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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 16, 2018 8:21:08 GMT -8
It was late into the night and the Kira house was darkened, seemingly inhabited only by a human and a navi. Chie was tossing, turning, and shivering in her sleep. The light emitted from the PET screen in a docking port on her desk showed her pale flesh as a tone lighter than normal and the sweat gleamed in the light. It was clear what was going on, she was experiencing some form of nightmare. From within the P.E.T the navi was not resting easy either, watching Chie experience her own personal hell was a fate that crueler than deletion. All Guardian could do was watch what she could see.
Eventually the young woman awoke and stood up instantly, almost screaming but she covered her mouth. Jumping out of bed, she made a motion to grab her P.E.T but landed on the floor as well. Guardian tensed herself up and prepared for the worst as she spoke up quickly. "Chie! What's wrong, talk to me!"
Chie's heart was pounding as she hastily scrambled to get back up, grabbing her sweater off her desk chair as she ran towards the door. Running down the stairs, she made her way through the living room, almost tripping over a table but kept running out, scrambling with the locks as she struggled to get past the front door. "Gotta get out, it's coming, it's coming, it won't stop. Gotta get out!" Guardian got on to what was going on through Chie's nightmare, and tried to calm down her NetOp through the P.E.T "Chie! Listen to me, calm down! You're not gonna get anywhere like this! I'm right here, focus on me!"
Chie managed to get past all the locks and opened the door, bursting out of the house and ended up running off the porch, ended up falling and landing on the ground. Her head fell on her elbow which took away some of the impact. Her frail body lied down on the grass so far dressed in only her long purple nightgown, her one hand holding her P.E.T and the other a sweater underneath her. Chie stayed on the ground, her heart racing as her vision started to get blurry, struggling to keep her breathing in check. Guardian remotely activated the holoscreen displaying herself to Chie. "It's okay, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. It's dead, you're safe Chie. Don't worry."
"Too hot, can't do this, it's coming."
"Chie, listen, I was the only one to escape the network that night!" Guardian sent an E-mail to Chie's parents explaining that Chie woken up in a cold sweat afraid again, from what she heard from them, Chie had been suffering from the trauma to no end ever since the Guardian Virus attacked. Guardian searched the P.E.T for records of appointments to seek help but found nothing.
Guardian tried to look around as she raised the volume on the P.E.T hoping to get someone's attention. "I need an adult? Someone?"
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 16, 2018 8:40:41 GMT -8
...it's always something.
It doesn't take long at this point. By pure chance, the figure of a man in his mid-30s turns the corner and sees the teenage girl laying out on the grass. He walks a few steps towards her as the Navi in her pet yells out for help before stopping and pulling out his own Navi-less PET.
?: I'm going to need medical attention at my location, a young girl is passed out on the street. Keep this line open with me.
The man, dressed in a teal jacket and well pressed black slacks, walks up to Chie's lifeless body and takes her PET in his hand, looking at the screen to see Guardian and greeting her with a stern expression.
?: Listen to me carefully; I'm recording every moment of interaction here, and I want you to do the same. If you go offline for even a second, I will leave a beacon and take 20 steps back until medical help arrives.
A teenager on the street and a lone man out for a midnight walk; this had the potential to look extremely bad. Regardless though, he takes his own PET and props it up so that the camera can view the whole situation before doing the same with Guardian's PET. With his bases covered, he finally takes his index and middle finger and presses them to Chie's neck, checking for a pulse.
? First I need to know if this is some sort of crime-scene. Has anyone done anything to her that might require taking evidence before rescue crews arrive?
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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 16, 2018 9:02:58 GMT -8
Guardian's voice did not fall on deaf ears, which she was grateful for as the man approached the scene. However she did not enjoy having her P.E.T grabbed by the stranger as he was no doubt following some form of protocol. Watching him check Chie's pulse, she acknowledged his question and responded to him quickly. "No, nothing was moved or touched. No crime has been committed, she's suffering from PTSD, a bad nightmare set her off and she thought she was in immense danger again. She's still conscious but is having such a bad anxiety attack she's struggling under the pressure."
