bakerstreet | The Cyborg Meme

The Cyborg Meme

Isn't technology great?

For one reason or another, you're now part organic, part robotic. Roll a number, pick your favorites, or choose your own robotic adventure!

Write which role(s) you want to play, if you're up for being the one cyborged, feel free to describe what your character's new modified body is like.

Roles:

1. Cyborg - For whatever reason, you're a cyborg. Maybe you were turned into one because of the scenarios below, maybe you've been one for as long as you can remember. Are you a cyborg helping out a brand new one get used to their new body?

2. The One Doing the Cyborging - Are you a doctor who uses robotic parts to help save lives? Or maybe you're a mad scientist sticking electronic bits to people to see what happens. Perhaps you're a cyborg yourself and wanted to make someone like you. There's a lot of reasons to cyborg someone, everybody has their own thoughts towards the matter.

3. Bystander - You're just passing by, another doctor checking up on a patient, a jailer set to make sure that the experiment didn't escape. You're not a cyborg, nor are you the one who made them that way, but now you've got to deal with the results one way or another.

4. Other - Is there somehow else your character would be involved? Have fun with it!

Scenarios

1. Forced Cyborgification - You've been captured, maybe by a group of aliens or perhaps by a mad scientist, and now they've outfitted you with new limbs and maybe even a brand new processor. Perhaps you're fresh out of surgery or your time in the machine, or someone's broken you free and the operation is only partially done.

2. Willing Cyborgification - Robots are just plain cool! Maybe you want to be stronger or jump higher or maybe you just want to be the first to have robotic parts attached to you.

3. Cyborgified to Save Your Life - Something happened to put you on death's doorway and the only way to live is to be robotically enhanced. You have a choice in the matter, unless you're unconscious or otherwise out of it, but if you want to live, you've got to be modified.

4. Reverse Cyborgification - You're a robot and you've always been a robot, but for some reason, you've now got organic parts attached to you. Maybe you were part of an experiment or maybe you just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Don't worry, they're 100% lab-grown! (Unless you don't want them to be, of course.)

5. Other - Got a different idea for how your cyborgification went? Go for it!

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[gurl you sound like you already got this figured out so we can go with tadashi waking up and freaking out about it. then he can be like HEY NERD and idk get kicked in his baymax face or something b/c this better not be a weird attempt at a practical joke baymax]

( Oh lord that would be terrible and great OK ~~look I just get carried away sometimes ok.~~ HERE WE GO )

[ Tadashi remembers a fire. He remembers telling Hiro to stay back and-- fire, lots of it. The heat from the explosion was the last thing he remembered before things went dark, then cold.

Now everything is cold. Or is it? He can't feel the heat anymore, but in his head he finds that he knows the exact temperature of the room (a cool 68 degrees Farenheit) and the thought comes to him with a surprising amount of clarity... given that his head feels like someone hooked it up outside his body. ~~Which is only partly, metaphorically true.~~ He comes back into awareness slowly, the sound of monitors and the faint hum of people surrounding him. (There is 1 other person in his immediate surroundings, as well as an increasing number of unidentified people beyond what his scanners process as walls).

That thought process jolts him awake, eyes opening to a familiar set of scanners and parameters he himself had programmed... into Baymax. ]

oh no.

[ He looks at his hands. Baymax's hands. Which are his? He's not made to handle this. Okay, calm down, Tadashi. Just stay calm. For whatever reason, his consciousness was downloaded into Baymax somehow? And he's in a hospital. And he's alive, probably. He can move all of "his" joints and limbs, though he kind of wishes he'd given Baymax better range of motion now. It's going to take a long time to get used to this.

But what about Hiro? (Scanners have identified the closest source of life to be 1 Hiro Hamada. Injuries sustained: several healing bones, loss of a limb, low blood sugar, and minor to severe burns, all of which have been treated. He is currently stable, and sleeping rather than unconscious.)

Good. That means Tadashi can poke him to see if he'll wake up. ~~Gentle, robo-pokes.~~ ]

Hiro. Hiiro. Wake up, sleepy head.

[Hiro would rather not wake up, thanks. Everything hurts, physically and emotionally, and sleeping right now is his only means of avoiding reality just a little while longer. Plus, he's exhausted.

He's half-asleep, but aware enough that he wishes whatever squashy round thing is prodding at him would stop and let him have some peace. He mumbles quietly - quit, go 'way, - his face twisting into a faint frown and eyelids twitching as he shifts his head on the pillow, away from the intrusion.

