.:A September Intermission:.

[filialdeception]

Who: Meng Yao, Senku Ishigami, Shin Tsukimi & Sara Chidouin
What: Looking into USB business.
Where: Workshop
When: Beginning of September. 9/6 as a tentative IC date.
Warnings: N/A, probably?

So due to events of the previous month, some time to look into the matter had ended up post-poned. But Meng Yao's determined to go and get this over with. He pulls Senku aside and asks him to clear some time for the workshop so that they can look into this with one another. He also does end up bringing some snacks and drinks just in case it might take awhile, though he's not anticipating this to be quite an ordeal, necessarily.

((OOC: This can be considered kind of freeform, so jumping around is A-OK. ))

Comments

[adsum]

[ Senku clicks the icon, and the screen flickers and goes black. ... Then it flickers again, with the screen turned on to the webcam that shows Senku and whoever is sitting within view of the camera, and no other window that would normally show who is on the other side.

Instead, a little chat window is open on the bottom left of the screen, although it displays no text.

Regardless of what they try, the only way to exit is to force shut down by holding the power button and restarting the laptop. ]

[notsosou]

[There's a small jolt from him when the screen changes. It's clearly the webcam view, Senku fore-and-center and Sara (and possibly Meng Yao) behind them. But still, seeing his own face appear on a screen... makes him feel uneasy in a way he can't quite pinpoint. His mouth is a little dry and he swallows before speaking.]

Senku... i-is the laptop connected to the network?

[Someone wants to talk, it seems, so... if there's no data coming in from outside...

...it has to be an AI.]

[filialdeception]

[ ...yikes.

That sure is something that's happening here. ]

A network?

[ He's going to just...ask this question from here, looking at the little chat box and then back to the Shin and Senku. ]

[notsosou]

The school PDAs connect to one.

[He doesn't really post to the network, if you asked him because it would reveal his name but mostly because he's just that much of a lurker, but he does backscroll quite a bit to see what people are saying. Ceiling Shin is watching you post.

Wait, chilling thought. Does Meng Yao not know what that is either?]

Y-you do have one, right? Should have got it when you arrived... this thing.

[He briefly pulls out his own in demonstration, but Shin this isn't really explaining anything.]

[kingofscience]

...No, there's no internet connection in the school. At least, not yet. The network only works for the PDAs. [ He's thinking about trying to get internet here but he's sure the school itself will try to stop him. ] It's... We can probably assume that this is working remotely, just on the laptop itself.

[ Senku stares back at himself and the others in the webcam, checking to see if something might be behind them in the screen? But also, something in this USB turned on the webcam by itself. There's definitely more to this than it seems.

Senku takes a look at the chat box and carefully goes to type into it. ]

Hello. Anyone there?

[adsum]

[ Nothing happens for a moment, but then the response appears below his. ]

hell
hell
hell
hell
hello

[kingofscience]

[ ...Okay, so he didn't entirely expect a response, but also this place has more surprises than necessary, so. ]

I'm Senku, and these are my friends. Who am I speaking to?

[ He'll let the others decide if they wanna share their names, but for now, he'll wait for a response. ]

[adsum]

sen
ku
ku
ku
senku

[ ... ]

[notsosou]

Looks like it's struggling... [A little louder and clearer.] Can you hear us...?

[He's thinking. The webcam's being used... is the microphone, or is it only through the chat client? It seems like it's just pulling the most important word in response... how well is it parsing language at all?]

Yes if yes.

[adsum]

yes
here
hear

[samuraiwomen]

It's nice to meet you, I'm Sara.

[ Behind Shin and Senku, Sara gives a small bow. Chill out boys, when you meet someone new, you should be polite! ]

I'm sorry to repeat Senku-san, but can you tell us your name? We'd like to be friends, so it would nice to have something to call you.

[adsum]

na
me
me
friend
end
ends

[ It sure is struggling, whether because Meng Yao had found it by the shattered remains of a laptop having fallen a good distance, or maybe it was always like this. ]

[kingofscience]

Hm... Maybe yes or no questions would be good. ...Are you a student here?

[ Does the USB itself look badly damaged? And is there anything else to this file that Senku can take a look at? ]

[filialdeception]

[ When Senku asked, and is looking closely at things, he'll try to add an inquiry of his own: ]

And if you are a student, have you been here for a long time?

