Breeze and Zephyr

[keaalu]

Breeze and Zephyr

Names:
     Breeze and Zephyr are translations from the Kiravai; in their native tongue they are Tsueih (rhymes with “sway”) and Zei’ha (“Zay-ha”), respectively. They have also been dubbed “the Twins” since physically they are very similar (and variations on the theme, such as the “Twin Winds” and the “Cold Winds”).

Appearance:

     Both Twins are silver-skinned Kirasiinu; Breeze is the female, and Zephyr the male, but physically they are almost indistinguishable except for the length of their feathers and some subliminal facial differences (unlike Azure, Breeze does not have breasts). Most distinction is made based on their clothing; Breeze usually dresses in accordance with fashion, but Zephyr dresses plainly.

     For Kiravai, both are rather short – like Rosuva did with Ivy, their creator seems to have gone for a diminutive stature, since they are not merely skinny in build but barely reach seven feet in height (still giant when compared to some species, but tiny compared with many of their “peers”.) Their skin is a muted silver, and their feathers a soft pewter with only the tiniest gleam of cobalt iridescence; Breeze has the longer and slightly more fashionable feathers, but both share a similar hairstyle, being long and sleek like the natural Kiravai “mane”. Their eyes are often described as “dead-looking” – a dull blue-grey, scarcely different to their skin, and it is habitually this unemotional “flatness” which clues an observer into their non-biological nature.

Persona:

     Since Iios’ emotional capacity was partially an experiment, to see if it made him stronger and more “intuitive” but was ultimately perceived as a failure, the Twins were created with no intrinsic emotional responses at all. As such, they are cold and cool, and logical to a fault – whatever the most sensible, pure and logical course of action is, they will take, no matter what the emotional effects on their colleagues and staff will be. For instance, if it is logical to sacrifice a life to salvage a situation, they will do it (although naturally they put their own lives higher than those of the biologicals they command).

     Of the two, Breeze is by far more talkative; Zephyr is content to take a back seat and provide physical “backup” should he be needed. Breeze is patient, and the sort to use gentle psychological persuasion to get what she wants; Zephyr is more impatient and if he can’t get what he wants to start with, he will try other methods to achieve his aims. Acting as a team, as they almost invariably do, with this multi-angle approach to problem solving they get exactly what they want, when they want it, 99% of the time.

     Breeze has unfortunately developed into something of a schizoid personality – operating under too many conflicting protocols, some saying she is to take absolute command and others instructing that she does as instructed by a cob. Problems arose from the fact that she is a rather slightly built pen – and no Dominae worth his salt was willing to take orders from a female, especially such a tiny one, Siinu or not. They petitioned for her reprogramming, portraying her as a wilful, disobedient troublemaker, and the technicians reluctantly bowed to superior pressure.
     The technicians that carried out the “reprogramming”, however, were unaware of certain factors about her construction – that certain basal protocols were “hardwired” in, rather than a “program” as such. Instead of physically excising the supposedly troublesome engram, they merely programmed in a new set of protocols on top, incorrectly assuming that the new would overwrite the old – unwittingly leaving the pre-existing programs intact beneath.
     Although she herself accepts her old behaviour as “incorrect”, and 90% of the time is just the average dutiful obedient little pen, she does nevertheless still try and follow her old protocols as well, which often leads to confused, somewhat pseudo-schizoid behaviour.
     Even this problem they have found a solution to, however – Breeze listens in, formulates the plan, and Zephyr gives the orders.

Brief history:

     The Twins were created in tandem with Imanu’s other project, as ‘backups’ in the event that Iios (who was himself an experiment) should fail. Although Imanu was a guiding hand in their construction, however, they were created for a reason different to either of his other projects – where Iios and Sei were designed on the merits of who they could be, the Twins were created more for what they were, intelligent, sapient bio-mimics, cool logical commanders.