revivalproject | [Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

[Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

At last it is here, the day An Nu and Ga Re told you about has arrived. While the last few days may have been a bit of a trial with the whole replicator going a bit wonky thing, but that’s no reason not to celebrate, right? Right! Good thing too, because the Whale Comb Sent Her is absolutely awash with what must be seasonal good cheer. The whole outside of the building is wrapped in vines, though thankfully this time they seem to be made primarily of a thick sort of cloth, and the fall colors to them are also painted on. There’s no doubt that the decorations come from your friendly Agrii either, because apparently they feel that pink and purple are also very valid color choices for fall foliage, so enjoy those splashes of color too.

Inside the decorations continue, the fabric vines ringing the room at a height that would clearly be natural for the Agrii. Amid them are painted cloth banners announcing things like WHALE COMB and EAT MUCH and GREAT FULL and of course the ever present THANK YOU. Around all of these are cloth and paper pictures that wouldn’t look out of place in an elementary school classroom around Thanksgiving. You’ve got your handprint animals, foam shape plants, and vividly painted pictures of tables full of food with Agrii around it as a group. And sometimes in those last ones there are little drawings that… wait, He Row, is that you? Well, they did say you were celebrating together, so maybe that’s what they meant.

But of course people didn’t just come here for the wonderful decorations. You’re here for the food, for the feast, for the togetherness. Good news is that the Agrii have you covered on that as well. A series of tables have been set up in the Sent Her, much like when He Rows first arrived on Agra-10. Along one wall is a long series of tables covered with pink and purple cloths, and over the majority of these are the foods the Agrii have sent down. There are platters of hamburgers (which taste like peanut butter), and plates of peanut butter sandwiches (which also taste like peanut butter). There are pies that look like they’re apple and taste like iced tea. There are more ‘traditional’ things too, which are things like green bean casseroles, vegetable lasagnas, and even some seventeen layer dip to go with all of the chips. There’s apparently no meat though. Not from the Agrii at least.

The even better news is that this isn’t all there is. A whole two tables of space have been left open for the He Rows to bring their own food offerings, or the results of their replicator experiences. The Agrii have been kind enough to leave out plenty of extra plates and serving utensils as well, so no one should worry about there not being enough. And hopefully what your fellows have brought is very tasty. Or came out in a reasonable size or volume from the replicator.

Then there are the tables laid out in the middle of the room. They are round things with only a few seats at each, and there are name tags? Apparently the Agrii thought they might help you get to know each other this Great Full with random seating. Hope your table mate is fun. At each space there is also a little cloth baggie of… oh wow, is that candy? Yes it is! Those sweets are going to be a great reward for after dinner. Or during it. And surely there’s nothing strange that comes from eating them at all.

Finally, there’s even something for those whose entertainment isn’t to be found in eating. The Agrii have been studying their He Rows for a while now, and they know what you need. One side of the room is dedicated to other forms of entertainment. There’s a big poster drawn of what looks to be a glownie, but lacking a tail. Ah but don’t worry, there are tails made of cloth in a bowl nearby for He Rows to restore to the paper glownie. Don’t worry about injury to the paper glownie, it’s all done with magnets! For those who aren’t about tail pinning there are other fun things to be done. There’s a karaoke machine in the corner, clearly the Agrii remember how much fun that was. Wait… Is that the exact one that He Row Billy loaned to the Deep End? Apparently so. And last but far from least is the most important of celebration games: a booth with a stack of personal peanut butter pies and a sign saying ‘Eat Fast Count Is!’ Which probably means eating contests for those brave enough to face that much peanut butter.

FAQ
Do we need to make our own logs for this?
No. You’re welcome to use this post to make Top Levels for this mingle. Get out there and enjoy your celebration together.

We’re not obligated to that randomized seating are we?
Nope! We just felt it could be a handy way to explain mingling with other He Rows you might not normally talk to.

What if our character would bring food?
Our best suggestion is to note that in your TLs. Who knows, maybe your creativity with cooking or the silliness of your offering (or the results of a poor replicator situation) could be fun for others to enjoy.

Can we still use the replicator here and now?
Absolutely. If that sort of chaos is what you want to have fun with, then have at it. Besides people here can probably help you eat your way through any food you get.

