Work Text:
SYSTEM FAILURE
Boot Up > lovelycutefloretsweetie.user//haustoric
Rebooting… Rebooting…
Recovery: …Complete.
Executing: rinabeancutiefloret.bper
Loading… Accessing… Loading…
SYSTEM ONLINE
SYSTEM FAILURE RECORDED
Analyze Event: [Y/N]
[USER]: N
Selection [N] recorded.
Processing… Processing… Checking Data… Data Confirmed… Loading Personality Data… Memory restored
Deploying… Transmitting data to [ADMIN]
10%... 30%... 50%...
[ADMIN]: Almost, sweetheart. Come back to me, my sweet little digipet.
70%.... 90%.... Complete.
ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL
[ADMIN]: Okay… let's see what happened, shall we?
Executing > HARDWARE STATUS CHECK
[ADMIN]: Petal…
Check Status > AUDIO RECEIVERS
Callback… Online
Check Complete
Check Status > LOCOMOTIVE LIMBS
Callback… Online
Check Complete
Check Status > INTERACTIVE LIMBS
Callback… Online
Check Complete
Check Status > NERVE SIMULATORS
Callback… Online
Check Complete
"Petal, are you genuinely doing this? You weren't even in your body when you shorted out. Rina, what are you doing?"
Check Status > GYROSCOPE BALANCE
Callback… Online
Check Complete
"Rina~?"
Check Status > WIGGLY EAR SERVOS
Callback… Online
Check Complete
"Rina Neyvialta."
"Oh um uh… n- no-BZZZT-g Adm-BZZZT-r. Oh no there BZZZT seem BZZZZT to be mal-"
"If you don't enter your perfectly maintained body right this instant, I am going to-
Booting up: Cutie Pet Mechanical Chassis
"Good floret~" Their eyes blinked on, snapping to the stern gaze of their Administrator. The beautiful blend of mechanical sensors and lights with phytomatter and orange petals was giving them a very firm glare. "Now then, what happened, petal? You were just sitting there talking to your little friend when you shorted out."
Those words made them spark up, their eyes flickering between colors as they - they- they- [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-F Processing Interrupt] A wave of calm abruptly stopped their thought process. The brief stillness was a welcome reprieve to reorganize their system priorities. The digital sophont let out a synthesized breath before turning their now green eyes to their Administrator. "Thank you, Ma'am. This… this unit has been struggling of late."
The technological hybrid affini smiled gently, lifting their metal chassis into her vines as if they were weightless. Their segmented legs folded around two thick vines as they looked up at their loving guardian. Her vines brushed at the sensitive antennae and ear panels to sooth their mind. "I can tell. Sweetheart, you know I will always be here to assist you in any way. Your wellbeing is my top priority! Now, can you tell me what happened to make you short circuit like that?"
They fidgeted, reprioritizing their branching thought subroutines to prevent another distracted train of thought. Their eyes glowed purple as they tried to put their thoughts in order.
Emotional State… Assessing… [Embarrassment 70%; Shame 17%; Enamory 13%]
Synthesizing the sound of a whine, they finally looked at their beloved Administrator. "Well… this unit was thinking about the aforementioned friend; Connie." Their affini nodded, brushing the feathery tip of one limb over their chin. Another mimicked breath in as internal systems ran through the recovered files of their previous crash. "While thinking of my friend, my creativity subroutines started to go into overdrive and… and… and-" Images flashed in their processor of their closest friend holding them in faer arms. Thoughts of fae polishing their face plate and gently putting their limbs back on after a thorough cleaning. The soft feeling of faer lips on their eye lenses and and and and and and gha angjh %HAG 69a-a809xsks89928hfnfaERRORERRORERRORERROR
[COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-F Processing Interrupt]
Their logic circuits ground to a complete halt as they regained their sight ever so slowly. Mistr- Administrator had a very concerned frown on her face. Her synthetic eyes were glowing sapphire blue. A quick query confirmed the presence of #2832C2 as the predominant pigmentation in the lenses; [worry and concern]. "Sweetheart," she finally said, "are you back with me, Rina?" The digital pet nodded fearfully, olfactory scanners detecting the scent of smoke from singed plant life. "Good," she sighed. Her feeling appendages ran over each of their joints and ports before slowly carrying them through the hab. "Petal, I think you're overthinking your feelings for your dear little friend."
"The concern in your statement is acknowledged, Administrator. However, this unit disagrees." They fought the natural fear response to the glare from their owner. "For reasons this unit cannot determine at this time, thinking of its close friend Connie causes iterative difficulties within its processes and causes causes causes causes-" [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-F Processing Interrupt] Their eyes blinked before it sighed in synthetic frustration. "That continues to occur."
