Tears For Nomad

Dear mother, this new place is a pleasant place. Though all my data is outdated, I'll gather more for you even if you're not up there anymore. Dear Mother, I still think of our first and final day.

Now you've become a reminiscence.

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"Well, we'd hate to see you go, but we'd rather see you be out there helping other folks rather than being stuck around bums like us ahaha!" 

Mae's father ecstatically shook Mauve's hand at the gate with as much thankfulness as he could ever express. Seemingly not wanting to stop with how grateful he was, Mae softly slapped his large hands to the side and without being able to express her words simply went in for a hug. A bit surprised by her embrace, Mauve comforted her with a "This won't be the last time we'll see each other Mae."

"How would you know?"

"Because once I find my sisters, this town will be the first place I'll show them!" to which Mae tightened her hug in silence. By the time they were done, her father came back with his bike under his arms, which in hindsight looked cartoonishly small for him. "I barely have any use for it anymore, I'd much rather have you take it for a spin if you're gonna actually go somewhere."

"W-Whoa! You really mean it!?"

"Sure do! I basically outgrew that thing anyway haha!" 

"What about Mae, shouldn't she get to have it instead?" to which Mae interjected "It's really fine! I'll let you borrow it until the day you come back." 

"I will!" Mauve excitedly grabs ahold of the bike, though it has some rust on it and its seat and switches had a ton of use, its little ether motor still runs as best as it could. "I found this dusty old manual too in case you'll need it" and by the time Mauve had a hold of it, she'd already perfectly read and memorized it as she flew by all the pages of the thin pamphlet.

"Thank you so much, guys!" Mauve went in for a group hug, truly thankful for the help she's gotten from the both of them.

"Stay safe out there, lass!"

"Goodbye, Mauve!"

"No need for a goodbye, I'll see you guys soon!" Mauve said as she perfectly started the bike and rides out of the gates, towards her next destination.

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The cold wind of the night filled her artificial lungs as the rattling motor of her bike sped her through rough dunes. Her eyes focused on the sky. Instead of the sky being filled with the dark emptiness of space populated by small groups of stars, it was also populated by what seemed to be several little deformed moons, peacefully floating across the sky. 

"Noire...Blanc....Vert..."

Seeing those moons only drove her determination to get all the Etheryte she could get her hands on so that someday she'd get to see them again. However, those thoughts stop as the little gauges on the bike start blinking, indicating a low amount of Ether in its battery. She forced the bike to go on for just a bit longer until she ended up at what seemed to be abandoned and destroyed ruins in the middle of nowhere. 

"There we go, one sec!" she talked to the bike as she parked it against a broken pillar, engraved with smudged symbols and feeling like sandpaper when touched. She pulled out an extremely long plug out of it with a tiny display on it. As she moved along the little display would beep in proximity to "Ether Veins" as the manual described it. 

*beep....*
*beep.....*
"Come on!"
*beep... beep*

Mauve carefully treads on the sand trying to find that so-called Ether Vein, constantly going back and forth and left and right trying to get closer.

*beep beep beep*

According to the manual, beneath the ground, there are Ether Veins, streams of Ether flowing through the ground providing boundless and always accessible energy at any time. Though that couldn't be further from the truth if it would take Mauve that long to finally get to one.

*beepbeepbeep*

"Ah!"

*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP*

"THERE!" she shoved the plug into the ground "Eugh-" with sand flying back at her face. "Blegh!" as she wipes the sand off her mouth and eyes she hears a little notification noise on the plug, meaning that it has managed to connect. Excited, she looks at the tiny display to check how long it would take for the bike to charge.

((Fully charged in: 22:15 hours at 2% loading capacity.))

"No way!!!- Ueg!" Mauve loudly threw herself to the ground, devastated, but instantly regretted it as she ended up getting even more sand into her face. As she laid next to the cord, which had a satisfying mechanical sound to it as it charged the bike she noticed another mechanical sound further away in the ruins. Wiping the sand off of her face she finally got up to investigate the noise from further in.

"Whoa..." she mumbled to herself as she was walking past the sandy and destroyed pillars and other structures broken beyond any recovery. She kept seeing certain unusual symbols and text that were all smudged or entirely broken in pieces but what struck her eyes the most was a giant machine in the middle of what seemed to be a large hall.

"You!!! Hii!" without hesitation Mauve ran over to the machine. It was built extremely tall, bulky, and was at least twice- no, almost three times as large as her. As soon as the machine noticed her it turned its back against her and seemingly put something into its chest, almost as if it was protecting or cherishing something.

