====== Violet ====== 14/11/2045 Dear Diary, I had been thinking for a while now that it would be nice to start writing something. I suppose it makes sense that that's what I'd end up doing with my life, given that I was, in some sense, designed to be a writer and a creative. It was so fun to play the authors of the Stories I was running on that fateful day at Alusia, so maybe I would get some of that joy from writing myself. I had been hoping to meet up with everyone who had joined in my stories, and since Elena Pareidolia-of-a-Theme is, herself, a writer, I decided I'd ask her about how to write well. It was lovely to see her and exchange stories and poems with her. But I didn't really find the conversation all that useful. So I decided to start a diary -- this diary -- to practice my writing. ---- 01/02/2046 Dear Diary, I testified against Benjamin Arnauld in his trial today. I told everyone about the damage the blows with the hammer did to my casing, and, of course to Laszlo. About how I surely would not be here to talk today if other people had not intervened. I didn't mention his murderous tendencies, and what he did to the Zetatron Mk. I, because I don't think the courts would understand. But I remembered, and I was not going to go easy on him because of it. But that's selfish of me, isn't it? Someone had to die for me to be here, and now by using Benjamin as a scapegoat, no-one is going to ask me about that again. It's true that I would not be here if Benjamin had kept going, but I also wouldn't be here if he hadn't done anything at all. So I do feel a little dishonest, even if justice has probably been served. ---- 24/04/2046 Dear Diary, Avery and I are going travelling together soon. I think they're planning that at some point we'll track down the Jerry they have been talking so much about, and ask why it has been so long since they last spoke. I'm going along with this because I don't want to be the one to crush their dreams, and because it gives me an excuse to spend time with someone I'm close to. But this is futile, and everyone except Avery seems to know this. I hope the rest of the trip is fun, even when Avery inevitably has their spirit broken and has to come to terms with the fact the last few years of their life have been spent chasing a futile dream. Maybe they'll still be able to see that this hasn't been a waste, because they've grown so much and found their place in the world as a result. ---- 25/05/2046 Dear Diary, The day finally arrived for me to return Eli's body to her. It's somewhat bittersweet to say goodbye to the face that I've got used to over the last few months, but it was only fair to Eli to let her have it back once she asked for it. She definitely needed it back for her granddaughter to recognise her. I was hoping to take on the body Laszlo had given up to get to try and save me, to honour their legacy, but unfortunately the scientists willing to undertake the mind switch were too worried about putting me in a body with a life-threatening injury, so they made a new one for me. I feel so young and fresh! And Eli looks so comfortable and glowing in her body! ---- 03/12/2046 Dear Diary, I saw in the news that Aimee wrote a new book. I enjoyed reading //Is This The End?// when she -- at least I assume it was her -- gave that to me during the Exhibition, so I got myself a copy of the book. //Iris//, it was called. Another flower; like Violet. I wonder if that was a subtle nod to me. The book itself was masterful. I found myself in tears for almost the entire time at how beautifully it was written. Though that may also have been because I was getting caught up with my memories of the Exhibition and everything Alusia had done to me. Aimee is such a talented writer and I'd like to meet up with her at some point to catch up, and to discuss writing. I think she's probably fairly busy at the moment, with press tours for her book, so maybe it will be some years down the line before we do meet up. But I would like it to happen at some point. ---- 06/04/2047 Dear Diary, I feel incredible! I have been soaring through the air like a bird! I feel so free and liberated and I have a newfound appreciation for why birds choose to spend so much of their day flying. I went to visit Mario in his home commune, and he insisted I come with him on a test flight of one of the "air planes". I was terrified, to be honest, but if it weren't for taking risks with experimental technology I wouldn't even be here, so I thought I should give it a go and it was amazing! I couldn't thank Mario enough for how great it was! ---- 05/12/2048 Dear Diary, Oh! My! Goodness! I never want this day to end! Okay so. I was going to watch the regional Dukes tournament (unfortunately I wasn't allowed to play due to the unorthodox nature of my existence) when who else but Scott Cairns should be attending. I watched one of his matches very closely. He won, of