kaolinandbone | Tea in the Gardens and Antechambers

As the many multiversal guests are gated in, singly or in groups, a crowd slowly begins to form in the entry hall. Lioncourt looks up from her meditation break and claps her hands twice: in moments, a dozen automaton servants file out from the adjoining rooms, hands of gleaming white porcelain holding equally elegant china tea-sets. A pair of the automatons open the doors at the far end of the hall, revealing a tiered rose garden, the stone benches dotted here and there ringing a large central clearing.

"Tea is served, either here or in the gardens: I would appreciate it, however, if some of my guests might proceed onward so as to reduce crowding."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

scatteredstars

"Yes, I am." (is that deep, abiding frustration? Why yes, yes it is).

Ze takes in their confusion, and sighs. "I -- what even makes that seem like an appropriate question to ask someone?"

From:

ambrovimvor

Anda leans against her Companion.

"I'm...sorry, it's just that, I'm not used to..the divide between living and non-living things being...blurred. It's rather obvious where I'm from. Especially for a channel like me. I suppose it's not so clear, elsewhere."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche is silent for a moment. "Alive is... vague. I'm not biological. That doesn't mean I am not a person, any more than an bush is a person because it's made of cells. It doesn't work that way."

From:

ambrovimvor

She sighs.

"I thought I was prepared for strange things...just goes to show..anyway...I'm Anda, and this is Linsa."

From:

scatteredstars

"Nice to meet you," Tyche replies politely. "I'm Tyche." Ze is silent for a moment, and then, awkwardly; "I'm -- sorry about snapping at you. I don't like being treated as not-a-person."

From:

ambrovimvor

"Perfectly understandable. Do you get that a lot, even wherever you're from?"

From:

scatteredstars

"You could say that," Tyche says. "Though it usually has somewhat less to do with my choice of morph, and more to do with being an AGI."

Ze seems to want to change the subject. "Channel-- you're Hajeneanda, yes?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"That's me. The 'Hajene' is a title, but it's not really relevant outside the Householdings, so it can be dispensed with."

"Err..what is an AGI?"

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 03:15 am (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"As someone who lives in a world that is generally not a very nice place -- though we're working on that -- I have to say that yours doesn't sound like it's much good either."

"...Artificial General Intelligence, but that may not mean much more to you...?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"We're working on it too. Well, the Householdings are. And no, it really doesn't, I'm sorry."

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 03:25 am (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"I would offer to help, but, well." Ze shrugs. "We're a bit busy with our own. If technology would be useful, that can probably be accomplished? --As for the other, I am not really sure how to explain. Do you even have computers?"

From:

ambrovimvor

"The Ancients had those. We find them sometimes, but they don't work anymore. Well, usually. I found one that works but I think it's just because of the forum."

"I don't know what technology you have that might be useful. Or whether I could afford to accept anything. So far me and Linsa are the only ones who know anything about..the forum, and things."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche makes a thoughtful sound. "Could you plausibly claim to have found an Ancient cache? I'm not sure if nanofabricators could make selyn, but if they could that would... presumably be very useful. Computers are good for anything that requires analysis. Defences for your Householdings. Medicine. I could go on."

From:

ambrovimvor

"I don't know how you'd create selyn from nothing, outside of a living Gen body..." She shakes her head. "As I said, we don't find working machines normally. We have medicines for most things, or channels can close wounds and speed healing. The most common disease we have that we have trouble treating is acute appendicitis. The Ancients used to...cut people open (yes that is disgust)..but for a channel, that's...horrifying. I just can't imagine it. I don't suppose you have a better way of fixing it? That one could pass off as one of the usual medications we use for pain or sosuch?"

From:

scatteredstars

"Does it take a physical form?" Tyche wonders.

She is silent for a long moment. "I think that should be possible." She retrieves a device from a compartment, and spends a little while fiddling with it before setting it down. "I don't know how to do it offhand, but I should be able to look it up when I get home and send you blueprints for the fabber. It would be helpful to know about any major physiological differences you have, especially in that area?"

Edited (sneaky typo-fixing) Date: 2015-06-09 05:18 pm (UTC)

From:

ambrovimvor

"Selyn is energy."

"I don't imagine that a Gen, or a child for that matter, is very different in that area....Simes...might be. Though we are also less prone to infections in general so perhaps it's less urgent."

From:

scatteredstars

"So you would probably need mindless Gen bodies, which is... inefficient at best."

Tyche taps her fingers on the table thoughtfully. "A genetic sample would probably not be helpful, given your developmental patterns. What do you know about Sime physiological differences, beyond the tentacles? I presume you do not have a traditional digestive tract -- does appendicitis even occur among Simes?"

From:

ambrovimvor

She shudders slightly "Inefficient and a little disturbing."

"Well we do require some food for building blocks, simply not for energy, so we do have a functional digestive tract, though most of the organs are smaller then in a Gen Appendicitis is not common, but does occur occasionally."

Edited Date: 2015-06-09 05:48 pm (UTC)

From:

scatteredstars

"They wouldn't start with minds," Tyche says absently. "That would be even more inefficient."

"Do you mind if I do some analysis? Visual and audio, nothing invasive." (She has observed Anda's flinch reaction to surgical procedures, even if she isn't entirely sure why)

From:

ambrovimvor

"I don't mind."

From:

scatteredstars

Tyche had previously only been using her enhanced senses in a passive, absent-minded way. Now, she retrieves a few more devices, points one at Anda, and... applies all the senses.

Radar (metals, pulse rate, respiration), infrared (temperature, chemical imaging), lidar, ultraviolet, x-ray (the device was an emitter; implants skeletal structure), ultrasound (movement, density, imaging), infrasound (vibrations, heat beat). Chemical sniffer (the other device; analyzes air). Electrical Sense (electrical fields).