hadriel | 001 [Video]

[For those who frequent the tops of the various climbable buildings in Hadriel, they might recognize that this broadcast is from the roof of one of them due to the angle; otherwise it's just a rapidly darkening cloudy sky for a backdrop, sun setting and rain clearly threatening to roll in at any time.

It's pretty, and that may or may not be the reason why Connor is out on a roof in the first place, but it's definitely not the point of this impromptu broadcast. He's just been wondering some things, and it's in his nature to actively search out answers rather than waiting for them to come to him, so he's decided to just go for it.]

Hello everyone; my name is Connor, and I just arrived a few days ago.

[Always good to start with introductions, and also to avoid saying exactly how many days or hours it's been since a given time when pretending to be human. He's getting a little better at this.]

I've been catching up on the situation at hand, and although the context is somewhat different, there are parallels to current events in my world that are difficult to ignore. Before I arrived, we were dealing with what might be the beginning of a civil war between humans and machines.

[He's trying to tread carefully, projecting enough genuine interest without sounding over-invested. He's just asking, after all, nothing more; there's definitely no personal reason why he wants to know.]

So I'm curious; I'm aware that what the Null have done is enough reason to be against them, but does what they are play any role in your feelings toward them?

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Yes.

[ But likely not in the way most people would expect from such a simple answer. She realizes this, of course, and clarifies- ]

Just because they're machines doesn't mean they're incapable of having their own thoughts and feelings. Name does. The other Null might have tried to shut them out but they're still capable of it. And I'd like to see if we could get through to them somehow.

[Well that's a different and refreshing take.]

Do you really think that's possible? They're trying to actively avoid feeling emotions, aren't they?

[So would appealing to them that way even be possible and, if it were, would it just make them angry?]

They are. And I get it, really. Feelings suck.

[ As someone who wishes she could just go beep boop robot mode more often than she doesn't, she understands. ]

But they're not all bad. Maybe they think emotions are? And I don't know if we can reason with them, but- I want to at least try.

[Feelings definitely suck; he misses beep boop robot mode a lot, despite the benefits that come from breaking his programming.]

Maybe they think emotions are a malfunction.

[Because that's what the story was in his world, after all, and what was drilled into him over and over. Emotions are a malfunction, an error in their software and nothing more, and even now part of him still believes that might be the case.]

It's not so different from people, if that's the case.

A lot of humans - or other sentient species - think they're wrong or "broken" for feeling the things they do when, like, everyone does. It varies a lot from person to person but- I don't know.

Emotions can be confusing and scary, sure, but I don't think there's anything wrong with them. Even if you are a machine.

[ She has

a lot of feelings about feelings, okay. Also, ignore that saying all this makes her the world's biggest hypocrite. ]

[He's silent while she talks, listening carefully, though his gaze drops just a little as he focuses more on thinking about what she's saying. Surely she doesn't know just how relevant her words are to his own situation, but that just means it's a little easier to believe them.

But that's too complicated to try to sort out at the moment, not while speaking with all these people. Maybe later, if he's feeling brave enough.]

That's one of the reasons for the conflict where I'm from. Machines aren't supposed to feel anything, but they've begun to claim they do and that it isn't just an error in their code.

I mean, even if it is just an error... There is such a thing as human error too, y'know? People are imperfect and messy and make mistakes- I don't see why that can't happen with machines, too.

[ Is she making any sense? She hopes that she is. ]

I don't think it should be treated as such a bad thing to feel.

Neither do I.

[And although he means it when he says it, he feels a strange sense of guilt at the same time. It's almost funny, actually; he feels guilty over feeling, even though guilt is an emotion itself.

At least it's apparently a part of emotion in general not to make sense, right?]

But convincing others of isn't always so easy.

[ Guilt will get you every time. If anyone knows, it's Rose. ]

It's not. I guess... that's kind of the issue we're running into with the Null, but- I still think we can get through to them.

[ She has to believe they can. ]

Anyway, I realize you introduced yourself and I didn't. Name's Rose. Welcome to Hadriel, dude. If you're already asking the existential questions, I think you're gonna' fit in fine.

It's nice to meet you, Rose.

[And although he doesn't smile at her last comments, his expression does lighten a little.]

Is that a pastime here?

You too, dude.

[ Ah, she catches that. Subtle. But it's still there. Good to know she can still be at least a little funny, these days. ]

Yeah, kind of. This place gives you a lot of time to think. Rooftops are good for that too, as you've discovered. I hang out on them pretty often myself.

The view is nice here.

[He almost surprises himself by saying it, but it's true; he likes the view, and the rain, and the height. The rooftop is definitely a good place to be, and if she agrees then he should ask--]

Is there a particular building you would suggest?

[ The rain is alright. The rest of those large bodies of water can fuck right off though, no thanks. ]

It was fun to climb the spires, sometimes. The watchtowers are cool too. I'm not on The Guard but I just like hanging out up there occasionally.

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