Grace
Dae-hyun, as always, wasn't doing much. It was just past sunset, and the boy was in his dorm, sat on his bed, reading. A really good book, that he was quite invested in. 

He was in a hoodie and sweatpants, with his hair tied up, prepared to head to bed once the clock struck late enough.
Angel
*Tok-tok-tok* Sounded the knock at the door and *Tick-tick-tick* Sounded the clock, faster than ever as it ticked at increasing and accelerating speed, *Tickticktickticktick* Until it began to sound like a malfunctioning speaker or a rapidly spinning ratchet gear or an object clipping into another in a Bethesda game, *Toktoktok* Said the knocking at the door, faster this time, faster and more urgent and more *Ticking and tocking and knocking and and and and and* —

"... Dae-hyun?" Asked a voice outside the door. The clock stopped ticking altogether. "You okay in there?"
Grace
Dae-hyun looked up from his book at the sound of knock. It startled him, but very quickly his heart rate began to increase even further. The way the clock on his desk began accelerating, it was all completely out of the ordinary. He raised his back from leaning against his wall, and watched his clock with panic. 

And then it stopped. 
With a voice outside the door. 

Dae-hyun gave a shaking sigh, and wrote off *Whatever* Just happened. He grabbed his cane, which rested beside his bed, and headed to the door. 

He wasn't sure who needed him at this time of night, but he figured it had to be important... They sure sounded like they wanted to check in on him? 

So he opened the door.
Angel
It was... Some guy. Dae-hyun didn't recognize him.

"Sorry," He sighed, "I'm not sure what that was. You seemed like you were freaking out. You doing alright? Can I come in?"
Grace
Dae-hyun looked at the person for a second. He tilted his head slightly, but figured they wouldn't be a problem. 

"It's... Alright." His voice still slightly shaken. "Uhm, yeah, I'm okay— now anyways, it's uh, stopped."

When the person offered to come in, he felt his nerves stand on end. They wouldn't be dangerous would they? *They knew his name... So.*

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," He moved to the side, and walked back into his dorm. 

"What, can I help you with? Did you uh, need something?"
Angel
"I thought you wanted something from me, actually." He chuckled sheepishly and looked a little apologetic. "You gave me a hell of a headache yesterday. Don't tell me you were just fucking with me for fun?"
Grace
"Oh!" Suddenly the fear washed away. 

"*Giannis,* I didn't recognize you, sorry." 

Dae-hyun closed the door to his dorm.

"Uh... Yeah about that. I'm *Really* Sorry. I was actually trying to figure out how to put myself, uh, here, but on purpose?" 

He sighed, feeling rather stupid for bothering him so much only for it to happen *Literally the following day.*

"I wanted to talk to you, and you said *'come back anytime,'* But I really couldn't figure out *How* To come back? Not unless I wanted to... Stick a wire into my eye and connect my brain to... Whatever." He shook his head. 

"It's nice you're here now... Promise I won't give you anymore headaches." He laughed softly.
Angel
Giannis looked a little miffed. "I... I meant that as, like, a joke. Wasn't like I expected you to actually go ahead and try to fucking do it."

He shook his head and entered, throwing himself onto Dae-hyun's bed in an exaggeratedly exhausted manner. "Well, whatever. You made my head hurt and dug around in my old project files. Cool. I'm here now. Why'd you want this, anyway?"
Grace
"Oh... Well, I, well." 
Dae-hyun felt really stupid, but not in a super serious manner, just slightly embarrassed. 
"Figured I could figure something out, but I don't know."

The boy gave a soft snicker at Giannis just making himself at home. 

"Yeah, uh, I was just, I've been given a *Lot* Of really conflicting information and it's confusing me a lot. So I wanted to talk with *You* Instead of, blindly believing what I'm told."

He took a seat at the chair by desk, pulling it over so he wasn't too far. He gave a sort of shrug. 

"What I wanted to talk about probably won't be worth the headache I gave you, I'm sorry about that."
Angel
"I just wish you didn't do it twice." Giannis sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "Ask your questions."
Grace
Dae-hyun didn't entirely know if it would happen twice, but it did. Oops. 

The boy kind of shifted in his seat. Oliver's anger fresh in his mind. 

"Why, are you, doing what you're doing? Like, the goal here, is what? Freedom right? Are there, downsides to that?" He sounded genuinely curious, and spoke in his typical friendly tone.
Angel
"I just wanna live my life, dude. If I wanted freedom I wouldn't have trapped myself in a copy of your prison-school outside of reality. I don't have anyone to talk to. I don't even have Wi-Fi. It sucks here."
Grace
"Yeah. I figured." Dae-hyun spoke this as a matter of fact. 

How could he blame Giannis for wanting that. He'd want that too. 
"Yknow, someone told me that you're trying to eat our brain power, like," He paused, he looked sad for the wording that was used, "A parasite." 

"And, that doing this is a really bad idea." He sighed. "But I just, can't believe that."
Angel
"I mean, I'm not eating it. I'm just living in it. But yeah, I'm basically a parasite right now. Sorry." Giannis shrugged.
Grace
"You don't really have a choice do you?" He looked at Giannis sympathetically. "I mean, it's this or going back in the computer, and I wouldn't want to do that either."
Angel
"Yeah, that would suck. And it's not like your last two attempts to put me back worked."
Grace
Last two attempts. Dae-hyun bit the inside of his cheek. He figured Giannis could just, tap into it, not that actively trying to communicate with him was putting him back in the laptop. Now he knew. 
"Yeah, I don't, really want it to work. I don't want to put you back after I did so much to get you *Out.*" 

 "Im, curious though," He glanced out his window absentmindedly, "Would anyone get hurt if I plugged in that, Maskelynophone, like, if I fixed it?"

