Private RP

Iri shrugged. "Well, when I go back to sleep, let's not repeat the experiment, all right?"

Satisfied, Iri powered down again.

((I'm sorry I haven't been doing anything. I just don't get on the SoD forums much anymore. I'm trying to decide if I should officially quit or not.))

Iri spared the drawings a large amount of CPU to determine there were no general types that she hadn't seen before. Again, the spidery creature showed up frequently, but her image recognition softwarer confirmed that there were no important differences between any of these drawings and those previous.

"Would you like me to carry you to work again?" she asked Rizzo.

((I love the roleplay too. I'd probably care more about the forum in general if I could still log into School of Dragons, but my computer won't run it anymore, either download or online. Well, I haven't tried in a while, and I suppose I could check again...))

Iri nodded, strapped on the jetpack, and grabbed him around the chest (scientifically the best way to support a person).

((I have no idea if that is scientifically the best way to support a person.))

((I used to do a lot of roleplaying here, but I've been feeling some roleplay burnout from other sites lately. It's hard to even care about most RPs. I do kind of miss the art community, though. Requests and adoptables and such. Those were a lot of fun.))

"No, I couldn't," Iri said. "Humans should be better at picking out specific information from something jumbled."

((I haven't decided for sure if I'm going to leave. I'm glad you won't be mad at me if I do, though.))

"Please do not call it a Brain Telephone," Iri sighed, but she wasn't sure Rizzo had heard her. A few moments later, he pointed out the parade below her.

"A parade? No, I don't think I have been to one. What do they do?"

((Yeah, that's true.))

She thought for a moment. "It could be fun. Maybe we should go!"

((It made me laugh when  it popped into my head, too, which is why I put it in.))

((I'd almost forgotten about the character I was planning to introduce here.))

Iri paused. "Wait, it's starting soon? I thought it would be later, like this evening. I'll have to work out something with my boss and see if we can come in a few hours late."

Iri breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. Good thing I decided to wait for your reply before I called anyone."

"Please do not call it a Brain Telephone." Iri repeated, a little louder to make sure he heard it this time.

Iri agreed and clocked them both out (it was faster for her to do it than Rizzo) and they left for the parade.

Iri nodded and eagerly awaited the parade. Before too long, music drifted towards her down the street, and she began recording. Usually, she only remembered the fact that events had happened and a few images, just like any human--she didn't have enough storage for direct recording of every event. For special occasions, though, she stored the entire memory, so she could pull it out at any time and relive it.

Parade floats began to march past, each more unique and interesting than the last. Many of them had people on them, some just standing and waving, but some doing different things. One group went by on a very flat float, doing impressively synchronized gymnastics. Another float contained trained dogs showing off. A third had only one rider, shooting arrows at a target across the float in sets of three, hitting the bullseye without fail. Each flat clearly showed off what made each of the people who'd created it unique--their interests, their hobbies, their tastes, their personalities. It struck Iri like a thunderbolt just how different and creative all these humans were. She never would've thought of half the brilliant design features on even a single float.

The parade wound down and finally finished, but a crowd lingered, turning to each other to discuss the parade with both friends and strangers. She recognized a few people who'd been on the float in the crowd. "Do you mind staying around for a while?" she asked Rizzo, eager to discuss these people's creativity further.

((I don't know much about parades, like if the floats are privately made or done by companies, but I think the things I did would work either way.))

Iri nodded gratefully and turned to look around. One of the float riders, the archery girl, was right behind her, looking at her with an expression of mild dislike. Probably. She might've just eaten something gross, or seen someone else she didn't like before she looked at Iri, or Iri's facial analysis might be completely wrong. Smiling brightly, she turned to the girl.

"Hello! I saw your float, and it was really cool. All the floats were cool! How do you humans come up with such amazing ideas?"

The woman's scowl deepened. Uh-oh. Did I say something offensive? I was giving a compliment!

"I like to make things too!" she said. "It's just... all those floats were so unique, and if robots were given the task to make a float, they'd probably all make the exact same one."

Now the woman raised an eyebrow. "A robot admitting humans are better at something?" She scoffed. "That's a first."

Iri blinked. "Have I offended you in some way?"

"You? No. All the other robots..." She trailed off. Implying something. Yes?

"If I have not offended you, why are you angry with me?"

She snorted. "You just said it. All robots are the same. Snooty piles of bolts, thinking they're above all us 'meat-heads'."

Iri blinked. "But--but humans and robots both have areas of expertise! I can think quickly, but you can think originally. We're logical and methodical; you're passionate." She realized that probably sounded like a bad thing, and added, "So when you really care about something, you put all your effort and creativity into making it the best thing it can be, while we make it the same quality as everything else," without missing a beat. "They're both important, and both groups need both!"

"We need you guys to get the boring, methodical work done, but you sure as **** don't need us. When was the last time you saw a robot at an art gallery? When was the last time you saw a robot as a movie? You don't get squat from that passion and creativity you go on about, so you don't care squat. That's the truth of life--nobody cares about anything that doesn't benefit them."

"That's not true! We care!" Iri was starting to get upset, but she forced her expression and tone back to flat.

"Maybe you do. I've heard more emotion from you in this one conversation than I've heard from a robot in twenty years."

"Just because robots don't always show emotion doesn't mean they don't feel it," Iri objected. "Are you  one of those people who thinks robots just imitate life? 'They're not really sapient, they're just programmed to act like they are!' Is that it? And yes I've seen that theory, I look at the internet, you know!" Emotion was venting out of her again. She couldn't keep it contained. "We don't just spit out default responses to stimuli!"

