gaugedlife

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

X was too busy pulling Gage from the pod to notice how fast the tears evaporated, leaving a dull grey stain that seemed to fade before the eyes of an observer almost as quickly.

Well, on the upside of that bit of weirdness, it seemed a mop wouldn’t be necessary.

He gave a nod of farewell of Eve before burying his face in Gage’s still-braided hair- oh, they’d have to fix that soon.

Oh. Oh har-dee-har-har, Nix. You’re being pulled into a group hug for that verbal jab.

“No rush,” X murmured into the elf’s hair. “Take your time.”

Nix laughs lightly and hugs them both. “Well I think, Lost you might want to take Gage to go see the kids. I’m sure they will be happy to see them.” He pulls out of the hug though, sorry lost he has some work still to do.

He goes and picks up the jar with the crystal before walking back over. “Gage, this crystal has your broken data and possibly that Virus in it. I think you should keep it. You can decide what to do with it in time.”

The straight smile that broke out on Gage’s face when he was drawn into a hug with Nix was something to behold. Oh, how he’d missed these two. Oh, how he’d gotten grouped up in some sticky shit... But, somehow, someway, everyone came together.

Because they cared.

If Gage had a physical heart, it would have fluttered at the thought alone. Instead, he grinned like a goofball and enjoyed what time he had with his family.

Being forced to pull slightly away, Gage blinks at Nix, his eyes wide with a wonder of seeing someone for the first time as he slowly held out his palm to take the jar. He hadn’t seen Nix in forever... Like, actually seen with his own eyes. The sensation is completely different than using Sacha as an aide...

But, yes, please give the elf the crystal as a memento of the ordeal like a missing tooth. He’ll think of something to do with it.

“I hope...” The slight frown that crossed his lips conveyed bitter distaste for the crystal already. However, he needed to focus. Focus on the fact--

“...Sacha...Where’s Sacha?”

[gaugedlife]

leviathanshadowcry‌:

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

It’s…

It’s Gage.

It’s Gage.

Its Gage, it’s him he’s back he’s safe, safe sąf́e҉ s̴͜a̛f̶͟͡e̶͡ s҉҉̷á̧f̵̷͢͜͝e̷̢̕͘ s̸͇͢a̸̸͕̮̣��̻f̣̮̣̦͘è̠̰̹͕̦̥̝̀͡ -

X dropped Nix’s hand, a broken sob breaking loose from his throat a moment later.

His knees shook, and he stumbled forward, catching himself on the rim of the pod before scooping Gage up in his other arm.

“Gage.”

His voice was tired, but so, so happy. So full of every minute of that near-week of work, of endless effort, all in the name of saving the elf from the parasite.

“Gage.”

Large, dark tears budded in his eyes, then let loose and streamed down his face over the face-mask, into his shirt.

Well, good luck prying X loose, he’s not gonna budge without a fight.

Nix just sweatdrops a bit and sighs softly. “Eve I think we are going to need a mop.” He walks a bit closer to be in Gage’s line of sight. “You really did go over board with your random poking at shit you didn’t need to… I’m just glad the defrag was able to get the virus out and sort your functions out. I’ll give you a hug after we can get X to let go…. might be three weeks though…” He chuckled lightly.

He was honestly glad it worked, though… he wondered what they might do with that crystal that was used to hold the virus and broken code bits.

“Well, I don’t know about a mop right now but..” Eve had crawled under her desk while the happy reunion began to retrieve the crystal, sliding out from under it to hold it up. “I know this bad boy can be stored in a jar now along with your fairy collection.” Getting herself up off the floor to locate a jar anyway to pop it into, setting it onto the desk. “You guys are more than welcome to camp out in here but I have six babies to go to and a daughter to… "Pausing to check the time. "Collect from kindergarten.”

Oh, gods, was he safe? Somehow he himself couldn’t seem to shake this feeling this was just a really hopeful dream. A dream where he could see and be in control of his own thoughts and actions and--

Oh, gods.

He hadn’t SEEN anyone in YEARS much less his friends. His eyes glittered with tears and he cursed the fact that they were blocking his newfound sight, littering his vision with a smoke screen of refracting energy. Gage would probably never believe this were actually real.

X felt real and that was the only thing keeping him grounded in the current moment. It... had to be real. He had to be back or this was the cruelest joke he’d ever have the displeasure of experiencing.

