Working Through Some Issues

[othellovonryan]

[The room is darker than normal rooms. Still plenty of light to see, but there is no large centralized source, instead coming largely from various displays around the room. Computer screens, holographic displays, boards with tools or parts on display. Allowing for easy location of various things. Many projects in some state of complete.]

[Its a laboratory. A little hard to track the full parameters of the room, as it does seem to shift at times, always compensating for something new.]

[Some things will be familiar to Tryse with a look around. She'll see the dagger given to Eggs when they arrive, with the basic hilt design in the center, but other configurations in half states around it.]

[There are charts that track the number of resources inside Egg House, from their food, to furniture, medical equipment, how many bottles of Tryse's concoctions and estimate of how many bottles are likely empty and an estimate of when to make more. What supplies are in the junk pile, and what's in the bunker, what he needs to finish up in rooms and what improvements he can make.]

[Displays with Egg names and the names of his friends and family.]

[Displays with words of caution.]

[And many more screens with various other prompting words like 'public' 'pr' 'community' 'cult' 'health' 'education,' and more besides.]

[A display with the Genius Built logo on it. Another with the Hamato symbol.]

[There other than moving text on the screen, there is a constant movement of a rolling chair.]

[In it, there is a young Donatello, looking around ten, with glasses taped to his head, in a grey hoody with rat ears, constantly kicking himself from one station, checking over something, maybe altering something, and then kicking himself to another to go over something else, and yet again.]

[And then there's the one warm light in this place, a young woman made of soft yellow light, sitting next to the Hamato monitor, kicking her feet in the air, watching as Donnie movies form place to place.]

Comments

[othellovonryan]

He made SHELLDON to operate all the home systems. The whole actually becoming a person thing was a surprise for him later, but Shelly likes helping the family, so he keeps doing it. Makes him way better at it too.

Like locking Donnie out of the systems when he's been up for three days straight. [She laughs.]

[tryse]

Mm.

You'd be April, of course.

[Which part of Donatello does she represent? He doesn't seem the type to laugh at himself so freely. Certainly not a level of self-loathing. Is she connected through his ninpo, a shadow of a girl supported by memory and magic rather than the real thing?]

[othellovonryan]

Of course. [Nods her head.] April O'Neil, at your service!

[tryse]

What kind of service do you do?

[Hey, it's important to know when someone offers.]

[othellovonryan]

In this case, helping translate Donnie. Dr. Feelings is for when Donnie needs to make a general emotion course correction.

I'm the one whose good when Donnie is being a jerk too into his head, or when he's dealing with a hurt heart. Or both, in this case.

[tryse]

A defense and a support all in one, then. I can see why you'd appear in this instance.

Well, then. Rather than having me poke about blindly, where do you think I should start?

[othellovonryan]

Depends on your actual question.

Do you want to know what Donnie thinks gives a person value, what makes a person good, or what does Donnie value of himself? Donnie goes for literal, but you know, people aren't always as literal as he thinks.

[tryse]

Part of it was to see where he took the question. Personally, I was having a hard time coming up with one.

Normally when I do a heart dive, it's instant and immediate, with no goal other than to look at what's shown to me and understand what might be fixed from there, whether in reality or in a secondary run. Or to fulfill a request like "Let me forget this" or "Make me feel like living again." I'm not used to someone taking prep time, but it's what made him comfortable, so...

[othellovonryan]

Yyyyeah, part of it is because his emotions work differently. It's why he hasn't offered to do the Egg Mindscape Journey even though he had no problem with you guys doing it.

He wasn't joking when he said it'd just be puzzles and a hole. Which would tell you he takes a while to process things and what his current stuff is, but not a lot else. That's his default emotional state. That's why his face is all... [Does her best face blank expression.] Most of the time.

And he didn't want to throw you into his hurt feelings or his insecurities. He thought that'd be manipulative.

[tryse]

Mm.

[Inconvenient, that. So she really only gets a curated experience.]

