levelshift | Etraya Inbox

[When she walks over he takes another sip of coffee and moves to sit up.]

First, you need to know the difference between sending a message out to fucking everyone, and sending one just to 6.

[This is important, she doesn't want to accidentally make something private public.]

You need to pick out a username for yourself, then once you do that look through the contact list to see if 6 is on it.

I am 37, so it will be 37.

( she comes to sit down next to accelerator, her body tilting in one direction away from him as she triesnto figure out how to maneuver this thing. )

Do I shake my head 37 times to input? Or hm...

( she's turning to accelerator now, her eyes mostly on his device than her own. she only has to mirror what he does to be able to work this thing. )

Okay. [He's not the type to go for a username that's a pun or anything, so in his opinion a number is perfectly fine!]

You use your hand. It's got voice controls too, if that's easier. [But he's using his hand to flip through his own HUD, trying to show how to to get to the username setup, and then to the contact list so she can find 6 if he's on there.]

Wow! ( she's actually impressed, innocence and joy in her words. and like she said, she makes herself 37 in the username set-up since that's the only way to do it by this means. ) Does it show everyone?

( 37 follows the same method of navigation that accelerator takes to scroll through the names which...

wait! )

I could bother anyone and they have to answer? I want to call 6 in case he's sleeping, and then I can call someone else.

No and no. Only people who've set up accounts will show up, so if they never touch their earpiece they won't be on the list.

[It's opt-in, basically. Chances are there are a few people around who don't want anything to do with the network, or don't understand the technology and haven't asked anyone for help.]

You can call him, but he can choose not to answer. We've all got digital inboxes though, so if he doesn't you can still leave him a message.

That is mean, why wouldn't they answer if they're available! Hmph.

( she starts, but this is starting to get easier with time and accelerator's help. the safest option sounds like leaving a message, so instead of video calling him, she'll attempt to leave a message in his inbox. )

H. I. No!! Lowercase I. Accelerator, fix it!!

( there it goes... )

[Somehow, he isn't surprised she'd take that stance instead of accepting people have their own lives going on....

Accelerator sits back, waiting for 37 to compose her message, and -- well. She tried, that's the important thing.]

..... I can't if you've already sent it. There's no recall feature.

[It's kind of basic for a messaging network, honestly.]

What do you mean? With pencil and paper, you can erase even if someone replied! This is faulty, fix it!!

( she doesn't understand why this isn't working properly, she's going to pout until there is a reply, and she looks to accelerator... she wants to point and show him. )

Look, look!! Do you think that is the real 6 and not a fake one?

( anyone could use his name!! ) He said, "Hello 37, Accelerator."

It's not faulty, Aurora just hasn't added that feature. I can ask her about it later.

[She'll likely be fine with adding it. Meanwhile, he leans over to look at her HUD and read the message.]

It's him. There aren't enough people around here to make catfishing a worthwhile hobby.

[He sighs a little and sends his own message to 6, hopefully to clarify things.]

You can reply to his message, if you want.

There is no prototype nor did you attempt to make one? Surely, you speak as though you're on such good terms, you should try.

( the encouragement does help, but she wants to vocally do everything and so she attempts to send another message to 6. )

H E L L O 6! No!! It wrote his name incorrectly, Accelerator what do I do about that?

( this is such a complicated device, even she feels a little lost when the words go in and are wrong! maybe she should take a minute before automatically sending it. )

I wouldn't say that. Anyone could ask her.

[Um, but maybe not 37. Not until she gets a hang of this.

Which... might be a while, at the rate she's going....]

You need to tell it to backspace, or just erase the whole message. It'd be easier if you started with the keyboard instead of the speech-to-text function.

[That's also the one he prefers, anyways.]

Then we will make new additions for this is not good! Horrible.

( she doesn't like it, and she will ask for better modifications because why does it not say what she wants it to say in the manner that she wants it to be when this earpiece is catered to her!?

... )

Keyboard?

( her eyes are so big like he's said something so different. )

Show me.

[Accelerator gives her a little shrug in response, half-wondering if this is how boomers stumble around with new technology. Or just even normal people. His view's skewed, coming from a city so advanced.]

Here -- [He's reaching over to poke at her HUD, quickly pulling up the settings menu to switch her earpiece from verbal controls over to something more manual. This means more control are popping up, including a keyboard for her to type with.]

Oh! This thing? I have something like it within my Laboratory.

( she didn't know this is what they were working with, a sort of mini computer that she can mess with. she wants to continue using voice commands due to 6 possibly being able to master them with his message, but having the chance to use the keyboard, she types with relative ease.

a little too excited, her words running together and there's a small "oh" from between her lips, shocked by her mistake, and then she corrects it. )

This is much easier, I didn't know we had something of the same to work with.

[Oh what, that surprises him.]

You have a laboratory?

