hadriel | ✫ 004 [video]

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✫ 004 [video]

[It's been a while since Alphys was on the network just on her own- she doesn't tend to get on video in front of a bunch of people except for emergency situations (like when the Null flooded the city last year). But now the feed starts with her hands pressed over the camera as she arranges her phone, pulling back after a few seconds to show her more in frame. Seems she was still setting up the recording. She's sitting at her desk in the Lab, the chalkboard behind her blank, giving a little wave.]

So uh, h-hey there, Hadriel! This is Alphys. Or well, I'm Alphys. Dr. Alphys, but just Alphys is fine, uh--

[She pulls at some papers on her desk to try and make herself look busy. Why is doing announcements so hard?]

Anyway! So some of you might, uh, know me in that I run the lab here. Kind of. I help run it with a lot of people! But uh, m-my specialty is actually in mechanical engineering, and uh, more specifically robotics. And uh, I've noticed recently there are actually a lot of robots here? All of a sudden?

[She waves her hands in front of her, palms out from her chest.]

Not that it's a bad thing! And I, uh, totally want to help- I've done repairs on plenty of robots here before and I have some, uh, s-spare parts and stuff like that, but... I was wondering if anyone else has experience in, uh, that sort of thing? I used to know a couple of people, but I think, uh... just about everyone's gone home.

[Alphys looks down for just a moment, her head spines wilting, before she perks back up with her trademarked lopsided smile.]

So uh! If anyone knows anything or just wants to lend a hand or is a new robot and needs something just let me know!! I'm down at the lab! So! Yeah! Bye!!!

[And then there's a few more seconds of her grabbing her phone and just kind of squeezing it until the feed cuts. Might've been nice to know where the lab is, but. She tried.]

[ooc: Please feel free to put action prompts in here of characters coming down to see her as well!! Just trying to keep it all in one space.]

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[Fairly quiet, until she needs to be loud, and with a tendency towards speaking her mind that may well lead her to clash with some of the people who frequent the labs at some point in the future. For now, though, she is content enough to follow the smaller individual around and privately bow to her expertise of the place.]

... I'd like to speak to Barry, I think. [She muses out loud. Technology appeals to her, but study of the Door appeals to her even more.]

And it's fine that I'm here?

[She nods with a smile.]

Yeah! Yeah, it's f-fine. Really, uhm... we all dabble in a bunch of stuff, and we really just don't have enough people as it is. So anything helps. Uh, I also have a lot of my research on the computer, if you want to read up on, uhm, s-some stuff we figured out already.

I'd like that. Would you show me?

[Computers would have been a mystery to her straight out of the marshes, or from the Hierophant's realm, but years of being around Cybertronians has shown her a thing or two. She thinks she can handle it.]

If you don't mind.

Yeah! Here, uhm-- do you know what a computer is? Or like-- well, I know you talked about k-knowing stuff about robots, but I know this one's kind of weird in comparison to, uhm, laptops and stuff.

[She heads over, assuming Poison is following, turning it on with a dial-up whir and series of beeps.]

Mm, I do. We don't have them at home, but I've learned about them.

[Like she learns about everything that she can possibly get her hands on. She watches the machine with clear interest, standing a foot or so behind Alphys to give her space to work.]

... There's a robot here that I know from before. His name's Starscream. He's Cybertronian. If he asks you for any information about what you're doing here, you should be careful about what you tell him.

[She brings her claws up, tapping her chin.]

Wait, is he the uhm... the r-really big robot? I mean, in comparison to most other people around here, not to me, everyone's kind of big to me, uh-- this is totally off topic, I think I met him? He was in the Lab around when a lot of people came in.

[... Wait. She suddenly looks a bit more nervous.]

Is... he bad?

The pointy one who always looks sort of like he's up to something even when he's not doing anything. [Maybe the second part of that is coloured by her previous experiences of him... but he's definitely pointy. Poison glances down at the small... (what is she, anyway?) person and presses her lips together slightly.]

