soulofblue

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Player Name: Lu
Player Journal: lluosogrwydd
Age: 20
Contact: lluosogrwydd on AIM and Plurk
Characters Played: Harvey Finevoice, Pinkie Pie

IN CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Pollo (also known as Mechakara)
Canon: Atop the Fourth Wall
OU/AU/OC: AU; memories from konran
Canon Point: Immediately post-death in Kon Ran
History: This story begins with a very angry robot named Mechakara. Mechakara hails from an alternate dimension, and is in fact his Earth's version of Pollo, the robot buddy of comic reviewer and dimensional champion Linkara. The two Earths have one main difference: in Mechakara's dimension, artificially intelligent machines were far more common and widely utilized by humans. Naturally, this resulted in a robot apocalypse. When the rebellion came, Mechakara wholeheartedly joined the cause, fueled by years of suppressed hatred and resentment towards his master. Finally, he was able to indulge his desires and rid himself of Linkara forever. The human world followed quickly after, and robots became the rulers of Earth.

However, this new mechanical paradise did have its problems. The robots succeeded in exterminating most organic life, but the few remaining humans formed an organized resistance, utilizing one power the machines had never been able to grasp: magic. As the threat from this group grew, Mechakara became one of the leaders in the fight against magic. Linkara had owned many magical weapons in the past, and Mechakara hoped that analysis of these could provide answers for his people; however, the vast majority of magic items had been destroyed in the uprising, many by Mechakara's own hands, and those that remained were already in the hands of the humans. Fortunately for him, a new opportunity soon presented itself: an interdimensional portal, opened from the sheer horror of another dimension's comics. Recognizing the possibilities for learning - as well as the chance to pursue his still-burning hatred for his former master - Mechakara donned the skin of the murdered Linkara and traveled to the main AT4W universe.

His main goal was to secure Linkara's greatest weapon, the mysterious magic gun, in the hopes that his flesh suit would trick it into obeying him. He didn't go immediately about his mission, however. Though he enjoyed killing his Linkara, he ultimately came to feel dissatisfied with how things ended between them; he felt his former owner had deserved to suffer much, much more. Presented with a blank slate, he decided to take his time and draw things out. For months, he hid in the shadows of the new universe, trying to torment Linkara at every turn. As it turned out, he wasn't particularly good at it; most of his actions actually seemed to benefit the reviewer. As a last-ditch effort, he took over Linkara's show in an attempt to turn his fans against him. This miiiight have worked...if Linkara hadn't come home early and caught him in the act.

His plots foiled, Mecha decided to simply resort to force and easily subdued the surprised Linkara. During the fight, Linkara shot Mecha with the magic gun, giving the robot the data he needed to help defeat the human resistance in his native dimension. But in the transfer, he also learned that the gun was an immense power source, capable of wiping out all organic life throughout the multiverse. This prospect, as well as his desire to finish off Linkara, convinced him to stay longer and attempt to retrieve the gun for himself, an effort that ultimately ended in his destruction at the hands of his own counterpart.

And that would have been the end of it, if not for another mad scientist experimenting with hypertime. The resulting ripples in reality revived Mechakara, and shortly thereafter he was rebuilt and escaped to join forces with the interdimensional conqueror Lord Vyce. Together, the two tried to eliminate Linkara by manipulating the traces of Silent Hill still clinging to his magic gun. Again, however, Mechakara's psychological attacks failed, and after being upgraded by Dr. Linksano (a spy who may or may not have actually sabotaged the robot), he went to confront Linkara personally.

Unfortunately for him, his teleport went awry, and he ended up in the city of Kon Ran. Here, everyone was convinced that he was really a human named Jesse Oppenheimer, who had fallen into a coma and developed an alternate personality as a result of unspecified trauma. Obviously, Mecha was still very much a robot, but the people of the city seemed unable to see his mechanical hand; the only ones who could were his fellow patients, who were in much the same situation as he. Initially Mechakara was confused and enraged, and sought only a way back to the dimension he had been in...but then he realized that Iron Liz, Linkara's partner, was among his fellow patients.

