Post by Tolvur-Q12 on Jun 26, 2020 3:15:41 GMT -8
Despite his explosive awakening and his undeniable urge to just go and kill those 'numbers', there was at the same time an urge to know more than he did at the moment. Having his memories consist of people being numbers and how he needed to kill them was not exactly enough, there needed to be something he could do to get some more in there, or even some more context regarding those numbers. Bryce vaguely remembered being one of those himself, but obviously his mind didn't tell him he was one of the bad ones. So why were all the others if he had never met them?
The one shred of memory that wasn't about murder or hunting people was about a place he used op call his own. A place with a simple building and a farm around it. The farming part seemed asinine, but if his former self had taken the time to plant it then maybe it was for a reason. He just didn't know what it was yet, nor did he really know how that entire plot of land fit in to his whole being, but at least he remembered enough to be able to start somewhere. He even knew the location of it! Vaguely, anyway.
The mandroid was in the right area, at least, or close enough to it that it wasn't too long of a journey. It took him about fifteen minutes to find the place, and instantly he was greeted by a tilled field, now overgrown with all types of grass and weeds. That was to be expected, he figured with a shrug as, soon enough some semblance of a lost memory came rushing back. Something about him using some sort of quick growing seeds on this, that grew into food that was, even to an android, nutritional. So he did the farming for strength?
He looked around the area briefly and didn't see anything nearby, but he could definitely feel some signatures in a far off area. Luckily he knew enough by now not to assume this was one of those things he had to destroy, but rather some signal of something else with power nearby, making it both not good and not evil, it was neither, but also both until discerned from up close.
So this area didn't seem inhabited.. it just looked.. broken down, which was a valid thing to happen after having been left out to the mercy of nature for however long Bryce was offline.
He moved on ahead and as he did, there was a short string of memory slowly coming back to him. And as he took note of the stone structure in the center that was just about to crash to the ground, he remembered how he exactly built it, and why. How his mind was running rampant at that time and how he didn't like it doing that, how it made several run ins with people just about fights and the like. But where he felt that was wrong and he didn't want it before, he felt oddly okay with it now. But he could clearly remember what the place he was in did for him. It 'shut down' his mind, allowing him some quiet and alone time, away from everything that annoyed him, as well as the constant urge to do what he didn't want..
There was enough reason, Bryce supposed, to keep this place alive. Clearing out the farming areas of weeds and other things that shouldn't be there, planting new crops and getting the building in the center back into working order. However, there seemed to be a good amount of crops still, things he could pick and use the seeds from. And maybe ingest to see what they did. If there was enough, there would be a few months worth of rapid growth.
But getting the crops was the hard part here, fixing the building and clearing the farms of weeds wasn't all that difficult to do, one or two minutes tops would rid the farms of unwanted weeds, and a short five minutes would reinforce the building in the center as well as kick several stones back into place.
''Well well.'' A voice rang out suddenly, causing Bryce to turn around as he had finished with the last bit of cleaning of his plots. ''They told me someone used ta live 'ere, was never sure if I should 'ave believed that.'' The man who spoke was chubby, short and wore a straw hat that kept the sun out of his face. A thick mustache lined his lips and a small goatee hung down his chin. It looked kind of stupid, really, but Bryce guessed it was as unique as they came and, if he for whatever reason needed this guy for anything again he could just look out for the unique appearance. ''They say yer some kinda.. robit? Always been wonderin' if those really existed.''
Bryce was visibly confused as he tried deciphering the accent. Was this guy.. from the southern part of the world? ''I'm a robot, yes.'' The mandroid said, raising himself to his full height and dwarfing the man in size instantly.
''Been quite the time since ya been here, ain't it?'' He asked, forcing Bryce to respond to something he only understood for 50%.
''Y-yes.'' There was a bit of an urge to juist end this guy and put his accent to rest, but something about this place allowed him to keep himself from acting on his thoughts.
The man laughed as he looked up, and as the sun shone on his face since the hat was now no longer blocking anything it revealed a scar on his cheek. And that also looked odd. Everything about this guy looked odd. Short, stubby, yet he looked like an active person. He didn't look like he fought though, and the scar on his cheek was obviously from fighting or something related to a fight. ''Who are you?'' Bryce finally asked as he decided to try and figure out who was on his land, and, if he had been there before, why everything looked so run down.
''My name ain't that important, really.'' The man said, and with an ominous undertone to it no less. ''All ya need ta know is that I'm glad yer back.''
