[video]

[steelandtemper]

[What has no thumbs and is sick to death of gods and sorcerers and magic spears and all the similar crap that keeps popping up? This AI.

Well, actually, her hologram has thumbs, but they're currently not visible behind the equally holographic folded arms.]

Poll: how many of you are from universes where the supernatural is real? Magic, gods, shoe-making elves that aren't just a parable about virtue, whatever.

[Why Grimm's Fairy Tales? Why not Grimm's Fairy Tales? It's all equally nonsense as far as thorough-going materialist Cortana is concerned.]

Comments

[ordinarily]

No, see, my parents made it. On purpose.

[ A beat. ]

They're... scientists, technically.

[steelandtemper]

Why your basement?

[She is unfamiliar with the standard comic book lack of safeguards.]

[ordinarily]

I dunno, I guess the living room seemed too obvious.

[ Although the worst part is that he could still see them building it there. Just... right there. In the living room. Next to the TV. ]

[steelandtemper]

Do you just not have regulatory agencies where you're from?

[Please ignore that everything about Cortana is illegal and possibly dangerous.]

[ordinarily]

Not good ones, no.

[ Guys in White don't count. They suck. ]

[steelandtemper]

Sorry about your impending series of nuclear accidents.

[That's what happens when you let people build ghost portals willy-nilly, she's pretty sure.]

[ordinarily]

No, we make sure to change the filter every six months. Dad has a simulation of what'll happen if we don't.

[ She's not wrong. ]

[steelandtemper]

Oh, well. That's fine then.

[No it isn't.]

[ordinarily]

All jokes aside, it... works? I mean, everyone thinks my parents are crazy, but they built a literal portal to the afterlife. That's gotta be pretty impressive, right?