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@b-free
Welcome to B Free
Hello all, I'm Hibby (hibiscus-mist is my main blog. Beware I don't always tag and there's a lot that's just there in the open) the admin/mun for this Murder Drones based blog. I've not done one of these since my MLP days (It's been a few years tbh) but I like this enough to get myself in another blog! Below the Read More you'll see there's information about characters and where they are along with other stuff.
UPDATED 5/12/26
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
“Ah. I’m no stranger to getting people blown up. One time I managed to implant some relatively small scarabs in a population, then when everyone was together in a gathering, I had the scarabs blow up the people they were in.”
"Yeah, but this is more like... water balloon physics I think?" Zeta hummed a little bit as she noticed a bit of a change visually in the area of compression vs outside of it. "Huh... neat..."
She spun the other way, squinting as she focused. He was alive so far, but it was fast enough that the exposed skin was seen to bubble a bit. "Oop... too fast... maybe...?" She made a face.
The Pilgrim was starting to visibly panic.
“What if I put my hand in?”
"Uh... Might feel the pressure difference? You don't really have flesh and the reaction comes from the natural gasses inside a meat based creature compressing and decompressing..." Zeta shrugged. She'd slowed things down a lot. "He's probably hella itchy though."
"Yeah, the whole skin bubble thing is a lot but the itching is what hits hard. I would think at least. No one likes being itchy."
“I forgot what that feels like. Anyway, will it get worse for him beyond being itchy?”
"It can! Though that's... I guess it's like, dependent on the activity?"
Alex tilted her head. "Some is like you get really lightheaded and dizzy and other stuff is like you can just lose use of your legs entirely or even your ability to 'eject waste' to be polite." Zeta seemed to find the point where she was done, and dropped both solvers. It let the guy fall to the ground, the bubble of atmosphere around him suddenly back to what was around naturally.
"Yeah, I kinda hope he doesn't get gross on your tombworld's floor or whatever..." Zeta made a face as she tilted her head and used a bit of the solver to turn him over. "Definitely hurting though."
Anutek walks over to pilgrim, stares down at him for a little bit, and then kicks the pilgrim so hard he flies across the area, landing with a loud crunch sound. The Pilgrim attempts to get up but fails to do so, scrambling and eventually just giving up on the floor.
“You think that improved or damaged his health?”
"Definitely damaged. I mean... Varying amounts of pain are the most common things to happen, the bubbles on the skin are kind of a severe second, and then there's alteration of the skin in patches that include scar-like swelling or indents as well as discoloration." Alex shrugged.
"Yeah. He's gunna be pretty fucked, especially if he don't get treatment." Zeta shrugged. "Probably gunna start seein' stuff too. Visual hallucinations might be rare, but with the extra smackin' around... he'll probably get it."
“I wasn’t referring to that, I was referring to this.”
Anutek walks over and kicks the pilgrim multiple times, leaving them sprawled on the ground, groaning and spitting up blood.
"Oh!" The pair spoke at the same time.
"Yeah that damaged his health." Alex nodded.
"Don't really see how it could fix him... that'd be impressive in another way!" Zeta laughed.
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
Cassidy tilted her head to the side, a giant smile showing off the young girl at her core.
"I love you."
The blush came back a bit more at that, eyes widening.
"If this is a dream, it's a super nice one wow... Heh... I... I love you too Cassidy..." His smile was a bit more shy, and he brought his other hand over to cover Cassidy's with both. "I... dunno when that started really... b-but I do... I'm super sure of it."
"I'm glad."
Cassidy's face went blank. "Though I should tell you now to ready yourself for Terra and Brianna."
A second passed in silence before she laughed. Her gaze trailed to their hands. She didn't want to let go, but she also didn't know what to do now.
His expression turned a little stressed. "Terra I can handle... Brianna is... I don't know how well I can handle that." He looked to his pants, reminded of the way he got them. "She... She's a very intense lady..."
"Oh I think I can agree on that one." Mari stepped back over, sipping a shake. "She's got that Carter energy and attitude."
"Yeah, she is. You can thank her for my phone... and probably my current sense of fashion." She looked up. "Like, really. I used to only have my one yellow and black outfit and wouldn't touch cosmetics with a 10 ft pole. Now I'm brushing my hair, doing lashes with my own digital makeup tablet, painting my claws, shaping my claws, wearing a silicone tint at all times, putting together outfits..."
