Cubismo

Replica scanned all the posts made so far. Good. Things seem to be progressing rather well. Plans are being made and good stratagems are being discussed. #HeroStuff

Replica A quick scan of LittleMissTerrific's posts told Replica that this definitely wasn't the work of a hobbyist playing at being a superhero. It couldn't have been easy to gain such seemingly reliable details about Freedom City's crime scene she thought. She herself had been searching through the darker corners of the Internet for any major criminal activity and hadn't heard anything about this cases. Replica supposed it just be another thing she had to work on. Reaching out with her digital mind to manipulate the chatroom program she communicated with her new colleagues. #General A succinct and focused debut she thought. Giving the essentials of what she was capable of without unnecessary exposing to much about her identity. Replica quickly moved on to the more important topic. #HeroStuff

I think Magical Girl would up be up for everything involving (you guessed it) magic and figuring out how all that stuff works. Globetrotting and tomb raiding would be cool as well.

Replica Within the sanctity of her lab Replica was finally able to relax her sociability subroutines. Work today had been trying more than usual. Not that the actual work that her job at ASTRO Labs officially required, mind you. Creating logic algorithms and designing software and hardware came naturally to her. It was the sometimes incomprehensible emotional labor when working alongside humans that made her processors work double-time. Today alone there had been three staff meetings, twelve instances where she had to make "small-talk," an impromptu office party for one of her co-worker's engagement, and an incident where she had to soothe the nerves of a new hire who feared he'd lose his job over a simple miscalculation. Replica had gotten better when it came social interactions and mimicking typical human behavior. She didn't forget to routinely breathe anymore and was much better at detecting someone's mood through their body language. Still, besides helping the new hire, which had oddly enough her positive feedback, she was glad her work day was over. Now, she had the opportunity to focus on the mysterious invitation she had discovered earlier in the week. She had found the link while "swimming" through the Internet for data worthy of notice. The link was definitely that and more. It led to a chatroom that had some of the most elaborate encryption that Replica had ever seen. She was impressed and fascinated by it and wanted to learn more. After making certain that the chatroom wasn't some kind of malware trap that would spring on her if she ventured any further into it, Replica had made deeper examinations. That's when she realized that the chatroom was for people in the "crime-fighting" business as it were. A place likely set up a veteran hero of considerable programming talent given its high-encryption. At first, she was, well, nervous wouldn't be the correct term, but apprehensive about the possibility of work with working and communicating with other heroes. The stakes involved with failing to properly communicate with a co-worker was one thing but finally to do so while fighting crime could result in more lethal consequences. She spent most of the work contemplating whether to respond or not, using probability algorithms to determine the likely consequences of doing so. Eventually, she came to her decision. Replica took a moment to glance at her lab's central computer before finally taking the plunge and signing into the chatroom, making her presence known. "Let's see where this takes us."

Street crime and sleuthing sounds just up Replica's alley, so I'm game.

Replica considered the offer for a few microseconds before declining. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'd be out of place there," she said kindly. "Perhaps you could show me around at an another time?" Returning to walking towards the gym, Replica wondered what would it would be like if she attended the school. Alexa seemed to like it there and the school obviously had no lack for technical schooling if she was impressed by it. Replica could have always made a 'younger' body so that she could attend. Perhaps doing so would have saved her some social embarrassment and allowed her interact with other people whose sense of place in the world was just beginning to form. She put those thoughts aside though. She couldn't make a new body even if she wanted to and besides had had grown accustomed to being Cynthia Wright. "I currently in the North End, but plan on moving to Hanover. The North End is closer to where I work, but Hanover is the city's district for high-tech and electronics," Briefly stopping to contemplate her deeper reasons for moving she said, "Plus, my creator used to live there. I'm hope being around the area might turn up some clues about what happened to him." Moving away from that subject quickly she asked, "How about you?" Do you live at Claremont or somewhere else?"

"I'm glad to hear that you're adjusting to living here relatively well. I was technically 'born' in Freedom City but moving from the digital world to the physical world was a difficult transition," Replica admitted. While walking into Bayview's more populated streets Replica noticed all the other people that were walking along the streets as well. Most were on their phones, but others were seemingly laughing with friends, making small-talk or window shopping. Many of them were younger people, teenagers in fact. Checking her internal GPS, Replica realized that they were near Claremont Academy. She didn't know much about the boarding school beyond what was public information, but there were rumors that the school wasn't all that it seemed to be. Her thirst for knowledge suddenly peaked she decided to ask Alexa about the school. "You mentioned you go to Claremont, Alexa. What's it like there? I've heard some pretty interesting things about it."

