first match | accidental voice → text

[mouthbreathing]

[The microphone rustles on to a light hiss of breeze and distant city sounds from an open window. One can just about hear fingers skidding across buttons, manipulating the NV. And then, almost from nowhere, it begins:

Ko… ho…

Ko… ho… ko… ho…

A slow, heavy, mechanical breathing- air forced across metal vents and through steely chambers, released in a guttural rush.

It’s difficult to imagine it coming from anything living, but there’s also something off-puttingly human about it in its steady regularity, like the pulse of a heart. The sound continues for around a minute before catching, just for a second, and then being suddenly and unceremoniously switched off mid-breath.

Around twenty minutes later, a text message appears on the network.]

Where would a robo-choujin go for repairs?

Comments

[text]

[mouthbreathing]

[He isn't the only one hesitating; Warsman takes a moment to get at just what he's trying to say.]

Are you expecting one? [Is he being made fun of? Difficult to say without an expression to go off of, though the voice he can hear hardly sounds mocking. Text at least eases off the defensiveness in his response.]

[underdogged]

[The pause makes him wonder if he's made a mistake... and the blank text reply does nothing to quell those fears. It's impossible to read any kind of emotional reaction from it, good or bad. For all he knows, the guy could be laughing it up- or getting seriously pissed. And let's be honest; movies that start with annoying a voice breathing heavily down the phone never end with witty one-liners.]

It's your joke, man, it's not my job to finish it. [... yeah, it's really not the time for that. Kaiji clears his throat and attempts some repairs of his own.] I... uh, didn't realise you were being serious.

[mouthbreathing]

[He is being made fun of. Warsman watches the screen blanking for a moment, somewhere between wincing and sighing, but then pulls himself together and tries to move on. It obviously wasn't personal this time, not when people don't even know who he is.]

Why would I be joking about that? I need to make sure that I'm functioning correctly. [He's sure he sounds faintly plaintive, hardly befitting of a choujin, but there's no helping that now.]

[underdogged]

[This time Kaiji's the one to pause. Mostly he feels kind of stupid for assuming that there was some kind of psycopath on the other end of the line but he also takes a moment to absorb that little bit of information. So, whoever he- or she, now he thinks about it- is, they really are a robot. Not the weirdest thing he's come across but...]

[his tone softens, albeit only from prickly to awkward] Sorry. You're the first robot I've met. Did you just get here?

[1/2]

[mouthbreathing]

[A snap response-] I'm not a robot.

[2/2]

[mouthbreathing]

[- but it's a knee-jerk response and Warsman knows it. It takes half a minute for him to answer again, but he can't just let that stand.]

Not in the way that you might be thinking, at least.

[underdogged]

[The hastiness of the first reply and the pause that follows isn't lost on Kaiji- a sensitive subject?]

Right, you said "robo-choujin", didn't you? Choujin... as in a superhero?

[mouthbreathing]

[This, at least, is safer territory- and he can't fight a flicker of hope at the man's tone.]

More or less. Do you follow the Choujin Olympics, then?

[underdogged]

[Aaand you've lost him again.]

... we definitely don't have that where I come from. [a beat] Where are you from? Earth?

[There's a touch of desperation there- he's met people from entirely different worlds here so having at least one point of reference would be nice.]

[mouthbreathing]

[It was worth a shot, even if he didn't expect much out of it.]

Earth, in the year 1984. Where are you from?

[underdogged]

[Well, that's something. He seems to relax a little.]

Japan, 1996. I was a little culture shocked when I first got here but if you're partially robotic it must seem backwards. [a short sigh of irritation] What a headtrip.

[mouthbreathing]

Japan? It's a small world.

It's [he taps the keyboard a little, searching for the word] confusing. Some things are entirely new to me, but then the Greeter I spoke to said that only Newcomers were usually robotic. What about space travel? Do they have that?

[underdogged]

You're Japanese? [he pauses at the question, brow creasing- he sounds thoughtful when he answers] I don't know much about technology but I'm pretty sure they've only been as far as the moon. Are you saying that it's different where you're from?

[That would make sense; if he's a robot of some kind, he must be from a more advanced world.]

[mouthbreathing]

Russian. I'm a wrestler; where I'm from, most of the biggest tournaments take place in Japan. [And most of the biggest disasters- usually both at the same time.] People have made it all over the universe. A couple of my [it feels silly to hesitate here, he can't question it, but hesitate he does] friends are from different planets.

[underdogged]

[Kaiji's not even sure which point to touch on first- the superhuman robot wrestling or the alien friends. He settles on a nervous laugh whilst he decides.]

Seriously? That's, uh... you mean they're from Mars? Places like that?

[mouthbreathing]

[...] No. There isn't life on Mars. You probably wouldn't have heard of the planet if your universe doesn't have aliens.

[underdogged]

[Of course not, that would just be silly.]

Uh, right. [... maybe a change of subject...] You're a wrestler, huh? Does that mean everyone has powers where you come from? I guess this place isn't too weird for you, then.

[mouthbreathing]

Not everyone- just choujin. There are regular humans too. I'm assuming you're a human?

It's not the strangest thing I've ever seen, no.

[underdogged]

Yeah, that's right. The Core decided to play fair and give me something to work with when I arrived, though.

[chuckles] Do I even wanna know what that would be?

[mouthbreathing]

So it really does do that? What happened to you?

If I tried to list it all, I'd be here all day.

[underdogged]

I think got shortchanged. [as always is what that tone says] I can mess with odds but it's hard work. Haven't been able to figure it out properly yet and I've been here over a year.

You'll probably fit right in, then- this place is pretty nuts.

[mouthbreathing]

The odds- as in, probabilities? That sounds like it has the potential to be lethal. It might be a good thing that you haven't worked it out.

It seems almost as dangerous as home, from what I've heard. How dangerous is the night?

[underdogged]

[Kaiji hesitates; he's never thought of it that way before.] I don't know. It could be useful. Like... in a casino.

[As soon as the words leave his lips, he feels a pang of shame. Jesus, Kaiji, can't you leave it out of one, goddamn conversation? Just for once?

He's thankful for the distraction.]

I wouldn't last five minutes out there, man, but I'm just a human- you might have better luck than me. It pays better to work at night too, y'know?