tabularasa_rp | [OPEN] Keke, that is incomprehensible! But… it’s worth the try.

Who is that? Turing? [Is it Turing?? He's not 100% sure, but he only knows two machines here... it does sound like how they'd talk...

He's trying really hard to keep his feelings private, but it's hard to wrap his head around that when he's only ever been able to communicate like this with Dynamo. There's a lot of confusion bleeding through, and he might be running a few scans in the back of his mind to make sure nothing else has been compromised, though it does appear that this is a secure channel... is it really safe for him to use this?]

Half. [half-synthetic. well, he's not sure on the exact math...] I didn't connect to any additional networks. I don't even know how to do that.

Yes, that's correct! [ No prizes for guessing right though, which meant Add still wasn't allowed to open Turing's head up and take a look around. Them's the breaks!

More importantly, they most certainly did notice that confusion, which did bother them. Add and Turing had...gotten off to a rough start, let's say, but that didn't mean they took any delight in his discomfort. What should they--wait, half synthetic?! Turing assumed Add had some kind of ocular augment, but did he have enough augments for half his body to be synthetic? Better question: was that because it was necessary, or because of...other reasons? ]

That is very strange. Are you uncomfortable with speaking through the network right now? [ Meaning, 'would you rather this be in person.' ]

Cyborg?

(That's less odd. They've known plenty of people with augments.)

It is likely you were linked automatically. You do not utilize wireless communication?

It's not uncomfortable. [His pride won't allow him to admit otherwise, but it's partly true—it is how he's always communicated with Dynamo.] My implants are unique. Direct communication like this is limited to Dynamo only.

[He could maybe have made modifications to communicate with other Nasods wirelessly... in theory. But it was such a security risk it never seemed worth it. Especially since he can just use—

Oh, duh.

There's a wordless signal of one moment please before Add dips back out again. He's not gone for very long, and when he reconnects there's another presence overlaid with his own. Dynamo is polite enough to ID themselves before settling in as Add's handy proxy service.]

Is that better? [not that anyone actually complained but hey, he's pretty aware of how much he was mentally spilling himself all over the place like an idiot. Dynamo does a much better job of filtering out his thoughts for him.]

[ Oh, hey! That was a little unexpected, but still a pleasant surprise. With everything that had been going on Turing hadn't really had a chance to make significant progress with their investigation, but it was looking like things had worked out anyway. Finally, some good news! ]

Dynamo! I'm glad to hear that you're operational again! I heard about you through Mr. Add.

[ Add may have been worried about spilling their emotions all over the place, but Turing had no such concern, whether it was in the network or in a more traditional conversation. ]

(They're surprised when another mind joins the network and Add's mind disappears, only to realize with surprise that the two minds are a collective, and that this being is acting as a proxy.)

Greetings. You are a collective?

[There's a (hesitant?) pause before Dynamo responds—they realize they're being addressed, but evidently, interfacing with sentient machines isn't something they do often either. Thus, their idea of a "greeting" is to reaffirm their ID code, this time noting six separate external units (plus Add! he gets a special ID for being attached to a meaty human brain), followed by a heavily abridged status report that can be summed up as] 48.31% OF SYSTEMS NON-OPERATIONAL, CAUSE OF ERROR: UNKNOWN.

[so... the awkwardness is a shared trait. Add and Dynamo just express their shitty social skills in different ways.

(and Add may or may not be chastising them through their private link for oversharing private data, but it's fine, honestly more of a response than he would've expected...)]

I guess so? Never really thought of it like that, but you're not wrong.

Dynamo has been unresponsive up until the nightmare incident. Started working again for short bursts when the storms started, same as all the electronics. Now they appear to be functioning on their own without the storms. Then this happened. Might be connected? No fucking idea. Tried some experiments with lightning strikes but the effects were only temporary. There was a gap of several hours between the charge wearing off and the current situation.

[ The awkwardness was almost...endearing? Based on Turing's point of view and what they knew about Add and Dynamo's circumstances, it seemed like both of them had been together long enough for them to become alike in some ways. It was kind of nice to see. Granted, that was also somewhat worrying in a way, but they didn't get a chance to really think about that before a more important issue came up. ]

What do you mean by "tried some experiments with lightning strikes"?

[ They had a feeling they were not going to like this answer, but it wasn't like they could just let it go either! ]

We also desire elaboration on this subject.

(Depending on what he means, these experiments may be extremely ill advised.)

