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[ CLOSED ] will the ghosts i leave behind help me to find you again?
Who: ARUM-25, Kravitz, and Legion
What: Kravitz and Legion go into a robot's dreams to help them out
When: Hella backdated back to like...February/March? Somewhere in there
Where: Umui
Warnings: Nothing comes to mind, will update
While the automaton is buried beneath a great deal of flora - and quite a few of those strange flowers with their eerie capabilities, you'll nonetheless find them precisely where you left them. Still deactivated. Still asleep.
Still, once ARUM-25 has been unearthed, those flowers will steadily bloom and whisper their shimmering pollen into the air.
Breathe in deep and wait for these spores to flow into your systems if you want to follow them into the automaton's mind.
Should you do so, you'll awaken in a memory. It seems to be set in one of the buildings used to house the sick, back when Umui was populated. The room is small and simple, containing little more than a bed, desk, and dresser, all crafted from wood.
ARUM-25 stands by the door. On the bed, a human with dark skin and darker hair is typing furiously into a datapad. Slender yellow blooms decorate the texture of their arms, and every so often they grimace and rub at a spot at their shoulder.
Aside from that, the memory is silent. You can try intercepting it, or perhaps you'd rather wait for it to play out and be over before addressing ARUM-25 in any capacity. The choice is yours. Either way, the memory doesn't expand much further than the boundaries of this room. Attempting to leave will only cause you to step into a milky white softness, dense as fog.
What: Kravitz and Legion go into a robot's dreams to help them out
When: Hella backdated back to like...February/March? Somewhere in there
Where: Umui
Warnings: Nothing comes to mind, will update
While the automaton is buried beneath a great deal of flora - and quite a few of those strange flowers with their eerie capabilities, you'll nonetheless find them precisely where you left them. Still deactivated. Still asleep.
Still, once ARUM-25 has been unearthed, those flowers will steadily bloom and whisper their shimmering pollen into the air.
Breathe in deep and wait for these spores to flow into your systems if you want to follow them into the automaton's mind.
Should you do so, you'll awaken in a memory. It seems to be set in one of the buildings used to house the sick, back when Umui was populated. The room is small and simple, containing little more than a bed, desk, and dresser, all crafted from wood.
ARUM-25 stands by the door. On the bed, a human with dark skin and darker hair is typing furiously into a datapad. Slender yellow blooms decorate the texture of their arms, and every so often they grimace and rub at a spot at their shoulder.
Aside from that, the memory is silent. You can try intercepting it, or perhaps you'd rather wait for it to play out and be over before addressing ARUM-25 in any capacity. The choice is yours. Either way, the memory doesn't expand much further than the boundaries of this room. Attempting to leave will only cause you to step into a milky white softness, dense as fog.
no subject
Their arrival in the memory, though expected, still causes them to react as though surprised: their headflaps flare, and they let out a loud, long burst of chatter.
Briefly, they consider exploring, attempting to interrupt, but ... they remember the Drifter, impaled and dead.
Instead, they turn to look at Kravitz when he appears.
"Query: how do you wish to proceed?"
no subject
Well, they made a promise. He made a promise.
This isn't the promise he thought he was making, and yet now he's standing here, Legion's noise fading into the background of his ears as he looks over the room, holding himself too rigid as if to compensate for the intrusion.
"I... well, we're not going to change anything by just standing here." Kravitz really dislikes how uncertain his tone sounds, but is out here trying anyway. "What do you think we're supposed to do here? What... can we do?"
no subject
They look around, headflaps shifting. Do they attempt to speak with Arum? Engage with the scene before them? Attempt to leave?
...They do not know. What they do know, is that if they fail, the ally they are trying to save will die in more than just dreams.
no subject
Or, er, his anything in the game. Right now he feels like he's holding his fists a bit too tight.
"I think... perhaps, we speak to him, instead." He gestures with his chin towards the human. "And see if we can get his input. Do you know if the memory will... repeat, if we do not interfere? Or if we only have one chance?"
no subject
It is not the action they would have attempted, they think. That is enough for them.
