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No Significant Harassment wouldn’t describe himself as envious, but right now, that would be a pretty close match to what he’s been feeling.
It had been not two cycles ago that Five Pebbles and Seven Red Suns had been acting buddy-buddy on the local group messaging board- and given the short time frame between each reply, Sig could infer that the two had been messaging since the weather cleared up. He should be happy for them, whatever they have is none of his business- but it made his circuits spark, the ancients described as their blood boiling. The project he had been working on for dozens of cycles was tossed to the side carelessly when he started to read through the messages, fists balling at his sides. That should be him messaging Suns every cycle possible, that should be him getting the occasional teasing remark, that should be him replying with something equally if not more playful.
Resisting the urge to threaten everyone in the local group with DDOS attacks like he usually would when frustrated like this, it would only make the jealousy worse and more obvious that he was hiding feelings generally frowned upon despite the fact nearly everyone did the exact same. No, he had to think, taking his time to formulate a plan while some kind of primal greed seeped into his every thought. It felt like sharp nails on a chalkboard, a territorial lizard fighting off their adversaries to only immediately plummet to their death. A deep, dark frustration that tore from every part of his hardware. Not quite in the right headspace to be contacting anyone, nonetheless Suns for that matter, he opened his private messages to berate them- only to not know how to phrase anything.
Didn’t think that through, huh?
Private Message - Seven Red Suns:
NSH: I see you’ve found companionship of some sorts with Pebbles.
Pebbles, of all the iterators to choose from! The single most shut-in and annoying individual in their hemisphere, as a partner? Reflecting for only a moment, he could definitely see the appeal- but the difference in knowledge, experience and ability to comprehend was enough to make him think of Pebbles as a lower level than him. Not even the same caste, two generations separating them.
SRS: And you bring this up for what?
Shit, didn’t think that through at all! It’s fine, he can remedy this. Actually, he can’t, not in his current loop of thought. Not the greatest feeling ever, seeing his current predicament from only a slightly different perspective than mere minutes before.
Meanwhile, Seven Red Suns was balancing the tasks of messaging both their.. companion and NSH, in only slight disbelief at how jealous their former love interest was of what they had with Pebbles. They suddenly get a shot of intuitive energy in the direction of their chamber entrance, only seeing a lime fluorescent whisker poking out and a poorly hidden overseer peaking in on them.
SRS: Sig, I can see your overseer. If you’re gonna spy on me at least be discreet about it.
They quickly type out the message before pointing at the overseer, sending a bolt of electricity at it and watching as it powers off, the mechanical remains floating in place. Weird, they didn’t send enough for it to immediately cease activity. For a few moments, they see the indication of NSH typing, flickering on and off before stopping. Gesturing, they pull the dead overseer eye through the space until it rests in their hand. Hesitantly, they fiddle around with the cables at the end before checking the memory on it. It had only been peeping in on them for a few minutes, how unfortunate that he had been careless enough to get caught. Beneath the thin layers of metal and circuits, an insane amount of jealousy and loathsome energy laid engrained in every last bit of the overseer- and beneath that, a faint sense of disjointed sadness. Of course, no wonder he would feel that way. Rubbing their thumb over the visual lens, they hesitantly start to type once more.
SRS: Are you alright?
All they can manage to think of is that simple question, how do you even start a conversation about this? Then, to their surprise, he actually responds.
NSH: Hypothetically.
Are you fucking kidding me? What does he even mean by that?
While Suns struggles to reply to his message, NSH switches between various hologram tabs in a panic. If he could cry, he’s sure he would at this point. In a pathetic attempt to soothe himself enough to deal with whatever Suns says next, he switches his attention to messaging Moon.
Private Message - Looks to the Moon:
NSH: Moon, I messed up. Bad.
The reply is immediate, not even an ounce of hesitation to help him.
LTTM: What happened? Do you need any help?
NSH: Yes, but…
NSH: It’s my fault it even happened, nonetheless got to the point of me sending an overseer over there.
NSH: Void be damned, I fucked up!
To where Moon would typically ask him to be respectful of the void sea, he gets no such criticism.
