lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH

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⇨ WISMUTH

Who: Everyone!
When: S2:D6-D11
Where: Wismuth and the Carnival Grounds
What: The carnival enjoys a few days in Wismuth, a coastal city on this planet's version of the American east. However, there are a few things very unique about this version of the planet...
Warnings: The usual, wholesome fun.

PILLAR OF CREATION↴

Upon arriving, things in Wismuth will seem pretty peaceful. It's a massive city, with no shortage of things going on, but things like violent crime and homelessness are at an all time low. You can wander the streets without much scrutiny, presumed to just be tourists, and most people here come across as helpful and friendly.

► VIBRANCY: The main thing that sets this planet apart is its vibrancy - AKA, the raw creative energy its filled with, flowing from its status as a Pillar of Creation. There is no literal pillar, but Wismuth and its planet is a place where Creation's energy comes through strongest. As a result, everything here feels somehow more real, more intense in a way that's hard to put a finger on. Life is abundant, and its bleeds through in every sensation.

► ATTRACTIONS: There are plenty of things to see while going around the city. First and foremost, there is a lovely beach area bordering the ocean, and a number of tourist aimed attractions built around it. There are giant malls, movie theaters, live stage performances, museums and all kinds of other points of cultural interest. Anything you can do in a big city you can do here, but better.

► ALLOWANCES: The Ringmaster will be giving everyone a reasonable amount of local currency for a few days on the town. You can't make any massive acquisitions with it, but it's more than enough to eat out, see some shows, go to the beach, and whatever you like. You can feel free to pick up some casual supplies, like mundane clothing and souvenirs. There will be more given out later, after the performance week.

► PERFORMANCE: Performance week is starting early this time, after only a couple days of exploration. When the carnival has already been on vacation for a month, the Ringmaster figures they may as well get right to it, and then do more touring afterwards. Members of the local populace will find themselves in the carnival once performances begin, dazzled by the other worldly sights. Magic doesn't seem to exist here, despite the fact that it will flow easier for people bringing it from other worlds.

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What!? Oh come on, Cole!

9S sounds deeply offended when he responds. "How is behaviour associated with age? That makes no sense!"

After all, androids' personalities are based on what's in programmed in their core. The only difference is their experiences. But if age dictated behaviour, then wouldn't all androids of the same age behave in roughly the same manner? But it's clear just comparing and contrasting 2B and 6O that it isn't the case.

2B... The thoughts of her these days aren't so painful.

"It just is," Cole responds, with a little shrug. "Wise beyond their years, you're acting like a child, complaining like an old woman."

He doesn't really know who started associating behavior with age, just that it is definitely a thing and definitely something people do. Cole's been around people long enough and picked up on enough bits and pieces to figure out that much. Children act different from adults, no matter what race or species they are. But androids? Were they even children to begin with?

"It might not work with androids. But Lavellan and I never knew an android. Not before you, that is."

"That's so weird," 9S insists, hardly mollified by the response. "I thought personality is something people are born with. That's sort of how it works for us."

And androids are modelled after humans, with so many of their traits mimicking their human creators, even down to the synaptic responses in their mechanical brains to mirror the synaptic responses in the humans' biological ones.

"I was created with the Number 9 personality type, so that's why I'm the way I am. Not because I'm 'young'. 2B isn't much older," he thinks, anyway; she can only be a few years older than him at most, "but she's toootally different. Sometimes she's ice cold!"

And Cole shakes his head slightly at that. "It can change over time. A lot of things do with people."

Likes, dislikes, height, appearance, personality...so many things about people are flexible, shifting and changing as they grow older. He's explaining things to 9S in a very interested tone. People change, who knew, Cole didn't!

"I don't think people are created with set things either. Not like we are."

Humans aren't born with roles or purpose. That was one of the first things he had learnt from Strange. Humans have to find it. But some people, like Rita, act with such purpose it seems hard to believe she wasn't born with it.

"Do you think we can change?" 9S' voice takes on a considering tone. "You said Lavellan helped you become you. Does that mean the you you are now isn't the same as the you before meeting her?"

That was far too many 'you's in so few sentences.

The park is within sight now, the squeals of children playing happily in the sprays of water clearly audible at this distance.

Despite 9S's obvious worries, this is good. 9S is hurting and for once, what to do and what to say is bright and obvious in his mind.

"I changed before I met Lavellan. Lost, lonely, shy, scared. I was me but then something happened and I didn't know." Cole's voice drops a bit low as he continues talking. "I...hurt people."

That's a hard admission for him to make but once it's done, his voice rises back up to normal volume. "But she helped change me back! A changed and confused thing, changed but not confused. If I can do that and do that again, then so can you. You're more than I am."

