happened to be her birthday!!
The curious Reploid is seated outside on one of the docking moors in Luca, wearing a little party hat and... when Dash arrives to find her--
--is hugging Data gently as she murmurs, "Thank you, Data."
Thank you for... what? Even Kamui doesn't understand, but when she sees that monkey, she somehow, instinctively feels that need.
The need to say thank you.
Since Dash and Data last saw her, she appears to be wearing... new boots! Foot Parts, to be exact. They have the same white sheen as her old ones, albeit clad with highlights of blue, yellow and red; it seems to have... covered up some of the defective wiring on the leg that was just stuck with a hiking boot, rest Acacia's old shoes in heaven.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
+Eee ep!" Cheeps Data, content as can be in the arms of ths similar robotic person. He always wears that smile, and this large eyes of his always staring. They have always conveyed curiosity, positivity. It is difficult to know if there are underlying emotions therein. Was he designed this way? He certainly acts of his own accord.
The voice tickles his ears and makes one of the outlandishly-large attachments twitch. This was a good day.
"There you are!" Comes a voice from down the dock. The familiar 'doit doit' of custom shock absorbers ring off the platform. A boy in blue comes into sight moments later. "Data! And... Kamui?" Didn't expect to see her here, but it seems like Data is in good hands. Literally.
"Eeee!" Squeaks Data. "Mega Man!"
Dash furrows his brow. "Would you stop calling me that? It sounds..."
As much as he thinks having a codename like that to conceal his idtentity, one made up by a monkay robot...
...Hm.
"K-Kamui! Sorry. Uh, how are you?" he asks politely. He is currently missing his helmet and mask, having been put away. Green eyes and a mild complexion make his features. Resemblng someone in their late teens. Wild black hair makes up the top of his head, like an overused midnight tone paintbrush.
"You didn't get hurt in the attacks, did you? That was crazy." He made it out with the help of other folks, and some kind of large squirrel-like creature Eyes slowly look downward. "Hey! You got new boots! Wait, where can you find boots lile that, here of all places?"
He figured she might have lost one somewhere and possibly found it. "Mind if I hang out a bit with you? It seems like people are leaving me alone more than usual today here."
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"Eee eeep," Kamui lets out a chime that sounds surprisingly similar, as if she's trying to communicate on a similar wavelength or perhaps just... enjoy being eepy with a monkey together. She scritches Data's mechanical ears for a moment, before--
'doit doit doit'
She looks up, recognising that noise. "Dash Caskett..." she whispers, with a quiet smile. There's that tic of hers -- needing, it seems, someone's full name to make an effort to remember them. It seems to have something to do with how withered and corrupted her memory banks are.
A pause. Mega Man? Mega Man... A Man who is Mega. Muiga.
"Yes... I was spending time with Data," Kamui expresses with a bigger smile, setting Data down and looking up towards the blue bomber.
"These boots..." A pause. "Master... appeared during the attacks. When I was in trouble." She furrows her brow. "Or rather a recorded hologram of her... and a capsule that had these upgrade parts in them."
She bobs her head conflictedly.
'Master'? Does that mean, uh, Acacia -- who she's usually called Master? But then Dash asks if he can hang out. "Sure... it's a comfy day, mui..."
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Data coos and cheeps more. He sounds very calm and happy. He is usually cautious to having people pick him up when it comes to new people. Kamui was... different.
"She was down here alone! She needed company! And I still think it is a fine codename, if you ask me~!"
Dash just groans. "Okay, maybe I will do a test run sometime, just... hold off on using for now, okay?" The little monkey shakes his head.
"Yeah, he can be a handful, even if he just talks to me and dances a lot."
"Oh, he appeared to you? Huh! Do you mean like a pill capsule, or...?" The upgrading technology is completely foreign to him. Data seems trained on Kamui after Dash asks the question though. He certainly seems interested, too!
"Master...? Huh! A strange place and time to meet a Master!" Wait, does she mean Maester, like that guy who saved the stadium people? Nah, they don't like technology. Huh...
Dash strides a few steps over to a neighboring seat and plops down, letting out a sigh of relaxation. "Where are you headed to next? I'm trying to figure out where to go, myself. I have seen a lot of people on the big road going inland, but I don't know where it goes..."
