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You leave Pandora's room and have a good stretch, realizing you've been sitting with her, teaching for a little over 8 hours. Time flies, as they say. Your stomach feels distinctively empty at the moment, though the mess hall will probably incredibly busy right now. You also consider meeting up with some of your team to discuss future lesson plans with Pandora, but odds are they're already in the mess as it is. Huh. You're so used to burying yourself in your work, you're not entirely sure what to do when you've got free time.
>Head to the mess hall and get something to eat
>Head to the gym and get some exercise
>Meet up with ____ (write in)
>Other

>>42467138
>Head to the mess hall and get something to eat

food and schmoozing

>>42467138
>Head to the mess hall and get something to eat

>>42467138
>Text Babc see if she wants to grab a bite to eat in the mess hall so we can discuss future lesson plans and goals for Pandora.

Food does sound good. Who knows, maybe the flavorless slop they're serving today will be slightly less flavorless for once. You're not holding your breath, but who knows. At the very least you'll get to watch your team squirm when you sit down next to them.
The moment you open the mess hall doors you are greeted by a cacophony of chatter, clattering dishes and cutlery and the wafting smell of something most likely crammed in a microwave for too long, then garnished with copious amounts of ketchup and soy sauce. Thankfully the line is mercifully short this time and you manage to get your gooey, grey "food" the sign says is "risotto".
A quick scan of the room shows several open spots at tables; your usual with your research team, several of whom are eyeing you cautiously, no doubt hoping you pass them up. An empty table next to the uncomfortably noisy security guard table, several of whom appear to be reenacting some vulgar joke they heard on television. Lastly, to your surprise, the Bob twins have a table to themselves, despite never actually seeing any of the R&D team outside their department.
>Sit with your team
>Sit by yourself
>Sit with the Bobs
>Other (write in)

>>42467380
>Sit with team, brainstorm future lesson plans, ask for ideas and input. Hopefully they'll be better at this than reataching Pandora's arm.

>>42467480
seconding

>>42467380
>Sit with your team

>>42467525
Woot already havin' good ideas and what not.

You decide familiarity is the best thing to go with right now, considering the alternatives are a table next to the biggest assholes in the Facility and two guys who, frankly, make you rather uncomfortable. Something about how they move perfectly in sync. So, much to the disdain of your researchers, you make your way over to the table and take a seat, delighting in most of them tensing up as you clack your tray down. A chorus of "Hello, doctor." rings out among them and you smile, greeting them with a "Hello, ladies and gentlemen." Honestly, you haven't memorized all their names, but know a few.
Grace, a quiet girl, Chinese, with a knack for biology as well as coding. Ryan, a usually friendly, if naive man with a good head for electrical engineering and robotics. Kevin and Robert, who seem to be together quite often, are both great at chemistry and mathematics. You have a feeling they're secretly a couple.
>Speak to specific member
>Speak to team as a whole
>Eat in silence
>Other

>>42467725
>Listen in on the other's conversations, maybe join if relevant

>>42467725
>Speak to team as a whole

>>42467725
>>Speak to team as a whole

>>42467901
>>42467843
Seconding both of these. Time to dispell the distant boss motif. If your team can empathize and humanize you it'll make workong togother that much easier, not to mention makibg it easier to get them to dp what you want them too.

>>42467989
Sorry for the errors I'm on my phone.

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>>42467989
>dp

Writing.

>>42468041
I meant do. I didn't mean to imply lewdness

You clear your throat, your team collectively freezing, some with mouths full of food, and raise your glass. "I would like to, ah, propose a toast. You have all done a great job with TBX-42, every one of you. You have surpassed my expectations and I am pleased with the outcome. So, in that spirit, to teamwork and progress." You hold your drink out, a clinking of glasses proceeding the team's response, "to teamwork and progress". That should ease things a bit. Nothing cuts through social tension like a good toasting.
Roll 1d100 to make things less awkward between you and your team. Best of 3.

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>>42467023
Good to see the quest is continuing for another day. Almost missed it.

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>42468181
Dice to not drop the spaghetti like a masta pastamancer.

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>42468181
ok

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>42468181
DRUNK SCIENCE
DRUNK BRAWL

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>>42468281
DRUNK SCIENCE
FUCK YEA

Sorry, WC. Back now. Writing.

>>42467989
Plus the more of the staff we have backing us the more pressure we can put on tbe brass to do things our way.

