[Voice]

[weapabilities]

Well. It ah. Seems I'll have some time on my hands until I get some repairs finished. Fortunately I'm still mobile via my holomatter avatar so any students who I am tutoring should have no break in schedule and everything else is business as usual...

I do have a question however.

I'm just wondering, what is it that humans and other organics do for fun? Or at least to occupy your time?

Comments

[Audio]

[biwinning]

No. I don't understand. If you're given the opportunity to be free you take it.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Sometimes people need time to heal before they can realize that.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

And I was helping with that. You can't expect him to heal on his own if he still had the LITERAL attachments to the ship still on him.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

He wasn't ready. I think the first step is letting him feel accepted and comfortable before you start making drastic changes to his body. And it's his choice in the end.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

It wath his choice.

[Although Sollux was pushing for a lot more wires to be pulled.]

It'th not anymore. Now that he'th... fucking gone.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

You can't force someone to be who they were. Not after something like that. He needed friends, not someone trying to change him.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

And I'm sure you underthtand perfectly how it feelsth to thee essentially an older version of yourthelf a slave to an Empire you'd rather see destroyed.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

It'd be pretty hard to know exactly what you're feeling. But he's a person too. If it's hard for you to watch, imagine what it's like for him.

You have to be gentle with people.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

He couldn't even acknowledge that he wasn't a computer! Despite overwhelming tons of evidence!! Like, wow, skin!! And wow, blood!! He didn't know at all what he was putting me or himself through!

Being gentle with people just gives them the right to walk all over you, or to let things stay the same. You can't be gentle with anyone.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Sometimes logic doesn't work in a scenario like that.

No, but you can be gentle with the right people. Some need it more than others.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

I don't do gentle unless it's my quadrant.

[These are all lies. He was gentle a lot with Psii. He just is too angry to remember it.]

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Well I guess it doesn't matter anymore, anyways.

[ Someone's still missing Helmsman. ]

[Audio]

[biwinning]

... Yeah, I know.

[he is too.]

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Yeah...

[ Awkward silence. ]

Hey um. Do you think. You could tell me more about him? I mean. You know. About who he was?

I want to be able to-

I mean. In case he ever...

[ Comes back, he wants to say, but he knows hope is a very dangerous thing in cases like this. ]

[Audio]

[biwinning]

... I know a little more than you do probably, but not much. Before he wath a Helmsman, he wath known ath The Psiioniic. There'th a lot of psionics on Alternia, since it's a common lowblood thing, but he was extremely powerful. If Alternia existed anymore, I'd probably have that same title, because I'm his descendant. But anyway, I don't know everything about him, but lowbloods under the Empire don't have any rights. So he couldn't have been anything higher than a slave. Somehow he wound up part of a movement though. That'th what Di was also a part of. It was for lowblood and highblood equality, but I don't know much else about it. The Empress tried to eliminate it from history. I only know about it becauthe it wath a hobby of mine to break into secure serversth.

...He thpoke to me once. Like the real him, not thith Helmsman.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Wow... that's just. Wow. It's kind of startling how similar our societies are. I mean, as species. Primus, I'm starting to sound like Perceptor. But really oh wow... that explains so much.

I got bits and pieces from him but he didn't talk much and I didn't want to bother him about it.

... Really? What was it like?

[Audio]

[biwinning]

He called me a child. Told me there were things I didn't understand. He's the one who was being a wriggler and hiding.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Oh.

Sounds like he had some sass.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

... That ith genetic.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Hahaha!

I like you.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

I haven't decided yet about you.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

You can start by telling me about yourthelf.

[Audio]

[weapabilities]

Well... I'm pretty old. I mean uh. What do you want to know? Kind of a broad question.

[Audio]

[biwinning]

How old?