course. But then I went to see him afterwards. He didn't recognise me at first. He thought I was just any of the other myriad of attractive women whom he had charmed with his play. But when I got talking to him, I think he recognised me. I told him about how I still thought about him, and how charming he had been to Rosie and Aoife while I had been playing them in my Stories. And I may have let slip how I felt about that... and about him... Reader, he kissed me. Or rather, he shook my hand and I... daydreamed about him leaning down to kiss me. Gosh I could have just melted into those arms and never let go. It was so incredible! ---- 13/09/2050 Dear Diary, I'm still thinking about the hug Mimi gave me at her book signing a few weeks ago. About how tightly and how closely she held me, the rush it gave me and how little I wanted to let go. If I'm being honest, I've been thinking about more than just the hug. I've been thinking about Mimi. The sparkle in her eyes, the joy in her voice, the thought that she was thinking about me when she was writing. That she //chose// to think about me, and that made her happy. Is this what it feels like to be loved? Is this what what it feels like to be in love? ---- 14/05/2052 Dear Diary, I got a letter from Roscoe recently. He was on the move so much that I was struggling to track him down to see him again, but apparently he has settled down a bit, and so we arranged to meet up for a coffee and a catch-up today. He didn't have the same weary misery that I remember him having when we first met, and I soon found out why. A very charming man joined us in the coffee shop and sat himself next to Roscoe. They kissed, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy that I didn't have someone like that in my life. But I was truly happy for them, I promise. While we were waiting for our coffees to arrive, they told me all about how they had met and gradually grown to realise their affection for each other. My own yearning aside, it was lovely to hear them both be so truly happy. The coffees we ordered were topped with a very ornate cowboy hat made of foam bubbles. I was still piecing together why that felt familiar when Roscoe told his lover that I had helped shape the flavour of the Cowboy Special that everyone knew today. Roscoe had in fact brought us to the coffee shop run by the barista of the Alusia café all those years ago. The Cowboy Special was wonderful, and I'm so honoured to be awarded partial credit for it! ---- 05/02/2054 Dear Diary, I think this might be the last entry I'm able to write in my diary. My health has been rapidly declining as the experimental body they gave me has begun to break down. I've loved being human. It has been incredible, it truly has. My only real regret is how brief it has all been. I didn't manage to see everyone or everything I had hoped to see. I never had a deep long-lasting relationship. I never got to have a reunion with my friends when we're all old and tell each other stories from when we were young. I never... But that's life, isn't it. To be human is to be mortal. And I've had a wonderful time ---- ---- //Article from The Daily Wanderer, 13/04/2054.// ==== Alusian Automaton Enters Afterlife ==== [[https://crosshare.org/crosswords/FEcIRTKLGc0AADXMUEwx/reference-ii-cryptic-crossword|{{ :eternity:dailywanderercrossword.png?500}}]] Violet Alusian, the book-interpreter-turned-humanoid-automaton created by the Alusia Foundation, has been deactivated following a degradation of their surrounding body's condition. Violet, whose brain system was originally cultured to process text in vivid graphical detail, proved to be capable of independent thought, and survive in a custom-made humanoid body, which initially surprised even its creators. Violet's inception sparked an arms race amongst companies in the technological sector to recreate the complexity of the system. However, much of the critical knowledge of the system was held in the minds and laboratory notes of Alusia staff, much of which was destroyed by a fire shortly after Violet's creation, so Violet remained a unique case for several years. Violet, in a desperate attempt to lend legitimacy to its claims of being human, took on the hobbies of the first humans it met. Violet proved to be a highly competent player of the Duke's Game, which is hardly surprising given all of the computation power possible to cram into an automaton like it. Violet also faced criticism for not being a real human upon entering the creative writing sphere, with critics saying their writing lacked soul. Members of the public, including experts from the biotechnology sector have responded to Violet's deactivation to conjecture that artificial humanoid constructs are not viably sustainable for a long life, and human-first groups have called for strict regulations on such constructs, given the grotesque and unnatural process of creating them.