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trans_92009-04-13 01:06 am
cabbage-butt.livejournal.com) wrote in trans_92009-04-13 01:06 am
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All work and no play...
There is an AI on the ship that goes by the name Bender Stack. It only pops up now and again, and now its function may finally be somewhat clear.
"Hey. Hey meatbag!" says a grating voice.
Bender Stack chases people away from work when they've been doing too much of it.
This is why Brainiac 5 leaves the Special Weapons Division and by the time he gets up to the Living Area (having decided to eat anyway if the irritating AI is going to heckle him out of work) he's about at his wit's end.
"--For the last time, I am not going to build you a robot prostitute! You're an AI, not a mechanoid, you couldn't interface with it anyway."
"Hey. Hey meatbag!" says a grating voice.
Bender Stack chases people away from work when they've been doing too much of it.
This is why Brainiac 5 leaves the Special Weapons Division and by the time he gets up to the Living Area (having decided to eat anyway if the irritating AI is going to heckle him out of work) he's about at his wit's end.
"--For the last time, I am not going to build you a robot prostitute! You're an AI, not a mechanoid, you couldn't interface with it anyway."
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She keeps asking him so many questions and maybe it feels a little one-sided but... he probably knows or is at least disinterested in everything she could tell him about humans and truth be told listening to him talk about his home world and time with the Legionnaires is pretty fascinating. (Distracting her from lunch enough for her to have mostly finished it at the least.)
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Brainy actually likes this. He has such difficulty socializing on his own and she's reducing the sharing to a format he's familiar with--someone asking him a ton of questions. (That happens constantly). It was the only way Ayla'd ever gotten anything out of him, like him telling her about his mother, after all.
He almost smirks at her supposition about his implants, intensely amused.
"Our species is not known for putting emphasis on physicality, no. Actually, it likely wouldn't be difficult for you to conjecture what trait Coluans value most." He taps his temple for emphasis.
So that must mean he's Colu's most desirable young bachelor and most well-respected citizen, right? (Ha.)
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"The girls ought to have been all over YOU if you'd ever been let out of the lab back home." She teases. "But you know, you're pretty cute by human physical standards too, even with the out-there skin colour."
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This is where he gets uncomfortable.
"I'm not..." He lets out a little huff of disbelief. "It's not my experience that I'm considered attractive."
He's a little pinker--well, greener in the cheeks.
"I wasn't considered as such on Colu. Or...anywhere else."
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"Just cause nobody's TOLD that you're attractive to your face before doesn't mean you're not cute you know." Brenda grins. "Not my type, but I'm sure you're right up somebody's alley."
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"Perhaps, but generally, being told the opposite makes it abundantly clear that the opposite is true, however."
He's flushing even more, to the point of half covering his face now.
"I really--I'm not."
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"Aw seriously? Somebody called you ugly? Who was it? If they're on the ship they're getting punched. That's just mean no matter WHAT you actually look like!"
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"I mean in general. I have never been considered--viable as a potential mate." A pause. "By anyone."
He explains, "The Legion combats xenophobia daily--it's part of the reason the team even formed, as a force of unity in the United Planets, and while there is progress, for many species romantic interest in individuals outside their own species is somewhat rare. Ergo, the chances of catching the interest of a mate outside my own species is unlikely, none of my team-mates, who are governed less by societal pressures and prejudices are interested, and I'm considered an aberration and dangerously antisocial and insane by other Coluans, and therefore unfeasible as a potential mate."
He goes on. "Being exiled from Colu as I am makes the chances of finding a mate even more unlikely, given I'm excluded from all aspects of Coluan society."
"Given Coluans base attractiveness on such non-physical traits..."
He's one butt-ugly Coluan. (But also he just doesn't think he's particularly physically attractive anyway, or doesn't put much thought to it).
"Regardless of all that, it's irrelevant. I have no interest in finding a mate and will never develop such interest in the future."
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And she thinks the last part about not wanting to find a mate is a bold-faced lie but she's not going to just say it like that.
"I think it'd be a shame if you just give up on the idea entirely though. I mean yeah. Don't pine. That never did anybody any good. But don't resign yourself to being alone so totally that you wouldn't believe it if someone ever asked you out."
"I think you underestimate what some other people might find attractive, Brainy."
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It's very easy for him to lie to himself. To just not think about it, until he gets slammed in the face with a blonde and then he devotes quite a bit of brainpower to pretending that--that it doesn't matter.
Subject change.
"It's my understanding that humans are far more concerned with mating than other species. I've never understood the obsession."
