redthreadrpg | FIRST LOG.

FIRST LOG.

Who: *Hyun-ae, anyone who runs across her!
When: Day 1, sometime in the mid-afternoon.
What: *Hyun-ae has a body. She is appropriately freaking the fuck out about it, but not because it's dead, because it's a body, and she hates having a body.
Where: Her room (which is shared with Alphys, at present), feel free to hear her shrill screams across the way.

Warnings: Mention of... a dead body, possible allusions to Hate Story spoilers, AKA *Hyun-ae's backstory which contains mentions of: heavy abuse, graphic violence, murder, suicide, genocide/death, and sexual acts. Yes. All that. Please see my permissions.

[ A sudden, sharp inhale, and *Hyun-ae awakens. There's no whirring, no feeling of her processors... well, processing. It's all very convoluted. She's breathing, which in and of itself, is a problem that she wants to correct. Oh, sure, she can set up a program to mimic needing to breathe, but she has little to no need to do such things; she's an AI.

Artificial beings don't NEED to breathe.

No, the greater problem here is that she is in an unfamiliar place, not inside the ship's computer at all. Did someone download her and shove her into another drive? Is she in... AI space prison for what she did, her crimes catching up to her at last? No, she thinks, if that was the case, why in the name of the emperor would she be... feeling quite so much? She closes a hand, opens it, and throws off the covers.

Dinosaur pajamas. A hastily stitched wound on her chest. A slightly off skintone she barely recognizes. A small red ring around her finger... there's... is this... why are there TEARS in this? She feels the body. It feels almost clammy. Then, she notices it: an odd injury. A stab wound. Finally, unable to contain her incredible terror anymore, *Hyun-ae does the only sensible thing left to the poor AI:

She shrieks. She shrieks as loud as she possibly can, as long as she can, burying her hands into her hair. And when she's done letting out that long scream, she begins yelling hysterical words, tugging the long, dark, messy hair at her head, fumbling out of the bed and onto the floor. Mirror. Mirror. She needs to. Needs... needs to... make sure... she keeps it. Her...

She touches her throat. It's okay. She's got it. She's fine, she's fine.

But no matter how hard she tries to force the core programs inside herself to CALM DOWN, she can't. She's still hysterical, still upset. Someone is gonna have to calm this girl down, she's in tears. No. No, no no no no no nononononononono. She doesn't WANT to be in a body. She doesn't WANT to be in a BODY-- ]

SOMEONE HELP ME! THIS ISN'T RIGHT... THIS ISN'T RIGHT!!!

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[Things Alphys expected today: walking down the halls of her lab to deliver their food, testing some more explosives, spending some time in the End chamber to see if she can figure out something her predecessors never did, maybe managing to hide her mood from Undyne.

Things she never expected: been abducted by aliens??? Aliens, or something else with the kind of power to bypass the barrier. It's practically beyond comprehension. And so is their taste in movies.

She'd first spent a while in the first courtyard, asking if anybody else knew anything more, and trying not to panic. Then a little time in the kitchen, looking for something to eat and steady her nerves with... and finally, just enough time in the hobby room to realize it was completely hopeless.

Finally, she gave up, and now she's heading down the hall with her bedroom key in hand. Here was hoping that her kidnappers were nice enough to bring some of her things from home. And... Well. She really wishes she'd made similar requests for her test subjects. If their captors ever let her go, the first thing she's doing -- or at least strongly thinking about doing before panicking at the idea of anyone asking why she was doing it -- is improving the living area in the labs so they've got things to do all day.

So of course with that in mind, someone starts screaming. Crying for help, repeating themselves like Lemonbread... The similarity sends a chill down her spine.]

H-h-hold on! I'm c-coming!

[She jogs toward the screaming, and it's coming from her room. Oh god, could it actually be one of them in there? But if it is, she needs to help them calm down before anybody realizes they're here. She fumbles with the key in the lock without even checking if it is locked, and finally gets it opened.

The person in there, screaming from the floor... well, they're not anybody she recognizes. So that's something.]

What's wrong??

[ She can't do this. All she can think about is that it will fail on her, that it will die. Or that someone will cut the strings of her own ability to express herself and it panics her, makes her shake. Her hands are practically white from how hard she's gripping her head at this point, when Alphys comes into the room, and she'd stare more, be confused, normally, but right now she's too panicked to care that some different, odd creature is in front of her.

This is all too surreal.

It's not happening. This isn't happening.