LTTM: I’m sure there’s a remedy, what is going on?
NSH: I guess I shouldn’t withhold any more information. You’ve seen how Suns and your brother have been interacting, yes?
LTTM: Well of course, I didn’t think too much into it though. I believe it is none of my business personally, as long as the both of them are happy.
NSH: I wish I was as considerate as you, Moon. You’re well aware of how I’ve been pining for Suns since the beginning, all the way back when the ancients still crawled atop our cans.
NSH: I might or might not have messaged them in a fit of jealous fervor.
LTTM: Oh. That’s not good.
NSH: No shit!
LTTM: Well, how did they respond?
NSH: [Attached Image]
LTTM: At least they seem more confused than anything else..
LTTM: Is it possible they would consider some kind of polycule?
NSH: Good question, actually. I’m sure they wouldn’t unless he was interested.
LTTM: Actually, I could help with Pebbles.
NSH: What do you mean by that?
Sitting on the floor of his chamber with gravity control turned off, Five Pebbles was currently waiting for a reply from two separate iterators. He could see that Chasing Wind was diligently typing out a long response to a question he had asked about purposing organisms with specific chemical components, while Suns was nowhere to be found online. Every once in a while, it would show that they were typing- only to stop shortly after, which definitely didn’t help with the uneasy feeling that something unfortunate was unfolding out of his view. Then, he gets the confirmation that his suspicions were correct.
Private Message - Big Sis Moon:
BSM: Pebbles, can you please talk with me? It’s important.
FP: What is it?
BSM: I’m not sure if either of them have messaged you, but there’s some things going on with SRS and NSH.
BSM: Just a question, entirely hypothetical, would you be willing to facilitate something between the three of you?
FP: The fact you specify so heavily implies there’s something much deeper to that. But yes, I think I would. It entirely depends on if Suns is on board with any of this- what kind of facilitation does it happen to be, anyway?
BSM: Okay, promise not to freak out.
Waiting for a response from Moon, NSH thinks of various ways to ease his growing anxiety about the situation- if it falls through, things will be awkward for hundreds of cycles- praying everything will solve itself. Then, the memory of a voice call in which he was berated in front of everyone in the group by Pebbles for sending a stupid reaction image of a cyan lizard holding an iterator in its mouth while the top text reads “Karma 1” and the bottom text, well, saying exactly that- clearly photoshopped, but enough to make him laugh and enough to piss off the younger iterator. Without hesitation he immediately sends the image.
Private Message - Five Pebbles
NSH: [Attached Image]
FP: …
FP: Every goddamn time.
NSH: >:3
FP: Funny you should message me right now, considering what you’re trying to orchestrate right now with me and Suns.
Oh saints no. Unaware Moon had already spoken with him, NSH grips his robe so rough in his peripherals multiple warnings to stop straining his joints pop up, but it only makes him grip the fabric harder with the other hand toying with the tassels on the end of his scarf. He can feel his torso getting warmer, the faint whir of internal fans drowning out the ambient noises of his complex. Calling an overseer over, he uses it to glance at himself- only to see how miserable he looks through the hologram, lime green silicon skin tinted a dark hue with blush. Dreading looking at any more messages, he collapses all of the tabs into one window, minimizing it and feeling like a weight has been lifted off of his chest albeit temporarily. Shame still grips him like an iron fist, so thinking quick he pulls up the readings on his internal chemical levels. Normal, normal, normal, over average, then finding what he was looking for-
Alkaloid Levels: 97.4% - Normal
- 10% Lycorine
- 5.2% Caffeine
- 2% Morphine
- 80.2% Mixed
With a single swipe, he skyrockets the caffeine percentage to an unhealthy level- it takes a minute to actually sense the pipes in his system trying to meet the request, but as soon as it hits the lights in his chamber flicker and he nearly falls to the floor from the lightheadedness hitting him like a freight train- or a king vulture’s harpoon to the throat of any unlucky prey, either would work to explain the feeling of wires sending information much faster than what could ever be considered healthy. 50% caffeine in 20 seconds or less. He shudders, a coldness seeming to soak into his puppet without the need for cooling.