The faces of your team soften a bit after the toast. Showing a more human side of you seemed to help, if only a bit. You admit you've been a little too focused on work and the project the whole time, you never got a chance to actually bond with your research team. "So," you continue "let's talk about Pandora's curriculum. You all recall schooling, I'm sure. What do you think we should be teaching her about? She has a bit of interest in the arts, drawing and dancing primarily, but I'd like to get her into more practical subjects as well. Any ideas?"
After a short pause, Grace raises her hand timidly, speaking in a soft voice with a moderate accent. "Maybe rather than teaching, sir, you could focus on her enjoying herself? She might not like non-stop learning every day. Maybe set aside several days to do some fun things. My father used to tell me that enriching the spirit is just as important as enriching the mind and body." Several others nod in agreement, while others still seem to have a sour look on their faces.

"I vote we just stick to standard sciences," Kevin speaks up. "I mean, she is an advanced AI, but that doesn't mean we need to have a hugging party for her every day. We're being tasked with checking her learning capacity, so that's exactly what we should do." Robert nods at this, sending a wry grin at Grace, who eyes her food shyly, unsure how to respond.
They both do hold valid points, but you're not sure which is the best course of action. Then it hits you.

"Well," you begin. "you both are correct. Pandora needs both grow as a person and as an AI. She needs more influences than just mine. So, I propose that each teaching day, I will bring one of you with me to observe and offer insight. An extra set of ears and eyes never hurt, yes?" Grace smiles at this, she has been hoping to meet Pandora for some time, so this should be perfect for her. Kevin simply nods, giving a rather cold look to Grace.

Cont.

[Unlocked: Researcher bonuses]
>You now have the option of bringing specific members of your research team to aid in teaching Pandora. Each member offers different areas of expertise, making certain subjects easier to learn, as well as offer better outcomes of sessions involving them.

Grace Zheng: Offers a slight emotional boost to Pandora, lowering the DC for rolls involving things such as morality, ethics and personality. However, she has the inverse effect on matters of schooling and learning about logic.
Kevin Oak: Offers a slight boost to most scientific subjects studied, lowering DC on rolls for learning standard schooling subjects such as reading, writing, science and history. The opposite is true on matters of the heart, increasing the difficulty on rolls about emotions.

More can be unlocked in the future.

Cont.

With things concluded and a compromise reached, you spend the rest of your dinner getting to know your team, discussing personal lives, views, interests and so on, as well as a little sharing of your own. You feel the awkward gap between you and your subordinates begin to close a bit, tension melting away to laughter and stories.
With dinner concluded, you have about an hour before lights out and have free time to do something else if you so desire. Or, you could just head to bed early and begin the next day.
>Head to the gym for a workout
>Visit R&D
>Meet up with ____ (write in)
>Head to bed early
>Other

>>42468778
>Head to bed early

>>42468778
Practice dancing as a workout where nobody can see how awful we are

>>42468796
>Practice dancing as a workout where nobody can see how awful we are
Second.

>>42468778
We did just go to R&D this morning, I'm sure not much has changed since then. I vote going to bed and checking in with them in the morning. I also think we should set up a rota so that each of the researches who want to spend time with Pandora get to, we can do this by scheduling certain days for each of them, that way Pandora gets more exposure to different personalities, after a while we can give her some choice as to which researches she wants to spend more time with.

>>42468865
*researchers

>>42468792
>>42468796
>>42468862
>>42468865
Currently 50/50 between going to bed and getting your dance on.

>>42468944
We must DANCE!!!

>>42468980
Only if it's the s-a-f-e-t-y dance! Music is another thing we need to introduce to Pandora.

>>42469032
We did, she likes electronica and stuff, from way back in the early 2000's

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>>42468980
Looks like it's time to get your groove on. Writing.

>>42469032
You introduced her to music last thread, actually. She's into the oldies like dubstep and EDM.

>>42469032
What about the Robot? Or The Roboboogie.

Two kinds of Dances.

we officially must do the safety dance

Something had been gnawing at the back of your mind. Something you felt a great shame about. You scratch your cast, now covered in messages from your team, and think back to the tumble you took. It was traumatic, game-changing, embarrassing and worst of all, you looked like an idiot in front of your superiors and anyone watching the security cameras. This needs to be rectified, you think to yourself. You need to redeem yourself, in the eyes of your coworkers and in the eyes of Pandora. You hurry off to your quarters.
Roll 1d100 to practice your fly moves. Best of 3.

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>42469177
inb4 I roll a 1 again

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>42469177
Everybody's Free to Feel Good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0t76ktRwt0

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>42469177
dance like nobody's watching but maybe they will be one day so you better get good at it

>>42469203
Actually, funny enough, Help Me Dr. Dick came on my playlist as you guys started rolling. I had a good laugh over that one.

Writing.

>>42469246
SsssONOVABITCH! I wrote up almost a whole scene, only to have it flip out and randomly go back on me for no reason. God damn. Whelp, sorry guys, gonna take a little longer to write it up again. Shame on me for using the actual reply function instead of notepad or something.

