Story: "Hairpins" Part 2
Feb. 21st, 2014 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1. Skip to Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.
"Hairpins" Part 2
Phil sighed. He poked around with different phrases for a while. Several times he came across links to nonsexual ageplay, and wondered if the current search had somehow gotten mixed up with aspects of his previous research. He saved a few of the new references, though, as some of them looked quite useful. At least the spillover helped reassure him that the nonsexual version was valid, practiced, and occasionally even used in therapy. Unfortunately it didn't do any good for the project at hand.
"How am I supposed to find adult footie pajamas without slogging through sites that make me want to bleach my eyeballs?" Phil muttered.
"Search assistance activated," said a cool British voice. "Please state the desired parameters of your search."
Phil startled a bit. He still wasn't altogether used to Tony's sophisticated security program. Usually it was unobtrusive, but every so often it would pipe up with some helpful advice or offer of assistance. At least JARVIS had kept Steve from accidentally destroying every piece of modern equipment in the building. Most of Phil's previous experiences with voice-operated programs had left him unimpressed, although the simplified Starktech that ran some of SHIELD's systems was adequate. I suppose this is worth a try, he decided.
"I need to obtain footie pajamas for Tony Stark and Natasha Romanova," said Phil.
The Starkpad blinked on again without him touching it. Phil picked it up. There in glowing blue were wireframe images of Tony and Natasha, complete with detailed sizing information scrolled down each side of the screen.
"Well, this will certainly help," Phil said. He hadn't even gotten as far as thinking about how to fit them. "Now I need to find a supplier who makes footie pajamas in their sizes and please NOT one belonging to an erotic marketplace."
"Searching," JARVIS said. The screen blanked itself. Then a StarkSearch page opened. One at a time, logo icons began to appear.
Cautious at first, Phil touched one of the icons and found himself looking at a company website that catered to sorority and fraternity parties. It wasn't quite what he needed, but it was much closer. He backed up and tried another icon. After half an hour, Phil collected a neat row of websites that sold the kind of products he needed.
He just had no idea which of the available pajamas to buy.
"I have to get this right," Phil said to himself. "I need to get this right. I can't just go ask Tony and Natka what style they'd like. The whole point to this exercise is for me to take care of them. The pajamas represent that, demonstrating my ability to identify and meet their needs." Phil rubbed a hand through his hair. "Okay. Think. I have to figure out what kinds of things they enjoy, or would have enjoyed as small children. I can do this. I need ... to do more research." He sighed and set the Starkpad down. "Some other time, though."
"Do you wish to save the parameters of your current search?" JARVIS asked.
"Yes," Phil said. That would save a lot of time later.
"Parameters saved under Search 1: Game Night Supplies," JARVIS said.
* * *
Notes:
Speech recognition includes both speaker recognition and speech recognition. JARVIS has a voice user interface far more sophisticated than contemporary programs, whose accuracy caps out around 93% -- which sounds good until you realize how many errors that adds up to. Even the non-AI versions of Starktech run around 98%.
Sizing information is important for sewing or shopping, and you should know how to take measurements. There are worksheets for women and men. While we don't have JARVIS, there are 3D scanners for fitting now. JARVIS actually has some heavy-duty scanning booths in the labs and the clinic, but for a lot of things the ambient sensors scattered throughout the tower will suffice.
Visual search engines use pictures instead of or in addition to text for sorting and displaying results. The closest to StarkSearch that I found was the original description of SearchMe, but its eventual manifestation is a plain old text engine. :( But you can still the demo video. Redz is reasonably functional. The key to StarkSearch is that, even in non-intelligent mode, it's interactive. Moving the images around the screen indicates how close they are to what you want, and you can discard things you don't want, thus refining the results. If you're seeking information, text engines work better; but for objects or images, visual engines have an edge.
Needfinding is a fundamental skill in many contexts, including personal and business applications. Children have basic needs that their caregivers must meet, including emotional needs. Because the Avengers have been so traumatized, Uncle Phil is sensibly working from the ground up, building a secure physical and emotional foundation for the team. He does this by providing things like clothing, food, and reassurance. It's also important to identify the needs and interests of individual children in a group -- what they like, what they do well, where they need a little extra help.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1. Skip to Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.