She blinked.
"Wow."
How are you surprised by that?
"I mean..." Sparrow blinked back. "She might have influenced you, but you're the one putting in effort to keep looking as pretty as you do." He smiled a little bit. "I... will thank her for helping you along though."
"Especially because it makes you comfortable and figure some of who you are out." Mari smiled warmly.
"That's true. I've had a lot of self discovery since I met Spectre. I mean, you remember the picture I showed you, right Sparrow?"
Cassidy moved back and quickly finished eating.
"This was nice."
"I... I do." He nodded, moving to throw away the trash that he had gathered up.
"It was a nice day." Mari smiled as she looked to Sparrow as he returned.
"I'm a little tired... but... It was good. I'm... happy that it feels like things are getting better..." He smiled brightly, blushing just a bit at Cassidy.
"Well, we best get you home then Sparrow." Mari pat his head, gently after all the poking from the doctor. He offered Cassidy a hand.
"We could drop you off on the way if you want Cassidy?" He blinked and tilted his head, wondering if she wanted that.
Cassidy's eyelights widened.
"I'd love that. Thank you."
"Hehe. Then let's go! We'll drop you off before we head home!" He took her hand, and gently tugged her up to walk with.
Mari simply smiled and walked along, giving them polite distance.
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
“Ah. I’m no stranger to getting people blown up. One time I managed to implant some relatively small scarabs in a population, then when everyone was together in a gathering, I had the scarabs blow up the people they were in.”
"Yeah, but this is more like... water balloon physics I think?" Zeta hummed a little bit as she noticed a bit of a change visually in the area of compression vs outside of it. "Huh... neat..."
She spun the other way, squinting as she focused. He was alive so far, but it was fast enough that the exposed skin was seen to bubble a bit. "Oop... too fast... maybe...?" She made a face.
The Pilgrim was starting to visibly panic.
“What if I put my hand in?”
"Uh... Might feel the pressure difference? You don't really have flesh and the reaction comes from the natural gasses inside a meat based creature compressing and decompressing..." Zeta shrugged. She'd slowed things down a lot. "He's probably hella itchy though."
"Yeah, the whole skin bubble thing is a lot but the itching is what hits hard. I would think at least. No one likes being itchy."
“I forgot what that feels like. Anyway, will it get worse for him beyond being itchy?”
"It can! Though that's... I guess it's like, dependent on the activity?"
Alex tilted her head. "Some is like you get really lightheaded and dizzy and other stuff is like you can just lose use of your legs entirely or even your ability to 'eject waste' to be polite." Zeta seemed to find the point where she was done, and dropped both solvers. It let the guy fall to the ground, the bubble of atmosphere around him suddenly back to what was around naturally.
"Yeah, I kinda hope he doesn't get gross on your tombworld's floor or whatever..." Zeta made a face as she tilted her head and used a bit of the solver to turn him over. "Definitely hurting though."
Anutek walks over to pilgrim, stares down at him for a little bit, and then kicks the pilgrim so hard he flies across the area, landing with a loud crunch sound. The Pilgrim attempts to get up but fails to do so, scrambling and eventually just giving up on the floor.
“You think that improved or damaged his health?”
"Definitely damaged. I mean... Varying amounts of pain are the most common things to happen, the bubbles on the skin are kind of a severe second, and then there's alteration of the skin in patches that include scar-like swelling or indents as well as discoloration." Alex shrugged.
"Yeah. He's gunna be pretty fucked, especially if he don't get treatment." Zeta shrugged. "Probably gunna start seein' stuff too. Visual hallucinations might be rare, but with the extra smackin' around... he'll probably get it."
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
“Ah. I’m no stranger to getting people blown up. One time I managed to implant some relatively small scarabs in a population, then when everyone was together in a gathering, I had the scarabs blow up the people they were in.”
"Yeah, but this is more like... water balloon physics I think?" Zeta hummed a little bit as she noticed a bit of a change visually in the area of compression vs outside of it. "Huh... neat..."
She spun the other way, squinting as she focused. He was alive so far, but it was fast enough that the exposed skin was seen to bubble a bit. "Oop... too fast... maybe...?" She made a face.
The Pilgrim was starting to visibly panic.
“What if I put my hand in?”
"Uh... Might feel the pressure difference? You don't really have flesh and the reaction comes from the natural gasses inside a meat based creature compressing and decompressing..." Zeta shrugged. She'd slowed things down a lot. "He's probably hella itchy though."
