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The Arachne System (SPIDERLIV 3)

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[x] "Hey mom, check this out!"

I mean, we have to. Right? Like we don't have to, but we have to, right?
 
[X] "Hey mom, check this out!"

We could probably release the tech as opensource with a copyleft license or something? Might make our opposition tougher in the long run, but it also gives us an excuse for Arachne having it and more tech-nerd cred in our non-heroic persona
 
Vindictus said:
We could probably release the tech as opensource with a copyleft license or something? Might make our opposition tougher in the long run, but it also gives us an excuse for Arachne having it and more tech-nerd cred in our non-heroic persona
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Athena could set up a fake technoanarchist community online with half a dozen people collaborating on new tech and use it to dripfeed inventions into the public domain.
 
No, seriously... why are we discussing making our personal spider silk formula free? You know, that formula we use as webbing? Yeah, Arachne's spider web fluid. Which is what we added to preexisting smart fibers, that we've purchased from someone else that distributes them, to make this suit. We didn't make something up wholesale from nothing. We added only one thing that we specifically use as Arachne, to a preexisting product that we've purchased to make our previous prosthesis arm. And you're wanting to distribute it with a big honking red sign pointing to whatever is used to do so, as linking to Arachne... why?

(edit) I mean, unless I completely misunderstood what was used to make it, @open_sketch?
 
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It's a pity the Arc-Reactor-But-Better needs hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exotic equipment to manufacture. I'd love to leak the schematics for that.
 
WCSII said:
No, seriously... why are we discussing making our personal spider silk formula free? You know, that formula we use as webbing? Yeah, Arachne's spider web fluid. Which is what we added to preexisting smart fibers, that we've purchased from someone else that distributes them, to make this suit. We didn't make something up wholesale from nothing. We added only one thing that we specifically use as Arachne, to a preexisting product that we've purchased to make our previous prosthesis arm. And you're wanting to distribute it with a big honking red sign pointing to whatever is used to do so, as linking to Arachne... why?

(edit) I mean, unless I completely misunderstood what was used to make it, @open_sketch?
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You've completely misunderstood what Liv did. She was just using the spidersilk as a point of comparison.
 
*Goes back and skims back over the previous update*

Spider silk, protects against, current, holds shape, Ah! Okay, took a bundle of the smart fibers and... modified her 3d printer to accept the kinda shredded smart fiber to print fabric sheets. ... Okay then. Guess I was completely wrong about what went into it.
_ _ _ _

Still think we should profit off this if we can, but, at least there isn't anything linking Arachne to the suit, other than wearing one. I have less objections about making the process public, other than making it open source, but that's more because we'll still be lacking funds simply because it perpetuates the "Being Parker is suffering" meme especially when we are not Peter Parker. And from what little I recall about Spider-Man comic series, it's only Peter (where is concerned his DNA) that gets hit by the Interesting Times curse, as an actual curse, as a spider person. Anyone else, that isn't genetically Peter, donning the spider suit/mantle doesn't get the curse, curse.

But I'm not an avid fan, and most of my Spider-Man knowledge is from the occasional fanfiction that doesn't over play the meme, so I very well could be wrong about that too.
 
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The big issue about profiting from our inventions is that no-one will believe that Olivia could possibly have invented something so revolutionary. Or if they do believe it, then they start paying a lot of attention to her. Once we're at least a university student this will ease a little bit.

Possibly we could create a fake identity online that could invent things and hold patents and stuff. The money would be 'dirty' in that Oliva wouldn't be able to use it directly or allow it to be tied to her, but we could use it to e.g. purchase materials and then leave them in stashes where Arachne can pick them up. Or talk to Natasha about money laundering, I'm sure she knows how.
 
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The Lone badger said:
The big issue about profiting from our inventions is that no-one will believe that Olivia could possibly have invented something so revolutionary. Or if they do believe it, then they start paying a lot of attention to her. Once we're at least a university student this will ease a little bit.
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It's a bit late to cover up that Liv's a genius; she walks around with a custom prosthetic, got an internship at Stark-tech, and made a hugely successful app as a teenager.
 
I have tried to write the next update three times and each time my computer ate it :(

but now i've installed a text-saver-y-thingy so hopefully i can manage it this time.
 
