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Cv1t was not one to talk with other people or bots. When it could help it, it would ignore everyone altogether, planning and plotting by itself instead. Really, the only person it could tolerate talking to willingly was N.O.M, and even then the man had his… issues.
That's why it kept to itself, and likely why N.O.M has assigned it to- what was it called, Khloro Key? Something like that. The only people it had talked to was when it went away from the bay. The only thing really here was that Chrysa-something employee, and he wasn't horrible. Just.. programmed wrong.
Both Cv1t and N.O.M were walking down the bridge, after the banquet. They had taken to small meetings after their… interaction with Raine and Wade. The bot quickly edited the sign to say ‘DO NOT ENTER’ again. Half because it was sick of people, half for its experiment.
“So, what have you been doin’?” N.O.M asked while walking towards the thin bridge it hated. Looking at it with disdain, it hummed.
“Not a lot.” It stated simply, testing the stableness of the bridge and wincing as it wobbled a lot. The medical bot rolled his eyes and immediately stood on the bridge, walking fearlessly over the water.
“Hm, well, keep looking for info, I suppose. Also, the bridge is really not that bad, I assure you.”
“Should I just write down anything I gather? Also, I do not believe you.”
“It’ll be fine! And yes. But come on, live a little!”
“I can't live.”
“Stop being a smartass.”
It rolled its eyes, and took a shaky step onto the bridge. It shut its sensors and walked straight ahead.
“Just don't look down, just don't look down- ah frick I looked down-“
N.O.M snorted and grabbed its wrist, dragging across the rest of the way. It yelped but let the bot do it, not wanting to risk falling in the river.
It rolled its shoulders, uncomfortable but incredibly glad to be back on land.
“Hate that stupid bridge..” it muttered, walking ahead. The medical bot laughed slightly, placing a hand on his friend's back.
“You’ll be fine.”
“No I won’t.”
Cv1t and N.O.M walked in silence for a few more moments, before it suddenly stiffened and froze, vision going black.
It thought it had shut down for a second. Finally able to not think and just disappear from the world for a bit. But it did not hear the familiar click and beep of shutting down systems, and it soon realised it was not in New Star city at all, but instead in a void.
More importantly in that void, was a blue-haired human it had never seen before, staring at it with a confused but curious expression.
It loaded its gun.
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Legs had assumed today was going to be a fairly normal day. Well, normal by his standards. He was pretty sure ‘learning magic’ and ‘making sure the world hadn't ended overnight’ was not a normal day for most people. Unfortunately for him, he was not ‘most people’.
Him, Zam, Graecie and Sausage had all decided to go out for a small picnic. They had done this before and it was wonderful the first time, why not go for a second? The flowers, the seemingly endless sky, everything was breathtaking. Especially at night, when the sea of stars twinkled in the sky. Silly as it was, it reminded him of sprinkled salt.
All of the dragons were scuffling with each other, and their owners were watching them. Sausage was cheering Penny on as she tried to pin Gadget down, but thankfully his dragon flew up and smacked her. Legs cheered and his fellow rider groaned, rolling his eyes.
“Gadget cheated!!” It complained, Penny prowling up to the robot and curling up in its lap. The alchemist rolled his eyes and pat Gadget on the head, smirking at his friend.
“Dunno, sounds like something a sore loser would say.”
His dragon took the opportunity to chirp angrily at his playmate, and the light-coloured dragon make an angry squeak and dove towards the copper dragon. Gadget let out a scared shriek and ran. Both of the riders laughed as they ‘bravely’ fought.
“Why can’t they be nice, like Twilite and Fleece?” The robot complained, crossing its legs. The alchemist shrugged, glancing at Zam and Graecie curled up against the tree, the latter curled up into the aliens lap.
“Maybe because their riders are.. Close.”
“So what this means is that we have to kiss. I see, I see..”
“WH- WHAT?!”
Sausage choked on his breath, laughing. Legs spluttered in confusion, staring at the robot as he howled in laughter.
“You looked so confused-” The rider forced out between gasps. “God, I wish you could have seen it-”
“Hm?” Zam asked softly from the tree, opening one of her eyes. “What? Can you be quiet, Graecie is finally sleeping.”
