💘 ic inbox for hadriel

[synthedick]

Comments

[text]

[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.

[text]

[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.]

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[synthedick]

Enough that it gets hard to remember it all. And on top of that, some of my memories come from a fella who's been dead for two hundred years.

[So at least that many.]

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[synthedick]

Yeah. The newer synths can pass so well that some of them don't even know they're machines underneath the skin, but most older models like me only do what they're programmed to do. The entire reason I'm as independent as I am is because of the man my mind comes from.

[He doesn't go into details like that for just anyone, Shadow.]

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[synthedick]

No. He was human, had a life of his own. I'm something else.

[And he's still trying to figure out where he fits in.]

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[synthedick]

So was he.

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[synthedick]

It's the only name I've ever had. It grew on me, even after I figured out it wasn't mine.

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[synthedick]

So I've been told. It's still his though, as are a lot of other things.

[He'll figure it out one day, Shadow. You can't teach an old bot new tricks overnight.]

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[synthedick]

[It takes him a minute to respond to this one, some hesitation behind it.]

I can't say it doesn't, sometimes. It's the only name I have, and the only one folks know me by, but it also reminds me that I'm not who I think I am, and never have been.

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[synthedick]

Yeah. Sometimes, I just need to be reminded of that.

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[synthedick]

Just leave it on my desk. I'll get it in a year, when I can manage to walk over there again.

[He's being facetious, but boy, does that walk seem to get longer every time.]

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[synthedick]

Not unless you know a few things about engineering and making steel. I appreciate the offer, though.