It’s not an addiction, per say, with all of the barriers in place to prevent any kind of vice being involved- despite the fact the ancients didn’t even bother limiting the ability to increase chemical levels in every single internal process. Actually, on second thought, maybe it was an addiction? Not like he gave a shit, especially now that he could open hundreds of windows in a matter of milliseconds to where it would usually strain his memory and lead him to having brain fog for hours- now it was simply too easy to do anything, everything. Then, as soon as he gets used to the sensation it’s gone, leaving everything feeling sluggish and inefficient compared to before. Flicking open the window once more, all he is given as an explanation is [EXTERNAL OVERRIDE].
Private Message - Seven Red Suns
SRS: Don’t think I can’t just send an overseer there too, it’s not fair for you to process everything that fast when we can’t do the same.
Of course. Immediately, he sends his own overseers and inspectors to scour every corner of his can for the intruder.
SRS: Sig, just call us, maybe? You don’t have to worry yourself sick and poison your can such a high amount of stimulants.
NSH: I just got used to it, asshole! Where is your overseer??
SRS: You know I’m not going to tell you. A little hint though, it’s not in any of the open chambers you’re searching~
He feels his puppet warm up again, embarrassment making him overheat and fans buzzing so loud he can feel the vibration of metal fan blades spinning inside of him- how a normal organism would be able to feel their diaphragm spasm, equally involuntary.
SRS: Cute, you’re still trying to regulate yourself from that?
NSH: You dick! I can’t even change any of the settings now!!!
SRS: Someone’s upset he can’t generate hundreds of responses to my messages in seconds..
NSH: Get out of my can!
SRS: I’ll see if Pebbles is in range to send an overseer or two over, maybe then you’ll check your messages with him?
NSH: He hasn’t been sending me anything???
SRS: Well not in your private messages, he hasn’t.
Private Room- Five Pebbles, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment
FP: If this lizardbrain doesn’t check where he’s been invited I’m going to send an organism to rip apart his memory arrays so it’s all he can remember.
SRS: A bit harsh..
FP: Like he wasn’t the one to start it in the first place
SRS: Can’t argue with that. Perhaps a forced communication would be necessary?
FP: I don’t have any kind of privileges of that degree.
SRS: You can force a ping by removing the middle lines of code that check for messaging statuses.
FP: Done.
NSH: Why??
FP: You're the one who started it.
NSH: Suns, please get out of my systems.
SRS: Kindly, absolutely not.
NSH: At least let me raise the percentage just a bit, everything is slow now.
FP: What are you two on about?
SRS: Oh, he was flooding his system with stimulants to cope with how many messages we were sending.
FP: Surely you older models aren’t that poorly optimized..
SRS: Honestly, we aren’t. He’s just a big baby when it comes to confronting literally anything emotional.
NSH: Rude! I’m the one who should be saying that of the both of you, flirting with each other on public message boards.. seems neither of you care that the second vice is still heavily frowned upon.
SRS: Is it really the second vice if the majority is rooted in platonic ideals?
FP: …
NSH: Looks like someone disagrees. What do you think, Pebbles?
FP: I think I need to turn my communication arrays off so I don’t have to deal with your insistent yapping.
NSH: Ouch, a tad dramatic…
Seven Red Suns now hovers in the middle their chamber, mechanical arm holding them in place while they struggle to respond to the two iterators. Thoughts of how close they and Sig were before they shifted their attention to Pebbles keep replaying in their head- well, transform arrays and general systems bus, whatever. Everyone else sees how they type, stop for a moment, go back, repeat, struggling to even grasp how they and Pebbles hadn’t established this already. It baffles them, even when they’re listening to him and responding to his every need with as much love as they can muster, he still keeps information from them that could potentially change everything.
