[UNLIKE BEFORE HE IS INDEED GOING TO ASK because wh. What does that MEAN.]
I'm not sure I understand? [??? His brow furrows and his head cants to the side, bird-like in his confused curiosity.] Does it have something to do with - the way they referred to you? As dolls?
[That sure is true though, huh? He only huffs out a somewhat dry little laugh in response. People are people are people... For better or for worse.]
Tangentially. More or less, we're beings who were created for the sake of humanity. Whether we're guardians, caretakers, bartenders, bodyguards, maids- it's illegal for us to not have a registered owner or master.
[ hmmm, how do you dumb these explanations down to a point a ye olde can understand... ]
Most of us don't get much in the way of autonomy, though usually it isn't quite under threat of death. But if you end up stuck with thugs like those, like she was, then it's just all the more unfortunate, I suppose. [ pause, a moment to think, then she taps at her temple. ] There was an order, at the back of her mind. If she'd ever disobeyed, she'd be forced to kill herself on the spot. They'd enslaved seventeen other Dolls this way, too, so I dismantled the connection, and destroyed the unsightly thing responsible.
It turns out that while doing that, I picked up a stray.
[WOW ALL OF THAT IS VERY BAD!! It's definitely a little hard for a ye olde to grasp properly, but she's a very good dumb-things-down-to-ye-olde-levels teacher. He certainly gets enough to be Offended on her behalf, in any case. There's a flash of something displeased in his expression, before he frowns.]
What a horrific thing to do... ["Beings created for the sake of humanity" means NOTHING TO HIM okay. Clearly 45 is a wholeass person in the same way the swords are wholeass people, though he also... understands now, that sometimes they don't have an easy time viewing themselves in that way.]
Hah - it's no wonder you picked up a stray, then! Of course they would want to help you out for the work you'd done for them.
Oh, no, don't give her so little credit. She tried to trick me into taking her place so she could free herself. It's just a shame that she both underestimated me and made the mistake of feeling guilty for trying to leave me in a trap I easily dispelled.
I mocked her thoroughly for not running then. Told her plainly that she was freed, owed me nothing, and that staying with me would only bring her trouble.
[ and like, considering that she basically hacks into a criminal enterprise's servers on a whim, not wrong, ]
[FEELING GUILTY FOR LEAVING HER IN A TRAP oh my god... She sounds like an interesting person though, whoever she is. And he's more curious about 45 now than before, even though he'd already been decently curious. He huffs out a little laugh.]
People like that tend not to care when they run into trouble anyway, I've found.
[Troublemakers flock together... Birds of a feather, right??]
Things turned out alright after that, I take it? If it was an old memory.
I made the mistake of telling her she reminded me of myself when I was younger, so she went and decided we were kin afterwards. Went to the effort of dressing like me, too...
[ thus, 'adoption...' she really did just pick up a wholeass stray for a twin sister. ]
[SHE'S NOT WRONG ON ANY COUNT HERE and he laughs a little, quietly amused. Maybe there's something about their wildass lives that just catches the attention of the Powers That Be... Thinking similarly:]
Hah! I'd say not a soul among us has managed to live a life they could call "boring" by any normal person's standards, true enough. [A little quirk of a grin.] To the point where I'm sure some of us wouldn't mind a boring life at all.
[Maybe, like. Two of them. The rest are all maniacs who love their insane rollercoaster lives.]
[Belph deserves a peaceful retirement but he just keeps getting the pain of survivor pool. Terrible.]
Just this and that. [NOTHIN MUCH.] I'm a cultivator, so I handle spirit-related matters! If you live like a ghost, then I suppose I live like a ghost hunter, haha.
[THEY ARE SO DUMB GOOD LORD but he just laughs and waves a hand.]
Hunting ghosts is only part of the job description! You're plenty safe, of course. I do communicate with them and solve their problems, too. Consider me something of a secretary for you!
["Ghost buster" and "ghost customer service" are like the two comparisons other people have drawn, terrible.]
[ just because she's stealth chaotic doesn't mean that she isn't ]
Oh, good, I could always do with another liaison or two. Communicating with people without a proxy involved gets to be a little difficult at times when you're not supposed to exist otherwise.
I said earlier that all of us are supposed to have masters and employers, didn't I? It's ... tied to our being in a way, connected to our identities.
[ it's directly tied into their network id codes, but lmao, ye oldes. ]
Being without one makes us illegal. We shouldn't exist, but we do. We don't have access to anything that requires network verification, and people don't necessarily go out of their way to harass an illegal doll just because she's illegal, but that's because they would have to care enough to do so in the first place. They're ignored because they have no one who has reason to care what does or doesn't happen to them.
