kore_logs | Even a robot needs time to think.

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Even a robot needs time to think.

Who: Daneel and whoever happens by.
Where: The fountain in the town square.
When: Day 30, in the morning.
What: Daneel is pensive. That's allowed.

It had been thirty days since he'd arrived here, and Daneel still had no idea of what was going on, why he or anyone else was here, or even how they'd arrived. He had a vague notion that partner Elijah would have done better -- of course Elijah would have done better. The problem was there wasn't exactly anyone to question. The passage of time didn't trouble him -- what was thirty days added onto twenty decades of existence? -- but still, he felt some small sense of failure, for not knowing more than he did, and for not being able to do more than he could to protect those who were here.

This morning, Daneel was outside, and he was looking up at the fountain statue rather pensively. Idle walks were not something he did, and he certainly didn't need to refresh his memory as to any of the details of his surroundings, but he was accustomed to doing rounds to check that all was well, and sometimes he felt it necessary to do so here, as well, where danger was a far more concrete thing.

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"Well, it's more that Party has a smell and it's not one anyone should have shoved all over their face, actually." He laughed, leaning more on Daneel with a happy sigh. Forget Lydia. Kobra had other friends. Friends who were awesome like Dan. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone who didn't want him around. He just wasn't... a needy motherfucker like that, okay? No strings with him. That's all he wanted.

"You can totally come over to our place sometimes, though. If you want or whatever." He grinned. "Open invitation." Okay, it was more like a poorly worded request. He wanted Daneel to come visit sometimes.

Robots don't, in his experience, get invited anywhere. They escort if necessary, but that's about it. That said, this is mildly surprising.

"I will certainly visit you, if you wish it." That goes beyond fulfilling what Kobra might want, astonishingly. Daneel smiles faintly; he actually genuinely wants to make a point of visiting his friend, even if social calls aren't really something he's supposed to do.

"Fuck yeah, I do. We can party it up." He leaned his head on Daneel's shoulder. "I found Monopoly. Have you played it?" Somehow, he thought not, but it might be fun to teach him.

"I have not," Daneel says, a little doubtful. "It's a game of some sort?"

Playing games with humans is always a little troubling. He's never really certain whether it's better to let them win or not. He thinks that with Kobra he could make an effort to play properly, but he doesn't care about winning in any event.

For now, though, he puts his arm around Kobra, because if Kobra's going to lean on him then he's going to make sure that he's properly supported.

"Yeah, it's a board game that pretty much exemplifies everything I hate about capitalism, but I get to be a top hat, so I just ignore the moral implications." Maybe he should find Parcheesi instead...

The arm only encouraged more leaning. If there was anyone he trusted not to just knock him over, it was Dan, and not just because of his laws or whatever. Dan had his back and he didn't just go around getting pissy, unlike some people who might have been named Ghoul.

Daneel considers this a moment. Capitalism he understands, at least in theory. Capitalism has no place on the Spacer worlds like Aurora, where any and all labour is done by robots and everything needed is simply provided by them.

"I don't understand why it's desirable for you to be a hat," he says at last, "or how that's possible."

"It's this tiny little metal hat that I move around the board to represent me. It's like a metaphor." It was nothing like a metaphor.

"There's a hat and a bike and some other shit, but the hat is totally rad."

"It's a game token. I understand."

He's still considering this, whether this is something he ought to agree to, although it's probably a reasonable extension of being considered a person, it's still strange.

"I don't have very much experience at playing competitive games," Daneel says, slowly, "but if you wish to teach me to play Monopoly, then I will agree to that."

"Well, okay the most important thing is it doesn't matter who wins. You can totally yell if you're losing, but no one means it." He figured that might be an important lesson for competitive games or whatever. "Also Party cheats, so you gotta watch his hands. Actually, so does Ghoul." So did Kobra, but he would't cheat with Daneel.

Daneel considers this in silence for a moment.

