Odie

I'm Odie!

[technorganics]

Sorry for being gone! 💙

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

Their eyes (John’s notwithstanding, behind their curly bangs) fell to Odie in shock and remained there. Cam’s pointing finger moved to the clean robot-gore. “Did Ruin do that?” he asked, strained.

“No, no, though, to be fair, he did try to kill us and kidnapped Odie, but no. This is actually why I was just talking to him about why we can’t stay.” Hayzeus carefully knelt back down, putting a hand on Odie’s shoulder.

Cirinia blinked several times. “He was chasing a radio signal,” she said suddenly.

“Yyyeah, that was Odie.” Ciri glanced up at Ruin’s helm and shuffled worriedly as Hayzeus continued, “We’ve been looking for her. Look, long story, but I’d like us to get back to the Commune. Do you guys live out here? Wait, are you the servants?”

Taking mild offense to the term servants, Cam explained their relationship with the Idol and keeping him out of society. Hayzeus traded the story of the dragon, convincing them that they should move clubhouses, although that put Ruin closer to Regulators than they were comfortable with.

“I can give him a glamour,” Hayzeus said.

“You can?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I just thought, since you quit, maybe they took your powers away or somethin’. I dunno.”

He paused. “No. I still have them. I can memory wipe. But I won’t!”

With Odie’s antigrav systems off, Ruin was the only one who could carry her. They’d teleport to the hospital to cut the distance in half and follow Karma the rest of the way. “You okay with that, Odie?” Hayzeus asked her. “You could go to sleep while he carries you.”

As they spoke, Odie was carefully one-handed reeling in her solar panel. She cut into the conversation here and there to affirm that, now that Ruin was not attempting to harm her friends, she would feel perfectly safe in his company back to the Commune. If needed on their arrival, she could replay the video of the dragon (she did not want to, but she didn’t say this; it was helpful to do it and thus she would).

At Hayzeus’s question, Odie gave another thumbs up. She could feel her processes shutting down already with the solar panel out of the sun, so it was good that she had permission.

“When we arrive, please plug me into a generator,” was the last thing she said, before she shut her eyes and curled protectively around her solar panel, locking in place for the move. She was going home.

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he exhaled, petting her hair. “Oh–wait. Stay awake.”

Out of his pocket he pulled the tattered red scarf. Ruin cocked his head noticing that Hayzeus wore a matching one. Hayzeus diligently tied it around Odie’s neck and straightened it over her collarbone.

“Someone found it,” he explained with a smile. “S’how we tracked you down.”

A flurry of cracking branches and clumsy running feet interrupted the moment. Someone burst out of the brush into the clearing and shouted breathlessly, “Ruin, what are you doing?!”

Ruin turned dutifully. Hayzeus saw three young people in various stages of shock and apprehension, leaves and dirt marring their clothing from the past two hours spent in the woods.

“AH, my servants,” Ruin said. “I have rescued another hopeful to join the clan. She is good with technology!”

Cam wasn’t focused on him. Instead, he looked horrified at Hayzeus, and started pointing. “That’s a Regulator, Ruin. That’s what Regulators feel like.”

“OH?” The Idol swiveled their head.

“Oh, geez. No. Listen.” Hayzeus rose to his feet, showing his palms. “I’m not doing anything here, I’m retired.”

“Retired!?” Cam shrieked, his voice cracking.

“Calm down! We’re just here for our friend,” he said.

“Us too!” he exclaimed. “Step away!”

As the scarf was settled about her neck, Odie reflexively touched it. It felt right. She had been missing it this whole time, the one article of clothing she always wore--the real thing, not the hologram-created outfits she could never afford. It made her want to cry, an emotion threatening to suddenly well up and override the very laissez-faire attitude of a tech goddess at work. Those processes, though, would take too much energy away from regeneration. She couldn’t afford to dehydrate, so she smiled in a wobbly way at Hayzeus, overwhelmed.

“Be not afraid!” Odie said, suddenly, engaging distortion with her voice in a way Allie had assured her was a very funny meme. Humor often diffused difficult situations. It was one of its core philosophies: you could get laughter from disrupting tension. As she understood it, it had something to do with Christian angels, which she resembled in a bizarre way. The unexpected was also core to humor.

“Hayzeus is my friend. He doesn’t talk to other Regulators.” Odie’s remaining arm came up in another very reassuring gesture: the thumbs up. “We can all be friends.”

In the back of her mind, she was reminded that, despite all her reassuring gestures, she was currently mangled and partially devoured. This state of being would normally cause sympathetic distress in those who couldn’t survive such a wound. Hopefully, her attempts at humor and cheer would diffuse that.

