dualislogs | Baby lately the plans we're making

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Baby lately the plans we're making

WHO: Open to all Dualizens
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Our Crazy Jane's Gallows!
WHEN: January 7-10
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining faces - maybe even a few folks without faces - but hey, this city welcomes all types. Chances are, if you’ve just arrived, you're seeing some pretty crazy things, unless you're used to an eye-blinding amount of neon, robots, weird-ass technology, magic, and an omnipresent police force...and hey, if you are, congrats, you're gonna settle in just fine! But for the rest of you, the Head knows this is gonna be pretty overwhelming, right?

Well, since your quaint individual processing units are probably having a hard time, why not link up with another one? By which the Head means...

Hello, new citizens of Dualis,
and welcome to your monthly Network Adjacency Protocol~!

NAPs are a monthly community networking event similar to the Earth concept of speed dating. Two citizens (new arrivals and old hands alike) are placed at a table together with a handy cue card of queries to help break the proverbial ice. Ask (possibly invasive) personal questions and receive results - or ignore the card and yeet yourself straight into a brand new friendship, whatever works! But don't be too shy - you've only got ten minutes together, and if you just sit in silence for the whole ten, the Network Admins are likely to come supervise and try to repair the uplink through a mild shock to the ol' central nervous system. You might find yourself saying all sorts of unintended facts about yourself if that happens...probably better to just make friends, right? Who doesn’t like friends?!

Upon arrival, most will be ushered in by the Admins into the Gallery. Just ignore that large painting on the graffiti wall. Once inside you can begin to mingle and meet your fellow Dualizens, the city has also provided box wine, crackers and cheese as refreshments, a lovely Charcuterie spread laid out for any to sample while looking at the art and mingling.

This month there are two other lovely items for your amusement or horror! First off is a Karaoke machine, how the hell did they pull off getting every song you can think of with lyrics to all? Though, nearly every foul word is replaced with the sound a goose honking, have fun with that! Also, along with your normal note cards of questions you will find blank paper and kiddie packs of crayons. Make some art and leave it behind or leave it for your new friend!

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Well, she should have expected that. The room is occupied. Of course it is. For a moment she thinks there might have been a mistake, but no, she's not that lucky.

It's not like she plans on spending much time in here anyway.

"My official designation is Enhanced Defense Intelligence, however, most organics find it simpler to refer to me as EDI." She'd answered the question, at least.

It answers the question, but Tidus still looks at her dumbfounded and with suspicion. Last time robots came into the room were the iterations, who were rather more prompt about getting to the point of their visit.

Which--”What do you want?”

Not that he knows what the heck he did to have an Enhanced Defence Intelligence doohickey visit him, but here they were, with Tidus keeping himself close to the door, a hand slipping back to line it with the handle.

You know. Just in case.

"This is the room that was assigned to me when I arrived. I did not expect it would be occupied." She is very careful to maintain her distance--apparently the distrust of synthetics is widespread and seeing as she can't find the Normandy--and therefore the rest of her--she is certainly not taking any unnecessary risks. This could very well be her last life, so to speak, and she is not going to waste it being reckless with a terrified population.

"I apologize if I have startled you."

Tidus blinks, a room assigned to them, and he feels himself torn--more so as she offers the apology--between thinking this some kind of trick or believing her. But why would a trick go through this effort anyway? Why bother?

His hand slips some down his back.

“Really?” He’s chewing on the situation, feeling completely out of his element; like there was still a chance he was being too gullible. Was this normal? Was he overreacting? His eyes flit over her form, then promptly return to her face, an even more confused frown pinching his mouth. “Then...what’s an EDI--uh, one of you do?”

The question sounds less wary than the last, more confused and unsure.

This is where she has to be careful. She is probably the most illegal thing in the galaxy, and even though she can't figure where they are or how they got here, she isn't quite prepared to reveal herself entirely to some stranger. Particularly if he's already terrified of her.

"I am the virtual interactive intelligence controlling the Normandy's systems. I am responsible for the well being of both the ship and its crew, as well as assisting in navigation and combat."

Oh.

That’s...a lot of words Tidus doesn’t quite understand in that order, brow furrowing, asking the first thing that comes to mind: “So like a computer that’s alive?”

He thinks about the Fahrenheit, all the electrical gizmos going on there, what he’s learnt and heard about AIs here--it’s probably not apt, but it’s all he has.

"Essentially, yes." That was close enough, anyway. She has a personality and her own body, but she is entirely synthetic and mechanical--a computer. Who's alive. Sure. She'll have to remember that description--something tells her she'll need it.

"Oh." Now he voices that sound, and more and more Tidus finds himself becoming incredibly aware of what this present scene actually looked like: him being nervous at the door while this...android? Robot? Machina? He was really bad at words--EDI stood there calmly, answering all his questions without frustration or signs of movement, suspicious or otherwise.

He's not sure if to be embarrassed, but Tidus starts to feel something close to it. A different kind of awkward as he offers, "I'm...Tidus. I showed up here a few months ago too." A pause, and- "Some of their machina came in here before."

It's some kind of explanation, or excuse.

"I assume by 'machina' you are referring to other machines." What a strange term. She's never heard that before, but then "synthetic" was the term of choice. And perhaps somewhat more accurate. Though apparently, not everyone here would understand that.

She doesn't move yet, still trying to keep from startling the boy, but that declaration is simultaneously surprising and...not.

"Whose 'machina' were in here?"

Tidus slips in a nod following the clarification, remembering he’s never heard anyone use that word here, and apparently that wasn’t going to change with EDI. They were already speaking two entirely different languages, and not just literally.

