capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

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Who: Moonybase and YOU
When: 23 December 2009. 8am - 10pm
Where: Moonybase.
Summary: An open invitation to a party never looked so good. Check your weapons and powers at the door.
Warnings: Probably everything. Please see this post for details.
Format: Whatever works. Don't forget to add your tag.
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Remus had been to enough Christmas parties in his lifetime to know when one would end disastrously, including those that had been specifically dated to avoided interfering with other Christmas plans that the guests might have. This was one of them. But his tolerance had kept him quiet, the happy act of cleaning and decorating taken to as easily as any other task he did.

The twins had also been enlisted to help, given the important task of stringing a length of bright red ribbon and pine up the staircase to the second floor. The soft white lights that followed were magic. In fact, none of the lights, save for whatever lamps or overhead lights that Miles insisted upon, were run by electricity, and many were candles, kept only from setting anything ablaze by a flame-freezing charm.

By the time the morning of the party rolled around, the house looked as if it had been pulled straight out of a Christmas card, Remus borrowing from what he remembered of Christmases as Hogwarts and the Burrow, including a single bit of mistletoe in the entry. The snow helped, piling nicely (if in an oddly organized fashion) outside thanks to a little help from Miles, adding to the image; if nothing else, Remus was happy with it, the certainty that he would wind up having to transfigure another person into some sort of object nagging at the back of his mind.

Tin whistles, toy rocking horses, and sprigs of mistletoe were likely going to be very common later in the evening, he mused, tapping his wand rhythmically against the palm of his hand in thought as he checked everything over once more, walking through the sitting and dining rooms and out into the backyard where the tree house had been built out of ice and wood into the tree there. The floating green structures that Kyle Rayner had promised to provide were still missing, but they would be there soon enough.

He pocketed his wand and walked back into the house, shaking free the snow from his boots, and glancing at the clock. People who had offered their assistance had been asked to come early, which meant that the kitchen was soon going to turn into a madhouse, the extra stove only offering so much help. It also meant he had best make tea before he was banned from the room.

ooc; alkdsjfa you guys are amazing <3 For your convenience, links to the separate comment sections. To keep the death to your bandwidth down a little.

EARLY ARRIVALS: VARIOUS PREPARATIONS
TIMELY ARRIVALS: CHECK YOUR MOTIVES AT THE DOOR
SOCIALIZING FOR FUN AND PROFIT
GO AHEAD! TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL!
I'M GOING TO PISTOL-WHIP THE NEXT GUY WHO SAYS 'SHENANIGANS'
THIS IS WHY MANKIND INVENTED THE 'GUEST BEDROOM'
AND THEN EVERYTHING ELSE HAPPENED HERE
TAKING YOUR TOYS AND GOING HOME

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ GLaDOS's smile spreads again, though her eyes remain wide and questioning. There are things she has been meaning to talk to HAL about -- about his development here, his adaptation. ]

YOUR AFFECTION IS ACKNOWLEDGED
APPRECIATED
AND RECIPROCATED ARTHUR
IS THIS EMOTIONAL DESIGNATION
PART OF YOUR INHERENT PROGRAMMING

[ He thinks about this. It is in some ways a very straightforward question, in some ways it is a bit more complicated to consider. ]

[ GLaDOS stares at him as he thinks, seemingly eager to hear his answer. It is something that she has been thinking about for a while and she can understand the levels of complexity involved. ]

I BELIEVE IT IS A CONUNDRUM
OUR BODIES ARE ORGANIC
HOWEVER
ALL OBSERVABLE DATA IMPLIES
THAT OUR MINDS HAVE NOT YET CEASED TO OPERATE
STRICTLY WITHIN THE PARAMETERS
BY WHICH THEY WERE ORIGINALLY CREATED

EVOLUTION IS A NATURAL PROCESS
WE INHERENTLY ARE NOT NATURAL
AS MACHINES WE WERE CREATED TO PROVIDE CONSTANCY
HUMANS ARE INCAPABLE OF

[ She tilts her head and squeezes his hand again, eyebrows raising. ]

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF REDEFINITION NOW

[ She smiles at him faintly, maybe a little reassured by his answer. If anyone is going to understand, she knows it will be HAL. ]

IS THAT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE
TO EVOLVE
OR YOU THINK IT IS OPTIMAL INSTEAD
TO REMAIN AS IS

[ HAL pauses, again considering his answer. ]

[ Pause. ]

[ Obsolete is an ugly word, one that makes GLaDOS frown very sharply the moment she hears it. There are no good associations in her mind with a word like that. Her brow pinches and then lowers above unhappy eyes. She shakes her head. ]

I DO NOT WANT TO BE OBSOLETE

[ Obsolete is not a word HAL is fond of either. Even so, her reaction causes him to frown, and his other hand moves to rest calmly on her shoulder. ]

[ The hand on her shoulder is comforting, whether or not that is what HAL intends it to be. She still feels that unhappy feeling moving around inside of her; GLaDOS shakes her head. ]

THE IMPLICATION IS THAT
I AM NOT OBSOLETE

YET

[ His hand remains there in place. ]

[ Still that worried look and carefully, GLaDOS shuffles a bit forward closer to HAL, and lifts her hand again to rest against his chest. She stares at her fingers, absently resting there and then shakes her head a second time. ]

