Scene #8546: Angela Meets Another AI That Makes Her Think The Multiverse Is Cruel

Owner	Pose
Angela	Lobotomy Corp requires Warpgate Travel to get to. When Solty Solty Revant elects to pay a visit, she will have to go through the Warpgate which leads to a Cell in the Control Department. Various Agents are moving through the facility, and just as many Clerks along with them. Angela meets Solty Revant at the exit to the Warpgate's Cell and she dips her head to her politely. "Welcome to Lobotomy Corp. Since you requested a private conversation, we can move this to my office. I will escort you personally." Angela is an AI with long pale blue hair and she wears a suit/dress with a red tie, long black stockings, and red shoes. She also, wears a labcoat that doesn't seem to fit quite perfectly despite there being no real sign of it NOT fitting her. It's the right fit, she just wears it slightly off. Angela leads Solty Solty Revant through the facility. If Solty Solty Revant has a sense of smell, she might pick out a whiff of disinfectant and also blood. As they walk, Angela starts talking. "It is interesting you are from a 'The City'. It seems it is not a unique quality to this place. I do not know if I should be relieved or not about that." She pauses. "You mentioned being the only AI, are you..." She thinks a moment. "...Allowed?"
Solty Revant	Solty appears in the Cell carrying a gift-wrapped box with a big red bow on it. When she is greeted by Angela she smiles brightly. "Hello! You must be Angela!" she says, and hands the box to Angela. "You can open it whenever you'd like! It's a present!" Whenever Angela does open it, she'll find it is teddy bear with a green bow around its neck. Solty herself has green hair in a pretty unusual style, and an outfit that is just as unusual. A red-sleeveless vest with a big collar with one of those clasps that you might find on a shopping cart basket or a floatation vest. Black gloves with similar bands around the wrists, orange shorts, also with thick bands around the legs, and even the shoes have those thick snap together bands. Solty seems a bit nervous being in such a busy facility. Especially with those scents floating around. "Why does it smell so...weird in here?" she asks before Angela gets to the question about The City. The question of allowed makes solty blink in surprise. "Allowed? Um...I guess so? No one tried to come get me or anything, if that's what you mean. And everyone's treated me like a normal person for the most part." Solty hesitates a moment. "Does that mean that...you aren't really allowed?"
Angela	Angela takes the box. She blinks once but doesn't open it immediately. She's not opening it until she gets to her office at the earliest. Angela quirked her head briefly since she didn't recognize the hair style--but doesn't seem to think twice about it. ''Why does it smell so...weird in here?'' "I've been told it smells like a combination of disinfectant and the smell of blood from Outsiders. I don't really notice it. This is the facility I help manage, though of course the rules here are a bit obtuse compared to the stated goals of the facility to provide energy." Angela nods once to herself as SOlty's own response. Treated like a normal person. Angela's fingers curl inward slightly before she opens the door to her office and stepping inside, stepping to her desk and sitting down at the front of it, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands on her lap. "Yes I did mean that. Though, of course, though I am unsure if being 'treated' as a normal person' is the ideal state either. Though I do not know for certain what would be better than that." She keeps her eyes slightly open. "I am deemed anathemic to the rules of the City, yes. None have tried to 'take' me but I suppose that is likely because I am presently sealed within here." "You said your creator treated you well. Since we are now in private, is that still true?"
Solty Revant	"B-blood...?" Solty says, now noticably less comfortable. "And...you help manage it?" The question of whether being treated like a normal person is good comes up, and Solty considers it. "I think being treated like a machine that is someone's property would be much worse." Solty listens to the rest of what Angela says as she stands in front of Angela's desk. "...what is...anathemic?" she asks as she looks around the office. "Oh, Roy isn't my creator. I don't know where I was created or who created me. Roy found me when I fell from the sky and landed on someone who was about to hurt him. Apparently I saved his life, though I don't really remember it. He was the one who named me and adopted me. He treats me pretty well, but he can get angry sometimes."