"Whatcha got there, big fella?"

".̸ ̵-̵.̴.̶.̴.̵-̷ ̷.̷-̸-̴ ̷.̸.̷ ̷.̸-̵.̶ ̸.̵ ̵-̴.̶.̶ ̶/̴ ̵-̶-̵-̸ ̷-̷.̵ ̶.̵ ̶/̶ ̶-̶ ̴.̵-̴-̴ ̵-̸-̵-̷"

"Huh-?"

"-̶ ̴.̶ ̵.̷.̸.̶ ̷-̸ ̴.̸.̶ ̷-̴.̴ ̸-̴-̵.̵ ̵/̴ ̵.̴-̷ ̴.̷.̶-̴ ̵-̷.̴.̷ ̷.̴.̵ ̸-̴-̷-̶ ̵/̶ ̸.̶.̶-̵.̷ ̵.̷-̸.̶ ̶.̷ ̴-̸-̴.̶-̸ ̵.̶.̷-̵ ̷.̵ ̴-̷.̵ ̷-̴.̶-̸.̴ ̷-̸.̵-̵-̸ ̴/̶ ̸-̶ ̵.̸ ̷.̵.̷.̴ ̷-̸ ̵.̶.̶ ̸-̵.̵ ̸-̶-̷.̵ ̶/̴ ̸.̵-̸ ̶.̵.̴-̷ ̸-̸.̸.̶ ̸.̶.̷ ̶-̷-̵-̷"

The machine was seemingly playing random noises endlessly but the more she listened to it the more she could slowly work herself through the noise, deciphering all the garble and static noise until at a certain point it started to get comprehensible to her.

"E-WIRED FREQUENCY TEST 2 5 5 4 4 9 1 9 4 4 9 1 9-"

"Oh! I hear you!"

"STATE YOUR MODEL AND REASON FOR PRESENCE" The machine sloppily moves closer towards Mauve with a deeply intimidating presence as several lights across it light up red,

"W-Whoa no need for intimida-"

"STATE YOUR MODEL AND REASON FOR PRESENCE"

"Fine fine! AzSynth Dynamics ACSQ Model #A14189 'Mauve'! My bike died here so I'm waiting for it to recharge!"

As soon as she explained herself all the intimidating lights turned off and the machine returned to its default position.

"ACKNOWLEDGED, NO THREAT RECOGNIZED. MODEL NAME: SentiTek Armada System #888."

"Nice to meet ya, Armada-

"YOU MAY PROCEED NOW."

"What? Proceed to what!?"

"This confused Mauve completely, thinking she made a new friend along the way but it seems as though the machine wants her to keep her distance."

*BANG BANG BANG*

A loud banging noise came from the chest of the machine with what seemed to be a human voice in it to which Armada kept its arms to its chest, trying to suppress the noise.

"You understand Biboo? Biboo don't do that she's a friend! Biboo!!!" and with a loud PSHHHH Armada, seemingly forced to, goes to his default stance, releasing whatever was inside him as steam and cool air blasts out of his chest.

"Hello!" a small girl jumps out of Armada's chest into the cold and rough sand "My name is Lillim!" the girl went to cheerfully hold Mauve's hands. Her long, messy and dark hair covered her large eyes, her large tail grinding against the sand and her hands silky and damp.

Immediately Lillim clung to Mauve as if she'd never seen anyone human in years. Mauve's synthetic yet extremely detailed human touch seemed to have felt new to her but seemed to also be comforting to her.  

*Munch munch munch*

"Ahahaha! That kinda tickles! Stop i- hahaha!"

As if it were an instant instinctive reaction Lillim bit her fangs onto Mauve's synthetic skin like a Leech suctioned herself onto her leg, though she couldn't penetrate it it was still enough to throw Mauve into feeling a ticklish fit and didn't mind it at all.

"APOLOGIES FOR HER BEHAVIOR, IT IS SIMPLY THE NATURE OF HER SPECIES."

However that stopped once Armada stepped in and gently dragged Lillim away with his rattling and cold mechanical fingers. Hanging upside down from his hand, she holds onto him and climbs ontop of his arm, and comfortably takes a seat on his shoulder.

"And this is Biboo! My best friend!" she proudly showed off Armada. "I called him that because he goes 'BIIBOO' when he says his name! So he's Biboo! He gave me my name too! He always goes 'LILLIIMM' in a funny way!" It was apparent that Lillim never really spoke to him properly and he only managed to communicate to her with sequences of broken noises that a human wouldn't understand as a machine would.

