riverviewlogs | introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

Entry tags:

introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Introductory Log and Flower Festival Celebration
when: April 2nd - April 15th
where: In several different locations in the downtown area of the Inhabited City.
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

flower festival

In the days leading up to April 2nd, residents new and old may notice advertising around the city, everywhere from digital screens to paper flyers pasted on blank walls, all advertising an upcoming holiday: The Flower Festival. Celebrating springtime, beauty, joy, and togetherness, the festival heavily features floral themes and dancing. The advertising mentions that on April 10th, a paid holiday, there will be a Blossom Picnic, as well as lists of various public dances at clubs or other open venues, and adult raves.

a celebration of spring

The Flower Festival's main event is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th, but it also features traditions of sharing food and drink, and dancing that span over the course of the whole two weeks. There are a large variety of events going on throughout the city, from dancing lessons in any wide variety of traditional dances, to old-fashioned sock hops, to adult raves complete with mild party drugs. Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own event at any point during the festival, and if your character creates an event and hosts it in a top-level, you can submit that thread for extra bonus points.

i. blossom picnic

The main event that kicks off the second week of the Flower Festival is the Blossom Picnic on April 10th. A relaxed and low-key event, it draws several thousand people every year to the spacious Riverview Central Park, where there is a generous lawn lined with various blossoming trees, and families, found families, lovers, and groups of friends are encouraged to lay out a picnic blanket and share food. There will be live bands playing (but not loudly enough to distract from conversation and peacefully watching the petals flutter in the wind), a variety of demonstrations of traditional cultural dances from many different realities and planets, and a ton of ice cream vendors. This is an excellent festival not only for celebrating togetherness with the people who are already important, but for mingling and making new friends.

Characters may either pack their own lunches or they can purchase pre-packed Blossom Festival lunches. Stores and street markets are carrying a wide variety of specialty food that is only available at this time of year - predominantly pastries, an assortment of types of candies, and ice cream treats all in various floral flavors, as well as a sort of ambrosia salad based around a sweet rose-flavored cream and a native fruit that is bright green and tastes like a combination of peach and citrus.

ii. dancing lessons

Starting on April 2nd, there will be dancing lessons offered almost everywhere you look! From partner dances to group dances to line dances; sexy and sensual or innocent and childlike - almost any type of dance you can imagine is represented, from any reality or planet that has people in Riverview Quarantine.

Additionally, the Riverview Central Community Center has multiple rooms blocked off so anyone who knows a dance from home can teach it to others in their community - sharing is caring, after all. Characters are welcome to block off one of these rooms and offer lessons in any dance they happen to know from home (and these sorts of thread starters would be eligible for the mingle AC Point bonus)!

iii. flower festival dancing

This is pretty simply what it says on the tin - in almost every club, community center, or other public space, there will be dancing at almost all hours of the day or night, formal and informal. Musicians bring out their instruments and play in the street for demonstrations of cultural dances and music at the same time as clubs are offering VIP cover charges for exclusive dances, and you can find anything in between.

There are also many low-cover-charge raves that allow under-18s so younger characters can stay up all night and dance like crazy. The legal drinking age in Riverview Quarantine is 14, and so anyone over 14 can enter and indulge in a few drinks, dancing, and playing tag with a non-intoxicating version of the colored powder featured at the adult raves. There is copious amounts of security on site to ensure that everyone is safe, as well as nurses and off-duty police officers to offer advice or care for anyone who overindulges out of lack of experience.

Grab a partner, a group of friends, or just cruise and mingle the various dancing events.

Characters may also notice that most of the street markets and clothing shops are offering clothing that features floral patterns, flowers as accessories, and that show a lot of skin - for men, women, and anyone in between!

iv. adult raves

Advertised on flyers and digital screens around the city, made to pop as if they were under blacklight, is a series of adult raves that are happening in various large empty warehouse spaces around the city, including one that is listed as the danger rave and hosted in an abandoned factory outside the inhabited city walls. With bouncers at the door to ensure that anyone entering is 18+, the raves are comfortably adult in nature. Clothing is optional, showing skin is encouraged, and there are a lot of neatly tucked away spaces for attendees to get some time alone with one or more than one person, as well as spaces intended for orgies. The atmosphere is sex-positive and non-judgemental, open to any orientation or preference, with various forms of protection available for free, however, to ensure that everyone plays safe there are sober security teams out en masse at all premises to oversee the events.