"Yeah, the whole skin bubble thing is a lot but the itching is what hits hard. I would think at least. No one likes being itchy."
“I forgot what that feels like. Anyway, will it get worse for him beyond being itchy?”
"It can! Though that's... I guess it's like, dependent on the activity?"
Alex tilted her head. "Some is like you get really lightheaded and dizzy and other stuff is like you can just lose use of your legs entirely or even your ability to 'eject waste' to be polite." Zeta seemed to find the point where she was done, and dropped both solvers. It let the guy fall to the ground, the bubble of atmosphere around him suddenly back to what was around naturally.
"Yeah, I kinda hope he doesn't get gross on your tombworld's floor or whatever..." Zeta made a face as she tilted her head and used a bit of the solver to turn him over. "Definitely hurting though."
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
Cassidy tilted her head to the side, a giant smile showing off the young girl at her core.
"I love you."
The blush came back a bit more at that, eyes widening.
"If this is a dream, it's a super nice one wow... Heh... I... I love you too Cassidy..." His smile was a bit more shy, and he brought his other hand over to cover Cassidy's with both. "I... dunno when that started really... b-but I do... I'm super sure of it."
"I'm glad."
Cassidy's face went blank. "Though I should tell you now to ready yourself for Terra and Brianna."
A second passed in silence before she laughed. Her gaze trailed to their hands. She didn't want to let go, but she also didn't know what to do now.
His expression turned a little stressed. "Terra I can handle... Brianna is... I don't know how well I can handle that." He looked to his pants, reminded of the way he got them. "She... She's a very intense lady..."
"Oh I think I can agree on that one." Mari stepped back over, sipping a shake. "She's got that Carter energy and attitude."
"Yeah, she is. You can thank her for my phone... and probably my current sense of fashion." She looked up. "Like, really. I used to only have my one yellow and black outfit and wouldn't touch cosmetics with a 10 ft pole. Now I'm brushing my hair, doing lashes with my own digital makeup tablet, painting my claws, shaping my claws, wearing a silicone tint at all times, putting together outfits..."
She blinked.
"Wow."
How are you surprised by that?
"I mean..." Sparrow blinked back. "She might have influenced you, but you're the one putting in effort to keep looking as pretty as you do." He smiled a little bit. "I... will thank her for helping you along though."
"Especially because it makes you comfortable and figure some of who you are out." Mari smiled warmly.
"That's true. I've had a lot of self discovery since I met Spectre. I mean, you remember the picture I showed you, right Sparrow?"
Cassidy moved back and quickly finished eating.
"This was nice."
"I... I do." He nodded, moving to throw away the trash that he had gathered up.
"It was a nice day." Mari smiled as she looked to Sparrow as he returned.
"I'm a little tired... but... It was good. I'm... happy that it feels like things are getting better..." He smiled brightly, blushing just a bit at Cassidy.
"Well, we best get you home then Sparrow." Mari pat his head, gently after all the poking from the doctor. He offered Cassidy a hand.
"We could drop you off on the way if you want Cassidy?" He blinked and tilted his head, wondering if she wanted that.
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
“Ah. I’m no stranger to getting people blown up. One time I managed to implant some relatively small scarabs in a population, then when everyone was together in a gathering, I had the scarabs blow up the people they were in.”
"Yeah, but this is more like... water balloon physics I think?" Zeta hummed a little bit as she noticed a bit of a change visually in the area of compression vs outside of it. "Huh... neat..."
She spun the other way, squinting as she focused. He was alive so far, but it was fast enough that the exposed skin was seen to bubble a bit. "Oop... too fast... maybe...?" She made a face.
The Pilgrim was starting to visibly panic.
“What if I put my hand in?”
"Uh... Might feel the pressure difference? You don't really have flesh and the reaction comes from the natural gasses inside a meat based creature compressing and decompressing..." Zeta shrugged. She'd slowed things down a lot. "He's probably hella itchy though."
"Yeah, the whole skin bubble thing is a lot but the itching is what hits hard. I would think at least. No one likes being itchy."
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
Cassidy tilted her head to the side, a giant smile showing off the young girl at her core.
"I love you."
The blush came back a bit more at that, eyes widening.
"If this is a dream, it's a super nice one wow... Heh... I... I love you too Cassidy..." His smile was a bit more shy, and he brought his other hand over to cover Cassidy's with both. "I... dunno when that started really... b-but I do... I'm super sure of it."