Exploration is super fun! When you have a spotter. Going into the true unknown against non-Reaverbots is... a bit of a perilous propsect to him!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Kamuiii," comes a familiar voice on the breeze, the cadence of it suggesting that the Reploid isn't in trouble... yet. The next moment a young woman has rounded the corner, letting out a breath of relief as she sags her shoulders. "Jeez, there you are. I was starting to think you were trying to get back up on top of the stadium again," she grouses, but not unkindly, especially when she adds: "I got lunch."
She's obviously not Spira-born, not with the dark shirt and the jeans and the charcoal vest she wears over the top. It's hard to imagine clothes as being 'advanced' when compared to Dash or Kamui, but she certainly looks a lot more urban than anyone else in Luca. Sure enough, from her fingers dangle a couple of paper bags, stuffed with something enticing-smelling.
She pulls up a little short at the sight of the boy next to her, though. There's a flash of something that might be protectiveness across her face, but only for an instant - especially because recognition then sets in, and her eyebrows raise in surprise. "You're that kid from that smuggling attempt," she blurts before she can stop herself, and her gaze immediately tracks to Dash's hand, remembering the sight of a technology suspiciously similar to Kamui's own.
Reporter's instincts being what they are, she frowns as questions start to bubble up in her mind - but first things first, and she offers one of the parcels in Kamui's direction.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"If Dash Caskett is Mega Man... what am I, mui?" Kamui looks interested in exploring this avenue. "I want a cool codename too, Data, mui..."
If you take 'K' in Kamui and pull on both left sides of it... it could become an 'X'. But perhaps, there is a danger in becoming what one isn't. Mui.
She jolts a little as a very familiar droll of 'Kamuiii' come in, though, and she turns and whines as she says, "Master!" Oh, here comes Master. ... is Acacia the one that gave her new boots? This is confusing. "Master, I was playing with Data, mui. Isn't Data cute? Give Data a pat..."
She looks to Dash again and perks up for a moment, nodding towards Acacia. "The capsule was big and erupted from the ground! --Oh, Master, Dash Caskett, that was his name... or Mega Man!"
Oh no, she's trying to spread the codename around!
"Can I be a Mega Man too, Master?" her eyes sparkle towards both Acacia and Data. L-looks like the question of the capsule and where they're going is a little forgotten right now...
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
Another's voice comes from down the way. One calling for Kamui. She sounds nice, and on seeing them, looks familiar too! An armored blue hand raises and waves their direction. "Uh...!" Gulp. "Y-You mean those goggled guys, right? I wasn't with them! Everyone keeps saying I am one of them for some reason! I'm not even from this place I swear!"
Both of his hands are, in fact, hands. But Acacia may have seen what they can do in the fight!
If robots could turn paler than pale, Dash would be as he turns to look at Kamui. "D... Do you understand what Data said?" Ohhhh she heard that stupid codename.
Data jsut wags his tail while in her lap. He seems pleased as punch.
At Kamui's comment, Data looks up at her, and chirps a series of times that could be idtentified as laughing from anyone.
But he doesn't say no...!
Ohhhh, so that must be who gave her the boots! Okay, that makes sense, maybe an upgrade present or something! But where does a capsule come in...? Oh wait. "Wait, so she made a capsule burst out of the floor?" he says, pointing Acacia's way. "Cool trick!"
Data is very light and his fur is very soft. He has a kind temperament, and has no secrets to hide at all whatsoever.
- 3
"Eh?! Wait hold on now, I haven't even checked that codename with people yet! Data is trying to force it on me and peopel are going to think I am weird that I got a name from a monkey, and..."
Welp, monkey is out of the bag now. This is not amuising.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
So zoned in was the reporter that it takes her a moment to realize that 'Data' isn't the boy next to her, but the thing in Kamui's arms; she blinks across at it, then jolts her eyebrows up in surprise. "Oh, that thing's pretty cute. Did you find it at a stall or something?" she wonders as she reaches in to pat it on the head, before hesitating when it turns out to be metal and capable of movement. 'Machina' crosses her mind for a moment, but-- well, she's already looking after Kamui. Bit late for any worries on that front.
Certainly, Acacia doesn't look like much of a scientific genius or a Master - and not much of a Drifter either, to be honest. Notably less armed and armored than your average Filgaian-in-Spira, she seems comfortable enough in her rather unassuming skin, with her only foible being the dogged way in which she's sticking to her favorite clothes rather than go native.