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Just Talk To Her
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    • Okay, heads up. Liv and her mom have a talk about... well, teenage sexuality here, the kind of thing that scared teens with approachable parents discuss.
    There's nothing gross or inappropriate, but I want to give a warning in case this stuff is triggering for you.    ​

    "She would." you said, eyeing your 3d printer. You could put this together pretty quickly if you got started now, you bet.

    ---

    About an hour and a half later, perhaps slightly too late, you emerged from your room wearing a sort of white vest over your t-shirt, feeling rather proud of yourself, and you strutted into the front room. Your mom was, rather appropriately, putting the finishing touches on the last of her minis, the big snakey stabby guy that made up the centerpiece. The army, laid out now in their full glory on the table, was like 20 years old and she'd only gotten back to painting them last year, and they looked awesome, sort of painted up like orcas with slick black carapaces, white spots around the eyes, and red blades and weapons.

    "What the hell are you wearing, Liv?" she asked, setting down her model and cleaning her brush. "Is that what you've been making the last few hours?"

    "Yep! Uh, your bug guys are looking rad." you said, like you didn't know it was a Trygon and they were Tyranids and your mom's giant old collection of Warhammer codexes weren't your favourite collection of dumb shit to read as a kid. Trust no one and trust yourself less! "And yes, this is my latest creation, and it is weirdly related. Do you remember what Eldar have as armour?"

    "Uh... five up saves, usually? Last time I played at least, who knows what they have now. I think a lot of the aspects get four plus though..." she said, clearly thinking about it. She hadn't played in a while.

    "Nono, I mean, in the lore." you said with a sigh.

    "Oh! Mesh armour? Liv, did you make mesh armour?" she asked. "Like, cosplay stuff?"

    "No, like, working mesh armour!" you declared, striking a pose with your hand on your hip. "I took apart some of the smart fibres, like the ones from my stretchy arm, and I've woven them together into these parallel... okay, look, just, uh, throw something at me."

    "Liv, I'm not going to throw something at you." your mom said, shaking her head.

    "Seriously, it'll be fine! This stuff is great, it's impact resistant and, if I add some aramid fibres or something, bulletproof. Ooh, poke me with your umbrella!" you said, pointing to it at the door. "Trust me, it's so... mom?"

    Your mother had a look on her face that... it was sad. Oh god, it looked like she was about to cry.

    "Liv..."

    "Mom, sorry, what'd I do wrong?" you asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, still in your stupid vest.

    "Are you making this for the trip?" she asked, and before you could answer she just plowed on talking. "Is this for the ride to Baltimore?"

    "... what?" you asked, not comprehending. What was she talking about?

    "I was really proud that you're going, but... do you want to talk about it?" she asked, shifting aside on the couch so you could sit. "You can always talk to me about things like this. Is... is this what you need to feel safe?"

    Oh.

    Right. To your mother's knowledge, this was your first major car trip since your accident. She didn't know about the ride in Justine's car from upstate New York, after all, everything had been by train or the subway, or just walking. And she obviously didn't know that there hadn't actually been a car accident. To you, taking a car down to Baltimore was just... how you were going to get there. To her, and to her perception of you, this was the first time you'd gotten in a car since you had your arm torn off in a horrible crash.

    And you'd walked in the night before you were due to leave showing off the armour you were making.

    Fuck.

    "No, mom, I just thought it'd be cool..." you said, sitting down, and she wrapped a protective arm around you. Fuck, she looked so scared. This probably looked like denial to her. "Mom, I'm okay, I really am. It's just a project. It's not like I'm going to bring it with me..."

    She nodded, and you weren't sure if she believed you or not. But... you were lying to her, after all. You were going to bring it, alongside your Arachne kit. The Arachne kit with all the extra armour plates and the new taser shooters and the reinforced arm and-

    ... fuck, maybe you were all kinds of traumatized.

    "Do you want to go? You don't have to go just because your girlfriend asked you, you know that, right?" she asked, and you nodded. "Are you worried?"

    "... yeah. A little." you admitted. "Not... not really about the trip down itself... like, I know statistics, cars are safer than they've ever been, what happened to me was a... a fluke. A freak accident. I'm not going to let it scare me out of doing what I want."

