Breakthrough.

|2|

     The deafening silence that filled the chamber felt so loud, thoughts churning in Five Pebbles' mind. Constant changes in his own perspective.

He shouldn't accept this apology, it was just pity- or at least it felt like it.
But, working on a solution, together? Maybe then he'd at-least have a chance.

"Suns, I am giving you one chance to help me- but there is no way I'm accepting your shitty apology."
Pebbles retorts to the prior statement, his expression irritable.

"Oh thank the void..."
Pebbles can hear Suns mutter.

"I'll help you in any way I can- and we should start by investigating possible cures. What have you tried?"
Suns sat down in their chamber more comfortably, still tense- but more comfortable for work.

The subtle churning of his systems began to ease, finally calming the once endless thrum of steam, whisps swirling throughout mechanical pipes. Five Pebbles gives the closest audio cue to a 'Sigh'.

"You bet I have, that's why I just- "
His frustration still persists in his tone, an irritable grumbling under his breath, too.

"I've tried Everything at my disposal, it just... DOESN'T DIE-"

"Pebbles, Pebbles. We've got to think rationally here."
Suns tries to ease this blatant stress- they never thought they'd see the small iterator so... distressed.

"I know you're scared at this point, but we'll figure this out. If it can't be destroyed by normal means, then we'll simply figure out another way. Has it responded in a peculiar way to any stimuli?"
Suns' voice is ungodly calm, even in this circumstance. However, the faint tinge of concern to their expression still paints a clear picture.

"I... I suppose it has responded in peculiar ways to noise, it seems to be blind... it also seems to be slowly migrating towards my more... powerful electrical systems."
Pebbles' voice trails off, fading into the empty churning of machinery that surrounds him... By technicality, that machinery was really him, but it hardly mattered.

"Pebbs, you really should've told me how bad this had gotten."
Suns outstretches a hand, a gesture. Unfortunately, there's no real way for them to physically contact eachother, no comfort in this cruel- miserable cell.

"I think maybe, just maybe, if I could get out've here- I can maybe escape it. But, every solution i've tried has failed."
Pebbles' tone takes on a moment of clarity, a clearness he desperately needed. It seems talking to Suns actually... helped him after all. His fury- that ever-consuming fury was fading away, ebbing into nothing more than a faint hiss within the edges of his hearing.

Pebbles pauses for a moment, quietly sifting through his collection of pearls- before finding one of deep indigo, one which- similar to the lavender pearl, played a simplistic, but beautiful melody. He found himself toggling it to play, and cracking his 'Knuckles'. Really, it was his hydraulics resetting as he pulled the fingers, ever so slightly out've place.

"So, any ideas?"

"Well, I do know you've already tried flushing it out've your system and... that it didn't go well, clearly. If we cannot remove it, nor destroy it, we've still got a few options left."
Suns raises a hand to the air- a small, semi-transparent screen manifesting before them. It's filled with various forms of data- most importantly, a simulation being run to test the responses of an artificially simulated Rot.

"Have you tried communicating with it? From the information already- I have reason to suspect electrical signals could be it's form of communication."
Suns' response almost bewilders the smaller iterator- but they seem to be onto something. Suns readjusts their cloak, the fluffy windings of... probably synthetic fur framing their face, and fading into the delicate robes of an ordinary outfitting.