Cave-In

[knux400]

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"Maaaybe we should change the subject."
"Oh! Um, is the horror talk uncomfortable? Sorry about that. I just get kind of rambly when I'm super interested in something, so-"
"Yeah, we gathered." Exclusit cuts Matri off.

You pause to look at Exclusit. Are they... always this abrasive? Or is it just stress?

"Well... a bit, yeah. I'm glad to have someone here who knows this much about horrors, but... maybe tone it down a bit? Unless it's something important, obviously.
"Yeah, got it!"

...




...You were going to let the other two take the lead, but Exclusit isn't much for conversation anyway and Matri can't seem to think of anything else to talk about.


"Do you guys do photography at all?"
"I used to, a bit!" Matri chimes in.
"No." Comes Exclusit's deadpan reply.

"Well, I really enjoy it. There's something about being able to take any moment and capture it forever that just... clicks with me, You know how sometimes you see a picture, and you don't just see the picture? You remember what it was like being in that moment, all the sounds and memories..."
"Yeah! Family photos do that for me sometimes. There's this one I really love where me and my siblings were camping, right, and we wanted to take a group photo of all of us in our big ol' tent ready to bed down for the night."
"Aw, that sounds nice."
"Haha, well, um, not really! The wind picked up right as Rui took the photo, and it ended up being a blurry mess where the tent was half falling over and we were all freaking out and stuff. It took us a good half hour to get everything all set up again."
"Oh, geez."
"Yeah, it... kinda sucked. Everyone was really tired and grumpy, and we all wanted to sleep."
"...And you like that photo?"
"It's my favorite!"
"Why?"

Matri pauses, putting a fin on their chin.

"Well... the next day when we all woke up, we were all feeling a lot better, but we had kind of forgotten about the picture. So when Rui showed it to us, we all just... burst out laughing!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! Even though it sucked actually being there, it all seemed silly in hindsight. We all got so mad over a gust of wind; it just makes me smile to think about! And the picture itself was funny, too. The way Rui managed to perfectly capture everyone's panicked expression as the left side of the tent was bowing in, and all the stuff on the floor was hanging in midair as the tent tilted... It was perfect. A moment of beauty in the middle of a total disaster. We all still have it."
"That sounds amazing! I wish I had anything half as good as that."
"Well, you've got a camera built straight into your head, right? I mean, I'd have to stop, get my camera out of my bag, turn it on, maybe replace the batteries, but you- you can just psssht and it's done! I'm sure you've got a lot of great stuff on there."
"I actually have this really nice one of a mudchucker poking its head out of its burrow, with some foliage in the background and the sun rising behind it..."
"Oh, wow! I wish I could see..."
"Well, hang on a second. You've got a UCI2 port, right?"
"Of course, yeah! But I didn't bring a cord with me down here."
"Oh, I always carry a spare, just in case. It's a bit short since it has to fit in my shell pocket, but..."

You produce a small cord with a triangular plug on either end, passing one end to Matri. Matri takes it and plugs it into a small port on the back of their head, hidden under a protective flap of plastic. You do the same on your end, and after some awkward shifting to accommodate the short length of the cable, you can sense each other. It's sort of like a doorway in your mind has been opened, and Matri is standing on the other side. You recall your photo of the mudchucker, and will it through the doorway towards Matri. At almost the same time, you feel information passing through the doorway towards you. You accept the packet and begin decoding it, and sure enough, it's the image Matri described to you. The whole process takes less than a second, and after a moment you both audibly react to the pictures, you chuckling a bit and Matri making a small 'awww'.

Matri disconnects the cord, clicking the flap on their head shut before passing the end back to you.
"That's awesome! You can really see the mandibles."
"Yeah, you too! Is that your whole family?"
"Well, Rui isn't there because she was taking the picture, but yeah! I met them a few weeks after I was manufactured and we've been best buds ever since."
"Aw, that's neat! I've heard about those family units, and the concept always seemed cool to me! Of course, I never needed to join one myself, since I had a creator instead of a manufacturer, but..."

The two of you continue like this for quite some time. Exclusit even offers a snarky comment here and there- they still don't seem that talkative, but they are calming down.




...







Eventually you come to another opening. You and Matri almost bump into Exclusit as they stop walking abruptly. They extend their arms to either side, cautioning you to stay back.

"More debris." They report. "I think something's moving inside."