“The ones in the city? The cops use them.” Or so Tidus thinks. He’s not entirely sure of the situation with them other than they're around everywhere, but remembers what they’re called. “The iterations. ...they wanted us to chase some bird.”

...which didn't make his jumpy behaviour with her sound any better, did it.

"They don't really take no for an answer."

The longer she stays, the more interesting this place becomes. Apparently there's more to the story of all the glares she's been receiving since she first got here. Perhaps it wasn't so much that they hadn't seen a synthetic before as that they had, and the encounters were not at all positive. That complicated things. Immensely.

"I can tell you that I have no knowledge of these 'iterations,' though I'm unsure whether you or anyone else will believe me. However, it is the truth. I am not affiliated with any organization in this city as I have just arrived."

He has a choice to make, between keeping in place a more suspicious mindset, or letting it go, to go with the belief that he thinks is right. But it was difficult to keep the belief that she wasn’t telling the truth, not when he didn’t sense any animosity or else from her.

With the hand behind him already having mostly fallen, Tidus makes both visible at his sides, giving them a small twist, a conceding gesture. “I believe you,” he offers, more soft-spoken than he’s given up to now. “Sorry, I’m not used to meeting--androids?” He has to think of the word, hope she actually understands it. “We just have machina where I’m from. Old machines from a war that attack people.”

Because she sounded from somewhere more advanced than him, so it was maybe worth sharing.

But it’s not the most important thing, and he thinks to ask: “Do you uh, have anything you want to know? Anything I can help you with?"

Edited 2020-01-11 05:43 (UTC)

"That seems to be the prevailing consensus." If the looks she's gotten have said anything at least. And she can't decide if the solution is to stay inside more until people have calmed down, or to go out more often and get everyone used to seeing her around.

Slowly, she moves to one of the beds and cautiously sits down with her arms folded in front of her. Hopefully that was a less threatening position.

And oh does she have questions, but where to begin?

"Why were these 'iterations' in this room?"

"Like I said, they wanted me to find some stupid bird." It doesn't sound any better the second time, does it. Tidus folds his arms. "They put a bunch of us on the job and invited themselves in to get me. Zap you, whatever. They'll make you go with them. There was a party a while back where some guy got dragged off for no reason by them. He wasn't causing a scene."

Not from anything Tidus heard at the ball himself, but he remembers the scene that happened as the guy was carted off.

"The bird wasn't deadly or whatever. It was just a prankster. I don't know why it was a big deal."

EDI has her doubts that the man had done nothing to deserve it but, well, she wasn't here for it and she can't truly say. Even so, being a synthetic herself, perhaps she is a little too offended at the distrust of synthetics in general. A little too attached to the topic, maybe.

"There may have been circumstances you were not made aware of concerning this bird."

"Like what?"

Because Tidus couldn't come up with a good reason, himself.

"I cannot say for certain as I was not present for the event, however it is possible that the bird could have caused significant damage to city property or infrastructure if it had not been contained." There is always a reason.

"The bird was this big." Going to make a goose size with his hands, sounding unconvinced. "And it was a pain, but it wasn't deadly. You can still watch the videos on the dualisnet."

There's some pain involved, but of the comedic sort (to those not involved). But Tidus does raise his brows. "Would you send a bunch of random people to deal with a problem like that?"

She did say about being a ...defensive intelligence or whatever.

"If my available resources are strangers, then yes." She does what she can with what she has, and if she needed to take something out with a bunch of random people, then she would make it work.

"I will have to review the footage."

He scoffs. “They know more about us to…”

Tidus stops amidst a shake of his head and hands raised, a counter to the point of strangers; but then he realises what he’s saying, where, and his mouth clamps shut, brow furrowing. He looks away from EDI for a moment, still wearing a frown when he looks back.

“It’s not that important. I’m just saying, there’s no reason to shock people into doing what you want over something like that.”

And if she agreed to those methods, well -- what else was there to say? He shrugs, knowing he won’t be able to convey what he wants here.

“Anyway… other than that time, they haven’t been here before. I just work at a bar and grill.”

Meaning, he’s hardly the type to attract the law.

While she does agree with the "no need to shock people..." she can't resist the opportunity to make a joke about it.

"Only if they are truly uncooperative." This is why she has very few friends.

She does choose not to comment on whether or not these "iterations" belonged in the room or not--even a bartender can break the law--but it seems like a sensitive subject and she's at least smart enough to drop the subject.

"Is there anything else about this place I should be made aware of?"

Please, EDI. Tidus is not amused!

He needs a moment though to think of how to respond to her. What can he say or tell her here that would be safe? Tidus glances about the room without moving his head, his frown dipping at one side of his mouth.

"There's a meet-up after people start arriving called NAPs," he eventually goes for. "People don't like to talk about anything private since one of the games involves zapping people too if you don't go along." Will they ever get away from zapping. But there's a purpose for going down this route, his gaze on her narrowing slightly. "It's a question game. So be careful about what you ask,--"

and he looks about the room again without moving his head, this time pointedly, following it with a short and quick shake of his head.

"--okay? It's rubbed people the wrong way. We're already being watched all the time."

It's about as discreet as he can think to be to say, not here.

That sounds about typical for her. Someone is always watching--or trying to watch--and it's her job to keep that from happening, if she has to use zettabytes of risque images to do it. It's not like she's never done it before.

Still, she doesn't mention any of that. Clearly the boy is already upset by situation and she doesn't need to add to it any further.

"Understood. I appreciate the warning."

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Baby lately the plans we're making

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