Log01.entry

[ugh_emotions]

Who: SecUnit, Charles, and eventually other people depending on how things go lots of other people, everyone join in
What: SecUnit checks up Charles, no one has a good time
When: Just before the start of the Story
Where: The stacks
Content warnings: SecUnit getting accidentally bricked

Every time SecUnit or one of its drones caught sight of Charles, he seemed to look even more dead than the last time.

Which was weird. He was already dead (which was also weird), surely he couldn't get any more dead. You were either dead or you weren't.

Whatever. It wasn't SecUnit's problem. Charles wasn't one of its humans. It didn't need to worry about him.

(It worried about him.)

Eventually though, it gets to the point where it can't ignore it anymore, and it stomps over to where Charles is in the Stacks.

"What's wrong with you?" it demands.

Comments

[hellandbackpack]

Charles was about to dismiss the idea, because really, he was fine, but then SecUnit mentioned leaking, and that? Definitely distracting. "Leaking? What are you-"

His gaze dropped to follow SecUnit's, and he couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the sodden pile around his feet. It was even more baffling, because for all the water soaking into the carpet? Charles shoes and socks were bone-dry. And if it decided to scan the water? It wasn't tap water but lake water, going by the levels and types of particulates present even at a quick skim.

"It's nothin' yeah?" It absolutely was not Nothing. Shh, it's fine. Charles is totally fine! "Just a ghost thing. Don't worry about it, mate."

[ugh_emotions]

It rated the likelihood of that that statement being true at a very low 23%.

Yeah, it was absolutely worrying. Especially since this was a situation it had absolutely zero protocols for. It hadn’t even realised that dead humans could get…whatever the hell has happened to Charles. Ghost illness? Were ghost illnesses a thing?

“Like fuck it’s nothing,” it says. “Are you having ghost medical problems?”

[hellandbackpack]

Charles was just gonna cross his arms and lean back against the shelves behind him like nothing was wrong. Subtly checking if the shelves counted as perimeter walls at the moment without letting on that he was trying to bail on this conversation. But unfortunately it seemed they were solid at the moment, which left him stuck here with SecUnit when he'd rather be anywhere else.

Pay no attention to the way the lighting shifted around them- some strange change to the color of them, a subtle dimming, for all actual attention would show that none of them had actually dimmed or changed in any ways. Or the way the ghost's electromagnetic field seemed to lash at the empty air somewhat as he barked out a short laugh.

"I mean, bein' dead means medical problems aren't a thing anymore."

[ugh_emotions]

Yeah, it was definitely going to pay attention to those flickering lights, and those weird shifts in Charles's electromagnetic field. Weird Shit was happening, whether Charles wanted to acknowledge it or not.

And it's Threat Assessment was going up. Why was it going up? Was Charles dangerous? Could he hurt one of the other humans or sentient organic beings when he was like this?

(It does not consider the possibility that the threat is directed not at a human or sentient organic being, but it.)

"If you don't have medical problems, then why do look more dead now then you did before?" it asks.

[hellandbackpack]

"Like I said," He drawled out in response, entirely unhelpfully. "Ghost thing."

Most of the tells, Charles couldn't notice himself. He cast no reflection to see his physical state, he felt no temperature to know he was cold, felt nothing that could have before this made him aware of the damp footprints. What he could see though? Was that shift in lighting. SecUnit might notice when he clocked it, the slight widening of eyes, some sort of realization flickering across his features even as the electromagnetic field seemed to almost bristle like a startle response.

"Sure you've got other things to do than poke at me, yeah? I'll just be off, let you get to it." If he'd not noticed the lighting, maybe he'd be a bit more settled. Maybe as he tried to sidle past SecUnit in the narrow space, his energy field might not have flared so wide that no matter how he went around the other, there was no way there wouldn't be interaction.

[ugh_emotions]

Threat Assessment spikes, hard, and SecUnit moves to block Charles's way. It wasn't going to let him go. Not when he represented a potential threat to the other inhabitants of the Library.

It didn't anticipate the effect that the sudden flare of Charles's electromagnetic fields would have upon its own systems. It didn't anticipate that every system would suddenly be kicked offline. It barely has time to think, Oh shit, before...