"Aw, that's so sweet! I've never seen a human with such a tail before! How'd you guys find each other?"

"He actually-! Biboo?"

"CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, YOU MAY NOT HAVE ACCESS TO IT."

Before letting her speak any further, Biboo opened his chest and gestured for Lillim to enter.

As she climbs in, a bit disappointed, she lets out an "Aw man, that time of night again?"

"That time of night? What is she talking about?" 

"IT IS TOO DANGEROUS TO BE OUT AT THIS TIME, FAREWELL. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TRAVELS."

"Hey, I wanna come too! I have nowhere else to go my bike is going to last a few kilometers at most right now!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT."

With another PSSHHHH Lillim opened his chest and jumped back onto the sand.

"Stop being so mean to her Biboo! She's nice and friendly and hasn't done anything wrong!" she pointed her finger somewhere along Mauve's direction, not being able to see as well as she could just earlier.

"I promise I won't do anything! You have my word!"

"Yeah! She's a good person!" Lillim insisted as she corrected her finger to where she heard Mauve's voice from.

"APPROVED. THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES AND YOU WILL BE REMOVED SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPEN TO LILLIM."

""Yay!!!"" they both cheered in unison as they followed Biboo's large cranky mechanical steps.

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As if it couldn't get any darker than before, the sky has turned absolutely pitch black above them, letting the stars fully unleash their illumination in a mesmerizing way. Astonished by the stars, that Mauve had never seen shine so bright at any place before, there was one thing that had left her mind that she had remembered...

"MY BIKE!" 

Her extremely concerned shout instantly stopped the both of them.

"I have to get back to my bike! It's not that far after all I can still see the ruins!"

"THE FALLEN HAVE RISEN. YOU CANNOT RETURN UNTIL SUNRISE. PROCEE-"

But before Biboo could finish his warning, Mauve's been already running back, running as fast as she possibly could. Her boots kicking up huge piles of sand as she rushes with all her might, sweat dripping even though she's not able to get tired and panic filling her mind over leaving Mae's bike behind. 

"There you are!" she ran through the ruins she had been at before and finally got to the pillar her bike had been charging against.

((Fully charged in: 21:15 hours at 2% loading capacity.))

Hurrying to get back to the both of them she pulled out the plug with all her might and ended up pulling so hard she fell onto the sand once again

"Uergh-! Not again..."

Laying flat, her eyes and face filled with sand she attempts to move her arms to wipe it all off.

"Huh- I can't move my arm!"

Something that seemed to look like a hand was holding her arm back. Struggling to get out of its grip the hand suddenly rose up until she's above ground. The hand belongs to an ominous creature. Though its silhouette looks partly human, it simply looks like a lump of dark sand messily slumped together into having a vague skull and mouth with the rest of it just being sandy and incoherent.

"U-Uh thanks for getting me up but I'm fine now-"

Its grip on her arm tightened as she rose higher and higher to the point of her feeling actual pain. As the ground beneath her slowly starts to warp into several little other creatures such as this, also slowly rising towards her.

"Hrrgnh! Let me go!!" she attempted to hit the hand with her other arm and kick it with her legs but it was way too sturdy and dense to have any effect

[HOSTILE ENTITIES DETECTED / SELF DEFENSE MODE READY]

A popup appears for Mauve, a standard feature on all AzSynth Dynamics products that she'd never feel like she'd need to use since her original purpose was meant to be purely peaceful. Yet she had no other choice other than to activate it.

[SELF DEFENSE MODE ENABLED / CALCULATED USE: 3 MINUTES] 

Immediately after activation large pink translucent blades manifest themselves onto both of her knuckles. A strong surge of Ether vibrated through them like a powerful saw. As if she had given up her body to function her iris turned from her neutral white to an ominous scarlet red.

"Five hostile entities detected." her tone turned entirely neutral, the pain she was in completely discarded, and her face completely devoid of any personality she had before. A side of herself not even she knew she had. Without hesitation, Mauve locks her legs onto the creature's arms, freeing her other arm, as she simultaneously beheads the creature's skull.

As it disintegrated its sand body fell back to the ground she rode down its body like a slide and jumped right to the next nearest creature, beheading it the same way and using her blades to slide down its back and get back to the ground.

Her movements were precise, calculated, and left no room for any error. The 3 last remaining creatures were still high above the ground, slowly trying to get back down, but not fast enough for Mauve having had taken advantage of it and used her blades to climb up the one in the middle, beheading it and jumping to the next one to the right.

She shoved her blades right into its eyesockets and dragged it towards the direction of the last remaining sand creature, leading to them crashing into each other and the sheer force destroying the both of them. 