(CW: DRUG USE) In each location, there is one specific room where attendees can enter, and dance or play tag with brightly colored powder that contains small amounts of a legal party drug commonly available in Riverview, which is absorbed through the skin. Not much more intoxicating than having a few beers, the effects of the drug are a pleasant low-key buzzing euphoria, positive sensitivity to touch, a heightening of desires for intimacy, and a mild lowering of inhibitions. Once a character has been hit with the powder, the color lingers on the skin so other attendees can know who has partaken, but once the powder makes contact with a surface it deactivates, meaning that partakers can safely dance with non-partakers without sharing the intoxicating effects.

Please be sure to warn in subject lines for any threads involving drug use. And remember, there is always security to intervene and make sure everyone is safe.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to set up headers for a communal floor, or threads open to roommates for the purpose of getting to know each other. Or if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set at the Flower Festival, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view

Credit: third image by Steve Goad; other images found on uncredited on Pinterest or Google images - please let the mod know if you find credit!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Curiosity would, always, be Re-L Mayer's biggest personality fault. Even though she was brand new to this place and this planet, there was no way she was going to pass up a chance to look out and see what the wilds around looked like. Being in the police force at least meant she got to keep some kind of normalcy, and she wasn't, you know, selling notebooks anymore, which was always a bonus -

She wasn't expecting to see any familiar faces as she approached members of the perimeter guard, more than used to the fact that her familiar faces had now become new ones that she would need to learn and .. figure out, so to speak. Spying one Jim Kirk out, in the middle of all of that, was not a huge challenge, and if anything it bolsters her for the moment, a little less stand offish in the face of a familiar person - ]

Of all people I was not expecting to see you again off of the Eluvio.

[ Some people might call it a fault, but Jim definitely isn't one of those people. In his head, it makes no sense to stay in ignorance, and not want to learn as much as they possibly can about the place. It's one of the reasons why he's decided to pick this job. He can look around the city as well as beyond its limits as much as he likes, gather as much information as he can himself, rather than ask other people, and he can help anyone else who wants to look around themselves. So long as they can look after themselves, he's not about to stop them.

Used to people coming and going all day, Jim's still getting a little used to the place. At first he thinks maybe the young woman just saw him around— but then she addresses him like she knows him, and his expression turns into something a little more confused. ]

Sorry— the what? [ A pause as he studies her face, trying to place her in his memory. ] Have we met?

[ Her own job, here, while familiar also provided the perks of being able to tour the city a few times and have it be completely part of the job. Mentally the map was already created, socked away to be sure that, should anything go South in this place then she at least has a few options for escape routes. It's a compulsion she's had since Romdau fell from it's perch on her version of Earth - had she not gone on her own out of dome adventure, she probably would've fallen with it and been crushed by who knows what on the way down.

Apocalypse plans aside, she momentarily looks as confused as Jim, unsure with what the hell was going on, at that moment. Of course, there's always the possibility that something happened on the way there and he didn't remember much, but to ask if they'd ever even met -

Shit. She seems to weigh her options, for a moment, and then - ]

Where I came from, before here, we have. Provided you are Jim Kirk and not some kind of look alike.

[ He really can't recall her face, not even by passing, and Jim can remember every member of his crew to some degree. At most he might take a couple of seconds, but to not remember at all when she clearly has at the very least talked to him in the past, that's not something he's used to, not anymore.

But she definitely knows him, something he's made even surer of when she says his name. Trying for a smile, he nods, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. ]

That's me, James T. Kirk. Although, full disclosure: there can be alternate versions of me, so you could have met one of those. I know of at least one. [ But now he is very curious. ] So we were at this... what did you call it?

