*leaves Aulë a voicemail asking him to come by and brainstorm with her sometime, as she has some new gadgets to play with and would like some input on the Chipses' mechanical design*
*also sends up a worried thought directed toward Dad's Cosmic Inbox before she can change her mind*
*opens the door and takes a second to sense your signature behind your facçade* *knows how you like your little games*
Dad! *wags a finger at you* That's an outfit for Aulë. But oh, you didn't have to come all the way down here just to see a little syntax error like me. *gives you a big hug*
*gently scolding* You should have come to me sooner, Daughter, if it was bothering you. Which it was, of course. *shrugs* Or later. It's all relative. But sooner in spirit.
*lifts one finger* The answer, by the way, is "Yes." *smiles at you and turns to leave*
*takes your arm and leads you to your own living room*
*sits in a comfy armchair and holds out a hand as if preparing to propound a theory*
*takes a sip from the teacup that materializes atop His palm*
For the Firstborn of Arda, creating children was a delicate process, as you well know. For you, the Firstborn of my mind, there exists even greater responsibility.
*nods slowly* Correct. But dear, you have already omitted your further responsibility. You Ainur were born of my thought. You possess powers greater than anything the Little Children can comprehend.
The wee ones begotten by the Little Children are like them far more in body than in mind. *chuckles* Thus you will often see mortal children go their own way, to the point that their own parents cannot comprehend the least of their drives and ambitions.
The marriage bonds between Ainur are fused on an entirely different level. It is the same plane that allows you to experience Oromë's thoughts so completely, and he yours. It is because your powers are so great that a child of your making can only come into Being when the time is right.
*smiles somewhat sadly* That I cannot say. Well, I can, but I won't. It is of your own unconscious making, when your union can produce a spirit who is at once a part of you and Oromë and will offer her or his own unique voice to the Music.
*gently* But Daughter, you ask "How will I know?" And you think it, also. And that alone tells me that perhaps the first condition is also in need of proper alignment. Oromë's assertions may appear to work, on the surface, but the algorithm maybe be unwieldy and buggy. The more elegant, robust code will always be the most correct one. You see?
*sighs* Yes. *defiantly blinks back tears before they can gum up the works* I see.
*a bit desperately* Perhaps if one of the Little Children...? They are all of a kind now--the briefer, defiant kind. Would that not introduce the element of chance?
*His disappointment evident* I am surprised at you, little one. You have chosen your marriage. Do you fancy yourself one of the defiant kind?
*shakes His head* In any case, what you suppose does not apply. An Ainu cannot be freed from the larger responsibility simply by uniting with a mortal. *thinks* The minimum performance specifications still hold, if you prefer. *amusedly* Vendórë need not have taken on that particular project, though I'd never seek to dampen that sort of enthusiasm for her work.
*is standing before you where no time ago He was seated and holding a teacup*
*presses a hand to your cheek* *fondly* Do not worry yourself, Daughter. It would not do to become hasty now, after (and before and beyond) all this Time. *kisses your forehead*
*softens slightly* Oh, A3ûlêz. No, it's fine—I'm sorry. *bites her lip* I was just talking to Dad and...well, let's just say the output wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for.
*sort of wonders why you'd even want to find the brazen whore who seduced her husband*
Oh, that's...I haven't heard from her lately, Dad be praised unfortunately. *doesn't mention the many, many times she's had to listen to Yavanna complain about how impossible to reach you are* *thinks that if she wasn't such a moron she'd know by now just to check your lab*
Yes. Come by...whenever. I'd like your opinion on something.
*tosses the bag of Cheetos towards you* Snackfood of the gods. *winks at you before being totally and utterly distracted by Chip*
Oh, oh, my goodness. Is he -- he is. He's tracking my movement. He's watching me. How marvellous. *waves his hand at Chip and watches Chip wave back* Hmm, I see what you mean. Anatomically, he's near-perfect but the movement -- *crouches down in front of Chip* Can I open him up?
*crunches on a Cheeto, looking pleased* They've become quite skilled at adapting, even with very little available observational information. No signs of independent decision-making, but there's a missing a link, of course.
*knows you're not going to damage anything by taking a look* *unlike Oromë would, ye gods* *waves her hand in a "go ahead" fashion* Not very Child-like, hmm? I just can't figure it out. That and a couple other things.
Well, of course, I needed help from Dad for the independent decision-making when it came to my the Dwarves on Arda? But, then again, we weren't privy to the kind of knowledge we have here on Órë.
*sits cross-legged in front of Chip and scrutinises him* I think you're close, Vána. I think you're very, very close. *runs his hand along Chip's arm* The mechanics are faultless but perhaps we might look into some kind of synthetic material for the joints and the tendons? It would give him a more fluid type of movement.
*nods* I wonder... *quickly* Not that these are anything like your Dwarves, of course. Just toys, really. *sheepish smile* I guess you can understand why AI's always been a hobby of mine.
some kind of synthetic material
YES. A light composite of some kind. *unearths some flat sheets of some strange material from a desk and brings them over to you* The skin is becoming a major issue, too. I just can't approximate the right appearance without creating a complex underlying circulatory system. *laughs* Maybe I should do it. And color the lubricating fluids.
*laughs too* That would be amusing. *pats Chip on the head* Gosh, it would mean he could bleed. Although we wouldn't wish any damage to such a fine specimen.
*runs his hands over all of Chip's joints* *mutters, more to himself* Sensors would be good. Not for pain. There's no use in him feeling pain. But for safety; heat and cold and proprioception.
*takes your arm and pulls you over to a worktable* *newly excited* You're going to love this stuff then. I wasn't sure whether I should show you—some people think it's pretty far out, I'm certain.
*points to an array of oddly-shaped dissimilar gadgets arranged in a neat line* Bioelectric implants. More for the children, of course. So many things they can already do...but better. *holds one out to you* An optical converter. Handles the standard thermal infrared for night vision, but—*a bit smugly*—I don't think anyone else has a process like mine for visually interpreting X-ray and radio waves.
Then there are these. *holds up a tiny pair of vaguely cylindrical objects*
Oh, night vision. Marvellous, marvellous. I must say that you're aeons ahead of me on this, Vána! *peers at the objects in your hand before looking up at you quizzically*
*unable to hide her excitement* Specialized self-modulating subatomic phase-shifting nodules. Superficially implant pairs of cross-linked nodes at six-inch intervals over the desired area like so... *lifts the bottom of your shirt and presses two of the objects to your sides so they're more or less parallel* ...and specially-calibrated proximity sensors and accelerometers react to a physical threat by actually altering the dermal molecular structure temporarily. The surrounding tissue is held in virtual biostasis. The lightest, most perfect body armor imaginable.
*ponders this* Well, if you want to absorb these two and think together the proper connections, we should be able to approximate the effect, at least. *smiling* Want to try?
*off-handedly* Actually, I beat that the other day. Had a bit of an accident in the lab when I was thinking about Yavanna. That's Mister One-sixteen-point-three now. *shrugs* I thought it was a wrong reading too but Aulendil assures me that it's correct.
![[info]](http://www.greatestjournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
![[info]](http://www.greatestjournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}