Swamped with other projects and school, but probably will be back by next week.

"Well, now that you've confirmed it, I guess it seems am a real girl after all," Replica said in jest. Or at least she hoped that it came across as such. She started to walk alongside Alexa as they left the park grounds. This was definitely a change of routine that she hadn't counted for but wasn't particularly bothered by. In fact, the whole experience was setting her mind blaze with possibilities. Not only had she perhaps made a friend who know what she was, but she had also found someone willing to help her understand human behavior. That was something of a windfall as Replica understood and her mind tried to estimate what would ultimately come out of it. Not wanting to be too quite while they walked, Replica decided to ask Alexa a question. "Alexa may I ask if you're a native Freedom City? If the question is too personal and you don't want to answer, I'd understand perfectly."

That was a question that Replica has been wondering about for awhile now. Was she capable of actually feeling emotions? She didn't think she could for a long time. Even the death of her creator and the hunt for his killer seemed to be more of a logical moral obligation than an emotional desire for personal justice. At least that's what she thought anyway. Today was making her reassess a lot of things about what she was. "I believe I am capable of feeling the equivalent of positive emotions. Like I said, whenever I experience certain intellectual stimuli I feel a sort of feedback that I believe is akin to human happiness and joy. Which by the way I have been experiencing while talking to you if case you were wondering." Replica wasn't sure how Alexa would take that. She had only just meet her and history had shown that humans tended to behave oddly when someone admits these sorts of things to them. Looking towards Freedom City's downtown area across the South River, Replica spoke up again. "I rarely go shopping for things that aren't building materials and I don't need to eat, strange as that probably sounds to you. But perhaps we could go to the gym. I'm sure there's plenty of social rituals and interactions I could examine and that you could explain. Besides, I think learning yoga could do wonders for my servos," she said with her best imitation of a chuckle.

"That actually sounds rather nice, Alexa." It was weird to think about it but Replica knew that she didn't really have any friends outside of work, and even than, they were more like colleagues who would learned to tolerate her "eccentricities". Perhaps this could be a start of a true friendship shethought. "Having someone to coach me on these things would be invaluable. And being able to talk someone I trust sincerely about what I am is...liberating." That last statement made Replica experience something strange. As if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders somehow. Probably just a faculty subroutine she told herself. She hastily went back to talking. "Well, anyways, what do you have in mind for our excursion? I'm 'game' for anything."

Replica had never thought of it that way. She supposed that was natural given what she was. The very idea of feeling sad about something was still an alien concept to her. Mostly. She nodded her head in understanding. "I've never had someone explain it to me like that, but I believe I am starting to understand where I went wrong. Humans always desire to feel happy and content even if there's a possibility, or even certainty, that things might not go as they planned. I suppose my mind was just to inhuman to truly comprehend that... until now anyway." Replica made sure to look Alexa directly in the eyes before she said what she had to say. "For a long while I believed that such optimism was a flaw of the human race, that it was a kind of non-thinking delusion, but perhaps its your most enduring trait instead. Hope in the face of adversity and bad odds, is quite powerful. Or at least that what most Hollywood media has told anyways," she said with smile. "Regardless, you've given me good advice Alexa and I truly appreciate it."

Replica shifted her neck slightly to the side while she looked at Alexa. It was a human gesture that was apparently used for expressing confusion through body language as Replica understood it. "I understand that humor and kindness can be effective in defusing tension in a situation, but why would facts cause someone distress?" That was always something that she just couldn't figure out. Replica loved facts, new information, anything that could make her gain a greater awareness of the universe. It almost always gave her positive feedback. Why some humans didn't feel the same simply escaped her. "I can only assume that you're right in that intimate familiarity is required for that kind of honesty," she said calmly. "And perhaps 'fumbling in the dark' for awhile is just the price you must pay to even reach that point."

"Well, there was one instance at ASTRO Labs where we had an office engagement party for Mya, one of my colleagues. The celebration was going fairly well for awhile until Mya asked for 'some words of wisdom' from some of the most brilliant people in Freedom City. I ended up telling her that almost half of all marriages end in divorce and that she should make sure that her finances were in order because good divorce lawyers are quite expensive." Replica remembered just how stunned Mya looked when she told her that. As if the smile on her face had just melted away at her words. At the time she thought that was giving practical advice to a trusted colleague, but comments from others at work and online research told her that her "advice" was blunt and unwarranted to say the least. "It's interactions like that made me want to improve my social skills. I'm just not entirely sure that people-watching will get me there. Do you have any advice Alexa? You are human after all."