SHUTDOWN INITIATED
SecUnit's eyes go blank. Unseeing. Its limbs - which it did not have time to lock in place - all bend, its body no longer supported, as it crumples to the ground. Then it doesn't move. It barely even seems to breathe.

[hellandbackpack]

The sudden move of SecUnit into his path brings him up short, Charles thinking in a single frustrated moment that he could just go incorporeal and walk through it- not a thing that hurt the living, but definitely uncomfortable-

But before he could decide anything, SecUnit was stopping dead in it's tracks. Something about the shift was strange, and Charles had just enough time to see that unseeing distance to it's gaze before it was just crumpling suddenly. The ghost teen let out a startled noise, reaching to try and help brace it on the way down- but as tall as SecUnit was, it was too unwieldy and Charles just barely managed to keep enough of a grip to make the impact with carpet a bit more gentle.

"Rin?" There was no panic in his voice, none at all! A small small bit of relief when shaking hands found a pulse, but with how slow it was... that wasn't normal. Couldn't be good. "Ah hell-"

His gaze snapped up, wide-eyes fixing on the drone. "Go get help!"

[ugh_emotions]

The drone doesn't respond.

With SecUnit offline, it just remains in place, not moving. It wasn't caught in the electromagnetic flare, so its still operating.

But it's also clearly not going to be any assistance to Charles.

[hellandbackpack]

"Fat lotta help you are-" Hissed out between gritted teeth as Charles was unshouldering his pack, rifling through with no small amount of agitation. Enough so that even as he was shaking a blanket free to put under SecUnit's head, the bag tried to snap closed on his hand.

He needed help. And if the drone wasn't going to go get any, it was up to Charles. But he also didn't want to leave SecUnit alone like this, so there was only one option. Which just had Charles yanking his journal from his pocket. Hopefully someone would see this admittedly fragmented plea for help, or this wasn't going to end well.

[codeswitchcraft]

It's a few minutes later when Siobhan finds them and she immediately kneels down next to SecUnit, putting her hands on its head and closing her eyes.

My lady, she thinks at the fragment of the goddess inside of her, as she closes her eyes. Can you tell what happened to Rin?

There's a moment where she suspects Thorne is using the feed to probe at Rin. Then, It looks like something sent them into shutdown mode. They'll be fine once they reboot.

Luckily those are both terms that Thorne has defined for Siobhan before, so she's able to say, "Rin is unconscious, but they'll be fine once they wake up again."

[hellandbackpack]

Charles can't help but feel relief when another familiar face shows up. At least it's not just him dealing with this now. Not that he looks much better for it, but he watches as Siobhan's laying hands on SecUnit, a confused furrow of brows following her assessment.

"But- what even caused it? How do you know?" Sorry, he's just a bit freaked out here, and his protective streak is slapping down heavily in the moment with their unconscious companion as the subject.

[codeswitchcraft]

My best guess is a small, localized EMP, her goddess suggests.

"A very small eeyempy," Siobhan relays to Charles.

Ah fuck. An EMP is an electromagnetic pulse. A small burst of lightning energy and lodestone energy. Earth people call lodestones magnets, she adds hastily.

"A small burst of lightning and magnets," Siobhan qualifies, maybe a second or two after her first statement.

[hellandbackpack]

"An-" It takes a moment to realize what she's talking about, just enough time for Siobhan to add the extra explanation.

"An EMP? I-" She might see the moment of sickening realization. "Ah hell. It was my fault then."

A beat, a moment for something akin to sense to regain control at least a bit through the panic. A thing he'll just latch onto for the time being. "But how? My field doesn't hurt humans. Might tickle at most, maybe feel a little annoying, but nothin' like-"

A helpless gesture towards SecUnit.

[codeswitchcraft]

"I don't know," Siobhan lies through her teeth. "Rin is very much a normal human from their world and time."

After a moment she adds, "Fucking magnets, how do they work?"

[birdchasingecho]

It's at about this moment that Mei shows up, almost missing the place twice in her haste to search the stacks. She actually does have a fairly hefty case, brown, marked with a square red cross.

"Sorry for intruding... I brought a gift." She kneels down and sets down the case.

This, she opens, revealing some small phials of glowing gel (for repairing minor cuts and cleansing wounds), rolls of bandages, some unopened plasters, gauze pads, a few various kinds of pills, long scissors, closures... and a pair of unused cold compresses, one of which she sets aside. "Did I read right that this one took a fall poorly, as well?"

