A Single Spark [open]

[upupatomway]

Who: Atom & you
What: Baby's first spell attempt. Please give him advice (or kick back with some popcorn)
Where: Outside on the beach near Flotsam
When: November 9, after lunch
Warnings: None


Atom balances a spellbook for beginners on one of the numerous rocks on the beach and raises his arms in front of him, facing out towards the ocean with a frown of concentration. He holds this position, squinting as he tries to do as the book instructed.

It's the simple task of summoning the ether energy to one's fingertips and then pushing it out to visually show the magic power, usually as some kind of spark or glow. His hands show no sign of any extra light, however. The book describes a sensation the magic has that makes this process easier to track for most readers, but for a robot any feelings in his body are limited by his sensors and his comprehension.

He squints harder, face scrunched and turning red. His creator had gone out of his way to make it so Atom could blush, though he probably didn't have this expression in mind. There's a sound, like a squeak, that might imply a spark, only for it to get lower and clearly recognizable as the robot straining.

Comments

[spacetogrow]

"Than sounds about right. Like... not any one thing, but a bunch of things you don't even notice until they add together to feel like someone is with you. Though there are different ways to cast magic. Trying to draw from something inside you might be more like a sorcerer than a druid, and I don't know what that feels like."

[upupatomway]

Atom tilts his head, frowning to himself. "It's funny you mention that. The book tells the user to try moving the energy inside them for this first lesson, but it also says in the introduction that ether energy comes from outside and is absorbed in. Maybe other books focus on the external instead." He hadn't thought about different schools of magic. He had been too shy to ask for a recommendation from The Vault librarians in case they asked what he needed it for.

"I don't know if my situation is more suited to a certain type of magic or type of spellcaster. How exactly do you figure that out normally?" he asks.

[spacetogrow]

"Back home, older family members would look for... some kind of interest or potential. I know my uncle was in charge of seeing if I could be a wizard like he was." Ilphyl shrugged. "Wizards tend to learn their magic from books more than anyone else does. When I was learning to be a druid, I think my mentor mostly noticed that I was interested in learning about plants and animals, and she figured she'd see if I also had an affinity for the magical parts. The one sorcerer I knew well just had magic happen, so she knew she had it, and just had to learn to control it. And the warlock got his magic from an angel."

[upupatomway]

"That makes sense. Experienced adults would know best what's required and personal interests... I guess that's another version of how humans at home figure out what they want as a career." Which brings him around to the same kind of thoughts he had the last time there was a career day at school or his human friends asked what he wanted to be.

"Usually robots don't have to worry about figuring it out. Humans normally build us with a purpose in mind," he muses, going quiet for a moment. He shakes off some troublesome thoughts and smiles. "But I don't see why I couldn't figure that out in a way similar to other magic users. -Assuming I figure out how to put the ether energy to use that way."

[spacetogrow]

"Just because someone built you for a purpose, doesn't mean you have to follow that purpose, any more than humans or elves have to do what our parents want. My mentor made it clear that if I told her that I didn't want to be a druid, she would help me find out what I did want, no matter how good a druid she thought I would be."

A case where Ilphyl pointedly didn't mention their birth family, because it may have struck a nerve. But having a choice had meant a great deal, even if Ilphyl's choice had also lined up with having talents recognized by an experienced person. And Ilphyl is also self-reflective enough to realize that 'being recognized as useful and talented' might have been enough motivation when they first made the decision.

[upupatomway]

"Your mentor sounds really nice and wise..." Atom says. "Figuring things out for yourself and what you want- that's a good thing to be reminded of."

His smile goes a little pained. "Many times robots are very happy with what they were built for since it comes naturally, but we do discover other interests or sometimes even fail at our original assignment. We haven't had the right to choose or look for a new purpose until recently- before that we were supposed to do what the people who owned us wanted. Then a robot's fate depended on how kind or cruel the humans in charge of them were."

[spacetogrow]

"So, slavery in a pretty wrapper that lets people pretend that is not what is happening," Ilphyl said bitterly.

[upupatomway]

"Yes," Atom says softly. "It's further complicated because for many generations, robots did not have consciousness. They were only objects at that time. Then technology advanced rapidly in the last fifty years, and eventually we were built with a sense of self. Made more and more similar to humans. Some humans have been resistant to changing the way they look at robots. And it was further delayed in some countries where the lives of humans aren't truly valued either."

He smiles sadly. "That's a big part of why I wanted to join the Corsairs. They want to free people."

[spacetogrow]

"Same. I was born into one of those places that doesn't really value the lives of its own people, so if course it wouldn't value the lives of others," Ilphyl said. "I don't even think I had room to think about others, besides 'it could be worse', until I ran away and realized things could be so much better. It's why I admire the Corsairs who are locals. They didn't just run away, they are doing something about it. I'd like to do that someday, back home. Maybe."

The thought was terrifying, frankly.

[upupatomway]

Atom nods in agreement. "I bet there are things to learn from them that can be applied elsewhere, even if the means of carrying it out differ."

