jigoku is hell

[mechspeed]

Comments

still for mira

[mechspeed]

[It takes him so long to shake Donatello that Metal worries for a while his disguise had been seen through, yet the way he passed him by on occasion without noticing, he couldn't be entirely sure. It just meant that there was a lot of walking to be done until he felt he'd managed to escape him entirely, thankful that the chaos emerald sitting inside of his chest would ensure he'd never grow tired.

He goes so far, in fact, he finds himself on the border of Enma and Sutoku territory. He isn't paying much attention to where he is though - the aforementioned power source means he can stay active indefinitely, so no matter how far he wanders off he doesn't have to worry about food or shelter like an organic being would, he can just keep walking till he's back at the department. It's fine.

It does mean he's standing outside the clinic butt naked though. Can't be good optics, surely.]

still for egg

[mechspeed]

We'll show them the real super power of linking from threads elsewhere

anywhere in hell city

[mechspeed]

[He's fully clothed now, you all have Emily to thank for that - but on his neverending quest to find peace, he's once again on the move and trying to get back from the border to the department, still hyper aware of the fact his number one fan might be on the lookout still. Maybe not? He's probably not.

Is he getting paranoid?

DID HE HEAR HIM JUST NOW?

Whether or not he did, no matter what you're doing, some blue haired, androgynous twink just kind of shows up by your side when he definitely wasn't there before, completely silent...but standing in such a way, it's as if he's trying to appear like you're both out here together?

If you notice this, you don't even have to speak up for him to suddenly say:]

I believe the phrase is "act natural". Can you accomplish that?

in a funny little arcade, any arcade

[mechspeed]

[A wise man once said that if a machine could interact with video games in the way a human does, you would need to invent a completely new kind of game to engage them.

Well, if you're nearby when Metal initially ducks into the arcade for the purposes of laying low for five minutes, you'll get to see that in action. It might be the overwhelming presence of technology that draws him in further than he expected himself to, but he ends up wandering the arcade he's ended up at listlessly. He knows Eggman tended to enjoy video games in his downtime, but he never actually interacted with one before - much like his curiosity over the buffet during orientation, he considers this for a really long time before approaching a machine, sticking in some cash and playing.

To his credit? He's really good - he plays with the kind of machine like precision you would expect if you knew he was an A.I under all that metal masquerading as flesh, the kind of person to avoid hazards with single, precise movements, or make seemingly unfair jumps with no panic evident in the way he handles the joystick. Everything is carefully planned, every move is deliberate...

And then he just stops.

His hands come away from the console and he watches as the cute little protagonist, now no longer able to escape his fate at the hands of equally cute little monsters walking along their predetermined path, is touched by an enemy and loses his first life. He respawns in a safe zone and the game is clearly waiting to be played, but it doesn't seem as if he has any intention of continuing. He just stares at it.

Creepy.]

still for claire

[mechspeed]

funny robot

crawls out of the rubble

[medicative]

[um.

there's a person standing outside the clinic without a single stitch of clothing on. and Chiyo's off for the day, so it means Emily doesn't have her usual helpful buffer to assist with the peculiar cases. instead she'll be the one to deal with it on her own, and so, a voice calls from the doorway of the clinic.]

Excuse me...are you all right?

[ascertain the situation before rushing into it. surely there's an explanation. maybe they had their clothes stolen or something.]

casts curaga

[mechspeed]

[The delay between Emily calling out to him and Metal actually acknowledging her is for one simple reason: that's how long it takes for him to realise he's the one being addressed, when he notices the odd bystander looking towards him in the aftermath. That nobody else is answering makes that very clear.

So he turns towards Emily, silent and expressionless as he would normally be as a robot only with the extra weird factor of having an actual face as opposed to eyes and no mouth. It'll also give her the angle needed to see that he lacks any sexual characteristics below the neck, having the anatomy of a doll if said doll was designed to hide any features deemed inappropriate or sensitive.

Still staring.

Still silent.

That's probably too much time.]

I am avoiding somebody.

[See, everything's fine.]

[mechspeed]

[Well, the hesitation is understandable. He obviously knows what she says is true.

Despite that, foot still raised on the frame, bomb behind her counting down, Metal simply reaches out and offers her a claw.]