[codeswitchcraft]

"They fainted because of Charles letting off an eeyempy," Siobhan explains. "That's a pulse of lightning and magnets? Fucking magnets, how do they work?

"Hikaru says that Rin probably has lots of cybernetics inside them and that's why the eeyempy made them faint. It might do the same thing to me too, so don't let one off again," she adds, directed at Charles.

[birdchasingecho]

She's nodding along while getting a good look at 'Rin', and noticing the ways in which Rin's body is weak are... Not the ways in which a human body is weak. In fact, almost as if it's very specifically made to not be weak in those ways, where design constraints of looking vaguely human allow.

Must be part of the cybernetics. Address swelling, if any; trace damage if any... "... if they're as integrated into Rin's systems as you say, I should address obvious injuries before then. Those cybernetics did a good job of protecting central nervous, at least."

Use the chemical compress. She hums, pulls away her judo uniform, and uses that to prevent frostbite. Carefully applies the cold to reduce swelling. She suspects that the body isn't going to swell enough to cause damage via swelling, but it's best to get ahead of these things.

[codeswitchcraft]

Siobhan nods. "Hikaru says it's probably something called an 'innerlociter' which they'd use to control their drones and process what they're seeing. It's very normal for humans with the job of protecting people if they're from an 'interstellar era.' Which me and Laina and Hikaru also are," she adds, directed at Charles, "so be careful."

[birdchasingecho]

"Inter-- ah. Internal interface." Different words, same concept. Still, there's almost no blunt force trauma to speak of. "So light...?"

.. and what little she swore she saw knit up as she watched, as well. "... hm. Perhaps I should have brought my laptop, instead-- if this is common enough there's probably an external bus to check on the interface's status."

[hellandbackpack]

Charles was about to reply, probably crash out a little harder at the joke- it got a near-hysterical little giggle out of him all the same, but thankfully someone else showing up distracted him. A bit reassuring seeing Mei with her kit, with the stuff to help someone out and what sounded like the knowledge to use it.

It wasn't going to soothe him all the way, but it did keep him from spiraling much farther in the moment. Guilt hitting him at the idea that he'd hurt Rin making his grimace and tone a little sharper than it needed to as he replied. "I didn't let off an emp, it's not sommat I do on purpose-"

He managed to cut off, taking a shaking breath he didn't need to try and calm himself, glaring down at his hands. Fuck. Fuck, just existing around people here if he couldn't keep a lid on it was going to hurt them?

"I should... probably go then, yeah? If... just bein' around me is gonna do this-" How the hell could he even tell who was safe to be around?

[codeswitchcraft]

"How close were you to Rin when it happened?" Siobhan asks, frowning a little. "Does your eeyempy field have a certain radius? We can just make sure that people who probably have cybernetics don't get very close to you."

[birdchasingecho]

"Most such fields drop by half if you double the distance." She pulls out her cell phone and hums. ... No... Obvious ports...

No. One obvious port. ... One she, unsurprisingly, can't interface with. She sighs. "Yeah, this is up to Rin now."

[hellandbackpack]

"About... this far?" He estimated, holding a hand out. A bit closer than the norm, given SecUnit had stepped in front of him, but that was hardly it's fault.

"It's... normally it's not like that. Normally, so long as I don't like... walk through someone physically, they don't even feel it," He grimaced, shaking his head. "But then we don't have people with cybernetics back home. Not anything like this. Normal tech like... I dunno, phones, computers and stuff, they all kinda get messed up if I stay around 'em too long."

[codeswitchcraft]

"Great. Amazing."

Siobhan hooks her arms under SecUnit's arms and starts pulling it back away from Charles with her--but since Strength was her dump stat, it's a bit of a struggle.

[birdchasingecho]

"Easy. I got it, if we need it. But I'm not sure we do." She looks up. "Charles, right? If you have an exercise or something that helps you stay calm, feel free. I'm not gonna take anyone down 'cause of an accident, and you're pretty worried about Rin, I can tell."

She closes the first aid kit, and is, unlike everyone else, acting calm, even if she doesn't quite feel calm, for reasons unrelated.