1730/Ontological Empiricism vs. A Priori

Ontological Empiricism vs. A Priori
Date of Scene:	18 May 2020
Location:	Midtown
Synopsis:	Vivian runs into Ella while people watching in Grand Central Terminal. They talk a little philosophy and politics.
Cast of Characters:	Vivian Vision, Ella Normandy

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Vivian Vision has posed:
With a core component of her programming being to seek understanding of the Human condition Vivian often feels an urge to explore the wider world. After all she can't limit her sample pool to purely Happy Harbor students and staff. That would lead to inaccurate data, plus it'd be rather boring.

And where better in New York to observe people than Grand Central Terminal? As a major transport link it provides a good sample of the city and as a famous tourist landmark it allows some chances to engage with people from elsewhere in the world.

Vivian, dressed in a very real Happy Harbor school uniform with some minor holographic trickery to hide her Synthezoid nature, has perched herself on the edge of a bench with a book in her lap. Seemingly reading, although a careful observer could probably discern that she's more interested in her environment than whatever the book might be.

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella, for her part, understands humans just fine. They're hungry, and they're afraid of being eaten. Everything else is just a color or combination of those states. Yes, Vampirella, foremost expert in the field of behavioral psychology!

    Vampirella too is in disguise, in that she's wearing clothes. She dresses like a teacher except for the part where no teacher on Earth would ever go to class wearing that scarlet blouse with the sleeves rolled up, that black skirt, those dangling gold earrings and too-large gold bracelets (the plain black heels and the blue-tinted glasses might be acceptable for the dress code, though). Vampirella knows it's a bad disguise, it makes her look like she's on the way to a bachelor party, but she just can't make herself smother her skin the way humans do.

    Humans?

    Sniff sniff. Her nostrils flare as something cuts through the various chemical stinks of too many people sweating in close proximity to one another, their emotions bleeding out into the oil on their skin. This is... there are no words humans would recognize for those smells, but sharp, hot, metallic. The smell of lightning crackling beneath it. What is that? Vampirella scans around sharply as if her eyes can follow the smell, wandering about and ignoring catcalls as she tries to find that scent's source... a schoolgirl on a bench with a book?

    A schoolgirl? Yeah, right. A golem, maybe.

    No suspicion shows in Vampirella's face as she straps on a warm, apologetic smile and asks Vivian, "Hi, do you mind if I sit here? My feet are killing me." They're not, but Vampirella's been lying for a long time.

Vivian Vision has posed:
Even if Vivian was giving off chemical information regarding her emotional state there'd be precious little information to share with her emotional core offline. No hints of concern at the approach of an unusual stranger or the request to sit. "It is, as they say, a free country," the teenager replies with a smile that's calculated to appear blandly friendly. "I know it might be rude of me to suggest this, but you might have less trouble with your feet in flatter shoes. Then you could always change back into heels closer to your desintation."

She flicks another page over. The book itself seems to be a thick spined chess strategy book. Not the sort of thing you'd pick for light reading or be easily able to read while talking.

"Might I ask what brings you to New York? Business or pleasure?"

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella smiles wryly at that answer as she sits, without running running her hands over her butt first. Her skirt is apparently tight enough it doesn't need smoothing. "Good to know your school is raising such ardent patriots," she observes in her almost cartoonishly thick accent. She glances at the book, whose contents she's only superficially familiar with (a game where you can only move in certain directions but you pretend it's a war, or something) and thus ignores. "What makes you think I do not live in New York?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
"The fact people use the saying doesn't really mean it is true or accurate," Vivian notes with a shrug. "Really no-where is entirely free. Otherwise our actions would not have any consequences. You couldn't for example just shout fire in a crowded movie theatre. It'd cause a panic and people could get hurt."

Her head tilts slightly to one side and her page turning pauses.

"Most people from the New York area don't engage in idle conversation with strangers. Especially not before or after catching a train. And if they do usually more profanity is involved."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella's eyes raise slightly behind her glasses, as if startled. "How sad for New Yorkers. Are you not from here, or are you just waiting to start swearing at me?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision shakes her head and laughs. "Oh no, I'm not really from around here. I lived over in Virginia until recently and now I'm attending a boarding school nearby. So I'm still getting used to the city. It's a much bigger place, more things to keep track of and a lot more unusal things happening."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella smiles and nods as she thinks about this. What is this creature that smells like nothing human but has such a mundane backstory? Golems would be incapable of this level of complexity. To stall for time as she ponders the possibilities, she asks, "Is the school any good?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
"It's supposed to be. I guess you could say I used family connections to get in," Vivian explains. Which is sort of true in a roundabout way. "But I imagine any school experience is subjective. An expensive school is no guarantee that it will be good in terms of performance or enjoyment."

She drums her fingers lightly against her book.

"I suppose on balance I do not dislike it. I have met some interesting people there and I am doing fine in my classes. And I couldn't return to my previous school even if I wanted to... It got destroyed."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Ohhhhhh. Okay, she's a robot or she's on the spectrum. Possibly both, but neither one is Vampirella's problem, so she drops the interrogation and nods. "I hope you weren't there when it happened."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision shakes her head. "No the whole area was... I guess you would call it redeveloped?" She shrugs, after all in some ways it's not important. The school in question never existed in the first place. "I notice you never really answered my question, I hope that wasn't because it was too personal in nature?"

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella chuckles. "It's hard to take a question personally from someone whose name I don't know. I just don't think your parents would appreciate me telling you why I'm here. It's all very adult." Her voice drops conspiratorially. "Mortgages and design specs for dishwashers and things like that."

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I'm Vivian and you might be?" she responds casually. "And I don't really have parents watching over me. My mother is dead and my father is away with work more than he's here. Besides I doubt there is anything you could do that would be shocking to me. I do have access to the internet after all. The things you can find there are limitless."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    "Ella." Vampirella offers her hand to shake, noting with some interest this girl's still body language and flat affect, wondering what her skin will feel like. It -looks- like skin, down to the pores, but... "So you've seen all of the internet, Vivian?"

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision shakes her head. "All of it? When would I find the time? Besides a lot of it isn't worth looking at. I haven't, for example, read dishwasher maintenance manuals online. But I don't need to have seen something to know it exists."

She shakes the offered hand. Her skin is slightly plastic-y and a little on the cool side. Everything else seems pretty much as you'd expect from a normal person.

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella's own hand is very hot, even feverish. She nods at Vivian's explanation and is a little surprised to hear herself going into teacher mode as she explains, "Knowing and seeing are as different as thinking and feeling."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision raises an eyebrow. "The senses can be tricked. Sleight of hand works because the hand is literally faster than the eye and the brain is lazy," she points out. "Besides by that logic every time a person blinks the universe ceases to exist for them."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella withdraws her hand and looks forward comfortably, palms on the bench's plastic surface. "Ah. My mistake, then. Thanks for correcting me," she deadpans.

Vivian Vision has posed:
"I understand the general point you were trying to make," Vivian says with a sigh. "There is a difference between a theory and something you've proven. But that doesn't mean an educated guess has no value. Besides there is enough sex and violence on the news that you'd have to be here for something very niche to shock me."

Ella Normandy has posed:
    Vampirella smiles and stands. "Best to let the mystery endure, then." As the train pulls in, she makes herself playfully boop Vivian's nose to prove (to the robot or to herself, she's not sure which) that she's a calm, cool, collected adult. "This is my ride. It was nice talking to you, Vivian."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision shrugs, then waves. "I don't really like mysteries but I also value privacy," she offers. The 'boop' gets no active response, a subroutine having decided the movement wasn't dangerous to her, although she does scowl slightly. "I wish you well with your journey."