“You guys did it...” He remembered fractions of everything that’d transpired. Virus managed to fragment any information that pertained to their time together during his occupancy. The defrag placed him in the unusual position of having holes here and there whenever he thought about it. Still. They did it.

They actually saved him.

He could have been lost forever inside of himself, but they managed to do it.

Method behind the madness aside, Gage couldn’t be happier. Just watch him sob onto X and nod a few times to acknowledge Nix was probably in the room somewhere... saying something? The words hardly filtered in. “Thank you, thank you. I think I can explain what happened...”

For now, he hugs and sobs.

[gaugedlife]

Gage had been in a weird, unusual stasis since the unfortunate event of Virus snap, crackle and popping himself into submission. Once the initial break happened, Gage and Virus were stuck dealing with each other in the dark, trying to figure out what the fuck happened and who’s fault was what.

Over time, Gage realized... Virus’s voice had gotten quieter, despite his words being more panicked towards his fading presence. All at once, Virus had disappeared and Gage was left alone with nothing but deafening silence and a worry no time would ever sate.

Eventually came the precious time for him to awake anew once more. Hopefully without a trace of the virus program lingering inside of him at all... Once could hope.

[[[ Power online . . . ]]]

His eyes softly fluttered open a hair, his head turning slightly as he groaned. God, he felt groggy as though he’d slept for two weeks without a moment to rise, and god damn this place was fucking bright to his tired eyes...

Wait. Bright?

“...I’m...” His hands gingerly moved up to brace his head, himself feeling rather faint despite it all, but a good type of faint as there followed a sudden rush of excitement. He looked about ready to cry out of either confusion or relief or ANYTHING. 

God, he was alive. He was still him. He wasn’t destroyed and... Everyone had cared enough to help him. It made his heart ache happily. Lavender eyes found their way to X first, softening as he bit back the tears he so desperately desired to let loose.

“X, you look tired...” The instant reply was soft, almost too soft as his vocal processing system were just waking up freshly and had yet to work the static kinks out. ‘I’m sorry’ lingered in his tone as he crookedly smiled.

It was Gage. 100%, unfiltered Gage.

leviathanshadowcry‌:

nixlight‌:

Nix nods and smiles a bit. “That’s good Let’s head there so he doesn’t wake up alone.” He noticed Lost’s look and tone and reached out to put his hand on his friends shoulder. “He’ll be fine. Come on, we can all give him a hug before we yell at him.”

Eve turned around to head into the room, straight to the computer desk to get the pod to open up ready for Gage to wake up. “We’ve done this many times before, even to new people. Just like the time dad powered down from an energy leak from a loose wire~” Oops..

Leviathan hummed to himself, pocketing his hands temporarily while backing up a few steps. “You guys go ahead. I just need a minute.”

X turned to look at Nix. “…We’ll talk about it later.” Regarding that ‘energy leak’. He carefully snagged the hand on his shoulder to pull Nix along into the room.

He approached the pod cautiously, with Nix in tow. While he wanted to go closer, X held himself back. No need to scare Gage right away, especially after all that trauma.

At the first sign of movement from the elf, however, X spoke up, his voice concerned yet hopeful. “Gage?”

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

The monitors were feeding X a lot of bullshit, and thus he elected to temporarily ignore them for now.

Sky looked over the scene with wide, terrified eyes. Her hands were shaking.

X flipped off the intercom before he wrapped her up in a hug. “Hey, shh, shh. It’s gonna be okay. Nix told me before that, when he and Gage first met, Gage was so full of glitches and errors that he couldn’t walk and talk at the same time.”

Sky just clung to him, still shaken up by the ambient and unsettling emotional response from the elf.

“It’s going to be alright, Nix knows what he’s doing.” He better know what he’s doing.

X took a deep breath and gave his daughter another gentle squeeze.

Nix walks a bit closer. “I don’t think I’ll need too. You seem to be beating yourself up well enough on your own.” He stops when he is standing over Gage, though just slightly out of range just in case. “I think you can stop having your tempter tantrum now.”

“N-nnn... I won’t stand down!” Virus grumbled, growling under his breath before hopping forwards and attempting to attack once more with a very sloppy swing. 

He had no grasp on being able to actually handle his energy properly in such a horrid state of affairs.