You turn on your laptop and find some old music that should be fitting for your attempt at dance. Classics seem to interest Pandora, so this should be fairly fitting, even if a bit clunky and ancient. You have a few simple dance steps open in a window, your body fighting each one stubbornly, a hot blush creeping it's way across your face. But you are nothing if not persistent. You're doing this for Pandora, after all. As well as to redeem yourself. You relax a little with time (and a few swigs from your secret stash of liquid courage), letting the music guide your movements. This isn't so bad, you think to yourself, you could get into this. The song isn't too bad, though a bit archaic, and you're not entirely sure why it keeps telling you to look at your pants. Who knows what they were thinking way back then.

Something clicks after a while and you just start grooving. "S..." The song begins, your body gyrating in time with the beat. "A..." You swivel your hips, legs shaking somewhat oddly, but you're enjoying it. "F..." You pump your arms, or rather, arm, back and forth. "E..." You receive a ping on your PDA. It will have to wait, however. You're in "the zone" as the saying goes. "T..." You're definitely going to have to teach Pandora about this, it's really growing on you! "Y..." More pings. You're certainly popular tonight. Ah well, you've had your fun for now and have danced yourself out of breath. You turn the music off and flop down onto the bed, laughing to yourself at the thought of how strange that must've looked. Ping. What on Earth could someone want at this...oh god...

Cont.

>>42469596
I will laugh if this just got broadcasted to the rest of the facility.

227: Nice dancing, Mr. America's Next Top Dance Idol.
227: We can see you, Doctor Softshoe.
227: This is priceless!
634: Oh man, I am never going to forget this!
227: I am recording this and never deleting it.
720: I think it's rather charming. Are you practicing for Pandora?
633: You look like a complete buffoon.
227: If I offer you a tenner, will you take it off?

You freeze, reading the comments over and over, mind racing, heart pounding. You can see your life flashing before your eyes as you have multiple panic attacks at once. The hot kiss of shame graces every inch of your face, and for a moment you contemplate just running out of the Facility and never looking back. The bastards, or rather, most likely Mouse hacked the security feed. You should have realized this when they commented on what happened the other day. They're not authorized to view the cameras, but there's not exactly a lot of people here who could stop them.
>Send a message to R&D explaining yourself
>Send a message to R&D demanding they erase that footage and stop spying on you
>Cover your head with a pillow, go to sleep and pray for the sweet release of death to take you in the night
>Other (write in)

>>42469767
>>Cover your head with a pillow, go to sleep and pray for the sweet release of death to take you in the night

>>42469596
Also relevant
>>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPau5QYtYs

>>42469767
>Send a message to R&D explaining yourself

and then

>Cover your head with a pillow, go to sleep and pray for the sweet release of death to take you in the night

>>42469813
> this

>>42469813
seconding that

ok

>>42469767
> Also no matter what we do personally this has to spread it would be sad if it didn't.

Writing. You silly gooses forgot about the cameras everywhere.

You frantically type message after message to R&D, explaining that you were doing it for Pandora, how it was to make sure another accident doesn't happen and how you just wanted to show her there's always ways to improve and basically every other bit of "life lesson" bullshit you can pull out of your ass. You finish with a "I am a man of science above all else, and as such must overcome personal embarrassment in the name of progress." and try to put on a serious face for the cameras, though no doubt the bright red blush is ruining any chance you had at convincing them of that.
A short while later, you get another couple pings.
227: Relax, Twinketoes, your secret's safe with us. Though we may have need for blackmail in the future, so who knows?
633: Buffoon.
634: You have to show me some of those moves sometime. I bet you can't keep the ladies away!
720: You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your dedication to Pandora is sweet.

At least Babsy had something nice to say. Still, you're going to have a hard time facing them in the future. Not to mention keeping Mouse from uploading your performance onto the internet. Maybe you'll wake up in the morning and it will all have just been a dream or hallucination.

Cont.

>>42469894
So we're going for the "no such thing as privacy" future dystopia. G-great. I was just kind of hoping that it would just be a lone security guard chuckling at that.

>>42470043
Well we are in a top secret government research facility, of course there's cameras everywhere. Doesn't really give any idea about what the rest of the world is like.

>>42470012
The morning comes sooner than you'd like, and throughout your usual ritual, you cannot stop thinking about last night. Every shave of stubble, every scrub in the shower, every bite of breakfast, every drop of coffee just reminds you of what an idiot you were... Still, Babsy did say you were sweet, so that's a plus.
You get several pings, messages from Mouse letting "Dr. Softshoe" know you have packages waiting for you at R&D. Fantastic, a new nickname from Mouse. Today is going to be terrible.
You have a little time before Pandora is scheduled to be woken. What will you do?
>Head to R&D and pick up your packages
>Contact one of your team and ask them to assist you with today's lesson
>Go straight to Pandora's room and start the lesson
>Other (write in)

>>42470043
What >>42470065 said. The cameras are because you're in essentially Area 51 for robots. They're watching everything to make sure their assets are secure. The only thing that aren't monitored are the bathrooms for privacy regulations, though they'd probably do it to if they could.