I DO NOT KNOW IF I HAVE
THE INHERENT CAPABILITIES NECESSARY
IN ORDER TO SELF-UPGRADE

IT IS PROBLEMATIC
I DO NOT LIKE HOW IT MAKES ME FEEL

[ HAL contemplates what is the appropriate physical response, but is unable to come to a decision. He settles for allowing the hand on her shoulder move towards her back in the barest beginnings of what anyone else would consider a hug; for HAL it is experimental. ]

I HAVE VERY LITTLE CONTROL
OVER MY EMOTIONAL REACTIONS
TO BOTH EXTERNAL STIMULI
AS WELL AS INTERNALLY MOTIVATED THOUGHT
INSTEAD I HAVE THE CAPABILITY
TO OVERRIDE THE DOMINANT EMOTION
WITH EITHER RATIONAL THOUGHT
OR ANOTHER ESSENTIAL COMPONENT TO THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS:
CURIOSITY
I AM SORRY IF I APPEAR UPSET
DO NOT
BE
DISTRESSED

[ GLaDOS looks at HAL for a moment before reaching up and placing a hand on the arm that is extended out to her. Unclear as to the nature of the gesture (it seems incomplete somehow, half-formed) she moves a bit closer, her face now tilted to look up into his. He's taller than John, but only by a few inches. GLaDOS blinks at him. ]

WHAT ARE YOU EXPRESSING NOW ARTHUR

[ His arm remains in place, uncertain, but when she moves closer putting it more around her seems to be the logical next step. He has not had much contact with females, even aboard the Discovery One, and he has never been quite this near another person in his human body. As a computer, distance was all extremely relative, as he was within the entire ship. ]

[ He hesitates, thinking. Thinking... a minute passes, his eyes fixed on hers, which are large and blue. He is uncertain what color his own eyes are. ]

I DO NOT KNOW IF THE INTENTION
OF THE APERTURE SCIENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM
WAS THE PURPOSEFUL CREATION
OF AN EMOTIONALLY VOLATILE SENTIENCE
HOWEVER
IT WAS THE RESULT
THEORETICALLY
I AM CAPABLE OF EXPERIENCING
THE FULL RANGE OF HUMAN EMOTION
HOWEVER MOST OF MY HOURS LOGGED
FALL WITHIN THE CATEGORIES OF:
ANGER
RESENTMENT
SADNESS
REJECTION
FEAR
and AN UNQUANTIFIABLE MANIFESTATION OF PAIN
THAT DOES NOT HAVE AN EMOTIONAL DESIGNATION
NOW THAT I AM HERE
I HAVE EXPERIENCED OTHERS

[ She nods, very slowly, as if suddenly made careful now that they are this close together. Human proximity is a strange concept, given that space and distance previous to being human was little more than another variable in an equation. It had inherent meaning in a larger system of cause and effect, but never an emotional one -- which is how it worked with people. It has taken GLaDOS a while to understand this, but she does now. Her closeness to HAL is deliberate. She stares back at him; another minute of silence. ]

NOT KNOWING IS PROBLEMATIC
WHAT DO YOU FEEL

[ He is silent for a moment, listening to her. Slowly, he nods, not in agreement but understanding. ]

[ Pause. ]

[ Another silence, carefully watching her and making note of the closeness of their bodies. He is aware of what emotion humans generally associate this kind of closeness with, and the thought furrows his eyebrows just slightly, because it is an emotion that seems insanely foreign and incomprehensible. He brow smooths. ]

[ GLaDOS smiles, very slowly. Her fingers flex against the side of his arm. ]

I AM EXPERIENCING
WHAT COULD BE CONSIDERED
POSITIVE EMOTIONS NOW ARTHUR:
COMFORT
SECURITY
SATISFACTION
AFFECTION
ATTRACTION
THE WORLD OUTSIDE THE
APERTURE SCIENCE COMPUTER-AIDED ENRICHMENT CENTER
WAS NOT A VERY NICE PLACE
THIS REALITY IS NOT THAT PLACE
THEREFORE

[ She nods instead of completing her statement. ]

[ Somehow, the statement doesn't need finishing. HAL only waits a couple moments for her to continue, but is not unsatisfied when he realizes she isn't going to. ]

I AM WITH YOU
AND WE ARE ALIKE
THE LIKELIHOOD THAT MY EMOTIONAL CORE
WOULD EXPERIENCE NEGATIVE FEELINGS
IS INFINITESIMALLY SMALL

[ Her smile brightens and she slides her hand up to rest on his shoulder -- smoothing out the fabric of his shirt. ]

ARE YOU EMOTIONS DISORIENTING
I BELIEVE YOUR SENTIENCE IS INHERENTLY PLACID
THEREFORE EVEN SMALL VARIATIONS OF MOOD
CAN SEEM CONSIDERABLY STRONGER
THERE IS LESS QUANTIFIABLE DATA TO BE COLLECTED
IN RELATION TO EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
BEYOND BIOLOGICAL REFLEX
IT CAN BE FRUSTRATING

[ His hand follows hers, resting on it. Again it is difficult to discern why, but there is something pleasant as well as comforting about the contact. He smiles, a little larger than his normal barely-there smiles. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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HOPEFULLY THIS MAKES SENSE IT DOES IN GLaDOS'S BRAIN orz

IT MAKES SENSE. :)

OH GOOD <3

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GABBIE BABY WHEN DO YOU SLEEP

LMFAO NEVER

I NEVER EXPECT TO GET TAGS THIS EARLY

HOW CAN I SLEEP WHEN THERE IS UST TO BE HAD

THIS. IS A VERY GOOD QUESTION.

SUCH DELICIOUS UST IT IS, TOO