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Post by Brainiac 5 on Feb 4, 2012 23:56:07 GMT -5
He shook his head slightly, unable to look up yet somehow continuing the conversation. “We were amiable. But sometime, a mistake will be made, and then it will be no more. Endlessly.” And it would likely eventually happen with his team, as well, especially considering that he had only been a part of them for a few months. Coluans did not form lasting relationships.
Brainy’s statement had apparently surprised him, so he chanced a glance upward, took in the surprised face and filed the image back in his databanks, before looking downwards once more. His voice was soft, and sad. “Brainiac 5.0 has done nothing to Superman to inspire anything but comradeship. But I am not the first Brainiac.” It was a simple, absolute statement, and his truth. It was why he kept secrets from Superman, the one person he wished to confide in above all, and why the team went quiet when questions were asked.
Had he been human, he likely would’ve sniffled at that point, perhaps rubbed his eyes, but all he could do was quietly and mentally shut down each of the alarms and warnings that had appeared in his programming in such a high-tension moment. “There is nothing to apologize for,” he replied, his voice gaining a bit of strength as he brought his eyes up to look at the older boy. “We have moved onward.”
He paused, hesitantly, before offering, like an ‘olive branch’. “You were going to introduce me to pizza?” |
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Post by Beast Boy on Feb 5, 2012 0:04:31 GMT -5
“What? No.” Beast Boy smiled reassuringly, spreading his hands and stepping forward. “That’s not how Beast Boy rolls. I mean, seriously dude, you’ve gotta make a really big mistake with me.” His smile faded slightly. Like betray me and all my friends to our worst enemy.... No. Not thinking about Terra. Brainiac wasn’t Terra. And Terra had even gone back to the right side at the end.
“I, uh, got that from the ‘5.0’ bit,” Beast Boy muttered. Pulling on a smile, he said as boisterously as he could manage, “But whatever those other ones did, you didn’t do it. They’re not you. And Superman knows that. I’m sure,” he added hastily. “We’re not pals or anything, but he’s a great guy, Superman.” That was just one of the things ‘great guys’ did in Beast Boy’s mind.
“Yeah, but I am sorry.” If living with a couple girls had taught him anything, it was that apologies were always necessary. He grinned sheepishly and offered a hand to shake. “We were just talking, see? No disagreements here. Just two new friends, getting along. And going for pizza.” He winked.
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Post by Brainiac 5 on Feb 5, 2012 0:16:37 GMT -5
He… could not resist. Lifting one eyebrow at the other, he spoke, making a statement that, coming from others, would be a snark, but from him, came out in the usual apathetic tone that he adopted. “Would you like them verbalized, or shall I write a list?” he inquired mildly. Of course, seeing as the other somehow did not consider other Coluans and the Brainiacs as part of his list, it would be difficult to come up with enough sufficient material, but he was certain he could manage.
However, Beast Boy’s words, intended to be reassuring, did not have the same effect that he likely meant for them to have. “That is for humans,” Brainiac told him, sounding for all the world as if he were speaking about the weather. “We are Coluans. It is fairly simple for programming to be installed in each new figure in the line.” He paused for a moment, before he continued. “‘Brainiac’ is not a hereditary title. There are requirements.” Such as having Brainiac 1.0 coding within you, having an eleventh or twelfth level intelligence before you reached the age of twelve, and having a likelihood of going insane.
That was the wonder of the Brainiac line.
It seemed that the other was unwilling to give up on his apology, so the robot opened his mouth to accept it, about to take the hand, however unwilling an action it would be, before the other continued. Brainiac’s mouth snapped shut, and he stared at Beast Boy with wide, purple eyes. “Friends?” he asked, disbelieving, his voice cracking halfway through the word and fading off into nothingness. He had not taken this into calculation. |
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Post by Beast Boy on Feb 5, 2012 0:25:39 GMT -5
“...Was that a joke?” As someone who often joked about inappropriate things, he actually saw the potential there, especially with that expression. He grinned. “Dude, you joked! That’s the spirit!” Also, he just really didn’t want to have a list like that. He was sure he would accumulate one of his own if he remained a hero long enough, and the ones that were already on his own list weren’t things he liked talking about.
“Well, yeah, but....” Beast Boy floundered in the unfamiliar world of technology and robots. They were cool, but he really didn’t know the first thing about them, especially future robots. “Even with computers, when you manufacture them, they’re still not all exactly the same. It’s gotta be kind of like a father-son sort of deal, right? So, maybe you’re kinda similar, but you’re not just like them.” It made sense to him, anyway, in a using-common-sense-to-overcome-ignorance type of way.
Beast Boy blinked, his hand still hanging there for a moment as he stared at Brainiac. “Um, hello?” He waved a hand in front of the robot’s face. “Helloooo?” Getting closer, Beast Boy examined Brainiac’s face in the hopes to get a clue of whether he’d shut down or something. “You can’t tell me that the word ‘friend’ isn’t in your database.”
