text;

[kidjoy]

theres a place here. the LunaBelle. fancy eatin place kinda far in

they gotta load of droids here that dont WANNA be here, got it? i wanna help em leave. but one against a bunch aint really good odds for anybody

got some shit i can trade if you got the manpower to clear this mess out

Comments

[notglitching]

Why?

[kidjoy]

because they shouldnt be here. are you dense or something? I said they didnt wanna be here aint that a good enough reason to get them out?

[notglitching]

No.

[Not for a user.

He's not stupid. She might be, if she thinks that kind of reasoning makes sense. But fine. He'll spell it out.]

Droids: not previously yours.
No association with allies.
Probable utility: low.

Purpose: retrieval?

[kidjoy]

because they dont wanna be here. because its the right thing to do

seriously whats wrong with you? aint nobody should own something that can think. so we free them. it aint about how useful theyll be down the line its about not being a shitty person

would you just leave them there?

[notglitching]

[The longer Rinzler stares at the reply, the more he hates it. They. Right. She's like those glitching users crowding the streets with their signs. Except she's not as weak. She's looking to do something.

And she's not talking about helping users.

As if things ever, ever worked that way.

It's like the protesters, except it's not. It calls a different string of recollection, one he's far less comfortable with. Nihlus, offering an alternative to the plan to wipe the slavers' systems. Rinzler had stared with just as much disbelief then, pointed out that programs, not users, were the ones the others meant to kill. 'Should that change this course of action?' He'd had just as little answer then.

Shoulds don't matter, because it always makes a difference. Users protect their own kind, and whatever exceptions Nihlus had attempted, he wasn't faulty enough to pretend he didn't understand. Is this user that stupid? Rinzler doubts it.]

Lying.

[It's not an answer.]

[kidjoy]

well fuck you

[There are a lot of things she could stand being called and there were even a number of lies she'd feel comfortable telling if she saw the right kind of benefit for it. But she wouldn't lie about this, about following the basic principles her family had taught her. It felt just as much a slap in the face to their ideals as an attempt to call her out.]

im doing the right damn thing. you wanna be a brat about it then you go right on ahead. but i aint no LIAR and i aint gonna take being called one

[notglitching]

Doesn't matter.

[None of it does. None of her pretenses, none of her lies, none of them (and why is he responding—)]

Still true.

[And with that, Rinzler closes the MID, ending the call. Whatever reply she texts, he doesn't have to listen to it. He doesn't want to.

It's not running away if you're not there to face the words.]

[kidjoy]

only people who aint got no sense or hope thinks it dont matter

[She's furious not to recieve anything back, taking it out of the wall with a few annoyed kicks. She's not a liar and there was a whole desert full of people out there in the universe that knew she was right. It was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

And she was going to make them proud and do it.]