Cole hears the children but doesn't really make any moves to go to the park. He's too focused on 9S at the moment.

It's hard to imagine Cole hurting someone. But if he had been a different kind of person back then...

As always, it's difficult to parse the details of what Cole says, but he thinks he understands the idea. They were both born with purpose, but no instruction on how to carry it out. Maybe back then, Cole carried it out in a way that he realized was wrong. Maybe at the core he is the same, but the rest of him is different because of Lavellan's existence.

Just like how, surely, he's different from the 9Ses before him?

"What do you mean, 'more than I am?' I don't feel more than you."

They're both not human but take on the shape of humans. Cole isn't an alien or a machine, so as far as he's concerned they're equals.

"But you are. Your purpose can be whatever you want it to be. Mine isn't." It's just said in a matter of fact tone of voice. There's so much to 9S, he can find a new purpose and it can be so many different things.

But it's different with Cole. He's a spirit, defined by one essence so strongly that it's a cornerstone of his being. He lost his purpose, though it was something different, but then discovered what it was and how to do it. He's compassion. He heals. And he can't be any other way.

"Now that I know what I am, I couldn't be anything else."

9S disagrees. "I don't think I'm really that different."

He idly kicks at the ground as he thinks. "I can't help the humans of my world any more, but I still want to help humans. I don't think that's something I can change. I was created that way. To love humans and to serve them, I mean."

He didn't have a choice about that. He was bitter about it before -- he didn't have a choice -- but... He doesn't know. Maybe if he had complete free will, he would love humans anyway.

"If I stopped doing that, I wouldn't be me anymore. You get it, right?"

Cole does indeed get it. The more 9S explains things, the easier the lines are drawn, the more connections Cole can make between his thoughts and between the two of them in general.

Oh. He was wrong. It's good though, that he was wrong about this.

"I could have been human," he explains. Varric wanted him to, after all. It's a possibility, a what-if that didn't happen but still plays at the back of his mind. "And if I was, I think I would have still helped. It's like that."

Who knew a spirit had so much in common with an android?

Here they were, having a nice bonding moment, and now 9S is going to ruin it.

Cole could have been human? 9S snorts, disbelieving.

"A human isn't something someone can become. You're either born a human or you're not."

Just as a human who is mutated by magic is still a human, androids who behave more and more like humans are still androids.

Cole can't help but frown a little at that. A human isn't something someone could become? Well, what the heck could have happened to him, then? Varric thought Cole could become human. And Varric's not wrong about these things.

"I think you're wrong," Cole simply says, as he looks over at 9S. "Or you just don't know. After all, your world is so dead. How can you know what can happen or not?"

9S' jaw drops open. He can't believe Cole just said that! Sure, human civilisation is in ruins and a lot of the biological life has gone extinct, but you don't just say someone's world is so dead!

More agitated than when they first started their conversation, 9S snaps, "Because someone who isn't a human is always not a human. A human is always a human, even if their shape changes."

It doesn't matter how much magic changes the humans in the Carnival, they're still humans in 9S' eyes.

Except for that singular moment when Rita was a bird and he stopped seeing her as a human. Not because she was bird shaped. But because she was an obstacle in the path of returning Rita to him.

How could he think of her like that? How?

"The state of my world has nothing to do with this."

A human is always a human except when it isn't. When the human is a spirit. When the human is a dragon. When the human is a phoenix.

And then, without thinking, Cole slips right into 9S's memories, picking up on his thoughts and his worries.

"She is but she isn't, burning bright, fire and flames. She struggles and squawks but my hands hold still. Only I can do this, I need to kill her, hands pushing down, crushing her throat—"

Cole breaks off, looking at 9S with a frown. A human is always human. And yet someone who loves humans, who adore them so much was able to kill one so easily? How can 9S explain that?

9S immediately tenses, hands curling into fists. Normally he would indulge Cole and his uncontrollable manner of poking in his head, but this time...

"Stop it."

He doesn't want to think about that time. He doesn't want to think about the time he killed Rita. He had to, he didn't have a choice, don't blame him! She had to die to come back herself.

"It's not like that." He was supposed to find a way to fight back against humans, but the only way he can think of to do that to overcome his programming is to not think of them as humans. Like he had when he hunted down Rita. "I had to, alright!?"

It hurts 9S, the fact that he can't figure out why he was able to kill Rita despite the fact that she was still human (despite being a bird.) And, though he's going about it in an awful as hell way, that's what Cole wants to do: he wants to help 9S through this. It's just going to be uncomfortable and involve the android confronting some truths but Cole wants to help push him through this to the end.

"Then what is it like?" Cole responds, almost under his breath. "You had to kill her. But she was still human. But androids can't hurt humans."

