//C.A.D.

> run type:// > C.A.D. PROGRAM > au @ cdwalker > c:// cybernetically enhanced > c:// reptilian model > c:// minimal biomass

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

“Collective effort will always be better than individual. Not to downplay your work.” Lake leaned in to kiss Cad’s cheek with that. Don’t get it twisted!!

He smiled wide at the nudge, and wrapped his arms around Cad, leaning against them entirely. His smile dropped though at CAD’s admission, replaced with surprise and concern, far deeper than his concern for the subject of having kids, despite his enthusiasm. “…CAD, I LOVE you. You’re my favorite person in the whole world. I would do anything for you. Anything. Have I not been saying that enough? I love you SO much.”

[cerebralcad]

Oh. Well. Yes, that was reassuring, his head pressing against Lake's with contentment as he was pulled into that embrace. CAD didn't doubt that the feeling was still there. Not really. Just that it might not be enough to keep Lake around anyway.

But to hear the reassurance was a balm, a deep thrum of contentment leaving the droid as he nuzzled his snoot up against the other's ears and cheek.

"Your favorite?" He asked, giving a small, digital-sounding laugh.

"Good to know. Otherwise I'd have to look at the picture I taped to my dashboard and be sad about it rather than happy." Kept one of Lake. Small one, but it was one that brought him some comfort on those lonelier nights in space.

"...I love you too. Very much." A more sincere addition.

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

He meant synthesize sort of colloquially. Like, they'll sort of be biologically related to them, in a way. Similar enough in nature to feel relatable to them.

"Well..." ...Yes, Cad isn't always here. Lake was capable of passing time without too much bother, but kids...they grow up fast. They'd want their parents to be there in the tender years. And CAD, if they felt that connected, would want to be there too. "...it doesn't have to be right now. Maybe you could...start looking into training a successor? Multiple, even? Or...remote work? Cloning?"

Lake tried to sound like he was joking about cloning, buuuuut....Lake does that all the time, soooo.....I mean, it's not NOT an option, maybe, in theory.

He had no idea if CAD could be cloned as easily as Lake could clone himself. Probably not. Even Lake didn't fully come out of it unscathed.

On another note, "I thought about building one, a robot, but...the AI is tricky." They all tended to just be copies of him, or him but a few steps to the left. Or barely sentient. And none quite like a child.

[cerebralcad]

A successor? CAD wasn't certain what that would entail. And the prospect of cloning himself made him more uncomfortable than he would dare to admit to Lake. Over time, he'd come to accept himself as somewhat unique. Would be hard to simply carbon copy himself that way.

He was silent as he thought about the possibilities. Surely there could be something, he just... was not sure what yet.

"My capacity for leading a team isn't what it used to be," he admitted. "But perhaps I could start looking into reassembling one."

He was still too bothered by what had happened to his last one. Half of them dead. The other half maimed. None truly prepared to take on more work under his command.

Daunting. But maybe.

"But I'm not opposed. I would just... need some time to figure it out. That's all."

CAD did still manage a little digital smile at the other, reaching to get an arm around him and nudge his big snoot against one of Lake's ears.

"...Didn't know that you wanted to be tied to me in that way. Admittedly, I was worried that I'd been gone... too much lately."

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

“I want kids. At least two, so they can play together.”

Saying as Raven and Goose are actively trying to bite one another. He pushes them apart and gives Duck to Goose to wrestle instead. Raven gets popped on a hip.

And he gives CAD a stare.

“They’re…Lark’s kids. Did I not tell you…?” Looking heavily embarrassed now. Fuck. He forgot to tell CAD about Lark’s kids. Shit.

[cerebralcad]

CAD's ears gave a whirring twitch as he tried to figure out the logistics of how that would even be possible.

"No - but I've been gone, too. So... It's not surprising that things move along without me."

He's not upset about it, but it's definitely a surprise, glancing down at the little cat-like children with some intrigue. He's never had a problem with children. In his time with the alliance, there were many appearances he made around Bastion where children would sidle up and express enthusiasm.

But... Hm.

"I - don't think I can procreate. To my knowledge."

His face might be pseudo-organic now, but... the rest...

"Can you?"

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

@cerebralcad

"CAAAAAD."

He is covered in three toddler cat-kids. They are screaming.

"I want kids!"

He's serious. Now he's gonna blow raspberries on Duck's tummy.

[cerebralcad]

"You what."

Not exactly what he'd expected to see or hear.

"Where'd you get those?"