That being said, he still pretty much knocked himself out with nothing more than a loud electrical snap and the sound of fizzled electricity. It was sadly the worst decision he’s made so far based on the resulting crack was deafening.

Almost like a little ragdoll, he collapsed and hit the ground. Energy crackled in the air and Virus stumbled, his pupils fizzing out from the harsh attempt to lash out. His eyes were blank and form were practically humming with unconstrained energy. The entire area around him smelled of burnt popcorn.

On the monitor, there was a harsh SPIKE in energy consumption that caused the numbers to flicker red for a few seconds before leveling out as though the entire safety net protocol worked. Seems like X’s code might have actually saved Virus from accidentally breaking himself.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Even with all that energy leakage, the tank seemed to swallow up the loose bits and recycle them into keeping the elf’s holistic energy levels at that lovely 25%.

The monitor’s readings on the elf’s vitals, however, were thrown into an absolute tizzy. Alarms were going off left and right, readings that were supposed to be percentages were coming back with letters in them-

“Nix,” X almost barked into the intercom. “What was that? What did you just do?”

All humor was gone, and the two were either in panic mode or were barreling dangerously close to it.

Hopefully the tank could keep the elf just stable enough that he wouldn’t disappear entirely.

Nix snorts a bit and chuckles. “He was still wearing the collar I made for him when we meet, the one that made it so he functions smoother. Seems all other upgrades and stabilizing was done on top of the collars active code. Turn off the collar and all the things built on it come falling down.” He sighs a bit and walks over to be closer to Gage. “Even Virus is built on top of all of that… so as it’s trying to control Gage, right inputs to do so are changing rapidly.”

“Wh-wha... I c-can’t...” He clenched his hands and shook like a leaf. This was the absolute worst thing he’d ever experienced. “What did you...”

As if on instinct, Virus stumbled back with a terrified gasp, perhaps attempting to ready another swing at Nix but only serving to crack himself upside the head. It was as if his controls were flipped. He couldn’t move correctly without insane concentration. Movement and speech couldn’t happen at the same time.

It was terrifying.

“F-fuuuuuck...” He just sucker punched his own skull pretty hard. That didn’t feel delightful.

On the monitors, everything about Gage would look like glitched spaghetti. Each percent and line of code was flickering between a gross wrecked template, to it’s normal true standard as though it didn’t know if everything really was OKAY.

“Don’t touch me! D-don’t you fuckin..” A few steps before he continued. “--Don’t!”

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

While Sky was keeping an eye on things, X sighed with relief.

“That automated energy stabilization I put in place just activated, and it looks to be working just fine.” Was he talking to Sky? Was he thinking aloud? Who knows?!

“Good,” Sky replied, despite the off-chance that her father hadn’t meant to say that aloud. “We’re not losing him so easy then, right?”

X turned to her and nodded, chuckling. “The real question, though, is simple. How long until the thing notices?”

Sky giggled. “Should I start a timer?”

X held up a hand, palm out, before flipping the switch to turn the intercom back on. “Nix? ‘wait’ for what?” What did he mean, ‘wait’?

Nix used his claw to peel back Gage’s ‘clothes’ till he was able to see it. Yep still there. Nix’s own brand mark on a collar that been there so long it almost looked like a part of the elf’s own body. It still had a blinking light on it was well when he flipped the mark up to check on it’s status. “It’s still on…. well this is going to make things interesting.” With that, he actually dropped Gage and stepped back a bit.

“Oh…. this could hurt, not sure but let’s find out shall we?” He opened a panel on his left arm guard and types in a code to stop the collar’s functions.

Good luck doing any thing now Virus.

Virus flinched, squinting his eyes at Nix he fiddled with pulling his clothes away. Talk about inappropriate and RUDE. The elf restrained the annoyed growl that tore through his throat as he continued to attempt to cause sparks... something. Anything.

When nothing came, he checked his energy again, noting unhappily it was frozen.

What? The? Fuck?

To add the frosting atop his hell cake, the elf yelped as he were so unceremoniously dropped like a wet dish rag. How indignant. How RUDE. This fuck should be taught some manners.

“How about let’s not--” He managed to get out just as he stood and suddenly felt something very, very bad happen. It’s hard to explain, but he felt like... someone had ripped his heart out- or at least hollowed out his entirety. He couldn’t stand without feeling his legs tremble and his mind darted frantically about as though he couldn’t focus what so ever.