A warning pops up, the symbol projecting onto the walls of the chamber along with holograms in front of them. How foolish they had been to not consider Sig’s feelings, how pathetic even when both they and Pebbles give their best effort they will never truly understand how he thinks. They ignore the warnings, head in their hands, thoughts becoming muddy and painfully loud. Then another. Another, and another- until they’re given the warning sounds repeatedly. To which they respond to by simply shutting off their audio receptors. Dim red light fills the chamber, a threatening aura as they feel neurons firing only to either not send a signal back, or junk data completely corrupted by their own anxious state. Before long, they turn off the gravitational field that allows everything in their chamber to hover in the air, unable to even process that their arm isn’t holding them up anymore until they feel their left side hit the floor with a hard thud that rings through their puppet.
NSH: Suns?
NSH: Sunnsss, are you there?
FP: Oh. Oh no.
NSH: ?
FP: I think they’re having some kind of mental block right now.
NSH: Ohhh that makes sense, hold on, I’ll check something.
Upon closer inspection, No Significant Harassment now realizes that they’re not blocking anything in his systems whatsoever anymore- very unlike them, to let their control slip especially when worried about someone. After a while of checking for them in every place they had blocked and finding nothing he manually controls an overseer at the very top of his can, suspended on the tallest spire in his city to gaze out to their own can, seeing a concerning amount of steam flowing from the pipes considering they definitely weren’t doing any kind of experiment or iterative process. It dawns on him that this is much more serious than he was ever prepared for, a chill crawling down his back.
NSH: Yeah um. um this is really bad.
FP: What did you find?
NSH: They not only left my systems which they clearly hadn’t planned on doing for a while, but also it seems there’s a LOT of steam coming from them.
FP: Oh saints. Do you have any way to see what’s going on in there?
NSH: They got rid of my only overseer, and it would take around half a cycle to send another over there so that’s not an option.
NSH: I can tell they’re sending their data through the wrong channels from the junk text I get by opening their profile. Not the public one, the data beneath that.
FP: I know what this is.
FP: They’re having a panic attack.
NSH: Fuck.
FP: Hold on, I’m gonna try to get them to talk, don’t join the call until I invite you in.
FP: [Call Active]
NSH: Got it.
As Suns remains collapsed on the floor of their chamber, their attention is immediately grabbed by the insistent pings of a call ringing in their head, weakly reaching their arm out to pull all of the tabs down to where they can reach and seeing the call invite. Their eyes barely register what the others had been saying, only able to make out the “panic attack” part of Pebbles’ sentence. Fatigue wracks their body, emotions getting in the way of everything as their neurons flood with junk information, lines of code scribbled with so many errors even the most experienced of iterators would blush. After a few failed attempts to click the button, arm falling to the floor repeatedly, they manage to click the button, greeted by the face of a concerned Five Pebbles- well, the blur of a vague form that they immediately recognize as him. “Suns, are you okay?”
They try to respond as the sound of his voice along the background noise of his structure is put directly into their head, no need for them to turn on the audio processors. They try again, and again, getting out a weak “can’t” before going silent and trying to get a hold on something, anything in their memory arrays to escape the blinding flow of information. Realizing it’s so bad they can’t even talk, Pebbles immediately starts to pull up everything to read the state of their structure. The image of various warnings to stay away from their territory makes his heart- cpu, chamber or something like it- drop. Looking through the readings only serves to worry him more, neuron and memory array data not having anything of use, hormonal imbalances, unsteady chemical levels and any outputs being effected as their systems dump the junk information from their mind into every part of their can.
Pebbles’ eyes narrow, darting between the call and begging internally for the overseer camera to magically turn on to show how him they are doing in their chamber.
“I’m so, so sorry..”
Is all he can manage, he’s dealt with meltdowns like this before himself, but not only has he been supported by others but his own systems having safe guards to reverse this kind of damage much more quickly than, say, a model like Suns who had barely any prevention measures, only ways to repair the damage caused by whatever may effect them internally. Antenna drooping, imagining the sheer amount of noise that must be hitting them each and every millisecond. He’s been coddled by them and practically smothered with affection backed by concern, but affection nonetheless countless times now- the realization hits that this is much more serious than what he can handle alone.
“I.. I don’t know how to help you, shit.” He thinks aloud, trying to keep them on the line with any kind of sound or comfort when the signal falters. When asked by Sig through his private messages what was going on, he replies frantically.
Private Message - No Significant Harassment
NSH: What’s happening right now? Are they okay?
