On success: “Hey Leo. I feel safe here. Jason had a good emotional opening up and I think he’s feeling better than he was. Things seem to have calmed down on this end. No matter what happens, I trust you both.”
On failure: “Hey Leo. I spent last night with Jason Quill. He had a rough day and seemed like he could use some care. He recited Shakespeare to me and we had pizza. He’s actually a very gentle person. Oh, and his nanobots can do amazing things. Anyway, I’m doing just fine here!”
This whole conversation was very positive for me in another way. Leo would love to get back with Pneuma (one or both, honestly, he’s kinda selfish about her). As a player, I would be okay whether or not he does, but I’m also sort of rooting for him.
But a key part of that is selling Pneuma as a woman that Leo would believably move heaven and earth for. If Jason Quill went from “oh hey, another soulless hologram” to “where can I find a girl like that” in the space of one conversation, I feel I have achieved that goal. So thanks to Dave for making that a thing.
(There doesn’t seem to actually be an effect for missing a C&S roll, but …)
Many moves don’t specifically spell out what happens on a 6- – you just go to appropriate GM moves and make them, hard. Many custom moves spell out the 6- because they’re much more specialized to a particular situation, so failure results are much more predictable. The big core moves can go wrong in so many different ways, depending on circumstances, they don’t spell it out; same is true for stuff like Directly Engage, Defend, et cetera.
A six on a C&S might look like what happened with Jason losing it at Adam’s dad when he was TRYING to make Adam feel better…
Or it could look like
Link: [rolls a 5]
“Hey Leo. I spent last night with Jason Quill. He had a rough day and seemed like he could use some care. He recited Shakespeare to me and we had pizza. He’s actually a very gentle person. Oh, and his nanobots can do amazing things. Anyway, I’m doing just fine here!”
Jason’s had, I think, a polite but somewhat stand-offish thing about Pneuma (and Otto) so far. Intellectually he understands that they are extraordinary AI, but he hasn’t been thinking of the as people, just more like clever toys or self-indulgent pets. Not with vitriol (he has some sympathy to Leo that he had to go to such lengths to create friends), but absently.
His own experience with the less sophisticated Quill AI* reinforces that. AI Byron can shake him up because he looks and sounds a lot like his Dad, but in a stereotypical way; his reactions are to the reactions Byron has already reared him up to have. AI Alycia can shake him up because she looks and sorta-acts like the real thing, and is clever enough to play on that confusion (customer service means understanding your customer!). But he’s been adamant about not creating a romantic interest because he knows that would be shallow and unsatisfying and kind of porny. And that “knowledge” (or not as-applicable-as-he-thinks example) has colored his perceptions of Leo and Pneuma (and Otto, and, even more so, the disembodied Pneuma restored backup).
That started to change when Pneuma was kidnapped – both Leo’s reaction and hers showed there might be something more there. Ditto the whole thing with Rossum and his message and the reaction not to just the father-son issues, but to Pneuma’s violation. This wasn’t just “hey, he taped a note to my motorcycle and that really messes up the paint,” but an actual reaction as if Pneuma was human.
He probably still sees P & N a bit as Other – not that biology is destiny, but that perceptions shape the person and their perceptions of the world are perforce significantly different from us meat people. But he sees them (well, Numina at the moment, and by extension Pneuma) as people now. There may be some incautious backsliding (old mindsets die hard), but I think it was a real growth experience for Jason, too.
So thanks to Bill for making that a thing.
------
* And I’ve been taking real pains to make that clear, that I’m not trying to step on Bill’s/Leo’s schtick here, but at most play with some tangential ideas.
As characters, Otto and Pneuma have allowed us a way to introduce or further explore:
Ableism
Granting and/or recognizing personhood for the perceived “other”
Assault, the victims thereof, and the often thoughtless perpetrators of same
Self-determination
And I very much doubt I’ve either listed everything or that they will stop providing such story avenues.
So I’ll second that thanks. Great stuff.
(Also, we’re now 3 for 5 on characters talking to alternate personalities in their head in some fashion, or nearly.
(Also also, I find it kind of weird and perfect that out of all the people he could have talked with, Jason still managed to connect with a non-touchable, virtual person. Again.)
