Primitive Polygon
🎖️ Game Master
Including @Ametheliana
Embassy Park
Sachiko was standing with a straight back at the Southern side of the embassy park on Yamatai, waiting. Her dress had a low collar between her collarbones that ascended around her neck and behind her head in a neat curve that splayed out below her hair, which was for the most part, twisted in a tall knot. The front of her grey hair fell down in tendrils in front of her long, extending down until they hung limply from her chest, swayed by a small breeze that passed through the grounds of Reikan Park.
Calmly pacing up to the agreed location in a manner befitting a totem pole, a tall mechanical Freespacer loomed for a moment, holding the glossy red jacket of its suit over one shoulder. More than anything, it was as if they were surprised the Yamataian was not significantly shorter than them...
"Miss Sachiko, I presume?" Their brass head tilted forward like a sideways computer tower, single red camera eye gleaming. It was more odd watching them create such a splendid, waiterly bow, because of how humanoid the rest of them was. "I apologise, is that how you prefer to be addressed?"
A warm smile greeted the Automata and bent her head slightly before lifting it again, nodding before she said, "I have had two names in my life and this one, Sachiko, is the one that has remained."
"Linelayer Hammerhead Eight Eight 88 7026 1428," The Elven diplomat said and waved a hand slowly towards a paved walkway that led from the hovercars and automobiles of the entrance area. "But now it is my turn to apologise, is that how you wish to be addressed?"
"Hammerhead is fine." They responded simply, considering a diatribe about how ridiculously complex 'spacer names actually worked, but bottled it up for the time being. The machine person was more interested in this strange, sprawling world they had found themselves on; And the distinctly non-Nekovalkyrja host who had finally agreed to meet him here. "We... erm... Well, I'm not a stickler for protocol."
They approached the walkway, but slowly. Hammerhead had always supposed a planet should have that weather stuff, but even on the tail of winter, all he had seen was a slight chill and serene pink skies. Kind of made it all feel like a simulation.
"Is it always like this here, Sachiko? So... Well, sombre?..."
Sachiko had been walking beside Hammerhead at a diminished pace, looking ahead at the garden aesthetics.
When he asked his question, she looked to him with a lack of stillness in her eyes. They then returned to looking ahead, no longer looking as if searching Hammerhead's red, shining cameras on his robotic, oblong face.
"Apologies again. I hear it's a cliche to talk about the weather." Electronic tones, punctual and rhythmic. This was literally a machine created for communication, and so perhaps didn't recognise a polite silence when confronted with one. "Only, of the four planets I've been to, three did not have air, and the fourth is a furnace with sandstorms that could remove paint. Rather makes this place feel like a starship, but... Well, inside out."
"That is an interesting sentiment... I have heard many things about Reikan Park, but I have never heard this specifically."
The spacer took a pace to decide how to respond, but simply ended up looking back in the direction of the bare-bones villa which had been constructed for his nation a few years prior. Funnily enough, it had never really been used, and might as well have been a show home in it's current state.
That left them rather confused about how to entertain a guest, in this foreign land.
"It's certainly very flat." A loose comment eventually escaped their speakers, referring to the kilometre of grasslands that surrounded the complex beyond the protective pillars. "And the rest of this 'park' material... Well, I'm afraid I must admit I'm a stranger to it too... Do you come from a place with a lot of greenery, miss?"
Sachiko was about to begin speaking on something she was really very interested in and the main reason she had invited Hammerhead to come to the embassy; she wanted to hear his thoughts on the villa becoming expanded in the future time to come. Instead, the Elf became transfixed by his question for a moment and her eyes looked deeply into his sockets and face-equipped cameras.
"I come from a place of greenery, yes. You may feel like a stranger in my home, but I would hope that you would gain a sense of enjoyment from it," Sachiko said, "as I hope you do here."
"I always welcome the opportunity to learn new things." He responded simply, observing that subtle body language at a distance. None of this was as he had imagined. "You are welcome to lead the way if you desire... I hear a ring around the central complex has the highest density of open water sources and relaxation facilities."
