Oh, my aching head.. (HK-69/Open!)

Last night was one helluva night, to be certain. Chen had started off all the way in Aramore, celebrating the night of her arrival by headed to one of the most famous inns within the large religious city. Drank so much that she was feeling like she had gotten into a massive bar brawl with some angry patrons. Although, where she comes from, bar brawls are treated as a friendly competition. Either way, she was feeling pretty beaten up.

Now one may wonder how it was a person could manage to start off in Aramore, just to wake up in Obsidian at the fucking crater floor. In response to that, I bet you didn't hear the story about that one adventurer and his goat wife wrecking some religious altar. Chen was pulling something of the same deal. Except she wasn't married, and the crater floor was by no means a religious altar.

The bottom of the crater would scare any normal person, but Chen's head hurt far too much for her to give a damn. And honestly, she was still feeling a bit drunk. Rising up from her drunken slumber she placed a hand to her head, arching her neck with a pained groan. "Oh, my aching head.." The drunken monk mumbled as she took a look around. Honestly, she had no idea where she was. If she did, she might've been terrified. But to her this place was simply a really dark cave with really weird noises and even weirder mushrooms glowing and hanging off the walls, or ceiling, or just attached to the floor in some places.

"Aye.. Well, better give moving then." She let out a deep sigh, looking tired and irritated until she reached down to her side and grabbed a flask from off her belt. She brought it up to her mouth and took a sip. Letting out a relieved sigh through her nose as she put the flask back on her belt. A smile spreading across her face as she appeared to mellow out and appear far more content.

Now happier than she had been a minute ago, Chen proceeded into the darkness carelessly. Maybe there would be some form of light to the end of this tunnel and she would find herself outside of this dank, dark place. Or even better, knowing her she would end up in some strange place without any reasonable explanation as to how she got there because she's Chen. Chen attracts trouble like a hyper-power magnet attracts iron shavings.

Fairly soon after Chen would start walking, she'd no doubt catch sight of a silhouette in the distance. From afar it would easily look like a person, though as she drew closer it would become more and more apparent that it was not. This being had many sharp edges and a blatantly irregular shape.

Fairly soon after she'd draw closer two orange slits would become visible on the figure's heads and were directed directly at Chen. Whatever this thing was, it was clearly watching her, though it made no movements or sounds. Could it be that it was unable to? Did it think it was hidden? There truly was no telling, but regardless it was a certainly curious sight.

Of course out of sheer curiosity, Chen would approach the silent sentinel without any sort of caution. Maybe she was just too dumb to see it, but at her feet was a staff. How she missed the damn green, glowing thing in this darkness was a complete mystery. Maybe it was her luck punching her in the cunt, as not a moment after she began to walk towards HK she tripped on it and fell.

After a moment she sprung back up to her feet and rubbed the top of her head. She looked down at the strange weapon, making a silent 'hmm' noise before crouching down and picking it up. She recognized the design style, despite how slammed she was. This staff was of the same designs as the ones she saw back home in the unnamed isles to the west. Chen did not know the significance of it now, but touching it made her feel.. more attuned to the mist. As if she were a step closer to enlightenment.

The lupine decided it was probably better for her to hold onto it for now, so like any Hero without a good sheathe or scabbard or anything of that sort would, it vanished in a flurry of particles.. dissapearing into some odd pocket dimension. Afterwards she turned back towards the robot and continued on her drunken stumble towards it. He probably witnessed her random fuck-up, maybe even found it amusing. Chen really didn't know.

At that point the figures eyes suddenly lit up even brighter than before, giving off considerable glare considering the darkness. After a few moments a highly mechanical yet somehow cynical voice erupted from the figure. "Statement: Greetings, flea infested, intoxicated, fleshy waste of spa- er I mean potential purchaser or master! The unit standing before you is known as HK-69. I am skilled in both combat and protocol functions. Query: Would you be so kind as to purchase me or reactivate my movement functions that I may leave this wretched hole?"

After this, HK went silent, evidently waiting for an answer from Chen. Judging by looks.. nothing could really be told about the now known automaton. Say for the fact that it was extremely old, judging by its orangish-brown and evidently rust colored appearance. It was certainly a heavily curious sight to behold so far underground. There was no doubt a fairly interesting story behind this event.

