you'll live forever tonight;; open

[QUIETUS]

[align=center][div style=" background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid black; width: 500px; min-height: 9px; font-family:georgia; line-height: 110%; text-align: justify; color: black; padding: 20px"]"You, me, and Shiva can take shifts. We're big enough to handle him, and we'd still be able to get everything done while the other is watching him." Quietus felt odd giving out any kind of order, but there it was, in the back of his throat and lodged in his mind; shaking his cranium as an afterthought, the male would turn to the robot, who seemed so very eager to speak. "I'll go first." he offered. "If you're not just some machine, stop acting like one. You kill one of our members and only seek the need to apologize when it fits your agenda. If you weren't a robot, you'd have more sense in joining us first, to where we could feed and help you like we do to anyone else who doesn't threaten the lives of our community." his eyes were hard, and his tone was cold, and he could not help his prejudice against this contraption when it was not like them. It had not been born from a womb. Had never tasted mother's milk, felt the sweet sense of accomplishment when your father looked down on you with pride. It had been made by humans, for humans. It knew nothing of being an animal. Nothing. This is what Quietus told himself. "Your apology will be made in the morning, to everyone. You will tell them exactly what you did, why you did it, and explain how very sorry you are to have killed an innocent. After, you will hunt like all of us do, with no help from another, because that is how you get your food here. You'll be guarded by us three until you can prove to us - and anyone else - that you're in the least bit able to be trusted and accepted into our group, a group that is vulnerable enough as it is without machines feasting on their innards. And if it isn't me, Shiva, or Seija watching you, it will be another member. And if you decide that these rules aren't good enough for you, Prey, then there will be consequences."

[nuclear repository;]

  [font=trebuchet ms]/ic opinions

  The sudden sound of another voice behind them nearly shocked the canine out of her skin. Whipping around, her eyes narrowed still further upon her realization that it was Revolutionarywar. She’d already known he thought she was weak, but now he thought she was crazy, too- of course he did. He consorted with ShadowClanners, there was no way he knew what it was like to lose everyone he cared about, nor what it was like to know that all of the destruction was his own fault. He didn’t know what it was like to be nothing more than a burden, to constantly have his friends and family targeted just because of his own weakness, to... it just went on and on and on.

  Gods, she really was pathetic.

  Seija opened her mouth, but as Quietus spoke up, she quickly shut it. She didn’t need anyone defending her- she wasn’t sure why no one realized that- but she didn’t have the wherewithal to protest anymore, either. All she could do at this moment, not wanting to allow the intrusive thoughts back into the forefront of her mind, was listen.

  After he was done, she lowered her head, focusing solely on what he had said. The idea of having the robot in their camp at all seemed risky; even if it was kept under guard, there was always the possibility of a security breach, or a self-destruction, or any number of other threats. Still, Quietus had a point. While destroying the robot would be quick and effective (as robots didn’t have souls, they wouldn’t be able to come back in a new body or reincarnate), whoever had programmed it would still be out there, and would likely have no trouble recreating it. As a result, dismantling the bot would seem like hastily slapping a bandage over the problem, rather than actually fixing it.

  Taking a deep breath, Seija glared back down at the robot, then cautiously lifted one hoof off of its chest, leaving only one hoof to pin it down. ”I suppose that’s fair, provided we can spare enough individuals to keep it guarded,” she muttered lowly, though her voice was still hoarse from the strain it had just undergone. (Even if help arrived and the robot was successfully apprehended, tonight was still going to be a rough night, as would every night for the next two weeks at the very least.)

[PRÆY.]

★★★ So, his crazy assailant had been calmed by a couple of other animals, approaching to either come to his aid or give him more to be afraid of-- which of these was correct, well, Prey wasn't too sure. He looked with wild eyes between the others as they approached, all shouting different things.

Prey winced as a heavy hoof moved to his neck, believing that this would indeed be the end, if she could break off a metal head from its body. The first cat that seemed to stick up for him was Ross. His words, however kind, only seemed to annoy the hoofed animal even more. She started uttering odd words about his creator, recording devices, and so on. "Miss, I've been estranged from m-my creator for years. You're way too paranoid. C-can't you see that I was j-just hungry?" He murmured softly, almost carrying more emotion than a living creature. Ah, but thus was written in his programming.

Revolutionarywar spoke next, and to his dismay it seemed the male wasn't on anybody's side but instead just hated everybody. That wasn't helpful. Frowning, he looked next toward Quietus. He seemed to be a well-respected person around here (which Prey was slowly beginning to realize was a much more organized group than he had first imagined), and thus the robotic being was glad the male was sticking up for him. At least, to some degree.

Though, being called a 'thing' so many times was disheartening. It stuck with him. Of course he knew he was a machine, but his emotions were not mechanical. Programmed, maybe, but they manifested as real emotions. "Sir, I'm n-not just some... machine. I have a name. P-prey..." The name hung in the air. He always hated saying his name, but it was better than P-666158.

A prisoner, huh? That was his fate? He hoped, somewhere deep down, that Seija would return to his cell at some point to finish him off, maybe in the dead of night. From the sound of it, not too many people here would be upset if he was dismantled. Solitude was going to drive him insane. "I do apologize! Oh, very much so. I hadn't know I was going t-to cause a problem." The malfunctioning android spoke quickly, issuing his formal apology just like they had said. So it seemed he'd be spared yet again. There was always some part of him that felt somewhat relieved when this happened, but there was the constant reminder that his faulty programming would never allow him to live a comfortable life like everybody else.

He felt a weight had been lifted when Seija removed one hoof, believing that he was being freed and thus struggling against the remaining hoof. Well, he was still stuck here. Great. Wasn't she ever going to let him stand up again and at least press some of the stray wires back down against his fur?

[sup]_____________________[/sup] [abbr=robotic body, injured, 12 months, sparking wires, domestic feline]tags[/abbr]. template made by hootowls.

[Leafwing12]

foxwell made this bitch

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