Sweet dreams are made of these...

[thespaceopera]

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A Abigail Hobbs Aiya/Gray Nightingale Adrasteius Anor'thalion Ahsoka Tano Alex Russo Allen Walker Anders Anthony Crowley Asteffiel Axel

B - D Belthazar Spellscry Beverly Crusher Bran Stark Caesar Zeppeli Cayde-6 Cheese Sandwich Clay Terran Coil Cole Davesprite Duke Pantarei

E - I Elecman.exe Elena Gilbert Elize Lutus Felix Harrowgate Fenris Finrod Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus Imperator Furiosa Isabela Issac Lahey

J - M Jade Harley James Barnes/Jim James Barnes/Winter Joseph Joestar Katara Katniss Everdeen/Nova Kirito/Kazuto Kirigaya Kurt Wagner Leanne Loki Maladict(a) Max Caulfield Megaman Mordin Solus

Comments

[electrostatics]

[ He can feel its instability, in the instinctive sense that all navis have. It doesn't make him feel very well, and the growing sense of nervousness makes him feel like maybe he should go back.

But it's an external source. He pushes it away, bracing himself for whatever comes next, and steps out into something that's apparently suffering some kind of error.

Despite the anxious feeling prickling away at him, he goes forward to inspect the status window. ]

[recopy]

[Up close, the pale text becomes clearer to read--oddly, half of it is just a jumble of illegible symbols, but there are lines that are still legible, interspersed throughout it. Each readable line has a timestamp of some kind before it--mostly dates from a year back, and a couple from the current year, although...the last line at the very bottom seems to be dated twelve years ago? Odd.]

• Critical damage sustained; terminating all sy...>>
• High-level threat engaged, prepare to abort if o...>>
• The Alpha network is rejecting shutdown commands. Requestin...>>
• SYSTEM OVERRIDE. SYSTEM OVERRIDE. SYSTEM OVERR...>>
• We offer our sincere condolences. >>

[The arrows at the end of each line seem to be interactive buttons--probably to expand and read the rest of each error message properly.]

[electrostatics]

[ He takes in the information; he knows Megaman's had a few unfortunate incidents before, so the fact that there are so many error messages doesn't surprise him.

The details, though...

He selects the one that mentions the Alpha network first. ]

[recopy]

[The line blinks when it's selected--but, it never expands to view the rest of the text. Instead, abruptly, the status window shuts off entirely. --And then the larger computer screen behind it shuts off too, pale static winking off to blackness and silence. The darkness seem to fall completely over everything, snuffing out the outline of the plaza and the floor tiles, blackness so absolute that you couldn't see a thing no matter how hard you might strain--]

[recopy]

[And you don't know how long it's been, and you can't remember ever being this scared in your entire life.

"No!! Isn't there some way we can escape?" Lan's voice, close, sounding just as scared as you're feeling, and that's when you know you need to pull yourself together...at least a little bit. At least for him.

"There's only one way..." Your voice comes out so calm you almost startle yourself, really. "I'll need to build up all my remaining power, and overload. --I think that should create a hole in Alpha for a time. You can use that hole to escape..."

It's a terrifying thought, though. And after you'd both been so close, too--just reaching the end of the area, and ready to jack out, before that barely-alive piece of Alpha had just leaped up and swallowed up the both of you. You can still feel Alpha creeping in even now, too, eating into your code with whatever mindless motivation it has left, a sickly kind of trickling-in. It would be painfully slow, but in a few hours...no, but that doesn't matter now. Nothing else does. All that matters is getting Lan out of here okay.

"And what will you do after that?!" He already knows where this is going, of course, and you can feel the surge of dismay through the Full Synchro link still barely intact between the both of you. "I can't do that! I can't be separated from you!! We promised!! That we'll always be together!"

And in a way that hurts even more than Alpha ever could, because it's true--you both had promised. And you want always be together with Lan, to take care of him and watch over him, and that's what's driving the overwhelming fear through every corner of your processing right now--the thought that you won't be able to do that anymore. But it's too late now...]

[electrostatics]

[ The fear contained in the memory sinks in; it's overwhelming. He can't do anything much but stand there, totally transfixed.

He can't say he doesn't know what the future of this memory is going to hold, but...

"I can't do that! I can't be separated from you!! We promised!! That we'll always be together!"

