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[blackfire]

// うちは

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XIMILIA

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[firstroar]

[smashing x to doubt in rapid succession because what is there even to doooo that isn't invasive mechanical stuff!!!!]

I can do that. [for all the good it'll do!!!!!]

[blackfire]

（ hey, at least he's not a hypocrite. ）

Do.

You are a valuable resource. Regardless of the effect it would have on the crew's morale, the loss of your skills would make it difficult to proceed with our mission.

[firstroar]

You sound more rational than Viveca was.

[blackfire]

Being able to set aside one's emotions is not always a strength.

（ it's his usual deflection from anything that seems like it may be complimentary. itachi can rationalize that he is pragmatic and ruthless and altogether capable of functioning with no more mercy in his soul than any machine, and yet — it is a double-edged knife, and it has gotten him here. ）

[firstroar]

Someone like myself wouldn't really know how to do that, I think.

[blackfire]

No.

I imagine you are more in danger of being overwhelmed by them than the reverse.

[firstroar]

My threshold is significantly higher than most because of it, and so far the collective emotional vibrations on this vessel are something I can handle. [he says, days before getting nuked by precursor brain goblins.]

[blackfire]

I've no doubt.

Your strength was not in question. If you were otherwise, you would not have been able to enter my dreams.

[firstroar]

Is such mental protection necessary in your world?

[blackfire]

（ once you attain a certain level of power, people wish to kill you not simply for the bounty on your head, or the cruelties you have left littered in your wake. they want the prestige. they want the name. how many such individuals has he left a burnt-out, catatonic husk in the years since leaving konoha? the number never seemed relevant, before. ）

A shinobi's life is dangerous. One takes what protections they can to mitigate the inherent risks.

[firstroar]

You are hunted as well?

[blackfire]

（ what diD HE SAY ABOUT PERCEIVING HIM. ）

I belong to a powerful clan. We have many enemies.

（ none of that is even remotely untrue at least. ）

[firstroar]

[it's called PROJECTING ONE'S OWN EXPERIENCE ON ANOTHERS, THANK YOU]

What is it your clan possesses that others want to take from you?

[blackfire]

You assume it is something we possess.

My clan has had a hand in or been at the forefront of every major war among our peoples for the past two hundred years. Vengeance, jealousy, hatred... any one of those is reason enough.

[firstroar]

A kind of military power, then?

[blackfire]

Some would say so.

[firstroar]

It makes a little more sense to me. While humans gave up much of their free will where I come from, war can still persist, and it is greater aided by unfeeling machines.

[blackfire]

（ what is danzō shimura, if not an odd parallel to that? he looked upon his foundation as a dark necessity holding back the tides of war, but it seems in the end he only delayed it. ）

Thus your suspicion towards Viveca.

[firstroar]

Yes. When people allow machines to control their paths forward, there is the chance to lose control of much more.
It's a bias I cannot shake so easily...or so quickly.

[blackfire]

It is not only machines.

Allowing any force to control your life that fully is dangerous.

[firstroar]

Perhaps so. I've known nothing else to compare, not until encountering strangers like you and the others.

[blackfire]

Life is never simple.

[firstroar]

Put simply.

[blackfire]

I have a remarkable aptitude for brevity.

（ and maybe an ounce of humour. somewhere. buried. ）

[firstroar]

I've noticed.
It must mean something that you've entertained conversation with me as long as you have.