Meet Lochlan

October, 28, 2023

Cole appears in his and Luna's living room with a limp arm with a wound on the elbow. The halo-like crown still rests above his head. A stab wound lies directly where his sternum is and in his side. With his functioning arm he holds the nonferal fox who is still unconscious.

Luna, who is sitting on the sofa nearby, looks over to see them appear. Despite seeming to be very worried, she takes one large deep breath and manages to speak, "What the fuck is happening tonight?"

Cole slowly looks over at Luna as he responds, "...So the scream wasn't just a legend."

Luna's eyes glow a deep blue as she struggles to process her night, "...oh...So...that's the pylon..."

Cole nods, "Correct."

Spider appears in the living room as well, instantly leaning against the wall. She looks stressed as well and it takes her a second to notice the nonferal in Cole's arm. Spider looks at the nonferal, then up at Cole, "...Cole?"

Cole looks back at Spider, "Yeah?"

Luna looks away and takes a few deep breaths.

Spider tilts her head at him, "Care to explain?"

"...I heard a scream in the woods, and then today this-" Cole attempts to point but realizes his other arm doesn't function, it lets out a small spark, "-thing attacked me and then I knocked it out so here we are."

Luna seems to have calmed down a little bit as she is reading something from her laptop. She speaks up, "Right, I see. So uh what's with the crown? It says here it's a mask?"

Cole looks towards Luna, "Uhhhhhhhh the crown that's sitting on my head isn't that important right now- Also the mask it had was made of paper mache."

Luna raises an eyebrow, "Papier mache? So it's an art project. Wonderful. Man, first I got contacted by a Kitsune Goddess and now they have a kitsune mask. What the fuck man."

Cole sighs, "So what the fuck do you want to do with her? I can't exactly hold her in my arm forever."

Luna gets up and puts her laptop away, "I don't know. Just put them on the couch. Do they need first aid? I bought a few kits for all of the rooms."

Cole shrugs with one arm, "Uhhh probably not." Cole puts the fox on the couch with a sigh

"Do we know their name yet? Like how likely is their name the same as before?"

Cole shrugs again, "I don't know, I suppose we'll have to find out."

Luna's calm demeanor starts to fall away a bit, becoming a bit more erratic again, "Right.. so.. uh, I'll see you around Cole. Gotta go.. take care of something." She seems a bit shaky before disappearing to take care of some personal matters.

Spider slides down the wall until she is sitting. She looks slightly out of it.

Cole huffs and kneels down as he starts inspecting the carbon fiber on the non-feral fox's arm. He makes a comment towards Spider, "I would ask if you are doing alright but I think I know the answer to that."

There's a pause before Spider responds, "..It's Luna's stuff and now this, tonight of all fucking nights ...I don't know how I'm gonna do it."

Cole nods with respect, now idly kneeling in front of the fox, "I think you'll do fine, worse case is that you have to leave and Luna would understand why you left."

"Worst case if you're an optimist" Spider grumbles. She pauses a moment before speaking again, "Are you ok?"

"Nothing that can't be fixed, I'll fix my arm cause I may need two hands in case this one starts being violent again," Cole sighs as he gestures at the fox with his functioning arm.

"Need a hand?" Spider asks.

Cole half chuckles, "Not really, though I appreciate you trying to help. I doubt you wanna rummage around in my exposed arm while trying to replace a servo."

The nonferal fox shifts slightly.

Cole's eyes snap to staring at the fox as he mutters, "...I really hope she isn't waking up now."

Spider starts to get up. While doing so she heavily leans on the wall. "Go do your arm while I'm here then I need to get to Luna."

"Got it," Cole nods and quickly disappears.

Spider isn't left alone with the fox for long as the fox mumbles some gibberish in her sleep.

Cole shortly reappears with a small amount of blood around his hands and around the elbow of the non functioning arm. "Fixed it, now you go help out Luna."

Spider's ear flicks in acknowledgement as she disappears.

Cole kneels back down in front of the fox and resumes inspecting the carbon fiber, looking for some kind of gap. He mutters to himself, "Is it a fake arm?"

He can see a small gap with two tiny screws holding the cover in place.

Cole snaps a small screwdriver into his hand and starts unscrewing them, quickly in hopes he can do it before they wake up.

The screws come off and the casing opens to reveal at least nine different devices with wires around a seemingly prosthetic arm.

