#error.arc

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

It'll all be fine, V! Why wouldn't it be?

V stands outside of Shifty's room, holding her messy notes over what Spring had said to her. She didn't wait very long to come talk to them. Spring had said something about tomorrow and she couldn't even lie to herself about how nerve racking it was. Whatever what happening, Spring wanted her, and by extension Shifty, to know that it was going on.

So just knock already.

She'd been standing there for 3 whole minutes too nervous about knocking on the door. Having finally built up the courage, she knocked with three little strikes against the door.

"Shifty? I talked to Spring. I figured some stuff out if you wanna talk. It's uh... V."

Nervous as hell already, aren't you?

-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist

They had been sitting at their desk, carving one of their wooden blocks and trying to ignore the way that the static tended to hover around them for long periods of time.

They definitely didn't fumble their carving knife in a very cartoonish way when they heard someone knock on their door, and they got up after putting both the cube and their knife down.

They open the door, already wearing their mask and hoodie, although they kept their gloves off. "She played nice then?" They teased, opening the door some more and stepping out of the way to let V in.

Their room was actually quite bare, the only traces that this was their room were the wood carvings, occasional stray black feathers strewn across their room, the drawing that Wildcard had drawn of them, and an extra blanket on their bed that had some sort of animal character on it and some sort of white fur in it. No family pictures could be found.

[physically-dead-spring]

V tightens the cap on her thermos and takes a small sip out of it, smiling at the sweet taste of the hot cocoa inside. She exits the kitchen with the container warming her hands. Spring's gotta show up on base some time soon, right? I need to ask her about the static still. In a fantastic stroke of luck, when she rounded the corner on the way back to her room, there was Spring, in the hallway. "Oh hey! Spring!" She calls out, waving and making her way towards her. -@emotionally-helpful-illusionist

One of Spring's ears twitched at her name and she turns- she's got her hands in her pants pockets and she's wearing one of Shapes' sweaters, likely to avoid getting shot by sentries or really anyone not accustomed to seeing anyone not wearing red- and gives a grin.

"Well hello hello!" She takes her right hand out of her pocket and waves back, as animated as ever. "What can I do for ya?"

[emotionally-wired-pyrobot]

It worked. He wasn't sure he could believe it, but it had worked and he had a body.

For now at least.

They had panicked, of course, but he was quick to calm them down. It's easier this way. He had said. Best way to learn is through practice.

When they had calmed down it was almost a dead scramble to the closest mirror. Almost, because it took him a moment to remember how to use legs.

He couldn't help but stop occasionally to touch something.

Sure, the bot didn't feel things as well as a human did, but even just feeling something pressed against their hand was more than he usually got on his own.

Eventually he found a mirror. Not much had changed on the bot, only person he had found that got major changes was Spring.

Spring's broken ear became full and her right hand gained a material look to it, like his own usually looked, on top of the one change that happened to everybody. As seen on the Pyrobot, when he possessed someone like this, their eyes turned a nice vibrant purple.

They even glowed in the dark!

After a moment of getting used to their hands, he lifted them and moved them in slow, deliberate ways.

"My name is Sparks" he signed for it, finger spelling it's name. He specifically used their left hand when signing "my", he used the left hand when referring to the owner of the body he possessed and the right for himself.

He then got Sparks' attention again before signing something else.

"My name is Mal"

[emotionally-wired-pyrobot]

It seems that they're not too happy about people trying to show creepy bugs

"MRRR!"

I HAV-VE ACCIDENTALLY DEL-LETED AN ASK, BUT SOMEBODY WAN-NTED TO SHOW ME THEIR MILLE…MI-MILLEPEDE MOZART!!! I DO NOT WISH TO S-SEE!!! PLEASE!!!

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

They were walking around the halls of the base when they heard it.

Static.

They didn't just feel it this time, they heard it. They whip around to look at where they heard it, only to find nothing there. They cautiously turn back around after a moment where they confirmed to themselves that what they heard couldn't have been an enemy spy.

It only took a few moments more before they heard something else.

"You're avoiding them"

They whip around again, frantically looking for where the voice came from. The voice giggled mockingly in a distorted, glitchy way. There was no body attached to the voice.

"Do you know how boring you are to watch? Poor little Shifty who isolates himself so much that she struggles to even interact with their own team."

They draw their shoulders up, and cross their arms.

"Shut up."

"Aw, why would I do that? We both know it's true. I had to put my silent watching aside because it was so unbelievably boring watching you wander around without talking to anyone.. Considering who your counterpart is, I thought you'd be more fun."

The voice floated around them, so they stubbornly only looked forward.

"Shut the fuck up."

Another giggle, but the voice goes quiet.

The static feels farther away.

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

V stands outside of Shifty's door, hand raised to knock against the door.

They're going to like it. Just go in there and hand it over already.

She looks at her other hand, holding the small bottle of blue liquid in it. It shimmers a little, and there's little specks floating around inside.

They're going to like it.

And she knocks.

"It's V! I figured I'd check up on you, and I have something for you if you want it."

