nexus_crossings | Some Reassembly Required

Some Reassembly Required

There’s an open, grassy area on the edge of the Wilds, some distance from the most popular Nexus parks where people are enjoying their picnics and centaur polo and so forth. It’s a good place to go if you want slightly more peace and quiet - or in Blaze’s case, a good open space in which to make a lot of noise. The robot soldier has a few small crates out on the grass. One of them she’s sitting on; the others are being used as tables which hold a small array of tools and components and blocks of metal. She’s working on modifying a pair of heavy armored boots much like the pair she’s wearing, refitting the soles and reinforcing their structure. Her Ghost hovers beside her, inspecting a blueprint spread out atop one of the boxes. The little bot is spinning his pointy shell back and forth as if concerned, but Blaze pays him no heed.

“So,” she says, speaking up while she works. “People change. Some of us change more than others. Sometimes we don’t notice how it happens. Sometimes,” she yanks out a component and chucks it down beside her, “we don’t get a say. So what part of yourself would you want make sure you held on to? What’s the part you’d want to be remembered?” She pauses, then looks up at the nearest people. “And, hey, anyone got some spare explosives?"

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The Doctor was looking for some place less populated, because well, he just needed time to think today. He's still using a cane - his legs have been weak recently, which has annoyed him since he doesn't know if it's that this place is holding off his regeneration or some other, more pressing reason.

He watches her as she works on her boots and chuckles softly as a piece is chucked next to her. But it's her question more than anything that stops him in his tracks.

"That's a hell of a question to ask me right now."

He looks around and finds a crate and sits down. He rests both hands atop his cane and rests his chin on the formed platform.

"You'd think after doing this eleven times, I'd know. But I really don't and... a part of it is always scary. I think because I want to hold onto some part of myself. This version of me..."

He's started in the middle. Which he feels is appropriate since questions in the Nexus seem to start in the middle of other people's thoughts.

Blaze and Ghost are not the only robots in this grassy part of the Wilds. There's also a Cylon walking along, a folded blanket tucked under his arm and a small pig-like creature following at his heels. When he sees Blaze, he changes direction to head towards her.

"Sorry," he says in regards to her question about explosives. "I'm fresh out." He smiles briefly, looking more relaxed than the last time they spoke.

As for her more philosophical pondering, he frowns thoughtfully. "No matter what, I'd want to keep the part of me that fell in love with Adia. That wasn't something that was programmed into me or tricked into me with false memories. It's the part..." He trails off, then sighs and rolls his shoulders. Might as well be honest. "It's the emotion my model had the most trouble with. So the fact that I love her... well, it probably says more about her than me, but that's the part I hold onto, no matter what else changes."

"Eleven times, huh?" She doesn't sound surprised. She remembers this man, and he reminds her of an old friend she's often considered asking about this. And to the Exo, what he's saying sounds too familiar to need explanation.

There aren't many organics who get the feel of a reboot, though.

"Who wants to lose theirself? I get that." She gets it far too well. She's just bent a relic iron plate out of shape, and now she has to carefully work it back into the right curve. Almost right. She's not going back to the forge right now. "Trouble is, you've gotta change if you want to improve. Can't stay the same person forever."

Of all the things in this place an omnic is possibly one of the most familiar sights to come across. She hadn't intended on ending up surrounded by all this greenery but now that she's here Moira finds herself gravitating towards the vaguely conventional sight.

Watching Blaze pick apart pieces of scrap, Moira waits with her hands folded neatly behind her straight back until the omnic is finished speaking. "I'm not in the habit of keeping explosives on my person. In regards to your question, however, I would want to be remembered for my unwavering dedication to discovering the secrets of human evolution. If I had to choose only one thing to keep ahold of it would be that."

"Hey there, Caspar." She glances up - he's looking happier than he was. Peacetime must be doing him good. Or- hm. Something familiar to that look he's wearing. She stops working while she tries to place it, resting her right hand on her knee and turning over a small tool in her fingers. Ghost echoes her greeting with a little spin of his shell, though he's hanging back for this conversation. Caspar gave her an answer though, so that gets her first attention, and the Exo gives a slow nod.

"You mean you want to hold onto your capacity for it or... your memories of her? Because I get why you wouldn't let go of it, but that could end up being a real mixed blessing. I mean, depending how it works."

"Scientist, huh? Remember the deeds and not the woman?" Blaze looks up, and then keeps staring because that is not any kind of lab wear she recognizes. Or casual wear for that matter- yes, she knows scientists don't just wander around in clean-room gear. "So everything else is an acceptable loss. Friendships, good memories, personality traits."

She's extrapolating a bit. Maybe projecting. This biologist looks strange as hell but dedication, that's something that strikes a chord with Blaze.

He huffs a wry sort of chuckle. "I thought you were being more literal than this. Clearly I was wrong. I'll just sit here and watch while you do..."

