Post by aylin on Oct 18, 2010 13:40:41 GMT -8
"I swear to God, Miranda. I don't know what the hell that thing was and I'm sure as hell glad you destroyed it, but, Christ, could ya have been any more inefficient? This has taken forever!"
It certainly wasn't the best location to have to play the technician's role, but Lin didn't really have much of a choice. And despite her complaints, she was, overall, quite thankful. The currently "shutdown" Hollow that was slouched, face-first, against the dead-end alley's back wall was the best protection she could get. Although re-attaching Miranda's severed blade had already passed the four hour mark, the fact that she had been able to recover it and the fact that it had served its purpose was more than enough to coax gratitude out of the schoolgirl leech's heart.
...
It just didn't really sound like gratitude. ...But that was just the way it worked sometimes.
"Alright, damn it. Let's check that sync again!"
With a bit less abrasiveness and a bit more perkiness, Lin went to poking at the activated device on her left arm. The Omni-tool, pseudo-form that it was, had a pseudo-wire snaking from it and into the seemingly invisible synapse between Miranda's back and one of the Hollow's sword blades. The tool gave a beep, the flat portion of it on the back of Lin's fist slipping from purple to black and promptly generating a long stream of numbers that the majority of folks would consider as less than gibberish. In fact, even Lin had no idea what the 'start up' screen meant and, truthfully, she didn't much care. The next display - which was made up simply of a handful of bar graphs with corresponding percentage numbers - was what she cared about.
"Ngh... A, B, C, and D are readin' in the right numbers... but what the F is up with E? 67% ain't doin' it." The fingers of her right hand went to flying along the underside of the Omni-tool as she spoke and the numbers and bars on the display changed accordingly. "Aw, shh... are you serious? ...Wait, wait, wait, no... we've done this before. It just... needs..." And abruptly (and probably a bit too violently for such 'delicate machinery'), Lin jerked the Omni-tool away from Miranda, popping the pseudo-wire in half in the process. It promptly disintegrated - and that was the point. "A reset! Alright, Miranda, wake up! Activation code delta-one-seven-gamma-three. The password is: **********" To issue the password, Lin stepped closer, whispering it on the off chance anyone was eavesdropping.
"....Initializing return from hibernation mode... Loading... Loading... Loading... Please stand-by." The Hollow's monotone voice came forth after only a momentary pause of silence.
"Sweet. One machine waking up... and it's time to put the other to sleep." A wave of Lin's hand reverted her Omni-tool back to the tarnished bracelet-thing she wore around her wrist.
"Scanning databases for damaged sectors... routine maintenance procedures initiated four hours, eleven minutes, and forty-two seconds ago. Status update in-progress."
"Uh huh. Everything's always 'in-progress.'" And with that, the Leech turned her back on the Hollow, her eyes focused on the far end of the alley. The faint bit of sunlight filtering in to her impromptu 'maintenance space' struck her glasses, glinting the frames and hiding her eyes behind a white reflection.
"Scans indicate operating systems are in nominal condition. Databases are intact and functioning properly. Temporary cache purged in accordance with standard start up routine."
Lin sighed. "Get to the important part already!"
"Warning: Minerva weapon module 3b is offline and requires an intentional, contained reboot. User input is required to initialize. Continue?"
"Obviously."
"Proper credentials are required to perform this action."
"Ugh. Yeah, I know. Jesus... Ok, today's are... CXGIF-dash-zero-zero-one-four."
"Credentials accepted and verified. User alert: These credentials will expire in three hours, fifty-four minutes. Continue?"
"Yes! For all that is holy, yes, continue!"
"Module 3b reboot initialized. Please stand-by."
Lin shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "Tedious, tedious, tedious! ...Ahhhh... it makes me wanna cry!"
But she didn't. And five minutes passed in silence. Then:
"Module reboot successful. Reattachment of blade 3b to weapon module confirmed and successful. Parameters are normal. Shall I-"
"God, no! I don't wanna hear the details! Just finish starting up!"
"Completing start up sequence. Loading... loading... loading... loading... loading... refreshing personal preferences and specifications... complete. User verified as Aylin Kovarik. Good morning, Lin."
And all of a sudden the Hollow's physical form came to life. With a huff, Lin turned around to glare at her partner.
"'Bout damn time! Geez. I was beginning to think you got stuck in a start up loop and I'd haveta figure out that whole... debugging... process... thing all over again!" She grinned. "Or, another way ta say it... Glad to see ya functioning again. I'm sure you're just as glad. Maybe more so, right?"
"As you are aware, Lin, my programming does not incl-"
"Gah! I know! You can't be glad![/b] I don't care! Just... just remind me why the hell we came here in the first place. Doing all... all that-"[/color] The Leech flicked a finger in the direction of Miranda's blades. "-made me forget the point. This place sucks! There had to have been a good reason."
"This destination was determined due to an overheard rumor mentioning something about an anti-virus organization. Veracity of that rumor remains unconfirmed."
Silence reigned for a few beats and Lin removed her glasses, the fingers of her right hand moving up to rub at her eyes. Then she gave a rather pathetic laugh.
"Seriously? I decided that? OhmyGod... there's gotta be something... wrong with me. Nnnnngh!" She reached up, rapping herself on the forehead with her knuckles. "C'mon, Lin. Let's stop being an idiot, ok?"