Recent storm patterns align with electronics gaining temporary functionality, but there's an additional effect I discovered as well. You don't know about it? [well, maybe they do know about the lightning thing and they're more focused on the other part of his statement (aka the part that implies he's been doing something reckless), but he's already decided that they must be asking because they want to know the results he found SO]

Objects struck by lightning retain their functionality for an extended period of time. Exact length of extension is difficult to measure but seems to be approximately 1 hour. No other positive side effects have been noted yet, unless we count Dynamo's situation, but I'll keep looking into it. If the effect can be stored or extended further through repeated experiments that would be a huge breakthrough. Restoring the use of technology in this world will make everything so much easier after all.

[not even Dynamo can filter out his swelling pride this time—they helped, so they're also proud!! please be impressed by how hard they've been working cool robot friends]

I constructed a lightning rod on the roof if you'd like to try it yourself sometime. Possibility that sentient machines are affected differently? For me it just hurt like hell but that part only lasted a minute or so. [anyway yeah he let himself get hit by lightning and thinks this is totally fine and normal]

[ There were no words in response from Turing; that part was probably a red flag on its own. See, they were also not very good at holding back their feelings. If they wanted to restrain them from leaking onto the network, they likely would have failed. However, they were not at all trying to hide their displeasure at what they had just learned.

What would Dynamo had done if something terrible happened? Was testing such a thing really so important that it was worth the risk? Even if their worries were unfounded, they were understandably a little sensitive about the idea of a creator willingly putting themselves in danger and risking leaving their creation all alone in the world.

...No, that wasn't right. It was, in fact, something they were very sensitive about.

There were going over there to yell at him in person. That was how upset they were right then! ]

(They are ... disquieted by the notion that Add thinks so little of risking his and apparently also other's lives for the acquisition of data, but they are distracted, almost immediately, by the realization of Turing's anger.

They ping the smaller robot, concerned.

...Add is, for the moment, being ignored.)

[... for some reason, the mood seems to have shifted for the worse, and now everyone's gone quiet. What did he do?? He was just sharing his research! What could be wrong about that?! Is he being insensitive about something again? Maybe it's because he's telling a bunch of machines to go electrocute themselves... this is all clearly another big misunderstanding!

It doesn't take long for the awkward silence to make him panic a little. Time to backpedal!!]

You don't have to try it. Just wanted to inform you both that the option was available. I've thoroughly tested it myself so I wouldn't make the suggestion if it was dangerous. However, I understand if you're hesitant. I'll continue this research on my own either way.

[oh, wait, this is just like communicating with Dynamo, right? so maybe he can share other kinds of data—]

I have recordings of my tests from the last storm. I'll try to send those through, you can see the results for yourselves. [yeah that'll help he'll just send a recording of him getting electrocuted on purpose to everyone on this network, A++ amazing idea he's such a genius

at least it's not on autoplay]

[ Ohhhhhhh no, they definitely weren't going to look at that one. The fact that Add thought it was a good idea to both send a recording of what he'd been doing and continue doing so really did not help the issue. Like, really did not help the issue. They still had enough presence of mind to send a ping back to Legion, though it was more to show they had received it instead of offering any sort of explanation why they felt the way they did. To be honest, Turing had to resist the urge to temporarily disconnect from the three-way communication altogether.

They didn't know if Add was in his apartment or not, but regardless of whether he was or not, Turing was going to knock on his door. Though really, it wasn't so much a request to be let in as it was "I am going to not-so-gently knock on your door until you open it or you come back, whichever comes first." Was it stubborn of them? Yes, absolutely. But it was also necessary from their point of view. Some sort of intervention was clearly needed here. ]

(Legion, on the other hand, does look, once they've got the ping and know at least that Turing is still functional and responding.

That he deliberately disregarded his safety like this is ... disquieting. It is clear that the electricity is not as hazardous as it is in the worlds they are familiar with, but data suggests he did not have significant evidence that this would be the case prior to testing.

Turing dislikes seeing harm come to others. Perhaps Add's actions have distressed them?

After a moment, they also get up, and make their way toward Add's apartment.)

Hello? Am I still connected? [should he try to ping them again? but what if they're ignoring him on purpose... did he really say something that awful without realizing it? what gives??

He isn't left wondering for long, fortunately, or he'd probably implode from his own anxiety. The sudden and aggressive knocking does make him jump a bit before he snaps to his senses, remembering that yes, the physical world is still a thing. He hurries over to the door and cracks it open partway, Dynamo hovering near his shoulders in a tight formation.

When he sees who it is he opens it the rest of the way, mostly just confused now.] Turing?