His voice tapers off and he raises his head. He makes a gesture with his top hand to indicate she should just continue on with her metalworking. He doesn't mind a philosophical discussion, but honestly, he had hoped for one that would be a little more substantial for him than this.

The noise doesn't bother him. It's good for him, since he's been too far inside his head recently.

While this place doesn't look particularly dangerous, Moira doesn't want to investigate unprotected. She takes risks but she's not a complete fool.

"Not a pleasant one perhaps, but acceptable nevertheless. Abandoning all I've worked so hard to achieve would be a grave insult to my efforts. Stripping away my scientific advancements would be a cruelty against humanity. We must all make sacrifices in the name of science. Personality traits and fond memories are a small price to pay."

"No. But give me two days and I can get that for you."

Fairfax stands there looking - if not well, then much better. Although to be fair, any state other than dead would be an improvement over the last time they had met. He shifts uneasily in his now-cleaned uniform, slightly uncomfortable but trying not to show it. Christ, Fairfax. See somebody who saved your life the last time you met, and the first thing you say is that?

"Blowing ssomething up?" he asks, somewhat half-heartedly, as if it was an obligation to hope the answer wasn't people.

She lifts her head and stares at him for a second or two, optics glowing bright. "What makes you think I'm not being literal?"

The metallic click and buzz of her work resumes as she turns her focus back there. It's good to keep her hands busy. Mind busy. Stops her dwelling on what she's saying. "I've been through more than three dozen reboots. I know exactly how it feels to be scared of losing who you are. Getting replaced by some new iteration."

A small price to pay. It's funny, Blaze said it first, and yet hearing the sentiment echoed back to her in this woman's calm voice makes it come across rather differently. Maybe she's just working through a lot of stuff right now. Maybe it's the momentary sense of recognition, like a tune she thinks she's heard before. Well, but she's met plenty of driven people.

"A sense of purpose. I respect that. What kind of advancements are we talking? I'm, uh, not all that up on biological research but it sounds like your work is important." And she's pretty sure her discussing human evolution is some kind of irony, but hell, she's invested in the subject too.

He lowers his head back to his hands. “Reboot, sure. Those are easy. I’ve rebooted my entire universe once or twice. It’s just resetting things back to their default settings. Regeneration is different. Every cell in my body rips itself inside out. Renews itself. On the other side, I have a new and different body. A different personality, different likes, but still with all the memories, thoughts, and feelings of the previous one.”

He’d prefer a reboot in some ways.

“How do you know you were rebooted that many times?”

Because to his knowledge a reboot resets everything.

"Finally, someone who knows the important stuff." Her voice is warm as the Exo catches sight of him. "Good to see you on your feet, Fairfax. Only thing I'm blowing up today is the ground. Maybe myself, a little."

She jerks the metal plate she's holding toward the least cluttered crate. "i'm testing out this idea I had a while back. Come on, sit down and I'll tell you about it." She has a plan, and it's fun! Plus, she wants to know what he's been up to.

This is a super loaded question. Alec is studying the grass, talking to it. He's been watching the exchange for awhile. The 8 and a half foot tall plant creature has changed.

He stares at his hands and remembers dying. Twice.

"...My humanity."

The age old question. A few flowers grow at his feet as he sits, crosslegged, before staring at them a little sadly.

"I am a geneticist, which means my work is on the very foundations of human life." Not knowing the various characters in a place such as this, it seems it would be wise to stay coy about her work. After all, it had been received so poorly on her world... But then that might in turn hamper her efforts to find like-minded people, or new avenues of research...

"Currently I'm drawing up a paper on Repairing Degenerative Genetic Structures. The applications of my findings could be extremely valuable to mankind... You don't do any research of your own, I take it?"

Fairfax makes a little frown of consternation that tugs at the scar pulling at his mouth at hearing that. He stiffly makes his way over to sit on the crate in question, with his shoulders hunched slightly.

"I'd rather you didn't make a vest bomb or a mine," he starts seriously, hands clasped loosely together. "Can't tell you no, but - you'll have to look elsewhere." I'm not doing that anymore, is what he means.

She's shot a glance or two his way already, trying not to stare. Even though giant plant people are a whole new one on her and it raises a whole lot of questions like Are they made of plants or just covered in plants? Is she - or he - all woody under there? But you shouldn't just up and ask intrusive questions about someone's structural composition. That's the kind of thing you save for an awkward point in conversation.

Of course, then he speaks and the Exo stares anyway, optics wide and bright in surprise.

"You're human?" Her gaze flits over him, curious and assessing, before snapping down to the flowers that unfold at his feet. Okay, that is extremely new. "Sure looks like you've been through one hell of a change."

