Replenishing Cigars (Afternoon) (Open to 2/NPCS)

"Thanks for the cigars Enrique, I appreciate you keeping my brand in stock. Not many folks like my kind of cigars." The mercenary said to his friend, offering a smile as he took the package and slipped into his pocket.

"Eh, mi amigo tu necesitas tus puros para fumar eh? No es un problema mi amigo. Pero visitarás mi familia al próximo fin de semana?" The cashier said in his native tongue knowing that his friend was well versed in many languages.

"Si mi amigo, gracias y hasta la vista" The mercenary said stepping outside the store, and reaching into his pocket retrieving one of the cigars. He brushed it under his nose enjoying that new fresh out of the pack cigar smell. He shouldn't smoke given his age, but at the same time...today hadn't been the most pleasant day. He figured he could go for two at the very least, and it helped him keep his mind off a few things that he did not want to remember to say the least. His mind drifted to how old he was, and how he was walking along reminiscing about his age and youth...damn he seemed like an old man.





He said with a hearty chuckle as he continued to walk down the street a soft smile on his face as he let out a puff of smoke. He was no doubt a strange sight to see given his appearance with a camouflage shirt on and some jeans. However, he did not really care what other people thought about appearance, he was marching to his own drum, and he looked odd enough with the piece of shrapnel sticking out of his head. He figured he couldn't look any worse than what he did right now.

How much trouble could finding one god damn bar possibly be?!

Apparently it wasn't bad enough that his arrival to the BackLight district had been delayed, because to Selenus's dismay, his first visit to said district would have him find out that it's basically an oversized shopping mall. He'd been wandering around for what felt like, and probably had been, several hours and still: No "Grins' Hole In The Wall.".

Eventually Selenus decided to take a break and slow down. He would probably be better off swallowing his pride and asking the people if they knew where it was. He decided: The next person to catch his eye would recieve the question.

Unexpectedly for him, however, the first person to catch his eye did so for a very particular reason. A man styling military apparel with a piece of shrapnel sticking out his forehead like it wasn't a health hazard popped into his field of view. He walked up to the man, ready to ask the question he needed to ask, but instead ended up asking the question that had overriden his priority at the moment.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you sure it's not dangerous to.. uh... leave that there?" He asked, using his tail to point at the shrapnel. "Not trying to mock you or anything of the sort. I'm just slightly concerned for you." 'Slightly' was a big overstatement.

Johnson knew he stuck out like a sore thumb when it came to appearance, since he often wore mismatching clothing, and his eye-patch as well as the shrapnel in his head. When people approached him, they often avoided making eye contact, and made a point to avoid discussing it when they met him for the first time.

Of course, this was anything but a normal encounter as he was being approached not by another person, but some sort of robotic wolf creature. The military man almost let his fresh cigar drop from his mouth in surprise. "Well, that's a first in my life, I've seen a lot of things, but a walking robot dog is a first." He said, more than a bit surprised, before shaking his head a bit and turning his attention to the creature's inquiry.

"What? This old thing?" He said gesturing toward the piece of shrapnel, "I know it seems bad, but my doctors were afraid to move it. It's not sinking and they're afraid to move it because of...the precarious placement of the shrapnel." The solider explained to the robotic wolf, but that did not stop Johnson from wondering what this being wanted.
"But what brings you to inquire about me? It's rare that I find someone else that asks about my war wounds, often times, they avoid the subject entirely. So, what makes you so curious about them."

Really? Out of the wide variety of peoples that one could run into in Endymion, Selenus would expect the military kind to at least be familiar with the concept of ASSWs; But he digressed. "Trust me, you're not the first."


At first sign the piece of shrapnel seemed intimidating, but after a few moments of contemplating it, Selenus noticed that the wound area wasn't bleeding; In fact, it seemed to be perfectly coagulated, meaning the shrapnel had been there for a long time. "I simply worry when I see someone who's in potential danger. As for why I'm so curious about it... I've been a soldier of sorts myself, and that is weird even for war wound standards. no offense."


Selenus would draw small dust circles on the ground with his tail as he spoke "I'm Selenus. It's nice to meet you."