But she does still answer Kamui as if addressed, lifting a hand to bonk the girl lightly on her hair. "Mega Shrimp, maybe," she sniggers back, before her smile turns more genuine and a little teasing. "But I'm pretty sure you can't just steal someone else's name. You'd have to come up with something catchy for yourself."
She looks back at Dash, holding his gaze for a moment as he compliments her; for a moment, the redhead pauses uncertainly as she tries to figure out the most diplomatic thing to say. Explaining the whole issue around 'Master' is a little out of her depth right now, especially since she's missing a lot of the story herself - and what she can figure out still feels too private. "Don't expect it too often," she huffs instead, trying for a deflection--
--then taking a second look at Dash, frowning a little. "You're-- like Kamui, then?" she suggests, and there's a slight spike of jealousy in her voice when she continues. "You look like you're in a much better state than her, for a start."
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
If Kamui has ever registered that Dash might be a robot, she seems to not have indicated such. Maybe Dash being a robot is no more irregular (or maverick?) to her than Acacia being human. "When Master was fighting that big bird... Dash Caskett fought the lady with the guns with mui."
During the Mi'ihen Highroad incident, it'd seem.
Dash asks if Kamui understands what Data says. "Data says, what Data does," she frustratingly says, mysteriously!!
A pause... and then she rummages through her big Picto Obscura camera and pulls out a photograph.
It, indeed, contains a picture of an enormous blue capsule upon which a holographic woman is talking out of... but it's not Acacia. There... might be a semblance, though? If you squint a bit.
"M-Mega Shrimp... ebi..." Kamui whines, sulking as she looks to Acacia to go, "Master, give me a cool codename! Or do I have to come up with something myself?"
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
"Eeee!" Data squeaks when hands touch his head.
"Ticklish...!"
"Him? Oh nah! I have had him since..." Dash thinks for a time. "As long as I can remember, actually! Even when I was younger." Oh, sick burn from Acacia! Though he wonders if Kamui can swim better than him. He sinks like a stone in water with this armor on.
"Oh, okay, that is fair!" A pause. "I... I think so, yeah!" The comment about being in a better state feels like some kind of kind compliment, and puts a little color in his face. "I-I am? Well uh, thanks! Haha..."
He passes Acacia a cheesy smile.
Did Kamui just reference that monkey saying? Maybe. But she must be able to understand him! Which is interesting, no one else has been able to. Then again Kamui is a robot, maybe the monkey sounds are a /secret robot language/.
"Huh. Neat!" Dash says, seeing the photo provided. Data leans in /hard/ on the photo. He otherwise says nothing, though it itnerest him somehow! Silly monkey, pictures are for humans! And robots, apparently. Not animal robots...! "Also, cool camera!"
"Well, for cool nicknames you gotta theme it after what you are good at! Like, some kind of superhero or something?!" Dash seems unsure when it comes to what he is talking about
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Oh, right, it wasn't Luca. It was that crazy bird's attack," Acacia mutters in response to Kamui's point, huffing out a sigh of air as she remembers having to defend herself against raging pig monsters. "Not exactly the best introduction to Spira when you've got things that big just casually showing up on the road. At least in Filgaia they tend to stick to creepy caves and stuff," she grumbles to herself, planting one hand on her hip as she looks between them.
"But there was still some kind of-- didn't you both pull some sort of combo out?" the reporter wonders, her brow lightly furrowed as she tries to recall - and as she feels the need to dial herself back. Between Kamui's laid back nature and Dash's rather open excitability, she can't help but feel a little awkward focusing in on questions around the former's past; it's something she's planning to look into eventually, but... perhaps not on a warm day where a pair of kids are playing with a not-so-soft-toy and a camera.
In the end, she drags a hand through her hair and squints, carefully glancing at the photograph to get another look at the other 'Master' - and then looking up to grin at Kamui. "Hmm. Kotatsu Kid? Round Roller?" she grins again, but then sobers up as she tries to take it seriously. "You're always high up, so-- Heaven... Angel? Sky Soldier?" she wonders, tapping at her lips.
... is this really the mind that gave the world the Meria Bouletin?
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"That sounds sweet... a companion you've had for as long as you can remember," Kamui expresses, then looks down towards Data and then Dash again.
