Finding Space | AvA/AvM one shots

Confrontation

Victim confronts the cursor - and the Animator - in The Box.

Content: Implied/referenced character death, referenced past abuse and trauma, present emotional and physical confrontation about said past abuse and trauma, threatening behaviour, coerced labour, imprisonment, slight whump.

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The Box was a magnificent technological feat. It had an official name of course, but everyone who worked with it simply called it The Box. It was a cube-shaped containment field, nigh indestructible from the inside, with the ability to simulate artboard software functionalities in three-dimensional space. Any object or entity inside could be manipulated via fine-tuned controls at a console just beyond the walls.

In its usual state, every surface was a bright blank white, with only the corners and edges discernable. One could see in but not out.

In its current state, all four walls were a light transparent blue and visibly numbered. The side designated as Wall 2 was in front of the console. Wall 4 was opposite and currently displayed several progress bar popups and command prompt windows.

Over the past few days, the console outside had acquired several additional coils of cables, neatly packed and taped along the bottom of the console. The coils snaked to a second console some paces away. This second "console" was more of a hodgepodge of small server racks, computer towers, and several tables holding monitors of different sizes, keyboards, a small electrical box under the monitors, and a mess of cables connecting everything. One table held a thick circular disc inlaid with multiple circuit boards, LED lights, some kind of large glass lens, and even more cables.

Several more of these circular discs had been mounted on The Box's exterior ceiling.

A yellow stick figure stood at the second console. Three other stick figures with weapons stood arrayed around the second console. As the yellow stick worked, he would occasionally glance out at the guards before hurriedly returning to his work.

A tall stick figure with dark-shaded glasses stood at the main console. He tapped several controls and then motioned to the yellow stick. The yellow stick tapped at his own controls and entered a command on a keyboard. He hesitated, fingers trembling, over the ENTER key. His eyes darted to the guards a few paces beyond the console. He pressed the key.

The server racks began humming at a higher frequency. Inside The Box, Wall 4 displayed the text "Invitation Sent to User". The yellow stick figure held his breath as he watched his monitor. A few seconds later, his face crumpled as Wall 4 displayed "Invitation Accepted by User".

The server racks whined loudly and the lights on the ceiling discs flickered red, then orange. Computer output logs rapidly filled the yellow stick's monitor.

The walls, ceiling, and floor of The Box turned a solid bright white, but the interior remained visible from the outside. An image of a keyboard and computer mouse appeared on Wall 4. The text "User Screen Front" appeared as well.

After a minute, each of the ceiling discs' lights shone a steady green. At that moment, a large computer cursor shimmered into existence in The Box.

The cursor was still for a few moments. Then it made small movements back and forth. After a few more seconds, it began moving around the space, occasionally bumping against the walls in a timid manner.

On Wall 4, the mouse image lit up, indicating multiple left-clicks and right-clicks, first tentative, then quickly in succession.

Outside, the stick with the dark glasses studied his console's screens and nodded. He looked over at the yellow stick, who swallowed and nodded back.