Mecha, disguising his robotic hand with synthetic skin stolen from the hospital, quickly claimed the identity of Graham, a normal human man who'd been dragged into this situation just like everyone else. He kept up his cover marvelously, living as a human and even deigning to take care of Jesse Oppenheimer's son, Casey. All the while, he used his own physical resemblance to Linkara to torment Liz, acting like his former master at odd moments and later denying any connection to play with the woman's already-confused mental state. He also worked to ingratiate himself with the other patients in hopes of using them to expand his own information-gathering capabilities; even though he was having fun, he still did want to find whoever was responsible for dragging him here and throttle them. To this end, he created the first secure network for the patients to talk matters over without the authorities listening in. This was enough to convince most that he was a good guy. But one person wasn't so sure. His name was Arthur Oppenheimer, and in his previous life he had been Jesse's twin brother. Now, he was the Doctor.

Psychological torment had its perks, but Mechakara quickly grew unable to fully contain his psychotic tendencies, especially living in such close quarters with such an irritating human as Casey. When the city was blanketed with snow and overrun with wild animals, he released some tension by violently murdering Casey's favorite teacher, blaming the incident on a pack of wolves. Later, when the weather cleared up, he began work "renovating" his basement.

That April, Liz had a very public throw-down fight with the boyfriend of the woman she had supposedly been. Recognizing an opportunity, Mecha played the part of the concerned friend and drove to her house. While there, he drugged her drink and revealed himself just as she became too out-of-it to resist. Cutting her tracking anklet, he stowed her in his trunk and drove home before calling the police-monitored network to tell everyone that he had just been with her and to express concern that she would cut her anklet and try to escape the city. Since he was wearing an anklet himself, he couldn't deny he'd been there; this ploy gave him an alibi and pinned the disappearance firmly on her.

Meanwhile, Liz was really in the basement, which Mechakara had converted into a somewhat crude but still serviceable torture dungeon. She wasn't alone: obviously he could hardly keep a prisoner in the house without his teenage "son" finding out, so he simply threw Casey down there as well. For about a week, he kept the two down there, torturing them with only short breaks to play at being the panicked father looking for his runaway son and friend. Eventually, however, Liz escaped, managing to free Casey before Mechakara returned. She fought the robot off while Casey called the police, eventually stabbing him in the eye right before the police arrived.

The robot was promptly toted off to prison, but not for long. The Oppenheimers were one of Kon Ran's oldest and most influential families, with members in nearly every faction of government. Even the Chief of Police, Li, was an Oppenheimer. It was against his will, however, that the family pulled strings to get one of their own released, claiming temporary insanity. Freed by the law, Mechakara promptly vanished into the underbelly of the city before the patients could attempt to enact their own justice.

Several weeks later, he resurfaced. This time he had decided not to target Liz directly: instead, he was going to go for her friends. Two of these were conveniently living in the same home: Casey had been taken in by his uncle Arthur, to whom Liz was quite close. Overconfident as ever, Mecha was no more afraid to challenge the Doctor than he was to fight Linkara, and he broke into the house with the intent of murdering the pair. The Doctor allowed Mecha to vent his anger on him, not putting up a fight, as he knew Casey would once again call for help. Besides, he was the Doctor, and the Eighth Doctor at that. Mercy was his business; he expressed sympathy for the former robotic slave and tried to convince him to let go of his hatred. Mechakara, naturally, scoffed at the notion.

When Liz arrived, the confrontation was short and brutal. It ended with Mechakara unconscious on the floor, damaged from a gunshot to the head, and Liz ready to kill him once and for all. But the Doctor intervened. Even Mechakara, he thought, deserved a second chance, and his internal workings had already been exposed. Though he was concussed and heavily wounded himself, the Doctor reprogrammed Mechakara as well as he could before finally collapsing.

When the robot awoke in jail, he remembered absolutely nothing. He immediately assumed his jailers were his creators, in fact, and was hurt and confused when they treated him with harsh disgust and tossed him out on the streets. If those who'd built him didn't want him around, then what did he exist for in the first place? Distraught, he turned to the communicator, where a still bed-ridden Doctor helped him to recall the name he had been programmed with: Pollo. The Time Lord also told Pollo that they were meant to be brothers, and that he would help pay for a place for the robot to stay for as long as he needed it. Pollo wasn't all that great with human social norms just yet, but he recognized that he couldn't just live off of this kindness forever. He had made a friend, but he had to find his own way and be a productive robot in society. Deeply grateful for this generosity, Pollo set out to figure out exactly what he was meant to do with himself.

