[Open] Choosing A New Path

[kree_soldieress]

WHO: Lauri-Ell, Open
WHERE: Around Temba, Hospital
WHAT: Patrol and New Datapoint
WHEN: Mid-June to end of the month
WARNINGS: N/A

I. I Walk These Lonely Roads | Roads of Temba
No matter the decision as to whether her purpose here was changing or not, there was still some inherent things that were not going to change. After Lauri's morning work out she put up a sign at the civics center training area saying to contact her if someone wanted work out help. And then she set out to do the normal. Hammer in hand, Accuser armor wrapped around her, Lauri-Ell walked confidently through the early morning streets. It was time to do her patrols.

But she was getting started a little later today, and she was happy to see others around, raising her free hand in a greeting and offering them a smile.

"It grows warm in the mornings, yes? Very lovely."


II. Learning The Ropes | Hospital
It had taken time to come to this conclusion. Time and soul searching, and the kindness extended to her by Omega and Billy recently. And the realization that she did not need the weapons the Agrii provided to protect others. Which meant she could learn to protect people in more ways.

That didn't mean she entirely knew what to do with this knew knowledge. Lauri-Ell removed her hand from the datapoint and just... stood there for a moment.

"I still don't understand," she said, a bit frustrated before she turned and entered the hospital. "But I suppose I should see if there is a means to learn properly."

Comments

[kree_soldieress]

"I most definitely did not turn out how my creators would have wished," she admits. But Carol said that their mother would have liked her. That... was a comfort. "But you are not haywire. You're you. You are York. You are like a pricklebeast, but you are still you."

And yes, healing was a good thing too.

[buildingitsir]

"A...a what? A pricklebeast?" Immediately his system tries to do a search on an internet he's not connected to here. Right. No internet. He's trying to search through his main database to find the closest match. Maybe it was something that was from Lauri-Ell's world?

The closest thing that comes up in an animal search is... a hedgehog. "Is it a hedgehog? Or is it an actual animal from your world?"

[kree_soldieress]

"Yes. Little earth things that fit in your hand and look like many prickles together," she confirmed. Though the word makes her pause. "Is that what they are called? Your world has so many strange terms. I was told that furbeasts are actually called 'cats', but it looked more like an Earth form of a Flerkin to me."

So many earth creatures.

[buildingitsir]

She was serious. Actually serious. He has to pause in his walk with her to laugh, pressing a hand to his eyes as the amusement lights up his circuts. It's strange, the light emotion that flows through him at the action in response to delight.

"You just called me a fucking hedgehog." There's a moment where he pulls his programming together and walks again with her. "No one's ever compared me to one before. Who told you about them? Also I like the name 'pricklebeast' better to be honest."

[kree_soldieress]

Of course she was serious. Why would she not be? Lauri-Ell is actually shocked by the laughter. What was going on with that? She didn't know and didn't know how to find out.

"I saw one, on a human television show. No one named it. Well, they named it Edelgard. I didn't think that sounded like an animal name."

[buildingitsir]

He notes her shocked face and glances away. York's not sorry that he found her reaction funny of course. Maybe a bit embarrassed, even if it can't show on his face like a real human's.

"Edelgard? That's a terrible name. Probably should've named it Spike or Sonic or something." There were references in there that she probably wouldn't get, but that was okay. York could probably make a lot of references for his earth that people wouldn't get.

[kree_soldieress]

"Why those? Spike or Sonic?"

Surely he must have a reason for such a name. Spikes aren't what they have. And what is Sonic?

[buildingitsir]

"Fictional characters from my world. Like Sonic is a fictional hedgehog character that can run super fast. The name Spike, just because they look spikey. I know the spike thing fits better with a porcupine, but whatever." He waves it off in a dismissive fashion. "I guess, uh, inside jokes from my earth."

"Anything like hedgehogs where you're from then? Or are they just a thing for us earth natives?"

[kree_soldieress]

A hedgehog that runs super fast?

"And what tales of morality are told of this hedgehog character?"

Yes she's assuming he's a fable.

"There are creatures that have prickles, yes. Often tipped with poisons."

[buildingitsir]

"Yeah, I don't know the canon lore for Sonic that well. I know he was a popular video game and there was other stuff made for him, but I don't have time for things like that where I'm from. Too busy trying to get recognized as a person and all that shit."

A glance to her with a slight smirk. "I guess I'm thankful that you see me as a hedgehog and not a porcupine then. Prickly, but not poisonous."

[kree_soldieress]

"Ah, what is a video game?"

Yep, lost once more. Truly her cultural experiences, of her own people and of humanity, are dreadfully narrow.

"What is a porcupine?"

[buildingitsir]

"Uhhh, just a game one would play on a television. It's visual media. Something to entertain someone as a hobby. Though I guess in my earth's past some made it a career. As for a porcupine, it's just another animal. Bigger than a hedgehog, with quills for protection."

In his pocket, his communicator dinged. Then dinged a few more times. Pulling it free, he checks the direct messages and smirks a little. "Hate to break away like it's a bad date, which it's not because I've enjoyed walking - of all things, who would've fucking thought - I should head out. Someone apparently wants my attention." Someone that had an awful shirt and was almost a coulrophobic. Almost.

[kree_soldieress]

Quills for protection. Peter Quill? No, probably not.

"So another form of human entertainment. How intriguing. I had not heard of it in my limited time in New York City."

Still, his decision to walk away earns a nod from Lauri-Ell. She quite understands. That is something he must do, so she will accept it with a bow.

"Have care then, my Pricklebeast friend."