"I'm glad."
Cassidy's face went blank. "Though I should tell you now to ready yourself for Terra and Brianna."
A second passed in silence before she laughed. Her gaze trailed to their hands. She didn't want to let go, but she also didn't know what to do now.
His expression turned a little stressed. "Terra I can handle... Brianna is... I don't know how well I can handle that." He looked to his pants, reminded of the way he got them. "She... She's a very intense lady..."
"Oh I think I can agree on that one." Mari stepped back over, sipping a shake. "She's got that Carter energy and attitude."
"Yeah, she is. You can thank her for my phone... and probably my current sense of fashion." She looked up. "Like, really. I used to only have my one yellow and black outfit and wouldn't touch cosmetics with a 10 ft pole. Now I'm brushing my hair, doing lashes with my own digital makeup tablet, painting my claws, shaping my claws, wearing a silicone tint at all times, putting together outfits..."
She blinked.
"Wow."
How are you surprised by that?
"I mean..." Sparrow blinked back. "She might have influenced you, but you're the one putting in effort to keep looking as pretty as you do." He smiled a little bit. "I... will thank her for helping you along though."
"Especially because it makes you comfortable and figure some of who you are out." Mari smiled warmly.
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
“Ah. I’m no stranger to getting people blown up. One time I managed to implant some relatively small scarabs in a population, then when everyone was together in a gathering, I had the scarabs blow up the people they were in.”
"Yeah, but this is more like... water balloon physics I think?" Zeta hummed a little bit as she noticed a bit of a change visually in the area of compression vs outside of it. "Huh... neat..."
She spun the other way, squinting as she focused. He was alive so far, but it was fast enough that the exposed skin was seen to bubble a bit. "Oop... too fast... maybe...?" She made a face.
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
Cassidy tilted her head to the side, a giant smile showing off the young girl at her core.
"I love you."
The blush came back a bit more at that, eyes widening.
"If this is a dream, it's a super nice one wow... Heh... I... I love you too Cassidy..." His smile was a bit more shy, and he brought his other hand over to cover Cassidy's with both. "I... dunno when that started really... b-but I do... I'm super sure of it."
"I'm glad."
Cassidy's face went blank. "Though I should tell you now to ready yourself for Terra and Brianna."
A second passed in silence before she laughed. Her gaze trailed to their hands. She didn't want to let go, but she also didn't know what to do now.
His expression turned a little stressed. "Terra I can handle... Brianna is... I don't know how well I can handle that." He looked to his pants, reminded of the way he got them. "She... She's a very intense lady..."
"Oh I think I can agree on that one." Mari stepped back over, sipping a shake. "She's got that Carter energy and attitude."
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
“Flying after scuba diving? Are you going to dunk it in water and launch it into the sky?”
Meanwhile the pilgrim was trying to crawl away from the solver symbols in terror before being kicked back in place by Anutek.
"No, see... There's this sickness, usually called The Bends or Decompression Sickness that comes from gasses in the body bubbling out after compressin' and decompressin'. There's a rule where if ya go divin' you can't go on a plane fer twenty four hours after otherwise you get this stuff happenin' and there's a lot of ways for that to go down." Zeta shrugged.
"And if it happens fast enough it has the potential to explode a person." Alex made the explosion motion with her hands. "It can either look gross and feel horrific or just cause death."
"Probably end up killin' him if I do it wrong." Zeta shrugged, using the solver to pick the guy up by the back of his robe and dangle him above the floor so he couldn't go crawling. She brought her other hand up and spun up a symbol in both hands, tongue peeking out as she concentrated on compressing the atmosphere between the four symbols that moved around the human suspended in the air. "Let's find out..."
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
Cassidy tilted her head to the side, a giant smile showing off the young girl at her core.
"I love you."
The blush came back a bit more at that, eyes widening.
"If this is a dream, it's a super nice one wow... Heh... I... I love you too Cassidy..." His smile was a bit more shy, and he brought his other hand over to cover Cassidy's with both. "I... dunno when that started really... b-but I do... I'm super sure of it."
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
She laughed.
"If it is, I'll be waiting for you."
As her laughter died down, she just smiled, looking into Sparrow's eyelights.
I wonder if this is how Ai feels with Apollo.
"Hey, Sparrow?"
He laughed with her. It was nice. He was happy.