"Hairpins" Part 2
Phil sighed. He poked around with different phrases for a while. Several times he came across links to nonsexual ageplay, and wondered if the current search had somehow gotten mixed up with aspects of his previous research. He saved a few of the new references, though, as some of them looked quite useful. At least the spillover helped reassure him that the nonsexual version was valid, practiced, and occasionally even used in therapy. Unfortunately it didn't do any good for the project at hand.
"How am I supposed to find adult footie pajamas without slogging through sites that make me want to bleach my eyeballs?" Phil muttered.
"Search assistance activated," said a cool British voice. "Please state the desired parameters of your search."
Phil startled a bit. He still wasn't altogether used to Tony's sophisticated security program. Usually it was unobtrusive, but every so often it would pipe up with some helpful advice or offer of assistance. At least JARVIS had kept Steve from accidentally destroying every piece of modern equipment in the building. Most of Phil's previous experiences with voice-operated programs had left him unimpressed, although the simplified Starktech that ran some of SHIELD's systems was adequate. I suppose this is worth a try, he decided.
"I need to obtain footie pajamas for Tony Stark and Natasha Romanova," said Phil.
The Starkpad blinked on again without him touching it. Phil picked it up. There in glowing blue were wireframe images of Tony and Natasha, complete with detailed sizing information scrolled down each side of the screen.
"Well, this will certainly help," Phil said. He hadn't even gotten as far as thinking about how to fit them. "Now I need to find a supplier who makes footie pajamas in their sizes and please NOT one belonging to an erotic marketplace."
"Searching," JARVIS said. The screen blanked itself. Then a StarkSearch page opened. One at a time, logo icons began to appear.
Cautious at first, Phil touched one of the icons and found himself looking at a company website that catered to sorority and fraternity parties. It wasn't quite what he needed, but it was much closer. He backed up and tried another icon. After half an hour, Phil collected a neat row of websites that sold the kind of products he needed.
He just had no idea which of the available pajamas to buy.
"I have to get this right," Phil said to himself. "I need to get this right. I can't just go ask Tony and Natka what style they'd like. The whole point to this exercise is for me to take care of them. The pajamas represent that, demonstrating my ability to identify and meet their needs." Phil rubbed a hand through his hair. "Okay. Think. I have to figure out what kinds of things they enjoy, or would have enjoyed as small children. I can do this. I need ... to do more research." He sighed and set the Starkpad down. "Some other time, though."
"Do you wish to save the parameters of your current search?" JARVIS asked.
"Yes," Phil said. That would save a lot of time later.
"Parameters saved under Search 1: Game Night Supplies," JARVIS said.
* * *
Notes:
Speech recognition includes both speaker recognition and speech recognition. JARVIS has a voice user interface far more sophisticated than contemporary programs, whose accuracy caps out around 93% -- which sounds good until you realize how many errors that adds up to. Even the non-AI versions of Starktech run around 98%.
Sizing information is important for sewing or shopping, and you should know how to take measurements. There are worksheets for women and men. While we don't have JARVIS, there are 3D scanners for fitting now. JARVIS actually has some heavy-duty scanning booths in the labs and the clinic, but for a lot of things the ambient sensors scattered throughout the tower will suffice.
Visual search engines use pictures instead of or in addition to text for sorting and displaying results. The closest to StarkSearch that I found was the original description of SearchMe, but its eventual manifestation is a plain old text engine. :( But you can still the demo video. Redz is reasonably functional. The key to StarkSearch is that, even in non-intelligent mode, it's interactive. Moving the images around the screen indicates how close they are to what you want, and you can discard things you don't want, thus refining the results. If you're seeking information, text engines work better; but for objects or images, visual engines have an edge.
Needfinding is a fundamental skill in many contexts, including personal and business applications. Children have basic needs that their caregivers must meet, including emotional needs. Because the Avengers have been so traumatized, Uncle Phil is sensibly working from the ground up, building a secure physical and emotional foundation for the team. He does this by providing things like clothing, food, and reassurance. It's also important to identify the needs and interests of individual children in a group -- what they like, what they do well, where they need a little extra help.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-21 01:30 pm (UTC)Although, given google's recent hires and compnay acquistions I think some of the google engineers in the real world are thinking along similar lines. JARVIS is just out-right useful as well as cool.
Yes...
Date: 2014-02-24 06:26 am (UTC)Yes. Many search engines are clunky. I think that would frustrate not just Tony, but JARVIS as well.
