[ open ] for i've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder

[holyshihtzu]

Who: Juliet O'Hara + You
Where: Juliet's room
When: December 1st-4th
Rating: PG
Summary: Juliet is getting into the Christmas spirit early by hosting a little get-together at her place. Network video and party post below the cut!
The Story:

[ ✹ .002 [ video ] ]

Happy December, Wonderland!

[ Juliet offers a brilliant, if somewhat strained, smile to the network. The camera isn't directly aimed at her face at first--she's still getting used to video chatting--but she reaches out to adjust it quickly before continuing. ]

I know not everyone here celebrates Christmas or... Even knows what Christmas is, but! In the O'Hara household, Christmas is a big deal. I mean, I really big deal. All my family comes in and there are games, and arts and crafts, and a ton of food...

[ People probably get the idea, Juliet. ]

So! I know things always get really crazy during the holidays anyway and I wanted to get on top of things so I'm having a little pre-Christmas get together at my place. So whether or I know you or not, come by room three on the seventh floor anytime over the next few days and I promise we'll have a lot of fun. Open door policy.

[ She pauses. ]

Not literally. Knock first.

[ room 3, level 7 ]

Juliet has gone all-out for the holidays, as an O'Hara is wont to do. With no financial limits and no job to distract her, she's put everything into decorating her place. Anyone walking past room three on the seventh floor will be greeted immediately with an timely wreath and equally festive doormat.

The decorations don't stop there. Juliet has decked the halls to the point that they are bursting, having even extended her living room quite a bit to accommodate food, fun, and hopefully a lot of guests. Every wall is decorated with some kind of garland, wreath, or lights. She's even got a sprig of mistletoe hanging in the corner for any couples who visit that might be so inclined.

And, of course, there is the the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room.

Anyone who visits will also be greeted by an unimaginable spread of food from cookies, cakes, and various snacks to some traditional Scottish fare like mince pies. There's another corner table dedicated to just Christmas crafts, from cutting out paper snowflakes to sewing Holiday themed pajamas.

Maybe it's a little early to go full out, but Juliet couldn't wait. Christmas is her favorite time of year and she hopes that getting to it early will help her miss her family less - and maybe help her find a new family in Wonderland.

[ This is a party/mingle post! Feel free to top level and tag out with other people, or just thread with Juliet, or just respond to her network post if you so desire. Have fun and get into the holiday spirit before shit goes down! ]

Comments

[holyshihtzu]

It's so much fun, if you do it right. Decorations and presents and spending time with the people you love, that's what it's all about.

[ She obviously loves it, she could go on for hours. ]

So you're not human, I take it?

[licksthirium]

[It did sound like a good time. Maybe it would be better if he had people to share it with?]

My name is Connor. I'm a RK800 android

[At least he isn't doing the "My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by CyberLife" anymore.]

[holyshihtzu]

Oh, an android? That's different.

[ This place is constantly surprising her. ]

Androids don't celebrate Christmas?

[licksthirium]

Well, I'm sure some might. Deviants more than likely, but I guess I can't say that I've put much thought into it past knowing about it before this.

Free will is a reletively new thing for me.

[holyshihtzu]

[ Deviants? That sounds complicated. ]

Well, I'm glad you're getting the chance to experience it. [ She's never even considered not having free will. It's so outside of her realm of experience. ] What did you mean by "deviants"?

[licksthirium]

Androids were created by a company called CyberLife back where I'm from in Detroit in order to be obediant and do as we've been programmed to do. Some androids have started to break free of that control and started to act on their own free will, often involved in crimes in order to break free from their owners.

I was created to hunt down these deviants and to keep an uprising from happening in result of this epidemic.

Thanks to a group of deviants pushing for freedom, they've won android freedom and we can live our lives however we so choose.

[There was a small pause as if to reflect for a moment. If she's paying close enough attention, she might notice his LED turn yellow from blue, going red for a split second before going back to yellow.]

The others have figured out how they want to live and their emotions, but I'm... pretty new to it myself.

So in retrospect, I do think it's possible that other androids might celebrate it, I just don't have that same experience myself.

[holyshihtzu]

[ Well, that was certainly illuminating. Juliet is understanding more and more how different other lives and worlds are from her own. She does notice the lights changing, too, and her eyebrows raise slightly in response. ]

So does that make you one of the deviants?

I have no idea how I lost this in my inbox....

[licksthirium]

Yeah, although I was late to the party.

no worries and sorry for my slowness!

[holyshihtzu]

If so many of them were pushing for freedom, why didn't you?

NP man. Holidays made me slow too.