That pains him, surprisingly. He can't help but draw parallels in his own faint consciousness, mostly swallowed up by experiencing this memory. Though he'd never had something like this happen...

His operator had always needed him. Had nobody else to support him.

So, it just makes this worse. ]

im so glad to have the most appropriate keywords for these things

[recopy]

[Yeah...hearing Lan like this is almost unbearable, but you know you can't let that stop you. You know that, if you do, it'll be the end for both of you, and all of this will have been for nothing. So you steel yourself to the idea, and you push forward with it. "Cut that out! Lan, these are my final words as--" Your real name. He needs that right now. (Something in the memory falters imperceptibly, and skips before the name quite filters through, but--) "Lan, you have to go on living, and have a future! I will...always be with you...."

"No--!" (Another tiny skip.) "I can't do that!" You can feel Lan crumpling under the weight of it, the idea...but you push forward to console him the best you can anyway. (The memory skips again, flickering, filtering--)

"--Meeting you, playing with you, fighting with you...every day I spent with you was a happy one. And finally I've been able to meet you face-to-face...I've never been happier...Lan, you will be able to make so many more people happy! I'm so proud to have--" (A longer flicker, this time.) But Lan's voice, cracking...

"But...but..."

"And now I must speak as Megaman." Because Lan needs that, too, and you know this. And it feels right--and you feel a bit less scared, now. "Just because I'm gone, don't you skip your homework! And learn how to wake up by yourself!"

"...I can't do it, Megaman. I'll do my homework! I'll wake up by myself! Just--don't leave me!"

That hurts too, the sound of it. But you think you're ready now. And, in a way beyond the link of Full Synchro, you know that Lan's ready too. "Lan, nothing could replace the days I spent with you. Thank you!"

You draw in every bit of courage you've ever had, and you reach into that part of you that all Navis have, the part that Navis only think of when the worst has come to pass and there's nothing else to be done--and you always were very strong, anyway, and you know this should be more than enough. You pull every last bit of that strength and that energy into yourself, and you let it go.

And it bursts and it hurts but Lan is gone. Safe.

"Goodbye, Lan!" You're not even sure if you said it out loud, the pain folding in on you and the blackness sinking into your thoughts--it's frightening. It will never not be frightening. But it's familiar, too, because you already know this feeling. You never forgot. And in the end....]

[recopy]

[The darkness falls away, as if your head's just been pulled out of an impossibly black water, and there's a pair of blue-gloved hands wrapped around Elecman's arm, tugging him back and away from the pale green status window sitting and glowing in the middle of the plaza.]

H-Hey, hey! You're--Elecman...are you okay?! [Megaman sounds alarmed and surprised in equal measures.]

[electrostatics]

[ The small part of his processes that aren't completely overwhelmed by the memory is confused - surely Megaman only has one name? What's this about a real name, anyway...?

But it's soon lost. Experiencing the memory like this means he has no room for anything else.

Oh, that's the kill switch says the tiny part of him that's still feeling like himself, distantly, before everything goes black and

Oh. He shakes his head, trying to clear his scattered processes. He realises he's on his knees - at some point he'd gone from standing to basically sitting without realising. ]

I'm-- fine. [ Now that he's been pulled out of the memory, the pain has faded, and he can think clearly again. ] That's...

A lot more than I thought it would be. [ He's not talking about Alpha, really, but...yikes, Megaman sure has had a lot of fatal errors?? ]

[recopy]

Ah, then, that's good...here-- [Still visibly concerned, Megaman does properly let go of Elecman's arm once the latter confirms that he's indeed okay anyway--in favor of offering a hand, instead, if Elecman wants to stand back up. Either way, though, he tilts his head a bit in slight confusion at the words.] A lot more--what, though...?

[electrostatics]

[ He waves a hand, indicating he can stand by himself, and gets to his feet. He's a little shaky, but that will go away. ]

You have a lot more fatal errors than I expected. [ His voice is wry. ] Though I guess you do get into a lot more scrapes than we ever did.

[recopy]

[Waved off, Megaman draws back, though he still ends up hovering nearby a bit uncertainly. The explanation earns an odd reaction, though--at the words, Megaman laughs a bit, but his expression is more pained than anything, even if it's brief.]

