maskormenace | 06 | VIDEO | ID reads "Hikari Lan"

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06 | VIDEO | ID reads "Hikari Lan"

[It's been several months since Lan activated a particular power of his in a more public area, but now he's decided to try it again. This afternoon, he's posting a video once again, but this time the ID displays his actual name, though nothing about the device he's posting from.

Curiously, the camera shows him, but both his hands are visible, so he's not holding up the communication device.]

I've finally figured out one of my powers. How to use it, I mean. And that the space inside the phones is a lot smaller than I thought it was.

[He steps out of frame to show what looks like a large room, the walls and floor grey where they're not covered in faint circuitry patterns.]

...I think it's getting smaller. I don't think it should be doing that...?

[Excuse him while he messes with something off-camera.]

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[Not one to let up on his quest to determine what powers are what... Kidou has to follow up on this.]

The space inside the phones?

Yeah, like...the cyberworld? Only it's not connected to the Internet.

[At the moment, anyway.]

Edited 2016-09-12 01:40 (UTC)

[He's digital...?]

Exactly what power are you using?

[Sort of?]

It's called Pulse Transmission. It's kinda like...you send your brainwaves into a computer and they form a digital copy of you.

[This is accompanied by gestures that vaguely help illustrate his point.]

[It's not tactful. He knows it can't sound as such. But he really can't help but ask.]

Interesting. What happens to your body during this?

Sleeping...something like that.

[He hasn't yet been able to see his body while using the power.]

You're doing that somewhere safe, I hope.

My apartment is pretty safe.

Good.

[Satisfied, he moves on.]

What's it like, being virtual?

It's kinda cool. It's a lot faster to do computer stuff because you can interact directly with everything in the computer. Well, if you know how to do that kind of stuff.

...Actually, not everything. Most things. I don't know what some programs do, so I can't work with them and just have to leave them alone.

[Or ask his brother for help.]

Do you know what the programs where you are do?

Um...there's a keyboard, the camera, calculator...the subprograms that control the settings for posting on the network, security stuff...oh yeah, a drawing program, too!

[It's just Paint, but that doesn't make it less fun.]

Show me one.

Uhh...well, how about the drawing program? I think this should work.

[He reaches up and touches the air above and to his right, dragging his hand diagonally down, covering everything in the camera's view with a translucent white film.

And then he starts drawing on it. He is not an artist, don't judge.]

[No judgement here. In fact, he looks utterly fascinated.]

... Nice cat.

[He means it, too. That's not sarcasm.]

So you're limited only by your understanding of what a program does?

[So nice.]

Pretty much, yeah.

...It was the first thing I could think of to draw.

Interesting. I wonder what would happen if you were on the internet.

[Kidou, himself, has no idea how the internet works. At all. It's all very mysterious, but he knows it exists and that there's things out there on it.]

Heeh . . . so you're finally comfortable with it?

Hey! Kururu!

Mostly! It's kinda boring sometimes since I can't bring very many people in with me. I can't think of any imPorts besides the AIs who can do this kind of thing.

...Can you? I don't remember.

Not quite. I mean—not really. Not the way you do.

You're inside a computer, right? For me . . . it's more like I've been one.

Oh. You've been a computer? How's that work, being a whole computer?

[Is she the hardware or all the software? Or both? That seems like a complicated thing to have to deal with.]

How does it work technically, or how does it feel?

How's it feel, yeah!

Big. More than playing a song. Like playing every instrument in an orchestra at once.

. . . I guess that doesn't really explain it very well, though. Right?

Kind of . . . imagine reaching out your hand. You know how that feels, don't you? Even if you have your eyes closed, if you concentrate . . . you can feel each of your fingers. You know where they are, their shape. You know where you stop.

It's like that feeling. But it doesn't stop where your fingers stop . . . it stretches out through your network, through all the paths a signal can travel. And all of that . . . everything you can reach, every input and output . . . they're all you.

Woow...

[He...kinda gets that comparison. But he'll try out the second one anyway, doing just what she's saying to imagine--holding his hand out, eyes closed. He stays this way for a few seconds after she's done talking before responding.]

I get it, sort of...hehe...I can't connect myself directly to the network in here, so I can't try it, but I think I have an idea of what you're talking about. I wonder if Megaman would know.

There's downsides, though. Big ones. The way Lan is now . . . that's better, I think.

What's a mega man?

Megaman is his name. He's my partner. He's an AI, so he knows way more than me about computer stuff.

[Given he sort of lives in a computer--back home, it's 24/7, here it's somewhere around half a given week.]

Heeh, really? And you're both here? That's . . .

[ She trails off, unable to really find the right words. ]

. . . I'm glad to hear it.

He'd probably know a lot more than me, too. Especially if you both see your worlds the same way. No matter what I've done . . . I'm still more an engineer than a programmer.

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!

[Hey Lan, you forgot to lock your post again. Enjoy the panicked yelling!]

Uwah! I'm not doing anything!

[So he did. Oops.]

I'm not stuck this time!

Yes you are! I can see you!

[WHY ARE YOU USING PULSE TRANSMISSION YOUNG MAN ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE HIM A HEART ATTACK?

He might be coming to find Lan right now. And by "might" I mean "Lan has less than a minute to make a run for it."]

Not yet! [Such faith very trust wow] You know this is too dangerous to use, Lan!

No, Synchro is too dangerous to use, this is only sorta-dangerous.

[Navis can't have heart attacks, he'll be fine. Besides, Lan's body is fine--it's on his bed at their apartment--and he hasn't tried to traverse the 'net yet, so his avatar is still near by it.

He's not making a run for it because he knows he won't get very far.]

You're right. Synchro is more dangerous.

[Revel in this, Lan, it's not gonna last.]

