itscurtains | Is This Where You Wanna Be? Crawling On Your Hands and Knees?

[In a perfect world, Maya would have been able to isolate herself for the rest of the evening. It's not like her to wallow in her feelings, but it's also not like her to be trapped away in a murder school or part of an execution so... not like she has much choice there. Besides, between the influence of Janis, and the sight of her remaining dormmates, it's clear that Maya simply can't... let things go.

It's like she told the SQUIP. They look to her for hope. And so, hope she must be. It's her job to stand tall for the others. Thankfully help comes easier this time -- there's no need to scruff Discord, or try to keep Spongebob from making Hate Patties. Maybe that, in and of itself, is a good sign.

It's just another fluke. They'll be okay. They're together, after all. Even Salieri and Discord are getting along well enough to help.

Cutting potatoes proves to be an interesting task, considering the fact that most of the knives are missing. Maya has a few guesses as to how that happened, but she won't point fingers again today. She makes do with what she has -- two swords between her and Cassandra.

Potatoes, cakes, pies -- the arrangement is much the same. There's even cocoa (made by less experienced hands, unfortunately), and alcohol. It all feels like a repeat of last week, but she's trying to not think about it. She does her best to keep a smile on her face as she knocks on each door, inviting others to the cafeteria once more.]

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[There's something bumping at Cassandra's ankles, repeatedly. When she looks down, there's a sinister-looking Roomba attempting to clean the space she's blocking.]

[ ! ]

What the-

[Is that a... moving circle?

What if she just. Does nothing?]

[The Roomba beeps in frustration and rolls around her leg, inspecting this odd wall.

The misbehaving robot catches Angus' attention and...sigh.]

Is it bothering you, too?

"It"?

[She blinks at Angus, looking back at the Roomba that's switched from annoying her to being frustrated with a nearby wall. She's fascinated... to an extent. But even more now that Angus has reacted to it too.]

I'm... not sure. What is it?

Varian believes it is some kind of cleaning robot. And yet...

[This Roomba looks too innocent for it to be true.]

I don't think it's sentient. I cannot be sure. But after today, I don't know what I can trust.

A cleaning robot... [She's heard that word before, hasn't she? She has.] So it's some kind of automaton then? But it's so small.

[And non-threatening.]

Maybe there's a way to tell if it's intelligent or not?

Many robots are intelligent. Those that speak, for example. Sentience is different. It's the difference between code and...fighting against code.

[He grimaces and glances at the Roomba.]

Who knows what protocol it follows?

There are automatons that can speak? Oof. I wonder what some of the ones I've fought had to say.

[Probably nothing very nice.]

My guess? It probably wants to clean. Seems like it's trying to get into the corners.

[Poor little guy.]

The SQUIP could communicate with his human. Some robots can shout alerts. It's not like they can feel pain or hatred. Normally.

[The Roomba decides that this place is a no-go and scoots off to a different corner of the cafeteria.]

This one has a simple thought pattern.

Whoof, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.

[This is a brand new horizon for Cassandra. She's still trying to work out just how this is even possible. IT's most definitely NOT her area of expertise.]

At least that's not too surprise. I know a few people with simple thought patterns myself.

Hah. [He tries to laugh. He can't manage it.] But thought patterns do not equal sentience and emotions. Even the worst people feel things.

[Yeah, she doesn't feel great about it, either. Biting sarcasm is all she has right now.] Huh. I guess.

[. . .]

Everyone's got a reason for doing the things they do, don't they? It can even be a good reason...

...Jeremy's school was not worth Connor's life. Our homes would be gone, but the people would remain. That imbalance of priorities...is caused by faulty programming or truly selfish motivations.

I never said the price was worth it. Honestly. I always wanted to served my kingdom, make everyone proud, but I don't want to kill someone to achieve that.

...But we all have something we really want, don't we?

Now? I desire peace. Two final battles have been found in less than a year, and I look back on myself wondering why I dreamed of grand wars.

Yet, does not defending the kingdom often require killing?

It does. That's the difficult part about being a leader. Sometimes you have to make the only decision you can.

I think we all would like some peace right now.

It's not over. There's always another battle to fight, one right after another.

[Angus will never know peace will he?]

[Will any of them?]

From one struggled to the next. You just have to... find the right moments in-between to rest.

Like now.

[As inappropriate as it feels.]

Is This Where You Wanna Be? Crawling On Your Hands and Knees?

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