sad space dad had a bad (
shiro2hero) wrote in
thisavrou2017-03-25 01:20 am
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audio;
[Deep breaths. This is fine. This is all going to be fine. They can do this.]
[But if he broadens the search pool, the better the chances of this working out. As much as he hates to think about what he'd learned, as much as he wants to pretend it's all okay...]
[His voice is steady as ever, over the TAB. Despite the late hour.]
I'm looking for someone good with data extraction and compilation. Especially someone who can do that for alien or unfamiliar tech.
Maybe even translating unknown languages. I can't say for sure.
I'll take any help you can offer.
[But if he broadens the search pool, the better the chances of this working out. As much as he hates to think about what he'd learned, as much as he wants to pretend it's all okay...]
[His voice is steady as ever, over the TAB. Despite the late hour.]
I'm looking for someone good with data extraction and compilation. Especially someone who can do that for alien or unfamiliar tech.
Maybe even translating unknown languages. I can't say for sure.
I'll take any help you can offer.
i don't know how to write this tag so i APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE...
[Speaking of data though, she pulled out her tab and put it face up, before fiddling with it a few times. When she finished, the display read 'Ready to Receive Data.']
Alright. Here we go. [She spoke more for her own benefit than Shiro's. Though her eyes slipped shut, it was hard to block out the glow of her tattoos, lighting up as she tapped into her abilities.]
[Just as before, the device felt odd against her mind. Not yet indecipherable, but certainly nothing like the technology back home. She allowed her own consciousness to sink into it, following each thrum of neural impulses, and simply familiarize herself with the feeling.]
[After easing into the neural network, Angel lifted her own hand -- the same as Shiro, and flexed it, hoping that her own mind would transfer the motions into his. She said nothing, fearing that focusing on the real world might very well disturb her focus. She figured that Shiro would say something if her plan worked.]
SO DO I......
[He has no idea what's going to happen. Is she going to jack into his arm, like in sci-fi movies? Like some kind of virtual reality hacking? She'd said abilities... was that what she'd meant?]
[His other hand grips the table edge, just in case. The brightening, glowing markings on her is a definite surprise. But, then again, this is space. Maybe this is normal where she's from. And who is he to judge glowing body parts, anyway.]
[All things considered, he'd be at ease during this process. If not for the fact the goddamn hand is moving. Without him telling it to. There's a sudden, sharp stab of panic, while he stares at it, wide-eyed. His other hand moving to grab it, to shove it down, out of sheer reflex--]
[... her hand motion catches his attention before he does.]
Angel...? What are you --? Is that you?
WHOOPS
Did it -- [In her brief daze, she didn't immediately pick up on Shiro's panic. Quickly though, she caught on, and immediately sat back up, on edge.] What's going on? Is someone -- ?
[She twisted about in her chair, searching for some sort of threat, but found none.]
THEY SHOULD HAVE TALKED A BIT MORE MAYBE OOPS
Did you... did you move it?
[Please tell me you did goes unsaid. But it's there, in his tone. Please tell him it was her, and not... some weird space voodoo defense program.]
CONSENT IS IMPORTANT, KIDS
I'm sorry. I needed to test if I could integrate with the system properly. I figured it better to test movement rather than tamper with critical functions and get us locked out. [She took a breath and started to reach out with her own hands, before hesitating. Maybe contact from a stranger wasn't the best right now.]
I'm sorry.
ALWAYS TALK BEFORE YOU GO BRAIN DIVING INTO PEOPLES' LIMBS
Okay.
[A short, sharp nod, before he meets her eye.] It's fine, I was... I was just worried it was something else.
Some kind of failsafe they put in. In case I tried to do this. [But hey, there's no blame, or judgment here. Not for her, anyway.] I'm sorry too. The last time it did something on its own wasn't exactly a great memory.
new meaning to the phrase "dumpster diving."
Are you ready to continue? I may move things around more, but I'll try to let you know in advance if it becomes necessary.
[She took his hand, the metallic one, into her own, rather gingerly. Already her mind was opening back up, feeling the thrum that she was already becoming familiar with. She could do this, she was certain of it.]
WHOOPS
[He'll take literally any good news about the stupid thing, at this point. Anything to say it wasn't a total loss.]
Yeah. Yeah, I'm good.
[Now that he knows it's her doing it, that makes accepting it a lot easier. He hesitates, for a second, before he lets her take it -- if only because it's The Arm. He's always been a bit hesitant on that count.]
[But he's ready.]
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[For a few minutes, that was all Angel did. In this period, exploration was less about finding answers, and more getting a feel for what was stored and how data and input flowed. It was a foreign system, not entirely like the clunky, Hyperion brand cybernetics she had seen before.]
Shiro? [Her voice was soft and slightly unfocused.] I need you to tell me what you're looking for, if you have any idea. It could be a word or a phrase, I just need something to help my focus.
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[That's what this is about, after all. It's not about him. If he can't avoid what Lance told him is coming, then... he has to help. In any way he can. It takes him a few moments to answer, a slow inhale, steadying breath before he speaks.]
A code. A passcode. It... could be a data packet, somewhere.
That's all I know. I'm sorry.
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[She doubted it though.]
[Once more, she went quiet. For a long period time, a duration that Angel couldn't put an exact number on, she simply ceased to be. Her body continued on, controlled by her bodies most basic of functions. Her consciousness, on the other hand, melded entirely with the ebb and flow of data, chasing each impulse up and down as she mapped and made sense of the arm.]
[If she were capable of her own thoughts, she might have wondered if this was how spies worked -- simply blending in and allowing targets to reveal their information on their own time. The arm seemed fairly self-maintaining, which meant somehow, at some point, the arm's motor functions would eventually have to communicate with all parts of itself, making sure it was in working order.]
