despitethenora | Sneck IC inbox

(. . .)

aloy: I’ll admit. Probably not my best skill, but I’ll try.

[It’s been a surprisingly good day so she probably can actually manage patience.]

Bootyyyshaker9000: It's mostly step one that's the hardest. Momentum carries it the rest of the way. Just come in when you're here.

[It'll be a little bit, trying to finish one of these math modules. But eventually, she'll knock on his door before letting herself in.]

[One day, Donnie will use his room upgrade token.]

[His room has so many blankets and pillows, including blankets attached to his walls as a way to soundproof. Lots of soft lounge points, though more organized to one side as the other has various desks and shelves that are more chaotically covered in smaller projects, some things looking like light fixtures for the new rooms, other things more complex, numerous loose pieces and makeshift parts (some loose parts like what she described for the breathing mask near those piles). There are a few pictures hung up of his family from home courtesy of Hunter's tweezers.]

[He is sitting at one of the desks, working on something small and handheld (it's a game controller, though just the beginning stages)]

[He doesn't look up right away, spidershell arm extending to grab another chair to nudge it her way.]

Open up access to the Focus. Do you have a preferred place to store new music files?

[enter a new room, GOTTA TOUCH HER FOCUS you know how The Behaviors can be.]

It should be open to you. There's file storage labeled 'datapoints.'

Uh, after that, divided into text, audio, and hologram.

[All completex tech has its firewalls, though his current project will probably read as a controller, if an in progress one.]

Hm, I do have books. I was going to give a pdf to Airi that would help bridge the technology gap from what we have to work with here to the machines you're familiar with. Interested? I also have other science books and a few sci fi ones.

Though two of the sci fi books involve robot uprisings so I could leave those off.

[Another arm extends to retrieve his personal phone from his night stand, bringing it over as he sets down his tools and turns to her.]

Does the Focus has a wire connector port or a touch transfer function?

No port. I don't know about touch transfer - I've always just been in the room, or close to it, for the Focus to access things.

May I see it?

[He holds out one hand.]

[His other hand is tapping at his shoulder, over the clasp of his battleshell.]

[There's a hesitation.]

I don't like taking it off.

How long would it take without contact? An estimate is fine.

....

If you're all right holding the phone to your head, you can do that, it'd just be easier to set up if I'm not in your space.

I don't know how long the transfer will take until it starts, but you could even sleep with my phone on your bed, I'd certainly fallen asleep on it.

[There's some irony in her tone.]

Maybe I should hold it long enough for us to find out how long.

Is that...

Is that permission to be in your space?

[Just. Slow breath. He did say patience, didn't he.]

[She reaches up, and plucks the Focus from the side of her head. Extends her hand, and gently places it on a desk.]

Don't damage it.

I won't.

[He takes it carefully.]

[There's a few more taps to the clamp with his free hand, but then he reaches for his phone and his phone has touch contact for data transfer and will start the transfer to see if its faster this way or if the rate matches the wireless transfer.]

[He's know the calculation, he has the math.]

[The rate seems unaffected by touch. It's pretty efficient at wireless networking.]

I've been wearing one since I was six. It's - part of how I see things.

Ah.

Yes, that does make removal hard.

[He's watching it for a minute, just to see if there's any adjustment, as syncing computers like to do.]

[Tap tap tapping at the clasp on his shoulder.]

[A shuddering breath.]

[He hits a button on the clasp and there's a hiss and a light thud as the battleshell settles on his chair, loose from his body. He reaches back, pulling it off his back and settling it on the floor, eyes still trained on the progress bars.]

[It would be the first time Aloy has seen Donnie without his battleshell, barring flesh looking heart manifestations.]

[She will get to see the scars covering his back, so much like tree roots, but she's seen the Kraang, how it digs into the body thanks to his heart, so it would be a fairly easy guess where those scars are from.]

[Donnie reaches up for the Focus. His hand shaking. He clenches his fist a few moments, another shuddering breath.]

[He picks up the Focus with steadier hands, and his phone, turning to Aloy and holding them both out.]

[She'll also get to see the deep bruises on his shoulders from his overwearing of the battleshell.]

There is no touch transfer function, so it will be the same rate wirelessly, but it is generally better to not have walls in the way. You should just have my phone in the same room and return it when the transfer is done.

We should also set up your emergency access password to my tech soon.

[He is staring off to the side of her, voice flatter than normal.]

Edited 2023-07-20 03:36 (UTC)

[Ah. Shit.

She recognizes an Action when someone takes one. Kraang scars - she remembers texting him about the marks they carry. They'd been talking about her tingling nerves, but she knows the Kraang were awful enemies. The bruises are news to her, though.]

It can finish when it finishes.

[She's claiming the Focus as soon as it's offered, placing it back on her head. Unapologetic for the priority.]

Donatello. The shell hurts you?

If I wear it too long. The shell is almost as heavy as I am. Usually twelve hours is when it starts to actually ache. If I wear it longer than that, it starts to bruise. I recover during sleep, but even the healing factor in our DNA doesn't get rid of them fully if I pushed for too long.

But...

Well, it's been hard to take it off since...

Since the Kraang. [Voice still flat, not quite looking at her.]

That's why we had to talk in here. I try to take it off anywhere else without one of my brothers nearby, I put myself very close to a panic attack.

If it makes you uncomfortable to have it off now, you should put it back on.

Its okay in here. I've gotten my brain to accept this place is a safe space at least.

One day I'm hoping that all of Robin's Egg will be safe in my irrational mind, even without Raph in easy range.

But it takes time to work through PTSD. Are you familiar with PTSD?

It's an acronym, of some sort. I don't know the real meaning.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

There's a lot of things to it, but it usually means when you go through a traumatic event that, even when the event is over, you can still experience stress responses for things that remind you of the event.

It doesn't matter that I know I can walk around Robin's Egg without my battleshell, or that I could probably walk around the temple grounds safe enough.

Being without it brings back that fear I felt in the Technodrone. The only way to stop it is to put on my shell, or to know I have one of my brothers watching my back.

...Makes sense, I guess.

You didn't need it before the Kraang?

I did and didn't.

My brothers are strong enough to do some serious damage to me that they couldn't to each other. The first version was so I could train and rough house with them without that being a concern.

Then we started the hero work and some mutants could do damage so it was important for that, but it wasn't a strong psychological necessity. I would still go out into public without it at times. I could even do some missions without it.

Then Shredder turned my battleshell to ribbons and imagining what that would have meant for me...

It got less comfortable after that. It took me a week to take it off in our new Lair, after I had at least three different security systems set up. It took Raph arriving to convince my brain I could be safe in here to sleep through the night without it. Because if I screamed, Raph would be nearby. Before that, the only full night's sleep I got was with Hunter and Leo.

Even then, I have to put it on again if I dream of the Kraang if I can't convince myself to sneak into his room.

Edited 2023-07-23 00:02 (UTC)

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