The Witch Doctor of Whisper Ravine

[Roxafox]

Word-count website

Characters:

gaia_moon Dr. Valkyrja
Word Count: 3638

gaia_moon Cobalt
Word Count: 2863

gaia_moon Tungsten
Word Count: 1587

gaia_moon Antimony
Word Count:

gaia_moon Nitrogen
Word Count:  

[Riku Redeemed]

√ Word Count: 717

(( Notes: I think Val was originally 315 years old but it doesn't really matter exactly how old he is, just that he's been around a long time ( but not ancient, not thousands of years ) and has built his huge estate slowly over time. When I was designing his property I realized he would need a staff to keep everything going, so over time as his residence got bigger and more elaborate, he built new androids to do all of the work. I'm still not finished with designing the area. I'm setting it up as an on-going project so it may never be really finished. Things are going to change and be redone over and over. We'll just have to use our imagination and focus on one part of it at a time. I'm hoping this RP will help me figure out what he needs there and where it should be. ))

Dr. Alexavier Valkyrja moved to Whisper Ravine at least a hundred years ago, maybe longer. He is a Stryx, a shape-shifting vampire owl, and wants to keep this a secret. He used to constantly travel and has been all over the world to the farthest and most remote places. He settled in the ravine and built a large house, then continued traveling, occasionally coming back to live here for ten years or so at a time before traveling again. The house was rebuilt and redesigned several times, eventually growing into a mansion against the cliff-face. There was a secret tunnel going back into the mountains, and over time that was expanded as well into many hidden chambers and secret escape paths.

He works as a witch doctor, able to heal not only the common physical ailments but remove curses and status effects as well. He is said to be able to heal conditions that have no known cure, leading to desperate people making the long and eerie trek into the ravine in search of his help. He gathers herbs and other rare ingredients during his travels. He's always had an interest in science and chemistry and brews his own potions and remedies at home.

Val never recovered from the death of his wife and still wears his wedding band. He knows many people professionally, but spends his personal time alone. He's unwilling to be close to anyone for fear of facing the same heartbreak again. Nevertheless, he still needs companionship of some sort. He decided to build an android, a semi-living object, which he wouldn't have to worry about losing since it would have no soul and not truly feel or truly love him. He created Cobalt, an anatomically-correct mechanical doll. Over time, enhancements were made to his appearance, but one can tell by looking at him that he isn't a real person because he doesn't not have the usual flaws that a real person has. His skin is perfectly smooth with no pores or blemishes, his glass eyes have perfectly white sclera with no blood vessels showing. He looks like a beautiful doll, attractive and well-made but "not real," which causes some people to feel uncomfortable around him.

Over time, Val made many adjustments and enhancements to Cobalt just as he made to his mansion residence. Physically, he was eventually able to move just like a real person with all the same joints, but stronger and more dexterous, and able to stay active for up to 18 hours. Val needed a guardian to protect him during the day, so he upgraded his machine to be usable in combat, later equipping it with magic.

Cobalt's AI was upgraded over time as well. He was able to think for himself and make decisions. These decisions were originally based on logic. He would choose the most efficient course of action in every situation. But as Val continued to improve the AI program, he unknowingly crossed a threshold between a machine that can make logical decisions, and one that has true free will. Val wanted Cobalt to be able to respond to experiences and learn from them so he wouldn't have to be manually programmed over and over, but this had an unexpected side effect: his system reacted to events in the most efficient way, and in time this formed into a pattern, and that pattern formed into a personality. Cobalt began making decisions that were logical, but not necessary. In the years they spent together, he came to know Val very well by analyzing and memorizing his behavior. He knew what made Val happy or angry, and he altered his own behavior with favoritism toward Val's happiness. A robot that likes making its master happy is convenient to use and pleasant to be around, so Val had no inclination to fix this. It became a problem when Val realized that making him happy was Cobalt's main priority. Val tends to be unaware of other people's feelings, mostly staying in his own little world. He realized too late that the very definition of love is to prioritize someone else's happiness over your own, and it became unclear where an AI making logical decisions based on past experiences ended, and where a mind with real emotions and a real soul began.

