with fingers crossed they'll talk to me

[buildstherobots]

[phone]

[This... this is a drunk dial. It's obvious from Dist's tone, the way he's slurring... hell, even the subject matter. He's been brooding a lot lately, mostly due to being brainwashed. Twice. To have your mind forcibly taken... it's not an easy thing to recover from.]

We're all... here, we're all surrounded by people. Prisoners, like ourselves. But who among us... who doesn't feel lonely? Disconnected from all those around you... I fear that's their goal. Isolation, even in the face of a crowd.

[Dist takes a deep breath, possibly taking another swig from his drink.]

We're overdue for a town attack. Divide and conquer. Without unity... I don't know what we'll do in the face of whatever they throw at us.

Comments

[buildstherobots]

Why should how I feel matter to someone who has seen only the letter? Almost no one comes to me directly except for factual information, and it's better off that way. I'm a genius, not a motivational speaker.

[windows_hyliaedition]

Genius, perhaps.

But if your inhibition reveals your true self, then you are a hypocritical one.

[buildstherobots]

That doesn't even make sense!

[windows_hyliaedition]

You dictate words of warning and eventual hope.

Yet you then speak of a despair from which there is not even the slightest escape.

This is what humans refer to as hypocrisy, as I recall. [Fi are you sure about that. Fi are you sure you're not actually clouding your own judgement by being a hero sword. Fi?

FI?]

[buildstherobots]

I tell newcomers what they need to hear. I tell them the facts of the town and what not to touch in order to stay out of trouble. That's what the letter is for.

Maybe I have despair right now, but that doesn't change a thing about the letter I wrote. It doesn't make a word of it less true.

[windows_hyliaedition]

Then cease this and recall the words you scribed- for whether by intent or not, your warning does indeed contain hope. Hope that through perseverance and stubborn will to at the very least survive, they will retain themselves.

It does not suit a guide, however realistic or pessimistic, to wallow in such grim moods. [There she goes with the 'guide' thing, really...]

[buildstherobots]

I'm not a guide. I'm a person, and when I'm alone I don't have to pretend I like it!

[windows_hyliaedition]

[This genuinely confuses her- what? You're not?] You are not? [Monotone wasn't quite as monotone there...]

...If you are truly 'alone', then why do you announce these things aloud upon a phone line for all to hear and respond to.

[buildstherobots]

Because I don't want to be, damn it!

[Yeah, Dist is upset and can't really hide it. Part of him is even surprised that he was able to pinpoint the problem.]

[windows_hyliaedition]

[Fi is just endlessly confused by this point. WHOOPS, what is 'human interaction'-]

...I see.

...Admittedly, the sensation of loneliness is not a pleasant one.

However, I fail to see how it may be rectified by becoming as inhibited as you now are prior to calling to state this. [Fi you're assuming that was his intention in the first place. It is not likely he was going to flat out say 'I am lonely'. At all.]

[buildstherobots]

I don't know what you mean by inhibited. I just don't want to feel like this any more.

[windows_hyliaedition]

You are drunk. [BLUNT.]

You are inhibited by an overdose of alcohol that will only serve to result in severe headaches and pains within a few hours.

If you have done anything, you have increased the likelyhood of feeling incredibly painful among other various negative sensations.

[buildstherobots]

When you get drunk you're supposed to forget about your problems! You're supposed to stop thinking, just for a little while.

Obviously it didn't work.

[windows_hyliaedition]

More importantly, I fail to see what use there is in only briefly doing so, if it will merely return with additional pain.

Would it not be more logical to take what is there and attempt to either solve or live with the problem at hand?

[buildstherobots]

You say that like it's easy.

Maybe I'll just go to the Mayor and demand permanent droning...

[windows_hyliaedition]

No. That is increasing the problem. [Oops Fi doesn't understand sarcasm apparently.]

Are there not others here who have been trapped as you have for so long? Should not a genius then, be able to retain their sense of self also?

[buildstherobots]

[Part of the problem is that it was only half-sarcastic. There may not be any other solution.]

Not when it can be so easily stolen, and not even by the town alone. If your self can be taken from you is it really even yours?

[windows_hyliaedition]

[Oh dear. Who knows how long it'll take to figure out HALF-sarcasm...]

If it has been reclaimed, even once before, for any reason then yes.

If you are able to even question the idea, then yes.

So long as there is even 1% of a chance of self, I shall respond 'yes'. An end is never truly an end; the self will always exist, in some way or form.

Whether that is recognized, is the true question.

[buildstherobots]

[This is becoming way too philosophical for even a sober Dist, so he's quiet for a long time.]

...What if it's not worth it?

I just realized how dead set in these beliefs she is. :|a Go figure. 8|a

[windows_hyliaedition]

Who is anyone to judge what is 'worth' and what is not.

If even one may be spared, then there is always worth. If a single foul tiding may be prevented, then there is always worth. [...Fi is apparently always philosophical.]

it's just so different from dist, he can't quite handle it

[buildstherobots]

You're speaking metaphorically. I'm speaking personally.