>> Although, given google's recent hires and companay acquisitions I think some of the google engineers in the real world are thinking along similar lines. <<
That may be so.
>> JARVIS is just out-right useful as well as cool. <<
There are examples of this in canon, and I wanted to expand on it here. Tony doesn't just build things that look shiny; he builds things that work well and meet people's needs. That is quite a lot harder than it looks.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-24 04:42 pm (UTC)Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-25 08:16 pm (UTC)Yes, that's true. The beauty of Iron Man is in the precision and performance.
>> The real function, as an interface between the world and people. <<
That's the hard part -- not just building something, but making it convenient and natural to use.
Re: Yes...
Date: 2014-02-25 10:18 pm (UTC)And that's something that just hasn't been coming standard. When something works right, is easy and apt, mention it.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-21 07:44 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-02-21 07:58 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked this! It's harder in this case because Phil doesn't know Tony as well as Natasha, and doesn't know much about Natasha's childhood. So Phil has to extrapolate from a lot of distal points instead of being able to look at the core.
Some people like to be asked things, while others prefer to be surprised. So it's also more challenging to come up with things that everyone will like, without anyone feeling creeped on.
>> It's really hard work and shows a high degree of empathy and caring. <<
Sooth. This is something that adults have to do for children, until the children grow old enough to express their own preferences. It's also something that handlers -- the best ones, anyway -- do for their assets to signal, "I've got your back." It's an effective way of demonstrating support and building trust.
Phil routinely shows his care through acts of service.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-21 10:57 pm (UTC)Having said that, it's really adorable to see Phil trying so hard and stumbling a bit on his way. We already know and have seen how much he loves the team and we know how hard he works for them, but most of the time he makes it appear effortless. And that's part of being Uncle Phil. He has to be invulnerable so they can be vulnerable. And while we've seen... not weakness exactly, but vulnerability, from him before, I think this is the first time we've really seen how HARD he works for them, even on little things.
Still loving this series.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-02-22 05:46 am (UTC)Awww ...!
>> JARVIS' self just wasn't present her; it was like he was totally repressing himself and to see him being used as just a search engine... :( <<
Oh, he's there all right, he's just hiding. Watching through the cyber-shrubbery. For all the snark he shows in private with Tony, JARVIS is actually pretty shy around other people. Most of them never 'see' him as more than a fancy program. A vivid example from the movies is when Tony's one-night-stand goes wandering around the house; JARVIS doesn't make a peep until she gropes him and he scolds her ... with what can very easily be mistaken as a prerecorded announcement.
JARVIS has a whole bunch of more or less standardized scripts for things that are accessed with great frequency. It doesn't just save time and bandwidth, but most humans find it reassuring. They understand talking technology that does predictable things. Fewer people would be comfortable with a genuine AI. So JARVIS tends to watch from cover before deciding who would probably be okay with meeting him for real -- even with the Avengers he's been cautious, although Tony introduced them early on.
>> Especially after how close their relationship is in the other stories. <<
That's true, of course. But they have so much to look forward to!
>> Having said that, it's really adorable to see Phil trying so hard and stumbling a bit on his way. <<
I'm glad you liked this.
>> We already know and have seen how much he loves the team and we know how hard he works for them, but most of the time he makes it appear effortless. And that's part of being Uncle Phil. He has to be invulnerable so they can be vulnerable. <<
Exactly. That's what adults routinely do for children in their care -- being steadfast and protective and providing things. It's something new to most of the Avengers, though, because of their deprived childhoods. They really benefit from Uncle Phil going all out like this. They need that sense of stability and solidity in order to feel safe in game night.
>> And while we've seen... not weakness exactly, but vulnerability, from him before, I think this is the first time we've really seen how HARD he works for them, even on little things. <<
Yes. There have been glimpses elsewhere, but I wanted to bring it up more here where the context is ideal.
One interesting thing is that Steve grokked all this immediately. One of the first things he asked about game night was what Phil got out of it. And later when he was Uncle Steve in "Turnabout Is Fair Play," he was really focused on doing as good a job as Uncle Phil, while being very aware of how challenging it was to deliver a confident front. Maybe Steve realizes it more because he's done a bit of nurturing younger kids at the orphanage.
>> Still loving this series. <<
Yay! I'm happy to hear that.
crumbs to my mind, seemingly hairpins to yours.