Oh...yeah, I guess it's a bit-- [He glances over to the error log, and sighs.] They're--they're not all fatal? But...most of those are pretty close to it...

[He shifts uncomfortably on his heels, turning back to Elecman with a proper frown.]

I'm--sorry you had to see that. And that was really close! You could have been... [He hesitates, then shakes his head, more to himself. Nevermind that, after all. Concern renewed:] I didn't know you were even in here, until just now! Why didn't you say anything?

[electrostatics]

[ Well, that doesn't really make it any less worrying.

He's about to reply, and then

Why didn't you say anything?

He frowns, glancing away. ]

You didn't want to see me, so.

Thought I'd give you space.

[ The words sound like they're being forced out of him. He's putting a lot of effort into it... ]

[recopy]

[Oh, that sort of answer...Megaman's own frown deepens a bit in turn, and there's a bit of a pause--mostly as his actual conscience tries to build a consensus with his particular manifestation in the calibration room, here. The manifestation wants to help more than anything else, after all, but...ah, right...]

That's what it seems like, right? I guess that's sort of true...but it's not because I don't want to help you. I just--still haven't been quite sure what to make of you. [He tilts his head a bit, as if listening to something inaudible.] I'm still a little bit afraid that you're going to end up tricking me again, like last time...

[electrostatics]

[ He mutters something suspiciously like 'I don't need help' (because he's cranky and prideful) to that first statement, but he's listening. ]

...Like last time? [ And he's confused. ]

[recopy]

[ELECMAN YOU WALKED RIGHT INTO A GROSS DEATH SIM THAT YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN MULTIPLE WARNINGS ABOUT IF YOU DIDN'T LIVE LIFE ON THE "DON'T NEED HELP" EDGE.....

At the question Megaman simply nods, though, expression growing morose.]

Yeah, like the last time somebody from WWW told us he wasn't interested in doing bad things anymore...that Hinoken guy, and his Navi, they said they just wanted to do good the second time around, so we trusted them! And they wanted us to help them with something...but we didn't realize we were helping them do something bad until it was too late. We ended up setting SciLabs on fire...and Dad got hurt really badly.

[One of Megaman's hands curls into a bit of a fist, as he speaks, and he glances to the side with a heavier frown bordering on a scowl--somebody still isn't forgetting that anytime soon. After all...]

Lan took it really hard--he thought it was all his fault. And Dad got better, but...I don't want that sort of thing to happen again!

[electrostatics]

[ THAT'S HOW HE ROLLS, OK

though sadly, this is him being more careful, after one death of his own and a teammate's death. If it was before that, he'd definitely be more reckless.

He listens with a steadily growing frown. ]

...So that's how it is.

Guess things really are different, where you and I are from. [ He seems to have trouble wrapping his head around Hinoken doing anything remotely close to that. Subtle, he is not.

After such a betrayal, would he trust people like that? He'd hold the grudge forever, definitely (look at what had happened with Magnetman).

...After a moment, he just shrugs. ]

...That's fine. It's not that important, us being friends. [ And that comes out very smoothly, almost practiced. ]

[recopy]

[Oh, that does come out smoothly indeed--but the look Megaman gives Elecman is an odd one anyway, at those words, almost a bit mournful.]

But friends are important. --And you're the only other person in the Fleet that's from home, now... [Is he implicating something, or is he just stating a fact? It's more likely to be the latter, with this particular manifestation, but maybe there's a bit of subconscious opinion poking through there anyway...exactly what that opinion is, though, that's something Elecman will have to think on for himself.

But since that's all settled now, Megaman draws back another pace, turning away--as if talking about home and the people from it has reminded him of something, anyway.]

--I don't really like staying around this area by myself, very much. We should go somewhere else, I think... [And, expecting Elecman to follow, he starts towards the path off of this purple unsettling plaza. It's quieter here now, anyway--the static-filled screen floating out to the side has been black and silent ever since Elecman came out of the memory.]

[electrostatics]

Yeah, they're- they're important. [ He agrees with surprising swiftness (that is to say 'he admits it at all'). He misses his teammates and the atmosphere that had come with them. But... ] It's not the same thing, though.

[ The only other person in the Fleet now? ] Were there others here before?

[ He follows Megaman back out - he's not going to indulge his curiosity again, as interesting as that was, at least. Once was kind of enough. ]