Uncertain Heart [Open]

[upupatomway]

Soldiers take stock of weapons and ammunition, mechanics are in and out of the armor workshop, all in anticipation of the movement on Vindess that leaders are discussing. Atom had finished reading another magic book and in practice at the target range, he leaves targets quickly fried to a crisp by electricity. He had faced monsters here, he had faced other monsters and robots at home. Logically, he is ready to join the battle.

He had never attacked a human though. At home, it was against the law for a robot to seriously harm or kill a human, even in self-defense. He had always been under the watchful eye of the public as a representative of the robot race, and labeled a hero after saving people from accidents. He delayed the bad humans until the police arrived. There are definitely parallels between the slavery in the Empire and the slavery of robots, but this is a different world with different rules, and he is aware of what participating in battle might mean.

He isn't sure what the right thing to do is.

He decides to seek out someone who might have more battle experience to give him perspective. The Vault has a few possible candidates, but he also makes a point of visiting Flotsam where there are warriors abound. Atom approaches an individual at lunchtime, with a drink or food in hand to offer them.

"Excuse me. Do you have some time to have lunch and talk? I might be assigned to the front in the next battle, and I could use some advice from someone more experienced facing the Imperials." He asks politely.

Comments

[upupatomway]

Atom chuckles at her mutter. She's not exactly wrong. Entitled human adults were serious trouble.

"What you've been through sounds like something out of a movie," he can't help commenting. Says the anime robot. "It sounds like it's no wonder you fended off aliens- the yokai alone must be very dangerous at times. It's good you have some on your side! I can't say I've ever met something similar to that or a ghost. I don't know if they exist in my world."

[testygirl]

"Yeah? You're probably better off without having them around."

Though, truthfully, she doesn't sound quite so sure of that. Through her delusional phase, it had been elating to believe that seeing spirits made her special. But then there was the rather miserable fiasco surrounding the Evil Eye, and the danger that comes from having yokai powers—the intense fighting, getting targeted by aliens, etc.

But throughout it all, she got to know Takakura, and Momo, and the rest. That, and she's become a much stronger person beyond just having powers. It's actually kind of rough for her to think back on the type of girl she used to be.

"... Or who knows?" She smiles a little. "If they do exit in your world, I hope they aren't as nasty as most of ours. I mean, jeez. Even compared to stupid adults, they can be such a serious pain."

[upupatomway]

"We have ghost stories. My human friends from school tried to hunt them down a couple times, but we didn't have any success finding the real thing. But maybe the stories exist for a reason. I kind of like the idea of some things being mysterious and hard to explain..." He trails off, giving it some thought, then laughs. "Maybe ghost hunting was a warmup for the space missions and alien encounters."

And on second thought about those aliens. "So far all the aliens have been nice. Only attacking because they were disturbed, like wildlife on Earth would. So I guess we lucked out with friendly aliens, at least."

He circles back around to the original topic at hand. "It sounds like you've seen some really intense battles before you came here, even if you're more of a... volunteer for safety than a soldier."