Scene #2480: Septette Canary

Owner	Pose
Kyra Hyral	When asked where to meet, Septette will be directed to a modest apartment in Njorun in a tightly-packed building. There's nothing too spectacular about the outside nor is there anything too spectacular about the inside other than that it's kind of a mess. Within houses Kyra Hyral and Dominic Masoch, a pair of crazy teenagers that have abandoned their families. Paraphenelia from each teen is strewn around the three-room apartment, the majority of which seems to be Kyra's junk. Her stuff tends to fall into one of two categories: laboratory equipment that trends towards the biological sciences or various soundsystem machines. All of the more technological items from the mPad to the turntable are Galianda technolgy-essentially magitek. The most obvious sign of this is that they don't have plugs or means of hooking up to the electricity provided in the apartment. In the kitchen area is where Kyra can be found, a laptop spread upon the table in the center of the room. The door to the apartment has been left unlocked since the white mage is certainly expecting Septette.
Septette Arcubielle	With a little trepidation, Septette strolls through Njorun's apartment complexes, with that lavender cloak of hers wrapped tightly around her oddly angular shoulders. The hood is down, but even so it does a decent job of hiding her unusual appearance; the robot girl's face and hands are the most lifelike parts of her by far. Kyra certainly seems kind enough, but it's hard to tell how meeting her in person will go- and while Septette usually isn't bothered by the possibility that others might be surprised by her appearance, she's already grown to care what Ms. Hyral thinks of her. So the war machine finds herself staring down the doorknob on Kyra's front door, with her ribcage expanding and contracting in a subconscious imitation of a sigh. This is so, so silly. You don't need to be scared of meeting her, Sept. Just open the door. It creaks, and she pauses with one clawed foot on the threshold. "Um... Kyra? You're in there, right?" She mutters something under her breath about walking into the wrong apartment...
Kyra Hyral	"Yeah! I'm here! Come in!" Kyra calls out from...well, not too far away. The kitchen seems semi-open to the front door. She does not sound as chipper as usual. Septette, having heard her talking amongst the Flotilla radio before, will notice this right away. Weary and exhausted, the white mage rests her chin in her hands as she stares at her computer, a set of thick headphones having fallen to rest around her neck. Her face is fully visible right now, the hoodie not on her head at all. When Septette finally comes in, Kyra looks up from her computer. She can't help it-there is a brief moment of surprise when she sees Septette for the first time. Just what had she been expecting from the android in appearance? There's a pause before she offers a subdued "Hi." Kyra does not look afraid, though-just tired and not up to her usual full-on levels of scientific curiosity. "Wow, you do kind of remind me of Zwei a little! C'mon in. It's nice to meet you in person." There is another chair in the kitchen, but it is a chair for 'squishies' as Septette calls them so android compatability is questionable.
Septette Arcubielle	Her expression doesn't change much, but Septette is more than a little relieved by the low-key reception. Her glowing eyes dim slightly as she relaxes and steps inside, closing the door behind her and eyeing the chair suspiciously. The robot might be slight of figure, but that exoskeleton of hers is surprisingly dense; she's not going to risk breaking her host's furniture. Instead, she strolls over, smiling warmly, and leans on the wall next to Kyra. It seems they're just about the same height! "Pleased to meet you as well, Miss Hyral! You're a good bit younger than I assumed, given your credentials and talents..." Given the way she looks at those piercings inquisitively, it doesn't seem they're a common fashion where she's from, but she doesn't remark on it. "Our resemblance is more than coincidence, but I'm afraid it's also rather superficial," Septette replies as she hangs her cloak over the back of a chair. Her figure is too inhuman to seem immodest, but it might be rather surprising anyway; the red core inside her metal ribcage in particular is giving off enough magical energy to be detectable for miles. "We have similar functions, and well-made machines often exhibit convergent designs. ... What'cha doing there?"