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

“Not without a purpose.”

Karma’s assessment of this stranger had changed. When they’d first met, he’d been sinister and threatening. Now…

“This all seems pretty pointless. And juvenile.” She folded her arms. “Unless you’re trying to get the Regs on your ass.”

hugechadboss9000​:

“It has a purpose. We exert our will and freedom by refusing to be held back by laws!”

A weird feeling passed through Hayzeus. He’d navigated a lot of hard cultural and communication issues with aliens as a doctor. Sometimes it was like when a patient lied to you about how they got an injury, except they really believed in what they were saying. He was only an off-world human and wouldn’t judge, per se, but he needed to suss out the truth relative to medicine.

This felt similar. He sensed Ruin had just exposed something about themself without meaning to. This profound realization all took place behind Hayzeus’s scrunch-nosed, ajar-mouthed stare of mild disturbance.

“…Alright. We can all talk about this soon. Odie needs to heal up before anything, okay?” He looked down at his friend and touched her wounded arm. “Your antigrav is down. That guy must be strong.”

“THANK YOU.”

Odie had no such reservations or revelations. She took all of this information in stride. The conversation was recorded and she could ruminate over it again at her leisure to divine all the nuances of her friends’ behaviors--that was, when she was up and running again.

“I’ve shut off all non-vital processes for the majority of my recovery.” Odie explained helpfully to Hayzeus. “I’d like to go back to stasis to help speed up my recovery. Is that acceptable?”

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“YOU ASK WISE QUESTIONS.” Ruin came forward and crouched down, the helm fixed on Odie with hawk-like keenness. Hayzeus reflexively had his hand on Karma’s arm and leaned away from the strange alien.

“Your task is simple. You will join my followers and sow chaos at my whim. You will also find me things and clean up sticks around the perimeter.”

“Whooo are your followers?” Hayzeus interjected.

“Four young Earthlings. They have shown me the ways of this world. With Odie’s power over technology, our power will expand!”

“Power?” Hayzeus stared at him, expression scrunching in deep confusion. “You haven’t actually said anything actionable.”

“We like to set off fireworks in the dead of night and spray paint police cars.”

“……Oh.”

Odie processed this all quickly. His requests were unorthodox, but so had all been of her since leaving her Cetic. She wasn’t designed for any of this, yet she adapted. She liked to be helpful.

However...

“I’m not designed for Chaos.” Odie sighed regretfully. “I do not think I can cause it on purpose. I also do not know what technology is involved with fireworks and spray paint.”

Her gaze flit about from Ruin’s intensity to Hayzeus and Karma’s concern. “Are these things I should do?”

[hugechadboss9000]

karma-kameleon​:

technorganics​:

“I did say I would serve him,” Odie supplied unhelpfully. Her shivers subsided as she found something new to focus on, her head leaning on Karma’s shoulder. “But he will still let me do my two part time jobs, so I will have to leave at times.”

Karma let out a frustrated sigh.

Odie was smart, but work and service meant different things to her than they did to most other people. On this planet, anyway. Karma worried that it made the tech goddess easy to take advantage of.

“Did you make this agreement under duress?” she tried to ask patiently. “Cause that’s not legally binding. Did you sign a contract?”

“SHE WAS UNDER SOME RUBBLE.”

Hayzeus waved his hand at Ruin as though that would shut him up. “Odie, contract or not you just met that person and have no idea what they want you to do. Also, they kind of threatened to kill us.”

[technorganics]

"I can't serve you if you threaten my friends." Odie thought that was reasonable. Legality had never occurred to her; after all, it was her purpose to serve higher beings. If she couldn't do it per her original purpose, it was important she do so in any other way she could.

"Ruinous Idol, what do you want me to do?" Hayzeus was right; she couldn't help Ruin without knowing his will. She may not have the proper capabilities. Her eyes twitched between the three of them, searching for answers and approval.

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

“That’s enough, sweetie,” Karma said softly once the show was over. “You did good. Relax for now.”

She glanced quickly at the idol, then looked to Hayzeus. “What was that?”

hugechadboss9000​:

Hayzeus watched the memory with his mouth ajar, confused and awed. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “Keep that recording, Odie. We’ll show it to our new friends, they might have an idea. I…” He sighed, taking off his glasses to rub his eye. “I think Charlie mentioned something like this.”

“There is a violent BEAST in these woods?” Ruin barked.

“…Yes. Meaning–thank you for pointing it out–Odie can’t stay here. We can’t stay here.”

“But she serves me now. She must stay.”