--Someone's addressing her. She tries to force out words, but they hitch in her throat, at first. Mostly, it's fear. Screaming had been easy, at first, but now she's scared. What if her initial screaming had simply been an illusion? What if she can't say anything at all? It takes her a long, drawn-out moment to speak, but when she finally does, it's quiet, and meek. ]

Overloaded. This isn't... right. I can't... call up... any of my s-subroutines. O-or, my core p-programs. I don't... I don't want to be in a body. Why... am I in this body? I don't understand. Everything's failing. This can't be real. O-one day, t-ten hours, and... and... I don't know. I don't know! I can't even guess!!

[ She digs her hands into her elbows now, practically shaking. She can't say, "I don't want to be alive again like this." ]

[As *Hyun-ae struggles to speak, Alphys crouches down besides her frightened likely-roommate; the better to hear, in case of a worn out voice from too much screaming. There's no signs of injury she can see, no dust, or blood, or knocked over furniture. Maybe they thought being kidnapped was a bad dream?

But they finally speak, and the things they say... Well, she knows those words, and she can't believe what she's hearing.]

Subroutines? O-oh my god, are you... are you an artificial intelligence? One wh-wh-who doesn't normally, um, live in a body?

[A real AI? Her hand hovers inches from *Hyun-ae's shoulder. If they're overloaded, touching them... really wouldn't be the best choice. But they look so real, not like a robot at all.]

I-I could go look for the person who checked us off... but no, I th-think they locked that door. Umm, uhh...

[If only she wasn't such a fake, if only she'd really programmed the robot she was famous for... maybe she'd be the perfect person to help.]

Y... yes. My name is *Hyun-ae. Um... there's supposed to be an asterisk in front of that. It doesn't... really come across well in speech, does it. I don't... I shouldn't look like this at all! I'm normally way cuter than this...

[ Just. Breathe. She needs to breathe. She's trying really hard to just do that, but it's been so long since she had to actually breathe, on purpose. ]

I don't know who did this, but this body, it's--I belong in a computer. I'm a log-keeping and organizational assistant. I usually reside in a computer. On a spaceship. A ship called the Mugunghwa... this body, there's something wrong with it. I think it... has something wrong with it? But I'm not sure what, exactly.

[ She bites her lip, touching the chest. ]

You look plenty cute to me? I mean! Um, that is to say... oh no.

[Alphys covers her face for a moment, yellow scales somehow flushing red behind them.

Is *Hyun-ae really implying that Alphys should inspect her chest, after complaining that she's not cute enough? With that idea suddenly introduced, it's a little difficult to focus on the drier details like computer and spaceship.]

Y-y-you think something's... wrong, with your body? I-it's not yours, I got that. But... is the wrongness just, um, from being biological? Because I know human bodies... I think that's a human body? They're very different from, well, how I expect spaceships would work.

O-oh! My gosh! I-I'm so sorry...! I didn't mean to imply...

[ She turns bright red, pressing her hands to her face for a moment. ]

Goodness, look at me, I'm being so discourteous... here I am, meeting someone for the first time, and all I'm doing is panicking all over them and making myself look like a fool. My word, I must seem like a complete idiot... I'm so sorry...!

[ Inhale. Exhale. Okay. She's. Embarrassment. It's a motivator, man. She'll breathe (god, it's so weird, breathing again), and then adjust her glasses. How much does she tell this stranger? ... A little white lie or two won't hurt, but telling her everything strikes her as... a bad idea. ]

Right. Okay, so there's something you need to understand. Just because I'm an AI doesn't mean I don't understand basic human biology. In fact, I know it super well. I was... um... designed after a very specific human, in fact, down to her personality. My father... er, my creator, that is to say... well, how do I put this... everything the person he designed me after knew, I know, too. Including the basic things you'd just... know, being that person. Because their brain was scanned to make me.

[ ... Yeah. Half-truths. Those are good. ]

Anyway, the point is, this body... I shouldn't HAVE one. I belong in a computer. But even then, this thing feels... almost like it's been... injured?

[ ... She's a little creeped out, now. She absently touches her neck. Obviously, there's no sign of anything on THIS body that has a problem on her neck, but... old habits die hard. ]

So, it's like you're a copy?

[This is just a foot in mouth dance, Alphys slightly screeches and claps her hands over her mouth.]

I mean! A human... was your template! So you know that much.

[She tilts her head, looking at the parts of *Hyun-ae visible from here, and has to admit the truth.]

Y-you might even know more than me, about human bodies. I've only seen... well, in person, I've only seen one human, before now. Most of what I know is... theoretical? And based on, um, movies. I-I can take a look, at the areas you can't see, if you want. But... th-there's really only so much I know.

Um, well...

[ ... You know what? Never mind. Never mind. Best not to answer that. ]

I know a lot, actually. I lived with and around humans, although most of the ones later on were kind of... not the sort of shining example I think you'd want to learn about what decent people can be like. If you want that, you'd want to know about my creator and his wife. They were good people, all the people pre-year 1 were... anyway. As much as I know, I also haven't been in a body in over six hundred years, so...

