hack-and-stab gameplay

[bu773rfly]

» WHO? Erika, 9S, and A2
» WHEN? July 12ish
» WHERE? the bar
» WHAT? a bad idea
» WARNINGS? robot violence? ROBOT VIOLENCE. also suicidal ideation. nobody is having fun

@hudie -> @nines

Can you help me test out a possible new system exploit?

I'm in the bar currently.


[And so she is.

Her invitation is not technically a lie. If A2's hacking ability outstrips 9S's, then that could, potentially, be a consideration for future projects. Not the clock issue - she'll still maintain that that's too damn much effort to go to just to not use the station clock. But other things. Higher aspirations.

She sits at the table closest to the VR room and conveniently furthest from the bar's hall door, screen up and Memetan out and typing away just as focused as ever. The rest is all A2's work - hiding, catching him, hacking him, whatever it is that she has to do. Maybe Erika will get to record it. Maybe it'll be as enlightening as she hopes it'll be.]

Comments

[bu773rfly]

[(This was a mistake. This was a mistake. This was a mistake. This was a mistake-)]

Stop. [That was nothing. Try again.] Stop. Stop! I changed my mind! Stop!

[She's standing, gripping the table edge with white knuckles, tense and terrified and (this was a very big mistake.) focusing on nothing but this...thing, that she is watching happen, that isn't what she'd imagined but probably should have been something she predicted but isn't something she wants.

All she can do is yell and hope, and that's another level of terrifying.]

[a2brutus]

[She's booted out, just in time for him to try and run her through, but unfortunately for him, he's weak, and she isn't.

A2 elbows him square in the sternum, and forces her data back into his, cutting off his motor functions once more, and locking his self consciousness data away behind a few walls before she begins rooting through his memories once more.

She doesn't hear Erika tell her to stop, not while she's in the hacking space like this.

It'll take him awhile to get past them. More than enough time to find what she needs. And once she does, she pulls out of his mind, not caring whether or not 9S slumps to the ground before stepping towards Erika.

Still bleeding, mind you, but she does take the moment to note that, well, Erika looks utterly terrified. Or at least, distraught.

A2 makes a face, and when she speaks, it's marginally unsure.]

I got the data you wanted.

[twoaffirmations]

[9S has no feet to stand on. One hit is all it takes to knock him to the ground, and before he can get back up he's fighting again--with everything he has, and it's not enough.

It's not enough.

He's a Scanner...so why? Is he that poorly constructed?
Is this some kind of joke.

He finds himself closed off, with walls all around him, isolated within himself. While 9S panics, screams and pleads to himself, his body appears nothing more than peacefully asleep.]

[bu773rfly]

[Okay. Okay. It's not a simple scrape. Because - even now, she can't turn off that analytic undercurrent - because it's not like avatar memory handling at all, it's like hers. It's further than that, it's buried, or something, and to get to it she had to -

Erika's mouth moves a little, speechless, as the panic runs its course. Her eyes flick from A2 to fluffed-up Wanyamon to 9S lying prone.]

S-sh...ah...

[She hasn't felt fear this visceral in a while. Usually contains it before it can make her fingers numb and spike her heart rate. No such luck here.]

Hurt. You, you're, what do you have to do, for that? What do, what's...

[Blood? Bleeding?? Is 9S okay, what the fuck???]

[a2brutus]

I'm fine. [Says A2, bleeding from being run through with a sword still.] It missed vital parts. It'll heal on it's own. [It's not. Too big of a deal, honestly.

And then she spares a look back at 9S.]

He'll be fine too, if you're worried. I just put his self consciousness data behind a few walls. He won't be happy when he gets up, though. [she rolls her shoulder, awkwardly.

"Blood" spurts from the wound, and drips onto the floor. It's fine!]

[bu773rfly]

[ THAT'S NOT FINE

She's willing to believe A2 on that, if only because the shot of relief from hearing it is physical and having to hand it back would be hellish.

That's about the end of her credulity, though, because the petulant part of her is screaming you didn't tell me, you didn't say it would be like this, why didn't you say and she thinks that if A2 didn't mention what hacking another robot would entail then she might not be mentioning other things about 9S' condition.

She pushes the table aside so she can walk around it and towards the fallen robot. It's a shaky, clumsy, laborious process.]

[a2brutus]

[If Erika wants to know, then all she has to do is ask. But right now, A2 can't quite comprehend that Erika isn't exactly approving of how A2 completed her task, and as such, she's still making a face when she goes to inspect 9S.]

Are you alright?

[bu773rfly]

Mm.

[Because she is, physically speaking, fine. The shaking of her legs when she kneels down by 9S is a stress reaction, not a symptom of injury. As is the shaking of her hand when she goes to check his pulse, remembers he might not have one, then pulls her hand back confusedly.]