-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist

Is it the flash drive? He sounded worried, but they mentally pushed him aside.

They open the door for V, prepared to act like nothing had happened.

"Always nice to have you drop by." They muse, and it was true. V was one of the few people that came by their room and they always enjoyed the company.

Harder to believe you're isolating yourself when you had visitors.

"What's up?" They tilt their head, moving to let her in if she wanted.

[physically-dead-spring]

Tracking down Spring was never as hard as they thought it would be, no matter if she was moving or staying in one spot. Today it seems that she was staying in one spot, a rather secluded area, which surprised them. Spring hated being alone.

Once they found her, they just waited for a bit. Spring could tell they were there, even with her back turned to them.

Spring was sitting alone- as far as the human eye could tell anyways- strumming on a purple electric guitar, a gift from Bonnie when he had heard she didn't have one.

She could feel Shapes' eyes on her back, but she kept strumming until the song she had chosen was over. Her counterpart would wait until she was finished, they always did.

Once the song was done, she put the guitar away and faced Shapes.

"Yes?" She tilted her head, like she didn't know exactly why they were here.

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

"He's still around somewhere, I just can't tell where." They sigh. "I just know he's not hovering around me."

They tap a finger against their mask. "According to Spring, he's some sort of living computer virus. Not sure how that works, but I've decided against thinking about that too much."

How could a computer virus leave the digital world without a body? How could he possess people? They were probably never going to get any answers to those questions, and it might be better that way.

"I couldn't get her to tell me a name, though."

"So, uh, good news and bad news!" They say quickly. "Good news is that I talked with Spring and got good bit of information from her! Bad news is I don't know where the static is." They cringed to themselves at the last bit. He was still around, but they couldn't place where he was.

Not that it was anything new, they didn't have a very refined sense of this. It was just a bit weird that the static suddenly left them alone after constantly hovering around them for a while now.

"Info is good! I won't complain about knowing things." She smiles and listens through the bad news as well, though her face drops a little upon hearing it.

"Did he disappear or something? Is he leaving you alone now?"

She knows firsthand the dangerous advantage of a concealed location. But the two of them couldn't do very much with it before, how much difference did it make?

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

Part 2 of this post with @emotionally-helpful-illusionist! Bc that was getting incredibly long

---

"Hooray!" They laugh a bit as well, dropping a hand to play with Gargoyle. They mess with his ears and he bats at them with his paws, they move quickly enough that even when he tries to bite they stay fine. Although those surprisingly sharp teeth might be the culprit of a few of their scars.

Getting them to explain what happened might be difficult, they're not as open as Spring- who will often answer any question that anyone asks her so long as she deems it appropriate- and whatever it was clearly had shaken them bad. It's possible that a bit of pushing would be best.

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

So let me get this straight, we have a living computer virus that I've currently lost track of and one of the soldiers has suddenly become a zombie? Is there anything else I'm missing?

I might as well be back home, by those above.

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

So that feeling from yesterday hasn't really left me??

Maybe I'm just being paranoid

[physically-dead-spring]

"You're scaring her." Spring stated firmly, frowning at the air.

"Fear's a great motivator, you and I both know that."

She could easily imagine the voice waving it's hand. She rolled her eyes.

"Doesn't mean you should do it."

"Well it worked, didn't it? She almost instantly started talking to her team and she's being more open. I think that's a win."

"You're impossible. It's a good thing I left Gargoyle with her. You take playing the villain too seriously sometimes."

"All of these things are true!" He cackled, Spring could feel him get closer. "But you won't stop me because you know I wouldn't actually hurt her."

She waved a hand through the air where the voice was coming from in a similarly dismissive gesture as the one that she imagined he did earlier. Earning an annoyed squawk as her hand likely passed through his body.

"Don't tempt me, I'll find the most demeaning USB stick to put you in. You'll have a time-out USB stick." She grinned.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?"

Silence.

He knew she wouldn't back down from any sort of dare. Saying anything more would likely seal his fate.

"That's what I thought." She nodded. "I won't stop you from having your fun, it's getting close to Halloween after all. But don't cross any lines."

"Yes ma'am."

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

Almost had one of the shutters drop on my head while leaving spawn during a battle today, but it saved me from getting shot so that's fun!

[physically-dead-spring]

Shifty has paranoia and feels like people are watching them.

I can actually feel when people are watching me.

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

*They weren't sure how well any of that would work, this had never happened to them before, but they pushed those thoughts aside. He was trying to help*

I'll keep that in mind. In turn, if you need help with anything give me a shout. No matter if you want someone to talk to or need someone to take the blame for something. *They half joke*

It's been nice to finally meet you, by the way.

*They knock on the door softly* Little birdie told me you were back. Or I guess a fairly big birdie.

[He glances up, looking a little tired.] "Oh, hey! I suppose I am, eh? Shifty, right? Come in, Come in. You can pull up a chair if ya'd prefer. So what brings you by?" [He seems a little better. His leg is, noticeably, missing. That's probably not good.]

[emotionallydeprived-shapeshifter]

I just got a chill down my spine, what the hell? My uniform keeps me completely covered???