"Y-yeah Cassidy?" Looking back at her, the blush dusting his visor, he was content. A little slow, still, but he was alright.
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
“I-“
The Pilgrim turns around, sees Anutek, and an expression of complete and utter horror overtakes their face. The Pilgrim stares for a good few seconds before screaming the loudest scream both Alex and Zeta have ever heard in their lives. In response, Anutek swings his free arm back, and slaps the pilgrim’s jaw off before dropping them. The pilgrim crawls around before doing what looks like a prayer.
“Wanna finish it off?”
"Fucking ow..." Alex had clapped her hands over her ears. "Sensitive... jesus tap dancing christ on a pogo stick."
"Yeah, I hear that one." Zeta huffed, wiping a hand over her 'ear' as she stared at the sniveling person. "Sorry excuse of humanity there, though." Zeta hummed a bit.
"Go on Zeta."
"Wait, me?" The drone looked confused.
"Hey. If anyone has a right to mess with a human, I think it's a drone. After all, you were bought 'used'." Alex rolled her eyes as Zeta shrugged.
"Yeah, and I'm happy with you." She did spin up her solver while she spoke, though. "Let's just see... I kinda wonder if I can do this..."
On the left and right sides of the penitent, larger solver symbols appeared and spun up. She was trying to fix his jaw, practicing some time manipulation, or if she could actually do it on an organic being.
"Hey Miss Boss..."
"Yeah?"
"Should he go flying after scuba diving?"
"Gross?" Alex blinked at Zeta, whom simply smiled a bit.
"What? I can test if I got some like... what is it? Reality altering powers or whatever right? Change the pressure in like a bubble..."
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
"Movies sound great. Though, I'm not one for being treated, so..."
Smiling, Cassidy brought her hand up to Sparrow's cheek, then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a simple peck on the lips, no longer than a second.
"There. Now when we have that date, we'll be even."
Sparrow smiled a little bit, though his blush didn't grow.
"I... um... I thought... this makes it even? S-since... I um... kissed you in... in school..." His laugh was a little awkward, but it was happy. He looked down to the hands that were holding still and sighed a bit. "I really hope this isn't another dream... Gosh if it was I'd have to ask you out first!" Now he was laughing just a little bit more. The blush was dying down a lot more, as he was much more comfortable.
Mari had chosen to take Cassidy out with her. After all, groceries were not going to buy themselves and Sparrow had a mess he had made to clean up.
"I'm glad we were able to spend at least some time together." Mari smiled a bit as they headed back, bags of groceries and other essentials in hand. "It makes it so much easier to shop when I don't have to guess what you like!" It also made it feel like a more normal day.
"With the extra hands, we'll be able to put these away before the appointment. I forgot that we'd needed to reschedule it... Though I do wish they'd simply switched the doctors around..." Mari did seem slightly peeved about the unexpected change that had been sprung on them.
( @b-free Huzzah things and stuff! )
Though she no longer lived there, Cassidy happily agreed to join Mari in some time spent before the appointment. She walked in a simple red dress with short sleeves. The only other thing of note were her feet, which were currently in their heel configuration, adding a few inches to her height.
"Yeah, I don't normally shop for this kind of stuff," she said. "I'm happy you thought to invite me."
"A-and you'd always have a home with us!" Sparrow blurted with a little stutter, a few crumbs slipping from his lips and making his aunt laugh.
"Oh dear... Yes, my little fledgling is right. You would, though I think he might miss you quite some."
"Uh... I'm... jealous I guess... I mean... I still dunno what I really wanna do... or can do..." Sparrow looked at the crumbs before he cleaned them up.
( @cursed-spectre Prev Link )
Cassidy nodded. "Of course. You were kind enough when I couldn't sleep at home."
She looked at Sparrow as he cleaned.
"You know, my first thought was you could join me"—she gave a nervous smile—"but I don't think you'd really be suited for it."
You just thought of it because you liked the thought of him being your date to one of the events.
"Yeah, can't deny that."
"Would that even be allowed?" Mari looked concerned. "Most internships I know don't allow tag-alongs... And... well, he would need his refills..." She was clearly worried about that more than him being away from home.
Sparrow blushed as he looked at Cassidy, eyes widening a little bit. Go along with her? To wherever the internship was? "I... Me? Go with you?"
"Possibly?" Cassidy shrugged. "But like I said, he isn't suited for it. It's far too dangerous."
