011 [Voice]

[fabrecation]

[Filtered to Guy//Ridiculously hackable Unhackable]

Hey, Guy? My hair's getting kind of long... Could you come cut it for me? I'd do it myself, but I can't really see back there...


[Filtered to Ion//So hackable it hurts Unhackable]

Ion, can I talk to you? It's important.

[/Filter]


[Now that those are out of the way, Luke rests his chin in his hand and stares off to the side, lost in thought. The thing he wanted to talk to Ion about... It's been weighing heavily on his mind ever since he heard it. Luke isn't sure what to think of it, or even how to feel about it. There's a sort of happiness inside him, sure, but... he can't deny the hesitation and confusion he feels. So, after a few minutes, he opens up the journal again to ask the general populace:]

What do you think it means to have a soul?

Comments

/whistles

[dissonates]

[...]

That's a stupid question.

hay thar |D

[fabrecation]

[Hi Asch.]

You don't have to say it like that.

/chews on aggressively 8I

[dissonates]

It's not like subtlety works on you. [May as well avoid beating around the bush.] If you're going to start another session of griping about your existence, you're only wasting everyone's time.

hey ow jeez what'd i do D|

[fabrecation]

I'm not griping! I just... I need to know what other people think! Maybe having a soul isn't what I always thought it was.

YOU'RE A DREEEEEECK

[dissonates]

Or maybe you're just being a paranoid idiot, as usual.

YOU'RE AN AAAAAASS

[fabrecation]

Well, what do you think it means?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, BE HERE ALL WEEK /o/

[dissonates]

[Because answering questions directly is more than Asch can handle right now-]

Back on Auldrant, there were replicas created with programmed commands, so that they would follow orders without question, even if they didn't understand why they were even created. They had empty eyes, like they were dead inside- nothing more than living puppets. Would you call them soulless?

/PULLS OFF STAGE WITH A CANE

[fabrecation]

[Back then... he might have said yes. They're as soulless as he is. But now?]

... No. If I have a soul, then they do too!

[dissonates]

They had more pride and confidence than you do, even with the miserable lives they led. Knowing what they were, how they were created, how they would die- they stood on their own two feet and found a place for themselves in the world.

Someone like you, who has a past, a family, and a place to return to... you have some nerve to doubt yourself as much as you do.

[fabrecation]

[... Ouch. All this time, and Asch doesn't get that it's exactly because of those things that he's doubting himself so much?

But instead of flinching and stepping away from the conversation, of reminding him of that fact...]

... How can you say that? What gives you the nerve to say that to me?!

I'm not doubting if I have a soul or not; I know I do! I even know what it looks like, what color it is and everything! I'm a replica, but I know that I have one! And it isn't a copy of yours, either!

All I'm asking is what it means to have one. Nothing else, damn it!

[dissonates]

[...Interesting. That reaction was pretty unexpected, so Asch is briefly taken aback. No snapping replica has ever silenced him for long, though, so he's not wasting any time on his retort.]

The fact that you didn't think you had one is enough to make you look like an idiot, you dreck! And trying to figure out the meaning of a soul is even more pointless! Why are you always looking for reasons as to why things exist!?

[fabrecation]

[Yeah, well, there's nothing he can do about thinking he didn't have one. So, he ignores that.]

What's wrong with asking about it?! What's wrong with wondering what something means?! What's wrong with trying to figure something out if you're thinking about it?! Do you want me to keep it to myself and wonder about it for the rest of my life?

Maybe I won't figure out what it means to have a soul, but at least I can talk to people about it!

[dissonates]

All you're doing is adding one more question to the list of things you don't understand about yourself. Figure out the important things before you waste your time trying to figure out something no one can really define.

/slides in

[fourteen]

... no it's not. [ excuse you. ]

/waxes the floor :|

[dissonates]

[.....Excuse you.]

Mind your own business.

.... /slams into a door, breaks her neck :|?

[fourteen]

... no! Not when you're going to say something like that! What's stupid about souls?

/mission accomplished!

[dissonates]

That isn't what's stupid. What's stupid is that dreck assuming he didn't have one.

/flips into orbit

[fourteen]

[ ... that ... what?

what did he just...? ]

... why is that stupid? You can't-- [ I've wondered that too. ] You can't just say that. What's your problem...?

/enjoys space travel

[dissonates]

My problem is his attitude, is that so hard for you to understand?

[fourteen]

No, my point is that his attitude shouldn't be a problem! Why can't we wonder about things like that?

[dissonates]

[...'We', eh. Notes this.]

This idiot hasn't stopped questioning himself since he found out what he was. As if questioning it again and again will ever make the answer any different!

[fourteen]

[ oh, did she let that slip? oops.

regardless, she's .... quiet, for a moment. how does she challenge this? she doesn't want to just start shouting on the journals about ... what they are. neither of them exactly waltzes around telling every soul they meet. but here Asch is, mentioning it...

Asch. the real thing. Xion considers that, too -- finally, after letting her emotions get the better of her.

much more subdued: ]

Then what is the answer?

[dissonates]

Even that defective replica is still a replica of me. If I have a soul, then so does he. It's that simple.

[fourteen]

[ can you hear her heart stop, Asch? no? how unfortunate. that is ... if she has a heart. ]

... is a replicated soul ... really the same?

[ so, so quietly. she's not wondering this for Luke's sake. his sake comes after a beat. ]

And he's -- he's not defective.

[dissonates]

...He's an idiot, so that makes him defective. Either way, it's not as if all replicas are the same. He's an isofon - a flawless replication. Isofons take everything but the memories of their original. A soul isn't something only humans get.