Notes: Ehh... not my best effort, I think. -_o But I thought I needed to just throw something out there since I haven't posted in a few days. Also, there's no real direction to this post. It can go wherever, if anyone wants to play.
It certainly wasn't the best location to have to play the technician's role, but Lin didn't really have much of a choice. And despite her complaints, she was, overall, quite thankful. The currently "shutdown" Hollow that was slouched, face-first, against the dead-end alley's back wall was the best protection she could get. Although re-attaching Miranda's severed blade had already passed the four hour mark, the fact that she had been able to recover it and the fact that it had served its purpose was more than enough to coax gratitude out of the schoolgirl leech's heart.
...
It just didn't really sound like gratitude. ...But that was just the way it worked sometimes.
"Alright, damn it. Let's check that sync again!"
With a bit less abrasiveness and a bit more perkiness, Lin went to poking at the activated device on her left arm. The Omni-tool, pseudo-form that it was, had a pseudo-wire snaking from it and into the seemingly invisible synapse between Miranda's back and one of the Hollow's sword blades. The tool gave a beep, the flat portion of it on the back of Lin's fist slipping from purple to black and promptly generating a long stream of numbers that the majority of folks would consider as less than gibberish. In fact, even Lin had no idea what the 'start up' screen meant and, truthfully, she didn't much care. The next display - which was made up simply of a handful of bar graphs with corresponding percentage numbers - was what she cared about.
"Ngh... A, B, C, and D are readin' in the right numbers... but what the F is up with E? 67% ain't doin' it." The fingers of her right hand went to flying along the underside of the Omni-tool as she spoke and the numbers and bars on the display changed accordingly. "Aw, shh... are you serious? ...Wait, wait, wait, no... we've done this before. It just... needs..." And abruptly (and probably a bit too violently for such 'delicate machinery'), Lin jerked the Omni-tool away from Miranda, popping the pseudo-wire in half in the process. It promptly disintegrated - and that was the point. "A reset! Alright, Miranda, wake up! Activation code delta-one-seven-gamma-three. The password is: **********" To issue the password, Lin stepped closer, whispering it on the off chance anyone was eavesdropping.
"....Initializing return from hibernation mode... Loading... Loading... Loading... Please stand-by." The Hollow's monotone voice came forth after only a momentary pause of silence.
"Sweet. One machine waking up... and it's time to put the other to sleep." A wave of Lin's hand reverted her Omni-tool back to the tarnished bracelet-thing she wore around her wrist.
"Scanning databases for damaged sectors... routine maintenance procedures initiated four hours, eleven minutes, and forty-two seconds ago. Status update in-progress."
"Uh huh. Everything's always 'in-progress.'" And with that, the Leech turned her back on the Hollow, her eyes focused on the far end of the alley. The faint bit of sunlight filtering in to her impromptu 'maintenance space' struck her glasses, glinting the frames and hiding her eyes behind a white reflection.
"Scans indicate operating systems are in nominal condition. Databases are intact and functioning properly. Temporary cache purged in accordance with standard start up routine."
Lin sighed. "Get to the important part already!"
"Warning: Minerva weapon module 3b is offline and requires an intentional, contained reboot. User input is required to initialize. Continue?"
"Obviously."
"Proper credentials are required to perform this action."
"Ugh. Yeah, I know. Jesus... Ok, today's are... CXGIF-dash-zero-zero-one-four."
"Credentials accepted and verified. User alert: These credentials will expire in three hours, fifty-four minutes. Continue?"
"Yes! For all that is holy, yes, continue!"
"Module 3b reboot initialized. Please stand-by."
Lin shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "Tedious, tedious, tedious! ...Ahhhh... it makes me wanna cry!"
But she didn't. And five minutes passed in silence. Then:
"Module reboot successful. Reattachment of blade 3b to weapon module confirmed and successful. Parameters are normal. Shall I-"
"God, no! I don't wanna hear the details! Just finish starting up!"
"Completing start up sequence. Loading... loading... loading... loading... loading... refreshing personal preferences and specifications... complete. User verified as Aylin Kovarik. Good morning, Lin."
And all of a sudden the Hollow's physical form came to life. With a huff, Lin turned around to glare at her partner.
"'Bout damn time! Geez. I was beginning to think you got stuck in a start up loop and I'd haveta figure out that whole... debugging... process... thing all over again!" She grinned. "Or, another way ta say it... Glad to see ya functioning again. I'm sure you're just as glad. Maybe more so, right?"
"As you are aware, Lin, my programming does not incl-"
"Gah! I know! You can't be glad![/b] I don't care! Just... just remind me why the hell we came here in the first place. Doing all... all that-"[/color] The Leech flicked a finger in the direction of Miranda's blades. "-made me forget the point. This place sucks! There had to have been a good reason."
"This destination was determined due to an overheard rumor mentioning something about an anti-virus organization. Veracity of that rumor remains unconfirmed."
Silence reigned for a few beats and Lin removed her glasses, the fingers of her right hand moving up to rub at her eyes. Then she gave a rather pathetic laugh.
"Seriously? I decided that? OhmyGod... there's gotta be something... wrong with me. Nnnnngh!" She reached up, rapping herself on the forehead with her knuckles. "C'mon, Lin. Let's stop being an idiot, ok?"
-----
Notes: Ehh... not my best effort, I think. -_o But I thought I needed to just throw something out there since I haven't posted in a few days. Also, there's no real direction to this post. It can go wherever, if anyone wants to play.