[That's what it feels like. What it had felt like, when she stood at the fence around the perimeter of Hell's Gate and tried to answer it's call, hoping that she might be strong enough to answer it's call while still remaining herself... the herself of only five years, the part that still remained somewhat human. The abyss of darkness, a night sky full of false stars, and something distant and consuming reaching out to her.
Within it... there was only the cold, rational motions of a Contractor. Even if she had moved through her years as a Regressor slow and awkward... the idea of giving up those tiny, precious moments, those hints of caring and wanting and feeling something warm flickering to life...
Is that what a soul was? This man asks, and all she can think to say is-]
I don't think... I have one...
[She has heard "soulless" used to describe her more than once, whether it was someone clutching the body of a dead loved one or the government handlers who'd once issued her orders.
Did Contractors, who did not dream and did not feel and did not care for anything but their own life... did they have any more of a soul than a Doll did? If she did...]
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Within it... there was only the cold, rational motions of a Contractor. Even if she had moved through her years as a Regressor slow and awkward... the idea of giving up those tiny, precious moments, those hints of caring and wanting and feeling something warm flickering to life...
Is that what a soul was? This man asks, and all she can think to say is-]
I don't think... I have one...
[She has heard "soulless" used to describe her more than once, whether it was someone clutching the body of a dead loved one or the government handlers who'd once issued her orders.
Did Contractors, who did not dream and did not feel and did not care for anything but their own life... did they have any more of a soul than a Doll did? If she did...]