NieR:Remnant

XVI - A Gentle Breeze

"Ow! Eh! Hrgh!"

"It'd hurt less if you'd hold still!" Pascal had been dislodging twigs and vegetation from the first mate's joints. His hands were too big, so he'd borrowed one of those needle devices from the Apprentice with permission. It was without its power source, and thus, perfectly safe save for a potential light scratch or two.

"I can't help it! You're triggering my reflex-Ack!" His arm extended forward and just about smacked Pascal in the face.

"Hey, watch it!"

"I just said-oof!" The branch plopped on the metal floor, and Linus fully extended his arm of his own accord with no issue. "Hey, you got it!"

"Finally." Pascal moved to stand and helped his first mate do the same. They both took a moment to kick away the forest bits that had gathered on the floor. "How did you manage to get this much stuck in yourself, anyway?"

Linus met Pascal's eye. "Well, cap'n, that's certainly a tale-"

"Can we keep this short, please?" Anemone interrupted from the seat she'd taken near the entrance to Pascal's quarters.

"Lots of foes, had to grapple to higher ground, dense canopy, finito." Linus turned towards Anemone. "How was that?"

"Fantastic," replied the resistance leader. Linus replied with a thumbs-up to both her and Pascal. "Now, Captain Pascal, what was it you wanted to discuss?"

Pascal moved forward and rested both hands on his map-table-thing to look more "official." As he performed the act, he realized it probably made more sense in his head. "Well, first and most foremost above all, I wanted to express how thankful and grateful I am that you've returned alive and mostly unharmed. Both of you." He nodded towards Linus.

Anemone echoed the expression. "I appreciate that, my friend." She gave him a smile.

Pascal tried to maintain his composure. This was such a strange, super formal thing for him to ask, and to say the least, he was nervous, more towards her answer than the actual ask. "And beyond that, well, I've been thinking. We've, um, all been working well together, haven't we?"

She tilted her head a bit then gave him another, slower, nod.

"And, well, I've done a lot of reading from various ancient texts in my relatively short existence, and I feel a lot of it is applicable to our situations now. Because, well, despite our nature, we are alive, aren't we?"

Anemone blinked with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, I'd say so, yes."

"You're doing great, cap'n!" whispered Linus.

"Shush! I, uh." Pascal paused, refocusing on Anemone. "Anyway, um, despite our differences externally," his nerves lessened as he got back on track, "I've quite enjoyed our shared existence as allies, and whether or not we still live within the next twenty-four hours, I wanted - no, needed you to hear this from me." He moved from his chair, standing as straight as he ever had. "Would you be willing to sign an armistice between us, my machines and your androids, to set our peace in stone for the foreseeable future?"

"An armistice!" Anemone took a step back; for the first time Pascal could recall, she looked surprised. "I never would have... Huh, this is... Hm."

"I'm sorry, I know we have more important matters, but I needed you to hear this from me. I've spoken with my portion of the crew, and they're all on board."

"Haha!" Linus chuckled at the pun.

"Peace is all we've ever wanted," Pascal continued, "and I know none of the...of my original village remains, but there are so many more of us who want the same thing, enough that I've formed a whole new collective!" He cursed his machined nature once again; if his face were of humanoid flesh, he'd be smiling so wide. "So, um, I wanted to bring this to your attention, Anemone, and I want you to know that if I'm to perish in this damned war with Remnant, my successor would uphold this philosophy just as strongly as myself, perhaps even more so." He had an eye on Linus. "So, what do you say?"