FP: Get on call now
FP: Please
FP: I can’t do this myself
FP: Look at their system readings.
Without any fuss, Sig joins the call, and the sound of their voice being full of concern without any kind of joking tone feels uncanny to Pebbles.
“Suns, I’m here- are you alright?”
Hesitation, then flicking on the camera, eyes staring down at the holograms with abject fear. “I know you’re not.. but you aren’t alone right now, try to hold onto the signal the best you can.”
”You don’t have to suffer in silence, both of us know that it would be trivial to try to repair this with simple code. If you can, focus on the internal fans of your puppet and use it to.. take a deep breath? I don’t even know the equivalent for us, these ancient metaphors are lost to me.”
Not once in his life has Sig heard himself sound so helpless at the pain of a dear friend, feeling equally unable to help as Pebbles is. Ironically enough, he sends a few lines of code through the connection at Suns in an effort to make their suffering at least tolerable. “Click what I just sent you, see if it helps.”
Even in their own head, Suns is having a hard time hearing the voice of both of their favorite iterators muddy together. It makes them choke out a faint sob, wanting to have the two’s voices, or anything for that matter to come through clear and loud enough to shake them into lucidity. They do as instructed, tapping the request to run a file they can’t even tell contains anything, downloading it and automatically running the request. The line of code isn’t even read at first, every part of their system clogged with garbage data- but when it does run, buffering as their system is pushed over what they’re used to repeatedly. Gradually, at least a good quarter of the spammed code is deleted, slowing down the process significantly and a sense of security finally getting to them. A sound similar to a deep sigh, then more silence- but the warnings in the background noise of their side of the call are gradually disappearing.
Pebbles lets out a faint hum of his own, relieved that Sig’s solution actually worked- only partially, but enough to make him consider the possibility of mutual respect between them. “Oh! Suns, can you hear us better now?”
Surprisingly, they actually respond with a soft spoken “Yes.”, gradually gaining more control of their hardware until they manage to wipe half of the data out in one fell swoop. Sig watches as the charts depicting their current state return to normal, feeling a bit proud of himself that the code he wrote in seconds through a caffeine filled fervor- don’t tell Suns, wink wink- actually managed to do something. He knows damn well Suns would have been capable of doing at all themself if they were given the time, cocky subconscious feelings making them almost puff their chest out with pride but catch themself before they do anything of the sort as he hears Suns try to say another thing to affirm any sense of normalcy to the other iterators and get back to the task at hand of trying to mediate whatever Sig had planned for them.
Silence, then the sound of the zero gravity whirring back into motion. They’re drawn up by the arm into its default position away from the hard, cold floor, immediately turning their audio processors back on as the flow of information becomes much less muddled- but a small bit of it still remains, singular lines of words and code here and there multiplying on its own until they finally wipe their systems clean, drawing all of the holograms up effortlessly. Even still, they feel over exerted with foggy thoughts while the applications made to repair something like this go into effect. They run a hand down their robe, making sure to rid it of any dust or wrinkles before bringing in an overseer and flickering the camera on- to which both Sig and Pebbles immediately are startled by, but their expressions show a final sense of relief. Then, the jovial iterator speaks up- in his own cocky, self-assured way with the almost comedic tone returning, underneath it still laying a tinge of worry and fear, even if they’re back to functional now.
“Hey! Hiiii Suns~”
Pebbles rolls his eyes at the way Sig immediately goes back to their normal self- if being honest, he envies the way they can hide anything behind that infamous voice.
“Are you okay?” Is the first thing he says almost automatically at the sight of their disheveled face, eyes tired and so, so very over-exerted .
Nodding, they speak in an unintentionally pathetic manner- only to realize that it’s still difficult to process speech halfway through and feeling angry at themself for even allowing that to happen in the first place. They way they flatten their palm out, then into a fist, then back again just like all of the other repetitive behaviors that came before.
“Yeah, you two definitely dragged me out of that. If I were alone it would have been cycles upon cycles of trying to fight that.. corrupted nonsense.”