He felt like he was leaking energy everywhere with each breath he struggled to make. Oh god.

“W-W-What did y-you do?” Control. Virus grasped desperately for control despite there being nothing.

It was like someone ripped the foundation out from under his home and the floor began caving in.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Ok, the loud noise spooked them out of their giggles. X had to hand it to the little impostor, what he lacked in eyesight and aim? He made up for in sheer strength.

The tank seemed to take the blow just fine, even leaving a little pop-up notification to indicate as much.

“Here,” X nudged the stool closer to Sky, even as he slipped over to the monitoring equipment. “Enjoy the show, I’m just going to check on a few things.”

No sense in letting all their hard work go to waste by getting cocky, right? He might as well check on the elf’s vitals again. All that wild flailing was likely to put a drain on his energy levels and such. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Nix did actually slightly side steps the attack. The energy that went every where was very clear to him and his tentacles all shifted around to make sure not to be in the way of the waves coming off the Elf.

Checkmate

Nix lashed out with his normal hand and grabbed the elf by the neck to hold him up in the air. “Well, You have some bite to you it seems….” he stops and blinks a bit. “wait….” he ran his thumb along the side of the elf’s neck. Was that really still here? This might be easier than he thought.

God damn it. Virus curled in a vain attempt to save himself, only to find himself at the mercy of this tick. If anything could be synonymous with hell, it would be this right here.

“Unhand me!” As if that ever worked. The elf kicked his legs, grabbing Nix’s hand and buzzing with energy as though he were preparing to give a controlled shock to the poor demon.

Energy hit 25% and... refused to lower.

Odd.

Perhaps it wasn’t lowering due to stress?

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Satisfied with his words, X turned the intercom off and sighed, before turning back to the window.

He’s gonna need some bed rest too, after all this.

Sky hugged her father again. “You did good.”

X just nodded, looking worn. “I hope this works,” he muttered, before hugging her back with a squeeze.

The two chuckled at the ‘game’ Nix was playing at the Virus’s expense.

Nix chuckles a bit. “But Games are fun” He purrs out a bit. “You are reading Gage’s memories you know I love to play these games~” He let a third tentacle move in from above to grab the braid to give it a light tug.

“I bet you are just lost in a room of things you can see or find. I bet that is just spine tingling~” With that remark he ran a tentacle up Gage’s back to make his point.

“ACK!!” Virus choked on his breath with that dastardly tentacle pulled his hair, a very intense shiver crawling up his spine. What the ever loving fuck was that?? “Don’t you dare touch ME!!”

His tone lilted, jumping higher as he felt another assault on his back. Disgusting, weird little appendages! How dare this fool dare to touch him? What gave him the right...?

Withdrawing, Virus took half a pace away from the offending tentacles before drawing him hand inward and dashing forwards. Landing a hit with all the energy he could muster in a matter of seconds, Virus was for certain the strike would be more than just painful...

If only he landed the hit.

Ah.

The attack touched down directly next to Nix, disturbing the door behind the two with a loud crash. If the noise wasn’t obvious of how god awfully strong that attack was, then the actual visible sight of the expelled energy being absorbed by the surroundings should have been. This little tank gobbled his beating up like it was nothing, nullifying what would have been a very dangerous hit to any normal wall/person.

Shit.

Abort. He wanted to back out before Nix had the ability to nab him.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

The first little slew of words from the elf had X struggling harder, even more upset-

Until the thing started reaching for things to say. Until he mentioned Dom.

And then it clicked.

X took a deep breath. Don’t stress out over it, he’s trying to get you riled up- or, well, he’s trying to get Nix riled up.

Don’t let him. Don’t let him win.

X stood up straight and hugged Sky in apology. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Sky shook her head, but squeezed back. “I might have done the same thing, if you hadn’t.”

Still holding onto his kid, X flipped the intercom back on. “Dom is going to be fine. Give him a week of bed rest and he’ll be back on his feet, good as new.” Aside from the psychological trauma- opening those old wounds from seeing someone die like that was going to be a little slice of hell for the kid to pull himself out of.

Nix sighs in annoyance. Not going to lie the part about attacking Dom did tick him off but he learned this lesson years ago. Don’t lose your cool in a fight. “Yeah some how I doubt that, Virus. You aren’t that good at this… You are trying to push buttons, yet you aren’t finding anything. I’d ask if you are blind but I am well aware Gage had gone blind ages ago.”

