💘 ic inbox for hadriel

[synthedick]

Comments

[text]

[synthedick]

Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner. Most folks do, but I guess you're not 'most folks,' now are you?

[If only he could convey a good-natured smile through text. Someone introduce him to emojis.]

I'm a synthetic man. Mechanical, not organic.

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[synthedick]

[He'll admit from time to time that it does bother him a little, but he's gotten used to the questions over the years. He's asked plenty himself about his own, artificial nature.]

Oh? And how's that?

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[synthedick]

[Shadow can't see his smile through text, but it's there.]

We have those kinds of machines in my world, too. Ones like me aren't common.

[Certainly not in his case, given he might be the only prototype of his kind.]

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[synthedick]

That's a question I've asked myself a few times. My best guess is I'm a prototype for the models that came later.

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[synthedick]

They're made for a lot of reasons, none of them good.

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[synthedick]

[It's okay, Shadow -- at least you didn't call him an abomination or try to kill him upon meeting him. That earns points in his book.]

The newer synths look human enough to pass for the real McCoy. Most of them seem to be used for infiltrating the rest of the Commonwealth, replacing people with synthetic versions so they can keep an eye on what's left of the world and the people who live there.

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[synthedick]

After the bombs fell. Let's just say the world I come from has had better days.

[Better months. Years. Centuries.]

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[synthedick]

No. Just people who thought violence was the answer to all their problems.

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[synthedick]

That's one reason I try to make sure no one on the Guard gets too heavy-handed. You have to put up a fight sometimes, but if you can avoid it, you should.

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[synthedick]

And they never will if we ruin what trust they have in us. Some folks respect what we do, but we have to treat them right in return.

[And he knows the folks who don't respect them are the sort who probably never would anyway, just because of the kind of desire for order they represent.]

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[synthedick]

We just keep doing what's needed, and maybe we'll earn their respect along the way. Not everyone will agree with how we try to run things, but we're all in this together whether we like it or not.

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[synthedick]

I've been around a long time, Shadow. Met a lot of people. You're always going to have those who don't respect us and never will. Maybe they come from a place where that kind of goodness just doesn't exist. Maybe they figure we can't make a difference and would rather take matters into their own hands. Or maybe they just like to watch things burn.

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[synthedick]

[It's okay, Shadow. He kind of suspects that.]

Longer than a lot of the folks here have been alive. It comes with the territory of being a synth.

[Which means he'll probably outlive them all, too. The downsides of being ageless.]