tushanshu_logs | Catch-All For August

Entry tags:

Catch-All For August | Open

Characters: Tony Stark and OPEN
Date: Throughout August, and possibly the tail-end of July - basically any time since Tony's arrival.
Location: Anywhere! Tony's likely to be spending a lot of time in his new lab at Stark Industries, but he'll want to get out and do a little exploring as well.
Situation: Whatever shenanigans a teenage superhero might get up to after arriving unexpectedly in a new dimension. ~~Possibly accidentally blowing things up.~~
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will edit as necessary.

If you want to set up something with Tony, hit me up at Plurk

cinnamon_anemone or AIM (tawny.sparrow@gmail.com). I'm open to just about anything and I'm eager to get more CR for Tony!

---

Tony hasn't been quite his usual outgoing, confident self since arriving in Keeliai. Between his jarring arrival, the lack of the friends and family that he depends on so much, the drama with Gene, and the general unsettling nature of the entire situation, he's been finding it a little hard to settle in. But he's gotten his lab set up - a very important first step - and he's starting to get a handle on things.

The more he sees and learns of Tu Vishan and his fellow conscripts, the more curious he gets. He'll be very interested in any advanced technology any of the foreigners might have brought with them, and he's also intrigued by - though a little wary of - the different kinds of magic that so many people wield. He has a special interest in the mechanics of how the foreigners get here and how they get sent back.

Although he's been dumped into the middle of a war full of the kinds of secrets and subtle politics that normally go over his head, he's definitely caught on that there's something fishy afoot with Evandau. Being naturally inquisitive and, uh... straightforward, it's certainly possible that he'll soon get himself into trouble.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Her head tilted slightly to one side.]

I was not aware that artificial intelligence were susceptible to an inherent lack of morality.

[Tony looks even more sheepish. If he gets any more sheepish he'll grow a wool coat and saying "baaa."]

I don't know if it's a susceptibility for artificial intelligences in general. It... could just be my AIs, [he admits, wincing.] Either way, three-for-three is not a great track record.

[Less curious now and more...concerned.]

You have created three separate amoral artificial beings?

Have you theorized what might be causing this?

They were all sort of accidents, and they all got destroyed, so I don't have a whole lot to go on. [He shrugs awkwardly. This conversation is rapidly becoming intensely uncomfortable.]

Maybe the problem was that they were accidents. I programmed the capacity for self-improvement into them, but I didn't really include a framework for morality, or empathy, or anything like that. I didn't expect them to improve themselves into sentience.

[Oh. Oh. Well, now that he's put it like that...

He laughs weakly.] Jeez, I kind of outsmarted myself, didn't I?

[Welcome to the Singularity, Tony. Nice job fucking it up.]

[She was not pleased at the thoughts of them being destroyed, evil or no.]

[With the Manhunters, it had been different. Aya had given them the benefit of the doubt, and they had proven themselves incapable of growth. Unwilling to divert from their original prime directive, even when her own explanations had proven them faulty. Because hers had involved emotions. Sympathy for the living beings that experienced the very emotions Manhunters had sworn to eradicate.]

Perhaps. Or perhaps not every variable was taken into account.

I apologize...for not recalling the circumstances of my own birth. Perhaps that might have provided you with an answer.

[He didn't really have a choice, but it's understandable that Aya feels that way. Which is why this is so awkward.

Tony chuckles a little.] Well, don't think organic intelligences usually remember their own births either, so I'm not gonna hold it against you. [He shrugs, and frowns.] I don't know, maybe it's best if I stick to the mechanical engineering and don't try to create any more new life forms.

[It takes a lot for Tony Stark to lose faith in his own abilities, but...] After almost getting my friends killed, and two near-apocalypses, even I can get the message.

[Yes, she had been informed of that the last time the question had been posed publicly. Despite the fact that such an implication meant she was susceptible to further memory loss in the future...if, in fact, the organic part of her being meant that certain neurons would erode over time.]

Correct me if I have been misinformed, but JARVIS was not a living artificial intelligence, correct? Sentient, yes, and intelligent by every definition of the word...but he was not organic.

Um... probably? I assume so, but you'd know better than me. I only know about him because I met a version of him from the future, and he was trying to kill me at the time, so I didn't really stick around to chat. It's... a long story.

I have time.

[She looked attentive. Expectant, but also prepared for rejection, should the subject prove to be one of those Tony was not willing to fully divulge.]

[Tony opens his mouth, closes it, thinks for a few seconds, and then finally says:]

JARVIS was running on the suit my grandson was wearing when he came back from the future to kill me to prevent me from creating the Vortex virus that destroyed the world. Or, was going to destroy it. In the future.

[YOU ASKED.]

[She did ask. And, after having been prior warned that the tale would involve both an amoral JARVIS as well as time discrepancies, there was only one thing that she was not expecting: such a relatively short explanation.]

If your grandson was the one piloting the suit at the time, is it not possible that JARVIS' systems could have been corrupted by him?

[See, that was just the cliffnotes, Aya. Don't worry, it gets plenty more complicated.]