“Sorry!” The two men squeaked, looking away from the stella in embarrassment. Legs got up, grabbing his copper-coloured son from where he was beating up Sausage’s dragon. Writhing in his arms, the alchemist rolled his eyes as Gadget tried to bite him.
Before he could say anything else, his vision suddenly went black. For a second, he thought he had passed out. But he noticed that he could still think and move. He turned around, confused, and jumped as he saw a towering piece of metal staring down at him with disdain.
Legs was pretty sure he had never been more terrified in his life. His instincts went haywire, and he stopped the iron in its tracks.
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Cv1t wasn’t aware its body could stop working. Or that someone could make it do that. Yet this- this stupid human somehow had figured out a way. It was frozen in place, hand on its gun. The human stared at it, eyes wide.
“H- hello? What are you..?”
It glared at the human, trying to signal it couldn't speak because of whatever he did to it. His eyes slowly widened in realisation, and he undid the freakish thing.
“What did you just do.” It stated. The human bristled slightly.
“I.. used magic?”
“You used what.”
“..magic??”
“I heard that, I’m not an idiot. What is magic? Actually, better question, who are you?!”
“U- uhm- could you not point the weird metal thing at me?”
Cv1t looked down at the human, features imitating a bemused expression.
“You have this so called ‘magic’ and don't know what a gun is?”
“THATS WHAT A GUN IS??”
“..dude.”
“I- WHO ARE YOU?”
“.. I don't have a name.
“Wh- what?”
“I don't have a name.” It repeated. “Was that not clear enough?"
“Y- yeah.. ok..”
“Whats your name?” It shot back, tone scathing. The human flinched slightly.
“Le- Legundo. But you can call me Legs.”
That's a stupid name, it thought.
“Wh- what are you? How did you get a gun? Why are you here?”
“Why should I answer any of those questions?” Cv1t asked coldly.
“Because you seemed equally confused as I am.”
“… I suppose you are correct.”
It truly did not know what was happening, but it didn't want to appear weak in front of this- this stupid human. Legundo. Whatever. Names carry no meaning to a weapon in the realm of the dead.
The two of them stared at each other. It truly was a head or two taller than the hu- Legundo.
“So..” the human trailed, scratching the back of his neck. That's what it realised he was holding a…a thing. A living creature. It narrowed its eyes, confused.
“..What is that.” Cv1t stated, staring at it with mild intensity.
“Wh- this?” Legundo asked, holding out the thing by its armpits. It nodded, trying to decipher what it could be.
“It- its a dragon.” The human said. “His name is Gadget.”
“Gadget? Hm.. what exactly is a ‘dragon?’”
The human startled, clearly confused by its question.
“You don't know what a dragon is?” He asked
“You don't know what a gun is.” It shot back.
“I- I do! I just never saw one before. That type of technology was never granted to my town.”
“Hm… interesting. What technology do you have?”
“We- well we have these chat things.. and we have crossbows.. and armour.. oh! My friend! He- he’s kinda similar to you! It- is it a robot? Well- well anyways. He has like- copper limbs! And sometimes- uh, sometimes there's someone - something? - called Numbers, and it is like the more robot side of Sausage! And it has a more robotic voice! Y’know!”
“..Right. So your friend is a cyborg of sorts?”
Like that clown fella…
“Y- yeah!”
“Huh.. can we track back to the dragon.”
“Uh, sure..”
“What is it?”
“Well it's like. A living thing! But it grows much larger.. and we - the dragon riders, yes there are more of us - are soul linked to them, and it gives us magic!”
“What is your magic?”
“O- oh.. Right. I’m an iron mage.”
“An… iron mage.”
“Yeah. I can control iron and metal and stuff, and can.. drain other peoples mana…”
That explains how he froze me.. it thought.
“Wow!” It exclaimed sarcastically. “That's- wait. Wait..”
“Uh, waiting?” Legundo said.
As much as it hated humans, it had an idea. It looked at its gun, at the bullets loaded into it, the iron bullets, and back at the human, narrowing its sensors.
“Why.. why are you looking at me like that?”
Does he even count properly as human? Last time I checked they werent partly blue.. nor had magic..
It was deep in thought, mind racing with what this person could do with the right resources. Legundo shifted nervously. Against what it normally thought, it handed the gun towards him.