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

That's just how we are. We're robots, we have nothing but time.

...yeah.

Lake was happy to immediately pull some tools out. Canned air just to start, then some small tools that could get into that joint to try and brush away any sand or dirt. Paused though.

"Well- I know things feel different to you, but...would it be too much to temporarily remove it?" Lake was pretty...flippant about removing and reattaching limbs on himself. He didn't have the same level of sensation CAD did, and he had control over whether he could feel things. Too easy to simply turn the sensations off. He didn't think CAD had that ability, unless he'd kept that information to himself.

"I could lend you a leg, and get this one spic and span overnight. Restore all the parts if they need it." Hesitated AGAIN. Proposing messing with somebody else's programming was a bridge farther than he'd gone before with CAD. "...I might be able to turn off the sensation for you if you want?"

[cerebralcad]

The question had CAD considering the option. It was not as jarring as all that in concept, but in practice, it likely would be strange. He hummed a bit, the sound coming in a few strange digital-sounding tones.

"It depends. My legs do not look exactly like yours. I could always go without one, but, it'd require me being off my feet for at least the night."

Which was not the largest issue, but... Not something he'd done before.

"Turning off the discomfort would be nice, if you could figure that out."

Truthfully, CAD did not know if there was a way to do that. If his creators had decided to add such a feature, he was definitely not told about it.

[cerebralcad]

The ship's security was lax with Lake's presence - doors open and no alarms sounding when he saw fit to enter. CAD had settled himself in the cabin, a few tools scattered here or there as he worked on the joint itself. Though he paused when the other entered, a bit surprised by the sudden pulling into that small kiss.

Sometimes forgot how much of a comfort that was. And though he had been hiding behind his visor, he was quick to banish it before chasing the other with another, proper kiss with his fleshier face.

Better.

"Too much use," he explained. "Been running around planet-side for a few things. Poor terrain and bad weather conditions. Not my favorite."

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

Lake was happy to return that second kiss. He didn't crave contact like he used to, but it was still nice. Wonderful, even. He smiled and pressed his cheek against CAD's for a moment, shutting his eyes.

...nearly lost track of himself for a moment. He leaned back away and returned to looking at that knee. "Want some help? I've been using this kind of joint." More or less. He'd done just about every kind of joint at this point, he figured. And he'd looked over CAD's specs any opportunity he had. Need to be ready to help if anything goes wrong. "We could even try something new, if you want. A little more all-terrain."

[cerebralcad]

He didn’t mind Lake’s momentary appreciation of the affection. They spent a lot of time apart- though not necessarily intentionally. It was just… things. Things they both had to do. It was who they were.

It was fine.

“Yes, please,” CAD replied to the offer of help, shoulders slumping as he rubbed a bit at the offending area. “I think there might be damage or some kind of erosion of the joint itself. Maybe sand or dirt in there. I haven’t been able to tell. It’s not very comfortable to investigate.”

While he didn’t feel pain in a typical way, CAD could still feel some relative discomfort or otherwise unpleasant stimuli. Wasn’t super fond.

[sugarcoatedmechanic]

[txt] bet

Lake was there within minutes. Concerned about the knee immediately, but before addressing that! He sat down beside CAD, took their chin in his hand (visor or not, he will accept for the moment) and kissed them. “Hey, nerd. What happened here?”

[cerebralcad]

The ship's security was lax with Lake's presence - doors open and no alarms sounding when he saw fit to enter. CAD had settled himself in the cabin, a few tools scattered here or there as he worked on the joint itself. Though he paused when the other entered, a bit surprised by the sudden pulling into that small kiss.

Sometimes forgot how much of a comfort that was. And though he had been hiding behind his visor, he was quick to banish it before chasing the other with another, proper kiss with his fleshier face.

Better.

"Too much use," he explained. "Been running around planet-side for a few things. Poor terrain and bad weather conditions. Not my favorite."

[cerebralcad]

>:// @sugarcoatedmechanic

[txt] Come and see me then. I'm in my ship - parked where it usually is whenever I'm Earth-side.

[cerebralcad]

[txt] Think you have time for a visit?

That's a strange message to receive. It has been a while since he's heard from Luke (Lake now?) but it's not an unwelcome thing.

In mid-repair of one of his own synthetic joints - his knee, specifically - the message is responded to rather quickly.

[txt] You visit me or me visit you?

[txt] Either way, yes.

[disasterghaster-moved]

Home, please. This was all the excitement I had planned for the next month. At least.