This caught Bryce by surprise. ''Really?'' He asked before his eyes turned small. It seemed like this man who didn't want to mention his own name knew about Bryce. And he hadn't even introduced himself! ''Why?''
''Some people came around askin' fer ya.'' He said, pointing at the huge tattoo on his chest. ''Or at least the asked fer a man with an arrogant tattoo on his chest, an' I think yer fittin' the bill quite nice-like.'' The man continued to explain, and that was probably spot on since in all of his time here Bryce hadn't seen other people with the tattoo he had. ''Do ya know what they want ya fer? Because they didn't exactly look like.. upstanding city-folk. They looked real rowdy an' even threatened violence. An' in this day an' age I can't afford me no violence.''
''What did you tell them?'' Bryce asked, now fully turning his attention to this man. ''Did you tell them where I was?''
The man laughed as Bryce stepped closer, stepped back an equal distance and shook his head. ''Now how could I tell them 'bout yer where abouts if I didn't even know where abouts ya were?'' There was a hum from him to let Bryce know he just uttered a pretty stupid thing and honestly, he kind of agreed.
''Did you tell them where they could find me?'' Bryce asked, realizing that maybe this was a reverse hunt, that those numbers he had been hung up about joined forces and wanted to take him down before he could take them down.
The head before him nodded. ''Yeah I did. Or.. didn't.. I mentioned I had seen someone with ink just like yerself, and that he's likely to return to this 'ere place.'' He widened his arms to let Bryce know that he meant the plot of land they were in right now. ''An' be warned.'' He continued. ''They come 'round pretty often.''
''And how often is often?'' Bryce replied.
''Often fer those guys is close ta once every two months.'' He explained, looking around briefly, taking note of everything that had changed. ''Ya should be safe for just about two whole months, gives ya time to finish up yer work 'ere.''
With that info Bryce knew he had to act on it, create a barrier of some sorts to keep those guys out. Fighting was fun, but not in an area he singlehandedly built. Unless.. there was someone who helped him? That part of his memory was still foggy, and it seemed he couldn't spend time figuring it out. He needed all the time he could get to build up some sort of defense. ''Hold on.'' Bryce suddenly said. ''Guys? Plural?''
''Yeah.'' Was the reply. ''There were three guys lookin' fer ya. Menacin' lookin' bunch, those three. Did not fuck around, did not come ta socialize, an' as said, they threatened with violence.'' The man said, shuddering at the memory, it seemed. ''One of 'em did some kind of laser thing with his hand an' blew a hole in the broadside of my barn.'' He then shrugged, chuckling a tiny bit even though this was a very serious matter. ''Figured that if he could hit th' broadside offa barn.. well, there would be more he coulda hit. I wasn't about ta test that theory though.'' He shook his head and looked at Bryce even more intently, all the light heartedness falling from his face as he went all serious. ''But they didn't stop there. They said that if an' when they returned they'd kill someone regardless of yer presence.''
Bryce sighed. ''Guess that means I shouldn't leave then..''
''Yeah, that would be the desired course o' action 'ere.''
''But I fail to see why I should care?'' He then asked. ''It's not like you've done anything for me. You didn't keep this place tidy, nor did you do anything to help me. And to top things off, you gave away my location to those undeserving wastes of scrap metal!'' Bryce's volume was increasing as he raised his hand slowly, his index finger tapping on the chest of the.. he supposed the man was a farmer?
Looking down at the finger on his chest there was an eery sensation coming over the farmer. ''I-I didn't tell them where ya were!'' He stuttered. ''I just told 'em where ya were gonna be!''
Noticeably struggling against the finger on his chest didn't help anything in this situation, Bryce kept it on there like metal on his body. ''And you also just told me not to go anywhere. Why should I not go anywhere?'' Bryce asked as his finger began to gather nasty amounts of energy.
''B-because they'd kill me if ya weren't here!'' The farmed spoke in a panic, feeling the heat of the finger on his chest.
Bryce grinned. ''I could get rid of that anxiety for you.'' He replied as this place did exactly nothing for his desire to end this guy once and for all, simply for telling them they were in the right place. But also because the mandroid felt that it would be a service, a nice one, to allow the farmer to rest without fear of being killed by them once they came here.
The farmer, catching on to this, started sweating and almost began begging. ''Please don't! I.. I can help ya rebuild!'' He offered. ''I can tell ya more about them! They told me quite a bit, you know?''