It might have been honest, but certainly not the most positive impression to make. So, probably the best route at the moment is to go down what you just said, in that order.

[othellovonryan]

Honest emotions. Not honest choices.

[She points a thumb at the Genius Built logo screen.] That one then.

[tryse]

[She nods in thanks and turns to the screen.]

SHELLDON, what functions are active for this screen?

[She's had some experience with GAIA, at least.]

[othellovonryan]

"Progress reports, plans, back up plans, back up plans for the back up plans, the ways to track information, all the info needed for making Genius Built a whole thing, dude!"

"I'm not sure if Dee needs as many plans as he does, but he doesn't trust capitalism to not cheat."

[tryse]

Those who don't plan end up failing when the unexpected occurs.

That doesn't really do much for explaining what he thinks gives people value, though. Display progress reports, information tracking, and other relevant information on parallel displays, please.

[othellovonryan]

"He has so many plans. Like way too many. He has plans for if Pizzasaurous goes on a rampage."

[Holographic screens pop up to life around her. There are extensive lists.]

[Progress reports are simple statements with progress bars. Featuring things like 'Puppet identity,' 'Number of patents,' 'Discretionary companies,' 'Yokai run companies,' 'trademarking,' 'copyrighting,' 'Minimum number of inventions for market sector,' and on and on. Things in reference to how to make a company WORK when one is not a legal citizen and will never ever be able to show his face, as well as how many places he can get products into.]

[Information tracking has its own list, with simple Active/Inactive settings. 'Social Media posts,' 'Photo scrubbing,' 'Turtles plus odd modifies,' 'Yokai,' 'April O'Neil,' 'Cassandra Jones,' 'Casey Jones Junior,' 'Lou Jitsu rumors,' 'Government,' 'NYPD,' 'Animal Control,' 'Earth Protection Forces,' 'Aliens,' 'Kraang,' 'Foot Clan.' They are all inactive.]

[Another screen with Emergency Plans for things like discovery, sabotage, hostile take overs.]

[Another screen with Societal Inequality at the top and files like 'healthcare,' 'wages,' 'toxic work culture,' 'discrimination' and things of that nature.]

"Why do you think he wants to make Genius Built?"

[tryse]

[Guess who is equipped to handle any of these concepts. What the fuck is a corporation, even? Trademarks? Copyrights? What's a Yokai? How can media be social? Is that like call and response at theater performances?

Tryse reads through both deliberately and carefully, nodding carefully at various points. It doesn't take her long, she intakes data pretty quickly.

At the end of it, she just goes-]

I don't know what most of this means.

[othellovonryan]

Donnie isn't a fan of the rampant corruption that runs our nation.

[Here's an April, pointing at the screens to do with businesses and social services.]

We don't have leaders just randomly taking off people's heads, but money gets manipulated to all go to the top, making it harder for most of us just to live, but slow enough that people accept it as a status quo. That's what all these systems are about. He absolutely hates it, so he's got plans to disrupt it as much as possible.

I'd say he was being way arrogant, but Dee can also do things no one else can in these sectors, so its not impossible. Especially because he'll cheat. As he'll say, its not his fault the billionaires have too much money to notice when random thousands disappear one day.

[She gestures to information gathering.]

That is security for us. He makes sure we don't appear in background pictures, we don't get talked about online, watches what the government might know about mutants and yokai. He's got at least twenty different major viruses on all the social media to get rid of that kind of stuff.

[tryse]

I don't know that biological warfare is the answer to this, but...

[Well, it's his world.]

Is that what he thinks gives him value, then? Trying to overthrow the ruling classes? I hope he's keeping in mind that when you shove a flaming iron into an infected wound to purge it, it will also damage healthy tissue around it. He does tend to be a little... hyperfocused at times.

[As if she isn't.]

[othellovonryan]

Oh right. Computer virus. Sickness for the computer, not people. A controlled poison. He hasn't gotten to biological warfare as an option. Yet anyway.

[Listen. Donnie can't say he wouldn't not NOT think of it.]