Blaze makes an impressed sound, and Ghost looks up curiously from the blueprints.That does sound incredibly valuable, like the kind of Golden Age medicine that once shot human lifespan past the two-century mark. Plus, it sounds distinctly unlike anything Khan and his friends would have been into, and that's their most recent benchmark for genetic research gone bad.

"Sure I do." She lifts up the half-assembled boot in her hand for emphasis. "Modification and testing of field equipment. And we run a lot of sample and data collection, although the analysis isn't my problem. I'm more, uh-"

"'Applied xeno-anatomy'?" Ghost suggests.

She laughs. "That's it! I hit aliens 'til they break."

It's the look of a man who isn't constantly scanning the horizon for trouble, although he does raise an eyebrow at Blaze's question. She's being a little more pessimistic than he expected. Isn't that his role to play in the conversation?

"Both, although I'd like to think that if I had my memories wiped, I'd simply fall in love with her all over again." Not that he'd ever want to test that hypothesis; after a (short) lifetime of false memories, his real ones are all the more important. "Why do you consider it a mixed blessing? Better to feel something than nothing. And spite takes a lot more work to maintain."

Ghost may have decided to sit out the conversation for now, but the little pig accompanying Caspar has other plans. She runs over to the box he's hovering above and stares up at him eagerly. Hello, weird-looking magnemite!

Hm. That catches her attention. She only knows Fairfax a little, and it's not exactly shocking he'd have some lines to draw. But where he chooses to draw them and the expectation that he needs to is worth noting.

Okay, so come to think of it his expectations there were probably her fault for making it sound that way.

"Yeah?" She shoots a look his way over her work. She's layering in thin sheets of spinmetal, silver-blue and rippling where it catches the light. "That's all right then. This is much better. Though I guess you're kinda on the right track." Reassuring, that. But she's not going to leave him wondering too long. Blaze doesn't really do suspense. She's far too eager to share what's on her mind.

"See, a while back a friend and I were chasing down a bunch of pirates through some tunnels of theirs. We cleared out their trip-mines all right, but one of the little dregs slung a grenade at me while I was charging. His timing was lucky and I stepped right on it. Wrecked some good boots and my foot was scrap, but it threw me right into the target so we came out even." Still annoying. Agonizing, at the time. But she had bigger things on her mind.

"Point is, it got me thinking. What if I could do that on purpose? And without blowing my own feet off, I mean."

"I was." Some days he really does miss it, or he did. Some days he doesn't because humanity has ruined so many things and destiny chose him. It chose him for a greater destiny and knowing what he knows now...that he is a part of the green, it's ruler, he wonders if he was ever human at all. Ever truly human.

"People would be surprised how important humanity is when going through changes. It's a powerful means of protection for many. Empathy. Support. Love. Nature doesn't love. Life doesn't love. Death...death never loves." Even if he loves death in essence.

"Except that human beings forget and abuse it all and those who would support them"

The dark red eyes set in the moss green face look ancient and angry for a moment before he falls silent.

Aliens? A soft sound somewhere between amusement and interest supports the gentle tug of her lips.

"Testing field equipment is a vital contribution. I'm sure dealing with aliens as you do is just as important." Her eyes slide to the variety of spare parts at the omnic's disposal. "Apart from encounters here I haven't come across aliens before. Your technology must be fascinating." She gestures to the blueprint beside Blaze. "May I?"

"'Just' a reset?" His attitude was rubbing her the wrong way to start with, but now her hands have gone still and her voice hard. His question about her reboot count is ignored. "Maybe you ought to try it, if you think it's so easy. None of what you're describing sounds that different to what my people go through. Maybe one of us has things a little better or a little worse, I don't know. Point is, you're not the only guy around here who's been remade mind and body. You aren't even the first Time Lord I've met."

Electric sparks are crawling over the backs of her gauntlets. Blaze reaches down and slaps the ground to neutralize them before she damages her handicraft project. "So do you want to talk about it or do you just plan on sitting around acting tragic?"

Blaze has to take a moment to find the words to get at what she's thinking. She reaches over for a mini plasma torch and starts sealing in a spinmetal layer. "How long do organic Cylons live? You got any idea?"

Ghost, meanwhile, drifts lower to say hello to the piglet. She is adorable after all, even if she is bigger and decidedly bouncier-looking than he is.

Oh. That's a mild relief. He certainly wasn't looking forward to it. He breathes out through his nose, a little more relaxed, and Fairfax listens to her explanation quietly. His frown fades only to to come back again, markedly more puzzled.

"What if... you could step on grenades with your feet. To detonate. On purpose." Fairfax repeats her statement slowly. Not quite incredulously, but it's definitely getting there. Thanks for clarifying it's without blowing your feet off, Blaze, otherwise wouldn't it sure be confusing? His eyes flicker behind his helmet's visor to the robot, wondering if a second opinion would call him crazy or not for questioning it. "This is a shit plan."

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Some Reassembly Required

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