Now he's curious how Ilphyl's story all fits together. "So does that mean your teacher was also someone who showed you that there were other options? Like places where they treated people better?"

[spacetogrow]

"Yeah. I ran away from home. Nearly died doing it, because I grew up in a place where settlements were few and far apart, and it was before I'd learned magic. The people who found me when I was half-dead were willing to patch me up, but didn't want me staying with them, so they asked some travelers to take me out of their territory. That was where I met my mentor -- she was one of the travelers. Sort of the leader of the group, but more because she could get everyone to listen to her. I didn't understand how many choices she was willing to offer me at first, because I was so used to doing what I was told."

Ilphyl is staring at their hands. Because it was weird to remember being that person, like it was someone else, but one where they could understand exactly why they did what they did.

[upupatomway]

"There's someone like that in my life too. The Professor, Doctor Ochanomizu. He found me at the circus where I was forced to perform and shut things down. He's a robotics engineer and head of the Ministry of Science in our country. Robot rights are really important to him. Thanks to him I can go to school, and he's the one who built my sister." Atom smiles fondly. "My life would have been very different if it weren't for him."

[spacetogrow]

"Good. People like that are important. And since he built your sister, I assume that means she doesn't have to worry about some of the things that happened to you before you met the professor."

[upupatomway]

"Yes, thankfully! Uran was built just a few years before robot rights were made official, so she was only ever property of the Professor and the Ministry of Science. Now we aren't property. We're just associated with the Ministry for building, development, and maintenance reasons. Dr. Ochanomizu, on the other hand, is family. I guess he's like our kind elderly uncle." Atom laughs. "I should call him that some time and see how he reacts."

Thinking about the Professor makes Atom wonder what he would have to say about his current predicament.

"If he were here, he'd be torn between worrying about the possibility of me going into battle, and scientific curiosity about whether a robot can learn magic."

[spacetogrow]

"Right, I was supposed to be helping with that!" Ilphyl said.

[upupatomway]

Atom tilts his head, giving the situation consideration. "So for you, magic is intuitively there to use. I know logically for a fact there's plenty of energy right here."

He taps his chest. And since Ilphyl is quickly becoming a good friend- "Oh yeah! Would you like to see the ether stone set up? I can show you if you like- I just better not get sand in there."

[spacetogrow]

"If it's safe for you. I don't think I'll be much help -- I know about how the insides of animals and plants work than robots. But I am curious"

[upupatomway]

"It's no big deal- I open ports in my chest for recharging all the time! I mainly want you to see the ether stone in there. Just a minute." He has to loosen his collar and vest so the upper part of his chest can show properly in the bright sunlight.

"Here. Watch." He tells them, enthusiastically smiling.

The skin under his collarbone retracts in two circular shapes that quickly grow until they converge into a large rectangular shape across his chest. Carefully placed metal crevices and outlets where ports are installed for data and connections decorate the silver inside of his body. Between smooth surfaces are many thin, intricate carved out paths that could easily be mistaken for engraving, but are actually high speed data paths. His chest cavity twinkles with all kinds of colored lights dotting places, some blinking like a pulse. A silver metal object shaped like a heart sits where the heart of a human would be, and next to it, in the center, is the blue shining presence of the round ether stone that had been installed.

[spacetogrow]

Ilphyl has seen the insides of a lot of biological things -- between learning medicine and generally being comfortable with the idea of butchering and eating what they kill for food. This is very different, except for the sheer level of complexity, and the idea of life, like a heartbeat.

"Wow."

[upupatomway]

"I was worried it wouldn't work, but Donnie helped me design and install the port to draw energy from the either stone. Now I can say I'm powered like the armors and air ships around here! And they don't have to run power cables to my room anymore." He laughs bashfully. "I think a few of the engineers tripped on the cables on their way in and out of the workshop. My room was put right next to it so the cables could reach, but there's a lot of foot traffic. I'm glad that's not a problem now."

[spacetogrow]

"And I imagine it's one less thing to worry about if you can't get back to your room," Ilphyl said. "Like needing a special diet until you don't and can just eat whatever."

[upupatomway]

"I guess it is like that, yeah." Atom nods enthusiastically. He closes up his chest again, returning to a seamless solid surface that looks just like real skin.

"As you could see, I have plenty of ether energy available to me now, and it powers me, but I'm not sure how to make the energy uh... Leave my body? If that's the correct way to think of it? For a simple spell."

[spacetogrow]

"Hmm... how would you use the power for something else, deliberately? Not just in keeping you alive?"

[upupatomway]

"Most of it comes from my head like a human thinks with their brain. I decide to walk, or fly, or talk, or scan, and my electronic brain sends the signals to my body to make it happen. When I learn new things, that's usually like a human too. My electronic brain takes in information from observing and attempting, and adjusts. Some things are harder than others though."

[spacetogrow]

"Well, I could try to teach you hot to meditate, and see if that helps you get a better sense of this power."