How could you do something so foolish?! [ Add wasn't even going to get a 'hello' first. They were just going straight to scolding the moment after he opened the door all the way. Even during their first encounter they hadn't been this upset; not in this kind of way, at least. ]

What would Dynamo do if you had died? I do not wish to see you die either!

[ no no no NO NO they couldn't lose anyone else, they couldn't-- ]

Do you know what it's like to know someone died a senseless death?!

(They get to Add's apartment around the time Turing's outburst is ending.)

Did you have evidence to indicate that your course of action would not potentially result in your destruction?

(Might as well make sure before they join in telling him how stupid he is.)

[He takes a step back when Turing starts yelling out of nowhere. Holy shit, this escalated quickly—he was kind of half expecting to get yelled at after everyone went quiet, but this is definitely not the kind of yelling he anticipated. The part they were concerned about was him hurting himself??

... it's kinda sad that that's the part that seems unbelievable. Ah.

(and he is not commenting on that question about senseless deaths)

He holds up his hands defensively.] Calm down, alright?! Nobody's dying. It's not like I even did it on purpose the first time. [all the other times after, though? ... well, yeah, but he knew it was (probably) safe by then, so it's fine!]

Obviously, my testing was focused on inanimate objects. It was only after I'd observed a consistent pattern of harmless results that I... [ahem] may have stood slightly too close to the testing area... but this type of electrical work is my specialty, you know. I'm used to handling much stronger charges than that on a daily basis, so a single bolt of lightning isn't much to an expert like me. I've been hit with way worse than that before.

[never mind the fact that this was all for the sake of trying to make his technology work properly, so it's not like he could rely on his implants to safely redirect any electrical charges... but no one died, so it's still fine! really!!]

You could've just asked that instead of coming all this way to yell at me. Have a little more faith in my scientific integrity, tch.

Edited (+s) 2020-12-07 01:08 (UTC)

[ The frown on Turing's face showed just how convinced they were by all of that. Hayden had also been an expert, albeit in a different field, and now he was...gone. His knowledge hadn't protected him at all. Despite everything they knew and had been told, it was still hard not to blame the subject and ultimate result of his research: themselves. ]

How can I calm down, especially since you've now confessed to being hit by worse things than a single bolt of lightning? I would rather you didn't come to harm in the first place!

[ It was then that Turing fully realized that Legion was there, and their gaze fell with something resembling shame. It wasn't because of what they said (they weren't the least bit sorry about that), but they had been witness to Turing losing their temper. ]

(Legion is, as always, patient. It is perhaps, a trait intrinsic to the relatively non emotional Geth, but it mostly comes from past experience--they have dealt with much worse than this.

They regard the scene before them, flaps rippling.)

Turing cares about you.

(They have to crouch slightly in order to put a comforting hand on the smaller robot.)

[He was still trying to act cool and professional about all this... but that goes out the window once Legion finally spells it out for him.

Turing... cares? About him?

No, wait, that must be a general statement, like Turing is just concerned about most people's safety, right? They probably don't feel any special attachment to him in particular. That would be a weird thing to assume. They haven't even known each other that long, and they seem more interested in Dynamo than Add anyway...

... but it still feels kind of uncomfortable, and he's giving them both a blank stare like he has no idea what he's supposed to say now. Because he really, really has no idea what he's supposed to say.

Shit, this is starting to get weird and awkward. Just say some words, Add, it doesn't matter what they are—]

Well, my line of work is already pretty dangerous, so harm isn't always avoidable.

[ok no maybe let's back up again, those words also sucked. He hisses a sigh, covering his face with a hand.]

I mean... it's not like I was trying to get hurt, but it seemed like a reasonable risk compared to what could be learned from it... [he's gonna have to apologize again, isn't he?]

[ Turing nodded along with Legion's words; having them there to cut straight to the chase did not go unappreciated, nor was it the only thing that was appreciated. The hand on their shoulder helped ground them after all the anger and frustration that had just exploded from them.

Then Add opened his mouth. ]

It is not reasonable!

[ Hmph!! Were they getting a little bit pouty by this point? Maybe. Pouty was better than yelling again, but the pout quickly turned to a frown once they admitted to themselves that they hadn't managed to convince Add of anything. ]

If you must continue with this line of work, take better care of your own well-being. If not for your own sake, then for Dynamo's.

[ They very nearly added themselves to that, but that would be a little presumptuous of them. ...Wouldn't it? ]

Please.

[ This plea was their last resort. They would not allow Add to become another Hayden. ]

[OPEN] Keke, that is incomprehensible! But… it’s worth the try.

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