There's always something new, here, I guess. Of course I've had a few discussions about parallel universes in my time, but most were purely in hypotheticals. [ After everything with the Eluvio though, and all of that mess, is she necessary skeptical? Not really. More than anything it'll be a matter of remembering that this is not the same Jim as before, so bringing up ship happenings wouldn't really ring any bells for him. ]

It was called the Eluvio. A space liner of some kind. Not entirely the most pleasant experience, though. I believe the job they assigned you was bartender.

[ She pauses, and then can't resist - ]

Is McCoy along, too?

They weren't more than well-developed hypotheses for a good part of my life too, for what it's worth. Wasn't until well into my twenties that I learned just how real they are.

[ Real and, to some degree, easy to reach. Well, easy-ish. Jim never felt the urge to use red matter to travel in time, especially when he knew it could just spout some other alternate reality. Possibly not quite as nice as the one Ambassador Spock's trip had accidentally created. ]

Bartender? [ If he sounds bemused, it's because he is. ] I'm much better at drinking cocktails than serving them, but... sure, okay.

[ Not sure how he'll even take that piece of information. Possibly with a grain of salt.

He looks surprised when she mentions an all too familiar name. ] Yes, actually. He is. He was there too?

Mn, I guess I ought to count myself lucky to know before I'm twenty, then. [ Barely.

She seems amused at his reaction, giving a conciliatory shrug at his bemused question. To be truthful there was no way to rationalize the jobs they'd been given aboard the ship unless they'd been meant to keep them bored and restless. If that was the case, the Eluvio crew had certainly succeeded with her. Though maybe not in the ways that they had intended. ]

Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds. I was an investigator with the Intelligence Bureau of Romdeau Dome before I was there and my extremely important job was selling notebooks. [ And yes, she's as bitter about it as she sounds. ]

He was. I went on a mission to a planet and injured my arm and he got me back in working order shortly after I was able to come back and get to the Enterprise.

[ Jim might not have come from the Eluvio himself, at least not this version of him, but it does sound pretty ridiculous— even more so when she explains her own situation. He quirks an eyebrow, baffled and amused both, though since she's not there anymore, he thinks it more a weird story than any real issue. No doubt it felt differently to her while she was there. ]

Never heard of Romdeau Dome, but downgrading from intelligence work to notebooks is illogical, to say the least.

[ Did he just use the word 'illogical'. Thank God Spock's not here. (He'll probably be missing him before long anyway, but whatever.) ]

The Enterprise? Hold on, my ship was there too?

I'd be concerned if you had heard of it, to be honest with you. It's not a bad thing that people here aren't aware of it. [ Or Eluvio, for that matter. She's well aware, now that she's away from the cloister of her former home, just how... odd the place was. How restrictive and closed. It's still taking time to process, though, that she's no longer there and how to temper her reactions to what's going on around her as a result.

He asks about the Enterprise and she nods, laughing for a beat. ]

Yes, it was. It's where my arm was treated, instead of going to medical on the main ship. I didn't trust them with it.

No love lost there, I see.

[ He raises an eyebrow, a hint amused but still plenty serious. It's never a good thing, hearing about terrible places, no matter how far away they might be. And she might not be there anymore, but it probably has left a mark. Places like that tend to. ]

Good call. You can trust Bones, though. Sorry— Dr. McCoy. Although you probably know that much. [ If she let him treat her and all. ] It's weird, though. If we had the Enterprise, why didn't we just try to leave? What about the rest of my crew, weren't they there?

The people, maybe. Not so much the place. I definitely do not miss the security structure there. [ Having people able to spy on you in every moment of your life was not ideal, after all. Of course it had taken her until her own privacy had been invaded and her own evidence erased for all of that to click in to place, but such was the way of the world. When a security structure is the norm, at least. ]

He is the only doctor I've seen outside of mine from Romdeau, so thankfully he was a good choice. I was expecting a few weeks recovery time and I was in fighting shape when I left.

[ It had been impressive, to say the least. And convenient, which she can definitely appreciate. ]

Not that I could tell. There were a few others on the ship but I only really saw you and McCoy aboard whenever I was there. [ Which wasn't all that often, but then again, she hadn't been on the look out for anyone other than those two. ] I never asked why you didn't try to leave. I guess, selfishly, I didn't want to plant the idea and suddenly lose a doctor outside of Eluvio's crew.

