Information

Recycled
Legacy Name: Recycled

The

Common Experiment #1536
Owner: Arka

Age: 9 years, 1 month, 3 days

Born: February 16th, 2017

Adopted: 8 years, 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Adopted: March 31st, 2017

Statistics

Level: 27
Strength: 54
Defense: 10
Speed: 16
Health: 14
HP: 14/14
Intelligence: 89
Books Read: 88
Food Eaten: 0
Job: Recyclables Washer

[WIP]

Recycled and Patched are two sides of the same coin.

A long time ago Tudo found a small creature in the woods while out exploring. It was crumpled and broken, attacked by some predator and left for dead to wheeze out its last breaths. They bundled up the creature and took it back home, to Belrial's library, she would know what to do, she was the smartest being Tudo knew. Well, she was the only being Tudo knew. But maybe this new creature could be their friend too!

Belrial looked at the sorry mess Tudo had brought to her, shuddering from chill even though it was bundled in a basket of moss. Leaves stuck to its fur, sticky with blood, more than one limb was mangled beyond repair. It looked up at her with eyes glazed in pain, pleading. She frowned, glancing at Tudo waiting expectantly to her side.

"I don't think there's anything I can do for the poor thing," she said slowly, trying to put it in words they would be able to accept, "sometimes things... are just broken and can't be fixed."

Tudo did not understand what was wrong, when their body was damaged it always regrew, when they were hurt, Belrial could always make it better. Confused and frustrated, they glared down at the basket as if to command the creature to try harder to be fixed.

"I will make it comfortable," Belrial attempted to comfort them. She had never seen Tudo express emotions of anger or grief before, and although it would be an intriguing experiment, she knew that this was not an ideal circumstance. "Let it die in peace."

The next morning, the creature was gone. They found its body curled in the basket, still warm but unmoving. Belrial did her best to explain this to Tudo but they were not accepting it.

"It's not fair!" they shouted, making Belrial wince, "We were going to be friends!" They scooped up the basket with the creature before Belrial could stop them and stormed out of the library.

...

Belrial was at an impasse. On the one hand, she knew that while Tudo seemed naive and childlike, they would eventually come to understand that this was simply a part of nature. It was important, she thought, that they understand mortality, even if that was something Tudo themselves would never have to worry about. On the other hand, this seemed to have meant a lot to them. They had already assigned value to the life of this creature before they had fully grasped the impermanence of that life.

Perhaps it was unfair, as Tudo had said. Not that the creature had met its end in wholly predicable circumstances, being part of the circle of life, but that Tudo had been robbed of an opportunity to learn from another living thing other than herself. It would be fascinating, she told herself, to see how he adapted from social interaction. Yes, it was in the interest of discovery that she find a way to bring back this creature so that Tudo could have their friend.

Full of resolve and eager to conquer a scientific quandary, Belrial overpacked a travel satchel with supplies and sampling equipment and set off.

She had heard rumors of a brilliant tinkerer that sailed between the sky and the stars in search of treasure. Surely a technical genius such as that, bolstered by her own vast knowledge of the natural world of course, would be able to reconstruct a creature suitable to her needs. After a long boat ride, which was extremely boring because the captain had refused all her requests to stop and collect samples from the ocean, Belrial finally found what she sought in Port Plunder.

The ship dangled above the docks, a crystalline wonder of sails that shimmered like insect wings and polished brass pocked with the flotsam of asteroid fields. Belrial had to force herself to push forward through her curiosity, wanting so badly to examine the ship and dissect its inner mechanisms. There was not much to the port, just an inn, a few shops and shady alleys, and a dozen or so boats that looked all the more run down moored beneath that sparkling contraption. The tavern in the inn seemed like the most logical place to start.

A mug whizzed past her head and shattered against the door she had just entered through not a second before. Her leaves ruffled in surprise, Belrial paused to examine the scene before her. She had somehow wandered into the middle of a brawl, so absorbed in pondering her next step that she had nearly made that step right into the fist of a belligerently drunk sailor. Debris flew across the room like dandelion fluff caught on a summer wind, the sound of shattering glass and violent slurs combining into a raucous cacophony the likes of Belrial had never imagined from the dull quiet of her library. It was exhilarating and wild. She hated it.

At last a victor emerged, tumbling through the crowd with the precise and practiced grace of someone who had obviously done this many times before. She ducked a chair leg, already bloodied by the face of someone less fortunate, and planted an elbow into the wielder's gut, swinging them over her shoulder and into the body of the next opponent, toppling them both in a groaning heap. As casual as if she were picking a flower in a peaceful meadow, she leaped to the bartop, plucked a bottle from behind it, and drained the entire brew in one gulp.

"That'll teach ya lot o scurvy dogs to mess with the likes o me!" she proclaimed, smashing the bottle on the ground and planting a boot into the face of another patron trying to heave themselves up from the pile of unconscious bodies she had left in her wake. "Remember the name o Captain Valkra, dread pirate o the stars, sailor o the solar winds, seeker o cosmic plunder, and the surly wench that just kicked your arses!"

Belrial guessed this was probably the being she had been looking for.

She approached the scaly brawler that had just melodramatically announced herself both by title and as the undisputed victor. Belrial cleared her throat, making a noise that sounded like old tree branches creaking under a heavy snowfall.

The self-exalted Captain spun on her heels, snatching up another bottle to brandish faster than Belrial could sputter out a surrender, already angling to hurl it at her head before she knew who or what she was aiming for. When she caught sight of her intended target Belrial, quite the odd-looking creature to begin with but looking all the more out of place in the middle of a seedy tavern, she paused to consider her. Belrial had seen this expression on many others before, as if they were trying to force mismatched puzzle pieces together in their mind, to figure out how a biological amalgam such as her could fit into their understanding of the universe. She also saw the opportunity to avoid becoming the Captain's next victim and leapt on it.

"Is that your ship out by... er... above the docks?" Belrial asked, fishing for a distraction.

The Captain narrowed her eyes suspiciously, pondering a moment before answering with a simple, "Aye."

"It's quite an impressive piece of technological ingenuity," Belrial pushed onward, carefully smoothing her leaves with her spindly fingers, trying not to appear as nervous as she felt. "I heard legends of such a ship all the way on the main land, and I must say that... the legends do it no justice." The compliment was rewarded by the Captain lowering her improvised weapon, her fighting instincts clearly no match for her massive ego. "It must have taken a genius to build it." She finished, hoping the flattery was not too blatant.

"Yer damn right it did!" The Captain nimbly hoisted herself off the counter and thrust a clawed hand in Belrial's direction. She reflexively flinched, expecting some of the very much undesired physical contact that had laid prone all the others on the floor around her. The Captain only laughed loudly and continued, "Captain Valkra, at yer service."

Belrial quickly realized the hand was being offered by way of greeting, and reached out with her own appendage, frail and small-looking in comparison. Valkra took it in hers, all but crushing her fingers as she shook it vigorously. "Belrial," she managed to force out in substitute of a yelp of pain.

The sound of a door slamming somewhere behind the bar jolted the entire building