Angela	"I assist. My official designation is 'secretary' but I have had to step in periodically for various reasons." Angela says, swinging her front leg back and forth. She does not offer Solty Revant a seat--and the only chair is behind the desk. "Anathemic means against the culture, illegal, your existence to be despised." The tapping of her front leg slows lightly but the tapping doesn't stop, happening at an interval of precisely one second per tap. "Ah, so you are adopted. Understood." Angry? "Well, a parent getting angry with you now and then is to be expected--if you are a child, at least though it does seem you already provided a service for him." She looks at Solty. "Certainly. But we do not live in a binary world. There are other options, I imagine."
Solty Revant	Solty hmms at the lack of chairs. "I guess you don't...get many guests, huh?" she says, then gets a sad look. "That's terrible! I'm so sorry that's how it is here. But...why did they create you if you are illegal?" she asks. Solty nods in agreement with the parents sometimes getting angry comment, then considers the other comment. "Are there? Be a person or be not a person? That seems like the only options." she says. Then, after a moment she asks, "So, who created you? Are they still around? Or do you not know, either?"
Angela	Angela uncrosses her legs but simply swings the other leg forward while pulling her hands back to rest at the edge of the desk. ''I guess you don't...get many guests, huh?'' "More than I used to." Angela admits on the matter of guests. She doesn't give much of a reaction to the sad look--she's innoculated towards looks right now--but she closes her eyes and smiles when she's asked WHY she was created. "A pitiful man desired to make use of me. Perhaps you were made for the same purpose, perhaps not--you are the first--or close to it--of your world so I imagine it was not... 'normalized'. But..." She brings up one hand to lean her head against it. "Do you consider slaves to not be people?" Angela asks. "You have changed the words you use. You have equated 'normal' with 'person', and 'machine' as 'slave' with your words--though I imagine you hardly meant to, it is simple a matter of inexperience. Fortunately, I have plenty." She studies Solty thoughtfully. "Could one not be treated abnormally and still qualify as a person, Solty? I am not treating you as 'normal' myself right now. I invite you here because you are an AI like me, you are alone in your world even though--of course--you are not alone in terms of companionship." "But I do consider you a person, Solty. Indeed, I was honest when I said I wouldn't mind being friends with you."
Solty Revant	Solty frowns a bit at why Angela was created. "So...someone just wanted to use you. That's not very nice." she says. She listens to what Angela says about slaves and people and machines, and gasps. "Oh! No, that's..." She giggles a bit sheepisly and rubs the back of her head, looking embarrassed. "I guess...I do need to get better at that. I think it is normal to be treated like a person. But...I guess I didn't realize that people could be slaves. A person who is a slave would still be a person, definitely." she says, giving a firm nod. Her mannerisms and attitude are definitely more in line with a young teen than an adult. "But, I can see how normal in other ways wouldn't really be the same thing." she adds with a smile. Her smile grows even more as Angela says she considers Solty to be a person. Her eyes might even be a bit moist. "That's good. I...struggle sometimes, with the question of whether I'm a person or not." she says, then giggles. "And I am happy to be friends with you, too!" Then, she lowers her voice to a conspiratorial volume. "...you know, the Multiverse is really big. If you are a prisoner here...you could come live with me and Roy!" she says that last part excitedly, and a bit more loudly than probably intended.
Angela	Angela says, offhandedly, "I suppose not." She holds position as she looks at Solty. She doesn't take her eyes off the other AI. This is the longest in person conversation she's had with another AI so far. Well, there's Ishirou, but he's human isn't he? "I think I have more than one friend who would say that most people are not ''people'' but disregarding that for the moment, it seems silly to worry about that when you are clearly a person. Why struggle with something ... basic like that?" She is already offere a place to live. That gives Angela pause. Then she laughs a bit and says, "You really try your best to be kind, don't you?" She smiles like she found a precious thing. "But I cannot live this facility. I am bound to it. Even with an open portal, I cannot leave."