...How l-long will he be out?

[a2brutus]

That depends on him. He will be out as long as he's working through the barriers.

[At the very least, A2 sounds confident of that.]

[bu773rfly]

Can you reduce them?

[a2brutus]

I could, that'd require me going back into his personal data, though. And like I said, he's not going to be happy when he gets through them all. It'll be another fight. [A2 pauses.]

Unless that's what you want.

[She really hopes not.]

[bu773rfly]

[She shakes her head immediately.]

I didn't- [...] ...Sorry. I'm sorry.

[She mumbles, mortified, not making eye contact. They just - fucking. Okay. A2 has a stab wound and 9S is locked out of his body and her mind keeps clicking through those stats like repeating them will help progress on fixing them.]

[a2brutus]

He'll be fine. He's an annoying idiot, but I'm not about to murder an android that doesn't have any way of coming back. [Which isn't a lie. Especially since she has orders to, in a word, look after him.

She's looking after him, not that she's doing a very good job.] You shouldn't be so concerned. We're sturdier than you seem to think.

[bu773rfly]

That's not the point. [The mumble just keeps receding, Erika's voice hollowed out by resignation.

She doesn't want to argue and she doesn't want to fold. One more nasty contradiction to handle. It resolves to withdrawn silence.]

...I believe you, about - you proved it.

[a2brutus]

[That's not the point, Erika says, but A2 isn't sure what the point is otherwise? It's just completely lost on her, in that moment.]

You don't like what I did.

[A2 points out, for once in her life incredibly observant. Likely because she's keenly aware of Erika and her body language, the way her voice has a subtle quiver to it.

It feels awful. It hurts, in the space where her Black Box is.]

[bu773rfly]

[There are blatant yawning gaps between the words they're exchanging, where meaning falls through, and Erika is ever wary of them. Wary of the total enigmas at her feet and across from her that look like humans and were supposed to be something like avatars or Digimon and turned out to be catastrophically different from all of the above in any of the ways relevant to her idle scheming. Wary of her own capacity to assume and overestimate and fuck things up.

She gives a tiny, affirmative nod. Yes. Correct, in singular. No further implication, no further risk. Her head is too blank for that right now.]

[a2brutus]

[See? That's what A2 doesn't get. She doesn't like... what she asked her to do?]

How else did you expect me to hack into his memories?

[bu773rfly]

[Discreetly, like in VR? From a distance? Without a serious, brutal fight?

She shakes her head mutely, words collecting and calcifying on the back of her tongue.]

I di- didn't check. Just.

[a2brutus]

Just what?

[Like, A2 needs more to go off of than this, Erika. She's trying extremely hard to understand why this might be wrong? Why a human could be disappointed with her doing what she was asked to.

More coolant drips onto the floor from the wound in A2's torso, but she's particularly unconcerned.]

[bu773rfly]

[Brain frozen! Turn it off and on again! There's a long long uncomfortable pause where she clutches her knees and watches 9S and when words come back they're coming from a few layers of detachment upwards of where most of Erika is huddling walled-off and mortified.]

Would have - would've worked like EDEN, discreet and. Proximity but not, not physical attack, I just, assumed. I didn't - ask.

[a2brutus]

That's not how we androids work. There's nothing discreet for us about being hacked. We know immediately if something or someone is messing around in our systems.

[Logic Virus excluded.]

Especially in a memory region.

[bu773rfly]

[So she picked one of the worst challenges she could have posed.

Yeah still looking at the ground here.]

...I'm sorry.

[a2brutus]

Don't worry about it. It's fine, you didn't know. [A2 pauses, looking towards 9S's prone form.] Are you going to stick around? Because I'm not. 9S is going to be pissed when he gets up, and I'm not about to stick around and make things worse. He won't be upset with you, because you're human.

[So, like. She'd like to leave, if she's done what Erika wants.]

[bu773rfly]

[. . .

She takes a deep, steadying breath and forces her grip on her knees to ease. Get it together, now. Resolve the talking part and the feeling part, tell the discomfort to sit down and be quiet, and pull up something functional.]

I'll be here. And try to explain...things. [She's worried now that 9S is going to go after A2 again, or something, and...apologies are uncomfortable and embarrassing. Things fall into place when she refocuses on a desired outcome. Prevent more fighting. Make sure her role in this is clear.

She looks up. And, it's not a steady expression, but the effort is obvious. Solemn acknowledgement and chin up and respect and all that. And a nod.]

[a2brutus]

Alright. [A2 gives her a nod in return, and ultimately leaves.

She'll contact her later, after everything has settled, to make sure she's truly alright.

(probably sometime after her roommate stops yelling at her for getting stabbed.)]