Deckerd's Inbox

[patokiichi]

Hello. I understand this is how people attempt to reach each other when communicators aren't enough, so... Thank you, but you have not reached me. Please try one of these option, instead. Goodbye.

voice | video | text | action

Comments

text; $freebird

[birdsandblades]

[ It's not a comm number Deckerd will know. It's certainly not attached to anything of Kagerou's right now.

But one mech was certainly still burning from their last meeting.

There was still an unanswered question, in Kagerou's eyes. ]

Live your life in a box and you won't ever get to see the light.

That's your answer.

Figure it out for yourself, Brave Police.

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd stares at this datapad thing he'd been given while seated in a quiet corner of the commissary. He's only just getting adjusted to using it at all, and had not at all anticipated getting a message from someone whose contact information he didn't already know.]

[He slowly and carefully types out a message back, then deletes it and starts over several times in a row before he's satisfied]

Whoever this is, know that I will always follow my heart and my duty. Wherever one leads, the other follows. If that leads me to a box... maybe that box is exactly when and where I need to be to fulfill both.

[birdsandblades]

[ Ugh. What else did Kagerou expect from this one? He was the Brave Police's poster boy. He should leave it there. Leave the other Brave to his ignorance if he was so keen on keeping his blinders on.

But he finds himself typing back. It's not exactly very becoming of a ninja. ]

And what if your duty threatens your heart?

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd stared at his datapad for what felt like a long time. Indecision roiled in his chest, making his fuel pump stutter. Finally, reluctantly, he typed back]

If and when that happens... then I would be forced to abandon my duty. I may not know who I am outside of it, but I know that whoever that is... he made the right decision. I have to trust that.

[birdsandblades]

[ ...Not what he expected from the poster boy. Interesting. ]

Then maybe there's hope for you yet, Detective.

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd laughed on the next exvent, despite the strange tension he felt]

I wouldn't go that far. You paint a harrowing picture after all, one that may mean leaving behind everyone and everything I know. But...

But I do know that if there's hope for any of us, I will make sure to give it to the next person down the line.

[birdsandblades]

You're already here.

Some mechs would say you already have.

text UN: NoNonsense

[deceptamom]

I'm Nickel with the medical staff. I recently returned after being absent from the ship for roughly a year.

During my absence an important datapad disappeared from my desk. I submitted a request to security to help me find who took it and was directed to you.

I don't really want who took it to get in trouble, I understand I was gone a while and many people don't come back after disappearing from the ship, and there's kind of rule of finders keepers... But I'm back now and I just want my datapad back.

text, UN: Patokiichi

[patokiichi]

Hello, Nickel. Thank you for reaching out. I will do my best to recover your property as soon as possible.

From the sound of it you would not want to press charges against who ever it was who is now in possession of it, but I must ask anyway.

Further... Was there anything sensitive on your datapad that might make recovering it with discretion more, ah, important? Timely?

[deceptamom]

No I don't want charges pressed, I was gone for quite some after all. I just want my datapad back.

Time doesn't matter but the contents... I don't really want to divulge them, they're quite personal. I'm sure the person who has it wouldn't have even figured out the password for it.

[patokiichi]

No need to elaborate if you aren't comfortable with that, so long as you don't believe it will effect locating it in any way.

I'll begin doing some digging through the security footage from the cameras mounted in the medibay then. After that will come follow-up interviews, if necessary. Your property will make its way back to you, you have my word on that.

Action, There and Gone

[thelordofmisrule]

[ While you were away someone has been in your room.

It doesn't look like this someone has really rifled that much through your possessions. Or stolen anything.

How do you know someone was here? There is a tiny plastic human toy baby nestled in each and every desk drawer. On top of the desk is a note 'Shh! They're sleeping!' ]

ACTION: A small box outside your door contains a handful of...

[thelordofmisrule]

Action (you are under no obligation to respond to this your character can be 'out')

[betterthanmegaman]

[ Recently Bass requested some important information. Who... is the strongest Cybertronian on this ship. He received a hot tip that it was 'Shockwave' but also 'not the Senator one'. There were a few thoughts that went through his processor. One... it was really dumb that there were two people here with the SAME NAME. It must get confusing! Two, while he does (surprisingly) know what a Senator is, he has no idea what a Senator looks like. Do they wear signs? Bass guesses probably not.

This leads him to one conclusion: He has to fight BOTH of them to make sure he's actually fighting the strong one.

This leads him to a second conclusion: He has no idea where Shockwave lives. He could ask for direction, ask if anyone knows... but that begs the question... If they know how strong Bass is will they even tell the truth?

There is now one solution: He has to canvas the ship himself and check every inhabited room he comes across.

So there's the backstory. And that's why Bass, armored up in his winged Treble armor (being able to fly covers ground quicker!) is pounding aggressively at your door.

Sorry. ]

text UN: NoNonsense

[deceptamom]

Good afternoon. I just want to thank you for returning my datapad and being so discreet about it. I know it's been a few months and I'm ashamed it's taken me this long. It feels like I've been dealing with one disaster after another.

But it does mean a lot to me, so you have my gratitude. The security team should consider you an asset.