[ they're the beggars and the strays, the unwanted and the dismissed. ]
In a way, all illegal dolls are ghosts. We're just what happens when you take that to its logical end.
[ something something taking advantage of not having any solid footprint in society. ]
[He'd also mentioned something once that grated at Wei Wuxian. Something about how it was routine procedure to just - reset a personality? Erase memories, when owners were switched?
Well - he's a ye olde, so of course he doesn't get the idea of owning a machine. Machines don't even exist where he comes from, and to him, the difference between say a toaster and 45 is stark.]
--But I suppose you can get things done that way that you'd have trouble getting done in any other situation, mm? And I guess groups like that exist in any world.
You aren't wrong. As inconvenient and restricting as it can be, sometimes, there are other things it opens up. And it seems there will always be a need for those who operate in the shadows, much as some would rather it be otherwise.
[That just has him huffing out a little laugh, half-amused and half-wry.]
I suppose there truly are some things that all worlds and times share.
[Fortunate as it sometimes is, unfortunate as it sometimes is. Then, looping back around to her first question:]
Nothing, really. It's just hard to imagine anyone being treated the way the two of you are, you know? Even the servants of the worst sects are spoken to in a kinder way, it seems.
[ it's not dehumanization when they were never human to begin with! and she tilts her head. ]
It's not just specific types of people, though? It's just how society is. There are some that appreciate their dolls, there are some who will even go 'wow, it's almost like dealing with an actual human being', and there are those who disregard the fact that we have faces made in their image.
But at the end of the day, it's simple fact that they made us as tools for their own benefit. It's not something easily forgotten, I think.
[TERRIBLE WORK, FUTURISTIC SOCIETIES THAT CREATE ROBOTS IN THEIR LIKENESS AND THEN TREAT THEM LIKE TOASTERS.]
I suppose it's a societal mindset... I knew you as a person before a "doll", after all - trying to parse how anyone could see you as anything but a living, thinking being with your own feelings and will is a difficult thing. A little bit like the swords, actually.
[Who all just view themselves as weapons and Not Human, which is wild even to Wei Wuxian who comes from a world where there are plenty of spirits and non-humans.]
[HE STILL CANNOT FULLY WRAP HIS MIND AROUND THIS...]
But surely the will and orders you're carrying out don't cover everything you do. Don't you have - favorite foods, places you like being, songs you enjoy? Things like that?
A squad shrouded in mystery. ▓▓▓▓▒ has met them once, and others can only guess at the members' identities from rumors. Members of the squad all have advanced AI and high capacity for independent operation. Rumor has it that Squad 404 usually deals with ░▓▒▓▓▓▒▓▓▒▒▒░░
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no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 02:35 am (UTC)I'm not sure I understand? [??? His brow furrows and his head cants to the side, bird-like in his confused curiosity.] Does it have something to do with - the way they referred to you? As dolls?
[That sure is true though, huh? He only huffs out a somewhat dry little laugh in response. People are people are people... For better or for worse.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 02:44 am (UTC)[ hmmm, how do you dumb these explanations down to a point a ye olde can understand... ]
Most of us don't get much in the way of autonomy, though usually it isn't quite under threat of death. But if you end up stuck with thugs like those, like she was, then it's just all the more unfortunate, I suppose. [ pause, a moment to think, then she taps at her temple. ] There was an order, at the back of her mind. If she'd ever disobeyed, she'd be forced to kill herself on the spot. They'd enslaved seventeen other Dolls this way, too, so I dismantled the connection, and destroyed the unsightly thing responsible.
It turns out that while doing that, I picked up a stray.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 04:57 am (UTC)What a horrific thing to do... ["Beings created for the sake of humanity" means NOTHING TO HIM okay. Clearly 45 is a wholeass person in the same way the swords are wholeass people, though he also... understands now, that sometimes they don't have an easy time viewing themselves in that way.]
Hah - it's no wonder you picked up a stray, then! Of course they would want to help you out for the work you'd done for them.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 05:07 am (UTC)I mocked her thoroughly for not running then. Told her plainly that she was freed, owed me nothing, and that staying with me would only bring her trouble.
[ and like, considering that she basically hacks into a criminal enterprise's servers on a whim, not wrong, ]
But as you can see, that clearly didn't work.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 07:02 am (UTC)People like that tend not to care when they run into trouble anyway, I've found.
[Troublemakers flock together... Birds of a feather, right??]
Things turned out alright after that, I take it? If it was an old memory.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 02:00 am (UTC)[ thus, 'adoption...' she really did just pick up a wholeass stray for a twin sister. ]
But I suppose it's been fine, yes.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 04:20 am (UTC)Hah! How quick, how quick. What an impression you made! [To collect a duckling at the speed of light...]
