duck tales, oo-ooh!

[frigidaire]

Who: Crew & Visitors of the Wonderduck
Action: The Wonderduck
When: a mingle for the month of January!

[ come one, come all, crew members and visitors alike. come play terrible rec-room games or eat awful, overly processed food! or just mingle! ]

Comments

[feathery]

It thinks I'm some kind of canine pacifier.

[Which isn't really a confirmation or denial. Davesprite doesn't mind the fox, really, but being the guy who bought it for Jade doesn't keep him from sassing about it.]

I haven't figured out how to foxproof myself.

[thezerothlaw]

That may prove to be difficult. I wish you luck.

[He's... not sure how to help, sadly.]

[feathery]

Yeah.

[He makes a mild face at the thought before he sneezes, bringing an arm up to cover his face.

Which doesn't really do much for the lasers he conjures up, spattering the word shit against the wall.]

Goddamn, no wonder sprites are antiprogrammed against this shit.

[thezerothlaw]

[He tilts his head, rather curiously.]

You refer to yourself as a 'sprite.' I've wondered, if it not offensive to ask, what sort of being you are?

[feathery]

I'm a fucking biohazard, that's what.

[But he makes a dismissive gesture at the idea of the inquiry being offensive.]

You ever play video games, dude.

[thezerothlaw]

I have experimented a little with the games available to us here. They seem very primitive. I have seen more advanced ones before coming here, but I have never played them.

[Robots are rarely invited into such things, and his owners were generally not fans of that sort of entertainment.]

[feathery]

[On the upside, it means Davesprite doesn't have to give Daneel a longwinded, probably difficult to understand spiel that attempts to explain video games.]

Ok, well, I pulled NPC duties in a video game for a little while. Guidebook BS for the most part, but I wasn't that great at it and gave it up pretty quick. The bird and Dave deal are incidental.

[Which is a shitty way to talk about the things that actually make him who he is, but whatever.]

[thezerothlaw]

[Daneel blinks, briefly. None of that makes sense.]

I don't understand how you were in a video game in a role like this.

[feathery]

I don't really, either, but it's just one of those world mechanics.

[He's well aware his life doesn't make sense and he shrugs, because it's easier to be irreverent about it.]

Suffice to say, I used to be a floating orange ghostbird with more useless digital wisdom than an unmoderated message board.

[thezerothlaw]

[He stares for a long moment.]

... That seems improbable.

[feathery]

[Davesprite stares back.]

But not impossible. [Right. Right??????]

[thezerothlaw]

Evidently not.

[He'd say it was impossible. Apparently he's the only one.]

[feathery]

[You're a bro, Daneel.]

Thank you. But ok, so you're a robot, right. There's got to be some impossibility factor to that from my perspective. Probably. Maybe. Ok, maybe not, but I'm trying to be generous and limit my pandimensional expectations.

[thezerothlaw]

Indeed. What you describe would be impossible from my perspective, and perhaps I am impossible from yours. The multiverse is more complicated than I once thought.

[feathery]

I guess. I know there were some robots and AIs running loose in the shitheap that spawned me and my friends, but I dunno where they stand in the grand scheme of Terminator tech.

[thezerothlaw]

Pardon me. Terminator tech? I'm not familiar with the phrase.

[feathery]

You know, like the movies. Or do they not make it that far into the future with their cultural relevance. Can't say I'm really surprised if they don't.

[He tilts his head as he looks at Daneel, before rubbing at his nose in an attempt not to sneeze again.]

Or maybe you're just from an alt reality, wholesale. I dunno.

[thezerothlaw]

Either of these is possible. Is this a fictional account of robots? I have heard of a few old folktales about the early days of robotics.

[feathery]

Yeah. Maybe less fictional if there's a company called Skynet around. What's the state of robotics where you're from, anyway.

[thezerothlaw]

On Aurora, the world of my creators, robots are ubiquitous. Most households own anywhere from five to a dozen robots. Most do not resemble myself, of course. Other worlds choose not to have robots at all.

[feathery]

[That gets a look of mild curiosity from Davesprite.]

Oh, so the space travel deal is standard for you. [A beat, before he adds:] Assuming those are planets and not dimensions, anyway.

[thezerothlaw]

They are planets, yes. I had been to a number of planets, before my time in the Fleet. Still, it is... rather different. This sort of travel is... rather aimless and slow, for one.

[feathery]

Christ, yeah. Isn't the future supposed to be filled with faster-than-light travel and hyperdrives and shit.

[thezerothlaw]

Hyperspace jumps are the usual mode of travel where I am from. A long trip may take several jumps, with perhaps a few days in between, but the jump itself is instantaneous. It is... not like the Fleet at all.

[feathery]

Ugh.

[He rubs at his face with his hands.]

No kidding. I mean with the Fleet, does anyone actually know where we're going. Have we even got a destination in mind or is it all spur of the moment, fickle whims from the Marsiva.