She smiled at Mari. "I would never let him come along if he wasn't well equipped. And for a worker drone, I'd think Jonah's skill level would be bare minimum."
You're actually putting thought into this.
"Only because I want to make it as clear as possible."
Cassidy leaned over and put a hand on Sparrow's.
"Even with that said, I'm not sure I'd want you pursuing combat and stuff just for this. You've got a lot of options and time."
"I certainly wouldn't be against it... I'm sure that could look good on a resume. No matter what it is." Mari smiled at Sparrow, whom was a little stalled. No buffering was happening, but his movements were a little sluggish. "He has given up on wanting to be part of the WDF."
"Uh..." Sparrow winced slightly, working on picking a chain of conversation to go with. "Y-yeah... I... don't think... I'm fit for the WDF... N-not anymore... I... I think I want... something less physical..." His hand curled around Cassidy's.
"Yeah."
Cassidy's hand moved, now fully holding Sparrow's.
"I guess the check ups could be okay, so long as you stay safe when someone gets violent." She giggled. "I'm not sure you could handle the events, though that's for a different reason."
"I... Uh..." He blushed a little, looking to her hand. "I w-wouldn't say no if... if it really was ok to... um... g-go with you..."
"It'd be like camping! Likely safer and without worry of rogue disassembly drones happening upon the site." Mari mused, seeming to find the thought charming at least.
You aren't really going to say it, are you?
Cassidy smirked, her thumb tracing circles on Sparrow's hand.
"Hey Sparrow, do you want to go out with me?" She sounded confident, though she also blushed. Then she bit her lip.
Sorry, Sparrow.
He blinked once, hand tightening its hold on her own as Mari smiled softly at the pair and scooted back. She let the pair have a moment, going to get her own shake with a smile.
"A-aren't... I supposed... to... um... a-ask you?" The blush on his screen brightened. It wasn't a no, but it was certainly filled with some confusion. "B-because I-I um... I... w-wanted to a-ask b-b-but... I... um... I k-kept g-getting.... th-thoughts a-a-and y-you're... kinda... out of my league... I think..."
Cassidy felt horrible.
"I'm... sorry, Sparrow. I asked you just now to see your reaction. The events that my internship goes to... well, I'm not sure you'd do well. I feel like you might break."
She looked down at the table.
Well, what now.
Now, I give up.
On what?
Cassidy stood up, removing her hand as she walked to Sparrow and sat next to him. The moment she did, Sparrow's hand was taken again.
"That said, there was still truth behind it. If you'd like, we can just not do anything, and you can be the one to ask."
Her other hand came up, finding its placement over Sparrow's core.
"But if not, I would like to be your...girlfriend." She blushed hard at the word. "I do like you, Sparrow. You're sweet and caring, and after the event at the med wing, I found myself thinking about you more."
Ah, giving up on hiding it.
"You know my answer now, and I'm sorry for taking that away from you like this." She laughed. "Also I'm certainly not out of your league. And if I was? Wouldn't that be even better that I fell for you?"
Cassidy felt a bit better.
As she spoke, the blush dimmed a little bit, and a few tears pricked at his eyes.
It wasn't a joke. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't some long con against him. His hand squeezed her hand a bit tighter.
"I'm... not upset that I didn't get to ask..." His voice wobbled, but it was clearly emotion and not damage. "I... I think..." He swallowed. "I feel... really lucky that you like me back... A-and... W-well..." He took a breath and let it out slowly.
"Before... before you go to your internship... I want... I want to take you to the movies. My treat... as... as a first date... if you want to..." The brightness rose on his blush, but he was still looking at her, and smiling just a bit.
During the night, the sound of something large and armored could be heard being moved across Alex’s house. The sound eventually stops once the source of it reaches the approximate area of the living room. If someone were to investigate the room, they would find this:
Alex was not up, for once. The sound made her rise, and with tired eyes she stared at the armor from the foot of the stairs.
"Bro what..." She asked out loud as she ran her fingers through her hair. From the other side of the room, her five drones slowly peeked from the doorway to find out what the racket was.
"I know you do." Alex laughed a bit. "Pretty sure you have more weapons than all the planets might."
"Yeah, that... is actually a pretty good assumption." Zeta hummed.