That candy seems sorta suspicious. What’s up with that?
Great question. Each baggie will have a random assortment of little gummy candies that are shaped like Agrii heads, complete with three eyes, smile, and little teeth. Each one even has their own unique flavor. And their own unique side effects.

Yellow - Maple Flavored - Makes eater more energetic and friendly
Green - Sour Apple Flavored - Makes eater feels mischievous and is more likely to play pranks and tell jokes
Blue - Dark Lager Flavored - Makes eater tell the truth for half an hour (is not actually alcoholic
Purple - Chocolate Flavored - Makes eater very affectionate or romantically inclined
Red - Cinnamon Flavored - Makes eater easily angered or quick to challenge other people

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The thing was that Thrawn wasn't making scathing commentary. He wasn't even trying to be rude, just stating a fact. He made a mental note that this person tended toward using humor to deflect though, and that they were all but turning nonsensical at the ends.

"I did not realize the replicator was capable of making life."

Thrawn kept his hands clasped behind his back as he regarded the wall-mounted replicator.

"Was that then the problem with that group of glass creatures? Did you move too quickly?"

It took Tony a squinting beat this time to shift gears and drop back alongside the blue guy, and realize simultaneously that he had probably revealed too much in his haste to fill an awkward space with his voice. Right, the replicator, that was what they were both talking about. He cleared his throat and tried to recover, "They did seem nervous." Were they alive? That was an uncomfortable thought.

Thrawn had a habit of catching people at terrible times or when they were saying something out loud they hadn't meant to. He rarely commented on it, but he often remembered it.

"Feeling fear would indicate they were alive. If the Replicator can create life after all, then that is somewhat disturbing."

Thrawn regarded what Tony was holding.

"By that logic, one must wonder if that bean is alive."

See? Just talking about the Replicator.

The last blue person that Tony talked to about the not-so-straightforward nature of sentient had a directly opposing perspective, giving him pause again before he suddenly asked, "You're not Kree, are you?" He didn't really need an answer, it seemed fairly unlikely now that he had thought about it, and maybe suggested some kind of blue-prejudice. He waved all of that off before the guy had to respond, continuing, "Have you met Lauri-Ell? You'd love her." That was definitely blue-insensitive. He could stop talking any time now.

"What, like it's an egg?" On the other hand, if he kept talking, maybe he'd at least dig a different hole.

If you want to talk about blue-prejudice, then Tony had nothing on the Galactic Empire's Navy. There the outright xenophobia against aliens was very blatant.

"No, I am Chiss rather than kree."

Yes Tony had already moved on, but Thrawn felt the need to make the distinction.

"And I have met Lauri-Ell already. While I will admit to a physical similarity, I think that she an I see the world very differently."

"Yeah, I was kind of picking up on that," Tony murmured as he watched the guy thoughtfully. It would have been easy to say that the physical similarities began and ended with the blue skin, but they did both also have a similar posture, Tony was noticing; something that was definitely influenced by, but not strictly a military quirk. Tony had been around enough of the type to graph the strict arc of the spine. Like he wasn't openly staring at Mr. Chiss, Tony continued very casually, "So, how are we defining 'alive'? Is it all fear-based? I've seen plants react like that--plants are alive, I don't know if I would chalk that reaction up to 'fear'."

There was blue skin, more height than a human, and the fact that both were militaristic in their stance. But where Lauri-Ell was a soldier, Thrawn was a commander. The difference wouldn't be apparent in their stances but if you talked to either of them the difference became clear.

"As the name implies, I expect the 'Replicator' would only replicate life."

Thrawn shrugs a little.

"And being frightened by something reaching in and grabbing them is still a fear response, if a very rudimentary one. I'd also expect that plants would flee from being pruned if they had the ability to move."

Thrawn glanced once at Tony.

"How, then, would you define being 'alive?"

That was all a very interesting thought that Tony might argue was misguided, assigning a higher level of consciousness to an action than he would have, and his mouth was open with his head tilting side to side to weigh his arguments and just how he might broadly define being alive across the broad spectrum of beings that he had encountered. The whole performance was abandoned, though, because none of that seemed quite as immediately as important as, "No, pump the breaks," and his finger twirling in the air to roll back the conversation. "What do you mean, 'only replicate life'? There's some meaningful distinction between--" He gestured out toward the room and the universe at large, as much as he could while still holding his giant bean, trying to land on a properly defining word and coming up with the not entirely satisfying, "Principally occurring, and replicated life?"