Kyra Hyral	Kyra doesn't seem all that surprised when Septette doesn't sit down. It's easy for her to assume that her guest is much more dense than she lets on. She must be if she can operate in the extreme environments she has listed before. "Oh, I am? How old did you think I was." she grins just a little bit, "Well, I /am/ a genius!" Debatably. Now that Septette has removed her cloak, Kyra is staring. She shakes herself out of it with a slight embarassed blush on her face. It was just so different, she couldnt' help but stare. "Oh, uh, me? Just...cleaning up some music. Putting some things together to help get my mind off of...stuff." She rubs her elbow with her other arm. Physically, she looks perfectly fine, her injures from last night having been treated with healing magic. "Sooo...you said you sing, right?"
Septette Arcubielle	Sensing that Kyra is trying to change the topic, Septette plays along, breaking eye contact and pretending not to notice that faint blush. "Not certain what I expected," she replies. "You don't sound old or anything, but most of the accomplished healers I know are in their late twenties, at least." Her eyes flicker in an approximation of a blink, and a wry smile finds its way onto her lips. "'Genius' is a slippery term, you know. Not that I doubt you are very clever indeed..." Folding her arms behind her back, the robot girl nods a couple of times, and pretends to clear her throat. Little mannerisms like that are entirely unnecessary for her, but centuries of interacting with humans have made them second nature. "On occasion, yes... not sure how rusty I am," she jokes, then turns her eyes 'off' and rocks back and forth on her heels slightly. She hums wordlessly at first- a quiet melody, pitch-perfect, minor key but up-tempo. "Seven times I went down," she sings softly, in a quavering and expressive tone rather different from her speaking voice. "Six times I walked back... and I don't fear the dark anymore, for I've become all that- all that, all that- I will be rocks, I will be water, I will leave this to my daughter; lift your head up in the wind..." It sounds almost like a folk song in style, albeit a rather mournful one. "When you feel yourself grow colder, wrap the night around your shoulders... and I will be with you even then, even when I cannot see your face... anymore." Her voice fades to silence, as if she's forgotten what words come next, and as her eyes turn back on she suddenly seems to grow more self-conscious, rubbing the back of her neck and leaning against the wall again. "Um... n-not sure if you've heard that one," she says after a moment, reverting to her speaking voice.
Kyra Hyral	"W..well, 'fast learner' could also work. But my Job is white mage so healing comes to me easier than most." Kyra reddens again in embarassment. "I've been sure to get lots of experience in it lately. There's been some...hiccups but it's worked out." Maybe Septette has noticed that some of the other members call her 'kid' now. Her age might have to do with that though she seems to be desperately trying to dispell the notion that she's some kind of rookie. Patiently, she waits for Septette to sing, growing very quiet as she does, watching the android. A small smile grows on her face as she listens, struck at how different Septette's singing voice sounds compared to her normal speaking voice. When she finishes, Kyra applauds a little. "That was very nice, actually! No, I've never heard that song before. Where's it from? Do you ever record what you sing? I bet you're equipped to do that."
Septette Arcubielle	"Not really sure where it's from," Septette replies as she composes herself again. "It's just one of those songs that's been around forever, y'know? I hear there's an interesting story behind the lyrics, but..." She shrugs, then frowns slightly as her left shoulder catches in its socket and refuses to come back down. She reaches up and presses on it hard with her right hand while rolling her shoulders, and it pops back into joint with an audible snap. "All of my memories are effectively 'recorded'," she continues, as if nothing had happened. "But nobody's really expressed an interest in listening to them... Singing isn't really popular in my world compared to instrumentals anyway, and a synthetic voice doesn't go that well with traditional accompaniment."
Kyra Hyral	"I've never heard it before. But we're from different worlds so that's not THAT surprising." Kyra clearly doesn't expect similar songs to show up from world to world. In most cases this is true, after all. "What's the story behind it? Do you know?" She leans forward expectantly, watching casually as Septette pops her arm back into her shoulder joint. Slowly, Kyra frowns. "Really? Instrumentals /only/? I guess people on your world just don't appreciate what a synthetic voice can add to a song. Autotuning, for all the flack it gets, can really make something sound pretty awesome. Here-" Kyra fools around with her computer for a few seconds before bringing up some music. It sounds like church music of some kind....but autotuned. It's definitely /unique/. "It mixes in with Mogstep really well."