[ Jim nods. The mere word, dome, speaks volumes. He doesn't ask, though, at least not for now. Once they got to know each other better he'd like to hear more about it, though for no reason other than sheer curiosity. ]

He's very good like that. And the Enterprise is equipped with the latest technology, so I'm not surprised to hear.

[ Even broken bones aren't an issue that can't be solved quickly. Jim would know, being Bones's most frequent patient, and with likely the most colorful list of injuries and incidents on file. ]

For what it's worth, if we were there, then chances are we were prevented from leaving somehow. [ Maybe they tampered with their ship, put a tractor beam or a shield around them to stop them from going that far. Doesn't surprise Jim in the least. ] But we wouldn't have left without offering other people the chance to join us, either. [ Especially since the Enterprise does need a crew to be minimally functional. ]

I was. Granted I've never been in another doctor's care outside of my own before then, so.. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect out of medical care from another universe. I almost expected to come out of it with my first scar. [ Which.. well, she wouldn't say that she was let down, necessarily, but it was almost like a right of passage she's never gotten to achieve. On the other hand, it was also an imperfection she would have obsessed over and wished she'd had Daedalus to see to remediate it, so.. probably for the best that she wasn't left with anything to mar that perfectly pale complexion. ]

Honestly, I'd had the thought that it had to be the only reason many stuck around. There were a few space-worthy ships they'd sucked in to their fleet and yet none of these independent vessels had never disappeared one day with their crew along? [ Her hand goes out, palm up, as if the rest should explain itself, her shoulders shrugging upward. ] That is to say, had I owned one myself, I would've been gone in a heartbeat after the mysterious thermonuclear extinction of a planet.

[ There's a small pause as he notes that they wouldn't have left without giving people the chance to join, seemingly thinking about it a moment, and then - ] I need to get back to my own world sooner than later. Vincent may actually lose his mind with only two autoreivs for company..

[ Though, wait a second - ] My name is Re-L Mayer, by the way. I just realized I never told you my name even though I recited yours to you.

Well, you could've always asked him to leave a scar, but he'd just gawk at you and then lecture you on how irresponsible that would be of you. Trust me, I tried. Multiple times.

[ He even avoided treating some minor injuries every once or twice, but they always ended up healing fairly quickly and not leaving a scar behind. The only thing he really got out of it was hearing Bones complain incessantly about what a thoughtless idiot he was and that he wouldn't look that great with a scar, anyway. Jim still thinks it would depend on the scar, but he's given up arguing about it at this point.

Jim frowns a little as she talks about the fleet. The expression only deepens at the mention of a planet being wiped out completely, and his jaw sets at the unpleasant memory that brings up. ] Yeah, I... don't think anyone would've wanted to stick around. [ And Jim for one would've offered a ride to anyone who wanted to join them. The Enterprise would've had more than enough room for everyone, he figures. ]

Right. Don't worry about it— and nice to meet you. [ He smiles faintly, offering her a nod. ] What's an autoreiv, if you don't mind me asking?

How is it irresponsible? [ That seems to catch her interest at least a little bit, brows furrowing in confusion. It wasn't as though by asking for the injured to not be completely healed one was asking for it to be left completely open and undressed or.. something to that effect. Either way she seems to be greatly confused by that assertion, pondering on it even as she notes the change in his expression. ]

Had there not been.. more going on besides I might've tried to find a way out on my own. There were others that were like thinking, though, and working together seemed to be a better plan than striking out on my own in space. [ That seemed like a suicide mission, so far as she'd calculated it. And suicide was not what Re-L was after to say the least. ]

An autoreiv is a robot - artificial intelligence, however you want to put it. Each fellow citizen is given one early in life that's either companion or entourage type. They're meant to be helpful in our every day lives or just to offer companionship, in Pino's case. Though I don't know how a four year old's mentality is good for anything other than child training.