"I suppose" doesn't make that sound too convincing, but I'm assuming you just live a very intense life in general, to be honest.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 03:13 pm (UTC)It's an interesting life you live when you live as a ghost, Wei Wuxian. I imagine yours hasn't exactly been boring either.
[ like, most people who end up in a murdergame don't exactly have normal lives, she's putting it out there. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 06:02 pm (UTC)Hah! I'd say not a soul among us has managed to live a life they could call "boring" by any normal person's standards, true enough. [A little quirk of a grin.] To the point where I'm sure some of us wouldn't mind a boring life at all.
[Maybe, like. Two of them. The rest are all maniacs who love their insane rollercoaster lives.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 08:36 pm (UTC)[ maybe belph can go into real estate and snooze around all day??? the rest of them, on the other hand, ]
And just what do you spend your days doing, hmm?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 04:15 am (UTC)Just this and that. [NOTHIN MUCH.] I'm a cultivator, so I handle spirit-related matters! If you live like a ghost, then I suppose I live like a ghost hunter, haha.
[Kill him for this joke.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-05 08:08 pm (UTC)[ she's still not 100% on what a cultivator is so learning via context clues sure is uh, something. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-06 01:24 am (UTC)Hunting ghosts is only part of the job description! You're plenty safe, of course. I do communicate with them and solve their problems, too. Consider me something of a secretary for you!
["Ghost buster" and "ghost customer service" are like the two comparisons other people have drawn, terrible.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-07 04:15 am (UTC)Oh, good, I could always do with another liaison or two. Communicating with people without a proxy involved gets to be a little difficult at times when you're not supposed to exist otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-07 04:50 am (UTC)[Hehe medium jokes. ANYWAY--]
Why is it that you don't exist, if you don't mind my asking?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-08 12:16 am (UTC)[ it's directly tied into their network id codes, but lmao, ye oldes. ]
Being without one makes us illegal. We shouldn't exist, but we do. We don't have access to anything that requires network verification, and people don't necessarily go out of their way to harass an illegal doll just because she's illegal, but that's because they would have to care enough to do so in the first place. They're ignored because they have no one who has reason to care what does or doesn't happen to them.
[ they're the beggars and the strays, the unwanted and the dismissed. ]
In a way, all illegal dolls are ghosts. We're just what happens when you take that to its logical end.
[ something something taking advantage of not having any solid footprint in society. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-08 07:43 am (UTC)[He'd also mentioned something once that grated at Wei Wuxian. Something about how it was routine procedure to just - reset a personality? Erase memories, when owners were switched?
Well - he's a ye olde, so of course he doesn't get the idea of owning a machine. Machines don't even exist where he comes from, and to him, the difference between say a toaster and 45 is stark.]
--But I suppose you can get things done that way that you'd have trouble getting done in any other situation, mm? And I guess groups like that exist in any world.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 06:46 am (UTC)[ i mean, if wwx asked 45 about that...
but she shrugs, regarding his last comment. ]
You aren't wrong. As inconvenient and restricting as it can be, sometimes, there are other things it opens up. And it seems there will always be a need for those who operate in the shadows, much as some would rather it be otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 07:55 am (UTC)I suppose there truly are some things that all worlds and times share.
[Fortunate as it sometimes is, unfortunate as it sometimes is. Then, looping back around to her first question:]
Nothing, really. It's just hard to imagine anyone being treated the way the two of you are, you know? Even the servants of the worst sects are spoken to in a kinder way, it seems.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 09:08 am (UTC)To the people who treat us that way, we're not 'anyone.' We're anything.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 09:23 am (UTC)[It's a little jarring to see that particular brand of dehumanization. The future is wild.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 06:34 am (UTC)It's not just specific types of people, though? It's just how society is. There are some that appreciate their dolls, there are some who will even go 'wow, it's almost like dealing with an actual human being', and there are those who disregard the fact that we have faces made in their image.
But at the end of the day, it's simple fact that they made us as tools for their own benefit. It's not something easily forgotten, I think.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 09:09 am (UTC)I suppose it's a societal mindset... I knew you as a person before a "doll", after all - trying to parse how anyone could see you as anything but a living, thinking being with your own feelings and will is a difficult thing. A little bit like the swords, actually.
[Who all just view themselves as weapons and Not Human, which is wild even to Wei Wuxian who comes from a world where there are plenty of spirits and non-humans.]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 02:27 pm (UTC)[ which, all right, but ]
Here's the thing, though. Try looking at it this way.
Are we actually thinking for ourselves if we, as weapons or otherwise, are only ever carrying out the will and orders we were created with?
[ swords...... guns... ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-10 10:47 pm (UTC)But surely the will and orders you're carrying out don't cover everything you do. Don't you have - favorite foods, places you like being, songs you enjoy? Things like that?
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