[Which was true. Since settling into semi-retirement, she mostly just dithered about socially. Or ran her pizza place. Or lurked about her own home without much direction.]

[cerebralcad]

No head for adventure anymore, I take it.

[ CAD plugged in a few coordinates to return them back to the current time and place. The right place? He didn't quite know what to call it anymore. Didn't much matter to him. But eventually they would return right back to Earth and back to where he'd parked the ship on a normal basis, though re-entry might be a little bit rocky. He'd have to do some maintenance on the thing when they were done here.

Might as well. Something to keep him occupied until he could actually respond to beacons he'd set in other systems again. ]

[disasterghaster-moved]

No. I thrive in that shit still--just...Haven't been well in a while. A very long time. Worse recently. I'll...get better. Maybe.

[Hesitated to say as much, but who was CAD going to tell? Charlie? Worth??? Luke????? Luke already knew something was wrong with her every time she talked to him. Like his problems made him too good at homing in on hers. CAD didn't even know Rook!

Waited until landing before she slipped through the hull back to the outside. Deciding, pretty quickly, she didn't want to talk about all that as much as her halted response may have put on for her. She needed to get back in her body.]

[cerebralcad]

[ He did not have anyone to tell, nor did he have any real capacity for a response. He was not all that emotionally adjusted himself- glass houses and stones and all that.

When she disappeared, he remained behind in the ship for a little while to shut things down. Clambered out when it was safe to- and immediately began to perform maintenance. Shutting off any other thought processes that would impede him. ]

…Good luck.

[ He spoke the words out loud, even if Devang was already too far to hear them. Thought that counts and all. Would go back to what he did best.

Work and silence. ]

[hambot2point0]

The lowering of the gun helped him settle down before he inevitably overheated inside. He tried to focus on what was being said, audio processing almost lagging behind. He was worse off than he originally thought. That, unfortunately, left him feeling a lot more jittery. What if he was too far gone to be fixed?

His head shot up at CAD's words, however, almost laughing. "S-s-someones, yeah...I th-th-hhhink." It was all still a jumble of memories, he only vaguely recalled the last handful of years. If he had been shut off during most of it, how would he even be able to tell?

Ham hunched over a bit, shuddering instinctively. "I c-c-can't fffix this on m-MY-my own..." He closed his eyes as if trying to recall the last time he even had an upgrade, but when he opened his eye again to look at his hand, he envisioned something completely different. Right - right, he'd been human once, hadn't he? Or had that been the other him?

A twitch.

"D-d-do I know you?"

[cerebralcad]

The other's attempts at communication were frazzled, but CAD had no issue understanding. Just meant that he would need to act fairly quickly to see if he could assist with repairs. He had some things for robotics and droid maintenance back at his ship... But whether or not any of it would be compatible with this one... Hmm. He'd have to find out.

The question brought CAD's attention back to the moment, staring appraisingly from behind his visor. There was something in the back of his mind that was triggering familiarity, but he wasn't sure what.

"Possibly. I can't say for sure. Maybe you can think harder about it if I get you somewhere where we can get you at least marginally fixed. Can you stand?"

[disasterghaster-moved]

Home, please. This was all the excitement I had planned for the next month. At least.

[Which was true. Since settling into semi-retirement, she mostly just dithered about socially. Or ran her pizza place. Or lurked about her own home without much direction.]

[cerebralcad]

No head for adventure anymore, I take it.

[ CAD plugged in a few coordinates to return them back to the current time and place. The right place? He didn't quite know what to call it anymore. Didn't much matter to him. But eventually they would return right back to Earth and back to where he'd parked the ship on a normal basis, though re-entry might be a little bit rocky. He'd have to do some maintenance on the thing when they were done here.

Might as well. Something to keep him occupied until he could actually respond to beacons he'd set in other systems again. ]

[disasterghaster-moved]

I'm not injured. [A more testy response. Slouching her general unrefined form into the seat. She wasn't in poor shape, just hungry.]

Heh...the whale was cute. [Muttered to no one in particular. Probably one of the very few things that hadn't gone terribly in a while.]

[cerebralcad]

[ CAD flipped a few final switches that allowed the ship to hum into a startup process that he had to leave alone for a bit, glancing over at Devang with some interest. Probably wasn't apparent from the neutral, almost aggressive expression that was almost permanently etched onto his visor. Could change it. Often didn't. ]

...I suppose.

[ He halfway agreed. ]

I did not expect it to actually be a whale. Or... whale-like. Thought this was going to be some kind of... Dormammu situation.