( prev chunk )
“I have 9.8 million Necrons on my tombworld. 3.2 Billion more in the vaults on Gheden. Assuming every single one is a warrior, and this is excluding Canoptek, destroyer, and vehicles auxiliaries, then that would mean I have 4,100,200,000 gauss flayers.”
"So..." Alex squinted.
"That's over what we got humanity wise Miss Boss." Zeta crossed her arms. "Double that before ground zero."
"Yeah... space expansion..." Alex crossed her arms. "You have more planets than we have people."
“I only have 3 planets, those being the ones in the Xi Librae system. Although if you’re referring to the infinite empire, that does span the entire galaxy.”
"Well... We established you are clearly greater." Alex laughed at that.
“Such is the greatness of the Necrontyr.”
"Meanwhile we just have the rebuilding efforts and in-fighting of a growing society." Alex sighed.
"Not at all perfect... but it's a society." Zeta smiled a bit.
"Strangely... don't wanna change too much of it."
“Oh my kind still has infighting, do not forget how petty my people, including myself, can be.”
"Different kind though." Alex waved. "Probably a little more violence involved."
“A lot more involved. Have you seen what’s been happening to the Mephrit?”
"The who?"
"That's a no from us pal."
“The Mephrit dynasty were one of the most powerful dynasties. They possessed star destroying weapons, many of their “wars” involving them just boils down to them obliterating the stars of their enemies, and in turn destroying their solar systems. During the great sleep, their Phaeron died, causing them to be leaderless. They are now in a civil war, with many Mephrit nobles seeking alliances from those within other dynasties as well as their own. Some have decided it’s not worth it to fight, and have left and made their own dynasties.”
"I thought you guys couldn't really die?" Alex tilted her head.
“We can die. It’s just hard to kill us. The main method one could kill a Necron is by killing them in their stasis crypt during the Great Sleep, which I’m pretty sure is what happened to the Phaeron of the Mephrit. The other way is just completely destroy every stasis crypt and reanimation chamber on a tombworld. If a Necron tombworld wakes up, it’s usually very difficult to do either of those because the Necrons are awake and are also defending the tombs.”
"Oh. That still sounds difficult. Even if you were sleeping still." Alex crossed her arms.
“The killing a Necron is difficult or surviving the sleep is difficult?”
"Killing a Necron." Alex shrugged. "Not that I'd ever want to."
“The only time anyone has been successful are the Eldar because they know how to fight us.”
"Wipe them out and you probably wipe out a huge problem." Alex shrugged. "I'm not a fan, but I don't particularly like anyone that's an enemy of a friend."
“You see there’s a problem with that. Since one of the Chaos Gods, Slaanesh, was created by a certain group of Eldar, whenever an Eldar dies and their spirit stone is destroyed, it just feeds Slaanesh.”
"And that's a god your people haven't broken yet?" Alex blinked.
“It’s not a C’tan. The only gods we killed were the C’tan and the Old Ones. We have been creating pylons that block out the warp, although that doesn’t kill Slaanesh, it just prevents it from interacting with an area. I don’t think we can shatter the Chaos Gods. After all, they are the Formless Horror. You can’t shatter something if there isn’t a form to shatter.”
"So they're the dangerous ones." Alex nodded, humming a bit. "So just... Imprison the eldar eternally? Or something? Probably difficult... I dunno of course."
“The Eldar are already extinct, all that’s left are the small few populations left on the Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, Corsair fleets, and Commorragh. Although there’s likely thousands if not millions of them, they reproduce slowly, and any emotions that are too intense feed Slaanesh. We don’t have to do much, the Aeldari have already done it for us.”
"Ah." Alex nodded. "All I know is I'm not a fan of the chaos thing."
“No one is, with the obvious exception. Although some chaos space marines don’t even like chaos as well.”
"They're just kinda stuck being part of that faction?" Zeta spoke up, having been sipping at a drink she'd apparently brought with her during the conversation.
“No, it’s mostly that they work with chaos but they don’t really like it. The Iron Warriors for example will very commonly use daemon engines however will also amputate any chaos-born mutations that appear on their bodies.”
"Means to an end I guess." Alex shrugged.
“There’s also the Night Lords, as far as I’m aware they rarely use daemons, they joined chaos because they want to do whatever they want without imperial restrictions.”
"So... Is that technically Treason or just... like... betraying or whatever at this point?" Alex blinked.
“The Imperials call it ‘Heresy’.”
"Right... Religion based rule... That's still so weird to me." Alex hummed.
"Ditto there." Zeta nodded.