Septette Arcubielle	Tilting her head slightly, Septette raises an eyebrow as she listens, then nods. "I think I see what you mean, yeah... that's certainly something. I've heard similar techniques used in other worlds, but not in my own. We don't really have the requisite technology, with a few..." She smiles wryly, and gestures at herself. "... lingering exceptions." Peering at the screen intently, Septette pretends to chew her lower lip. "So this was originally music dedicated to a god? That's... kinda interesting. Fairly uncommon where I come from, save for the praises the Deep Ones sang of their Abyssal God. I can still hear it..." Again, her eyes turn off, and she stands up straight, hands folded behind her back. What comes out of her mouth next is rather... unusual. Syllables formed of audible, deafening silence- not quiet themselves, but somehow blotting out all background noise- flow off of her tongue, somehow distinct from one another and strung together into words. Despite being percieved as the absence of sound, the syllables manage to rise and fall in pitch, warbling softly; the Translation Effect does nothing to help decipher what's actually being said, but it's rather unsettling and foreboding.
Kyra Hyral	'We don't really have the requisite technology' gets an immediate eyebrow raise from Kyra. "Really? With /your/ capabilities? Did your world become hyperfocused on building androids like you?" She does vaguely recall Septette mentioning that there have been others, ones that were even formerly humans. "That's really strange. And a shame. Technology is wonderful! It can improve /so/ many things!" She goes quiet for a moment, "Well. Yeah. People from my world express their devotion to their gods in all kinds of ways. Song, art, stories. I, uh, I didn't make this one." She looks pretty uncomfortable with this subject, especially as the 'Deep Ones' are mentioned. Kyra's been to Kingsmouth before, after all. She grows even more unsettled as Septette mimics the noise she has recorded-or singing, rather. "T..that's ominous..." she says hastily. "But at the same time very...unique. I kind of want to record these things and mix them in somewhere."
Septette Arcubielle	Septette giggles, and shakes her head. "You might not want to do that, Ms. Hyral. That particular chant was- well, it's hard to translate, but it describes the thousand-eyed maw of the Abyssal God and the blind omnicidal hatred it embodies, in flowery and glowing terms. I wouldn't want you to accidentally remix it into an eldritch incantation," she jokes, though her tone implies there's at least a hint of seriousness in the warning. She shakes her head, and grows a little more somber at Kyra's questions. "That's not quite it... the humans of my world never harnessed electricity, outside of basic alchemical applications and elemental magic. Hot air balloons and muzzle-loading firearms are considered state-of-the-art there. Medical science is more advanced, but most doctors fall back on magical healing anyway." "Simply put, I'm not of human design," she finishes. "The Abyssal God came to our world from a place beyond the stars, but so too did Yggdrasil, a tree possessed of knowledge and wisdom beyond any our world had known before. My kind look human not because we were styled after our creators, but because we were designed as ambassadors to mankind- as well as warriors to fight the Deep Ones. But Yggdrasil guarded that knowledge jealously, and when it entered a deep slumber at the end of the war, it took its technology with it."
Kyra Hyral	"....oooh, in that case, maybe a remix should be avoided." No, actually, Kyra's remix probably would summon the Deep One by accident. It's just that kind of thing a wayward schoolgirl might accomplish without really intending too. The white mage is brimming with bad ideas, after all. "...oh, yeah, that would explain it." Kyra nods, "I've seen societies that haven't achieved power generation. They usually don't get too far. Doctors without magical healing...you see that in some places too, it's not pretty." But the real reason for Septette's advanced state is revealed and Kyra looks a little shocked. "Oh, well, that would explain it. You are god-born technology, not hume-born technology. Pretty electric. Er. Cool. So there are others like you out there?"
