[Pratt huffs because that was an excellent question thank you, and he will hold to it because Steven just asked...] Salaried?
[Okay they need to get their talking points back aligned here. Pratt is fully capable of not being a nerd for twenty minutes. He's got this. ]
Ohhhhh. We're copies. Like from a point in the timeline. Huh. Alright that makes sense. [To Pratt anyway, Steven looks like he might be having an existential crisis that will cause a thermal detonator galaxy brain moment.]
It's cool man, we're the real us, for this version of us. They're there, we're here. [Please don't pass out.] But yeah, what he said, is this all your creation? Or you stuck here like us?
[Pratt is just itching to bring up the waterslide.]
You're as real as you think you are. Not any more or less real than any other version of you - and there are as many of those as there are stars in the sky...
[a pause, then he frowns, crossing his arms in front of himself.]
What is with this... strange desire for there to be some power greater than me involved here? I already have absolute control over you, something I have displayed numerous times before. Do you want there to be more?
[Steven shrinks back a bit, lowering his gaze, swallowing the lump in his throat. He wrings his hands and shakes his head.]
I just. [It's a design flaw of his. Maybe Marc made him this way or maybe this is just how Steven turned out. He always wants to see the best in people, even when he's confronted by the cold, hard truth that most people are deeply flawed.] I thought you could be a better man. [Random cruelty he can process better than someone wanting to torment people like this.] I-- hoped you were. I suppose.
[The only thing he could think of that might appease the Captain is to trade the people on board for bringing on even more people who want to go home. That won't do. Steven needs time to process all this... versioning and see what kind of bargaining chips he should bring to the table next time. There must be something else going on because if he really wanted a boat full of people who want to leave, he should be running Serena Guantanamo Bay, locking them up in cold, dark, tiny little cells, starving and beating them and unleashing a thousand wasps on them every night. Instead it's comfortable and the food is nice and the company is not too bad.]
Pratt, let's just. Go. [It's now or never for that waterslide, mate.]
Nah, it's not that we want something more than uh.. you. [Wow that sounds fucking weird now that he's said it out loud.] Just trying to understand more, not like there was one of those blurbs on the back of a room service menu telling us all about how this shit works.
Aight aight. Yeah. Cool. [He has more things to ask about. LIKE THE WATERSLIDE. But he does agree that they've probably already overstayed their welcome so best to head out before they make shit worse somehow.] Thanks for the info tho, that's solid of you.
[He hesitates, but this is probably the worst time to request something now that they've awkwardly kinda insulted him unintentionally. And if the guy won't take a super rare Pokémon card in trade there's probably nothing Pratt has he'd want. Okay, time to regroup and Operation: Waterslide can resume in the future.]
Good chat. We'll uh.. get to being all resentful and shit and making sure the lights keep shining.
Hm... Well, that was your first mistake, wasn't it. [his attention turns fully to the weakest link, smiling.] You think of me as human, because that's how I look to you at this moment. And so, you expect me to act the way humans do. But, I'm not. And I don't.
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no subject
[Okay they need to get their talking points back aligned here. Pratt is fully capable of not being a nerd for twenty minutes. He's got this. ]
Ohhhhh. We're copies. Like from a point in the timeline. Huh. Alright that makes sense. [To Pratt anyway, Steven looks like he might be having an existential crisis that will cause a thermal detonator galaxy brain moment.]
It's cool man, we're the real us, for this version of us. They're there, we're here. [Please don't pass out.] But yeah, what he said, is this all your creation? Or you stuck here like us?
[Pratt is just itching to bring up the waterslide.]
no subject
[a pause, then he frowns, crossing his arms in front of himself.]
What is with this... strange desire for there to be some power greater than me involved here? I already have absolute control over you, something I have displayed numerous times before. Do you want there to be more?
no subject
I just. [It's a design flaw of his. Maybe Marc made him this way or maybe this is just how Steven turned out. He always wants to see the best in people, even when he's confronted by the cold, hard truth that most people are deeply flawed.] I thought you could be a better man. [Random cruelty he can process better than someone wanting to torment people like this.] I-- hoped you were. I suppose.
[The only thing he could think of that might appease the Captain is to trade the people on board for bringing on even more people who want to go home. That won't do. Steven needs time to process all this... versioning and see what kind of bargaining chips he should bring to the table next time. There must be something else going on because if he really wanted a boat full of people who want to leave, he should be running Serena Guantanamo Bay, locking them up in cold, dark, tiny little cells, starving and beating them and unleashing a thousand wasps on them every night. Instead it's comfortable and the food is nice and the company is not too bad.]
Pratt, let's just. Go. [It's now or never for that waterslide, mate.]
no subject
Aight aight. Yeah. Cool. [He has more things to ask about. LIKE THE WATERSLIDE. But he does agree that they've probably already overstayed their welcome so best to head out before they make shit worse somehow.] Thanks for the info tho, that's solid of you.
[He hesitates, but this is probably the worst time to request something now that they've awkwardly kinda insulted him unintentionally. And if the guy won't take a super rare Pokémon card in trade there's probably nothing Pratt has he'd want. Okay, time to regroup and Operation: Waterslide can resume in the future.]
Good chat. We'll uh.. get to being all resentful and shit and making sure the lights keep shining.
no subject
[cocks head]
I can do no wrong, for I do not know what it is.