System Malfunction [Event!]

The Vanguard machine flitted through the land. It had been a part of the Starlet military for years and was unceremoniously dumped in the city's junkyard. The typical procedure was to disable the inner workings. Cause the machine to simply not work. And, as always, with anything you add a healthy dose of artificial intelligence to, things go sideways. An innocent, human tinkerer put the machine back together, cobbled together, and stood proudly of the work he had done. And once the machine gathered up enough power to move, but not enough to think clearly except hanging onto that final order like it depended on it: Kill all hostiles.

And, after your own allies carefully dismantled you, then it seemed that everything was an enemy. Without hesitation, it killed the one who put it back together again. Thankfully, it went North instead of towards Starlet. And after running up Crooked Tooth without bumping into anybody, it was now in Windchill Meadows. And that was where things were about to get messy. Already it gunned down several mutant creatures which would have been dangerous. It killed a dog and was a violent force that would need to be stopped somehow. It found where there was life: Water. 

The machine moved like a terror, with two mechanical legs, intelligently designed to traverse quickly through terrain. Despite its noise, it moved elegantly. It was rusted through, but where it still had chips of paint, it was a dazzling white. Guns could be hidden away or drawn depending on the level of threat, monitored by the visor-like camera sitting in the Vanguard's top, front area, between the two guns. It allowed for 360 view of the area around it. However, it was glitchy and not entirely working as smoothly as it should be. It was unable to pivot itself, needing to lift and adjust its mechanical legs to track with its guns. The machine had an open area in its back where the young tinkerer had been putting it together still open and with exposed wires. Sometimes, a few sparks fizzled out and when it did so, the machine would halt in its movement for a small moment before whirring back to life with a roar.

The machine went to the lake, where it ran towards the ice top because it could detect a dog on the other side and then it scanned the thickness of the ice over the lake and carefully turned around. In a rough voice, it chirped. "Risk assessment: High. Surface hazardous. Seek alternative route." The Vanguard picked up its legs and placed them, rotating in place in this fashion until it faced a different direction and then it started moving. Fast.

((Note: This is the first Happenstance Event!!! Fighting a robot! Oh man, let's make this awesome guys!))

Aoife lived in Winterwood Pack and she heard the noise. Terrible noise. She ran as soon as she heard it. Always stupidly running headfirst into danger. As always. She heard the scream of a dog caught in the crossfire. She had heard many dogs die in her life. Dogs who faded in this harsh land mostly. But a few who died suddenly. She had to do something. She couldn't stand around and do nothing. She hurried quickly, surprisingly fast despite her comparatively small size compared to most dogs of Canaria. It seemed smaller dogs were owned or bred by humans, but there were a few pint-sized terrors living around these parts. Just few and far between.

She was an excellent tracker, but it wouldn't take a genius tracker to find the rogue machine that was terrorizing the Northlands. She found huge prints it left, indentations in the snow and mud. Aoife frowned. "This thing is big..."

She heard the staccato of a gun being fired and the harsh yell of a mutant creature. So far gone from what it was, there was no telling what it started as: Dog or human or something else. The terrier mix had a strong sense of justice, but being gunned down in cold blood seemed a fate too cruel for even a mutated monster, especially when they left the dogs alone for the most part. As long as their brains remained intact, that is.

Aoife followed the prints, the sounds, the destruction. The robot was getting awfully close to Windchill Lake. She frowned. Awfully close to the Laika Timberland. It would just take one wrong turn and it would be there. Her heart grew quicker. She couldn't let it get to her pack. Ruin the lands by scaring the game. She caught up to it as it was assessing the surface of the lake. She was far enough away, hunched in the snow so that her wirey red-gold fur could be mistaken for some brave tuft of dead grass poking out of the snow. Her dark eyes were trained on it. She watched as the machine turned away. "Darn it," she said quietly to herself. "It's only a matter of time before it heads towards the Timberland."

As always, she was rash. An actions-first, words (and thoughts) later type of girl. And she said, "Hey, bucket head!"

The machine slowly turned towards her...