Septette Arcubielle	Something behind Septette's eyes shifts, and her smile momentarily flickers. She looks wistful- almost mournful- for an instant, but the little robot seems to swiftly catch herself, and shifts back to her previous cheery demeanor. "There were thousands of us once," she says quietly. "Most died in the war; I still find bits and pieces of them lying in dark caverns and old battlefields. Some almost salvageable; some little more than dust. Many more voluntarily shut down, permanently, when the war ended: like Yggdrasil, they simply saw no purpose in continuing to exist once their mission was fulfilled." "As for the rest... with Yggdrasil gone, there was no-one with the knowledge to repair us. Attrition did its share over the centuries. So did mental instability: all of us saw unspeakable things, and none of us could ever forget a moment of it." She pauses for a moment, and runs those clawed fingers through her hair. "There are still a few of us left. Those who wanted to continue living, and were lucky enough to have that wish granted... I'm the only one foolish enough to keep trying to protect humanity, after two centuries of obsolesence. The others have the common sense to lead quiet lives now."
Kyra Hyral	"...oh." Kyra slowly frowns, "I..your world had a war, huh. I'm sorry to hear that, Septette." she says quietly as she realizes that Septette is one of th elast of her kind on her world. Unless someone from another world knew how to repair the others? She doesn't voice this option out loud though because it's fairly obvious and Kyra assumes Septette would have thought this already. "Two centuries is a long time to be considered 'obsolete.' You're nice, though, so I'm glad you decided to keep living. Even with the dangerous stuff." she manages a little smile at that last part. "But you're with our Flotilla now. So it's good you're still prepared for the dangerous stuff, Septette."
Septette Arcubielle	"Not a war between squishies, fortunately!" She brightens somewhat, and flicks her long black hair back over her shoulder. "They're usually too busy fighting the environment to fight one another. No; this was between us and the Deep Ones. We killed their progenitor, smashed their altars, and cast down their god!" She beams, seeming to recall that part fondly, at least. "I'm glad to hear you think I'm nice, at least," she continues with a warm smile. "Perhaps I've mellowed with age- that wasn't always the case. ... You seem like a very kind person as well, Ms. Hyral. I do look forward to working with you in the future."
Kyra Hyral	"I would hope not! I'd be worried if a wisdom tree of a god sent down ambassadors in the shape of humes to break up a hume war!" Kyra exclaims with some bit of an alarm, though she nods in understanding when she claims that the humans of her world are too busy fighting the environment to fight each other, "You know it's better that way. It sucks to have humes fighting each other. I've seen it on my world." She straightens a little to listen as Septette describes her campaign. "A..aw..." Kyra flushes, "Thank you Septette. Y..yeah, I think we'll work well together. And you know what I also think? I think you should share recordings of your singing voice. It'snice."
Septette Arcubielle	Sept frowns a little. "Yggdrasil... wasn't really a god. Abusive parent, yes. Eldritch abomination, yes. Brilliant sociopath, yes. But it simply didn't care aenough to want to be worshipped. Some people- now that it is no longer within living memory- do venerate it, but I try to discourage the practice." Her mood shifts abruptly a moment later, however, and she glances at the floor nervously as a cooling fan switches on inside her with a quiet whine. "That's... I'm not sure I could. I'd be happy to record something for you to use in your songs, but I'm not... not much of a musician."
Kyra Hyral	"...oh. Uh. I'm sorry to hear THAT too." Kyra looks kind of shocked to hear Septette speak like this about her creator. Eventually, she does approve since it's a very rebellious stance to take. The initial surprise is still a thing though. "Good thing it didn't make you in its image." Kyra adds. For the music: "Oh, yeah, that's pretty much what I meant Septette. A recording of your song so I can use it in mixes. Personally I don't mind listening to it on my own but I think it could be dubstepped up pretty easily. And hey, your voice is nice, don't sell yourself short!"