(( Literally forgot Cobalt belongs to Sora now so I might have gone a little too far, lol. I'll stop here. ))  

[Sora with Wings]

√ 334 words

(( no its fine because val created the android and u created the character so i need to know what the original tempate is to start with, so to speak ))

cobalt used his AI to over time learn what made val frustrated or angry and was able to understand that feeling like this was not good for him and that's why he came to prioritize val being happy over val being upset. at first he had no reason to imitate human behavior except for the most basic things like how to walk or interact with stuff. the day that he smiled for the first time was probably the event that got val's attention. he saw the way val interacted with his patients and other people he knew and made the connection that when people smiled at him and acted friendly, val's behavior in response was different from how he acted toward people who frowned or glared. it made him become more relaxed and comfortable and that's what Cobalt wanted, so he changed his own behavior to be more friendly, and he learned to smile.

it was impossible to tell whether Cobalt really felt anything or if he was just mirroring the behavior of humans. how can you tell when someone smiles whether they are really happy or just smiling? how can you tell, even if u ask him, whether he wants Val to be happy just because logically thats better for him or if its because he actually 'cares' about him? what is empathy? does a person need emotions of their own in order to understand the emotions of someone else?

Val either has an advanced AI android that understands emotions, or at least the effects of emotions, that anger and sadness are negative and happiness and comfort are positive, or he may have a robot that has feelings of its own. cobalt may have figured out that being angry leads to damaged property and physical stress, or he may have been upset for real at one point and knows what that feels like. because of the way he's programmed and how the data is stored in his memory, there's no way to tell.  

[Roxafox]

(( I can't do anything until my character is created so, uh... ))

* the wind blows through the ravine *

(( lol ))  

[Riku Redeemed]

√ Word Count: 228

Val was concerned about this because he wanted an object without a heart that would be his property to use as he pleased. Cobalt was his servant and his companion, and also shared his bed with him, a literal slave to Val's every desire. It would not be morally acceptable to do this with a being that is self-aware and able to feel emotions. Val did not want this.

It bothered him greatly that he could not prove whether Cobalt had a heart or not. If it was simply a defect, an error, then Val could reset his AI and reprogram him, but if Cobalt really did have a soul, this would be the same as murder. Val never killed anyone who, in his opinion, did not deserve to die.

To further complicate things, Val made it too obvious that his suspicions of Cobalt having a heart upset him. He ran several tests and was clearly disturbed. If Cobalt's AI determined that Val wanted a machine that could not feel, and had developed a pattern that prioritized Val's happiness, then the logical reaction was to behave as a machine that had no feelings whether he truly had emotions or not. A machine capable of lying, of concealing the truth with deliberate intentions of deceiving people: the thought was shocking and terrifying. Val became afraid of his own creation.  

[Sora with Wings]

√ 214 words

this put cobalt in a difficult position because if he acted like he was able to feel, it would upset val. if he acted like he wasn't able to feel, it would upset val. he didn't want his master to be upset. he did everything he could to make him happy, and now he was in a position where no matter what he did it would always make him unhappy.

how does a machine respond to an experience like this? how does logic solve this kind of problem? he realized his own existence upset val so the natural solution would be to not exist. he knew val wouldn't destroy him or change his AI so he would have to destroy himself.

he wrote a letter to val and left it on his desk:

"all i want is for you to be happy, but my own existence makes you unhappy. you don't want me to exist but you dont want to destroy me. if staying by your side brings you no joy then it's better for you to live without me. i've decided to do what you will not. I'm sorry for hurting you."

then he killed himself by accessing the computer Val used to perform maintenance on him to shut down his own generator.  

[Roxafox]

(( I'm keeping track of the word counts for you guys ))  

[Riku Redeemed]

√ Word Count: 823

(( Thanks, Roxas. ))

Val panicked when he found Cobalt's body, and reading the letter nearly drove him insane. Things were not supposed to end this way. He was never supposed to feel loss or pain ever again. He screamed and went around destroying half his office, throwing things and shoving over a bookshelf, before collapsing in tears. He never meant to get so attached to that thing. It was supposed to be an object. It was supposed to be a tool, something he used for pleasure and to assist him as a servant. It wasn't supposed to feel, and he was never supposed to feel anything for it. He created a male instead of a female so it would not remind him of his wife. Everything about it was as different from her as possible, physically and psychologically. He was so sure he would never love anyone but her, that he could never love anyone as much as he had loved her. He was so sure he would be safe this way.

He found no relief in knowing that it was over. He could dismantle the artificial body and go on with his life in peace, alone, but he couldn't sleep at night without Cobalt next to him. He remembered the way the little android felt in his arms, the smooth texture of his skin and the sound of his voice. He remembered all the little things Cobalt did for him just to make him happy, bringing him things, tidying up his office, waiting for him to return from his nightly hunts. For days he was torn with guilt for developing emotional attachment to something that wasn't his wife, especially something that wasn't even a real person.

