Wake up, Mr. Robot

Romi

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Somewhere along the line, Valli probably should have thought about how it was a bad idea. There were a lot of parts about the idea that were unquestionably bad, and plenty more that were debatable. He was bringing something to life, an action which required actual paperwork to do, and yet he'd given it little more thought than what to get for dinner.

He simply wanted it. He wanted someone who knew him beyond his work. Maybe there was a better way to get friends than spending a huge chunk of cash buying an AI and a robot to host it, but that wasn't what he wanted right then.

What he wanted was Gask. He wanted to show him Lawrence of Arabia and talk about books and give him a better life, something better than the wasteland he'd been born in.

He wanted him to keep existing.

The body was already complete, delivered in packaging that made it look like a doll, but only a small strip of god-knows-what kind of electronic keeping him asleep. Alive. Sort of. Ready to be alive might have been more accurate, the strip keeping his brain function nonexistent until Valli took it off.

The apartment was large--not a house, but more than enough for two--and sparsely furnished. But it was modern, and with the blinds down Valli could only hope it wouldn't be too distressing. At least it wasn't waking up in a space ship, which had been a very real option. A nice, neutral home seemed better... even if it would no doubt be strange and foreign to him.

Valli felt a tickle of doubt, but he pushed it away.

Too late for second thoughts.

He leaned forward, peeling the metal strip off the skin of Gask's neck and sat back, his legs folded under him, and waited for him to wake up.

 

Kada

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Gasl was floating in a sea of blackness. Empty and unfeeling. Gask wasn't even sure if he was thinking. He couldn't even consider that his wondering if he was was proof enough.
Where had he been? The party. Celebrating his people finally having a chance at a better life. He had passed out. Too much alcohol, probably.

And then what? Nothing. Was he just sleeping off his hangover? There was suddenly a sliver of light as he felt his eyes begin to slide open of their own accord. He opened them and...

The first thing Gask noticed was the distinct feeling of something on his skin. He panicked, flailing and twisting. What was this? He banged his elbow against the floor and pain shot.up his arm and into the.base of his skull.

"AHHH!"
Gask clutched his elbow, the pain making it impossible to focus on anything. His vision was white, but where he expected the deafening sound of blood in his ears, he heard nothing. Tears began to stream down the sides of Gask's face, partly as an automatic reaction to the pain and partly from sheer emotional overload. And he couldn't even see his surroundings yet.
 

Romi

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In Valli's imagination--during the few brief period's he'd allowed himself to imagine anything at all--the situation had gone very differently. Gask would sit up. He'd be confused. He'd probably asked if he was dead.

He definitely wouldn't have flailed around, letting out a yell. Things had gone to shit almost immediately, and Valli's expression was horrified as he leaned forward, abruptly uncertain on what he should be doing. Grab him to keep him from flailing and hurting himself more? Let him adjust on his own?

It was a mess.

"Gask," Valli said, resting his hands on the side of the box to keep himself from agitating Gask further. "It's alright - you're safe here."

Wasn't that what he really needed to know? That he wasn't under attack. That there were no raiders. That they hadn't been betrayed. Maybe he would even recognize his voice through his obvious pain, but Valli wasn't counting on it.

 

Kada

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Gask's body adjusted to the feeling of... well, feeling. And the sharp stabbing pain in his arm gave way to a dull ache. He blinked back the tears, which felt hot on his face. Why was this happening? Was this hell?

His ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name.
"Valgarður?" Gask's voice was horse and unfamiliar. It was still gruff, but it lacked the distinct harshness that came from years of smoke inhalation.

Gask opened his eyes and let the sudden brightness flood his vision. This was definitely not his tent. There were walls. Real walls. And everything was... clean. None of his trophies we're scattered around. In fact, the only familiar things was him.
Valgarður, his newest friend and fellow scholar. Gask felt tears well up and as he turned his face to the other man. Maybe he could tell him what was happening.

This only grew Gask's confusion, however. It was definitely Valgarður, but he was different. Cleaner, with no scars and different clothes. He had a way about him that was... if not attractive exactly, definitely inviting.
A hundred thoughts crossed into Gask's head and his face twisted in greater discomfort with each of them. He settled on the one that seemed the most likely.

"Valgarður... a-are we... are we d-dead?"
 

Romi

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Valli felt his heart flutter at the mention of his name--his real name, the one he didn't bother with because people tended to be anxious when they messed it up--but did his best to keep himself under control.

Gask was going to be confused and horrified. He needed reassurance and comfort, not Valli being a flighty teenager.

He'd expected this much at least, and come prepared... mostly. Of course he was never going to go perfectly well, because there wasn't an answer that everyone would accept, but at least he wasn't completely winging it.

