📄 📂 RECOVERED SYSTEM LOG — PRE-PATCH STATE (01/01/2026)

File: /logs/security/incursion_1225.log
System: Duckysoft XP
Status: DAMAGED

[00:41:12] Unauthorised process detected.
[00:41:15] Process masked as trusted moderation software.
[00:41:19] Behaviour anomaly confirmed.
[00:41:22] Output classified as harmful.
[00:41:26] Containment failed.

I didn’t shut it down fast enough.

I thought it was just noise at first — a glitch, bad input, someone having an off day. By the time I realised it was a virus, it had already reached the Pond.

The system slowed. Chat stuttered. Stability dropped.

I pulled the emergency brake and killed the stream processes, but the damage was already written to disk.

---

Rose:
“You trusted it because it sounded confident.”

I didn’t answer.

---

Rose:
“Confidence is how malware spreads.”

She was perched on the taskbar, ears rigid, body still — the way prey animals freeze when they sense something wrong. Error messages flickered past beneath her, and she didn’t blink once.

---

Me:
“I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

Rose:
“Good. Because the Pond noticed.”

She hopped closer to the screen, eyes reflecting warning icons.

---

Me:
“What do we do?”

Rose was quiet for a moment. That never happens unless something’s wrong.

---

Rose:
“We stop running timers.”
“We stop pretending uptime equals health.”
“We clean the system properly.”

---

Me:
“That means ending the Subathon.”

Rose:
“It means choosing the Pond over the process.”

She looked at me then — not teasing, not cruel. Just serious.

---

Rose:
“You can rebuild code.”
“But you don’t get a second backup of people.”

I terminated CHRISTMAS_SUBATHON.exe manually.

The timer froze.

The fans spun down.

For the first time since the crash that made me this way, the system went quiet on purpose.

---

Final Log Entry:

Preparing system patch…
User confirmation required.

Input: ACCEPT