((I posted first for example. You can control the machine if it fits your post, as it does count as an NPC, free to play for all.  If you want Happenstance to reply again, just tag the account, but we can go on without it if you want. Also, join people!))

Livid had heard the sounds of yowls and yips from mutant animals being shot. She was tracking the thing that was attacking them and had speed up her pace to find it faster. All she really had to do was follow the sounds. The colors blurred together as she quickened her pace. "It is only a matter of time before they reach something bigger." She growled. Her muscles bulged as she leaped towards the thing.

When she finally reached the thing, she found a tall machine and a another dog antagonizing it. She shot around the machine with a graceful leap and saw that it went to face the other dog. The dogs fur was just another blur until she focused on it. "Hey, over here stupid!" She howled at it. Her black fur making her stand out against the snowy ground.She barked a few times when the machine turned to face her. It slowly moving. 'That will be its down fall have to turn a lot.' She thought and growled deep in her chest.

Aoife's nose wrinkled into a snarl when Livid called her stupid. Stupid? Really. What about brave? She would do anything to save Winterwood by steering the malfunctioning machine away from the Laika Timberland. And she watched the machine turn towards Livid. "I don't need your help." Aoife said to herself about Livid. She watched the guns targeting on the larger dog. A more sure target. It seemed that the Vanguard was not a stupid thing and it saw more threat in the giant mastiff than in the medium sized terrier mix. Also, a large black dog was easier to aim for.

Aoife lowered herself closer to the snow. Though she was reluctant to ask for help, she could see from the way Livid burst into the scene, ready to save the day. The terrier mix couldn't help but let herself smile. Perhaps there wasn't much difference between herself and this massive Tibetan Mastiff.

"Hey, how about we work together, okay? That thing is focused on you now. We need to come up with some kind of strategy." Aoife was moving constantly, but her words came out rather clearly. She was used to communicating during a hunt, in situations as hectic as in the middle of picking out a reindeer in the middle of a stampede.

There was the exposed wires on the back of the machine, but she also noted that the robot didn't seem keen about walking upon the iced-over lake.

Livid, looked over at the other dog and nodded. "You have faster movement you attack it while I distract it!"  She barked at the other dog. She turned towards the ice and started a meaningful trot over to it.  She felt the ground start to shake as it followed her the ice. She stopped right along the border of the lake and rebounded, as she was probably much to heavy to run across the surface. 

She turned towards it and barely heard a weird whirring nose before it stopped completely. "Well that was weird."  Is what she said to the other dog. I guess you never look a trophy a trophy horse in the mouth.  Is what she thought. "Hey, how high can you leap?" She asked the small terrier mix. "I think if you jump into it and start to rip the wires out, then it will malfunction and fall into the lake. Of course it is risky but, risky is what I do well."  She said to the female terrier.

Aoife smiled. "That's exactly what I was thinking!" She spoke with enthusiasm. And honestly, the thought of getting to fight the robot sparked a fire in her. It was in her eyes and in the way she held her body. She seemed both tense and elastic, as if she could barely contain herself. Her glee. And it wasn't that she was a particularly violent dog. It was just that she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie and loved danger. The medium sized terrier balanced paying attention to Livid, acting as decoy, and staying on her target, the robot. Her experience was obvious now if it wasn't obvious before.

The terrier mix rushed towards the robot, about to make her attack when, it stopped. It whirred loudly. A lethal glitch for this an already malfunctioning robot. "Got it," Aoife said as she listened to the information. She smiled, ready to destroy the robot. And she moved fast. Her agility allowed her to duck and weave in case of a fight or a hunt, but she did have blistering speed as well. She was a terrier, through and through.

And that rough and tumble attitude toward life did her well here. She hopped up, vaulting off of the a stone to get more height as she aimed for the exposed wires on the back of the robot. And of course, the robot moved. It's twitchy movement finally started working again as it pivoted. Aoife rose to the challenge, turning her body in mid-air to land awkwardly on the warm guns on the robot. She scrambled off of it and was on top. The robot started moving and Aoife tried to keep her balance on the metal top, trying to find purchase with her nails so that she could stay perched on as she tried to search for the wires. Although the robot was not alive, it had a sharp AI. It now saw Aoife was the threat. She saw them and clamped on.