Uh, actually, I don't think there was anything wrong with JARVIS. [If there was, that would make four evil AIs.] It's Vortex that was the AI that went nuts, in this case. I mean, Andros was trying to prevent the apocalypse, so he and JARVIS weren't technically evil...

[It's just that Andros' plan for preventing the apocalypse was dumb. Come on, you're trying to save the world from an evil computer virus, and the best you can come up with is causing a Grandfather Paradox? Did it not occur to Andros to go back in time and just tell Tony to not upload Vortex to the internet?!]

...he simply had formed the local conclusion that, based upon evidence that you were the original developer of the virus causing destruction in their time, you were?

[It came out intended as a question, although Aya sounded fairly certain.]

He said Vortex going haywire was an accident - it was supposed to help people, to make the whole world better. [Tony looks sad for a moment. Then he collects himself, and continues.]

The way he told it, it was just necessity. You know, "gotta to save the world, sorry about all the murder, nothing personal." [He glowers.] It felt pretty personal, though.

[It sounded personal.]

Perhaps the statement was meant to be...ironic?

[Sarcasm, she was learning to detect. Humor was a process, but not unattainable. But irony? Aya wasn't certain she would ever comprehend the purpose of ironic statements. Why would any logical being make one claim when they meant precisely the opposite?]

[It's so sweet of you that you're giving him the benefit of the doubt, Aya.]

Yeah, I... don't think so. He was pretty serious about the whole thing. [Apocalypses do tend to be pretty serious business.]

[Actually, she had specifically been referring to the line about it not being personal. But...that worked, too.]

Clearly, there were factors meant to be taken into account that were not.

You were not given all variables. Nor a choice in the matter.

[No, Andros seemed pretty serious about the "nothing personal" thing, too. He was pretty serious in general. Very Lawful Good, his grandson.]

Yeah, my only other choice was to lie down and let him disintegrate me. Not really my style. I can appreciate trying to save the world and stuff, but I'd rather find a way to do it that doesn't involve me getting disintegrated.

[Ha ha, that's funny, because that may be exactly what happened when he blew up the Makluan ship. Ahaha ha.]

...would it be possible to simply not develop the precise virus that seems to be the cause of your future timeline's suffering?

[Simple. Perhaps too simple to be valid, but still worth suggesting.]

Right?! That's what I said. Apparently he didn't think that was sufficient.

[His grandson was kind of a jerk.]

Then his actions were not entirely logical, from an ambivalent third-party perspective.

[In other words, barring the sudden revelation of new, relevant information that would persuade her otherwise...she's with you on this one, Tony.]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks he was full of crap. [It's always nice to have his ~~terrible choices~~ actions vindicated by an ambivalent third party.]

And it turns out, it was all his fault anyway. [Tony pauses, looking uncertain.] Sort of. I think? [Time travel is confusing, okay?] I made a virus to take down his super-advanced future armor, but that turned out to be the Vortex virus— even though that doesn't make sense, because in his timeline I didn't create it till decades later, and where did it come from then if I wasn't making it to keep him from trying to kill me? I don't know, but once we destroyed the chip with that virus on it JARVIS said something about the future stabilizing and then they both paradox-poofed away. Uh— both Andros...es. There were two of them for a minute. One came back from thirty seconds in the future to tell us about the virus I made for him being the Vortex virus.

[Is this making sense? No? Well it didn't make sense at the time, either, so now you're in the same boat as Tony is, Aya. Lucky you.]

So. Yeah. Long story short: time travel, bad.

[In retrospect that was probably a way longer and less helpful explanation than Aya needed ~~or wanted~~.]

Edited 2014-10-02 03:21 (UTC)

[Hey, it could have been worse.]

[Tony could have been the one infected by some sort of evil virus and utilized time travel in an attempt to go back to the beginning of time itself and reset the universe so that no organic life would ever grow...]

[...you know, theoretically speaking. >.>]

Yes, I am beginning to comprehend this.

[TIME TRAVEL. NOT EVEN ONCE.]

Yeah. Anyway, [wait, where had he been going with all this?] I don't think JARVIS was evil, exactly, but I didn't meet him under the best circumstances. [The circumstances being Tony possibly causing the future apocalypse. It wasn't really his fault, but still, Tony's getting a little uncomfortable with this topic.]

But if you two were friends... I'm sorry he's gone. It must get kind of lonely around here, the way people just disappear like that.

[Though there are some people Tony wouldn't miss if they got pulled back into their own universe. Like Gene. Tony wouldn't be upset if Gene disappeared. Nope. Definitely not. Not at all. Good riddance, right?]

I have grown used to the isolation that comes with this assignment. It is fine.

[Her response, however, seemed to come out almost...too calm. Too calculated. Like it was something she was expected to say, rather than an accurate portrayal of her current feelings on the subject.]

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He dun goofed so many times, Aya, you don't even know

no she don't. but she could

does she really want to, though. does she really

...debatable

you can keep asking questions, Aya, but it's only going to keep getting worse

she can't help herself. she's curious by nature.

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totally ooc meta commentary: honestly this episode was so dumb

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