2020-10-23: Finding Azoth
- Log: Finding Azoth
- Cast: Azoth, Taphas Parth, Lydia Seren, Loren Voss
- Where: Macalania
- Date: October 23, 2020
- Summary: When Solaris finally locates Azoth, the retrieval itself is surprisingly trivial.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Getting caught up in wedding crashing, prison time, and saving dragons from religious zealots is just sort of what happens when your A.I. asset has this level of autonomous behavior and is ultimately driven by some kind of user protection code that no one figured out how to crack and control entirely. Instead, there's the overrides, redirecting that code to force loyalty to Solaris and adding the ability for direct command.
Without direct command, Azoth tends to wander. It wasn't like he as trying to be disobedient -- that's not possible, not with what they've done to him. Everything is reconnaissance with Azoth, no matter what secondary objectives he manages to slide into his protocols, and there were Drifters he needed to observe in particular: Drifters who had gone through that gate. Problem is, ever since Azoth went through himself, Solaris has been out of contact with him while he enjoyed his little Drifter adventures.
Until now! The battle for Lombardia wasn't far from the new Solaris base, not that he knew it yet, and it would make Azoth considerably easy to track now that he's free of Via Purifico. In the aftermath of it all, Azoth surveys the damage caused by Janus with glowing eyes, conveniently available for pick up at enough distance from any lingering Drifters to go unnoticed.
He does not look terribly damaged, at least -- only clothing slightly burnt or torn here and there. Clothing that's new and brightly colored, befitting blending in for Spira. Solaris definitely did not issue him that.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
A small scanner on Taphas Parth's wrist blinks something silently at her. "Reading's coming from this way," she murmurs. Her voice is filtered through the piece of hardware she's brought with her: A rebreather with attached goggles, the breathing apparatus fitting over her nose and mouth, a wedge-shaped filter mounted on either side and a circular vent of sorts in the centre. It gives her breathing a bit of a mechanized hissing sound.
It's a few moments before a figure emerges from behind a tumbled heap of stone. Dr. Parth isn't the most obviously martial figure in the world - she's fairly short, and her mask is paired with a crisp white lab-style coat over a tank top - but she does have a long rifle in her right hand.
It's leveled downwards, towards the ground. Again she checks her wrist sensor, nods, then begins to move towards Azoth.
"There you are." Her voice is quiet and fairly dry as she makes her approach, lowering her rifle. Holding her free hand up, she touches her thumb to each of her four fingers, then pulls it into her palm.
It's a silent signal: An indication she's here from Solaris.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Rachiel Medry has recovered from her wounds and is transports to Lunar where she reconnects with OS and Lydia. It goes something like this.
RACHIEL: HEEEEY DID YOU MISS ME :3 :3 :3
LYDIA: ugh...
RACHIEL: W...what's with that reaction? ;_;
LYDIA: I was hoping to be free forever.
RACHIEL: Nope! 'Fraid not! There's a super secret base on the moon now too. Lan ran away :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
LYDIA: Oh good for her.
RACHIEL: I really thought we were getting along well too :-(. She didn't stab me even once.
LYDIA: uh.
RACHIEL: ANYWAY WE NEED TO FIND AZOTH!! LET'S MEET UP WITH TAFFY!
LYDIA: Who the fuck is Taffy?
Rachiel and OS arrive with Taphas. Rachiel Medry is a young blonde woman with freckles and glasses, and a BIIIIIG SMILE. She is armed with one (1) sword. She gratuated top of her class in swordsmanship and is a top certified operator as well which might make it seem a little strange when her foot bumps against a walk and she trips and lands face first against the ground.
OS, just keeps on walking ahead. Their gaze fixes on Azoth beforee they fan out their wings and fly off towards Azoth.
Rachiel, bleeding comically from her face, stands back up. "W-wait...! I didn't say to retriev them yet...!"
She pauses and looks to Taphas and says, "Don't worry, Taffy. I'm sure they're just excited. Hahaha...!"
OS's face remains stonecold neutral.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
And if there were any further reason to doubt Dr. Parth's alliegance--
...There's no mistaking the sour face of Captain Voss, following a short distance on Medry (and Lydia, and thus also Taphas') heels. "Watch where you're walking, Medry," he says, pausing near her just long enough to offer her a hand up. Parth had last said something about a reading, though, and he glances away from her, just long enough to spot...