''And you failed to tell me?'' Bryce said as he took his finger off of the chest, deciding that at the very least getting some help rebuilding this place, as well as keeping the farm in working order, would be helpful. Someone to look over it all when he wasn't there. ''I'll give you two options.'' The mandroid began. ''Help me rebuild this place and tell me about those men, or die. And trust me, I'm more creative than they will ever be.'' There was a final poke to the chest of the farmer and a small pulse shot from his finger; a warning blast.
===========================
WC: 2079
The one shred of memory that wasn't about murder or hunting people was about a place he used op call his own. A place with a simple building and a farm around it. The farming part seemed asinine, but if his former self had taken the time to plant it then maybe it was for a reason. He just didn't know what it was yet, nor did he really know how that entire plot of land fit in to his whole being, but at least he remembered enough to be able to start somewhere. He even knew the location of it! Vaguely, anyway.
The mandroid was in the right area, at least, or close enough to it that it wasn't too long of a journey. It took him about fifteen minutes to find the place, and instantly he was greeted by a tilled field, now overgrown with all types of grass and weeds. That was to be expected, he figured with a shrug as, soon enough some semblance of a lost memory came rushing back. Something about him using some sort of quick growing seeds on this, that grew into food that was, even to an android, nutritional. So he did the farming for strength?
He looked around the area briefly and didn't see anything nearby, but he could definitely feel some signatures in a far off area. Luckily he knew enough by now not to assume this was one of those things he had to destroy, but rather some signal of something else with power nearby, making it both not good and not evil, it was neither, but also both until discerned from up close.
So this area didn't seem inhabited.. it just looked.. broken down, which was a valid thing to happen after having been left out to the mercy of nature for however long Bryce was offline.
He moved on ahead and as he did, there was a short string of memory slowly coming back to him. And as he took note of the stone structure in the center that was just about to crash to the ground, he remembered how he exactly built it, and why. How his mind was running rampant at that time and how he didn't like it doing that, how it made several run ins with people just about fights and the like. But where he felt that was wrong and he didn't want it before, he felt oddly okay with it now. But he could clearly remember what the place he was in did for him. It 'shut down' his mind, allowing him some quiet and alone time, away from everything that annoyed him, as well as the constant urge to do what he didn't want..
There was enough reason, Bryce supposed, to keep this place alive. Clearing out the farming areas of weeds and other things that shouldn't be there, planting new crops and getting the building in the center back into working order. However, there seemed to be a good amount of crops still, things he could pick and use the seeds from. And maybe ingest to see what they did. If there was enough, there would be a few months worth of rapid growth.
But getting the crops was the hard part here, fixing the building and clearing the farms of weeds wasn't all that difficult to do, one or two minutes tops would rid the farms of unwanted weeds, and a short five minutes would reinforce the building in the center as well as kick several stones back into place.
''Well well.'' A voice rang out suddenly, causing Bryce to turn around as he had finished with the last bit of cleaning of his plots. ''They told me someone used ta live 'ere, was never sure if I should 'ave believed that.'' The man who spoke was chubby, short and wore a straw hat that kept the sun out of his face. A thick mustache lined his lips and a small goatee hung down his chin. It looked kind of stupid, really, but Bryce guessed it was as unique as they came and, if he for whatever reason needed this guy for anything again he could just look out for the unique appearance. ''They say yer some kinda.. robit? Always been wonderin' if those really existed.''
Bryce was visibly confused as he tried deciphering the accent. Was this guy.. from the southern part of the world? ''I'm a robot, yes.'' The mandroid said, raising himself to his full height and dwarfing the man in size instantly.
''Been quite the time since ya been here, ain't it?'' He asked, forcing Bryce to respond to something he only understood for 50%.
''Y-yes.'' There was a bit of an urge to juist end this guy and put his accent to rest, but something about this place allowed him to keep himself from acting on his thoughts.
The man laughed as he looked up, and as the sun shone on his face since the hat was now no longer blocking anything it revealed a scar on his cheek. And that also looked odd. Everything about this guy looked odd. Short, stubby, yet he looked like an active person. He didn't look like he fought though, and the scar on his cheek was obviously from fighting or something related to a fight. ''Who are you?'' Bryce finally asked as he decided to try and figure out who was on his land, and, if he had been there before, why everything looked so run down.
''My name ain't that important, really.'' The man said, and with an ominous undertone to it no less. ''All ya need ta know is that I'm glad yer back.''
This caught Bryce by surprise. ''Really?'' He asked before his eyes turned small. It seemed like this man who didn't want to mention his own name knew about Bryce. And he hadn't even introduced himself! ''Why?''
