Macaron

"Experimental Automated Draconic Model ID four six one seven five zero five six, startup sequence initiated."

GrinningWolf24, #212075, 1/7/19
Somewhere in the Zephyr Steppes
"Startup sequence successful. Initiating diagnostic protocol."

"See! I told you it wasn't a statue! This is so neat!" The girl's voice filled the area, overpowering even the sound of the winds. It's childish excitement was palpable.

"Calm down Chalina, we don't even know if it is dangerous or not." A second, more reserved voice, with a deep timbre.

"Oh, stop being such a worry-wort, Rigby! Something this cute couldn't possibly be dangerous. It's pink! And look at all the adorable little clumps of moss growing on it! It may as well have been a flower pot, or a boulder. It's been out sitting in this field for longer than the city's even existed, probably. If it were dangerous, someone else would have come and hauled it away, or destroyed it or something."

"Error encountered- internal dialogue faulty. Databank corrupted. Halting diagnostic procedures."

"See? It can't even remember what it was supposed to be." The girl's voice had a smug tone to it now.

".....oh Chalina, what am I to do with you?" The deeper voice heaved a deep sigh, which was quickly overpowered by another childish squeal of delight from the girl.

"Initiate system reboot?"

"Yes!"

"No."

"Request acknowledged. Initiating full system reboot."

"Ack! Just cut this out right now! If this thing was dangerous, a system reboot is only going to make it worse!"

"It will be fun, though! I'll take any blame for bad things."

"Reboot successful. System setup required. Please designate system user."

"Chalina!" Both dragons shouted at once, the girl with glee, and the male just a beat after in reprimand.

"Stop right now, or so help me..."

"Dialogue accepted. Welcome system user, Chalina. New system designation required. Please designate system name."

"Macaron!" She looked over to her companion, and gave a sly grin. "Because he is so sweet and adorable." He simply gave a gruff sigh and turned his back, settling down.

"If that thing comes alive and destroys you, I'm not going to stop it. Do what you will." In response, she just chuckled in a mock-evil tone and rolled her eyes.

"Designation 'Macaron' accepted. New designation registered. Initiante system start-up?"

"Yes!"

"Request acknowledged. System start-up initiated." With that, the figure started to stir. The eyes opened for the first time, lightning dancing behind the glass lenses. Clear panels stirred and arranged themselves into recognizable wings, and limbs stirred, the joints creaking and groaning. As it rose, dirt and plants cascaded off, a few patches of bright moss still clinging desperately to their perches. It finally came to its full height, falling still. "Start-up complete. How may I serve you, User Chalina?"

At this, the coatl girl sat and thought. With all the patience in the world, the figure stood silently waiting. Finally, with a glance back at her ridgeback friend, she looked up into the lightning-filled eyes. "I would like flowers, please. Bring me many, many flowers from all over Sornieth."

"Request acknowledged." With a creak, and a groan, the figured plodded off, following its assigned directive.

From behind the smug form of the coatl, there was an intense sigh, and a mumbled "What am I going to do with you?"




FayeSlift, #368347, 1/8/19
Starwood Strand
Macaron set off on his journey with one objective: collect and return with flowers for User Chalina. But, what were flowers?

Calling upon the massive amount of information contained within his memory banks, Macaron educated himself on these things called flowers he was tasked to find. Deciding that it was best to simply gather as he traveled, Macaron adjusted his course towards the Starwood Strand. If his computations were correct, he would find some flowers there.

The trip didn't take long, as he did not need to stop and rest. He simply plodded on, day and night until he happened upon a forager out gathering plantlife for her kitchen.

"Flowers." Macaron stated simply as he came to a stop before the group.

"Flowers?" Khrynia asked, giving the peculiar being in front of her a curious once-over. "Is that your name?"

"Flowers," Macaron said again.

"OK, Flowers, nice to meet you. My name is Khrynia. How do you do?"

"Flowers" Macaron repeated.

"So, maybe Flowers isn't your name, eh? Are you hungry? Would you like some Star Moss? Or perhaps some Manaweed or Starfall Blossom?" Khrynia held out a few bunches of each.

"Flowers" Macaron said, nodding and took them from her outstretched claws.

Nodding his head towards the helpful Imp, Macaron turned and continued on his journey leaving Khrynia looking after him in confusion and wonder.



GrinningWolf24, #212075, 1/22/19
The Tipsy Traveler Inn, City of Caesura, Wind Territory

"Oh. Look, Rigby! It's back!"

The coatl elbowed the ridgeback, making him glance up from the paperwork he was leafing through. It had been a long week, with lots of travelers checking in and out. He still had much work to manage without Chalina distracting him further. A great hostess she may be, but effecient she was not.

"Hmmm?" He only paid half attention.

"The- android? Robot? Golem? Oh, you know- the cute pink thing!"

Rigby sighed deep in his chest, rattling him all the way to his spines. That thing. How could he forget her excitement with it?

"What about it?"

"It is sitting outside the inn! Look!" She further threw open the shutter on the window, revealing the cobblestone streets of the city outside. Directly in the middle of the thruway, the ancient, mossy golem was standing, facing the inn. Passersby were giving it a decent berth, though plenty of rubbernecking gawkers were passing it curious looks.

"Request fulfilled, User Chalina. Would you like me to continue?" The phrase was being repeated every few minutes. Chalina leaned on the window frame and giggled as it said it for the fourth time. Rigby simply rolled his eyes.

"Better get a move on, Chalina. That thing is blocking the door to the inn."

"Ooh- you're right. I'll go down and see it off."

She scampered away, down the steps and out the front door into the busy street. As soon as it caught a glimpse of her, the golem approached rapidly, holding out a fistfull of well-preserved flowers and plants of arcane nature. "Request fulfilled, User Chalina. Would you like me to continue?"