"What would that thing even do? Would it get you, *Properly* Out?"
Angel
"It's broken?" Giannis looked confused. "Shit, that might be why people are getting drawn in here. Fixing it won't do much of anything at this point. Might increase the range. But maybe you could connect me to Wi-Fi? I'd appreciate that, I guess."
Grace
"Yes, it's broken." Pause. "It wasn't broken before but in an attempt to figure it out it *Was* Broken."

Dae-hyun fidgeted with his hands. 
"Okay, so fixing it, isn't the way to go about fully helping you," He sighed. 

"What do I do to get you out of here?"
Angel
"Uh. Where are you gonna put me if you do? I'm not gonna tell you how to screw me." Giannis craned his head up from the bed to look skeptically at Dae-hyun. "Don't get me wrong, I'd like a nicer life, but I'm not going back in the laptop."
Grace
"No, No, I don't want to put you back in a laptop, but like, you're a person— like me, If I can figure out how to get you out of here you can live outside of both a laptop and this mindscape... Right?"

Dae-hyun didn't consider, the fact that maybe Giannis, was properly stuck. 

"Like, when I leave *Here,* I just wake up back in the proper world, could I not figure out how to do that for *You?*"
Angel
Giannis pushed himself up to sit upright and look at Dae-hyun.

"My body's fucked, Dae-hyun. You're right, I have one, technically, but it's *Fucked*. Those devices you saw drawings of, I tested those on myself. I'm living in a vat somewhere in suspended animation. I haven't moved a muscle in ages and I probably can't stand up if I try anymore. I didn't do this because I thought it would be cool, I did it because I thought it would let me live again. But it didn't. I'm just fucked in a different way now."

He paused, and looked out the window.

"If you do it, I won't die. But I won't be able to move on my own. I'll be a useless husk of a person. And you better push my fucking wheelchair for the rest of my short, pathetic life."
Grace
Dae-hyun looked at Giannis sadly. 

"That sounds horrible, I'm so sorry." 

This process was bound to be far more complicated than he thought. On one hand Oliver wanted to *Unplug* Him, which Dae-hyun could now guess that meant his *Brain* (which was *Not* Happening), and on the other hand, Dae-hyun didn't want to just *Leave* Giannis in here. He clearly didn't like that fate either. 

Dae-hyun sat in silence for a moment. 

"So how do I help you? If, you don't have a body that works, and you don't want to go back in the laptop, but *This* Place, also sucks,

...

What do I do?"
Angel
"I dunno. Get me Wi-Fi, I guess? Or put me in a proper server farm? Or something. You could put me on one of those bitcoin mining rigs? I bet I'd run great on those. Fuck if I know how to fix this. This is, like, plan G. I didn't think any further than this."
Grace
Giannis didn't know either, Dae-hyun supposed that makes sense. If he knew, he would've done something by now. Dae-hyun would have to figure it out. 

"It sucks that the one person who could help me wants me dead and you in a laptop." He sighed. 
"I'll... Try talking to him anyways. I think. I'll see if *Maybe* He can tell me anything about this."
"I'll try to get you Wi-Fi in the meantime." A hint of a laugh pulled at the end of his words, but fell flat once Dae-hyun began to think again. 

"I dont want to just, leave you in here, this sounds like one hell of a lonely existence."
Angel
"You got that right." Giannis flopped back onto the bed. "You could stay? It's not like anything bad ever happens in here. Or anything at all."
Grace
Dae-hyun gave a soft smile. 

"I don't hate the idea, it's, peaceful in here, but also I need to be out of here to figure out how to help you."

Dae-hyun thought about Danica, his bird, how they'd miss him. 

"Time passes differently in here doesn't it? Like, 1 second in the *Real world,* Is far longer in here isn't it?"
Angel
Giannis thought about it for a moment.

"I'm not really sure how time passes here, honestly. Seems like it's slower sometimes, faster other times. Sometimes backwards. Can't make sense of it. But it's not like I have a reference frame, except for the people popping in."

He smiled a little. "But if you wanna keep me company for a while, I'd like that. Having a friend seems fun."
Grace
Dae-hyun thought about Oliver, and how he had been in the space for, at least what felt like, over a *Year,* When the boy was certain not even a full day had passed— otherwise the staff would lose their minds over the sudden and prolonged disappearance of one of their colleagues.
Surely, this can't hurt. He had just fed Miso, and it was night, no one would need him anytime soon. 

"I would assume time is strange here, but I think I have an idea of how it works... Slightly. I suppose its up for change, or not concrete at all, but if it works how I think it does then,

I'd love to keep you company, for a little bit anyways." He smiled, seeing Giannis smile a little too made him happy. 

He deserved a friend too, loneliness was a painful burden to bear. 

"And then I should go and figure out how to help you not exist in constant limbo." 

 "But— hey, you can always drag me back in here to visit whenever, can't you? Or is it all by accident?"
Angel
"It's... Complicated."

Giannis paused.

"But thanks."