The robot's movement rumbled and and tossed Aoife off of the robot completely, but her tenacity did not let up and hung there by her jaws. She shook her head, tearing at the wires. And then dropped on the ice, landing awkwardly with a mouth full of wires. The machine was still moving. Aoife tried to stand, but slipped. She tried again and got on her feet. She spit the wires out. "It's after me!" she yelled to Livid. The robot saw the terrier as a greater threat now than the huge mastiff. It raised its guns, but some of the wiring that Aoife removed was important for the aiming of the guns and it blindly peppered the ice as it turned. The terrier mix ducked low, flat against the ice and making herself a harder-to-hit target. It stepped closer to the ice. Its AI was compromised from the damage, it seemed.

"Your turn!" Aoife said. A big push from a strong dog into the lake would definitely end this.

Livid saw the Terrier leap up at it. "Lets go Terrier!"  She yipped and saw her drop. She almost freaked out when the machine started to shoot at the ice. She saw the little terrier hunker making her a harder target to hit. She heard her yell but she waited for the machine to lift one of its mechanical legs to leave it unbalanced. She was waiting. All the while making sure that her new friend was okay. She was surprised to see the machine lift it leg as if to turn around. 

This was her chance, she shot in and used all her mass to topple the thing. She heard a whirring noise and felt the shaking of the metal as she looked at the bullets flying into the air. Soon all she felt was air and realized that she had pushed into the water. She heard the ice crack and then felt water drench her fur from the splash.  "Are you okay?"  She yelled out into the lake not being able to see from her eyes being covered with wet fur. I hope she is okay.  She thought and shook her self out.

This is bad. This is bad. This is bad. The sentence repeated itself in her head like a mantra. She shut her eyes, expecting another onslaught and of course, the end of her life. Right now, she relied on a stranger and she hoped that the Tibetan Mastiff has half the sense of justice as she had, a quarter of the foolishness, and twice as much responsibility. And Livid didn't disappoint. She smiled as she watched the robot teeter into the ice, breaking through and then it slid underneath a sheet of ice. But the damage on the ice made it treacherous and Livid fell through as well.

Aoife held her breath until she saw the big dog emerge. She let her breath out.

Once the panic left her, she could assess the damage. Her legs still worked. She did get grazed by a stray bullet and there was blood on the ice. The hot bullet cauterized the wound as soon as it was made, clipping her in the hip, but somehow missing the bone and everything, just scraping off a layer of skin, which would, by summer, be covered by her tousled fur.

She gave a short, sharp breath. It still hurt. I'm going to survive this. How the hell did I do that? And that thought made her giddy. She blocked out the pain, as she usually did and rose to her feet, favoring her right hind leg for now, not wanting to move it too much until the wound scabbed over. She moved carefully to the shore to join Livid.

"Now, that was exciting." The understatement of the year. Then again, the year was still quite new. The terrier mix beamed. "I'm Aoife," she said brightly through the pain. "What's your name? We kinda have to be, at least, on the first name basis if we just vanquished a killer robot together!"

Livid looked at the small dog. "Well Aoife, My name is Livid. And yes I agree we should be on first name basis since we just took down a killer robot."  She looked over Aoife and smiled. "You got grazed by a bullet,  does it hurt?" She asked as she went to sniff at the wound. Please be okay. I can't let my new friend be injured already. She thought and smelled the burnt area. She might not be able to see well but she can smell and hear amazingly.  

"You don't seem to injured, the fur will grow back. It will be a slow process but it will get there."  Is what the Tibetan mastiff said while examining the wound.  She let out a sigh of relief and looked at her companion. "So do you always pull dangerous stunts like this?" She asked as a joke and smiled.

