Takshaka / Dawon / Vash.

[soulping]

[ And, with a start, you're somewhere else: A small, whitewashed room with another tinny woman's voice rattling off the walls. ]

Comments

Round 1.

[soulping]

Hello. Welcome to the Samsara Examination Systems. I will be asking you a series of short questions. Response time is a factor, so please answer promptly.

My preliminary research has shown me that the strongest advantage that you plural possess may be the notion of emotional bonds. On the other hand, data suggests these relationships may cause irrational behavior, or leave subjects open to manipulation.

Do you feel they are a strength or a weakness?

Discussion.

[soulping]

Re: Discussion.

[bloodbiter]

[looking around with a bit of surprise]

It appears we're paired up... Interesting.

Re: Discussion.

[ofbelief]

...A strength, definitely.

Re: Discussion.

[eluvianathema]

People can be irrational and manipulative and still be strong, can't they? That's sort of the nature of people.

Turn in.

[soulping]

Please submit one of the following options once you've decided:

1. A strength.
2. A weakness.

Re: Turn in.

[bloodbiter]

A strength.

Round 2.

[soulping]

Understood. You believe that emotional connections are a strength. I am incapable of such a response, only a mostly accurate simulacrum of such. However, if was able to acquire the memories and chemical patterning of such a relationship from both sides, then my mimicry of such would become more accurate.

I need both halves of this relationship. It does not need to be romantic; a familial, or even a particularly strong friendship or professional relationship would be effective enough research data.

Will any such among you offer me this?

Discussion.

[soulping]

Turn in.

[soulping]

Will you provide two halves of a relationship? Please submit one of the following options once you've decided:

1. Yes. Please respond to the turn in with the pair chosen.
2. No.

Round 3.

[soulping]

Understood. Please fasten the devices that fall from the ceiling securely to your heads and the process will begin.

[Chrome helmets descend from the ceiling. Once Roc and Lark have worn them - and there is an inexorable urge to wear them with your contracted agreement to participate - there's the sharp, painful jab of a spinal injection.

And then a disorienting moment where something else is pulled out with the blood. All feelings and memories between Roc and Lark have been removed, and they are no longer capable of caring about each other for the remainder of the game.

Thanks to your eager participation in the program, facets of empathy have also been borrowed for the purpose of examination: Roc and Lark have been inflicted with sociopathy and apathy about others for the remainder of the game. ]

Processing… complete. Data is largely incalculable; situations included by and large do not point to any rational explanation for relationship. Data will be stored for later; be sure to file with about reclaiming data, or it may be deleted after the completion of this test.

Your services, while useless, have been noted. You may proceed.

Discussion.

[soulping]

Turn in.

[soulping]

Let me know when you're prepared to move to the next round by responding here.

Round 4.

[soulping]

A previous test subject vehemently disagreed with the conclusions of their examination. Their final words before the test was terminated was as follows. Begin playback:

“Y-you’re a fucking machine! How could you understand anything I’m telling you anyways? You don’t see the shit out here that we see! You’re absolutely heartless!”

End playback. This has made me curious. While all data that I have suggests that my external sensors function at least at parity with the human eye, I have begun to wonder if your eyes confer a sort of intangible sense that my sensors lack.

In conclusion: I would like one of your eyes so that I may compare data with what was told to me previously. So long as your eyes function, any one will do.

Discussion.

[soulping]

Turn in.

[soulping]

1. Fork over an eye.
2. Refuse.

Round 5.

[soulping]

Understood. Please do not make any sudden movements while approaching the device that has fallen from the ceiling. Thank you.

[ Once again, the helmet descends. Once placed on head, Vash's left eyeball will be carefully scooped out. Without anaesthetic.

Processing… Calibrating… Complete. All studies show that this does not, in fact, confer any additional properties to my sensor array.

Query: eyes come in matching pairs. An eye singular may be insufficient coverage. Please insert a pair of eyes. Please note the device is calibrated to take multiple eyes only.

Discussion.

[soulping]

Turn in.

[soulping]

1. Fork over Vash's other eye.
2. For over someone else's eye.
3. Refuse.

??? End.

[soulping]

Understood. Please do make any sudden movements while approaching the device that has fallen from the ceiling. Thank you.

[ Another anaesthetic-less removal later... ]

Processing… Calibrating… Complete. A pair of eyes do not confer anything additional beyond stereoscopic vision when properly adjusted for such. This data into the capabilities of humans has proven exceptionally useful for further examinations.

All biological matter has been returned to the biological containment center, where they may be picked upon the conclusion of this testing series. Please check with Doctors on reattachment of all removed biological tissue.

Your services have been noted.

[withmyownfists]

Are we done yet?

[ they should be able to leave, right? so why aren't the doors opening? ]

Re: ??? End.

[barrette]

Is that- Wait, what about Roc and Lark?!

Re: ??? End.

[bloodbiter]

[EXTREMELY RUDE

pressing a hand over her now empty eye cavity and biting down on her lip, hard, trying not to make a noise of pain]

Re: ??? End.

[eluvianathema]

What about the other things you took? What about my friends' feelings?

Re: ??? End.

[ofbelief]

So you just wasted our time. Thanks.