video | timaeusTestified (cw: casual violence towards child-shaped entity)

[givehead]

(The video opens to Dirk's studio which is filled with various metal parts and the occasional plush rump. Dirk is sitting at his desk, and hiding behind his desk chair is what appears to be a little boy in rabbit-themed knight's outfit. The little tuft of blonde hair sticking out from the hood and the familiar orange glasses might be an indicator of who the little kid is.

Dirk is focused on the video feed, paying the kid no mind just yet.)

Howdy. (Dirk sounds like he hasn't slept in...a while...That or maybe he's just overexerted himself?) I been fuckin' around with my abilities. Some of you already know I can splint my soul. I was just wonderin' how range this place allowed me with that combined with darkblood.

(He turns his chair and the kid tries to hide again. Dirk doesn't let him. Instead, he grabs him and heaves him up through the air to plop onto his lap. The kid looks exactly like Dirk if Dirk was a seven-year-old. Same freckles, same spiky hair, same nose. He could be his clone. Oh wait-.)

This is me. Or at least 10% of me, anyway. I know it looks like a kid, but this is just some core part of me that wants to keep people safe. That's the theory. He's completely mute and kinda shy.

(Like Dirk was at that age. He stands up then, holding the kid under his armpits like a sack of potatoes rather than an actual child. He sets him down. The kid looks up at him silently.)

But he's actually a little tank. I've programmed him...well...Programmed isn't really the right word. I replicated a specific part of myself and manifested it so his only real function is to guide and protect. Theoretically, if you're lost, he will help you find a way out. And provably, if something attacks you or him, he will defend until the opponent has been defeated or safety has been achieved. Simple goals. Check it out.

(Dirk flashsteps away from the kid and grabs a few throwing knives out of the wall. He doesn't hesitate to whip them right at the kid. It's alarming for about three seconds before the kid deflects every single knife with flashing motions and a sword he can apparently conjure out of thin air. Once the threat is over, the sword vanishes and the kid looks meek once again.

Dirk puts his hands on his hips, looking mildly proud of himself, but damn. This was exhausting.)

It really is like lookin' at myself when I was that age. Anyway, you can call him Lil D and if you ever need him, you can shoot me a text askin' for him and he'll find you. (Most likely... Dirk shrugs, sitting back down at his desk.) I'll probably have him just roam the city and keep people safe all the time. He doesn't sleep or eat. But he can die, so, try not to let that happen. It's a bitch when parts of me die.

Okay. That's it for now. See ya. (He holds up his fingers in a peace sign and the video feed ends.)

Comments

Voice; un: ... (Assuming no 'talks' have happened yet but can change if you want)

[opress]

[He'd experienced multiple versions of Dirk since getting to know the human, but this definitely took the proverbial cake for him. He hadn't seen the process, but he had enough imagination to put two-and-two together.

So there were two Dirks now? One was more of a droid-type function? There were questions.]

Why would you make a kit version of yourself a mostly mindless protector? People around here have proven themselves very protective of kits.

[More importantly:]

Can you... put it back inside of you?

voice (works for me!)

[givehead]

It was a matter of practicality. Less energy to manifest a pint-sized version of me than the full package. (And creating some actual chibi version himself wasn't exactly possible when he struggled to see himself that way. At least this way, he knew he had seen himself as child plenty of times before. The manifestation was partly natural.)

Plus that was back when I really wanted to be a knight. (He shrugs.) I guess it just made sense to me.

Well, damn. That's on them for never having met a dangerous child before. (Dirk was much stronger now than he was at the age of Lil D, but he was still lethal even back then.

The question makes Dirk stare for a solid minute at his wall. He's glad that this is on voice because what the fuck.)

What the fuck? No. That's not how it works. He'll exist until something kills him and then he will be cut out of existence and I'll pass out for a while.

[opress]

Two of you at full size would be much for most to handle. [He could invest some imagination on how much energy it would have taken to make this splinter successful. He considered Dirk to be extremely powerful and the Force flowed off the guy at a high rate.]

You were an attractive kit, and it seems most kits like to see themselves a hero of sometimes. [Jedi knights seemed to see themselves as heroes from what he saw, so this fit with what he imagined.]

Are you going to let him turn beasts and Sleepers inside out? I'd enjoy watching.

[Ah, so it wasn't so simple as just fusing one's soul back together.]

You have no actual fondness for him, do you? [He wasn't against that at all. This 'Lil D' seemed more like a tool than a person so far.]

[givehead]

(Okay, that actually makes Dirk smirk a bit. He could only imagine how people would deal with that reality.) I believe the paradox would rip a hole in itself.

