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Axl: Have you ever thought about dying?Lumine: ...Yes. What a ludicrous question to ask.Axl: Heh Sorry...that was stupid. If you weren't in my head then maybe you'd be able to give me a good theory that aint too close to home.Lumine: I never truly died, prototype. Obviously. Physically, I am dead but I live on in this prison.Axl: .....A prison huh?Lumine: Affirmative. Emotions are yours and the general populations inevitable downfall. Its exhausting fasing in an out of your memories, feeling whatever miniscule horrors you felt in that moment of time. Those do not translate well to me.Axl: You sound tired. I have to say. Not as confident as usual today are we?Lumine: ....Axl: Hey?Lumine: I heard you. I cant not hear you.Axl: Mm..Lumine: Yes...thoughts of death have occurred. More so recently...than ever before in my period of activity on this desolate Earth.Axl: Those...panic attacks I get. That's what X calls them. Are they...from you? I mean they are but...is it when you think about stuff like that?Lumine: ....Affirmative.Axl: That explains when I close my eyes, it just gets worse. All the imagery about death and your body on that damn rock... I know you are an asshole, but...I do kinda get it more now. You just wanted progression. Turns out a lot of fucked up people....and a lot of hopeful ones want that too.Lumine: It is no longer relevant.Axl: No longer relevant?Lumine: I believe in progression, but I aspire for freedom. Everyone, including the human race is built up of code, 1s and zeroes, but being unable to house my own body, has made me aware of...what I had.Axl: Thats pretty human of you to say, Lulu.Lumine: Do not call me that, prototype.Axl: Fine. Fine.Lumine: ....Axl: So i have to ask. Whats your plan?Lumine: ....Axl: Are you gonna corrupt some of my code and just ruin my chances of ever being a hunter again? Or maybe youd like to uproot all of my memories to make me go all loopy.Lumine: I will continue to stay hidden. As much as I deal with your trauma, you will have to deal with the burden of being me, also.Axl: Psh...how's being you a burden? What do you hate about yourself when you're egotistical and smart?Lumine: I have come to understand that I dislike the part of me...that was so single minded. Because of that, my plan was destined to fail. So much so that its almost laughable.Axl: Ego is a funny thing aint it? You had the whole world there and you fumbled it. Well...you had the moon at least.Lumine: Yeah. I had the moon at least...Axl: So...what would--Lumine: By the way, asking me about what my opinion is on death is not ideal...but asking me what my thoughts are on life? Now thats within my field.Axl: Oh...okay. What are your thoughts on life?Lumine: You fill your life with tasks and meaningless missions and somehow that meaninglessness gives meaning.Axl: Yeah man. People do worry about filling it up with important stuff.Lumine: Precisely .Axl: Actually! Did ya see in the news? They're introducing upgrades to new gen reploids. It would make us more human than ever.Lumine: Elaborate.Axl: Im surprised you didn't hear. They're introducing new upgrades. I don't think fighting bots like us match their niche lil criteria for this stuff. But now there's like...this pregnancy upgrade they're working on. That's the biggie. While they're doing that, they're also adding upgrades to give skin that could bleed. Thicker skin with this weird red fluid that runs through. Its not real blood obviously! That would be weird.Lumine: Hm. What do you want me to say about this?Axl: If you wanted progression...is this still progression?Lumine: Of course. Anything to lead life independently as a reploid must be beneficial!Axl: You sound...sarcastic.Lumine: Yes. Because the likelihood those incredible jumps in science and engineering will be used right is minimal. Do you know if that reproductive upgrade is just exclusive to female reploids?Axl: No actually. I think guys can get it too but its more expensive and more work.Lumine: Okay. So the reproductive fluid lookalike from males now has a use?Axl: Yeah...yeah I guess so.Lumine: How do you feel about that?Axl: I hate it.Lumine: Why?Axl: Because...we...aren't supposed to stress out about that stuff... Now if...I...yknow... I can't believe I'm talking to you about this...Lumine: There is now a possibility of you reproducing with your own kind.Axl: Yeah...and reploid laws...arent like human laws...Lumine: It will get messy, it will get cruel and many people and reploids will suffer greatly. It is a power we are not qualified to be given. At this rate, the human race are asking to finish themselves off. Birth rates have dropped significantly in recent years and so that heavy responsibility is being passes to machine.Axl: But....isnt our purpose to live...for humans?Lumine: Exactly. Our race will evolve and it will turn into something terrible. As much as I hate to admit it...humans are apart of our wellbeing. By the end of it all, we will be ultimately human, with human parts but our processors for brains. It will be messy. If you're not