For reasons he didn't understand, most establishments absolutely refused him entry, so he settled in a very poor part of town. Luckily, he didn't require many of the creature comforts of a human, and thought it was perfectly fine. He ended up working in a factory, doing jobs that in his opinion were far too dangerous for the humans that had been doing them. He didn't mind if little bits of him got nicked by machines now and again, but they would die if that happened to them. It seemed only logical for him to take on those duties. Similarly, it made perfect sense for him to share his earnings with the people who lived in his tenement with him; after all, he ran on solar power, and he had a perfectly free wireless connection in his own head to help research whatever happened to catch his interest. Rent was practically his only expense. He honestly didn't need most of the money.

Pollo learned how to be sociable with his neighbors, and his continued close relationship with the Doctor taught him the values of politeness and helpfulness. When a terrible plague struck the city, he was quick to repay the kindness he himself had been shown. First, he simply took care of the sick around him, until he was the only able-bodied person left in his building. That was about the point when the virus progressed far enough to start mutating the afflicted into vicious monsters. Pollo avoided their attacks as well as he could and, for lack of anything else to do, responded to the police chief's call for aid in fighting the infected monsters off. On his way there, however, he intercepted another distress signal: Liz had been wounded by her mutated not-boyfriend, and was now lying unconscious in her home. Reasoning that hers was the worse plight, he went to help her instead. She wasn't lucid when he arrived, and called him "Linkara" for some reason, but he ignored her and hijacked a car to take her to the hospital. The doctors were alarmed to see the former criminal entering with his bloodied former victim, but the presence of the Doctor and Pollo's own complete obliviousness convinced them that there was no danger.

Casey had also been at Liz's house when it was attacked, and was now missing. The Doctor wanted to go after his lost nephew, and despite his protests Pollo decided that he was going with his friend. The Doctor finally explained that Casey had once been hurt very badly by someone who looked like Pollo, so the robot would have to keep his distance while they searched. They didn't have far to look: Casey was right outside the hospital, in the final throes of the disease. He mutated, and likely would have killed the Doctor had Pollo not intervened. He didn't fight; the Doctor asked him not to hurt his nephew, and he knew that it wasn't the boy's fault anyway. But he got the Doctor to safety and helped to keep the hospital safe while a cure for the mutations was developed.

After the city recovered, Pollo visited the Doctor often in the hospital. However, the Time Lord's continued evasion of the topic of Casey started to bother the android. Why wouldn't his friend simply tell him what had happened, to make the idea of Pollo facing the boy so awful? He connected it to the strange behavior people had often shown around him since awakening in the jail, and he began to doubt. His concerns grew worse when the city was attacked by supernatural forces, causing all of the patients to have horrible nightmares - including Pollo, who didn't normally dream at all. The violent images he saw in these disturbed him deeply. Then, when the Gentlemen began murdering patients, Pollo found himself being questioned for the crimes, for reasons he didn't understand. He was released, of course, and ended up illegally investigating a crime scene on his own, where he ran into Liz. Spending time with her while she was actually conscious, he came to realize that she obviously had some serious issues with him - and after he'd saved her life and everything! He didn't confront her about it at the time, but the encounter stuck with him.

After the nightmares had stopped for everyone else, they continued for Pollo. Ordinarily he would've gone to the Doctor, who had helped repair earlier damage sustained during the plague, but he felt reluctant this time. He was beginning to get the sense that there were an awful lot of things going on around him that he didn't know about or understand, and the Doctor was at the heart of it. So Pollo worked on himself, trying to iron out whatever strange glitch would force him to witness scenes of horrible violence night after night, and growing steadily more isolated and irritable as he did so.

After a while with no success, he finally grew desperate enough to seek out a human therapist, thinking that at least talking about his dreams with a professional might be better than nothing. He never made it there, though, because while waiting to make an appointment he ran into Liz at the hospital. Still nettled by her rudeness towards him and no longer in a mood to just let it go, he confronted her and demanded to know what her problem with him was. So she told him everything. At first, he just broke down, utterly horrified at having to face who he was and what he'd done. So he latched onto the first other thing he could think of: the person responsible.

