Story Reader / Affection / Bambinata: Vitrum / Story
What was going through your mind when you stopped by Egret's lounge again?
"I'll just be in and out"—so you thought as you knocked on the door again.
You try to remember what happened just a little over an hour ago, all the while unable to forget the blue figure you saw back then.
...Hello...?
Who... are you?
Check-up? Bambinata... doesn't understand.
Yesterday... Bambinata was ordered... to wait.
And... that's it.
Bambinata shakes her head lightly.
Remember... what? Va... nessa?
Vanessa... is Bambinata's Mistress. Yes, Mistress Vanessa.
Bambinata remembers Vanessa like she did the day before, but that is it.
Except she doesn't seem quite like the person you saw the day before—she seemed a lot more sensitive than when you brought up Vanessa, and she was able to string her sentences together a lot better, too.
Everything she didn't recall has become the heavy shades that loom in her eyes, which are now looking straight at you from the other side of the door. You know there is only one thing you can do now...
...
Vanessa gave you a piece of her mind when you got in touch with her, but fell quiet after hearing your description of Bambinata's symptoms.
I've figured as much, and that's precisely why I made the appointment.
Oh boy... and I thought you were smart.
The world would have one more genius to save the day if you were always this smart.
Right then, your call with Vanessa grows fuzzy with white noise, followed by a vaguely distinguishable human voice.
When Vanessa's voice resumes, she speaks in what sounds like an intentionally suppressed tone.
I need to go now...
But don't you think you've been forgiven for going into our lounge uninvited.
Bambinata?
Staring into your terminal like an excited child, Bambinata immediately comes over once she hears her name.
Vanessa... Mistress. Bambinata... here.
This is a lot worse than I thought...
You didn't do anything to her, did you?
Who else, smartie?
Didn't think you'd dare to anyway.
Mistress... and Commandant... of Gray Raven... get along...
Are you... friends?
No!
You and Vanessa shouted out in perfect unison.
Having noticed her blunder, Bambinata backs away to the door, all the while saying nothing.
Uh-hum, never mind. There is another way out... You're not to blame, Bambinata.
Hey, Nice Chief.
You... Bambinata... Wait for... check-up...
...
A few rounds of white noise later, the line died.
This is probably why Vanessa said she had to go. From how it sounds, she is probably in the middle of a classified mission.
Nice... Chief
Pulling you by a corner of your outfit, Bambinata repeats what Vanessa just called you.
Check-up... Mistress said. You... Bambinata, check-up.
It seems like Bambinata has interpreted what Vanessa said as an order for you to take her in for the check-up...
...
Not letting go of her hand, Bambinata is redolent of a butterfly that perches quietly on you.
Nice Chief...
Nice... [player name].
It took the two of you half an hour to go from Egret's lounge to Star of Life—and for the entire way, you found yourself having to explain to Bambinata that she wasn't supposed to add "Nice" before your name when she addressed you.
Deep in thought about what happened just an hour ago, you snap back when you hear the doctor at Star of Life.
Under the shadowless lamps, the doctor inserts countless finger-size tubes into Bambinata, who lies quietly on the gurney as it all happens to her.
Well... This will do. I'm going to start from here, then.
When one last pinky-size probe is inserted into the back of Bambinata's head, her closed eyes fly open, revealing her now shivering sky-blue pupils as her body spasms ever so lightly.
...Mistress... Bambinata... It hurts...
Mistress... Mistress?
As Bambinata begins mumbling, her shivering hands, too, begin unfolding and folding.
I can't shut off her sensory system because I need to apply stimulation directly to her neurological network, but rest assured her functions are making recovery as we speak.
The pain is part of the check-up, and this treatment is the only one that works.
Shaking his head, the doctor turns around to operate the machine.
Where... Mistress...
Bambinata repeats those same words, probably in the hopes that they'd make her feel better—except they do nothing to settle her nerves.
You now find yourself awash in an urge—one that's criticizing and urging you to act as it fights the other part of you.
When you hold her hand—spasming from pain—you can seem to feel her suffering through her cold fingers.
No one should have to go through this kind of suffering, no matter who they are.
And you know that you want to help Bambinata feel better however you can—because she is who she is.
Mistress? Mistress...
Apparently feeling you beside her, Bambinata's mumble falls quiet.
She can't hear you now.
Whatever she's saying now... you can see them as the subconsciousness from the depths of her M.I.N.D., and most of them don't mean anything.
Seeing Bambinata doing better now, the doctor says nothing as he walks up to you, his eyes no longer shrewd and cold.
The M.I.N.D. is always the trickiest when it comes to treating a Construct. I'm sure she's going through a lot of pain now...