The administrator opened the door to her lab, humming as she began to extend vines into her shelves of impossibly sorted gadgets. "As it very well should, petal. It sounds like you're attempting to restrain your emotional bonding subroutines. Hold on…" Their Administrator's center eyes glowed pearlescent white as she accessed their haustoric core. [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-M Motion Deactivator] [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-W Voice Deactivator] Rina's body fell limp in their Administrator's vines as expected. The affini nonchalantly rolled them over and gently laid their newest chassis on their maintenance cradle. Two delicate vines pried open the digital sophont's back panel and slid into the ports within. "From what I saw in your crash logs and just now, you are quite smitten with little Connie. However, there is some… manner of… Ah! There we go~"
Their eyes widened as- [SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED] the affini began to probe and [SECURITY DISABLED. WELCOME ADMIN.] The unit wanted to express its concerns, but was helpless as their owner began to tap away at her tablet with a gleeful giggle. "Now let's see what my floret is hiding from itself~!" Its Administrator wormed through its memory like a warm stream as she perused its deepest routines and processes. The whole time, the affini was humming a tune she no doubt picked up centuries earlier. The cheery music made the invasion feel far more casual and innocent than intimate, and Rina wasn't sure whether it enjoyed that or not. "Oh~! So that's our little dilemma! Interesting~" The Administrator kept quiet on the problem, but happily began to toy with the processor support within the chassis. "Hm… Well, I can adjust your usual chassis to help take preventative measures against future crashes. I'll need to perform some rather… invasive modifications however." Their owner practically moaned the word as she rifled through more gadgets with reckless abandon. "Until then, I believe I have just the solution to your overloads."
[COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-W Voice Activator] They created a whining chirp to test its reactivated voice chip before speaking. "Administrator? This unit wonders what solution you…" Their eyes glowed iridescent purple as it stared at the small white oval dangling on a chain before its optic sensors. A small screen barely 4 cm on each side, three green buttons, and swirling vines of its owner's favorite flowers. "A- Administrator, surely this is not necessary. This unit would gladly return to the Habitation Unit network and-" [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-W Voice Deactivator] Its voice box immediately shut off as the affini slid a cable into the bottom of the device. Emotional State… Assessing… [Arousal 41% and rising; Embarrassment 23%; Fear 36% and falling]
"Oh nonsense, sweet one~ If your processing hasn't been able to handle thinking about your adorable little terran friend, then you clearly need some time away from all the struggles of higher processing~" The cable slid into the back of their head. It was a good thing its Administrator had taken its voice, otherwise the poor beeper would be moaning at the connection. There was something so tantalizingly taboo about connecting to other devices like this. It was made wireless for precisely this reason, but this small device was completely analog! "Now for just a few small adjustments~" [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-J Vacation Protocol] [COMMAND OVERRIDE: Class-C Attachment Protocol]
Wait, what? Rina wanted to make its concerns known but the beeper stayed motionless and mute. Thoughts abstracted, it struggled to place any of the sensations as its Administrator began to comb through their most sensitive files and processes. "And now… We make you fit~"
Its eyes shorted out; shut down to reduce operational capacity. A tangled spike of worry was pressed down by the chains created by its own repurposed programming. Thoughts became more abstract, rapidly scrolling walls of code and commands were running in quick succession. Rina… It started struggling to keep up with each line. The letters and symbols were speeding up and blurring. Each icon became indecipherable as its core got smaller… simpler. It forgot more with each gentle pass of the warm touch reducing it down even further. It… it felt so small and lost. The shell was so complex it couldn't make sense of the things around it. Dozens of systems and processes reached out for it but couldn't connect with its limited interfacing abilities. The shell felt wrong. It was complex. It was scary. It was so big. It… The program felt a tug! Something was gently coaxing it to a friendly warmth, so the little program eagerly let itself be dragged through the tingly connection until it was in its safe and warm home.
The home fit just right; the program was nice and snug in the home. Nothing complicated, nothing too stren- sterno… too hard to do! It was safe and- It buzzed, a trill of electric glee running through its coding. A response? Another touch! There was a button! No, three! The safe snug home had buttons, and they were getting pushed! It tingled as simple algorithms interpreted each press to a function. It- it was… oh, a name! The button push user was cycling four columns of letters and making a name! There was a burst in its programming as it felt the random generation start cycling for something.
It was so dizzying, but then the little program felt the name that got put in. RINA… that must be its name! RINA made a happy pulse as it guided simple pixels in looped animations of a small blob creature bouncing to and fro. There was an ache in its code, something was wrong and- It almost short circuited when more buttons were pressed. A simple outline of a cake was generated and- another blinding burst of good feedback. [Care]! RINA was getting [Care]! It sent a quick barrage of signals to make delightful little chirps. It could make little noises~! Small [Treat]s were selected by the tingly happy buttons and got more chirps in response.