[She is not the kind of person you'd think would have one of those. But then, her idea of what a laboratory is might be vastly different from what he's picturing. For one, he isn't sure if she means a computer, or something more like a typewriter.]

Mhm.

( she nods as though this is the easiest thing to explain. )

An Irrational Number called it an IDM Computer, this one is very different.

( enough about that, she'll return a response to 6, she's not sure if he's picking with her or not... but she's smart! a little goes a long way. )

Where this one is small, the one in my laboratory was bigger, and had various cords coming out from it and ...the serves behind. As for the keyboard, the buttons clicked underneath your fingers. My mother is the co-author of it back home, she is very skilled at using it hence why the data inside was very important. It was her laboratory before it became mine.

[Definitely not a typewriter, then! It sounds like it was a pretty big computer, maybe something old-fashioned, though it's hard to tell by her description alone. Either way, her being familiar with a computer helps a lot, it should make it easier for her to grasp the concept of the earpieces.

He leans back against the couch, sipping his coffee. This is raising a few questions in his mind, so he's starting with the one that makes him the most curious.]

What kind of data's on it?

Perhaps it is not important data for you.

( he'd know nothing about it, really. he doesn't even respect the ways of the island despite not being on the island, but for some reason he's curious.

she thinks it over, her head bent into the phone as she reads 6's message. nothing bad could come from telling him, but what good comes from it either? then again, if the emanation is part of this place, maybe it's better to explain. )

Which years the Emanation appeared, when the waves of pneuma engulfed those caught within.

[Dismissing her data as unimportant would be utter insanity. He's learned that data, any data, has the potential to be important. Maybe not today or tomorrow, maybe years down the road, and that makes it worthwhile.]

Hm. I don't know about important, it could be. And regardless of that, it's interesting.

[He wants to know more!]

How do you define pneuma, and what happens when people are caught in the Emanation?

[Nothing good, he's assuming, thanks to their previous conversation and the comparison between the Emanation and Im'mari that was made.]

Pneuma is pure energy not yet tamed.

( there's so many developments in what the outside world views it as and what she sees it as. pneuma is what it has always been, something akin to one's metaphorical skin that supports them, and in a way also needing to be protected against.

no matter how she tries to coat her answers into something positive, the question of what happens causes her fingers to slowly tap... as if she's contemplating what answer to say. she parts her mouth, then closes it, parts it again, and somehow her throat feels dry as she thinks about what it should have happened and what she saw. )

Everyone died, Mama did too. ( she swallows down the saliva in her throat as she lifts up one leg on the couch to hug one arm around it against her chest. ) They left behind their true Form on the beach, so I could visit them every day. But this time... the recent Emanation was different...

[Pure energy, alright. That's a definition he can work with, having been exposed to energy beyond what normal humans are familiar with. Hell, even his own body is constantly giving off of AIM. Some new energy (or a familiar energy with a new name) isn't hard for him to understand.

Her next answer though, that's the hard one. It makes logical sense... be exposed to unrestrained, chaotic energy, and what do you think is going to happen? Thermal energy burns and freezes, radiation damages molecules and DNA, why wouldn't pneuma also kill? It's perfectly logical.]

........

[It's also really personal, and a part of him regrets asking for that reason. At the same time, he's getting more unsaid answers to some of his other questions out of that one statement: why her mother handed her laboratory over, if her mother had moved on to some other laboratory or facility, that sort of stuff.]

.... Sorry.

[He isn't sure what to say, that's obvious from his awkward tone as he lowers his can of coffee. There's a beat of silence as he decides whether to change the subject or keep pushing for information and, well....]

How was it different?

It was different.

( that's the answer or what she wishes could have been, pnuema was a much better topic, she could go on and on into it, but sometimes when she thinks about what her life was before the emanation struck again, it was a more naive and innocent take.

it's such a better subject than explaining the differences between her mother and the recent one, she tries to recount. )

We could prepare for the Emanation without technology, predict when it would appear and where. Mama was very good at that, but... calculations were off.

( she remembers that day when the island was in uproar at the event, and the geometric bodies that had flowed their way to the beach as if returning home. 37 smiles only a little, just a fraction as she looks down at the ground as she recalls the joy in her heart, the instant understanding, and she wonders why the same couldn't be said as of recent. )

My Mama, 6, Hugh, many integers and fractions were taken by the Emanation, but it was a joyous moment to leave the World of Matters, and return to your true form.

( the corner of her mouth twitches, that smile breaking into a small frown as she tries to keep her voice from cracking. instead, she stops, swallows down the saliva in her throat, and tries to make sense of what she doesn't understand.

even her words sound confused as she continues. ) That's why... this time I don't understand why. I calculated everything, I told them where the safe zone was on the island, where we would throw a celebration to finding a piece of the Truth... but...