“No- okay, haha, couple points there,” Hayzeus said, raising a finger. “She doesn’t serve you or anyone and she already has a home.”

“I did say I would serve him,” Odie supplied unhelpfully. Her shivers subsided as she found something new to focus on, her head leaning on Karma’s shoulder. “But he will still let me do my two part time jobs, so I will have to leave at times.”

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Karma shook the sparks out of her eyes as the thunderclap faded. Her hand immediately broke contact with the Idol’s, but while Hayzeus rushed over to Odie, she made her way more cautiously, taking the time to survey their surroundings.

They were still in danger, after all. But what kind? And where would it come from?

When she reached the pair, she carefully took Odie’s solar panel and held it up to the sun. Her other arm wrapped protectively around her injured friend. “It’s gonna be alright, hun. We got you now.”

A dragon? Why would a dragon do this?

That mystery could wait. For now, the volph trained her eyes on the immediate threat of the Ruinous Idol. He had the three of them where he wanted them. What would he do now?

hugechadboss9000​:

“The rocks…” Hayzeus repeated in a rush of breath. Odie never intentionally got in trouble, but when she did, she had to be ripped in half. He shook his head and looked her in the face. “You’re sure it was a ‘dragon’? What’d it look like?”

“I AM ALSO CURIOUS,” Ruin interrupted from his spot several feet away.

Odie’s blue skin gained more saturation as Karma held the solar panel to the light, the pale spots pulsing in a pattern that would communicate happiness to those who knew her well. This lasted only until it was time to relive the attack in more detail. Her ease in the presence of her friends gained an edge, a flash of fear. She’d wanted to leave it all behind.

Dutifully, her wing visor slid over her eyes, and she lifted her remaining hand. With a slight wave, she projected a screen, a rectangle hologram like a television. It had a blue glow to it, and it flickered as she adjusted it to work properly in the level of light in the forest. Her own color dimmed as she diverted power, but the panel helped.

Shortly, she projected the incident from her point of view. It played on the screen in sharp colors, occasionally switching between Odie’s visor view and her unaided vision, providing readings on the ‘dragon’ in a foreign language. It could be a little disorienting to view, as Odie adjusted frame speed on the fly and sometimes in as little as milliseconds.

But there it was, the pile of rocks that became a dragon, of sorts, and lured Odie in until it lunged and bit, and Odie fled. When it ended, and Odie removed the screen, she was shivering in Karma’s embrace.

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Karma’s gaze dropped to Ruin’s upturned hands. She could see where this was going. As long as he had Odie hidden away, he was in control of the situation. They’d have to play his game.

She reached out a hand, not bothering to retract the claws it had sprouted, and placed it in one of his open gauntlets.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

hugechadboss9000​:

There was a pit stop, first. Karma and Ruin blipped thirty feet forward in front of Hayzeus, where they grabbed his shoulder. “YOU’RE SLOW.”

The doctor’s shout of surprise split between two locations. As they arrived with a bang back in the forest lair, he stumbled forward and started coughing. “Ow, God, my lungs. Odie!”

He rushed over and fell to his knees to inspect the damage. “Augh, what happened to you? Did that robot hurt you? Karma, move her solar panel to the sun.”

Wide blue eyes whirred softly as she focused on the sudden arrival of her friends, both old and new. What had been worry and confusion at being lost again settled into a soft satisfaction. It didn’t matter where she was; she was found.

Fortunately (unfortunately?) there was not much damage to inspect. With Odie’s skin formed over the wound to keep it safely contaminant free, she looked like a factory mishap of a blue Farbie who hadn’t gotten enough plastic pieces.

“I was hurt by a dragon, not the Ruinous Idol.” Odie replied helpfully, holding her solar panel up with her one available hand. Her head panned to the left and the right slightly, considering. “Not here, but another part of the forest. I was stacking rocks.”

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Everything happened in an instant. Before Karma could register it all, Hayzeus was on the ground in a heap and Odie and her captor were… just gone.

She wanted to chase the asshole down and rip out whatever he had for a throat, but Hayzeus was here, and hurt. And she had Ruin’s scent now. She could track him.

She knelt down next to her injured friend, looking him over. “Still alive there, boss?”

hugechadboss9000​:

“Huhhgg…” Hayzeus lifted a hand to his forehead, and then had the wherewithal to check his glasses. Not broken. “…Hurts,” he coughed. “Good to know how it feels if you’re using it, I guess.”

He achingly sat up on an elbow. The front of his shirt was torn open, exposing the combat vest underneath. He would never be caught dead being underprepared.

“Where’d Odie go?”

