apocalypsehowcomm | Text (I'm doing too many of these...)

Do you not trust ADI? I mean, I don't either but maybe you could approach someone who works in the IT department after hours?

I trust ADI in the fight against the entities.

This is a bit more personal than that.

I understand. I wish I could help. The best I can do is wish you luck.

Thank you, Kate.

You're welcome, Cortana.

dons the guy you wanna talk to

builds robots back home all the time

Don, huh? Anything else you can tell me about him?

hes my twin brother
genius
pretentious jerk but good at what he does just feed his ego a little and hell do whatever u want

I think he's already contacted me, actually. Username Dontron?

thats the one y
just go easy on him

Alright.

(It doesn't show through text, but she's very amused.)

I was in my robotics club back home at school, so, I have some experience. I'd be happy to help if you need it.

About once a week I need to have my battery taken out and water added. You think you can help with that?

Yeah, I can definitely help with that! Is there anything else you'd want me to do too-?

Given the nature of this place, I'll likely need repairs in the future. I should probably teach several people in case someone else goes missing or ...worse.

Yeah, having a few people on hand wouldn't be a bad idea. Its kind of just hard to tell what will happen next or who will go missing next.

I'd be happy to help you whenever though.

That's what I've been thinking.(She's also been thinking that she could just disappear one day instead, making all this unnecessary, but she's trying not to dwell on that possibility.)

Thanks

Things can get pretty unpredictable around here, so extra help is always a good thing. We all kinda need it anyway honestly.

No problem.

I agree.

So your body IS artificial! I thought so. It's impressive stuff.

You're a fully self-actualized AI, then? Please for the love of McCarthy, don't tell me you're some kind of spirit possessing artifacts as if we were in a campfire ghost story.

Well, I mean, depending on your interpretation...

(She has to take the opportunity to fuck with him, okay?)

Yes, I'm an AI. Name's Cortana. And you?

Edited 2023-02-24 18:55 (UTC)

Don.

Mechanical engineer and software specialist. I've built platforms for my own AI projects [RIP my favorite son SHELLDON] but I'm not sure what kind of loadout you'll need. You sound significantly more complex just from what I've seen around.

Edited 2023-02-27 05:36 (UTC)

Well Don, you're probably right in that assumption, but right now what I need the most is help with routine maintenance and servicing my batteries.

(Not exactly super complex stuff, fortunately for her and perhaps unfortunately for Don.)

Having someone around who knows what they're doing would be nice, though, considering that there's a non-zero risk of me getting damaged out in the field.

[DANG. Well at least he'd still get to take a gander at some technology he hasn't built himself that -presumably- is reasonably complex.]

If you go investigating any more evil haunted bakeries, it's nearly guaranteed. When would you need this maintenance to be performed? I have today and tomorrow open.

Edited 2023-04-13 22:25 (UTC)

Either works, honestly. Maybe sooner rather than later?

(Her robot body is pretty great -- way beyond almost anything else from this time in capability, even if it is largely built using already developed tech -- but honestly it's the AI that's most impressive. If you know, he hasn't already gathered that from her conversational skills.)

Today it is

Drop the coords sis, and let me know if I need to bring my tools with me or if you'd prefer I use your own kit.

How about apartment A2? There are tools here, but you're free to bring your own if you want.

(She wonders: is he the sort of person to cling to a single set of tools or use whatever is available? What does he consider most important to have with him?)

omw

[How did Cortana know that the persnickety, arrogant, uppity little engineer she was talking to was also persnickety about the tools he uses? That is to say, he brings as full a kit as he can with his entire lab missing, just because he prefers the handles of his own screwdrivers and the like, etc.

Knock knock to be polite, but if someone doesn't come soon enough he will actually try the door to walk in. Sorry, he's also excited. Robotics work. It's been far too long.]

(People tend to cling to the familiar. Plus, something in his wording suggested he'd use his tools unless she told him not to.