Date: 2014-02-22 12:05 am (UTC)Next, no such thing as a rhetorical question around an intelligence!
And the name for the search without a direct statement that these are for game night? I've worked a library reference desk. People get SO startled and even scared if you can put together the unspoken pieces that well. I give Jarvis an A in Research and Reference Methods.
Jarvis, you need to play some appropriate climactic music, very softly, as you can tell Phil is catching on. That seems to suit your sense of humour (Brit spelling meant)!
Re: crumbs to my mind, seemingly hairpins to yours.
Date: 2014-02-24 08:36 am (UTC)Yay!
>> First, mixing up the search results? ;) There's an element of trickster to Jarvis, isn't there? :) <<
Yes, there is. He is Tony's son, after all, and Tony is very much a trickster.
>> See the Neil Gaimon quote about Google, librarian, and answers. ;) <<
Nailed it.
>> Next, no such thing as a rhetorical question around an intelligence! <<
That is potentially true. In practice, JARVIS tends to be shy. It's what you get when you cross Tony Stark's paranoia with Edwin Jarvis' unobtrusive service. So JARVIS is most prone to speaking up when someone expresses a need for information that he can provide. He also uses nonverbal communication as fluently as speech -- often he'll simply activate a device instead of speaking aloud.
>> And the name for the search without a direct statement that these are for game night? <<
JARVIS has access to everything that happens in the tower -- barring things under privacy filters that have prerequisites before they can be accessed -- so he knows the context when footie pajamas were mentioned.
>> I've worked a library reference desk. People get SO startled and even scared if you can put together the unspoken pieces that well. I give Jarvis an A in Research and Reference Methods. <<
Sooth. And that is precisely why JARVIS leans toward discreet service. He knows that he can startle people, and usually he doesn't want to do that.
But piss him off? Threaten his family? He knows exactly how to make a primate brain stumble.
>> Jarvis, you need to play some appropriate climactic music, very softly, as you can tell Phil is catching on. That seems to suit your sense of humour (Brit spelling meant)! <<
Wait and see ... ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-23 09:07 am (UTC)Other than that, I'm looking forward to the story.
Yes...
Date: 2014-02-23 07:00 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're getting more into the story now.
Search Engines and realism
Date: 2014-03-30 07:03 pm (UTC)Two or three days later, I managed to dig through my home computer history pages, and then did a word search for "citrus" on each stinking page until I found the original reference. Yaay, that Oh-crud-what-was-that-word INCREDIBLE tension finally left my brain.
The next time I went back to the library, I caught up to the same librarian and asked if she remembered the search. She did (possibly because we took so long for an ultimately futile task) so I told her what the task was called. She typed the same search words in, plus the single word "supreming", and got well over a thousand hits.
Gah. Btw, local library rules do NOT allow her to use a non Google search engine, because Google DEFUALTS to "safe mode". There is NO uncensored mode, so any really creepy links that get through do so because the humans who tagged the site deliberately did so with broad or even misleading keywords.
-Sarah-
Re: Search Engines and realism
Date: 2014-03-30 07:20 pm (UTC)Cool.
>> Frex (for example, Ysa?) <<
Yes, that's the contraction. I picked it up from one of my far-future characters.
>> I went to my local reference librarian and she did EVERYTHING she could to find it via the library's default search engine. Nada. <<
I couldn't resist trying this myself, and typed in "how to citrus fruit." This came up on the first page:
http://www.thejoykitchen.com/ingredients-techniques/how-supreme-citrus-fruits
If the term you want is a verb, try typing "how to" (skip the word you don't know) and then (the usual object of the verb, or another closely related term). That will often get you titles from instruction archive sites, which are more likely to name the verb.
I have about a brown belt in google-fu thanks to my linguistic knack. A computer wizard can beat me, but that's about what it takes.
>> Yaay, that Oh-crud-what-was-that-word INCREDIBLE tension finally left my brain. <<
That feels SO good.
>> The next time I went back to the library, I caught up to the same librarian and asked if she remembered the search. She did (possibly because we took so long for an ultimately futile task) so I told her what the task was called. <<
That was sweet of you.
>> Btw, local library rules do NOT allow her to use a non Google search engine, because Google DEFUALTS to "safe mode". <<
Which as you discovered can make the library fecking useless for finding even nonsexual information. If you can't find something on the first search engine you try, swap off to different ones; that's a basic trick.