Randomly Accessing Memories

[all_wound_up]

Who: Nano Shinonome and Atsuro Kihara
Where: A computer lab in Monoceros Community College
When: May 28, evening
Summary: Even after her recovery, Nano's still got a memory that doesn't belong, and she's enlisting some help from someone she trusts.
Warnings: Action brackets because yolo

[Despite how deeply embarrassed and ashamed Nano is of how she treated Atsuro during the events of the past week, there's something she needs his help with.  While it's true that there are several other people she could have asked - Latooni and Ruri come to mind - she's decided that she really does owe him an apology, and this is just as good an opportunity as any.  So she's asked if she can meet him privately after hours at his job at the community college, and that she'd explain when she got there.  The whole invitation was rather hasty and awkward, with no small amount of blushing and fidgeting from her end before abruptly ending the call.

So late that evening - after dinner but before sunset - Nano shows up in the computer lab, knocking somewhat timidly on the door.]

...Hello?  Atsuro-san?

Comments

[otakuro]

One memory that didn't go away...?

[This was the first he was hearing about anything like that.]

It belongs to the person you swapped with? ...And how are you so sure? The Heartless guys are involved?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano shakes her head, frowning.]

No... I don't think it belongs to her, either. It didn't feel like the other ones.

[otakuro]

[Curiouser and curiouser. Atsuro sits back down in his chair while gesturing for Nano to sit at one close by.]

...So the strings snapped back to normal. Maybe yours got... snagged somehow while everything was being sorted out.

What's the memory about?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano pulls the chair over, turning it sideways before taking a seat, hands resting flat on her knees.]

It was a memory of spray painting graffiti after the 13th Hour. There were other people there too, all dressed in black and wearing masks.

[otakuro]

Spray-painting graffiti...?

[Atsuro mulls that over in his mind for a few moments.]

It wasn't -- Not the graffiti that appeared on the monument?!

[all_wound_up]

[Nano shakes her head, hoping he doesn't think poorly of her for all of this.]

Not the same one, no. It looked like a flower... and there was a butterfly with the number 13 on it.

[otakuro]

Hm...

[Honestly it would have been much easier if it were the memorial.]

That leaves it pretty open, then. The town's got a lot of graffiti in it; it could've been anyone with a can of spray paint.

[Flowers and butterflies don't seem too menacing, anyway. Atsuro relaxes slightly.]

I wonder if we could find out where it is... Do you remember anything about the location?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano shakes her head, frowning just slightly.]

I don't, I'm sorry... it was dark out in the memory, and I was paying more attention to the picture and the other people.

[And now she's back to fidgeting nervously in her chair.]

But, um... I... I think you might be able to help me remember it more clearly. If you'd be willing to do it.

[otakuro]

I can help you remember...? Are you sure you wanted my help? I'm not a... psychologist or hypnotist or anything; I can't just poke around in --

[Oh.]

...You don't mean...

[all_wound_up]

I-it's all right! I trust you!

[Yeah, that's what she means all right.]

[otakuro]

[Atsuro meets this with nothing for a few moments but stunned silence.]

Nano...

[He would have happily jumped at the offer before. But with the passage of time, it had been easy to forget that Nano wasn't entirely human; easy to learn to respect and care for her as a person in her own right. And while it would have been a blast to pry open a robot and see how it ticked... It wasn't such a simple thing to do to a close friend.]

Nano, are you totally sure? I... My expertise is with programming and coding, not robotics. I can sort through your data fine when it's out, but... what if I screw something up on the way?

[all_wound_up]

[Nano shakes her head, closing her eyes and smiling.]

I'm sure. There's no one I can think of who I'd rather ask to help me with this. I know you'll be careful.

[She opens her eyes again, slowly but courageously putting her hand on top of Atsuro's, head bowed just slightly as she looks up at him.]

Please...? Will you help me?

[otakuro]

Ah...

[A slight flush rises to Atsuro's face as he watches Nano's movements in astonishment. To think that she could trust him to such a degree... Such a heartfelt plea imbued more confidence in him than he ever could have summoned on his own. Atsuro nods.]

Well... OK! I can't say 'no' when you ask like that... I'll do everything I possibly can!

[The moment might be slightly ruined when Atsuro's eyes dart to Nano's forehead awkwardly.]

So is there... a button or something?

[all_wound_up]

Thank you! Thank you so much, Atsuro-san!

[Nano claps her hands together, smiling and even giggling as Atsuro agrees. It's actually sort of exhilarating to have been able to ask him something so personal all on her own.]

Oh! Um... no, hold on a moment.