Aoife held still while Livid came close to her. She beamed. Another scar to tell a story about in the summer festival. As Livid looked over Aoife, the terrier mix put her eyes over her, sort of trying to figure out what she was. Livid's coat was much too thick to be able to detect the ridge of fur common on Augments, but she didn't seem upgraded. She didn't see the glowing horns of an Esper, but a few Espers were able to hide the horns with their own abilities. And a Basal typically didn't have many outward signs unless they were slightly mutated. And Winterwood tried to keep their dogs from getting mutations.

"Well, of course it hurts," Aoife said simply, with a grin. "Do you think it's gonna scar?" The way she said it made it sound like she thought this stupid injury was sort of cool. A good reminder of a time when she and Livid destroyed a giant killer robot. She wagged her tail at the question if she usually pulled dangerous stunts like this. "Not always," Aoife said innocently. "But it does seem like I usually end up in this sort of predicament. A new battle wound, breathless from a worthy battle, and standing like a champion at the end of it. Besides. Admit it. It was fun."

"Yeah, I had my fair deal with things scaring. And you are terribly right. It was such fun!" She yipped and wagged her giant fluffy tail. "Sorry for being blunt, but I could feel your eyes scanning me. So I want to ask, not guess ask, What variant are you?" She figured she would get right down to business and ask straight out. "I mean you don't have to answer, but I am a Basal and you seem really nice so I want to know your variant." She rambled and then stopped herself short. She never rambled before so why now. Man it always happens to me. I must of picked it up from my worthless parents. She thought and shook the thought out of her head and looked at the terrier closely. She finally noticed that her fur was tan. She felt her eyes scrunch up and her golden gaze became a tunnel vision. "It will look cool against your tan fur. The fur will cover grow in litter showing where it was if it doesn't scar. But I am pretty sure it will." She said with so much confidence she shocked herself.

Aoife was from a pack in which variants were less important than who you were. Some other packs liked to think that Winterwood was strict and intolerant when really, it was more about celebrating dogs. Not what men made dogs become when they brought them over to Canaria.

"Basal." Aoife said smoothly, giddy that her newfound friend was a Basal like she was. She thought to herself that it made sense. Even from the dogs in her pack, in this situation, an Augment or an Esper would draw upon their abilities in order to destroy the robot. Livid had used nothing more than her own smarts and strength. And Aoife thought that it was amazing to find another dog who was more-or-less like her.

But two Basals took it down. No abilities needed, thank-you-very-much. She beamed. "So, two Basals got rid of a stupid robot. Shows all those fancy pants Espers and Augments, huh." She laughed, still high from surviving near-death.

"Yeah, whether it gets lighter or not, it'll be good for stories. My pack shares stories in the Summer Festival at Crooked Tooth and I always try to have a good one ready. Now, it's still early in the year, but at this point, I definitely have one worth telling. Maybe I'll get a promotion in rank, then?"

Aoife didn't really understand why she hadn't gotten her promotion. But she didn't realize that her pack pretty much unanimously agreed that the three year old terrier had a lot of growing up to do before they trusted her with a higher rank than Huntress.

"Maybe. I hope you will."  She said honestly and nodded at her new friend and looked at her wet fur. "I look ridiculous." She said with a happy grin. Her pink tongue lolled out of her mouth when she smiled.  She looked around and saw pieces of the ice floating worried that the Machine somehow survived and would come back to shoot her and her friend.  She knew this was being irrational but she couldn't stop the dread from coming out. "Maybe we should get out of here?" She asked with a now nervous smile.

Aoife laughed when Livid brought attention to her fur. Wet, but she hadn't been in that long to soak to the skin. Especially since the Tibetan Mastiff wasn't complaining. Now, if Aoife fell into the lake, she probably would be shivering and risking hypothermia, being much smaller and having a different coat texture.

She sighed. "You do look like a hot mess right now. Well, sorry. Cold mess." Aoife grinned. Not a funny joke, but she was proud she had made it. She wagged her tail into a blur. "I guess if you want, we can leave. I highly doubt this robot's going to come out of the lake and snatch us out. Who knows, if we stick around, it might explode!"