Edited 2017-03-07 22:05 (UTC)

Huh? Th-that's okay, I know plenty of decent people. I'm sure humans c-can be, too. The one I met was... they were a good friend for, uh, some of my... friends?

[It feels presumptuous for her to refer to them as friends, with only Undyne really coming by... but that's the easiest wording. Alphys coughs, and moves on by moving back as quickly as she can.]

If you want to t-tell me about them, I'm more than happy to hear about them. But, uh, your body... I don't see anything, umm, injured looking from here. Nothing on your... its face, or hands. Except, that little red mark? A-and it looks like you're breathing and talking okay.

[Don't ask her to identify the slightly off-color skin of a revived corpse.]

... The humans I was around were awful people. I really... don't want to talk about it. They did horrible things. Their systems were feudal and terrible and they were awful to women like us. Plus, the stuff they did to... one person I knew...

[ She shakes her head. ]

If you heard those things, you'd probably swear off liking them forever. But that was just my ship. It was a place that somehow had become isolated over a period of time, and had gone back to an era, somehow, where the teachings were... not so great. Not that I'm sure how it happened. The logs all got wiped pre 0 year.

[ She touches her neck a bit, glances away, and then fiddles with her glasses. ]

As far as I can tell for this body, someone clearly injured it. There's some kind of... wound, on the chest. I mean, I could show you but that'd be... embarrassing! There's no need for that.

O-oh my god, no, that's... As long as it's not, like... something that's getting worse, then. You're right, there's no...

[Boy that part of that wall is very interesting right now. Staring over there for a minute doesn't hide Alphys' mortified flush at the idea that she meant to ask. Worse is the little question whether she did. But it lets her hide from *Hyun-ae's expression, and that's enough right now.]

W-well... I mean. I don't think humans have even gotten far into space, yet, where I came from...? They did some awful things, a long time ago. Almost past our history, too. There was a war, and they killed... a lot of us...

[She trails off for a second, considering.]

...M-maybe humans overall do suck. B-but some are decent. And I w-want to believe a lot of them are, b-because... they make so many great stories, about friendship, and kindness, and everything. There must be a lot who are trying.

[ Let's just. Not think about the embarrassing bits. Okay? Okay. Yeah.

... Okay. ]

... Well. Not all humans are bad. My... [ Pause. ] Creators were really nice. They were really good people.

[ She's lying already. Should she feel bad? She should. But she can't be honest. ]

[Cue Jan running towards the sound of screaming]

Whoa, hey! Is everything okay! Of course it isn't, you're screaming! What's wrong?

Why am I in a body? I'm an AI! I don't belong in someone else's BODY!

[ THIS IS NOT RIGHT. ]

Okay, um... are there any scientists around? They might have a computer big enough to house an AI, and technology to re-upload you. I mean, that's what you want, right?

[Wasp isn't asking what happened to the body's inhabitant.]

... I don't know if there are any. Maybe you could check? That would be nice--I really don't want to be in this human body anymore. This isn't where I belong! I belong inside a computer, helping people with files or some log-keeping or something, not... not this!

[ It's confusing! ]

I mean, sure... m-maybe I could do something else like this, but... I don't like it.

If you don't like it, let's try to find a computer, then!

... Is there one here? Would that work? Can you get someone out of a human body and back into a computer?

[ She's... scared. It shows. ]

There is only one way to find out, isn't there? At least, that's what I learned at school.

[One of her teachers is a mad scientist with highly questionable sanity].

[Screaming. High-pitched; as sustained as it is probably a girl. Or woman. And, as high-tension as he was, as he still is, the first thing that comes to Nagisa's mind is the memory of way too much blood flying through the air and one of his classmates hitting the ground, and exhausted and drained as he is he's on his feet and out the door before he knows it.

It doesn't hit him first that this is a bedroom, or that one occupant is decidedly not human. It hits him that the screaming girl is not, in fact, Kayano Kaede. With that bit of relief tucked in his chest, he just...takes a deep breath and a good look. He walks, slowly, toward her bed. He'll stop if she freaks out more in response, but his guess is she won't even register he's there until he actually makes contact.

Which, if he's allowed to get close enough, won't be physical - not yet. He just settles himself, harmless as a mouse, on the floor near the foot of the bed. Her tells are all over the place and he doesn't know the cause.]

Miss... Please breathe. One deep breath, then tell me what's wrong.

[ She's... really upset. A little shaky, even, gripping her elbow. Her other hand is on her neck, though it's obviously fine. She's sitting on the edge of the bed, and is clearly clothed in her pajamas okay, but they show signs of hasty stitches, which leads one to wonder how this body's occupant got along.

