SYNFLUX / IN-CHARACTER CONTACT

[gyve]

ACTION × TEXT × VIDEO × AUDIO × HOLOGRAM × DATAVERSE

@

SHASH

×

CHARACTER NAME

KALADIN STORMBLESSED

CIVILIAN NAME

CALVIN WERO

TEAM

REVELATION

HOUSING NUMBER

009

×

Comments

[gyve]

The first time didn't even feel real

It still doesn't
Most of this technology is foreign to me
Most of this world is foreign to me
It all feels like a dream

( and entering the simulator makes the feeling even worse. like he's being sent deeper into sleep. )

How long were you home

1/2

[fessus]

[ It's only after reading Kaladin's reply that Noctis realizes he would've accepted an interpretation of his question that referred to either reality. What happened in Lucis didn't feel real either.

It feels less like he's caught between sleep and wakefulness and more like he's trapped between two dreams. ]

A few weeks tops

Tbh it kind of blurred together

2/2

[fessus]

You okay?

[ The question feels too vulnerable, so he amends it: ] No weird lingering side effects or anything?

[gyve]

( there it is again. he's bristling before noctis sends his second message, about to reply snappishly and dismiss him from asking. then... it turns medical. better for kaladin, who doesn't want to worry a comrade, but it's enough of a derailment that his reply is delayed.

perhaps his fellow windrunners haven't been questioning his suitability as highmarshal or, alternately, trying to coddle him. perhaps, like this stranger, they were thoughtful without an apparent agenda. )

I'm acclimating
Any side effects I do have won't interfere in the performance of my duties

How are you
Really

[fessus]

[ Not a denial, then. He's experiencing issues, whether they're physical or mental, and it offers some small comfort to Noctis when he's feeling incredibly alone with his own struggles. ]

Guess we should compare notes if it gets worse, if we're the only ones who have gone through it

So far idk. I'm just pissed off

[gyve]

I'm willing to do so Samuel
Even if nothing comes of it I'll be able to monitor you

I'm also willing to listen

( noctis is pissed off. kaladin thinks he understands, but not fully. he'd typically pull up a seat and make this a quiet discussion—low pressure and without expectations. instead, he talks to an empty room.

it's unnatural. )

[fessus]

[ Ah. ]

Call me Noctis, idr feel like going by some fake name rn

[ A pause. ]

Sorry the shorthand probably doesn't make sense to you, you have to have all the messages read to you or whatever right? [ The memory comes back to him through it all, Kaladin struggling to read even basic words and asking him to dictate for him. ]

[gyve]

Noctis then

You're right that some of it is nonsense to me but you're not the first one who's taken shortcuts with their messages
It's nothing new
The implant helps by making some assumptions
Overall sentences don't suffer much when there's a word or two out of place

( ... )

Reading and writing
It's uncommon for men in my country

[fessus]

[ He rereads what Kaladin said. That he's willing to listen, that he can be depended upon, and he isn't sure how to feel about it. Selfishly he doesn't feel like he's in a place to offer the same in return, hardly wanting yet another burden placed on his head but feeling equally incapable of expressing everything compacted into that tight lump in his throat.

It must suck having to say his thoughts out loud, huh. ]

Yeah? Bet you've had to explain that to people 5000 times here already

Ig that means you don't really use computers?

[ Maybe... just talking like this is okay. ]

[gyve]

( there's no elaboration on what noctis meant by being "pissed," and that's okay. he's made it clear he's willing to hear him out. to push would be inconsiderate... and counterproductive.

so, kaladin relents with a mighty: )

Ugh

( has no idea his noises of disgust are all transcribed and immortalized in text )

No
I don't understand how they work
I stay away from the ones that aren't physically attached to me

Are you at ease with the technology here
What's the upper limit of your world

[fessus]

[ That single "ugh" does more for his mood than almost anything else has since his return. That... and Kaladin's offer to listen. One makes him feel guilty for not having the ability to engage, however, while the other doesn't. ]

Did you just grunt or was that an actual sigh of disgust

Anyway the way half this stuff is set up def goes beyond what I'm used to, I didn't have a chip stuck in my head back home

But honestly it's pretty easy to use and the UIs not too off, so if you end up with questions or don't understand some online slang someones throwing at you you can message me

[gyve]

I don't know what you're talking about

( folds his arms!!!!!!!!! )

I don't know what a you I is either
Start there expert

[fessus]

Wow you've got the attitude for it already

[ so proud........ ]

My bad a UI is a user interface

So like the screens you're looking at and how you have the different options and pics and how it's all laid out

Make sense?

