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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Absofuckinglutely it would if it was a human. I'm a Grim Reaper, I don't like it when people die.

[she's had to Reap too many murder victims to think kindly of murderers]

A grim reaper?

[He's heard of them as a part of his database of cultural information, but considering this place who knows what she's actually talking about.]

Yeah. You know, someone who takes the soul of those about to die. I was assigned to murders, accidents, and suicides. So basically all the people who are guaranteed to ask you to take it back.

[she's talking about real, bona fide Grim Reapers]

[Right. All those things humans get fussy about when it comes to themselves, but often couldn't care less about regarding others. Well, at least that explains that she is indeed talking about the kind of grim reaper he's familiar with.

His social relations programming, however, has nothing helpful to tell him here, so he's stuck relying on just himself in figuring out how to reply.]

That sounds unfortunate.

[Nailed it.]

[he wouldn't believe how much people whined after being told that yes, they were dead and no, there was nothing they could do about it. or maybe he would?

and that's George, completely fucking up social relations. bonus points for it being someone she just met. triple bonus points for it being an android, but she doesn't know that]

It was. Nobody mourns you more than you.

[holds up a 10 sign]

[Connor wonders briefly if it would be the same case for androids, provided they could somehow be aware of their own death, and then he suddenly realizes it is possible; he's proof of it himself. But his own death had been... The situation is complicated, to say the least, and he hadn't been deviant yet so perhaps it didn't even count. Still, he knows he hadn't mourned himself--still doesn't--and really, the only person who'd even slightly cared had been Hank, and that was more because he'd come back than because he'd been destroyed.

But this is not a topic he wants to think too much about, far too difficult for someone who was still learning to identify even basic emotions in himself, and he moves on.]

Is this a role you've always had?

[sorry for nearly provoking an existential crisis]

Nope. I had to die first.

The thing is that there are a lot of Reapers. Everyone gets a certain number of souls that they have to take. Once they've taken the magic number, they get to move on to the afterlife and the soul they just took gets stuck with the job. That was me. [she shrugs]

[He's a deviant android they're prone to that sort of thing.]

That is a very strange way of choosing someone for what seems to be an important job.

[she'll do her best to not do it again. even though she probably will. entirely by accident]

That's what I said! Unfortunately, they didn't really care what I thought about it. They threw around a lot of words like "destiny" and "fate." Choice wasn't one of 'em. That's because I didn't have one.

[He won't argue about that; choice is a complicated issue and he doesn't want to get into it, aside from asking--]

What happens if you don't do your job?

[that's probably for the best. no more existential crises that way]

Their souls stay in their bodies, aware of what's happening to 'em after death.

For how long?

In theory? Forever. As long as there's flesh on those bones, maybe even beyond that. But it fucks up the soul if you let something like that happen. I saw a guy who had his soul popped out after his autopsy, and he was shaking and crying. It wasn't pretty.

001 [Video]

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