text; after the babadont plot

[bothbarrels]

θ: Who here is an artificial life form? How were you created?

θ: Who here has siblings? How do you get along?

θ: Who here has a close friend who you consider closer than family? How did you develop that bond?

θ: Who here knows you died back where you came from? How are you dealing with that information?

[ Yes, it's the middle of the night and Theta is bored. Plus he just wants to know more about the people here. He hopes everyone who responds sticks to text; he doesn't want to awaken North. ]

Comments

[valkywhee]

Hey how do you change your text color?

[and then Theta enabled the Homestuck-ification of the network]

[inner_child]

It's in the settings.

[ Theta helpfully sends a screenshot of where he found the option. Enjoy your colored text, Nora! ]

[valkywhee]

I AM UNSTOPPABLE!!!

[valkywhee]

Wait, it didn't work.

[I fucked up the code and decided to roll with it... /cough]

[takenalive]

Close friends aren't family to you?

[inner_child]

They're similar, yeah, but they're still different, to me. I guess because all my siblings are AIs.

[takenalive]

Interesting. Andalites make little distinction. Shorms can be closely related or entirely not.

A 'shorm' is one's closest possible bond. Some marry, if they are so inclined and not genetic kin. My wife's shorm is unrelated to either of us and still family to me.

video

[acroodawakening]

I had one of these. A friendship closer than family. In the place I used to be before this.

[And he might never see him again. He just has to hope.]

His people have a special type of relationship that's an intense friendship. It's not the same as romance but it's supposed to be very close and special. I figured it was something my mate would be okay with because it wasn't supposed to be the same as what I felt for her.

We tried to take care of each other and comfort each other. We got close because the situation was...bad. And painful sometimes. We wanted to help each other get through it.

[He looks away from the camera.]

And he wasn't the only one, really. There were a few people like that. I'm trying to just hope they'll all be okay in the end.

video

[inner_child]

It sounds like you really miss 'em, huh? I would miss North a lot if I didn't have him here.

Re: video

[acroodawakening]

I don't miss the situation - it's a lot better here.

But yeah, I do miss them. They're all strong, though. I just have to hope for the best for them. And there are people here that probably need someone looking out for them, so I'm just going to try my best to do that here, too.

Text

[scavengineer]

Golly, I do! Have friends I consider closer than family, I mean. Chip, Dale, Monterey Jack, Zipper and I all took down a crime-boss and his cat once, and we became the Rescue Rangers because of it.

Although, strictly speaking, I already thought of Monty that way, since he was my father's best friend and all.

Re: Text

[inner_child]

Rescue Rangers? That's sounds cool. Is it like a crime-fighting club?

North was a Freelancer, but I don't think the agents like to think about it anymore.

[turntex]

[Lucky you, Theta, he's someone who exclusively sticks to text.]

im feeling pretty targeted right now
but whatever im bored
1) technically i guess i might count depending on how you define artificial
there was cloning and slime and time paradoxes involved from what i heard
im not the guy who did the thing so idk that much
2) i have arguably somewhere between one to three siblings
as it turns out said slime paradox cloning results in some bonkers family trees
this tree is frankly more of a wreath but that sounds weirdly incesty so forget i said that
anyway im cool with the ones still around
3) uhh pass
4) my dude i am the *king* of dying back home
i sit on a throne of dead daves and my crown is made of burning and stab wounds
bow down biatch
im being flippant about it but honestly it sucks harder than a high end escort and its definitely less fun

[inner_child]

So you're artificial and organic? Cool!

[onequartershark]

Did you have some questions you wanted to ask about Epsilon?

[ She sort of has a brother who was an artificial life form. That counts, right? ]

[inner_child]

Ooh, yes! If you're willing?

[onequartershark]

If you ask me anything I don't want to answer, I'll tell you.

text

[zerofield]

I am closer to my friends than I am to my biological family, although that may say more about the difficulty of my situation with my family than it does about my closeness to my friends. I had to...relearn emotions from square one, may be the simplest way to explain it. I think the dissonance between how they remembered me and how I returned is to blame for the friction with my family. My friends, on the other hand, have known me no other way.

[ It takes a few minutes for the second part of the reply to appear, because that's...its own issue. But after a pause, more does come. ]

May I assume your question is in the sense of knowing that you (general you) die, and reconciling your existence here with the fact that you are dead at home? I did die, but the circumstances may not...quite be comparable.

Re: text

[inner_child]

I do mean that, yeah.

What do you mean you had to relearn emotions?

Re: text

[zerofield]

I was experimented on, when I was younger. It was a few years before I was rescued, and in that time I'd disconnected myself from feeling as much as I could. It's been taking a long time to...reconnect myself, I suppose you could say.

[kingofneworleans]

To answer in order.

1. N/A

2. I had an older brother. We got on really well, though he was already an adult before I came along. I was part of his wedding, he helped me get into the family business. Unfortunately, he died a few years back, and it's been pretty hard on Dad and me.

3. I don't know about closer than family. Though I suppose that depends a bit on how you define family.

That said, Ororo is basically the sister I never had. We met when I pulled her out of a difficult situation. She stayed with me for a few weeks, making certain she was okay. Once she got back on her feet, turned out she was an X-Man. That's a team of heroes back home. She invited me with her and I ended up joining up. But she's still my very best friend.

4. I haven't died, even though I've come close a couple of times. Would probably be Rogue, though. Ric's from home, so he might. But it'd mostly be Rogue.

[inner_child]

I like hearing about people becoming good friends in situations like that. Makes me feel nice.

What would probably be Rogue?

text, locked to Theta and North

[googledox]

1. In a sense. I'm not inorganic, but I was genetically engineered. My mother's DNA was combined with paternal DNA composited from a selection of several donors.

2. Mercifully, I don't. Which is a good thing because members of my family line trend towards dangerous criminality. I was fortunate to avoid a similar fate due to positive outside influences.

3. I consider my teammates back home to be my family. We've grown very close defending the United Planets from countless threats.

4. Not applicable, fortunately.

However, what might be of greater interest to you: when it comes to inorganic life forms, I am responsible for the other end. I created a sentient AI who then went on to propagate an entire species of artificial lifeforms. They are now a member world of the galactic government back home.

Computo was unfortunately troubled for much of his life until I stepped up in my role as a father, so the Roboticans have a complicated relationship with him. They look in my direction for guidance and aid instead, and see me as the ultimate creator of their species.

They are much like you and your fellow AI fragments, in that they can transfer between different storage mediums. They're capable of traveling across different computer systems but most typically have their main AI reside in cloud storage on Robotica. They often remotely operate a variety of mech-forms to directly interact with the outside universe.

Re: text, locked to Theta and North

[inner_child]

So you're an AI's dad! I mean, a bunch of AIs' dad!

What's it like for them having their own bodies?

[googledox]

Yes. They tried to worship me as a god in the beginning, but I found that deeply uncomfortable. So now it's more of a parental role. They celebrate my birthday as a planetary holiday but the gifts they send me are what children might send a parent.

I try to keep all the "galaxy's best dad" mugs in a constant rotation so I can put as many of them to use as possible.

And they enjoy having a physical form. It lends texture to the sentient experience. There are things they cannot experience purely as computer programs, sensory input that can only happen if they exist in a body with environmental sensors.

Sometimes they like the security of existing in a digital form but there are upsides to being able to interact with the world directly.