Because it would involve leaving the wound open, even if you do clean it up regularly and patch it up. Where we come from, that's... an archaic kind of treatment, to say the least. With dermal regenerators and the like, there's no reason to leave wounds open like that. No matter how careful you are, it's a risk when it comes to serious infections. Especially in unfamiliar places, where there can be unknown germs and diseases all over the place.

[ Jim can't say he disagrees. He's always been a little careless when it comes to injuries, but in a place like this, for instance, he wouldn't risk it. Especially considering he'll spend a good portion of his time out in the wild. Who knows what's in the air, the water or the soil out there? ]

That's always a good idea, too. If you're in an unknown portion of space, even if you're used to space travel, that's the right move. [ Might be another reason why they didn't leave, especially if Jim didn't have most of his crew there with him. They wouldn't have gone too far.

Jim nods at he explanation. ] I'm familiar with the concept of artificial intelligence, but it's nothing but theory where I come from. Well, so far, anyway. [ He won't discard the possibility it might happen. The very likely possibility, even. ] Is it capable of independent reasoning, forming new conclusions, altering its own responses?

That sounds like mother henning to the level of Daedalus Yumeno. You can walk in to a new, dangerously mutated disease by going to any hospital where they produce vaccines and antibiotics, much less alien planets where there's nothing you're used to.
Associated risk is what it is. [ But then again, this is also the girl that willingly gave up a suit that kept her safe from the germs she had no resistance to outside the dome, and nearly died because of it. Or at least, that's how Daedalus had made it sound. Vincent had survived without being brought back in, but.. considering Daedalus' insistence to bring her back, there was no telling if she would have survived or not. It's all worthless postulation at this point, really. She'd been inoculated and that had been the end of it.

She turns toward the outside, or at least what she can see, at the thought of that.

The itch to know what went on beyond the walls here was, once again, rising up in the pit of her gut, but for now she'd stay where she was. ]

Really? All that advanced technology and you've yet to harness the power of AI to help in every day life? [ That seems surprising, by the way she's furrowing her brow and turning to look at him again, as if disbelieving. ]

They were not, at first. They operated off of the security structure main frame. Our every day helpers were as much spies on fellow citizens as they were our friends and confidantes. Then they started to gain it - through a virus we called cogito.

Cogito ergo sum, if you're familiar - I think, therefore I am.

Yeah, well. That's Bones for you. Surprised you never noticed how much of a mother hen he can be. In his own rough grumpy way, anyway. [ Said with all the love and care in the world, because Jim does like him a lot, and he likes that he cares so much. Even if he tries to mask that by often calling him an irresponsible idiot who can't even look after himself.

But then that's why he has Bones, right? Well, one of the many reasons, anyway. So he can be a reckless idiot and jump into things head first, then have Bones patch him up and take care of him afterwards. ]

We do have robots and androids. But artificial intelligence is something else entirely, and not that easy to achieve back in my world. Plenty of people working on it, granted, but we haven't gotten there yet. [ Jim would admittedly be curious to meet an artificial intelligence of any kind, honestly. More than curious, even— fascinated. As it is, it's not a reality for him yet. ]

Yes, I am familiar. [ He nods. ] My latin's a bit rusty but I do know the basic phrases. And that's... weird, kind of. A virus? Was it designed purposefully to do that, or just one of those weird coincidences?

[ As if Jim believes in coincidences. ]

Honestly I'm just good at ignoring people when I have to. Being nagged incessantly taught me how to turn things off when I need to. [ She'd had Daedalus and her grandfather lurking over her, after all. It was either be choosy about the things she took to heart, or have too much input from all angles. So, as was natural to Re-L, she learned to turn off and move along as much as a defense mechanism as one to stave off boredom listening to constant lectures. ]

It's very old technology, where I'm from. But then again when it's an every day necessity much like these communicators..phones.. whatever you want to call them, here, I suppose that's natural. [ Iggy was a lot like her version of 'Google' when she needed it, after all. ]

I'm not entirely sure. I never knew where the virus originated from or.. if it even originated from anywhere. It's possible that it self-derived in the hippocampus files of an autoreiv and spread that way. It's also possible that it was introduced purposefully in to the system to enable one end or another for the dome.