"Oh good it's a prosthetic," Cole mutters as he starts looking for any damage to the arm.

One of the hinges looks to be missing a screw and one of the devices has a flashing red light on it.

The fox shifts a bit more this time.

Cole doesn't seem concerned about the screw, and looks at the device that's flashing red and tries to figure out why it's blinking red as he mutters, "Shit, shit, shit."

The fox blinks some and groans in pain. The device has no distinguishing features other than being round and nearly flat.

Cole notices the blinking as he starts to look slightly panicked, the halo like crown begins glowing slightly more. "..." Cole glances between the arm and the fox's face.

The fox looks over at Cole as her eyes instantly widen. She only partly sits up while instantly shuffling backwards along the sofa, away from Cole. Her arms remain limp and she looks very startled.

"...I really hope you don't have loonism, look I'm just trying to help you." Cole puts his arms in the air as he drops the screwdriver. "I can see that there's something wrong with your electronics, and I think I can fix it."

The fox's eyes dart between Cole's hands and face. She only starts to look more panicked.

"...oh fuck i forgot have blood on my hands..." Cole thinks for several seconds

"This is my own blood, not yours."

The fox continues to stare at him without a word.

Cole watches her, as the front door locks without him moving at all, "Just calm down."

The fox then attempts to kick at him with one leg, aiming for the gut.

Cole coughs as he's kicked in the gut, "What was that for?!" Cole drops both of his arms as he holds his stomach.

The fox takes the moment to sprint towards the kitchen. Cole groans as he rises to his feet and walks into the kitchen.

Cole sighs as he enters, "If you could just calm down for a second, I could explain what's happening."

The fox looks frantically around the room for something as her breathing has picked up. The kitchen around this is rather standard with an oven, a dishwasher, and a white plain fridge. A window over the sink looks out to the backyard with thin curtains.

"Are you looking for food? or water?" Cole raises his eyebrow at her.

The fox faces Cole again while backing away. She keeps a good distance from the counters and seems more scared by the second.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, you were attacking me and I defended myself without hurting you as much as I could," Cole sighs as he repeats, "Do you want anything? Food? Water?"

She keeps her eyes on him and stays still.

Cole stays as still as possible, "Nod yes if you want some water and I guess shake your head if you want food."

She stays still.

"...Do you want to sleep? Just nod or shake your head," Cole stays still.

It starts to get a bit awkward as they both remain silent for a long while.

"...are you doing something in your code..." Cole mutters as he remains still.

On getting no reaction, Cole goes quiet again. As he stands, he shifts his weight between his legs.

The fox stays just as quiet but glances at the different parts of the room from time to time.

"...what are you doing?" Cole raises an eyebrow. "...Are you asleep?" Cole goes to take a step closer.

She quickly takes a few steps back as the fur on her tail raises.

"I guess not," Cole quickly steps backward, "Can you not talk?"

Her eyes look off in debate for a moment before looking at Cole again.

"Is that a yes?" Cole's head tilts slightly.

The fox barely mumbles under her breath, "No."

"Alright, uhm...do you feel comfortable telling me why you're scared of me?" Cole tries to look as non threatening as possible.

The fox still sounds quiet while nervously looking away and trailing off slightly, "Cause you're a gang and gangs hurt others."

"...I'm not a gangster, I don't know what exactly gave you that idea." The crown that was on Cole's head seems to slowly fade and disappear as the situation calms down.

The fox starts to avoid eye contact, "...You are."

Cole looks confused, "Do you care to explain what you mean by that?"

She states quickly, "I'm not home and so you are one."

"That's....not a very good reason," Cole sighs, "I'm not a gangster and I'm not evil, I just wanted to fix your arm because I damaged it in our scuffle."

The fox's brow furrows some, "...But you are one."

Cole raises an eyebrow as his head tilts, "...Are you linked to the police database?"

She looks very confused.

Cole's head tilts more, "How do you know I'm a gangster?"

"You just are?"

Cole stops tilting his head, "Interesting, so uh...do you want some water? food? sleep?"

She still looks confused, "No. I'm not home."

Cole sighs, "Do you want to go home?"

She goes to speak but pauses. The gears turn in her head as she realizes she can make a decision. She stares in thought.

Cole waits for an answer.

Her ears fold back as her eyes water, "I don't know."