Chie's heart rate was radical and immense as her breathing slowed down, she slowly came to focus as she noticed her P.E.T was not in hand any longer. The girl struggled to move as she noticed the man trying to read her pulse. She struggled to speak as she called to her Navi. "G- Gua, Guardian!"
Guardian failed to hesitate to miss a beat as she spoke up immediately. "Right here Chie! It's alright." Guardian focused on the man again as she continued to explain. "Her parents are OEL researchers working late on a project tonight. I sent them an urgent e-mail, they have yet to respond but I'm sure one of them is already on their way.
Chie slowly started to calm down as she started to try and speak, tears started to drop as the fear was overcoming her. "It's coming, it's there..."
Guardian sighed as she hoped the man would comply. "Sir, I set the P.E.T to auto record, but above the doorbell is a port for plug-ins, I need you to plug me in. She's under the impression that something that's long gone is still a threat. I at the very least need to check. Otherwise my Operator might have a heart attack at this rate."
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 16, 2018 18:24:30 GMT -8
So far so good; the situation wasn't turning south yet, and the information on what had happened up to this point was largely favorable. The young man visibly relaxes. Despite guardian's instance that this could lead to a heart-attack, the man in the teal jacket already knows that the odds of such an occurrence are terribly low given the young girl's age and build. This was most likely a simple panic-attack, and possibly delusions if the girl did indeed have PTSD due to some past trauma. Still, no point in antagonizing the Navi at this point; the young man's role was largely over already at this point, so giving mental support would be ample for the moment.
?: Fine.
The teal man complies with Guardian's request, taking her PET lining it up with the jack. At this moment his eyebrow raises though; 99% of systems used long-distance wireless jack ports, which made this rather odd. Still, forcing close proximity with a safety device such as a door-system did make a degree of sense.
?: Not sure how much more assistance I can be at this point. I'll stay around until the medical team arrives.
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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 16, 2018 19:42:10 GMT -8
"Not sure how much more assistance I can be at this point. I'll stay around until the medical team arrives."
As Guardian emerged in the house system, she could hear the other man from the comm link via Chie's P.E.T. Guardian responded "You've done plenty. This house isn't modern in systems, after Chie's trauma was made abundant to her parents, they removed some systems from the home network, making them independent. Mostly the thermostat, boiler, and anything that can explode." as she looked around the door lock system before she made a hastily search through the various systems on the home that were interconnected.
Chie on the other hand slowly got onto her knees as she tried to get her bearings, looking up she finally caught wind of the man who came to her aid. Her breathing was still quite erratic as her posture was barely held, her gaze quickly scanned the man until she realized he was holding her P.E.T While one hand struggled to hold her body up, the other tried to reach up but couldn't get too far as she whimpered out a few words. "S, sir, please, take what you want, just please don't harm Guardian and please give me back me P.E.T, she's all I got..."
Meanwhile Guardian was running through the systems connected, not finding much while keeping an ear on the situation with her netOp. After covering all the ground she could, she sighed relief as she returned her focus. "There's not even a Metool on the Kira family network. The Guardian Virus is as I said it was, no more. It can't hurt us anymore. Mister, I have combed all the connected systems, there's nothing on the network. I'd feel a lot safer if you brought her into the living room, I'll turn on the lights and alert the home security company to record."
Guardian slowly turned on the lights in the living room and entrance hallway to a dim setting. The entrance hallway just had a shoe rack and hooks for coats and umbrellas. The living room was oak hardwood flooring with red walls, a large L-shaped couch with two leather chairs next to the side opposite of the long one, forming a U-shape with the gap facing the TV, while a coffee table rested in the middle of the gap. The TV was a large flat screen on a TV stand with a cable box and DVD player on it. On the wall behind the TV and a few inches to the right was a thermostat kept at 16 degrees Celsius. On the opposite side of the entrance hallway was the kitchen but could not be seen due to the dim lighting. Around the room were photos of the Kira family, and Chie's various accomplishments she made in school, even a framed copy of her acceptance letter to her private school.
"Oh, one more thing, can you lower the temperature down by six degrees? I'm worried that she thinks she might be on fire still."