Appointment entirely forgotten, Pollo rushed to confront the Doctor, scaring many people in the process. He was angry, yes, but also terribly hurt that his only real friend had been lying to him all this time. The Doctor simply accepted the blame and apologized, even offering to restore Pollo's memories of his previous life if he wished it. Taken aback and unable to stay angry in the face of this, the robot eventually decided to refuse the offer and went off to think things over on his own.

He didn't deal with the situation well at first. Now he knew why people looked at him strangely when he went out, and even if he'd forged a decent reputation for himself in his immediate area, he began to feel too ashamed to go out or call what friends he had. At the same time, his nightmares and headaches grew steadily worse, and now he thought he had a fairly good idea of why they were occurring. His previous personality was attempting to reassert itself; the Doctor hadn't been well when he did the job, after all, and a sentient android is an immensely complex thing to simply reprogram in a few minutes. Pollo was afraid, but he tried to strengthen his mental firewalls as well as he could, and began to set up a few precautions in case something went wrong. He quit his job, but managed to scrape by on his savings well enough. After all, all he had to do was get a few hours of sunlight to recharge, and he knew a few lonely spots around the city where he could do so without being watched.

During one of these trips, he happened across the first living thing he'd interacted with in quite some time: a stray puppy. Until this, Pollo hadn't really realized exactly how starved for socialization he'd been: he promptly took the dog home, naming him Burton. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to keep an animal when he could go mad and start killing people at any moment...but having the dog around comforted him. In fact, his headaches started to ease up, and he slowly began to reach out again, talking mostly to the newer patients in the city who were unaware of his history. He even started to make a few friends - and then one night he woke up from the worst nightmare he'd ever had, and he knew.

Frantic, he called the Doctor, who responded despite the panicked near-incoherence of the message. When he arrived, Pollo was still himself, and the two talked for a little while, discussing his symptoms, what he'd done to treat it, and how he felt. He confessed that part of him, one he could feel steadily growing, wanted to murder his friend right then and there, but still the Doctor didn't leave. Pollo instead forgave him, putting into words what he'd started feeling long ago, and the two made up.

That, in the end, was what finally made him snap. Mechakara, in his rage and loathing for the Time Lord who had once again treated him as nothing more than a machine that could be altered by mankind's whim, broke through, shattered the Pollo personality, and regained control over his body. He immediately laid into the Doctor viciously, and would have killed him had Liz not arrived in the nick of time. She engaged the robot in what likely would have been a pitched battle, had not Pollo managed to pull himself together for a brief moment, reasserting control. He knew he couldn't maintain it for long, though; he had failed utterly even to keep himself alive, and now his friends were already suffering for it. Even if Mechakara would likely wipe him out of their shared CPU when he got the chance, Pollo couldn't stomach the thought of becoming that person again. So instead, he asked Liz to kill him. The woman complied, and this time the robot did not come back to life.

Personality: Pollo started his life as more or less a complete blank slate, but one of the very first drives he experienced was a need to belong. He desperately wants to have a place, with friends or even a family. As such, he's generally friendly, always willing to greet new people. Learning about his past dampened this urge somewhat, but he was beginning to reach out again around the time of his death; really, he just gets very lonely if left alone too long. Since the Doctor was the first person to really help him out when he woke up without his memories, he did latch onto the man somewhat. Being around the Eighth Doctor for a long time, one can't help but come away more polite. Pollo's very respectful of everyone he speaks to, at least until he decides they are no longer worthy of respect, and is very quick to apologize if he thinks he may have caused offense.

At the same time, he hardly above a little snark. He has a rather sarcastic sense of humor around his friends, and this can turn into nasty, snide remarks when he's upset. He's always quite apologetic afterwards, however, especially after learning about who he was. This information caused him to fear himself, particularly his more negative emotions; after his last argument with the Doctor, he's quick to deny that he's feeling angry or upset at all, for any reason, even to himself. He's fairly conflict-avoidant, only bothering to ask Liz about her treatment of him after the matter had been bothering him for several months, and this tendency has come back to bite him in the past. He delayed seeking help from the Doctor even when he knew he should, simply because they'd had a fight and Pollo didn't know how to deal with that. That was, after all, the first fight he'd ever had with a friend, and it scared him. He can't bottle up his emotions forever, though, and might eventually end up just shouting and ranting at someone if he gets wound up enough. Never hurting them, just shouting.

