Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

“Well, I wasn’t developing it. I was a sort of beta test for an actual product.”

 

"I didn't mean you specifically. It's a tangled mess with no cohesive variable naming."

 

"Thanks. What do you think?"

 

"Eh. Take it up with the dead."
I shrug, half-joking.

 

"It's a start. Nothing fancy, sure, but you at least understand the basics. Maybe try chiseling off the corners of the tile so it's round?"

"If their prototypes hadn't killed them, whoever tried to fix their code would've." She snickers.

 

"Alright."

I'll chisel the corners away.

 

"I know a shortcut to it, if you can swim." The water guardian says happily.

 

“Well, they would have to go through me, first.”
I say, snotty.
“Most of them were assholes.”
I change to a more serious tone.

 

“Love-hate relationship?”

“I’m a bit adverse to swimming. I’m a stonegazer... so anything I make eye contact with gets petrified. I don’t want to accidentally turn fish or other small creatures into stone.” Fenira admits.

It’s a lot harder, seeing as the tile’s cooled off a bit. However, after about a minute, you have a smiley octagon.
“About time to put it back in the fire. Are you done shaping it or do you want to keep working?”

 

"Nah. Only liked one of 'em. His name was Jack; he was pretty nice."

 

"Oh. Well, I think you can find a portal to the oceanic garden if you go west." The water guardian says happily.

 

"Can I keep shaping after you put it back in the fire?"

 

“Which way is west?”

“Yes, the point of putting it back in the fire is to make the metal easier to work.”

“That’s both sad and somewhat ironic.”

 

"How so?"

 

The guardian points westward, which seems to be behind them and to the left.

 

"Okay, do your thing."

I'll hand him the metal.

 

Epsi blocks you from touching the metal.
“You are not your girlfriend. Do not touch several hundred degree metal.” He says seriously, using forcepts to put the metal back in the fire.

Fenira nods.
“Thank you. Sorry to bother you.” She says, turning to leave.

“Humans have a tendency to poke fun at the name. That aside, one out of an entire crew is sort of... pitiful.”

 

"Yeah, but I think that the goal was to not get attached to the ones that were supposed to be scrapped."

 

"You know about her? Jeez, how many people do?"

 

“You spent a week in a cave with me, of course I know about her.”

“Unless you have no budget, you shouldn’t scrap the predecessors. I don’t know if I should dare inquire more about your origins, now...”