I told you, I will not endanger myself for the sake of the department.

If you share my feelings, then take my hand.

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko stares his hand down for a long moment with what she thinks is not an unreasonable amount of apprehension. But for every second she wastes debating this, the bomb is ticking further and further down and she realizes she doesn't exactly have any good choices to make in this situations. Just a variety of bad ones. ]

Fine. But if anything happens to me, you will be in trouble.

[ Lovely.

But she does, finally, take his hand. ]

[mechspeed]

[Great!

He uses that hand to pull her towards him and carries her under one arm like a sack of potatos. Trust him, it's optimal for.......making sure she doesn't move too much so he doesn't drop her. Then she really will die! Wahoo.

If she has any objections, he's going to ignore her as he walks over to a nearby table and kicks the legs off of it, before dragging it back to the window.

YOU WANNA KNOW WHY.

I'LL TELL YOU WHY.

BECAUSE HE'S JUMPING OUT THE WINDOW WITH HER UNDER ONE ARM.

HE'S THROWING THAT TABLE FLAT AGAINST THE BUILDING AS THEY FALL AND USING THE LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY OF HIS JET TO SLAM BOTH FEET AGAINST IT.

HE'S RIDING THAT THING DOWN THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING.

THE BOMB EXPLODES ABOVE THEM.

TRUST HIM AND THEY WILL ESCAPE THE EXPLOSION]

[nmc0204]

[ It takes until she's being dangled from under his arm like a stray cat being brought in from the streets before Ryoko realizes what's going on. Or she takes a good, solid guess at what's going on because really. Who on god's green earth could have predicted where this ended up going.

By some miracle, and with what she thinks should be considered a relatively heroic level of willpower, Ryoko manages not to scream. Mostly because she's got her jaw welded shut to make sure her teeth don't snap closed on her tongue.

Once they actually land, though? That's a whole other can of worms. For now, she's just going to get a death grip on him and try her level best to not die. ]

1/2

[mechspeed]

[For a killer robot built only to kill, he displays a surprising amount of skill riding this makeshift snow skate buildingboard. Even as the section above them explodes, he zips and swerves around any incoming debris or obstacles as if he were metal tony hawk.

He doesn't ride it until the end, though. He spots a falling steel beam ahead of them and kicks off of the building, hits the side of the beam to grind against it, then kicks off the edge in order to leap from it onto the building adjacent the one that just got demolished. They slide along the roof of the building and fall just a short distance to the ground below, the table...well, honestly, it slides a few feet before falling apart but he breaks into a short jog as that happens before slowing to a stop.]

actually 2/3

[mechspeed]

SCORE 11050
TIME 04:01:11
RYOKOS SAVED 1/1

TIME BONUS 0
TOTAL SCORE 18300



[AW YEAH THIS IS HAPPENIN]

[mechspeed]

[He does not put her down immediately and speaks up as if he was only briefly interrupted from their previous conversation.]

As I said, we will not die.

[nmc0204]

[ Ryoko doesn't respond right away. She just dangles from under his arm like a particularly pathetic stray cat brought in from the rain. If she closes her eyes very tight and counts each breath as she takes it, she can gradually make the spinning around her slow down. Really, she's grateful that he's still carrying her because she's pretty sure she's not physically capable of standing on her own two legs right now.

She swallows. Her saliva feels thick. Miraculously, she does not vomit. ]

Speak for yourself. [ Her voice is hoarse. ] I'm not entirely sure I survived.

[mechspeed]

Your breathing, heart rate and temperature are all elevated to acceptable levels for an organic, given what occurred a moment ago. I do not believe you will suffer any long term serious illness or injury.

[Aren't you glad, Ryoko? It's not like he's a doctor or anything, but still. Robo-sensors are an amazing thing.]

But I believe the most common form of advice given the situation would be.............."take your time".

[He's so supportive.]

thank

[medicative]

[that's....not exactly fine. but she smothers all she wants to say or do in response - is it indecent when someone simply seems formed? - and instead takes a breath, falls back to the same practiced routine. this can be handled and dealt with.]

Would you like to come in? I think you'd be able to avoid them better if you're somewhere they can't see you should they look down the street.

