Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

Catrin grinned. “Comfortable living space, good food, wine and an excellent shower. And a pleasant companion,” she added with a wink at the AI, raising her glass towards him before turning back to Tara. “It seems like you have all you need for long voyages.”

At the compliment, the AI's tail curled up into the Terelain equivalent of a blush, "Ahem, yes, thank you, Miss Catrin."

Tara giggled and raised her wine glass in acknowledgement, "Yes, well, we all have to have our creature comforts."

"Of course, Mistress' quarters here aboard ship are nothing compared to her house back home on New Mytheia, or the home she keeps on Aerin." The AI said, "Though I must admit her House AI for her house on Aerin is a damned annoying fellow."

"You're just jealous that he gets to spend most of his days doing nothing but goof off when I'm off on my trips." Tara said with a laugh.

"Really Mistress, that isn't it at all!" The AI protested, "And before you say anything, Miss Catrin, neither am I jealous of that insufferable, jumped-up calculator because he spends more time with Tara when she's at home than me."

"Then why don't you like him?" Tara asked.

"He's irritating, pompous, self-absorbed, a control freak and to top it off he once deleted my vocalisation programs when he some-how sneaked one of his subroutines aboard without my noticing. I couldn't speak for three weeks until I managed to repair his sabotage!" The AI said, voice filled with outrage and righteous indignation.

Catrin smiled at the AI and tried to remember the tail gesture, then she chuckled when he protested later. “Why, I would never have said such a thing,” she mumbled.

She was rather surprised to learn that AIs do things like that. “Why would he do that? And why didn't you mention anything to Tara about it?” she asked the AI.

"The over-sized abacus must have gotten bored." The AI said, "He's never liked me. He's always been jealous of my dashing good looks and superior programming, not to mention that he's a stripling compared to me; not even old enough to have seen the last Millennial Festival."

"Dashing good looks?" Tara asked.

"If you could see in computer code and energy lattices, you'd find that I am an incredibly attractive example of a Synthetic Psycho-Behavioural Matrix." The AI said, "If I were a corporeal entity you'd see what I mean." He gestured to his hologram, "Far better looking than even this form, as limited as it by the constraints of physical perception."

"Uh huh... right." Tara said, "I'm sure your byte-code looks lovely."

"Mistress! I've never heard such filth coming out of your mouth!" The AI said with a shocked expression. Tara burst out laughing, and the AI sooned joined her.

Catrin shook her head in amazement. What filth? “Um... why is byte code a problem phrase?” she asked when both Tara and the AI were finished laughing.

Tara shrugged, "I have no idea."

The AI started to look embarrassed, "Consider that our programming is analogous to organic anatomy, there are always certain... aspects of said anatomy that one does not discuss in polite conversation. Suffice i to say, an AI's byte-code is his own business, thank you."

Tara put a hand over her mouth and suppressed a giggle, "Look at him! If he were a Human his face would be on fire!"

Catrin smiled at Tara and took a sip of her wine, looking thoughtful. “So... you're telling me that it's like commenting on one's, say, male reproductive organs? If they're a taboo, of course.” Catrin's eyes held a glimmer of humor. “And yet you've just told us that you're an incredibly attractive example on that level. Tssk tssk.” She covered her mouth and burst out laughing after that, spilling a bit of her wine on the floor in the process.

"I...I did not!" The AI said in embarrassment, "It was Tara who commented on my...on... on that!"

Tara giggled as she watched the AI splutter and Catrin pill her wine all over herself yet again, "As for your question, yes, people don't normally discuss their... reproductive organs in conversation." She wiped a few tears from her eyes, "Oh dear."

"Hmph. You're both acting like schoolgirls." The AI said, "And I know that your combined ages are greater than that of some civilisations. Shame on you both."

Catrin had calmed down a bit but started laughing again when Tara explained. “Oh no, they just make indirect remarks on their attractiveness and abilities and hope people will catch on.”

Between giggles, she turned to the AI. “And I'm quite sure it should be 'greater than most civilisations,' thank you very much. If you count the extinct ones, and go into all the other universes. You're showing a lack of respect for our combined... um, wisdom.” Catrin managed to stop giggling at this point. “In case you were wondering, we get to behave in any way we please, unhindered by a preconceived set of values and acceptable behavioural patterns.” she explained gleefully.

"So... irreverent, irremediably reckless and with a total lack of respect for decency and propriety?" The AI asked, he then sighed heavily, "It'll be like living with a teenaged version of Tara."

"Oi!" Tara shouted, "I was never like that, ever."

"So you say." The AI retorted.