Edited 2018-02-11 04:35 (UTC)

Cole's right. Androids can't hurt humans. He wasn't able to hurt Ichigo. He wasn't able to hurt Lambert.

But he was able to hurt Rita, even though she's... even though sometimes it feels like she's the only person keeping him from feeling lost in these foreign lands. There are others, but they're not the beacon Rita is.

If she had to die, then no one else was allowed to touch her.

"Stop it," he repeats. "It doesn't matter what I did, she's still human. She'll never be anything less than human, alright?"

He had to kill her so she could remain herself.

He had to. He had to. He had to.

Oh. Oh no. 9S loves Rita.

It was obvious before, but it's even more obvious now. And that was what mattered most. Not the fact that she was human or the fact that she was cursed. But the fact that she was Rita.

Cole is 100% going to try and make this relationship happen and make this android and this blastia expert do a kiss. But right now, he needs to help 9S work through this.

"Not less than human. Just not. And even when not human, she'd still be Rita."

9S' voice is flat. "If they're not human, they're less than human."

Sorry if that's an insult to your Inquisitor, Cole, but it's true.

But it doesn't mean that they're not capable of feelings or emotions like a machine lifeform. It just means that they're not as elevated in 9S' eyes compared to a human.

It's why he can treat Cole as an equal, but people like Strange and Lambert, he can't quite totally relax around them. Even when they're behaving like idiots, they're still humans, still his creators, still greater than him.

"Rita is human and yet she was not. Childermass is human and yet he was not. Lambert, Lauren, Susan."

Is Cole just going to have to go through and list all the people who turned into animals at some point? Because he can definitely go through and list all the people who turned into animals at some point. If not being human made someone less, then almost every human here was less than human at one point. He's standing his ground, trying to insistently make his point, as if that would help 9S just see.

"The gills were gone, the fangs faded. Some made and molded, souls shaped, an aspect of angels. Not all of them were brought back."

He has no idea what Cole is talking about now! Soul shaping? Angels? When did angels come into the picture?

9S manages to curb the urge to stomp his feet in irritation.

"They're all humans," he insists. "Their shapes can change but they're still human."

They might've been non-human in appearance -- Lambert's dragon ass crushing him on the moon springs to mind -- but even in that moment, they're human in his eyes.

"It doesn't matter how much magic changes them, they're still human."

But are they? Despite the fact that he's a creepy mind-reading empath spirit, Cole can keep secrets. So while he wants to mention Childermass's worry, the fact that his soul's shifted to fae-blooded and how exactly does that enter the equation, Cole keeps his mouth shut. It's not worth mentioning that just to try and convince 9S.

This all just seems so arbitrary in Cole's mind. 9S is claiming things are human because they started off human, even if they changed or shifted somehow in the process. "It's not that simple," Cole grumbles, "It's never that simple."

Especially not when a spell can rewrite your entire being.

"Ask others about the vampires," he simply responds. "Or the angels." He wasn't there for either the vampire attack or Portland, he can only pick up hurtful memories from it. But other people could explain it.

If it seems arbitrary that's because it is. He knows a little about vampires and angels thanks to Joker, but nothing in huge detail. He knows that becoming a vampire changes you but stuff it. As far as 9S is concerned, they're still who they were before. Just like when he was a chicken, he was still an android at (metaphorical) heart.

"Yeah, yeah," he says dismissively. Whatever you say, Cole. It IS that simple. But seeing an opportunity to get out of this conversation, he points out the kids in the park, playing happily in the water. "Anyway, after the whole thing with the cat and mouse, I thought you'd like this place better."

The fact that 9S enjoys seeing the happiness of humans is just a side benefit.

Cole's about to continue, about to press 9S that no, it isn't that simple, why do you keep thinking that way, when he's distracted by the kids.

"I do," Cole admits, as he looks over at the kids playing. This is...nice. It's good to be reminded of nice things, that there's some places where compassion isn't needed as much as others. Because as much as Cole adores helping and adores taking care of people, there's a little tiny part of him that hopes for the day where he isn't relevant.

"This is nice," he continues. Looking over at 9S, he gives the android a little nod. "Thank you."

One of the kids slips on a patch of water, falling to the ground with a thud. It looks like he's about to cry. Without even thinking about it, Cole straight up ditches 9S to walk over towards that kid.

Wow! Thanks, Cole.

But 9S isn't surprised that Cole's distracted by the kids, and isn't (too) offended that Cole's immediately wandered off to help. He brought Cole here because he'd enjoy being amongst people who are happy and people whose problems are probably easier to solve than the likes of the Carnival members.

When it looks like Cole's completely forgotten he's there, 9S slips away. It's not like he has to tell Cole how to get back home, after all.

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⇨ WISMUTH

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