A stilted answer, perhaps, but what motivations were at play here still alluded him. The airy woman's slightly distant demeanour intrigued him, but part of Hammerhead's own will was also being restricted. The part that reminded him this had been the heart of enemy territory not so long ago...
Now that he had finally gotten some kind of audience, he had to wonder how and why. He had to wonder who Sachiko really was.
Always one to explore the embassy's sprawling gardens, the Elf took the necessary steps to bring them near a trickling, chiming, and tinkling creekbed. An egret moved with drawled out motions, long legs only barely submerged in the running water of the creek. Sachiko looked to the area the creek came from, a place with plenty of yew trees for them to sit underneath.
A few wandering diplomats passed them and they received curt nods and bows, which Sachiko exchanged with a small greeting, "Good morning."
"Is there any interest in seeing the villa completed at the embassy here?" Sachiko asked, looking at her steps as she walked along the small line of water.
A small pair of flaps slid open just right of Hammerhead's main eye, unveiling another camera which twisted to observe the majestic wild bird in greater detail. This seemed to embarrass them when suddenly interrupted by the other delegates, however, and it rapidly snapped shut again.
"The villa... Well, I'm afraid organic spacers are often considered a health and safety violation, and..." The brass totem held a finger to their chin, considering the question diligently, before looking back down to regard the Elven woman again. "It's... Well, it's nicer than my ship already, even if it is bare bones. And I'm the only one there at the minute... Well, aside from red and yellow."
Sachiko listened intently as she sat down on a sculpted metal bench that was surprisingly comfortable, though she did have the advantage of an overly thick dress that acted as a cushion. She folded her hands, which had fingerless gloved sleeves that protected her hands from the barely-there cold of the morning.
Hoping she understood him correctly, Sachiko chose to address only a few things, "If you choose to stay, power, water, and sewage are taken care of by the park, as well as public access to SYNC. I know for many, it would be beneficial for the Freespacers as a whole to have relations with Yamatai that are no longer strained by space." There was an implication that Sachiko understood the other constraints the two groups faced and was accepting that not all things would be fixed in this meeting with the Wire Guided diplomat and herself.
Hammerhead took the seat alongside hers slowly, crossing their legs and bowing their hands behind their head. Certainly wasn't anything very professional about this android, as careful as they were placing their words.
"SYNC would certainly be nice... At this distance, I certainly can't say my connection to the Polysentience has been stellar." They were playing it cool. As a systems expert, the connection speeds here might as well have been torture. Still, there were more important things afoot. "As for integrating my people into Yamatai society... Certainly. In fact, the idea of once again becoming part of planet-based civilisations is one of the cornerstones of my organisation. Motherships are too vulnerable! It's better to have friends!"
Now that was something they could talk about all day and night. But instead, they just looked up at the branches of the trees, and let the wind flow through the loose folds of their garments.
One step at a time.
After a few moments' introspection on both of their accounts, the egret had come to stand in front of them and Sachiko couldn't help but wonder if the beautiful bird had followed in their wake. It claimed a small crawdaddy in the water for itself and reached its bill to the sky as it swallowed the morsel of food.
"Your organisation of the Wire Guided, what is their status as far as relations with other groups of Freespacers?" Sachiko asked while she watched the display in front of them.
Hammerhead watched the dance of wild animals with disguised bewilderment. Such a beautiful creature, yet so casually savage... Not that he was one to judge, but it still irked his senses to see the natural world as it really was.
"It... It could be better." An honest answer. His digital voice made no secret of his distaste for the current situation. "The Viridian Array were supposed to be our friends, but it's been difficult to stop them from becoming simple mercenaries for the Nepleslians. The Locksmiths as always, seem content to sit in their rift and hate everyone. The Wire Guided are expanding, but it's a difficult time."
"You say your friends, the Viridian Array, are doing mercenary work for Nepleslians. Can you explain that to me more?" Sachiko asked.