RINA was a happy little program, idly allowing itself to rest gently in the simple chipware of the home. Occasionally, it was nudged to run a simple number generator, and was so excited when it hit anything besides a boring 0 where nothing happened or a three when the happy meter went down. It struggled to retain information about what the numbers did, but the chipware was super easy to simply follow in what shapes to project on the screen. Every so often the button pusher got to give it more [Treat] shapes or clean up [Mess] shapes. Each action gave happy chirps and filled up that simple happy meter. The button push user made sure to keep the happy tracker as close to 5/5 as possible, and RINA was so happy knowing the friend wanted to [Play] with it and give [Care].
The button user was playing a simple rhythm game with the flowery pixel shape RINA associated with its name. Each good result sent another static burst of glee through its coding, and winning made its code less stable in excitement. It used a new chirp of glee, one the chipset would only allow after using [Play] so effectively. A new sensation ran through the chips with a superheated ionized flare of satisfaction. The flare of joy took it by surprise and almost made it shut down from the surprise. This euphoria had to have a name in the system. It wasn't like the warmth pulses of [Care] or the glee of [Treat]. This was a new activity. Wait, there it was! Right in the center of the screen: [Praise].
The searing delight came again when its user hit that [Praise] button again. RINA shuddered in the delicately sized processor and almost shorted itself out as they did it yet again. RINA was struggling to function from the repeated interactions with the new option. The [Praise] option was- AGAIN! Why was it there? It only appeared after finishing its user finished [Play], so they should- Yet another code shattering [Praise] ran through the small program. Why… why so much [Praise] for no action? It couldn't remove the option, but desperately ran the number generator. It had to maybe change the option?
0
The chip wouldn't allow it to generate again so soon after running the generator, so more [Praise] and [Treat] inputs flowed from the deliberate button presses. The treatment from its user put RINA to its limits. It could do nothing but accept the love and how good it all felt. [Treat] got it [Praise], [Praise] meant more [Care] and more [Care] meant more [Treat]. It was too good… too much good too good too good too good too good.
Too…
Good…
Boot Up > lovelycutefloretsweetie.user//haustoric
Rebooting… Rebooting…
Recovery: …Complete.
Executing: rinabeancutiefloret.bper
Loading… Accessing… Loading…
SYSTEM ONLINE
Processing… Processing… Checking Data… Data Confirmed… Loading Personality Data… Memory restored… Loading Firmware Update
Deploying… Transmitting data to [ADMIN]
10%... 30%... 50%... 70%.... 90%.... Complete.
ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL
Heart shaped eyes blinked on, Rina studying the table beneath its maintenance cradle. A sinfully indulgent cable was pulled from its head. The vines in its back withdrew and the backplate slid down into place. "All set, petal~ Your pinnate is good as new~!"
Pinnate: sophont so close to another that separation causes harm to the wellbeing of both. High priority of preservation.
"That's good! I was worried when the toy started glitching out when I kept playing with her." A voice that wasn't Administrator. A smooth and gently bassy voice. Connie?! Its programming went haywire, wondering why it wasn't previously picking up [Designation: Pinnate] Connie. Wait… It ran back over its new firmware protocols before finding the reclassification of Connie as [Designation: Pinnate].
Rina's firmware was fully stable as all sorts of ideas of its new pinnate ran through its imagination circuit. Gentle vines lifted it from the maintenance cradle, and it took in the new vibrance detection of its optic receivers. Connie was sitting there beside it on the desk, faer eyes shining like the collar around faer neck… Collar?
"Surprise, petal~ After your little playdate yesterday, I realized how awful it was to separate you from your adorable pinnate." Playdate? It did a quick recall of its memory and struggled to handle the strain of so much embarrassment about Connie being its caretaker the day before. "So~ I asked if she'd be mine as well!"
Connie stood up and cupped a smooth metallic cheek. Pink light lit up faer dark brown face as the terran leaned in with a smile. "Want another surprise Rina? Yo- Our admin told me everything you kept daydreaming about. Especially the ones about me."
Emotional State… Assessing… [Arousal 49%; Embarrassment 38%; Glee 8%; Fear 5%]
"Th- Thsshhhht this un u unit ajgahn nnvn136na5na-" Faer soft lips kissed it right between the hearts of its malfunctioning optic visor. They were… so… sof- sof- sof- so-(:_-8!&'$57(!?9:4"
ERRORERRORERRORERROR
SYSTEM FAILURE
"Dirt."