[Leaning down to the floor for a moment, Nano slips her foot out of her sandal and then pulls off her sock. She then grasps her big toe between her thumb and forefinger, wiggling it back and forth and popping it off.]

If you have a USB cable, you can connect to me through this.

[Holding her foot up, she points at the drive behind where her toe had been a moment before. It's one of her more embarrassing features, so she's blushing a little by this point.]

[otakuro]

...Oh. Convenient.

[Well that was a lot easier than he had been thinking. Most of his reluctance a few moments ago had been at the thought of having to crack open her skull and pull out a hard drive or something. Atsuro stares at the unusual sight for a half moment before recovering himself.]

Ah... Sure! Just give me a sec.

[The computer lab was well stocked with all kinds of computer equipment, naturally, and Atsuro pulls one out in short order.]

Alright... Are you ready, Nano?

[all_wound_up]

[She probably wouldn't have asked at all if it was going to be something that difficult. Thankfully, for all the trouble her attachments normally cause her, this time the Professor managed to install something that turned out to be marginally useful.]

Mm... I'm ready whenever you are. Should I just prop my foot up somewhere, or...

[She blinks, looking over to see how long the cord he's got is.]

[otakuro]

Right... Maybe on this chair? I can put my laptop over here.

[Atsuro reaches over to drag another chair closer before he plugs one end into the laptop. The other end he passes over to Nano. Somehow, it felt like an intrusion of privacy to stick it in himself. ...Not to mention that it looked totally bizarre.]

[all_wound_up]

[Nano nods, lifting her leg and resting her foot on the other chair. Taking the other end of the cable in her hand, she slowly plugs it in to the empty port, her other toes curl involuntarily as she twitches momentarily. This is the first time she's ever actually plugged anything into those ports, after all, so she wasn't sure how it would feel.]

A-all right...

[otakuro]

...Here goes!

[Atsuro closes out his game, hovers his finger over the mouse... and dramatically double clicks on the new drive his computer had detected through the USB port.]

...
...
...

Nano do you think you have any idea how your files are organized?

[all_wound_up]

[Have a blank stare.]

I've never done this before, so...

[otakuro]

...Ah.

[He shifts his computer over so Nano can take a look at the contents of her head. There are approximately ten kazillion folders each named things like xkfkdldk395ldkejq23k4k591jf. ...As they watch, some will randomly appear and disappear without any rhyme or reason.]

This is what's inside a folder labeled 'Dynamic Network Connectivity Monitoring'. ...I think these might be the files for your memories.

((That moment when you are tempted to use computational neuroscience in a tag except your character doesn't know computational neuroscience. .......Just thought I'd mention it since I doubt that moment will ever come again. =P ))

[all_wound_up]

So many...

[Nano is seriously amazed over here. How will they ever find one specific memory amid such a huge sea of folders and files?]

Do we have to look through all of them?

[otakuro]

...Maybe.

[In the end, this didn't seem like it was going to be programming and hacking so much as it was critical reasoning with some basic assumptions. Atsuro chooses a folder at random and opens it up - inside is more of the same.

Right. 'Network'. Memories weren't isolated on their own; they fed into each other, referenced one another. Each memory had to access other memories within the same network to give it reference and meaning - reference in time, in space... and meaning for something even as simple as understanding what the color 'blue' meant.]

The memory we're looking for is one that doesn't belong in this database. ...It's foreign to this network. Memories in humans are just... proteins and neurons firing. Inside of you, memories are clusters of self-referential files.

So if we're looking for a memory isolated from the network - a file that doesn't reference anything else...

[Atsuro bites down on his tongue as he leans forward, watches the shifting folders, and thinks.]

Nano, could you do something for me?

Bring up that memory. As vividly as you can imagine.

[all_wound_up]

All right, I'll try.

[Nano closes her eyes, concentrating and trying to remember the rogue memory she'd woken up with a few days ago. The darkness, the people in masks, the graffiti... a flower with petals falling from it, and a butterfly with the number 13 on its wings perched atop the flower.]

...Is it working?

[Opening one eye, she peers curiously at the computer screen to watch what sorts of files and folders are scrolling by.]

[otakuro]

[As Nano concentrates, Atsuro rapidly makes some adjustments to the way the files were sorted and displayed.]

OK. It's not a newly created memory, so I don't think it's as easy as just taking the most recent file that pops up. The ones here are probably going to just show us the memories you're forming right here and right now. And it still has some connections to the rest of your memories, just not as many as a normal memory should have.

[Click click click zoom copy click click click.]

I've isolated the 1000 most recently 'adjusted' files here. They should be stable now. And if I'm right, the file we're looking for is going to have one of the fewest cross-references to other memories in your database.

...What do you think? I'm kind of making this up as I go...