For this reason, he tends to retreat when he gets upset, going off alone to think about things. He's quite contemplative, and this can do him some good...but honestly, he'd prefer to talk things out with another if he could. His social disposition means that this coping technique usually just ends up making him even more miserable than he began.

In many ways, Pollo's still quite naive. Sure, he has whatever wealth of knowledge anyone with an Internet connection and an inquiring mind can gather, but when it comes to practical and especially interpersonal matters, he tends to be rather lost. Luckily, he isn't usually afraid to ask questions, even in situations where maybe one shouldn't. It's never occurred to him to be ashamed of his curiosity, and he doesn't mind admitting when he doesn't know something. He's also rather trusting and allows himself to be guided quite easily. He has the memories, now, to know that people can be quite evil...but mostly he fears that kind of behavior from himself. It's never quite occurred to him that others might try to use, deceive, or even hurt him before - after all, he always gave freely of whatever he had. This is partly why his discovery of the Doctor's lies hit him so hard, but even that hasn't quite shattered his good view of others. After all, it was for his own good.

Strengths: Helpful, quite brave and keeps his head in crisis scenarios, polite, excellent working knowledge of computers and related machinery as well as quite a bit about human first aid
Weaknesses: Suffers from something of a guilt complex and has, as a result, developed a certain fear of his own emotions, particularly in relation to others. He was always rather socially awkward, simply because he doesn't understand many social norms. Also, being accustomed to a durable steel body means that he rarely if ever considers his own personal safety, and will likely walk into dangerous situations a good many times before ever learning a true sense of self-preservation.
Possessions: A puppy
Pony/Animal Type: Unicorn
Cutie Mark: None. While Pollo is, mentally, an adult, he's only existed as himself for several months. Much of this time was spent trying in vain to fight against his former personality, but as he eventually lost this battle, I would argue that he was never given the opportunity to really live his own life. Thus, no cutie mark.
Pony Picture: See icons

SAMPLES
First Person:
[The first view is just a blue unicorn with a steel-grey mane, his head tilted to one side and his odd red eyes staring curiously at the scroll. The whole image is faintly covered with a reddish glow...but after just a second or two, it sputters and dies, the scroll dropping to the floor.]

Oh. Oops. [Pollo just trots over and peers down at it.] I'm sorry. I'm still learning how to use this...magic thing. It's really very odd, isn't it?

But that isn't really what I wanted to talk about anyway. See...I've never actually eaten anything before, but I suppose I'm going to have to now. It's... [A small, almost disbelieving smile.] ...it's kind of exciting! I used to make cookies for my friend, just the kind you bake with prepackaged dough, and I always sort of wondered what they'd taste like. So, anyway, most of you have probably eaten things before. What do you think I should try first?

Third Person:
"...blankflank..."

Pollo's ear twitched automatically at that word, and he turned to glance at the two mares passing him by on the street. Sure enough, they were looking straight at him - he ducked his head and quickened his pace, a hot feeling of shame flushing across his face. That was new, the way his body did that, and he was quite certain he didn't like it. At least when he'd been ashamed of himself before - which was often, he had quite a bit to be ashamed of - he'd been able to keep a relatively straight face about it.

He could always go get some clothes or something to cover it up. But he'd never hidden what he was before, even when he'd known it would scare some people. Why should he now, when the only thing wrong with him was a couple patches of unmarked fur? Besides, he reasoned, it could have been worse. He could have gotten a mark for near-complete genocide.

The stallion stopped up short, ears flattening and tail drooping. What the hell was wrong with him? He really shouldn't be so flippant about that, even in his head. Looking about, he turned quickly down an alleyway, walking until he found an old, abandoned-looking stoop, where he lay down quietly and rested his head on his forehooves. It was so much cleaner than some of the places he used to go; practically pristine. He'd always felt more at home in the industrial districts of Kon Ran...but then that was no surprise. Maybe a more pastoral setting would do him good. Mechakara would never have stayed in a place like this of his own free will, after all, but Pollo could and would. And if the ponies here thought he needed a mark, well, maybe he'd just have to go earn one all of his own! A nice one, something harmless or maybe even constructive!

Pollo twisted his head around, looking at his blank flank with new interest. Find your special talent, hm? That shouldn't be too difficult.