[disasterghaster-moved]

Pffft-hah! [Dormammu! Stupid. Surprised CAD enough knew what or who that was. Heh.]

Me too. I'll take it for what it was. I'll take the W and keep my mouth shut.

[cerebralcad]

[ He knew a few things. From Luke, usually.

The ship gave a few beeps and boops to let him know that it was ready for jumping again. Though he was sure two in the span of such a short amount of time (maybe???) would test some limits.

Pushed the levers forward to send them off. This time not particularly worrying if Devang was “buckled in” or not. ]

I assume I’m returning you back home. Or would you prefer somewhere else.

[disasterghaster-moved]

I'm not injured. [A more testy response. Slouching her general unrefined form into the seat. She wasn't in poor shape, just hungry.]

Heh...the whale was cute. [Muttered to no one in particular. Probably one of the very few things that hadn't gone terribly in a while.]

[cerebralcad]

[ CAD flipped a few final switches that allowed the ship to hum into a startup process that he had to leave alone for a bit, glancing over at Devang with some interest. Probably wasn't apparent from the neutral, almost aggressive expression that was almost permanently etched onto his visor. Could change it. Often didn't. ]

...I suppose.

[ He halfway agreed. ]

I did not expect it to actually be a whale. Or... whale-like. Thought this was going to be some kind of... Dormammu situation.

[disasterghaster-moved]

[Devang held onto the ship's parts until they were out and on the 'other side'. Then coalesced back into being a shadow in passenger's seat when CAD started looking for her.]

Yeah, I think so. We'll know when we get back and someone tries to travel.

And I'm fine. Just, uh... [Hungry, but didn't want to talk about that. She had a bit of an energy dip in her reserves was all.] Fine.

[cerebralcad]

[ His attention drifted over to her when she reappeared. Still wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at when he could see her, but assumed that her being there at all was a good thing. ]

That doesn't sound fine. [ He replied, settling back in his seat to start doing system adjustments to the ship which seemed to be a little wonky after Devang's fiddling with it. Would take him a few minutes to get it back up to working order. ]

But far be it from me to diagnose you.

[disasterghaster-moved]

Hm. Yeah. I keep asking that. Maybe if I put it a different way.

[She returned to the outward speakers.]

I think you're explaining yourself and...Can't say I fully understand, but I think you were helping us? And you fell asleep. That's okay, but if you are done, we need you to go now. We have too much travel and no one can ge--

[Honestly, she was over speaking for lack of idea if she was heard or understood and the sheer nervousness of having to talk to something so unthinkably and inconceivably extra-planar. 'Biggest' thing she'd met so far and she'd seen some shit as a ghaster on earth.

The entity gave another gentled bellow. Somehow pulling itself from around their reality and swimming in the emptiness as a semi-transparent whale-like creature. Too large to really see the whole of outside of the ship they were in, but did look at them with the set of six eyes it could fix on them at a time.

One of the screens passed one more image before the 'whale' started moving again. One of it's smallest of several very large pectoral fins paddled the ship to send them back out of the 'between'. A last good will gesture before they were out and the whale seemed gone.]

[cerebralcad]

[ That sure was an awful lot of words for something that CAD did not think fully comprehended the spoken language in the way that they did. She may have been nervous - CAD was only marginally perturbed. It didn't altogether seem to be an active danger, in any case. And he had no reason to fear that it would immediately turn on them so long as they remained just as passive.

He did not have much reverence for huge, otherworldly, metaphysical creatures like this - didn't have the frame of reference to be, he supposed.

He listened to the bellow and sat upright to watch as it took form.

Huh. A whale type thing. Go figure. The image of the flowers was almost comical, but he didn't have a whole lot of time to think about that before they seemed to be back on the other side. Where the jump might have sent them normally without Devang's influence. ]

...That's it? [ He asked when it seemed like things had returned to some... semblance of normal. He could not tell. Realized he was not entirely certain if Devang had made it back through as well though. ]

You're still in one piece, right? In a manner of speaking.

[disasterghaster-moved]

I would think, logically, it's already awake.

[CAD, blease, you don't gotta live up to your base-code's namesake about this.

While they were speaking a simple series of question marks appeared on one of the screens. Where'd they go? Hello? Did you even receive the message? It couldn't tell.]

[cerebralcad]

...I thought you meant it was sleeping in the present tense.

[ Explaining his thought process, okay.

He glanced back up at the screens. ]

Then we send it on its way. Ask it to... move.