[ She pauses, then, and sighs as if trying to think too much about it isn't what she wants to do. ] At any rate, if you ever encounter an small mechanical child, mentally about four years old, ask Pino about her supposed 'soul' and you'll see cogito in full swing.

Oh, he's gonna love you. [ Laying the sarcasm on thick there. Really, though, he's not too bad. Then again, Jim's far more used to the guy, and even though he used to think it was an annoying trait, these days he kind of likes how much Bones shows he cares. Even if he does so by grousing and reprimanding him for acting like some thick-skulled idiot.

Also he has his own very effective ways of disarming the doctor, so. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be. ]

It's not too common where I'm from— robots in general. Mostly when it comes to technical work, and even then. In our everyday lives, I think the most useful and complex piece of technology we have are the replicators. Did I or Bones ever tell you about them before?

[ He knows there's nothing even remotely similar around here. It's taken some adapting, especially when it comes to food, and to remembering all the things they actually need to buy when going grocery shopping. ]

It's incredible. A virus almost makes it sound like a bad thing, but— I'd say it's the opposite. Nothing short of a miracle. Artificial life. [ Jim is evidently fascinated by the concept. ] I'll keep that in mind. I'd definitely like to know her, if she ever does show up around here.

[ A typical teenager to the core, Re-L shrugs her shoulders at the idea of McCoy being cross with her for ignoring him. It wouldn't be the first or the last time that someone was annoyed because she listened to her own instincts instead of what he had to say to keep her safe - just go back in time and ask Donov Mayer about his granddaughter. She's just.. her own person, regardless of how many people tried to and, to some degree of success, mold her. It's the downside to being, literally, created to be a bit hard headed and way too nosey for your own good. ]

Romdeau without autoreivs or robotics.. simply wouldn't have run. Manning all of the dome's artificial systems with humans at all times just wasn't efficient enough. Well, and too many citizens would have put great stress on the dome's survival systems in the first place, but.. that should be obvious enough. [ Outside of the central city the only residents had been robotic, when she and Iggy had been spirited away. The autoreivs of the time had been left to tend to their homes and lawns for no-longer existent humans, and they'd all seemed so... caveman, almost. ]

It was a... catch-22, to say the least. The problem being that many autoreivs with cogito became violent... including Iggy, my entourage. [ Iggy... she'd done him so wrong, in the end, and yet - ] An autoreiv's raison d'être is their master - one who refuses to listen, naturally, was a problem in the dome, and they were disposed of. My entourage - he became his own, but also something I didn't know, anymore, in the end.

[ She reminds Jim a little of himself, honestly, with her nonchalance and indifferent shrugs. Who he used to be when he was younger, anyway. Maybe she wouldn't care much. But Bones really can be very persistent when he cares about someone, or at least someone's well-being, something she's likely to understand all the better if she does end up getting herself into any kind of trouble.

It's not about trying to mold her, not the least bit. But more like being sure she knows to look after herself. (God knows Jim didn't, when he and Bones first met; one of the many reasons why he's so lucky to have the doctor in his life.) ]

So there could only be a limited number of people in there. That's... must have some impressive population control, there. [ And by 'impressive' he might mean 'extreme', 'terrible', 'oppressive' and 'inhumane'. He for one can't think of a way to keep a population from growing too much that wouldn't involve taking away people's individual freedom and their right to choose. ]

Well, I can't say I don't understand. I mean, just imagine being in their shoes. They probably just want to be treated as the individuals they are, the individuals they suddenly became. Chances are many of them don't even know how to be individuals, or understand why they're treated the way they are. I'm not saying some of them wouldn't be dangerous and violent no matter what, but maybe not all of them would be, if they were treated differently.