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Post by Brainiac 5 on Feb 5, 2012 0:37:32 GMT -5
A small sense of pride managed to permeate him as the other took such great pride in his ‘accomplishment’. He had been half-way serious, in all actuality. If the other had agreed and wanted such a list, he would have stated such, but as it was, he was not required to.
“Not quite father-son,” he corrected, part of him always doing such a thing even at the worst moments. “Brainiac 1.0 exists in this century.” It was quite a spread out lineage, but aside from Coluans themselves, only the Brainiacs were ever written into the history books. A sad state, to be certain. But it was slightly amusing to hear Beast Boy try to argue with him, when he clearly knew nothing about Coluans. Very interesting, he was.
“You do not understand,” he simply replied, shaking his head ever so lightly. “And I do not wish to explain it. Perhaps a later time, if your curiosity is still running through your system.”
He only came to when his proximity alarms went off inside his head, and blinked purple eyes owlishly at the green face too close to his own, coding and programming snapping back into alignment as he registered and digested the other’s most recent statement. “It is,” he corrected, though his voice was slightly strained. He was not built to go through such… upheaval, especially this close together on the timeline. “The word has just… never referred to me before.”
Ever. |
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Post by Beast Boy on Feb 5, 2012 0:47:26 GMT -5
“I didn’t think it was exactly the same,” Beast Boy mumbled, a bit sullen that he was failing to be in any way right during this entire discussion. Brainiac always had an answer, and while Beast Boy would admit to not being the smartest animal in the jungle, that didn’t mean that he liked being wrong so much.
“You’re right,” Beast Boy said simply, shrugging. “I don’t. And I might not be a genius or even really all that smart, when it comes down to it, but I don’t need you to pretend to be something you’re not.” He smiled, just a simple friendly smile. That was the heart of what had started this entire argument, anyway. And regardless of anything Brainiac had said since, his mind hadn’t changed.
Oblivious to the real significance of what Brainiac said, Beast Boy just grinned. “Well, there’s a first time for everything, right? Now it has!” And about time he got a friend, in Beast Boy’s opinion. Few things could even match how important to Beast Boy his friends were, and nothing surpassed them. As infuriating, as different, as complicated as they were, he would take his last breath before he gave them up.
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Post by Brainiac 5 on Feb 5, 2012 8:24:32 GMT -5
Maybe he had not, but it was in Brainiac’s nature to correct misinformation and clarify whenever he observed or heard such incorrect ideas. It did come as a slight surprise to him, however, that the other did not remark upon his statement about Brainiac 5. He had clearly implied that the line of Brainiacs was not anything good, and then made the statement that the original existed in this century, yet he said nothing? Interesting…
Beast Boy… was confusing to Brainy. He was complex, confusing, and did not make sense to the robot. Especially with the added factor of his most recent statement. And the smile… Even though he and the older boy had just gotten into an argument of the sorts that would have Lightning Lad storming off for hours, if not a couple of days, he could smile like that? “…Very well,” he intoned. “Status projected will be true Status.”
There, it was that simple. Time would tell if it were a poor choice.
Querl hesitated, the other clearly not grasping his implications, before he smiled slightly, very minutely. “I suppose…” In truth, he and the other were not friends. Perhaps he believed it, perhaps he truly accepted that, but there were only two people that he would ever count as friends: Those that gained all data about him and still accepted him in this fashion (23.1% chance he would never ever meet such a person)… and Superman. Though it was likely not vice-versa. |
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Post by Beast Boy on Feb 5, 2012 10:39:15 GMT -5
Beast Boy blinked at the strange phrasing, taking a moment to filter that through his head to figure out what Brainiac meant. Then, he grinned. “Okay. Cool.” At least there was that much. He didn’t see what was so bad about acting like what you were. Unless what you really were was an evil murdering robot, but you just pretended to be nice. It didn’t make sense to Beast Boy that such a thing would be true in Brainiac’s case. He’d sort of implied something there, but more like the other Brainiacs had the potential to become evil, which he also had, not that they all were ... or something. It was confusing. Beast Boy left it alone for now.
As far as he was concerned, if Brainiac was friends with Superman, then he couldn’t possibly be a villain. And that was good enough for Beast Boy. Such simple reasoning might not be enough for the other Titans, but time would have to tell on that count.
“So! Time for that pizza!” Beast Boy grinned widely at Brainiac and started marching off again. Brainiac wanted to talk about something else, they had made progress, and Beast Boy was hungry. Reasons enough to just let it drop!
{OOC: Their conversation is pretty much done here. Maybe start up a new thread at Slice of Life and invite Roze in so Robin can meet Brainy, now?}
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