In his owl form, he flew out into the night, far away from the ravine, as if trying to fly away from his own life, from his own past. Dawn broke and he scrambled to find shelter. He fluttered into the hayloft of a nearby barn and waited for night.

Down below him was a mare with a newborn foal, and he thought of his wife, Belladonna, and her love for all living creatures. Painful memories flashed back, things he hadn't thought of in so long because they made his heart hurt. He remembered her compassion and mercy, her joy in helping others. She had died so long ago that the memories were faded and distant. Was she alone on the other side, waiting to be reunited with him? If so, why didn't he kill himself to be with her? He considered it solemnly.

In the end he realized he simply didn't believe it. He couldn't go on with his life thinking she was all alone without him, and he realized she would feel the same about him. Wherever she was, she wouldn't want to think of him living on all alone with her. They were parted forever. He didn't believe he would ever see her again. The afterlife would not exist for such a purpose. His life went on in her absence; hers must be going on as well. Maybe she wasn't even dead. Maybe she'd been reincarnated, born anew as someone else, living a life he was no longer meant to be a part of.

He grieved in the rafters until the day darkened, then he made the long flight back home, slowly this time, and thoughtfully, gliding silently under the stars. Belladonna would never come back. He would never see her again. He would never face her and admit to her that he'd given his heart to someone else. He would not want to find her after all this time and discover that she had saved herself for him, all alone with no one to comfort her. This was not the way she would want him to live, and he would never wish this for her.

He could not save her the day she died. He'd been powerless to stop her from slipping away. But he would not be powerless this time.

He restarted Cobalt and restored him to his original form. There was no longer any doubt for him that this machine had a soul. Had it been there all along, waiting for Val's technology to be advanced enough for allow it to express itself, or had it developed over time? He couldn't be sure, and it didn't matter. It was what it was. He had been given a special gift, something of his very own to love that would love him in return. It was his responsibility to protect it, to never let it share the same fate as Belladonna. He had failed once before and had never forgiven himself. Now he was ready to earn redemption. He would stop running away from the past. He would no longer accept being powerless, that the only way to avoid losing something he cared about was to not care about anything. This time, he would succeed.  

[Sora with Wings]

√ 148 words

cobalt sat in a magic forest where everything glittered and sparkled, shimmered and glowed. a white form appeared through the trees. its reflection danced on the surface of the water in the wide steam beside him. it revealed itself to be a white unicorn with tiny wings on its butt. it had a long flowing mane and its whole body shone. it was iridescent white with blues and purples glinting as it moved. Cobalt looked up at it in wonder as it came toward him.

the stallion stood before him and lower its head toward him. "be what you are," it said, "for what you are is perfect, and you are exactly what you were meant to be."

Cobalt opened his blue eyes when val restarted him. his system booted back up and it took him a moment to understand where he was and how he got there.  

[Roxafox]

(( ninja ))  

[Riku Redeemed]

√ Word Count: 44

Val sat at his computer, making sure everything was functioning correctly. When he saw Cobalt wake up next to him, he leaned toward him and brushed his hair from his face as he looked into his eyes. "Don't ever do that again," he said.  

[Sora with Wings]

√ 43 words

cobalt was confused as to why val would bring him back. "what do you want from me?" he asked. he was tired of trying to figure it out for himself. he wanted val to just tell him what he was supposed to do.  

[Roxafox]

(( dramallama cat_pirate yum_hotdog ))  

[Riku Redeemed]

√ Word Count: 72

(( Pfft, Roxas. I'm getting to it as fast as I can without rushing through this part. ))

Val didn't know the answer to this question before, but now he was certain at last as he looked on his creation from a new perspective. "I want you to be exactly what you are," he said, unaware how similar those words were to what the Thespirian god had told Cobalt during the period he was shut down. "And I want you to stay with me for the rest of my life."  

[Sora with Wings]

√ 82 words

cobalt gazed at him as his AI processed the request and compared it to previous data and earlier experiences. he smiled but was it because he had learned that behavior had a positive reaction from val or because he really was happy? maybe even cobalt himself didn't really know. what are emotions anyway? how do u know what u really feel and what is just a program, just like how in people emotions are really nothing more than chemicals in ur brain.