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 16, 2018 19:58:39 GMT -8
....find a teenager laying out in the grass, carry her into her house in a less than fully lucid state. At this point Guardian's plea of "I need an adult" was beginning to reflect in the teal man's own thoughts.
Still, he literally could not just walk away, and the entire situation had been recorded from moment 1 on two PETs. A labored sigh escapes the man, who now wishes he'd taken that turn a few blocks back. Once again; may as well comply. Walking over to Chie, he kneels in front of the young girl and, while keeping his serious expression and taking his PET back from where he'd propped it up, begins to reassure her of the situation.
?: Nothing is going to be taken from you. Just relax for now.
Taking Chie's arm, the unnamed man helps her up and slings her shoulder around his neck. He then hoists her up and carries her inside, bringing her to the couch and laying her down. He then steps away and drops the temperature as Guardian had asked before making his way to the doorway.
?: Look; I don't mind helping, but this entire situation is a bit too delicate for a lone man who just happened to be out for a walk in the middle of the night. Can you lock the door behind me when I leave and take care of the girl yourself at this point?
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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 16, 2018 21:03:59 GMT -8
Guardian knew she was staying in the network for a while at this point as the man was trying to leave, however the bladed navi was uncertain as she checked for any sign from Chie's parents but to no avail. Activating speakers in the room she spoke to the man as he was on his way out the door. "Sir, I respect your motives, but I wish to ask you to remain outside, I don't think this will bode will if something happens, Chie cannot be left unattended, but I cannot do anything as a Navi other than check systems."
Chie slowly stopped shaking as she held her P.E.T close, her breathing started to shake as she started to come around to what was happening, still disoriented as she tried to focus. She curled up on the couch as she started to regret the whole ordeal. "I'm so sorry sir, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble with my pathetic problems..."
Guardian sighed as she could tell Chie was not exactly coming fully out of her state but now was in a bad state. Guardian addressed the man once more. She hated not being able to do much beyond wait and see, normally Chie's parent's would've done something like grab her ice cream but sadly she couldn't ask the man to venture any further into the property. "Sir, she's about to go into a bad state. She doesn't like this being seen, could you please wait outside till her parent's arrive? I need to calm her down and quickly."
Guardian turned her focus towards Chie as she tried to calm her down the only way that seemed to work for Chie. Guardian spoke softly to Chie and tried to keep her attention. "Chie! Five plus five!" "It's all my fault, always my fault..." Guardian gritted her virtual teeth but kept going as she tried to reach out. "Chie! Five plus five!" "T- ten..." "Ten plus ten?" "Twenty." Guardian eventually got Chie to keep adding on her own before focusing back on the man outside, speaking through the door's intercom.
"Oh, sir, I never caught your name, I am Guardian, the young lady is my netOp Chie. Thanks for your assistance."
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 17, 2018 8:51:16 GMT -8
Seeing the situation turning around, the man in teal nods to Guardian before vacating the home and standing outside of the doorway, raising his PET and beginning to work on something as he does so.
?: Alright, based on what you've told me, I've cancelled the rescue team for now. However, they are on alert and can be here swiftly if anything changes.
The man sighs and puts his PET back into his jacket, putting his face into his brown-gloved hand and thinking for a moment. At least the more delicate part off the situation had passed.
Hopefully all will be well, I'm just glad that the situation wasn't worse. I'm Victor, and I gathered from the young lady's statements that your name is Guardian.
Best to keep things simple and to the point for now; no use going any farther down this rabbit hole than needed.
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Post by Xypher on Aug 17, 2018 9:37:19 GMT -8
Just as Victor calls off the rescue unit, and stands in the doorway, a young man pulls into the driveway. He quickly gets out of the car, slinging a medical back, and a satchel over his shoulder. He jogs up quickly through the door, under Victor, and enters without warning. His eyes widen at the sight of Victor, quickly transitioning into “medic” mode and professionalism. He flashed his medic badge to the room. Then he realizes it's hew new friend Chie. He gets to his knees, setting both the satchel and the medical bag down. He throws on his stethoscope, places it on her chest and quickly gets her heartbeat. He overheard Guardian mentioning she was hot, so he pulled an ice pack from the bag and snapped it, activating the beads inside.