''Some people came around askin' fer ya.'' He said, pointing at the huge tattoo on his chest. ''Or at least the asked fer a man with an arrogant tattoo on his chest, an' I think yer fittin' the bill quite nice-like.'' The man continued to explain, and that was probably spot on since in all of his time here Bryce hadn't seen other people with the tattoo he had. ''Do ya know what they want ya fer? Because they didn't exactly look like.. upstanding city-folk. They looked real rowdy an' even threatened violence. An' in this day an' age I can't afford me no violence.''
''What did you tell them?'' Bryce asked, now fully turning his attention to this man. ''Did you tell them where I was?''
The man laughed as Bryce stepped closer, stepped back an equal distance and shook his head. ''Now how could I tell them 'bout yer where abouts if I didn't even know where abouts ya were?'' There was a hum from him to let Bryce know he just uttered a pretty stupid thing and honestly, he kind of agreed.
''Did you tell them where they could find me?'' Bryce asked, realizing that maybe this was a reverse hunt, that those numbers he had been hung up about joined forces and wanted to take him down before he could take them down.
The head before him nodded. ''Yeah I did. Or.. didn't.. I mentioned I had seen someone with ink just like yerself, and that he's likely to return to this 'ere place.'' He widened his arms to let Bryce know that he meant the plot of land they were in right now. ''An' be warned.'' He continued. ''They come 'round pretty often.''
''And how often is often?'' Bryce replied.
''Often fer those guys is close ta once every two months.'' He explained, looking around briefly, taking note of everything that had changed. ''Ya should be safe for just about two whole months, gives ya time to finish up yer work 'ere.''
With that info Bryce knew he had to act on it, create a barrier of some sorts to keep those guys out. Fighting was fun, but not in an area he singlehandedly built. Unless.. there was someone who helped him? That part of his memory was still foggy, and it seemed he couldn't spend time figuring it out. He needed all the time he could get to build up some sort of defense. ''Hold on.'' Bryce suddenly said. ''Guys? Plural?''
''Yeah.'' Was the reply. ''There were three guys lookin' fer ya. Menacin' lookin' bunch, those three. Did not fuck around, did not come ta socialize, an' as said, they threatened with violence.'' The man said, shuddering at the memory, it seemed. ''One of 'em did some kind of laser thing with his hand an' blew a hole in the broadside of my barn.'' He then shrugged, chuckling a tiny bit even though this was a very serious matter. ''Figured that if he could hit th' broadside offa barn.. well, there would be more he coulda hit. I wasn't about ta test that theory though.'' He shook his head and looked at Bryce even more intently, all the light heartedness falling from his face as he went all serious. ''But they didn't stop there. They said that if an' when they returned they'd kill someone regardless of yer presence.''
Bryce sighed. ''Guess that means I shouldn't leave then..''
''Yeah, that would be the desired course o' action 'ere.''
''But I fail to see why I should care?'' He then asked. ''It's not like you've done anything for me. You didn't keep this place tidy, nor did you do anything to help me. And to top things off, you gave away my location to those undeserving wastes of scrap metal!'' Bryce's volume was increasing as he raised his hand slowly, his index finger tapping on the chest of the.. he supposed the man was a farmer?
Looking down at the finger on his chest there was an eery sensation coming over the farmer. ''I-I didn't tell them where ya were!'' He stuttered. ''I just told 'em where ya were gonna be!''
Noticeably struggling against the finger on his chest didn't help anything in this situation, Bryce kept it on there like metal on his body. ''And you also just told me not to go anywhere. Why should I not go anywhere?'' Bryce asked as his finger began to gather nasty amounts of energy.
''B-because they'd kill me if ya weren't here!'' The farmed spoke in a panic, feeling the heat of the finger on his chest.
Bryce grinned. ''I could get rid of that anxiety for you.'' He replied as this place did exactly nothing for his desire to end this guy once and for all, simply for telling them they were in the right place. But also because the mandroid felt that it would be a service, a nice one, to allow the farmer to rest without fear of being killed by them once they came here.
The farmer, catching on to this, started sweating and almost began begging. ''Please don't! I.. I can help ya rebuild!'' He offered. ''I can tell ya more about them! They told me quite a bit, you know?''
''And you failed to tell me?'' Bryce said as he took his finger off of the chest, deciding that at the very least getting some help rebuilding this place, as well as keeping the farm in working order, would be helpful. Someone to look over it all when he wasn't there. ''I'll give you two options.'' The mandroid began. ''Help me rebuild this place and tell me about those men, or die. And trust me, I'm more creative than they will ever be.'' There was a final poke to the chest of the farmer and a small pulse shot from his finger; a warning blast.
===========================
WC: 2079