It took a moment, but TO was the first one to regain their senses and quickly assess the situation. Yes, Kei was a little terrifying right this moment; their eyes narrowed to slits, their wings strained against the bed to puff around them, and their ears pressed to their skull. Thin, dark blue lips curled up to reveal not only pointed, shiny fangs but also the deep blue gums. Their veins bulged against the light blue skin, the thin nostrils of their snout flared, and when they were not shouting insults and obscenities the growl that escaped from their throat was almost chthonic.
Terrifying, yes, but the thick straps seemed to hold, despite the straining and thrashing. Thick fabric also bound Kei’s hands, limited the use of their claws. Even if Kei got loose, they probably wouldn’t have the sense of mind to remove the fabric before attacking. Also, even if they did attack, TO had DH and Avery with them. The three of them could restrain the thrashing, angry synth.
Maybe Kei looked terrifying, but they were harmless at this moment. Still, TO kept their eyes on the other synth as they made their way to the door. Wordlessly, DH and Avery followed. It wasn’t until they were outside and the door was closed behind them they spoke again.
“What was that?” DH said, releasing a long breath, “I never saw them act like that before!”
“I don’t know!” Avery said, “I’ve never seen them That angry before!” They turned as though they wanted to go back inside, then thought better of it. “I thought this would make them happier!”
TO didn’t know if they’d be happier, but they didn’t expect this sudden excess of rage and hate, the feral desire for violence that seemed to overwhelm the formally cold synth. What happened?
Before they could try to figure it out on their own, Goretta came down the hall, hurrying on her tentacles. “What happened?” She asked as soon as she was in hearing range.
“They just woke up!” Avery said.
“And they’re in pain?” She frowned, “My sensors should have picked that up before they woke.”
“They’re not in pain.” TO said, “They’re angry.”
“Enraged is more like it.” DH said, “They were straining at their straps, cursing, yelling-”
Goretta’s shoulders relaxed, and they let out a deep breath, “But they don't seem in pain?” she asked again, glancing at Avery.
“Er… no?” Avery ventured, “They seemed fine before they woke up. They were fine-” They stopped, their ears dipping as they glanced at TO, “... They were fine until they saw TO.”
Goretta pursed her lips, “Right.” She said, “And you mentioned before that they don’t like TO that much-”
“Not at all.” Avery said. “I thought they might be angry! You said they might, but you didn’t say they might be like this!”
From further down the hall, TO heard another set of footsteps, and seconds later Snout turned the corner at the other end of the hallway, running towards them and straightening their disheveled clothing as they approached.
“What happened?” They asked DH as they got close. “You messaged me-”
“Kei woke up, saw TO, and, and got angry.” Goretta said. “I’m going in-”
“Is that safe!?” DH asked, their ears pinning back.
Goretta glanced at DH. “Are they still strapped in?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Then yes.” She said, She turned to Snout, “I’ll go in first. Hopefully, they’ll be more neutral to a civilian than they will be to you.”
“Fine.” Snout huffed, “But if something goes wrong-” They didn’t bother finishing their sentence as Goretta opened the door and slipped into the recovery room before they got past the third word. Snout reached out for the door, hesitated, then sighed and leaned back against the wall. Whatever adrenaline had been previously pushing them suddenly drained, and they let themself slide to the floor, their head slumping down.
“Snout!” DH knelt down next to them, opening their med kit. “Are you alright?”
Snout held a hand up to their mouth and gave an enormous yawn, their ears flicking down as they did. “M’fine.” They said once they could speak again. “Just tired.”
“But you were fine just a second ago-”
“A second ago I thought something terrible had happened.” Snout murmured. “I was running on adrenaline and about three hours of sleep.”
TO had never noticed it before, but with DH and Snout sitting so close together certain similarities became so clear. Snout’s larger snout distracted from their other facial features, but Snout’s jawline had the same, softer curve to it, and their ears were just slightly larger than average. And when they were sleepy and had their eyes half closed, their ears dipped, they looked almost exactly like DH.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Well, minus the snout, of course.
“Why didn’t you get more sleep!” DH exclaimed, “That’s not hardly enough-”
“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be up this early.” Snout said. “I’ll be fine. Won’t be the first day I’ve spent on limited sleep.” They rested their head back against the wall, closing their eyes. “Now… mind telling me what exactly happened?”
DH told Snout what happened, about how Kei had reacted the moment their eyes landed on TO, how suddenly wild and feral they appeared. All the while, Snout just nodded. At first, TO thought they had gone to sleep again but once DH finished they spoke.