Xy: “Sir, can you get me a glass of water for her? And also, we need low light, to help reduce panic effects. Light can have a severe impact on how someone response to their situation.”
He placed the bag on her wrist without touching her.
XY: “Chie! Can you hear me? It's Xy.”
He then spoke towards Guardian, without looking up.
Xy: “Guardian, if she doesn’t respond, do I have permission to touch her? I do not want to trigger the anxiety any further if touch is a trigger.”
Speaking back to Chie, he continued.
“Chie, you are in your home. You have a medical practitioner here along with Guardian, as well as an acquaintance of mine. You will be okay. Do you have any pain? Please focus on your breathing, and my voice. Breathe In, and breathe out.”
He reached into his bag and shuffled around. He pulled out a small pill bottle, and then another.
“I can offer her a Xanax or a benzodiazepine pill. Guardian, does she have any allergies to either of these? Better yet, can you tell me some of her medical background? ”
He then reached down into his satchel, pulling out a bottle of spray. He quickly sprayed the air above himself and Chie. She would soon smell lavender in the air mixed with... Vanilla?
He waited on responses from everyone, keeping track of her rapid heartbeat with the stethoscope.
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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 17, 2018 17:41:47 GMT -8
As Xypher entered, Guardian couldn't help but silently curse as she knew that things can now actually get worse. If it weren't for the fact that her arms were retracted blades with no actual exposed hand, she would've facepalmed inside the network at this point. As Xypher got close to Chie, Guardian instinctively extended her Black Sword as he approached her. She just let it retract naturally. Chie seemed to be unresponsive to Xypher, as she just kept following the math on the cycle Guardian helped start, which seemed to start to calm her down as her heart rate slowed.
However as Xypher started to put down an ice pack on Chie, Guardian reacted fast with a verbal response "Xypher don't!-" however she was too late as the ice pack calm into contact with Chie. Chie immediately shook it off and clasped her wrist! "It burns!" Guardian punched a data block in annoyance as she couldn't stop the situation. Chie tried to back up but hit the other back of the couch.
“Guardian, if she doesn’t respond, do I have permission to touch her? I do not want to trigger the anxiety any further if touch is a trigger."
Guardian's normal calm tone was now clearly aggressive and almost hostile as she could see Chie in such a state, and was powerless to do anything about it. "You do not have any permission to touch her, everything you do and say is recorded by home security, do well to remember that Xypher. She's having a PTSD related panic attack but she's not fully conscious. She's drifting between partial consciousness and reliving memories in a dream like state, as you just witnessed her mind is unable to differ between hot and cold as the memories of her being caught in a house fire is stuck on a loop in her mind. Any stimuli too hot or even cold will reinforce her nightmares."
Guardian remained silent as she let Xypher continue his job, sending yet another e-mail to Chie's parents telling them to hurry the hell up. Chie meanwhile kept in a corner, at this point she was just muttering incoherently until she spoke a few words. "Bad Guardian, Bad Guardian tried to kill Guardian... Bad Guardian tried to take Guardian from me."
“I can offer her a Xanax or a benzodiazepine pill. Guardian, does she have any allergies to either of these? Better yet, can you tell me some of her medical background? ”
Guardian failed to hesitate to speak up this time as she responded the millisecond after he finished speaking. "Don't give her either! In this state she'll choke on virtually anything and she never reacted well to most medication in the past. I had her winding down until you came in. As far as medical history goes, before the Guardian Virus incident, which is what 'Bad Guardian' is referring to, the worst she got was the flu or a cold, however medicine always made her vomit for some reason. During the house fire when the Guardian Virus damaged the house and caused a fire, she suffered burns along her ribs and left side of her hip, still a bit of scarring. The burns on her hand and wrist healed up rather nicely, luckily those were on he opposite wrist. Despite the woman you met, Chie's still a hurt little girl inside."
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 18, 2018 17:40:00 GMT -8
Still standing just outside of the house, Victor watches in silence at the situation. By this point there was nothing else that he could do to help, so instead he keeps watch in case Chie's family shows up
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Post by Xypher on Aug 20, 2018 16:26:29 GMT -8
Xypher dropped the ice pack to the floor, and flipped from his knees to his feet to 6 feet away from Chie. Without Guardian's permission, he was going to stay back then. He took note of Guardian's threat. Respectable, but unnecessary. He raised his eyebrow at her, before listening intently to Guardian's story.