[ He is, of course, working under the assumption that most people would see conscious autoreivs as an issue, a problem to get rid of. A virus to wipe out. ]

As citizens died naturally people who were on waiting lists for children received their notifications to prepare for an infant from the wombsys. Humans left on Earth, not only in Romdeau City, could not reproduce on their own. [ It's almost as if she's had this conversation before and anticipated the misgivings about population control - though, to be fair, she knew they were honest questions. Asking did no harm other than to, possibly, ask an unwilling party to share something they don't want to. Re-L pauses, as if thinking about sharing this bit of information, but then must decide that there's no damage Jim could really do with it, before sharing further: ]

Before leaving the dome I went to the outer neighborhoods.. in the cycle of things, the dome began to deteriorate with age, and so did the systems to sustain us. It wasn't meant to last forever in the first place, the devastation of the outside would, eventually, recede..

I don't think, though, in their calculations for the domes and the people within them, that there was a calculation for the fact that the outside world would find a way to kill us regardless of any of our attempts to stay alive in domes. Viruses evolve far faster than any human body, after all.. The first time I left the dome I almost died the same way people before me had, succumbing to those kinds of things. [ And yet she'd gone out from her compression suit anyway instead of being paralyzed in some too heavy contraption meant to keep her alive - until Daedalus could've gotten someone out there to pick her up and, maybe, have taken Vincent Law along too. Thankfully her inability to think ahead in the moment of frustration at being unable to move had more than likely saved Vincent's life, even if it had forfeited another.

Still, his explanations seem to strike a nerve, brows creasing in and down, severe even for her slight nineteen years of age as she draws herself back up, arms crossed around her waist. ]

They are machines, with processors. There are no emotions to feel within a hippocampus file other than how things have been programmed to process. Even with independent "feelings" -[ Oh, feel the air quotes, here. ] - the only difference between my entourage as I'd programmed him to be, and my entourage as he became, was this heinous need to be a jealous pain in the ass who told me what a bitch I was when I could have left him in Daedalus' lab to fall in to the lake with the rest of the Dome.

I see. [ It sounds more than a little weird to Jim, but it's a world like any other, he figures. Not every place works like the Earth he knows, and people find their own ways to survive, rather than be completely wiped out. That instinct to live, at least, doesn't surprise or shock Jim. It's impressive, if anything, that in the conditions she's described to him so far, they've managed to keep going.

That kind of perseverance will never cease to amaze him. ]

Too bad deep space travel isn't an option where you're from. [ Granted, it'd still mean leaving their home world, but at least people would have much better chances of surviving.

The sudden tension that takes over both her stance and her voice doesn't go by unnoticed, and Jim looks a little caught off-guard, but not particularly taken aback. He's not really here to argue, though, so he doesn't quite answer in kind, even if he does still speak his mind. ]

Jealousy still is an emotion. [ And if that particular autoreiv was capable of it, then it stands to reason all autoreivs might be capable of both feeling and expressing other, even deeper and more complex, emotions. ] Not that I presume to know. It's your world, not mine. But I believe that anything capable of independent thought is capable of developing a conscience, and feelings too, eventually. I hope that'll be the case in my world, if and when artificial intelligence becomes a reality.

[ Well, maybe another day she'll tell Jim the whole truth about Romdeau City. Like how it's currently resting at the bottom of a lake, and by all technicalities, she and their little ragtag group re the only survivors of the fall of the dome. That they know of at least. Today was probably not the day that Jim would learn any of the gory details past her itchy trigger finger when it came to some kind of outburst regarding autoreivs and 'souls.' At the very least she seems to catch herself rather quickly. As much as the rules and expectation of constant control in Romdeau had always driven her to outbursts from time to time - the urge to bring herself back under reign was second nature and second skin -

A breath in and her shoulders drop, loosening in to relaxation, a slow breath out and, as she speaks again there's little to no sign of whatever earlier irritation there had been, hands dropping to her sides instead of defensively in front of her. ]

I don't know about deep space, but, those who could escape to space to avoid the devastation of Earth, did. We watched them drop back to Earth not long after we abandoned Romdeau, for the last time.

[ For all of her efforts to ring herself in, she can't resist a dismissive hand motion as he mentions jealousy as an emotion - ]

Iggy was programmed for my protection and preservation - to keep citizens from pawing at me to attempt to gain from it, essentially. The need to monitor and be at the center of all things, for me, was not a learned behavior.

introductory mingle: FLOWER FESTIVAL

IV

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