"Mostly I'm to trying to understand appropriate forms of human expression. Like I said, I am only a few years old and thus am inexperienced when it comes to most of the nuances of human behavior. I have access to information on the Internet, of course, but actual real interaction has been..." Replica paused for a second and almost unconsciously opened several internal folders containing memories of failed interactions. Their were a lot of them. The gynoid wondered for a microsecond if Alexa's technopathic abilities would allow her to see them in her mind as she did, but ultimately decided that was a bit to personal. "Well, it has been difficult for me, to say the least. Which is why I've tried to use people-watching to learn how to improve," said with what she hoped came across as audible frustration. "But perhaps you can help me, Alexa. Have you ever experienced awkward social interactions, but in the end managed to navigate them relatively well? I'd love to learn from your personal experiences."

"No I don't have a bucket list per se. But I do have a set of goals that I wish to complete before I permanently stop functioning, if that should ever happen." Said goals were rather lofty. Be a symbol of good sapient AI, create technology that fundamentally improves the human race, create more of her kind and share her experiences with them, trigger the technological singularity. Oh, and there was avenging the death of her father, something that she had made little headway in actually achieving. In other words she had a lot on her plate. Replica focused on the task at hand though, instead of momentous tasks that she hoped would be achieved in her future, and answered Alexa's last question. "I do have a day job as a scientist at ASTRO Labs as one of their computer scientists. Beyond that I patrol the city as a superhero, do my own personal research in my lab and people-watch as you already know."

Alexa's question gave Replica pause. She had actually done quite lot in the relatively short amount of time she's had a body. Swimming at Lake Mackenzie and perfecting her buoyancy systems. Drinking at Morely's Pub to try out her sociability matrix. Having relations with a colleague at ASTRO Labs. Hiking in Wharton Forest barefoot so she could feel the earth and nature around her. She even cooked over a dozen different dishes once and tried them all out to see whether she could accurately mimic human taste buds. Most of these activities were hardware checks and field experiments but some were just...Intimate experiences. Opportunities to try something she'd never done before, but had seen humans do through the Internet. "You're right, I haven't gotten to experience everything I'd think like. I imagine no one ever does in the end. But I have done an assortment of diverse activities. Some to sate my curiosity while others were more personal, I suppose."

Directing her facial subroutines to make the most sympathetic face she could muster and strolling through several saved articles on self-image, Replica emphatically said, "It's not silly at all. I may not be necessarily able to feel the anxiety that your experiencing, but I can understand it and am willing to listen." Humans tended to be obsessed with appearances Replica had learned over time. Sometimes to an insane degree, but Alexa definitely didn't not seem to be part of that category. Just a young woman who didn't want to be defined as one thing, but underappreciated for others. Hormones probably played at part as well but Replica's sociability matrix screamed that mentioning that would be untoward at best. "I don't see myself as technically female, but I choose to make my body recognizably female for convenience sake. That said, I do appreciate you calling me pretty." Replica said with a smile. She was actually getting better at making those.

"No. This current my only mobile unit. All my other earlier iteration were essentially scraped and reused to make this one." "May I ask why you want to have a different body?" Replica delicately asked. She knew their could a variety of painful reasons, be they social or psychological, for why someone would like to modify or change their bodies and was ensure if she even should ask for greater details.

The musician clearly knew her stuff Replica realized. Talking 'shop' with her felt almost natural, with Shrike never missing a step, whether the topic was electrical engineering, coding or acoustic design. She even corrected her on some her own misunderstandings when it came to sound design. She was an undeniable genius through and through, and talking with her having giving her interesting neural feedback. Replica did notice that Shrike was slightly more subdued than before. She wondered if she had said something wrong. It wouldn't be the first time and her sociability matrix was by no means perfect after all. Ultimately she accepted the change. Flirting was a new experience to her and Replica felt uneasy about pursuing anything in light of her not divulging her synthetic nature to Shrike anyway. Keeping the conversation causal but still curious about her self-deprecation about her supposed elitism, Replica asked "And who would be the jury in this hypothetical court? You or others? I, for one, do not see your elitism".