He's a Decepticon. They're the 'bad guys'. But he's kind of... [She sighs.] I was somewhere else, before here, and he was there too. He doesn't remember. Starscream is... a pleaser. Mostly he wants to please his master. I'm not sure if he's here, too.

[She can't exactly relate- monsters don't tend to have bad guys, but she kind of knows how it feels to be someone who wants to please someone else.But master? That feels a little far.

Still, there's no reason for her to be lying, so Alphys nods.]

Okay. I'll, uhm, b-be careful. Which one is his master...? I can, uh, I can say he's the only really big robot I've seen come through here-- I don't really have, uh, a l-list or anything, but I think I've been in contact with every robot in the city. I think.

[Poison rarely lies outright. She may do so to keep herself safe, or to keep others safe, or if she needs to bluff her way through a situation, but a lie like this? No, she wouldn't. It would make Starscream's life difficult if she wasn't telling the truth, but he could make things more difficult for a lot of people if he got unlimited access to what they were doing here.]

His master's name is Megatron. There are others, too... but I'll let you know if I see any of them. [She smiles at Alphys, faint but with a certain warmth to it.]

Starscream can't really do much harm by himself, I think. Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him.

[She smiles back, certainly charmed and grateful.]

I appreciate it, uhm, r-really. And you know, if there's anything I can do to help, uhm, let me know.

[Alphys notes the name down in her mind, though. Megatron. It even sounds... well, it sure does sound like a robot name, since she has a robot bestie named Mettaton... maybe she should mention that.]

Oh, and uh, if you hear about a robot named Mettaton, t-that's not any of them. He's my friend. That I, uh, built.

[That sure makes it sound sadder than the reality, hm.]

[She nods. So far, she hasn't noticed Starscream making any trouble, and maybe he won't if he has no one at his back and no one pushing him to try to impress them.

Still, she'll be keeping an eye on him.]

You built him? How complex is he?

[A question that a Poison fresh out of the swamp would never have thought to ask, but she knows so much more now.]

[Honestly, it's nice to hear she's interested in robot complexity if she wants to help out. Really does add to helping convince her that she's qualified- as if she was not already convinced, somehow.]

Well, uh-- I mean, his original form isn't t-that complicated. It's really just a box with a light-up pixel screen, but it was thrown together kind of quickly to test my proof of concept. His real artistry is in his EX form where he's got a fully humanoid design and transformation aspects!

[She doesn't have blueprints here to really show off, but she pulls up some photos on her phone of the box and his ex form.]

He had input on the EX design, o-of course. I wanted to let him choose how he really wanted to look.

[Poison leans in to look at the photos, her eyes lit up with a different kind of interest than before - this time the active, bright curiosity of someone learning something entirely new.]

That's amazing. [She says sincerely, a small smile around the edges of her lips.] He's intelligent, then?

[A blush starts to rise on her cheeks as Poison gets excited, the curve of her lips tilting up in time with the redness on Alphys' face.]

I, w-well-- yes, of course. I made him an artificial SOUL. He's a fully functioning AI. He's, uh, grown a lot since then, uhm-- I mean it's been, uh a couple years.

That's very impressive.

[Poison decides against drawing attention to the fact that her flattery is causing no small amount of blushing. Better not to draw attention to it.]

What's his personality like?

[Good please let her live. She's tiny and bi and a mess.]

I mean, he's-- h-he's a performance robot. So he sings, and dances, and is uhm, kind of-- I mean, very extroverted and f-flamboyant. He challenges me to get out of my shell sometimes... but uh, mostly he's here to, uhm! Lift people's spirits!

That sounds nice. [Poison replies with a small, distant, but warm smile. That doesn't sound like the kinds of robots she's used to, but he sounds... fun.]

I feel as if I'll know him when I see him.

He is, uh... l-like 7 feet tall with hot pink high heels. So uh, that'd do it!

[If anything, Mettaton is absolutely unique.]

[That sounds like... quite the impression-maker.]

And that's the form he chose for himself, yes?

Yeah! He has, uh, a-another body, which was the first one I built before he wanted a nicer one. It's more, uhm, boxy.

[But of course, he wanted something flashy, so here we are.]

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✫ 004 [video]

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