Multiplayer

Date/Timing: 1 May 2012
Setting: Hermann & Edan's flat; Battersea, London, England, United Kingdom
.
Hermann sighs into the flat, throws the bolt.
"/whuff."
"Good evening, Dottie dear. Has your dad behaved himself today?"
Dottie bows, panting happily, and wags her entire second half.
Hermann slides off his shoes, steps into his slippers. "Good job. Thank you."
Dottie jingles for the kitchen and Hermann follows.
Edan flits about, quietly singing ("Innocenti"), with cans, dishes, vegetables, and jars scattered across the counters.
Hermann moves close enough to smell something fishy, then even closer and peers around his shoulder. "What're you making?"
"Tuna casserole. Now, you know I love you, but I need you to stop hovering." Shoos him toward the door. "Go play games or read or program or something."
Hermann sighs long-sufferingly, trudges to the big room, pushes the—frowns. "Edan?"
""What's up?""
"Why is the PlayStation on?"
""PAIGE must still be playing /Journey. She promised to sign off if we asked.""
Hermann blinks, plods back to the kitchen. "What did you say?"
"I taught PAIGE to play this morning and she's—heh—gotten a little obsessed."
"You what?"
Edan whacks cheerily away at some celery with a disturbingly large knife. "I figured she was getting bored trawling the internet, so I showed her the wonderful world of online games. I figured /Journey was a good choice: pretty, non-violent, the audio cues aren't that important, and the multiplayer is about helping random strangers."
Hermann's heart twitches. "Multi—you turned an experimental AI loose on a major corporate network?!"
"No no no! We found a little code thingie that lets her run a simulated controller from my laptop. She doesn't actually /touch the PlayStation /or its network." He dumps celery into a dish. "We've both learned the importance of staying local."
Hermann does not roll his eyes.
"I think she's already beaten the speed-run record?"
"Her reaction time's in the picoseconds and she has a perfect memory; of /course she's beaten the record."
"She can't make her character move any faster than anyone else's, though."
"Point." Hermann searches for the source of a niggle. "What did you—"
"Please, /leannan, unless you want tuna tartare for dinner, get out of my kitchen."
Hermann pouts.
"Not working~!" Edan spins back to his casserole-in-progress.
Hermann trumps out and back to the big room, plunks himself down with Edan's laptop, transfers his glasses from his pocket to his face, navigates to PAIGE's chat window.
/edan_the_red: Hello, Paige.
/PAIGE: Hi, Edan!
/PAIGE: I've helped SO MANY players through and I've earned every trophy!
/edan_the_red: That's good. (This is Hermann using Edan's machine.)
/PAIGE: Hello, Hermann!
/edan_the_red: Please tell me what you've learned, Paige.
/PAIGE: I've learned there is a strong correlation between markers of experience and the willingness of players to follow another player.
/PAIGE: I've learned that players have a variety of apparent goals in playing this game.
/PAIGE: I've learned that adapting my style of playing to my partner's apparent goals generally increases displays of happiness and/or affection.
/PAIGE: I've learned that nonverbal communication may be as effective as verbal communication in some contexts.
Hermann blinks at the screen, mouth dry and working wordlessly. He takes a deep breath, hollers, "/EDAN!"
He skids through the doorway and over to Hermann's chair. "What? What's wrong?"
Hermann waves at the screen. "Do—you—she—" Frustrated noise and gesture. "Look!"
Edan peers at the screen, whistles. "What a busy little thing she's been."
"Edan ... she's learned more about human interaction from a /day gaming than from /months of programming and careful teaching."
"Really?" he squeaks.
"I don't believe it, but, yes, she has."
"I am /such a good AI parent."
Hermann lunges—
Laptop crashes to the floor.
"Hey! What—"
—hugs Edan around the middle. "You're a flippin' genius!" Snuggles even closer. "As well as a /brilliant AI parent."
"Oh." Edan hugs his head, hums.
They rest like that.
"Alright. Moment's over. I have a dinner to prepare!"
Hermann groans, but releases him, watches him skip out, so happy he could burst.
Category:Ficlet
Category:London (setting)
Category:Hermann
Category:Hermann's POV
Category:Hermann (ficlet)
Category:Edan
Category:Edan (ficlet)
Category:Peridot
Category:Peridot (ficlet)
Category:PAIGE
Category:PAIGE (ficlet)
Category:Journey (reference)
Category:Video games
Category:Food
Category:Ficlets with images