“I didn’t expect this, but I’m not surprised.” Snout said before yawning again. “Though I had hoped for a more positive reaction when they woke.”
“You’re not surprised?” TO asked, their ears flicking back, “Not surprised at all that they turned into a rabid rage beast?”
Snout didn’t move from where they sat, didn’t even open their eyes, “I’m not surprised that they don’t know how to handle the emotions they’re suddenly experiencing.” They said, “When you were in the simulation, you had the chance to learn how to live with your emotions, and how to regulate them.” They finally opened their eyes, “A basic life-simulation, taking you from childhood to adulthood in just a few cycles. In your simulation, you had to deal with your stronger emotions. Kei though? Every time they experienced a powerful emotion, that part of their brain was altered so they wouldn’t experience it again.”
“... But now they can.” DH said, “So if they were a little irritated before-”
“Their mind is trying to interpret things.” They said, “Hopefully, it evens out.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Avery asked. Their ears were low, their wings tight around their arms, “What if it doesn’t even out?”
“Then we figure it out then.” Snout said. “But for now they need some time.”
“... So they will have to go back to their room.” Avery said. They turned to TO, “But you spoke to GiDi, right?”
TO felt their own ears pin down, “... Not yet.” They admitted, “Yesterday was hectic, but I’m going to talk to them today!” They turned to DH, “Come on, let’s go find them-”
“I don’t think that isolation is a good idea, but I don’t think they’ll agree to total freedom for Kei.” Snout said. “I don’t know. But even if you talk to GiDi…” They looked at Avery, “You know that like this, they’re dangerous to themself, and to others. What happens if they attack one of you when you’re alone? Or if they find the refugees from the tunnels and attack them?”
“If they’re feeling a lot more now than they were, then keeping them alone won’t help them!” Avery insisted. “It’ll make things worse! The insurgents have to see that!” They turned to TO, their ears flicking and low in desperation, their eyes wide, “You’ll do something right? You’ll fix this?” Their eyes flicked momentarily to DH, “You always fix things.”
TO didn’t like Kei. In normal circumstances they wouldn't care if Kei was all alone or not. However, the effect of isolation on Avery was clear enough; if it was going to be worse on Kei and their unchecked, untrained emotions…
Well, they couldn’t imagine they’d wish that on anyone. Besides that, that they forgot to talk to GiDi about Kei made their stomach churn, and made looking directly at Kei very difficult.
“I’ll fix it.” TO said,
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Snout sighed from the floor.
“I’m not.” TO said, their ears flicking back, “I’ll figure something out.”
“They’ll do their best.” DH said as they stood up, lacing their fingers between TO’s. “But… TOs not in charge.”
“I will figure something out!” TO insisted. They gripped DH’s hand, “I kept us together, and our superiors in training didn’t care about feelings at all. GiDi does, and we do.” They turned to Avery, “We’re going to go right now, we’re going to talk to GiDi, Pearla, Tham… we’ll talk to whoever we need to. Kei won’t be isolated again.”
Snout gave a sign that turned into a yawn, “Well… Honestly, that would be best.” They said. “I don’t want to think of what isolation would actually do to them in this state. Still, I don’t think anyone will be alright with Kei wandering around like you three do.” They cracked an eye open and looked directly at TO. “DH said they looked like they wanted to attack you. You’ve described them as a ‘rabid rage beast’ just a minute ago. Would you be comfortable running into them alone in a hallway down here?”
“We’ll figure something out.” TO said. They looked at Avery, “Can I guess you want to stay here?”
“Yes.” Avery said, “if possible, I want to see them when Goretta is done. I want to make sure they’re not alone.”
TO nodded, took DH’s hand, and led them down the hallway, “Come on.” They said, “Let’s get this fixed.”
DH let TO lead them down the hall a bit, getting out of earshot of the others before they spoke again. “If we can.” They said, “... I don’t know if I’d be comfortable with them wandering around either.” Their fingers tightened around TO’s, “They looked like they wanted to kill you. TO, if they ever hurt you…”
“I know.” TO whispered as they squeezed back, “But we still need to do this. I should have spoken to GiDi yesterday.”
Even as they said that, they wondered if it would have made a difference. Yesterday, they didn’t know that Kei would wake and immediately fall into a violent rage. Even if they had convinced the others not to lock Kei up again, they were certain that this event would have changed things.
Still; they had to try. TO had failed Avery already in forgetting to talk to GiDi about all this; they’d not fail their friend again.