#android-niel

Even without his computing abilities, Niel could have predicted this outcome. He sighed - ironically, both a programmed behaviour when annoyance rose, and a way to let escape some heat provoked by the overheating that said annoyance caused.

Far from bringing a positive outcome, his ‘success’ in bringing the orange moss actually made his superior, the scientist he was assisting, even more upset about him. For a moment, except for some bitter glances thrown his way, Niel received nothing bad from the scientist, making him hope it would stay at that…

But considering his luck until now - and yes, he accepted the concept of luck even if it was countering logic and statistics - he wasn’t surprised when consequences eventually happened.

It first started with his superior welcoming him with a smile, a fact that immediately switched to red every internal alarm Niel possessed. Wary, he listened to the speech that was unnecessarily long, and understood what was the essence of it : 

Considering the ‘success’ of his last mission, he was sent to search for something in the Relic Castle. And since he managed it without help last time…

“...You won’t need an escort for this mission either, do you ? Someone as talented as you. I’m sure you’ll do well, so I convinced the higher ups. I’m counting on you !” So sweet and syrupy yet his eyes were sparkling with malice and revenge. Niel wondered what he did to this man, really.

Just a few praises towards Niel when he got engaged were enough to gain the scientist’s hatred, for some reason. When the android asked nothing more than to help the other in his projects…

Sighing again, he was reading his mission summary once more, despite having registered it already.

A notification popped on his screen, a familiar red attracting his eyes.

Gears turned in his head. Should he…? After their meeting, he managed to send a few texts and pics here and there to the kind trainer who helped him - a fact he had to hide from his report, since mentioning would mean he’d have to explain why he didn’t have an escort in the first place and - yeah, not going into that rabbit hole.

She did say she would like to help, so maybe he could ask ?

He didn’t have much of a choice. The chances of him managing the mission alone was under 15%.

It took way too long for an android as evolved as himself to find an acceptable wording, but eventually the message was sent to Daedra.

Niel : [ Hello. Would you mind going to the Relic Castle ? I’m afraid I have a new mission there, and no one to accompany me. If you don’t mind. ]

After a quick thought, he added : 

Niel : [We could meet at the entrance of Desert Resort, or anywhere between there and Castelia City.]

[I can find a way to pay for your help if you wish.]

Field work wasn’t for him, Niel had concluded already before, but was confirming again. He was made - quite literally - to work in a lab, surrounded by walls. Not in the depth of the Pinwheel, trying to gather the data he was requested to, all the while hoping for wild pokemon to not get too interested in him.

That far, he had been rather lucky. Most of the information he was looking for were found and noted down - despite remembering them perfectly, he’d have to type them out eventually to send them, so Niel may as well do it right away.

There was one specific kind of moss that was still missing, and the man moved to another corner of the forest he had yet to check. On his shoulder, Joltik was resting, as usual. They left only to eat, nearly. At least it was easy for him to keep track of which area he visited or not.

Finally, the thing he was looking for came into his sight, and he approached the bing, old fallen stump the moss was growing on.

The way Joltik started to buzz on his shoulder all of sudden made Niel slow down, but it was already too late.

A whole group of Panpour, Pansear and Pansage came out of the stump and from the trees and bushes around. What had happened ? He didn’t have enough data about these pokemons to know why they were hostile all of sudden, and to stop them.

The research came second behind survival, and Niel started to walk backward, knowing even with all his pokemon he’d be no match for them. Joltik was affectionate but weak despite their advantage against water, Durant would turn into a crisp at the slightest ember, and Solosis… Solosis was very free spirited, and didn’t own any strong attack against those.

The stats were definitely not in the lab assistant’s favor. The hypothesis the scientist he was working for sent him here to get him in trouble out of jealousy was, however, getting higher probability.

Step by step, the man was retreating, the group of wild pokemons walking towards him in a threatening manner…

Until Niel’s back bumped into something.

Or rather, as he checked behind himself, someone.

A scolipede.

On his shoulder, Joltik was nearly vibrating with how hard they were buzzing, while in his head his percentage of chance of getting out in one piece was quickly dropping.

He wasn’t one to take luck into account, but this probably counted like shitty luck. 

JI-Joltik (idea by @tactful-kind-daedra )

Does Niel breath, or does he intentionally mimic the gesture? Perhaps he doesn't at all and it's potentially noticeable.

(Don't mind me being in my MM/X haha) ]]

// Kinda both ! He does 'breath', meaning by that his body does the breathing motion, and he does get intake of air.

His body then has some part that function similar to lung, except it transform azote and dioxyde in energy... and Oxygen ! Since he must reject things, the basic programming is to reject oxygen (inspired by plants). But if needed, he can switch and reject dioxide instead.

Kind of like an air recycler !

Martha Fergerus. 36 years old. Celibate. Pollen allergy.

His internal database provided as main informations. He knew he could reach for more if needed, but that was enough for now. Niel smiled - a gesture he thankfully mastered, even if he may lack the ability to do so in a truly natural way. It was enough for most people, at least. "Sorry Martha, I wasn't listening. What were you saying ?"

Not at all bothered, the woman smiled wider at him. "Me and the others are going out at a bar, would you like to join us ?"

Ah. Right. Human social gathering.

Pros : Relationships may increase Cons : Unnatural behaviour may be more apparent

"It's fine if you don't want to go ! But you never seem to want to join us for a drink, so I thought I'd ask ?"

New data. Processing... Conclusion : Not going may you look less human. This is going against second function.

All of his internal process was quite fast though, and it only looked like Niel was thinking about it, before he nodded. "Well. You're right, I should go, I have nothing planned."

Punching the air with a victory shout, Martha spinned around - probably to get herself ready to leave, and tell everyone he was coming.

A quite human reaction was perfectly appropriate for the situation : Niel sighed, hoping it would be fine. His programming wasn't allowing him to refuse to go, but he was still aware it could be dangerous. He could drink alcohol, but not mimic being drunk, so he'll have keep track of his consumptions. And humans at social gathering were more 'relaxed', which mostly meant for him he'd stand out even more.

The walk to the pub was easy, Niel listening to conversations around him. However, as planned, it was a little harder once inside, with his curious colleagues asking personal questions he didn't always have answer to. At least he noted them down to etablish an answer for them later. Lying was allowed by his programming, as long as it didn't put any human in danger, and was required to respect his second function - not having his true nature discovered.

At first he had only one main function - work as a lab assistant, but in order to maintain the first one in this new life, his programming evolved to form the second one.

Thankfully it didn't seem like they minded much his mostly silent attitude. Surely they were used to it by now, he wasn't very talkative nor outgoing.

Once one of his colleague announced their leave, he only waited a bit before going as well, saying goodbye to his coworkers and paying for his drink.

It was only once outside that he could feel his processor slow down and cool down. Honestly, stress was a human thing he wished he didn't know, but the risk of the situation sure had made him get a feeling akin to it.