2727/Knock off EP2: Septette and Miho

Knock off EP2: Septette and Miho
Date of Scene:	04 August 2015
Location:	AMATERASU Lunar Mining Facility 01
Synopsis:	Just before she's ready to leave Miho gets to meet one last person from the Flotilla. The ever chipper Septette Arcubielle.
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 632
Tinyplot:	Knock Off

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Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
So it's been a interesting evening so far, with Miho getting the tour. Well of the publicly accessible areas of the station and meeting up with a good number of the Flotilla one amusing point so far had her figuring out that Biteblade's species were a predator but at this point? It's just Kotone and Miho in a lounge area near the hangers talking for the most part about family things. It seems now they are taking a chance to catch up, but Miho also has a tablet out and is going over some notes from her earlier conversations with the members of the Flotilla.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     There's still one synthetic that Miho has yet to meet, though she's hard to miss once she does arrive: Septette strolls across the hangar with her typical cheerful demeanor, her clanking footfalls echoing through the expansive room as she makes her way towards the Yamakawas. She smiles and nods to Kotone, then extends a clawed hand to the stranger, taking care to angle the sharp edges away from Miho's fleshy fingers.

     "My name's Septette Arcubielle- you're Miho, aren't you? Pleased to meet you," she says warmly, as her glowing lavender eyes take on a deep and soothing tone. She's wearing that cloak of hers too, but more to adorn than conceal: her mechanical nature isn't disguised by the attire, especially not with the way her delicate ear-fins twitch and angle themselves.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Miho pauses and takes a moment to size up Septette she's curious yes she understands they are a person. It's just she is a robotics and AI designer. She's also sizing her up to see how her makers, made her? She looked her over for a moment longer before she speaks.

"I'm Miho Yamakawa. It's good to meet you, Kotone has told me a little bit about you. Such as you don't run on technology as I would understand it?"

She makes a gesture for Septette to join them.

"So work in the field of AI and robotics in relation to androids for the most part. Generally civilian models of various types. While we can make pretty well functional ones we still run into issues like the lairs paradox."

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
Septette's anatomy and design are quite atypical: some of her systems seem incredibly advanced, while others are primitive even to the point of looking like clockwork. Still others don't look like they should work at all, but somehow keep functioning. Her limbs and digits move despite severed hydraulics and ruined motors in some places, giving the eerie impression of an undead machine. Whatever designed her clearly wasn't working with the same toolset as modern humanity.

     "Liar's paradox? We never encountered such problems," she replies swiftly, looking a tad bemused. "But then, Yggdroid intelligences were never programmed beyond the basic architecture. Imagine a subconsciously-self-modifying seed AI, and you'll get the picture. As for what I run on... that would take a while to explain, I'm afraid. It's more accurate to imagine me as a magical golem with electronic subsystems than as a 'robot' the way you define it."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone notes, "It's basically telling the AI that someone always lies. Then the person whose said to be always lying? Goes I'm lying. Thus everything goes down hill from there."

Miho is clearly looking Septette over and seems to be curious about her mechanics as well. She is however not sizing her up like she's a think. She's more like a child whose met someone from another culture she's never met before. Just really curious from how she's looking her over.

"So they made combat units with self developing AI's more or less. I think I can get the idea even with Magic being involved. So your creators made you and any others then turned you lose to do your jobs?"

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette lets out a little chuckle and shakes her head. "I'm familiar with the paradox and its many variants. But my kind was designed to be resistant to such manipulation in the first place, not to mention the fact that it's inherently ineffective against bottom-up designed sapiences." For her part, the little robot inspects Miho closely as well, examining her intently...

     "Well, when you put it like *that*, it sounds like a terrible idea," she jokes. "We weren't exactly 'turned loose', but some models were designed to operate independently for long periods of time. I went years between repair and resupply, even during the height of the war. It made logistics a hell of a lot easier. Granted, it did turn out poorly in some cases..." An odd expression crosses Septette's face for a moment; it almost looks wistful.

     "We were designed with the ability to regulate our own emotions consciously- turning them off individually, increasing their intensity, and so forth. One unforeseen problem with that is that one could turn 'empathy' down to 0. But once you zero empathy, you're unlikely to see a reason to go back," she explains. "It's a kind of self-induced sociopathy."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Miho listents nf seems to understand a bit better.

"Like how some nations use self maintaing combat cyborg troops. Who can be dropped into enemy holdings without the heavy need for mantiance some models might require otherwise. I think I get the idea, but it sounds like you had to deal with something on the scale of our Third World war form the sounds of it."

She pauses for a moment and looks a bit shocked at that.

"That is somewhat troubling to hear such thing could be very issue with combat drones at the moment. Still being be able to do that to your self is something that disturbs me I must admit."

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Smiling somewhat bitterly, Arcubielle nods as she rocks back on her heels and listens. "It was a grave situation," she says quietly at last. "The ability to disable one's empathy entirely was intentional; not wanting to change it back afterwards was the issue. That helps avert PTSD, but it had an additional function: the Deep Ones we fought fed on fear. Anyone facing them without proper discipline or emotional control would only empower them further."