He just wants sleep. It's hard to breathe, because half of him hurts when he does it. The doctors said Tadashi -

...Tadashi.

He comes awake slowly, dazed, to the sound of the EKG beeping to the beat of his heart and the fuzzy visual of a round, white robot face blinking down at him. His brow knits together, and he scowls. When he speaks, his voice is rough and scratchy - maybe from breathing smoke and hot air, maybe just because he hasn't used it in a while.]

Baymax? Stop. Hurts.

[ Labored breathing. Irregular pupil dilation. Scanners indicate Hiro is suffering from mild trauma, though the damage to his lungs will not be permanent thanks to his young age. Well, at least that's mostly to be expected thanks to the whole explosion thing.

Normally, Tadashi would let the poor kid sleep but... nah, he wouldn't. As much as his scanners might be telling him Hiro is okay, Tadashi wants to see it for himself. ]

You'll be fine. You're not even hurt here.

[ There's like. A tiny spot. On Hiro's face. Where he totally isn't hurt. ]

[Hiro's throat catches for about five seconds, because Baymax sounds like Tadashi. He has to remind himself that this is a robot, that Baymax probably has voice clips of his brother's, that maybe through some warped attempt at providing comfort the healthcare robot decided imitating Tadashi's voice might help him feel better.

Great. Stupid robot is broken. And also not even supposed to be here, in the hospital, where there are real trained nurses instead of prototype nurse robots that aren't even finished being programmed and probably won't ever be -

Oh.

Hiro shoves that thought out of mind and bats Baymax away tiredly, though it hurts to even lift a finger. He addresses the nurse bot with more force this time.]

I said stop. What are you even doing here? I thought you were at the school.

And stop sounding like Tadashi. It's not helping.

Oh, right.

[ He sounds different. Like himself, but not really-- and Hiro did call him Baymax before. There's no reason anyone would assume otherwise. Hiro's grimacing coincides with signs of pain-- as much as Tadashi wants to ask him how he's measuring on the pain scale (hah!) he opts to step away instead, just so he's hovering above Hiro's bed.

Knowing Hiro, he'll want to have some room for this. ]

I'm not Baymax, but I don't know how he got here, either.

[ yeah, that makes as much sense to him as it does to you, Hiro. But he can't pretend Baymax's programming isn't humming in the background or letting him see, so it's not exactly fair to count the guy out, is it? ]

I'm me. Tadashi.

[The reaction Tadashi gets is probably not the one he was hoping for. Hiro's expression flashes through a series of emotions - shock, hurt, grief - before finally settling on bitter anger.]

Get away.

[This isn't just kind of annoyed anymore, now he sounds downright cold. For a reason. He can't lash out bodily - really, he almost jumps out of the bed, but the second he moves draws a hiss of agony from him - so he settles for throwing the corded remote, the one that calls the nurses and raises and lowers the back of the bed, at Baymax's face.]

Tadashi is - [His mouth is working, but sound's not coming out, just a shaky exhale.] Tadashi's gone. And you picked a really shitty time to try and learn how a practical joke works.

Woah, woah--

[ Yeah, wow. Whoever did this to Tadashi must not have had the decency to tell Hiro about it. Great job, whoever. He can't feel when the remote bounces off his face, so he blinks. It's not easy to express himself like this.

It certainly doesn't help that every one of Hiro's movements sets off signals in Tadashi's head, informing him of signs of pain. Recommended treatment: increase morphine dosage. ]

I'm not gone. Tadashi isn't gone. And this isn't a joke, Hiro. [ He steps up to the side of the bed again. ] I mean, if it were a joke, I think I'd program Baymax with a better sense of humor than that.

[ He tries, but he can't really sit on the edge of the bed thanks to his short legs, so instead he kneels to get in closer to Hiro. ]

It's really me. I don't know how, I... I woke up like this.

[Hiro sags back onto the pillow, his energy spent for the moment. He stubbornly refuses to look at Baymax, even when the nurse bot sinks down to his level, scowling at the fingernails on his one remaining hand instead. If this is a joke, it's a cruel one. His dead brother's dumb robot won't leave him alone and he's trapped in a hospital bed with no escape.

He laughs. It's not a happy noise.]

Yeah, right. That's a really...really lousy...

[He trails off into hoarse coughing. There's a stupid lump forming in his throat. He still can't believe this is all happening, that Tadashi's gone, and now the robot is trying to convince him he's not. That doesn't seem like a really great way to try and get past the denial stage of grief and move on.

Hiro drapes his forearm across his face, hiding his eyes from view.]