To prove that he had one of his tentacles tap Gage’s left shoulder, if Virus turned to face the area of the tap Nix would just use another tentacle to tap on his right shoulder.

“Res ipsa loquitur, demon. You think I’m bother by the opinion of a lowly--?!?” Virus turned jumping and swatting at what ever the fuck touched him, cussing under his breath. If he were indeed a cat, his hair would be bristled on edge.

“Cease your game playing at ONCE.” A bitter snap as he clawed blindly towards wherever he assumed the tentacle came from. He was not in the mood for being toyed with. Prepare for disaster.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Well, little impostor, at least your words have some effect.

Just on someone who you weren’t aiming for.

Congrats! Sky is now desperately trying to hold X back from charging towards the airlock.

It really is a comedic thing to see- a child standing at 4′5″, trying to hold back her father, who stands over a foot taller.

Somehow she’s winning? Who knows how.

Nix blinks a bit, it was a slow blink before he just shrugged. “You act like I don’t know how to learn… That’s old news really.” He seemed oddly calm. “And made of a good reason huh? To be used and thrown away is a good reason? Sounds like trash to me really. So I am talking to a virus that is like a paper towel? Use once and toss.”

“Ever looked in the mirror? Why in the world were you even created, Nix? To be a pathetic copy of a hero you were never destined to hold a candle to.” Nonplussed, he continued with fervor, almost getting antsy to jump. “At the very least, you could have done the world a favor and died in that hole you dug yourself out of!”

Find some way to bother him.

What does he even care about?

“Honestly. I’ve almost killed one of those savage kids, a good riddance it would have been,” Think. Get creative. He needed to get to the side of Nix so he could have a better advantage against him. “-If only Gage hadn’t been such a disastrous fuck-up to begin with I’d be where I belong and you’d be one nuisance less in your asshole brigade.”

If anything, Virus viewed himself as the better Gage anyway.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

“Then play nice,” Sky said, nice and close to the intercom microphone. There was a finality to how she said it.

X leaned a bit in order to reach the switch, but he managed to turn off the intercom. Sky turned at him to blink owlishly, and he only shook his head in reply.

No, stop that, he meant. Don’t stoop to threatening things like that.

They weren’t going to bring Gia back into this- not after how shaken up he was last time.

Nix just hums a bit and stands there to look at his claws.”So you going to do a trick or is just the way that braid is all in knots the most interesting thing you got going on?”

“That’s rich coming from a failure such as yourself.” Virus barks with laughter, moving casually to the side as though he were trying to worm his way around Nix despite being far enough away to feel at least somewhat safe. However, his mouth ran faster than his processes could handle and the information he found was too good to allow a pass.

“Big scary demon, when in actuality you’re a pathetic mistake without a purpose in this world. As if you even have a foothold in judging me-- at least I was made for a good reason.”

His smile was something to behold, curling up to bare his teeth once more.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

For the first time in days, X was laughing hard enough to feel it down in his stomach. When the impostor had run face first into the wall of Virus, it had been terrifying. Now, though, it was hilarious.

The inner airlock door eased closed behind Nix, and once X managed to calm down, Sky turned on the intercom and spoke.

“Well, I suppose we could bring the other ‘expert’ back here, if you’d prefer…” Sky shook her head at her father, indicating that, no, she wasn’t serious about bringing Mr. Giaselle back into all this. But the viral elf didn’t know that.

Nix just rolled his eyes and used a tentacle to touch Gage’s back to pick him up off the ground. “Yeah yeah. You clearly have access to some memories.” He hums a bit and clicks his claws together. “Clearly you aren’t really to good at this form. As I should I remind you, you just landed flat on your ass from running into a wall. So skilled at this…”

He kept his eyes on him the whole time and the tentacles would stay out as well, able to quickly react to any surprises this Virus will be able to pull off.

“Urgh. Not that cheating mind fuckery again. Leave the insane presence out of this.” Too many voices to address at once. Virus pinched the bridge of his nose and grit his teeth, drawing back from Nix as though he were simply disgusted by his presence.

“Look, I don’t need some idiot coming in here attempting to enlighten me through threats or in general just being a nuisance.” His eyes leveled on Nix as his hand pulled away to reveal an incredulous, wicked grin. A dark chuckle followed suit.