“They have entire planets called shrine worlds which are dedicated to religious worship. There’s a branch of their government called the Ecclesiarchy which manages religion and has its own personal army of religious fanatics called the Adepta Sororitas who holy trinity is composed of the Boltgun, Flamer, and Melta.”
"That's weird to me." Alex blinked. "I kind of hate that."
“Which thing do you hate? because there’s several things here to hate.”
"Mostly the mindless zealotry I guess? It seems mindless..." Alex shook her head. "Man I thought I hated a lot of humanity in my world. Yours? Takes the cake I swear."
“I haven’t even told you what the Penitent Engines are yet.”
"Of course it gets worse." Alex sighed. "I think your people are my favorite."
“Penitent Engines are a war engine used by the Ecclesiarchy and Adepta Sororitas that is created by taking a prisoner, often one convicted of heresy, and wiring them into a Penitent Engine chassis. Most of their clothes are taken as to expose as much skin as possible, and then they are injected with drugs that increase their sensitivity. This is all to make them feel pain in a far more extreme manner than usual. Penitent Engines are given close combat weapons like rotary saws and flamers, and are thrown directly in combat, their pilots being driven by a fanatic belief that only in combat can they pay penance for their crimes.” Anutek displays a hard light projection of a trio of Penitent Engines in combat.
(Reference for what a pentitent engine looks like. Credit: Jaime Martinez)
"Holy shit." Alex doesn't have anything more to say.
“There’s also a variant for the Adepta Sororitas. I think the main difference is just that there’s a sister of battle in it instead of a standard criminal.”
"Again. Holy Shit."
Anutek stays silent, assuming Alex needs time to process the information he’s given to her. After around a minute, he speaks again.
“On another topic regarding the humans of my world, there’s an entire classification of imperial planets that are called Feudal Worlds, that are incredibly primitive, at best having muskets and other primitive firearms. There is an exception, those being knight worlds.”
"You're just settling in my mind that Necrons make the most sense." Alex rubbed at her head. "Ugh..."
“That is true.” Anutek leans in his Glaive.
"Keep kicking their asses and stuff. They don't need to ruin more of the world that they assume is theirs." Alex shook her head.
“Worlds like agri worlds? Those are worlds that have had their original ecosystem destroyed, and then replaced by massive industrial farms and city sized processing plants operated by thousands if not millions or billions of slaves and servitors and gargantuan farming engines, all sustained by orbital facilities pumping out an artificial atmosphere because the imperium destroyed the original one.”
Anutek says this all in a very calm manner, like he’s used to this sort of thing.
"I meant universe. My bad." Alex sighed. "I don't think I'd get along with any of the humans in your universe. I swear I'd wanna hurt them. Unfortunately I'm smart enough to know I can't do damage without a weapon better than my daggers."
“Well a lot of them are normal humans, so you could get away with a dagger. I think the exceptions would be Astartes, Custodes, Knights, Titans, Mechanicus, Assassins, some Psykers, Sisters of Silence, and Sororitas. However, I have heard of an instance where someone killed an Astartes with a wooden spear, so you could kill one of those if you targeted him in a weak point like the neck.”
"Probably a good way to vent some frustration too." Alex stretched.
“Would you like to kill, or at least attack one right now? Because I can easily get a human from my world here very quickly.”
"You mean one of your mind controlled ones?" Alex blinked. "I mean... that's cheap and a little boring... I don't mind watching, but... I dunno, feels kinda cheap."
"Yeah. Organic conflict feels a lot better." Zeta agreed.
“Oh not one of these. I’m talking about me literally going somewhere like an imperial ship and taking someone from there.”
"Oh. That sounds hilarious." Alex snickered a little bit.
“Should I do it?” Anutek asks, no longer leaning on the Glaive.
"For the lulz." Zeta grinned. "Just getting grabbed when making a sandwich or somethin' by a tall as hell skeleton robot king sounds hilarious."
Alex snickered.
“Aight.”
Anutek opens a portal and reaches in, and pulls out a pilgrim, who is very, very confused.
“Where am I? Where are the other pilgrims? Who are you people? What is that thing?” The pilgrim points at Zeta.
(Imperial pilgrim, for reference. Artist Unkown.)
"Rude." Zeta frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm not a think thanks."
"Love that you don't notice who's holding you." Alex smirked a little, making a note that the outfit was... decidedly gross.
