semi-open

[queenofseers]

WHO: The residents of Maurtia Falls #004 and many friends
WHERE: MF4
WHEN: Late September
WHAT: Family Dinner: The Return. After a long hiatus, it has returned. If you are a friend of any of the residents, assume you're invited to eat!
WARNINGS: None now, will add if needed.


[ The last time there was a dinner in this house, there were different stresses, slightly different residents, and no one had died yet. Perhaps you can't blame anyone for not planning another group meal soon after that.

Since then, though, things have been...mostly quiet. Comparatively. Yes, the world is still a shitshow (in Cassandra's own opinion), but the residents of the house are back into a fairly domestic routine, and any threats to reality are ambiguous enough that one can occasionally pretend they're on the periphery rather than clearly encroaching. So friends are finally being invited to Maurtia Falls #004 again, in the hopes that performing normalcy will allow it to be retained.

Or...something like that. There's also something nice about ordering a bunch of takeout and letting other people bring over food.

For any new guests, the building is the epitome of cleanliness- Rex lives here, after all- and nondescript to the point of it being a little surreal. Plenty of alcohol in the fridge, though, and a mysterious cupboard marked "Martin's Things." Maybe don't open it. Besides that, the only other thing to call out is a goldfish in a tank in the living room.

In any case, even if the building is a little boring, the people don't seem to be that way. Then again, maybe boring's what you're here for? Better than chaotic around here. ]

Comments

[ct_7567]

A fish, [ Rex says with a quiet rumble of a sigh. ] Martin's goldfish. Archie got it for him, figured it'd be good for him to have something to take care of.

And then Danger installed a device to affix his tank to the roomba. [ Does he get it? No. Does it get in the way? Yes. Will Rex ever put his foot down about it?

Well... ]

They find it amusing, I suppose.

[monster_san]

[you anticipated the big flashing WHY that is practically hanging over her head, Rex.]

...Excuse me but... Danger is a person? [...] I suppose that is a fitting name for someone who would make that decision....

[ct_7567]

She is, yes. A droid. Or a robot, or whatever word you would use to describe an artificial intelligence. Her name is likely derived from her original purpose, [ Rex says, though he doesn't give away the whole of her identity - or what she had overcome to get to this point. He doesn't know what he feels about Danger even now, aside from some odd sense of solidarity, a kinship without real affection.

Odd, his relationships in this place. ]

She gets on with Martin. That's good enough for me.

[monster_san]

[Martin likes her, so she's all right. For someone who looks so forbidding, he can be rather sweet, Fuu thinks.

And a robot whose name was derived from her original purpose. So she no longer does? Is it because she had to give it up? Or did she choose a new one for herself?]

We don't have any robots where I'm from. Computers are still like this. [She holds up her hands in the approximate shape and size of a Macintosh Classic.] I don't think I've met any of the robots here properly, now that I think of it.

[Which is kind of unusual because, well. They're big?]

[ct_7567]

So you're from one of those planets.

[ Rex shakes his head. Even now, he regards planets without that sort of technology to be primitive sorts. To have computers and machines that can't so much think - what a way of doing things. ]

Not something I could have imagined, before coming here. Where I'm from, we've got as many droids as we do jobs. Binary's as useful a language as any sentient's language. More, I'd wager. They simplify matters.

[ Rex considers, briefly, Danger. Then he considers C-3PO. ]

Sometimes.

[ Not that fussy bucket of bolts. ]

[monster_san]

[You know, something in her is a little offended at the implication that her Earth is backwards. It might well be. Heck, it might be compared to Earth twenty-six years later. But that doesn't mean she especially wants to hear it described that way.]

Yes, I suppose I am. Even Mr. Roomba is an advanced piece of technology to me.

It really makes things better to have so many robots around? I'm sure Ms. Danger isn't the only one who ever becomes discontent with doing what she was "meant" for.

[ct_7567]

[ Rex arches a brow at her, clearly unimpressed with the insinuation. It may not be incorrect, but it veers dangerously close to discussions he's had with others before. ]

I would say the droids believe it makes things better to have them around, yes, [ he says crisply. ] The alternative is obsolescence or non-existence.

[monster_san]

Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that they shouldn't exist. [She smiles. It's probably not polite to speculate on the systemic problems of a man's universe in his own home.] Since my planet doesn't have that kind of technology, I can only guess at what the lives of droid citizens are like.

[she's pretty sure they're treated as slaves tho.

if only because that is absolutely what people on her Earth would do.]

[ct_7567]

You can speculate on their lives as well as I can speculate on the lives of those on other planets. Neither will get particularly accurate results. If you want to know what it is to be one that is... technologically inclined, you'd best ask them yourself. We have no droids from my galaxy present. But Danger is, certainly.

[ He may be tossing Fuu into the fire here. He knows that Danger isn't always the most genial of company. But she's not a bad person either, and would likely find Fuu's - nosiness - inquisitive nature charming in her own right. She's certainly not as dangerous to ordinary human beings as her name would suggest, or at least, she chooses not to exercise that tendency.

That, and it gets Fuu off the subject. He doesn't particularly care for her tone. ]

[monster_san]

[...yes, Rex, she's definitely going to march right up to a robot and interrogate her about the structural inequalities in her homeworld. If anything, this conversation is has told Fuu that she can't be so blunt as she was with Ferio when she pointed out Cephiro had no ground between peace and chaos.

(Really, she was just irked that he insinuated her world is primitive. MAYBE YOUR TONE COULD BEAR WATCHING TOO IS ALL SHE IS SAYING.)]

I'll keep that in mind. [now to turn the subject] She and Martin must make an... interesting pair.

[ct_7567]

As interesting as he is with anyone else, [ Rex says with a shrug. Most don't peg him as the paternal type. And most don't peg Andy as the maternal type. Martin seems to be the outlier to every person that gets close to him. It's a knack he has. ]

Everyone likes Martin. It's no surprise that he gains odd allies, here and there.