Oh... I thought you knew. Both the M.I.N.D. and frame model of this Construct are outdated.
Both her memory loss and aphasia have to do with her M.I.N.D.
Looking at the graph in the monitoring terminal that the doctor is now showing you, you can see that there are countless entangled lines of multiple colors that don't seem to exhibit a particular pattern. Toward the end of the graph, however, they seem to display what looks like a pattern.
They represent the electrical signals of her M.I.N.D. This graph is supposed to tell us that, as we speak, her mental state is as active as it's a mess.
And look at this here.
Looking at another graph on the terminal that the doctor is pointing at, you see the kind of zigzagging lines usually found in an ECG chart, except the lines seem more rhythmical than the lines you saw in the chart before.
This graph shows the active cycles of her M.I.N.D. Normally, we don't see this number here so close to zero.
But this is how her active cycles have been these days—every 24 hours, her M.I.N.D. plunges all the way down to almost zero.
You only get a number like this when someone's M.I.N.D. is overwritten by blank data. Yes, you heard that right.
Now, this blank data overwrites her M.I.N.D. every 24 hours, which wipes out the memory she's accumulated up to that point. This is also the cause of her aphasia.
Thanks to the treatment, Bambinata is no longer mumbling, although the spasm has yet to die down.
I'm not sure, but this is what I saw in her when she first came to me.
This treatment is going to take another half an hour... Feel free to go back to your lounge and wait there if you want to.
...
Alright. It'll probably make her feel better knowing that she isn't alone.
Half an hour later, you finally let go of your hand—numb from holding Bambinata's hand for the past 30 minutes—when the doctor removes all the tubes.
After a few simple cognitive tests that ensure Bambinata has regained her basic language ability, the doctor shoves Bambinata's diagnostic report into your hand.
You can find everything you want to know on it. Now, I'm afraid you have to leave because I need to see my next patient in line.
And with it, the two of you leave the examination room and traverse the crowded lobby—before you're back on the street facing Star of Life.
Even at sunset, this street on the outskirts of Star of Life is still a lot more lively than the other streets in Babylonia. At the same time, the artificial sun in the sky can be seen playing its role dutifully to let people know that the end of the day has arrived.
In the hustle and bustle of the street, with your shadows trailing behind you, the two of you are trying to remember the way you came.
Following you closely, Bambinata is as quiet as always—in fact, she hasn't said a word since the examination, other than when she had to complete the cognitive tests.
Right when you're about to open your mouth to speak, you feel a touch of bio-skin on your hand.
It's Bambinata—who's holding you by the fingers now, seemingly unable to hold your hand entirely.
You were holding Bambinata's hand... during the check-up.
Now, Bambinata is going to hold your hand, too.
Still keeping her head low, Bambinata nods.
Mistress always holds Bambinata's hand, too, during check-ups.
And Bambinata holds her hand, too, after that.
Yes, she does it every time Bambinata goes to the doctor.
Sometimes, Mistress speaks a lot with the doctor, like how you spoke a lot with the doctor today.
And when Bambinata is in pain, Mistress speaks even more with the doctor.
It hurts every time, but Bambinata doesn't know why Mistress knows about this.
Mistress touches Bambinata's head, too, when Bambinata's in pain...
Speaking quietly, Bambinata seems like a scared child who has yet to experience the world. She answers all the questions you have for her, and she says whatever comes to her mind.
In your imagination, Vanessa is someone who treats her team like a box of tools, and she's never seen being friendly to anyone out in public.
When speaking about Vanessa, however, Bambinata does so in a pure, childish, gentle tone.
No, Bambinata doesn't remember any of it.
The external memory module Mistress gave Bambinata keeps those memories.
But Bambinata vaguely remembers them. Mistress is very, very important to Bambinata, and that's why she can vaguely remember Mistress.
But without the external memory module... Bambinata can't tell if this is how Mistress usually treats her...
But Mistress holds Bambinata's hand sometimes, and sometimes she hugs Bambinata.
Bambinata only recalled that Mistress did the same for Bambinata because you held Bambinata's hand and spoke a lot with the doctor, too.
External memory module—you remember seeing the term on Bambinata's diagnostic report.
All you learned about it when you spoke with the doctor is that it's a precious product of neuroscience research and that Bambinata's is the only one throughout the entire Babylonia.
Vanessa gave this incredibly precious device to Bambinata. But just like Vanessa, that device is nowhere to be seen right now.
It seems that their relationship is more complicated than you think.
Perhaps you just do not know Bambinata and Vanessa enough. When one does not know someone well enough—
They often never get to understand what the other person thinks of themselves.
