“I might start doing that, too. I want to feel like I care about more than her emotions.” They cared that she was in a coma, not only because they might feel lonely without someone whose experiences they can relate to, but because they wanted her to be safe. If they can strengthen that desire, they can form a better connection with her.
“I should try hers, or let her try mine. I know they have different color codes, but I think they also have different ways of … showing internal states.” Or the Admiral might have tailored them to the different ways that they and Shaw experience emotions.
"It could be an interesting experiment." He's not sure enough about how the orbs work to know what would happen, but he'd like to see it anyway. He's curious.
That curiosity could be his or theirs. The physical sensations of it are his, since their body feels heavier than it usually does when they feel curious about something. “I can tell you how it goes. She might not let me hold hers, but I can ask.”
"It's worth asking." He tips back half of his drink. The light, tingly feeling is starting to be replaced by heaviness that presses him back into the couch.
“He would be more helpful than I would.” He reads emotions through a lens of abstracts, while they are beginning to read emotions logically, seeing them in pieces the way Adam does.
“The only thing is that Will could see something that you may not want him to see. He read Shaw as ‘quiet’, the way I read you, but he reads me as a void.” As far as they know, at least. They could feel different to him now that they have a better connection to their emotions.
“I think it could be. He could see my emotions when I thought they were nonexistent. He could sense that I had emotions of my own — they were just hard to see because I had treated others’ identities like they were mine.” Avalon leans forward, bracing their forearms on their knees. The movement helps them feel less like they could sink into the couch and never get up.
“I did not have my own sense of self before I came here. Acting like someone else let me feel like I could be them if I stayed in their form for long enough.”
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“I might start doing that, too. I want to feel like I care about more than her emotions.” They cared that she was in a coma, not only because they might feel lonely without someone whose experiences they can relate to, but because they wanted her to be safe. If they can strengthen that desire, they can form a better connection with her.
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“That would be nice. How is she doing with her orb?”
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“I should try hers, or let her try mine. I know they have different color codes, but I think they also have different ways of … showing internal states.” Or the Admiral might have tailored them to the different ways that they and Shaw experience emotions.
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That curiosity could be his or theirs. The physical sensations of it are his, since their body feels heavier than it usually does when they feel curious about something. “I can tell you how it goes. She might not let me hold hers, but I can ask.”
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Avalon pulls their item off their wrist and studies it. “Were you able to talk to Will?”
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They nod. “I thought you wanted his help expressing your emotions, but I could be remembering wrong.”
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"I talked to Malcom about it. Not recently, though. I probably should."
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“He would be more helpful than I would.” He reads emotions through a lens of abstracts, while they are beginning to read emotions logically, seeing them in pieces the way Adam does.
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“The only thing is that Will could see something that you may not want him to see. He read Shaw as ‘quiet’, the way I read you, but he reads me as a void.” As far as they know, at least. They could feel different to him now that they have a better connection to their emotions.
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“I think it could be. He could see my emotions when I thought they were nonexistent. He could sense that I had emotions of my own — they were just hard to see because I had treated others’ identities like they were mine.” Avalon leans forward, bracing their forearms on their knees. The movement helps them feel less like they could sink into the couch and never get up.
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“I did not have my own sense of self before I came here. Acting like someone else let me feel like I could be them if I stayed in their form for long enough.”
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“Something like that.” They had started trying on identities before they had any idea of what would fit them.
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They nod. The Barge had to strip them of everything that they had been before, but they did. “You helped with that.”
They can help someone else do the same, and then find a way to help the rest of their species.
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