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Discovery channel/too much reading textbooks = OTP"Mating to humans is just as much social and emotional as biological. Human beings as a rule work better in pairs and groups. I mean from a perspective of physical well-being alone being in a relationship with someone else gives you a huge boost. You have someone to take care of you if you're ill, someone to motivate you to put effort into being healthy, someone to reinforce your decisions and support you in pursing your overall goals. You protect each other sure, but you also help each other. You're less likely to take on dangerous tasks if you are attached to someone else for example." She smirks. "And the psychological and physical benefits of getting laid on a regular basis are kind of astounding."
"A good relationship works both as a comfort and as an outlet for aggression that would be distributed unfairly otherwise-" she tries not to think about Paco letting her punch the hell out of him just now "-and it's just... stabilizing to be in. Sure it can go sour but so can everything. The rewards you get when things go right make it worth trying."
"It's part biological and part this way we're been brought up as a society to seek partnerships as sources of strength. There's this phrase - 'no man is an island' - and it's usually true for us. Humans just aren't... programmed to be loners, if that makes sense."
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Humans are a little obsessed with the sex pootie.
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"...I'm going to assume you've never HAD sex?"
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On the one hand, he wants to answer that it's very personal.
On the other hand, he wants to act clinical and detached and like it's a not a big deal. The latter wins out.
"Not as such, no. I've had far more important things occupying my time than seeking to engage in carnal activities with someone."
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"Yeah. That's why you don't get it."
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"I mean, yeah, there's sex just for the physical satisfaction of the act, but that's not the same thing as sex as an expression of love. The former is nice but nothing special, but the latter is... it's totally different."
So she's told. She's not exactly got the most experience but she knows what she knows. She remembers what it felt like to be with someone she at least thought she loved, if only a little, and if only for a short while. Fickle boy. She doesn't like to think about him much. She figures better not to mention him when she's trying to make a case for the good part of the story.
"It's really not... quantifiable? So I'm not quite sure how to put it to you. The feeling of it is different and it's really not about the act as much as about the person you're doing it with. Sure it feels good, but that gets to be sort of secondary with the right person. Trouble is it's hard to FIND that right person and... well people have a problem at times with using the physical act of sex to fill the emotional gap of not having a real partner to be close to. Which is kind of sad and makes us look obsessed when a lot of us are just lonely."
Oh and SO much of that is personal conjecture and not quite bare fact, but she figures he'll encounter enough conflicting opinions on the subject on his own without her trying to play her own devil's advocate.
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"So the obsession is rooted in loneliness and desire for companionship, as many are socialized into thinking it's a physical expression of romantic feelings and not just a procreative act."
He actually does not know this stuff. Other species are other species.
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She gestures a little with the spoon, making like circles as if she were lecturing and just fiddling with the pointer in between tapping it on the blackboard.
"The idea of sex as a purely procreative act is kind of lost underneath the idea of sex for companionship and pleasure, honestly. It USED to be thought of that way, at least in Western culture, but the time period where sex was supposed to be a procreative act ONLY was incredibly restrictive and pious and full of a lot of religious persecution."
"It's regarded as this sort of dark age where people were frightened into believing a lot of stupid things just because they weren't educated to know any better and as a result a lot of superstitions were honestly believed. Even my grandparents generation were still being told things like that masturbation would make them go blind."
She rolls her eyes. Then the thought crosses into her mind of how Brainy would have reacted to Bianca's very effective slide show and she's suddenly quite glad that she's explaining this instead of Jaime's mother. Because for all it's useful facts somebody with no cultural understanding of sex would probably have run from it screaming after the slides.
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Brainy would've found such a scientifically-based, factual presentation rather informative, actually, but he understand the biology behind it all.
"Sexual attitudes are considerably liberal by my own time--nearly a non-issue-- and I do understand the socio-cultural ramifications of sexual oppression. It's more the intense personal interest that confounds me somewhat. Coluans tend towards arranging unions based on logical consideration of certain traits and the possible genetics of the offspring. We're exceedingly long-lived as a species, which means the need to procreate in general is minimal. Beyond that, I'm even somewhat unusual for a Coluan in my beliefs and attitudes."
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Her expression is thoughtful as she tries to think of how best to explain it.
"Like, it's one thing to use that kind of screening to prevent disease or birth defects... but if both parents are healthy having children is sort of a 'take what you're given' thing. Humans are big on the non-scientific aspects of people. Personality, creative spirit, the concept of a soul and the precious individuality of a life. We get very philosophical about their being a greater purpose and meaning to our lives and the way we interact with and influence others just by existing."
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