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Addy clicked her pen “do you know why we’re having this conversation, A?”
Dallon looked at the floor and nodded
“Tell me, in your words, what you did wrong”
He wrapped his arms around himself “I talked back”
“To who”
“A handler”
“And what did you say to them?”
“I..I said that it wasn’t my name”
“What wasn’t your name?”
Dallon felt himself shrink further into the chair “subject A..I said subject A wasn’t my name.”
She wrote something onto her clipboard “that’s no good, is it. you're denying reality now?”
“Well- I-“
She tilted her head “What? You have a defense?”
“I just think-“
“Go on. Spit it out.”
He tried to compose himself, though he could feel the panic in his chest slowly consuming him “you call us Ryan and Dallon when we’re around strangers” he finally blurted out
She blinked “..yes, yes we do. Why is that relevant?”
“If calling us by our old names is so..wrong, why do you do it?” He looked at her “I think..I think maybe you know that’s not true”
Addy paused for a long time before bursting out laughing.
Dallon didn’t think he had ever heard her laugh before. It was a cruel kind of laugh, one that made all of the conviction of his previous statement slip away.
“Oh honey..” she giggled “did B tell you that?”
“No, I mean- We were talking a few days ago and-“
“You thought you were really onto something, hm?”
“We were just-“
“Do you want to know the truth, subject A?”
He went silent before nodding slightly
She leaned closer to him “nobody wants to go watch two emotionless robots perform, do they? Using your old names sells the illusion is all”
He felt himself freeze up
“We’re doing everything in our power to keep the truth from them, which I think is rather kind on our part”
“The..truth?” He asked softly
“That you’re just husks, both of you. I wouldn’t even say your human anymore, just empty empty shells. You don’t deserve names, names are for people. You don’t deserve anything really, do you understand me? Everything we give you is a privilege”
He nodded slowly
She smiled “tell me what you are”
“A husk” Dallon repeated
“And what do husks deserve?”
“Nothing”
She cupped dallon’s cheek “everything we do here at tellexx is to help things like you, do you understand?”
There were tears in his eyes now “yes”
“What’s your name?”
“Subject A”
She let go of him “you can go back to your room, honey”
He sat there for a moment blankly before mumbling out a thank you and quickly stumbling out the door