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u/Elick320 Jul 12 '24
My opponent notes multiple times that "Kumoko will be occupied" with doing certain things. He is under the impression that Kumoko cannot, and will not, simply do everything at once. Her parallel minds have several feats for doing things outside of her focus.
She is more than capable of making webs, and fighting Magik, and fighting Sabretooth, and moving her traps out of the way of Meta, and customizing her traps, and mapping the building, and tracking everyone, and assessing the skills and weaknesses of Magik and Sabretooth, all at the same time. The burden of proof is on my opponent for showing why she can't.
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u/Elick320 4d ago
"Shiro."
Shadow broke out of his stupor and darted the path of his vision between the two. Shiro looked up and at Squall with that same blinkless stare. The way she moved her head was just... uncanny, like an automaton. Like the muscles in her neck weren't the same muscles Squall had.
"... Why are you following us?"
Shiro turned away. She dropped her whetstone and dissolved her scythe, but moved her hands... ackwardly. It was the most human thing she had done so far—her hands shifted positions lightly around her torso as she was confused where to even put them. She settled on just letting them fall to her side.
More time passed. Shiro didn't answer.
"Shiro?" asked Squall. He wanted to press forward. He wanted an answer.
"I don't know." said Shiro, deadpan and softly. She had a deep voice for a woman her age, maybe caused by the whole spider thing.
"Do you..." Squall thought where he could go from here. "... Like killing?"
Kumoko's perception shifted. She no longer saw the world as it was, but instead as a projection across an infinite black space. Like all of reality was grafted onto a television screen, centered on Squall's question with a dialogue prompt below it. The options on the UI of Life were shrouded in a black haze, as the health and mana bar bore square-marked glitches.
Do I like killing? Kumoko stood on eight legs on the featureless plane. Her body was illuminated from all slides despite no light source and her mouth didn't move as she spoke, but her face displayed a level of emotion that almost seemed... human. The fuck kinda question is that! I mean sure, it gives XP, but it's not something I enjoy doing! It's just, you know, natural progression! And they attacked me first.
She brought up a claw to her chin and looked down.
But... we can't tell Squall that, right? He's a hero! A mercenary, but a hero! He'll flip if he thinks we want this! We should tell him—
"Yes," said Shiro.
Kumoko stared mouth agape and all eight eyes wide with intense emotion. Bewilderment then flashed to anger. What the hell was that! she yelled out.
In front of her was... herself. A different version of herself. More advanced and yet more primeval. The top half finally given a bottom half, a nude pastiche of a young girl vaguely similar in body shape to what Kumoko was in a previous life. She looked human, but Kumoko knew that this... being, was anything but. It was her subconscious distilled into a set of reactive actions. This was the autopilot that controlled Kumoko's mind and body. Kumoko herself, now, was reduced to a voice in her mind that could do nothing but watch.
It was horrible. It was hell.
For like, 3 months.
But the mind gets used to things quickly, and all things considered? Being in a mental prison forced to watch her body act without her actions wasn't the worst she had been in. It ranked like, probably 6th or 7th? Behind Mother's control and after Aliba.
"That's... why?" asked Squall.
This Squall guy is really bad at talking, and you're somehow worse. Kumoko sometimes felt like a livestreamer raging over her in-game character doing something stupid. How are you gonna justify this? Got any words in your mind?
Shiro waited.
What, want me to say something? It's been a while since the last time, dumbass. Ran out of dialogue? Sure. Put me on the mic, why don't you? I'll actually say something reasonable.
"Experience."
He doesn't know what experience is! He doesn't know he's in a video game! Nobody here does! Only we have access to our own UI, it's just visual feedback for him! She threw her claws up in frustration. Probably!
"So you're trying to build combat experience?" asked Squall.
Good save. Kumoko turned to herself. I mean he saved you. With his own ineptness. Real quick question—Actually the same one as Squall—Why are we here? Why are *you here. I don't need you anymore! Just give me back control of my damn body!*
Shiro looked at her. You created me.
I know! yelled Kumoko. I was there!
You created me to be you, said Shiro.
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u/Elick320 Jun 15 '23 edited Jun 15 '23
As we look upon the scarlet rain
The gods above ripped atwain
There's nothing left for us down here
Those who cannot fight hide in fear
As we look upon the scarlet rain