[mechspeed]

[Well, yeah, it makes sense. He wasn't exactly about to go around asking for somewhere to stay because asking for help isn't how he operates, but now that it's been offered he may as well make use of shelter.

He doesn't nod, though, or even do anything in response to the offer rather than outright approach her to enter. It's the only affirmation she'll get but at least it's an obvious one from this otherwise unemotive stranger.]

[nmc0204]

[ Acceptable levels, is it? Tell that to her noodle limbs. ]

You could have at least warned me what you were planning to do. That way I could have prepared myself.

[ yes, she's going to have this argument with him while she's just. dangling there. ]

[mechspeed]

Regardless of whether or not you prepared yourself, the outcome would have been the same. It would not have affected my performance.

[Yeah, that's how he's choosing to justify that. She had nothing to do with their daring escape after all.

He's rude.]

Besides which, we were under a strict time limit. [He will carefully put her to her feet now, no more cat dangling.] I would rather do what must be done than ask permission, when the outcome was agreeable to you regardless.

[nmc0204]

[ The instant her feet are back under her, Ryoko stoops down so she can bury her face in her knees, purely because if she opens her eyes right now and sees the world still whirling, that really might be the end of her. A headache has started pounding behind her eyes and though it's only a dull pain now, she doesn't want to give it any chance to start digging its claws in. ]

It's preferable to dying, at least. [ She doesn't bother lifting her face to answer, so her voice comes out a little muffled. God, her ears are still ringing. ] How far from the building did we land?

[medicative]

[that'll work. and luckily, there's no one else in the waiting room at present. now that the stranger is inside, she can ask a few more questions, and try to subtly guide him towards a room.]

Are you in any kind of danger? Is that why you're hiding from someone?

[come on...say something...at least enough that she can make her second offer.]

[mechspeed]

Nobody is a danger to me.

[Given his unemotive manner of speech it might be hard to pick up on him wording that way specifically cause he's an arrogant robot hedgehog, but it's because he's an arrogant robot hedgehog. He can't - and won't - entertain the idea.

But hey, confirmation is confirmation.]

I just find them annoying. But I believe in the name of "peace" the Enma would frown upon random acts of violence.

[DON'T TELL HIM HE'S WRONG ABOUT THIS UNLESS SHE WANTS TURTLE BLOOD ON HER HANDS HE'S NEW THERE'S STILL TIME]

[medicative]

[please do NOT slaughter turtles in your first and only month in hell.]

I see. Well, random acts of violence are frowned upon in this place as well, as that's not to the benefit of patients getting to heal. Peace is an enforced rule.

[let's see, where's that box in the closet...aha. she'd had these as emergency items should someone come in with clothes too damaged to go home with, since you can't really decline a free box when you're already at the thrift store. it's a reasonable assumption given some of these guys.]

What's your name? I'm Emily.

[mechspeed]

It is the Enma's authority that matters to me, nobody else.

[He's a good 6 inches shorter than she is but he sure is a stern little guy. Still, there's no hint of threat in his voice - he states it matter of factly, not in the tone of someone about to start trouble.

...then again, maybe the general stoicism makes it hard to make that kind of reading of him.

But really, he won't.

All that aside, he doesn't even make an effort to peek past her or see what she's doing. He really is stood stone statue still the whole time, except for the fact his mouth occasionally opens to speak.]

My name is Sonic, Emily.

[medicative]

Sonic, it's a pleasure.

[okay, now she can hold the box out to him.]

I'm not sure what happened to your clothes, but anything in here that you like, you can have. I'm quite sure there are some garments close enough to your size - I promise they're not simply cheap rags.

[the offer is because she simply doesn't know his style - what he would prefer for himself. if she was to choose, the response would be far different, but since he's not a patient...]

[mechspeed]

[He stares at the box and it sort of hits him like an epiphany.]

Oh. [Even if his response is very tame. His gaze goes from her to the box to her again.] I see. I forgot humans found clothing to be a necesscity.

[And he is disguised as a human, not a yokai, so that's important.

That being said given literally everyone else wasn't naked, you'd think the highly advanced AI would've picked that up quicker than this. But he's always naked, see.

Not gonna lie though, he picks out a few mismatched pieces of clothing just for the sake of it. He was built to terrorize, not accessorize.]