You wanna prove it? Last thing Tadashi said to me. Baymax wouldn't know that.

[ It breaks Tadashi's heart to hear his brother sound so miserable. He's trying, really, and maybe he could have waited, but that would have just made things worse. Poor Hiro must be reliving that moment, blaming himself for Tadashi ending up this way. Or dead.

Big bro can't have that. ]

I said... Someone has to help.

[ Then there was fire and explosions and things that Tadashi would rather not recall. Thankfully whatever hard drive his memories are saved on doesn't seem to have any more than that. Whether the files are locked or corrupted, he isn't going to think about it now. Just the fact that his thoughts might lie in a machine instead of his brain is both really cool and extremely terrifying. ]

After that, things get... glitchy. I can't really describe it.

[Hiro goes stiff, his breath catching in his throat. He's quiet for a couple of long seconds.]

No way.

[He's supposed to be laying down, resting, so maybe he shouldn't be moving around, but Hiro stubbornly levers himself up onto his elbow, squinting at the nurse bot kneeling by his bedside. Looks like Baymax, but sounds like Tadashi. Knows things only Tadashi would know - Hiro hasn't talked about it with anybody, really, and his brother carried those last words to his grave.

Or...here, maybe. To Baymax's memory banks. It shouldn't be possible, but from half a dozen wild theories he could come up with, it's probably the most plausible.]

You're...you're not joking.

[Hiro does the least medically okay thing for him to be doing right now, and with some struggling manages to sit upright. It hurts like hell, his ribs and the whole right half of him are yelling at him for it, but he reaches for Baymax or Tadashi or whoever and tugs the nurse bot's head to his chest for a hug.

It's only a one-armed hug; now that the blanket's fallen from his shoulders, the empty right sleeve of his hospital gown makes itself evident. But it's the best he can do.]

Tadashi?

Woah, hey, stay down--

[ As much as his scanners indicate pain and injury and stress on Hiro's stitches, there's not much Tadashi can do to turn his brother away when he goes in for that hug. The injuries don't matter to him, what matters is Hiro's safe, and Tadashi hugs back, wrapping his arms around as gently as he can-- and maybe just a little warm. Good thing for Baymax's huggable design, huh?

Hiro's safe. And they're together. That's the important thing. And even if it's hard to sound comforting when you're somehow a robot, Tadashi gives it a try. For Hiro. ]

It's me. I'm right here.

[It's more than enough of a try for Hiro. He's still trying to wrap his head around all this, and he hasn't quite reached the point of "Baymax hugs = Tadashi hugs," but it's warm and it's a hug and even filtered through a synthesizer it's Tadashi's voice. He hadn't thought he would be able to hear that ever again.

His brain is running on two levels right now - the oh my god, Tadashi level and the what the fuck is happening right now level. The latter finds him pretty quickly going from hugging to prodding at vinyl seams and even Baymax's eyes (cameras), because even if he's a drugged-up wheezing toasted one-armed trainwreck right now his curiosity's still intact.]

But you died.

[Hiro draws back, clutching at the hospital blanket. Maybe he'd have an answer, or at least an idea of one if his head wasn't so foggy and tired. Mostly he's just confused, instead. Happy. But confused, and fumbling the first string of half a dozen thoughts that comes to mind.]

This - shouldn't even be possible. I mean, even assuming you could upload your brain to a robot, which you can't last time I checked, you'd...well, the point is, you couldn't. [He passes his hand through his hair, like maybe that'll make a coherent thought fall out or something.] You're a walking, talking scientific impossibility. And you're...

I thought I'd never see you again.

And you-- [ He grabs the remote to Hiro's bed, pressing buttons so that the bed actually supports Hiro's back. ] --need to stay in bed.

[ Yep, Tadashi uses one of those soft hands to press Hiro gently into the mattress, making sure he stays in bed and doesn't try anything stupid like sitting up again. It's bad enough seeing his brother in pain, but knowing the exact places where he's bleeding as well as his heart rate and blood sugar just with a glance is... weird. Really weird. They can deal with the specifics when they're more or less stable. It's not worth worrying Hiro over. ]

I know. [ He manages to sound solemn as he musses with Hiro's hair. ] You got hurt, too. I'm sorry.

But -

[Hiro grumbles quietly as he's pushed back down. He hates being stuck in bed like this...he's been asleep or passed out for most of it, yeah, but still. For a big balloon, Baymax is surprisingly strong - but then Tadashi built him to lift a couple tons at least. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised. Huffing softly, he settles back down on his pillow.]

