mental link: Find my iPhone

[vocalis]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Bearings
WHEN: DAY: 37 - morning
SUMMARY: Putting the brain network to it's truest use
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary

[ So far, every time someone has used the mental network on a mass scale it's been for a good reason. Using it at all is prying in the most intrusive way, isn't it? It should be reserved for only the most pressing matters. Information sharing, help seeking, quiet discussion to further the mission.

So it should be for an equally important reason that Aoba reaches out now, his voice oddly pleasant as ever to listen to but nervous in it's delivery. ]

I'm really sorry to reach out to you this way all of a sudden, but... uh...



Has anybody seen my datapad?



[ Well... so much for keeping the mass mental link purely professional. And this less than professional message is going out on the morning after a long night, no less. Maybe he should've checked how many hosts were still sleeping. Too late now though, he's in the middle of it. ]

It's got a sticker on the back of it that looks like-



Sorry, it's just... I've been looking for it for like a week now and using Angel's in the meantime. But she's got some locks on it and her coding is really good and-

Uh, anyway yeah, if you see it just let me know. Sorry again.

[ He leaves the connection as swiftly as he burst in, as if bowing out and away, embarrassed. He must've really lost the thing if this is how he's going about recovering it. ]

Comments

[inflori]

( Ugh, you are so annoying. )

[ ok but that didn't answer the question petre ]

[vocalis]

[ Annoyance turns up and blares back right at you, Petre. Loud like quick rising volume on a stereo. ]

Listen, I really didn't want to have to go about it this way! But I've looked everywhere in Bearings... except in other people's rooms.

It's not in yours, is it?

[inflori]

( What? Are you calling me a thief? )

[ How dare you... be annoyed at me... ]

[vocalis]

No.

[ Not yet anyway. ]

I'm just asking if it's in your room. I told you, other people's rooms are the only place I haven't looked.

[ Well, except for Nirad's disaster room. ]

I just want to find it.

[inflori]

( No, it's not in my room. Why, are you gonna search in other people's rooms? 'Cause I can help. )

[greentech]

( Huh. I haven't seen it, but I'll keep an eye out. )

[vocalis]

Thank you.

[ His answer isn't quite as simple as it may sound at first. There's an echo of formality the symbiote can't quite translate seamlessly from one language to another. It adds to the embarrassment of the situation, but at least his voice is pleasant. ]

I think I lost it before you arrived here, so that makes sense. What was your name?

[greentech]

Oh. Still, can't hurt.

[ Huh. There's still people she hasn't met, so it's not total surprise. ]

You can call me Pidge.

[ Technically true. ]

[vocalis]

Nice to meet you, Pidge. Though... sorry it's like this.

[ Losing his stuff and asking around in people's brains. Not exactly how to make the best first impression. ]

I'm Aoba. I promise I'm not usually this disorganized.

[greentech]

Eh, it's OK. I've seen worse.

[ She doesn't mean that to be mean. It might come out that way though.

Talking in her head is still weird. She's not sure how much of her thoughts that he can "hear" or if he's getting all the random little scraps of ideas and half-formed thoughts that scurry across the surface of her mind. ]

When was the last time you saw it, anyway?

[unsea]

[ u m. ]

( I still have it. )

[vocalis]

[ w h a t ]

...

Huh?

[ There's no malice in his mental voice like in their first meeting. Well, for Aoba this is technically their first meeting. And what a way to get acquainted - brain to brain and incredibly confused. Too many questions pop, one after the other after the other, beating around his mind as if to their own rhythm. ]

What do you mean? I didn't give it to you. Have we even met?

[unsea]

( Yes, you did. You threw it at me. )

[ ???????????

something is going on here, and he Needs To Know. ]

( Shortly after we all returned to the Bearings. We agreed to have a BOUT IT OUT fight to ourselves later? )

[vocalis]

[ ????????????????????! None of this is ringing any bells. ]

I... what? I didn't do any of those things!

[ Whoever this guy is, he's making all this up. He's got to be. Throwing hardware around, making challenges? None of it sounds like anything he'd do. ]

I don't even play Bout it Out. I haven't met you, I don't even know your name!

[unsea]

[ wtf

]

[unsea]

[ the image-memory of aoba, fingers on his datapad ( tap, swipe tap ) before it flings through the air toward him, along with a long string of " ??? ". ]

( I do have your datapad, at least. I'll deliver it to you. )

[shiro2hero]

(I'll keep an eye out for it. Any idea where you saw it last?)

[Hold on, what exactly is that sticker?]

(That's... an interesting way to identify it.)

[This is infinitely better than talking about the Rough Times earlier.]

[vocalis]

Thanks. Yeah, I thought it'd be a good idea to put something on it since they all look the same. Now I'm really glad I did.

[ He'll be even more glad if someone ends up finding it. But first, Rough Times Talk incoming. His voice drops a bit, though the sound of it is still oddly pleasant in the mind. ]

Um... the last time I saw it was... the night of the attack on the game parlor. I wasn't there, but I was watching the news on my datapad as it was happening.

[ The feeling of loss is still fresh, and familiar to Adara brood. ]

I've been looking for it ever since.

[shiro2hero]

(Good plan. You'd think it'd have turned up by now though.)

[Ah... he's heard about that. And that one of the people of their group was killed. The whole group, not the one he's been assigned. But remembering the way just meeting them felt? If one of them died?]

[Deep breaths. Steeling himself.]

(I heard a little about what happened. I'm sorry...) [What else do you even say.] (But I'll keep an eye out for your datapad, if that helps anything.)

[vocalis]

I feel more sorry for Castor, but... thank you. It's a pain Adara knows too.

[ He quietly hopes none of the newer broods will have to feel the loss of a mate, but at the rate they've been getting themselves killed? Two in two missions isn't a sparkling record.

Better not to dwell on it and risk his anxieties leaking over the network. The mission won't finish itself, they have to press on. And it would be a lot easier to keep track of everything for it if he just had his datapad back. ]

I appreciate the help... um... I didn't get your name.

[ As strange as it is to ask someone's name while in their head, Aoba realizes he's pried into the other hosts enough today. He's not about to go digging for it. ]

[shiro2hero]

[Names he doesn't immediately recognize. But he's got a guess.]

(Those are the names of the... groups? Teams?) [The real name for them feels awkward and alien in his mind, and he all but recoils from it. Hopefully the reaction will go unnoticed.] (Can I ask how many people you've... lost?)

[Better to know the risks. And since the people who brought him here were less than forthcoming, better ask the 'locals'. Such as they are.]

Oh, right. Sorry. It's Shiro. Nice -- mind meeting you.)

[He shouldn't try to be funny. But he just did anyway.]

[deployed]

( Can you replace it with another if you don't find the one with the sticker on it? )

[vocalis]

Um... I could probably get another one here, yeah. It's just, they were given to us by Prince and Cathaway. I don't want to make them mad.

[ Or worse, disappointed. ]

[deployed]

( How long has it been since you've seen it? )

[ weird ??? about prince and cathaway aside, bellamy assumes a replacement can be found if the original isn't around anymore. ]

[vocalis]

Since the night of the attack on the game parlor. I'd been watching news on it in the common area, and I think I left it there. It's been missing ever since.