"It's okay to not know, it's okay," Cole thinks for a second. "I just realized I haven't told you my name. I'm Cole, do you wanna tell me your name?"

She gives the idea a bit of thought before responding, "Yes. I'm Lochlan."

Cole thinks for a couple seconds before he nods, "Hello, Lochlan"

Lochlan still seems miserably uncomfortable, "Hello."

"Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable, Lochlan?" Cole is still trying to be non threatening.

Lochlan mumbles some, "I don't know." She seems to get more upset anytime she doesn't know an answer.

Cole takes note and quickly changes the topic, "Do you have a favorite food?"

Her eyes water again, "I don't knooowww."

Cole sighs as he changes the topic again, "Uhhh do you have any questions for me?"

Lochlan shifts, "...Uhm...why are there things?"

"Things? Can you be more specific?" Cole's head tilts slightly.

Her arms remain limp as she walks in a little circle while glancing around at all the cabinets and various fixtures in the kitchen.

"Uhhh the things with doors are called cabinets and the metal tub with the spout is called a sink, it dispenses water when you turn the knobs " Cole gestures to the things he's explaining. "The things on the ceiling that are emitting light are called light bulbs."

She looks straight up at the ceiling, "I know those"

"See! we both have something in common, we both know what light bulbs are which makes me less scary, right?" Cole smiles slightly.

She looks back down at Cole and thinks for a moment, "...I'm not sure."

"...Different question, what else don't you know in this room?" Cole quickly changes the topic as he gestures at the room.

Lochlan looks around more before looking over at a blank space on the wall, "That. That's a wall." She starts to calm down a bit more while looking at the surroundings.

"Anything else?" Cole puts his hands in his jacket pockets.

She looks down, "The floor."

"..." Cole sighs, "Do you have any questions about me?"

"Why are you a gangster but don't think you are a gangster?" She looks at him in curiosity.

"...Gangsters don't know what lightbulbs are, next question." Cole groans quietly

"If you weren't a gangster then what are you?"

"...I don't think you're ready for that answer," Cole sighs.

"Why have you not tried to kill me yet?" She sounds serious.

"What?" Cole looks incredibly confused.

She speaks a bit more clearly, "Why have you not tried to kill me yet?"

"What makes you think I want to kill you?" Cole raises an eyebrow.

Lochlan looks him up and down, "Well why wouldn't you? You're another thing."

"I'm not a thing, I'm..." Cole begrudgingly continues, "A cyborg, and I don't have a reason to kill you."

Her tone is very gradually shifting away from fear and more to a slightly monotone but curious voice, "What's a cyborg?"

"A cyborg is a human that has some machine parts in them with the human parts." Cole takes note of the shift in tone, and glances at her prosthetic arm. He tries to tell if anything is happening.

The one light is still flashing but everything else is still seemingly normal, "What's a human?"

"A human is someone that has skin and doesn't have fur, typically only having visible hair on their head."

"So you are a human and a cyborg at the same time?"

"A cyborg already implies that I'm human, since I have skin and visible hair on my head," Cole seems to be gritting his teeth slightly

"So...why are there other rooms?" Lochlan glances at the room around them.

"Because there are other people that live here, and those people happen to be my friends."

"So others need to have a room? Why?"

"So they can sleep, and have privacy," Cole sighs slightly again.

Cole stares then mutters quietly, "You are very sheltered..." Cole speaks up, "Privacy is when you can't be observed by anyone."

Lochlan thinks for a moment, "Okay...are there other cyborg human not things here?"

"Nope," Cole shakes his head.

A somewhat tall woman with blond hair steps into the kitchen. She wears a black and yellow kimono and freezes on seeing the fox nonferal. She looks to Cole, "Uhhhh Cole? What's going on? I thought that was a dream."

Cole looks over at the woman, "Not a dream, real."

Lochlan's eyes dart to the woman as the fur on Lochlan's tail raises again.

The woman looks nervous, "Uuuh what are they doing? Should I leave? I just wanted a bag of chips."

Cole sighs, "Lochlan, this is one of my friends, Hinata," Cole gestures to the woman, "They know what light bulbs are, so they aren't a gangster."

Hinata almost looks offended, "Gangster??? What the fuck does that mean?"

Lochlan says in a hushed tone towards Cole, "What's friends?"

Cole sighs, "Friends are people that you like and enjoy talking or hanging out with them and you typically trust friends." Cole closes his right eye.