Johnson nodded his head, taking his cigar out and blowing a smoke ring. Yeah, he was fairly sure he wasn't the first person surprised by this robot's appearance and he sure as hell wouldn't be the last either. He watched the robot looking at him, and began to wonder if this was one of those A.I. sort of deals? When the robot stated that he was simply worried about Johnson's state, he had to wonder if it could even feel worry. It's not like a human medic or doctor that looks at a wound before stitching it up. Yet, it asked....didn't it? The mercenary decided to leave that philosophical discussion behind, and respond to the fact that it was a weird war wound.

"Yeah, well, it happened during a war that wasn't your typical war." He replied, not saying anymore about it. Evidently, it was still a war being fought, but it raged on within the shadows and cover of night. It was not his war, it was not the war he grew up to know during his training and trials by fire. This was a war on a different level, on a...level that he couldn't quite comprehend.

"Name's Johnson, and if you're a solider, it is a pleasure to meet you." He said moving his hand forward for a handshake, only to withdraw it realizing that there would be no human hand to shake it. It wasn't withdrawn suddenly, but slowly as he seemed to recall that this wasn't his typical conversation with war buddies. "So Selenus, what kind of solider are you? I think you're one of those A.I. sort of troops that I heard were in testing a several years back, but what's your purpose on the battlefield?" Johnson asked, before releasing yet another smoke ring, "If you can tell me that is, unless you have one of those....what are they called? Firewalls? The thing in your programming that prevents you from executing certain actions or talking about top secret material." Johnson figured that there was some sort of technical mumbo-jumbo for what he was trying say, but he sure as hell didn't know it.

Selenus would chuckle at Locke's failed attempt at a handshake. It was incredibly refreshing to see someone forget that who they were talking to wasn't human, even if just for a single, solitary second. "A more accurate term would be VI: Virtual intelligence. It's basically the same thing as an AI, except with the potency and capabilities of an actual human brain. Well, in the mind department at least... All other functions usually held by the brain vary from unit to unit."


"Well, there's nothing preventing me from saying anymore, but... I think for my own personal good I'll refrain from telling. I'll also let the fact that I can't speak of it speak for itself." If Locke was a soldier worth his salt, he'd know he was referring to black operations. "I'll tell you one thing though, whatever landed you an unremovable yet non-terminal piece of shrapnel on the forehead was probably up to par with some of the stuff I've seen. Not that I'm one to talk, of course, I had the luck of being repairable and reconstructible. I've always admired the bravery of those who do the same things I did even though they can only live once."

Virtual Intelligence? This was the first time Johnson had heard about anything like that at all. It wa soon revealed that it was just a far more potent version of an AI with functions that varied from unit to unit. "So you're just a smarter and better AI? Huh, guess that makes sense now that I think about it a bit more." The mercenary said, before wondering what his function was, though that was answered when Selenus said he could say, but chose not to. In other words, this was a black ops, wetworks unit that specialized in tasks behind enemy lines, or were far to delicate for a large group of troopers.

"I see what you're saying." Johnson said before chuckling a bit, he knew darn well about wetwork operations as he too had taken part in many hush-hush missions that never actually occured as far as he knew. "Yeah, you could say that I've seen a lot. I'm an older man, but the things I've seen can leave even brave young men shaken. I'm on civilian contracts right now, so nothing too earth shattering for me. Part of me is thankful for that, but then I think about everything going on and think I'm in the wrong place." He said letting another smoke ring from his mouth. "Just because you can be rebuilt doesn't mean you're weaker or any less brave than I am. Charging into a battlefield with shrapnel and bullets whizzing by you is a scary, and it takes a lot of guts to keep a cool head. I figure you're afraid of getting busted or broken should it ever come to that." Johnson said, when he died it was over, he was relieved from duty at that point. For Selenus here, that duty would never end so long as he could be restored, that would be maddening to Johnson. To die, only to be brought back just to die again, a part of him ached at the very thought of it. He'd rather just be dead and let that be it, rather than be in this cycle of life and death.

