Machine

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"Mercier, come look at this!" A dark female mirror called out into the trees, wings twitching in agitation with every second that went by. Soon a large, stone faced imperial pushed into the small clearing she'd found, branches scraping along his golden hide. He stopped to look around, and the mirror grinned at the delight in Mercier's usually dull eyes.

"Look at all these things! Do you think this used to be some sort of lab?" She asked while poking at a rusted over machine. It was shaped like a fish with a tiny, fae sized door attached to the head. Behind her, her companion started removing layers of moss and vines from a large metal platform. A gasp from him had Arcarre rushing to his side, only to gasp and take a step back from what the imperial had found.

"A construct? Weren't those y'know...destroyed? Why is this one still here?"

"I do not know. Let's wake it up and ask."

Unit 266 Machine Alpha powering on.

.......

Data corrupted, resetting to default settings.

.............

Default settings not found. Continue powering on without data? Y/N

"Er, what should we do? Merc?" Arcarre poked at the black and white machine, then scraped off the moss that had grown on the metal over the years. It was shaped like an imperial, with pale pink eyes and a long, striped body. Once they removed all the overgrowth and cleaned it up this little construct would look absolutely stunning.

"....I'm still turning it on." Mercier delicately plucked a vine from the construct's head, claws sliding through the synthetic mane. Arcarre said nothing, she only nodded and watched, hopeful.

Could this machine even move after so many years of being here, forgotten and rusting?

Yes.

Unit 266 Machine Alpha powering on.

Current status: left leg of Unit 266 received hull damage on upper right joint. Right wing unresponsive. Voice cables and box unresponsive. Damaged plating detected on 60% of outer hull.

Unit 266 processor and memory core undamaged and responsive. Powering on.

Mercier took a step back, as did Arcarre, when the construct suddenly jolted, metal creaking and groaning as it pulled away from the ground. Vines and plants ripped and snapped as it stood up, one leg covered in dents, it's right wing crumpled and barely attached by a few stubborn wires. There was a creak as it turned pale pink eyes to look at the dragons, pupils dilating as it focused in on them.

"Welcome, Unit 266, to the new world."


Unit 266, Machine Alpha, Beta Core Guardian, is.....alive.

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Unit 266 can remember when it had first been powered on after being discarded, so long ago on a dreary morning. Rain was pouring down from the sky above, and only a metal roof kept the water from falling into delicate circuits and exposed wires. The dragon who'd woken him made a lot of sounds, most of them the Unit couldn't quite process.

The days had sped past quickly, and Unit 266 didn't mind that much. It rarely moved from it's metal platform, although it did try and occasionally creep out from the shelter to look at the forest beyond. It's keeper would always pull it back and scold it for these experiences, but the dragon never tried to actually stop the construct from exploring.

Perhaps he had felt guilty for reviving a damaged and discarded machine. Perhaps he'd realised just what he'd woken up.

Unit 266 was a Machine Alpha Beta Core Guardian, the 3.6 version. This Unit was meant to protect the core of a now broken down factory (it had found the building, and others like it, but none of them had it's power core like Unit 266 did.

It didn't miss the other constructs, not much anyway. It had always been alone. Until it's keeper, that is. It liked it's keeper, and tried to protect him from the dangers of the world, from the deities who might take its keeper from the Unit. It had always believed nothing organic could last.

It had been right.

One night, during a particularly cold winter, it's keeper died. His death was peaceful and silent, and Unit 266 had mourned him in that same silence, buried him in that same silence, and carved him a gravestone in that same silence. It had shut down its own voice cables and box, wishing only for the silence that had stolen away what had likely been the last dragon to see the construct.

Soon, with no one to repair it's damaged limbs and frayed wires, Unit 266 fell into a power down, never expecting to be turned on by any one else.....

Who would wander this far out anyway?

---

The second time Unit 266 had been powered on, and it had looked up to see two dragons, not just one. They'd talked for what seemed like hours, and then led it from its first home, away from the metal platform, the discarded lab and the grave not far from there.

Unit 266 felt like it's chest circuitry was squeezed painfully tight, like the sadness it's keeper had described had transitioned to it.

The mirror that had woken it started immediately saying it's name had to be changed, that it couldn't be just "Unit 266" any more. It had been confused, but slowly came to understand that this imperial and mirror (and the clan that they later came to) were it's new keepers.

Unit 266 - no, Machine, would do a better job of protecting the Poisoned Clan than it had protected its first keeper.

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From the First Keeper to the new keepers: Take care of my Unit. He is a delicate creature curious of the world and unsure of his place. Help him find it, and help him get over my death. He is not just a Machine....he is everything this world aspires to be.

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Sexuality: pansexual / poly / asexual
Gender: agender / uses they/them, he/him or "it"
Mate/romantic partner: none

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· Uses any pronouns except for she/her. 100% robotic with "organic" emotions and it's own power core or "heart".

· Is basically a very large taser with emotions and determination to succeed in protecting the cove inhabitants.

· Is just a big metal teddy bear and loves to snuggle with its new keepers and the occasional traveler who doesn't mind the cold metal.