[licksthirium]

It wasn't in my programming. [Simple, but he could at least admit that without too many conflicting emotions popping up.] I was designed to hunt those deviants, so I never thought that what I was doing could be considered wrong. If nothing else, I thought that they were the ones who were wrong. The ones who had problems in their software. It didn't make sense to me until my software instability got worse.

In the end... I can't say I agree with my tactics before I woke up.

<3

[holyshihtzu]

Well, if it helps, it's amazing that you were able to see that what you were doing was wrong. Being able to grow that way is very... human.

[ She offers him a comforting smile. ]

What a strange world to come from. Where I'm from, people are only just recently starting to get smartphones. It took me ages to even get the hang of my device.

<3

[licksthirium]

Human... huh..?

[Was he becoming more human? Deviancy tended to do that, but didn't think he changed enough to say that he was much different beyond how he felt about certain things now.]

I have heard timelines here are complicated. Technology seems to be different for each world. Some people are used to it and others aren't as advanced. We have pretty advanced technology where I'm from, beyond just androids existing.

[holyshihtzu]

It's pretty advanced. I'm from 2008 which... Probably doesn't mean much to you. We have computers and there's a lot of really exciting changes happening with technology, but I'm probably not the best person to fill you in on it.

[ Shawn would probably know better, with his fancy iPhone. ]

A lot of people here seem to be from the future - well, what I would consider the future, at any rate.

[licksthirium]

It's currently 2038 where I'm from. [So that says enough.] Not that it's a bad thing to be from an earlier time. Perhaps that's what makes this place so interesting.

[holyshihtzu]

Yeah, iPhones are probably a little outdated by your time.

[ Of course, considering who she's talking to, that makes sense. ]

So what else do you have? Hovering skateboards? Flying cars?

[licksthirium]

Hmmm... There are probably hovering skateboards around. [Connor wouldn't know that one.] but we don't have flying cars. [Yet.]

We have autonomous cars, police drones, and holographic screens and books though.

[holyshihtzu]

Yeah, we're a little ways off from all of that. But I'm sure we'll get there.

[ It doesn't all seem like science fiction anymore, anyway. ]

You know, there's no way to even tell we're from different worlds! For all we know, we're from the same place and you're just from my future.

[licksthirium]

It's a possibility. Androids didn't pass the Turing test until 2022. From that point on, they began to be sold as commercial products to do common everyday things that humans didn't want to do.

There's no telling if your world could be the same as mine, just a different point in time.

[holyshihtzu]

I wish there was a way to tell. How amazing would it be for me to know what the future of my world is going to be like?

[ It's one of the few perks she'd be able to find being stuck here. ]

So... You were actually sold at some point?

[licksthirium]

Well, I wasn't personally, but the majority of the android populace were.

[holyshihtzu]

That's terrible.

[ She looks deeply disturbed, and a little agitated at the idea. ]

You know, where I come from, we have a lot of science fiction media and literature that warns about creating technology that becomes sentient. It can get pretty philosophical. [ Juliet is no sci-fi buff, but she knows at least that much. ] But it's obviously also theoretical. We're a long way off from creating artificial intelligence that is basically indistinguishable from humans.

[licksthirium]

That seems to be how things are in Detroit; Especially with all of these cases of deviancy.

I didn't think anything of it. I wasn't programmed to. I just assumed that humans would always look down at me for being an android and that's what I expected. I didn't let it bother me because we've never looked upon as equals before and I had a mission to complete.

Can't say I think and feel the same way anymore.

[holyshihtzu]

Becoming aware of yourself, of your individuality and your own likes, your own virtues and faults... That's all part of the process of finding yourself. Actual humans are actually pretty similar, in a lot of ways.

[ Juliet is and always has been pretty confident in who she is and what she believes in, but not everyone has that ability. ]

You should expect better of how people treat you, no matter who you are.

[licksthirium]

[If humans back in Detroit heard her say that to him, they'd probably be wary of her for supporting androids. People have gotten better about accepting him with Markus's movements for equality, but that would still be a rough road even after winning.

Still, that's something he was getting used to. Humans actually accepting him as an equal as to what the normal stigma was for androids. He wasn't as sensitive as Kara was about the subject, but he could definitely understand in this context how strange it felt.]

When you're born into a stereotype, it's hard change the stigma that comes with it. [But she was right.] It'll just take me some time to adjust.

[holyshihtzu]

I have some experience with that. I mean, not in the way you have, but I do know what it's like for people to make assumptions.

[ She's small, and peppy, and blonde. And a woman in a male-dominated field. On the best days, she was constantly underestimated. On the worst, she didn't go home feeling very good about herself. ]

People here understand that more than most places. I mean, if we can get used to zombies and vampires, we can get used to anyone, right?