"Isn't that what you just said you do?" the woman snapped. "If given a task, you'll all complete it the same way?"

"Yes, but that's not- Ugh! You know what? For all you complain about robots looking down on humans, thinking they're so superior, I think you have the exact same problem!" Iri whirled and glided off before the human could respond.

Were all humans like this? Well, Rizzo wasn't, and neither was Dave, but what about the others? Did they think the robots were just snooty jerks too?

Were they right?

She remembered how reluctant her boss had been to hire Rizzo, how hard she'd had to argue. Well, at least he'd listened to her arguments! He'd been able to consider the facts and change his views when it was logical to do so. But humans were often irrational. Would any of them do the same? Were a lot of the humans in the area glaring at her, or was her imagination causing her to misinterpret already uncertain facial expressions?

Suddenly, Iri wasn't sure she wanted to stay any longer.

((Whoo, long update! I had a lot of fun writing this, actually.))

((Hey, are you planning to do a screenshot comic of the new expansion? I'd love to see it if you do. Since I can't play SoD anymore, I want to see what the new expansion's story is!))

Iri weighed the situation. On one hand, she didn't want another fight. On the other, she knew that the situation needed resolved, and perhaps the human would be more willing to listen to Rizzo (another human) than to her.

"And why do you care--oh. Oh my G.od." Iri leaned forward. Did she get it? Get that humans and robots could be friends?

"You guys are dating."

No. No she did not.

Rizzo isn't helping matters any. He won't change her mind; all they're going to do is draw more attention. And if she calls me a 'pile of bolts' one more time, he might tell her I'm turning human. I'm not sure I want anyone to know about that yet.

Uncertain how to interrupt, she simply grabbed his arm and pulled him gently away from the human. "Don't bother," she said, once they were lost in the crowd. "It's not going to change anything."

They wandered around the area, looking for a space open enough for them to use the jetpack. The parade ground was crowded, and it took them nearly fifteen minutes to find a place to take off. But just as Iri was gunning up the jetpack, a voice called, "Wait!"

She turned towards the sound and was surprised to see the same human as before. She took a deep breath to respond, but before she could start, the woman said, "I've been thinking about what you said, once the heat of the argument cooled off a bit, and... you were right. I was doing the exact thing I accused you of: baseless assumptions about a large group." She dug at the ground with one foot. "I owe you both an apology."

Huh, look at that. Humans can change their minds when presented with evidence that disagrees. Just not in the middle of a heated argument.

"Apology accepted." She offered a hand. "My name is Iridia."

"Jennifer." The woman shook it.

((Note: Rizzo has every reason to still be annoyed. Iri doesn't get the concept of grudges yet.))

She shook his hand. "You guys can call me Jen. What's your name?"

"You're the archer, right?" Iri asked. "Facial recognition software's still not perfect. It was always one of the biggest struggles in developing AI."

"Yes, I had the archery float," Jen said. "You know, if you want... you can come look at it, and try it out."

A concilliatory gesture. Something fairly personal to her, and also something I showed interest in. She's really trying.

"I'd love to try it."

"Archery isn't just numbers," Jen objected. "You don't calculate how to shoot based on angle and distance and whatever. It's instincts drilled in by years of practice, so you don't have to even think about how to fire, you just do it. And only humans can do that."

"Yes, but that's necessitated by their inability to actually crunch the numbers," Iri said. "However, humans are more likely to note unexpected factors that would influence it, like..." She thought for a moment. "Like wind." She glanced down at her arm. "I'm also not certain my shoulder joint moves in the way required."

((That awkward moment when you're specially designed to be better than a human, but part of your specialized design might make it more difficult to do things humans can do.))

Iri hadn't been expecting Rizzo to try, but once the idea had been introduced, she loved it. "Oh, yes. This I want to see." She handed him the bow, and Jen stepped up to help him get the right posture. She moved him around gently for a minute or two, then stepped back.

"Okay! Shoot!"

Jen looked at the two shots, then said, "Both of them are a little to the side. That usually surprises new archers. The reason is that when you fire, the bow often jumps a little to one side or the other. It takes a lot of practice to overcome that, though, so you're pretty good."

"My turn!" Iri called again.

They kept shooting, with Jen making corrections, for nearly an hour. Finally Jen said, "Isn't it getting kind of dark for this?"

"Is it?" Iri looked around. "This is dark for you guys?"

Jen scowled a little, but she knew Iri didn't mean it in a derogatory way. "Yes. This is dark for humans. We should be heading home."

Iri nodded. "Okay. Oh, here." She wrote down her phone number and handed it to Jen. "We should meet again. This was fun."

As they walked away, Iri replied, "She might find it a little odd, but she seems like a person who can get used to weird stuff pretty quickly. I think she'd enjoy that."

Iri agreed as they went their separate ways. The next few days were fairly uneventful, and before she knew it, it was movie night again. She called Jen and invited her, and Jen was eager to come hang out.

((Time skip okay? Was uncertain what else to do.))

"Yeah, I did."

Jen arrived not long after. She stared up at Steve with wide eyes. "Wow. You weren't kidding when you said your next-door neighbor was a spaceship."

"Did you think I was?"

"Well, kinda. I didn't really expect a robot to pull a prank like that, but then, you told me not to make judgements like that." She looked up at Steve. "So, I didn't know what to think. But that is an honest-to-goodness spaceship."