    "Then what's got you worried? You can tell me, Liv..." she said, and you sighed, leaning back into the couch.

    "Well, um... I'm going to be sharing a hotel room with May." you said, "Which you know, just... kind of reiterating it. Thanks for being cool about that, by the way..."

    "Liv, you're eighteen in two months, it'd be ridiculous if I wasn't." your mom said, "I know you're going to be safe-"

    "I'm scared she's going to pressure me into doing something I don't want to." you admitted, speaking in a rush. Yay, talking to your mom about sex, how completely fucking mortifying. "Not... on purpose, she'd never, but I'm afraid s-she'll want to and I'll just go along and hate it."

    "... alright, not what I was expecting." she said, and something about her tone of voice made you laugh. "Okay... phew, give me a second to switch gears here. Different mom mode. Disable mom-scared-for-her-kid mode, activate cool-mom-you-can-talk-to."

    "You're not going to disable scared mode, mom, I know you."

    "You're right. I've been looking in the manual but I can't find the keybinds." she said, chuckling to herself. "Okay kid, let's have this incredibly awkward talk. Let's open with... have you done... anything, before, with her? Or anyone? If you feel comfortable telling, just trying to figure out where we are here."

    You shook your head. A blanket no was maybe a bit false, but was true enough.

    "Huh, alright."

    "We just played smash brothers on prom night." you said, and she burst out in awkward laughter.

    "Did you win?"

    "No, but I use a handicap to make it fair." you said, and this time both of you lost it, the subject matter just way too much to talk about without tension being let out.

    "Alright, okay. So... I'm assuming because you're worried that this was a mutual thing on your parts, and now you're worried she wants to go farther and you don't?" your mom said, dead on, and you nodded awkwardly, "I... am sad to say that I know exactly what that's like."

    "Thanks, dad." you muttered, and you mom nodded sadly.

    "You're already a lot more mature for your age than I was, I was not putting this stuff together at all." she said, frowning. "Okay. So, first's things first, you're going to be in a hotel room with her, so that's going to be a lot of pressure because you won't feel you'll be able to leave, I get that. And it's a con, so even if you could afford it all the rooms are probably booked up. So here's what you need to do. Tomorrow, on the ride down, before anything happens, you need to talk to May about this. It's going to be awful, I'm sure, but it'll save you both a lot of grief if you lay out expectations and make sure you're both on the same page, okay?"

    "Right..." you said, nodding. Talk to her. You could do that. If you could talk to your mom about this, you could talk to her.

    "Don't leave any wiggle room, be firm. Tell her exactly what isn't going to happen. If she's disappointed, she can get it out of the way before you're in a room together. If she takes it really badly, you get out of the car as soon as you can and call home, and I will leave work and come get you, I swear to God."

    "Okay mom." you said, a bit numb. There was something deeply ironic about the fact you knew she'd do so in Clint's van, considering your cover story for your arm was effectively that you'd lost in in a crash... in Clint's van. Different cover identity, different van, but still.

    "I don't exactly know what kind of pressure you might be under on this, with the whole... trans... lesbianing... thing, the dynamics are well outside my wheelhouse, but I do know you have to be firm about this stuff. Anyone who tries to talk you out of your boundaries is somebody who is not worth your time, and moreover is probably actively dangerous. She might be disappointed, she might even be mad, but your boundaries are worth more than her desires, got it?"

    "Got it." you said. You knew not to protest her fairly harsh characterizing of May here: this was probably mostly advice she wishes she could give herself at 17.

    "If she tries to guilt you by talking to you about love, remember, if she loved you, she wouldn't be doing that to you." she concluded.

    "... I don't think she'll do that." you said, "That's what her ex did to her."

    "Jesus." you mum muttered, cradling her head in her hands a moment. "Here I thought things would be less complicated for you, without any guys involved."

    "Um... her ex was a guy. But... yeah." you muttered quietly. "Thanks for... all this. Weird... ness."

    "... any time, kid." your mom said quietly, and you sort of shuffled awkwardly away to the other side of the couch, feeling utterly mortified.

    "Also, talk about this with your therapist next week." you mom said, and you nodded numbly. "Anything else?"