We can't control Synchro. You can just not use Pulse Transmission! They're both too risky and deadly for humans! You can't tell me Pulse Transmission is "okay" just because we use Synchro too, because Synchro doesn't give us a choice in the matter!

[Aaaaaand there's the Lecture Voice. Angry Lecture Voice, even. Good job, Lan, you done goofed.]

I know that...but the Pulse Transmission here works differently from the way it does back home. Remember, you need all the machinery and stuff there, but here, I can do it wherever I want. I think.

[In contrast to Megaman, he doesn't sound angry. It's not his usual 'everything'll be fine!' tone either, though.]

And that's part of why it's so dangerous!

[And popping into the comm with Lan in three, two, one, now. Megaman...hasn't really noticed the lack of Lan's usual tone for conversations like this. He's just too used to it being there to think about it much beyond the fact that Lan's saying the mostly-usual things, so of course this conversation is the same as it always has been.

Which means that the Angry Lecture voice isn't about to let up any time soon.]

We don't really know how it works back home. The machines might have safety measures that this...power of yours doesn't!

Yeah but--

[Oh, Megaman disappeared. Not long enough to matter, though, as he appears nearby a couple seconds later. The wall nearest him flashes blue for a second, then returns to its normal color.]

I don't think I'd be given a power that's that dangerous. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't ever left this area, I swear.

[Knowing that does make him feel a little better, but not nearly enough. Not that he's going to admit even that much. He's not backing down now. Not after that, not when he's this angry.]

You know Pulse Transmission is dangerous! You saw what can happen to people using this back home! Pulse Transmission almost killed you!

[That anger cracks, just the slightest. He's no less angry, no calmer, no more willing to compromise on this, but he is losing his mask, bit by bit. This isn't just one of their brother-fights or navi-operator arguments to him; there's so much more to his rage over this than overprotectiveness or stubbornness or sibling rank-pulling. There's something even deeper, fueling it at the same time it hides behind it. Underneath his anger Megaman is driven by something so much stronger.

Underneath his anger, Megaman is terrified.]

So don't try to tell me this isn't dangerous, Lan! It was dangerous back home, and it's still dangerous here!

I know it's dangerous everywhere! But here it's less dangerous!

[Lan's not quite as angry as Megaman, but he's frustrated and getting more so by the second as Megaman's anger is causing his own to feed back on itself. Oops.]

And back then, I kind of wished it hadn't gotten out in time, because then I wouldn't have to deal with losing a brother again!

[He's not blaming Megaman for anything, his tone isn't accusatory. His voice wavers noticeably at the end of the last sentence, Lan himself looking like he's not sure if he wants to cry or yell more, but he's not saying anything else at the moment.]

Edited 2016-09-28 04:54 (UTC)

Don't you ever talk like that again.

[Lan's words hit him like a punch in the core. That wasn't a response he'd ever expected to get, not in a million years. It's...frightening, and sickening, and his baby brother shouldn't ever be thinking like that.

But it's not enough to knock him out of his anger, not by a long shot. This new layer of fear and distress just feeds into it...as does Lan's frustration. The emotional positive feedback loop strikes again!]

And don't ignore the point! You know full well what can happen when Pulse Transmission goes wrong, and you have no idea what could go wrong here. There's no reason to think it's safer here than at home!

[He should be talking about this. About what Lan said. About everything that's happening so damn fast right now. He should be honest. But it's so much easier to keep being mad at Lan right now than it is to let him know how much this all scares him.]

Don't--don't do stupid things then!

[And there are some tears.

It's a wonder he's managed to go this long without saying anything, really. He never intended to, especially after arriving in Heropa and seeing Megaman alive and well and in person, and he just kind of crushed the feeling down.]

Look though! We've been in here for a while and nothing's happened so far!

[This is a bad argument. He's also not considering the possibility of power glitches.]

You don't need to worry so much!

[Remember what happened back in June? He does, and doesn't particularly like it.]

I'm not the one doing stupid things!

[Oh no. Oh no no no not baby brother tears. Not his greatest weakness. Anything but that! He can't keep yelling and being mad at Lan when he's crying.

...okay he can continue to be a little mad, but at this point synchro's really not letting him calm down all that much so it's a moot point anyway.]

...Lan. [BIG DEEP BREATH don't yell, don't yell, don't yell...] I do need to worry. You don't know what could or could not happen while you're using Pulse Transmission, and I do. What are you going to do if there's a power failure while you're using it? Or if you jump into a damaged system? I've already had to rescue someone from the inside of a bricked comm once, I don't want to have that happen to you too!

[...yelling again a bit at the end there, w h o o p s. Thanks, Sychro.]

Not right now, but...

[Okay, so maybe they're both guilty of doing stupid things, but that's beside the point. Megaman did the ultimate stupid thing in Lan's opinion.]

...Okay, okay, I get it, you know more than I do about it than I do. [He pauses to rub at his eyes--he wasn't even aware his digital avatar was capable of crying--before continuing.] I get it.

I don't know what I'd do if that stuff happened...I'd...I dunno, I'd figure it out then.

Then it doesn't matter.

[Yes it does. It very much does matter, but Megaman's already shunted the very distressing and upsetting topic back into the recesses of his mind where it normally stays so he doesn't have to think about it. He's gotten far too good at compartmentalising Bad Thoughts away, even when he really shouldn't.]

And what if you can't? What if there's no processing power for you to use, or no functioning system for you to run in? What if whatever it is injures you before you notice something is wrong? What if it just...wipes you instantly?

[It's the last one that scares him the most. He can't do anything to save Lan from something that kills him before either of them even know he's in danger.]

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06 | VIDEO | ID reads "Hikari Lan"

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