Lochlan begins to ramble off a bit, "Can cyborgs humans and not things be friends too? Are they then friend cyborg not things humans... is this a cyborg human or a thing?"

Hinata tilts her head, "Yeah I'm a cyborg. I am mostly organic with some machine parts in my heart and brain. Wouldn't surprise me if there were more in my arms and legs too, now that I think about it."

Cole explains while keeping his right eye shut, "Every person can be a friend, and every person in this house is my friend."

Hinata adds, "Yeah I'm friends with Cole and I know all about lightbulbs, thus I'm not a gangster."

Lochlan suddenly looks confused as she thinks.

Hinata gets a bit closer to the cabinets to grab a bowl and the bag of chips, pouring some into the bowl and then sealing the bag back up.

Cole watches Lochlan, hoping she doesn't do anything to Hinata.

Hinata asks,"Uh do you want some chips?" She offers some of the bowl to Lochlan.

Lochlan glances at the bowl, "Alright." Her arms remain limp.

Hinata glances at Cole, "What's wrong with her arms? I'm not really comfortable with feeding a fox."

Cole groans slightly, "Uhhhhh they may have gotten damaged during a scuffle."

Hinata nods, "Ohhhh is that what Luna was talking about? She told me about some Datrs log she wanted me to read."

Cole sighs again, "...I'll tell you later. And yeah that was what Luna was talking about."

Hinata thinks for a moment, "Hm. Okay, uhm, I'll go read it then." Hinata seems to be looking for an excuse to get out of the kitchen. She takes the bowl out to the living room, waving goodbye to Lochlan and Cole.

Lochlan thinks about waving but looks down at her arms again.

Cole looks down at Lochlan's arms, "Do you want me to try and fix your arms?"

"You know how?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it can't be that hard," Cole nods.

"Alright then... I would hand them to you but I kind of can't." She holds up her arms but makes a weird face as she does. The wrists and hands are still limp.

"It's fine, I can just work on them with them attached," Cole seems to debate on something for a moment before he snaps his fingers. Instantly a screwdriver appears in his hand. "Do you know anything about the devices that are in here?"

Lochlan watches, curious how the screwdriver appeared, "No?...They're just my arms?"

"I see," Cole tries to find any clues to what the blinking device does.

The device isn't connected to anything with any wires. It's attached directly to the casing. Lochlan looks down at the opening on the arm and looks confused.

"Hmm," Cole searches for a way to open the device.

It has a Very thin casing but looks to be made from a cheaper material. Cole taps on it with the screwdriver. The flashing red light on the device stutters some. Cole taps it again but a little harder. The plastic cracks and the case falls off. He can see the insides of a simple tracker. Lochlan looks even more bewildered as she watches.

Luna walks into the kitchen. She acknowledges the two as she enters, "Oh hey." Her hair is an odd dark purple with cat ears sticking out. She's a bit over four feet tall and wears a black hoodie with plaid lounge pants. She heads over to the step stool, a striped cat like tail trails behind her.

The fur on Lochlan's tail raises slightly at Luna as she stays quiet.

Luna gets off the step stool and moves it in front of the sink, "I am not a gangster, I know all about lightbulbs... You'd think they'd make this house a bit lower to the ground."

Cole takes the tracker out and puts it in his pocket as he mumbles, "That isn't important to you functioning."

"Uhm... alrighty..." Lochlan leans her head over some to look at the arm. The curiosity is mixing a bit with fear again.

Luna nods as she grabs some water. "I'm Luna, nice to meet you." Her smile is bright.

Lochlan looks her up and down, "I'm Lochlan."

Cole checks for anything else wrong with the arm other than the missing screw.

"Cool name Lochlan." Luna gives a thumbs up and a smile. After finishing her water, she leans on the counter curious what Cole's doing.

It all seems together. No wires are missing and he can notice a place for thumb drives. None are currently connected. Lochlan comments, "I didn't think it was that cold."

Luna tilts her head, "Uhm, not cool as in cold. It's a word that means good. Sorry!"

Cole snaps an extra screw into his hand and replaces the missing screw.

"No need to say sorry. I'm the one who shouldn't be here." Lochlan looks back at what Cole is doing as she looks more worried.

