Video; UN: smoking_bomb

[bakudan_bambino]

[The device clicks on to show Gokudera sitting at a window and touching the leaves of a grape plant, looking calm and thoughtful before he speaks up.]

I’ve been asleep for a few weeks. While I was asleep, I went back home, and then to two different worlds, and now I’m back. I’ve been away from this place for two... no maybe three years. Time is acting strange, or maybe my familiar, Larry thought that I’d benefit more here with more experience under my belt.

[He glares gently at a semi-transparent reptile sleeping on the window sill.]

Has anyone else left this world for-

[Gokudera winces and puts a hand to the half choke collar around his neck. The skin beneath it is obviously damaged and irritated.] -such a long span of time, only to come back here and find that it was like... you never left at all? I’ve been to Anchor and Amoi, if anyone else has... let me know.

Also, in one of those worlds, I had this put on me. [He keeps his hand on the collar.]

I think it’s malfunctioning. The only person who can deactivate and remove it safely is... not here yet. So in the meantime, I need it repaired or at least looked at by someone with advanced technological experience.

[Gokudera moves to turn off the feed, and his left hand is lightly scarred, but more important in the visual is the engagement ring on his ring finger.]

Comments

[bakudan_bambino]

Yes, and there are people on this world who would find killing me in that manner... amusing.

[So yeah, that's why he's not so eager to explain the risks of collar removal boldly over the network.]

Science-based tech. Amoi felt science-based, and so did Anchor. This is the first world I've been to where I've felt magic... [And to some extent, he believes that magic is just another type of science.]

[zunge]

Hmmm...

If it's science-based, it may link up with the body's bioelectricity and use that as a power source, alone or charging something within the ring itself.

[He scowls.]

It feels weird to call a collar a ring.

[bakudan_bambino]

That would make sense. It would need to regularly monitor me and have some voice recognition software or something, right?

[Gokudera waves his hand dismissively.]

We'll call it a collar, then.

[zunge]

Collar then.

Whatever's in it, it's certain to be complex.

[Chin tap in thought.]

...You said earlier that one person can deactivate it. How does that work?

[bakudan_bambino]

A fingerprint scan. There's a spot where it would usually adjust to fit, but instead it gives out the same sort of information in my retina, and it also would help in removal for my owner.

[He reaches and carefully turns his collar. There is a minor sort of glow beneath it, but little more than a recognition of him adjusting it. With that turn, there's a bit of metal it seems sandwiched in the leather, embedded and making contact with his skin.]

[zunge]

[he leans in to check that out, reaching a hand out. Noiz stopped wearing bandages on his hands months ago after Dextera restored his senses of pain and touch, so the thin scars covering his fingers are visible. So are the surface piercings on the back of his hand.

If cautioned not to touch, he won't, but if allowed, he'll aim to touch the spot just to the side of the scanner.]

[bakudan_bambino]

[Gokudera is tense. He won’t tell Noiz not to touch the collar, since he knows the risks involved with removal or tampering. If it hurts the bomber, he’ll warn or draw back.

Instead he sits still and tense.]

[zunge]

[He's quiet, pressing fingers to the leather and seeing if he can use his technomancy magic to 'read' information about the device. If it can't be removed safely, there's bound to be something running throughout the collar to trigger warnings in the event someone tries to cut or burn through the material.]

*A* pretty icon

[bakudan_bambino]

[There is something in the collar that registers an unfamiliar touch, but at least maybe it's safer since Noiz would be considered a mongrel? Gokudera isn't feeling any different. There's no pain, but maybe the material sort of contracts and grows tighter, the chain linked together shortening.]

Find anything interesting?

[Gokudera has no idea how technomancy works.]

(feel free to have Noiz pick up whatever info you want. The collar is definitely not going to act right but it still will display info)

thanks

[zunge]

[Among other things, his 'reading' picks up on the fact that the material tightens around Gokudera's neck in reaction to his touch. How the collar would be able to tell Noiz would be a mongrel is a mystery. (Unless there are tiny cameras in the surface of the leather?? Who knows what all those Pet Rings were capable of.)

After about ten seconds, Noiz pulls his hand back.]

Apparently it's loaded with sensors. It can tell the difference between your touch and pretty much anyone else's.

[Which would explain why Gokudera was able to move it around so that the finger scan part was facing him.]

Some voice-activated features. Its power source is close to what I suspected. And unless you wanna take the risk of me "asking nicely" for it to turn off completely, one of your only real options is to find a set of fingerprints that match the print registered in it.

[bakudan_bambino]

[It's likely reacting to Gokudera's stress level, or reading some signs his body gives off. He stresses out much more around Elites, and he knows he's seen Noiz before. The guy won't hurt him, he believes. The collar might, but... that's not unusual. It sends pain and pleasure commands at some of the strangest times.

Gokudera listens and wonders if there is more to him, some sort of biological implant that was put on every off-worlder on Amoi or if he's just lost all manner of sanity.]

...

[That is not good news, but he tries not to look as absolutely upset as he feels]

Well... at least now I know.

[zunge]

Right. At least you know.

It isn't impossible. The right approach and skill set can do it. But it'll be very difficult or risky, or both. Keep some hope while staying realistic about the prospects.

[It's the approach Noiz took last year when working together with someone to try and restore his senses of pain and touch. A long, grueling process during which he kept his hopes for success low but never gave up.]

[bakudan_bambino]

Yeah...

[It just sucks that while he knows it can be done, for now it's sort of limiting him to the one thing that could easily solve the dilemma. All it would cost him is some internal struggling, and he's not sure he's ready for that while he's got all this other stress from hopping from two different worlds into Avalon.]

You're right. Just going through a lot. I think my expectations were too high.

[Not to say that Noiz disappointed him, but that he's just got to keep searching.]

[zunge]

[He nods.]

Understandable. Just gotta get creative... no chance of being able to pull his prints off of an item of his? What about asking someone at the magic school if anyone can craft a spell or potion that temporarily makes you impervious to damage?

[bakudan_bambino]

[Well, if his post reached so many people when he asked for help in just looking at the collar or helping to come up with ideas, surely there will be others who would want to help him with a spell or potion.]

I completely forgot that there is a magic school...

[He's not opposed to the idea of asking, and gives a bit of a smile at his own thoughtlessness. It feels strange being back here and feeling like he never left, all at once.]

I can at least practice my light magic and see about making something of a shield around myself... see if it could interfere with whatever the collar does. [Even though he has no idea how it creates pain and pleasure through what feels like his entire body in various degrees and often unprovoked. It may be exhausting. A potion likely would be the best bet.]