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Question for parents/apartment dwellers (fiction)

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  • Question for parents/apartment dwellers (fiction)

    So I've mentioned that I like to do writing that would qualify as Urban Fantasy, with characters who are the avatars of Skyscrapers and such.
    Now, in a world where these beings existed, people would still work and live in these buildings, and the buildings are cool with that- they view their relationship with humans as a symbiotic one.

    As a parent, living in a high-rise apartment building, how would you feel if the avatar of said building came to you one day, asked to speak with you in private, or at least away from other tenants who might overhear, and informed you that they had caught your son or daughter misbehaving? I don't mean "Johnny was on his x-box instead of doing homework", as they don't spy on their residents that way. (They only look into apartments when invited, or if there's a genuine emergency) Perhaps something more like:

    "I saw your son with a few of his friends hanging around my loading dock, and when they saw me, they tried to hide a package of cigarettes."

    Or perhaps "Earlier today I had a little run-in with your daughter- She dropped trash on my lobby floor, and when I asked her to pick it up, she cursed at me and said that it was my job to clean up after tenants, and it was all my kind are good for"

    Or even "I think your son might be getting booze from somewhere. When I was talking to him on the way down to the garbage room the other day, I am quite certain I smelled alcohol on his breath."

    Would you thank your building for being so astute, or tell him to mind his own beeswax? Would it be any different coming from him, then it would be coming from human maintenance or management staff?

  • #2
    It would take helicopter parenting to a new level. Depending on the other characters this might be a very good thing. For other characters it could cause a bit of apprehension. If the building saw that, did it see this as well?

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    • #3
      I think it would depend with the parents' relationship with the building's avatar and the personality of the avatar herself. Is she a kind, grandmotherly type? Or is she more like everybody's worst landlord? Does she have a history of being honest or starting rumors to stir up trouble? And what about the personality of the parents? Are they realistic or can little Johnny do no wrong in their eyes?

      As a parent, I'd say that my reaction to those bits of information would depend on who's delivering it and how it's said. I know my kids do stupid things from time to time. They're kids. I appreciate knowing when they've crossed lines so I can deal with it, but if the person telling me that they caught them smoking was somebody who's told lies and tried to stir up trouble in the past, I wouldn't be likely to believe them. I think in this world, the same would be true.
      At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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      • #4
        If the avatar is viewed like a friendly neighbor, my first reaction would be to thank them, get more details and then speak to my kid.

        But as mentioned above, it depends on the tenant's relationship with the avatar and how much they are accepted by humans. Have they been around forever and people view them as normal? Have they only recently made their presence known and humans are still figuring out how to relate to them? Is there mistrust about privacy (again, as mentioned above)?
        https://www.facebook.com/authorpatriciacorrell/

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        • #5
          In regards to buildings acting like sucky landlords, that kind of thing is frowned upon by their kind. They've seen what bad and meddling landlords can do to the morale of a place, and how they chase off good tenants. So they seek to avoid acting like that. As for malicious lying, gossip spreading, and such- that would not be tolerated. A skyscraper who tried to pull that would probably get a harsh talking-to from other members of their species. "What the hell is wrong with you, we're trying to get the humans to trust us, dammit!" Older residential skyscrapers teach the younger ones all about the importance of good relations, including discretion and respect for privacy.
          Some blunter or more plain-spoken members of the species might answer something like this when asked about whether they see their tenants in the bathroom, or making love:
          "Why would I want to watch anyone use the bathroom? That's nasty! And I don't watch what goes on in anyone's bedrooms either. I'm not turned on by it (wrong species), and my kind believe in respect for privacy.

          Overall, they try to keep good relations with their humans- they want good tenants (those who pay their rent on time, are good neighbors and don't cause trouble) to stick around. The way they usually sense the presence of their tenants is similar to our own "House sense"- you ever get that feeling where you can kind of sense where everyone in your house is? You don't know what they're doing, but you can sense roughly where they are? Kind of like that.
          A skyscraper would explain that they simply don't have the headspace (or the desire) to monitor dozens of floor's worth of tenants at all times- it would require FAR too much psychic bandwidth. So their awareness is kept to a more "background noise" level. Now, they DO have danger sense- if an elderly tenant falls and can't get up, that would get their attention. Likewise the curious kid trying to climb into the garbage chute "just to see what happens", or perhaps an electrical fault that could cause a fire.

          This could also open up other situations- like parents figuring "Screw paying for a babysitter, I'll just go out and leave the kids at home, building will watch them". Or even sadder- adult children of a frail elder parent who really shouldn't be on their own, deciding that plunking their elder into a high rise condo is cheaper than paying for a nursing home.
          New rules might have to be written into leases and covenants to address that specific issue.

          One scenario I was considering for a story involves a well known residential skyscraper in NYC- She recounts how one of her former tenants was a wealthy elder with a couple of gold-digging children. The gold diggers wanted to have him declared incompetent, and it was obvious that they wanted access to his finances. In the ensuing court case, the building's avatar came to her tenant's defenses, stating in court that she had seen tenants who genuinely were incompetent- suffering from dementia, alzheimer's and the like, and that the tenant in question was most definitely NOT one of those, and thanks to the good relationship she had built with him, she could attest to the fact that there was nothing wrong with his faculties, and no reason to give his children power of attorney over him. Bonus points if it came out in court that the gold diggers had tried to bribe her to side with them, or tried to offer her a kickback if things turned out in their favor.

          I don't know if it would be treading into Mary Sue territory to say that when the wealthy tenant eventually did pass away, the building herself got a surprise when she was summoned to his lawyer's office for the reading of the will- it had been amended to cut out the gold diggers, and divide the assets between the other non gold digging children, some charitable causes, and...Her. The grateful tenant had left her his condo, and perhaps a sum of money, stating that it was a thank-you for her loyalty and for coming to his defense when he needed it.

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