Luna mostly looks at Cole, "Heh? What do you mean?" She brings out her phone to type something. Cole closes the panel and starts screwing it shut as he closes his right eye.

Luna puts her phone away into her pocket. Lochlan still looks concerned while watching her arm being fixed.

Cole finishes screwing it shut as he stands up, "Done." Cole looks around, "Why are both of you staring at me?"

Luna explains, "I wasn't staring, just curious about how you do these things. Call me interested."

Cole shrugs, "...I mean you could've just asked."

Lochlan's voice sounds very upset, "Am I ok???"

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "Yeah, should be."

Lochlan's ears fold back, "Then why does it look like that?"

Luna smiles, "You're honestly extremely lucky, Lochlan. Cole here is incredible with electronics. If there's anyone who can fix you up, it's him."

Lochlan looks even more confused.

Cole nods, "Yeah, I am very good with repairing electronics."

Lochlan's confusion intensifies.

Luna nods, "He's good at fixing arms like yours. Make it go from that to normal."

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "Does your arm work now?"

"No?" Lochlan looks down at her arms and looks like she's frightened. She backs up some while thinking.

Luna backs up a bit worried she did something wrong, "Lochlan, I get you're in a new place, but y--" she pauses, unsure how to word what she wants to say. "Point is, you have no reason to trust us and I understand that. But I refuse to hurt you, that goes for everyone else in this house." She looks down with a slightly upset exhale.

Cole sighs as he tilts his head, "What's wrong with it?"

Lochlan shakes her head some, "Why is it all fake and where's the bone??? I thought the bone was white."

"..." Cole's expresion drops as he realizes that she doesn't know. Lochlan looks between the two of them desperate for an answer.

Luna grimaces. She types something on her phone really quickly. Luna then speaks, "I genuinely wish I knew. Maybe it has to do with you being a cyborg. You know, machine parts and stuff. I have a lot of those myself."

Luna then turns around and fiddles with something behind her neck. A small compartment of various connection points and wires are visible. "I have a lot of stuff like this in me too."

Lochlan shakes her head again while her breathing picks up.

Luna puts her neck cover back on. It fits in flush with the rest of her skin. Then she turns around and speaks in a hushed tone, "Lochlan? What's wrong?" Her voice is soft yet warm.

Lochlan's shoulders start to fold in slightly while her breathing stutters, "E-Everything's wrong, this is wrong I shouldn't be here- I shouldn't be like this- I'm wrong-"

Cole sighs and shakes his head slightly, "Lochlan, look at me." Cole crouches down slightly.

Lochlan looks at Cole, "None of this is right, there's things everywhere and now I'm a things and I-I don't want to be a thing."

Luna adds in, "Is there anything else you don't know what it is? If you could point to it, I'd like to help you. And besides, you're not a thing. You're... just like us, just a bit furrier."

Lochlan looks over at Luna. She is close to hyperventilating, "I shouldn't be like this, t-this isn't right!"

Luna keeps trying to talk through it,"I am so confused Lochlan, what do you mean by shouldn't be like this? I want to help, but I can't if you don't.. Lochlan, do me a favor. I need you to calm down a bit." Luna closes her eyes. "Close your eyes, take a deep breath in. Hold it for 2. And then exhale. Helps me a lot when I'm feeling like this, should help you too." Luna does her own exercise to show Lochlan

Cole quickly stands up and grabs a glass and starts filling it with cold water.

Lochlan starts trying to hold her breath but everytime her lungs force her to gasp for air after a mere second. She can no longer speak.

Cole finishes filling the glass and offers it to Lochlan, "This will hopefully slow down your thinking, so you can calm down"

Lochlan takes it and takes a sip, though struggling a bit.

Luna states, "You're gonna be okay Lochlan."

After a while Lochlan starts to calm down.

Cole sighs in relief, "Feeling better?"

Lochlan says a bit tiredly, "No."

Luna tilts her head. She goes to sit at the table, yawning a bit, "How can we make you feel better?"

Cole nods in agreement with Luna. Lochlan shakes her head, "Nothing."

Luna gets up, "Right, well if that changes, just ask one of us. Gonna go back with Hinata." She waves goodbye and returns to the living room.

Cole sighs, "Well, I'm gonna head to bed." Cole walks back into the living room.

Lochlan takes time to glance around at the room and the items in it. She sits down in the only corner without counters. She quickly falls asleep while sitting up. For now they rest.