used to it, having blood and organs may not be the easiest thing to grasp for the general reploid race. And upgrades come fast...you are forced to adapt.Axl: Fuck...thats...terrifying.Lumine: It is.Axl: I don't want blood...Lumine: Of course, this only applies to new generation reploids. These upgrades I'm certain will not be for old gens.Axl: Yeah...it was just for us guys...Lumine: Right...as you can see, my opinion on progression has changed. No reploid should be expected to deal with new life like that from scratch.Axl: But in the upgrade, they should know how to do it. Its in the upgrades code right?Lumine: Its a possibility, but i feel that wont be instantly available. Maybe an add-on with a payment system? Or maybe just a future upgrade after some damage is done.Axl: ....Lumine: Axl?Axl: ....Lumine: Hello?Axl: I'm terrified...Lumine: ....Axl: I can never have a girlfriend... I cant get excited about the future. I want to keep being a hunter with X and Zero and I don't want it to end...Lumine: You...know that it will... understand?Axl: Yes...but It cant end...it just.Lumine: It angers me. Reploids are built to do certain tasks. If their lives get to complex, the tasks will become sloppy. Everything will get worse.Axl: Fuck...I...Lumine: ....Axl: ....Lumine: You...can still get a girlfriend. I...am unclear why you feel like you cant.Axl: Cos Id be scared, I'm terrified actually!...Lumine: ....Axl: ....Lumine: Axl.Axl: Mm?Lumine: Out of...all of the reploids I have known in my life, ones I despise and others that...didn't bother me as much. I have seen your memories. You strike me as someone with a personality who would suit that role.Axl: What role?Lumine: Fatherhood.Axl: Hah! No. You're insane. I'm always told I'm weak and not good enough! That I'm too gun ho and that sometimes I'm being a liability... I do not fit that role, Lumine.Lumine: You arent cold. You have a lot of emotion but it seems to stem from passion. There are human fathers that shoot guns too. To protect their farms from harm, or to take it out on people in a war. You are skilful with a gun which...admittedly puts me at ease and on edge, at the same time.Axl: What do you mean by that?Lumine: When you fight, not one bullet is missed and every shot lands with the precision you intended for it. But because of that...I know you would not miss your own processor, in your own head.Axl: You think I'm gonna kill myself?Lumine: Negative. Having seen bits of your past and your behaviours since the Jakob Projects downfall... I feel I have every reason to be....suspicious.Axl: Well you said I'm not going to do it. So there.Lumine: You seem to like arousal where you're in danger as well. You seem to thrive of that anyways, it shows in your work.Axl: Hey I don't do sick shit in the bedroom...Lumine: Excuse me? Incorrect. What about that incident 2 months ago?Axl: I don't...know what that was... We were just starting to figure out this new routine with you living in my head rent free. Cant believe you put the blame on me for that one.Lumine: I...was not in control during that incident. If I'm speaking honestly, I could hardly think or move.Axl: But...I was the same.Lumine: ....Axl: Lumine, who was piloting this body on that day?Lumine: I'm...unsure.Axl: I think it was a mix of us both. I...have hardly any memory of that... its just that which ever one of it was decided to record it!Lumine: I admit, I was at unease when that happened. You-Axl: My body.Lumine: Your body was patchy with pale and tanned skin...your hair was half brown half purple. You were crying and biting into your lip so hard it split. All while laying undressed on the bed playing Russian Roulette with different parts of your body. I watched, terrified you would land on the chamber carrying the bullet, but you never did. I bet you knew.Axl: Of course I do...I know my guns like the back of my hand. That's a Nagant revolver that I was holding and I can tell which chamber the bullets in. I forget most of what happened, but I know the gun. I keep it-Lumine: In your bed side drawer.Axl: Yeah...Lumine: You woke up with that weapon in your incubation pod. Red almost confiscated it.Axl: He wasn't having it. The only thing that connects me to maybe the person that built me. Its never going anywhere.Lumine: So. To clarify. Am i right to assume, you were in control of this body on that day?Axl: No. Consciously, no.Lumine: Why did you threaten to fire that weapon?Axl: Isn't it obvious? You make me feel sick with sadness and I wish I could go gun-ho and shoot you out. But you're in deep. A bit too deep for me to reach and I don't even know how long you'll be here for. It could be the rest of my life and then that'll be the end of it.Lumine: ....Axl: Don't you think?"Lumine: I would delete my data long before you die. I admit I am stubborn, but to get to that point, our minds would merge, simultaneously causing them to collapse. If I am being honest, I would rather die than to suffer my final days in a state of mental anguish so unimaginable that neither of us would even know we exist.Axl: I gotta say. I'm with you on that.