[WORLD ONE] SPEED DATING EXTRAVAGANZA

[spellbindmods]

Who: Participating coven members
Where: The Palai marketplace
When: Day 49
Open/Closed: OTA

[ Any and all who are in the marketplace will find that there is suddenly a mysterious barrier around the marketplace (that may be eerily familiar to some) -- specifically one large portion of the marketplace with a large number of tables and chairs, perhaps purposefully set out for nefarious reasons.

A few Palai are ushering coven members to chairs, and everything seems about normal. As normal as the Palai can be when they're putting on a show anyway. It's not until a sizable portion of the coven members are seated (and also supplied with breadsticks and small shrimp), that things get a bit more bizarre.

Thanks to the power of the Eltos, a small band of energy keeps coven members stuck to the chair (magic can interfere, of course), but that's not the end of it. On each table, next to those delicious smelling breadsticks and shrimp, is a bowl of scraps of papers. Every five minutes, a strip of paper will pop out from the bowl.

If you ask the Palai, they'll be inclined to explain speed dating to you. Asking questions, getting to know a person, then being shimmied off to the next potential mate -- this is made possible by Elto magic yet again, through flying chairs that transport their holder to a new table at standard intervals.

The Palai are extremely invested in this exercise? Will you let them down? ]

[ OOC: In the spirit of speed dating, each character will have a top level. All who want to respond to this top level can with questions from this post, but the threads have to end at 10 comments from each character. After this last tag, the characters can be assumed to have been whisked to a different potential match. You're free to have characters make up their own questions, interact with Palai serving food, etc. ]

Comments

[deem]

Well, they had a lot of questions, since their technology is so primitive...

[A great many questions, and he could search his memory and produce every last one of them in order if he wanted to, but that'd be very time-consuming]

But since they were unfamiliar with the concept I tried starting with the basics, like being made in the image of our creators and all.

[And he would've thought the gap between creator and creation was clear enough, even then]

[teratias]

[Waver listens, then stops realizing that there is, in fact, another angle to this.]

Maybe they just didn't care and see you as fundamentally a person?

[deem]

I never said I wasn't a person, but don't you think it'd be wrong to court your creator?

[Nobody's told him about classical mythology, apparently]

[teratias]

[Oh. Oh buddy. Waver's spent too long dealing with mythological characters.

Okay, maybe two weeks. That's close enough.]

Possibly, but it isn't uncommon in story telling.

[deem]

Those're just stories though, aren't they?

[His core programming insists on an intrinsic unworthiness. Presuming he could date a human or even stand on equal terms with them seems so terribly wrong]

[teratias]

Well, yeah. But I'm saying the concept isn't something uncommon. [But no. That's not it at all, not from what it sounds like. Waver falls quiet, thinking things over.]

Hang on. For you does creator apply to one specific person, or is it a catch all for humans entirely?

[deem]

Androids exist to serve and fight for all of mankind.

[Which is to say, yes, it is the latter.

All of humanity has to share that high, high pedestal]

[teratias]

And is that programming, or your own thoughts?

[Waver's not so much concerned with pedestal so much as understanding imposed hierarchy. This is damn fascinating, to say the least.]

[deem]

[That's cause for thoughtful silence]

...I'm not sure I'd be in the best position to tell you.

[That core programming is something he's aware of, and yet he feels its validity. It's difficult to separate the two. Doubtless, it doesn't help that mankind was always a distant goal, something to fight for, rather than a present reality he could see and touch]

I know what some of my core programming entails, but I like to think I've got my own opinions. Your race did create mine and give us purpose.

[teratias]

Sure but you know. You're not limited, I guess? Or are you?

[How did this become existential crisis hour? Waver's not sure, but he sure has steered it that way. Upon realizing that, there's a flush of red on his face.]

Sorry, I'm probably prying.

[deem]

I don't mind answering questions, if they're things you want to know.

[Granted there are some questions he would avoid answering, or at least not be entirely candid about responding to, and that much would speak to his autonomy.

Still, it makes him happy to be of use]

But I'm not sure what you mean by "limited".

[teratias]

Limited in purpose, sorry. You can expand beyond just the set standards? Is that phrasing clearer?

[Waver's questions are assuming a lot, in truth. But he doesn't register it, he can only register his own curiosity and the fact that hey, this thing hasn't been a complete waste of time.]

[deem]

Well, I always figured after the war we'd live among humans.

[Until he found out just how many lies were built around both his existence and his purpose, but these are things he'll just shove deep down where they can bother nobody but him.

Because that's just as healthy for an android as for anyone else]

It's just we had a war to win first. Never thought about uh, dating though. That's a little...

[They've covered that base already]

[teratias]

[Repress everything! It's completely and absolutely not going to bite one in the ass one day.]

Right, but living among them doing what? Never mind this weird dating thing.

[deem]

I dunno... Go shopping and things like that?

[It's what he and 2B talked about doing, anyway.

Go figure, they finally got their chance on a world populated by lizardfolk]

[teratias]

So then in that situation there'd be no real reason to look at androids and humans as separate. I think that's what the Palai were getting at.

[Waver probably just shoved words into their mouths, but whatever. The concept he was trying to articulate just got there.]

[deem]

...I still think there's a significant difference.

[Living among them and being equal aren't one and the same for 9S. And that's where he digs his heels in, just as he did with Jude]

[teratias]

[Waver shrugs. He can, and he will, respect that.]

You're the one with the better perspective on it, probably. But for people without AI, it is probably just not something they'll ever quite get.

[deem]

If I have to explain, I don't mind.

[That sense of unworthiness, though programmed, runs strong]

There are things an android can't really provide, my thoughts aside.

[teratias]

Huh, really?

[Sure Waver. Ask the android to list his failings. That's great dating material.]

[deem]

Well, I mean...for one thing, androids don't reproduce.

[Ask him an awkward question, get an awkward answer]

[teratias]

[Nope.

Now all Waver's thinking about is android sex.

Nope. Regret. Instant regret. And completely blush faced red.]

I probably should have just assumed that....

[deem]

[If only he knew android sex is non-existent.

The only place it exists is in his head.

That's the true tragedy of all this]

...You okay?

[teratias]

Yeah. Totally fine.

[Look. Waver doesn't know that. And he sure won't ever ask for clarification on the topic either way.

Enjoy the suffering.]

[deem]

You're really red though...do you need water?

[At least his concern's in the right place?]