Aha.
"Great. He got himself out," he says, shaking his head. If, indeed, Gwen had been right about him getting captured in the first place. "Well, that's fine by me. Getting into Bevelle would have been a pain," he says, as if it were an inconvenience rather than a major operation.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Even without Drifters nearby, there's an aura of wonder and awe to Azoth's explorations, always bright eyed, always fascinated. OS approaches, and the glow of his eyes flares as if with excitement. Azoth greets them with a cheerful string of chirp-beeps.
But with Taphas' signal, any and all human-like effort in Azoth's manner melts away entirely. He turns toward the approaching humans, body without any unnecessary motion or fidgeting, and his face as like stone as OS's.
"Users identified," he says, entirely monotone and clearly synthesized. "How may this system be of assistance?"
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
'Taffy'
Taphas Parth - who is about five foot three and kind of slender, with gelled-back blonde hair and sharpish features - slowly turns her head to give Rachiel an uncomfortably long look.
"Please try not to fall on your face more than you have to," she says with a slight dip of her eyelids. "I only carry so many bandages."
With a low sigh behind her rebreather, Taphas shoots a glance towards Loren. "It would have been pretty irritating. This works better for us," she concedes as she squints past Azoth for a moment, off towards the horizon.
Her goggles don't change. The keenly aware, however, might notice that her irises flicker subtly. "Some at extreme distance. Nothing that's going to stop us."
The humanity in Azoth's manner fades, and Taphas starts forward with her rifle on her shoulder, her posture slightly slouched. "We're bringing you home," she says tersely as she begins to give Azoth a look up and down. "Report on status and damage."
She's not in a Gebler uniform and the small rankpin at her lapel denotes her as a civilian specialist, but she still carries herself with a clipped air of authority.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Eheheh.... Thanks Loren." Rachiel takes Loren's hand up and used a quick pulse of water ether to care for the wound. She looks to Taphas and adds, "Don't worry! I won't fall on my face anymore than neccessary...!" She gives Taphas a big thumbsup, seemingly oblivious to Taphas's long look or sass.
Rachiel is in uniform and as such looks to Loren as the authority figure here even if Rachiel knows full well that the true levers of power in Solaris are more complicated than simply a matter of military rank.
OS emits their own series of chirp-beeps back at Azoth. As they are mimicking Azoth, it sounds cheerful despite the complete lack of emotion in their eyes.
Well almost complete. When they land nearby, there is a small upturnn of a smile on their lips.
It's gone by the time Taphas sends their signal and OS turns back to Taffy (OS only knows the name 'Taffy' right now). "We were concerned, but it seems you were able to leave their custody on your own power."
They look towards Loren expectantly.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Just try to watch where you step. It's not steady here," he remarks, letting go of her hand once she's up on her feet.
It's one of those weird, strange, outright little twists of fate -- Taphas Parth, technically, socially outranks him. But in all the ways that matter militarially...
Loren Voss, given his rank, is the senior Gebler officer out here today.
Taphas relays to Azoth -- who is functioning just as he always does it seems, at least around them -- their intents, and what Azoth's orders are. He manages to maintain a decidedly deadpan expression even in the midst of Taffy.
"Doctor Parth will do," he says, after lingering a moment over long on it. Sometimes (often) Loren Voss is a little shit himself.
"But the doctor is correct. Our position is located not far from here. We'll escort you back and then engineering can check you out. ...Status report?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
For the moment Azoth can get away with before he thinks the humans will see, Azoth flashes a smile back at OS.
They were looking for him. "Command acknowledged." Azoth does not emote any of his surprise. ...They were looking for him. Home. Concern. No, of course they would -- he is an asset. It wouldn't have mattered, beyond their own inconvenience, whether they found him like this now or shut down in prison. Its data he needs to keep close at hand while the overrides in his code demand his loyalty.
And it's because of this code that Azoth isn't in a position for someone to need to advertise authority for him to receive his full deference. They could have arrived in a line dance wearing chocobo mascot costumes and they'd still receive the same responses. Externally, at least.