"I was of the impression that it's desirable to win at a competitive game. If someone is inclined to cheat, then that supports that idea. Isn't it upsetting to lose?" He hesitates a moment, then decides to speak the entirety of what's troubling him. "The First Law prohibits me from harming a human, Kobra. Does it do more harm to lose or to be allowed to win under false pretenses?"

Well now it was Kobra's turn for silent thought.

"Okay, it's like... a thing. You try to win, because it's not fun if you don't all try, and you pretend it matters because pretending is fun, but losing doesn't actually do any harm, right? 'Cause you're not even playing for money. You're playing for bragging rights no one cares about that you forget after an hour." He sighed. "Maybe we should see if I can find a collaborative game so you don't have to worry about it, but it wouldn't do me any harm to lose, Dan."

"I see. You're saying that the effects are temporary enough that they shouldn't matter, good or bad." This is very philosophical thinking for Daneel, and he has to go through it one step at a time, plodding his way through thought processes that positronic brains just aren't very good at by nature. He needs more practice at it. "I presume how much harm might be done would depend very much upon the person in particular, and their attitude to the game. Someone who takes it very seriously might be more seriously upset by a loss than someone who does not."

He turns to look at Kobra. He thinks he can take him at his word.

"Yeah, like don't play Scrabble. For some reason, even either sucks at that game or wants to kill you over it. Monopoly's pretty safe, though. I'll find some kiddy games that are, too." Teaching human philosophy to a robot really shouldn't come down to Kobra. He just hoped he wasn't, like, fucking shit up permanently in there.

Don't play Scrabble, as this is a game that people take very seriously. He can remember this instruction. Giskard had remarked that Daneel thinks in a very human way, and Daneel has suspected that he will continue to grow in that regard, but this wasn't exactly what he expected when he thought of what that would entail.

"I look forward to seeing what you might choose for me," he says at last. "I suspect that it will be a very educational experience for me."

Kobra just sort of froze and stared at Daneel.

Then he started laughing. "Fuck, I hope not. That sounds boring. What the fuck would anyone even learn from me?"

"I think I learn a great deal from you," Daneel says seriously. "I can't always comprehend why humans behave the way they do, but I've learned much already, and I continue to learn."

"You're so weird, Dan." He smiled. "It's totally a good thing, by the way."

Daneel considers this for a moment.

"I am unique," he says at last. "That's an accurate statement. I hadn't thought much on whether it was a positive or negative trait."

"Definitely positive, dumbass." He rolled his eyes fondly. "Everything else is boring. Who wants to be the same as everyone else?"

"I've never thought very much about the possibility of being anything other than what I am," Daneel says, slowly. "I've never seen much point in it. I can't cease to be myself. What I might want is beside the point."

"Yeah, but..." It was a weird topic for Kobra. "Well, if you don't like who you are, you can change. You can become a different you. 'S what I did."

"No, I can't."

Daneel is briefly at a loss as how to explain it. There are a lot of parallels between a positronic brain and an organic one, but they're not the same thing.

"I'm limited by my programming to a certain extent. I might learn things, and incorporate them into my programming, and grow and develop as a human might when he or she learns new things. I cannot, Kobra, imagine myself as something drastically different, and strive to become that. I have to imagine that's the method you refer to. I'm not capable of the level of deception necessary to pretend to be something else."

"Okay, whoa there! One, you shouldn't want to be drastically different, because you're awesome the way you are." He'd get a Kobra Kick for implying otherwise.

"Two, I don't deceive people about anything that matters." That might have technically been a lie.

"And three, programming can be re-written. I can program. I mean, not you. You're way too advanced. But someone can." A pause. "And they better fucking not 'less you want 'em to."

"Unless I knew the intention of the programming matrix they intended to apply or remove, I would be reluctant to agree," Daneel says. "There are any number of memories I wouldn't want to have taken from me, and the notion of losing them makes me... uncomfortable."

"Good. Anyone tries to pull that shit on you, they're answering to me." He was serious. Friends were everything to him and he would defend them with lethal force. Dan didn't have to watch and he didn't have to know anything, but that the problem was gone.

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