Not overthrow the ruling class specifically. And he knows. Of course he knows. You can't disrupt a system and not expect fallout.

He just also sees how people live. If things continue as is, it'll be bad. Maybe not tomorrow, or the next few years, but its sooner rather than later. He's trying to minimize it, these plans are years in the making, but he knows it'll do something.

But you remember the question for this information, right?

[tryse]

Ah. So for things that aren't quite like his children yet.

[She can understand that. Tryse watches the information flow with all of that in mind, as if she can force it to make sense to her with what little information she's been given. The numbers are boggling. Why not just kill them all and set up a new king? A better king? It worked for Arthur, until Lancelot and Guinevere and Mordred mucked things up.]

Of course. What brings a man value? He and I can certainly agree that it's not wealth.

[othellovonryan]

Oh definitely. Its pretty easy. No one else is making true AI. A lot of Machine Learning they call AI, but pffft, definitely not thinking for themselves.

[Sadly the numbers don't make that so viable. There are over seven hundred billionaires in America alone. Hundreds of corrupt government officials. It isn't an easy number to just off.]

[Plus like. Donnie does HAVE morals.]

[April nods.] Value.

Is a neutral word.

This. [She gestures to all the screens.] Could start the path to a fairer society, or it could make it all crash and burn.

[tryse]

Like those puppets you sometimes see at circuses that profess to give truths, but in actuality they're just vague enough that people fill in the blanks themselves?

[Sounds like a skill issue.

But Tryse is from a very different culture when it comes to the morality of murder.

She paces, examining the screens from multiple angles, then glances over her shoulder to the April illusion.]

Are you to be his king, then? Will he be the Merlin to your Arthur, setting you up to build a finer world once you've purged the old? He'll need someone like that, a strong authority figure that people can believe in to rally behind and unify with.

Or is he still waiting for that?

[othellovonryan]

More complicated, but yeah, that's a good start for what its actually like. Not an original thought in those programs, unlike Shelly here.

"I'd like to see them try to get Dee to actually sleep!"

[April laughs at that.] I mean, I could probably be president if I really wanted to. Or the real April could be. But being a politician means lying a lot, even the ones who do actually do their job properly. Donnie doesn't think I'd like having to lying that much.

Plus, you gotta keep in mind Donnie's circumstances. He can't ever be Merlin. He can force an upheaval for societal change, but that doesn't change humans. [There's a sad smile on her face at that.]

The current idea is when he thinks the time is optimal, he'll get more involved in elections. Make sure the people who deserve to win are in place to. Hopefully by actually getting it so people are able to vote properly. He knows he probably shouldn't actually fix the election. At least not the first time. But he can definitely make sure people have time off and are registered.

[tryse]

[She rolls her eyes a little.]

Voting. I've yet to see a civilization where democracy stands for more than two or three centuries. Corruption or outside influences always seep in and it inevitably collapses until they form ranks behind a strong central authority figure that can command the people.

Humanity's natural state is that of a benevolent neutrality. They want a better world, it's just that those who are greedy, cruel, and brutal often push the hardest for their own goals. And it takes a while, sometimes, for someone to remind everyone else that this isn't what's best.

He could be a shadow Merlin, if he wanted. If anyone can guarantee privacy, he can. Isn't that what this last bit, with the viruses, is doing for all of you?

[othellovonryan]

Its a trial and error. All governments are able to be corrupted. Democracy usually means corrupting the means people are elected. When its just a select few, you corrupt those people or they go mad with power. Its not like ruling on your own keeps you free from the influence of those greedy people.

But at least having the people be engaged with politics means its easier for the masses to work together next time. Step by step, people change. That's how you get a better society. You change how people think and you can only do that by giving everyone a bit of power.

And a republic has the longest lasting track record so far, so there is hope.

And yeah, that's what all that is for. But he also knows he's not free of corruption. He knows he gets controlling. Its better if he can just give the power and means to the people who are vulnerable to actually stand up and fight back.

Its like you've seen with him before.