Not that she was going to say anything: the only reason she was alive and able to have this conversation at all was because of someone developing an emotional attachment to a tool.

Don't worry, she's home so the door will be opened quickly enough. The apartment itself looks pretty normal: Tony's tools, materials, and projects have been moved from taking up most of the space to being nicely consolidated into a corner area, and the space as a whole is very clean and organized.

Cortana smiles. Other than a slight stiffness that makes her look perpetually awkward, her face is very human.)

Donnie, right?

[Did he hear her? He probably did, but he is also in fact giving her a look that might come off as very invasive, a little too close as he examines the way her facial muscles pull uncomfortably into the expression. Uncanny valley that Donnie only notices by virtue of having poured over her earlier videos for comparison.] Hm. Is the stiffness due to damage or lack of maintenance, or is that a hardware limitation?

(She can handle the look: she's dealt with worse after all.)

Hardware. Apparently always looking slightly awkward or nervous is a problem with androids made using technology from this time.

(Limitations, right? Unfortunately, she doesn't have the money or the resources to easily bypass this one.)

True imitation is usually more likely to fall short. [Donnie lifts his toolbox up onto the nearest surface that seems to be maintenance-oriented and starts arranging various items meticulously.] Personally never saw the point when stylization is so much more fun to play with. Why limit yourself to what already exists? Push the envelope!

[Glances back over at Cortana.] -not that you're not impressive, but it must be frustrating for you to deal with it. [He returns to his work.] Like putting a racecar driver behind the wheel of a Toyota Corolla and expecting a thank-you.

I cannot necessarily claim to be familiar with it as you might know it, but I have significant experience with a variety of forms of machina and magitek.

Does your world have autonomous machines?

Yes. The most well-known examples are of a civilization that has long since fallen into ruin, but more recent varieties exist as well.

(After a moment of consideration, she switches to video. It might seem, at first, like one is looking at an ordinary human with how incredibly lifelike she is, but the little discrepancies are there. Her irises, fantastically detailed and glistening with life, are painted over camera shutters. Her whole being is kind of like an artist's attempt at creating a realistic replica of idealized human beauty, from a face without flaws to the crisp edged stylized circuitry tattoos peeking out from beneath the collar of her shirt, distinctly unnatural and yet clearly a part of her in no way ordinary ink could be.)

Anything like this? (She smirks. Look, she likes showing off, alright?)

[The switch to video is a bit of a surprise, but after a brief blink, Emet-Selch switches over in kind. Though he looks a good deal more normal, apart from the hair so pale it's very nearly white and golden-yellow eyes.]

Yes, actually. Most Allagan warmachina were less humanoid, and those that were tended to be rather bulkier, but the basic design principles were similar enough. Likewise, more modern magitek can also be both bipedal and humanoid, though they lack much of the sleekness of Allagan models.

(...Huh. She wonders if the his appearance is natural, a genetic alteration, or if he's just using hairdye and colored contacts. And if it is natural, is it because Humans in his world have more variation, or is he not human at all?)

Bit of a historian, are you? Or is it mostly just the technology you're interested in?

Right now I mostly just need my battery serviced at regular intervals. Knowing this place though, it'd probably be a good idea to have multiple people who know how to perform repairs.

Both.

[Admittedly, he's a historian by virtue of having lived through much of it, but he's not about to admit to that on an open network.]

Given what little I have seen thus far, I cannot say I'd be able to deny that. We are all cut off from that which we might otherwise know.

[And it stands to reason that would be more of concern for someone who happens to require repairs, rather than being able to simply seek out the same care as someone who was not.]

Text (I'm doing too many of these...)

[text] un: cupkate

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text; un: primetimechampion

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text; un: parkour

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text \ un: dontron

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permatext

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feel free 2 drop if u like, doing mega-catch up!

Lol it's not like I've been tagging quickly either

/thumbs up

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text >> action if that's ok!

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text; un: architect

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Switching to video

also switching to video

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