"Core Damage: 0. Current Battery: 37% charge remaining. Wiring damages have dropped right arm operation to 72, left leg to 55, right leg to 88.5. Emergency connection extensions and increased signal surges active; battery drain increased by 36.6." His attention shifts, just slightly, to Rachiel. Concern... "Damage is overall insignificant to standard operation."
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
Taphas seems content to let Loren take the lead on the military aspect of things. She throws a brief look of gratitude back at him when he cuts in to, hopefully, kill a pet name in the cradle.
The doctor pushes one hand through her hair as she listens to Azoth rattle off statistics. For a moment, her eyes dart over the unit's left leg. "The condition could be worse," she murmurs to Loren, taking a step to one side to stand just to his right. "I imagine it'll be pretty simple to fix."
By someone else, she fills in mentally. Taphas Parth is a doctor, not a fixer of robot people.
OS gets a curious look from her, the flicker of emotion on the unit's lips not unmissed. It's hard to read her expression behind her rebreather, though.
"Fortunately you had the good luck to escape within a short hop of where we're camped," she puts in for Azoth's benefit before clearing her throat behind her rebreather. It comes out as a mechanically-filtered grinding sound. "And yes, Medry. My name is Taphas, but Dr. Parth is... preferable."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
<poem>"Doctor Parth, understood." OS says. Rachiel naturally assumes Loren was saying that for OS and Azoth's benefit due to their penchant for mimicry. OS's back was turned to Taphas when they smiled but it might have been noticeable. There's nothing in the rulebook against smiling, of course, but Azoth, OS, and Juno have had discussions about proper smiling technique to assist in matters of observation so they see no issue in offering them to Azoth. OS rushing ahead to check on Azoth speaks more volumes than a smile does anyway.
They listen to Azoth's own description of their injuries before focusing on Rachiel.
"He will need charging, repairs, and cleaning." OS says.
"Um, that's a good point actually," Rachiel says. "Azoth, how long can you stay up with your current battery drain and charge?"
Taphas insists on Dr. Parth as being preferable and Rachiel says, "Okay, doctor!" She's still going to call her Taffy in private though.
"Azoth if you require shutdown to maintain power integrity, we can carry you." OS adds.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren listens to that long string of output from Azoth. His eyes don't glaze over as such -- he has cybernetics maintenance certificate and has even done work on the Major, and makes regular use of a Gear -- but he does narrow his eyes. Given previous interactions with Azoth--
Can he be entirely certain the machine isn't doing it like this on purpose?!
But he's at least trying to be professional today, so instead he squares his shoulders and responds with a, "Understood. Medry, forward that back to base. Engineering can be readied in the meantime. ...Also let them know we've located Azoth," he adds after a moment, grimacing faintly. First things first.
"Agreed. It's nothing serious," he says to Taphas, though the remaining charge is a concern. He glances at OS as they interject. "Depends on his burn rate, I suppose," he says, dipping his shoulders in a shrug. "Right. They'll carry you if you shut down while we're en route. It's too dangerous to request transit." Not in Spira, most certainly.
It is unusually convenient, finding him here. "So where were you, anyway?" he asks, then clarifies, perhaps for the benefit (arguable) of the machine: "Report requested on your whereabouts prior to this moment."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth also takes the cue. "Preferred username 'Doctor Parth' registered."
Loren's eyes narrow, and Azoth meets his gaze directly. His face did not change or shift at all beyond a simple acknowledging, perfectly blank, emotionless stare. Definitely. Probably. Azoth remains focused eye contact for a few seconds too long before settling back to addressing the group.
"This system can maintain standard operation for 14 hours, 32 minutes, and 56 seconds." And he didn't seem worried, at all?! Of course not, he does not have to show he's worried, especially if such a display will not do anything to assist the situation. "Engaging in combat would accelerate energy loss."
To OS, Azoth produces another small series of chirp-beeps with no other helpful indication to its meaning. "Offer acknowledged. With the close proximity of our target destination, compromising your own systems predicted to be unnecessary."
That's robot for thank you, but I don't want to burden you.
