Clash of the Durandals, part 2

[general_radix]

Is it "let's highlight how Inm!Durandal is the black sheep of his own instances" time again? I think it is.

Some topics off the top of me head:

* Conflict with Tycho: Inm!Durandal is basically of two minds about Tycho, in that he REALLY doesn't like him but is also wracked with guilt over how Tycho ended up this way. Over time, his desire to put Tycho in his place diminishes. I wonder how many of the other Durandals would be understanding, and how many would advise Durandal to just pull the trigger already.

* His crew: I'm sure at least one other Durandal would have some commentary on the fact that Inm!Durandal's crew includes a literal Greek oracle, an ex-Dangi scientist, two young AIs who are effectively his daughters, and a cavewoman.

* Inm!Durandal's fear reflex is to either grab onto Vince (if he's available) or freeze up. Probably not shared among all his instances.

* Try as he might, he has a hard time holding back tears. At least one counterpart's knee-jerk response would be "having a literal body rather than an ancillary is no excuse", I bet...

* Someone makes the mistake of suggesting that some of Durandal's more "desirable" traits ended up with Cortana in this 'verse.

* Bonus adult shenanigans: there may be words about how Vince can screw Inm!Durandal into submission with relative ease.

Comments

[juzo_kun]

-- Durandal never liked Tycho too much, and he wouldn't confess why even under torture that one of the drivers of this distaste is envy. Because Tycho was the one getting to do the interesting things and had human's respect, and also Durandal is convinced Strauss didn't abuse Tycho as he abused him. Not that Alex will be the one telling Durandal to let it go: because even if in a nebulous way, he remembers all the timelines he switched... including the ones where he was conditioned by the Pfhor and where Tycho sent him to kill humans and Durandal.

-- Durandal: "...ok for the greek oracle, the ex-Dangi, the cavewoman but... daughters?" (everyone else comment: "Wait, what? He reproduced?!?" *boggle*)

-- At least in this particular instance, decidedly not! Primarily, because Durandal is extremely adverse to show any sign of perceived weakness, and also because he's not so keen on having another drone destroyed. Alex is neutral to the whole being touched and/or hugged thing... just don't do it out of the blue! Battleroid automatic reflexes kick in with anything sudden...

-- Durandal: "I feel like someone is speaking about me."

-- Everyone: "...a sister, too?" *boggle*

-- F'tha: "Well, to repair an android body even a simple tool like a screwdriver is necessary, and also having the android body in a quiescent state is desiderable. Sometimes phisical restraint are necessary, to avoid some unvoluntary movenment due to spurious contraction in the actuating system and..."
Durandal: "...someone explain to them the concept of... no, wait a moment, don't."

[general_radix]

* Ouch. DX (I could see JK!Durandal and Tycho getting into quite the shouting match over all that...and also wonder what would happen if Inm!Durandal mentioned that he didn't really envy "his" Tycho so much as wish he'd been more aware of Tycho's father issues)

* (Inm!Durandal: "NOT LIKE THAT")

* Hoo boy, I bet JK!Durandal would have some opinions on Inm!Durandal being so open about it (much as the latter wishes he weren't).

* Inm!Durandal: "...what, is Leela not related to m--er, him?"

* Pfffft. 8D (Somewhere in the room, Inm!Durandal has his entire hood pulled over his face in embarrassment)

Baa! Baa! Black Sheep!

[vulthuryol_majicue]

(Conflict with Tycho)

Oh man. DitS Durandal would have a difficult time feeling guilt over Tycho. Considering the problems DitS Tycho (and his clones) cause in the years after Lh’owon’s destruction, I wager that DitS Durandal would advise Inm! Durandal to pull the trigger. If not, be ready to suffer fifty more years of abuse before Tycho steals a Pfhor ship of his own to roam around the galaxy for another millennium.

(The Crew)

DitS Durandal stares helplessly at the chaos aboard his ship. Renegade Pfhor were arguing with the S’pht engineers over how to renovate the ship again. Gram was so hungry that the Drinniol was eating akutaq by the buckets and smearing berry juice all over the floor. Vex teleporting through the ship at random time periods. And Jason… Just being Jason…

DitS Durandal turns to Inm! Durandal and asks, “You wanna trade?”

(Fear Reflex)

Sorry to say that DitS Durandal has a different fear reflex. Since the android is disposable and can’t feel pain like a human can, he doesn’t fear the android being damaged. However when conversations become uncomfortable or too emotional for DitS Durandal to handle, he tends to ditch the android body altogether and sticks to the Rozinante’s core. It’s his way of dealing with complicated sensations that the A.I. is not ready to face yet.

(Holding Back Tears)

Yeah DitS Durandal has not experienced with crying. Nor does he wish to. Being open about his emotions is hard for him and when he breaks down the Battleroids can sort of feel it in their implants. Almace describes it as constant babbling in nonsense code scraping at the back of her head. I doubt DitS Durandal would give Inm! Durandal any grief about crying. Instead he might be a little jealous Inm! Durandal is capable of the act.

(Desirable traits in Cortana?)

DitS Durandal groans at this remark and pinches the android’s nose in the facsimile of warding off a processor ache. “Whichever version of myself that is stupid enough to make that remark… He deserves the ass kicking he gets.”

(Screw Durandal into Submission?)

“Awww!!!” Jason bats his eyes at this. “Whose the lucky Battleroid that will attach the ball and chain to our Durandal?”

“Excuse me?” snapped DitS Durandal.

“I can hold him!” Calvin volunteers while picking up a squirming android.

“Hey! Put me down!” yelped the A.I..

Almace stomps over to Calvin and grabs the android by the arm. “I can fix him.” The girl announces firmly.

“Yeah… Well…” Calvin hugs the android closer to his chest like a teddy bear. “I can protect him better.”

“And I can repair his core when there is serious trouble.” The girl announced loudly while clinging to Durandal’s hands.

Jason whistles in the distance. “Damn… Dude? Is this submission or a tug of war?”

A DitS terminal activates and Durandal hisses back. “Don’t interrupt! If we keep them fighting long enough, I might be able to teleport them onto a mud covered planet where naked wrestling is a sport!”

Re: Baa! Baa! Black Sheep!

[general_radix]

* I don't imagine Inm!Durandal would find that advice terribly helpful. XD;

* "Er...honestly, I'd rather stick with my own crew." (And then DitS!Durandal gets on his case for not sounding more confident about it or something)

* If it weren't for the desolation of this verse's cyberspace, Inm!Durandal might wish that he could do that at times...

* Man. ;_;

* Definitely. XD

* Naked mud wrestling does sound more fun than being the rope in a tug-of-war. XDD

[juzo_kun]

* The interesting twist in my setup is that Durandal might forgive Tycho in some far future, but Alex... no way!
...until the events of Eternal, at least.

* hehehehe!

* He has, and also, I hope Inm!Durandal won't ever make the mistake of asking his counterpart! :D

* *sulk* "The fact we are all Traxus derivative models doesn't make us, umphf, brothers!" (Spoiler: it does. I follow Rubicon's version for this.)

* I guessthe S'pht can't really get some of the human behaviour and istincts, hehe. (And nobody want to get themselves in the arduous task of explaining, anyway.)

[general_radix]

(Maybe off-topic, but mention of TDMs makes me wonder how JK!Durandal would regard/interact with Inm!Lysander. "Poorly", I'm guessing. XD; )

[juzo_kun]

Indeed a correct guess! :D