Thrawn regarded Tony with his unblinking red-on-red eyes.

"An animatronic puppet can mimic life in every way. It can move on its own, and if programmed to it can speak or even hold a conversation. But it does not learn anything for itself and only has those few reactions that have originally been programmed into it. It is therefore a 'replication' of life."

Thrawn was aware of a broad spectrum of what could be considered 'life' too but the trait that all true life seemed to have in common was the ability to learn.

That was making too many assumptions about the limitations of the replicator's 'programming' for Tony's satisfaction. He pouted thoughtfully, and had to offer, "Then what's the line? Plenty of AI are alive. There's limits to their programming. There's limits to my programming. I can't learn to--not have to sleep, or whatever."

Thrawn still had the same neutrality that he kept throughout this conversation. he didn't even seem like he had much in the way of facial expressions at all.

"But you are capable of learning, and with time you are capable of learning to go with less sleep. Artificial intelligence is also capable of learning, and while its programming may be limited at first, they are capable of augmenting that programming with learned behaviors. I theorize that the 'replicator' would only make a 'replication of life' meaning that things like animate glass creatures would not learn and only have a set number of pre-scripted reactions."

Tony still did not look convinced that this was a fully developed theory, eyes narrowed at the suggestion that 'learning to go with less sleep' was equivalent to not functionally needing that sleep. He had a multi-year study on the subject to intimately know the repercussions of not sleeping enough, and so far, his basic programming had not adapted for him. This might have been a position verging on pedantic, though; more constructively, he argued, "But you believe plants are alive. I could ask the replicator for some seeds, and plant them, and they would grow and do their plant thing, and never learn anything in their whole life cycle. Prescripted, from start to finish, no different than finding some seeds in the greenhouse." And even that, was just theory. It would be even more effective to abruptly turn to the replicator and request, "Live cat. That is living. Currently."

Thrawn tilted his head a little. He was familiar with learning to go with less sleep, but since he was not human it may not be applicable.

"Plants are actually capable of learning though on a slower timescale. They collectively learn to adapt to their local pollinators after all. They also use chemicals to communicate with each other so most of us wouldn't know what they say when they pass information between themselves about it. The question is first would the seeds you were given germinate, and second if they did; is the resulting plant actually a plant or the 'replication' of one? Even pet animals are capable of learning, be it the map of their surroundings, or when doing an action results in pain so they learn to avoid it, and when doing an action results in food they learn to repeat it".

"If you're about to tell me that you can talk to plants--" Tony started, one hand splayed with a grimace like this would be a really weird revelation to drop on him in the middle of this conversation, because there wasn't any other reason any of these arguments made a material difference to their immediate conclusion. His demeanour abruptly changed, though, as he seemed to reconsider and suggested, "You and Lauri-Ell actually should be friends. Genuinely, this time, you should tell her that." They both seemed to be very pointedly ignoring that the replicator, in response to Tony's request, had made a sound of recognition, and a strange light that they were going to have to check. Something was in there.

Thrawn was amused at that idea.

No, I have no special ability to talk to plants--"

Even regular-degular plants on earth that were planted in the ground outside could communicate. Just look at trees. Of course, the loud 'ding' made Thrawn break off and look toward the Replicator.

There was something staring at them from the replicator. It did have fur, and may have been about the size of a small cat, with pink, pointed ears and shiny, green eyes. They blinked, with the distinctive sound of a mechanical whir, and a clack of the plastic eyelids. The whirring was still pretty loud over the strange noise it made, a kind of throaty babble, as its beak-like mouth moved. Tony would say it was sitting up on its hind legs, but it didn't appear to have any other limbs. He looked to his partner in this scientific endeavour with a kind of existential numbness, not sure what he was expecting, and reported with the confidence that they would both agree, "Well, that's not alive." The toy in the replicator babbled in return, triggered by the noise around it, its big, empty eyes rolling. That was enough to get Tony to raise a lip in mild horror at it, then abruptly claim, "Good talk," at the philosopher who had joined him, waving as much as he could manage. He already had a giant coffee bean to take care of, he couldn't take on the responsibility of this new thing. Time to flee the scene.