Loren's clarification is amusing, but Azoth is ever neutral. "This system successfully infiltrated a Drifter's airship and participated in operations to disrupt a matrimonial ritual. Mission failure led to temporary imprisonment until trial, where local custom dictated an opportunity for escape against impossible odds."
...
"They miscalculated."
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
"Thank you," Taphas answers Rachiel with a slight slouching of her shoulders, morbidly convinced she's going to be saddled with 'Taffy' for the foreseeable future. This is why I don't socialize, she reflects internally.
Shifting the rifle over her shoulder, Taphas looks over to Loren once again. "I can't imagine he'll be burning that much just standing here reading off status reports. Fortunately it's not far."
As Azoth begins to report what happened, the doctor glances past the mechanoid before reaching back to undo a strap, letting her rebreather drop from her face and down into her grip. She tucks it somewhere into her coat. Her lips draw together in a neutral line as she listens to the explanation. "Right. That wedding business."
Taphas dips her lashes slightly. "I don't know how they would've expected a prison to hold one of our operatives anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
OS nods once to Azoth, taking his word at face value. Fourteen hours should be plenty of time to get back to base barring a fight breaking out whereupon OS imagines they can shift to carting Azoth off if necessary then.
They respond to Azoth's chirp-beeps with their own and there is no indication of what they are saying though Rachiel's eyes get a little wet as she says, "Aww, they're friends..."
OS lowers their head as if to signify that this time the Rachiel has gotten one up on them but they don't deny it.
"They don't know Azoth is one of our operatives," Rachiel points out. "Er, unless you told them." She shrugs both shoulders. "And honestly, the government here seems pretty arrogant."
Loren further givse an order and Medry nods to him, snapping a salute. "Yes Captain Loren sir...!"
Couldn't she have used 'Voss'...? Well, regardless, she's eager to please and starts sending word back to base they will be arriving soon with their 'target' in tow.
Rachiel does glance back with a thoughtful frown towards Azoth but focuses on her work for the moment.
"We should get moving before their summoners notice us." OS says.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"What? Can you even understand that?" he asides to Rachiel, on the subject of the beeptalk. He'd thought it was just beeping but... now he's a little nervous about it.
If anything, Loren's expression in response to Azoth doesn't speak so much of 'frustration towards Azoth in particular' as it does 'frustration towards the universe in general, for this sort of thing'.
So it goes, perhaps.
"Fourteen hours... we'll be back long before then." The worst they should encounter on the way back would be Fiends, most likely. They're of no concern, even if Azoth is sidelined for the time being.
The report comes in soon after. "Matrimonial ri... a wedding?" Loren furrows his brow. "You were disrupting a wedding? Or -- well, they were. What were they trying to do?" He exhales a long sigh. "No wonder they..."
Which is the point where Loren then stands up a little straighter. "...Azoth. Did you see... Spicule?"
In other words, Lan Lilac, currently missing.
...Come with me.
He shakes his head, as if to thereby dislodge her words from his brain. Fortunately, Rachiel is, in her own way, ready and willing to be a distraction.
"Captain Voss," he corrects, as if on autopilot. "It's Voss, not..." he trails off and sighs, as if put upon. "...But OS is correct. We shouldn't stand here. They probably have someone after him. They wouldn't just let people escape if it was possible." Though, speaking of...
"...I don't suppose you'd know what that huge energy spike out here was? It was maybe an hour ago," he adds, glancing at Parth. It's one of the reasons that they'd come this way, potential bead on Azoth's whereabouts aside.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
They're friends. Now Rachiel gets a glance. Is she... crying? Why would this relationship provoke that emotional response? Or any significant emotional response at all? Between Azoth's overrides and OS having limitations of their own, Azoth hopes exploiting any potential connection would be redundant.
But he still logs the possibility.
"Correct. They were unaware of my affiliation. This system maintains a persona during interaction with surface-dwellers to gain trust and maximize opportunities for observation."
Not that the humans present would be blamed for doubting how effective Azoth would be at such efforts in the present moment. Perhaps a demonstration is in order?
Azoth's face breaks into a wide smile, and his demeanor shifts, just slightly favoring one leg over the other in a more relaxed posture as he gesticulates with one hand. "I admit it's not perfect," he begins, expertly manipulating the reverb out of his voice and further hiding any oddities under his sudden, new ability to add inflection, "But everyone's got their quirks, right? Most people are willing to look past the flaws."