Catrin made a shrugging gesture with her tail. “Unless you'd prefer an old, mighty, insufferably arrogant version of me, then yes. Of course, I can always pretend to be someone else, but that... gets annoying after a while. Or you could just make it clear that you're not secretly enjoying the lack of reverence,” she told the AI with a smile. “I'm not trying to make you feel unbearably bad, or even bad.”

The hologram grinned, "I like to keep people on their toes; always keep 'em guessing."

Tara rolled her eyes, "Yes, and it is a very irritating habit." She 'shrugged', "Ah well, I guess it keeps things interesting."

"How is your wine, Miss Catrin?" The AI asked, "Were my modifications sufficient?"

Catrin smiled at the AI, then she 'shrugged'. “I just managed to spill some of it, but never got a new glass. Let me try.” She got up, drank the rest of her wine and went to get a refill. While she was getting it, she turned back to Tara. “Speaking of a total lack of respect for decency and propriety...” she grinned, “how about the obscene tail gestures? I need to know what to avoid!”

Tara laughed, "Don't worry! There aren't all that many, really, and you seem to be avoiding them pretty well so far. Hm, too bad shifting your form doesn't just give you the instinct that a Terelain would for their gestures. You could always stop worrying about it and just let the gestures come naturally to you, that way you'll probably avoid insulting someone."

"And if that doesn't work." The AI said, "We'll be spending the next few days watching each other swear silently. Gods forbid anyone contacts us during that time, or it'll be a difficult situation to explain."

Catrin smiled at Tara. “Well, normally, I would, but in this place the information is inaccessible. Giving you the fun of watching me swear by accident,” she said with a wink. “Of course, I still need to know all that, because even when I do get access to the gestures - after we're done travelling through here - I'll have purely instinctive reactions to other people's gestures, without knowing what exactly they mean.”

She smiled at the AI. “I can always stay out of the contact, or not?” Her wine was ready, and she took the glass and smelled it. It was slightly different. She took a sip and her nose crinkled. “Well... interesting. I think this one is a little too bitter.”

The AI nodded, making subtle changes to the processor's programming in the fraction of the time it actually takes to complete the gesture, "I've eliminated that possible chemical composition from the processor. As for all of this talk of teaching you; it may take some time, Terelain gestures are many and varied."

Tara sipped her wine, "Still, I suppose the sooner we start the better."

Catrin smiled at the AI. “Thanks. Where can I get rid of this?” she asked, lifting her almost full glass.

Then she tilted her head to the side. “We may as well start with a gesture for disappointment. Come on, I just wanted to learn some obscene gestures for now, mostly. You don't need to tell me how difficult it is. It's not all that difficult – once we get back to normal space, I'll get a feeling from any gesture I see and my body will be making them automatically. So after this week, it's just a question of attaching proper verbal meanings to select gestures – like 'you've just offended 17 generations of my ancestors' instead of 'you've just made an obscene gesture at me, but I have no idea what it means.' Still, if you won't have fun,” she 'shrugged', “we certainly don't have to do it. I can just wait for a week until I get the instincts that go with this body.”

"Just place your glass in the alcove where the wine is replicated and the processor will automatically render the wine back into its constituent particles and store them away again for reuse." The AI said.

Tara grinned wickedly, "Well, I very rarely have cause to swear. Teaching you will be fun!"

The AI rolled his eyes, "And I thought you were a lady, Mistress."

"I am." She replied, "But..." Her tail flicked towards the hologram whilst she made a complicated gesture at him wit her right hand and her ears went back.

The AI recoiled from her in shock, "Mistress!"

Tara gigged and looked over at Catrin, "That gesture roughly translates as... well... 'you are the product of an incestuous union between a sea slug and slime'."

The affronted AI glared at her, and then made a similarly complicated tail and ear gesture at her. Eventually the pair fell into making increasingly obscene-looking gestures at each other, interspaced with some savage-sounding swear words. They also seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.

Catrin placed her glass in the alcove and requested a new glass from the processor – one that ended up tasting much better. She grinned back at Tara and winked at her, then giggled when Tara explained the meaning of her gesture, and then watched the pair do a sort of an obscene dance or something.

She wasn't learning anything about the meanings of things, because they completely forgot they were supposed to be teaching her, but she sometimes snorted, when Tara or the AI made an especially crazy facial expression.

Eventually, they both stopped, glared at each other for a split second and then started laughing. Once they'd both calmed down, Tara said, "I think we might have forgotten t teach Catrin what those meant."

The hologram blinked, "What? Damn. Now we'll have to do it all over again."

Tara 'shrugged', "Oh well." She turned to Catrin, "Right...um... let's have another go at this."