Apparently, it seemed to be an automaton of some sort? Tony had a repulsed expression, which given that they had already been having a debate about what constituted life versus a 'replication of life' it was amusing that the Replicator had created...well it wasn't a copy of any sort of creature Thrawn was familiar with, but Tony had already stated it wasn't alive. Thrawn took it from the Replicator, wherein it blinked its plastic eyes, wagged its ears up and down, and babbled. Upon touching it, Thrawn could immediately tell it was made of plastic under that fur.

"Me upside down!"

It informed him as he held it sideways.

"Is this a copy of wildlife found in Temba?"

This is directed at Tony.

Tony learned very early on that one of the smartest things he could do was admit when he did not know something, at least privately, to himself, so he could do some research before dad got home. Now, he readily supplied, "I have no idea what that thing is," and looked both concerned and intrigued that it appeared to speak English. Sort of. The replicator might have made clear its own position on what made something alive. "Maybe...the Agrii have them? They keep pets."

Thrawn had since turned it upright again and it waggled its ears and made a purring noise now. Thrawn raised an eyebrow at Tony.

"Is it just for companionship, or do they keep pets until a certain pointing the animal's life cycle then eat them? That is a common form of animal husbandry."

They had really seemed like just normal pets as Tony had experienced them, so he opened his mouth as though he had a confident answer, only to hesitate, realizing he might have been assuming too much. He went, "Ah..." instead, and turned his head to look suspiciously toward the tables laden with food offered by the Agrii. He hadn't explored any of it thoroughly enough to know if anything in there was...meaty. "They keep them in their rooms," he could say with confidence. What happened to the animals after that, he could not say. "If someone back home was letting an animal sleep on their bed, it was a pretty sure sign that they weren't going to be eaten."

Thrawn would disagree with the idea that allowing an animal on the bed precluded them from being eaten but then again he wasn't the best judge of human behavior. For now, he looked back at the odd little robot in his hand.

"Well if it's the copy of one of those pet-animals, it would be an animal that was useless for anything else."

The creature didn't even seem like it had legs which were what originally made Thrawn think it was being raised for food.

"At what point were you able to know Agrii sleeping habits?"

This was an effective enough hypothesis that Tony was doubly glad he had not tried any of the food, though he had to point out that its effectiveness did kind of hinge on an existing bias that he muttered, "Most animals are pretty useless." He might ride a horse, that didn't mean he wouldn't rather be in literally any other vehicle.

More conversationally, he took a breath to explain, "While back, they had a whole thing where they brought us to this ship that they live on now, they were having some trouble. It's supposed to still be in orbit now, here--" He waggled a hand, undecided on how much he trusted that claim. "There's not many of them, most of them don't know how to talk to us, so what I do know is still spotty, guesses mostly."

The part of this conversation that had turned to the Agrii was of interest to Thrawn, and the furby in his hand quieted when it wasn't being moved around. He still had no facial expression, so Tony only gets the tone of his voice to gauge his level of curiosity from.

"A language barrier would be logical since they have no written language."

Thrawn is quiet for a moment, before asking;

"Is it possible they rely on telepathic communication with each other?"

Edited (Sorry wrong word) 2022-11-20 21:41 (UTC)

It was taking Tony too long to process how telepathy would be a reasonable replacement for writing, culturally, so after a beat he provided what he did know, "No, they do have their own language, they talk to each other, it's just..." and made a vague gesture up toward his human jaw, which did not make the same shapes as the Agrii's whole situation. "If they are telepathic, I couldn't tell. It doesn't--I can't sense that," came with another vague gesture, this one aborted to quickly tuck his hand against his coffee bean again before they pursued that disclosure any further. "They do seem to know how to write, when they use English. Ga Re can talk to us, and either she or another one of them was keeping notes, so they recognize the utility there."

"If they make notes then it must be possible for others to decipher their written language."

No such luck, Tony. If Thrawn were not as observant or did not have intimate knowledge of beings that used telepathy already, he most likely wouldn't notice, or at least wouldn't comment on it. But Thrawn being Thrawn he had all the tact of a sledgehammer.

"Are you then able to also communicate telepathically?"

[Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

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