etudes | ooc ♫ appointments post

[Reading with her is the only reading he really enjoys on his part, so this works well for both. He frowns a bit as she explains.]

All alone? Does it say why she's supposed to be locked?

Uh-huh. She has to sit there and answer the questions people ask her. You see, there's a group of Chinese people outside the room who are passing notes with questions on them into the room. Except the problem is that the girl can't read Chinese, so she doesn't know what kind of things they are asking her.

.. Ah, it's a real problem for her, isn't it.. [ Yes, she's just making her own commentary too along the story. ]

[He's fine with her commentary.]

It is. And she has no clues as to what they want from her? ... Does it say what happens if she gives a wrong answer?

[He almost dreads the answer.]

[ She shakes her head a little. He can basically feel it since she's leaning it against him.. ]

No, it doesn't. I guess they won't let her out until she completes the task.. maybe it's that?

If all that happens is that she's still locked then it's not that bad. It's still not a good situation though, is she supposed to just babble answers and hope to hit the right ones?

[Yeah, thinking isn't his thing.]

Well, after a little while she finds out that the books in the room with her are books full of Chinese phrases and the answers for them. Of course she still can't read Chinese, but she can match the signs on the notes up to the ones in the books and write answers that way. But of course.. that means the answers aren't her own answers, she doesn't even know what she's writing since she still can't read Chinese.

.. That's why it's about artificial intelligence. Even if some computers can "talk" to us.. it's not as if they understand what they're saying, right? Some people say it even counts for humans, how do we know we're not just saying things since we match up certain phrases to certain answers in our brain without really understanding what we're doing..

[Ikki makes a humming sound, finally understanding it better before he nods.]

Yes, that's right. It's like when I was a kid and claimed that I wanted to become a Saint. I said so because of what I had been told but none of us really understood what a Saint was or what they did, much less what becoming one would mean for our lives. Even if you talk the same language as the other person it doesn't mean you're really going to understand what they say.

That's what the experiment aims to prove, right? That even if you can have an intelligent conversation with someone it doesn't mean you understand each other or that the other is answering sincerely.

Hmm, Ikki-kun's got it. [ She nods a little bit too. ] That's what it's trying to say. Some people explain it with just a computer, but.. I don't think that's right. I think it has a lot to do with people too.

Me too. After all computers are made by people, right? Their limits to understand things only show the limits of the people who made them to understand said things.

[It makes sense, doesn't it? You can only build things about which you know yourself.]

It happens to you too, doesn't it? Despite everything you know and all those books you read, there are still times people say things you don't understand or know about, right?

... Uh-huh. Being in Luceti made me realise there's a whole lot of things I don't know yet..

[ Mostly since this is the first time she's actually (somewhat) gone out into the world instead of locking herself in her house and the library for years and years on end. ]

Does that make me dumb, Ikki-kun? [ Says the genius girl with a huge IQ. ]

Of course it doesn't make you dumb. You're one of the most intelligent persons I know.

[And he's not aware of how high her IQ is or anything.]

It just shows that there are many things that books can't teach so well. And that the bigger the variety of cultures the more things there are to be learned.

There's so much to learn though, I'm not sure if I'll ever learn all of it.. [ She does try, but there's so much to catch up on and so many new things.. not to mention stuff from other worlds that she has never even heard of before. ]

And I want to make sure I don't miss out on something. It'd be sad if I couldn't understand someone just since I hadn't learned enough, right..?

Don't worry, Kotomi-chan. I'm sure you'll be able to understand everyone, you work really hard for it after all, don't you? it will pay off before you know.

[He places a kiss on the top of her head, the arm wrapped around her caressing her side in a comforting manner.]

Though I can't say that they will understand you the same way, is that still fine with you?

[ It's surprisingly easy to comfort her, huh. Well, at least, if you're Ikki. Since she seems to move yet a little closer to him, practically nuzzling his side by now. ]

Why won't they understand me..? If I can understand people by working hard, then others could too, right? Just like Ikki-kun understands me..

Yes they could, but not everyone is as serious at understanding others as you are. And others are too caught up in what they think people should be that can't understand how others can be different, like... For example, not long ago Marco mentioned how he could never be able to do with Robin what you and me do, being able to just hug without any care.

Marco understands us, tries to be able to do so, but even so there are things that confuse him and can't understand, so he chooses to respect them at least. But someone else could say that what we do is wrong, simply because it's not something they can understand or do and they don't care about understanding.

[He's not sure if he's making sense here. Hopefully he won't have put his foot in his mouth with that.]

[ He will have to. Because half of it goes over her head, and she starts wibbling a little even though she's this close to him.. ]

A-.. am I doing something wrong when I hug Ikki-kun..? Am I, am I..?!

No! Of course not!

[Kotomi why did most of that go over your head.]

You aren't doing anything wrong, Kotomi-chan. But it seems that most people don't hug as much as we do, don't know why.

[And by much he means the duration of those hugs, as they don't really hug that often.]

[ They'll never realise how weird they are, huh. ]

.. [ well, at least she's calmed down again.. for now. ] I like hugging Ikki-kun a whole lot.. it's so nice and warm. So I don't know either why other people wouldn't want to do something as fun as hugging..

[Because apparently there are things that are more fun than hugging. Ikki doesn't think so though. And he doesn't think that hugging is specially fun either, he just does it because she likes it and keeps those long hugs because she always refuses to let go first.]

Guess they are weird like that. Does it really matter?

[It does since the whole point of this conversation was about understanding people.]

[ Kotomi also doesn't think there are things more fun than hugging, but it's more since hugging's the ultimate fun activity for her.. especially since you have to do it with someone else and Kotomi doesn't want to be alone anymore by now. ]

.. I want to understand them, Ikki-kun. Maybe I should ask someone about it some day..

[Ah, right, understanding people, that's why it matters.]

Right, I suppose asking would help- Wait, what will you ask them?

[Because Kotomi asking about that could go very wrong very quickly depending how it's worded.]

[ She nods, a slightly more determined look appearing on her face. ]

I'll walk right up to them, stand in front of them, and say.. "why don't you like hugging?" [ DON'T ASSUME NOBODY LIKES IT, KOTOMI.. ]

[YEAH DON'T.]

It's not that they don't like hugging. They probably they like it too, just wouldn't spend as long as us doing so.

... Then I'll walk right up to them, stand in front of them, and say.. "why don't you like hugging for hours like Ikki-kun and I do?"

[ oops, now it's embarassing. ]

Oi, no one needs to know for how long we hug each other. Don't ask it like that.

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Sorry, work was a killer

<3333

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