She doesn't even notice him, at first. She's so busy freaking out, trapped in her own head, that his coming in isn't noticed until he's right up to her, and she practically falls backwards. ]

A-ahh! I... I don't... this body. It's not mine.

[ ... She stops and stares at him, realizing what she just said. Crap. No, no no no. People cannot know the truth. She's lying already, but she can't help that. She has to, or they will never like her, never let her live among them. She knows this. The Investigator left her. *Mute thinks she's a psychopath...

She's staring for a solid thirty or so seconds before she shakes her head, long hair flowing with it. ]

--I mean, no, that's not correct, sorry! I... I don't HAVE a body. I'm... I belong inside a computer. Aboard a ship... I'm an AI.

Edited 2017-03-12 06:17 (UTC)

[...That's maybe about as calm a reaction as he could have hoped for, and he'll take it. Focus on her eyes, her breathing, her neck. She's making sense, up until she starts panicking again - something she said? Had to be. Especially since she corrects herself. But it's weird, that should still mean the body isn't hers - it's the kind of thing Ritsu might say and only be half-joking.

His brows furrow for just a moment. She's lying, or something like it, but he lets it slide. He'd talk about Ritsu, but...he has no idea what the rules are anymore, if the threat still applies. He won't, then. Better secret than sorry. All in all, he takes the AI thing in stride. His demeanor remains normal and his voice is as even as if he's talking about the weather.]

This must be really weird, then. Do you need any...help, or anything? I don't have answers, but if there are any changes you don't understand, I might be able to explain. ...Do you mean a space ship?

[ She watches his reaction, hoping that maybe he's just thinking she's a little weird, and she toys with her glasses, obviously disoriented with it all.

All she can do is hope is that he bought it. ]

Of course I need help. I don't belong in this... thing. I belong in a computer! ... But, yes, I mean a spaceship. I was downloaded and my core was installed on a colony ship called the Mugunghwa.

A computer... I wonder if-- [And he digs one hand into his pocket, only finding cloth. Oh, right - he'd left his phone at home. Anyone he needed to contact would also be hooked into their frequency. The communicator has been down since he got here.] ...No, never mind, sorry.

I can't put you back in a computer or anything, either...but if you need to know anything about being in a human body, I can help.

A colony ship means you're from a place where space travel is common, right? [He keeps up the questions about her home - it might help to give her something more familiar to focus on alongside the weirdness of...well, being here.]

Oh... it's impossible then, huh... but... but let's not talk about that!

[ She frowns, crossing her arms. ]

Why... wouldn't it be...? I mean, it's pretty far in the future by now, isn't it? Space travel should be standard in most countries on Earth by now, right? Unless...

[ Her eyes seem to light up. ]

Did we finally succeed in colonizing distant planets? That... would be wonderful!

...No? Even reaching Mars is still petty far off.

[Sure, Nagisa has boarded the International Space Station....but especially with how things are now, no one's probably even going as far as the moon for a long time. Not with most of it vaporized.]

It would be really cool, though. So your ship is from Earth after all?

Huh? That doesn't make any sense... it was well past the age of being able to put things in orbit for us. Colonizing Mars shouldn't have been THAT hard. It was farther planets that were problematic...

[ She taps her chin. ]

That's what our ship was supposed to do--go colonize a distant planet in a far system. We were supposed to have many generations of people aboard and a self-sustaining ecosystem just for that sole purpose. An AI to run the ship, a security AI to maintain peace... you get the picture. Not that I know much about Earth. I was born ON the ship. First generation.

[ Pausing. ... Right. ]

... Well, I was... built there, so to speak.

[Another weird correction. ...Not important, he's not interested in learning things she'd rather not share and there are more important things coming to light.]

Do AI have generations, too? Even AI are really, really new technology... What you're describing sounds like something from science fiction.

[He frowns. What's going on here?] I didn't think space travel would be much of a concern for a while until we've figured out all the effects of the moon, it's only been a year...

No, it was more that I was part of the first generation of people. My... creators were one such set of people. I wonder why there's such a disparity...?

[ That seems odd to her. That the technologies are so different... ]

AIs shouldn't be that new, should they...? Granted, I no longer have the luxury of being able to show you all the log data from my ship, which could explain at least some of what went on there after a point, so my apologies for that. Having been downloaded into this body seems to have... caused me quite a few downgrades. It's insulting.

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FIRST LOG.

hi roomie

hi roomie sorry to ruin the mood

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sorry for the way late backtagging, i had to hiatus from alphys longer than i expected

i feel it

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OKAY EXTREMELY LATE BUT I WAS EXCITED FOR THIS. AM HERE NOW.

YO

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