Again, he looks back to Loren, smile softer. "It's important to my objectives that no one knows who I'm working for, after all. Please take care not to blow my cover, okay~?" There's a sing song edge to that request, and yet soon after, Azoth wilts, gazed lowered as he frowns. "...But... I haven't been able to find her yet. I'm sorry." He knows Loren has a special concern with this particular task.
Did he put on a brief production just so it wouldn't be weird to apologize sincerely?
Back to beep boop mode, perfect motionless posture, monotone voice, and all: "This system believes the spike you are referring to was the 'ULTRANEGATIVE RAINBOW' produced by a subject known as 'Janus'."
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
"Fair enough," Taphas concedes with a crinkle of her nose and a nod back at Rachiel. "And I would characterize them less as arrogant and more as rampantly dogmatic."
Canting her head towards Loren, Taphas crinkles her nose slightly. "I wasn't there for it, but I feel like I remember Seymour trying to marry one of the other [Lambs]. That... summoner. Whatever her name was." She sniffs with disdain before sliding one hand into the pocket of her labcoat.
Her eyes catch Loren's, for just a moment. The energy spike had been something of a surprise - and evidence enough of something wild going down.
Something weirder than Rachiel crying about robots beeping at each other. Taphas looks back to the woman and scratches her cheek, a brief moment of bafflement flickering in her expression - one of the rare interruptions to her dry neutrality.
When Azoth slips into his social role, Taphas cocks her head a few degrees to the left. A thought occurs to her:
A robot is better with people than I am.
She pushes the thought away with a certain bitterness, focusing instead on what Azoth is actually reporting. "Janus?" she echoes with a frown, glancing at Loren.
"Ring a bell, Voss?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Rachiel is smiling about it even with the tears so she is happy about it. She is also completely genuine about it--she's a positive reinforcement kind of gal. But she also is not nearly empathic enough to notice that Azoth is confused by her reaction or, more worryingly, concerned about it.
But the fact that she noticed, well.
OS seems to not notice anything strange in Azoth going from beepboop to talking all casual like. They seem to treat it as 'acting human' practice. OS doesn't practice being human much but a hand reaches up and tugs on OS's cheek for a bit. They endure this stoically.
"Lydia wishes to point out that Janus is a dickbutt asshole who should get fucked up the peehole. We do not understand her but imagine you can decipher her dialogue." OS says without a flicker of emotion on their face.
Rachiel gives Taphas a confused look--not at that--but at her own baffled expression.
"Lydia further postulates thaat 'Negative Rainbow' is a technique utilized by Siegfried of the Metal Demons and that he is also, in her words, a fucktwist douchenozzle that hurt his only daughter because he, in her words, 'has an affliction that makes him unable to stop murdering' and that 'they deserve each other'."
OS ffinally reaches up their arm and pries their hand free and lowers it manually.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Seymour, huh... I feel like I've heard that name before," Loren muses, which, for anyone who remembers or was present for things in Spira the last time--
He'd been working for Seymour's personal scribe, Krelian. He should know who Seymour is.
'This system maintains a persona during interaction with surface-dwellers,' Azoth explains, and Loren is left -- particularly when Azoth /demonstrates -- wondering again after which side of the construct is actually the persona. Get complex enough and you can fake having a soul -- that's what he's heard.
The saying, of course, was not meant towards machines, but instead towards...
"..." he utters, as Azoth tells him point-blank not to jeopardize his cover. "Of course not," he finishes, and perhaps that would have been that. ...If Azoth hadn't apologized, that is. Loren goes silent, glancing away from Azoth. "...Fine." Maybe it's better like this. If she stays gone, he can forget about her--
Oh, isn't this the new joke of the decade. He's going to forget her, sooner rather than later, the way things are going. Some line by his eye twitches.
'Ring a bell, Voss?'
"Not at all," he says, shaking his head. "I don't think I've heard of... him?" he hazards. Lamb names sure are weird.
But the real kicker is that he can't tell if he's never heard of Janus, or if he had and it's another memory chewed up beyond recognition.
Then Lydia, through OS, provides some clarification. Of a sort.