Don't apologize, I'm fine - [Conveniently forgetting he was in ICU at some point. He doesn't even know how long ago that was, but whatever, it happened. He's fine now. Sorta. There's more important things going on, like holy shit Tadashi -] - you're the one that's stuck inside a robot. Does Aunt Cass know about this?

I haven't seen her yet. But I mean, I just woke up.

[ If "woke up" is the right term to use now. Tadashi doesn't have a clue how this'll affect him from now on. He can guess, but he'll focus on Hiro first and foremost. That's what big bros do.

With Hiro laying safely in bed, Tadashi can relax a little. He scans him just to make sure his heart rate is down, but he can't shut out the notices of severe trauma following an amputation: irregular sleeping patterns likely due to increased doses of morphine.

Tadashi can't exactly sigh, but he blinks slowly turning towards the door (and making cute robot noises with all his servos and junk moving around.) He can hear people outside and he should... probably call a nurse or something, but that can wait a bit too. ]

Are you sure you're okay? Has Aunt Cass been by at all?

[Hiro follows Tadashi's look toward the door. Truth be told, he'd rather not see a nurse right now, because nurses usually mean more medicine, which means he'll probably doze off again and right now he'd rather stay awake as long as possible.

He's just a little afraid if he falls asleep, next time he'll wake up and find out this was all a hallucination, that Tadashi's gone completely.

He sighs softly and points to a chair in the corner - there's a tissue box, a whole pile of used tissues and a wadded up blanket where Aunt Cass would normally be, all the times he's been awake long enough to talk to her. She probably went to get something to eat.]

She's the one who...told me. About you. I don't remember a ton but she's been here a lot. And all your nerd school friends too, actually. They probably brought Baymax in while I was out of it.

[Wasabi reads books, Honey talks a lot, Gogo only talks if Hiro wants to talk, and Fred...for a high energy guy, he can be really chill when he needs to be. Hiro's surprised they've visited, but it explains why Baymax would be here.]

I'm gonna live, doc. Promise.

They must've been worried...

[ Tadashi closes his eyes, his shoulders sagging just slightly before he picks himself up again. He has to stay strong for Hiro, just like always. Even if he is... somehow a robot. The others will want to know, too. Later.

Right now they're having a bro moment, and Tadashi needs Hiro to know that they're gonna be ok. Even if he lost an arm and his big brother is kind of downloaded into a robot. Naturally that means messing with his hair some more. ]

You better. I didn't make it this far so you'd go and die on me, little man.

[Like his hair wasn't already a rumpled mess anyway, but thanks bro. Enjoy the crackling and hair sticking to your big dumb balloon hand, because what else did you think was going to happen, you nerd.]

You're the one that ran into a burning building, moron.

[...And Hiro tried to follow him, after the fact, but Tadashi's the one who actually died so he doesn't get to complain.

He's so tired...but he grabs for Baymax's other hand anyway, and his grip may not be strong, but he's determined. He fixes the nurse bot (Tadashi now, isn't it?) with a fierce look.]

You can't run off and leave me like that again. I won't let you.

Someone had to help... But I should've been more careful, too.

[ And if Tadashi ended up like this-- presumably dead and uploaded into a robot, it's unlikely Callaghan survived. That's... another sad thought he's gonna have to worry about later, when he isn't being Hiro's big brother. As much as he understands Hiro's concern, he can't put him in danger, either. That's what matters.

Tadashi nods. Yeah, sorry, Hiro, your hair looks hilarious, wait till someone else sees this mess. ]

I know. I won't do it again. I never meant to leave you.

[Hiro's grip doesn't let up, nor does the serious expression on his face when the nurse slips in with an injection of more painkillers, to be administered through IV. She doesn't seem particularly bothered by Baymax's presence, which means she knew he would be here.

Hiro looks away for only a second to mumble something at the nurse, ask where Aunt Cass is and such while she gives him his medicine. And then it's back to Tadashi.]

Even if I fall asleep, you can't disappear. Promise.

I'll stay right here.

[ All of Tadashi's scanners and med data are telling him to stay by Hiro's side, anyway. Studies show that recovery from severe trauma can be greatly accelerated with support of friends and family.

How are their friends and family even going to respond if they think Tadashi is dead though... Yet another thing they'll have to deal with later. For now, Tadashi is just grateful that Hiro's getting more pain meds. Already he can tell his vitals are going back to normal. ]

I promise, Hiro. I'm staying with you.

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The Cyborg Meme

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