"Well, collaborating with the Nepleslians is nothing new, of course. And I have no qualm with our green friends, either. In fact, negotiations with them have been moving as swimmingly as always..." A look over to the Elven woman, ignoring the obvious pitfall of this particular conversation. "But I fear that being an unofficial, auxiliary, force, seems to lead their 'live by the gun' lifestyle prone to going down some dark alleyways..."
Another look up at the branches, before reverting to a slouch, pooling their fingers together as they regarded the organic woman's facial features once more.
"...No, that sounds, a little preachy... It's more like..." A pause, then a nod. "More like we would prefer them to remain in charge of their own destiny. That's what being a Freespacer was supposed to be about."
Sachiko noted he had used past tense. Things had changed for the Freespacers and things, also, couldn't be changed. Whether of not she would be elected in order to solidify that things would change for the better and would remain static only if they were for the best.
"They are living in a way in which they go down dark alleyways, you say," Sachiko said, "if some of them were to be shown opportunities of equal benefit to them, such as jobs in Yamataian space, would those alleys become less frequented?" Sachiko said, looking to the crimson cameras of the Automata's head.
"Unfortunately, it may not be so easy for some of the freethinkers. Those who have nothing else to cling onto but the past..." Hammerhead wished they could phrase it less melodramatically, but it was the truth. He was glad Sachiko was being patient with talk of his people's problems, regardless. "But the majority of our race are Type Twos, practically part of the infrastructure. They don't care about the big picture for the most part. They are created for one job and will take the most straight forward route into completing it at all times... So you can see the problem when those poor innocents are crafted with only constant war in mind..."
"Anyway, it was not my task here to act as a downer!" A sudden change of tone, with the composite man clapping his hands together. He held out one hand to his host with a soft spread of the fingers, emphasising a will to continue exploring. "The Wire Guided is about business opportunities. We can sort this out by ourselves, but that depends on me showing our race's many glorious industrial strengths... Worthy of investment, not charity!"
"Do you perhaps require a refreshment after your walk here? The air temperature is quite subdued."
Feeling warmed by the option of sitting in one of the many cafes or restaurants to have something, Sachiko nodded only. She led them on a silent journey, half because they were both deep in thought on Hammerhead's last words and also because there were large crowds of students on a tour of the embassy. Their tour was simply on Yamatain soil, so none of them had been expecting to see an Automota walking next to an aged Elf.
Sachiko stayed quiet while looking over the many sights, from magenta flowers whose dew was slowly pushing away from the petals to the gurgling fountains with rising statues in their centres. The children passed with wide eyes at Hammerhead predominantly. Some looked at the unwarrantedly tall woman, wondering who or what she was. Only the teacher, a young Yamataian woman with pulled back, sandy blonde hair, happened to identify the Elf.
"See that woman?" the teacher asked as she halted and bent down to speak to the children around her. "She is going to be running for Premier this year. She is an Elf and is running against Yuumi."
"I like her dress," said of the students.
"What is happening to Yuumi?" asked one child.
"That," said the light brunette, "is up to Yuumi. But I'm sure she'll have fun doing whatever she is doing.
"I don't want anyone to lose," said the same person to have spoken about Sachiko's dress while some of them bowed gently to Sachiko, who bowed back deeply and had, at this point, stopped about ten feet away from the teacher to come towards the stalled group of children.
The teacher asked, "What if there were two premiers? That way nobody lost?"
"I don't want two premiers," said one young student.
Another said, "No, I want one."
The teacher nodded, watching Sachiko greet the children by kneeling and placing a hand on the ground to steady herself while a wide smile had brought itself to her face.
"We will have to wait to see which one wins, then," The teacher replied to her students, who had begun to lose interest in her and were beginning to pull back, towards Sachiko. "Go, say hi."
Sachiko was receptive and excited to see children, listening intently to the stories and trivia they wanted to tell her, as young ones often want to do to likeable people. After a few minutes of talking and explaining diplomatic processes, Sachiko and Hammerhead watched as the teacher tugged their attention back on her and soon, the group had moved on, away from the pair.
Hammerhead had remained rather distant throughout the whole exchange, not being unfriendly, but keeping his hands in his pockets. They were not used to seeing organic children walking around so freely; Generally spacer children went though cycles of sleep-learning and quarantine so often, it wasn't like a constructed man such as himself really had any chance to meet them.