"Uh... huh," Loren says, clearly at a loss. "Okay."
A long pause follows.
"Medry, don't let Lydia write the report." Another pause. "...Please."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth meets Taphas' bafflement with a grin and a wave with his fingers before resuming his stoic beep boop operations. Rachiel, at least, is helping keep the robot in his place about how much emotional intelligence he thinks he comparatively has.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth meets Taphas' bafflement with a grin and a wave with his fingers before resuming his stoic beep boop operations. Rachiel, at least, is helping keep the robot in his place about how much emotional intelligence he thinks he comparatively has.
"Subject Yuna," Azoth offers Taphas when she can't recall. Yuna deserves at least that much, even if, in his current state it sounds like a helpful report and not an assertion.
He gives OS all his attention for their Lydia transmission, eyes with a soft little 'whirr' of focus. Then, after a brief pause: "Report logged. Codenames 'Dickbutt Asshole' and 'Fucktwist Douchenuzzle' registered."
Ha, ha, oh machines. How literal and silly.
Or maybe Azoth doesn't want to write the report, either.
Loren gets another glance, but this one is shorter. Azoth calculates that questioning his mental and physical wellbeing would not have the desired effect in a group setting and opts to refrain. But maybe he should keep an eye on him on the way back...
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
Taphas's eyebrows come up sharply as OS starts reporting Lydia's opinions on Janus and his new technique. "I would prefer not to dwell on the thought of [Lambs] getting sounded," she says with a slight grimace.
Loren reflects on something, and Taphas gives him a quick, startled glance. She herself had been a low-key presence in Spira, working ostensibly as a secretary to Seymour, in fact mostly there to shepherd Lorelei Calice. His lack of reminiscence sends another flicker of confusion dancing behind her eyes, passing to a small frown.
Only dignity keeps her from calling Loren on it in front of the group. She just sets the barrel of her rifle against the turf and leans on the stock, breathing a slow sigh.
"Right, that's the name," she concedes when Azoth fills the name in. She'll probably forget it in five minutes. This person is a [Lamb] and Taphas does not care what those are called unless they're relevant to her personal interests.
"We might want to return," she suggests to Loren. "Not that this isn't charming--"
Her expression is completely stone-faced. Taphas Parth is usually stone-faced.
"--but I would rather not have some pests wander over here and ask what we're doing."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
OS gives Voss a typically stoic look. "Master Krelian was pretending to work for him, do you not recall?" Lydia damn well knows that something's up with Loren, but OS starting to clue on it might be a bad sign for Loren if for no other reason than if OS can see it, anybody can. But the other concern is that it might eventually get back to Krelian. OS doesn't care about dignity, apparently, or they don't realize this is something that can be dignity-affecting. They look at Loren the way one might a curious experiment.
But they will obey orders. "Lydia will not write the report." They agree.
"Ahahah... Well, guess that's settled at least!" Rachiel says. "We should get back! Onward!"
She promptly trips on the same damn rock as the first time.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's when OS comments -- the reactions from Azoth and Taphas passing right under his radar -- that Loren knows he has, quite frankly, fucked up. "O-of course I do!" he blurts out, shaking his head for emphasis. "It's... a pretty common name." Is it? "I didn't realize they were the same person," he adds, in an attempt to pad the lie.
Maybe it's almost a relief, in a sense, that Lydia, via OS, relays such a colorful remark. Pair of remarks.
Maybe everyone else here will forget about it.
"Doctor Parth is right. We shouldn't stay here any longer. Let's go--"
Which is when Medry trips again.
"...Seriously?" Loren groans, heading over to help her up.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Yes. That behavior is definitely concerning. He should thank OS later for provoking that bit of insight.
Azoth offers no further commentary and follows like an obedient shadow as they begin their journey back to base. As soon as Rachiel trips, he moves to assist, but stops short when Loren does the same. ...It's probably better to let the humans handle that sort of thing with each other.
Instead, he picks up the offending rock in question, pockets it, and quickens to catch up only so he can keep pace beside OS.
<Pose Tracker> Taphas Parth has posed.
Taphas pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger as Rachiel goes down.
"You realize I can only prescribe you so many doses of pain meds before you keel over," she says levelly.