(He's not being arrogant here either. That really would fuck with some core mechanics of the game. Savage isn't wrong though. Dirk was...extremely tired and that was saying something considering who he was. Tired wasn't really his thing most days.)

Aw, thanks, Savage. I definitely was genetically manufactured, all right. (Said with some degree of bizarre, detached fondness. It's true though. Kids did like to see themselves as Good People. He stares over at Lil D, sighing quietly.) That's because little kids are clueless about how hard it actually is to be a hero.

(They think you just threw on some armor or a cape and saved someone from a bad situation once or twice.

He snorts at the question.)

Of course. It will spare me the headache of dealing with minor annoyances in this place. It's not even fun fighting some things here. (He actually felt mildly guilty about killing some of the really small beasts. It felt more like hunting for sport than doing any "good" in this world. Dirk wasn't a great person, but even he saw no pleasure in killing something that was clearly frightened of him and too weak to defend itself. He would rather just ditch and go home to watch some anime.)

No more than I have for myself. (Which was a complicated answer given Dirk's complicated feelings towards himself.) I'm not really a kid person. And he's not exactly an actual kid. He's the image of memory and an idea. Like, I'm saying all of this in front of him, and he's just staring at me. He might have been made from an authentic part of my existence, but one or two emotions on their own existence are hardly sentient...

(He's rambling, he realizes, and sighs.)

Sorry. I really am kind of tired. (...He clears his throat.) Though, if I'm being honest with you, I can't help but wonder if he looks like how my little brother must have looked when we were this age in his timeline. I guess he makes me a little nostalgic for something I don't even remember. It's dumb.

[opress]

I don't know what that means. [And he wasn't ashamed to admit it. Dirk had never made him feel stupid, and he didn't much care that things were far beyond his knowledge and upbringing. It was a fact of life.]

That's because kits are supposed to be innocent and protected. They see heroism through a clouded lens of youth, but... they die just the same as everyone else. [Kits, like their male adult counterparts, had a high mortality on Dathomir. He had protected his charges as best he could, but he couldn't stop them entirely from getting it in their heads to do stupid things in the name of 'heroics'.]

It's not fun because the little things are so beneath your power level. It happens, but killing the wild ones means meals and you're technically protecting the weak ones. [His definition of 'weak ones' was rather different than most. He didn't care to use politically correct terms. Least of all here.] Can he come hunting with me at some point?

[Savage made a noise in his throat.] No, you are not. [It's not meant as insult, but he had seen Dirk in flashbacks and alternate personas dealing with children. It wasn't soft by any means.] Others won't see him that way. I expect you'll rehash that he's not a real child but a tool over and over.

[He grunted.] It's not wrong to wish for something you were denied, but as someone who had a younger brother, this one is far less of a pain in the ass.

[givehead]

It's complicated. (Which was something Dirk often said but genuinely meant. Most of his life involved things that had to be rigorously explained and often with several footnotes of information if he were to properly do it.) Partly due to my personality. Splinting my soul is risky both for the obvious reasons but also because God only knows when a splint decides it wants to be the new alpha.

(He was pretty wary about Ult Dirk, if he's being honest, but he believes Ult Dirk is at least a more well-contained splint. He isn't freely floating around like Lil D or his dream self.)

I've never even known what 'innocent' is supposed to look like. What it even means. Does it really make people's lives more valuable than others if they are 'innocent'?

(Dirk, don't get philosophical, c'mon.)

Yes, of course. Just ask him to tag along and he gladly will. Not sure if he will participate, but he seems to enjoy people doing things with him.

(Dirk doesn't take offense. He would never pretend to be soft about children nor did he care that he lacked that nature. In a world without human repopulation, it was hard to care that deeply about the impossible. He snorts softly.) Yeah, others are already beginning to treat him differently.

(People and their tendency to care. Ughhhh. He grins at the brother thing, because, yeah.)

Far more agreeable and obedient, yes. Plus the bunny outfit is really cute.

[opress]

[Somehow, he expected 'complicated' isn't mincing words about the process, the risks and the potential outcomes. If Dirk was as strong as he seemed to be, having two shards of one's soul battle it out for dominance could be detrimental for more than just the blond.] So you're saying that kit version of you could kill you in your sleep and step into your space? [Also, you know, other versions.]

Some would say so, but for my species, one's value is their strength and skill rather than what they have been kept from doing. We are not born with a guarantee to live, and thus we are have earn every breath we take. But... some aspects of human and other species seem to place their priorities in other places.

[He wasn't certain with a kit version would do, but apparently deflecting and dodging weapons was part of that list. That could be useful.]

Will he develop more as people interact with him? [Just what this place needed: an indestructible kid in a prey outfit who may encourage nurturing with time.] You aren't surprised by people reacting to him that way.

Bunnies are made for eating.