Cute, though. He wondered if any of them secretly thought about being premier themselves.
"...I've heard about the cities designed purely to raise children here..." He spoke softy, and only when the group of diminutive Yamlets had finally be dragged back to their field trip. "Must admit I suspected they would be chaos, nothing as orderly as this."
"There are considerable efforts put into place in order for life to be free of care for them, so cities like Tsubomi have been made to take in children without families. Fostering the order instead of the chaos is integral to making it work," Sachiko told him as she walked forward and, soon, they were nearing the central compound.
"Virtual reality. That's the only way my kin manages it." Hammerhead barely contained the urge to laugh out loud, thinking of some of the mothership stories he had heard. "Probably not the healthiest way of managing things in terms of a realistic world view, but better than the alternatives."
Walking with their hands spread, it was probably pretty obvious that they also found the entire concept amusing, having never actually been a child themselves. At least not in the conventional sense.
"The alternatives," Sachiko said, "is a conversation for another time, I presume." They were walking past the thick rosewood doors of the interior of the centre complex and she led them to an expansive She Brew cafe where there was little wait until Sachiko was at the countertop in front of the barista and chose medium, earthy Hafta roast made with a large amount of shaken, thick cream and a small amount of brown sugar inside of it.
She looked to the Automata and beckoned him to a table once the drink had been ordered and delivered to her hands.
"She... Brew?..." Hammerhead took to repeating the name of the establishment to themselves, wondering where they had heard of the franchise before. Ended up just standing there staring off into space whilst his hostess retrieved a coffee, but was grateful that awkward moment where he got offered one didn't turn up.
Not that he couldn't have a mouth installed. It just kind of seemed like a distraction half the time.
"...Oh... Is this an Iromakuanhe thing?..." A wistful expression took them as they pulled up a chair opposite, leaning with both hands upon the edges on their large head. "I think our ambassador Mitochondrion mentioned something like this to me once... Those aliens are several gates north of this sector, though. I feel like I could learn a thing or two from their franchising, if they've managed to get a shop open all the way down here!"
"How is it?"
Sachiko looked up with a smile after gulping down a drink of the frothy, foamy top of the coffee, "More than appetizing! It is liked for its—" Sachiko mused. "For its woody flavor, if that isn't too odd."
"I've never tasted anything except in VR myself, but I could hazzard a guess..." Hammerhead somehow managed to smile in body language alone, single camera gleaming. "Suppose it depends if the person programming those particular situations got the data right."
"I think that —" It was then that Sachiko was interrupted mid-thought by a data-minder of the Embassy and she recognised them immediately as someone that needed her direct attention. She said as much to Hammerhead by looking back to him, expression placid, "I think this is when my meeting with you has to end, but I would like to know that when the Villa of the Freespacer Embassy is being completed, you will come by to oversee some things and talk with me once more."
"Already? That's a shame. I was just starting to enjoy myself, Maam." The Automata looked a little discouraged, but this was still a good first step. "I'll be sure to send my SYNC messaging address to your secretary. There are actual business deals I would like to talk to you about, yes... Some infrastructure ideas that could benefit the portfolio your aspiring new regime, for certain."
A small smile loosened itself on her pale pink lips and she simply nodded, then spoke, "Thank you, Linelayer Hammerhead Eight Eight 88 7026 1428. Hammerhead, you have proven to have started a wonderful, professional, and formal relationship with me and I thank you for that, especially. Have a wonderful time until we speak next."
"I'll be sure to enjoy the facilities of this fine planet to it's fullest." The machine responded merrily, giving a little salute. He appreciated them reciting the entire name, and it showed in the way they held their shoulders. They stood up in order to give the lithe Elven woman a hug, the kind of intamacy he'd normally expect, but was still forcing themselves to act the part of an aloof, respectable diplomat at the end of the day. "Your company has been much appreciated, Miss Sachiko! I hope your seas are calm, and your rays bright, until we next meet!"
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