pineapplesalmon: (goatee a smile)
César Salazar ([personal profile] pineapplesalmon) wrote in [community profile] come_sailaway2022-12-11 07:21 pm

10th Contraption: Mawwiage

Who: John Watson, Johnny Summer, and César Salazar with Rich Goranski, Fio, and Honoria Crabb AND YOU Oh god why are weddings like this
What: The throuple getting married by... the Captain?!
When: December 11th at 7pm
Where: John's
Warnings: I believe in us! But for now, nothing.


SEATING

John's has been transformed, the seating up front rearranged in rows towards the center dias with an aisle down the middle, the piano moved off to one side. The buffet for later can be seen off to the other. Decorations taken from Spirit Halloween appear here and there–flowers taken from cavalera flower crowns, sun and moon candlestick holders from the tarot collection, festively colored tablecloths draped down the walls like curtains or banners. A sign near the entrance says "seat yourself", although the front row on one side is reserved with a ribbon across the backs.

What can't be seen is who is officiating. Or the husbands, but at least that part makes sense. The dais is empty.


THE CEREMONY

As one of the few traditions in this wedding, music announces the start of the ceremony. Rich strolls in first, trying to look professional even if he’s clearly shaking a bit as he holds the small pillow with the rings laid on it. At least he’s dressed quite smartly, Johnny ensuring his red suit is wrinkle free and his cuff links are set in place. Fio, in a winged black dress and flowery headdress, follows after the ring bearer, adorning the path with paper petals as she moves along.

The first husband to be down the aisle is none other than Johnny, in a smart charcoal grey suit with a goldenrod pocketsquare, gold jewelry, and a wreath of orange blossoms on his head; and accompanied by Honoria Crabb in her perfectly tailored black tuxedo, worn with black gloves and a white bow tie. Watson and César take up the rear, arms linked together. César is wearing an equally fancy suitcoat with his tie held in place with a ruby and silver tie pin, and Watson is wearing an officer’s dress uniform, with the sword and without the helmet, and also his good cane. All three husbands-to-be are wearing green carnation boutonnières.


AFTER PARTY

It's time to eat, dance, and party!

The seating has been rearranged for sitting at tables around the "dance" floor. Food from Windjammer has been placed on some tables for a buffet. There’s a selection of fancy cheeses and crackers, sushi, premade sandwiches, and salad with dressings on the side. For dessert, to one side there’s a table with cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates arranged in a heart. On the bar are a couple bowls of punch (including one explicitly labeled as non-alcoholic) made by Johnny ahead of time, because he's been forbidden to bartend his own wedding, much to his deep chagrin.

There’s a space set just off the dancefloor for musicians who wish to perform, the usual John’s piano (bribed into behaving with a whole pan of beef brisket from the buffet) off to one side.
astrogator: (pic#15928541)

[personal profile] astrogator 2022-12-16 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I see! But you couldn't base your conclusions about the system on the results of that modelling. It's a good start, but it's incomplete.

[Now you've got her started, Erin...] Humans are rational actors, but it's a mistake to assume that a rational actor would hold profit as their only value. Individuals hold different value-sets, and while I'd be very surprised if anyone's didn't include profit, it isn't always the core or active value in decision-making. Modelling values in aggregate would take a lot of computing power, but you could do it, if you had well-designed surveys.

Even if you want to isolate profits, it's iterative. So you could say that a company with the sole aim of maximising profit could justify some very unethical practices - but in my sector, at least, those would damage their reputation, and ultimately their profits, so it wouldn't be the rational decision.

But - [she grins again] - what's the cow for? We have a joke like that, but it's more - you have two cows on Siduri, you auction them for the value of twenty. You have two cows on Cardalek, genetic engineering makes them immortal and doubles milk production. You have two cows on Kishar, one is elected to the Meeting and... I guess it's funnier if you know these places.
crushed_pearls: (Default)

[personal profile] crushed_pearls 2022-12-16 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Erin laughs anyway. "We've got one like that too, and you definitely gotta know the places. The perfectly spherical cow is a joke about physics modeling that has to use similar thought constructs; assume a perfectly spherical cow on a frictionless plane..."

Ah, nerds. Erin really does love them.

"So anyway yeah, like, the Economic Man would get married just for benefits but many actual humans don't because they think it cheapens marriage, or they don't want other people thinking differently of the relationship, or they're like me and they can't legally get married the way they want to be. You do get it sometimes, but often it's more like...my time still isn't cool with gay folks, right, so you get married to be sure your partner can handle your funeral and not your shitbag family."