Audience - Yves

[holyspirits]

Comments

[hotfixer]

[ oh. realizes i used her real name. i mean ramiel. ooohhh what's her real name you just don't knowwww. anyway. ]

Not exactly. There are others like me. But for a while, I was. The same way, for a while, Uploaded Intelligences were rare.

But now, billions of people live in the cloud.

[noirges]

[ i like you saying this when it's on your namefield but yes i will continue to live in mystery ooohhhh ]

I think it's still impressive to be someone revolutionary...

But... that's interesting. So... does no one ever really die?

[hotfixer]

[ no that could mean anything. (no yea that's why i wasn't worried about it) ]

Not of old age. Not unless they want to. People choose to put themselves to sleep instead, mostly.

But even data has to be stored somewhere physical, and physical places can be destroyed.

[noirges]

... ah, I see. [ nods after a moment ]

Yeah... If the Institute was destroyed back home, then Relivers couldn't be made anymore. That's where they had all the memory data stored too...

[hotfixer]

It's like that.

There are some embodied humans who don't view UIs as human, and definitely not CIs. If you asked them, we can't die because we were never alive.

[noirges]

[ brow furrows.... ]

... what do you think? Do you feel alive?

[hotfixer]

Yes.

[noirges]

[ squeezes her hand

a nod ]

Then you are. And I'm glad that you are. I'm happy that you exist.

[hotfixer]

... Thank you, Yves.

[noirges]

[ smiles! ]

Anytime. Have you been having fun while you're here? Apart from the weekends.

Getting to exist in... a physical realm? More or less?

[hotfixer]

[ a slightly faltering laugh because of that tacked-on bit, but: ]

Yes...! It's very fun. Physical bodies take in less sensory data overall, but it's different. It's... new. I like it.

[noirges]

New stuff is fun, isn't it? I'm glad I'm here if only because I get to encounter all these things I've never seen before.

[hotfixer]

As a whole, Heaven isn't so different from the cloud. So it isn't as if everything is completely new, but... It feels like it is.

I have a body...! And it's in the same place as my sister. And I can experience the world the way that embodied people do.

[noirges]

[ he laughs at that and uses their joined hands to try to lead ramiel into a twirl ]

You can! You can go to the beach, and you can dance, and you can hang out with us.

That's amazing.

[hotfixer]

[ she is twirled and is Confused about it but that's fine. ]

I wonder if this is how UIs feel when they first wake up in the cloud. Suddenly having four times as much input data, suddenly able to do and see so much more.

[noirges]

[ it's fine i'm sure her hair was a very pretty flow ]

Probably! I can't even imagine it... It's a little hard for me to wrap my brain around, to be honest.

[hotfixer]

It's like the opposite of the world getting bigger. But it's different? So it's bigger.

[ you are not making sense. ]

It's okay if you don't understand. I'm just happy we're sharing the same reality.

[noirges]

[ it's clearly frying his brain to try to understand even though he's doing his best

so he settles for nodding and smiling at the last statement ]

Me too! And it's nice to see all of you clearly, too.

[hotfixer]

... Yes.

[ it's a bit of a departure from what they had been talking about but on this thought. ]

It did make me understand a little more what you meant, though. Some people were nicer to me, suddenly, than they had been when they couldn't see me.

Appearances dictate too much of how we're perceived. How we're treated. I'm used to our origins mattering more.

[noirges]

[ . . . oh. yves looks startled for a moment, like he didn't expect that when ramiel has been kind since the beginning.

he frowns, though it's a minute thing... he squeezes her hand. ]

I wish they mattered less.

I'm glad that people are kind to you now, but... I wish they'd been kind since the beginning.

[hotfixer]

I understand their frustration. Their anger at the situation isn't unfounded, and we are meant to be in control of the situation. So.

[ ... ]

Anyway. My point is the same as yours. I wish that people had been kind to you from the beginning. Unlike with us, there's no justification.

[noirges]

[ he smiles faintly at that ]

... I do appreciate you saying so. You're a good friend, Ramiel.

You're getting better and better at comforting me, you know?

[hotfixer]

[ said a bit teasingly, like she knows he is just humoring her. ] Thank you.

I've never had friends before.

[noirges]

[ he's not humoring her! he means it for real... she's really improved already ]

Oh...? Only family?

[hotfixer]

Family, colleagues, acquaintances...