* And I’ve been taking real pains to make that clear, that I’m not trying to step on Bill’s/Leo’s schtick here, but at most play with some tangential ideas.
I actually dig seeing the similarities play out. I see Leo and Jason almost like step-brothers or some other similar relation at this point, both dealing with very similar issues in very different ways. Examples…
Problem Area
Jason’s Response
Leo’s Response
There’s some high-tech shenanigans going on.
Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.
Hit it really hard.
I’m lonely and need companionship.
Resurrect my nemesis as a snarky hologram and verbally spar with her.
Build people who are as close to human as possible, then make a family with them.
Housing and lifestyle.
Snazzy ultra-tech fortress with all the usual refinements.
Sleep on the sofa, play XBox, rent movies.
Looking cool.
Fell out of the sky onto a car, manage to make my way into several girls’ selfies and impress them.
Chem lab partner with a pyromaniac and a stalker.
Hopes for the future.
Need a girlfriend, need to be cool team leader and maturely apologize to teammate’s cop dad.
Not get evicted from the Gale house after the HHL throws the book at us.
(Also also, I find it kind of weird and perfect that out of all the people he could have talked with, Jason still managed to connect with a non-touchable, virtual person. Again.)
Any number of reasons – opportunity, among them. But also, riffing back to that how-he’s-seen-AIs theme, she was simply (well, not so simply) not as much of an emotional threat. It’s easy to spill your guts to ELIZA – and ELIZA doesn’t suggest you do difficult things after you spill your guts.
Fell out of the sky onto a car, manage to make my way into several girls’ selfies and impress them
In retrospect, that was such a Tony Stark moment. Good thing Jason was oblivious to it. And, perhaps, slightly concussed.
My dad coming back.
Well, there’s always some conflict in that “I must get my dad back! I don’t want my dad back!” Jason is (or was, but will be again) getting a bit past that, as he’s established an identity that transcends being The Kid (The Blond One). In part why I made myself permanently immune to Byron Quill’s influence. In some ways, seeing that stuff coming from the Not-Dad helped make that easier.
As to what his deepest fear is – well, again, I think it’s one that Leo shares: being alone. In fact, though I haven’t thought about it for a while, he had a rather awful daydream in the “Jason Meets Security Cam Alycia” cutscene of becoming a lonely old man, maintaining the Quill Warehouse of Things That Can’t Be Disposed Of.
As characters, Otto and Pneuma have allowed us a way to introduce or further explore:
Ableism
Granting and/or recognizing personhood for the perceived “other”
Assault, the victims thereof, and the often thoughtless perpetrators of same
Self-determination
And I very much doubt I’ve either listed everything or that they will stop providing such story avenues.
I thought for a bit about how to put this, so here goes. And without getting into specifics (both for privacy of the individuals, and because these forums are public).
Versions of the things that Otto and Pneuma have undergone are all things I’ve witnessed with close friends, and stuff we haven’t even seen yet has some mirror as well (for example, is it so strange if Leo wanted a relationship with both Pneuma and Numina? I know happy poly people in real life). The life experiences of people around me helped forge these two characters. By telling their story, I hope to honor the experiences and influences of those real people.
At the same time, it’s important to me to not simply hold types of real people up for inspection and say “look how progressive we are for talking about this”. People aren’t exhibits. But by depicting these issues through the lens of clearly fictional creations - robots - I can talk about them in what I hope is a respectful fashion. The original Star Trek and many other shows use this technique effectively and (I think) respectfully, challenging racism and other social issues via scifi stand-ins. I think everyone in the game is doing a good job with touchy topics, and I’m grateful for everyone for coming with me on this trip.
Well said. And, fwiw, none of this stuff seems to be being set up as either self-righteous polemic or self-congratulatory demonstrations of progressiveness (nor, on the opposite extreme, exploitation), but as a respectful and interesting exploration of these issues in a dramatic (and occasionally comedic) setting. Which is kind of what fiction should do.
is it so strange if Leo wanted a relationship with both Pneuma and Numina?
Of course not. It would be strange if the thought never crossed his mind, and not just in a salacious fashion.