    "... wanna test the armour?" you asked, and, after a moment, she nodded. You turned and brushed your hair out of the way, and fairly gently she poked you hard with a finger. You could feel the armour stiffen to stop it.

    "Ow... okay, really cool Liv. You should sell this stuff." she said, "And before you protest, as long as we're still doin' a capitalism, you're going to need money."

    "I'll think on it." you said, "Thanks."

    Hugging her felt really weird with the armour.

    ---

    You were leaving at around two, and taking a fairly leisurely trip down. May had gone to the con before and had a favourite place to stop along the way for food (waffles!), and there were viewing rooms and stuff open before the con itself go started tomorrow. Technically, today and tomorrow were both school days for you, but also, literally who cared, they were the last two school days ever and the half-a-dozen kids who showed up were probably just going to watch movies or play on their phones anyway.

    Throughout the morning, you finished the flexible armour, stitching it into the inside of the Arachne suit, and packed it up, along with the clothes you'd need for the trip. When the hour rolled around, you got a text from May that just read outside! and you glanced out to see a sleek silver vehicle waiting outside, May stepping out of the back. It was one of those nifty self-driving vehicles which let you dim the windows when you weren't driving yourself, so you could just pretend you weren't in a car at all.

    You raced downstairs and she practically leapt at you to wrap her arms around you, grinning massively, and you got a rush of like, four or five species of butterflies in your stomach about the day ahead. You put your stuff in the trunk and got in the back seat after her, noting that the drive and passenger seat were folded down and May's laptop was set up on them like a little theatre system.

    "How much did this cost to rent?" you asked, and she shrugged.

    "Graduation gift from my parents!" she exclaimed, practically vibrating in her seat with excitement. "Also, congrats on being done with high school forever, Liv!"

    "Likewise!" you said, and you both broke into laughter. You hadn't had a decent chance to celebrate yesterday because she was in last-minute cosplay finishing mode, so it was fun to get it out of your system. "No more Mrs. Warren!"

    "Bye, bitch! And no more gym class!" she declared.

    "No more Eddie!" you exclaimed, and May cheered loudest for that.

    "Yes! Finally, oh my God. Okay... car! Take us to Nani?Con!" she declared, and nothing happened. "Yeah, no, I actually have to put it in."

    You waited patiently a moment while she poked at her phone, entering the address, and you felt the pulse of the car starting up, the flow of electricity from the batteries and the computer starting up, plotting out the route. The wheels shifted, and you felt the odd sense of movement as it pulled out into the road.

    "Ooh, sodium-ion." you muttered, and May looked over curiously. "Oh, sorry, just remembering a thing. The car's got sodium-ion batteries."

    "... oh, cool!" she said, looking back down to her phone. "Okay, so we have a four hour ride ahead of us, that's enough time for about 12 episodes, season one. Though let me know if you start getting motion sick."

    "I don't get motion sick." you said simply, and she shrugged, tapped the spacebar on the laptop, and then leaned against you.

    "Lucky."

    ---

    So, the Lensman anime was kind of rad, actually?

    It was this really odd blend, because they were keeping faithful to the technology presented while kinda updating the aesthetics? So the screens were all transparent glass displays and the ships were sleek and cool, but there were still characters whose job it was to use slide rules to calculate orbits, because they didn't have electrical computers of course.

    Smart of them, really. It'd make it a lot harder for you to defeat their fleets.

    And pretty much immediately you could see why May loved the show, because the costumes were pure retro cheese. The Galactic Patrol uniforms were these smart blue and yellow things with wedge hats that bore more than a little resemblance to WW2 American dress uniforms, complete with skirts for the ladies and ties for the guys, wedge hats and laser pistol holsters. The ships were awesome, like brightly painted submarines with battleship turrets and rocket engines, and they were clearly just completely unafraid of being silly in a way that felt very refreshing.

    "So what's your cosplay?" you asked, and she stuck her tongue out at you.

    "Not telling! You've already seen it though." she said. "You'll see tomorrow, you'll love it."

    The first episode ended, and the second, and as May started up the next you tapped the button to render the window beside you transparent, looking out over the highway as it came into view. A blue, cloudless day, utterly beautiful. You glanced down to your phone.

    A message from Athena.

