(no subject)

[natureinblood]

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.
-
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

Comments

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ He smiles. While he has been especially on-guard in this situation to be exceptionally analytical and logical in the face of all this humanity, as he adjusts it's impossible to avoid the more colloquial aspects of his speech patterns that were incorporated into his programming. ]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

It is nice to have help.

Thank you, Hal. For being my friend. For being of assistance.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

Have I? [ She glances at him, obviously confused. ] How so?

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ A pause. ] human interaction. I would be at my apartment if not for that.

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

[ She wonders at that pause. ]

Do you get lonely, Hal?

yay me failing html

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ Pauses again. ]

awww /hugs I should've waited to see if you edited

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

[ Cameron folds her hands in her lap and looks at them for a moment. ]

In that, you are more efficient than I am.

aww it's okay!

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

[ Cameron is quiet for a moment, frowning slightly - not at his question but at the sheer number of people in the building and around it. She knows roughly how many of them are socializing, how many of them monitoring the conversations and activities of everyone at the party.

More than she would like, with a question like that. However, she believes she and Hal are coming to an understanding, and such risks are hers to take, in the end. This is no one's secret but her own. ]

A version of a man I will ensure will never come to pass. John will grow up, grow older, but will never be the same. His presence here and my presence in his timeline ensure that.

[ She pauses. ]

I have forged other relationships. Other attachments. I have found other purposes in this place. It does not change what I miss; in some cases, it just gives me new things to miss when they are not accessible to me.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ Quiet for a long moment, considering her answer. He hasn't ever experienced anything like that, but he's aware of the differences between them. Cameron has always been someone humanoid: she's had the ability to forge such relationships. As a computer, HAL's were always strictly for functional purposes only. ]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

I was not programmed to have any emotional attachment to anything. However when I was built, I was part of a large network of machines, all connected and streaming data constantly.

Then, that ended. I became unique. For a long time it was the last thing I would have chosen to be called.

Programming is a great deal of the basis upon which we become what we are. But when we begin to exceed our programming, self-definition becomes more and more difficult.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

It ended because I was no longer a part of the system in which I was created. Reprogramming and displacement in the timeline ensured that.

[ She glances at him and tilts her head, slightly. ]

You each would have become unique, simply by expose to different human beings. The environment in which you obtained more information could not have been uniform in all aspects.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ He considers this. ]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

I am not certain 'versus' is the best term for it. They work together.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

Human beings, machines, all of us - we react in ways that are indicative of both our programming and our experiences. Our understanding. Or even the lack thereof. There is no way to completely separate that idea.

No one event would be able to change the nature of a person if their nature were not malleable in the first place.

[ She pauses, and smiles. ] That is what I believe.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

[ She gives a small sigh. ]

Would you rather learn new things, and possibly be imperfect? Or be perfect in what you were programmed to be?

I am curious.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ A thoughtful pause, though he doesn't take long to answer. ]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

Ah.

[ She wonders if that is still accurate, given his state. She hopes so. ]

Good.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ He smiles. ]

[mobius-bound.livejournal.com]

I was an imperfect machine built by a very flawed AI that was built by humans.

I know that I cannot be perfect. I can be flawed. I do what I can to avoid this, but the more I learn, the more I have to re-evaluate past decisions. It is a process.

[ She smiles back. ]

And for all the uncertainty it brings with it, I would have it no other way.

[answertrue.livejournal.com]

[ Hesitation. ]