He was quickly studying any information he had on Nix, drawing any saved data he could get from Gage’s escapades. Whatever that would help him combat this ass.

“What a joke!”

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

There was, in fact, a catch. One word, little impostor: airlock.

Also: Nix is in the way, you little idiot.

So those two things left the two on the observation platform relatively unworried about an escape attempt actually going right for the elf. The outer airlock door closed behind Nix, and a second later the inner door opened to let him inside.

Nix walks in the rest of the way and let his tentacles out to kind of hang in the room to make a wall in front of the door just in case. “Well Demons are rarely known for their manners… Let’s have a chat Virus. You really an interesting thing, not sure how much you actually think on your own though.”

AND HE’S OFF. Akin to a blind racehorse, the elf dashed directly against Nix’s chest as though he wasn’t even there-- or he didn’t expect someone this large to enter the room. Needless to say, it sounded like a little slap when he barreled forwards and ended up falling flat on his ass.

Shit. He can’t access Cyber-space here. He can’t use his phantom abilities.

A moment passed as Virus sorted himself and stood, shaking his head. Once more, he regained his attitude and scowled.

“Pardon you. I’m not looking to talk to troublemakers.” That voice. He pinged around the memories he kept under lock and key, attempting to analyze the waveforms and discover who this annoying punk was. 

Bingo. This was him. The demon guy the elf was fond of.

More tiresome ‘family’. What a pain in the neck. 

“...Especially not the likes of YOU.”

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

“Sounds good to me.” X nodded, giving Sky the cue to start opening the outside door of the airlock.

Sky piped up as she typed away. “The entrance is down that little stairwell, Nix.” And once Nix had stepped inside said airlock, Sky flipped the intercom back on. “Your visitor wants to chat, Gage. Just a warning? If you bite this one, we’ll let him bite you back.”

Both X and Sky couldn’t help but think back to how badly the elf had beaten up Dom. They definitely didn’t want a repeat of that with Nix.

X stepped forward further, to stand next to his daughter and look down into the tank.

He nodded and hurried down there to head inside. Staying close to the door for now. He know’s Gage is blind and it looks like the Virus has no idea what he’s doing about it. “I am known for biting pretty hard after all. Might not be a wise idea.”

“Biting? Like a heathen??”

So they were opening the hatch? What a dumb idea. That would give an opportunity for escape. Are they MAD? This couldn’t be so simple. There had to be a catch.

Virus sat on his bed for only a short second before popping up once more, hoping that he’d be able to rush the idiot entering the chamber before him. Keeping his body language as nonchalant as possible, the elf crossed his arms and grinned peacefully. 

“Fine. Allow the neanderthal in. I’m steeling myself.”

Oh, he was gonna DASH.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

X stepped closer, humming in thought. “Well, considering this thing can impose pre-made templates of sensory data, I imagine there’s a sedation tool in all that. Somewhere.” Finding it would be the real challenge. One that they might not have time for.

Sky thought for a moment before adding on, “We still have those stasis cuffs that Wendel made.” Sure, it wasn’t the best option, but it would be better than nothing. It would make keeping hold of the elf at all outside of the tank possible easier.

She took pause, however, at the elf’s antics. Flicking the intercom back on, she giggled. “You’re acting like a toddler.” Her tone of voice made it clear she found the fact very amusing, even as she flicked the intercom back off again.

Nix shakes his head. “Let’s me just go in there for now, we can try that later if need be… but I want to get a closer look at him first.” sighs a bit and watched the elf before Sky turned on the mic again. “I’ve seen better behaved toddlers….”

These. Imbeciles.

Virus huffed, turning around sassily in such a way his braid swung pretty harsh. A moment of repose sank in as the elf determined how stupid it would be to grace such petty insults with a reply.

These specks were baiting him and he was most certainly not going to take it anymore.

So there. No more fun from the prisoner.

He’s not going to speak anymore, in fact, he’s going to... um... refer to his internal compass and head back to the bed provided to him. And most certainly not contact the bed with the grace of a toppling doe. Absolutely not. No. Nobody saw that.

Energy came to mind and he grinned to himself at the lowering percentage.

29% . . . 28%. . .

It was a matter of time now.

He’d make sure these fucks would highly regret their actions.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Sky nodded. “I figured. Just wasn’t sure what else to call them. And they answer to it just fine, so…” Yeah, it wasn’t the best plan, but it functioned well enough.

