Rust (Or the Lack Thereof) [Abzu/Autumn SL 1]

Out of every deadzone in the Parisian Desolace, Autumn found herself hating the overgrown, fungi-infested cradle far more than any of the other neighboring areas - and for good reason.

Sickly smelling greenery choked the formerly beautiful balustrades and swooping arches of central Paris, a perverse counterpart to Vault Olympia's healthy gardens. Spores thickened the air like a fungal snowstorm, and while they might not outright kill her like they would a flesh and blood creature, they caused most of her sensors to be rendered useless and would likely cause lasting damage if she didn't keep moving. Operating solely on limited visuals made her uneasy -- a lone, near-blind android was easy prey to demons -- but she had no choice but to forge on at those point of time.

Worse still, the vines smothering every surface made navigation increasingly difficult compared to the pristine Fields of Glass and even the foggy Bellows. Such alien conditions also rendered any machinery that might've been salvageable utterly useless - if not too overgrown to be retrieved, it was too rusted and corroded to be even touched without crumbling.

The android let out a sigh, pausing briefly at a building that was slightly less overgrown than those adjacent to it in order to regain a bearing on her direction, when she noticed something peculiar propped against a corner.

Another android; rusted, shattered, and too corroded to have any recognizable features, but still an android. Autumn kneeled next to the broken husk, Protesilaus's regal and dignified bearing surfacing in her mind, only to proffer a sad shake of his head. Her shoulders seemed to slump at this confirmation of what she knew was inevitable as she continued to gaze down at what could have been, in another world, another version of herself.

A few days had passed since her failed attempt at stealing the artifact from the Napolean Demon Hive, and Abzu herself had found it necessary to escape. The Highrise was simply not a viable place to stay, until the alerts died down, which could take weeks. Not that the android herself really minded the change of scenery. The cold did make her feel stiff, and the constant freezing around her joints had made traversing the cold landscape difficult to say the least. Not that the Cradle was much better. Abzu knew better than to delve deep into the musky forests of fungus and vine, and thus stuck to the very outskirts, which used to be called "Saint Gervais". She knew these streets very well, seeing as she had spent countless hours here with Lucille on their walks together. Much of the old district had been badly damaged by the Fall, and a deep gash cut through the land like some gaping wound. Somewhere deep below rested the source of this fungal poison. The Sporeghasts birthing place. The foul rot that festered down below made even Abzu hesitate. Something lurked down there... neither demon, nor living. Something she had thought to be dead.

But she hadn't come here to dwell on the past. Abzu in reality was just passing through in hopes of escaping the Highrise, and go straight to the Bellows. Taking the straight route there was not an option for her, given that the nest was located right on the eastern border of the highrise, close to where she had met Cherry. Going that way would prove to be suicide, so she opted for the longer, and slightly less risky route through the Cradle, even though she disliked being here, much like everyone else. On her travels though, she came across another of her kind... one she recognized, although kitbashed.

"...Not a pretty sight." She said softly, trying not to scare or startle her peer. It had been such a long time since she last talked to a Halcyon Android. It had been close to five decades since the last time she had spoken a single word to any of her kin, so an opportunity like this excited her. "Human or not, the Cradle makes no distinction. We're all equal before it. I'd suggest you stay away, lest you end up like her." She nodded towards the rusted android by Autumn's feet. "Her name was Sagira. We never really talked much, although we were both stationed here. She was the younger of us. She had such a long life ahead of her..."

The gentle voice of another traveler jarred Autumn from her thoughts, prompting the android to slowly turn around and face whoever had approached her. Upon closer observation, it was clear that the woman standing before Autumn was another one of her kind, the younger android's eyes widening in recognition before her posture relaxed slightly, aware that Abzu was, at the very least, not an immediate threat.

"I figured as much by the first few hours," Autumn sighed, secretly quite eager to speak with another machine, especially one on the surface. She recalled Cherry mentioning one such android before - perhaps this was the one? Regardless, it was an exciting prospect, though Abzu's statement made her wonder exactly how many ASSWs there were -- or had been -- around Paris. "Sagira? It's good to know her name..." She murmured somewhat more quietly - the fate of the poor android, even if she hadn't known her, was sobering.

"Erm...do you know if there are any others out there? Like us?" Autumn asked abruptly, the thought that she had been dwelling on for a while now, letting the heavier question hang in the air between the two.

"...I guess I should apologize for startling you." Abzu said softly, a faint smile lingering on her lips for a moment. She should've made her approach a bit more obvious, but then again, during times like these, one could never be too careful. It was a force of habit she had developed over her time in the Desolation. "Yeah. Untold amounts of people have been lost to the the vile poison that clouds this area. Even us androids aren't wholly immune, although what ails us differs from our human peers." She sighed, looking out over the giant scar before them. "The air here is heavily polluted by a spore which produces a potent nerve-toxin. It eats away at the human nervous-system, destroying it in a matter of hours. These spores... can clog our filters, and cause overheat. Though that's not what happened to Sagira."

"Like so many others, she fell victim to the Demon Invasion." She looked sorrowfully at the corpse of her lost sister. "...I honestly wish I knew that myself. You're the first one of our kind I've seen in the last decade, if that tells you anything. There was another but... she's gone now. To where, I do not know." Knowing him, he would've found a way out of Paris by now. "Pretty sure he's either left Paris by now, or he might've succumbed to the Demon Army."

"...I see. Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind." Autumn replied quietly, gently brushing some of the spores off her arms as she did so. She gazed out one of the window frames of the dilapidated building, watching the deep fissure that seemed to run through the area like a jagged knife wound. Even looking at such a thing seemed to evoke some sort of primal, sinister terror, Autumn tensing up a little as little chills ran down her spine.

"That might've happened to me as well," Autumn mused, dredging up what little shattered memories she could from before her awakening as Abzu looked over at Sagira - she peered down at the scars that covered her limbs and torso, wondering what had caused such savage wounds. Suddenly, a late thought struck her like a bolt of lightning as she looked up at the older android. "Erm...I didn't get your name, I'm afraid."