    "Remember to talk to her." it read. Right, yes. You lowered your phone and looked back at the laptop, May rubbing her head affectionately against your shoulder.

    After this episode.

    ---

    May's traditional convention waffle stopping point was in Wilmington, and you resolved that post-waffle would be the perfect time to talk to her. Before she started the show back up. Athena was right, you'd been putting it off. Time to rip the bandaid off.

    The two of you sat close together in the booth, waiting, checking your phone, May deep down a rabbit hole of cute gifs of squirrels playing and eagerly showing you them. You food finally arrived, you poured an excessive amount of syrup down, and got to eating, trying to get your wits together for the conversation ahead. It was going to be easy. Just set your boundaries. May was the nicest person you knew, and she'd been in this spot before. She'd understand, for sure. You just had to ask.

    It'd be easy.

    "Hey, Liv, can I asked you something?"

    "Huh?" you said, blinking into awareness of the world. May was looking up from her waffles, smiling, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

    "I keep seeing a name on your phone, like, texts and stuff, and I've just been wondering. Who's Athena?"

    ---

    Write In​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [ ] Internet friend of mine, back when I really needed one. She's good at keeping me on task. You'd like her.

    First stab, seems like the simplest lie. There's a part of me that wants to go full truth with it.
     
    I almost reflexively clicked the "laugh" react because that final twist was a gutpunch, but that would have been not great considering the first part of the update :confused:

    Incidentally, I sort of want to admit that we've made an AI? The whole "secret identity from your girlfriend" feels bad, honestly, and it's only going to get worse.
     
    open_sketch said:
    "No, but I use a handicap to make it fair." you said, and this time both of you lost it, the subject matter just way too much to talk about without tension being let out.
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    No mind powers is pretty normal tournament rules though.
    open_sketch said:
    "You can always talk to me about things like this. Is... is this what you need to feel safe?"
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    Ohhh, I think we totally overlooked that angle.

    [] Greek god of strategy, everyone knows that.

    And when she says no, the one who's texting you. We accuse her of being small minded thinking that the greek gods don't exist when everyone knows the Norse ones do. Its perfect.
     
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    [:o] Evasion: She is our therapy-buddy. We send each other reminders about exercises and things that we are supposed to be doing. We've never met her in-the-flesh.

    We have some options here. The truth seems like a leap-before-you-look scenario, but it is available. We could be honest but not truthful, which means trying to have her genuinely understand the situation, but not all of it, which s very difficult and can work perfectly but still be interpreted as a betrayal. There is truthful but not honest, where we are basically lying but will feel better about ourselves, which is not entirely unworthy of consideration. Then there is just lying, which is pretty terrible if we get caught, but so long as we don't, it is safe, and at its worst pretty much all it will cost us is our relationship with May, our reputation, our mood, and a relatively small amount of respect from everyone who knows us.
     
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    The other problem is that deception inherently creates problems, because other people have a tendency of feeling deceived and feeling upset about that.
     
    [😅] Have a nervous breakdown, run into the bathroom to think this out, then resolve to tell her the truth. Maybe not the full Arachne truth, but if Athena and you are going to be sharing a headspace more often, letting your girlfriend know you created an AI that's your Headmate now is a courtesy

    (Plus that totally wouldn't leave room for misunderstandings while you panic in the ladies room 😈)
     
    [] Oh, she's my digital Chaperone.

    There. We've solved both the intimacy and the Athena conversation at the same time, and haven't lied at all. This conservation obviously does not have a long term consequences and can not possibly be negatively interpreted.
     
    TBH just telling her Athenes original intended purpose would probably be a reasonable answer.

    There are tutorials out there to program your own virtual assistant
    towardsdatascience.com

    How to build your own AI personal assistant using Python

    Guide to build your AI assistant:
    towardsdatascience.com towardsdatascience.com
    medium.com

    Guide to your very own A.I. Virtual Assistant in Python.

    Here’s a guide to build your own A.I. virtual assistant. Have fun learning this!
    medium.com medium.com

    frankly to my inexperienced eye, it mostly seems like its a matter of knowing what library/api exists to do the task you want the assistant to do. Those tutorials are designed for people who need to learn hello world after all.

    We just don't mention that Athenes developed her own dating life.
     
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