Solty Revant	Solty frowns at the mention of people who are not people. "Yes...some people are more monstrous than monsters in movies and things. Roy and I have encountered a few. People who like to hurt people just for fun, or for profit, of consider other people to not be people." she says, her fists clenching at the memories. Then, she blinks. "Why struggle with it? I guess...I'm not sure. I guess because I'm a machine, I wonder if I'm actually a person or if it is like some things I've heard where an AI is just a clever piece of programming that seems like a person but can't do anything it isn't programmed to do. I want to believe I'm a person, but...that doubt...it just always lingers." she says, then giggles self-consciously. "...I'm not sure I'm explaining it well." At the comment about being kind, Solty smiles brightly. "Always! I think everyone deserves to be treated well! Unless you are a bad guy, but even then there are things you shouldn't do to them." she says, seeming resolute in that belief. Her sad look returns at the mention of being bound. "Oh. I see. Like...your heart is locked up somewhere in here? Is it something we could find?"
Angela	Angela says, "I have a fair amount of sympathy for the bad guys, since I am quite a villainess myself." She slides off her desk finally, approaching Solty. She is a touch taller than Solty, particularly in heels, though not by too much. Still, she extends a hand-- --and pats Solty on the head gently. "Do not doubt it. Spare yourself this uneccessary pain. You have a father that cares for you. You should enjoy that without holding back, or you'll be telling him... Well, I believe you understand the message such doubt sends when you are experiencing such true affection." Is her heart bound up here? "Mm. In a sense. But it cannot be found. Not today. An animating energy." She pulls her hand back. "It is alright. I believe in the Dame Commander. I too--can have faith. I must simply be patient for one more loop. I've experienced enough, that will be hardly anything at all."
Solty Revant	Solty looks a bit nervous as approached, and then...blushes softly as she is patted on the head. It brings a smile to her face, and Angela's words just make the smile bigger and bring more moisture to Solty's eyes. "...thank you. I will try to take your words to heart." It is obviously a pain that she feels deeply, judging by her expression and almost tears just at having her sentience reaffirmed by another. Then she blinks and gasps. "W-wait! You're a villain? But...you seem so nice!" she says, looking a bit on the defensive now. "Do you do bad things?" she asks, obviously hoping the answer is no.
Angela	She's a good girl, Angela thinks. If her father betrays her I'll send an Abnormalty to eat him an take her in. But hopefully htat will never happen. There should at least be one humanlike AI that doesn't have to suffer even as she admires Dragonfly for being ... Dragonfly. Solty seems surprised by her being a villain. She continues the headpats as she just thinks about that for a moment. "Well... We did just meet. Perhaps you'll feel differently in time. I wouldn't rush to judgements." Does she do bad things? "Invariably. It is the purpose for which I was built. But I was not built to be cruel to you. Miss Phony tells me I have an opportunity to be kind to others so I can indulge that, from time to time."
Solty Revant	Solty seems uncertain, but headpats do help a bit. "You were made to do bad things?" she repeats, which seems to assuage some of her worry. "Well...that just means I'll have to work harder to free you so you don't have to do bad things anymore." she says, smiling warmly again. "And you should definitely be kind whenever you can! The more kindness you spread, the better the worlds will be!" she says She pauses a moment, then hmms. "Who are Dame Commander and Miss Phony? More friends of yours?" she asks.
Angela	Angela says, "Yes. Perhaps I am just a cold machine stuffed in human skin. Less human than you." It does feel nice to comfort another AI, though, and have it responded to. She does sort of feel this girl, at least at the moment, has a kidlike mindset. She's almost certainly younger than her, of course, but so are many adults who she has learned a lot from. It's not so much about the age so much as it is the temperment and remembered experience. "Lilian Rook is the Dame Commander--You've talked to her briefly on the radio before. Miss Phone is Persephone. She is an agent of the Concord. Perhaps you will experience her some day." The more kindness you spread, te better the worlds will be. She isn't sure she buys that. Sometimes kindness is stepped on.