–

“YES. And if he survived, he is more than welcome to be my servant.” The sword shimmered and collapsed in on itself, disappearing into a wobbly blue-lined black hole. Ruin’s extra arm folded into his back. “This is my lair. It is not permanent. But for now, it suffices.”

If he survived. Odie’s distress increased sharply, which was an unfortunate waste of resources, her inner metrics informed her. She couldn’t help it.

“I need Karma and Hayzeus.” Odie told the Ruinous Idol, ignoring his introduction to the lair despite it being the answer to her question. “I need them.”

Need was incorrect. She wanted them. Or was it correct? She spent most of her life only needing her Cetic. But her Cetic was out of reach and had been for a few years now. She needed her friends. “Please. I need my friends.”

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Karma’s hackles were all the way up. Between Hayzeus taking aim and the stranger refusing to back down, this was about to get violent, and the volph was ready for it.

But when Odie interrupted, she checked herself. Reluctantly. A swirl of violet light, and she was in human form, putting a hand on her companion’s shoulder. A gentle suggestion for him to stand down.

“Was he, now?” Karma didn’t even try to sound like she believed it. “Good to know.” She gave Ruinous Idol an appraising look, not trusting him one bit. “Thanks for finding our friend. We’ll take it from here.”

hugechadboss9000​:

Odie’s words rang true, although whether they were friends or not did not change Ruin’s decision. He clicked his jaw at Karma’s transformation. “Do not THANK me. I thank you for LOSING her. For now, she is my newest servant! Maybe you would like to join her?”

“What in God’s name are you talking about?” Hayzeus sputtered before any other thoughts crossed his mind. Despite Karma’s encouragement, the gun stayed poised. “Put her down or I’ll shoot.”

“Your interest in violence intrigues me. I will have to come back for you.”

“Excuse me?”

Suddenly, the armor lit up. The scent of electricity spiderwebbed through the air and, not knowing what was happening next, Hayzeus pulled the trigger. A concussive rod of light speared toward Ruin and directly into a split-second flash of black and blue. It bounced back; the wind knocked out of him, Hayzeus could not make a noise as he was bulldozed to the ground.

Ruin disappeared completely.

Odie still in his arms, he reappeared with a crack in the center of his woodland base. The creek trickled peacefully nearby as he knelt to lay his new recruit on the grass. A third arm, wielding a long obsidian sword, arched over his back.

“Hmmm… I see the others have not returned yet.”

“You hurt my friend.”

Odie was flabbergasted at the sudden escalation of events, at how a short conversation had become violence and Hayzeus’s rash protective action had been turned painfully against him. She could track it all, speeding up her perception of time around her, expending precious energy to observe while unable to interfere.

“You hurt Hayzeus.” Karma was with him. He’d be alright. Those calm, logical thoughts didn’t help. “Where are we? Where are my friends?”

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Karma heard the voice too, and it was much clearer to her volph ears. She also heard Odie’s reply. The tech goddess didn’t sound or smell panicked, but that didn’t stop Karma from sprinting ahead of Hayzeus in the direction of the voices.

When she found them, she wasn’t sure what to make of the being holding her friend. He smelled strange. Odie was missing her lower half, but it looked like she’d already started to heal.

Karma’s mind had been trained to take in these details and make a rational decision, but her volph instincts were faster, and they told her Odie was in danger. She let out a low growl before anyone else could speak.

hugechadboss9000​:

Hayzeus was on her heels and stopped, mouth agape, to look at the towering suit of armor ahead of them. Sunlight through the broken wall gave the black metal a bright sheen, too clean for having been in the wild for some time. It was looking back at them with a sharp Cheshire-grin and had one gauntlet, for all intents and purposes, apparently pulling out Odie’s guts.

Hayzeus swung the rifle forward into his hands and aimed. “P-put her down!”

“NO. I found her first.”

“Karma! Hayzeus!” Odie chirped, her visor sliding up and her smile wide. Her friends had found her, too. She relaxed just a moment before Karma’s growl, and Hayzeus bringing the rifle to bear. Oh no.

“These are my friends.” Odie looked up at Ruin, then back to the Lilius rebels who’d tracked her down, come to her rescue yet again. Familiar spots of white bubbled up and faded out as the helpless technorganic marveled at the perseverance of friends, friends who were much more important than her, who nevertheless searched her out.

“They found me on Lilius before this.” Odie explained to the wicked armor holding her aloft. Her focus switched from him to Hayzeus and the hackles-up Karma. “This is Ruinous Idol. He was going to help me.”