>>42470075
>Head to R&D and pick up your packages
>Contact one of your team and ask them to assist you with today's lesson
Grace

>>42470075
>Head to R&D and pick up your packages
meanwhile use the phone to
>Contact the creativity woman and ask her to help with today's lesson

>>42470075
>Softshoe, go pick up your packages.
Hopefully this'll help.
And since people seem to also want some teamwork, I'll play devils advocate and go with Kevin Oak. I know people are gonna go with Grace and I'm cool with that.

>>42470096
>seconding.

>>42470142
We can alternate them until we get more options. Balance is important for a growing mind.

>>42470142
Hey, always good to have multiple views. I myself enjoy playing devil's advocate.

Writing.

>>42470142
I want Grace cause we're giving Pandora the ability to dream, and Grace will probably be much better at helping us explain that.

You begrudgingly begin the long, slow trek to R&D, each step flashing vivid images of Mouse and the others laughing up a storm at your expense, and it only gets worse the closer you come to their doorstep. Still, you are important, the head of research. This is YOUR facility, not theirs, and dammit you demand respect! You stand in front of the door, ID badge in hand, jaw steeled, back straight, chest out. They're not going to get the best of you this time. A quick scan and the door swings open, inviting the master of the house in. Not today, you tell yourself.
And are greeted by 819 "Snowglobe", deadpan staring you in the face. In his hands he holds a medium-sized box and a USB drive, which he passes to you unceremoniously, lets out a slight confirmatory "Mm." and closes the door in your face. You're stunned for a moment, your grandiose entrance blown out of the air like so many clay pigeons... Well, at least it was quick, you think.
After that, you send a quick message to Grace, asking her to meet you outside Pandora's chambers, and hurry off to greet her with her new gifts once more. But a question remains; should you forego the standard plan of reading, writing and such and focus more on fun and entertaining subjects as Grace mentioned, or should you study both equally?
>Stick to the plan, Pandora needs input from as many different sources as possible
>Pass up the logical, less fun stuff and show Pandora that she doesn't always have to deal the bland, uninteresting stuff
>Other (write in)

>>42470282
>Pass up the logical, less fun stuff and show Pandora that she doesn't always have to deal the bland, uninteresting stuff

>>42470282
Speaking as an arts student, you could apply that same rigor and training you get in techincal things like reading writing and arithmatic to art.

If we do art, maybe we can challenge her. Get her to do a contour drawing of a figure, never lifting the pencil. Or to draw something without taking her eyes off it. Or since she's an AI, encourage her to draw something entirely imagined. I don't know how much she makes or does is from memory or from reference. It might be fun to see her fabricate things.

And if we take an arts perspective towards reading as well, we can start getting her to "analyze" works of literature.

Otherwise has she messed with clay or 3D media yet? Might be a good thing to mess with once she gets touch sensors.

>>42470282
Balance is KEY we'll bring Grace thos time and do some fun stuff today and tomorrow we'll have lessons with oak thos way she gets the best of. Let's not limit her.

Looks like things are kinda dying down now, so I think I'll stop this thread here. As always, thanks so much for playing, guys. I'm really happy people enjoy Pandora Quest! Remember to follow me on Twitter and to vote for the threads on suptg if you enjoy them! I'll stick around for a bit to answer questions and take requests for hardware or software upgrades.

If I have time tomorrow, I'll see if I can pick up where this left off, but I don't know if that's a sure thing. Watch my Twitter for updates!

>>42470548
Thanks for running.
As for upgrades I can't really think of anything new right now.
Can she smell yet? Maybe something like that, so eventually she can have all the senses.

>>42470657
Nah, no smelling yet. Her only senses stock are sight and sound.

>>42470677
and soon touch

>>42470548
Aw okay. Hope we get to introduce Pandora to someone new tomorrow. that is IF we are doing stuff tomorrow.

I also noticed you said Robots. Plural. here. >>42470095
You implying something?

Otherwise want me to do any art? I might try something out and post it the next thread.

>>42470711
do the dancing please

without the broken arm bit

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>>42470721
Anything in particular?
I've got a few thumbnails down for dancing poses.

Should Dr. Softshoe be getting Footloose? Or does he have Canned Heat in his heels?

Is he doing the robot? Or whatever the hell Bobby Zilch does in Psychonauts?

Or is it the safety dance.

>>42470854
safety dance with Pandora

it will be glorious

or just do all of them

that would be extra glorious

>>42470677
What does our protagonist look like? Or are you keeping it vague?