[gyve]

( reluctantly stares around the screen )

Yes

You can access user interfaces in the simulation chambers as well
To control the setting
Have you had time to complete any of the training modules

[fessus]

Ugh

(that's the sound your chip thought you made btw)

If I wanna train I can always do it in person, I don't feel like jumping into some module yet. Unless you're gonna say it's worth it and life changing

[gyve]

It sounds a lot happier when you make it

( how does he change the voice settings, it's killing him )

Training in person will always be preferred
The simulations give you tactical experience and real-world scenarios without getting injured
It's like exercising different muscles

[fessus]

Happier?? Okay well new goal we need to fix your text to speech voice, computers generate them and you can switch them out to get ones that fit better etc

And the guy I always trained with back home would hate that lol, he'd always say getting hit was the best motivator to not get hit again

[gyve]

Ugh

( yeah

how do storming computers generate voices? he thought everything was pre-recorded word by word and strung together in an intricate way. it was either that, or the implant triggered an auditory hallucination every time someone wrote him.

never mind. never mind. he should be happy noctis has offered to help him at all. )

That's not true
The best motivator to not get hit again is knowing others will get hit after you should you fall

Whatever
You feel the pain during as if it were real so you can report to your instructor you followed his teachings
But when you emerge from the simulation you don't carry the wounds sustained within it

1/2

[fessus]

Ugh as in "thanks Noctis that sounds really helpful" right?

[ He has to make sure he's not bullying him into giving him access to his own internal computer, after all. Somehow it just... feels overly personal. ]

You don't have to convince me and he'd prob agree with the first thing you said too

He's just one of those guys that makes everything too hardcore and then has to make it my problem

2/2

[fessus]

So

Is that why you fight? Protecting people?

[gyve]

Why would I say it when you already have

( pat yourself on the back, noctis, and stay strong

the series of texts that follows is read to him while he rests back on his cot, throwing an arm over his eyes. his legs are off the end of the mattress, too tall to do anything but curl up in a loose ball during sleep.

he doesn't want to think about it now. fighting. protecting people. freezing up. )

Are you sure he makes it your problem
You seem the type to take that on yourself
Insisting on assisting someone with the settings on their implant while acting like you were forced to is a good example

It's not criticism

( if he's right, if noctis is that kind of man, then it's... relatable. )

Helping is what I try to do too
I try to protect my people
Whether or not I'm any good at that is up for debate
But I'm good at fighting

[fessus]

[ He won't put him through another mangled "ugh", not when that little comment is good enough confirmation. Kaladin will accept his help, whether he needs it or wants it, and it's a small win right now that he doesn't want to question.

Maybe if he were a little more text tone savvy he might tease him, build up rapport, but the topic... well, it turns toward something serious, something he doesn't want to risk coming across misconstrued. ]

Yeah I'm sure bc helping you with some settings is something easy I know a lot about and you obviously don't know where to start, which has nothing to do with him wanting to train until someone passes out?

[ It's not criticism. And yet it inches too close to a sore point for a man currently hyper-sensitive to any burden, self-imposed or not. ]

You're good enough that LILITH thought you could help, right? Idk I've met a lot of guys here so far that don't seem like they're gonna be good to work with so it's kind of a relief to find an exception

[gyve]

( even his jovial implant can't drum up a buoyant tone for noctis' riposte. kaladin frowns, knowing his comparison hasn't been taken well. )

I meant nothing by it

( not an apology but the truth. it's all he intends to give back, uninterested in starting an argument with a man he was, moments ago, trying to comfort. )

Thanks for not associating me with them
I owe you an apology for doing so to you when the day we met
I've grown used to responding to them
Not people like you with good moral fibre

As far as I'm aware though Lilith doesn't choose us based on combat ability
Perhaps overall ability
What team are you on

1/2

[fessus]

[ "Good moral fiber".

Such a simple statement hits him right between the eyes when he most needs to read it, sat alone in his dark room with a thoughtful stare flicking back over and over those words. ]

Thanks

Overall ability is even better right? We know we can fight, now we know they think we can handle it. Guess I have to count on you to distract the kaiju while I hit it hard 🗡️

I'm on Revelation wbu

2/2

[fessus]

Sorry, what about you