X went deathly still, blinking a few times before speaking up. “It’s a virus.” His tone was final, no doubt in his mind. “That’s why those marks appeared wherever our virus touched them. The two viruses hit a conflict, and it injured- maybe ‘burned’- them.” Those marks had been mentioned in the notes. “Aubrey never had any issue with physical contact with our virus, so it’s not just a cyber elf thing.”

Everything is making sense now.

Sky’s eyes flew almost as wide as X’s already had, and she stayed quiet until after Nix had finished his questioning. She flipped the intercom back off before she spoke again. “That’s what all this is for.” All the tech on the raised platform they stood on, and the odd, cell-like room Gage was held in below. “It’s all the tech from Cyber-Elf editing and holding equipment. It’s what’s keeping him from phasing out, and this way he can’t just hack his way through.”

Sorry little impostor, Sky and X are just going to ignore you at this point. Your sass has gone from kind of painful to just annoying.

“So what’s the plan?” X stretched, still looking tired but a lot less frazzled.

Nix thinks a bit and grumbles. “Well if we tried to defrag him while awake the virus might end Gage… And the machine to do the defragging is on another world all together.” He huffs a little while looking over the notes again. “Best I can say right now, is I go in there with him and see if I can knock him out some how.”

Given up, have they? The silence that followed suit brought a moment of clarity for the elf who felt a little jarred he were cut off from discussion. Maybe they had actually given up? Maybe they’d decided they would keep him locked in there until he gave up? Maybe there was nothing else they wanted out of him?

What the hell were those hecklers planning?

The most likely conclusion was to attempt some interpersonal invasions again. They tried it once... no guarantee they wouldn’t try it again.

“Fine! Whatever!” Virus hissed, crossing his arms with excessive force, tousling his free hair. He wasn’t gonna give them the opportunity to touch a single digit of his data. The second he noticed any lick of change, there’d be hell to pay-- mainly apparently a suffering that Sky had implied the whole family didn’t want to relive.

However, this time, Virus would make sure to prolong his deletion to ruffle some feathers. If they were going to trash him, he’d make sure to die as gracefully as possible.

[gaugedlife]

nixlight‌:

lostprogenitor‌:

Sky opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted when X let out a snort of laughter.

“‘Cursed Cabbage Patch’? I’ll have to remember that one.” Lookie there, elf boy! Your insults suck, to the point that your captors find them funny. Ha. Ha, ha ha.

Sky shook her head, holding down a snicker. At least Dad looked to be doing a little better than when he brought Nix in here.

“Though,” She paused to hum in thought, “I thought you were smarter than that. Come on, Gage. Don’t you get it? We don’t want you to leave.” They’d already grieved once, she’d told him as much. If he left again, he might as well have died.

Nix looked surprised when Sky called him Gage and reached over to turn off the mic. “…… That’s not Gage…… Yeah it’s Gage’s body, but what’s in control clearly isn’t the Gage we know and love. For starters Gage could come back with something better than cursed cabbage patch.”

He sighs a bit and looks over the notes again. “This is either a program override… which is really hard to do on cyber elves, and near impossible to do on an elf of Gage’s level. So…. this could be a virus…. If that’s true a defrag might be able to remove it.” He thinks a bit looking over the notes some more while tapping his claw on the counter. “but I can’t just pick him up and take him to get defragged… Gage is a lot more powerful than people think and clearly what ever this is is is using his full power. I don’t know if he can hurt me or not… but I do know if I can’t keep my hands on him he will bolt and go back to reanimated death.”

He finally flipped back on the mic. “Very, carefully picked words. Protocol: Directive return to master to continue serving him. Serve how with what tasks assign to you?”

“...Capture the Dark Elf, obviously. He’s not planning on teaching me to knit, imbecile.” Furrowing his brows together, he quirked forwards and huffed, grunting. He grinned rather angrily and resorted to fidgeting awfully rather than retorting with some well woven quip. “I’ll serve to the best of my ability and in every way possible- even to my own demise.”

Meaning so long as he made Weil pleased, he would find fulfillment in his short, futile existence. “So, read my lips then stuff this hot tip in your pipe and smoke it, clods: Directive: Obey Master. Protect him and his allies. Method: Expend myself to the fullest extent. At all costs.”

“Was that simple enough for the peanut gallery or should I start drawing pictures too?”