"I have a similar companion. Her name is Mettie. She has a very powerful helmet, which I do not think even the Day of Collapse could shatter."
W-what sort of mysterious companion is this, that is Data-like but helmet-like...??
She holds the photo out for as long as Dash needs it with a... somehow sad looking smile. "It feels like it isn't the first time..." A pause. "But Kamui doesn't remember, mui." She seems to miss Data inching in rather close on it.
"A cool nickname... one day, I'll figure it out, mui," Kamui responds. A pause to Acacia. "Those nicknames are terrible, Muister... maybe in the end, Maverick Hunter is what I am."
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
"That bird was super mean! And that person helping it was a little crazy, if you ask me!" Erzebet was no slouch in combat though. Very capable of taking them all on. Dangerous. "Yeah we did! We totally did a cool Mega Buster team-up!"
Huh. Mega Buster. Mega Man...? Okay he can start to see where Data made up that name from! The weapon is named that after all in the programming! And sicne Dash has been calling it by name...
Clever monkey. Still an odd nickname. "If Data is gonna press me into using Mega Man as a cool secret nickname, you could be... Super Lady?" A solar shot in the dark. "Hyper Kamui?!"
"I am bad at names, sorry...!" he admits, running armored hands into his hair. Kamui mentions a cute companion with a strong helmet! Data raises a wittle paw to his tiny chin, appearing to think. "Sounds like a good helmet!" he adds. Data takes all the time he needs to study it, which is an unusual amount of time. Perhaps the image is pleasing to him?
"That capsule thing is made of pretty colors!" he also comments. "Oh, you don't? THats awful, I'm sorry..." He looks down to his feet for a moment, elbows resting on his legs. "Anyway to get your memories back?" he asks, hopeful.
"So do you two work together, or...?" couldn't hurt to ask what the 'Master' bit is about! Seemed interesting. He looks between the two present. "Do you do any Digging or exploring?"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
... Acacia is still a newshound, though, and she can't help the curious surprise that flickers across her face when Kamui brings up a companion whose description she doesn't recognize. "'Mettie'?" she wonders as she glances across, having used the intervening time to sit herself rather haphazardly down on the floor and bite into a filled roll. "Not 'Gami'?"
The question is pretty genuine. She's still figuring out when to jog the girl's memory and when to back away, and she doesn't remember the other figure wearing a hard hat or anything - but it's not like she saw anything else down in the ruins, either. In the end, all she can do is frown and add: "Let me know if you see them."
She bonks Kamui lightly once more. "It wouldn't be any good if I gave you a cool name, anyway. You've got to let cool names come from inside," she tries to... sound cool herself...! ... if only because she feels like she's kind of flagging on cool points recently. It was a lot easier showing Kamui around Meria Boule as her stomping grounds...
With an amused sigh, she rubs at her hair again, then wags the other sandwich in Kamui's direction as she looks over to the boy in blue. "Kind of. I run a newspaper back home - and here as well, I guess, at least when Rin lets us use his clunky printer. She's my assistant and photographer."
There's another beat, and Acacia frowns as she chides herself. They're similar enough that leaving it at that feels wrong. "... I don't normally dig, but I got dragged along looking for a Reflector in a ruin. Instead, we found Kamui asleep, and I... I woke her up," she adds quietly. She's never put it so plainly before, and it kind of makes her wince a little at how easily she can say it.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"Did Master not meet Mettie...?" Kamui doesn't sound like she remembers, given how fast everything happened in that fateful Dig that we still totally have to do and I'm not putting off or anything huaaah. "Mettie is the cute little familiar that accompanies Kamui and Gami, mui!"
She furrows her brow and lowers her head for a moment, looking a little sleepy for a moment. "I see... Mega Buster, Mega Man."
She holds up her stuck-in-Buster-mode arm and looks at it. "X-Buster... X-Woman."
A pause.
"That still sounds lame, mui..." she mumbles. "Perhaps I am a Muiverick Hunter in the end." Dash asks them if they Dig or explore, and she nods as she beams to go, "Dash Caskett, have you read the Meria Bouletin? It's available here, even in Spira... and I'm working Muister's debt off because the Refractor broke!"
She might also be working her debt off because she seems to use Acacia's credit line very freely... mui.