Xy: "... Well. That explains a lot."
He put his hand in his hand, and rubbed his eyes. So a Guardian Virus dealt all this damage to Chie. He didn't know she was scared.
Xy: "... I've not dealt with this kind of PTSD yet. This is a new one. Frankly, with her condition as is, I can't really do much, with or without Guardian's consent..."
He looked at Chie. He was frustrated for at the moment, there was nothing he could do to help her.
Xy: "What now, Guardian?"
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Post by Raven8 on Aug 21, 2018 19:14:56 GMT -8
Now satisfied that the situation had largely passed, Victor raises the collar on his jacket and pulls up his gloves up before quietly walking on and turning the corner down to continue his walk, turning off down the sidewalk and fading off into the night.
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Post by Chie Kira on Aug 23, 2018 18:37:03 GMT -8
"... I've not dealt with this kind of PTSD yet. This is a new one. Frankly, with her condition as is, I can't really do much, with or without Guardian's consent..."
Guardian sighed as she knew the frustration of not being able to help Chie worse than he did. She herself was one of few that could get to Chie but unfortunately as a NetNavi, she could do little. She cursed the fact that Copybot technology was illegal, but then realized even if she had it, would the fashion chips work would be another problem. Her arms had blades permanently affixed, even if retracted. Aside from holding back Xypher, she was utterly helpless but to look at her NetOp. Chie started to ball up in the corner of the couch, her head buried in her legs as her breathing started to slow down.
"What now, Guardian?"
"How about you let her mother fix this!"
Guardian turned her focus to a camera facing the doorway from the entrance hallway, and was glad to see the familiar sight of Dr. Sachi Kira. The woman stood at a height a few inches shy of six feet with a modest frame and figure for her age. She appeared to pass off as late thirties even though she is closer to mid forties. Her shoulder length hair loosely fell out of her hair tie, her glasses were off on one ear as she was leaning against the door frame. "Sachi!"
The woman nodded as she took a moment to fix herself up, before turning to a man by the front door with his arms crossed. He was a tall fellow wearing a leather biker jacket, jeans, and a biker helmet with sunglasses. He was a hefty fellow with a large beard, overall his face was not visible. "Thanks Rickie, I owe you bigtime for this." The man grunted as he turned to the door, loosely waving with the back of his hand signaling he didn't care if she owed him. As he moved, metal clashing could be heard as if he was carrying a whole toolcase on his person as he walked out the door.
Dr. Kira walked into the room as she turned to Xypher, her gaze went up and down his body. "Guardian, this the medic? I haven't had much chance to read the last message."
"Yes, funny enough this is Xypher."
Dr. Kira nodded, astonished as she looked at Xypher as if he was something miraculous. "So you're that Xypher? I rarely get to meet someone Chie gets on decent terms with. Sadly this is the closest she's ever had to a friend over."
Dr. Kira turned to Chie as she paced her way across the room as she sat next to her daughter. Slowly she reached her hand around Chie but careful not to touch as she appeared to have experience with such a motion, she gently cooed to the girl. "Chie, honey, I'm right here, don't worry, don't cry, everything is fine."
Chie slowly came out of her ball and slowly got close to her mother until Dr. Kira gently wrapped her arm around her, gently stroking her hair. Dr. Kira turned to Xypher thinking he might like answers. "I assume Guardian explained that she's not awake but semi-conscious? She's basically stuck in the limbo while her nightmares are abusing her on every front. The trick is to treat her like she's in a hypnotic trance."
Guardian sighed as if there was one thing she hated, it was that she failed that day. "This is all my fault! I was too weak back then, I drew the Guardian virus right to her, if it weren't for me, Chie wouldn't have gotten hurt that day."
Dr. Kira shook her head as she disagreed with the Navi. "Guardian, enough, we've been over this. If it weren't for me and Kyousuke, the Guardian virus wouldn't have existed or try to seek you out."
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