Someone dial 999

[hellandbackpack]

[Sorry everyone, this is all written out in a jagged scrawl, very jumbled and run-on in nature.]

Help-

Rin just collapsed? We were talkin' and I went to leave and- they just went down? No warnin' or nothin' just on the floor-

This drone is useless, wouldn't go get help-

They're not responding? Like there's a pulse but barely it's slow, there's no blood, nothing looks wrong, I can't see anything wrong, they just won't wake up and I don't know what the hell to do-

[Clearly Charles is doing Amazing here. Thriving even. He's absolutely not about 5 seconds from an epic little meltdown and is only holding it together because SecUnit needs help.]

Comments

[dreamquestion]

[His hand doesn't move from Charles's shoulder, though he knows his own hand will likely suffer for it later. The poor boy feels frostbitten, and he shudders to think what happened to him in his time spent alive.]

Perhaps your fault, lad, but by this richness of guilt certainly not your intent. Remember that. [He squeezes Charles's shoulder, bending a little to meet his eye.] So then, let's get a better look at Rin, that we can diagnose them further.

[hellandbackpack]

[Did intent really matter, when it still ended up with someone hurt? Charles didn't look convinced, not in the least, but he was willing to push that aside for the moment. Not that it left him any calmer, as he shifted to one side to let Randolph move closer to where SecUnit was laid out, a bundled up blanket tucked under their head.]

I... didn't think I should move them. I just... I was going to leave, and they stepped in front of me, and before either of us could do anything, they just went down-

[dreamquestion]

A good instinct, in the case of injuries we might not be able to immediately ascertain.

[That being said, he gives Charles another squeeze before he scoots past and kneels down next to Murderbot, doing a quick and dirty check of its vitals. Pulse, pupil reaction - he's not a doctor, by any means, but he knows what a dead body feels like.

And then he sits back with a slight frown.]

I suppose there's some good news for you, Chuck - whatever might have passed, you certainly haven't killed our friend.

[hellandbackpack]

[Charles feels better for someone else being there. Someone who might know what the hell is going on. Does he still feel entirely miserable? Absolutely. But he feels slightly less like he's about to crash out in the next ten seconds, so he'll take it.

Just watching the exam quietly, unable to help the way his voice shakes on the soft sigh that the news gets.]

There's that at least... but why haven't they woken up then? Isn't that bad?

[dreamquestion]

That my medical expertise were so extensive.

[It's a droll, if regretful comment, as he glances up at Charles again - and his eyes catch on the drone nearby, hovering steady and apparently unbothered.]

What of their extant parts? [He gestures up to the drone.] I'm unfamiliar with how they function, only that they're under Rin's possession. If they aren't damaged as well, might it be something more complex than mere humanity can account for?

[hellandbackpack]

Extant parts? [Ignore the slight shrill to the short laugh that is spoken with. Charles is Totally Good here.] What like cyborg stuff?

[dreamquestion]

Charles.

[There's no threat to it, just a firm patience in response to the slightly manic noises his boy is making.]

Regardless of your need, take a deep breath. Panicking helps nothing but to increase your guilt. [As Charles kneels by Murderbot's head, gently testing its neck for any obvious breaks or contusions.] But yes, the flying pieces under their control - I've met beings with independent pieces before, but rarely ones that remain so without being...

[Then he pauses, and frowns, as his fingers find an unexpected gap just under Murderbot's hairline, decidedly uniform in shape.]

[hellandbackpack]

[There was no threat, but it startled him a bit anyways- but it was probably a good thing in the moment, jerking his attention from the spiral of thoughts that otherwise weren't leading anywhere good, or helpful. Biting back an equally frantic, unhelpful comment, he just nodded his agreement shakily.]

Right- right, you're right- [He didn't need to breathe. And even here, it didn't do the same things that it would for a living human to stop, to breathe evenly. A familiar enough tactic if the ease with which he fell into a rhythm was any hint. Breathe in. Hold it. Exhale. But even without all the little physical ways it helped a living person, it did help give him something to focus on for the moment. Made him feel slightly less like he was a hair's breadth away from a crashout.

It didn't stop the way the temperature dropped a few degrees, or the cold damp of the carpet and hardwood just got all the icier under their knees when he spotted that frown though.]

Without... did you think of something?