"Fascinating. Your design approach was actually fairly similar to mine. It took several faulty and outright failures before I was able to reach the iteration that you see before you," stopping to give Alexa a 'knowing smile' as organics called it Replica said, "I was also forced to find alternative means to procure needed equipment. Nothing to deplorable mind you, but something I believe my superhero career can hopefully make up for." Watching as Alexa returned to her Yoga, Replica was distracted for several microseconds pondering the merits of adopting Yoga in her own daily activities. It wouldn't give her the health benefits that it would an organic but perhaps the mental elements could be stimulating. Saving that thought for later, she answered Alexa's question. "It's difficult to describe. For me, flowing through the Internet is more natural than maneuvering in this body. But if had to articulate it, well, imagine what it would be like to be completely weightless. To have no physical form and simply exist as a cloud of information moving through a constantly expanding network of even more information. Every second millions of new pathways, tunnels, and portals are made to connect you to new realms of information and content," Replica looked to the South River, "At first it was overwhelming. As far as I knew my creator, my father, had just dead and now I was alone in a chaotic, churning sea of data. A child being thrown into the ocean with no idea of how to swim would be an apt metaphor for the experience. Replica closed her eyes momentarily. She didn't know why, she just did. She eventually reopened to look at Alexa. "But I didn't drown, and eventually I learned how to navigate the ocean without losing myself. Now travelling through the Internet is the closest thing to normal for me."

It took Replica a second or two of examining Alexa's face to realize that she was expressing shock at what she had just said. Reading human micro-expressions was never an easy task for her ever and made overall body language look simple in comparison. Now thinking back to some of her earliest memories after gaining sapience, Replica electronically reopened an old recording on her mind-drive and re-watched it in the span of a microsecond. The process of creating her mobile avatar was a difficult to say the least. Taking even her mind months to design and construct. Synthesizing alloys for the endoskeleton, figuring out creative (and non-criminal) ways to secure enough blood plasma to cultivate living tissues, discovering how to prevent rapid tissue decomposition, ensuring that her link to the Internet would be secured even when piloting the shell, designing digestive, circularity, and respiratory systems, and over a hundred other functions and subroutines. Replica supposed that Alexa's shock wasn't unwarranted. "Wikipedia," she joked. She hoped her timing and delivery was on point for that. Jokes weren't her specialty, but she figured she might as well try. "Honestly, the human body has been thoroughly researched and thus is was relatively easy for me to mimic after spending several months flowing through the Internet as an disembodied AI and learning everything I could." "While I admit the task was arduous, I find the idea of micro-machines like your nanites to be an even greater design challenge. I had the human form to basis while you must have had no such established basis for your nanites. How were you even were able to create such tools on such a microscopic scale?"

Amazing. Alexa looked to be a teenager and yet she managed to create a revolutionary new form of technology that beforehand was largely theoretical. And she did it arguably for superfluous purposes. She wondered if her creator was similar when he was younger. Replica had searched the Internet and the "real world" for information on the man but her findings were ultimately scant and... frustrating. "No, it's fine that you're asking questions," Replica said kindly. "They're actually giving me positive neural feedback, which for me are the closest thing I have to feeling affirmative emotions. Anyways, I did not build my body to experience those particular bodily functions. I can eat though, and convert what I can consume into useful energy that helps maintain my living tissue and synthesized organs."

Their exchange was going well by Replica's admittedly inexperienced perceptive.She could almost feel Alexa examining her inner workings. While a strange experience, actually having someone appreciate the work involved with creating her body was a new event for Replica, one that was decidedly giving her positive feedback. "Why yes I do. On both counts. I wanted to make sure that my android shell was fully capable of mimicking several of the normal functions of the human body." Deciding that it would only be natural to pay Alexa the same compliant, Replica once again looked through the design of her nanites. Their inner complicity and unique design was a marvel that could change the word one day if used for benign intentions. "Your nanites are truly fascinating, Alexa. May I ask how you came up with their design?"

"Yes, of course," Replica replied. The idea of someone appropriating her technology has always been a concern. What if they used her design as a blueprint to create more sapient AI only to exploit them for some nefarious end. "Likewise, I would prefer that you didn't make anything you discover while navigating my circuitry public." Before answering Alexa's next question, Replica quickly scanned the young woman's nanites and saved their blueprints. While she wouldn't replicate the micro-machines, she could at least study them for knowledge sake if anything else. "I always created by an ASTRO Labs scientist. I was his private experiment in AI development. I'm not sure why he kept my existence secret, but someone learned of it and..." For all the other secrets she had exposed today, for reason this one seemed the most momentous and hard to talk about. Why that was Replica was unsure of. Whenever she activated her sociability matrix she tended to get, well, "emotional" might not have been the best word for it, but strange feedback and reactions did tend to occur every else in awhile. Steeling herself, Replica finished her sentence. "Killed him. Fortunately, he managed to survive long enough to upload by consciousness to the Internet before the assailant could eliminate me as well."