She reached out and took them into her own claws, breathing deeply of their fragrant petals.
"Ooh, these are lovely! Yes please!"

"Request acknowledged. Thank you, User Chalina." And with that, it turned around and started plodding down the street once more, causing startled pedestrians to leap out of the way before they ended up underfoot. Chalina just shook her head, an amused smile on her face as she continued to fondle the flowers in her hands.



EmeraldJubilee, #288849, 03/19/19
Somewhere in the Shrieking Wilds
Macaron accessed its vast database once again, searching for information to help it fulfill User Chalina's request. Flickers of green danced behind glassy eyes as it pulled up the information from the depths of its records. The Viridian Labyrinth. There was no recoverable record about why Macaron was ever there, but that was irrelevant to its current task: find flowers.

It took the pink giant months of walking to reach the farthest point of the Sunbeam Ruins, and only a week or so of swimming to dig its glassy claws into the sands of the Viridian Labyrinth. Stubborn, soaked patches if moss still clung to its smooth 'hide' as it trudged through the dense foliage of the rainforest with scarcely any pause. Hours blurred by, almost entirely meaningless in pursuit of the objective Macaron was given.

Strangely enough, Macaron had yet to encounter any flowers, only finding lush greens and strange plants. Suddenly, a flare of brilliant copper flashed in the corner of its eye, and just as quickly something cold and hard wrapped around one of its front limbs, stopping him short. Plates on Macaron's face moved closer to its eyes as it prepped to scan whatever held its limbs so. Its focus landed on a hooded figure, their coppery claws wrapped around his plated arm.

"Be watchful of where you step." The hooded figure said sternly, motioning to a cowering Cerdae fawn beneah the both of them. Macaron tried to tug its arm free, but, surprisingly, the stranger still firmly held the android in place. The Cerdae stood prettified for a moment longer before dashing off into the forest. Only then did the hooded dragon release Macaron and step back.

"What has you in such a hurry, anyways?" The figure questioned. Whenever they spoke, a strange but quiet whirring seeped from their chest.

Macaron blinked once, the plates around its eyes shifting back to their usual position as it studied the stranger. "My current primary objective is to find flowers."

The stranger tipped their head to the side.

"Excuse me?"

"User Chalina has requested that I bring flowers. I must fulfill their request. Do you know the location of any flowers?"

A long moment of silence passed. Then the hooded firgure spoke once more, their voice prefaced by the same mechanical whirring. "...By the Eleven..."

The stranger pulled their hood down, revealing a face sculpted entirely out of thick copper colored metal plates. Their glass eyes had the same spark of lightning behind them that Macaron's did. "Are you really...? I never considered there would be more..."

The copper dragon made a slow circle around Macaron, as if trying to take in every detail of its plated figure. They stopped directly in front of Macaron, craning their neck some to study the larger android's face. Macaron was busy scanning the canopy for flowers.

The copper dragon finally broke the silence. "Who made you?"

Macaron turned its eyes back to the dragon. "That is irrelevant to my objective. User Chalina has directed Macaron to find flowers. Where are flowers?"

The lightning behind the other's eyes sputtered for a second, and they took a step back from Macaron, their eyes on the ground. "Yes. Yes, of course. Flowers." They almost sounded disappointed. After a moment, they lifted their and flicked the green hood over their face once more.

"You...you are not like me, not really. Are you?"

Macaron simply stared down at them.

The copper android's head hung slightly. "I see. That is..." They lifted their eyes to the canopy, as if trying to catch a glimpse of the sky through the thick foliage. "Disheartening, to say the least. I cannot let you stomp through the rainforest wholly unchecked, however." They turned their attention back to Macaron. "I know of a clan not far from here. They will help you. If you allow me to sync with you, I can share their coordinates."

Just like that, the hooded android's horns clicked and stretched up with a soft mechanical whine, revealing an intricate tangle of machinery beneath their metal plates. Macaron's system recognized a signal being transmitted, and its own horns clicked and separated in response, acting like antennae of sorts. Within seconds, the coordinates the copper android sent Macaron were saved in its database, along with...something else. It was small, a scarcely noticeable surge that coursed through its system. It was quickly dismissed. Little did Macaron know that the soft surge was a copy of the very same 'virus' that caused the android before it to start truly thinking.

Macaron readjusted its course according to the coordinates, and with a curt "Thank you", to the hooded android, began on its way. The other watched Macaron until it was out of sight, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.


Briarwood Gardens, Clan Virilux, the Gladeveins

Before Macaron could make it to the coordinates the other android had shared, it found itself in the midst of a plethora of flowers. This would do. It down reached to pluck some flowers from the ground, when a single word suddenly echoed through Macaron's system.

Why?

Macaron blinked, drawing its talons away from the flower. What was that? What was why? Just then, a voice rang out from behind Macaron's massive frame.

"Hey, buddy! You've been sitting there for a good minute. You okay?"

Slowly, Macaron turned its head to the source of the voice, its joints creaking as it did so. A rather confused looking Tundra stood behind Macaron.

"User Chalina has requested I bring them flowers." Macaron replied curtly.

Why? And why flowers? Why am I doing this?

The Tundra looked Macaron up and down, his eyes growing wide. "W-well, uh...Some Carnaval Tulips always impress." He stammered after a moment, gesturing to a row of flowers beside him. "You...uh...can take some, if you'd like. Or something else." He seemed anxious, willing to comply if it meant Macaron would leave quicker.

Why?

Macaron left the gardens with a clawful of flowers, leaving behind a young Tundra who scarcely believed what they had seen. Already, Macaron was en route to User Chalina, ready to deliver their flowers once more. Hopefully they wouldn't mind Macaron asking a few questions this time.



Name, #ID, xx/xx/xx
Lair Name or Location
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