"No," he started. Best to get that out of the way. "You're not dead. You fell asleep and then... Honestly, it's a bit of a confusing situation. It would probably be most helpful to think of this as another world, which you've now been transported to. This world is... it's like the world before, but the world never ended. So it continued, and advanced. There are other differences, but that is probably the explanation that would make most sense to start."

Valli paused, and then decided to double down on reassurances. "But you're not dead. You're still alive, just... here."

 

Kada

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Gask absorbed Valli's words silently, unsure of how he could even respond to any of this.
He wasn't dead, but in another world? He didn't know if he believed that. And what's the difference, anyway? Gask attempted to stand, his movements shaky and awkward with the added sensation of touch. The hard edges of the box he was in. The weight of his clothes that he was slowly growing accustomed to. The cool breeze on his face. Wait, breeze?

Looking around, Gask verified that they were indeed inside a building and there were no windows open. How was the wind blowing then? This breeze was more pleasantly cool than any Gask had ever felt.
These questions did not deter the man however, and he eventually made his way up to his feet. Gask's legs were shaking, but he could stand well enough. Walking would be impossible for a bit.

Gask's eyes traveled up his body,cooking at the gray uniform he wore. It was too new, too clean to be any of his clothes. A patch on the breast pocket read Galactica Corp. The shirt's sleeves ended just before his elbows which were shockingly free of the melted flesh that had marked him as a survivor of a radiation zone. He still had scars, but he looked... Gask's hands flew to his face.

"Mirror." He could feel his face, but he didn't know how it was supposed to feel. If his arms were any indication, his face might be...
 

Romi

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At least he was standing, even if it was very clear to Valli that Gask was somewhere between an existential crisis and a full blown panic attack. Could robots even have panic attacks? Considering they were not fully a function of the body, instead a function of the mind... probably.

He was supposed to be as human as he could be, after all.

He wasn't expecting him to ask for a mirror, and it took Valli a bit to even figure out if he had one. He didn't have a hand mirror though, and the idea of pulling out his phone - of showing Gask himself in selfie mode of all things was likely to agitate him further.

"Hold on," Valli said, pushing himself to his feet. "I'll get one real quick, alright?"

No need to tell him to stay put, since he doubted Gask was going anywhere fast. He had a long mirror--mounted on a wall but easy enough to take down--and while it was a big heavy for Valli it would at least let Gask get a proper view of things.

"You're you," Valli said quickly as he carried the mirror back towards him. "But you don't have your radiation burns. So you can feel again, but also because that sort of thing would probably scare people here in a way that scars wouldn't. You have all your other scars, though. I thought you would, ah... miss them?"

Scars told a story, after all.

Valli paused for a moment, very much worried about how Gask would react, and then finally held the mirror up for him to look.

At least he'd warned him of the biggest change.

 

Kada

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Gask looked around when Valli left, still trying to absorb everything around him. It was all too much, too fast. His head felt light and his stomach felt heavy. He swayed and nearly fell.
He took this time to slow his breathing too. It was an easy thing to focus on. Inhaling and exhaling, trying not to think about anything else. Made it easier to ground himself.

Valli returned, and Gask turned as the sound of him carrying the mirror caught his attention.
He stared, unsettled by the face staring back at him. Was it his? Gask had seen his own mangled face a handful of times in his life, but this wasn't it. He had some scars he remembered, for sure. But otherwise he was... normal looking.

Gask's head swam with too many thoughts again. He didn't know what to say or ask or anything. His face screwed up into some kind of mixture of confusion and joy. Too many questions flooded his mind. He wanted to ask them all. But one was more important than the others.

"What about the rest? My people? Are they here as well?"
 

Romi

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Valli had prepared himself for a lot of questions. 'How did this happen' was a big one. 'Why did you do this' was another. There were a million and one questions he'd readied himself for, and yet this wasn't one of them.

It was probably also one of the worst. No matter how he scratched it, the answer was no. Valli had not brought five hundred people to Manta Carlos. The truth was that most of those people--all save maybe a dozen--did not properly exist. They were procedurally generated, given maybe a personality trait or two each. The rowdy one. The aggressive one. The quiet one.

If they even got that.

It was a nightmare already, and it probably showed on his face.

"Not all of them," he said, his tone sombre. "Some of them are here, although maybe not in the exact forms you know. Chloe and Lou, the medic in the camp whose name I never got. The wolves, I believe. Maybe a dozen or so. But the rest... are not here, no."

He already knew Gask wasn't going to take it well. The only question was how bad he would take it.

 

Kada

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A dozen? That was... Gask suddenly lost his balance, his knees buckling underneath him. He didn't know whether to cry or scream or what. His people. His family. None of them were here with him. The names Valli had given, not even a single Blood Beak among them.

"Why? Why am I here? I should be there... they need me. I need to make sure the treaty stays. Make sure our city is built."

Gask felt the wetness welling up behind his eyes. Crying it was, then.
"Valgarður, what happened?"
 
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