January & February Test Drive

[thewakemods]

It's that time again!

→ Comment with a new character you'd like to test out in the game's setting. (put character/canon in subject line pls!)
→ You don't have to be in the game to comment! HI NEW PEOPLE LET US ENABLE YOU.
→ Tag around with new and old characters.
→ App all those characters
→ ???
→ PROFIT!

**NOTICE** - For new series and recent updates/occurrences to existing ones, please mark as SPOILERS if you must refer to such, but please use your own discretion in general.

Comments

[agathaheterodyne]

"A pleasure to meet you as well," she said, and she meant it. She wasn't treating him like a toy or a thing, but like a fascinating person.

"I don't know myself, but then the more I study the nature of time, and how one manipulated it, the more complex it seems to grow."

"Sure," she said with a nod. "It's a bit of a walk, but you can follow me." she headed towards Ben. And a few things Markov would recognize from home, sort of. Like the scaled down Agreste home, and the likewise scaled down Eiffel Tower.

[intelligent_devices]

And that was well appreciated! This was going much better than the two previous conversations he'd had with adults had gone.

"Ooo! Such sounds the truth of many things." Like emotions! Though perhaps that was on a different sense of scale.

"Of course."

Seeing the actually familiar buildings - meaning the Eiffel Tower, as he had never been to the Agreste mansion - was yet another shock to the little AI's system.

"Wait! We- we aren't in Paris, yes? Then how is the Eiffel Tower here in Nautilus?!"

Forgive him the moment of panic; reason will likely catch up in a few seconds.

[agathaheterodyne]

Oh emotions were complex and difficult too, she'd agree. And he might have seen the mansion on a map or in photos. Who knew.

"No, we're not. Wish we were, though. I was in the catacombs under the library in Paris when I stepped through a trap and ended up here instead. There is a lot to learn here, but I had the potential to learn it all there as well, and would have been with the others, at the least." She nodded to Ben. "Pretty sure that's not in Paris in my world. Not sure about yours."

[intelligent_devices]

Now Markov was quickly turning back and forth, from looking at the tower to the clock.

"It's not! How were these buildings brought here?" Or made from scratch - that must have taken a lot of time if it was done by hand!

[agathaheterodyne]

"Not sure, at a guess, I'd figured they were probably rebuilt. Enough clanks and something like that shouldn't take more than a week or two..." You should see her tower...

[intelligent_devices]

Well, that makes enough sense - except for one thing:

"What do you mean by clanks, Agatha? Like that mechanical being on your shoulder? ... Does it have its own name?"

It would be rude to keep referring to a thing as just a thing if it has a name, after all! Markov certainly didn't like being referred to as a toy.

[agathaheterodyne]

She blinked, and then gave a small smile. "Like that, yes. this is one of my Dinbgbots. I... make a lot of them," she said with a grin. Dingbot waved.

"Clanks are mechanical beings with, well, we always thought that definitionally Clanks could not perform outside their programing, but the Dingbots are making us rethink those theories. Then there are constructs, which are built like clanks, but out of biological components, rather than mechanical. They were thought to be the most advanced things that Science can make in terms of functional life. And then there are Monsters. Also generally more biological, or in some cases, chemical, than clanks. They were always considered to be closer to programed, as they tended to be more commandable than Constructs, and less intelligent, though more mentally agile than Clanks. However every day Science is challenging the classifications. The Dingbots are far more advanced than any other Clanks I've ever heard of, until I met you, that is. And I am thinking that more Monsters have just learned to hide their intelligence than anyone realizes. As for Constructs, well... It's amazing what some people can do in a lab, I'll leave it at that."

Adam and Lilith... were able to have a baby! That shouldn't have been possible from what they understood of Constructs, but they did it, thanks to Gil. Plus he fixed a lot of the other things they hated about how they were built. Like the fact that Adam could now talk for the first time ever!

[intelligent_devices]

"... Wow!"

Agatha's world definitely sounded just as fascinating, if not more so, than Nautilus!

"So, you are from a world where building life - not just things as tools, but beings as living, thinking, feeling creatures - is regularly achievable?"

This has successfully taken his mind off of figuring out how Nautilus recreates things. Good job Agatha!

[agathaheterodyne]

She nodded. "Oh yes. One of my friends is a construct, Krosp, emperor of all cats," she said with a hint of an amused smile. She missed him. "He left before we headed to Paris, but he left some of his bears with us. But yes, building and altering life are common things in my world, not even counting having children the natural way... which is also building life, honestly."

She grinned and whistled sharply. Her weasel poked its head out from under the hem of her skirt, sniffed the air, then climbed up onto her head where it flopped all six legs out and laid on her like a bad hat.

She pointed to it. "This little guy's ancestors were created in a lab, then bred. So this guy is naturally born, but also considered a monster since he came from a series of lab experiments."

[intelligent_devices]

"Emperor of all cats?" Another interesting fact, another question - perhaps Markov should rebalance how his internal list of questions was prioritized. He'd come up with so many in so little time!

"Then... that would make me Max's best friend and his child." Not truly news, but it did bring some extra warmth out of his microchip. All life had more in common than he'd thought!

Markov waved to the weasel.

"So, the word monster doesn't have to have negative connotations?" Maybe that went for the word 'machine' as well...

Not 'toy', though. Markov would never like being called a toy.

[agathaheterodyne]

"Not in my world. Not sure about here. But in my world most people tend to be bright enough to realize that monsters are as varied as other kinds of people. Sure, you'll get some needlessly cruel ones. but that can be said of any group, really. I've met quite a few perfectly charming monsters in my time."

[intelligent_devices]

"That IS good to know."

Now, as to whether he'll find more of them here... an adventure to look forward to, to be sure!

Have fun with that, Markov.

[agathaheterodyne]

"A good lesson to learn no matter where you travel. I grew up terrified of Jagermonsters, for example. Everyone sane was afraid of them, really. But I got the chance to get to know some of them, and they're some pretty interesting people. I sometimes find myself wondering what they were like as humans, but it's hard to imagine. They're each so very much themselves. But even with Jagermonsters, there is still one that stands out as being.... a reason for such stories. But of the dozen and a half or so I've met directly, the dozens I've seen briefly? He's the only one I've ever been tempted to shoot in the head. Well, tempted for longer than just passing frustration among friends. Gears knows there have been times I've wanted to smack the boys upside the head with something heavy."