[A childhood memory: a 12-year-old sitting with a motherly woman, against the backdrop of a dystopic city that's at once unrecognizably futuristic and a decrepit, cluttered slum. The boy is struggling with his left arm, which seems to be made of cybernetics that pulse and squirm as though it were organic. The metal doesn't stop at the shoulder - instead it seems to eat away at the skin across his neck and chest. His mentor commands him with a firm, encouraging tone.]
Try it, Nathan. Again.
But it's painful. I can't, ████, I--
Shhh. Concentrate. Again.
Why can't you do it for me -- like you always do? You're better at disguisin' me than I am.
Because -- A: I'm not with you twenty-four hours a day... and B: You are fully capable of using your own mind to morph your body.
So... you... say... [With great psychic strain, the flesh pushes back against the techno-organic conversion, reverting the change on a celluar level and forcing the metal beneath the his skin.] Here you... go. Satisfied?
Proud, Nathan.
...████, have you and ████ ever thought about dumping me -- like my real parents did -- so that, y'know, my disease wouldn't make it harder for you to fit in?
Oh sure. A day doesn't go by that we don't try to trade you in for something real useful... like a blender.
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Childhood
Try it, Nathan. Again.
But it's painful. I can't, ████, I--
Shhh. Concentrate. Again.
Why can't you do it for me -- like you always do? You're better at disguisin' me than I am.
Because -- A: I'm not with you twenty-four hours a day... and B: You are fully capable of using your own mind to morph your body.
So... you... say... [With great psychic strain, the flesh pushes back against the techno-organic conversion, reverting the change on a celluar level and forcing the metal beneath the his skin.] Here you... go. Satisfied?
Proud, Nathan.
...████, have you and ████ ever thought about dumping me -- like my real parents did -- so that, y'know, my disease wouldn't make it harder for you to fit in?
Oh sure. A day doesn't go by that we don't try to trade you in for something real useful... like a blender.
[Gulp] You're teasing, right?
Mostly.
Hahaha So... what's a 'blender'?