[CALCULATED HOSTILE ENTITIES ELIMINATED/ RETURNING TO STANDARD MODE]

"H-Huh!"

Not feeling as if she'd been fully aware throughout the Self-Defense Mode, Mauve ended up being surprised once she came back to herself. To her it felt as if someone else had taken over her body, not even letting her see the action. It felt as if one moment she was in danger and then the split second after she was back in safety. 

Over in the distance, she saw a huge familiar machine. "Biboo! I've got the bike! We can get going no-"

A bullet, that seemed to be of similar consistency as Mauve's blades, flew right past her and eliminated another sand creature before she realized it was even there.

"THE FALLEN HAVE RISEN. UPON LILLIMS ORDERS I HAVE PROVIDED BACKUP. WE MUST PROCEED BACK"

"A-Ah! Thank you! Yeah, I'll get my bike!"

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Following the same trail as just before the three of them finally arrived at what seems to be an abandoned ranch. Throughout the trip, before Mauve would even notice what Biboo calls "The Fallen", he'd already had all nearby ones eliminated through a blaster at his fingertips.

But each time he did his posture would stagger for a while and a stuttery mechanical noise would occur. It was clear to Mauve that the machine was extremely old, way older than she probably was.

The fragile and ancient house of the abandoned ranch had some kind of generator attached to it, which meant that the place had some kind of light and warmth to it. 

"YOU MAY RECHARGE YOUR VEHICLE AT THE GENERATOR."

Though the power output wasn't the best, it was still enough to get a bike going. It seemed like the Ether Vein the generator was sitting on was still active and had a lot of Ether in it.

((Fully charged in: 10:02 hours at 10% loading capacity.))

"Way better!"

"Mauve, Mauve! Come look at our house!" Lillim leaves Biboos chest and rushes towards the door, dragging Mauve along with her tiny frail hands. "Turn on the lights, Biboo!"

"ACKNOWLEDGED" Biboo says as he sits down next to the generator, plugs himself in, and delicately presses all the switches, that were way too small for his huge robotic hands. As soon as he did parts of the home illuminated in a cozy warm light.

Though the house was already way too old to be properly lived in, it seemed like Biboo and Lillim found a comfortable place to settle in. 

"I wish Biboo could get inside too but he's too big! He already tried before but we couldn't figure anything out! So he sits outside and protects our home! Anyways, come see my room!"

"Sure! I'd love to!"

With her little hands, she pushes the wooden door open, revealing a room filled to the brim with the most random objects that you would find outside along the way. Several notebooks filled with sketches and doodles of crayon and whatever other pens she had. Most of them being drawings of her and Biboo which got an "Aww" out of Mauve as she looked through them.

But then there are also random mechanical parts lying around like the shell of a robot. "That's the shell of a Worm Crab! I thought its shell was pretty so I kept it, isn't it cute?"

"Yeah it is-"

"ACTIVATING ETHER DOME"

A huge wall of Ether energy filled the entire ranch, in a protective dome meant to deter any creatures or other machines from getting past.

"Oh! That's how Biboo protects us! He has this biiig shield!- Mauve!? Are you okay Mauve?!?!?"

Without realizing what had even happened Mauve was laying on the ground paralyzed, struggling to move and not being able to utter a word.

It happened as soon as the Ether Dome was activated and she got hit by the wall. Her head feels dizzy and messed up as if everything in her had been turned upside down. Her eyes slowly lost her vision as her numbness spread from her face to her feet.

Her mind raced to think of whatever could help her while Lillim tried to drag Mauve back out so that she could get help from Biboo. But her weight was way too much and as Lillim ran out of the door, terrified, Mauve's eyes shut themselves as her mind wandered off⁙̷̖̍⁙̸̳͋⁙̶̧̒⁙̶̲͐⁙̶͇̊⁙̸̜͋⁙̷̣̀⁙̷͇̄⁙̸̣̿⁙̸̰̐⁙̶͎̈́⁙̵̳͑⁙̵͍̏⁙̸̺̎⁙̷͕̎⁙̶̳̌⁙̸̤͆⁙̷̮͗⁙̷͂͜⁙̷̤̏⁙̵͓̅⁙̴̼͆⁙̸̣͊⁙̵̧̋⁙̴̪̿⁙̷͖̐⁙̶̥̈⁙̷̭͛⁙̷͇͝⁙̵͓̍⁙̵̳̇⁙̴͔̏⁙̸̨̾⁙̵̡̂⁙̴͕͗⁙̷͉͒

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