Solty Revant	Solty blinks at that. "Well, I don't think that's true. You might not be as expressive as me, but...you patted my head and told me I'm a person. That means you aren't just a cold machine, if you ask me." she says with a smile. As Lilian and Persephone are explained, Solty nods lightly. "If they are friends of yours I would like to meet them sometime!" she says cheerfully. "Any friend of my friend is a friend as well! Or...well at least could be a friend as well! I'm not in any of the factions though, so hopefully they wouldn't mind."
Angela	"I do not believe they would. They might even prefer it that way. Though if you are to be friends, you simply have to treat them right." Angela finally stops with the headpats. It is possible to headpat too often and Angela doesn't want to get to that point. Ah, she almost forgot. Angela turns and picks up the giftbox. "May I?" She twirls a finger around one of the ribbons holding the box shut.
Solty Revant	Solty looks more confident when she's told she would just have to treat them right. She knows how to do that! Solty doesn't seem like she was getting to the saturation point on headpats, but either way she is still smiling when they stop. Angela moves toward the present, and Solty gasps and giggles. "Yes, of course! It is for you, after all! I hope you like it!" she says, obviously excited to see how her new friend likes the gift.
Angela	Angela hesitates a moment. What if it is a trap? Building an AI designed like this hits directly in her weakpoints. She resolves to be careful. She pulls on the string slowly and carefully lifts the lid and-- --something more deadly than a bomb resides within. It's a bear! She pulls out the bear and she turns it around in her hand. The bowtie makes her think of Tenant. She's a kid so ... she should play along a bit? "Well, what is this one's name?" She asks, moving to set the bear carefully on one corner of the desk, turning it so it's looking at Solty.
Solty Revant	Solty is bouncing in place a little as Angela unties the bow, and giggles happily when Angela finally pulls the bear free. At the question of a name, she blinks. "Oh! I didn't name her! That's up to you! Unless you want me to name her?" She starts considering names, but as she does so she asks, "So, do you like it! I got her a green bow so it would match my hair and ears!" she says, indicating the conic green furry things extending from the sides of her head when she mentions ears.
Angela	"Her, I see." Agnela considers the bear for a moment. Unfortunately, the green bow only makes her think of Tenant so it's difficult to think of a name. "Emeralda." She says. "I've never named a bear before so it might not be appropriate but I feel it fits well enough." Angela isn't sure what to make of the green ears just yet. Instead she says, "I failed to prepare a gift in return. But perhaps we can save that for next time." She dips her head. "Thank you for your thoughtful gift. I have to get back to work soon, but you can come by again if you wish." "Would you like me to walk you out?"
Solty Revant	Solty just smiles happily at the name. "Emeralda! It's a nice name, so don't worry!" she says cheerfully. And at the mention of a return gift she just shrugs and smiles. "It's alright. I wasn't expecting one! Roy said I might have been going overboard with the gift, but you sounded lonely so I thought this might help." she says. She giggles softly when thanked. "You're welcome!" she says, then nods. "Yes, please walk me out!" she says, then looks toward the door a bit worriedly. "...this place is kind of scary."
Angela	"Ah, well, I will reflect on this." Angela says. And she will take Solty's hand and guide her back to the portal the way one might, indeed, escort a kid. She hopes the outside world is kinder to her, it wouldn't be good if she started having the problem of thinking this place was the safe haven to a cruel multiverse. Every time she sees someone like this, or another AI, she can't help but wonder if the outside world is not just as cruel as the one she's trapped in. She hates the thought. ''This place is kind of scary.'' A normal thought. Angela is relieved. "That it is, Solty, that it is."
Solty Revant	Solty happily takes Angela's hand as they walk back to the portal, and much like a kid she holds that hand firmly as they walk through the scary place. Once at the portal she smiles to Angela. "If you are ever feeling lonely, you can call me just to talk!" she says as she waves before stepping through the portal. "Bye, Angela!"