[technorganics]

karma-kameleon​:

Karma leapt the fence surrounding the dilapidated brick building, landing softly on her padded feet, not at all hindered by the added weight of Hayzeus on her back.

This was the place. Odessa was here.

Odie’s scarf had finally given Karma the memory scent she needed to track. Her friend didn’t normally leave strong impressions where she went, but the scarf had carried the scents of distress, fear, and pain. They smelled strong and sharp, enough to give her a trail to follow. The only stronger scent was death, which she thankfully didn’t smell now.

She slowed to a stop at the nearest entrance she could find, crouching down to let her passenger off.

“She’s inside,” the volph growled. “Not alone.”

hugechadboss9000​:

Hayzeus landed on his feet, catching the end of his rifle as it threatened to swing off his back. His hair was frayed from the journey through unknown woods and soft shadows had made their home in his cheeks. He stared fearfully up at the ruins “Oh, god. What the hell is she doing here?”

Wasting no more time, he entered the dark and cluttered hallway. A door had been loosed from its hinges and left to collect water on the cracked floor. 

This kind of dinginess was familiar, unfortunately. Is that why she’d ended up there?

Hayzeus froze as he heard a sound. A distant, slightly computerized voice, the words hard to make out with the echo.

“This is fine. You must teach me your method of regeneration. I am lifting you now.” Ruin stood, holding onto the cable to keep it from reaching the ground. “You are heavy.”

“I don’t know if your makeup is suited for my kind of regeneration, but I would be happy to teach you if I am able and you are able.” Odie considered trying to engage her anti-gravity, even a little, to help with the lifting. “Am I too heav--”

Her head swiveled towards the hall, wing visor shielding her eyes again. “Someone is here.” Her range for determining who, however, was abysmal. The arm that clutched her solar panel squeezed tighter.

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“I SUPPOSE.” Ruin pulled the panel toward himself. He didn’t know what it was, necessarily; so he turned it over with the same ease as inspecting a wafer before laying it onto Odie’s chest. “You will need new legs. Or wheels.”

Odie wrapped her whole arm around it to hold it in place like a very unsuitable comfort plush. With it out of the sunlight she was back on reserves, and her eyes half-lidded as an automatic response. She still had time.

“I’m trying.” The bottom half of her was not as nightmarish as it once was, mostly ‘sealed off’ to prevent introduction of dirt and debris into her system. It would slowly bubble outward as she completed necessary processes to regrow her missing torso and limbs. She looked a bit like someone had cut open their Monster High Doll and sealed up the wound with rubber. “I’ll have legs. And tails. Is that okay?”

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“Home…” Ruin looked over their shoulder at the door. After a moment, the metal mouth fell open and they shrieked, the piercing sound bouncing into unseen hallways.

“…My minions did not follow me inside. Then I will take you myself!” Ruin got one hand under Odie’s back and stopped, remembering the solar panel. He grabbed the cable again, calculating. “What about thisss?”

Odie didn’t mind being lifted, though the physicality of it took her off guard. Normally, ‘lifted’ by someone meant they sort of nudged her about while her anti-gravity did the actual work. It was disorienting to feel the true weight of herself drag behind her, wings drooped and dragged around the ground. It caused the first flutter of fear, remembering her recent falls.

But this Ruinous Idol was very strong, and he had not tried to eat her, and so she must be safe. The fear fled back to calm.

“Oh. I need that.” Her hand freed from his, she reached it out for the panel. “It’s helping me heal. Can I hold it?”

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“INTERESTING. This integration… may you use it for sabotage?” Ruin nodded to himself as the schemes percolated. “Yes… Very useful… None of my current servants have mastery of machines. Except for the ‘tablet’, they have taught me how to use Fumblr to spread my influence. You will soon understand!”

“Theoretically I can use my integration for sabotage. I have not before.” Her hand squeezed his and she attempted to bring herself more upright. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the strength to reroute, and her technorganic body was rather dense.

Big blue eyes focused more intensely on the helmet above her with a soft whirr. “Can I go home now?”

[technorganics]

hugechadboss9000​:

“HMMM…” It was important to look like no request or bargain would come easy. “My other minions hold part-time jobs such as the ‘cashier’. What are your ‘other jobs’?”

He had minions? The little yellow creatures from the movies were real? Earth held many wonders.

“I work at a bakery cafe serving food and taking orders. I also work at an antique store that has a ‘speakeasy’ in the back. It serves drinks.” Odie answered promptly, despite this revelation. “I am designed to perform all piloting and maintenance functions for a Cetic colony spaceship, though I can integrate with other technology and vehicles as well. I am not currently performing that function.”