Selenus would contemplate Johnson's words; He cold certainly relate to them. "So you feel like there's too much peace around you for you to "be at home" as it were? I know that feeling, to some extent." It was true that once you saw and did certain things, the world around you would never feel quite the same anymore. Not that Selenus would know too much about what the world is supposed to feel like, though; He'd lived less than ten years, and he felt like he was forced to learn too much about the world in too little time, since his knowledge was provided by a database. "But hey, at least you have some contracts here and there, right?"

"Well... I can't feel physical pain, but mental pain is certainly viable. I was put to work right after I was activated, so I never really had a chance to experience leisure or relaxation. I was given a human mind because my creators wanted to see if the human aspect of brutality could make a weapon even more lethal, but what they didn't factor in is that apart from facts, my mind would start as a blank slate." In any other circumstance, Selenus wouldn't have liked to talk about this; Talking about it to someone who'd also been on the battlefield, however, brought him a sense of comfort and belonging that he rarely experienced. "I guess you could say I'm walking proof that thinking beings aren't born to kill, since... the idea of being endlessly stuck in a cycle of killing with no way out, not even termination... THAT was my biggest fear."

Too much peace is one thing, "Maybe that is it, either that or the idea that there is the conflict that is playing out in the shadows of our city, and I can't do anything. There is this...call of duty, or perhaps the call of battle that I miss. Maybe, if I had some other members from my company around I could relax a bit more and enjoy not being involved in a fight, but at this moment...it's hard to say." He said, nodding his head toward the robot dog's question, yes he received contracts for minor security details. Nothing big, but he just kept looking around for work, something to keep his mind off the past and his feelings about where he is.

"So you developed your own conscious, huh, funny how the unexpected always seems to happen. Even when you're not on the battlefield. We may not be born to kill, but we're pretty damn good at it." Johnson said looking up toward the sky, and taking a long drag from his cigar, before releasing the smoke."Anything sentient has something to fear, you and I both have our fears. Even though I'm flesh and blood and you're a machine with a human mind. We have fears, it's just part of being able to think. Tell me, do you know what, "Aim for the head, shoot for the mind?" means?" He asked a bit curious to see if what this black ops robot knew about a solider's lingo.

Selenus would give a sly yet sightly ticked huff "I suppose the most effective things in life are the ones being used for a purpose for which they weren't originally designed." It was always gratifying to amass and obtain power, but when it came down to the time to take action, Selenus could never bring himself to kill any thinking being. The only reason he did so in his military years was because... well... he had no choice. "I can't say I know what that phrase means, no... I never got the chance to speak with or learn anything, including lingo, from fellow soldiers. Even though I worked with the military, the higher ups prevented me from interacting with anyone other than my designated repair specialists, my operators and my commanding officers. They deemed socialization unnecessary and possibly unbeneficial for a "weapon"."

"Life has many interesting twists and turns, I'm sure you've found just one of the many that it likes to throw at you." He said, before chuckling a bit. When the robot dog explained that he never had a chance to learn any solider lingo, the mercenary nodded his head a little bit."That sounds dreadful, it seems like your scientists didn't know how healthy it is to maintain relationships with your comrades. It's one of the most critical things a solider can do, this way you have someone to talk to, when you're not shooting or on a mission." He said, before looking down at the robot and pausing determining whether or not to explain what it meant. No need in hiding it, he might as well as explain it.

"It's a simple saying at the very least, it simply means shoot to kill, and in failing that put the fear of god in those who stand before you and your squad. If you hurt their morale enough, they'll freeze up, making them an easy kill, or they will simply turn tail and run. Fear is a powerful thing, don't let anyone make you think anything different." The solider explained, before realizing how that seemed to cast a cloud over things. He rubbed the back of his head, "Look, if you need another solider to talk to, then take my number. Feel free to call and we can talk about whatever you are curious about." He said setting his groceries on the ground, and giving him his number that he hastily wrote on a napkin. "For now, I gotta say that I need to get going. I need to pick up a few other items before the stores close for the night. Don't be a stranger, alright?" He said as he picked his stuff up, and he gave Selenus a nod. He figured they both could use a war buddy to talk to if he was perfectly honest, and it might help him keep his mind off other terrible things. It would be healthy for him at the very least, he wasn't sure if it would help Selenus as much as it would him. He then turned and began to walk off, he had other groceries to pick up before the stores closed after all.

(Exit unless stopped)