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“Wh- What?!” Legundo squeaked out, taking the weapon. He rolled it over on his hands, feeling the cool metal on his skin. He could feel the iron inside of it, and despite having never used or even seen one before, he could feel how much violence this could wreck.
“You want.. me to have this?” He asked cautiously. “You like- just met me.”
“Well, for one, I doubt we are staying here together, nor will we ever see each other again. For seconds, as much as I dislike humans, I am curious to see how your… ‘magic’ would affect a gun.”
“O- oh. You want me to .. hurt people?”
I’ve already hurt enough people..
“I suppose so. Someone you dislike, or maybe someone who wronged you and your friend. Friends? Eh, probably just friend by the look of him..”
“He- hey! I heard that!”
“Not sorry.”
The two of them stared at each other. Legs was unsure if the robot was aware just how terrifying it looked to him. Was it an it? A he? .. He’ll stick with it.
“Could you show me how to fire it?”
“You want me to-?! Oh, right,” it said, tutting. “Suppose you’ve never shot one before. Idiot.”
“Hey, what?!”
“Come here.” It directed. Against his common sense screaming at him (and Gadget chirping worriedly), he stood beside the robot and held out the gun. Its hand put themsleves over his, and he jumped slightly, not expecting how cold they were.
Now that he thought about it, it was really cold in the void. Weird. Whatever.
“So, do you see this bit here?” It asked, pointed at a small bit poking out from the bottom of the gun. “Thats the trigger. If you press it back, it fires a bullet.”
“Where are the bullets?” Legs asked. “I can sense them, but not see them..”
“This bit here,” it instructed. “You put the bullets in. I dont know where you would get bullets from though..”
“I could probably forge them, right?”
“I suppose so.. open it and grab one out, just so you can replicate it.”
“On it sir!”
The bot huffed, and Legs stopped talking, opening it like it told him to and grabbing one of the ‘bullets’. He had never seen one up close before, but they were incredibly interesting. He would have a great time studying this later.
“So I just pull the trigger and shoot?” The iron-mage asked. “How do I aim?”
The bot shrugged.
“Just line it up, it's pretty straight shooting.”
“Ok..”
The two of them stood in silence, the alchemist fiddling with the gun. The little chimes of metal hitting metal sung in the air. It was quite a nice sound. Legs decided he wanted to test something, regarding his magic.
“Do you have anything I can shoot?” He asked the bot. It clicked its sensors and looked through its pockets - inventory? Did they have an inventory where it was from? - and eventually pulled out a firm but soft thing.
“Its a straw thing,” it explained. “Use it as practice.”
Getting into position, Legundo narrowed his eyes and shot, using his magic to enhance the bullet. It ripped through the straw pillow and clattered onto the invisible floor. The bot gasped slightly, excitement evident in its tone.
“Yes!” It cheered, clasping its hands together. “Thats exactly what i thought you could do!”
“That's why you gave me the gun..?”
“Mhm!”
“Wow.. well, tha-“
He was abruptly cut off as his surroundings changed to the green hill of the picnic. He stood there awkwardly with the gun in his hands for a few more moments, before someone screamed at him.
I didn't even get to say thank you.. he thought, before turning around and pocketing the gun.
“LEGS!!” Sausage yelled. “WHERE DID YOU GO?!”
“Hah, yknow..” Legs muttered. “Places.”
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Cv1t didn't have any more chances to congratulate the human on its discovery before it was back in the bland grey city. It sighed sadly. It was starting to grow fond of the human. It wanted to see what else he could do with the gun, but oh well..
“THERE YOU ARE!” N.O.M yelled. It swiveled around to face the medical bot, whose expression was both concerned and slightly manic.
“Happy to see me?”
“You just- disappeared! Poofed! Vanished!”
It shrugged.
“Dunno, god took me or something. Met a guy in a void.”
“What?”
“A guy. Legundo, his name was I think. He has weird ass abilities but I gave him my gun.”
“You gave.. a random human.. your gun..”
“Hey!” It protested. “I can make a new one! Plus, he definitely needed a better weapon, he was underusing his abilities.”
“I- sure man, whatever you say..”
The two bots walked in silence, both deciding to never speak of it again. Cv1t wondered what Legundo was doing sometimes. He was probably the only human it could tolerate. Hm.. odd.