( not long ago were they arguing about whether or not to hand over apeiron's wisdoms to outsiders, and she doesn't know what changed, or what happened. )

[37 doesn't need to finish that sentence, he can do it for her.]

.... But they didn't listen to you.

[They - whoever 'they' are - ignored her and picked death through the Emanation instead. Even though she referred to it as a joyous moment, the fact that they had a safe zone, the fact that calculations were off means to him that no one is normally supposed to suffer through the Emanation. That seems fairly clear, which means they must have chosen to die.

The experience must have been harrowing for her. He shifts a little on the couch, not making any attempt at physical comfort, because that's kind of a foreign thing for him. He wouldn't know where to start.]

I don't know why they would pick that option. [He really, really doesn't.] But I know what it's like to screw your calculations up that badly.

[It's what had gotten him killed, after all.]

( she had calculated everything to ensure everyone was safe, so was it her fault? she doesn't think she miscalculated, even though her mother before her had, and that's why that joyous moment didn't hurt 37 as much. however, hearing accelerator say it that they didn't listen makes it sound like a choice they made, and that eats her up inside. she feels sick, something in her stomach is turning as she tries to figure out what it was that they didn't want to listen.

they are a small island, all they had was each other, but even through the death and bloodshed... 37 had promised she would find the truth and fix it all.

but even with the truth, she has found herself here with a threat looming over her head. what if she can't save what's left after all, what if this place is to mock her having already witnessed her friends joyously celebrate in the rain? it's like she can see the rain again in the forefront of her mind, but no, that's only tears swelling up in the corner of her eyes as she tilts her head down to avoid being seen. her hair, like a waterfall, hangs down like a curtain to keep her expression hidden.

she hears him and she fears for him, one miscalculation has intense consequences and she finds herself exhaling a shaky breath. her cheeks warm, something wet rolling down one as she sniffles just a little bit. and what if one day he dies and does not return? what if he's much like her recent experience with the emanation because she doesn't recall any geometrical shape left behind when her friends, who didn't listen, allowed it to take them.

instead of grabbing for her hair, she wraps her arms around herself, palms resting at the curve of her upper arms where her nails dig into flesh there. )

I... I don't want to put you in danger. I don't want to put 6 in danger, either. I don't know what to do if I make a mistake or if someone changes their mind.

( those were her friends, those were the people she laughed and smiled with only days ago until.

she had already cried, but when she thinks about it, how fresh it is to her memory. within her equations, she's never thought she would have to take away important individuals in her life, or they would personally factor themselves away from it. )

Please don't die, please don't leave. I'll try to... understand every equation.

[Oh, geez. Her hair is hiding her face, but he's been around girls like Qliphah and Last Order enough to know what that means. That tiny sniffle confirms it.

Accelerator sits up, moving his coffee to the coffee table, resting his elbows on his knees. He doubts he's ever going to get used to this, and he's mentally getting himself prepared to deal with a bawling girl on his couch, when instead she says that and he stops.]

....................

[This reminds him, clear as day, of Asuka getting angry with him after he died and came back. Or Last Order being worried every time he went off to do something reckless and dangerous. Or Qliphah when that Magic God was able to injure him by controlling her.

Oh, he doesn't like this. Not at all. They barely know each other, he hasn't even gotten around to telling her about what a monster he is. This isn't entirely about him, but there's enough there that it makes his insides twist uncomfortably. She shouldn't be worrying about him this much.

He sucks in a deep breath, choosing his words carefully instead of defaulting to a bunch of hostile cursing meant to push her away.]

You can't control the choices other people make. Sometimes they're going to make some stupid ones, or it's going to look like that to you, and all you can do is accept what they decide to do. It's fucking awful, but it's the truth.

[Like all those times that Level 0 was doing something insane - protecting an internationally wanted terrorist god, running around with so-called diplomats who were committing crimes and causing havoc in Academy City, facing down a resurrected walking force of nature - and he wanted to take a different route. And he did, sometimes, but he always accepted the decisions Kamijou Touma had made, and trusted he knew what he was doing. It always worked out, in the end.

He can't say the same for 37's people. It likely won't, given what happened to them, but she still needs to accept their decision.]

You can chill. I don't have a death wish. Especially around here.

[Asuka drilled it into his head, don't be an idiot a second time. He's going to try his best on that front. And... he's also not very good at abandoning people, but that's too sappy for him to say out loud. Instead he sighs heavily.]

I'm also really fucking good when it comes to calculating anything you throw at me. I can always double check your work, or if you don't understand something, chances are I will. I've got a lot of crap shoved into my brain, the whole fucking world is basically one constant stream of data I'm constantly committing to memory, and it's a huge waste if I don't put it all to good use once in a while.

[He's got your back, 37! And not just mathematically speaking.]

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cw: talk of suicide, sort of

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk

cw: suicide talk; future goals: give 37 a hug

cw: suicide talk, she doesn't deserve it... + great thread wonderful end