Text, UN: Patokiichi

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd stares at the new message in his inbox, entirely unsure of what to say or do, and not only because he hadn't found the dratted thing at all. He'd still been putting out feelings on this issue on a regular basis, and knowing it had been found safe and sound, and clearly with no evidence of who had even taken it in the first place...?]

[It was maddening.]

[It was fascinating.]

There is no need to apologize for having a life to live. I am simply glad you have been reunited with your property.

[He hesitated briefly before hitting send, feeling guilty for a misdirection, but...]

Thank you for your words. I hope to earn them again.

text; $freebird

[birdsandblades]

[ How long had Deckerd gone without any sign of Kagerou? Still on the roster, but missing all the same. Not in his room. Not poking his head out of the vents.

And now- ]

Deckerd.

A long, long time ago, I read your file. I was curious, I think.

If I may ask... What was it like? When they nearly deleted you? Put in all of the information needed to be a police officer, and they thought it would destroy you.

[patokiichi]

['Kage, I'm so glad you're safe,' Deckerd almost writes, or 'We've been so worried about you, let us help you,' but he didn't write that either, or the 'Please,' he actually does write several times, but deletes it each time. If this was to be the beginning of another line of communication, he didn't want to scare Kagerou away or make him angry]

Kagerou.

It was... Terrifying. I knew that it would end in my destruction, and in its own way, it did. I was afraid. But I also thought that what I meant for was needed to help everyone, not just to help Yuuta. Or myself.

...I think if it had happened later, closer to when I was stolen away here, it would have carved away more of my heart to do it. But I still would have.

[birdsandblades]

[ There is nothing, for a long time. And then, finally, the typing bubble reappears. The messages are slower. ]

I think I have to clarify.

What did it feel like?

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd doesn't know what to say at first. He stares down at his datapad and he is back in that room that had used to be his whole world, except for Yuuta. Trapped in a room where the only exit meant leaving himself behind]

The whole world turned into shades of brilliant white that shrank from the outside in, until the only thing left was my knowledge of my own existence. That I was alive, and was loved. That I had given courage as my last and only gift. And then there was nothing at all.

...But that isn't what you are looking for, either. You want to know if it hurt. It did, inasmuch as having every part of your sense of self deleted one by one to make room for a stranger can be said to be something we experience physically. It hurt. And by the time I thought to cry out, I no longer knew how. And then I didn't know anything.

...Sometimes I do wonder if-

[A pause]

I hope this proves helpful. And I hope... I hope you know that you can ask me such things in person in the future, if you choose to.

[birdsandblades]

I wanted to know both, I think.

I don't know.

Thank you.

[ Perhaps that would be the end of it, perhaps it should be, but- ]

We're not the same. But I guess we're similar.

[patokiichi]

[For a brief moment, Deckerd can only stare at the words with the most baffled expression on his face. Then it is as if a switch has been toggled in his head as a very sudden and very overwhelming understanding clicks into place, or at least enough of it that Deckerd feels lightheaded with a rush of guilt and horror. Look at what he has done to your brother, Shado]

[He stares and he stares and he stares. Then, he types]

...Earlier, I cut myself off from saying something that has regularly been on my mind since that day.

'Sometimes, I do wonder if I am the same person at all, or simply a very convincing understudy.'

I think we are approaching the same point from different directions, and... I am deeply sorry for the part I have played in bringing you to it. This was your chance at peace.

[birdsandblades]

[ Oh. Oh. That hits like a punch to the gut, heavier than all his soonest refueling. It had been their conversation that had led to the realization, and now Deckerd was saying-

Kagerou had already known he'd made a mistake. This only makes it feel all the worse. ]

Deckerd I

[ He has to say it now or he won't, but Deckerd deserves to hear it. Because Deckerd, he KNEW Deckerd had a soul, and if he'd- No. No, it wouldn't have changed anything. ]

This frame has no sAI. You told me you fought the body, and this body is scarred. There is memory corruption in my banks and there is not enough time for what you said happened to me.

To him.

To Kagerou.

[patokiichi]

[Deckerd can only look at his datapad for a few long moments, unable to think in words at all. He just felt a rushing wave of emotion that makes him want to pick at his hands again. Later.]

You don't behave like the body that we killed, Kagerou. I told you what that was like. He didn't talk, didn't react, didn't-

...I often talk about how we have human hearts, but humans don't need to point at one singular part and say that is who they are. Maybe you took what happened to me one step further. You aren't an echo anymore, like I am. I think-

[He struggles for a few moments]

I think we should figure out what all of this means together.

[birdsandblades]

...We were based off of you. I think if you are an echo, so are all of us.

[ And he doesn't think that's true. How can Deckerd be an echo? How can Six? How can his brother? The realization is bittersweet. It almost hurts more than this frame. ]

I wish



I wish I'd known.
It's too late, now.

[patokiichi]

[Alarm floods through his lines, leaving him gripping his free hand into a fist so tight the newest welds ache]

It is never too late, not while you are still here. Let me help you. If you don't, I'll come find you anyway it will just take longer.

You are one of us. You always were. Let me prove it to you. Please.

Duckstribution

[thelordofmisrule]

Sitting on Deckerd's desk in the security office is a rubber duck with a siren stuck to it. Attempting to approach the duck will make the siren go off and the lights start flashing! How do you turn it off??? THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS! ]