driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Cole
Broadcast: No
Action: EVERY SHIP EXCEPT THE MARSIVA
When: The first half of the month

[See, the problem is, now Cole's augment is a pilot one.

He's lost the room he wasn't aware as his, but he's gained a whole new lot of knowledge. Such as how to move the ship, how to dock it to other ships and that makes his constant wandering from ship to ship much easier.

And it means he can park the Pathstone with the Three Twins and Tourist without ever going on board either of them. He can bring the Pathstone to them, and still give Fenris his safe space and people form those ships and visit the Pathstone without having to take a shuttle!

So, Cole's doing his rounds again. Visiting. Parking. Shoving the Pathstone wherever he feels like going.]

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You describe it as though you embody these traits. Is this accurate?

[And honestly, the idea that he, too, might embody Compassion, at least enough for Cole to recognize him as such, is... encouraging.]

I don't know what embody means. I was Compassion. I might have been Despair at one point, I'm not sure. But I was Compassion until Varric helped me be more human.

[That's... probably a yes, then.]

How do you become more human?

I don't know...

But it happened?

Is it a good change?

[He, himself, is far enough from human to see a gulf.]

A... friend of mine, another robot, remarked that I often thought in ways that were remarkably human. It was not always a compliment.

I don't know.

It's a change. There's good things and bad things. I understand more about people, but I can't read everything as clearly as I used to.

Ah. My own growth has not hampered my ability to read people, but I, too, have found that I understand what I read better. Humans are... complex. I find they often do not understand their own motivations themselves.

When I was just Compassion, it was easier to let their hurt fill me, feel through it. Now there's other things in me that want to be heard too.

And people remember me now. They see me, unless I make them not see me. But before, they never saw me unless I worked hard.

I would say that's better. There is a value from connection that you cannot have if they don't see you. At other times... it is perhaps better to go unnoticed. It is best to have the choice.

There was a safety in not being noticed. No one tried to hurt me anymore.

[Daneel gives this some very hard thought. He thinks of Elijah Baley, and their friendship, and the value it has had for him.]

Even with the danger, I find humans too rewarding to abandon contact with them completely. I have had... friends. That is not an easy thing for a robot to say, but it is the only term I can use. I would not give that up willingly.

I'd never had friends. Neither had Cole. It wasn't allowed. Then I met Rhys. He was my friend.

He saw me. He remembered me.

Is it not better to have friends?

[It's more of a genuine question. He thinks so. He's not always sure. But he thinks so.]

It's better to have friends.

[Total agreement. He wouldn't go back to being friendless.]

Then I would suggest that for whatever you may have lost, you have gained more than enough to make the loss worth it.

[It's how he tends to think, in checks and balances, worth of one over another.]

I have, yes.

But, sometimes it's hard. To not be able to help like I did.

Yes, I can understand this. You have my sympathy, for what it's worth.

[Cole looks slightly confused, but lets it go. There's a lot he doesn't understand, it doesn't matter that much.]

I'm going to go find River. Simon explains things to her and then I can understand them too.

[He nods.]

I am glad to have spoken to you, Cole. I hope we have cause to speak again.

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