Then, both of them watch as Pebbles has a bit of joy return to his face, clearly seeming to love the idea that he actually helped, while the guilt and shame is buried deep beneath his actual demeanor. Suns sees in the reflective hologram pushed to the side that their eyes visibly dilate and blush a bit, which then embarrasses them more- before adding on to their statement.
“Thank you.”
To which Sig looks at him with a smile in their eyes so cocky but genuine it makes them feel sick with guilt for leaving what they had with him to devote their attention to Pebbles, even if they would destroy the world if it meant they could simply hold his hand.
“I’m glad we could actually help, I thought it wasn’t doing anything for a moment.”
Pebbles seems to slouch a bit, eyes a more familiar but unfortunate expression of something negative, constantly narrowed. He feels useless, despite having a vital role in preventing what could have felt like a never ending nightmare for them. Sig notices this too, and despite the jealousy of what Pebbles has with Suns he can’t help the feeling of pity and affection. Saints, anyone but him!Focusing back at the current situation, Sig realizes that they’re both expecting him to say something- and remembers why the group chat was made in the first place.
Uh oh.
Then, Pebbles actually takes initiative to start whatever Moon had proposed, speaking in his normal tone but Sig notices something different- no, it was always there, he just didn’t bother to notice from not only lacking the respect for the younger iterator with his envy threatening to damage his relationships- a now very obvious depressive undertone. It makes his own mind betray him with overwhelming empathy that he completely lacked before.
“NSH, how about we facilitate that conversation Moon had mentioned to me?”
Suns pipes up, voice a bit more smooth, silky.. the way of speaking that makes Sig’s thoughts go blank as they tease him. They both notice the faint blush, and so does Pebbles who gives him a look.
“Oh, yes, that. I was wondering what type of conversation you were wanting to have with us.”
Sig shakes his head quickly at the thought, pushing it away and looking horribly embarrassed- much to both Suns and Pebbles amusement.
“Welllll…”
He drags out, not knowing how to phase a request to.. join the relationship? Participate even as a spectator? Not even he knows.
“Suns. You know how I’ve felt for a long while now to some extent- and.. Pebbles, I can tell that you know I’m particularly jealous of you.”
“Oh?” Suns teases him once more, intentionally embarrassing him to make the situation more lighthearted and by proxy entertaining to Pebbles.
“I was wondering, would you two ever consider some kind of.. polycule, fuck I can’t remember what it’s called- Suns don’t look at me like that!”
Pebbles promptly bursts into a fit of laughter, getting a chuckle out of Suns themself,
“I would be open to trying something, maybe a bit more.. scandalous.”
The hologram showing Pebbles in his current state shows him laughing so hard he can’t even respond, each comment making him swipe at the holograms in front of him in a playful manner.
“Ughhhh don’t say that!!!”
”It’s only fair, considering you do the exact same. Pebbles, you would be willing to try, yes?” Eventually, he recovers from the laughing fit, feeling like the wind was knocked out of him despite not having lungs from straining his vocal box. He does the motion of clearing his throat, now facing the screen entirely as he was before the war on Sig’s ego started. Nodding, his voice is surprisingly sweet and playful (much to Sig’s dismay) before he too adds something to the conversation.
“I don’t see why not, I’d like to be close to someone else so it’s not like I’d rather be alone with you for every last cycle, Suns, no offense.”
“None taken.”
At the confirmation, No Significant Harassment feels his ego return to normal- albeit bruised, not really from Suns’ teasing which he could tolerate until his can dropped into the void sea but from the laughter from the very person he admittedly, is still very jealous of.
“That’s a relief, I’m sure if either of you was super against the idea I would have shut off my communication arrays for a long while.. glad I’ll someday hopefully be as close as you two.”
Suns’ antennae flicks, tilting their head. “What says that can’t be soon? I mean, speaking for myself I had thought of being affectionate with you regularly.”
Pebbles nods, eyes clearly showing a hint of sinful intent. “.. I actually think you’re fun to be around when you’re like this.”
“That settles it then! Now to play games with the both of you until you have to block me from spamming you.”
The two groan in response, but not a single gram of malice is in either of them- seems this will be fun, what a way to end the cycle.