[adsum]

y
y
y
y
y

[ The USB itself... well, it was corrupted when they'd first put it in, but physically it looks okay. Senku would have to hard reset the laptop in order to mess with the files without clicking on the new icon of an eye that's appeared on the desktop, but he could try to fix what's there or transfer the information to something else. ]

[notsosou]

....A student, huh...

['She's basically a human at this point...' He thinks a bit more. It's a strange thing to think about asking, given code isn't usually alive and usually you can just do it, but you have to, don't you?]

Hey... do you mind if we shut you down for a bit to see what's wrong?

[This... doesn't look like it's normal operation. If anything, he'd say it almost looks painful. He's kind of wondering now what it was like for that AI as the trap ripped it's mind to shreds, and tries to stop wondering. It was working for the enemy anyway...]

[adsum]

wrong

[ ...

It's the only message that displays following Shin's question, but even if you give this consideration, the power is ultimately in their hands to do what they want. Like a dog whining in its crate on the way to the vets. Or a people tree crying about wanting to live as you set it on fire. ]

[kingofscience]

[ Shin seems to have the same idea as Senku. This is definitely corrupted and he's going to try to see if he can fix what's going on. He wants to be able to hold better conversation with this person, and if there's something blocking that he wants to fix it. ]

We're going to try to help you, okay?

[samuraiwomen]

[ GLARE. JUST HOLD OFF FOR FIVE MINUTES WILL YOU?]

[samuraiwomen]

Don't say something scary like that!

[ That's the only thing she can think of to say when she sees the word wrong flashing on the screen. She reaches over to poke Shin's cheek with a grimace. Maybe it would be helpful, to just do whatever they wanted for information but-]

If they're a student like us, then lets act kindly! Sometimes, your words are the only thing you have, even if they're hard to understand. [ Treating someone weak with cruelty...no, even if they lost this information forever, it wouldn't be worth it right? If this student wanted to be fixed like that, they would have typed y again, right? ]

Student-san, are we scaring you? Yes or no? Do you mind answering our questions, yes or no? We only want to understand what's going on.

[notsosou]

[H-hey, stop poking him... He's not intending to be cruel! It's better than forcing it to keep going like this just to see what it'll say, isn't it?
A proper fix might take hours if not days depending on the extent of the problem and the AI's complexity... but if there's something they can do on a quick pass to make it even a little easier on the student...

But... that's... not a 'y'. Maybe he and Senku would have gone ahead with it anyway, but Sara has... a bit of a point. He leans away a little to prevent further poking, looking away from the screen.]

Ahaha... R-right. It's hard to trust people like this, isn't it... S-sorry, Student-san.

[They truly have a frightening amount of power here.]

[adsum]

[ There's a bit of a longer pause here, especially with everybody talking one after another and the slow processing speed to begin with. Parroting words seem to be the easiest, in the end, because eventually a message does show up. ]

scaryyyy

[ There's your y's...

but then, ]

answer
answer
help ME

[filialdeception]

[ Meng Yao feels a little awkward here at the teensy scuffle, because unfortunately laptops are not his strong suit. ]

Our friend looks like they want help regardless and an answer to that, though...I believe the earlier suggestion may have merit.

Unfortunately, this is also not something I've much expertise with - that is, any spirits being trapped in advanced technology. Though the concept of a spirit being trapped in an inanimate object isn't unfamiliar.

[ He's thinking for a moment, and then he looks to back to the laptop, to direct the rest of his conversation back there. ]

But regardless, at this time we've not much of an idea on how to provide you with assistance other than attempting to temporarily shut everything down, and start from there. Do you know of any other way to assist?

[ If not he thinks he's going to back the earlier suggestion. ]

[notsosou]

......

[That's a pretty complex question in it's own right, even if it would be nice to know directly. It's hard to be completely sure what they want other than help in general, with that reply. The more specific the questions, the better Student-san seems to be able to reply, but the longer it takes to work out what is actually going on so... break it down, Shin. Get the basics first. Troubleshooting time.]

Does us talking to you hurt you, yes or no?

[He's just been assuming... but it's important to actually establish.]

[adsum]

assist
HELP
helt
hert
hurt
no
talk
talk

[ Sounds like... a no, it doesn't hurt, so much as it's a difficult process, single words at a time using their own as a scaffold. ]