khajidont | MoM IC Contact

Maybe after this is all done, you and him can talk about it. Sharing that part about your guys' dreams isn't so bad.

[He leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together. They're kind of dancing around the topic at hand, but somehow, it's easier that way.]

I think your dreams were connected the whole time.

[They'll come back around to it eventually, when Tadashi doesn't feel bad about bullying Jaime into answering his prodding.

Nevermind it wasn't really bullying or prodding.]

Yeah? What makes you think that?

Because I was in both of your dreams. We were in the cafe both times, and when I went upstairs, I was with Hiro. When I went downstairs, I was with you, but after we went back up, they... met in between? You guys must be pretty in sync, or something.

[Two peas in a pod, these boys. It's sad, considering, but there's something to it. It's good to have someone you're so close to, even if you had to lose them.

Hopefully Hiro can regain what he's lost.]

[That's... almost endearing? In a really strange way, if someone cared about dreams like that. Tadashi's definitely a straightforward thinking sort of guy though. Still...]

I had no idea. That's... [Weird? Adorable?] Interesting.

[He's quiet while he considers a question he's had for a while.]

In my dream. Before you saw me what all did you see?

[He doesn't actually know what was outside the door before Jaime opened it. It could've been anything before Tadashi's consciousness was aware of the stairs going up.]

Didn't you see before you went downstairs?

[It's a rhetorical question, though, because Jaime intends to answer. He falls silent first, trying to collect his memories in the most coherent way he can. It's important to get this right, he thinks, because of how personal their dreams had wound up being.]

There was a room full of pictures, and videos. Some of 'em were messed up, but I'm pretty sure they must have been of your friends and family? They looked happy, anyway. And there was a crashed car in the kitchen, for some reason. Other than that, the only other thing you wouldn't have totally seen was the stairs that was made out of coding? I talked to them for a little while.

[He listens and ... it all makes sense, as far as dream logic goes. He knows the crashed car, won't comment on that.]

You talk to it?

[Wait.]

Dream, right, right...

[All it does is make him circle back to wanting to ask Jaime about his AI. He isn't sure that's on the table to talk about yet. He'll just sip his drink instead until the conversation goes somewhere else.]

Did you not talk to it when you were going down the stairs in the first place?

[That's more confusing to him than the idea that Tadashi hadn't talked to them. They're alive! Why wouldn't you engage them in conversation? Besides, he remembers, they had known about Tadashi. They'd wanted him to go and help him.

They were good AIs.]

[It isn't so much that anyone could talk to the coding in his dream that surprised him - but that someone else did. He smiles a little, rubs at his cheek sheepishly.]

I mean, it was a dream, but-- Yeah, I talked to them. They were mine...

I, uh. When I'm building and programming stuff, I'm always talking at whatever I'm making. I guess it came through in the dream.

Oh! Well, that makes sense. They really only talked about you. It was like they were glitching out, but...

[He frowns. They had scared him a little, he remembers, crowding him like crazy, but all he had to do was talk to them. So much of the time, it's just that simple. They wanted to help and didn't know how to communicate it, that's all.]

But they just wanted me to go and help you. I guess your tech likes you, even in your dreams.

Oh.

[Well that's -- It's flattering, despite it being part of a dream. All he knows is he likes to take good care of whatever he's working on, even if it frustrates him at times. His face goes a little red at that, along with the air around him getting a bit warmer.]

I honestly didn't think about tech having personalities aside from AIs until I got here and could use my power. But -- it makes sense.

I think it's something most people forget about. I didn't really think much about it either.

[And even so, only some tech have concrete personalities. The Mother Box had been one of them, he remembers, but it's not like he talks to his toaster... much. Tadashi may not pry, but Jaime has no such compunctions.]

Does that mean that all tech has a personality to you, or...?

[He'll get around to bugging Jaime about his AI. Eventually.]

Uh... Sort of? I don't recognize one immediately anyway.

[How does he explain it? Jaime having what he has may make it a little simpler to explain, he thinks.]

It's mostly in how it's built, how it's been used over time. Newer things with a younger kind of personality, more complex tech with a more sophisticated voice. Everything's different with how it's wired.

Hmm.

[That's all he says for a moment, great conversationalist that he is, because he wants to think about it. Jaime doesn't hear it like that. He feels them instead, each with a different sort of hum, a different sort of energy. Whenever he tries to put it into words, he fails, because he's not even sure that they have the language to describe it. They look different, sound different, smell different, but that may be characteristics instead of personalities. He can speak to them and they listen, but they may not be cognizant of it.

It's a big, nebulous world out there, and he doesn't understand a bit of it. Maybe if he had the manual plugged into his brain like Peacemaker, he would, but as it is? He's muddling through it as he goes.]

