[ robo priest man take me by the hand ]

[recrowns]

Comments

[robopriest]

Special?

[There's a flicker of something - amusement, maybe? - in his eye.]

What makes you say that?

[recrowns]

It's firm.

[he won't flinch away from pointing it out now that he's started!

in fact he'll pull his hand away - though admittedly not far. he's more interested in taking one of hansa's hands in both of his own if he's allowed to, pressing his fingers against his palm, as if trying to understand better. he's just a little enthralled]

I'm curious why that is.

[robopriest]

[He doesn't pull away - he just lets Soo-won take it, letting him examine it all he wants. It looks like a normal regular human hand, for sure, fingernails and all, but on closer inspection, it seems a little too smooth, the contours a little too perfect. The pressure of Soo-won's fingers press and meet something hard under the surface, and its too large to be a finger-bone.]

...Hm. It sure looks like a regular hand, doesn't it?

[recrowns]

[what the hickety heck]

It does!

[to which he sounds impressed, excited - because it's a confirmation that it essentially isn't, no? if there's no resistance, then hansa will unfortunately have to deal with soo-won trying to move his fingers, curling, and uncurling, before he settles for just holding onto hansa's hand again]

Were you born with this hand?

[robopriest]

[His hand moves like a proper hand does! The fingers move as they should. Hansa's grin just widens as he has his hand played around with, enjoying the whole thing.]

I wasn't. This was installed later in life.

[recrowns]

[this is terrible soo-won is so fascinated]

Installed? How so?

[robopriest]

...

[A long pause.]

If you want to hear the explanation...do keep it to yourself, would you? It's not a major secret or anything, really, but...its just more of a personal thing.

[recrowns]

[ah -

soo-won manages a smile at that]

In that case, it's even more important that I keep it to myself.

[personal private matters are more important to him than big general secrets]

I promise.

[robopriest]

Haha, is that so?

[Soo-won does seem the sincere type to keep a secret like that.]

Anyways...my body is seventy-percent machinery. That's why my hand is like that.

[recrowns]

Seventy?

[he repeats - and he does sound a little surprised, but more intrigued than anything else. he continues to hold onto hansa's hand with his own - but his other raises up to hover in front of his face as if he wants to brush against hansa's cheek]

Here?

[hmmm that hand drops to hover over where his heart would be - ]

Here?

[robopriest]

[He doesn't move even as Soo-won reaches up to his face, his eye following the other's hand as it moves down to his heart.]

Well, yes. My teeth are all replaced, for one. However, I still have my heart and stuff, its just reinforced. Seventy percent, give or take.

[recrowns]

[wow! a reinforced heart!]

Ah... it makes a little more sense why you'd volunteer to be my bodyguard now.

[no matter how skilled soo-won is, he definitely isn't built the same way that hansa is.]

That's amazing. Thank you for letting me know - I'll keep it to myself. Do you enjoy this body?

[robopriest]

Oh come on, I'm not volunteering because of that. It definitely helps, though.

[He nods at that.]

I do. All those parts were given to me by the Church. This body truly is a blessing.

[recrowns]

[ah - the sentiment manages to get soo-won to pause before smiling]

Mm, I see. Then you are just very kind.

[he's gonna be surprised over the bodyguard offer for at least another day.]

But - by the Church? Do all priests appear the same way you do?

[robopriest]

Me? Kind?

[He laughs a little at that, almost self-mockingly.]

Thanks, though. And no, not all priests are like this. I'm just unique.

[recrowns]

You are.

[he says, like it's fact, and if he says it then it's impossible to refute]

Oh... Well, that suits you too. [BEING A UNIQUE CYBORG PRIEST] Have you spoken much to Fiora? Even if you don't wish to tell that many people, I think that you two have somewhat similar existences.

[robopriest]

...I'm just being a priest and serving those in need, hm.

[JUST. TAKE THE COMPLIMENT. HANSA]

I've talked to her once or twice. This week I'll chat her up again. I think she implied she was just...born like that? But I'm not sure.

[Its something to find out, at least.]

[recrowns]

Oh? Am I in need?

[the

thought makes him laugh a little]

I believe she said that she was human, as I am, before - but now she isn't. I don't have the full details but... Maybe a little camaraderie?

Is there a name for what you are? ['cyborg' isn't in medieval fantasy korea vocabulary] Or do you still consider yourself wholly human, just reinforced?

[robopriest]

You're the one who was implying he needed bodyguards for his old ones.

[Hmm!]

Now she isn't...perhaps we are more similar than I thought. And I believe the term would be "cyborg". A human reinforced with machinery and metal.

[recrowns]

Ah... I suppose that's true. Very well, I'll be in need in this case.

[don't just suddenly agree to something you thought was funny a second ago]

Mm, I see... Will you tell me how you came to be a cyborg?

[he just keeps asking questions]

[robopriest]

See? You agree with me.

[He is pretty amused.]

And it was at the Church's request. All the better to do my duties.

[recrowns]

Your duties....

Dealing with gamblers in an entertainment district....?

[?????????]

Or something else?

[robopriest]

Mmm. Something else.

[A beat.]

Say. Why does a merchant have bodyguards, anyways?

[recrowns]

[fair enough - he laughs a little bit, like he knows what hansa's doing, but he answers anyway]

I hired them once the towns that I traveled through began to get more dangerous - a rather powerful drug had started to take hold in them. It was common to run into... problems, whether it be people attacking you for money, or villages with corpses in the rivers.

[a beat]

My country's leadership was rather... loose, until recently. Under the veil of peace, a number of problems began to appear. Drugs, human trafficking, famine...

It's a beautiful place - but I'm afraid that was largely surface-level.

[robopriest]

[he can't reveal his entire backstory the first week, soo-won!!!!!!!!]

A drug? [Hm.] And isn't that the truth. Sometimes beauty hides quite ugly things.

What were you selling, as a merchant?