They turn, and immediately walk over to the Human on the bed.
"Greetings."
no subject
"ARUM?" It's clear that they can't see Legion. "Hey, buddy. I'm gonna need your help in running some of these new update patches. How's that sound to you?"
By the door, ARUM-25 angles their head slightly.
"You did not clear this with your superiors." It isn't a question.
"Is that a 'yes, absolutely'?"
"Yes," says ARUM without hesitation. "Absolutely."
no subject
"Can you see us? Or is our interference limited to... well, I'll stick with the first question."
no subject
"Tell me what you require."
It's possible that they're asking both the human in the memory and the pair of other memories stood before them - maintaining a conversation without disrupting the flow of this particular scene.
no subject
They consider allowing their ally to do the speaking-they remain uncertain of their own ability to assist-but after some deliberation decide to engage.
"Arum-25. We have returned for you."
no subject
"I understand," says ARUM-25, again answering both planes of conversation. "Tell me what to do."
no subject
"Arum--" He begins, taking in a deep breath and trying to regain his thoughts. "Arum, if you remember us, you must remember the last time we saw you. You're-- you're dreaming, now, I believe of your friend-- you need to learn emotion. Learn to, er, process them, to handle it here."
Kravitz turns his head towards Legion, as if maybe another robot friend will have a better way of explaining that.
no subject
They say to Kravitz. Arum does not seem particularly shocked or confused.
They turn back to their fellow synth.
"It seems likely that the key to understanding your emotions lies in your memories."
no subject
"You're going to need to find a decommissioned guardian unit," says the human on the bed, stopping briefly to cough. The sound hitches briefly in their chest before they keep talking, urgent, their eyes bright. "I'll come with you - "
ARUM-25 holds up a hand and places it gently on the human's shoulder.
"Rest," they say, as firm as their mechanized vocal processors can allow. "I will do what is required."
"I know you will," says the human quietly. They start coughing again.
ARUM-25 hesitates, briefly, before turning for the door.
"I will be back soon," they tell the human. They seem torn, for a moment, between helping them further and doing what is required of them. But they finally continue to advance for the door before focusing on their visitors, a fraction of a second of acknowledgment, with an instruction that might hopefully be clear: follow them.
no subject
"Do you know what is going to happen? What we should be looking for?"
no subject
"Negative. We will follow Arum-25's instruction for now."
They sound self assured. It is Arum's mind, after all: they should know it best. And yet, they are here now because Arum was not able to comprehend or articulate their emotions.
Not all beings know their mind. Not even the Geth. They had once thought differently, but their own development of emotions has taught them otherwise.
Their options, however, are limited.
no subject
ARUM-25 speaks quietly, or as quietly as they are able, as though afraid of being overheard. But the halls of this place are quite empty. On occasion, the odd cough or retching sound of someone afflicted with their illness drifts through the air, but everyone remains sequestered in their rooms.
Nonetheless, ARUM-25 speaks carefully:
"Why is it you have returned for me?"
no subject
He looks carefully at ARUM, seeing if they're following his train of thought. "There must be something here that can help, or at least that we can use."
no subject
They don't want to abandon one of the few fellow robots they've found.
"Perhaps revealing and discussing dreams and memories will qualify as a form of honesty."
no subject
Less than one, because that is how they were designed. They were not designed to yield to emotional attachment. They were not designed to feel things in any particular way outside of what was expected of them.
They were happy.
A flaw in their programming, in all honesty. But is it a flaw if they would not wish it erased?
"I do not understand how I am capable of dreaming."
no subject
He could go into detail about many other theories, but in the interest of time, Kravitz shuts himself up- a feat, to be sure. "If you have emotion, you must also have emotional reasoning. And this could give you a preciously rare opportunity to learn how to handle these emotions where you couldn't before."
Kravitz clears his throat, just a bit awkward. "Since you were in, ah. Quite a state last time we saw you. And we're trying to stop it from continuing."
no subject
"You experienced feelings of attachment toward your patient?" Clearly, they not only did, but still do. They were willing to die to keep their memories of them.