That's interesting. And you don't miss it, when you wear your limiter?

[He hums to himself to think about that. He likes knowing what's going on with his tech, but he doesn't miss the headache that comes along with it. It's a weird gain-lose situation. But then that's why he's been trying to make a limiter that lets him use his other powers while also blocking the fire, isn't it?]

I do. After a while working with it all day, it gets a little tiring and I end the day with a migraine, but I like having it.

That'll go away.

[He says it with certainty, and... well, he had gotten a few headaches back when he was starting out too. Receiving an extra power, an extra sense, that's never going to be an easy transition. It's like going from being practically blind to putting on glasses and suddenly being assaulted with how clearly you can see everything.]

If you keep it off all the time, I mean. It's just a matter of getting used to it.

I'm sure. I've been working with it a few hours every day since just before the trip. No point in having it if I don't use it, right?

[Besides that, with everything that's been going on, sometimes he just doesn't want to bother his friends with problems. It's easier sometimes to just talk at his tech and get some feedback.]

I'm really only using my limiter around tech that's damaged these days. Or - severely damaged.

[That's the part that gets weird for him.]

Yeah? Why's that?

[Jaime's got a few ideas of his own, but he prefers not to sling guesses when he could get a better answer out of Tadashi just by asking.]

I feel it.

The, uh. The damage itself. [He rubs at the back of his head, trying to explain this part is difficult.]

Back when the dragon was attacking Heropa? I was using it to find pathways for people to get out of buildings but... Everything was burning or melting and I could feel it.

Oh. So it's -- it's not just talking to tech, it's more like... empathy powers, or telepathy? [God, this is a weird thing to talk about. The problem really is that they don't have the right way to talk about this. In some other planet, aliens are discussing this seamlessly, using words only they know, Jaime's sure of it.]

That sounds awful,though. You've gotta keep that thing on hand all the time, then. This place has a lot of property damage.

A little of both, yeah. Sometimes... It feels like if I hang on long enough, I could almost talk to it. But every time I get that close, my head starts pounding.

[Like he's not supposed to. He isn't sure how to explain it. But Jaime seems to more or less get the gist of it.]

You got that right. Down to just using it at home or at the lab.

Yeah, probably smart. [Who's not touching being able to feel the fire, feel themselves melting? This guy. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, avoid, avoid, avoid, thank you very much. Even Jaime's not that masochistic.]

You ever think about getting some training in it? I bet there are other people 'round here with the same power.

[Good call, because this guy doesn't want to think too much about that memory.]

I dunno. I'm not sure how someone else could train me in this. Seems... kind of personal? Not something others can see results of.

[Annnnd he looks back to Jaime curiously.]

What about your AI? What're they like?

['They', not 'it'. Tadashi always had a pretty healthy respect for tech, but since coming here? It's only skyrocketed even more.]

[Well, that's a question. Jaime just stares at Tadashi in disbelief for a second, and barks out a laugh, though it's not directed at Tadashi. What's Khaji like? God, where would he even begin? Noble and childish in even measures, committed to becoming a hero even with a predilection for suggesting lethal force, petty beyond belief, but consistently there, every time he needs him.

Khaji sort of defies description.]

Man, I don't know how to answer that one. He's, um... well, he's listening, so I can't trash talk him ever, or else he'll be a baby about it.

[It's almost, almost unnoticeable, but Jaime twists his head to one side, like he's listening to something.

Because Khaji is, predictably, objecting at the description of 'baby' for a sophisticated piece of technology that has been alive for over a millennia, and could trash talk Jaime plenty thank you very much.]

[Oh. Oh, that's cute. Enough that it worms out a good natured laugh from Tadashi, enough to ease whatever tension he had. Anyone that can earn a description like that is usually always good company, and he's glad he can confirm now that Jaime isn't ever really alone.]

He must be a really good friend. It's good you have him here with you.

[Jaime just blinks at Tadashi, a little surprised. He knows that Tadashi gets it to a certain extent, that he has Magicman as a friend, that he's able to talk to tech too, but it's rare that someone really gets it.

Khaji's been his life for over a year now. Every morning and every night, Khaji's there. People don't understand that, and when they do, they have a tendency to get a little freaked out, a little wary, like Khaji's going to take him over, which is an admittedly legitimate concern.

It's still a little irksome hearing it all the time when Khaji's his partner, though. He'd thought that Tadashi would be a little more reluctant to accept Khaji now that he's seen the Reach, but maybe not. After that moment of surprise, he just ducks his head with a smile.]

...Yeah. We got lucky, getting Ported in together.

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