     "In truth," Septette continues, "I keep several of my emotions 'filtered'. We Yggdroids are incapable of feeling fear even if we wanted to, but I need to keep grief and anxiety muted to remain functional as well." She glances down at the floor and flexes one of her talons, looking a bit awkward. "That... happened to a lot of us. Growing ever more numb, but becoming better and better at pretending to have emotions."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has been letting her cousin and Septette talk for the most part at the confession about her emotions Kotone flat outr looks concerned as she looks at her for a moment.

"...Sometimes running from your feelinsg will do more harm than good in the long term. Maybe I'm speaking as someone who can't turn them off, but have you ever considered trying to improve your emotional health or is it that bad for you Septette."

Miho also seems to grasp what might be going on here an synethic war vet with PTSD whose shut off the emotions connected to it to keep herself functional. She seems to be at a loss for words right now.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Jarringly, Septette just laughs- throws back her head, closes her eyes, and *laughs*. Just from her body language, it seems completely genuine... but it's a truly bizarre response nonetheless. What's going on inside her head, anyway?

     "I don't blame you for thinking that, Miho," she says as her demeanor swiftly reverts to one of utter calm. "But as much as I may act like a person, I am just a broken machine. ... Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm smarter than you. I have more emotions than you. You can't viscerally understand what it's like to have the deaths of thousands of people on your hands- your brain is neurologically incapable of processing that amount of suffering. I can, and I do. That's why I block it out."

     "Maybe," Septette says as a more human look returns to her features, "you can stand and face your feelings. Maybe you're strong enough to do that. I'm not."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Miho is now looking a bit thoughtful at Septette's words but she seems saddened by some of the comments. Miho how ever pauses at Septette for a moment and looks right at her.

"You presume wrong, I may not have experienced such things but? There are humans who have killed sadly as many if not more. I don't presume you know my history but the soldiers who deployed an experimental weapon which caused death and suffering for decades afterwards. I'm not saying I know what you have been through but you shouldn't make assumptions. Perhaps I have made too many on this."

Kotone now speaks up and looks to her.

"I had no choice, and I'm still not over what happened to me. I never chose this because I wanted it."

She taps her head for a moment indicating her body.

"I was basically torn apart by some cyborg who was after a package I was transporting, I still have nightmares about but, I just can't stop living. I can't hide from my feelings. I could bury them but they'd just eat away at me. I don't mean to judge but you are a friend and I Can't help be concerned for you. I won't press this further and I am sorry if I have insulted you."

Miho is cringing as Kotone brings up what happened to her, it wasn't a pretty or a happy situation. Miho had thought she was going to lose her cousin that day and the look on her face seems to show that.

"For what it's worth you given me some things to think over such as the mental health of any AI which I might intentionally or unintentionally create would have to be taken care of."

It's clear Miho does not want to make some of the horrible mistakes other worlds have made towards the creation of Synthetics.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Miho is now looking a bit thoughtful at Septette's words but she seems saddened by some of the comments. Miho how ever pauses at Septette for a moment and looks right at her.

"You presume wrong, I may not have experienced such things but? There are humans who have killed sadly as many if not more. I don't presume you know my history but the soldiers who deployed an experimental weapon which caused death and suffering for decades afterwards."

She starts to trail off as a bit of understanding hits her. She now thinks she and she just trails off.

Kotone now speaks up and looks to her, though it seems she's a bit slower on the uptake of the point that Miho's caught on to.

"I had no choice, and I'm still not over what happened to me. I never chose this because I wanted it."

She taps her head for a moment indicating her body.

Before she can continue she cuts Kotone off via Cybercomm.

<Kotone I think she's saying she doesn't have the same mental defence mechanisms that a human does. Recall the quote from that butcher of a Russian Dictator? Kill one man it's a tragedy kill a million it's a statistic.>

Kotone kinda stops looks embarrassed as she now seems to understand what Septette was saying. Miho thankfully steps in and brings up another matter.

"For what it's worth you given me some things to think over such as the mental health of any AI which I might intentionally or unintentionally create would have to be taken care of."

It's clear Miho does not want to make some of the horrible mistakes other worlds have made towards the creation of Synthetics.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "It's different," Septette explains with an odd smile, "to kill someone from miles away than it is to shred them with your claws. With a bomb, you don't feel the bones crunch under your hands, or hear the strangled cries. You don't smell the coppery blood, or see the look in their eyes... it's so much easier with 'modern' warfare, as you have. Clinical. Nine times out of ten, killing isn't the thrust of a knife. It's the push of a button."

     Watching Miho's expression closely, Septette notes the exact moment that the implications dawn on her, and nods a little towards Kotone- as if to tell her not to feel embarrassed for not picking up on it at first. "I'm glad that you could learn something from me," the robot girl says happily as she goes along with the change of topic. "Friendliness and stability are the two most important traits for an AI, especially if it can self-modify. I suggest you glean as many lessons as you can from the rest of the Multiverse before designing a true synthetic sapient- bringing a life into the world is a great responsibility, and its flaws will be on your head."