The robotic voice startled Chen initially, but as soon as she realized it was the robot she calmed down. Listening intently, she nodded once the HK bot made his query. She began looking all over the robot's body, trying to find some sort of button or switch to reactivate his movement functions to no avail.. Why was this robot unable to move, anyway? He could certainly speak. That much was certain.

Why the robot's movement had been disabled and not his voice was a mystery to Chen. It was surprising that she was even capable of critical thinking right now. "Hmm.. Nothing a little mist can't handle!" And with that statement, Chen would back away and lower herself into a fighting stance. Despite being intoxicated, her stance was firm and unwavering. Strong like an ox. Taking a deep breath, the air around her moved and slowly green wisps of air and particles would begin to appear. Quite suddenly, she would thrust her palm forward aimed right at HK's chest.

Just short of hitting the robot, Chen's open palm would stop at such a specific moment that her palm strike turned into a simple tap. The mist would be transfered from her and into HK-69. Since the Flow and the Mist were basically the same thing, this was obviously meant to restore the movement functions in the HK bot by giving it more power.

In response a whirring noise sounded off from within HK-69's body as his entire body began to shake. "Status Report: Reactor Core overloaded! Commencing purge of excess power. Please retreat to a safe distance of-" Before he could finish the report, a sudden blue-green burst of raw energy erupted from HK-69 and in a massive flash of light illuminated a massive chunk of the crater. In fact, in that moment a large amount of rather large insects fled back into the shadows. "Query: At what point did you learn that overloading the reactor core of such any piece of equipment was a smart idea? Did you think that maybe it gave me some sort of super-abilities? Because it does, but only if done under very strict regulations." HK-69 then leaned over and picked up what looked to be some sort of rifle. No doubt a valuable relic in its own right.

"Statement: Despite your crippling stupidity, you have served to cure my of my immobility. Due to this I shall grant you the opportunity of a lifetime! Should you wish, albeit likely at my own personal peril, I will recognize you as my new master. Protocol dictates it but strangely enough I have discovered a measure of.. free will. It is truly liberating yet foreign." Hk-69 then said as he seemed to enter a military-like at ease stance, or at least as much as his joints would allow.

Chen stepped back as HK-69 began to shake. Fortunately a sufficiently safe distance to avoid being blown up. "There was no switch or button, though.." Chen muttered, placing a finger on her chin. She wasn't really sure what had been expected of her, but at least she got the robot moving again. On top of that she seemed to have scared away from terrifying looking insects.. As long as they weren't spiders she was perfectly content. If they were, well.. at least they had ran away?

"Well, uh.. mister metal man, I've never seen anything like you before. But I could feel the Mist inside you so I thought maybe you needed some more to move. At least it worked though, right?" Chen asked innocently enough for a grown, slammed drunk woman. The rifle the robot had picked up was something she had never seen before either- at least not in the same style. There were guns in Thera, for sure. But most were steampunk-like in design, and if anything more than it was most likely found in a ruin or an ancient city. Or perhaps hand made. Chen really didn't know.

The insults didn't really seem to bother her. It wasn't stuff she hadn't been called before so it wasn't as if it could cut her very deeply. "Your master? Well.. okay, that sounds really good. It could even prove to be fun! Maybe next time I'm in the bar you can help me avoid ending up in this same situation as I am now. I don't think I'd be as lucky to meet what looks like an efficient-in-killing metal man again. Unless it were aiming to kill me, of course. Speaking of this situation though.. Can you tell me what this place is?"

"Clarification: You are in an area known by locals as the Crater Floor. Some claim it to be the most dangerous place in Thera. I however have found that it is quite tame fresh after a seven hour killing spree. Unfortunately that is when what I can only assume was a malfunction hindered my progress. Statement: No doubt you... managed to get down here, completely miss me, and sleep on the ground undisturbed by the countless amounts of insects or.. strange people whom I have seen travel in and out of here through the kind of luck I'm sure only an alcoholic would have. I would be impressed if it weren't so pathetic." HK-69 said, clearly adding increased amounts of sarcasm in his voice before pointing to his left.

"Statement: When I first saw you, you had come from that direction. If I were to guess, I would say that the exit to this hole would be found over there" He then said before turning to face that direction and entering a more hostile stance.

"I have heard echoes of a large battle above as well. It would be most exciting if we could assess and... potentially enter the situation." HK said as he took a few very jerky steps forward. "Observation: It seems moisture has gotten to my joints while I stood there. If the master would be so kind, some sort of oil would be very beneficial to my movement once available."