sheep_game

[ I dunno how to describe it... It's like having a second person around all the time.

OUR "SPACES": RETAINED. THE INTEGRATION FUNCTIONS BY GRAFTING DIRECTLY INTO [HOST] [CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM]. [HOST] SENSORY INPUT IS CLONED AND RELAYED TO [SCARAB] IN REAL TIME.

Scarab's statement is accompanied by another data burst that seems to be an amalgamation of memories about utilizing the integration. There's a flash of Scarab, curious about some anxious fidgeting his host is doing, slips through his synapses alongside Ananke's own thoughts and "writes" a question directly into his brain (QUERY: ARE YOU DISTRESSED?). Another flash shows the first microseconds of a pain receptor activating — this time Scarab reaches out and down along Ananke's spine to the neurons that control his arm and yanks, jerking his arm away from a stove burner that hasn't quite cooled off yet. His control only lasts for a fraction of a second before Ananke yelps in surprise and his mind clamps down reflexively against the intrusion, shutting Scarab out of the neuron cluster. ("You can just say something instead!")

Other flashes show something similar happening in reverse, but the majority of these come from the thick of combat: Ananke forces his thoughts back through the integration, practically yelling for a specific weapon (a serrated blade/an energy blaster/Scarab's wings with all power diverted into their shield function). He's never able to exert control over Scarab to force the weapons out himself, but the bug never hesitates to supply whatever it is Ananke's demanding.

There are dozens of similar scenarios; Scarab creeping through the gaps in Ananke's mind, usually monitoring idly, sometimes interfering directly. Ananke squeezing thoughts back along the same paths whenever talking isn't an option. In each of them, Scarab's mind is spread out loosely between the crevices of Ananke's mind and the central "chamber" of data in his own mind; an interloper. ]

[ Whoa.

It's-- unsettling, even secondhand; makes the back of his neck prickle uncomfortably. The disruption in bodily autonomy, no matter how well-intentioned Scarab is.

(And yet the meshing of minds, the exchange of thoughts and words and feelings, doesn't spark the same kneejerk distaste)

How did you.... He cuts the thought off. Backstory can wait; he's here to try to help, first and foremost.

Nevermind. Do you know where the dysfunction is? You're still communicating, so obviously the integration isn't entirely disrupted, but... ]

[ THE ERROR ORIGINATES AT THE PHYSICAL CONTROLS. OBSERVE.

The data around them shifts again, like switching between system windows to examine new data. Scarab demonstrates first, sending a small signal for a minor facial twitch through the pathway. The thought passes through easily, changing from thought to raw electrical impulse on the way.

Then Ananke reaches out and the space begins to warp under his influence, becoming much more tangible, something like a futuristic computer console overlaying the raw data of Scarab's mind. It's probably a little disorienting, but neither bug nor boy seemed bothered at all.

Ananke thinks of kicking his leg, presses a button om the console, and the thought follows the same path that Scarab did until it slams up against some kind of barrier and simply fizzles away. In the background raw data, an error message flashes: UNAUTHORIZED USER. ACCESS DENIED.]

[ It is disorienting. He's palpably taken aback for a second, attention moving from Scarab to Ananke to the interface.

No, he thinks, this actually makes sense. Ananke may be a perfectly normal human (as far as he can tell??), but Scarab is clearly something both biological and mechanical. Re-framed like that, it actually makes more sense, not less.

Geez... how the hell did she manage to override this to the point you're locked out of fixing it?

This is clearly a rhetorical question. A statement of "Mirror bitches amirite."

Is it okay if... I try something? ]

[ They both respond at once, unified

Of course.

The space remains unchanged, but both of them seem to back off of the blocked pathway ]

man

how did i lose this thread for a week :(

noooooooooo

no subject

no subject

no subject