[Finally, she felt it, the faint pull of an inquisitive shock, the system checking its data banks. That was where the siren dove, following the faint and steadily fading thread.]
[Where her thoughts had, for a period, existed in a state of nothingness, the second she breached the barrier between neural networks and physical files and data, her mind began to swim. It took her a moment to compose herself enough to reach out once more, this time tapping the familiar sensation of her TAB.]
[In the land of the living, the screen flickered. Data transfer initiated.]
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[Good to know. At least he's giving her something useful to go off of.]
[And he can wait. He'll wait as long as she needs it. This is a favor she's doing for him, after all. He has no right, nor room, to rush her at all. Besides, if he does anything, it could throw her off. And what if that hurt her...?]
[So he stays still.]
[Pidge mentioned the arm was integrated with his nervous system, so part of him wonders if that's what she's seeing now. If it meant she could control other parts, too. Or just the arm. He's trusting her with a lot, here. But the others are somewhere in the house. If this somehow went south for either of them, help was just a shout away.]
[When her screen flickers, he almost jumps, eyes widening a fraction to take it in. And trying not to get his hopes up too high.]
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[In the interim, the data upload ticked by, reaching fifty percent by the time Angel willed herself to open her eyes. She gulped in a massive breath, her mind struggling to reintegrate itself with its proper body. The lights and sounds from the house, the city assailed her, far too complicated compared to the simplicity her mind had adjusted to.]
[A hand flew out, gripping Shiro's flesh one, anchoring herself to the land of reality. It had been far too long since she'd allowed herself to phaseshift for an extended period of time. The side-effects were unexpected, to put it mildly.]
[And before them, Angel's TAB lit up. The data sync was completed.]
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[His metal hand stays... well. As under her control as she'll let it. Or want it. He isn't trying to move it, in other words.]
Easy. Take it easy -- it's okay.
[After a moment, he adds, quietly, and steadily, just in case:]
You're in my house. In the kitchen. There's water if you need it.
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[As rational thought finally crept back into her mind, Angel extended her other trembling hand. She took the glass of water into it, and brought it up to her lips. Once more her eyes closed, opening only once she had downed the contents of the glass and set it back down.]
Sorry it's... been awhile since I fully integrated with something.
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[That last part is meant to be funny. In that awful, dry sense of humor Shiro always has when trying to cope with things -- keeping his tone level and assuring. Squeezing her fingers gently with his human hand.]
[Only moving to try and help her wrap her fingers around the glass.]
It's okay. Don't worry about it.
Are you going to be all right?
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[But the feeling was ebbing. Human contact, human warmth -- that was exactly what she needed right now.]
I'm... I'll be fine. It's passing. [She moved her hands away from the man, instead reaching out to run her fingers over the surface of her TAB. The display flickered to life, and quickly brought up the collection of files she had managed to pull from the man's arm.]
I got something. I don't know if it's what you're going to need, but you were right about there being data in there.
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[Because he really doubts there's actually anything -- but he's got to ask. It wouldn't be right not to. Not just because she just did him a favor. She's a person. You're supposed to help people.]
[That's how this works.]
[He doesn't try to hold onto her as she pulls back. Staying on his side of the table and trying not to move too suddenly or sharply. Just in case.]
Can you tell how much there was?
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[She was real.]
[It took her longer than it should have to process his question, and longer still to figure out just how to convey her answer.]
It should say on my device. It was hard to tell while I was in there. [If she were in her prime, she could have had the answer immediately, and could have been in and out without a problem.]
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[Worrying he might set her off, like certain things did for him.]
Got it. We can check whenever you're ready to.
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[Her fingers brushed over her TAB, awakening it once more. She tapped a few things on her screen, before leaning back and expanding the projected display enough for them both to see. None of the files or names made sense to the siren, but she held them out to Shiro, hoping that there was something in there that he had been searching for.]
I can send it all to you if you open your own connection, but for now, you are welcome to peruse.
[Leaving the device beside him, Angel stood up. She didn't go far, instead paced the length of the kitchen as she reminded herself that she was a being with limbs that could move, rather than an endlessly drifting consciousness.]
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[He doesn't move for a few moments, watching her pace. It seems like a weird thing to do, to look at someone else's TAB without them actually being there. Like going through someone's phone.]
[So instead, he'll go to open up his own TAB. Attempting to fiddle with the settings to get it open.]
I'll wait until it's here. And... thank you. For doing this. It means a lot.
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[She turned to him when he spoke, and then moved back over to him. Once his device ticked online, she activated the connection and began moving the data over to him. It would have been easier to use her own abilities for it -- she wouldn't have even had to think about doing that much. Given her heightened emotional state, however, she thought it wise not to.]
I'm happy to help. It's... nice to be able to use this kind of thing for good, again.
[Grabbing her cup, she shuffled away once more and moved to refill it.]
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[A quiet acknowledgement of her assisting with the device. Before he starts idly scrolling through the available information. None of it looks like something he can really read. It's familiar, but not legible. Which means it's probably...]
[Metal fingers flex. He needs to get this to Pidge.]
You know... if you want, one of my teammates here is really good with tech. She'd kill for a chance to talk to you.
[A beat, before he adds:] Not literally kill. She'd just be very, very excited.
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[As it was, however, Angel simply turned to the man and offered him a smile. She had understood what he was getting at, but appreciated his clarification all the same. It meant a great deal to her, when those around her seemed so attentive to her well-being.]
[Such a strange thing it was, having good friends.]
Perhaps I shall come back another day, then. When it's not so late and the circumstances not so business-like. I'd love to meet her.
[Ordinarily, someone being so curious about her powers would have put her on edge. But whoever this person was, she seemed to have Shiro's trust. It meant that Angel, in turn, could trust her.]
[Or at least, she hoped she could.]
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